[closed, in progress]

[axelled]

WHO: Axel (axelled), and Tieria (vedacontabile), with cameos by Kristoph (myscarsmiles, Mazikeen (daughterinexile) and Dean (canecieco).
WHAT: TIERIA IS DRUGGED. Failing ensues.
WHERE: Back street of club, eventually Reborn's mansion.
WHEN: Following this.

Comments

[myscarsmiles]

To say that Kristoph had been touched with genuine concern for Tieria might have been inaccurate, but he most certainly did not want to see the man die. He made a note to talk to Mr. Crandall, though right now he was busy hurrying over to make sure he wasn't losing any family members. Mazikeen stood, quiet, on his heels - this was a professional family problem, and her position was of a bodyguard and not a consort, here.

He also heard Dean behind him. There was only one click of heels, though; Dean's date was probably be left behind.

When he stepped out into the emergency exit, he noticed the redhead. He was not familiar with the face, but whoever it was clearly was heavily invested in Tieria's well-being. Reborn, he guessed, though he could hardly be sure. He was not threatened by the man's gun. Mazikeen was his shield.

"Is Mr. Erde all right?" He asked the man, tucking his hands in his pockets. His attitude was professional, with a side of concern.

[canecieco]

Followed Kris down an elevator, through crowds, to the back of the club. It was dark out, too dark, but there was barely enough light to make out some fucking red head manhandling Tieria. The young man was pointing a gun at them, and instantly, Dean reached for his own, tucked in the back of his pants for occasions such as this.

"What did you do to him." A command more than a question, following Kris's formal statement.

Dean didn't bullshit. He got straight to the point.

[daughterinexile]

There were things that Mazikeen was specially attuned to, to notice. A man pointing a gun at Kristoph Gavin was certainly one of them. Without hesitation, her body moved between the barrel of the gun and her employer, her whole posture poised to attack. A hand hovered over one thigh but it not withdraw the dagger concealed beneath her skirt. Kristoph's nonchalance told her that the threat -- if any -- was small.

Alongside her, she heard Dean bark and withdraw his gun. Not turning to look, she stretched an arm across him, in the hopes of keeping the situation from escalating. She whispered sharply to her fellow Vescovo beside her, a hand pressing against his torso as if to halt him. "Do not be rash."

[axelled]

Axel put his gun away and turned his attention back to Tieria, unsure of what to do. On one hand, Kristoph was Vescovo, but Axel didn't trust him one bit. Neither did he trust the guy next to him, and Axel forgot his name when Tieria pointed him out. Axel especially didn't trust Kristoph's bodyguard, and he felt slightly panicked. It was too bad that Tieria was damn unconscious, or he'd have figured out what to do. After yelling at Axel, of course. As it was, Axel was alone in this. Fantastic.

"I didn't do anything," Axel snapped, not being able to keep the words from coming out sharply. "What I'm going to do is get him home and figure out what the hell happened." Axel decided he didn't care too much for the gun-wielding man. He seemed very trigger happy, and Axel made a good target

[axelled]

The encounter with Kristoph left a bad taste in Axel's mouth, and he frowned. He was seriously creepy. And his lackeys were annoying. Axel hoped Kristoph wouldn't mention the drugging if he did, indeed, call Reborn. Axel's plan was just to tell Reborn that Tieria had gotten drunk, apparently couldn't hold his liquor, and Kristoph saw and was what passed for concerned. If Reborn discovered Axel and Tieria while Tieria was still in his current state, Axel was probably going to get his ass kicked into next year.

Once at the mansion, Axel swung Tieria into his arms and kicked the car door closed, hoping no one would see them on their way in. Once they were in their wing, though, it would be alright, seeing as walking into it was like waving raw steak to a lion. Axel made his way to Tieria's room and deposited Tieria on his bed before taking off his shoes and glasses. Getting a damp washcloth from the adjacent bathroom, Axel pulled up a chair, pressed the cool fabric against Tieria's skin and waited.

[vedacontabile]

Tieria fuzzily came into consciousness, a bizarre fog over both his thoughts and sight. He felt sluggish, and somewhat nauseated, and bizarrely impulsive.

Wait, what?

Oh, who cares.

He brought a hand up to rub at what felt like a gauze-colored cheekbone, eyesight still winking in and out of existence. Then he scowled. Someone had just swore in his presence. Said, "Th'fuck?"

In what seemed like his voice.

If he didn't know better--

--he might have a clone.

[axelled]

Axel pulled the cloth away, relieved to see Tieria at least some level of conscious. He was still hot, and his hair was sticking to him, but the worst of the heat seemed to have passed. Axel couldn't tell if Tieria's eyes were unfocused because of the drugs or the lack of his glasses, but it was still better than Tieria being knocked the hell out. He wasn't sure if he needed to keep Tieria awake or just let him sleep it off, and Axel frowned as he tossed the damp washcloth onto the bedside table.

Moving to sit next to Tieria, Axel pushed purple hair away from his hot forehead, trying to see if Tieria's eyes had any sensitivity to light. And they barely did. Torn between smacking Tieria with his pillow for not checking his drink or throwing the washcloth back on his face, Axel settled for something slightly more dignified.

"Yo, Tee," He said, waving his hand in front of Tieria's face. "You in there?"

[vedacontabile]

Those words were less muffled, but still foreign. "Tee"? A passing blackness in front of his face made him wonder if he wasn't about to black out again, but, eventually, it stopped.

Perhaps he was this "Tee". Either way, he or his clone, as it didn't sound quite like his voice, muttered back, "Who th'ell else is in'ere?"

His vision wasn't focusing, but he wasn't as concerned about that as a tiny, tiny little nagging portion of his brain told him he should be.

Being genetically created, Tieria had a metabolism that worked comparable to the speed of light -- he was still wasted. That said impressive things about the drug in his system, to be perfectly honest.

So did the fact that it had completely shut down his attentive motors.

"Why th'fuck're you so red?"

[axelled]

Axel snorted in laughter at Tieria's use of the word 'fuzzed'. Yeah, that was one way to explain it. "Yeah," Axel said, tugging on a lock of his own hair. "I'm sure. You're purple. Sure you're supposed to be that purple?" Axel was teasing, of course, and Tieria probably wouldn't get it in his state of mind, but it was still fun. Axel never passed up a chance to mock, tease or otherwise annoy Tieria. He had said he wouldn't do it, but most of the time it was subtle, anyway. Whatever, Tieria was too far gone to notice.

Sobering slightly, Axel shifted a bit on the bed, leaning back onto his hand. "You see anyone touch your drink besides the bartender?" If someone paid the bartender to slip Tieria something, it was probably unnoticed, but if it was someone else, Tieria could have seen something. "Anything else between the drink and the fuzzed world?"

[vedacontabile]

Tieria, however, was stuck.

"Purple? 'm purple? S'zat normal?" Or maybe he was talking to the clone.

Or it was the clone talking.

But, well, it seemed to have come from the red one.

And there wasn't a purple one.

So he had to be purple. Purple?

[axelled]

"Yeah," Axel said with a shrug. "You're pretty purple. I think it's kind of abnormal. Maybe it's a defect. You should be recalled." The tone of Axel's voice and the look on his face returned to being amused, and normally Tieria would throw something at him for insinuating the other was a rebot and how he didn't appreciate it, but he'd probably actually believe it this time. "The purple's normal for you," Axel said, after a few moments. He didn't want Tieria freaking out, no matter how funny it would be.

Axel was still worried, though. He supposed the humor was his way of dealing with it. "Do you know my name?" Axel asked, reaching out a hand to touch Tieria's face again. He was cooling down, at least. "What about yours?"

[vedacontabile]

Tieria blinked. Well, if the purple was normal. That was good.

Normal.

Which wasn't the same word as "good."

Well, he could hope.

Names?

"Red?" he guessed. "Purple?"

[axelled]

Axel squeezed his eyes shut during Tieria's sacrifice, his other hand rubbing small circles on his back. It always made Lockon feel better when Axel did that, but Lockon was also roughly seven years old when he was drunk. Axel continued the movement of his hand after Tieria's god was appeased, and only hesitated a few seconds before standing up. He didn't want to leave Tieria there alone, but he seemed pretty exhausted, so it wasn't like he was going to get into too much trouble. Plus, it was a fucking bathroom.

Retrieving the water glass, Axel knelt next to Tieria again and helped him take a few sips. "You okay, Tee?" Axel asked, though he obviously wasn't. As long as Tieria wasn't dead, dying, or bleeding in a ditch, though, it was okay.

[vedacontabile]

Tieria was too exhausted to be a dick in response, though he greatly wanted to say, "On what planet does this look okay?"

Unfortunately, with the recess of the drugged did not come the recess of memories of the drugged. To be perfectly honest, Tieria would prefer if Axel drowned him right here.

All he managed was, "Ah-uhhhgh," a noise that seemed to say in itself, "Well, fuck".

[axelled]

Axel flushed the toilet as he eased Tieria to his feet, sliding an arm around the other's waist and took Tieria's elbow in his other hand to steady him. He walked Tieria back to his bed in silence, aware that Tieria probably had a headache the size of the Africa. Settling Tieria on his bed, Axel returned to the bathroom and fetched the water glass, putting it on the nightstand.

Axel frowned. It seemed like Tieria was slowly starting to come back into the world now, but he looked like crap. Axel touched Tieria's face again, and it was no longer burning, but it was now clammy and sweaty. He had no idea what that meant.

"Warn me if you're gonna do that again, yeah?"

[vedacontabile]

Tieria moaned incomprehensibly again and opened an eye to fix Axel with a mostly pitiful-looking glare. "Think'm done, thanks," he forced out. He attempted, once, painfully, to straighten himself. Lying like this, completely at Axel's mercy, was undignified, and he was having none of that.

Well, "none of that" to the extent that he could help, anyway.

When he realized that "extent" was something flopping around like a dying fish and asking Axel for help, humility took the reins. "Help me sit up?" he asked, trying his damnedest not to slur, as well as to sound dignified and demanding. He slurred. And sounded consumptive. It wasn't Tieria's day. "Water," he finished, as if this explained everything.

[axelled]

Axel had no idea why Tieria's words were in the form of a question. Under normal circumstances, he would have voiced the request as a demand, or would have simply stuck out his hand with a glare. Puzzled, but not entirely unthankful, Axel gently tugged Tieria up into a sitting position, keeping him still for a couple seconds to adjust to the change. It wouldn't be pleasant if Tieria threw up again just because he moved.

After handing Tieria the water, Axel leaned back on his hands, but kept his eyes on the other. The greenish-purple hue of Tieria's face had passed into a very pale ivory. "D'you want anything?" Axel asked quietly, lest he make Tieria's head explode by speaking too loudly.

[vedacontabile]

Taking a very small sip of the water, it felt as though the liquid soaking into parched lips worked in tandem with humanity crawling back into his body.

And alongside that humanity was humility. And humiliation.

Thinking to himself, To pretend this never happened? Tieria simply shook his head. In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

"Thanks."