Drac Ch15
#16 of Drac
'...Another.' Nereen slurred, holding her glass out at an awkward slant. Her left eye was drifting shut as her right struggled to focus on Dienza. 'Hold it... still.' Dienza replied, not as drunk as his mother despite having drunk the same amount. She broke into a light giggle as he tried and failed three times to line the neck of the bottle up with her glass. 'I am.' Nereen replied, leaning forward more from her slumped position on the floor to try and reach further. 'Are not...' Dienza replied from the couch, before sighing and setting the bottle haphazardly on the floor. It was down halfway. Both of them knew this wasn't considered a lot between two people, but neither of them were drinkers. 'I'll get it. Myself.' Nereen grinned, before promptly falling asleep and rolling onto her side. A few seconds of snoring followed before she broke into hiccups and stirred slowly with a moan. 'Dammit. This had to happen.' 'Wouldn't be... rock bottom if we weren't struggling to breathe would it?' Dienza giggled. 'You're full of shit.' Nereen replied, slowly climbing onto all fours before pulling herself clumsily onto the couch beside her son. 'Is that why this all happened?' Dienza asked, falling sideways and curling up with his head rested on her thigh, a habit he'd not had since he was ten years old. Nereen paused, shocked but unable to keep from smiling at the gesture. 'No...' She replied. 'When people get scared... Decisions don't come easy. And, you know... If you stay there you're gonna hate me... if I puke.' 'Only for an hour til I've washed.' He giggled. 'This one time, Spiika and I were trying to-' 'Shhhhh...' Nereen slapped Dienza's cheek to silence him. 'I don't wanna hear what you two got up to when you were... naked in the same room.' 'Ma... She's gone.' Dienza sat up slowly. He put a hand to his head, focusing with some difficulty and trying not to cry again. 'Ma... She was the best thing in my life and she's gone. How am I supposed to...? I mean... What am I doing anything for if I don't have her?' 'Stop that.' Nereen replied, pulling him into a tight hug. Dienza went limp and allowed himself to be pulled close by his mother and she swayed softly. 'You've always dreamed big, remember? You'll find someone one day, even if you and Spiika never get back together there will be someone out there for you. But until then... Don't forget your dreams. Your music, your songs. Please... Keep doing that.' 'I want to...' Dienza shook his head. 'But there's just... too much gone. Aryan and Spiika were part of that dream and now...' 'You will find someone else!' Nereen repeated, much more forcefully this time. 'Don't you dare give up on this, your dream has kept you and me going for years! Don't ever forget that everything... I ever did was to help you...' 'Ma...?' Dienza heard the tears behind his mother's voice but didn't turn around. 'All those horrible people...' Nereen continued. 'All those terrible things I did. The things I had to do to make sure you had everything you needed... Don't you dare give up on me. It was all for you. I'm your mother, Dienza. Everything I do is for you. Don't give up and make it all for nothing. You do still want all that... don't you?' Her arms wrapped around him tighter still and she began sobbing lightly, half in despair and half in frustration that her strength was finally starting to show cracks. 'Ma...' Dienza murmured. 'Why did you... keep that micen?' The question was genuine as much as to change the topic to something Nereen could think happily about. 'Because... He liked me.' She answered, seeming to calm down. 'It's been so hard to find a micen that I could keep. I miss having one as a pet. Can't afford to just buy a pet one. And none of the micen here can get past their fear of us.' 'That's my fault.' Dienza sighed. 'Dammit, why didn't you ever tell me I was making things so hard for you?' He sat up from her embrace and turned around. She lowered her gaze immediately in a stubborn refusal to let him see her tears. 'Because you are always first.' Nereen replied softly. 'No matter what, you are always first.' 'I don't want you to give up everything you want.' Dienza protested. 'Enough.' Nereen shook her head, drying her eyes before staring back at him. Even through the alcohol her eyes were strong and focused now. 'This is rock bottom Dienza. Now we have to start climbing again. Got it? No more sadness.' '...Yea.' He nodded slowly. 'You too, alright? We're gonna find a better place to live. I'm gonna sell music, and we'll get you a micen. Hell, I'll get you a whole colony.' 'You're an idiot.' Nereen smiled, before she slumped onto the back of the couch and fell asleep. After carefully pulling her into a more comfortable position lying down, Dienza shuffled backwards on the floor and let himself pass out on a softer part of the carpet.
Dienza woke suddenly. The room was dark but for a faint blue tinted light coming from the microwave in the kitchen. His head throbbed and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton. He remembered this from the last time he had been drunk this heavily, years ago. A lot of people tended to say they'd quit drinking after a bad hangover but Dienza was one of the few who had stuck with it. Until tonight. He rolled onto his side and slowly pushed himself to his feet. He needed water. Every step made his head ache a little more until he finally reached the sink. He fumbled in the cabinet for a cup and drained it of water three times over. In the course of staring out the kitchen window Dienza caught the sight of movement. Something was out there in the backyard but he couldn't quite see it. He mumbled incoherently and made his way to the back door, slowly sliding it open and taking a step outside. The evening air was chilly. Dienza lowered himself to all fours and scanned the ground again. A fluttering sound alerted him to an owl landing on the back fence. It was after something it had seen, likely the same movement Dienza had caught. Whatever it was, it looked too big for a micen. Or maybe it was a few of them. The leona grinned and looked back at the owl. It had seen him, and was hesitating to make its swoop. Dienza crept forward a little more. He scanned the area of ground that the owl continuously returned its gaze to before arching his back and spreading his stance a little. Whatever was there the owl wanted it, but not enough to risk an altercation with him. With a low hoot of irritation it turned on its leg and took off into the night somewhere. The leona smirked then lowered his gaze. 'Now where are you?' Dienza called. He crept forward a little more, ears perked and waiting for the tell-tale sound as he closed in on the patch of grass the owl had been eying. There was a patch of grey against the green, barely discernible in the dark. Noticeably bigger than any micen, meaning... It bolted into action all of a sudden, putting Dienza's reflexes to the test as he surged forward and pinned the rattis to the ground under his left hand. It cried out in fear, the voice that of a young female, or at least he thought. 'Got ya.' Dienza pulled the rattis closer and angled his hand to keep her from escaping. With his head still throbbing from the alcohol he stood up with a slow groan and cupped his catch in both hands to stop her from squirming free. Once he was back inside, he set her on the counter with one hand pressing her down. With the dim light he could finally make out her features a little more. The rattis was definitely still juvenile, but there was no real social stigma about a rattis' age. Come to think of it, rattis just weren't as common and never really got the same level of attention as micen did. Micen were at least sold as pets, but rattis were harder to train. Still edible, but something about seeing the fear in this one's eyes reminded him of the things his mother had always said... And the things that he had done. 'Settle down.' He said at last, trying to relax his grip on her body without letting her get away. 'I'm not going to hurt you.' 'Y-you're not?' She stammered, her voice definitely betraying her youth this time. 'But you're... aren't you a leona?' 'That's racist.' Dienza remarked absently, rubbing his aching temple. 'What were you doing out there on your own? Outside at night is no place for a micen or a rattis. You should be hunting indoors.' 'I wasn't hunting!' She retorted, renewing her struggling and forcing Dienza to tighten his grip again. 'I was looking for my father. He disappeared two days ago... I was scared by myself.' 'Your... Oh.' Dienza sighed. Rattis were lots of things, but they were by no means bad parents. If this one's father hadn't gone back to her in that long, he was almost certainly... 'Look, you must know what it's like out there.' 'He's... He's dead isn't he?' The girl looked back at him, the glisten of her eyes seeming to increase momentarily in the soft light. '...Probably.' Dienza nodded. The resistance in his hand died and she slumped to the counter in defeat. 'Sorry, but owls fly out here at night from the park nearby. If he was outside, he probably didn't make it. And you wouldn't have either if I didn't wake up when I did.' 'What difference does it make?' The girl sobbed. 'Owl, leona, eaten is eaten.' Her shivering felt ragged and was complicated by her rapid breathing as she let her tears fall. 'I told you I'm not going to hurt you.' Dienza shook his head, instantly regretting it. 'Ugh, look, can we talk about this maybe in the morning? I am... so hungover right now.' 'What makes you think I'm gonna just wait around for you to feel better?' The rattis smirked, showing a momentary bravado. 'I'm gonna leave you in the fridge.' Dienza replied. 'What's that?' She demanded. The leona giggled softly before walking around to the fridge with the rattis grasped in his hand. He opened the fridge door and set her on one of the shelves below the vegetable crisper. The light burned his eyes, but did allow him to finally see the rattis in the light. Her fur was a pale brown, she had almost white markings on her forearms and legs and her hair was a light shade of red. Her eyes looked back at him with trepidation, a surprisingly deep shade of blue. 'Nice, huh?' He asked in a condescending tone with a smug grin that lost some of its effect to his squinting gaze. 'No, it's freezing in here!' She growled. 'Warmer in here.' Dienza patted his belly, reminding her of her stature. She looked between his exposed belly and his eyes, then to his lips. She seemed to reason that she was still small enough to make that trip and seemed unwilling for the moment to give Dienza reason to try. 'F-Fine.' She muttered, curling up and doing her best not to shiver. Dienza watched her for a few more moments before he couldn't hold his laughter anymore and let out a slow cackle. 'I was kidding dumbass. Here.' He held out his hand for her to climb onto. 'I'll find you somewhere warm in my room. I'll get you something to eat in the morning and then we'll sort out somewhere for you to live.' '...Why?' The rattis asked. 'I mean, why do you care?' 'You're welcome.' Dienza shrugged, making his way to his bedroom. He fumbled in the dark, the only light that of his alarm clock and opened his sock drawer before setting the girl down inside. 'Try to relax for now huh? To be honest even I don't know why. But with all the shit that's happened to me these last few days... I guess it just feels like the right thing to do. So sleep.' She nodded slowly, the leona barely being able to discern the movement before he lowered himself to the bed and almost instantly fell back to sleep.