I Once Saw the Past [Trebias]

[Trebias]

El laughed raucously. “Yeah it was! Best thing I’ve seen all day. Now, you’re going to want to eat something. Soon. You got gumption, kid, I’ll tell you that.” He mouthed the cork back into the bottle. “Let’s get us some water to dilute that with, what say you?” He moved off, chuckling. “You’re all right, kid.”

He hurried to make some lunch after bringing a jug of water in. He was already feeling a buzz, and he didn’t drink well enough to work through it, so he wanted to be somewhere he could just collapse when he was done. He set some vegetables and bread down in front of Rai. “Now, this’ll absorb the alcohol, make it take a little longer working into your system. You’re gonna feel a wobble when you get up anyway, but at least you’ll enjoy it. Drink plenty of water, though, I mean it. It’ll help fight off the after-effects a bit.”

He settled down next to Rai with his own food and began chomping away. All in all, it had been a good day.

[seraaches]

Rai gave El a kind of sickly smile, swallowing hard again as all of the moonshine threatened to revisit him suddenly and violently. Unfortunately, horse bodies are not made for vomiting and all the colt had to look forward to was becoming colic-y. Blast it all.

When Elias brought out things that would supposedly help, therefore, the colt did his best to consume them as well, even though, at this point, he really didn't want the alcohol to stay in his system any longer than absolutely necessary. This became especially true when he realized that the world was evidently tilting off its axis and trying to knock him right off of his feet. He shook his head slightly and blinked.

A hiccup escaped and the colt gave a loud snerk of amusement before trying to fight it off. He still felt sick, but it wasn't too bad all of a sudden. And then he passed out.

[Trebias]

Elias watched in bemusement as the colt weaved and wobbled, and looked
at his food like it wanted to hurt him. He got a little concerned when
the colt passed out, though. He must have forgotten just how much kick
that moonshine had. Well, there was the fact that Rai was a youngling
who had never drank before, either. Not a shining moment of good
judgement for Elias. Well, if this didn't kill the kid, it would
presumably make him stronger.

And now to set about helping it to not kill him, Elias thought. He
moved as hurriedly as the fog of his buzz would let him. He'd sobered
up pretty fast out of sheer concern, though.

He got some herbs and salts that he'd started gathering once he had
someone living with him who might need the help. Together they gave off
a strong ammonia smell. They didn't taste too good, but he'd get over
it. He held it under the kid's nose to get him conscious. He'd have to
try and force some water down Rai's throat and get the alcohol washed
through him if at all possible. He hoped it worked, anyway.

[seraaches]

Something decidedly unwelcome was intruding upon the sweet blackness of his mind. He gagged as the heavy scent penetrated through his unconsciousness and grey-green eyes shot open as he tried to get his head away from the awful smell. The swift movement, however, was a mistake; the world was spinning off its axis again.

Rai cautiously rolled over so he could get spindly legs back beneath his body, then he pushed upwards. His legs splayed out instinctively and he was definitely still wobbly. "El," he said surprisingly clearly. "I can't get sick."

The words were ambiguous; it could have been a matter of his pride again, or simply that he physically could not throw up. It didn't occur to the colt to try and clear it up; he was too busy trying to stay on his feet and not fall over again.

[Trebias]

Elias wasn't totally sure what the words meant, but he'd heard a thing
or two about equines in his day, so if he was right, and the kid
couldn't vomit, then he'd have to think of something else.

"Okay, kid, it's all right. Let me see if I have anything that'll
settle your stomach. Now, drink as much of that water as you can,
hear?" He'd definitely pour a smaller drink next time.

The next few minutes consisted mostly of Elias trying to hurriedly go
through his herbs, without causing the boy to panic. Pretty ironic now
that he had so many different poisons and venoms, and not nearly as much
medicinal stuff around. He wondered briefly if any of the poisons had
medicinal value that could be extracted from the harmful side effects.
Maybe he'd look into it one day, if he remembered. Find a good, crazy
Corvistowneian.

At last he found some medicine he'd been given last time he had
indigestion. He'd been vomiting a lot, and the medicine had helped. He
was pretty sure it wouldn't harm the boy.

"Okay, kid, what we're going to do now is you're going to take this
medicine here and eat it. It will make your stomach feel better." He
didn't add the 'I think' that he was thinking. "Then, we're going to
try and get that stuff out of you fast. I'm no expert, but I know it
goes through your blood and tries to get out your skin and stuff, so
maybe if your heart's beating faster. . ." he went back to the herbs.
He did have an herb that would do that, he was sure. Here it was.
"Okay, now, take some of this, we'll see how much immunity you have to
it to see how much we need to give you."

[seraaches]

Rai didn't particularly want a load of medicine, but the best thing he could do for his system right now was probably flush it and walk around. Unfortunately, his motor skills were a bit impaired. At least he was smart enough to know not to roll and kick at his stomach, even as it curled dangerously.

The colt obediently drank as much water as he could then took the first herb. He needed to walk around. That was probably the best way he could help himself right now. Keep things moving. So on slightly swaying feet, Rai began to walk in some approximation of a circle when El disappeared inside again.

Eventually he fell into the pattern, head dropping down as he simply concentrated on walking. He didn't hear El return, nor did he notice the man talking to him, he simply continued to plod forward in a careful circle. Later on he would remember this and figure out how to adjust to these effects. And he certainly wouldn't just be chugging any more moonshine. EVER.

[Trebias]

El tried as he might to get the colt to take the medicine. He hoped it would work. Eventually, he took to following the colt around, asking him questions to help keep him conscious. That always helped him stay conscious. That was one thing, the colt wouldn't have to worry about drowning in his own vomit in his sleep.

Later, he was bringing the colt cold, wet rags. The hangover couldn't be fun. Elias wondered how much of it the kid could ignore, and for how long. Most likely not long enough to make a difference, but maybe in a pinch the kid could ignore the hangover long enough to do something important. He also brought in plenty of water and jerky.

"I don't know why it is, exactly, but sometimes eating salty foods helps me get over a hangover. That and a lot of water. Maybe I sweat a lot and don't rememebr it? I don't know. I guess a hangover is a little like paying for your bill after you've had your fun, huh?"

[seraaches]

Rai sent El a dirty look, as his head pounded and he still didn't feel all that great. The alcohol evidently hadn't bothered the canine at all and that set off another wave of inner protest. It just wasn't fair! He was going to get better at this no matter wot it took; he was determined.

"Next time. . . we need more fun. . before the hangover." He was determined. Yes. Gads. He felt like snot.

He was glad to drink more water, but the jerky was strange. Still, if El said it would help, he was willing to try it at least once. The boy began to chew on the jerky carefully, continuing to apply a great deal of water to the mixture. Strangely, it did seem to be helping a little bit, though the jerky was making his stomach begin to roll dangerously again. He stood up and started walking again.

[Trebias]

"True, there's not much fun to be had if you're already on the brink of blacking out. A little middle ground between no drinking and throwing back a full glass of moonshine might help with that. Shoulda warned you about that. Sorry, kid."

El walked with Rai again, to talk to him, keep him company, show him that he was there for him, whatever. It took quite a while before he realized that he was feeding meat to the equine. Trying to sound cooler, he said, "You can just suck that salt off, if you need to. I know how you feel about meat, you don't have to eat it all the way to make me feel better."

He thought back to his first hangover. He hadn't done much better than the kid, in all honesty. "You know, the first time I drank that much, it was a party. I drank it in wine form, though, so it takes a little longer to affect you. More watered down and all that. Man but that has bad aftereffects. I didn't even get out of bed the next day, if I remember right."

[seraaches]

Thank the Light, he didn't have to eat the freakin' stuff; it was disgusting. Next time Elias told him to do something, he was going to decide himself if it was worth doing. He sent El a wry look before gladly spitting out the bit of jerky he still had in his mouth. "No wonder I'm sick again," he muttered under his breath. El was trying to kill him.

For once the thought didn't throw up the red flags it normally would have and the colt continued to stride easily beside the other man. "I think anything would have been better than that." He would have jerked his head to indicate the moonshine but he already knew that was a bad idea, so he just let El figure out which 'that' he meant on his own. "Is there anyway to make that stuff taste good?"