It's a low bar. on Hospital Wing

Evelyn Stones

May 14, 2020 2:58 PM

It's a low bar. by Evelyn Stones

OOC - Continued from this thread.
IC -

Evelyn was very irritated. Nathaniel had accompanied her to the Hospital Wing, which she appreciated, and she was proud of the fact that she'd managed the walk without any physical help except to open a few doors as she didn't want to use her hand for that, but she was still irritated. She didn't want to need help, and she didn't want people to keep being so crappy that they put her in positions to need help. Nathaniel was being kind, but he shouldn't have had to be kind to someone he probably wouldn't have spoken to at all, had the situation been any different than what it was.

Woozy as she was, the walk had still given her a moment to think more about everything. She had a brother old enough to be at Sonora. She had a baby brother. She had a baby sister. There was no saying whether she had any other siblings, really. It was weird having grown up as an only child and then suddenly have three siblings all at once. Ness and Kir were much more her siblings even than CJ was, and it was very frustrating to have to change her definition of sibling for all these new people.

It was becoming more and more evident to her that she would need to take action soon. She'd taken steps already, of course; talking to Professor Brooding-Hawthorne had been one, talking to Marijke had been another, talking to Ms. Heidi about the age line had been an early one, and now she was back at school and she was going to have to work hard if she wanted to be ready for the coming years. She sort of wished there was some equivalent of a home ec or childhood development class at Sonora.

She tried to relax as they neared the Hospital Wing. The injury itself would be easy enough to heal, but that wasn't to say it would be exactly pleasant, or that she would be feeling great right away. The room was still spinning a bit, much like her tumultuous mind. Conversations she'd need to have and letters she'd need to write were already forming in her thoughts, and she hadn't even met her half-brother yet. Perhaps it was a bad sign that she could take these things in stride anymore.

"Thank you," she told Nathaniel before they closed the final distance to the Hospital Wing and Ms. Kapoor's healing hands. Nathaniel was a living example of why Evelyn had not made it into Teppenpaw. "Can you tell me about my brother? I assume he knows a bit more about me since, if he knows anything, he knows more than I do."

Before he could answer, Ms. Kapoor greeted them and Evelyn showed her her hand. That was just as well, as she suspected Nathaniel needed a moment to think anyway. "Cut myself making a snack," she explained to the nurse, blushing and ready to follow orders.

22 Evelyn Stones It's a low bar. 1422 1 5

Aisha Kapoor

May 14, 2020 6:49 PM

A low bar is better than none at all, I suppose. by Aisha Kapoor

The charm on the hospital wing's door was not the most complex of its kind, but it did an adequate job of letting Aisha Kapoor know when someone entered the wing itself, presumably in need of treatment. Hearing the chime within her office which indicated a patient had arrived, she stood, walked into the wing to greet the patient and assess the situation, and almost immediately had the thought oh no, not you.

Nathaniel Mordue was not, technically, really a frequent flyer. In fact, since the...interesting...three days he had spent sleeping in here two years ago - three days during which she had gotten even less sleep than usual, making sure to check on the boy very regularly to ensure he had not made good on threats apparently made to his cousin - she had had very little direct contact with him at all. Though he passed through the hospital wing on a near weekly basis, he seemed to go to some effort to avoid so much as looking her in the eye now. However, those passings-through were a source of some inconvenience just the same - her office tended to get borrowed for Mordue's sessions with his therapist - and since Lillian would have showed up before now if she was going to show up, Aisha could only assume some complaint for her awaited.

The thought lasted, however, only a split second before she noticed the smaller figure he had walked in with, and then the blood being lost by said smaller figure. She hurried over to the girl.

"What's this, then?" she asked, and got a response. "I see," she said. She noticed that Evelyn looked quite pale. "Here, you should sit down, there you go," she said, steering her to one of the cots waiting for patients. "Keep that pressure on it while I grab a potion," she instructed her, and went to get the pair of bottles needed - one to clean the injury, one to heal it over. "This may sting a bit, but it will only last for a moment," she said, pouring a drop of the first onto the cut - it made an unpleasant hiss - and then more from the second. "You might want to sit for a minute," she advised. "You look a bit woozy. Have a glass of water," she suggested, pointing her wand at the bedside table so that a fresh glass of water appeared. "And here's a bit more to wash your hands with," she added, and added a basin and bar of soap with another flick of her wand. "Let me know if you aren't feeling steady within a few minutes."

0 Aisha Kapoor A low bar is better than none at all, I suppose. 1482 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

May 19, 2020 10:46 AM

This is true. Still best to jump as high as you can, though. by Nathaniel Mordue

Nathaniel could, he supposed, have gotten Evelyn to the door of the hospital wing and then excused himself. This was not his problem, and he hated the hospital wing. He had spent entirely too much time here over the past two years, after all, if not in direct contact with the medic on duty. He did not particularly wish to enter it on any occasion where he was not forced, and nobody was forcing him to do so today. If he was reading her (admittedly somewhat muddled) demeanor correctly, Evelyn didn't even seem to want him to accompany her any further.

He opened the door and followed her in anyway. It just felt like the honorable thing to do, making absolutely sure that she was all right since it was his fault he had gotten hurt, and besides - he wasn't supposed to let other students know where Teppenpaw was, and Teppenpaw was right next door. If she glanced over her shoulder and heard tap-dancing coming from halfway up the staircase he had just walked into, she would either think he'd gone a bit insane or possibly figure out where the House was. Best, he reasoned, not to risk it.

It did not take him long to wonder if that had been a good idea, though, as she first thanked him...and then asked him about Alexander.

Luckily, he had a moment to think what to say, as Healer Kapoor approached and was upon them before he had time to say more than "yes, I can." He stepped back, hands folded behind his back, as the medic worked her magic and then, reluctantly, reasoning that he had gotten himself into this and should have seen it coming, sat down in the visitors' chair under the pretense of keeping an eye on Evelyn until it was sure she was steady.

"Your...brother. Well. He's a good kid. He's a bit emotional," he admitted, remembering Alexander's slight breakdown last year over the purple horse and birth certificate, "but he's smart, resourceful...in Teppenpaw," he added. "His name's Alexander. Second year. He had...he grew up in one of those places they put Muggle children who don't have parents - though he mentioned to me since we got back that he found a family over the summer, and he seems happy with them," he added. "I sort of looked after him last year, though, I guess you could say...it isn't right, not knowing who you are," he said, near-quoting what he had said to Alexander the year before. "Even if it's just so you know who you're rising above." He shook his head. "Though that's neither here nor there," he added apologetically. "Are you feeling better?"

16 Nathaniel Mordue This is true. Still best to jump as high as you can, though. 1412 0 5

Evelyn Stones

May 19, 2020 11:11 AM

True, although I've been told I'm a bit clumsy. by Evelyn Stones

CW: Mention of child abuse here and presumably throughout this thread.

As soon as Evelyn's hand was feeling better, she gave in to the utter embarrassment of first having cut her hand open at all, then having said way too much about her personal life to one of the more reserve humans she'd met - and she was friends with Heinrich Hexenmeister, and then having asked Nathaniel questions she wanted answers to but maybe wasn't ready for. The urge to scream was strong because Alexander - she was pretty sure she'd seen him before - deserved much better than the legacy he was inheriting. Although the fact that he was in Teppenpaw did make her feel better, as she was quite sure her father would not have made it there.

Alexander was a second year. Evelyn thought about this as she washed her hand in the basin Ms. Kapoor left. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting Nathaniel to see her arms, until she remembered the effectiveness of bruise balm. There was nothing left - on the skin - of what had happened. If Alexander was twelve, assuming he hadn't been held back as she had, then they were four years apart. Evelyn would have been about three when her dad cheated on her mom, then. She wondered if her mother had known. Of course, her mother's new baby was a year old less than a year and nine months since she'd left, so Mathias wasn't the only one. What the heck was wrong with her family?

The bigger concern was that Evelyn wasn't sure whether to be happy for Alexander having escaped living with Mathias or sad for him to have grown up in what sounded like an orphanage or something. She was pretty sure that no one would let her father have kids at home anymore anyway, but it did bring her a small comfort to know that Alexander had a home now.

"Thank you for looking after him," she said softly, not looking at Nathaniel just yet. Blood, it turned out, dried pretty fast, and didn't like to come out of fingernails and dry skin. Even if it had, it felt good to just focus on washing up. "Do you know whether he reached out to Mathias?" Her grey eyes couldn't help looking for Nathaniel's face then and she searched it for any sign of a response. If Alexander had reached out, he certainly wasn't to blame for the crappy way summer had gone, but it would be a helpful piece of the puzzle. She wondered whether she should tell Nathaniel about the fact that Mathias' children had been taken away from him, or wait and tell Alexander himself. With a clearer head, it was easier to see that perhaps Nathaniel didn't want to be that much in the middle of all this.

His comment about rising above made Evelyn reconsider, though. If Nathaniel was taking care of Alexander in some capacity, then maybe it would be good for him to know. Either way, maybe it would be good just to say it out loud.

"The state has taken my dad's kids from him," she said with a sigh, resigned to the open book that was her life. "You should know that if you're going to be part of this now," she chuckled, "or if you're helping be there for Alexander. I'm not even sure whether visitation would be allowed. He hasn't sought it for me or CJ." She blinked, trying to decide how much to say. It did feel good to say, and she found that the more she talked, the more she just wanted to say everything. To tell someone new the whole story and get that reaction that the McLeods could no longer give her because they were in the same boat she was - this was, unfortunately, normal now. "Once his court hearings go through and they decide what his sentencing will be, he may be able to seek visitation." Then, after a pause: "Sorry. You probably need to know."

She wanted to give Nathaniel time and space and room and she sort of regretted telling him so much, but it was cathartic and there was no denying that he was in this now anyway. If he and Alexander were close, Alexander would undoubtedly be sharing his perspective and feelings. With that in mind, his function - if not his friendship - would probably be easier if he had all the information. Still, a Mordue would not have been her first choice and she was glad that Nathaniel seemed several steps nicer than his relatives.

"Yes," she said when he asked if she was feeling better. She flexed her hand experimentally. This was nothing. "Much."

22 Evelyn Stones True, although I've been told I'm a bit clumsy. 1422 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

May 19, 2020 7:16 PM

Hey, that makes a low bar even more advantageous, you can just step over if you need to. by Nathaniel Mordue

Something about Evelyn's expression made Nathaniel think she was looking for something specific - what, he had no idea - in his expression, and it made him uneasy. He wondered if that was how he looked at people, sometimes, especially with Jeremy; if so, he could understand a bit better why his brother often found him annoying. Annoyance was one of Jeremy's default responses to anything unpleasant, it seemed, and this was definitely uncomfortable. He had no idea, after all, if she was finding what she was looking for, much less whether it was something he had any desire for her to find.

"Unfortunately, yes," he said. "And to his...mother, I suppose we must call her. He did it before I could give him your warning last year. They both responded to him - I don't think he's responded to them any further. Mr. Stones apparently let it be known he didn't want you to know about all this, but, well, bit late for that, wasn't it?"

This, he thought, was why people were supposed to be good. If you did what was right - always - then there weren't these...complications. At least, if everyone did what was right. The moment that one person stepped off the right path, though, it all went to hell, it made it impossible for those around them to know what the right thing to do was, because to honor one obligation was to forsake another. Exhaustion threatened to sweep over him, but he was bolstered up by a ripple of rage - toward Mr. and Mrs. Stones, toward Claire Mason, toward his uncle and his aunt, toward his father...and even, for a fleeting moment, before he reassured himself she was bewitched and not culpable for her decisions, his mother. He wanted to just take them all and shake them, hit them, cast every curse he knew at them until they either learned that it was not okay to treat people this way, or else until they were all mercifully dead and thus compelled to leave him and the others all in peace....

"The state has taken my dad's kids from him."

Nathaniel's green eyes snapped abruptly back into the focus they had started to slide out of, fixing on Evelyn's pale face. He could feel his own drained of color, too, as he near-whispered the word "what?" in horror. For a moment, he instinctively thought the way he had been taught to since early childhood - that it was an abomination for the state to dare dream of interfering in family life, that it wasn't their place, that it was a gross abuse of power - but then he remembered what Evelyn had told him about why Alexander shouldn't seek contact with their father, her reaction at the mere sound of the man's name, and he felt suddenly sick, along with horrified all over again.

Court hearings...sentencing...Dear Merlin. What had this man done?

"I see," he said when she concluded with a statement about thinking that he ought to know.

At least it turned out that she was in fact feeling better. "Very good," he said. "My apologies, again, for upsetting you. And..." His usual stiff, impenetrable manner faltered for a moment before he blurted out, "and - I won't, er, I mean - you don't have to worry about me - telling anyone - any of this." He cleared his throat. "I know a bit about what it's like to have people gossip about your family - even when it's true - so I wouldn't do that. And it's dishonorable anyway." He cleared his throat again, even more uncomfortably, and tried to get back to the original topic of their discussion, from before she had cut her hand. "So. As far as the...situation with Alexander goes - I'm your servant if you want any assistance with that - or if you'd rather write directly to him with an invitation, or just...approach him or something...." He trailed off, flushing slightly at his own lack of any idea how other people would handle such a situation. "Sorry. I haven't had the experience of knowing new people exist before they're just thrown in my face before. Not very often, anyway."

16 Nathaniel Mordue Hey, that makes a low bar even more advantageous, you can just step over if you need to. 1412 0 5

Evelyn Stones

May 19, 2020 8:01 PM

Ayyy that's what's up. by Evelyn Stones

Her father had known about Alexander before he had even asked Evelyn to come home over the summer . . . he'd made sure she didn't know. The urge to scream some more rolled around in her stomach but she pushed it aside. It wasn't terribly hard, as she could just focus on her gratitude for Nathaniel telling her so much. Much as she hated the situation, it was better to know about it than not. Even that was tempered by the guilt she felt for making him so uncomfortable and horrified. She'd been trying to take ownership of her part in her own story and acknowledge that she was not the reason that this was horrifying, it was because of her father. But that didn't mean she wasn't the one who had horrified Nathaniel in this localised moment and that was harder to accept.

"Don't worry about it," Evelyn said with a small smile when he apologised again. "And thank you. I wasn't worried you'd tell anyone though. You seem like a generally good human. I might even say a good friend if we ever hung out in better circumstances." Her expression changed into a more amused smile and it felt good to joke around with someone she didn't know that well. Plus he really did seem like a good human and being friends with good humans was a thing Evelyn enjoyed. Nathaniel seemed like he might benefit from good wolf/bad wolf philosophy, too.

I'm your servant seemed like such an extravagant phrase and Evelyn raised an eyebrow, surprised. Nathaniel didn't generally seem archaic, although he was part of a pureblood family who probably was fairly. He seemed more human and labeling himself a servant for Evelyn's purposes in meeting her brother was just such an odd thing to do, even if hyperbolic. "Thanks," she said again. "Let me think about it a little, but feel free to tell him I'm up for meeting. If he doesn't come up to me first or try to plan something through you, then I'll probably go up to him at some point. I'm sure you really enjoy being stuck in the middle of all this," she added sarcastically. "Really though, if you'd like to hang out in better circumstances, it doesn't have to be terrible every time we talk."

22 Evelyn Stones Ayyy that's what's up. 1422 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

May 20, 2020 8:14 AM

Is it? I thought it was the ceiling. by Nathaniel Mordue

Good human was an odd way to put it, in Nathaniel's opinion - human? Who talked about humans as humans, at least if they were human themselves? Did she...have a presumably very, very far removed goblin ancestor, with still enough of that blood present to make her very short and for her to classify herself as part-human, but without enough of it to cause any other parts of her appearance to deviate from human norms? - but the ideas were so much more surprising that he only thought about the oddness of the form after a few seconds of being taken aback by the ideas.

You don't know anything about me, he thought about telling her. You can't go around just - trusting people like that. I used to do that, and look where that got me - my brain is broken, I'm half a step from getting disowned at best, and half the time, I want to hex even the people I love most. I failed my mother, and my brother, and it's my fault they're like they are now - trust me? You're even more of a fool than I am.

"Um - thank you. I think," he said instead, bemused. Having at least the bare bones of potential to have friends under other circumstances was a good thing, he thought. He'd never really done it - either he'd had Sylvia to fill the places friends might have gone, or he had been in free fall and not in any condition to seek out relationships even had he had reason to believe anyone would have been willing to have him as a friend. Friendship was supposed to be a good thing, though, even people with nice families sometimes had friends, or at least, he was pretty sure they did.

He nodded to her comments about the proposed meeting with Alexander with a murmur that sounded vaguely like 'very good,' and he was about to make a demurral about the position he was in when she mentioned this friendship thing again. What was this? He smiled tentatively, hoping that was the correct thing to do.

"I hope not," he said to the idea that it didn't have to be horrible every time they talked. "Prefect rounds might get, er, difficult if it was - even though I don't think there will ever be any reason for us to have knives there," he half-joked. "I do hope that, um, in future, we'll discuss something without me upsetting you - if things keep up like they have been, I'm going to start thinking someone has jinxed us."

16 Nathaniel Mordue Is it? I thought it was the ceiling. 1412 0 5