We are leaving. NOW. [Rowan]

Alecis was so glad to be done with most of the work up in Cuir. This was her first free day in ages, and it had finally stopped storming so she could leave her base.

It had taken her awhile to decide where to go, but she had finally decided on the old tavern. It would be nice to have a drink. While she wasn't a regular drinker, the past few months had given her reason to crave a shot of something that would just push the memories of everything away for awhile. Unfortunatly while she was on Earth no one would serve her any alcohol. They claimed she wasn't old enough or some stupid crap like that...

ANYWHO, now she would be able to order whatever she wanted, and that was an apple martini. Alecis walked into the bar, looking around slowly to see if there were any familiar faces. She didn't see anyone she recognized, but there was a guy at the bar with some red hair that looked oftly familiar...

Crap. It was Rowan. But by the time her brain processed this information the bartender, Carl, was already waving at her. The two were both from Cuir and she couldn't just walk out on him now.

Crap.

Alecis walked over to the bar and sat as far away from Rowan as possible(which wasn't very far at all). Hopefully he wouldn't see her...

Rowan had come to the Tavern because...because. Hell, he couldn't really think of why he had come to the Tavern. If he had come to get drunk, then he had accomplished this quite well. The shot glasses that had once been filled with peach schnapps were stacked up on the table next to him in the shape of a pyramid. There had to be ten...fifteen...a lot of them.

A pretty girl sat almost next to him. He thought of maybe talking to her or kissing her or ordering a drink for her or talking to her, but at the request of Nym did none of these things. Instead he just ordered himself another drink.

After catching up for a few moments with Carl and being forced to take her drinks for free Alecis was stuck, quite uncomfortably, alone at the bar. She wished there was someone to talk to. Anyone around her, just so that she could keep her mind of off the Dian that sat a few chairs down from her.

Unfortunately no one came quick enough and Alecis found herself stealing a glance at the one she still loved. Somehow. In front of him there laid more glasses than Alecis could count in a few glances. What the...

Had Rowan really drank all of those shots? Was it even possible to drink that many shots and not be comatose? Alecis dropped the stolen glance routine and turned to look at Rowan fully. He was beyond drunk, he could barely sit at the bar anymore.

Stunned Alecis got up and marched over to him. "What the hell Rowan?"

Rowan nearly fell out of his seat when the girl suddenly yelled at him. He somehow inexplicably managed to catch himself on the counter, making the shot glass pyramid rock back and forth dangerously. He slowly put both feet on the ground almost steadily and pulled himself into a standing position, using the counter for support, swaying slightly.

He blinked, trying to focus on the two girls in front of him...Oh wait, there was just one. And she looked a lot like Alecis. Wait...

"Alecis?" he asked to make sure, slurring the name.

Dear God, what did he think he was doing?

"What do you think you're doing?" Alecis asked, still staring unbelievably at Rowan. This was so not the Rowan she knew.

Alecis pushed him back onto his stool for fear he might fall down if he stayed standing for too long.

What did he think he was doing? He didn't know what he thought he was doing. He was pretty sure he was drinking. Or at least he had been. Now he was being yelled at by two Alecises. He didn't know which one to look at.

"I think I was drinking. Now I think you're yelling at me," he told her, since she had asked.

"He's been in here everyday for the past few weeks, Lec. Do you know him?" Carl interrupted, looking back and forth between the two Overloridians.

Alecis didn't know how to react. She never would have expected this and there wasn't anything she could pull out of her mind to say to him.

"I, I..."

Don't give yourself a concusion, Rheis muttered as his clio stuttered, looking for something to say.

"...why?" Alecis asked softly, hurt. For no freaking reason.-->says Rheis.

"Why?" Rowan repeated loudly, confused. He wasn't confused at the question. He just couldn't think of the answer. Though he was pretty sure it had something to do with Charlie cheating on him or something. Yeah...that's right. He came here for FORGET about that. "To...forget things. To feel better."

He smiled, immensely satisfied with his answer. He noticed that Alecis had an almost un-touched apple martini on the counter where she had been sitting. "Are you gonna finish that?"

"This isn't going to make you feel better, you MORON." Alecis' voice grew much louder on the last word.

She turned to the bartender who was still watching them as though it was some play or something. "Don't serve him anymore tonight." Taking another glance at the guy who sat before her she added, "Anymore for the rest of the week."

She didn't wait for a response from him before harping at Rowan some more, "How could you think this would make anything better?"

Her voice was shrill.

Rowan opened his mouth to protest when Alecis told the bartender not to serve him, but was distracted and forgot to when Alecis asked him a question that required more thought.

"How could you think this would make anything better?"

"It...it does, you know. It makes it...It's like...It does," he insisted, struggling to explain what he meant. Weird, it made perfect sense in his mind, but he couldn't put it to words. He tried his best though. "I can't explain it." He shook his head, making the room spin. "Whoa. I mean, I'm not sad right now, and I don't miss her, and I don't have to think about anything..."

He trailed off, losing the thought. What were they talking about again?

Don't miss her? Did he miss Alyria? They hadn't seemed that close, but who else could he be missing?

"Don't miss who?" Alecis asked, her voice still shrill, though it didn't need to be.

"Don't miss who?"

Don't miss WHO? Who did she THINK? WHO ELSE?? "Charlie!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. Very slowly he lowered them back onto the counter. Alecis was making him think about Charlie. He didn't want to. Suddenly his light, cheerful feeling was replaced by a crushing sadness.

"Rowan, you don't need to miss Charlie anymore! We're back in Amelia," she said calmly, trying to soothe him. He must think they were back on Earth. Jeez, was he that drunk?

"Come on," Alecis said as she put her arms around him, and started lifting him out of his seat, "We'll go find her and everything will be okay."

"No!" Rowan exclaimed. He tried to yank himself away from Alecis, but it backfired when he nearly fell over and had to grab her shoulders to keep from falling. But he couldn't let her take him to Charlie! Nothing would ever be okay! "I don't want her to see me, Alecis! It won't be okay!"

He wrapped his arms more tightly around Alecis, like she was a teddy bear, and rested his head on her shoulder. "Please don't make me see her," he sobbed.

Alecis stood rigid as Rowan broke out in tears and grabbed her into a hug. What the heck was up?

"Sh, sh," Alecis cooed, patting his back. She wasn't sure what was wrong but Rowan obviously was pretty upset. She couldn't leave him here, but it really was getting time to go home...

"It's okay, Rowan. Come on, I'm going to take you home. I promise it'll be okay, everything will be fine," Alecis again tried to pick him up, hopefully this time he would let her. It looked like Rowan was spending the night in Cuir tonight.

Rowan allowed Alecis to lead him out. She was warm and comforting. She smelled good. And she held him up so that the floor couldn't trip him like it was trying so hard to do. He managed to get some control over himself so that he wasn't sobbing uncontrollably anymore, but tears still ran silently down his cheeks.

"Th-thank you," he sniffed. And he closed his eyes and let her lead the way.