A night in

[balancingminds]

"Raven!" Charles yelled as he entered the flat, just managing to close the door and not drop anything.

Tonight he was holding slightly more than usual as he'd just been gifted a bottle of wonderful booze and the only person he was going to drink it with was Raven.

Comments

[andproud]

"What?" she calls back, looking up and upside down from where she's draped herself over the sofa in the living room.

She catches a glimpse of the bottle first.

"Ooh, presents?"

[balancingminds]

"Yes, take the bottle and get some glasses. I need to put everything else down,"

There isn't that much else just his briefcase, umbrella, but he still doesn't have a free hand.

[andproud]

She rises up from the sofa to pluck the bottle from his fingers, the robe she wears for sleeping in swirling around her legs.

"What, did you just have some kind of aneurysm coming home and decided we needed to have a drink?"

[balancingminds]

"No, it was a present. The Greek professor down the hall is retiring and decided everyone needed a bottle of ouzo. His exact words to me were 'Get drunk in my name, boy, you don't do it enough.' I'm not sure how he knew that but he did and so a bottle of ouzo,"

Being drunk is dangerous, but with just Raven, its as safe as they can be.

[andproud]

"This stuff is dangerous," she replies, setting the bottle down on the table once she's retrieved two glasses, resuming her spot on the couch.

She folds her legs up underneath her, making herself comfortable. She doesn't drink often, at least in public - too much of it and she starts to lose her control on what she looks like, and Charles knows to order her a soda whenever they go out so she can at least maintain another kind of illusion.

[balancingminds]

"I know but we're not the safest of people,"

He can drink and keep his head but there's a point he doesn't go past. Once she's got the glasses, he sits on the couch and stretches with a smile.

[andproud]

"We'll be fine. I can trust you, right?"

She's only teasing as she reaches over to pour them each a thimble of ouzo, downing hers all at once.

"Oh, yeah. This is going to hurt tomorrow."

[balancingminds]

"Yes, but I don't have to teach tomorrow. We'll go have brunch or something when we're up for it,"

They'll make a day and a night of it.

[andproud]

"Even better."

She's already pouring herself another glass and raises it.

"What should we toast to?"

[balancingminds]

He downs his first glass and then pours another,

"Mm, I don't know. The possible."

[andproud]

She takes a sip of her refill, but it's a little slower than the first.

"I've got one more drink on you. Better catch up."

[balancingminds]

"I wouldn't want to fall behind,"

Then he takes a breathe and downs his drink with a shake of his head.

[andproud]

Her lips curve into a grin, slow but certain.

"And they say you Oxford types are repressed," she murmurs, polishing hers off in quick succession.

[balancingminds]

"Good lord, no, overworked, yes, not repressed. What would be the point of that?"

He pours another drink and grins, he's known repressed people but he couldn't do it. He's too honest.

[andproud]

She presses a hand to her heart, pretending to sniff.

"I'm just - so very proud of you," she says, reaching for the bottle again.

[balancingminds]

"It's all the fault of your good influence, best teacher I could have in how to have fun,"

With only a little wobble, he shifts to lean against her and unbuttons his collar.

[andproud]

She snorts in the middle of drinking her next glass - which, given that it's ouzo, means that some of it will sting in her nose.

Somehow, she manages to salvage the sip without things getting messy, even if she's rubbing her nose a little afterwards.

"Yes, I take full responsibility for your corruption."

[balancingminds]

He grins up at her as he takes another drink and taps her nose,

"Yes, and you did a fine job."

[andproud]

She makes a face, scrunching up her nose as she tries to take this next drink a little slower than those previous ones.

"Well, you taught me some things too," she murmurs, momentarily serious.

[balancingminds]

At her serious tone, he pauses in his drink to look at her,

"I'm your brother, it's what I'm supposed to do."

[andproud]

He just says it so matter-of-fact; it's what he's supposed to do, and in the end, she smiles, nudging her glass against his.

"Well, we learn from each other," she replies, though her fingers slip a little as she goes for the bottle again, and she bursts out into laughter.

[balancingminds]

That's how he thinks of it, they're family,

"We do. Refill mine. Anything wrong?"

[andproud]

"No, it's just - wait, a professor gave you this?"

For a moment, her eyes flicker to yellow as the drinks start to catch up with her.

[balancingminds]

"Mm, yes, we've always gotten along and he was giving them to everyone he could find. It didn't make that much sense even for Oxford but free drink,"

And he has been working too hard and he frowns at her, it's not that odd.

Though maybe it is and he winces, "Our upstairs neighbors are fighting again."

[andproud]

"Good thing you don't have class tomorrow. You might need the time to recover, old man."

She groans, looking up at the ceiling. "Don't they ever shut up? Maybe I should go up there and give them a piece of my mind. Or, at the very least, I could slip into a good old copper and give them a scare."

It takes a little more concentration, but Charles can expect to see himself seated next to a fully uniformed police officer (tall, male, dark-haired).