Following 31 Dec 2011 - We Are Young

[Fauna] knocked lightly on the door frame. "Heeey," she paused. "It's Fauna."

The girl might not know her. Fauna couldn't remember her name. She put her ear up close to the door.

"Are you ok?"

Someone was speaking to her through the door.

"I am a mask hiding an endless void," Nemo replied loudly, her words starting to slur. The effort of it gave her system permission to move. She heaved involuntarily and a nasty cup or two of vomit came up and splashed in the toilet.

"That's an interesting development," she said, her voice starting to waver. She sat down next to the toilet and wiped her chin.

Huh? Fauna frowned at the door. What was that about mash? Mush? Marshes? Endlash?

Uh oh.

Very, very slowly, Fauna opened the door a crack and heard... vomiting.

Fauan winced, glancing behind her at the party, and then pushing the door open just as the girl sat down. The blond was wearing a bra and jeans and a void-like expression.

"Er, ok. Um," she took a small step inside and her own stomach lurched. She flushed the toilet to help clear the air.

"Are you alright? Do you want - let me get you some water, I'll be right back."

Fauna left the door open a little, hurried past the refreshments, then hurried back, spotting miracle of all miracles. Ginger ale!  She poured a glass of ginger ale, grabbed a stack of napkins, and hurried to the girl in the loo.

"Ok," she put the glass on the floor near her. "Do you want me to get Virgil or someone? Or- I'm sorry, I'm Fauna," she introduced herself again with an air of I'm-sorry-I'm-Fauna.

Nemo's shaggy blonde hair and too-long fringe fell over her face. She was trying to take deep breaths but each one threatened to wake the bitter beast. The older girl with dark hair in yellow came in with a cup and questions.

Nemo shook her head at both. Virgil was making out with his boyfriend, she didn't want him. He'd done enough and plenty for her.

"I'm Natalie nice-to-meet-you," Nemo said tipping her head back to see under her own shaggy blonde fringe.

"Aw, you're so pretty..." she sang and then immediately heaved two or three times before puking in the toilet again. Nemo had never been sick enough to throw up before, so this uncontrollable whole-body revolt was shocking. When she sat up again, her eyes were threatening to cry.

"Ugh...!" she moaned indignantly. "Why...."

Pretty? Fauna blinked, bewildered but amused. Bemused!

When Natalie-nice-to-meet-you threw up in the toilet again, Fauna hesitated, then moved to gently hold her hair back for her. She'd done this for friends in many a pub loo.
 
"It's ok," she murmured. "You're going to be ok."

How old was she? She didn't look seventeen. Who had invited her and let her drink so much? She looked related to Virgil, but Fauna couldn't be sure.

Fauna sat across from her on the tile floor, cross-legged. Ugh, rompers. She rolled her eyes up, pulled a wedgie out of her bum, and sat with her legs underneath her. Glimpsing Natalie's unhappy face, Fauna's expression softened.

"Do you want your-" she glanced at the discarded tank top and tentatively lifted it. It looked clean.

"It's ok ... You're going to be ok." Fauna said.

"Okay," Nemo mumbled agreeably. Then said, "okay" and took her shirt. She used it to wipe her face and streaking her mascara.

"I drank too much," she admitted as if it wasn't obvious. "And now I'm ruining the party," she said, starting to get weepy. "You're here and I'm all pukey and now you're not at the party. I drank too much. Umph."

She leaned back over the toilet and had another go.

"It's orange...," she wailed. "Why's it orange? I need my wand, where's my wand."

It was sticking out her pocket, but she didn't find it because she didn't really make an effort to find it. Instead, she closed her eyes.

Fauna reached over and flushed the toilet, glancing away as the swirl of orange disappeared. Ergh. She should not have had that glass of orange juice a few minutes ago. She'd been trying to sober up.

"Your wand is in your pocket," Fauna said gently, gesturing. She hoped Natalie wouldn't try magic in this state. Glancing at the soggy, mascara-stained, and still discarded tank top, she pushed the stack of napkins closer to her.

"And you know, you didn't ruin anything. I needed a breather anyway," she continued, pulling her knees up to her chest comfortably, hearing the shouts and laughter from beyond the door.

Not true! She could barely breathe in here. Didn't matter, she couldn't leave her alone like this.

Natalie's eyes were closing. Should she let her sleep? Normally when her friends got drunk they slept it off, but how much had Natalie had?

"Er, how many drinks have you had? No judgment. I had too many shots myself. Including the Lorgeha. Lorgorrhea?" She tilted her head and grimace-smiled, still rambling a bit from it.

"A thousand," Nemo replied. She patted for her wand, found it, lifted it as if to cast something, but let her arms drop. 

Her breaths started to come shallow and quite quickly she was crying, head back, eyes closed. "My mom's gonna be so mad at me. She's going to find out and I'll get in trouble and she'll make me come home," she wept.

She reached out for Fauna and patted whatever she could reach. "I should go. I'm gonna go. Here. Here."  The younger witch seemed to be trying to get up but made barely any progress.  Instead she was being a sloppy, sobby wee drunk moaning about something sad.

"I don't even know what 'loggyrio' is. I like it here, I don't want to go..."

Natalie's face crumpled. Fauna's face fell. Oh no! She caught something about her mum, about being in trouble. So young. Too young to be here, around such an assortment of gillyweed and alcohol and half-clothed wixes.

Fauna fought a flash of annoyance as she wondered once again who. had. brought. her. She also wondered, in the back of her mind, how she'd gotten stuck in this loo.

Before she could plan out that particular lecture in her head, Natalie was reaching out and Fauna offered a hand, palm up, letting her pat at it.

"You don't have to go anywhere," she said hastily, rising to her feet with her, then settling down again. Unless someone had a bucket. "Unless you - do you want a pillow?"

She blamed 'loggyrio' and the cold tile floor for whatever came out of her mouth.

"Listen, Natalie," Fauna tried again, widening her eyes a bit at her to emphasis that she was serious. "If your mum or anyone is upset with you, they can talk to me once you're feeling better. Or Virgil, or Nicholas." Or Ari. "Ok? It's our fault for letting you drink so much. But it's going to be okay," she gave her fingers a light squeeze. "We'll look after you."

Fauna had never been drunk like that before, but she understood one thing.

"It feels like a lot of feelings right now, but they're going to pass. Along with the nausea-"

The door opened. A girl stood there, looking bewildered at the two witches on the floor.

Fauna glanced up and managed a smile, "Puke party. You should find another loo."

The door started to close.

"Oh, actually," she stopped the door with her foot. "Would you get us a pillow?"

Fauna blinked at the girl. The girl blinked at Fauna.

"Please. Thanks," Fauna removed her foot.

Fauna's words came through to Nemo like the most wise, reassuring thing she'd ever heard, like gentle arpeggios on a golden harp. Nemo stopped whimpering and tipped to lean against the wall. She wiped her nose and sighed. Being called Natalie had transported her to another time and place and the bathroom in London started to sort of melt away.

No one was mad at her. Everything was fine. A sage goldfish was tucking her in.

"Yes, please. You're so wise," she mumbled, still feeling dizzy. "Wise and pretty and nice."

She pat-patted Fauna a few more times until she was completely relaxed into the wall in a position her neck would be sad about later.

Natalie settled down. Fauna smiled in relief at her, leaning her head back against the wall and curling her legs in on the floor. She yawned. Minutes passed.

Fauna waved her wand lazily in the air, making bright colors appear in swirls over the toilet. She avoided the color orange. The colors dissipated after a second. Fauna blinked. She sighed. Bored!

Minutes passed. The girl who'd found them in the bathroom earlier did not bring them a pillow. Fauna frowned to herself. Not nice. Not nice at all. But! She was wise and pretty and nice, Natalie had said. Fauna would need to add that to her next performance evaluation. She'd wave the report in front of Pratt's face. Take that! Take that. Not-nice-Pratt.