[LOG] Rhea + Dan; I've been a drunk disrespectful little street punk

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The cut text and title were compiled separately.

Dan challenges Rhea's coolness, so she attempts to prove that she isn't just about studying!
This...backfires somewhat when her need to prove herself meets her immature streak.
Those poor rosebushes never stood a chance.

Dan:


Danilo entered the bar, sighing a little. He waved to some of the regulars he ran into before and took a seat, waving over the bartender and asking for a light one. He sat around waiting, declining offers to join other groups of people.

He didn't really know why he felt like drinking alone tonight--the lack of inspiration and strange tiredness these days, perhaps? Dan gave a slight shrug as he sat there, drumming his fingers on the table and waiting for his drink to slide across.

Pubs and bars were not really places Rhea frequented. Sure, she drank, and sure, sometimes she even socialised and drank at the same time. Still, this whole "drinking in public with strangers" thing was kind of new to her. And besides, it didn't really seem like her kind of scene.

But today had just been one of those days at work which left you craving a drink of some kind, and she'd been feeling far too impatient and tired to wait until she got home and go out alcohol shopping with her boyfriend, so stopping by the local bar seemed like the best option.

Still, it was with some trepidation that she pushed open the door of the local pub and walked in, only to recognise a familiar blonde, blink and smoothly turn around to leave again.

Dan looked around the scene with indifference for the moment, thanking the bartender when he received his drink. He threw a casual look toward the entrance and craned his head at the unexpected arrival of an acquaintance.

Rhea Jones, at a bar? He thought, before calling out to say hello anyway.

"Hey, Miss Jones!" He waved.

Her shoulders stiffened as she heard him call out, and she turned, frowning.

Curses, her escape had been foiled. "Hello, Mr. Lira."

His arm wave changing to a hand wave, Dan greeted Rhea with a surprised face. "Are you looking for someone?"

Why would she be looking for someone? How on earth did he jump to that conclusion? "No."

She looked away, ready to begin her treck back to the door and freedom, but then realised that actually, she wanted to know why he'd asked her. Did she really look that out of place here?

After a second of weighing up whether or not asking him what he meant would be worth it, she reluctantly made her way over to his table. "Why do you think I'm looking for someone?"

With anyone else, she might have beaten around the bush, or tried to ask indirectly. She couldn't be bothered to with Dan.

He stared at her in a questioning manner before answering just as honestly and straightforwardly. "I didn't think you'd frequent bars, that's all."

He turned away briefly to down his drink, then waved over the bartender to ask for another. Then he shrugged slightly at Rhea, expecting her to continue the conversation.

"Why not?"

She kept her tone very carefully neutral, fingers tapping on the table as she watched the bartender pour Dan's drink.

"Why?" He moved his gaze away from the drink to Rhea's face. He gave a light laugh and hesitated for a bit, but well, what use was hiding honesty?

"Because... you didn't really seem like the type of girl to drink a lot?"

She continued to tap the surface with the tips of her fingers. "Drinking's a perfectly normal activity."

"I'm not saying it isn't, but aren't you more into other hobbies?" He took the cup in his hand and swirled the drink around. "You seem to do a lot of research, reading and excavating and whatnot."

"That doesn't mean I can't enjoy a normal social life."

It would have been a reasonable point to make (despite the frown now on her face), if she hadn't followed it by signalling the barman over to try and prove her point. "I'll have your strongest drink, please."

The barman opened his mouth to suggest otherwise, but she stood firm and he sighed, shaking his head and pouring something into a glass for her. She gave Dan a look which she was pretty sure said "see? I do this all the time."

"I never said-" Dan realized he spoke too fast as he watched her order the strongest drink in the house. Even he didn't know what it was, having frequented this local bar.

"What are you doing?" He asked, out of pure curiosity and bewilderment. She also seemed displeased, now, at what he had just told her. "Hey, if it's something I said, don't worry about it."

Being very, very insecure about her social abilities and "coolness" meant that occasionally Rhea felt the need to prove herself - which was what she was going to do now. This Danilo guy thought of her as a geek, right? Nothing but a nerd. Well! She'd put him right! All she'd have to do would be to down this drink in a second, and he'd respect her forever...or, well. That was what happened in the movies anyway, so it would probably work here.

Without batting an eye at his words (which were empty because he was Dan and lived to annoy her), she took a large gulp of the liquid.

And didn't swallow.

Well, she had downed the drink for one reason or other, but she didn't look like she was ready to talk-

Dan raised an eyebrow. Had she swallowed the drink yet? "How is it?" He asked carefully, wondering if she could hear him now that she had ordered what she had wanted.

Rhea heard him, but didn't answer.

Her drink was roughly the strength and consistency or drain cleaner, and while it felt like it was burning the sides off her mouth as she kept it over her tongue, she kept it away from her throat, worried about what havoc it could wreak if let loose in her stomach.

He immediately looked to the bartender and gestured to the drink that Rhea had taken a sip from. Dan's face fell as the bartender gently shook his head and went to serve another customer.

He quickly drank some of his glass and turned to her once again. "I think you should swallow that before it burns your tongue," he said, his expression one of slight worry.

Rhea would have answered him, but she was too busy trying not to focus on the vague burning sensation overcoming her mouth.

Okay- it should start calming down soon right right oh god he'd given her rubbing alcohol to drink instead and oh god she was going to die of poison and- oh god her insides would look like those scientific displays preserved in seventy per cent alcohol, wouldn't they!

She swallowed out of nervousness, forgetting about the alcohol on her tongue as she panicked about what it would do to her system.

And then she coughed as the horrible burning faded away to a pleasant sort of warm tingling once it was down her throat.

Dan reached out and patted her back gently until her coughing stopped. He half wanted to chuckle at her bravery, but thinking that she would not take it well, just kept to nodding.

"So how is it?" He asked again, repeating his question from before. "You still didn't tell me."

Instead of taking another sip from his second glass, Dan thought it best to stop for now--the point of tonight's outing wasn't to get senselessly drunk--and talk to the archaeologist who had downed the place's strongest stuff, not something he had seen someone request before.

"It's...absolutely fine," she said, still coughing but wriggling away from his back-patting. "It just went down the wrong way, that's all."

In a display of something she would later chalk up to stupidity, she signalled to the barman for another. A moment's thought, and then she added "maybe with some coke, though."

She didn't want to get totally smashed, after all.

Dan shook his head lightly when Rhea was focusing on the bartender. What was she trying to do? Somehow, his memories of carrying Renata home popped into mind. He'd have to make sure this stubborn Miss Jones got home safe, too, or he supposed his head would fly at her boyfriend's hands.

He mentally went through the list of names he knew and landed at Wang Fu Chen. Yes, he'd ask him for help if worst came to worst. But he'd have a lot of explaining to do. Dan glanced over at Rhea, hoping she wouldn't be drunk enough for him to have to carry her.

An hour later, and Rhea was feeling a little bit dizzy. Conversation had...never exactly been a strong point, but she'd gone from answering with words to monosyllables, to head face-down in her arms, wishing the world would stop spinning already. Two hours would have meant plenty of time for more of that drink (which was delicious after the first few burning sips), but the barman had refused to give her more after that first two shots. Something about 88% vodka being bad for her, or something.

Instead she'd had a couple of other drinks to test her new-found coolness- not being that experienced when it came to drinking, she wasn't very good at judging how much was too much, or connecting the fact that it was growing difficult to hold up her head or engage in an active conversation with the glasses in front of her.

"I think I want to go home soon."

Dan, after finishing his second drink, had just watched Rhea down shot after shot. He almost wanted to snatch the shot glass out of her hand many times, but he sighed and let it go. If she wanted to drink so badly, then so she would.

He now stood, paid for both of their drinks while she seemed to put her head down on her arms, and nudged her shoulder slightly.

"Then let's go. It's late, anyhow."

Right," she said, then: "right."

Was he sighing at her? Goddamn him, like this would have happened if she hadn't needed to impress him.

Actually, that was stupid and made no sense. Why did she feel the need to impress him? It seemed like a stupid impulse - he was one of those annoying people that she should really just ignore, wasn't he? Why should she even think about doing something to impress this guy? Was it because he was Lucas' brother, or was there some other reason?

It was too complicated to think about now, so she tucked it away in her brain below some historical facts to deal with at a later date and pushed her chair away from the bar.

She stood up holding the back of her chair, then pulled a confused face. "My legs aren't working."

All he could do was blink in disbelief at her stubbornness. Who knew someone like Rhea Jones had it in her? Well, the most he could hope for was that she'd be awake enough to tell him where she lived, so he could take her back.

Seeing that she was unable to walk, Dan quickly turned around with his back to her and motioned with a hand wave for her to get on. "Don't be stubborn about this one, you can't walk." There was a small hint of amusement in his voice, but he tried to keep a completely serious tone. Couldn't have her going around getting drunk like this again with no one around her, could we?

Yeah, he was kidding, right?

One hand shakily reached out for the back of the next chair, and she began to guide herself towards the door, taking stammering, stuttering steps forward. Throwing the odd incredulous look back at Dan's back as she moved.

Dan gave a sigh, a long, rather frustrated one this time. He couldn't even help her walk by having her arm over his shoulders, because well, with their height difference and her extremely drunken state, it wouldn't work.

He was always of the philosophy that piggyback rides beat slinging someone over his shoulder, but if push came to shove, then he couldn't help it. He carefully walked behind her until they were both outside the bar, then quickly moved to do just that: he slung her over his left shoulder and continued walking.

Rhea had thought (with some relief) that she'd left him back in the bar.

Unfortunately not, apparently, but she didn't realise this until he'd picked her up and thrown her over his shoulder.

It took her a moment to react, and then it took her an entire five minutes to vocalise her feelings without kicking and/or screaming and swearing.

"Wha- what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm taking you back myself because you can't walk," Dan explained, heading in the direction of Eir and Freya.

"Look- you...Put me down. Now."

She shifted slightly in place.

"Put me down. Put me down. Put me down. Put me- put me down."

If anyone walked past right now, they'd see one tall blonde, with one struggling, red-faced and furious girl on his shoulder, one hand holding her skirt down, one hand clinging to his clothes.

It was kind of like watching somebody carry an angry cat to the vet's office.

"You're lucky I'm not asking for help," chimed Dan, ignoring her demands for him to put her down. "Otherwise it'd be even more embarrassing for you."

He abruptly stopped once they were near the girls' dormitories and attempted to ask her another question, who was fumbling awkwardly and making those angry faces (he couldn't see her expressions, but somehow he was sure of this) all while being on his shoulder.

"So," he started casually, "let's drop you off. Which one is it? Eir or Freya?"

What did he mean- oh god. Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god.

She stopped suddenly, face frozen into a mask oh absolute horror as she considered possible scenarios. Who did he know she knew? Who could he possibly contact?

Her mind spun with the possibilities (and also the urge to throw up over his shoulder, but she could probably hold that in until she got to the bathrooms. Probably).

"Hmm." He took two steps toward Eir, then three steps toward Freya, when he realized that she had stopped moving around so much. Tilting his head to the other side, he wondered aloud, "You're going to tell me eventually, right?"

"Eir," she mumbled, voice thicker than she would have liked. Yeah, with the bouncing she was doing on his shoulder and the way the ground was travelling way too fast under her eyes - it was way too close to her face even though it wasn't fuck she was going cross-eyed - she was getting worse and worse.

"Please. Put me down," she said through gritted teeth. If he didn't listen and ended up with her lunch over his back, then she wouldn't worry about it.

She laughed a little awkwardly, more out of embarrassment than humour. "Ha. Ha."

...She didn't sound too good.

Dan finally complied, setting her down on the ground as gently as he could. He kept a hand by her elbow in case she swayed.

"Then let's head over there," he said, trying to guide her steps to Eir Court.

Shoot, she'd been trying to steer herself towards some wonderfully convenient looking bushes, but it seemed like her legs weren't planning on obeying her tonight. It felt weird, as though they were about to betray her weight every time she put her foot down. It was as though she was stepping into hidden pot holes every time she took a step, as though the normally flat surface of the path had somehow turned into a insurmountable area of hills and valleys while she wasn't looking.

Arms out at either side, she shunned his offered hand to attempt to balance herself, eyes on the ground and her face set in a concentrated frown, unaware of how stupid she probably looked.

He saw her attempting to walk on her own (he couldn't count how many times she tried and failed in just those few hours as she drank) and grabbed her by the elbow, slowly but surely starting to head off in Eir's direction.

"Let's just get you home as soon as possible, okay?" He said, trying to make the process of escorting a drunk person home as easy as he could make it.

She didn't want to be steered.

She absolutely and completely did not want to be steered.

She absolutely, completely and utterly did not want to be steered by Danilo Lira, but she also wanted to be able to collapse into her nice warm bed. And also open her mouth without the fear of throwing up all over a public area (or Danilo, but he didn't matter so much) hanging over her head. And besides, having one arm held by him was threatening to overbalance her.

Ignoring the head or so of height difference between them, she wriggled her arm out of his grip and threw it around his shoulders, leaning into him. The other hand went to cover her mouth. Shoot, did she have a plastic bag she could borrow? Maybe she could use a shoe or something - she didn't need shoes, right...?

Yep. She definitely looked like she was going to hurl any minute. He didn't suppose the throwing over shoulder thing helped, but keeping all that alcohol inside her stomach couldn't really be a good thing either, right?

"Here," he gestured with his other arm to a nearby bush, "let's go over there. Throw everything up. It's never good to hold that kind of stuff in."

He could tell it was going to be a while before he got home.

She gave him a Look.

...Or, she didn't need to throw up. But that seemed highly unlikely. She probably didn't want to throw up in public, no matter how bad she felt.

He pointed to Eir, then to the bushes nearby. "Just point like this, for me. Where do you want to go?"

How exactly did one explain the concept of "there is bile leaking into my mouth but I don't want to be sick in front of you and that bush is filled with pretty flowers"?

She tried to say something, and ended up retching, so instead punched his arm and pointed furiously in one direction while she hobbled off in another.

Oh god, oh god, those poor roses. Oh shit, she hoped the gardeners would forgive her, oh god.

He blinked as she hobbled away. "You pointed to Eir," he called, as he watched her retreating back.

He followed her at a safe distance behind, craning his head sideways to observe how she was going to do this. He reached inside of his jacket pocket to pull out a handkerchief and walked over to where she was, hoping it wouldn't make such a big mess.

She managed a bit of it before he called, coughing up recognisable parts of her light lunch into her hand, making her stomach churn (and making her glad it was too dark to see details) before shouting "I have a shy stomach, okay!" over her shoulder. "Talk a walk!"

He stopped where he was at her yelling and waited until... things were finished by the bushes. He stepped next to her and tried to peer into her face, handing her his handkerchief. "Rhea?" He said, unknowingly dropping the polite 'Miss Jones.'

She took the handkerchief, and then stumbled over into the grass and flopped to the ground without speaking.

Her mouth tasted terrible, it felt like she'd just expelled half her body weight into those poor, poor rose bushes, her mouth was dry and tasted terrible, her head was spinning so fast it felt as though the Earth had started to orbit around her and her legs had finally given out completely. She covered her face with her arms, the crooks of her elbows hiding her eyes.

"I just need to lie down for a little, k," she mumbled. "Could you please get me some water?"

He had extended his arm to catch her, but a second too late. He nodded at her request and walked inside the Eir kitchens to get a cup of water and brought it back to where she was. He stood there for a while, quite unsure of how to hand the cup to her.

"Can you sit up a little? I have water."

She managed an "uuuugh," sat up to grab the water (spilling some of it over herself), and drank as much as she could before lying back down again, staring at the sky.

She meant to say "thank you" or something similar, but as soon as she opened her eyes "can you see the stars?" spilled out instead.

Dan placed the cup on the ground and decided to sit on the grass by her feet.

"The stars?" He said, looking up and smiling at the sight of the sky. "There are too many to miss, unless your eyes are that bad."

"My eyes are perfect," she said. Better than perfect, though he didn't need to know that.

"They just look nice, that's all."

She closed her eyes again, trying to block out as much as she could. "Promise you won't tell anyone what happened here."

She didn't need him to tell Wang something like this had happened. He'd probably just be even more disappointed in her.

"I'm not that stupid to go tell everyone what happened," he answered. "Now we just need to get you home and make sure you rest."

"After you found out that stuff, you still told people last time," she pointed out, sounding...more sad than annoyed.

She was also unwilling to move. "Not going yet. Can't get up."

He laughed, but more out of sorriness than humor. "Well, we'll say this is different, because it is. And you can take more time," he added, "as long as we're not sitting here 'til morning."

"How is this different?"

One might know something is true, but late at night, lying on the grass too dizzy to move with the sinking feeling that one has thrown up on one's new shoes creeping up, one sometimes cannot help but ask for clarifications and assurances.

"Let's say that you're not in a state to deal with my jokes."

Dan paused before saying, "You shouldn't take me so seriously, by the way. I don't talk or act the way I do to provoke you."

She waited for the indication that he was lying, and when it didn't come, she rolled onto her side and then immediately regretting the decision. She weighed up the unsteady feeling that came from being on her side with the nausea rearing its head with every movement and settled for nausea, rolling onto her front and burying her face into her arms.

Dan continued talking, regardless of Rhea's moving about on the ground. "I just think it'd be nice to see you stop being grumpy every once in a while."

Rhea didn't really see herself as a grump. But when she tried to explain that to him the words got tangled up in her throat. Perhaps she could tell him she preferred to think of it as "expressing her social awkwardness and negative emotions by lashing out at the people around he-" oh no, that sounded even worse than "grumpy". Shoot, next reasoning.

"I'm not that grumpy," she said finally.

"You kind of push people away," He said, choosing his words carefully not to offend her. "Or maybe that's just how I see it."

Well, that was true, but that was more to do with her not wanting to socialise too much and caring a lot about her personal boundaries. "I don't want to be around people. We all have times like that."

He probably didn't though. Lousy...solar-powered...shiny-haired...tall...

That was odd, she couldn't seem to remember any adjectives. She should probably hop along to bed, she thought, but remained still.

"I guess," he replied, although her answer didn't make much sense to him. When things became difficult, he looked for people to depend on despite himself--but she probably didn't operate that way, he concluded, putting the thought aside.

"You should get some rest soon, and in a comfortable place," he said, hoping that she'd comply to go back to her dorm and rest, thereby letting him go back to his as well. Lying down on the grass wasn't the best method to use for sleeping, anyhow.

Comfortable...where was comfortable? Oh yes, her bed. Or curled up and pretending to sleep behind her boyfriend's slim warm back in his bed. Or watching movies next to Adam's huge frame, or chatting to Taiwei. Or...tea parties. Tea parties could be comfortable too, sometimes.

Actually, she kind of wanted some tea now- no wait, coffee. Coffee. Was the cafe still open?

Oh, he'd been saying something, hadn't he.

She lay on the ground for a few seconds more, and then struggled into an upright position, shifting until she was sitting cross-legged with her back to him, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her clean hand. Her mind was still filled with images defining comfort for her, and she had to think for a moment about what he'd said. "In a second."

Dan took the moment to stand up, dusting himself off and looking to Rhea to see if she needed any help getting up. She seemed lost in her little world for the moment, and that made him chuckle a bit. He looked up again, only to realize how many stars actually were out that night--countless, he decided, after giving the sky a good scan.

He walked around to face her and stretched out a hand. "Come on, let's put you to sleep."

"That sounds like something you do to a sick pet," she said. But stood up anyway, wiping her hands with his handkerchief. She'd have to wash this and give it back to him later, wouldn't she?

One last glance towards the sky and she started up towards her dorm again, walking unsteadily past him.

"Or it's something that a clearly tired, worn out person should be doing," he retorted, catching up to her in a few easy strides and walking slowly toward Eir.

"Yes, mother," she mumbled, then paused when they reached the door to Eir.

"I am going to bed," she said, holding the door handle. "I will probably sleep."

Dan laughed easily at her calling him mother, and gently ruffled her hair. "Then off you go."

She put her hands up to her head as he ruffled her hair, trying to protect it.

"Yeah, I'm gone," she said, pushing her way through the door, muttering a "thank you" as she went.