we gotta live before we get older [seth]

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie sat curled up in front of the fireplace in her living room, combing through a book she'd already read and enjoying the peace and quiet of an empty house. Her parents had gone to Norfolk to see her grandparents for the weekend, probably wanting to get away from Isabella's whining about needing a car. Both her siblings were out tonight partying, which meant they'd have to sneak home drunk and/or hungover at 4 in the morning and pretend she didn't know exactly where they'd been. On the bright side, that meant she had the whole house to herself.

Or at least, she did up until the fire blazed green and her elder, and most favourite, cousin tumbled out of it, landing on the carpet with a thud. Addie jumped at the sound, startled out of her musings on the book, and quickly set it aside to go help Seth up. He looked drunk, a lot more drunk than he'd ever let him see before, not even at the parties with his friends he'd invited her to. She wasn't sure what was going on, maybe a night at the pub gone wrong, but he was her cousin and one of her closest friends, so she figured she was more than obligated to help him out.

"Are you okay?" she demanded in concern, helping him over to the couch and forcing him to take a seat. "What's up? Why'd you come over at eleven at night? Jesus, don't you have flatmates to take care of you?"

((Admin edited due to inaccurate statements (I also fixed the spelling because favourite has a u in it) - Becca))

((i am very side-eye rn but fine -- pearl))

[Seth Wishart]

((OOC - You know you love me <333))

The night had been a good one, while it lasted. They'd been working on a complicated lighting rig, and after it was finished, had decided to hit a couple of bars. Unfortunately, Seth didn't have the highest alcohol tolerance in the world, but as everyone else had been busy getting drunk too, it hadn't mattered much; they'd found a bar doing karaoke and had been knocking back the shots. More unfortunately, most of his colleagues also had to work in the morning - Seth, on the other hand, had the day off the next day, and so could sleep as long as he wanted in the morning.

Eleven o'clock had rolled round, and while Seth would have been quite happy continuing drinking, his friends had been beginning to think of early starts. One by one they had headed home, and Seth had reluctantly done the same thing, realising as he staggered along the pavement outside the bar just how drunk he was - although he was also far enough gone not to care. When Seth got drunk, he got very drunk - his shirt was half off, and he had no idea how that had happened, although he remembered singing karaoke on a table. Luckily he was not far from his flat, since he wouldn't have trusted himself to Apparate, and he stumbled into a dark, empty living room, looking around himself in disgust. It appeared that the flat was empty, which was not what he'd bargained for - apparently James and Fred were also out for the evening. He was still at the sociable level of drunk, where what he wanted was to talk enthusiastically about nothing. He was also hungry, and a brief scour of the kitchen produced nothing worth eating.

Seth stood in his living room and assessed his options as best he could, given his severely impaired thought processes. No food. No James or Fred. It did not seem worth staying where he was. On the other hand, he knew that Rose was also busy tonight, since he'd talked to her earlier. Shit. Who else could he find to talk to? Ideally someone with food...

It suddenly floated through his head that his parents had said they were headed up to Norfolk this weekend to visit his grandparents (they had asked if he wanted to go, but he had made vague excuses about work) and had mentioned that his aunt and uncle would be there too. That meant that there was a possibility that some or all of his cousins were alone at home. No sooner had he had this thought than the decision was made. Immediately going from despondent to bright, Seth made his way to the fireplace (his aunt and uncle had conveniently had their house put on the Floo network for Addie's sake, although obviously they didn't use it themselves), grabbed the powder off the mantelpiece, and without stopping to think whether this was a good plan or not, threw a handful into the fire, stepped in, and loudly spoke his aunt's address.

Next moment he was stumbling from the fireplace - he'd never travelled by Floo drunk before, and had banged his elbow, as well as taking in a lungful of soot, and was coughing and spluttering as he landed on the hearth rug. Looking up, however, he saw Addie appearing beside him, and grinned cheerfully.

"Oh good. I got the right house," he said vaguely, allowing her to push him down onto the couch. "Awesome! Hey, d'you have food? I mean obviously you have food, you always have food, right?"

[Addie Beaumont]

((there's a reason we overthrew the british government and the reason is u tbh))

Seth seemed super cheerful, which she was pretty used to from the previous times she'd seen him drunk, though she still raised an eyebrow down at him as he looked at her from the couch. Definitely drunk, she was sure now. "Yes, we have food," she said with a roll of her eyes, smoothing down his hair. "Why are you so hungry? Are you sure you don't want something like coffee or tea to help sober you up?"

Truthfully, Addie had only been properly drunk a few times in her life, and all of those times were at Hogwarts where hangover potions could cure her the next morning and sobering potions the night of any drunken escapades. As she had no such thing here at her house, she wasn't entirely sure which muggle drink or food item would work on Seth - possibly none, but he might have a better idea, having several years on her to have gotten thoroughly smashed.

"Also," she added with a thoughtful frown, "why are you here instead of at your flat? Or at Rose's? I'm sure they'd be much better company than me."

[Seth Wishart]

((OOC - I cannot believe that you didn't capitalise on the fact that I wrote 'hit a couple of cars' in my first post instead of 'hit a couple of bars', not to mention the fact that I confused morning and evening.))

Seth beamed at her as she confirmed that she did indeed have food, not paying any attention to the rest of what she was saying until he caught the word 'coffee'. "Great, I'll have food and coffee - you're awesome," he told her fondly, reciprocating what he took as an affectionate gesture by reaching up and ruffling her hair in return, to the considerably destruction of her hairstyle.

Right now, sobering up was not his main priority, as being drunk was far too enjoyable - Seth inevitably regretted his drunkenness deeply in the morning, whether because he'd made an idiot of himself or because he was horrifically hungover (usually both), but not while he was actually drunk. Those were problems that tomorrow-him could deal with.

He shook his head sorrowfully at her question. "They all abandoned me. Dunno where Jed and Frames are... I mean Fred and James... I think. Did I say that right the first time? You're good comp'ny though," he added vaguely. "I mean, yeah I'd probably have gone to Rose's if she'd been around, but s'nothing personal against you..."

[Addie Beaumont]

((that is because i, unlike YOU, am not a meanie)) ((ok that's a lie i totally am but i was going easy on you because you were drunk haha)) ((also i only caught the cars instead of bars thing if i'm being honest))

Addie made a face at him as her curls fell loose of her clips, though she wasn't too annoyed because she was, after all, sitting at home at night alone doing absolutely nothing of interest except reading a book she'd already finished. And he was drunk. She tried to be lenient on people around her who were drunk because she was such a lightweight, she'd want them to do the same whenever she was drinking. Still, she'd have to remove her clips now and restyle it, which was a nuisance and they were such pretty clips.

"You owe me," she told him pointedly, laughing as she pulled a hairband from around her wrist to tie up her curls. "How do you take your coffee again?" she asked absently, mentally running through a list of food items in the fridge. They had leftover pizza she could heat up for him, maybe some of her mother's pasta, or she could make him...an omelet, or something. How did one feed drunk boys, anyway?

"Yes, Jed and Frames are the right names," she informed him airily, offering him the water bottle she'd kept on the coffee table at her side while she was reading. "Here, drink this while I go get you some decent food."

[Seth Wishart]

Seth had barely registered that he'd messed up her hair, but nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! I'll... I don't know... buy you a drink some time. No I won't, that's illegal, you're too young. Never mind. Chocolate, I'll buy you chocolate. Do you even like chocolate?" He squinted at her, and closed one eye. "Hey... 'F I look at you like that there's only one of you again..."

He waved his arm as if she'd just asked him a supremely trivial question. "Like coffee. In a cup. That's it." He honestly did take his coffee whichever way it came. A life of long, irregular hours and late nights meant that he grabbed whatever he could get, and any pickiness had disappeared long ago. Besides, he was drunk enough that he probably wouldn't have noticed if she'd served him tea instead.

"That," he pointed accusingly at her, still squinting with one eye closed, "Is a lie. I know what their names are." He took the bottle she handed him and held it up to the light to try and see if it had a label. "What is it?"

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie sent him an amused look at the suggestion that he couldn't buy her a drink just because it was illegal, but chose not to comment. "I do like chocolate," she confirmed, rolling her eyes, "Milk chocolate, only though. Don't know how anyone stands anything else," she muttered, mostly to herself as she moved away from him. "Did I not mention I have a twin sister?" she called over her shoulder as she entered the kitchen. "You should be seeing two of me!"

She paused in the doorway to look back at him with raised eyebrows. "Sure you do," she said agreeably, making a mental note to inform Jed and Frames of their new names next time she saw them around their flat, just for fun. "And it's water, idiot. Keeps you from dying, and all that fun stuff."

Coffee. In a cup. Addie sighed deeply as she surveyed the coffee machine that seemed to dislike her greatly most of the time. Boys. Was it one of those grown-up things he was always telling her about, this whole not caring how one takes their coffee? She needed hers to meet her extremely specific requirements, though possibly she was just a picky eater. Maybe. With a huff, she set about fixing him up a cup of plain coffee, the fastest she could make. It didn't take too long; the machine was surprisingly cooperative today, and she took it back to him, hoping he hadn't drank all of her water. She might need that bottle if she was going to actually have to cook tonight.

[Seth Wishart]

"Milk chocolate, got it!" Seth said cheerfully. "I'll remember that!" This was a lie, as he would probably remember very little of the specifics of their conversation in the morning, but he trusted that she'd remind him. "You keep lying to me!" he called after her as she disappeared into the kitchen. "I'm not drunk enough to fall for it, okay!"

He opened the bottle and sniffed it suspiciously, as if he thought she might be trying to fool him again and get him even drunker (why she would want to do that he wasn't sure, but it was always possible). It was indeed water, he decided, after a cautious sip, and took a few mouthfuls before putting the lid back on (this took several attempts and he didn't think it was quite screwed on straight) and placing it very carefully onto the floor beside him. He amused himself while he waited for his coffee by idly pointing his wand at random things around the room and making them move a few inches to the left or right. His control was not particularly good at the moment, and as she walked back into the room, he moved a potted plant slightly too far and sent it crashing to the floor.

"Oops," he remarked, looking guiltily round at her.

[Addie Beaumont]

Addie stopped in her tracks in front of Seth and the potted plant he had just managed to drunkenly break, a sense of imminent dread settling around her as her mind comprehended the reality of dealing with a drunk guy all evening. He was lucky he was family, she thought wryly, and luckier still she had no great attachment to that potted plant. Her mother, however, might think otherwise. Still, they were magical, and he, at least, could use magic with abandon in order to fix this -- if he still could do that while drunk, that is.

"It's okay," she sighed deeply, setting the coffee down on the table near him, taking care to keep it as far away from the edge as she could manage. She definitely didn't need coffee stains on her parents' prized Persian rug. "You can use magic to fix it, can't you? Use reparo," she suggested, as it was a simple enough spell that he should be able to do it even while drunk. "Maybe...after you get some coffee into your system."

She wasn't entirely knowledgeable on the effects of coffee as a sobering agent, but she figured it had to be better than nothing. If worse came to worse, she supposed she could always just use his wand to fix the plant herself, provided he would let her.

[ooc: sorry this is pretty short i'm really rusty!]