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 Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 8:05 pm
Zac had been swept away into the bowels of the hospital almost the moment that he had arrived, you had been questioned, things like did you know if he had allergies. Did you know what happened... to asking for the contact information for his family, which he oddly did not carry with him.
Someone at the desk rang his mother while you were ushered to a sort of small lobby with generic brown carpet and half stuffed chairs with stain resistant covers that smelled more than a little of disinfectant.
The noises, codes being called over the intercom, phones clattering back into cradles, murmured conversations to the sound of hysteria that was ushered away to calm down lest they upset those others left waiting here, trying to eek out what comfort they could from the wooden chair arms and out of date overused magazines as they waited for anything form 'the worst' to simply being lead in for a test.
Babies cried somewhere behind the swinging doors of the maternity ward, doctors marched briskly by almost in lock step looking stern and professional and mostly detached from those around them, smelling of sanitizing soap and fresh cotton.
Doors opened and closed, more phones rang, voiced voices and more voices almost oppressive... and perhaps overwhelming when it came down to waiting, for some hint that things might, might be alright.
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 8:39 pm
From the moment the ambulance and other authorities arrived on the scene, Khalla had been bombarded with an endless string of questions that left her stuttering and gaping. What happened? Who did this? Did you get a good look at their face? Khalla had been able to do little more than mumble and shake her head, perhaps toss in a few half-hearted hang gestures. All she wanted to do was stay with Z and have someone tell her that it would be alright, that everything would be okay and that he would be perfectly fine.
As Khalla shifted for what felt like the hundredth time on the scratchy cushion of the beaten hospital chair, she let out what was also probably her hundredth sigh. She had been separated from Z the moment they stepped foot in the hospital with little more than a mumble from a nurse and a fussy wave of hands towards the waiting room. She had been sitting for what felt like hours in a loud, busy room beneath buzzing florescent lights, none of which helped her mood. She was slowly growing more and more uncomfortable and no one was coming out to tell her anything. Her endless patience was wearing thin quickly when she knew her beaten and battered friend lay just beyond the swinging doors of the hospital's main hallway.
Khalla sniffled a little and brought up the scratchy tissue she had been clinging to for the last hour, scrubbing needlessly at her face again. Both her cheeks and nose were raw from the meticulous scrubbing, but it at least was a small distraction, something tiny to do instead of just sitting endlessly and endlessly with no word at all. She reached her hand into the pocket of her coat, another endlessly repeated gesture of the night, and pulled out Z's phone. It was a little battered from its fall but still working. She flipped it open and frowned when there were no new messages, no word at all from Demy. She'd checked over and over, but still nothing. She was expecting him long before now.
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:08 pm
Had it been anyone else, she might have run in, she almost did but not quiet, she looked more flustered than terrified, and at 4'10 she looked more like an alarmed doll than a concerned mother. But her eyes were wide and it was clear mascara had been scrubbed away from where it had run.
Her eyes were that same shade of bright clear blue that Z's were, and she marched to the desk with a cause, militant almost.
"Zachary Griffen Bantock." She said as thought that alone would give the blinking desk attendant everything she needed.
"My SON... You people called about my SON and I want to -see- him. I want answers! Where the hell are the police!! Where is HE..."
It was like the damn broke and she was raising her voice and slapping her palms against the counter as though they were the ones who had done this.
The woman at the desk did her best to calm her, calling the Doctor and trying to distract her at least somewhat with paperwork and time of admittance.
She even pointed towards you in the waiting area looking apologetic all the while, if only very slightly.
Zac's mother turned her eyes to you, staring like she had suddenly realized you even existed.
"I want word from a Doctor and I want it -soon- I will not be held here for 8 hours waiting for someone to get their thumb out of their a** and their nose out of their COFFEE" she snarled at the nurse and stalked her way towards you.
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:36 pm
Khalla looked well and truly startled by the intrusion, especially since her mind was drifting somewhere between consciousness and la-la land. Having been startled from her dreary thoughts, Khalla let her attention follow the woman to the desk, welcoming the distraction momentarily. At least until she realized who it was.
Khalla's eyes widened a little and her face, if possible, blanched more than it already had been. This was Z's mother? Z seemed so removed from this outspoken, foul, rude woman. Had the situation been any different, Khalla might have had a few choice words for someone so bold and colorful with words. Yet, Khalla knew what the woman was going through and what was waiting for her beyond the double doors to main part of the hospital. Just this once, Khalla could let her nitpicking slide.
"You're Zac's mother?" she asked, standing as the woman entered the waiting area. Her hand still clutched around the wadded tissue (if the scratchy paper could pass as such) and her face was still red with her alternating tears and scrubbing. She would have smiled with the sort-of greeting, but that just seemed wrong on this occasion. "I'm Khalla Anselm, a friend."
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:43 pm
"..." She looked you over critically.
"A friend..." She repeated and then looked conspicuously at your hands and back.
"What -happened- they wouldn't tell me ANYTHING on the phone. It sounds like he was -MUGGED- was he alone?! He's always alone except for that...that -roommate-" She spat out the word like it was somehow poisonous.
"How -bad- is it? Did you see who did it?"
She had to pause for breath and seemed to recompose herself.
"... you wouldn't happen to be his -girlfriend- would you?" She said suddenly sounding far more friendly...even hopeful.
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:26 am
Khalla nearly squirmed under the critical eyes of the other woman, as if she could literally feel the judgment rolling off of her in waves. She was well aware that with her dreadlocks, she no longer made the perfect student picture. It was a stereotype, but real or not, people could still make harsh judgments because of it.
"I believe that's what happened," she said quietly, chewing at her lip and squeezing her hand around the tissue in her fist. Outwardly she simply appeared flustered and upset, but inwardly she was dying from all these lies. "I didn't see the mugger, but I found him.." and her words fell into silence as, once again, she felt tears brimming in her eyes. She spared a moment to wonder if it was normal to cry this much, and to wonder if she'd ever be able to speak more than a few words without bursting into a fit of tears and nerves. She brought the scratchy tissue to her eyes, feeling the sting as it swept over the tender skin again. "It's not good," she said quietly, shaking her head and letting her gaze drop to the floor, "he wasn't.. conscious." Her voice was shaking, but she made herself say the words because right now she realized she was the only source of information this woman had. No matter how brash she was, she was still his mother.
"I, uh," her brows furrowed and she stuttered at the next question, sniffling a little from all the crying as she stared at her in a mild state of shock. Girlfriend? Hardly. It's a good thing Demy wasn't here to hear that, too. "No, no, we're just friends," she said softly, shaking her head, "very good friends." She had no doubt that she should keep away from any mention of Demy and Z, especially after that roommate comment his mother tossed out. Something told her she wouldn't exactly be pleased.
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:53 pm
".. Hm..." she sounded dissatisfied and was right back to scowling again.
She seemed to consider the words 'very good friends' and her expression softened again, but remained troubled.
"They never tell you anything these places, oh it's all good intentions and paperwork but if you let them they'll have you stand here -bleeding- while you fill out paperwork. I've -seen- it!!" She nodded.
"Thank you young lady, for being there with him, I'm sure it's troublesome, but sooner or later..." She shook her head distressed. "Hanging out with people like that, never standing up for himself, if he could just have been more like his Father..."
She shook her head and glanced back to the desk. "Tsk...Surely they have ONE available intern even to give me some information!!"
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 6:58 pm
She couldn't do anything for the woman's scowls and irritation except to offer a sad, hopefully comforting smile. It felt a little weak, probably because Khalla felt like being anything but comforting at the moment.
"Oh, I'm sure they're just very busy," she said with a small frown, tugging lightly on one of her dreads as she tried to think of a way to distract the conversation from demeaning Demy. He really was a nice guy, if a bit too quick to jump to conclusions and.. a bit slow to arrive at the hospital. "You know, I'm sure there have been a lot more incidents happening recently, what with those.. people on the news." Khalla waved a hand as she said 'people', letting the woman jump to her own conclusions.
It was terrible to accuse Senshi of doing these things, knowing she wasn't helping the rumors, but if it just helped for a few minutes what was the harm? Other than a little guilt, of course.
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 9:55 pm
Slow to arrive yes, but he liked to think he had a reason! Not...that anyone would really know the -full- story as to why he had taken his sweet time to get there, but his general appearance would serve as some testament to his trials.
Afterall, even with his jacket zipped up to cover his ribs it was easy to tell he was injured. Every step seemed labored (though he forced himself along anyway), and about halfway to the waiting area itself he had to stop and cough rather harshly. Result? By the time he actually -got- to the waiting area he had blood on his face again. Which, at least, he quickly tried to wipe away, but that just meant his sleeve was ending up coated in blood. And no amount of wiping would make the bruises go away.
In tow? Alex. It was sure to be an entertaining little meeting in the waiting area.
"K-khalla, is that you?"
He had spotted her pretty quickly, her hairstyle standing among the rest. The Demy that greeted her wasn't the same as the one that had shown up on her doorstep for a dinner party. He had seemed so hyper back then. Nice, but hyper. This Demy was wild-eyed, confused and just generally exhausted looking. The blonde wasn't seeming all that with it, and despite his best efforts he couldn't actually make it to the desk to demand answers about Z.
So instead, he collapsed into a chair beside their mutual friend.
"Have they said anything about him? Is he okay? Please say he's okay Khalla, p-please..."
He was shaking, and it wasn't from any side effects of sugar. The poor kid was distraught, and somewhere admist the bruising and blood were tears.
Demy had never even noticed the shorter lady standing nearby.
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:07 pm
Alex's usual good-humor faded swiftly like a deflating balloon, but without the pbbbbbbbt sound. Even without the audio effects, it was quite easy to see the distinctive change in his attitude from a talkative geek to a sobered, unsmiling young man. This was worse than a trip to Victoria's Secret.
The boy was looking around and fidgeting, trying to place himself between Demy and the nurse chained to the secretary's desk. It wouldn't do Demy any good to be spotted and taken away to get looked at, right? It was a futile gesture, but given the crowd...
Wait, crowd? Alexander scanned the waiting room as Demy sat down, dropping down next to him to simply stare at the waiting room's occupants, biting his lip.
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 10:21 pm
She'd honestly started to agree with Khallia, some off hand comments about those -awful- costumed vigilantes, and how glad she was that the police were still on the job even if -some- of them had started to sympathize with 'them'"
But when Demy arrived, his eyes may have skirted the 'shorter woman', however the shorter woman though, noticed Demy, you could almost -see- the gears turning behind her cold eyes as she processed what she was looking at under the bruising, the blood, and the tears.
As soon as those had been mentally wiped away her face went from an vaguely angry and unpleasant mask that said the world at large was inconvenient... to pure ugly RAGE.
"YOU!!" She said pointing an accusing finger at Dem.
"THIS IS ALL YOU'R FAULT! IF MY SON DIDN'T SPEND TIME WITH THE LIKES OF -YOU- HE'D BE -SAFE- HE'D BE NORMAL! HE'D BE -HOME- RIGHT NOW! HE'D BE MORE THAN A GOOD STUDENT HE'D MAKE HIS FATHER -PROUD- OF HIM! THERE WOULD BE NONE OF THIS NONSENSE HE WAS FEEDING ME OVER THE PHONE JUST THE OTHER DAY!! HE'D BE STUDYING, READING, PLAYING HIS VIOLIN!! IT'S YOUR FAULT!! YOU!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?! YOU RUINED HIS -LIFE!!!"
By the end of her tirade she had stormed so close to Dem that specks of spittle were pelting his face and her accusing finger was scant inches from his nose. She looked rather like she'd like to do more than point at him. But her volume alone was more than enough to warrant an 'assault' charge technically.
"YOUR NOT GETTING ANYWHERE -NEAR HIM DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
She spun to face the nurses station still pointing.
"DON'T YOU LET HIM IN TO SEE MY SON! DON'T YOU -DARE- CALL THE COPS...ITS HIM, IT'S ALL HIM!!"
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:24 am
A lot of things happened at once.
First, Demy walked in. Khalla spun to look at him as she heard her name called, sparing a small glance for the new boy. She took in Demy's appearance immediately and found her worry renewed. Z was laying in some hospital bed, probably still unconscious, and here Demy was limping in with his own injuries. What was the world coming to tonight? Just as she was about to answer him, however, her thoughts were drowned out by a shrieking, shrill flurry of accusations from the shorter woman at her side.
Khalla winced and took a few steps away from her, her glance shooting apologetically in the direction of the nurses' station. For all the she was trying to remain calm in this situation, for Z's sake, she could feel her blood slowly beginning to boil. She had met more than a few ruffians in her time and despite the fact that Demy was often a little hard to handle (he was very hyper most of the time, after all) he was far from some one she would pin this on. After all, Khalla had seen the negaverse agent that had done this, and that girl certainly wasn't Demy.
"Will you stop it?" she finally spat out, her eyes glued back onto Z's mother once she had finished her rant. She moved towards Demy's chair and stopped at his side, only to turn her gaze back on the woman. "It wasn't Demy, nor was it his fault. If that is the only thing I'm certain of right now, it's that." She raised her chin a little, staring down her nose now, and brought her arms up to cross over her chest. "You're making a scene and throwing accusations left and right instead of simply being concerned for your son." She sighed finally and brought a hand up to her temple, rubbing at it as she felt the beginning of a headache coming on. For once, she wanted a shoulder to lean on instead of being the support for everyone else.
She sat down in the chair on Demy's other side, opposite to the new boy, and turned her gaze on Demy. "I haven't heard anything since they brought him in, but he was still unconscious the last time I saw him." She looked suddenly weary instead of simply worried and upset, like the strain was beginning to eat away at her. Not for the first time that night, Khalla considered calling Gabbie.
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:13 pm
Poor poor Alex. If Demy had been feeling better he would have dragged Alex over to introduce him. Really, for all that they were EPIC RIVALS he really did like the kid. If nothing else Alex was a refreshing change of pace, someone who could actually give Demy a run for his money in the game of rambling. Sadly, Demy's mind was far too preoccupied. And even if it hadn't been....well, Z's mother quickly ruined the mood.
He sat stock-still through the entire rant. Oh, there were little telltale signs that her words were getting to him. A twitch of the hand here, a slight noise (almost a growl?) there. But he had remained mostly silent, allowing her to go off on her little tirade. Even the closeness didn't manage to phase him. The spittle flecks? ...Yeah, that was starting to get on his nerves. Yet, he still remained silent.
It was somewhere in Khalla's defense of him that he realized something was going to have to be done about this woman (Z's mother? ...the realization had finally struck). He liked Z. No..he loved Z, but he absolutely was not going to be insulted and -accused- of harming Z. This was not his doing. ...Not this time at least.
To Khalla's explanation he nodded, the tears still flowing. Unconscious....it wasn't sounding good. Z had to pull through, he just had to. Unfortunately for everyone in the waiting room Demy wasn't going to let Z's mother off without a scolding. She'd raised enough of a commotion that it was likely he'd be hauled off any minute now anyway, might as well go down 'swinging' right?
"Hey hey hey -rewind- right? Z-man goes to Hillworth right? A school for, mmm I dunno...boys not of the best background right? So maybe, just maybe if -you- hadn't of 'ruined his life' he wouldn't have ended up at the school with the 'likes of me'. Right? So maybe JUST MAYBE you want to blame -yourself- for ever introducing him to me. It's your fault, afterall."
Demy was up on his feet, pointing (and poking!) his own finger at the short woman. If she moved back to get away, he'd simply follow to get in another poke. He was injured, yes, but he was taller and it was easy to attempt to look menacing. Attempt being the key word.
"Z -does- study, and read, and play his violin. Do you think having friends ruins that? Not to mention we started off as -roommates- and you might want to ask Z but I'm pretty sure I used to annoy him. But hey, not everyone can handle my awesomeness right off the bat, they have to acquire a taste for it, which I'm sure -you'd- do if you'd shut the <********> up and stop shoving YOUR problems onto me! I did NOTHING to Z but help him out as a friend, and I'm pretty sure that even if you are his mother he'd be -horrified- to see you acting like such a cow."
The blonde had to pause to cough rather harshly. Getting angry was not good for him. It put unneeded stress on his busted up ribs and his already strained sanity. She might be happy though, because it meant a stop of his 'assault' so that he could wraps arms around his sides protectively.
It was also rather unlikely that anyone had ever seen Demy this livid before.
"But hey, if you're too busy trying to get someone -uninvolved- in trouble to actually check up on your son be my guest. Seems -you- won't be winning mother of the year award huh? At least -I- care about him, which is clearly more than can be said about you."
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:00 pm
"Hillworth a -BOARDING- School he -REQUESTED- to go to, and you are CORRECT I -FOOLISHLY let him in the hopes that he would be a GOOD INFLUENCE ON YOU DEGENERATES!! WHERE HE COULD FOCUS ON HIS STUDIES WITHOUT THE DISTRACTION OF MY BEING IN AND OUT OF THE HOME ON BUSINESS I did not send him there for YOU TO TURN MY SON GAY!!! so GET OUT GO! GET OUT OF HERE!! YOU -WILL- NOT BE SEEING MY SON!! THE -SECOND- HE WAKES UP I AM -PULLING HIM OUT OF THAT GOD FORSAKEN SCHOOL AND YOU WILL NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN!! ANY OF YOU!"
The small woman raged casting her short and terrible furious gaze between Alex, Khallia and Dem before a rather somber man in a white coat cleared his throat.
"Madam... if I could ask you to lower your voice, and come with me... I'd... like to talk to you about your son..."
She cast another FILTHY look at the others and stalked towards the doctor.
He puled her to once side and spoke in low...rather serious tones as her face went ashen.
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:39 pm
Khalla watched the exchange between Demy and Z's mother with gritted teeth, finding that while she didn't exactly approve of Demy's tone, she certainly didn't approve of the older woman. Time and time again Khalla found herself dumbfounded by the attitude of people that were supposed to be treated as elders. How could anyone that was meant to guide younger generations act like such a.. such a fool?
Just as Khalla was about to jump up and point a finger at the woman in retaliation, the doctor stepped in from the side. She threw a worried glance in his direction and her face fell instantly. She'd certainly made it onto the woman's bad side and now she might not be able to see Zac when he woke up after all of this. It hurt worse to think that she might have been Demy's only way of getting information and now she'd gone and screwed it up.
With a grimace she turned back to Demy, her back to the woman, though she did cast one last weary glance at the doctor as if she were trying to decide whether or not to rush him as soon as Z's mother stepped away. Instead of making more trouble for the trio (Alex now included simply by association) she turned her attention on Demy. Her face screwed up, brows drawn down and her lips pursed a little. "What did you do to yourself?" she murmured, reaching out hesitantly towards his body as if she were going to pry his arms away. She'd heard him coughing and the way he was shielding himself was rather obvious - not to mention the coughing. "You should really get it looked at," her voice was lowered, barely above a whisper.
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