turn down for what, c

Orion usually wasn't out this late, but one thing lead to another and...well, he was. His mother wouldn't be happy but he was an adult, right? If he wanted to stay out all hours of the night, that was his deal. He knew that would never really fly, though, so the boy was making his way home, cutting by a few shady clubs on a shortcut to where he lived.

He didn't spend much time in South Nova, so he didn't know the city. And it wasn't safe to be hanging around this late, he knew that much, so he was walking as quickly and as briskly as possible, not making any eye contact with anyone who was lingering along the side of the street.

When he walked past one club, though, the door swung open and an impossibly small girl tumbled out, obviously under the influence of a few things. She was stumbling, she was nearly falling, she was sick. He winced a bit as she gagged, and although he was trying to make it a priority to not get himself killed, he couldn't just leave this girl alone. She looked like she was about his age, despite her petiteness.

"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously as he approached her. That was a stupid question, she obviously was not. "Or, can I help you at least? You look like...you're gonna die, honestly."

@ella

"Well, I know you're not gonna, but you look like it—" he retaliated a bit with a sigh, but never got a chance to finish his sentence. The girl started to shake a little and suddenly lunged forward.

Her arms splayed out to break her fall and Orion stepped forward, catching her before she hit the ground. She leaned against his arm as he helped her stand upright again, though her legs were still incredibly shaky.

"I'm gonna help you home, okay?" he said calmly. "It's late and you seem kind of, uh...unstable, so I'm gonna give you a hand, if that's okay..."

@ella

Thankfully she didn't freak out and start screaming. Which probably would have been the normal thing to do in a situation like this. A strange guy just came up to her and told her he was going to help her home. Orion obviously had no desire to do anything to her, though, besides simply help her get home safely.

"Er...what?" he asked, unable to decipher what she had said. If he only knew what kinds of things were going on inside her head. Simply chalking it up to the drugs, Orion looked around as if he was expecting reinforcements to come and help. Nope, it was just him and this girl, who was higher than a kite right now.

She clung to his arm still and he contemplated just picking her up — it would be faster and she was small enough. But that might be crossing the line a bit, as he had absolutely no idea who she was, after all.

"Where do you live? Can you point me in the right direction?" he asked, hoping she was coherent enough to at least tell him where she lived. What would he do if she couldn't, take her to his house? That would certainly spread rumors and his mom would not be happy.

@ella

North Nova would definitely be a trek from here...maybe he could hail a cab or something, but that would be pretty expensive— and then the girl decided to mention that she couldn't go home. He didn't blame her. If he showed up at home, drunk and high out of his mind, he would be grounded until he was thirty, let alone the fact that he was already an adult.

"Um, okay," he said, trying to think. They obviously couldn't stay here and either of their houses were out of the question. "Do you have anywhere else to go? Like a friend's house or something?"

It was a shot, at least. By now the girl had pulled away from him and flopped on the floor. This was almost like dealing with a defiant elementary schooler, if elementary schoolers did drugs. Then again, it was probably the drugs making the girl act this way.

"By the way, what is your name? I'm guessing your last name is, uh, Montanero, right?" he asked, hoping to have some way to refer to her other than 'the girl.'

@ella

He knew better by now than to ask what princess she was talking about. She'd probably go on a tangent or say something that made even less sense, so he just played along with it and nodded knowingly like it made complete sense.

"Well, my name's Orion," he said, introducing himself. He'd normally shake her hand or something but it was getting late and to be honest, he wanted to get both of them to a safe place. "It's, er, nice to meet you, Ella."

She still hadn't said anything about where they could go. He looked around, almost anxious, though he didn't let on to it too much. There was a lot rushing through his head, and though he didn't want to, he might have to take her to his house. That wouldn't go over well at all.

"So, did you have anywhere to go...?"

@ella

She agreed to go with him, but the girl still seemed indignant. Why did he decide to get mixed up in this again? Orion was half starting to regret it. But he couldn't do anything about that now, and besides, he knew he would've felt really bad if he left her all alone on the side of the road. Anything could've happened.

"Alright, alright," he sighed. "I'm not trying to be pushy, but it's getting pretty late and we shouldn't be out here for a very long time..."

He wasn't very well acquainted with south Nova, but he knew well enough that it could get pretty dangerous. And while he wasn't a complete weakling, he wouldn't be able to actually fight anyone off. And neither would Ella, at least not in her current state.

"Tell me where to go," he said, as he had no idea where she wanted to go. He was half tempted to just pick her up too, to keep her from wandering off, but he supposed that wouldn't be the best course of action right now.

@ella

Ella reached down the front of her dress and to be honest, Orion didn't know what she was doing at first. When she simply produced a cell phone and some money he was a little relieved. Honestly, women were strange creatures some times.

As much as he'd rather just pay for it, he accepted the money as to not distracted them any further, and looked at the address on the phone. It was kind of far, and he was glad they didn't have to walk. It would've probably taken an hour, maybe more with the state Ella was in right now.

Waiting until a free cab drove by he hailed it down and slid into the seat, helping Ella in as well before pulling the door shut by leaning over her. Rattling off the address on the phone the taxi took off, rocking on the uneven road and shoddy axles as they sped towards their destination.

And now he didn't know what to say. What kind of small talk could you make in this situation? Did you have a good time? How much crack did you smoke? Nothing good came to mind.

@ella