Eighteen Candles[Castle Lillian, Elrick]

[Castle]

Was it bad that Castle felt little to no surprise as he watched Emi wreck her hands against the wall? Was it worse that he did nothing to stop her? He just observed, speechless, as she damaged her knuckles, and probably her feet, too, on the side of the building before eventually sinking down beside it. He wondered before what he could do to help her, but now, his mind was just blank, save for the acknowledgment that he'd come out too late and that "Jericho" had done his thing and left.

"Emi..." he began, but ended up shifting his weight from one foot to the other and sighing.

What the heck was he supposed to say to this? She obviously wasn't okay, but what could he do about it? He wouldn't admit it, but it was frustrating, and he was doing his best not to let his anger show. He thought he was angry at Jericho for messing up an already messed up day for her, but there was more to it than that, something that he didn't bother to try and pinpoint. It didn't even matter. He was going to kill that bastard the next time he saw him.

Finally, he approached her, stopping a few feet from where she was seated.
"Yeah. Let's go back in. Lillian and that other guy are probably wondering where we went," he said, and then added as an afterthought, "How bad are your hands? Anything broken?"

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Stupid questions get a stupid answer.
--

Emi got to her feet. Looked at her hands. Shrugged. It didn't hurt as bad as it should have so she answered "Just some scrapes. Nothing's broken.[/color]" To demonstrate, she wiggled her fingers.

They walked back into the bar and Emi once again excused herself. "Go back to the table with Lillian and that new guy,[/color]" she told him. "I'm going to go wash up. If they ask any questions, tell him it was an accident. Tell them I fell while we were looking for Arc.[/color]"

She started directly in Castle's eyes when she said that, hoping to get the point across. She blinked, broke eye contact and walked off to the bathroom to wash her bloody hands. It wasn't until she had her hands under the freezing, weak stream of water that they began to sting. She took a sharp breath through her teeth and stared at the injuries. Perfect, she thought. It's alright. At least it's my hands and not Castle's face. Besides...

She walked back out to the table, picking her way around the various tables and people until she had reached her group. With her eyes downcast, Emi slid back into her chair. She knew that Lillian and Elrick must have their suspicions and she hoped Castle had kept his mouth shut. If they knew, they would probably try to help her and that's not want she wanted.

She flagged down a waitress. "I'll have what he's having,[/color]" she said, pointing to Elrick. She didn't even care what he was having. He looked liked he knew what he was doing though, and her heart just wasn't in actually deciding something for herself. "And lots of it... because it's my birthday.[/color]"

[Castle]

Castle stared back steadily when she made eye contact. He would've gotten the point anyway, but if she felt she needed to do that, then whatever. He watched her walk away, as if to make sure she was actually going where she said she would, and then went back to the table they'd been at before. Lillian and Elrick were still there.

"Sorry about that," he said cooly as he reclaimed his seat, "Thought I saw someone, but it was a false alarm. Oh, and Emi fell down while she was looking for her friend, so she's washing her hands now. She didn't find him, either."

There. He covered up the truth like it was nothing, for Emi's sake. He guessed she didn't want to deal with too many people worrying about her. There was no need to stress her out any more today. He even felt less guilty about letting her get as drunk as she wanted to be. If that was how she had to make herself feel better, then he couldn't stop her.

Wow, that only sounds as unhealthy as hellfire, Castle thought with grim amusement. Maybe he needed to re-evaluate his sense of "right" and "wrong." Or not.

[Lagunamov]

I'll stop before I start seeing three of you. Because, no offense, three of you would be two too many.

[/i][/center]

Left alone with Lillian, something to which he had grown accustomed as of late, Elrick only did what was sensible at that time: other another drink, more of the same. “I can haul my own ass back to the ship, don’t worry,” he snarked back at her, taking a moment then to tell the same waitress to bring him another glass. Once she left to get the drink, he leaned back on his chair as started to eat some of the clean-peanuts. He might as well use them to get the alcohol to slow down from reaching his blood stream.

“I might have to crash at your ship though. If only to keep myself from piloting under the influence. You never know how these things can end,” he half heartedly teased Lillian, his second glass coming only seconds later. It wasn’t long after that the other two came back to the table, from wherever the hell they had gone off to. It wasn’t exactly his business, and he wasn’t about to start poking now. Hell, he hadn’t even start to wonder why Emi had her hands hurt until after Castle brought that up. He simply thought he might have missed that detail before.

“I hope you are not a light weight, cause this thing hits hard,” he warned Emi after seeing her order the same drink he was having. At this rate, both their companions would be helping them walk back to their respective places… or leaving them passed out at the bar until thrown out.

[Fate]

This is Going to be Fun

Yeah, she was going to have to drag him out of here; she could just tell. She'd have to remember to go find a cart because she was not doing this manually. And she might as well have fun with this.

Eventually, the other two came back inside. Castle explained that Emi fell and she was washing her hands because of it and he thought he'd seen someone or something. Lillian didn't really believe what he was saying, but she wasn't exactly going to say that. It was time for some celebration, no hostility and stuff. Judging by how Emi was acting though, she was still in the same mood as she was before and poor Castle was going to have to drag her out too. Could he even do that? He was, like, a foot shorter than her. She should probably grab an extra cart just in case...

"I think I'll let you pilot," she said to Elrick, "Then you can choose the next place we visit by crashing into it. That works out well for me." She drank what was left and put the empty bottle on the table. That would probably be it for the night; one of them here needed to be able to pilot and that was clearly her job. She then turned to Castle, who had been pretty quiet comparatively speaking. Then again, he didn't seem to fit in with this atmosphere.

"You all right?" she asked, attempting to make conversation.

[/size]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I will now proceed to drink until the room spins.
--

"That's kind of the idea,[/color]" Emi said, just as the waitress came by with their drinks- at least the first round. After drinking it all, she sighed and said "Don't worry about me, I can handle myself.[/color]"

At least, she thought she could. After a couple of whatever it was she was drinking though, she was having second thoughts. She found herself face down on the table, complaining about how hot it was in the place but not really getting the point across as she was unable to make intelligible sentences. How much had she had to drink? She didn't remember. She barely remembered coming into the place and the whole thing with Jericho? Merely an annoying uncomfortable feeling in the back of her mind.

So it seemed her little plan had worked. Her mind was completely dulled by the alcohol and for the moment she couldn't keep her mind on track long enough to think about Kei, or Jericho or any of the other things that kept her up at night. Or anything else actually.

She sat up. "Castle,[/color]" she slurred, resting her face on her hand. That was Castle right, with the purple hair? Who were these other two people? Where were they again? "I think...we should probably l-... leave.[/color]"

What day was it? She got a feeling this was a pretty important day. It didn't matter because the room was spinning around her. "Shit... what was in those things?[/color]" She didn't care. It got the job done, and that's all that mattered.

[Castle]

Castle smirked when Lillian asked him if he was all right. "You're asking me that?" he said, referring of course to the two people who were ready and willing to become very drunk. Well, he was mostly thinking of Emi, who was by far in the worst state of any of them. Castle was absolutely fine, except for the remaining traces of anger that just refused to go away. He actually considered trying a drink to calm himself down, but decided against it, not only because of the usual reason, but because he didn't really feel like eating or drinking anything at all.

He didn't start to question whether being excessively drunk was an improvement for Emi or not until it was too late. He watched with growing unease as she slowly drank herself onto the table, which, he supposed, was better than drinking herself under it. It was kind of a relief when she suggested that they leave. Heck, he was glad he could even understand her at this point.

"Yeah... I think leaving's a good idea," he said. Going on the assumption that she probably couldn't walk straight anymore, he left his chair and went over to help her up.

"It was good seeing you again, Lillian, but I think I should get her to a safe place before she hurts herself," he joked weakly.

[Fate]

Now to Study the Physics of a Cart...

Castle seemed fine, even going so far as to joke about their two friends that were about to get wasted. And that's exactly what happened. Emi got it worse than Elrick, but Lillian was pretty much expecting that. Almost everything she said soon became unintelligible and the others really had no idea what she was saying. Something about heat or something. Either way, she soon decided that it was time for her and Castle to leave, which was probably a good idea. She'd have to deal with a fun hangover in the morning and she might as well not make it worse for herself.

"Good to see you guys too," she replied, "Be safe, don't crash, and happy birthday again Emi." Now that she was thinking about it, she probably should get Elrick out of here too. They couldn't stay here all night and he was going to have his own hangover to deal with tomorrow. And she was going to have to be the kind soul that would help him through it and not let him crash his ship. Next time this happened, if it did, she was just going to let him wreck his ship.

"Okay, you stay right there and I'll be right back," she told Elrick, pointing at him as she said this. She then went outside for a few minutes, leaving Elrick in the bar by himself. She came back inside with a cart and a grin on her face. It was better not to ask where she got it from, but she wouldn't answer anyway. "Hop in. I'm not dragging you out of here." Dragging wouldn't be fun, but running in the streets with a cart would be!

[/size]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

It's still a bar fight if it's outside a bar, right?
--

Emi refused his help and pushed him away. She got up on her own, but the room spun around her. She laughed a bit and put her hand in her hair. "Whoa, a little dizzy. Tell me where I'm going, man, I don't even know...[/color]" she rambled, trying to remember how to put one foot in front of the other. Was it hot in here, was it just her? She finally managed to stumble to the door and outside, where she leaned against a wall and waited for the world to settle around her.

While she was leaned against the wall, three young men in dark clothes rounded the corner. Seeing what seemed to be a defenseless young girl and her too-small-to-pose-a-threat companion, they walked over. The leader of the group, followed closely behind his two friends, walked right up to Emi and tapped her on the hip. She instantly went rigid and looked over her shoulder.

"What the hell do you want?[/color]" she said, slowly. It was obvious she was having to think about every word that came out of her mouth. She had a pretty good idea of what they wanted, even through her drunken stupor. The guy didn't disappoint. He smirked. "Why don't you come inside and..." "I've had...plenty... to drink there, asshole. Get out of my face,[/color]" Emi snapped at him, cutting his plans short. He wasn't exactly happy about that, and he wasn't used to not getting what he wanted. He also wasn't counting on Emi being a little more stubborn and belligerent than other girls in these parts. He would later decide that maybe grabbing her arm and trying to drag her back in the bar was not a good idea.

These guys are really idiots... is the general feeling she got, though she was still unable to piece together full thoughts. In that state, she really had no control over what she was doing and she acted on instinct. Emi turned the man's grip on him and turned, slamming him into the ground. His friends, outraged at seeing their leader on the ground, decided to gang up on her.

One of them got backhanded across the face with a kali stick clumsily taken from her belt and the other had the unfortunate privilege to have 130 pounds of teenage girl run into him at full force, forcing him onto the ground. She stepped on his fingers and then turned and kicked the other in the stomach. She stumbled over to the leader and knelt down, lifting him up by his collar. She was going to say something, but she forgot what so she dropped him and gave him a weak kick to the head.

"All right,[/color]" she said when all three were sufficiently beaten up. "Let's seriously get...get back to the uh... ship before I throw up on something, okay?[/color]"

[Castle]

Castle blinked, momentarily taken aback by her surprisingly swift and efficient disposal of the three men. He had been ready to take them on himself, but apparently, that was unnecessary. What was necessary was to get her the heck out of public before anything else happened.

"You know what? I have a better idea. Come on," he said, cautiously taking her arm so he could lead her away.

As they walked, he realized that he had become used to using the sun as a time reference. With Traverse Town's perpetual night, he wasn't sure where they were in the day or evening. However, seventeen years of memories didn't just go away, and he quickly began to notice the other signs. Judging by the lack of people on the streets, it was probably getting late.

Castle knew these streets like the back of his hand, and it didn't take long for them to reach the shop. The closed sign was out, but the dim lights beyond the door showed that his mom wasn't quite done with her work yet. He had to smile. It was just like it was before he left.

He led Emi to the door and knocked on it loudly.

"Sorry, we're closed!" a voice on the other side replied.

"Open the door anyway!" Castle shouted back.

There was a noticeable silence. A moment later, the lock clicked open, and the woman on the other side almost threw the door off of its hinges. Her shoulder length, light brown hair was pulled up on one side by a crystal hair clip, which was shaped like a flower. Her eyes were darker brown and practically glittering when she saw him standing there.

However, the happiness on her face faltered, almost comically, when she noticed the rest of the picture. Castle smiled at her with mock innocence.

"Hey, mom. I'm back. And I brought a souvenir. Ain't she pretty?"

[Lagunamov]

Let's make the best out of this.

[/size][/center]

“Yay, I get to crash land… Wait, I’d rather pass on that,” Elrick joked at the idea of doing the same thing that had gotten Lillian’s ship busted weeks ago. He drank the poisonous substance that would keep him from walking straight for the rest of the night and possibly the next morning, and laid back on his chair, slowly slipping downwards a few centimeters. Of course, the combination of alcohol that he had ordered was taking a bigger toll on the other girl present at the table. Probably because she was, overall, smaller. Maybe not in height, but certainly in body mass.

Certainly, she was now asking to leave, having trouble even speaking apparently. Having the table on her face certainly hadn’t helped her eloquence. “Be sure not to…” he started to say his goodbyes to this new pair of people, interrupted by a small burst from his stomach he had to control to keep from coming out of his mouth. “… not to trip on your way back… wherever,” he managed to finish after controlling that burst, probably caused by a gas bubble made by the alcohol. Or something. Who cared at this point?

It wasn’t long after that Lillian left him alone for a couple of minutes, only to come back with… a cart? Of all things, a cart? “Why would you need to drag me?” Elrick complained, slowly standing up and tripping forward, quickly grasping on the cart not to have his face meet the ground. “Ok, I need the cart. I like the way you think honey.” God, his mouth filter was coming off again. Brushing that thought aside, he pulled himself onto the cart. Facing forward, he crossed his legs and held onto the sides. “Ok, start the engines. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

With the order given, Lillian turned the cart around and started running with it, first out of the bar and then through the streets. Now that he was in motion, Elrick started to fully experiment the results of the drink in the form of blurry images as they moved. His reaction was only appropriate.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, letting go of the cart and flailing his arms back into the air.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

*drunken babbling*
--

"Stooooop calling me pretty,[/color]" Emi told him. Her tongue felt thick and fuzzy like she was sucking on a wool sweater. Lazily, she lifted a hand and smacked Castle on the back of the head. "You did that in Atlantica too, and I'm tired of it... who is that?[/color]" she continued, eying Castle's mom warily.

Right about now, all she wanted to do was sleep. She leaned against a wall... oh, wait, there wasn't a wall there, so she kind of stumbled to one side and caught herself. All she wanted to do was go to sleep. Then maybe wake up and put her head through a concrete wall since that would probably feel better than the splitting headache she knew she was going to have. She was already having issues hanging onto consciousness but at least she wasn't throwing up... yet.

"Are we just gonna... hang out on the front step all night, or...[/color]" she asked, putting a head on the door frame. Maybe she was getting a little to close to Castle's mom, but when Emi was drunk she kind of lost the concept of boundaries and personal space. "'Cause if it's okay with you, I think I'm going to pass out now.[/color]"

[Castle]

Melina Carmindy's expression finally softened. She sighed lightly and carefully took Emi's arm to lead her into the shop.

"Here, come inside. You can pass out on a bed instead of on the ground," she said gently.

As she spoke, she threw a small frown in Castle's direction. Castle grinned sheepishly and shrugged. Once they were inside, he closed the door behind them and locked it again.

"It's okay, mom. She's just drunk. No drugs or anything," he said.

"Save it for later, mister."

Castle stifled his laughter. It was like he never left. Well, except for the intoxicated otherworld girl that he'd just brought home. Other than that, it was kind of hard to believe he was gone for almost two months.

Their residence was an apartment above the shop. Melina guided Emi up the stairs and into their living room, where she took her to a small couch.

"Wait here a minute. Castle, if she throws up, you're cleaning it," she said sternly.

"All right, all right."

[Oathkeeper Emi]

You think this is funny?
--

Emi was somewhat amused. She collapsed onto the their couch like she owned the place, not even bothering to take off her shoes. "Tell your mommy to cool it,[/color]" she muttered, covering her face with a pillow. "I'm not gonna throw up, so chill.[/color]"

She moved the pillow down and peered at Castle over it. Blinked. Then: "Haha. So this is your house? That's... your mom? Cool. You know, I don't have a mom.[/color]"

She laughed and pulled the pillow back up to cover her face. "She died, you know? Hahaha,[/color]" she said, muffled by the cushion. "You know, you aren't supposed to let drunk people sleep on their back. Or something like that. I don't even remember anymore...[/color]"

Still laughing, she got up on her knees and threw her arms around Castle's neck. "You're so nice, letting me stay here,[/color]" she murmured, nuzzling him. Normally, it would have been funny but there was a darker side to it. She really was losing control of herself and had slipped so far back into her old habits... next thing she knew, though, she was asleep.

[Castle]

Melina had disappeared into her bedroom, so she heard no specific words of that exchange and was unaware of Emi falling asleep on Castle. Castle, of course, was very aware, and at first he wasn't sure what to do. His initial reflex was to put his arms around her waist to keep her from falling over. At that point, his mind sort of went blank between that and being called "nice," and he became very aware of her body heat and the smell of alcohol that hovered around her.

Yeah. She was pretty dang drunk.

Castle eased her down onto her side on the couch, and he knelt on the floor next to her and brushed some of the hair away from her face. At that moment, Melina returned, walking more quietly when she saw that Emi had finally passed out. After a brief, whispered debate, they decided that it might be better to just let her sleep on her side on the couch. Melina took a blanket from her bedroom and put it over her.

Once Emi was situated, Castle started to speak again, but was cut off when Melina suddenly embraced him.
"I missed you so much," she whispered.

Castle smiled and returned her embrace. "Same here. I'll have to tell you all about it later."

"You'd better." She paused, and he felt her glance in the direction of the couch. "I know at least one thing that I'd really like explained..."

"Yeah. Long story." Castle chuckled.

Melina released him and swept a hand over her eyes, which Castle pretended not to notice. She looked at Emi again and smiled. "You know, I think this is the first time you've ever brought a girl home," she teased quietly.

"Um, yeah..." Castle mumbled awkwardly.

He looked at Emi's sleeping face. Even unconscious, she still looked troubled. She certainly had enough reasons to be. Castle recalled what she just said about her mother and wondered how many reasons there really were, or how long she'd been dealing with them. He suddenly wondered if there was anything he, or anyone else, could do to help her. He suddenly... wanted to protect her?

Because that's totally realistic, he thought darkly.

Melina put a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on, let's leave her alone for a while so we don't wake her up."

"...Yeah."