TW: Some Bloood

Title: ~Wrong Turn~

Lalna stumbled out of the Crooked Caper sniggering, his lab coat smeared with blood, chicken feathers sticking out of his hair haphazardly.

"And fuckin' stay out!" Ravs yelled after him, slamming the pub's doors shut.

Lalna giggled more loudly than he realised as he heard the barman curse. He flew shakily upwards into the night sky, his stomach jolting as he rose. Clamping a hand over his mouth to stop the nausea that shook through him, he hovered for a second until it subsided. The dark waters were blurry below him, the shifting sea seeming to rise to meet him. He numbly headed towards what he hoped was home, holding his head with one hand as if afraid it might topple off his shoulders at any moment.

He squinted at the shoreline that met his eyes. Colossal mountains rose on his right, abruptly falling away to grassland. He could see the tops of jungle trees nearby, their canopies pale grey in the dim moonlight, and an expanse of desert beside them. Where the biomes joined, two squat buildings stood, a pool between them that seemed to glow aquamarine in the darkness.

Where the hell am I? Lalna asked himself, hiccuping. He glided down, aiming for the road but instead crashing into the front garden of the red brick house which seemed half-buried in the jungle, coming to land splayed out on the gravel path. He sat up and dimly picked a shard of flint out of his cheek. When he felt a warm trickle of blood begin to slide down his skin from the wound, winding towards his jaw, he touched it gingerly, holding his hand back to see the dark liquid on his fingertips. He burst out laughing, looking up at the sky he'd seemingly fallen out of, lolling backwards against the ground when his balance gave out.

When an unfamiliar face peered over him, blocking out a few stars, Lalna just grinned stupidly.

"The guysh told me about you," Zylus whispered, not wishing to wake his neighbour. "You're the crazy scientist."

Lalna laughed, his thoughtless volume making Zylus flinch. "Haha, yeah, that's... that's me alright! Craaazy!" Lalna chuckled, his words broken with hiccups. "Er, where am I?" he asked sheepishly.

"Newpool," Zylus answered simply. Reluctantly, he held out a hand to Lalna, gesturing for him to take it.

"Oh," Lalna said, grasping the man's hand clumsily, and hauling himself up. "Where's that then?" 

Zylus' eyes widened at the scientist's force and he quickly leaned back on his heels to keep upright. Lalna fell against him suddenly, knocking them both backwards into a block of log as he stumbled, the torch mounted on top scorching Zylus' back. Pressing urgently against Lalna to escape it, Zylus squeaked as he felt the heat surge through his clothing, frantically yanking off his jacket and stretching to pat at his bare back desperately, sure it had burst into flame.

"Oops!" Lalna exclaimed, giggling, reaching around Zylus' exposed torso to pat weakly at the man's back. Zylus gasped for breath as he slowly realised he was not, in fact, on fire, his hands shaking as he finally relaxed his arms at his sides defeatedly. He frowned as he felt the scientist's hands still pawing at his back uselessly until Zylus turned to face him, catching the drunken smirk on the man's lips.

"So, uh, where's this again?" Lalna asked, his head lolling forward heavily onto Zylus' shoulder.

Zylus swallowed his rising temper, his neck tensing hard where Lalna's hair tickled his skin, the scientist's wet breaths hot against his chest. This was going to be a long night.