» please allow me to introduce myself, open

[Ezekial Aesalon]

Ezekial was off of work, and he didn't feel like doing two of his major pastimes. (One being cavorting with the ladies, the other being lazing around the house.) Of course, his third hobby was getting drunk on his arse whenever he didn't need to do anything important, and that was still in.

He decided to go for a walk. He checked his pocket for the essentials before leaving the house. He had the house key in case someone decided to lock him out, wand, and a silver flask with firewhiskey inside. "I'm good," he muttered to himself before leaving the house.

Walking had lost its flair by the time he realized how awkward it was to unscrew his flask and walk at the same time. He came to a stop in Padmore park and sat on a bench.

He supposed that this was one of his less-than-responsible actions, but pretty much everything he had done since fourth year could be classified as that. Three NEWT classes, secret rendezvous, the works. A Prophet exposer on his life could last for months.

Eze sighed and pulled the flask from his pocket. He unscrewed it, took a sip, re-screwed, and crammed it back in his pocket. Now - time to people watch.

[Tabitha Peverell]

I'm hot sticky sweet,

Tabitha was off on a Hogsmeade weekend and completely high on opium. She couldn’t deal with life, hadn’t been able to deal with life in a very long time. She had smoked whatever opium was left in her room before trekking outside, knowing full well she’d be able to restock her supplies. That was, so long as no one caught her. Paranoid almost defined Tabitha these days. She refused to stop being everything that she had always been, but the fact that she harbored illegal substances in her dorm room made her a bit more jumpy these days. She needed it though. Tabs wouldn’t be able to survive without opium or alcohol.

She walked around Padmore Park, head in the clouds, arms crossed over her chest in an extremely unfriendly fashion. Had anyone been in Padmore Park who knew her and had waved, Tabs never would have noticed. She was too high, too inside of herself, too just everything she should be. Life, she felt, couldn’t get any worse.

Artemis had been in center of Hogsmeade that day, hugely pregnant. That had sobered Tabs up a bit, seeing what the woman (who was only a year Tabitha’s senior!) who was to deliver her very own niece or nephew looked like pregnant. Tabitha felt that familiar pull at her heart, and had nearly curled up in a ball right there in the middle of High Street. Of course, that would be too suspicious, so she had found her way to the park, where it was normal for people to just sit and do nothing. Of course, it wasn’t very normal for Tabitha to just sit and do nothing, but that wasn’t something Tabitha wanted to think about. All she wanted to do was just sit and stare into space, empty her mind of everything and regain that high she had that she had lost when she saw Artemis.

Damned woman.

Pregnant women should all just go to hell.

Fuck me, I’m damning pregnant women because I want to be one, Tabitha resided. She stopped walking in the middle of the path she was on and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to regain her composure, doing her best not to cry. Tabitha was fighting a losing battle, as her sobriety kicked in and a rush of emotions flooded her. She turned to the nearest bench and took a seat on it, pulling her knees into her chest and holding them there tightly. If she had to come apart, why couldn’t she just come apart back at the castle, or alone in her bedroom at home? Why did it have to be out in public? Tabitha took in a deep, shaky breath and tried to compose herself. She wasn’t even aware there was a young man sitting on the bench next to her, sipping from a silver flask.

TAG: eze aesalon   WORDS: 483   outfit: n/a

[Ezekial Aesalon]

It was a barely-kept secret that Ezekial loved gossip. Being someone whose survival hinged on his own indiscretions remaining in the closet, he was well aware of the fact that it was weird. But he enjoyed being in the loop, he enjoyed having something to talk about, and he read the Prophet sometimes for his own entertainment. He didn't buy it, and he didn't read it deliberately unless someone told him there was an article on something fascinating or scary. (Or, alternately, if some weirdo brought one into the bar and left it there.)

He liked gossip from a distance, though, far enough away for him to feel safe with his own behaviours. He wasn't a fan when it sat right next to him and curled up. She had surprised him, in a I can't people watch when there is something alarming besides me sort of way. The girl - he did not know her name, but she seemed vaguely Gryffindor-y- could not have been much younger than Kitty - young enough to make him feel just slightly protective. She smelled vaguely of opium and liquor, and Ezekial wasn't sure if he wanted to ignore her or not. He could leave, go to the bar, get drunk on James' lawn, something. Still...

She wasn't much younger than Kitty.

Eze sighed. He didn't like having this sort of conscious. It was one thing to stop James Riley from sitting in an alley with a prostitute all night, it was another to talk to a clearly mentally unstable girlchild.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Okay, so that was a stupid question. You didn't become unhinged on a park bench if you were okay. "This is a really bad place to," he waved his arms in a gesture for explosions.

"Do you want some whiskey?" he blurted, offering her the flask. Okay, so Ezekial had little experience with handling unhinged ladies. The idea of Kitty breaking down like this was entirely foreign to him, Maud was always closer to Jed, and his mother... dealt with her own stuff. Even if she hadn't, Eze would not have interfered with her. Not his division.

His female friends always drank whiskey to make it go away - as did his male friends, actually. And while this girl was clearly already on a couple substances, and far too young for him, he didn't think a nice burn from firewhiskey could make it any worse. Probably. Whatever. He wasn't a healer, she was in the fetal position on a park bench, he figured it was the least he could do to offer her a drink.

[Tabitha Peverell]

I'm hot sticky sweet,

Although she was loathe to admit it, Tabitha knew she needed help. She didn't want help, which was part of the reason she hadn't sought it. No one in her family really knew what to do with her. Isabelle left her alone for the most part. Suzanne just yelled at her and told her to grow up. Isaac was... well, he was Isaac and he began to treat her as he treated everyone else. Lazarus and James were the only people who didn't treat her like a child, but they were still careful around her. No one knew Tabitha anymore. Even Tabitha didn't know Tabitha anymore.

She hadn't noticed the young man on the bench sitting next to her until he flailed his arms around, and even then she didn't even listen to what he had said. It was as though her hearing had gone, as though she were deaf to the sounds the world was making around her. He offered her his silver flask, and Tabitha decided whatever was in it would be better than whatever wasn't in her body. If it was alcohol, fine. Then she could hopefully get drunk. If it were poison, good. Then she could die and disappear from this world. She wouldn't be tortured by pregnant women and by the taunting memories and horrors of her rape.

Tabitha didn't particularly enjoy being completely drunk or high all the time. It wasn't a good feeling. She remembered quite fondly the days when she was able to live her life as just that- her life. She had no control these days. Tabitha felt as though all of her control had disappeared the day she was raped. She certainly hadn't been in control then. Always comfortable with herself, Tabitha wasn't one to submit so easily to something so... so vile, but it was a shock and the Slytherin was much older than her. What was she to do? She had been barely thirteen.

She took the proffered flask and put it to her lips, pausing for a moment to ensure that she was certainly going to drink what was inside. Tabs resigned herself to her fate, and tipped the flask back. Whiskey poured down her throat, burning a white hot fire as it slid into her belly and formed a pool that she was certain would eat through the lining of her stomach. She wasn't sure how much it would help, but she liked to think that it would help her a lot. Tabitha wiped her lips with the back of her hand and gave the flask back to it's [supposed] owner. "Thanks," she said, her voice shaking with tears threatening. Tabitha bit her lower lip and observed the man sitting next to her. He was blonde and probably lower class. She looked upper class, more or less, and she hoped he wasn't offended by her lack of manners.

TAG: eze aesalon   WORDS: 483   outfit: n/a

[Ezekial Aesalon]

Eze watched as she drank from his flask and tried to come up with a good role model in his head. Hmmm.... Jed would offer Sage Advice, or something, but Eze had never been good with advice and his imitations of his elder brother were poor at best. Callum would.... get her pregnant? Or see if she was his bastard? Something? And his father had gone ahead and gotten himself killed, so he wasn't exactly the best example. The elegant Mrs. Aesalon would probably stab her problems away, or something, and that wasn't an option. He didn't even consider Maud, despite her having been a teacher, because she was just so quiet.

Finally, Eze gave up on trying to come up with a better plan and re-accepted his flask. Eze took a swig from it and re-screwed the cap, slipping it into his pocket. "You're welcome," he said, leaning back against the bench. If this got him in trouble, he was going to.... do something violent. Burn the Daily Prophet offices to the ground? Hmm, that sounded like a good time. He wondered if Kitty would join him. Considering that the Prophet had kicked girls off the quidditch teams, and therefor kicked Kitty off her team, he supposed the chances were good.

"I'm Eze Aesalon," he offered. "You're a student, right?" Etiquette had been thrown out the window when he had offered an underage - presumably - upper class girl liquor. On the list of 'stupidest things he had ever done', this was swiftly climbing upwards on the list. Eze crossed 'prophet advice columnist' off the list of possible plan-B career choices, and tried to rationalize with himself. It was rare that Ezekial took stock of his ideas to find whether or not they were 'bad', and apparently he was Not Quite Drunk Enough to avoid it.

Well. The manager at the Hog's Head was pretty young. And he wouldn't feel this guilty about giving Kitty liquor. Besides - Miss Upper Class Teenager was already on opium, if he was even vaguely in the range of right, so a little alcohol couldn't really hurt. Skewed logic had sort of become Eze's thing a long time ago, and he wasn't going to stop just because of a little doubt. What else was he supposed to do? Find someone more qualified? This girl wasn't related to him, he couldn't exactly sling her over his shoulder and dump her in front of someone smarter.

[Tabitha Peverell]

I'm hot sticky sweet,

The guy looked familiar, but Tabs wasn't sure from where. He has a certain, thing, about him that made him seem so familiar. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, really super thankful that there was no one around. It didn't really matter if her reputation was wholelly ruined; James had pretty much done that by going off and getting some girl only a year her senior pregnant. He claimed she was his best friend. Where did that leave Tabs? She wasn't sure, and she didn't like. Perhaps that was part of the reason she hated Artemis so much. Or maybe it was really the baby thing. Tabitha had never ever in her entire sixteen years of existence thought about being a mother- not until she was raped. That had changed everything. It was as though a light bulb had gone off above her head when that happened. Not the rape- the pregnancy from the rape. That had changed everything. Tabs's view on life was drastically altered, but whether for the better or worse she would never know.

And now every pregnant woman she saw made her grow fiercely angry and seeing Artemis put hatred in her heart. What had she become?

The man introduced himself as Eze Aesalon and asked if she was a student. Tabs mulled that around for a moment, trying to place the name. Aesalon! He was Kitty's brother. She knew the girl, also a year her senior, just because they were in the same house. She knew that Kitty had an older brother, two of them if she wasn't mistaken, and that was why this guy had looked so familiar. Tabitha nodded to his question of being a student. "You're Kitty's brother, right?" It was just as devoid of proper etiquette as Eze's statement had been, but who really cared? She was too sober to care about anything other than getting high or drunk, and she was too angry to give a flying fuck who saw her or what etiquette dictated to a middle class man giving an upper class young girl alcohol.

Whatever.

Tabitha drew her knees into her chest and hugged them there, resting her chin on them. People were walking by, not really giving Tabs and Eze a second glance. They didn't look like they were dating, there was no chaperon in sight, and Tabitha couldn't care less about anyone else's problems or their problems with her. Tabs wanted to go home, but she didn't know where home was anymore, or what home was. No one anywhere knew about what had happened to her, except for James and Laz. They were both home... perhaps. But James was half wrapped up in Artemis, and Lazarus was off being his Lazarus-y self. They had been her best friends for as long as she could remember, her confidantes, the only people she could count on. Mia was always like the big sister Tabs truly wanted, but even she didn't know what had happened and besides, she was a cousin and not at home anywhere.

After a long standing silence, or some sort of a silence that lasted for some sort of time that felt like an eternity to Tabitha, she offered her name. "I'm Tabitha. Peverell." Tabitha continued to look straight ahead and didn't bother turning to look at Eze. Why bother? What would it get her? Nothing, that's what. She sighed. "Call me Tabs, though. Not Tabitha, and never Tabby." She hated the nickname Tabby. It made her feel like a cat, and she certainly was not a cat.

TAG: eze aesalon   WORDS: 598   outfit: n/a

[Ezekial Aesalon]

"Kitty Aesalon? Yeah," Eze echoed. He was at least slightly pleased that she recognized him as such; if Eze had himself as a brother, he might not have admitted it. Oops. "Your former art teacher is my other sister," he added. He would have commented on his older brother, too, but in his mind the not-failure had little contact with students. Besides, his family wasn't the point in any respect - the point was that there was this fifteen-year-old girl who looked utterly miserable next to him, and for some unfathomable reason he had decided to deal with it. Oh, right. Because she reminded him of Kitty a little bit, and because there really was no good way to vault out of the situation.

Tabitha Peverell? Oh, bloody hell. That meant she was not only rich, but also a pureblood. Eze was about as politically minded as a rock, but even he knew that he was in dangerous territory. At least they were blood traitors - if the Peverells had been rich purebloods, he would have sank into the ground and told Ev and James to come get him when his mother stopped considering murder. Or never. Yeah, never worked too. It was good that they had not quite slipped into cave-in-the-ground territory yet.

"Alright than Tabith - Tabs," he said. Eze himself was rarely called by his full name, partially because no one took him seriously, and partially because it was just easier to be called Eze. Three letters, two syllables, good for yelling during battle when ordering a drink. He understood her preferences - besides, Tabitha, such a pretentious name. It sounded like something he imagined his mother would like - probably too easy-going for his mother's parents though. (The name Mildred scared him almost as much as she sometimes did.)

He glanced sideways at her. Now, how to go about this... Eze had never staged an intervention before. In fact, he was probably a prime candidate for one himself, what with the alcohol and the crappy job and the womanizing. Eh. At least he wasn't having a mental breakdown in a park, like Tabs was - therefor, she needed it far more than he did. While Eze supposed it would have worked better with a big poster and people who actually cared about her well-being, but he was apparently all the girl had. (Couldn't her parents hire someone for that?) Ugh. Talk about pressure.

"Listen.... Tabs," he said, testing out the name once more. "Uh, your life is really none of my business...." This intervention was not going well by any definition of the word. Focus, Eze, focus! He may have been a failure and an alcoholic, but he could definitely pull this off! Maybe.

"But you shouldn't be stumbling around the park. I mean, at least do it in your house - that's smart," he offered, shrugging his shoulders. Yeah. He had failed.

[Tabitha Peverell]

I'm hot sticky sweet,

Tabs nodded when the guy said that he was Kitty's brother, and added an "oh, fun," when he mentioned that the former art teacher was his other sister. Tabs had never been into art, so she had never bothered taking the subject, and didn't really know who the professor had been or currently was. It was sort of a wash for Eze, him telling her that and all, if he was looking for some sort of acknowledgement that she knew who his other sister was. Tabitha was definitely the wrong person to go to for that.

He tried to offer her some advice about not stumbling around Padmore Park and to keep it to her house, but all she did was raise an eyebrow in his general direction. "And you have the gall to say that to me? You're the one sitting on a park bench in clear daylight drinking out of a flask and then you offered some to me!" She paused for a moment. There was no need to get consumed by anger. Tabs felt it boiling in her belly, but that might have been the firewhiskey he had offered her. "Thanks for that, by the way. The alcohol, I mean." She pulled her knees back into her chest and rested her chin atop them. She really didn't want to leave, but knew she should. She knew she shouldn't be stumbling drunk or high around Padmore Park; Eze was right about that. But... what else could she do? She felt like a wreck just sort of floating around without any purpose or any place to go.

"So, um... Thanks for the attempted intervention, but I can promise you that being in a drunken stupor is better than being anywhere even close to sober." She let out a bark of a laugh that was mingled with a sob she tried to choke down. This wasn't how life was supposed to be. She knew full well that life wasn't fair, and though she wasn't someone who had ever had a loving, caring, motherly bone in her body, Aeryn was quite certain that she would've made an excellent mother. She wasn't digging school- she never had before the rape and the miscarriage and it was even worse now. Nothing was going to make her feel better. Even being drunk and high was loosing it's numbing effect on her.

TAG: eze aesalon   WORDS: 598   outfit: n/a

[Ezekial Aesalon]

Eze retorted: "I'm an adult. I can do what I want and people won't really care." Well, maybe some people would - but those people were not around at the moment, were they? And they could not tell him what to do anyways, due to his first point - Eze was of age. This girl - Tabitha Peverell, he remembered - almost definitely had people who cared that she was out alone and out of her mind, at the very least because of her precious reputation.

"You're welcome," he said automatically. Despite his job and his hobbies, Eze did know how to be polite, and he could make an attempt. Even if being around her when she was like this was unnerving - because she was Kitty's age, and because the absolute last thing he needed in his life was rumors that he was shagging a teenage pureblood. Now that he had made an attempt at an intervention, leaving her to her own devices was looking better and better - she clearly did not want his help, even if she so obviously needed it. (The fact that he probably needed an intervention, and would have reacted similarly, was entirely lost on him.)

He made a face. "Alright then, I guess," Eze said, "Just - be careful, okay? Or whatever." This was not even remotely his business - and he had tried, which was the entire point. Besides, he could not fault her for not wanting to be sober. Being sober sucked. James' falling off the wagon with that random blonde proved that, didn't it? There was no point in even attempting not to drink alcoholic - Eze did not mess around with opium, but surely that was the same thing? Ezekial Aesalon had gotten very good at justification over the past several years of his life, and he was putting it into practice now.

"I'm going to go," he said. "You can write me if you want. And I'm a bartender in the Hog's Head - if you ever go there when I'm working, I'll hook you up with some fantastic liquors." With an awkward nod - what the hell even was he doing - Eze turned, made sure his flask was secure in his pocket, and apparated back home. He did not know if he had done a good thing or not.