Drown Out the Sorrows

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((May 16, 1622. Mainly Reuben and Andy at first, though people can later join to rescue the poor idiot.))

Drowning out sorrows with alcohol. That had been such a wonderful idea.

Who wouldn't find it a wonderful idea? Reuben had spent the last two to three weeks searching for his family, only to finally be pointed to their gravestones by an old neighbor. Their gravestones. His mother, and his real father (Michael was his father, dammit!) were dead, Isaac had been arrested and had likely been executed, and nobody knew where Caden was.

"Ha ha... ha ha ha... four years... and I come back to nothing..."

As it was right now, Reuben was completely depressed, and completely hammered. The bartender had kindly pointed the exit, and now Reuben was wandering the docks, trying to find where his airship was. As long as he didn't land in the water, he would be perfectly fine.

"Hah... that bastard really is the only family now, huh...?"

He stumbled into a wall, blinking a bit as he felt his way to a bit of a standing position. He hadn't thrown up yet, thank goodness, but he would at some point tonight. Just not now. Either way, he kept walking, until he literally crashed right into a certain someone.

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<sub>And that certain someone happened to be Andy. He had brought down Daniela this time of the night, the second youngest of the girls he had, choosing not to bring the more introverted Nerys or the other girls. Daniela usually preferred to stick around him in case something happened. especially after THAT incident in Dula.

"Keep an eye for any jobs, Dani." He spoke up, pulling the collar of his trenchcoat up to hide his features a but. Daniela herself wore a black dress with a hat, also hiding her own features.

"Careful!" She spoke up. Andromeda ran smack into the kid. Andromeda grumbled before yelling at the kid.

"You watch where you're-...." Oh god. It was Reuben. And he was drunk. Andromeda stopped, and Daniela did too, the young woman well aware of the situation since she was told of it.

"... it's you." Andromeda spoke up quietly. The expression on his face stoic and unreadable.</sub>

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Reuben was as upset as a depressed drunk could possibly be. With the alcohol coursing through his systems, he didn't really think about the consequences of his actions, such as bumping into the most wanted pirate in Dula while being hammered. Upon crashing into the person, he just mumbled something that was unintelligible, and blinked up at Andy a few times.

"Oh it's you."

Had he been sober, he probably would have punched the man and yelled at him for ruining his life. As it was, Reuben just wavered a bit unsteadily on his feet, and ended up nearly tipping over. Unfortunately, the only thing in front of him was Andromeda, so he ended up crashing into the man, reaching out to grab him so he didn't fall to the ground.

"Ha ha... fancy seeing you here..." The boy let out a groan and shook his head as his vision swam. Man, it was starting to hurt now. He didn't notice Daniela at all, considering that he hadn't really met her before.

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<sub>Andromeda was at a loss. This was Alfya, so he couldn't get away with robbing the kid, and at the same time... he sort of felt sorry for the kid. Reuben's life went down the dumps from what it seems like... and it kind of reminded Andy of himself.

Which was depressing to him. Goddamnit. Of course the kid almost crashed on him and he just grabbed the kid's shoulders to steady him. Daniela herself looked at Andy, watching and keeping a close eye on the two of them. It would be up to her to keep anything from going out of control.

"Same to you..." Andy spoke up, a little awkwardly. "The hell are you doing here and why are you drunk and not trying to kill me?"</sub>

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Reuben would have laughed out loud at knowing that he had managed to make Andy speechless at the sight of him, and would have yelled at him for entertaining the thought of robbing him. Currently, Reuben just blinked a bit as Andy grabbed his shoulder, staring stupidly at the hands on them for a bit. Huh, that kinda felt like Dad when he wanted to say something.

He glanced back up at the man, his vision swimming a bit. Were there two Andromedas? Why weren't they doing anything to him?

"Went to the pub after visiting the cemetery. Best thing to do at the time." He frowned a bit; he was having trouble remembering exactly what happened, just that his family was gone and they'd been there.

"I'm too drunk to remember I hate you, pops. Pops? That doesn't sound right... uh... I do not know what to call you... I'll just stay with your name." He blinked a bit confusedly.

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<sub>Andromeda kept the kid steady for now, knowing for sure this kid was beyond drunk if he wasn't doing anything right now. he stared at him for the longest time, wondering if he should lead the kid back to his airship or something. He then looked over to Daniela for advice.

"... Cemetery?" That caught both their attention. Why was he visiting that place? of course Andromeda leaned his head back when Reuben called him 'pops.' What?! He gave a sideway glance to Daniela, failing to hide his face flushing from embarrassment.

"Okay so, you got hammered after visiting a cemetery. Also don't call em Pops. That's embarassing."</sub>

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Being steady was helping him a bit, even if he was clutching at the man in order to prevent himself from falling over. Reuben was unaware of how badly he had managed to mess with Andromeda's brain, but would willingly go back to the ship - only to freak out the next day. Oh well. RPer would laugh if that happened, though.

"Yeah, cemetery, you know, where people are buried when they join the Lord. I wonder if Caden's with him too?" Reuben blinked again, looking genuinely puzzled, and then horrified at that train of thought. "Oh, I hope not."

Don't call him 'pops'? Eh, fine. He shrugged a bit, putting his own hands on Andy's. "Sure, whatever. That sounds right, I visited the cemetery after talking to Natasha Garretts and got hammered to forget..."

((OOC: Natasha is just a random NPC neighbor that Reuben's family knew. Nobody important, and will never appear again.))

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<sub>Andromeda stepped to the side to help the kid, still glancing over to Daniela, who seemed amused by the situation. Of course then there was mention about the Lord and all that jazz, Andromeda rolled his eyes at that.

"Tsch, nobody joined the Lord. If he existed he would have helped me years ago." Yep, Andy was a clear-cut Atheist, and it was about time he revealed that too. Daniela then spoke up.

"Tell me, who died?" Might as well see what's going on. Right now, she was less focused on how cute the sort of... messed up father and son moment going on, and more on what's up with Reuben. She could relay to Nerys later, but poor Nerys would be hurt to find out who really died.</sub>

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Reuben wasn't willing to get into an argument about God in the middle of the night with his biological parent who would have brutally raped him had he not known they were related. The boy just stumbled with Andy to the side, teetering a bit and nearly collapsing against the man were it not for the hands steadying him.

Oh, they wanted to know who died? He frowned a little bit, tears actually coming to his eyes on that. He didn't care right now, though. "My mum and dad, duh. Maybe Caden. I hope not Caden. He was too young to die."

He blinked a few more times, before looking nauseated. Man he just wanted to lie down now, before he started crying.

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<sub>Andromeda went silent when he mentioned his parents. Oh... that sucked. Then again, Andy didn't have any parents since he was about six or seven so go figure. All those time lost... He took a deep breath, not even wanting to do anything tonight. It was way too depressing to him.

Daniela seemed to sense that and she nodded to Andy. She'll leave him be for enow. Seems like they wanted to talk. The young woman walked off to head towards the airship.

"If his grave's not there, he should be alive." Andromeda murmured. "C'mon... sonny. I'll take you back to your airship. Where is it?"</sub>

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By now, Reuben was rubbing at his eyes a bit, though he wasn't actually crying. They were red, though whether it was from the tears he was now holding back or the alcohol, who knew? He mumbled a few more unintelligible things, heaving a little but not throwing up, luckily for Andromeda's clothes.

"You think so? I hope so. I want to hug Caden." The boy blinked a few more times, then frowned. 'Sonny'? This was his dad, right? No, that didn't sound right, but at the same time, it did? Yes, Reuben was a confused drunken teenager at the moment.

"Oh yeah, my ship, I'll show you pops- oh wait, you said not to call you that. Uh. Can I just call you... oh, I don't know. Not-Dad? Come to think of it... where did I park my Airship?"

He tilted his head somewhat confusedly, not actually remembering at all. He would remember once he was sober, but that clearly wasn't happening anytime soon.

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<sub>Andromeda just looked down at Reuben. Man, Andy remembered when he was legally able to drink alcohol. That turned out to be a mess for him, and he was pretty thankful for getting Godwine so she would save his ass every time. he then took a deep breath as the kid spoke up.

"I would love to hug some people myself... and murder a few others. You're lucky you have had parents who cared." If this was his son, maybe he could try and get more personal with him. He wasn't exactly hiding whatever shit that happened to his life to people he got close to.

"I don't even know what you should call me anymore. I can't get over the fact your my son as well." Andromeda's voice sounded pretty tired. Of course now the kid doesn't even know where the hell he packed his airship. "Good lord, can't you remember anything when drunk, or do I have to get you a room at an inn or something?"</sub>

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Reuben just stared back up at him, that drunken depressed expression never leaving his face. He had gone drinking before, but had just not gotten hammered this badly before. He'd never really had a reason to. Except when he had found out that Andromeda was his father. He'd gone drinking, but Cardinal had gently guided him back to his ship that night.

"Eh... maybe. I had to live with all the nasty rumors people spread about me. Maybe they were just jealous or something." Though he didn't really know whether being Andy's kid was something to be jealous of.

"Eh. You'll be pops then." Of course Reuben wasn't going to remember this the moment he became sober. "I don't know, all I know was that the last time I got drunk I got kicked out of the inn by the innkeep. He didn't take too kindly to me just talking."

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<sub>Andromeda gritted his teeth. Oh god... he was going to have to take this child back to his ship wasn't he? He rubbed his forehead, trying to think of what to do. Maybe if he walked enough, he could bring the kid back, or leave him with someone to deal with... or anything! He had no idea.

"...." Andromeda swallowed, and then bit his lip so hard it started to bleed. He then choked out a few words. That he knew he would never ever say. "... I'm.. sorry.... for everything... I ruined your life." Good thing is that Reuben won't remember what he said anyway.

"What do you want, leave you with someone or should I take you back to my ship?" he asked, recovering from that strange... well he had no idea what just happened. He just apologized to someone who's life he ruined.</sub>

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Sorry Andy. Reuben had no idea how awkward he was making it for you. Either way, if Andy walked anywhere, Reuben would somewhat stumble along with him just because he didn't want his support column at the moment walking off and leaving him forever alone by himself in his drunken glory.

"..." Reuben blinked. Yeah, he was definitely drunk. He'd thought he'd just heard Andy apologize to him. "I'm fine. I'm alive at least." Oh well. Reuben would have actually started crying had he been depressed and sober.

"If I go back to your ship, would I see Nerys? She needs to know about that. And you won't try to get physical with me again like the past three times we met, will you?"