A dozen lashes (TW: self harm.)

Roo was simply looking for a quiet place to sit and sketch. The student lounge was relatively empty, given it was nearing dinner time, and though there was a small group of students in one corner seemingly talking through a roleplaying session, Roo saw no real reason why she couldn't curl up on one of the couches on the far side of the room and catch up on comic panels.

An hour went by, and Roo was seven panels in, when she heard laughing and then a sharp snapping noise. Her head shot up, pulse suddenly going a mile a minute, eyes wide as she twisted her head this way and that to find the source of the noise that made her hair stand on end. In the roleplaying group. One of the male students had taken off his belt and was playfully snapping it in imitation of whatever his character was doing in-game.

Roo felt her muscles tense. Felt the familiar tingles of anxiety start in her chest.

"Ex...excuse me," she rasped, and had to repeat it twice before she could make her voice heard. The slightly older boy turned, as did the rest of his group, and looked at her curiously.

"Hey," he said, a little confused. "What's up? Want to join?"

Roo blinked and bit her lip. "No, thank you. But, um..." She glanced at the belt in his hands and struggled to keep her breathing even. "Could... could you... maybe not do that? With your belt. The noise really bothers me."

The lad's face grew playful again. Mischievous, even. "What, this noise?" He grinned at her and snapped the belt again. Roo visibly flinched.

"Yes. That noise. Just... can you please not do that?"

He seemed to consider, then smirked and snapped it again. Roo closed her sketchbook and gathered up everything else in her pencil pouch. She hugged her belongings to her chest as she slid off the couch and started making for the door. But the other student was having none of that. He got up and strode towards her.

"How does this bother you? It's just a noise." He snapped the leather belt in his hands as if to prove his point. Roo hunched her shoulders and made to scurry out the door.

"Hey, come back." He followed, at a walk, his regular stride capable of keeping up with the shorter girl's scurrying footsteps. "Seriously, kid, there's no way this is really hurting you." Snap. "Were you bored and just wanted attention from the other people in the room? Al you had to do was say hi."

Another snap. Roo broke into a run, her anxiety growing exponentially with each crack of the belt as she shouted, "Stop it!"

The lad continued to follow, more for the thrill of the chase than anything now. "Stop faking. You're flinching on purpose. It's just a noise."

Snap.

Roo dropped her sketchbook and pouch and picked up her speed, tripping on the bottom of a stairwell as she started to ascend. Her vision was growing blurry with the tears that welled in her lashline, and her mind was elsewhere, back in her father's house, with the ex-policeman bearing down on her in one of his drunken rages. Roo scrambled to her feet, her breath growing ragged as felt her body going numb, save for the handful of lines that criss-crossed one side of her ribcage. She tore up the stairs, flinching and nearly stumbling each time the snap echoed up after her. The older student chose not to follow her further, but Roo was already in full-blown panic.

She darted down another hallway, found a cluster of empty classrooms, and darted into one. She slammed the door shut and huddled against it, clutching her right wrist as she struggled to breathe. Her body was shaking uncontrollably, her nerves nothing but static, an agonizing itch in the old scar on her wrist.

Roo tore the bandana from her arm and clenched her right fist, staring at the blurred image of her forearms through burning tears. She hated the memories. Hated the static. Hated feeling like she was fizzling out of the world. She relaxed and clenched her fist again, watching the veins beneath her skin grow more prominent with the stress.

She didn't want to fizzle out. She wanted to stay grounded. She flinched again, her whole body jerking as if she had been hit with her father's belt.

Sobbing, she started to scratch at her wrist. She was banned from having blades, pencil sharpeners; even tweezers were something that she had to borrow from Ellie and bring back within a certain time period. But they couldn't keep tabs on Roo's nails. She kept them sharp.

Her skin split like paper. She felt warmth again.

Taibhse caught the scent of blood from the opposite end of the hallway-- he was on his way to the library, and thought he had heard a door slam. The ferric aroma made him curious, and more than a little worried. He loped past each doorway, peering into the unlit windows, thinking someone might have gotten hurt.

He was not expecting to see Jung Roojin in the next to last classroom, shoulders wracking with the muffled sobs that escaped her, left hand clutched around the opposite wrist.

And she was bleeding. Thin crimson streaks ran down her forearm, staining her sleeve at her elbow.

Taibhse felt his heart skip a beat.

"Roojin?" He turned the handle and tried to push the door open, but with the girl huddled against the other side he couldn't do so without bowling her out of the way. "Roojin?! Roojin, move. Please."

Roojin flinched violently as he banged on the door and started to curl into a tighter ball.

"Jung Roojin. Roo.." He leaned into the door and forced it open as carefully as he could, though he still ended up knocking Roo to the side. The moment he had the door open enough to slip inside he did so, and crashed to his knees on the floor to grip her shoulder.

"Roo! Roo, holy-- what have you done?!" He tried to pull her back into a sitting position. "Roo, you have to stop. Hey, look at me. We're going to help you out, okay?"

Roo wailed and tried to push him away, but with her blurry vision she missed and ended up smearing some of her blood onto his chin and jaw.

"Go away," she keened, each breath coming in as a gasp and leaving as a squeak. "Go away. Please go away. Please don't hurt me."

"No, Roo, sweetie, I'm here to help you."  Taibhse's brow furrowed and he bit his lip as he tried to pull her close, if nothing else to keep her from hurting herself further.  He was so worried for his friend that he didn't even notice the blood on his face.

Until he tasted it.  

Taibhse's eyes glazed over and he grew dizzy as a vision from Roo's past took over his mind.  He was in a home, in  a kitchen.  The birds sang cheerily outside, and the room looked like it might have been decorated with love and care at some point years prior-- as it was, Taibhse's primary view was of the laminate flooring that his cheek was currently pressed against.  Pain blossomed in that side of his face, primarily his temple, as if he had just been thrown to the floor.  Heavy boots strode up to his sprawled form, and he flinched as he was doused with water from a pitcher.  

And then there was a snap, and he curled reflexively from the new, searing heat that spread along his ribcage.  He was hit again and he felt a shuddering squeal escape him--

Roo's voice--

as he pulled himself into a defensive ball.  Another strike, and he heard himself, as Roo,  whimpering please don't over and over.  

All of this, as if he were living inside Roo's own mind.  It passed in just a moment and then he was back, in that empty classroom that now smelled of iron.  He was dizzy, now, and reached out with shaking hands to try and grab Roo's wrists, to keep her from clawing at herself.

Abs was walking down the hall when he noticed some familiar articles on the floor. He rushed over and knelt to pick up the pencil case and sketchbook that had been dropped on its spine, pages open to the world. He recognized the style and the pencil case itself almost instantly.

These belonged to Roo.

And she would never just leave them laying around especially not in the middle of the hallway. Alarm tried to rise as a lump in his throat but he managed to keep it down. He swung his backpack off one shoulder to slide Roo's belongings inside to keep them safe.

He hurriedly ascended the nearest flight of stairs that seemed to be were she was headed. He looked around and saw that a classroom door was slightly ajar. He peered inside through the window and his heart started to raced out of panic not out of enjoyment for once. He saw a taller male student holding on to Roo's hands and blood. Why was there blood? Abs had been in her dreams often enough to suspect what was going on but he couldn't be certain.

He had to get in there. He carefully opened the door a bit more and managed to squeeze through. He immediately kneeled next to Roo and gently massaged the back of her head, turning her to look towards him. "Hey, Rookins. What are you doing here? We need to get you to Miss Ellie." He was able to mask all panic from his face and from his voice. His main objective was to help get her out of this room and to either Ellie or Bolin. He wanted to try to calm her down first.

Roo jerked away from his initial touch, just as she had tried to get away from Taibhse, but when Abaddon's voice reached her ears her breath hitched and she sobbed anew. Her throat felt raw by this point, and she fought to get her breathing under control. She failed.

"P-p-pan-ic at-t--tt-a-ack," she squeaked. She clenched and unclenched her hands, wanting to pull her wrists from Taibhse's grasp though she knew any strength she had was shot by now. She wanted to explain, to both of them, what had gone on. She wanted to tell them she she was terrified of fizzling out of this new world and waking up in her old one, and she would do anything to stay here forever-- here, where she had people who cared about her and she felt relatively safe. Where she had new stars to learn. She didn't want to wake up in a hospital room in Michigan, because she knew her father would be waiting for her.

And, more than anything, she wanted to explain to them that she was not crazy, that she had a perfectly logical explanation for doing this, and that even though it made her sore and lethargic for days afterward she knew it must be doing her good because she was still alive and still here and kept her from going numb and disappearing. She was numb in her dreams. She didn't want this to be a dream. Anything she had to do to keep her in this new, fantastic reality had to be good for her.

"Ab-b-b" she tried to start telling them as much, but kept stumbling over her words. Her voice was more breath than sound by now, and she mewled when she realized just how much breathing was hurting her. She clenched and unclenched her hands again and twisted her head to try and wipe her face on her sleeves.

Taibhse winced at the raw sound of her voice and the now-painful squeaking that he was hearing on every outbreath. He felt something in his chest twist and he released one wrist-- the hand she hadn't used to tear her skin-- and reached out to wipe her face her her.

"I-I'm gonna go find someone," he said. He had never met Abaddon, but had heard enough from Roo to recognize the nickname he called her. He was reluctant to leave the girl, especially considering how badly she was shaking. He had always wondered why she wore that bandana.

Now he knew.

"I'm gonna go get help," he repeated as he pulled himself to his feet. His body didn't want to respond. His body wanted to stay by his young friend and just hope someone else came by. But that would do fuck all to help her.

He slipped out of the half-open door and bolted, heading towards the infirmary.

Abs could feel something in his chest ache slightly as he heard her voice break and saw her tear stained face. What confused him so much wasn't what he was seeing, but what he was FEELING. He had seen worse than this in her dreams but it was just a dream. This was just so real. Roo was actually hurting and he could not wave away the blood and turn the classroom into the roof top at night time with all the stars she loved so much. He had no power here. But now was not the time to think about that.

He shifted himself so he could pull her to sit in his lap, leaning her head against his shoulder and neck. He crooned to her softly, "it's okay. You don't have to speak right now."

He had no idea who the much taller boy was but Abs hoped that he could be trusted. It didn't much matter anyway. If the other boy was not back in what Abs deemed as 10 minutes he would take Roo himself.

Abaddon continued to gently run the fingers of one of his hands through Roo's hair. He looked down at her hands. So that was were the blood was coming from. He held her carefully and made sure his breathing was calm and solid. Why was this effecting him so much? Why? He was almost mad at his own confusion.

"You're doing that thing again. You know, the one where you make me feel things that I don't understand." He chuckled and held her closer. "I wonder if this would be an important part of that comic book we are going to be in. The one with the movie adaptation that all the fans will hate."

Roo held her injured wrist against her chest and clung to the fabric of Abaddon's shirt with her other hand. She was still quaking, but her breathing was no longer coming in stuttering wheezes. Not as aggressively, anyway. It still hitched and caught in her throat. She hiccupped and made a tiny, muffled keening noise as she pressed her forehead to the side of the boy's neck.

Everything was sore now. Her lungs, her muscles, her throat, her head. Her eyes stung, and she closed them tightly as she curled up as tightly as she could. She clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering along with her body's shaking, and that started to get sore as well. She hiccupped again.

The comic. She had almost forgotten. She wanted to smile, and laugh, and possibly crack a joke that would make Abaddon smile and laugh, but it wasn't in her. She didn't have the energy. She wanted to.

"B-b-book," she croaked, between shaky, halting breaths.

"I-I--" hic "I d-dro-dropped m-my b-b-book in th-the hallw-w-way..."

Abaddon moved his hand from her hair to gently rub her back. At least her breathing sounded a bit more normal. He was racking his brain trying to think of what to talk about and what to bring up that would take her mind off all of this. Something else that might make her smile.

He listened intently as she spoke and offered a soft smile. "I have them, both your book and your pouch. I found them in the hall and then I found you. I'm apparently terrible at losing my own stuff but really good at finding you. I think it might be a secret talent."

He continued to sit there. To be the foundation she could lean against, the frame to hold her in place, keeping her from breaking apart. Abaddon kept having to push his own curiosities, thoughts and feelings to the back of his mind. But one kept on resurfacing.

Why did he never try to protect her in her dreams?

"Hey, we should go back into town on another day date sometime? Go and visit Norton in the book shop, eat at that cafe you like."

Roo mewled and focused on the rumble of his voice. She was grateful for his steady breathing, and for remaining so calm. It was doing wonders for helping her settle down.

Sniffle. She started to say thank you, but her throat was beginning to burn and the attempt at speaking turned into a quiet whine instead. She shivered and settled for nodding.

Hic.

When Taibhse burst into the Infirmary with blood smeared on his face, Ellie dropped the mortar and pestle she had in her hands.

"Roo's on the far side of the fifth floor and she's cut herse--"

Ellie swerved past him to grab her bag and pushed open the door. "Where on the fifth floor?"

"Bu-- I didn't see the room number, but she's in the empty--"

"Got it." Ellie ran, her hair flying behind her as she made her way to the empty fifth-floor classrooms as quickly as she could. The unused rooms were on the east side. She would be able to follow the scent of blood from there. Should be able to, at least.

There was one door ajar. Ellie slowed, knowing that rapidly approaching footsteps could incite fresh panic in some patients. She took a moment to school her breathing and eased into the room. Her brow furrowed at the sight of Roo shivering and hugging her bleeding arm to her chest. But she wasn't alone, and that was a blessing.

"Roojin, sweetie," she crooned, sinking to one knee and setting her bag quietly on the floor. "Let's clean you up a bit, yeah?" She gently clutched Roo's bleeding wrist and pulled it towards her. With her free hand she opened her bag and pulled out sanitizing wipes and bandages.

"Keep talking to her, please," she said to the boy that held her. "This cut doesn't look very deep, but I want to keep her calm. You're doing well." She started wiping away the partially dried blood on Roo's skin with the wet cloths, and used a clean one to dab at the wound on her wrist.

He looked up when another figure walked into the room and smiled softly when he realized that it was obviously someone from the infirmary. He nodded and continued to pet her back slowly and gently. Looks like that other guy pulled through for them.

"You should show me your dorm ceiling sometime. You've been telling me about how they let you paint the new constellations. We could even go to the library and find more astrology books and take a night picnic in the courtyard to compare them, Roo-kins. You also still need to draw my portrait with my impeccable jaw structure." He chuckled softly and nuzzled her hair.

His gaze shifted to the woman tending to Roo. "I can carry her no problem if we need to go elsewhere, Miss."

All of the blood on Roo's skin was gone now. Ellie brushed her fingertips across the open skin and watched as her magic cooled the flesh, calming the redness from Roo's scratching and knitting the cut back together. She gave a light smile as she listened to the young man speak to Roo.

"I'll be putting her to sleep for a little bit," she murmured, too quiet for Roo to hear. "If she keeps shaking like this she's going to cramp up and be sore for a few days."

Roo didn't fight Ellie when she took her injured wrist. She was too focused on listening to Abaddon, sure that if he was talking about continued adventures with her meant that she was safe, and not about to leave Lakeshore any time soon. She wasn't going to wake up and find that she had dreamed the whole thing. She didn't have to go back to Michigan. She could stay here. With Abaddon.

She wrapped her arm around his middle and made a tiny, raspy kitten noise at the tingling feeling Ellie's healing magic spread along her forearm. It didn't hurt, but it was cold.

" 'M S-s-orry..."

Ellie crooned softly as she reached out to brush her fingertips along Roo's temple.

"Shh, honey. It's alright." She tapped the side of the girl's head, and Roo was out like a light. Her shaking immediately ceased, and her breathing grew deep and eased, save for the hiccups that made her twitch every so often.

"Will you help me get her to the infirmary, please?" Ellie closed her bag and stood. She then picked up the lone backpack in the room, and caught a glance of a bandana on the floor. This, she picked up as well.

"I'd like to keep her in my sights until Bolin can talk with her."

He nodded and carefully cradled the now sleeping Roo in his arms. Placing his feet firmly beneath himself he was able to stand with Roo still intact. "Don't let me forget that I have her sketch book and her pencil case in my bag. She will want to make sure those are safe when she comes to."

He looked at the older woman, concern on his face. "Miss, um, is she going to be okay? I haven't seen... Well... Not like..." His voice trailed off, unsure of how to word things.

Ellie nodded, then reached out and gave the boy's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"She'll be okay. The cut wasn't very deep." She kept her voice soft. Even under enchanted sleep, Roo was roused easily. "What concerns me is how she hurt herself. We try to make sure she can't keep sharp th--"

Ellie blinked. She took the hand that Roo had previously kept curled into the fabric of her companion's shirt. The nails on that hand were longer than the ones on her right, and there was dried blood beneath them.

"Oh, Roojin..." Ellie breathed through her nose and settled the hand back against Roo's stomach. "Well, there's something to be said for being resourceful, though I can't say I'm happy about it."

She opened the door for him, and looked around before leading him back towards the infirmary. "I assume you're a friend of hers? You were taking good care of her."

He also looked at her nails and things started adding up. Was that why she had to sign in and out for her pencil sharpeners? He grumbled softly and gripped her tighter.

He nodded as he gently carried Roo through the door and out into the hall. "Yeah, Roo-kins and I are friends. We met in the library close to the beginning of the semester. We have Bolin's psych class together."

He was silent for a moment, thinking. "I found her sketch book and pouch in between the student lounge and the stairs that led up to this section of classrooms... She would never just abandon her book like that so... Maybe something happened there."

Roo made a small twitch in her sleep and her carefully readjusted his hold to be more secure and comfortable.

Ellie chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully. This was the girl's first incident since coming to Dunehelden-- as far as she and Bolin were able to tell, but they had been watching her carefully-- and Ellie had an inkling that being in a new environment and having new people to connect with had helped her immensely. This boy in particular it seemed, if the ability to so effectively talk Roo down was any indication.

"That sounds reasonable." She figured whatever had triggered her must have happened in the student lounge, or near it. "While Roo is sleeping, I'll have someone ask if anyone in the student lounge saw anything."

They reached the infirmary before too long, and Ellie had Abaddon please Roo in a cot by the window.

He carefully laid her down on the cot and made sure she at least looked comfortable. He unzipped his backpack, removing the sketchbook and pouch, placing the loved belongings close to the cot. He gently brushed Roo's hair out of her face and smiled softly.

"Miss, is it alright if I stay here with her or would I just be getting in your way?" Maybe if he could find a place to sit down he could relax enough to get into her head to see if she was dreaming anything and figure out more about what had happened.

Ellie watched the boy brush Roo's hair back and found herself smiling.

"That's perfectly fine. You're welcome to pull up a chair, darling." She strode over to her cabinet and found nail clippers. "I'm just going to trim her nails first. I can't make her stop growing them long, but I can certainly slow them down."

She took Roo's left hand and shortened her nails, then breathed on them. The nails grew dull for a moment before returning to normal, just a shade darker. Stunting nail and hair growth was an easy trick-- she just wished she had thought to do it when Roo first came to the school.

As she passed Roo's friend, she squeezed his shoulder again. "If you're going to stay with her, I'm going to head to the lounge and ask around."

He watched the teacher do her magic with intrigue. He managed to get a chair for himself and sat next to Roo's cot. His gaze met with Ellie's and he nodded. "I'll watch over her while you are gone and we will both stay here until you get back."

He held one of Roo's hands gently in his and leaned back against the chair. It wasn't the most comfortable but it didn't need to be. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, opening up the part of his mind that allowed him to float into dreams, waiting to see if there was anything he could pick up on.

Abs peered in and grumbled to himself. There was no place in her dream to hide. Maybe he could try altering what he looked like to her. He steeled himself and focused everything he had on changing his dream appearance to the one she would recognize. He gently stepped forward to her. This was against everything he was used to in this state. But he had to try. "Roo?" He called softly out to her, praying with everything in him that his dream manipulation was working.