Happy Hour ((Lorki))

[Maxodis]

Trees shouldn't sway like that... must be... must be drunker than I thought.

To the creature stumbling through Mossflower woods in the failing light, to have completed such a coherent thought in his current state was both a victory and a failure. Considering the startling amount of alcohol that had passed his lips that early evening it was a victory that he could still think, much less put one paw in front of the other and not fall. Yet at the same time it was a failure, as his original intent was to drink until he could not think straight, and then some. So in celebration of victory and acceptance of failure, the ferret reached into his coat for the nearest flask of vodka, his claws fumbling at length in his attempts to securely grasp it in his paw. Stopping for a moment(but failing to remain still, stumbling a few steps one way and then the other as the world spun), he tipped the vessel back, taking a hefty swig from the powerful smelling liquid.

He coughed as he returned the flask(with no small amount of difficulty) back to its rightful place, a mixture of rising bile and the harsh fumes of the potent alcohol burning their way back up his throat. Such violent natural reactions disrupted his already woeful coordination, and the ferret lost his balance altogether, falling over into the undergrowth with the rattle of branches of a soft Oof.

It had been a long time since the alcoholic had been this inebriated. He almost couldn't remember why he'd resolved to drink himself senseless to begin with. He could still remember his name.... sort of....

Splayed out in the brush, an expression of confused concentration attempting to make itself predominant on his features, the severely drunken ferret mumbled incoherently to himself as he pondered his name.

[lorki]

The decision had been made as soon as she had stepped out the the gate that moment. It had come on suddenly, there had been no real thought put into it. She would stay out for some time, a night... even perhaps a few days outside of the Abbey would do her some good. She'd done too much wondering for a purpose, a purpose that still sat heavy in her gut when she thought about it, she desired to just walk for awhile- pointless, lost. Soko had gone out that day with no intention to return that evening.

As the day wore on she'd done many idle things. She's sat buy a pond, balanced small pebbles on one another until she formed a careful tower, eaten the scones from her pack, attempted to start a fire. It had been enjoyable, to sit alone and focus on small tasks, there was no larger problem or worries to drag down her thoughts. Now she walked near the river, the sparse forest around her let in a good amount of light still and she didn't feel pressured to find a place to settle for the night just yet.

She'd spent the day alone, she had failed to even encounter another beast. She'd enjoyed the silence and the stillness. However, this was broken by a rustling noise. The sable stopped, her ears perked forward and her head tilted towards the noise. It came again and this time was followed by a more harsh crashing noise.

Curiosity gripped her and, taking small quite steps, she moved towards the source of the noise. she approached a large shrub and peered over it, cautious and concerned. What she saw took a moment to register. Shock gripped as she stared down at Vsevolod, "Oh... Oh my..." was the only strangled words that managed to escape her.

[Maxodis]

The sable's reaction was more than justified. The last time she had laid eyes on Vsevolod, he was still a figure of pride, driven by a purpose with an exceptional amount of strength to back it, not to mention clean("Neet und tidy", as the words sounded when spoken by his long-dead father and his heavy accent). The creature laying awkwardly in the dense undergrowth, unaware that he had fallen since he'd last checked, was none of these things. The creature laying awkwardly in the undergrowth was far too preoccupied trying to remember his name.

"Vzzzzz....vzzzzzzz" His brow stiffened partially in concentration as he clung to the only part of his name he was absolutely certain of. Well... mostly certain of. It... was his name right, the one he was trying to remember? Of course it was, had to be. There were no other creatures around to be named, and he wasn't about to name the stinkin' trees. The process of making the 'Vs' sound put the ferret's tongue right up against his teeth, an action far too close to sticking his tongue out and making a 'Pbbbbbbbbbt' sound instead. He indulged. Shamelessly.

The act sent him into a wild bout of drunken laughter. This sort of laughter is quite unlike any other in that once initiated, more often than not it takes physical influence to make it stop. Thus howling helplessly, he writhed in the underbrush, his paws held firmly to his sides in a natural reaction to the burning sensation caused from excessive laughter. Rolling back over to his right side, he found something sharp poking up through the ground and stabbing him in the back uncomfortably. His laughter quickly degenerated into the clear indication of pain, sounding more like "Owowowowowooow..." as his ability to separate similar words had long since left him.

He decided with an unusual degree of certainty that it was time to get up, and pushed himself unsteadily back up to his forearms, reaching out with one to grab at the nearest tree. It took him a moment, but he froze as his calloused right paw closed around the "tree". It didn't matter how drunk he got, trees never wore clothing. And they didn't feel warm either. It was then, and only then, that Vsevolod Petrenko realized that he was in the company of another, and glanced up into the face of the creature he'd saved that snowy winter day. Unable to remember his own name, it was unsurprising that he couldn't recognize her at all.

This night, the drinking had brought about successful results.

[lorki]

The twisted look of intense surprise did not dissolve quickly from the sables face. In fact it seems to grow only more stupefied as the ferret gurgled bits of his name and rolled around on the forest floor. Her reaction had very little to do with the fact that he was so drunk he probably didn't even know what species he was. In fact, his intoxication hardly phased her as she stared down at him. No, Vsevolod could have been floating down the river in a jesters costume or donning a habit and she would react in quite the same manner. It was the fact that he was merely alive, breathing, heart pumping alcoholic blood through his veins. He was blinking and making noises, no matter how inaudible.

As the ferret inched towards her, reached out to grab her leg and finally realized her presence she didn't move at all. Her body was rigid, eyes locked, her face held still an expression of astonishment. He stared up at her in a drunken daze, she could see no spark of recognition in his eyes, no sudden surprise. Part of her felt relief, part of her said run. He was alive and she could always take solace in the fact that her actions had not lead to his death. She could turn away and flee into the woods and never face him, never tell him she lead an attack on his home.

But something harsh and strong held her there. She felt an undeniable loyalty to him, in a twisted and difficult to comprehend way, she and him held the same ideals. There was no right way to be, no right place to be. She couldn't turn and leave him there, not after she'd mourned for him so much, thought about him so long, sat in his room and tossed the memory of him around in her head. She'd witnessed first hand the cruelty of the vermin horde under N'tashi, but there was no denying the cruelty of the woodlanders. Staring at him, drunk, delirious and pathetic, this fact was finally cemented in her mind.

She leaned down and offered him a paw, "I thought you were too drunk and reckless to still be alive."

[Maxodis]

"I thought you were too drunk and reckless to still be alive."

It took several seconds for the words to register in Vsevolod's mind as he stared at the speaker. He'd heard them, certainly, but they simply didn't make any sense. She spoke as if she knew him... and yet her face was blissfully unfamiliar to his heavily intoxicated mind. His drunken grin turned apologetic, the vague fumes of alcohol drifting lazily up to her still fresh on his breath. A slow thought occurred to him as he reached out to take her paw, missing a few times in the process. She spoke as if she knew him, a possibility that was more than plausible considering how groggily his mind swam through the ocean of vodka he had sumberged it in. Perhaps she could help him figure out what his name was.

Finally making contact with her arm, he did not immediately clasp it. Rather, he gingerly(With a soft giggle, finding some inexplainable humor in the action) drew his claws through her fur, timidly at first, as if preparing to feel nothing but air and evaporate her wavering apparition. Yet she was indeed solid. He released his tenative grip on her leg(which was also rather solid, come to think of it), and took her paw in his own. "Drrrunk...?" He questioned, frowning slightly when the word came out longer than he had anticipated. "I.. I donno vhat yer...." He paused then, focusing on making his legs work their way into an awkward kneeling position. "Vhat yer... Vhat I... Er...." His brow scrunched up in that partially slack way that only copious amounts of alcohol can lead a creature to achieve as he tried to regain his train of thought.

He was silent for several minutes, swaying almost rhymically as the world happily tilted around on an axis, paws clasped around her offered paw as he knelt before her like a creature about to confess something profound. Then he seemed to remember her, or to be more specific, rediscover her existence. Blinking once, his expression shifted from absent surprise to that same blissfully drunken grin. "Hiiiiiiiii...."

[lorki]

A weak smile broke over Soko's face as the ferret reached for her arm. her heart drummed away, fast paced and panicked, but her expression appeared calmly happy. Drunk of not, sane or not, it didn't matter much to her. She hadn't sentenced her savior to death and the realization of this had lifted much of the guilt off of her... but still, here he was, she had done nothing to help him.

"I.. I donno vhat yer...." He paused then, focusing on making his legs work their way into an awkward kneeling position. "Vhat yer... Vhat I... Er...."

The sable let out a small sigh... she would need to figure out a way to sober him up. As he clasped her paw and greeted her once more she dropped down to kneel as well, facing him on the same level. "Listen," she said, her free paw going to shuffle through her bag, "eat this, would you?" She produced a scone and shoved it towards him. "I'll be right back, I promise." And with that she pried her paw from his grip.

She stood and backed away, her ears tuning towards the sound of a stream near by, on its way to feed the River Moss. "Eat," she commanded once form, shooting a stern look towards the ferret before she turned to rush towards the running water. She produced a corked bottle, empty of the water it had held. She tore the cork away with her teeth and knelt to plunge the bottle beneath the surface of the stream. One it was full she returned her her drunken ferret friend.

"I'm back," she said shortly as she appeared before the drunk ferret once more, "and I'm awfully sorry..." With that she proceeded to turn the bottle upside down and empty it's chilly contents onto the ferret.

[Maxodis]

"Listen, eat this, would you? I'll be right back, I promise."

The ferret was holding onto her paw more for balance than anything else, and her abrupt removal of his tether to stability left him leaning dangerously to the side. Miraculously enough, Vsevolod did manage to acquire and maintain a stable grip on the strange object she had thrust into his clumsy paws in absence of her own. Even more remarkably, his balance kicked to life, if only briefly, but enough to bring him securely back to a sitting position. Two such occurrences could only mean one thing: He was starting to sober up. This brought a frown to his face as he closed his teeth on the small, hard object she had provided him with, missing his mouth once or twice before succeeding(Very hard to aim when what should be one paw multiplies into three dancing happily around in a fashion that does not make any cognitive sense). Attempting to take a bite out of the supposed scone deepened this expression and brought forth a grumble of protest.

"Eat,"

He peered at the trio of her wavy images as they swam awkwardly across his vision and then down at the slightly gray 'scone' in his paw. When he looked back up at her to ask her how he was supposed to eat a rock, she had vanished, though oddly the other two images of her were still prancing about. He sat back with a huff of bewilderment and a slight hiccup, trying to make sense of the strange creature's request. Reaching into his soiled overcloak, he withdrew a small metal flask, popping the top and tipping it back. Alcohol was always better to have when making sense of nonsense.

She came back to find him scarcely a few minutes later building an invisible fire with the scone that he had decided was actually flint. The sad pile of sticks before him were all perfectly placed to his inebriated mind, and cheerfully spewing forth the most brilliant display of fire he had ever seen. Hearing her approach, he lifted one of the twigs to show her the pretty purple fire when the water hit him.

For a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity he went into utter shock. He felt every muscle in his body lock up before that feeling faded, his mind derailed to a solid halt, and time itself seemed to freeze. Fully aware of all this, and yet at the same time afflicted, Vsevolod Petrenko found himself mesmerized.

A single word flashed across his existence.

cold

Scarcely as it passed, it was followed by three others, then those by another twenty, each feeling louder in volume and size until cold was all that existed. As soon as it had occurred the lock on the universe passed and he found himself curled up tightly into a ball, his face buried in his cloak. It took him several seconds to realize that he was alternatively cursing and screaming the word without being aware.

[lorki]

"Yes, my friend, I knew it could be." The sable spoke grimly as the ferret shrieked for some time about the cold. She wished she knew of a better way to quickly sober a beast up, but cold water and bready foods were the only things she had to aid the situation. She was eager for Vsevolod to recognize her, he could not possibly know the guilt and uncertainty that had plagued her. She'd made a choice, but never had she thought it to be the right one. She needed to apologize, to throw her sins at him just as he had done to her. But she could not do it when there was little chance he would remember it in a few hours.

After a few moments she bent down, "Come on now, that's enough. Perhaps you aren't that gruff, steely ferret I knew after all, eh? C'mon now, up." She reached out and tugged him towards her, attempting to roll him out of his fetal position. Although she knew it would do very little good she began dragging him forward by his shoulders and trying ti sit him upright. However, Soko was hardly strong enough to wield her sword effectively and while she threw all her weight into balancing the ferret upright, it was an endeavor fraught with clumsiness and mild frustration, "Vsevolod... damn it... ge' up."

[Maxodis]

"Vsevolod... damn it... ge' up."

Despite the sable's best efforts, Vsevolod refused to budge. At best she managed to roll the shivering, babbling ferret from one side to the other. Within his shocked mind, the unexpected movement not only made absolutely no sense, but was deeply frightening. He curled into a tighter ball, his weapons sticking out at odd angles and causing him to look somewhat like a furry barb.

It was easily a solid minute before he quieted down and went still, save for the slight trembling. The water had soaked through his clothes and down to his fur, but the initial chill was quickly fading. He spasmed, abruptly uncurling and managing to put all of his paws between him and the rapidly shifting earth. "Сумасшедший сука," He snarled, his ears flattening against his skull. "Wherza one who sho... showuh... shower... schplashed me in ice water? I'll.... I'll-" He struggled to his footpaws as he ranted, his eyes snapping around in search of the subject of his ire, entirely missing Soko sitting right behind him. He was cut off as the world conspired against him, tipping abruptly to the right. He leaned to the left and went down hard, crashing heavily into more previously undisturbed brush.

Stunned for a few moments, his movements were slow as he rolled over to his side and glanced around in bewilderment. His eyes found Soko once more, but alas, not before he forgot about her once more. The familiar drunken grin spread over his features as he waved amicably at her.

((Bleh.))