Shell Shock (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

There was a sudden, booming knock on Zoe's door at this juncture, the powerful noise a break from the sound of conversation within. When the door was opened, outside were two very familiar, fatigued-looking individuals. Serena Vervain, aka Seven, the girl's RA on this floor, had a tired look on her face, her ratty black bathrobe with a hotel's monogram a mundane contrast to her tight combat uniform laden with arcane symbols. Beside her stood Magni Thorson, still in his bunny slippers and Claremont pajamas, the massive mountain of a young man one of the few students at the school who could plausibly grapple with Phalanx and win. Magni spoke first, even as Serena squeezed past the boys to tend to her battered charge.

"Thou hast done a noble thing to care for your comrade, but let us allow these powerful women to tend their own wounded." He was polite, even courteous, but as usual brooked no dissent. Rather than hassle the boys for violating curfew and being in a girl's room after hours, he simply said, "We shall have words on such matters in the morning. Come."

[angrydurf]

Mike merely nodded, glad in a way to be done with the conversation. Something about Chris and Eddies tone had nearly set him off and he was glad for the distraction from the topic of Eddies relationship with Zoe.

He expected punishment, they had broken the rules after all. He would do it again of course, but would not argue that they should be spared for their good intentions. Mike walked calmly out of the room turning to Seven as he walked past, "Alex took her to get cleaned up, they're probably still down in the bathroom." he said plainly before nodding to Magin and standing behind the older boy while he waited for Chris and Eddie to leave the room.

[quotemyname]

Eddie looked down at the ratty shirt he had been using to mop up the vomit. He shrugged and simply tossed it into the trash. There were more Motley Crue shirts where that came from.

He stood up from where he was kneeling and walked casually towards the door. "Yea yea, I'm goin." Once he was outside the door to Zoe's room, he took his place next to Mike in the hall and waited for Chris. He glanced down the hall towards the girl's bathroom at the end of the hall. A look of longing spread across his face. Naa, it can wait till tomorrow. He thought.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Yeah, OK," said Chris, "We got it all cleaned up anyway. I got things to do." He walked out of the room after Mike and Eddie, glancing down at Magni's feet. "Awesome slippers."

Once he was clear of the RA, he muttered to Eddie. See you later. I got an appointment with a wretched hive of scum of villainy." With that he jogged off to climb out his window and bring in the Pitchoo remotely.

[Avenger Assembled]

Magni walked the boys back to their rooms, full of sympathy for their plight. "Aye, there is naught but honor in striving to aid a fallen comrade. Particularly when you share a special bond," he said to Eddie. "But we have a code at the school that must be followed in the same task. Balancing the two is a difficult proposition at best." As always, he looked downright sorrowful at the prospect of handing out any demerits. "Join me in the morning," he told them all as they reached the downstairs, "and we shall put aside any talk of this night." He gave them all a look of gravity. "You need not suffer punishment for your choice to help your friend."

[N/A]

Zöe followed Alex into the bathroom, putting up no resistance to any aid she offered as she washed and wiped and dried the blood and sweat and snot from her body. As she settled down, she began to consciously smell and taste the vomit on her breath for the first time. "Blech." She brushed her teeth vigorously, not so fast that Alex couldn't see it, but fast enough that all Alex could see was a blur, like a film projection when the reel is vibrated laterally. "Ugh. I can't believe he let me kiss him with that taste in my mouth."

She wiped her face on her sleeve, then looked up uneasily at Alex. "I...I'm really glad you're here."

[alderwitch]

Alex seemed remarkabally unflappable in the face of the icky mess. She had the forethought to bring spare clothes from Zoe's dressers, standard Claremont sweats and a t-shirt, but they were clean and smelled of fresh laundry. She helped strip Zoe and pushed the soiled clothes down the laundry shoot while Zoe washed.

"We do have plenty of towels for that," Alex pointed out with amusement as Zoe rubbed her face against her sleeve. It didn't take much to see that Zoe could use a few minutes to calm herself down. She might move at sonic speeds but that didn't mean she could emotionally recover at the same speeds. "Here, sit. Your hair's gotten all tangled."

Alex pressed lightly down on Zoe's shoulder to seat her on the edge of the tub and pulled out a hair brush. It was obviously hers with the day-glo yellow handle and cheerful blue bubbles across the back of it. Alex rested her hip against the sink and set about untangling Zoe's hair, "I'm happy to be here. Nightmares can be really rough. Eventually our brains always try and make us find a way to face thingss. I know I've had a few doozies. Want to talk about it?"

[N/A]

Feels like I'm five years old again. But in a good way.

Zoe relaxed visibly under Alex's ministrations. "Honestly, I think I've talked about it as much as I can stand for one night. But if you're still in mental contact with the R.A., can you tell her I'll spackle up that wall tomorrow? I know Summers is already doing me a big favor by taking me in here (even though that whole thing went way smoother than I thought it would). I don't want him thinking I'm gonna destroy his school."

[alderwitch]

Alex made an agreeable noise in her throat that seemed to imply all of that was taken care of. She finished brushing the tangles out of Zoe's hair and began braiding it into the same loose braid that she usually put her own hair in for the night. "He won't think that. Mark blew up the Doom Room once. A few dents in the wall is nothing for Claremont. Don't worry about it."

She finished with the braid and knotted a skrunchy around the end. Alex let one hand rest on Zoe's shoulder and smiled at her in the mirror, "There you go, all cleaned up. You need to get some rest, tonight. If you'd like, I can put you into a deep enough sleep that you won't dream. You do sleep, right?"

[N/A]

Zöe nodded. "Uh-huh. Most nights. Not as much as most people do." She put her hand over Alex's and squeezed. "That would be...really nice. Thanks. For everything."

When they walked back to Zöe's room, she stopped halfway through the door. Her jaw dropped open. "They...they cleaned. While we were in the bathroom, they...they scrubbed my puke off the carpet." She half-laughed, half-sighed. "Wow. Wow. I wake everybody up in the middle of the night, on a school night, and they're all so pissed off that they cleaned my room." She stood there, stunned, just staring at the floor.

[alderwitch]

"Well, I told them to," Alex did point out. Even the boys of Young Freedom who were really wonderful people, were still teenage boys and teenage boys almost never came up with the idea of cleaning on their own in Alex's personal experience. "But of COURSE they weren't going to be angry. Even the most oblivious would see that you were hurting."

Alex gave her hand a little squeeze back before releasing her to finish putting the last of the clutter away and flipped back the covers on her bed as she gave Zoe a chance to recover. "No one minds. Honest. I can tell."

[N/A]

"Well, I told them to."

"...Oh." Zöe unconsciously wrapped and folded her arms around her chest and looked down. What, you didn't think they did it because they like you, did you? Silly Z. Trix are for kids.

Alex gave her hand a little squeeze back before releasing her to finish putting the last of the clutter away and flipped back the covers on her bed as she gave Zoe a chance to recover. "No one minds. Honest. I can tell."

"Cool." Zöe crawled into bed. Under Alex's telepathic ministrations, she quickly dozed off.

I came back here to save them. So why is it they keep saving me?