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 Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:01 pm
“Fleur, you gotta tell the caretaker about it.” Amai placed her hands on her hips, staring at her new friend with a look she hoped conveyed concern. She’d found Fleur in one of the playroom corners, trying to rub permanent marker off of her face in a tiny hand mirror. It hadn’t worked. It wasn’t anything bad that those bullies had drawn on her, but it certainly wasn’t flattering. “C’mon, I’ll go with you, okay? So you don’t have to go by yourself.” She extended a hand, trying to sound as supportive as possible. “You won’t get in trouble for people being mean to you, that’d be unfair!” She nodded, scooting a bit closer to the geist.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:02 pm
Fleur shook her head, continuing to try and rub the black marker off of her face. She didn’t want to tell. She just wanted to get this awful mess off of her face. “It won’t ch-change anything Amai…” She sighed softly, giving up for a moment. Amai’s hand didn’t leave her field of vision. Why was she so determined to tell? Didn’t she know it was a bad idea? That they’d just retaliate? “I’ll be okay. I just have to get this off of my face and it’ll be okay. Like no--nothing happened.” She tried to smile- tried to reassure Amai that she wasn’t very bothered… But her vision began to blur as tears flooded her eyes.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:03 pm
“It’s not okay Fleur. They’re being really terrible to you! And I don’t get why, you don’t hurt or bother anyone…” Amai refused to give up on this- no, no no. Fleur needed help. She’d respected her friend’s wishes before and not told anyone about the locker incident- but it was clear over the short period of time they’d really been hanging out that Fleur was being relentlessly picked on. Sure, sometimes the caretakers noticed and put an end to it- but this was getting really out of hand! Seeing her begin to cry like that really pulled at Amai’s heartstrings… She knelt down and pulled her friend into a hug, then rubbed her back gently. “Please let me tell the caretaker? I don’t like seeing you so sad. I’ll protect you, okay?” She spoke quietly, knowing that Fleur would appreciate it.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:04 pm
Amai was just so confident… Fleur couldn’t understand how she did it. The geist buried her face into Amai’s shoulder, and slowly wound her arms around her. She didn’t want to cry, but she was so tired of being harassed. ’I’ll protect you, okay?’ How could she be so sure of that? Say it with such conviction that Fleur almost wanted to believe it was possible. It wasn’t, but the idea of it was so tempting… She shuddered, trying to keep herself from crying too loudly in case anyone was within earshot. She really hated crying in public… This was the worst. The absolute worst…
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:05 pm
“Fleur, do you wanna see if they’ll let you have a sleepover at my house?” Amai was desperate to do something to cheer her friend up. Something, anything. A sleepover sounded like it might be a good idea- get her out of the dormitories where most of the harassing seemed to happen. Away from where Amai herself couldn’t keep an eye on her. Plus, her Mama had been wanting to meet her new friend anyway. This was an opportune way to kill two birds with one stone, as the saying would have it. Mama would be proud that she was thinking ahead! And keeping her friend safe, all in one.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:06 pm
“W-...would they…? D-don’t they need permission f-from my parents…?” Fleur was thankful for the change of topic… but it wasn’t exactly in the best direction. She hadn’t even mentioned her parents to Amai before this- they weren’t really in the picture at all and she didn’t like thinking about them too much. They hadn’t given her much explanation before shipping her off to this place. This...so far, rather terrible school. Why couldn’t she have gone to a Geist school back home? “I don’t… know if th-they’d respond v-very quickly… They’re r--realy busy, Amai…” Slowly she let go of her hybrid friend and pulled away to rub at her eyes. She should start working on getting that marker off again…
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:07 pm
“Oh, I… I didn’t think about that.” Amai blinked, releasing Fleur when she started to pull away. Well, honestly she hadn’t thought about it because she hadn’t known about it, but that certainly put a wrench in things. “Well, even if they don’t answer right away it’d be nice to have for the future, yeah?” She smiled, trying to sound hopeful again. “My Mama wouldn’t mind. She’d think it would be nice..!” She nodded, then reached out to push Fleur’s hand back down into her lap. “If you keep rubbing you’ll just hurt yourself. You should wait a little longer… Maybe we can go to a bathroom and use some soap?” Amai tilted her head a little, hoping Fleur would accept the suggestion.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:08 pm
For the future… yes, that would be a good thing but… how long would it take them to answer? How would they even get asked? She didn’t want to call them. She’d started out refusing to call them to see if they’d eventually call her- to tell her they missed her and regretted sending her away. But no calls came. Purposeful spite became fear of rejection- had they sent her away because they didn’t want her anymore? She didn’t resist Amai pushing her hand down, but shook her head. “I d-don’t want anyone to see, Amai…” Getting up and going to a bathroom meant moving around, which meant… people would see her face. Her terribly drawn upon face.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:09 pm
“Is everything okay over here?” The two of them jumped at the sound of a caretaker’s voice. How had they not heard him approaching? Amai looked to Fleur, who had hidden her face- but was still able to side-glance at her. The look in her eyes was pleading Amai not to say anything but… She couldn’t. She couldn’t stay quiet- it wasn’t right. “No, it’s not okay. Some kids are being really mean to Fleur and they drew on her face when she was taking a nap and now she’s scared to leave the corner." Amai shook her head. She could see the look of betrayal in Fleur’s eyes- but this was the right thing to do. She couldn’t sit idly by and let Fleur suffer, even if it meant… maybe Fleur wouldn’t want to talk to her for a while.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:10 pm
“Fleur, let me see your face, please? I can help you get that off.” The caretaker knelt down, tone oozing comfort as he switched gears from suspicion to concern. It took her a moment, but Fleur eventually managed to shift around and face the caretaker, then lifted her face, though kept her gaze off to the side. “How long have these kids been picking on you?” He reached out to gently touch one cheek- inspecting the damage Fleur had done to her skin in her attempt to scrub it off. “We’ll get some soapy water and a gentle rag to get the rest off. Then some lotion for the rash…” He nodded a little as he spoke. Fleur remained silent, maybe if she didn’t speak they wouldn’t retaliate further…
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:11 pm
“She’s scared to say anything because last time she did they got even meaner.” Amai spoke up once more. She knew she was digging herself an even deeper grave with this, but she couldn’t keep quiet. “I didn’t say anything because Fleur didn’t want me too but it’s really bad and I don’t like seeing my friend getting hurt because some people are just… just… jerks.” She huffed, tail poofing up with her disdain.
The caretaker nodded. “Thank you for telling me, Amai. Fleur, I know you’re scared that things will get worse because you told, but I promise you we will do everything we can to make sure you stay safe. We’ll change class schedules, dorm rooms… anything you need.” He nodded once more, shifting to see if he could get Fleur to look at him.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:12 pm
“...Since I got here…” Fleur finally answered, voice quiet. “They’ll just come find me even if you do that… They don’t like me. I don’t know what I did…” She felt herself tearing up again, breathing becoming hard. She wanted so badly to just curl up into a small ball and never be seen again. Amai put her hand on her shoulder- she wanted so badly to knock it off. Or did she want to cling to it? Someone stable and there. The caretaker nodded again. “I promise we won’t let that happen, Fleur. Is it okay if I take you to the nurse’s office?” He held hand out for her to take, but she couldn’t get herself to move, so she just nodded.
Realizing that she wasn’t going to get up, the caretaker opted to gently pull her into his arms, then stood. “Amai, why don’t you come with us? I think Fleur could use the company while Miss Yuki takes care of her. Fleur, if you could tell me who these kids are it would help.” He started for the playroom exit. Amai hopped up and trotted after him, hoping that Fleur wouldn’t tell her to leave as soon as he left to deal with the bullies… Hopefully they’d still be friends after this.
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