Chapter Text
Bianca was not supposed to be on the rooftop. No one was. The hotel didn’t have a fancy terrace restaurant there, or a pool, or anything of the sort. It just had water tanks and lots of pigeon crap. Still, if they really hadn’t wanted her there, they should have gotten a tougher door.
The rooftop was ugly and unremarkable but importantly, so importantly, it was empty. It was just her and the sun and the thankfully cool wind keeping the temperature bearable so she did not have to return inside to the carpeted hallways and the crowded ground floor.
She shuddered at the thought of the lobby packed with fools carrying pamphlets and merchandise. If it had been some pop-culture event, she could almost have handled it. But it was something even worse.
It was a self-improvement convention. That is to say, when you were a grifter, it was like shooting fish in a barrel, except you charged the fish admission. Bianca could honestly not tell who was more pathetic, the marks, or the grifters.
Which of course meant that she, having been manipulated into using her powers to help the grifters, was the most pathetic person there.
She had worked too hard to make something of herself for her mother to drag her down again to this level.
But here she was, on the other side of the country, doing her bidding once again, trying to ensure the uterus donor wouldn't kick her from the one place she could call home, the stupid, ridiculous school that had gone from being her last chance to being an actual place where she could be herself.
And Bianca was good at being herself. Herself kicked ass. Herself had saved the school, and Wednesday Addams' ass too. Too bad her dumb self had not found a way to save herself from this stupid mess, too.
She had her back to the door and the sun, but she still heard it open and close. Probably her mother, there to drag her back down to her own personal hell, one where she was just one more of Satan’s little imps. She grimaced at the image of Gideon in a tacky devil suit, with the rest of morning song dancing around him waving pitchforks as he counted his money.
One day, she would see him burn. One day, she would be free of all this. But for now, if she wanted to keep her home, she had to play ball. For the most part. She was doing just enough to placate the definitely-not-a-cult-leader and her mother, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to sneak out for every second of peace she could squeeze out of that rooftop.
She heard the footsteps approaching, and braced herself for her mother’s voice telling her she was needed back in the hunting grounds.
"Are you buying any of that bullshit?" a stranger’s voice asked instead.
Bianca turned to look at the source of the words and, with the sun in her face making it difficult to see, for a horrible split second thought she had accidentally summoned Wednesday Addams from her hellish domain by thinking her name. But no, this was an entirely different monochrome goth.
"I'm actually selling, sadly," Bianca admitted as she inspected the girl. She definitely did not look like someone who would come to one of these things. It wasn't just the elaborate black dress, the black lipstick, the black boots, and the old camera: it was the general demeanor. It was not quite Addams-like: yes, there was the exasperation with the world around her and the calm-before-the-storm vibes, but there was also a mischievous glint in those eyes. Wednesday Addams was no stranger to mischief, but she had mostly used it as a tool, even when the goal was to unleash her wrath upon an unsuspecting Jericho. This girl's eyes were different. They were the "I wonder what would happen if I pressed all the buttons?" kind of eyes.
As she circled Bianca as she moved away from the door and towards the edge of the roof, the girl gave her a curious look and a cocky smirk.
"Really?” She asked, drawing out the word as she walked around Bianca, inspecting her, “I have to say, I’ve seen my share of piranhas, but you? You must be a shark.”
The metaphor was a bit too on target for Bianca’s liking. Had this stranger figured her out? Did she know what they were doing? A siren could get in a lot of trouble if caught misusing their powers.
“I’m sorry, have we met?” she asked. Maybe that was it. Maybe this person knew her somehow. She certainly looked like she might have attended Nevermore at some point.
“Oh, I’d remember you,” the girl said with a teasing grin, “and I’d make sure you remembered Lydia Deetz.”
“Okay,” Bianca said slowly, trying to read this stranger who seemed intent on having a most unusual conversation with her, “so what exactly is happening here?”
Lydia’s shoulders slumped.
“I’m bored,” she explained, “I'm staying here with my family. When I heard about this event I thought, great, I can take pictures of those soulless corpses walking around thinking they’ve got something to live for! But honestly, they are all so similar that I’m done already. You, though,” she paused to aim at Bianca with her camera. Bianca instinctively raised a finger in warning, yet heard the shutter’s click before she had a chance to let a word out, “you look interesting. You don’t want to be here. And the whole beauty of this sort of thing is that the prey think they are predators, and so they also want to be here.”
“You are overthinking it,” Bianca said carefully, “it’s just a summer job for me.”
“Hmmm, no,” Lydia said confidently, “No pamphlets, no free samples, and not a hint of who you’re working for from your clothing,” the girl said, “you’re no one’s little lackey.”
The words stung, because Bianca was there as someone else’s fucking lackey, and she hated everything about it. She was just meant to be an undercover one.
"Okay," she said, feeling both her temper and her power ignite. It had been a while since she had spent so long without her dampening amulet, she had forgotten just how intoxicating it could be. "That's enough. I think you want to leave me alone now."
She felt her power reach out to Lydia's mind, envelop it…and dissipate into nothing.
"What." she said.
"Oh!" Lydia said, sounding delighted, "I was right!"
Bianca stared. She had a suspicion her day was about to become horribly interesting.
"You're a monster," Lydia stage-whispered as she leaned forward conspiratorially.
"And what the hell are you?" Bianca spat back, though at least glad the word hadn't been the sanitized outcast , which she had always thought made them sound lame.
"Oh, no one, really," Lydia said, leaning back as she pulled the cord of her necklace to reveal a gross amulet made of small animal bones, "I've just got friends in low places."
"That's disgusting."
"I know, right?" Lydia said, entirely too pleased about it.
"So. I suppose by now you've figured out–"
"That you've been using your powers to nudge marks in the right direction? Yeah," Lydia said, sounding actually apologetic on the last word.
"Well, that puts me in a bit of a dilemma," Bianca said.
"Well, your mind thingy doesn't work on me, so unless you want to get physical about it–"
"Get physical?" Bianca scoffed.
"You know, claws and teeth and all that. You did make a mess out of the door, I didn’t get to use my lockpicks. I'm assuming siren. Did I get that right? I've never actually met one before."
Bianca inhaled, suppressing her temper. This was going to require diplomacy. She was definitely keeping claws and teeth as plan B, though.
"You're a strange one, aren't you?" she said.
"Unusual, too," Lydia agreed.
"Just what exactly do you want to get out of this? I'm guessing it's not money."
Lydia waved off the idea as if it was ridiculous.
"That's boring. I honestly just came here to take pictures and maybe annoy some people."
"And you're all out of pictures," Bianca guessed through her teeth.
"Got it in one!" Lydia said, before looking down at the camera, "actually there's still a few in there. But like I said, I got bored."
"And how exactly am I supposed to help with that?"
"You can start by telling me what a shark like you is doing in a pond like this," Lydia suggested.
Bianca sighed.
"And here I thought at least I'd be free of crazy goth girls for the summer," she muttered.
"Ex-girlfriend?" Lydia guessed, seemingly not at all offended by being called crazy.
"Not quite," Bianca said, "just another monochrome thorn in my side who I had the misfortune of befriending after my ex chased after her and proved himself to be an ass."
Lydia blinked.
"Huh," she said, "that was a lot more than I was expecting. Why are you telling me this?"
That was an annoyingly good question.
"I suppose it must be your charming personality," Bianca said sarcastically. Lydia grinned.
"I'll have you now I'm dreadful to be around, thank you very much," she said.
Bianca groaned. The girl sounded like Wednesday Addams with actual non-murderous emotions injected in there, which honestly was even more terrifying than the real thing. At least Wednesday was somewhat predictable in her madness. Lydia seemed…volatile.
"Hold on!" Lydia said, "You're distracting me! You still haven't told me how you ended up here!"
"I am being extorted by my own mother into working for her cult operation, or she'll get me kicked out of the only place I've ever called home," Bianca said, matter-of-factly, but carefully allowing enough emotion into her voice to drive the point home. To her satisfaction, Lydia seemed actually taken aback by the reply.
"Woah," she said, "that's messed up."
"It is what it is," Bianca said with a shrug, "I'm just making the most of the hand I was dealt. Once this is over I'll be done with her for good."
Lydia looked away. For the first time, she looked small, quiet, like she was trying to make herself invisible.
"What? Is my story not entertaining enough for you? Does this jester need to do some pirouettes to amuse you?" Bianca pressed, relishing in the girl's discomfort.
"I'm sorry," Lydia said quietly, still not looking at her.
"Whatever," Bianca said, taking the opportunity to disengage. She immediately began to make her way to the door.
"Wait!" Lydia called, and fuck, something sounded so broken in that word that Bianca could not ignore it. She stopped, and turned to give Lydia an annoyed look, only to be met with an unexpectedly fierce expression.
"She should not be doing that," Lydia said, "not to you. She's throwing it all away. She should not be doing that."
"Yeah, well," Bianca said, "she is. What're you gonna do?"
"I could have her haunted," Lydia offered, perking up at the prospect.
"No, that…that was rhetorical," Bianca explained, "wait, are you serious?"
"I know a guy."
Bianca narrowed her eyes as she inspected the girl once again, trying to understand just what manner of creature she had stumbled upon. Morbid, possibly deranged, definitely lacking any sort of social awareness, and surprisingly open about her supernatural experiences.
"You really don't care that I'm using my powers on people, do you?" She asked.
"Nope," Lydia said.
"You're not going to rat me out?"
"That's offensive to rats."
Bianca told her what she thought of that response with a look. Lydia shrugged.
"I could not care less," she insisted.
"And you're not going to unleash any sort of supernatural entity on the event?" Bianca asked, though she still was not sure she believed Lydia could do such a thing and was not just a very talented LARPer.
Lydia pouted.
"If you pull any weird shit, it might come back to bite me in the ass," Bianca insisted, "and you won't be so excited to have met a monster then."
"Oh, I don't know about that ," Lydia said, her earlier cockiness resurfacing, "but I promise I won't get you into too much trouble."
Bianca shook her head in disbelief.
"This is going to be my life now, isn't it?" She asked, mostly to herself, "everywhere I go, there will be a crazy goth waiting to make my life miserable. There is no escape."
"This girl really did a number on you, huh?"
"Addams is…too complicated for her own good. Or anyone else's, for that matter. And at the same time, she's painfully simple to understand, once you get to know her. And she's my friend, and I hate it."
"And you said it was your ex who was crushing on her, right?" Lydia asked with some amusement. Bianca felt her jaw clench. She had to admit, she had thought about this.
"She's interesting company," she allowed, "and our rapport is…intense enough to be entertaining. But she's not worth the trouble."
"That crazy, huh?"
"Crazier. But I was thinking about her roommate. Whatever those two have going on, I want no part in it."
"Roommate?."
"I go to this boarding school–" Bianca began automatically, and was horrified to see a glint of excitement in Lydia's eyes, the quiet reveling in success of someone who had just been freely given information she was not supposed to have.
"I'm starting to feel," Bianca said slowly, "that this conversation should have ended a while ago."
"Oh, but we're learning so much about each other," Lydia said, "and face it, you'd rather talk to me than do whatever it is you're supposed to be doing down there."
That much was true. Then again,
"I don't have much of a choice," Bianca reminded her. It really was time she returned to her job guiding people towards the right not-cult recruiters. Lydia sighed dramatically.
"A sandworm or two would really do a number on this place," she said to herself, "but if you insist, then I suppose I'll have to leave you to it–"
" Please ," Bianca said, though disappointed that she'd have to return to her 'job'.
"– on one condition," Lydia finished.
Bianca closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Hang out with me tonight?"
"Can't. I have to–" have dinner with her mother and the rest pretending she wasn't there against her will. Be stuck in her room texting people having better summers than her. Read Wednesday Addams' long ramblings about how much she despised Enid, who she definitely didn’t miss at all. "You know what? Sure. Why the hell not."
"Excellent. You know that old church a couple of blocks from here?"
Bianca thought about it for all of two seconds.
"You want to meet in a graveyard, don't–"
"I want to meet in a graveyard, yes."
Bianca wondered what the chances were that she was going to be used in some dark ritual. Certainly not insignificant.
"Guess I'll see you there, then," she said.
Lydia took a thankfully discreet bow, which had Bianca rolling her eyes, though she could not completely hide a smile.
"I look forward to the continuation of our conversation," Lydia said, "perhaps I will even learn your name."