Tarin heard the slap before he felt it. How come he hadn’t seen Lenna approaching? It probably had something to do with the booze, but the contact of her hand with the side of his face snapped Tarin’s head around fast enough that he was dizzy when she grabbed his collar.

Apparently he’d looked at the wrong place for a new member of the pity party when he’d let Lenna in the door.

Being slapped was the worse, all those capillaries in the skin of the face pushed blood to the surface and made Tarin’s face heat up like he had a bad sunburn. It also made his eyes water…and they were definitely watering because there was no way Lenna would make him cry.

Shin tried to protect his honor, and Tarin appreciated it more than the kid could have possibly guessed…but Lenna’s words were getting through.

Tarin realized that he had given up, and his face burned twice as hard as it had when she’d first hit him. After everything…he’d given up on Lee.

The Medium realized he was tensed, ready for another blow, but a moment later he relaxed, sagging against the taut grip on his shirt. He sniffed, (Not sniffled)

”You’re right.” He croaked. ”You’re right…I’ll throw it all out. Please just stop making me look like more of a punk in front of Shin. I’ve got a reputation to maintain.”

"... Don't throw it out. I'll take it." Lenna eyed him. "Call it being a 'sponsor'." Call it free booze. She let go of Tarin's shirt, and turned away haughtily. "That's much better, though. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to overcoming it. I won't have anyone I know acting so weak they can't even come to grips with their own weakness. It's completely unmanly." She plopped down on the couch next to Shin, and rested her arms confidently behind her head, leaning back.

"You don't want to stop being a man, do you Tarin? It'd be a waste of a perfectly fine Texan accent. Can't have that. We can't have you giving up the ghost before you've wrangled up the cowpoke that stole your woman either, Haus." She closed her eyes. "You've done what you can. Now it's time you had help."

She'd slapped him, she'd emasculated him, she'd made Tarin croak. She was a hag. A righteous hag. But also, it had gotten results. As Lenna plopped down on the couch next to him, Shin sighed. Couldn't he even get a moment's respite from this woman?

Tarin, a punk? Puhleeze. Shin still thought he had every right... still thought... darn. The flush of anger the woman had brought up in him was subsiding again. He remembered what Tarin had just told them, about Lee. The woman was volunteering to help with that. Shin momentarily put aside his hatred of her.

"If she's helping you, Tarin, I'll help too." He stared at nothing, seriously. "Just, whoever you are, don't use cowboy talk again... please?" It hurt.

"Hmph," Lenna smirked.

Things….were actually better. The slap across the face had cleared his head significantly, and Tarin started to see things from a perspective he’d been missing. All this time, since the day he’d realized that Lee was missing he’d been thinking of himself as the victim. He wasn’t the victim here. Lee was, and lately he hadn’t been doing anything to help the situation.

Lenna said she was taking the liquor, and Tarin wove a dismissive hand. She could have it. There would be highs and lows in this journey and he didn’t really want the temptation around. This would not happen again.

Lenna was in to help, as long as he stopped acting like a pansy. Fair enough. Her puns were awful though…really.

Shin asked her to stop using cowboy speak and he nodded his head, ”It really is painful.”

She was sitting by Shin. Tarin actually cracked a bit of a smile when Shin said he was in too. ”Are you two going to be able to play nice?” he teased half-heartedly.

”Also…thanks. Really. It helps to not be alone…”

Lenna didn't reply to Tarin. Shin was here, wasn't he? If she didn't think she could deal with the whiny idiot on the couch with her, she'd have wheeled him out the door and locked it behind him. That would have solved one problem, but it wouldn't have helped Tarin out in the long run.

She had entertained the thought, though. She respected Tarin and Lee enough not to do it.

"Don't mention it," Lenna replied. "Anything for a friend."

"Yeah," Shin replied somewhat hesitantly. "I'll be able to manage... somehow. And I'll help with some of that 'sponsor' stuff too, I guess." He guessed. Unlike Lenna, Shin didn't get the 'free alcohol' side of it all. He just wanted to help Tarin by removing the temptation and being a good friend. It didn't even occur to him he could drink the stuff.

"So, Lenna... how were you planning to help us find Lee? Tarin... do you have any ideas? I have some, but... Lenna might have to sit elsewhere, if I want to be thinking at full force again."

It appeared they would make nice, at least as far as helping him was concerned. It would have been enough to give Tarin warm fuzzies if he’d been capable of them at that point. His face still stung a little bit, and he wondered if he was going to have a bruise the next day…but he’d really needed that little wake up call from Lenna.

Maybe it was a good thing that she’d randomly showed up with her wine bottle.

Tarin focused on something other than the alcohol, it hadn’t done him much good to this point, no reason to think that would change. Besides, Shin and Lenna were cutting him off. They had work to do.

…

Sometime later, they had a plan…or at least the start of a plan. It felt good to know that something was going to happen. Having a plan had made improved things. Getting rid of all of that alcohol had been even better…even if Shin hadn’t taken anything more than a single bottle of wine.

Tarin looked around the apartment. Man, it was trashed. He stood up and started picking things up off the floor, Axel trailing behind with a happily wagging tail. This was much more like it.