As Good As I Once Was

"And stay out, you bloody drunkard!"

The man, intoxicated beyond belief, barely noticed as he skidded across the hard cement, the skin on his hands tearing as he used them to brace himself. It was was merical, quite honestly, that he had been sober enough to think to do that. Most days when he was thrown out, he was too far gone to hold himself, and allowed his face, chin of cheek to scrap across the ground.

It did not matter anyways - not this time, his werewolf blood would heal it soon enough.

No, this was not the first time Tyler Marks had been thrown out of a bar, or club. But this was the first time in a long time. He had been doing so good at staying away.

But tonight...

He had to go tonight - it was the night they had all gone. It didn't matter how long he had been sober. Ty simply could not handle the memory, the pain that came with this day without the aid of his old friend.

Alcohol.

He could not remember a year that this day had passed that he had been completely sober. It was the day he had started drinking - it was the day he could never handle. No matter how many days he lived, no matter if Rebecca turned out to be fine... no matter what.

He couldn't handle the day his parents died; the day his life died. The day he became an orphan.

The Gryffindor walked by, not quite sure how she had found herself back in the UK so quickly. She didn't like being here one bit. All the girl wanted was to keep traveling. Maybe she'd do that when she finished school. Looking over she saw Tyler on the ground. She winced slightly at a glimpse of his hands.

She stooped over next to him instead of giving a sorry smile and continuing on her way. "You okay?" Hollie's face seemed as concerned as a stranger could be. She gave a warm smile and began to reach for her wand. No magic outside of school, she stopped and sighed, and certainly not in front of a muggle. "I can help you," she gave a warm smile, "You know, if you want." She always had a few wraps and neosporin in her bag because she had fallen a few times the past month. Bloody experiences, she had a large cut on the side of her arm because of one fall.

She sat down next to him and raised an eyebrow. Strange how a stranger can make a person's day. She had no idea why she was doing this. She didn't even know his name. Why not drop her own name now?

"I'm Hollie."

Her voice seemed soft and calm. Almost innocent. No, she was far from innocent even though she always seemed like she was. She had watched her father die in front of her own eyes. Her own mother attacked her and kept her out of the house most days. That was really the only reason she was out. She needed to stay out of the house all day. The Gryffindor had also come back for her job. Too bad she still had one more day off. She had already memorized every street several times. Hollie gave another smile despite the thoughts running through her head.

Ty groaned for a moment; he didn't feel like moving. The ground was nice - maybe he'd just stay there. There was nice.

His head snapped up however when he heard a voice, a goofy grin crossed his face, eyes dancing.

"Hey there," he drawled, his southern accent thicker than it would have been even an hour before, "Who are yeah? I ammmm Tyler Jackson Marks - My ma was Sarah Margret Mark, but she dead, and my Pa was Frank Gordon Mark but he dead to, and my sist-ah was Rebecca Claire Marks and I thought she were dead, but she ain't dead - but she ain't around either, she had thangs ta do."

He nodded his head, and looked at his hands, surprised to find the cuts on there, but they weren't as bad as they had been only moments before. The edges where the cuts were the shallowest were already scabbing over.

"I ain't gunna be hurt long," he nodded his head. "Cause yeah know I'm a-I'm a- but I don't heal as fast as Rhysie, Rhysie can't get hurt at all only... Rhysies not really Rhysie... he's Toby but he don't like Toby so I gotta call him Rhysie, which I think is funny, don't yeah?"

He blinked at the girl, her name already forgotten, but his wide smile as friendly and open as if he'd known her his whole life.

It didn't even weaken as he caught a shadow stomping down the street.

She rolled her eyes and connected her hand to her forehead. Drunk. Exactly what Tyler Marks was.

Of course she had seen him getting thrown out of the bar. He could've just been in a completely sober bar fight. Not likely, though. She had half her mind wanting to just stand up and walk away, while the other half felt she should stay. Make sure he's actually okay.

Hollie shook her head, "That's horrible!" The Gryffindor decided to try out the dialect a bit, "Losing your ma and pa? I've lost mine... Well, not my ma but it seems like it sometimes." The girl had no idea why she was telling him this. He was probably drunk enough to not remember it anyway.

She blinked and took one of his hands gingerly. "What are you? I didn't hear you," she began, examining his hand as it slowly healed, then continued, "And who the hell is Rhysie– er, Toby, or whatever you like to call him?" She had to smile back. He seemed nice, when he was drunk anyway. Hollie was deciding whether she liked his accent or not. There was something about it that seemed enchanting, to her at least. She hoped he wouldn't remember this conversation. She might end up raging about her life, which never ended up so well. Maybe she'd go inside and get him a beer if he wanted her to. She'd settle on a glass of wine, though.

The Gryffindor shook her head, realizing she was still holding his hand. She quickly let go, a light blush across her face. If she ignored anything else, everything would ignore her.

Of all the days to go and get himself thrown out of a bar, it had to be a Wednesday didn't it? It wasn't that she wouldn't have cared otherwise, had it been a Thursday, or a Monday, or a Saturday, or that she wouldn't have ripped him a new one once she'd gotten him home. The fact was that Wednesday was sacred, and defacing it was something that made Karma take the step from angry concerned friend to pissed off dictator.

Shouldering her way past the other girl, the Slytherin hip checked her out of the way hard enough to send her sprawling toward the ground, not noticing the accidental overuse of her strength nor deigning to look in the other girl's direction. Karma kneeled beside the boy, taking his hands in hers and looking down at his palms. "Tyler." She said, her voice clipped and dangerously emotionless. "Why are you on the ground?" She pretended as if she couldn't smell the booze hanging around him like a thick cloud, and as if she hadn't known the only reason why he wouldn't have been home. His barcrawl had been easy enough to track.

Taking his chin in her hand, she gently guided his head until he was looking directly at her, pulling him away from whatever distraction had caught his fancy. Silently, she stared deep into his eyes, her own dilating slightly as she took him in. The haze of alcohol was evident even there, in the way his eyes twitched to focus elsewhere, and could barely stand to keep focused on her.

Cutting off whatever statement he had been saying, she narrowed her eyes at him, her hold on his face tightening slightly. Her voice was low and dangerous as she growled her next words, the statement of fact sliding through her lips infinately more disgusted than any other thing she'd ever said to the boy before. It was all right there, the anger, betrayal, fury, disgust, all in those two little words.

"You're drunk."

Ty blinked at the girl, shrugging a bit at her comment, his mind already forgetting that he did in fact agree with her. But then again, that was the point of getting drunk wasn't it? It became significantly harder to dwell on the pain.

"It ain't so bad, af-ter awhile; yeah sortaaa," he trailed off again as he was looking at the cars passing by on the street.

"Rhysie's meh, meh.... Rhysie's meh Toby," he nodded his head, as if that made perfect sense, even thought it in fact did not make any sense to anyone except himself, and perhaps had he been there, Rhys himself might have been able to follow his logic.

Any further explaination he might have made was cut off as the stombing shadow came close enough for him to recongize a face.

"KARMZY!" He beamed, only to frown as she pushed his new "friend" "Hey! Karmzy, she were nice, that not ver-ay nice of yeah."

He frown at her question, looking down, a surprised look crossing his face as if he just noticed he was in fact on the ground. The frown deepened as his eyes filled with drunken confusion. "I ain't know... I was- I was...." he looked over at her, "Why 'm on th' g'ound Karmzy?"

Another car flew by the street and he got distracted watching it, his eyes flowing it, as he began to make soft "Zoom" sounds under his breath. The Zooms slowly died though as his gaze was dragged back to the girl.

His gaze went wide eyed and childish as he looked back at her stern - no not ster, angry one. It was true his drunken brain didn't recognize the complete strength of the emotion she was showing, but it did recognize that he had seem to have gotten himself in trouble.

"Nooo, I ain't-I ain't drunk karmzy," he tried to shake his head but her grip stopped him. "I'm just-just... I'm just-just... I wannaa forget Karmzy? Ain't I allowed ta forget?"

She was about to reply to the boy when she was shoved to the side. Biting her lip, the Gryffindor tasted a warm liquid in her mouth which was clearly her iron-rich blood. She sucked her lip until the bleeding stopped, just like she did when she was little.

Her arms were scraped up, but not enough to draw blood. She'd already had enough of that the past few weeks. She rubbed her arm and bit her tongue to keep herself from saying any snide remarks. She was about to yell, "That really wasn't very nice," but decided against it. She didn't want to get hurt anymore.

Still she thought the girl seemed familiar though she wasn't quite sure where. She'd see her there if "Karmzy" did go to Hogwarts.

Hollie coughed, "Should I be leaving now?" She probably should. She gave Tyler a sorry look as if she had summoned Karma here. She looked to Karma and shook her head before beginning to walk off. "Adieu mon petit homme ivre et l'agresseur," she said over her shoulder, hoping neither of them spoke French. She had just called Tyler a little, drunken man and Karma her assailant. That might not turn out well if they actually understood her.

She rounded the corner quickly, now out of sight as she began her trek to Diagon Alley.

"I'm not in a nice-y mood, Ty." She snapped, narrowing her eyes further. She let go of his face, standing for the briefest moment and glaring down at him before her anger was transferred to the girl. An abuser huh? She wanted an abuser? Karma would be thrilled to comply...

She almost did, but the boy on the ground stopped her. No matter how angry she was with the drunk, the fact that he was her drunk was something that stopped her from leaving him - even for the brief amount of time it would take to rip the girl to shreds and drain her of her blood.

"Vous n'avez pas vu encore l'abus, attendez que je vous trouve ici sans lui!" She snarled after the girl's retreating figure. That girl better hope she went to the farthest school from Karma, and if they both happened to go to Hogwarts, that they had absolutely no classes where there wasn't someone to stop her.

Turning back to Tyty, she offered him her hand, ready to hoist the boy to his feet. "Come on, you big lug. Since neither of us seem to know why you're down there, you might as well get up." Her anger had simmered to a slow fury, but the rest of her was just- tired. It was evident in the way her shoulders slumped as her bones all seemed to gain a few tons. "Up you go."

Ty frowned as he gave her his hand and allowed her to pull him up. He stubbled a moment before gaining his balance and grinning like a child being given a prize.

"See Karmzy!! I ain't that drunk," he nodded his head, ignoring the way it swam quite easily. "I'm only a little drunk."

He frowned down at this hands for a moment, the edges which were continuing to scab were were starting to get itchy. Tiling his head, he brought the palm up to his face, sniffing it for a second, and then licking it. He pulled a face after he had done so.

Looking down at his hand for another moment, he glanced up at Karma, his eyes bright and innocent as he pouted at her, and through his arms around her shoulders.

"I'm sorrrryyy Karmzy. Don't be maaaad at meeeeeee?"

Karma wrinkled her nose as he licked his hands, looking away from the boy as she debated the fastest way to get him home. He probably hadn't driven here - Tyty was responsible enough not to even consider driving when he knew he'd be drinking, and this stank of premeditation - and walking the blocks back to his house would be... a pain. A real pain.

Perhaps a tax-

Her thoughts were scattered as he threw himself at her, causing the girl to stumble backward in surprise, though she caught her balance. She growled slightly, trying to maintain the anger at his drunken stupor, only to find herself wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning into him. "....You're getting it when you're sober." She muttered, resting her forehead against his shoulder for a brief second as her hold on him tightened. Her body relaxed involuntarily, snuggling into the boy as she closed her eyes and sighed.

"Let's get you home, Tyty."

"Sssoorrrry," he mumbled again, distracted from her anger this time by the street. It was odd how facnicating hte physics of a moving vehicle was becoming to him - especially when he could barely care in his sober hours.

Still at her meantion of home, he perked up and bounced on the balls of his feet like an excited puppy. If he had had a tail at this moment, he certainly would have been wagging it.

"I waaannaaa go hommee. I wanna-wanna-waannaaaaaa...."

"Alright, Alright." She said, pulling out of his arms slightly to avoid his bouncing. "Let me... get us a ride..."