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 Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 9:38 pm
With the weekend to recover, Andrea was looking a bit better when he came into school on Monday. Three days of sitting around reading comic books worked wonders for him. He still had some narrow sticky strips holding the scratches on his face closed, though, and he had re-wrapped the bandages on his forearms that morning. He had a whole ziplock baggie of assorted bandages along with a bottle of disinfectant in his locker just in case, but he thought it highly unlikely that the normal day's activities would cause any of the scratches from the strange dog to reopen.
He was still moving a little slower than usual, though, and his cheek was a bit red under his Mediterranean complexion around the cuts, though the swelling had gone down considerably. Andrea paused to stare at the books stacked in his locker with his hand on the door for a long moment before he seemed to snap out of it and shut it. Then, wincing only slightly as he hefted his backpack over his still-stinging arms and onto his shoulders, he started to class.
Andrea was not known at all for getting into fights or anything like that. The usual faces he saw on the way to his first class that day looked confused at times - even if they did not know Andrea well, or even by name, he had passed them in the hall long enough for them to know that butterfly bandages were unusual on his face. The sophomore tried to remain nonchalant about it, though, but had the sinking feeling in his stomach that he would get questions about it all day from teachers and classmates.
... It would probably be a long day.
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 11:23 pm
Mornings were not Tara's specialty. They were bad enough when she only had school to contend with. But she had been out late patrolling the previous night, and consequently woke up with barely enough time to pull on her uniform and grab her bag. As Tara stashed her books and lunchbox in her locker, she noticed that was a berry granola bar inside, as well as a small thermos. Tara popped the top, inhaling the strong aroma of Irish Breakfast tea. "You're the best, Kent," she murmured, taking a sip and letting it warm her up from inside.
Books safely stowed, Tara continued down the hall, thermos in one hand, reference book in the other. Her navigation skills were not the best, and this resulted in her bumping into several people and a small amount of spilt tea. "Sorry, my bad, 'scuse me," she mumbled, slipping between two boys waiting to use the bathroom. She noticed the telltale sneakers that suggested she was about to walk into someone, just in time to keep her thermos from flying into his face. Which was fortunate, because upon further inspection, something seemed to have done that already.
He looked familiar, but as usual, Tara couldn't think of his name, only barely recalling that they had a class together. "Sorry," she said, but she kept staring at the bandages. "You know, aloe vera might help with those. I've got some in my locker. What'd you do, get in a fight with a blender? I hope you came out on top; that looks like it hurts enough without losing to a kitchen appliance on top of everything else."
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Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2010 2:35 pm
Andrea stumbled a little when someone nearly ran into him - granted, he was not paying full attention himself - and apologized hurriedly. Then he recognized the girl from his Spanish class.
"Ah, lo siento," he told her again with a weak smile. Then he nodded slowly as she continued to talk. Aloe vera? She might have been right, but for some reason, the thought of rubbing anything on the scratches right now, even though they had had more than enough time to scab over, sounded like it would sting.
"Maybe later? Like before Spanish?" he told her, not wanting to outright refuse the offer. At her suggestion regarding what had happened, though, Andrea could not help but laugh a little. "Not a blender. It was uh, a big dog, like German Shepherd-sized or something," he replied. Probably best to keep it to himself what exactly had happened. She likely would not have believed him anyway, unless his classmate was one of those conspiracy theorists who believed all the talk of monsters on the news lately.
... Or she had been attacked by something monstrous herself. Andrea glanced around at everyone else milling around them in the hallways, wondering just how true now everything on the news was.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:01 pm
"Low whatnow?" Tara repeated, frowning. It took several seconds for her still groggy brain to translate the simple statement. There was a reason that Tara was in a Spanish class filled with younger students, and it wasn't just Barren Pines.
She took another sip of tea and nodded, still frowning. "Who would let a dog capable of doing that run loose?" she asked, shaking her head. "Did you file a lawsuit? I bet you could. I mean," she added quickly, "I wouldn't want the dog to be punished for doing what was in its nature. But the owner really should've known better. With gashes like that, it must've had killer claws."
Tara stared some more, but with all of the bandages, it was hard for her to tell the extent of the damages. She bit her lip, then impulsively shoved the book into her bag. "I really don't think this should wait. I mean, I'm sure you've already had medical attention and all that jazz, but, well... doesn't it hurt?" And she kept gawking, sympathetically, but unaware of the fact that it might cause further discomfort.
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:45 pm
"I still dunno whose dog it was, to be honest," Andrea replied, rubbing the back of his head with one hand as he glanced off down the hallway again. He was still not even fully sure it was a dog, since he did not know any other stories of canines disappearing when they were punched enough.
... Thinking about the night of the attack made the sophomore acutely aware once again of the lingering sand grains in his shoes, and he squirmed a little as he felt some of them try to work their way into his socks.
"I was not too far from my house, really," he went on, snapping out of unpleasant memories and turning back to Tara. "Only people I know with a dog who live near there have a little bichon, and she's so small she probably could not even break my skin with her teeth. Or well, not quite that small, but she's hardly big enough to do this." He gestured to the scabs on his cheek.
His classmate seemed to need no help in focusing her attention on his scrapes, though, and Andrea's brows drew together momentarily as he thought to voice his discomfort, then decided against it. Really, no big deal, and he would be out of breath before lunch if he asked everyone who stared at him to stop. Andrea figured he would just have to try not to be bothered by it.
"It still hurts a little, but less if I keep it still," he admitted instead. "Unfortunately, talking is one of the things that makes it hurt, but I can't really get around that at school. My mom said if I keep everything flexible, though, it will heal better, so here's hoping." The boy touched his fingertips gingerly to the healing wounds with the narrow white bandage strips over them, and worked his jaw a little, trying not to wince. Then he replied to her other question: "And yeah, went to the hospital right away to get them cleaned out and all. Also got painkillers, but I decided to try going without today." Hopefully he would not regret it.
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Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:10 am
Still tsking sympathetically, Tara shook her head. "A stray then, huh? Did it run away afterwards? Something like that really should be reported. Did they find any hair or saliva in the scratches? Maybe we could run some tests on them to try to find the beast that did that to you."
She finally looked away, only to gently take Andrea's arm. "There's still plenty of time before class. Aloe would help keep it flexible- your mom was right, you know- but if you're not taking painkillers, you really should do something to ease the stinging. Since there's no way you'll keep from talking, especially in Spanish later." Tara rolled her eyes, indicating what she thought of the class.
"It won't take long, and I guarantee you'll feel better." It was rash to promise something like that, especially when Tara knew very little about the medicinal properties of plants, or medicine in general. But she knew it wouldn't hurt, and it might help, and better still, it would delay them getting to class. "Come on."
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Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:19 pm
"Yeah, they tested me and stuff. Dunno if they've found the dog yet, though." Though he doubted they ever would, since the thing had vanished once the senshi boy had dropped enough sand on it. Unless.... A thought of brief dread struck Andrea as he wondered if the thing had gone off to some dark place to recover, and would eventually come back?
He shook his head and tried not to think about it.
The bandages on his arm were hopefully obvious enough that Tara had avoided grabbing him where it still hurt, but Andrea squirmed a little nonetheless. Still, if she had something that might help, he might as well at least take a look at it. His first class was not far from here, and she was right - they still had a good eight minutes before the bell, which was a surprising eternity in the scope of high school hallways.
"Sure, thanks. Where's your locker?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:01 pm
"That's good." Tara was sensible enough not to blurt out words like 'rabies' and 'infection,' but it seemed she didn't have to; any doctor worth their stethoscope would have tested for the basics. The fact that they ran identification tests was a bit more surprising, but Tara nodded her approval. "I'm sure someone's looking for it," she said, with more confidence than she felt. "Something that dangerous can't be allowed to run around hurting people."
Something about the way she said that made her pause. Run around hurting people... "It was a big dog, you said?" Tara asked slowly. "Bigger than average? And did it look... sick, maybe?"
Adjusting her grip so she was pulling him by the shirt sleeve, Tara slowly started walking back towards her locker. "Not far. I keep a lamp on it during the day so it gets enough sun. Not that I know a whole lot about plants beyond the basics. My area of expertise is a little more 'out there,' you could say," she admitted.
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:15 pm
The night at the hospital had been a bit of a blur, mostly just because Andrea had been so overwhelmed, but the police had sent an officer to speak to him and had expressed interest in identifying the aggressive animal. And Andrea had told him everything he could, hiding only that the senshi boy had called it a monster. Or maybe he had told them that, too, and the officer had just thought it a figure of speech.
"Aah, it was like a German Shepherd or maybe a little bigger?" he told her, brows furrowing as he tried to remember and then compare it to other breeds he knew. The Gyfford household had never owned a dog, except for when they puppy-sat their neighbor's bichon, Pebbles, and the creature that had attacked him was definitely bigger than that.
And then at her response to his other question, Andrea blinked and tilted his head slightly to one side. "Wait, you mean you have a whole plant in your locker?" Not that it was bad, he had just been expecting a tube of some variety of girly lotion. "... I actually don't think I've ever seen a real aloe plant before," he then admitted. "Just pictures, like on bottles of sunscreen and stuff."
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:45 pm
Dodging a student carrying a stack of books, Tara rounded a corner and kept walking. She nodded at the description, but was still concerned. "Did anything look... wrong? Aside from it attacking you, I mean. Did it look different from a normal dog in any way?"
Was it so unusual to keep a plant in her locker? "It's a young one," she said, as if that answered the question. "I planted an offshoot from a... a friend's plant. So I like having it close by to keep an eye on it. I'm still learning what it likes and stuff."
Halfway down the hall she stopped abruptly in front of a locker with a prominent dent and a combination lock with stars painted on it. "Hold this, would you?" Tara asked, holding out her thermos. "And don't mind the dent."
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 5:53 pm
Andrea put a hand to the uninjured side of his face, pulling his elbows in close so he would not bump them against anyone else in the hallway as he rubbed his eye. "I really don't remember. It was all kind of a blur," he told her with a sigh. The boy had clearly run into the wrong person if he wanted to avoid questions.
As they reached her locker, though, he was thankful that they now had the plant itself to talk about. "That's cool, was it hard to raise it from a cutting into a plant like that?" Andrea asked her, leaning to the side so he could be ready to get a view of the aloe plant within when she opened the door.
He took her thermos without warning, and sniffed curiously over the open spout for the scent of coffee from it. "Eh, if I minded dents in lockers, I would be pretty constantly irritated here. Mine looked pretty soundly kicked down at the bottom when I got it, and sometimes my locker neighbor has trouble opening hers. Just as long as they don't try to make me pay for the damage when I graduate, you know?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:19 pm
There were times when Tara could pick up on hints. Early in the morning was not one of those times. "I bet it was. I don't mean to pry, but it's, um." She paused, thinking of the best way to present her case. "It's important. If the dog looked... strange, or wrong in some way, it could, um, help people to track it down. You know, so it doesn't hurt anyone else."
It was a stretch, but maybe it would work. It definitely sounded better than 'it could have been an evil monster, and I'm supposed to stop them.'
Hands free, she spun the dial on her lock distractedly. "I dunno, I'm still learning about plant care. My locker was already like this too. I guess it's expected when you come in halfway through the year." The lock clicked, and Tara pulled it out, yanking the door open with some difficulty.
"If they make us pay for it, we can sue for defamation." Tara adjusted the small light that shone over a plastic pot. There was a small spiky plant in the middle, not quite young enough to be considered a cutting still, but not really a mature plant either. It appeared healthy enough, and Tara stroked a fleshy leaf fondly.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:29 pm
When his classmate pressed about the dog, Andrea quirked a brow, meeting her gaze as he tried to figure out if she was hinting at something. Early morning was not his best time, either, so maybe he was imagining that it sounded an awful lot like Tara was asking if the dog was actually a monster.
Well, maybe he could be vague with the truth again.
"It uh. I don't think it will be coming back," he told her, lowering his voice a bit. The thought from the night of the attack, that it might have disappeared to recover, returned to him, but he thought it could have just as easily been a needless worry, too.
Then Andrea leaned away while she yanked on her locker door, just in case it came open suddenly and she stumbled back. But he smiled when he saw the plant inside, and the care with which she greeted it.
"I must say, I'm surprised you even have the space to safely try growing a plant inside your locker like that," he said. "I would worry that something would fall on it, or I would need the shelf and shove something in there by mistake and squish a plant, especially one that size. How long have you had it?"
He blinked at her mention of suing the school in the event that they were charged for damage to the lockers. Well, honestly, Andrea had just never thought about any possible recourse - maybe he was just too used to not having any and never considered that things might be different now that he was nearing adulthood. "Wait, really, we could do that? Take it to court and all?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:49 pm
"What makes you say that?" Tara asked, more sharply than she meant to. "I mean, was it hurt? Or sick?"
While Tara had nearly convinced herself that it was just a wild dog, Andrea's latest statement made her reconsider. It sounded like he was avoiding talking about it, and she wanted to know why. But short of the truth- which was out of the question- she couldn't think of a way to convince him to spill.
His concerns about the plant were valid, and in a way Tara was touched that he even cared. "I've been careful lately. Not shoving things in, only using the space underneath, you know. It's only been a few weeks. I started it at home, but I got worried that it needed more attention. Here I can check up on it a lot during the day... though honestly, it seems to be taking care of itself, as long as I leave the light on and water it well."
At the question of suing, she waved her hand airily. "Why not? People are suing for all kinds of nonsense lately. If the school tries to extort money from us to pay for damages that we didn't cause, we should be able to get them back. I mean, they're hurting our reputations by claiming we're the kind of people that wreck lockers, right?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 5:33 pm
Andrea was starting to get a little irritated with her constant questioning, though he was, at the same time, trying to tell himself not to get upset.
"It was a big monster and tried to eat my face," he blurted, exasperation in his tone. It was something he would have said anyway, he told himself, even had it not actually been true in this case. "But it's gone now, and I'm okay, and I really just want to forget about it." Talking twinged the cuts on his cheek, and he winced momentarily and touched the fingertips of his hand not occupied with Tara's tumbler to the scratches gingerly.
"How will the aloe make my cuts better? Like, just rub the leaf... things on my face?" the boy then asked, a bit more calmly this time. Then Andrea went on, with interest to try to change the subject, "And how big was the cutting when you got it? Like, how much did it grow since then? Does aloe grow really fast?"
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