A Drunken Mess

Writers: AL, Ames
Date Posted: 11th June 2011

Characters: Wirnan, Kaya
Description: Wirnan comes home drunk and he and Kaya argue.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 2, day 6 of Turn 6

Wirnan

He swayed on his feet as he meandered down the corridors. The bottle in
his hand swishing with the last of the liquid he had yet to finish.
Stopping and supporting himself against a wall, he tipped the bottle
back, his tongue darting out to lick up the last drops from the lip of
the bottle before he lowered it with a sad expression on his face. As
he tried to right himself from the wall, the corridor seemed to shift,
causing him to stumble to the side.

As he weaved his way the last few paces towards the door, Wirnan was
already thinking about where he could get something more to drink. He
had a bottle on the sideboard. That would be perfect. Fumbling with the
knob a bit, he finally got the door opened and shut with a rather loud
thud.

Snorting at the loud sound, he didn't even care that it was late and he
was likely disturbing people. He swayed slightly as he moved towards the
sideboard, the bottle drawing all his attentions. He never noticed the
woman in his room.

But she had noticed him. That noise could have awakened the dead and it
certainly awoke Kaya. She shifted, tensed as she heard the sound of
shuffling, a snort cutting through the air. She pulled back the covers
and let her feet sway over the side, then stood, nightgown trailing
over the sheets briefly before falling down to cover her legs to her
ankles. Kaya slipped through the bedroom door and into the main one.
What she saw was the man who was her husband, but something wasn't
quite right. Her eyes followed his jerky movements, winced at every
stomp of his feet. "What are you doing?"

He whirled around so fast he nearly fell over. He had to take a moment
to collect himself and wait for the room to stop spinning before his
eyes so he could actually focus on her. "What does it look like I'm
doing?" He asked as though her question was quite foolish. "I'm having
a drink and letting off some steam!" He hadn't meant to raise his
voice, but in his inebriated state his volume control seemed to have
turned itself off in his mind.

"It looks like you've had _several_ drinks to me." Kaya didn't move
from the doorway completely, standing just outside of it, eyes shifting
to the bottle, then to Wirnan. "I think you've had enough to drink, to
be honest." While she had seen him take liquor before, Kaya hadn't
_ever_ seen him like this. She'd never thought he was the sort to
indulge so much.

He frowned at her, "I clearly haven't had enough," he replied,
"Besides, if I hadn't want to...get some peace for all this," he
gestured wildly around the room, "I wouldn't have gone to the tavern in
the first place. I can drink when and where I want to," he stated,
lifting the bottle without pouring it into a glass.

Kaya spurred her feet to action, reaching out to grab at the bottle and
try to wrench it from Wirnan's hand. "You _have_ had too much. You're
wobbling like a newly hatched dragon!"

His eyes bulged as she reached for the bottle he held. He aimed to push
her away and keep the bottle for himself, but in the end all he manged
was to push at her with the bottle and send it cascading down to the
floor where it shattered, spilling the last of it's contents.

"Look what you did!" He roared as he turned to her, raising his hand to
shove her as far from him as possible.

Kaya stumbled back, then caught herself, hands clenched into fists.
"Look what I did? Look what _I_ did! You sharding did it, not me!"
She snapped, her eyes flashing as she stared at the drunken idiot
before her.

He snarled at her, "You caused this whole mess! From the moment I _met_
you my life was ruined!" He was angry and the liquor made him lose
sight of the control he normally kept closely in check. "You and your
deceptions. _You_ caused this!" He was pointing and angry finger at her
as he took a few slightly less than steps steps in her directions. His
eyes were wild, the anger over what she'd done to him was nearly
overtaking him.

"No, _you_ caused this." Kaya's voice rose in volume and pitch as she
stared the man down. She didn't budge from where she stood, colour
coming into her face, a mark of the own anger that burned within her.
"YOU were the one who ruined everything! YOU were the one who found me
and YOU were the one who forced me to come back! If you had just LEFT
me there, none of this would have happened! I wouldn't have _had_ to
do this! But no, you couldn't leave well enough alone! You couldn't
just let me make my own choices, you had to drag me back kicking and
screaming and leaving me without any other options!"

The fire in his eyes was nearly explosive as her words angered him
further. Even in his drunken state he closed the distance between them
quickly. One hand reaching out to grab her arm, he growled at her. "You
spoiled little bitch," he snarled. "You only _ever_ think about
yourself. No wonder no one wanted you!" He was gripping her arm so
tightly it was sure to leave a bruise.

Kaya cried out as his fingers dug into her flesh. Tears sprang to her
eyes, not so much at the painful hold as it was at the words he thrust
at her. "No one wanted me? What about you? How old are you? Thirty
seven turns. An old man who didn't even have one woman looking at him
as a match! Not one! Who would want a crackdusted Gather-fool acting
like a sun-crazed wher for a husband? Nobody!" She tugged sharply
against him. "Let go of me!"

Her words taunted him, angered him, fed fuel to the fire building
inside of him. Without even thinking he raised his hand as though to
strike her. For a wild frenzied moment, the Wirnan he knew was gone,
replaced by a man whose eyes shown with anger and a hint of sometime
else. Her tugging motion pulled him off balance and just as suddenly as
that darkness had enveloped him, it vanished. In a moment of clarity,
he stared down at her, eyes wide and shocked at what he knew he had
intended. Releasing her quickly he shoved himself away. "Go," was all
he said as he stumbled his way away from her and to the sofa, shocked
at his own behavior.

For a moment, Kaya couldn't move. His hand had been poised to strike
her and immediately she had flinched, an involuntary reaction to
something she'd experienced far too many times. Her free hand came up
to her head, an attempt to protect it from the onslaught. But it never
came. Her eyes, dark, frightened, lifted to him and she stared into
his own, just as wide, just as shocked. When he released her, she
trembled and it was a couple of moments before she could urge her feet
to move and do so quickly. She ran to the bedroom, slamming the door
behind her and then locked it. Her hands clenched once more into fists
and pressed against the wood as she slowly sank to the floor.

Men can change.

He had said that. His own words. And Wirnan was changing. He'd
almost hit her. Almost struck her. Had she done this to him? Yes.
It was her fault. By trying to escape one horror, she may have created
another, and that one from a sweet, kind man she had once called
friend. Tears welled up in Kaya's eyes and it wasn't long before she
was clutching at her stomach and gasping between sobs. It was all her
fault. All hers.

Last updated on the June 13th 2011

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A Drunken Mess