&&I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired;; fel

[carleigh addison stryder]

Carleigh used her key to let herself into her house and took the elevator up to the penthouse. There were many reasons why she refused to walk up all of those stairs. The first being that she wasn’t feeling well. The second, her heels were way too tall and painful. Third, she was just way too lazy. The girl couldn’t remember a time where she actually walked up them. Well, it wasn’t as if she remembered much anyway. Carleigh’s life had been like a roller coaster for the past few weeks, or months maybe, really she had lost track of time. She didn’t really didn’t go to class much because she was too hung over to even get out of bed. That was only if she made it back to the dorm. Sometimes she would rent a hotel room, crash at Megan’s or go back to the guy’s house, spend the night and then leave in the morning. It had become a routine for her.

Stepping off of the elevator, Carleigh’s ankles wobbled a bit. She would have been here earlier, but a few hours ago she was way too hung over to even keep her eyes open for an extended period of time. Things have been getting worse and worse. It had been an endless downward spiral with no end in sight. She didn’t want to change it, she sort of like it. It was a new adventure every night even if she didn’t remember it when she woke up the next morning. Deep down, Carleigh knew why she was doing it. It was her way to cope with things. Losing her parents, the werewolf living in her house, now another wolf, her sister’s dick of a fiancé and all of the people around her that judged her. She just didn’t want to care anymore.

The blonde sighed and walked into the living room, tossing her bag onto the coffee table. She plopped down on the couch, kicking her heels off to who knows where. Carleigh sighed heavily and laid down on her stomach, pressing her face into the pillow. In all honesty, she felt sick, like she had a permanent hangover. It was not a fun feeling, but those were the consequences for her actions. The headaches hadn’t gone away for days and she constantly felt like she could vomit.

[felicity leanne stryder]

It was just another long and stressful day in the life of Felicity Stryder. She had an entire day's worth of practice behind her, she'd quarreled again with her fiancee, her lip was bleeding profusely and to top it all off, she had no idea what she would be coming home to. She had taken Ilyana in as a favor to her parents, but now it was becoming such a source of stress within her family that she had no idea if she had done the right thing. Now that she had another werewolf residing in her house, it was just getting worse. Her fiancee now refused to come over to the house and when she went to his apartment to try and convince him that he was being irrational, they simply ended up getting into worse fights than they had in age, hence the busted lip and bruised up arm. She knew that it was awful that she put up with it, but she couldn't bring herself to end it, no matter how much worse it was getting. This was, she was pretty certain, the first time that they had gotten to the point where blood was drawn.

Wrestling her keys from her purse, Felicity rode up the elevator to the top floor they lived on and headed over towards her door. Bringing the key up to the lock, a slight frown crossed her face when she found the door already unlocked. She knew that Ilyana wasn't to be home that afternoon, Austin didn't have a key, and Carleigh. Well, Carleigh was just Carleigh and probably wouldn't be there. The only other person it could possibly have been was her fiancee, which was a potentially good thing. Perhaps he was there to apologize and they could sit and talk things out calmly for once. However, that hope was dashed as soon as she opened the door to see that it wasn't him, but Carleigh there. That certainly wasn't a bad thing, however, since she really did need to have a face-to-face conversation with her younger sister. Things with Carleigh had been getting a lot worse than she imagined possible and honestly, she felt like it was entirely her fault.

Carleigh was splayed out on the couch, looking like she was rather sick and that worried Fel quite a bit. She assumed it was probably just the effects of a hangover or something, but she wanted to be safe about it. Tossing her bag off to the side, Felicity hurried over to where Carleigh was and bent down into a crouch next to the couch. "Carleigh, are you alright?" she asked, resting a hand on the girl's back. Her own problems could be fixed up later when she was through helping Carleigh. She did, however, take a moment to wipe the blood from her lip, hopefully making it look at least a little less battered. Carleigh knew what was going on by now, so there wasn't much use in trying to hide it, but she didn't want to make it any worse than it already was. The last thing she wanted was Carleigh to get back on her 'let's get rid of the fiancee' kick.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

In all honesty, Carleigh Stryder felt like shit. She didn't want to do anything, she didn't want to say anything and she sure as hell didn't want to think about anything. She was just done. She wanted people to stop pissing on her about her lifestyle. Sure, the kid was out of control, but that's how she had always been. She was, and will always be, a wild child. There was nothing anything could do change her. 

Collapsing onto the couch, Carleigh fell asleep almost immediately. She was face down and probably not the most pleasant sight to see upon entering your own house. Felicity had been blessed with it anyway. The girl was completely knocked out until she felt a hand on her back. Normally, being woken up like that would scare the living shit out of anyone, but Carleigh's senses weren't working entirely properly at the moment. All she wanted to do was sleep in a quiet place without getting disrupted. And a normal reaction to this from the blonde would have normally been her exploding and throwing things at the person who woke her from her beauty sleep, but the girl was feeling far from beautiful at the moment. The hand on her back slowly lifted her back into consciousness. It was a bit delayed, but it was better than not waking up at all. 

"I'm alive, if that's what you're asking," she stated, mumbling lowly into the pillow. She hated people's hands on  her, unless it was a really hot guy or she was really drunk. "Can you not touch me there?" she asked rather calmly, wincing slightly but still mumbling, her eyes were still closed. She must have a bruise somewherer over there and it was probably pretty gross if it hurt that much at chuch a light touch. It took her a few moments before she finally decided to turn her head to face her sister. The slight motion was quite painful. She was really sore and achy. Her head felt as if someone was slowly pressing a long nail into her forehead. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter before opening them and practically being blinded by the whiteness of the room. Carleigh cringed and waited for things to come into focus. Felicity was crouching over her, blood slowly seeping from her busted lip. No, she couldn't blame it on quidditch anymore. The blonde growled, obviously aggravated, before exploding. "YOU CAN'T LET HIM DO THIS TO YOU. I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF HIS FUCKING BULLSHIT." The feeling of a bomb being set off inside her skull hit her, but she sat up anyway. She swung her feet off the couch and onto the floor, forcing herself up off the couch. Carleigh's ankles wobbled beneath her as she made her way toward the refrigerator. Opening the door, she leaned on it for support as she fumbled, trying to get the ice cubes out of the ice tray. The girl began to get frustrated when the cubes wouldn't come out of the plastic, which resulted in her practically slamming it into the counter beside her. A few of them flew out, skidding across the smooth surface. She grasped on in her hand and held it back behind her before bending over to rest her forehead on the ice tray and the remaining cubes in it. "Come get this and put it on you lip," she spoke, a bit more clearly now that she didn't have a pillow pressed to her face. Carleigh closed her eyes and waited for her sister to take the ice cube. 

[felicity leanne stryder]

When Carleigh didn't respond quickly and angrily to her waking her, Felicity's worries increased tenfold for the girl. She knew that there was a lot going on in their lives right now, but she didn't like that Carleigh felt the need to deal with it as she was. At the very least, she wished that Carleigh would come and talk through her issues before going out and drowning them in liquor. However, Felicity worried that perhaps she had let that possibility die long before and that there would be no chance of reconciling themselves to the point where Carleigh would feel comfortable with such a thing. That, more than anything, devastated Felicity. She did everything she could to raise Carleigh to the best of her ability and somehow, somewhere, she had gone horribly wrong and now the poor girl was broken. Sometimes, Felicity felt that the more good she tried to do, the worse off everyone seemed to get.

Hesitantly doing as Carleigh asked, Fel moved her arm back down to her side and simply sat in a crouch until she could assure herself that she didn't need to take Carleigh off for immediate medical attention. The girl looked pretty bad, but she couldn't quite tell if it were bad enough to that point yet. "Sorry, hun. Do you need any medicine or anything? I'm pretty helpful when it comes to healing bruises and the like," she offered, hoping that Carleigh would actually let her help. Between Quidditch and her own domestic problems, she had more than enough experience to heal the majority of issues that could arise. Not to mention, since she had taken to having a personal healer come to her home, she also had the supplies to take care of quite a few different things as well. Though, if it seemed out of her range, Felicity wouldn't hesitate to put a call in and have someone come in to take care of Carleigh on the spot.

Backing up slightly as Carleigh turned to face her, the look that took over the other girl was a tad frightening. Clearly, she wasn't too pleased with the state of her lip. Clenching her jaw as Carleigh sat up, enraged, Felicity let her take out her frustrations by screaming. However, she wasn't about to let Carleigh walk around unaided and she hopped to and followed closely behind her, just in case she decided to fall over or something equally unfortunate. Staying silent as Carleigh fumbled with the ice tray, Felicity stood back until her sister offered an ice cube over towards her. Taking it, she held it up to her lip for a moment before letting it back down. "It wasn't his fault, Carleigh," she said, simply, though it was a lie. It was entirely his fault and by that point both she and Carleigh knew that denying it would be rather useless. "I can't leave him, Carleigh," she added, her voice dropping to an almost scared whisper.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

Carleigh was in pain all over. Her neck was creaky, her back was sore and she had an assortment of bruises scattered across her skin. The broken capillaries were mostly on her knees, thighs and lower back. At least they weren’t on her face, or at least, she hoped not. Whatever. Bruises were something that makeup could easily cover up. No one would even notice. Carl was a pro at covering up bruises, it came with years of trying to hide them from her friends and sister. But there was no way that she was getting up to work on that now. Felicity probably wouldn’t be home for a while and a nap might make her feel a little better, but her sister arrived home a little earlier than expected. Or maybe Fel was on time, but she wasn’t.

Carleigh mumbled into her pillow, verifying that she wasn’t dead, though she probably looked like something out of a horror movie at the moment. “No, I’m fine. I don’t need any medicine and I don’t have any bruises,” she denied everything. She knew that she probably had some pretty gnarly looking bruises, but she hadn’t taken the time to assess the damage. “And you’re only good at that because your fiancé is horrible to you. Doesn’t that say something?” Drunk or sober, Carleigh wanted that guy out of her and her sister’s life. He was no good for her, no good for anyone. Felicity deserved better than him, honestly, she deserved something of a god for putting up with her all the time.

The blonde rolled over, brushing her messy, blonde locks out of her face before opening her eyes. The first thing her blue eyes were drawn to was the busted lip on her sister’s face. Nope. That was it. That motherfucker needed to leave. Carleigh swung her feet under herself and pushed herself up off the couch. She probably looked like a zombie, the walking dead. Straight for the fridge, she leaned on the door as she slid the ice tray out of its spot. It didn’t take long, fiddling with the plastic, before her frustration cam back to her. She slammed it against the counter, sending ice flying. Carleigh grasped one and handed it to her sister. “If it wasn’t his fault, then I suppose you punched yourself in the mouth,” she spoke with her forehead pressed to the remaining ice in the tray. “I know, you don’t want to, but you have to. No one should treat you like that. You deserve much better after all the shit I put you through.” Carleigh spoke softly and sighed. Hearing Felicity speak in that tone, she just couldn’t handle it. That’s not how her sister was. She was strong, brave, passionate, everything far from fragile. This, this just wasn’t right.

[felicity leanne stryder]

Though Carleigh denied needed any medical attention, Felicity wasn't so sure about that. Honestly, if she weren't in such bad shape herself at the moment, she wouldn't have hesitated to just apparate the two of them somewhere to get Carleigh checked out. However, Felicity knew that it would probably be best for the both of them just to stay there and let her handle in herself. "Carleigh, I can see the bruises. I'm not blind. Bleeding, but not blind," she commented with a judgmental expression. Anyone in the family should know better than anyone that hiding bruises wasn't always easy. Which, as Carleigh so kindly pointed out, had a lot to do with her fiancee. Yeah, it was probably a terrible thing to live with, but Felicity hadn't quite come to terms with the fact that she probably shouldn't continue living like she was. Perhaps someday in the future, but right now leaving him just didn't seem like a viable option.

With the ice helping stop the bleeding from her lip, Felicity reached into her coat pocket to take out her wand. Tapping it lightly, she cast a quick spell to heal up the worst of the injury on her face. It wasn't a great job, but it was enough to slow the bleeding to a manageable rate. She looked over at Carleigh, considering casting a few quick spells to ease the girls pain, but knowing Carleigh wouldn't take well to the action, Felicity instead just pocketed her wand again. "Well, no, not exactly," she replied with a huff. "Do you want me to heal you up at all? Or I could look for a potion that might kill the pain," she asked, hoping that Carleigh would accept at least something from her. She hated seeing her younger sister like that more than anything and just wanted to be able to fix it, if just a little.

Felicity wouldn't say that she deserved better and she certainly wouldn't say that she deserved anything for putting up with Carleigh. Yes, it was hard, but she was family and Felicity wasn't the type of person that took family lightly. "Don't say things like that, Carleigh. You know I wouldn't have let you go to anyone else, even if I knew you'd end up growing into this," she retorted, her voice regaining it's usual vigor. The less she had to talk about her failing engagement, the better. It was bad enough as it was without hearing everyone else's opinion on the matter. She honestly couldn't name a single person that approved of it anymore and that absolutely killed her. Felicity never did things to please others, but it was hard to stay with him when everyone in her life was against it.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

“What bruises?!” Carleigh snapped back, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” her voice calmed down a little bit. She knew they were there, but she was going to deny their existence for now until she could get some stuff on them. The girl hadn’t even gotten the chance to examine them herself and she knew Fel would throw a shit fit if she got the chance to look at some of the larger ones. That was something the blonde seriously didn’t want to deal with at that moment, it was the last thing she wanted, neck in neck with being punched in the face.

Carleigh passed the ice over her shoulder to her sister. Honestly she cared. This was one of the ways that she showed it. If it were anyone else with a busted lip that had woken her up when she was in that state, she probably would have thrown her rather dangerously pointy stilettos at them without hesitation. The girl heard her sister slip her wand out of her pocket. If she dared to prod her with it, Carleigh would turn around and snap it in half. There was nothing wrong with her, nothing that magic could fix. “It’s just a hangover,” she stated with her head pressed to the ice tray. All she had to do was puke again and she’d feel better. Carleigh stood up straight and a wave of nausea crashed into her, causing her to wobble a bit. “Whoa,” she blinked hard a few times to get the room to stop spinning around her. “I’ll be right back,” the girl said as she walked toward her bedroom, pressing her hands to the walls to keep her on her feet. Once she reached the side of her bed, she slowly got down on her hands and knees and stretched her arm out under her bed. Rifling and flinging things aside, her fingers finally grasped her wand and pulled it out. Carleigh rolled up onto her knees, the pain from the bruises caused her to wince a bit. Tapping her wand on the drawer of her nightstand, it popped open and she pulled out a little packet. Leaving the drawer open, she crawled over to her bathroom and unwrapped the packet in her hand, popping one in her mouth and chewing. The affects immediately hit her, causing the blonde to heave and vomit as she held her own hair to the side. Puking Pastilles, the only good thing they sold at that wretched joke shop. Once she felt like her insides were about to shrivel up, she quickly popped the other half of the candy into her mouth. The vomiting ceased and her urge to vomit had vanished, but now she felt lightheaded.

The blonde sat there for a few moments, her arm across the toilet seat and her head resting on her arm. “Go to anyone else?” Carleigh repeated loud enough for her sister to hear her wherever the hell she was, coughing, “They would have sent me away in a heartbeat. And piss off about this. I’m totally fine.” She was still sitting there, kneeling in her bathroom, practically talking into her toilet. Sure, everything was fine. Of course.

[felicity leanne stryder]

There really wasn't much that Felicity could do to help Carleigh if the younger girl wasn't even willing to help herself. She wasn't going to force her to do anything anymore, since Carleigh was older now and her decisions were her own to make. As much as Felicity wanted to coddle her and try and fix it, she knew that she couldn't. When she was Carleigh's age, she hadn't exactly been the most put-together all the time, though she couldn't say she was anywhere near as bad as Carleigh was becoming, so she knew that it took some time to really settle into the fact that you were getting older and now had responsibility. Felicity didn't want to admit it, but she had the sinking feeling that this wasn't just going to be another one of Carleigh's phases. However, she was to the point where she didn't think there was much she could do and so she was going to stay out of it. If Carleigh wanted to go ruin her life, great, but she had her own to worry about. "Great, fine than," she said with a simple shrug. As much as Felicity cared about her sister, she had limits.

Watching as Carleigh left for her room, Felicity didn't bother to try stopping her. If Carleigh wanted to attend to her own injuries, than she was going to let her. There was only so much that Felicity could do without Carleigh letting her help, so she really didn't know what else she could possibly do to help the poor child. Shaking her head a bit as she sighed, Felicity turned from the kitchen to head into her own room. Perhaps what she needed was a nap, maybe a shower, she wasn't really sure. The odds of her having a peaceful time were slim, given the state of her younger sister, but she at least had to try and relax a bit. Her life, while charmed in many ways, wasn't easy and the stress of it was something that could easily come to consume her if she didn't take time for herself to just chill out. That, more than anything, was something that Felicity had difficulty doing. Relax wasn't a word that was often used in her vocabulary and anyone that knew her would know that it was a rare occasion not to see her working in one way or another. At the moment, for instance, she was already back to her room, ruffling through papers to drag out the plays the team was working on and see how she might improve upon them.

Her dedication to work was all-consuming at times and that was what would likely end up driving her to over-exhaustion. Listening as Carleigh piped up again, Felicity bit at her lip, wincing in pain when she remembered the split already on the left side of her lower lips. "Alright, than. I'll leave you to it," she called back, her voice strained as she spoke. That was the last thing that she wanted to do, but she wasn't very well going to push Carleigh when she didn't want to be pushed. It would make the other girl more combative and to be honest, Felicity really just didn't feel like fighting anymore that day. Hell, she almost just wanted to go out and get drunk herself, since that would be a hell of a lot easier than dealing with her issues. However, even if she couldn't tell Carleigh what to do, she at least could try and provide as best an example as she could, given the circumstances. Sitting down at the desk in her room, Felicity glanced up at the mirror, a dark look crossing her face when she saw just how bad she really looked.

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