The Docks [OPEN, tw: marriage break up, drunken behaviour, violent tempers]

[willcabot]

Sitting at the end of the dock, Will's legs draped into the cold water as he finished the last mouthful of the bottle. Turning the bottle in his hand, the amber glow made him for one awful moment think of Corry's hair in the fading sunlight- throwing the bottle impulsively at the wall, he let it smash satisfyingly before pulling another bottle towards him.

He couldn't feel his toes any more, he couldn't remember how long he'd been sat here for like this. He hadn't been home yet, hadn't been to the boat just in case she was there. Everywhere he looked it reminded him of her, of the life that they'd promised each other and the life that was now in ruins. Because she loved him. Ha!

Glancing at the ring on his finger, he pressed his forehead to the rim of his drink and took a gulping breath in. Her smile as she said I do. Pulling the ring off he stumbled up and backwards before throwing it into the deep waters of the cove. Turning his back on the water, he took another few mouthfuls and heading towards the shore.

"Shit," Will swore, dropping the bottle to the floor before he turned and ran towards the end of the dock. Tearing off his shirt, he jumped into the water and dived into the deep, ice cold waters. Shifting, he swam deeper and deeper until he found the band of metal down in the dark bottom. Clutching it in his hand, he swam back to the surface before pulling himself onto the docks. Collapsing on the wooden planks, he stretched out his hand and ignored the feet of someone else standing there. "Pass me a drink, will you?"

His hand curled round his wedding ring, letting the metal bite into his palm as he stared up at empty grey skies.

Comments

[asharpertongue]

Lara hadn't been looking for Will, not exactly. She'd gotten the text from Corry and gone for a walk. Maybe it was instinct that pulled her to where he was but it didn't matter. He was her friend, had been for most of her life, and as close as she was with Corry, as far as she and Will had drifted in recent years, she still hurt when he did.

She sat down next to him and handed him another bottle, sitting in silence. He'd talk when he was ready.

[willcabot]

Will takes the bottle, sitting up enough to drink but not enough to look Lara in the eyes. He had found his one, or so he thought and now, now she was gone. Just like that. Because she loved him.

"What day is it?" Will asked, his voice rough from the amount he'd drunk. He hadn't been home since she'd told him, he hadn't been anywhere but the bottom of a bottle. And another after that.

[asharpertongue]

"It's Saturday." Lara said taking the bottle from him and swigging the cheap booze. "And I take it you've been drinking since Christmas if you're scraping the bottom of the barrel with this shit." She took another sip and winced through the burn of the cheap booze. "God, Will. This shit is horrendous."

[willcabot]

"Huh, thought it was still Thursday." Will muttered. Looking bereft as the bottle was removed forcibly from his hand, narrowing his eyes at Lara he held out his hand for the return of his drink. "Well, that's what Christmas is about right? Drinking with loved ones."

And here he was drinking alone. He'd already tossed his phone into the garbage after his father's sixth call to ask why the hell he and Corrine weren't at dinner. Why Ed was trying to cover with their grandmother.

[asharpertongue]

"You really think you need more of this?" Lara said, setting the bottle down on her far side away from him. Letting him drink one night away was fine, but three days was more than enough. His liver needed a break. If he wanted it, he'd have to fight for it and she doubted he was in any state to do that. "And yeah, drinking is traditional. But it's normally done inside, in the warm, not on the docks half naked while swimming about in a freezing ocean. I know we don't feel the cold as much as humans but this is hyperthermia waiting to happen, Will."

[owenphillips]

The sea was calming, and Owen had been on edge for most of the day after a conversation with Mrs Garner. He’d walked down to the beach. Stripped off to his underwear and then realised that now was not a good time to go into the sea. Because he couldn’t trust that he’d want to get out anytime soon and he had work commitments later. So with a small frown, he’d put all his clothes back on and started to walk home via the docks.

From a distance he saw someone throwing something into the sea. It hadn’t seemed that strange, and he’d not been paying complete attention until the other person seemed to start moving in an agitated manner, ripping off their t-shirt and diving into the sea. From where he stood, Owen didn’t know who it was and thusly couldn’t be sure it was a Siren. So when time had passed and they hadn’t emerged for air, Owen felt his feet carrying him quicker along the wooden ground below. He was just reaching the end when the person finally surfaced.

Will. Will Cabot. Corry’s husband. Siren. Asking for a, no doubt alcoholic, drink and he looked worse than Owen felt. Which really was something right now. “Are you ok?” He asked, it was stupid really, but the first thing that came to mind.

[willcabot]

"I will be when I have another drink." Will groaned. Water dripping off his body as he held one hand aloft and waiting for a drink to be passed to him. The other was tight around the ring he'd fished from the bottom. He'd lost his pants at some point- right when he'd shifted. "So, I'm naked. There's a really good reason why."

[owenphillips]

It was a little hypocritical of Owen not to instantly pass the alcohol over, considering he’d done a fair share of drinking in the days when his friends were missing. But then he hadn’t jumped into the sea drunk during that time. Owen could guess the reason for the nudity – he himself was quite fortunate that his Siren form was similar shaped to his own body but people were different. The question was why Will had jumped in to start with at all.

“Yeah?” He asked, he wasn’t meaning to come across as a dick. But his next statement was meant in good faith. If he thought Will needed it, he’d make sure he got home safe. Otherwise he was chucking the bottle. “Give me a good reason and I’ll give you your alcohol back.”

[willcabot]

Narrowing his eyes at Owen, Will pointed one large muscular arm at Owen before letting it fall heavily to the side.

"Because my wife has left me," Will announced before laughing. Almost a little hysterically. "My wife has left me."

[edcabot]

Ed was angry. He was angry and scared and worried all at once. It was a lot of emotions that he normally wasn't used to dealing with and it made him more jittery than he usually was. Ed never talked about it but the reason that he called and emailed and texted his family so much was so that he knew they were okay. After what happened with Henry he was terrified that he would lose another one.

And then Will had gone off the grid, so to speak. Ed knew he had his reasons and his heart ached for what Corry had done to his brother but Ed was still scared and angry at Will just disappearing. By the time he found his brother on the docks he was properly pissed and scared.

"Hey, asshole!" he shouted, storming over to a naked Will. Will struggled to his feet, drunkenly weaving as he did so. As soon as his brother was standing Ed punched him, right in the jaw. It probably hurt Ed more than it did will, the older Cabot practically being carved out of granite. But Ed was too pissed to care about his throbbing hand.

"Don't you ever, EVER go silent like that again!"

[willcabot]

"Henry?" Struggling to his feet, Will blinked as he wiped his eyes and looked at the figure approaching him. Blinking he stared down at his youngest brother and stared some more when Ed punched him in the face. Barely reacting, the alcohol and cold had pretty much numbed him towards any sort of stimulation, Will took one step closer before swinging at his brother.

Swinging at his brother... missing and falling spectacularly on the jetty. Groaning, Will rolled over and batted his brother away with an ineffectual arm.

"It's been an hour or two. Three at tops," Will said drunkenly slurring his words just a little.

[edcabot]

Ed thanked Poseidon that Will's punch didn't connect because if it had then it probably would have been lights out and he did not have the sort of face that looked better with a black eye. He should have known that Will was too drunk to actually make contact though when he had called out their dead brother's name. Henry would know what to do here, he'd know how to handle the situation to calm Will down and then be there for him. But Henry wasn't there anymore. Just Ed.

"It's been three days," Ed said before reaching down and hauling Will to his feet. Once with brother was standing, Ed stripped off his trench coat and threw it at Will. "Don't you ever, ever disappear like that again. Not- not after Henry. Just- don't. Please."

And if Ed had to wipe away a few years, so what? He was the baby of the family after all and if he wanted to cry at the idea of losing another brother he would damn well do it.

[willcabot]

"No, it hasn't." Will replied with all the unreasonableness of a man who had been drinking for the past three days with very little else passing his lips. Except her name. Her name and not understanding how she loved him and had left him. Or rather made him leave her. She always ran.

Letting Ed help him to his feet, Will took his little brother's trench coat before looking at him confused. He wasn't quite sure what Ed meant for him to do with it, he doubted it would fit him.

"S'okay baby brother," Will said hand patting Ed's shoulder as gently as a drunk giant might. "I won't. Now, let's go get a drunk. A drink."

[meowhistory]

Lena wants to butt her head against him and circle him before curling up on his lap because even though she's not a witch or a siren or anything else useful, she can pick up on misery and a good cud-

Oh God, she IS NOT a cat.

But now she's already next to him, Will Cabot. Didn't change at all in four years, still something like out of a Catholic image. "Shit."

[willcabot]

"Are you trying to sit on my lap... I'm a married-" Will began looking up at the woman beside him who looked like she was either about to mark him as her territory or climb onto his lap. He barely could think about finishing the sentence, he wasn't a married man or he was until his wife signed whatever papers she would draft up. Because she loved him. "-man."

[meowhistory]

She feels herself pale fifty shades because hell no she doesn't want to sit on his lap and this is all super embarrassing.

"I really wasn't." Lena hugs her super warm winter coat closer, glad for the scarf hiding half her face. "You just felt - looked kind of miserable?"

[willcabot]

"That's what happens when your wife leaves you at Christmas," Will said grinning darkly as he drank the bottle dry. He didn't want to think about it, about the wife who told him that she loved him. She loved him, she just needed him to make the decision to leave. She wasn't coming back, not to him.

[fairywren]

It's a weird Christmas. It's just been a weird, weird Christmas, and weirder even that he finds himself caring. Christmas Eve with Kim was really refreshingly nice, but yesterday he got stir-crazy and took off to find a club where no one knew him. He'd found a bed to fall into and left this morning before the sun was fully up to get back to his real life and walk the dog.

This is his first time getting up and out of the house since then. He's been writing and reading nonstop, but he needs to clear his head.

It hasn't been long enough since he threw himself off this pier that he doesn't stop when he sees someone jump off it. After a second his brain supplies that it looks an awful lot like Will Cabot, and so he's probably not trying to drown himself, but Wren heads over in concern anyway.

Will drags himself back up onto the dock. "Only if you don't blame me for the aftermath," Wren says and passes the bottle. He's no one to judge needing a drink or five. He sits down. "Rough holiday, I take it."

[willcabot]

"There's only an aftermath if I stop drinking," Will said wisely. If Henry were here- or Alex but Alex was in Atlanta- no, Atlantis researching and Henry wasn't ever coming back to him. Like Corry. Well, she might physically come back to town but not to him. She might as well have been dead. Because she loved him. "I don't know. My wife has left... me. Happy holidays?"

[fairywren]

"Fair enough," Wren says, slowly, wondering now how long it's been since he started. Will might not care right now, but he's got a collection of family that would.

He blinks in surprise at that. He's spoken to Corry several times now, he knows she's far too much like him for safety's sake, but Will and she seemed to be happy. If impulsive -- when he moved to town Alex had described her as Will's "sort of girlfriend" -- but he's known people who got married a month after meeting, so like most things he hadn't questioned it except as something he was unlikely to ever do.

"Fuck, man, that's. I'm sorry," he says genuinely. "This just happened?"

[willcabot]

Will took a long glug of alcohol, letting the burning sensation fill him with the feeling of warmth and something where his love bright and fierce had been. Now burnt out to nothing but ashes. Nothing left. Because she loved him.

"I don't know, what day is it?" Will asked dryly, smiling at his own wit. He wasn't sure what day it was, his phone was in the trash somewhere and he couldn't go home and couldn't go to his boat. Everywhere smelled like Corry. She was there everywhere he went.

[trinamoon]

Trina is late to work, and she's practically running down the sidewalk into Quill, purse flinging and heels clicking. She would normally just skip out on her bagel and coffee, but her parents had actually returned from their never-ending retirement vacation to spend the holidays with her and she's tired from trying to keep them occupied. Thank god, they weren't staying in her apartment this year. They had booked a cabin up at the lodge. Still, her mother's questions never ceased. Career, marriage, kids. Trina was spoiled rotten to the core, but five minutes with her mother Vivica could always make her feel inadequate.

A feeling she hated because she's not used to it. She's Trina Moon. She's perfect, or that's what she tries to tell herself when she leaves Quill, bagel and espresso in hand. She doesn't hurry straight to her car once she has her breakfast. Instead, she takes a stroll further towards the docks, thinking she needs to get her head right before she goes into the office.

It doesn't take her long to stumble upon Will staggering around his boat. She had heard shouting, and she had come over to see if someone was in trouble only to find Will shirtless with a bottle in his hand. Shocked, she watches him in silence from a moment, not sure what she's seeing, but he is visibly upset. She is far enough away that he hasn't noticed her, and she looks down at her watch to check the time. Oh god, she's so late, and she wants to leave because it's work and she should.

Stamping her heel into the ground, she sighs frustrated knowing that she can't just go now that she's seen him. Wrapping her coat and scarf around her body, she approaches the side of the boat slowly. "Will, are you okay?" she asks, checking him over for something to explain this behavior.

[willcabot]

It wasn't his boat, it was his father's. Everything and everywhere reminded him of her; the way she'd curl her hands into his sheets on his boats, when they'd sit close together, when she'd read scripts, when he'd tell her his plans. Every little place reminded him of the future, their future which was lying in tatters. Instead of drinking, sparkling juice, to their future on his boat, he was drinking through his father's stash of booze to forget it.

Leaning against the side of the boat, he blinked blearily at the familiar voice and leaned in closer. The lost, haunted look tinged his eyes and lips as he smiled at Trina.

"Oh, you know me just... celebrating Christmas. Why don't you join me," Will murmured, arm draping over the side of the boat. "Don't know any good lawyers, do you? Looks like I'll be needing one."

[trinamoon]

Trina pushes a hand through her hair, sighing at the look on his face. Obviously something terrible has happened, and part of her wants to blow off work and help him. It's Will. He is her friend. The other voice that keeps her focused on her upward career trajectory says she shouldn't just drop everything because Will Cabot looks a bit mopey. It doesn't take very long for the first voice to win out, and she steps onto the boat and finds more empty bottles scattered along the deck.

She pulls her purse onto her shoulder and takes out her cellphone. "I'm positive your family already employs the best lawyers in the state," Trina says, as she quickly shoots a couple text messages off to the office explaining her absence. She looks up at him. "Tell me what happened. Is everyone okay?" she asks because it could be his brothers or his parents, and she prays it isn't.

But he is acting like someone just died.

[willcabot]

Running a hand through his hair, he dropped his hand away before holding out towards her just in case she needed help boarding. Not that he was in any state to do anything right now. His ring was buried in his pocket, removed from his finger were it didn't belong any more. Because she loved him.

"I know but currently my family are trying to do everything to- it doesn't matter." Will began before taking another mouthful of alcohol. Enjoying the burning sensation, he swallowed then smiled at her question. "Everyone's fine. Everything but my marriage. You can have that as an exclusive."