Drunken endeavors [Airil]

[Markus Andres]

The girl was talking too silently for Markus to hear her clearly enough. He could only hear something about help. She needed help? Markus was the man for helping her, he was big strong and awesome. But he was better off where he stood then, he was too tired to be awesome. Or help. He lifted his head a little and looked around to see if there were anyone he had to knock down, but nope. For some reason this girl made him think of that fight with those drunks. So he turned his face to her ever so slightly and mustered every ounce of ability to speak clearly. "Help?" It came out pretty clear to himself and she should be able to understand the words clearly. Markus repeated himself once or twice more, making sure she understood him. Markus was lucky, that he had a thick layer of alcohol preventing him from feeling any pain, for all his stumbling and tumbling about, had given him plenty of scrapes and what not, he even torn his favorite shirt a place. Something he hadn't noticed yet, as it was located on his back close to his armpit. Unless you looked directly at it, one would not notice it. Markus just stared into the wall across the street. Waiting for the Konti to spill the beans and tell him what she needed help with. He wanted to sleep. He was so tired he could barely keep himself awake. Only the quest to help the girl kept him somewhat conscious.

[Airil]

The alcohol on his breath hit her strongly, forcing her to turn her face away to get fresh air and she once again wondered what had encouraged him to drink so much. Was it part of his personality? She really didn't believe so, surely the knights would discourage such conduct from someone wishing to become one of them. It had been two days ago that she'd told him they couldn't be friends and he'd stormed away in a rage. Was this the end result? "Yes, help." She tugged at him, but he wasn't following her lead. "You have to help me get you somewhere that you can sleep." She tugged again and he started to drift off with his head on her shoulder. "Please, you can't sleep here," her voice held a note of pleading to it. Her wrist was feeling sore, and her efforts were only worsening the pain yet she continued to persist. "Please, let me take you to Traveler's Row, it isn't far." She tugged him in that direction again.

[Markus Andres]

The girl was talking directly into Markus' ear, and even he couldn't ignore that in his drunken state. He opened his fully and looked around, wondering where he was. Then looked at the girl and put his arm around her and begun to stumble forward. She had said something about a travelers Row. Markus knew that place. That place was awesome. He think he knew someone living there? Right? He would let the girl lead him in the direction of the travelers Row should she begin to walk, he would use her for support in case he was losing balance. It was a good thing he had found a sentient cane to lead him ... home... and support his weight so he wouldn't fall over and break a limb or two. "N'on eva'r say ... yu'r scweet?" Markus said as they were walking. Blood dripping from his forehead the first couple of chimes. Unless of course the Sentient Cane had stopped the bleeding somehow.

[Airil]

She though he was asking her if anyone had ever told her she was sweet, but she wasn't entirely sure. Whatever he had said, at least they were making progress now. They staggered their way towards the end of the street in something that definitely couldn't be called a straight line, but at least they were moving forward. He was getting too heavy for her, but she was afraid of trying to stop for another rest. The corner grew closer but even once they reached it, they would still have a ways to go, it was almost painful to think about. Meanwhile, she was trying to ignore the fact that he was bleeding. There wasn't anything that she could do about it at the moment. It looked bad, by the amount of blood, but she knew that head wounds usually bled worse than other wounds. They had rounded the corner and she could see the Row now. She kept their pace steady, wishing to stop but not willing to let him fall again. ..... Markus was mostly incoherent again by the time they reached Airil's room, not that he'd ever really become coherent, and Airil's shoulder's were screaming in pain from trying to support him. She steered him over to the bed and let him fall onto it, grimacing when he smeared blood on the blankets. She left him laying in whatever position he landed in, other than making sure he wasn't laying on his arms or anything pointy, and went about fetching some water and tearing some pieces off the cotton fabric she'd been using for sewing practice before returning to his side to start cleaning some of the blood away.

[Markus Andres]

Markus was getting very tired of walking. Every part of his body just wanted to go sleep. Not wander aimlessly around in the streets at night. Where was his Sentient Cane taking him? Stupid Cane. Bed. Find a bed! Then, Markus realized he was in a free fall. Or it felt like it, for the cane had let him go. Treacherous Cane! Plop. Markus was in a feathery heaven. Sweet soft pillows. Softer than the cobbled streets. He made half a roll so he was lying on his back with his arms spread out wide and his feet hanging over the edge of the bed. But this was heaven. He could sleep there forever. "'tanks." The tired Syliran Squire felt how the - why was he getting water in his face. That was totally uncomfortable. Please stop that. The wetness kept him awake. It annoyed him. He mumbled something about stupid rain before he finally managed to ignore the 'rain' and drift into sleep. Finally. Some rest for his tired soul.

[Airil]

Airil had done her best to clean up the wound, though she had no way of dressing it. However, it didn't seem to matter much since the bleeding seemed to have stopped of its own accord. She was quite grateful, hopefully it would clot enough during the night that it wouldn't reopen when he stirred in the morning. Her eyes surveyed his chosen sleeping position. She didn't like the idea of him sleeping in his clothing in her bed, but she definitely was not going to undress him. She settled for pulling his boots off, eliciting a mumbled response though he didn't wake up. The effort made the pain in her wrist flare again. She went about the room straightening it, stoking the fire back into existence to keep them warm of the night, and finally settled in the chair with her embroidery hoop, not yet ready for sleep. She hadn't bothered to remove her coat or gloves, deciding she might need the extra warmth during the night without a blanket. Looking over at Markus to make sure he was still all right, she set to work on her pattern. End night.

[Markus Andres]

Morning the 26th of Fall. 510 AV. Markus eyes opened slowly with a groan. He sat up. Decided to lie down again when he felt nauseous because of the quick movement. From his position he took a quick glance at what he could see. This was definitely not his own little room. Where the hell was he? And just how much had he been drinking last night? Markus' hands quickly shot up to his head when it reminded him how much he had been drinking. It felt like his head was being split apart by a burning hot blade. The intense pain almost made him yell out, but he only let a soft groan leave his lips. When the intense pain subdued a little, he turned to see if there would be a girl lying next to him. No. That was missing. Well, at least there was no man either. Then a persistent ray of sunshine hit him in the face and then he noticed and recognized the Sen- Airil. Sitting in a chair. Had they done it? Judging from her 3 tons of clothes, he would say nope. Definitely not done it. Through the corner of his eyes he noticed something red on the bedsheets. Blood? Had he been bleeding? He felt another intense stab of pain go through his head. Immobilizing him on the bed. "Never again.." He muttered lowly. Wondering what he should do now. Just leave before Airil noticed he was up. If she hadn't already. Or if she was sleeping, should leave before she woke up. Leave like a thief in the night. Markus shook his head, which he regretted right away as he felt like his head was being split open again. But no, the girl had probably helped him during the night. Or something. Didn't sound like Airil... Not from what Markus had understood. But he wouldn't just leave without thanking her of some sorts. Markus slowly sat up, trying not to upset his stomach too badly, he would then get up into a standing position. Steady himself before walking around the room to where Airil was sleeping in the chair, he had stop half way across the room, because his headache made it painfully obvious that it was present. Markus sighed when the pain subsided again. He placed a hand on Airil's right shoulder and shook her gently. "Airil?"

[Airil]

Airil was dreaming, or at least she felt like she had to be dreaming. Alleys eventually had ends didn't they, or had she been chased into a labyrinth of alleys? She turned this way and that but no matter how far she ran the alley continued and the sound of feet pursuing her constantly grew closer. If she didn't find a way out, they were going to find her. One more corner, a dead end. She was trapped. A hand landed on her shoulder, shaking her gently at first, but then they took hold of both shoulders and shook her violently before pushing her into a wall. She tried to catch herself and felt a sharp pain in her wrist, but hadn't she already hurt her wrist? The memory teased her, just out of reach, but she had no time to deal with such things. she turned to face her attacker. Markus. He was staring at her with a look of concern. "Airil?" He stepped towards her, his eyes narrowing. "If you want to let your pitiful fear dictate your life, then let it..." His voice held such menace, it didn't seem like the same Markus and she realized that it wasn't. As he approached his features fell into shadow. The dark figure that haunted her dreams drew his knife and smiled. "Plead..." He held the knife up to her face. She could feel her tears begin to fall, and soon her blood would follow. "Stop," the word was whispered to someone in her dream though it came out aloud. It didn't sound like something whispered to someone out of annoyance and a wish to remain asleep. Instead it was full of fear, more like a desperate plea from someone who knew the request was in vain. She twitched in her sleep, her breath coming in shallow gasps. His gently shaking had done nothing to rouse her.

[Markus Andres]

Markus shook Airil lightly again when she didn't respond to his first shake. Then she screamed stop into his face and it startled the young squire. She might just have whispered it, but for his sensitive hangover ears, it sounded like a scream. He jumped back, felt his head split open with pain and his bowels turn inside him. He didn't know if anyone had ever felt as miserable as he did at that moment. He held a hand across his eyes and tried to make the room stop spinning, trying to handle the pain. Trying to get a grip of himself. The scream from Airil had been quite disheartening. He could understand if she wanted to sleep, but really, don't scream like that. He looked at her, and noticed she was still sleeping. Was she having a bad dream? It seemed like it from her facial expression. Markus raised an eyebrow, lowered it again when he felt some pain from his head, this time, from the outside. He put a hand up to his forehead and felt something that could have been a wound. Just what had he been doing last night? But he could worry about that later. He stepped in closer to the Konti again and put an arm on each of her shoulders and shook her a little more firmly now. "Airil, wake up..." He kept his head at around an arms reach away from hers. Not wanting to scare the living shit out of her when she woke up. He shook her firmly again. This reminding him a little too much of that incident in the alley where she had been frozen with fear for no reason. Just what was wrong with this girl? "Airil! Wake up!"

[Airil]

Airil woke with a gasp to find Markus standing over her. Her eyes darted around to find that they were not in an alley but in her room with morning light streaming in. Sleepy confusion clogged her mind as she tried to understand what Markus was doing there, something had happened last night but she couldn't remember what through the last remnants of her dream. Her heart was still racing from them. "What..." She looked up at him, her voice soft with confusion. He winced as if she'd shouted, his hand going to his head and drawing her attention to his wound. Drunk! The night before came back in full force. Now that he was awake and coherent, he'd be able to get himself home. She doubted he would want to hang around long. The thought stopped her. If he had woken before her, why hadn't he just left? She gave him a look filled with confusion. Was something of his missing? Had she done something in her sleep to stop him? Panic filled her as an alternative occurred to her. Her gaze dropped to her hands, but her gloves were still on and her scar wasn't visible, so that hadn't been it either. She looked back up at him, wishing she could ask the question silently since it seemed his head wouldn't take well to it being spoken aloud.