skymuffins | [Sept. 16/11] Raine's Room, Night

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[Sept. 16/11] Raine's Room, Night

After his talk with Sorrow's brother in the garden, Raine had retreated fairly quickly to his room. His cigarettes were soaked through, Sorrow was nowhere to be found, and his stone was going insane trying to force-feed him snippets, possibilities.

It was more than a little overwhelming. He'd sat down on the edge of his bed, sodden clothing and all, and put his head between his knees, trying to catch his breath. Trying not to feel so dizzy, at least. It wasn't working out so well for him. But, at least, so long as he was thinking about not asphyxiating to death or something, he wasn't paying much attention to the possibilities that were flitting through his mind.

Raine was going to consider that a win.

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Well, he wasn't indecent. Even if he looked like he'd gotten a little carried away working on his wardrobe for a wet t-shirt contest.

She wasn't going away. She wasn't going to go away. He didn't need magic to tell him that much, either. And so, probably somewhere around the count of fifty seconds, the lock on his door clicked and he opened it. Slightly. Still dizzy. More dizzy, so close to another person who was actually here because of him. It wasn't really helping, any.

"You don't want to be here," he stated between grit teeth as he took in the sight of that coat, of the H.A.H. logo on it. "So just go."

"Sorry," she said, sounding not sorry at all. "But I can't. You've been here long enough to know why."

Cassidy surveyed him coolly, paying more attention to the way she felt and looked than his words. "You've certainly made a mess of yourself this evening, boyo. Get back inside and get rid of that wet shirt. Are you trying to give yourself pneumonia?"

From the feel of him... yes, yes he was.

"Well, it isn't exactly my primary goal for the evening," Raine noted, stepping back and wrapping his arms around himself. She was going to be a force of nature, and she'd haul down all the other members of the H.A.H. if he wasn't being cooperative. He didn't need powers to tell him that much, either. "If I get out of the wet clothes and climb under the covers, will you go? Will that be good enough for you?"

No. He knew that one right off the bat. Didn't need to wait for the answer. It probably didn't help that he'd soaked his sheets through by sitting on his bed. Or that he was still wincing every so often, still working on catching his breathe.

This wasn't Raine's night. But at least he was finally working his way out of his shirt.

"Not at all," Cassidy informed him, taking in his room at a glance and scowling ferociously at the sight of his wet bed. Just what she needed, another complication.

She pulled out his chair and gestured to him. "Sit. Stay."

She'd need towels, for him to dry himself off, something warm for him to drink, dry sheets, and his not-wellness was beating the back of her skull like a drum. He'd need her magic too.

"Sitting," Raine mumbled, dropping his wet shirt on the floor and taking a seat on the chair. "Staying."

And now he was working out of his wet shoes, too.

"So," he said, keeping his head down while he battled with soggy shoelaces, "did you draw the short straw, tonight?"

Oh, but sometimes she loved that people actually listened to her. The joys of being both an upperclassman to more than half the school and the joy of being a member of H.A.H.

"Professor Gilliam decided to send me in response to an alert from another student," Cassidy said, while efficiently stripping the bed of the sodden blankets and sheets. "Now that I'm here, however, I doubt you would have been left along for long. Excuse me."

She swished out of the room, the wet things piled high in her arms, to head straight for the laundry chute. Then, towels and tea.

Raine watched her go, and then, letting his power beat against his skull just long enough for him to be aware that he had a few minutes to spare, got up out of his chair (the rebel) and, closing the door for a few moments, changed into a dry pair of pants. One less thing she'd have to worry about when she got back, and if being cooperative could somehow get her out all the more quickly...

He was sitting again, clad only in a pair of moderately less soggy sweatpants by the time she returned, arms wrapped around himself and looking more or less miserable. Opening up to his power for that moment meant that he had to try all the more to get it to stop flooring him, now.

She came back and she didn't come back alone. With her was another member of the H.A.H. A classmate of Tappen's actually, who carried bedding and avoided looking anywhere near Tappen. Cassidy didn't much care so long as he did the work in making the bed.

Which he would, because he was an H.A.H. member. She observed him (unease or not, the H.A.H. was sworn to look after all members of the school) and then turned back to her patient.

For her part, Cassidy had several towels draped over her arm, which she prompt deposited in Tappen's arms before the boy could get it into his head to brood--she knew his type, alright--and waited for him to dry himself properly, the tea she was going to have him drink in hand.

"Dry up," she said, "and then you get to change again. It was a nice attempt though."

Raine accepted the towels and started drying himself off, if only because being difficult would have meant one more reason for his classmate to go back to the rest of them, telling them that he'd given the H.A.H. a hard time. That was the last thing he needed, on top of the jeering and the new name.

"I was kind of hoping to skip that step," he murmured, shying back from her a little as his stone wound up and damn near punched him in the face with another gout of power. "It's not really that bad, is it? I dry off, get under the covers, it's chicken soup for a few days, and then I can be back in the cafeteria, scaring off my peers like usual."

The back of his classmate's head got a look at that one.

Unfortunate motorcycle accident at age twenty-nine. Three cars and a semi truck hauling two trailers. Closed-cask-

Raine shuddered violently and buried his face in his towel.

Cassidy's eyes followed Tappen's gaze and then watch as his buried his head in his towel.

She counted to five and then to ten.

She didn't want to know what he'd seen and she wasn't going to ask. "When you're done that, Leith," she said, "you may go."

It would be easier on all of them.

"And no," Cassidy continued, "it is that bad. If we do not look after you now, you will be down with pneumonia."

Deep breaths. Pull it together. Just... keep your face there in the towel, Raine, and then you don't have to look up if Leith does. You don't have to see him recognizing they way you react when you feel someone's death. Just don't look up....

"From just a little rain?" His words were muffled, but at least he was making them. "I thought I was made of tougher stuff than that."

Lightning cracked outside the window as the raindrops pounded harder against the pane.

"Apparently not," Cassidy said dryly as Leith stood up, the bed made.

"Secretary--" Leith began.

She shook her head. "Go," Cassidy told him. "I will look after this."

Leith took a deep breath. "Should you be alone with..."

"I will be fine," she said sharply. "Now go. I appreciate the thought," there was no need to offend the minions, "and if you wish to help me, talk to Professor Gilliam and get the name of the firstie that reported this. Go check on them."

Leith's face told her that wasn't a good option. She just arched an eyebrow at him and he left, with a bob of his head.

"Now," Cassidy said, once he'd gone. "Are you planning to look up any time soon? Your tea will get cold."

Raine had gone from silently trying to smother himself into his towel to flat-out biting back the urge to retch. Should she be alone with him? What the hell would he do? Predict her to death?

His shoulders hitched a little. He didn't particularly want to look up any time soon. But she was looming, out there. He could feel it. And the tea would do him some good. Probably.

"Tea," he murmured, taking another deep breath before straightening a little. Still not looking up. Looking up was not a good idea, right then. "Tea... thanks..."

"Leith has a big mouth," Cassidy said dryly, offering Tappen the cup. It was still warm to the touch. "He'll learn better."

She'd see to it.

What you thought about the patients was to be kept from the patients.

"Leith has always had a big mouth," Raine muttered, accepting the tea and staring into it.

And then abruptly jerking his gaze from the teacup to the floor. He wasn't one of those amusement park psychics who would tell you your fortune for a dollar by staring at the crap in the bottom of your tea, but the second the thought crossed his mind, that was the end of that brief reverie.

"I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that to change any time soon."

He would learn better. Everyone learned better, sooner or later. It was a matter of whether or not they put those things into practise that mattered.

Cassidy studied the top of his head. Honestly, she couldn't really blame him for saying that. It was tempting, especially as Cassidy had never been on the snub-list of Thrones Academy and so had no experience with what Tappen was going through...

But she couldn't. She'd seen too many students sick and injured because of situations as bad as his and worse.

"Drink the tea," she ordered. "It will do you no good to just hold it."

And, so she wasn't hovering over him (perhaps that would help) she went to the bed and began to inspect it. Just in case Leith had more than a big mouth, not that she'd tell Tappen that.

That wouldn't have surprised Raine, either. He wouldn't have tripped anything if it had been left in his bed. With the way his power was going absolutely nuts tonight, he was pretty sure he would have predicted a pea being slipped underneath a stack of a hundred mattresses, but that he didn't have to go digging through his bed for mousetraps or dead frogs was kind of nice.

"Thank you," he mumbled, looking up after a moment and finally, finally putting the teacup to his mouth. It was... warm. Which was better than the rest of the liquid that he'd been in contact with tonight. "I mean... I know you're just doing your job. But... thank you."

Aside from Sorrow, and now, apparently, her brother, this was the first little hint of kindness he'd been shown this year.

Which was sad, when she was treating him like he was something to put back together and then ignored.

Cassidy pocketed a mousetrap with a scowl that had nothing to do with Tappen's words. Leith would be getting a talking to. The second and third of them disappeared into her coat's pockets just as quickly.

"The H.A.H. looks after the entire school," she said noncommittally. "Failure to do so would be a dereliction of duty. What sort of healer picks their patients?" That was vile.

She glanced out the window, where rain was pouring down harder than ever.

"Did you call the storm?"

"I didn't mean for it to get so big," Raine admitted, absently dipping his finger into the teacup and stirring. It wasn't so hot that it would burn, after all. "I was just... testing. And then the evening sort of..."

He shrugged.

"There's another one under the pillow," he murmured, barely quiet enough to be heard. Speaking at all was against his better judgment, when it game to things like this. He was too tired and too battered by his power at that point to care. "I guess maybe he was hoping I'd stick my hand under there or something."

"Probably," she said, giving away nothing about the way that he just knew that sent a shiver down her spine and lifted the pillow to pocket that one as well. Oh yes, Leith was going to be hearing from her. Possibly at the top of her lungs. "That would be him."

Leith was a work-in-progress when it came to the princials of H.A.H.

"Some test," Cassidy continued. "Though rain isn't such a bad thing."

"It's been getting pretty dry out there. I was beginning to think that I'd just dry up if it didn't rain soon."

The rain was a comfort, too. Even in here, freezing though he was, listening to it beat down on his windows was soothing him. In spite of the mousetraps.

"So... someone really came looking for a healer, for my sake?"

Try not to sound so stunned by that, Raine.

Cassidy finished searching the bed before answering that. Five mousetraps rattled in her pockets.

"Yes," she said, "some firstie."

She didn't know the kid's name. She didn't even know what the kid had looked like.

She didn't want to know which of the firsties was kind enough to send a healer after a guy who was openly avoided by most of the school. The school needed more kindness.

There was no way to say it would survive.

"Have you finished your tea yet?" Asking questions would keep her from thinking too hard about how stunned he sounded and the way that made her throat feel tight.

Seth, then. Maybe if he ran into him again without some big audience, Raine would thank him, too.

He was not going to think too hard about when that might be. He'd like some surprises in his life, thanks.

"I'm... about halfway through," he admitted, looking into the teacup, staring at the little sediment on the bottom before shaking his head and gulping it back. "Mostly through. Sorry. I'm still kind of... shaking."

From the cold. Obviously.

She frowned at him.

"Finish it," she said, "and--oh, here."

Cassidy took one of the towels from his lap and, without so much as asking if she could, dropped it on his head. She'd dry his hair. Briskly and professionally.

"Hey!"

And some things, Raine just didn't see coming. The H.A.H. girl drying his hair like she was his mom or something? That was definitely one of those things. And really, even if he had seen it, he wouldn't have believed it. Anybody getting that close to his jasper was just too surreal for him to believe.

By the time she was done, he'd be a little preoccupied with sitting there with his mouth agape, his hair sticking up in all directions.

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