I Just Want to Get Smashed | OPEN

Lainey inexplicably felt a bit calmer as Arael took her hand. Hand-holding was nice. She hadn't really held anyone's hand since... she didn't even remember. Most of the people she'd been with or around recently weren't exactly the hand-holding type.

She allowed herself to be steered to a table, where she plopped down into a chair.

"Frank?" the girl echoed. "Frank is... he's my... I dunno wh't Frank is. Hell, I don' think Frank knows wh't Frank is. He's... he's..." Lainey's voice became very soft, a faint smile pulling at her lips as she thought about the owner of that name. "He's Frank."

Arael sat down next to Lainey, still holding onto her hand. He hid a smile behind his free hand and looked over to her. It was an interesting response she had given, and now he was wondering who Frank was.

Looking over to the intruder, he tilted his head to a free chair, still feeling really, really awkward about this whole situation.

Eli sat down at the table, still glaring at the man. He wasn't on his good side yet.

Hearing Lainey talk like this... she was completely out of control. What had happened to his sister? "You should go home." He didn't like this at all. It was so wrong, "Please. Go home and get some sleep."

"Go home?" Lainey echoed, her laugh sounding more amused, this time. She gestured with her free hand. "I haven't gott'n 'round t' f'rgettin' what I set out t'!" The redhead giggled a bit manically.

"You wan' me t' go home. Alone. Wi' me shiny new knives." She rested her chin in her palm and regarded Eli seriously. "I think it's better I drink meself senseless," she said soberly.

Arael frowned at the turn of the conversation, looking warily between the two. There was obviously something going on that he didn't know about, and right now he was feeling very out of the loop.

Shuffling in his seat, he regarded the two closely as he watched their interaction.

Eli's eyes widened. He immediately understood what she was hinting at. Several times after he was taken from his family, he had tried to do it himself. His shock quickly gave way to frustration, which immediately led to anger.

He lowered his voice and looked her straight in the eyes, saying with as much gravity as he could manage, "I don't like how you're treating yourself, Elaine. None of what you're doing makes sense," he gestured to Arael, "Picking up random guys at bars, drinking 'till you can barely function, purposefully hurting yourself. You can't keep living like this."

Eli ran his hand through his hair, "If I had known that THIS is what you'd come to."

Lainey pulled her hand from Arael's so that she could lean on the table with both arms. She unflinchingly met his gaze.

"How I 'treat' meself isn't f'r ye t' like. Furthermore, ye don' know me enough t' know whether what I do makes sense," she informed him. "Random guys? Blue Eyes - how vere rude 'f me. This's me brother I haven' seen since I wis nine. Probably. Eli, this's Arael, an' I wis doin' him th' great service 'f teachin' him a thing or two."

Lainey rose angrily from her seat, slapping her palms down on the tabletop. "If you'd 've known, then what? Ye wouldn't 've told me ye were me brother?" She swayed slightly, tipsy from the alcohol she had consumed. "Or would ye'd 've come back sooner? Maybe 've been bothered t' find out why th' little sister who idolized ye never sent ye a single letter?

"I," the redhead declared snidely, "am a fucked up person, Eli. This's what I am! An' it's no thanks t' people of yer sort who kidnap a little girl an' lock her in a room f'r two years cos they don' understand what she can do." Her expression crumpled and she began to cry, leaning against the table.

"Everethin' I do is t' keep goin', best I know how. You don't know a damn thing about what I am. Ye 've no right t' judge me."

Arael looked between the two, biting his bottom lip in worry. The feeling just increased when he felt the anger building up and flinched slightly. When Lainey began to cry, he moved his chair closer and wrapped an arm around her, glaring at the other guy.

"I think," He said softly "It would be a good time for you to shut up, sir," Turning back to Lainey, he started muttering to her, trying to sooth her and calm her down. "It's okay, there's no need to cry," He told her, feeling slightly out of league here. "We can leave if you want to." He finally offered.

Once again, Eli found himself temporarily speechless. He was shocked and outraged and terrified for his sister, yet there was still that underlying tone of pure joy that she was here, talking to him. Albeit she was angry and depressed, not to mention she probably hated his guts. But she was alive, and that was enough to keep him from leaving.

It was not enough however, to keep him from glaring fiercely at both of them. His eyes lit up with a new rush of anger, "I didn't bother," he couldn't believe she was being so self-absorbed, "Because I was so sure, I was POSITIVE, that you and everyone I loved had stopped caring about me! And you know what? I was right!" Deep down he knew that he wasn't, but it still made the most sense to him. It was the only thing that explained her behavior.

"My kind? My kind? What about YOU'RE kind? The kind that tortures their own children because they're different, and everyone knows, God hates people who are different!" She wasn't the only victim. She wasn't the one who spent twelve years all alone because everyone she had loved hated her, all for some stupid ability. But he had embraced it, instead of shunning it. He had embraced everything that his parents couldn't love him for.

Then, the man started to comfort her in a way Eli knew he never could. He realized that he could never get back the Lainey he had known before. Their relationship had gone to the dogs. This fighting and pain was all he was ever going to get. His eyes began to well up as he realized that his sister really was dead. "No," he turned his head to the man, his voice thick with tears, "No I'll leave. You guys continue doing... whatever you were doing." He looked back at Elaine, something that caused him almost more pain than he could handle, "I'm sorry. I'll try to stay out of your life from now on. This is the last you'll see of me."

Eli turned around and walked out the door, but not before handing his business card to the bartender, saying, "Give that to the redhead over there before she leaves. Thanks," the bartender nodded. It had the address of the Cauldron on there, just in case.

"Well, ye clearle didn't know yer sister at all, then!" Lainey snarled. "Cos her entire world revolved around you!

"Yes, yer kind - though, ye might 've noticed, I wisn't th' one who jist lumped 'em altogether."

The redhead glared at him, eyes glistening with tears. "Oh, jist go screw yerself, Eli. I'm tired 'f talkin' t' ye," she retorted.

Lainey sank back down into her chair, allowing Arael to wrap an arm about her shoulder and pull her closer. She didn't even look up at Eli as he left. For a minute or two, she simply sat there, tears streaking her face. Then, she turned, hitting Arael's shoulder with a fist, though there was no force behind the blow.

"Why d' ye exist?" Lainey murmured, the words further warped by her tears. "If y' weren' real... if magic weren' real... None 'f this would 've happened. It's ruined everethin'." The table shuddered.

"Everethin'," she echoed, voice starting soft and growing in volume with each repeat. "Everethin'." The light above the table rattled. "Everethin'!" As her voice rose in an anguished shriek, the bottles behind the bar burst, alcohol and shards of glass cascading to the floor like a very brief waterfall as the magic that had temporarily become hers from her contact with Arael acted in response to her upset.