Fragility of the Mind

Ariel nodded solemnly, still feeling guilty over what she did. She knew better than to just walk out of a room and leave the door open. Though she stood up straight, her eyes determined. She was dead-set on fixing things.

"We'll head out as soon as everyone who is coming is ready," she announced. "I'll try to find Raine and bring her along." Then she turned and walked briskly to Raine's room. She opened the door and saw her lying in bed, one leg hanging out the side. She strode over to her and shook her gently, trying to wake her up.

"Raine, Raine wake up," she called out. "We have to go. Now."

Gabrielle was generally a nude sleeper, so the woman barging thorugh her door gave her an unwarranted jolt, kick-starting her morning by a tumble out of her bedsheets. "Ow, ow..." Gabrielle straightened herself out and reached around the room for some new clothes. "I'm coming..."

After nearly five minutes of kicking around and stretching on some skintight camisole and yesterday's pair of faded jeans, Gabrielle shot straight for the main room as she was ordered to.

Her messy hair and no make-up revealed a lot about how seriously she took 'in five minutes' to be. "Yes! What's happening?"

Raine's eyes were already open and she attacked Ariel, lashing out at her, nails like claws as she scratched the woman's arm. She flopped back on her bed but curled into a tight ball, the sheets swirling in a heap around her. Raine was quivering slightly and her hands were on her shoulders, as if holding herself together.

"Shove it, ass-face. I haven't had fucking anything for too long. God, my body..." she grit her teeth and moaned softly, hiding her face with her hair.

Ariel yelped in pain as Raine clawed at her arm, drawing blood.

"Dammit..." she muttered. She looked at the pitiful girl on the bed, shaking her head. She didn't appreciate being called "ass-face" so early in the morning, but she knew Raine was feeling terrible and she had been called much worse.

"Alright. Take it easy today. I'll have my phone with me if you need to get a hold of me," she said softly. Then she turned and walked out, going to the main room.

Raine groaned, glaring at Ariel and moving into a very uncomfortable up-right position, her hair floating down around her shoulders.

"You're never this nice to me, so I'm guessing something's going down, what do you want?" she said gruffly, gritting her teeth once more and clenching her fists on the bed.

Ariel turned around and looked at her friend. She seemed to be in really bad shape, though she knew how bad it could get when Raine didn't get a fix. She sighed.

"There's a man in the city near here who is killing people and we have to stop him. It would be nice to have someone who can make a quick getaway and possibly portal some people to safety," she explained. Then she added, "It's alright though, we'll find another way. You can stay here, Raine."

Raine's phone was vibrating on the night table beside her bed and from the sound of the vibe it was a text message. Raine had programmed her phone to give off two distinct vibrations telling her whether she was receiving a call or a text. She groaned, reading the message from TK and speedily texting back, within moments of TK sending the text, "As long as you help me haul some bad-guy ass, I'm down."

"Like I just texted to TK," she started, hopping off the bed and grabbing a sweater, "If I don't get to kick any ass, I'll make this guy you're talking about seem like a lost puppy with a goddamn flower on it's head." She walked outside into the main room, a sour expression on her face, looking as if she just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. That being very much what Raine wanted to do.

Ariel smiled, glad to see that Raine would help. She ran up to the girl and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks Raine," she said, "It means a lot that you're helping." She meant it.

Raine flicked the woman's hand off her shoulder with her hand, she shrivelled up her nose with distaste.

"No touchie, Chuckles," she said, her voice raising slightly with the contact. Raine wouldn't usually shy away from physical contact but during her withdrawl, only Jon was able to touch her through the process.

Gabrielle rubbed her head, suddenly glad she had spent that last night with Ariel. She had barely gotten some rest, and now she was being ordered around again...

"Anything more I should know about?" she asked TK.

Yia texted TK very slowly because his head was hurting so badly it was affecting his movement and vision. Not feeling too swell... Stuck in bed with major headache.

Ariel sighed. She let Raine walk a few feet in front of her, giving her some space. She strode over to the main room, finding Gabrielle had arrived as well. She grinned for a moment before putting on a blank mask. She walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey Gabrielle," she greeted in a warm voice. "Have you heard about what happened?"

"Uh, I just came, thought I think there's this... guy killing people on the loose?" She bit her lip, the only thing preventing her from not tearing her hair off in frustration being the presence of her friends and Ariel.

Alevon walks up to TK
"...hey...I'm sorry about last night..."
He says a little quietly

"You needed your sleep, and I was in the wrong to rob you of it..."

His vision shifts to the ring he made for her, and he closes his eyes tightly, tilting his head down

Ariel sighed, rubbing the back of her head.

"Yeah...there's a couple of them. Though right now we need to focus on one who is in the next city. He's killing people rapidly and needs to be stopped," she explained. She was still feeling upset about earlier. Though she shrugged it off.

"I'm going to have Raine come with me so we can just portal over there when everyone is ready," Ariel said. Then she added a little softer, "Would you like to come with me? I know everyone is going, but I would feel better if we were close."

If you can try to get Alloy to come to my room, I wouldn't mind a visit from you too... Yia texts TK.

...just....like me....

Alevon thinks to himself, looking at the floor, his hair covering his eyes

Yia was laying back in bed holding his head his eyes closed in pain. "Hey TK... I feel like crap today..."

"...just...like me..."

Alevon says quietly, eyes still hidden

"That would be perfect," Gabrielle whispered into Ariel's ear. She was getting jittery, and couldn't really stay in one place for long. Turning her gaze to the TV, Gabrielle bit her lip and sat down on a chair in an attempt to calm the chattering of her teeth.