`tell me everything

[Elizabeth Hughes]

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------ Ever notice that as soon as you think something is a certain way and that life couldn't possibly send you any more curve balls, it finds a way to do so? Back when Kenny was still alive, him and Liz would talk a lot. Over the phone mostly since he was always off and about, or in Chicago when she was in Valkyrie. But when he was living in Los Angeles, he always came to her with fun stories about him and his friend, the boy scout. No, his friend was not literally a boy scout but there was a sense about him that screamed good guy all the time so it was Kenny's nickname. He said his name was Nate Sutton. Liz had never thought twice about the L.A. friend Kenny would babble about but then, while stopping at the gas station, that same Nate Sutton had approached her. He had recognized Kenny's jacket, the same jacket she had hanging baggily off her at that moment. She had to get him quiet but she found herself interested in knowing him. He was the only other person she knew who was actually friends with Kenny, she just needed to know someone else cared he was gone you know? Someone else felt it. Even if Nate didn't know the whole story of his death, he still lost his friend and Liz had lost her brother and someone had to care.

------ It made her infuriated that the people she had once called family were just all up in arms over Darren's death but no one looked twice at Kenny's. She had been the only one. She had told them over and over something had happened, it wasn't an accident. Something was wrong and no one believed her. Or worse, they knew exactly what happened but were protecting Darren. The idea that they might have been calling her paranoid and psycho, telling her she needed calm down, leave it be, over and over and over again when they knew and they knew what not knowing was doing to her, it made her sick. So Liz tried not to think about that. The thought drove her nuts. And lets face it, Liz was screwed up as it was. Even she knew that. She's like one of those dogs that had been beaten one too many times and whenever a kind helping hand tried to pet her, she would run. And if she had no where to run, she bites a finger off. It's just what happens over time and at this point she had given up all hope on what it meant to be "normal" or "trusting." No one could be trusted. They all left. She couldn't be trusted because it was all her fault. But that wasn't true was it? Orion was here. Donny and Izzy. Liz would say even Wid was here but that was something worse than her being gone.

------ Liz was on her way back to the Hitten after taking about a hundred cash from her new, falsified account. Fake name, fake Id in her pocket, thank you Donny. On Paper Liz hughes was now Liz Donavan. Simple but effective. Luckily, it was nearly impossible to track Donny's paths back. It was incredible. He was like superman with a computer. Sometimes she had to wonder about him. He has been more impressive the past year than he had his entire life with Sirens. It was clear he had been holding back, but it was clear he was very comfortable with all the illegal activity, so then why? Why hold back? He could have been her father's right hand Hacker, he could have been given a whole lot more respect than the dork who occasionally helped on the technical side of things. So why didn't he? And how was he so comfortable and practiced in the activities if he hadn't been doing it for the Sirens? And then there was the classified things he wouldn't tell Liz or even Izzy. Something didn't add up with him. Liz felt a little slow just recently noticing it too. Sometimes it almost seemed as if he were still holding back and if that's true... It's almost at the level of... well nevermind, that was impossible right? I mean... this is just Donny

------ Liz stepped in from the outside. She reached into Kenny's coat pocket to check that her keys were still in there, jingling about. She turned to head up the stairs. She had been living with Orion ever since he came, before she had been staying with Donny and Izzy. But of course they had an even less welcome guest on their couch, went by the name of Widow. But despite actual sleeping arrangements, all five of them were constantly in an out of their apartments. The only Siren apartment she didn't enter very often was that of Jasper and his sister Liv. Jasper had never really been anything to Liz but now they were here. All of them, except Liv and Izzy who were best friends, were very wary of them as the newcomer sirens in Valkyrie. Just keeping a guard off although the two had made no move to inform Liz's father that she was in fact, still alive, even if she wasn't exactly well. She walked down the hall, hugging Ken's jacket close as she came up upon her apartment door. She pulled out the key when she heard a, by now, familiar voice, despite her desperate attempts to avoid the man. She just couldn't look at him without remembering what she had done. He hadn't really done anything wrong, he was trying to help and in a way had because Liz would have let herself die in Darren's hands that night. But... she was just still so angry with herself, it was hard to be reminded. Not to mention the fact that Riley was now having a child with her friend which made her blood boil for not yet completely understood meanings. Without looking up at him she spoke, "I really can't stop for a chat right now Riley." She said as she turned the key in the lock.

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STATUS;; complete
TAGGED;; the epicness of riz
CREDITS;; format stolen from lainey, with a little tweaking by me
LYRICS;; 'tell me everything' by just surrender
CLOTHES;; here
NOTES;; omg omg yay, I hope the slight GM was okay

[Riley Turner]

----IT WAS DEAFENING. the sound of the rushing blood through your ears and the way it made your vision blur. every punch felt like a limb was going to fall off. it was like living in a horror movie, only you could feel everything. riley was going through this in his dreams. the same night over and over again. he typically woke up in the dead of night. sweat dripped down his face and he had to touch his face and chest to make sure he wasn't covered in blood and bruises. once he realized he was still in one peace, he'd lay back down and gaze at the ceiling. the nightmares never quite got rid of themselves. the six foot three twenty two year old felt like a child by waking up scared shitless. the injuries riley turner suffered were long since healed. the huge purple bruises faded from his ribs. the slight finger impressions that encircled his neck had disappeared. his bottom lip no longer was swelled. the black eye was gone and the stitches had been removed from his split eyebrow. to everyone, it was a mystery of what truly happened to the usually peaceful turner.

the nightmares, he was convinced, was the result of keeping this huge secret wrapped up and put away in his mind forever. this secret he shared with liz hughes. she killed her brother and he was there. riley was basically the accomplice. the more he thought about it, the more he believed it was self defense. darren jr was killing riley, liz shot darren. if it was anyone else, it wouldn't effect riley as it has since it was her brother. she killed her brother because he was killing riley. that's what it would sound like on paper. riley felt guilty for that. he just really tried hard to believe that if he didn't go back for her, darren would have killed her. he'd take that beating again if that meant liz would have survived again.

it was strange. the fact that he cared for this girl a lot and he hadn't spoken to her since that night. even if he wanted to, she had more reasons to not want to talk to him. since riley got coco pregnant, (one of liz's friends) all the courage he had in talking to her was shot to hell after that. though, he did learn that she was leaving here. in hitten. surprisingly, they hadn't had an awkward run-in. he thought for sure they would eventually. someone going, the other coming. running into each other on the stairs. not seeing her could have been a blessing too, finally get some things out on the table. they didn't even discuss what they did that night. she just told him that he wasn't there. he could pretend that. liz... dealt with this kind of stuff better than he did. the crime life, that is. despite riley being related to the giovannis, he knew if he wanted in, he would be a terrible criminal. half the stuff liz did and had him do to 'clean the scene,' riley never would have thought in doing.

riley looked at himself in the mirror of the small bathroom he now shared with his younger brother, regan. their parents let their recently clean son live with riley. regan was on the outs with their father, seamus. their father sure knew how to screw up relationships, having already burned that bridge with reed two years ago. so, regan didn't want to live with their dad right now. riley offered his place. reed said he would have, but riley wanted to keep the piece with seamus. regan moving in with the other party boy would never be a good idea. the whole damn place would go up in flames. riley left the water in the faucet running and studied himself carefully. his face looked the same. a little more tired and a newly formed scar from the beating above his eyebrow. other than that, he looked the same. then, why did he feel like on the inside, he had become a completely different person? riley shook his head and splashed some of the water on his face. water dripped down as he looked one more time in the mirror. he turned and wiped his face with a hand towel. it was time. he had to talk to liz. it was the only way he might be able to move past what happened. maybe it would lessen the nightmares too.

he didn't know if it was creepy or not that he knew what apartment she was staying in. riley pulled a t shirt on and a pair of jeans. grabbed his keys to let himself back in and left his apartment. was it ironic that when he approached her door, she was trying to get into hers? their eyes met for the briefest of a moment before she tried opening the door. what was she thinking? "I really can't stop for a chat right now Riley." he sort of guessed that she wasn't going to be up for talking. riley was sure she would have some excuse every time he tried to approach her if he just turned around right now and went back to his place. "well, i think you should make the time. right now." he was surprised by his assertiveness. let's face it, between riley and liz, she was the boss and riley just followed what she said. it was completely weird to see riley have some sort of backbone finally. who was bossing who now?

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STATUS, complete CRED, format and graphics to me LOCATION & TIME, hitten, winter 2007 LYRICS, 'shattered' - trading yesterday CLOTHES, here TAGGED, liz! I SAY, RIZZZZZZZ
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[Elizabeth Hughes]

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------ No one should be home right now. Orion had work at the auto shop. He seemed to be doing okay there. It was kind of amusing since some girl kept flirting with him and he doesn't really know how to flirt and just stays stiff. He had a hard time letting himself laugh or have a good time. Liz was now, but before? She used to be happy, or at least, she had thought she was happy which was the same thing right? Okay maybe not but it was better than this hell. Liz could remember clearly her days before coming to Valkyrie, before she had lost Kenny. She was loud, obnoxious, flirty, promiscuous, constantly stealing things, skipping class and pushing people's buttons. She was spirited though. And as unhappy and guarded as she was even then, when you looked at her, you could tell she was alive. The Liz that came about after Kenny's death was a person burning in flames and the Liz that came after murdering her own family? She was the walking corpse. It was as though all the issues of how Sirens are brought up decided to attack her mind all at once. Even repressed memories are making their way back to her. Things she saw, people she watched die and she wished they had remained repressed. She remembered the beatings Orion took from some of their other brothers, Marcus and his friends. She remembered Darren's body over a crying seven year old version of Isabel. She remembered her father hitting her across the face and calling her a dirty liar as she told people and no one believed her.

------ Liz wasn't the same as Riley. She was not having nightmares because she wasn't dreaming, because she wasn't sleeping. Not much anyways. It would probably average out to about an hour of sleep each night. Every night, she would try to lay down on her bed and look up at the ceiling covered in shadows, she would stare at the same place until that optical illusion of everything surrounding you getting blacker and blacker. She would try to push down the memories. All of them, with the most attention being put on that night. But every time her eyes shut she would see him, on the ground, bleeding as she attacked and just kept kicking him, she couldn't stop. She was cursing him. Her eyes would snap back open and she would turned to her side, curl up her legs, hug her pillow and squinch her eyes shut. And when she opened her eyes a moment later the pillow would be blood red and disintegrating in her hands before she sat up straight in the bed, throwing the white pillow across the room and giving up. She would lean against the wall, and just stay there until it was time to face the day. She hated the nights, because they left her alone to think. Some nights Orion was up through the early morning. She would join him in the living room and they would spend the night with a couple beers and TV Land. Shows like Bewitched and I Love Lucy and My Favorite Martian.

------ To the surprise of both Liz and Orion, those nights seemed to be the most tolerable of them all. She had never really known this one of her older brothers. He was always so much quieter and stiff. He was always so rigid and cold, but he was never cruel so he was never worth her time in her mind. She almost regretted not getting to know him sooner. It was not like the two were having extensive conversations about feelings or anything close to it. Most of the night they were completely silent apart from Orion letting out a small, very quiet chuckle here or there. Happy Days seemed to be his favorite, Liz would take note as it was also her's. But other than Orion's rare chuckles and the sound of the television itself, the room was always dead quiet until one of them left. Sometimes, if it had been an exceptionally long time without real sleep, Liz was able to fall pass out to the sound of the television as long as he was there too and when she woke up, she would have a couch pillow under her head and Kenny's jacket laid across her as a blanket. Orion was always back in his own room but he had to have been the one to do it. She never thanked him, just as he never mentioned it but they both knew, for some reason, despite the family history, they were comfortable with each other. It was nothing like her and Kenny were, and she didn't know if she trusted him completely just yet, but it didn't matter. For now, I guess the siblings needed each other.

------ Here or not, Liz was not going to get into it with Riley here. She couldn't. She knew she owed him some sort of "figure out what happened" talk or something, and she knew it wasn't fair but she couldn't look at him without seeing Darren dead on the cement ground. And if Orion found out, he would be furious with Liz. If Wid found out, Liz wouldn't know how to protect him. And if a spy found out, he would be dead before she even knew. He wasn't there that night. He never got into the care and that's what happened. She told him that. She was still looking at the key in the door while Riley approached. "well, i think you should make the time. right now." Liz slightly raised an eyebrow, that was different. Usually he was a bit more, soft spoken when asking her for something. She felt that guilty sore in her throat that made it hard to breath. She swallowed down before turning her head to look over at the Irishman, "Don't you have a crib to buy or something?" She asked calmly but with a lot of bite still playing in her tone. "Maybe be with Coco, make sure she's not drowning it in captain morgan?" She internally cursed at her own tongue. She shook her head slightly and looked back at the door, "Sorry but I'm not doing this here."

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STATUS;; complete
TAGGED;; the epicness of riz
CREDITS;; format stolen from lainey, with a little tweaking by me
LYRICS;; 'tell me everything' by just surrender
CLOTHES;; here
NOTES;; lol I tried to finish other posts but my mind kept dragging me back here, I had to.