Finishing Up

[Padril Crennent]

"You don't last long," he laughed. At first, it was meant to be a simple chuckle, but it evolved when he saw how much Aethie was laughing, then went downhill from there. His sides were splitting and he put his drink down unsteadily as he leaned against the counter. He breathed in deeply and calmed himself. He put a finger up unsteadily towards Aethie, "Now, you think I'm gone too but I'm not!" His hand gripped around the glass and he poured it down his throat, constantly swallowing until the glass was empty. He lowered it a bit clumsily.

"Now I am." He felt his head grow groggy, still waiting for the full affects of the alcohol to kick in. Another chug or two like that and he wouldn't remember the morning.

[Aethie White]

"Okay....okay." Aethie giggled, trying to catch her breath. "I think we'd better slow down on the brinking - I mean drinking." She felt another bout of laughter rising in her chest but squashed it down. The radio was blaring. Aethie caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror behind the bar and grimaced; her face was pink from the vodka, and her hair - which had looked decent at the beginning of the night - was beginning to look gross.

A fresh burst of staccato guitar spewed from the radio and Aethie looked up, pleased. "I love this song!" She jumped off of her stool and began singing along into an invisible microphone. Normally, Aethie had a rather lovely singing voice, but the alcohol and fits of giggles made her sound less than decent. She didn't care, though - it was only Padril. She danced around the bar, singing loudly into her fist and laughing.

"Come on -" she giggled as she made her way back to Padril. She grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the middle of the bar, still laughing like a - well, like a drunken person!

[Padril Crennent]

Not quite drunk enough to lead into something like, but sober enough to want to watch/join Aethie, he jumped up with her, singing back-up with Aethie.

She said she loved me
'Loved me!'
But she had somewhere to go!
'Goooooooooo!'

The music broke up into rapid chorus with some impressive guitar and drum-work and Padril head-thumped while moving over to the bar, eager for another drink. Did this count as flirting? Were they disturbing the guests? As Padril briefly considered and dismissed each of these thoughts, he simply swigged a large swallow of the vodka. Settling the bottle down, he felt the alcohol spread through him thickly. He joined Aethie in the wild dancing and random movements, feeling completely at ease. Usually, something occupied his mind outside of the immediate. Inevitable decline of mankind, rampant poverty, mass murders and the legal rape of women overseas, they made him a gloomier person. But with alcohol, he forgot about these things, he stopped thinking and had fun.

[Aethie White]

Aethie was laughing so hard she couldn't see straight. She grabbed onto Padril's shoulders in an attempt to steady herself, but missed and fell on her ass on the floor, catching Padril's wrist as she went and taking him with her. Holding her stomach, she rolled about on the dirty wooden floor and giggled.

"Oh - oh, I haven't been this - drunk - in - forever," she choked, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. She sat up slightly, moved closer to Padril and laid her head on his stomach, using him as a pillow as she stared up at the wooden rafters on the ceiling. They were sliding in and out of focus as she lay there. "I'm tired," she mumbled suddenly as she twirled her hair through her fingers.

[Padril Crennent]

Padril fell on the ground roughly and gazed up at the rafters with Aethie, but not really paying attention to them. He was pre-occupied with his face and the expressions he could make with it, he made a couple of rolling tongue noises and a clicking noise. Life was so awesome when drunk.

He looked up when Aethie slumped on his chest and absent-mindly began to pat her head in a soft rhythm similar to that of the new song coming on the radio. She looked pretty good now, he had to admit. She seemed more defined, more real than most of the girls he had known or met.

"What do you usually do when you're this drunk?" he asked absently, keeping beat.

[Aethie White]

Aethie's foot kept time with the beat of both the song and Padril's hand on her head. "Umm?" She murmured in response to Padril's question. Her brain wasn't working properly. "I dunno. I don't think I've ever been this drunk."

Hey - he's touching me! Aethie seemingly had just noticed this. Her tired, drunken brain ground back into action as she considered this. Does this mean he "likes" me? Is he flirting with me? Should I do something?

She sat up a little bit and looked at Padril questioningly. "So are you going to kiss me or what?" She demanded stupidly.

[Padril Crennent]

Padril looked at her stupidly for a moment, kind of surprised at her forwardness. Then, apparently deciding that it was an excellent suggestion, he leaned in to kiss her. But he was uncoordinated and had attempted to move a hand to move some of the hair out of Aethie's face, and as result, missed entirely and kissed her chin instead. Finding this hilarious, he fell back and began to laugh.

"Sorry, sorry," he said between breaths. "It's just...I missed...and you're right...right there."

[Aethie White]

Aethie laughed too, falling back to the floor again. "This whole situation is funny, isn't it?" she asked between giggles. "I mean - you're Padril - and I'm Aethie - and we're lying on the floor in the Leaky Cauldron - drunk - and you - can't - find my mouth." She rolled over, pressing her face into his chest, laughing so hard that she began to hiccup - which only served to make her laugh harder. She struggled to catch her breath, but every time she tried, she'd hiccup again.

After several minutes of fighting for air, she was able to calm herself and lay still, giggling feebly. The radio was still blaring, and she began unconsciously playing air guitar along with the song - it happened to be one of the three songs Aethie had taught herself to play.

[Padril Crennent]

"Hey, hey!" Padril started, slurring his words, "I know this song! Let's...let's play some!" He made to stand up, arms quickly grabbing Aethie's shoulders and lifting her with him. He still found the situation funny but also felt a need to play music...real music. Was that it? Wassslo was thattiot itttssst? He kept rolling the thought over in his head then decided he had a lot of crazy thoughts at the moment he couldn't follow.

"She's on the drums, I'm on tambourine," he sang along with the song. His voice was terrible, worse with drinking, but it didn't matter at the moment. "Bet your bottom dollar, it's Indie..." He started towards the door, then turned as if he'd forgotten something. He grabbed Aethie's hand gently and led her to the door. "You have to show me how to play this..."

[Aethie White]

"Wait wait wait wait," Aethie argued, fumbling with her keys. "I have to lock - I have to - lock - door." She was having difficulty fitting the key into the lock. She swore under her breath, kicked the door, and then finally was able to lock it. "Okay! Let's go!" She grabbed onto Padril's hand and pulled him down the street in the direction of her apartment, singing loudly along with the song that had been playing in the bar, even though they could no longer hear it.

A few minutes later, they were stumbling up five flights of stairs to Aethie's flat. This key did not seem to want to work either - after nearly five minutes of fighting with it, she gave up and pulled out her wand. "Alohimora! Oh - sorry Padril -" she brushed off the sparkles she'd just dusted him in with a small giggle. "Alohomora!" The door burst open, and Aethie fell into her flat. It was a small, bachelor suite, with a kitchen tucked into the corner. The rest of the room was a combined living room/bedroom, and a small bathroom at the far end.

"This is Gladys," she said, picking up her guitar. "I didn't name her, she came that way - see?" She turned the guitar over, and sure enough, the word "Gladys" was carved into the back. She turned the guitar right way up again and began strumming the chords to the song from the bar softly.

[Padril Crennent]

"Ah," Padril watched Aethie's hands strum the guitar and began to copy her, his hands positioning as though he was playing the guitar too. "Like...this?" he asked, stepping towards her as she continued to play the song until they were nearly face-to-face. He felt groggy, confused and completely certain of himself. The music, the way she looked so human and likely her Half-Veela filtering through her now drunk senses all added to his semi-conscious decision.

His hand went to her waist, the other brushed the hair out of her face and he kissed her. Not softly, he was far too drunk to be cautious, but with complete certainty.

[Aethie White]

All the blood seemed to rush to Aethie's face. Almost without realizing it, she dropped her guitar. It twanged and echoed in complaint as it hit the floor, but Aethie barely noticed. Her hands strayed up into Padril's hair as she gently pushed him backwards.

If she had been sober, there was no way Aethie would have even considered considering what she was about to do. But she was drunk, he was drunk, and after all, who the hell cared? They were adults. Whatever.

[curtain goes down...and then back up!]

"Urrrrghh." Aethie batted at her face in an attempt to get the pesky sunlight to go away. After several minutes of this, she opened her eyes. This was immediately regarded as a bad idea by the rest of her body, as almost instantaneously a migraine erupted behind her eyes. "Oh GOD..." She rolled over, stuffing her face into her pillow, when she felt something move beside her.

"Oh no. Ohhhh no. No no no..." she whispered into her pillow. This is NOT happening. Not happening! No way. She frantically began combing through her memories of the night before. Everything was fuzzy. Padril had come to the Leaky Cauldron just as she had been closing...they'd started drinking...and then...and then? Nothing. Everything went black. Maybe we didn't...maybe we just fell asleep?

But Aethie knew she wasn't the type to fall asleep naked. A quick look at Padril's sleeping form told her that he was naked too - or at least, his upper half was. She couldn't bring herself to check under the covers. Okay. Don't freak out. Just get up, get dressed, and act...normal. Go make some coffee.

She slid out of the bed as quietly as she could, threw on the first items of clothing she saw, and padded into the kitchen where she put a pot of coffee on. Her back against the fridge, she slid slowly down to the floor and hugged her knees to her chest, staring blankly at the stove in front of her. She was in shock - she absolutely could not believe what was happening. The smell of coffee filtered into her nostrils and she shook herself out of her reverie. Maybe it was all a dream, she thought desperately. Maybe Padril's not in my bed at all. Maybe I imagined it.

She peeked around the corner to check. Sure enough, Padril was still there, completely oblivious to the world around him. No such luck, Aethie.

[Padril Crennent]

"Ugh," Padril shifted, which his mind instantly punished. A ear-splitting head ache broke across him and he groaned loudly, keeping his eyes closed. What the hell had happened? He had been flying, then was at the Leaky Cauldron...then what? Aethie had been there and...

He was naked. He gave a start as realization hit him, attempting to jump up as he widened his eyes. He failed miserably however, and ended up in a different awkward position in the bed and his eyes now glaring. Closing them didn't help. He felt his stomach stirring in tell-tale signs. He would just lie down for five minutes and then he would move. He would of bumped into Aethie or a girl if he had slept with anyone, so he must of just gotten really drunk, he supposed, to the point where he had slept naked. Not impossible.

"Ugh."

[Aethie White]

Aethie heard weird noises coming from the bed and peeked around the corner from where she was hiding in the kitchen. Should she just ignore him? Or should she...offer him some coffee or something?

Or you could get back into bed with him, a sly voice in her head suggested. Aethie turned bright red and sternly told herself to shut the hell up.

"M-morning," she said tremulously, going to sit in the chair beside her bed. "Umm...I made coffee."

[Padril Crennent]

Huh

He looked up at Aethie, looking slightly disheveled, upset and unsure of herself. I wasn't that bad, was I? Padril put the thought away quickly and put his chin up on the pillow unsteadily. "Thanks..." Holy shit, this was awkward. "Did we...?" The pause made the question clear. He didn't want to act the wrong way and the question was near impossible to phrase without almost sounding insulting.

He had no time to hear the answer though, as his stomach lurched. He jumped out of the bed, suddenly aware that this wasn't his apartment. My bed isn't nearly that comfy, he realized. "Bathroom!" he yelled out urgently, looking around hurriedly, clutching his stomach. Where, where, where, there! As he rushed into the bathroom, he became aware again that he was running around naked. Modesty set in mid-stride and the result was a side-stepping Padril, bent-over, tripping into the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and heaved everything he had eaten in the last day into the toilet.

The noise sent a crack into his skull.

"Ugh."