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 Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:42 am
Approximately twenty-two minutes later, Cassandra's phone beeped with a text message.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:31 am
Her phone went off and Cass cringed before she even looked at it. She knew what it was even as she picked up her phone and gave it a long look.
Whelp. It was time to unwind herself from the sob-pile she'd made herself into with Marcus while they both tried to figure out what had happened with her brain. If she even had one at this point.
She didn't even make too much effort to make herself look more presentable than she had been before, her hair ruffled and everywhere, the spilled coffee still on her coat and s**t (as well as some blood from Petra, yikes). She didn't dally either. Dallying put off the inevitable and frankly she just wanted to get everything over with.
She took only a moment to take a deep breath outside of Aria's door before she rapped her knuckles on it to signal she was there, before stepping inside anxiously, her fingers tracing that bracelet that Clarice had put on her.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:19 pm
"Come in." Aria had her back to the trainee as Cassandra entered, her hand clasped behind her back as she stared out the window. Her office reeked of cigarette smoke, not quite stale but not quite sharp enough to be fresh. The ashtray on her desk was littered with several discarded filters, the embers on one still flickering. With a click Aria reached out and closed the window before she turned and assessed Cass, expressionless. Someone moved behind Cass. If she turned, she would have noticed another hunter standing in front of the door, effectively blocking it. The hunter didn't meet Cass' eyes, choosing instead to stare ahead and ignore her. Aria said nothing as she took slow, measured steps from behind her desk to approach Cass, taking her time as she walked around her hunter. She stopped in front of her, trying to meet her eyes. "What have you done?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:28 pm
Every second ticked slowly as ever measured movement, step, motion, word came. It was agonizingly painful, drawn out like hours as Cass played horrible scenarios through her head, some not even taking place in that very room. Something felt like it had reached out and grabbed her insides, twisting them into a horrid knot around itself, not even willing to settle in her guts as it turned over and around itself and inside out.
Somehow, she already knew what this was going to be like, trying to steel that unhappy gut feeling to try and keep from flinching. At the very most, however, she was unable to keep the slight grimace off of her face, unable to look away from Aria despite the fact there was somebody behind her at that moment.
She didn't look away, despite the obvious pain and anxiety in her posture and the lines of her face as she tried her best to keep eye contact in turn, but she found herself glancing at other lines in Aria's face - her forehead, her mouth, sometimes a quick glance towards the walls. Mimicking her Division Lead, she crossed her arms behind her, hands shaking as they balled into a fist.
"Nothing I can justify having done nor deny proper punishment for." she answered, her voice wavering barely underneath the thick stress the room put on her.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:48 pm
Aria sighed as she leaned against her desk. "Cass," she said softly. "Just... why? What happened?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:07 pm
Cass couldn't help but glance back at the hunter behind her, before she looked back to Aria, frowning. Aria had told her that she could be honest with her, and after this incident, Cass felt an aching need to at least try and keep that level of trust with her Division head.
"I'm bad at really telling people I need help." she replied calmly. "If I don't complain and don't impose on people and the more I give and tolerate the better things are supposed to turn out, right?" There was a swallowed sadness in her voice as she confessed to this. "My tolerance reached the point where it was stretched too thin and I'd put too much stress on myself and....... it just happened to be Petra I was talking to when the damn broke. Something she did just set me off."
She frowned.
"There's nothing else I can think of that would explain it, and it is still my fault in the end it happened."
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:22 pm
The hunter behind Cass was standing against the doorway, making neither a sound or showing any expression. It was impossible to, anyway: their hood was up, and their black scarf was wrapped around their face in such a way to hide their features. They were, for all intents and purposes, a nameless and faceless hunter.
Aria raised an eyebrow at Cass. "So... You were just stressed that everyone was taking advantage of you?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:30 pm
Cass shook her head. She couldn't exactly say why she was stressed, but she knew what wasn't the cause of it. Yet somehow even put into those words the fact anything had happened sounded pathetic. She was pathetic.
"I was 'just' stressed and I did not handle it well." she settled on. "Nothing anybody could do would deserve what I did to happen to them no matter the circumstances on my end."
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:27 pm
Aria took a deep breath and held it, letting it out slowly. "Let me read something to you," she said as she reached behind her and grabbed a folder. She opened it and began to read. It was an autopsy report; every bone bone, every fracture, every ruptured and damaged organ was read off with a detached assessment. When she was finished, Aria closed the folder. "I think something more than just stress would prompt a hunter to take everything out on a trainee. You have disappointed me, Cassandra Norris."
She stood up, gesturing with the closed folder. "Hell, you beat someone from another division nearly to death after they tried to defend themselves! I have numerous witnesses that state that you kept going even after she begged you to stop. And did you even call the Infirmary for help? No! Did you call me? No again! Instead you posted a panciked message on twitter until someone else came to clean up your mess. Is that what being a hunter is all about, Cassandra? You're a Mist goddamnit! A Mist is supposed to be ready for anything and handle everything thrown at us! And then this happens and the only thing you can say in your defense was that you were stressed?!"
Aria threw the folder onto her desk, her shoulders shaking. "Take everything out of your pockets," she ordered. "Put them in the bag." The hunter blocking the door moved forward, offering Cass a clear plastic bag.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:40 pm
Cass grimaced as the report was read off, the floor becoming more and more enticing of something to look at as it went on. She knew what she was hearing, and the more it went on the worse it seemed. Yet somehow, it was only that last sentence that caused her to wince. The fact she'd disappointed Aria didn't surprise her, after all.
Never the less, the fact she went on rubbed more salt in the wound - a wound that didn't exactly become numb to the salt either. However, she did murmur one comment underneath her breath; "I've not exactly been trying to defend my actions with excuses." She'd said it more than a handful of times by then; 'I have no excuses', 'It is inexcusable' 'I deserve what I get' 'I will await my due punishment'. What had Aria wanted? A good excuse? There wasn't one and she wasn't going to try and make one to cover her a**.
Still, she couldn't help but look at the bag she was given before she sighed and began to pull things out of her pockets - her phone, candy, money she kept on hand just in case, a few folded up pieces of paper, a pocket knife, a spool of thread and a needle, more candy, a permanent marker.....she had a lot of pockets, not to mention a back she wore in the small of her back that she tossed in entirely.
After a moment of strange hesitation, however, she took a moment to pull the chain from around her waist and tossed it into the bag as well, trying to not look at it as she did so.
It wasn't as though he was talking to her anyways.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:45 pm
"Take your coat off," Aria ordered, turning and moving behind her desk. "Your actions are not befitting of either a Mist or a Hunter. You may not wear your coat." Aria disappeared from view as she pulled something out of a drawer, tossing it aside before grabbing another one. "Furthermore, you are going to keep that bracelet on. You are also banned from using runics." Aria stood, a bundle tucked under her arm. "Until further notice, you are going to report directly to me. You are going to take over some of Lance's duties while he is indisposed. Is that clear?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:52 pm
Cass didn't hesitate in taking the coat off as well, taking a moment to unbuckle the front, then pull the straps through the back before she wadded it up and shoved it in the bag with the rest of her things.
She tried to keep her most serious face on, but suddenly drew pause as Aria made a statement that actually seemed to draw the first actual concern from her she'd had - and not about Petra. Whatever it was, however, Cass didn't bring it up immediately.
"Yes." she answered after another deep breath. She assumed that she would not be going on Caelius-mandatory missions at this point in time either. That seemed fitting, unless Aria wanted to see her die. Also fitting, she guessed.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:58 pm
Aria shook her head, approaching Cass and removing her coat from the bag. "I will keep this, you will keep your things and your weapon. Put him back on."
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:09 pm
Cass frowned, fussing with the chain to untangle it from itself for a moment, but looking displeased the entire time. She didn't want to wear Nicodemus. She wanted to tell Aria she'd wear him when she could wear her coat again.
But she'd gotten in enough trouble for one day, so rebellion was not well suited to this scenario. At least not outright rebellion, but she took enough time to put the chain back around her waist to express enough disappointment in herself to be obvious about it.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:22 pm
"Do you think I want to do this?" Aria snapped at the sulky teenager. "Do you think I take pride in hearing that a newbie I haven't met yet managed to land himself in the infirmary? That my assistant is literally strapped down in the Infirmary for everyone's safety? That you of all people suddenly flipped out and beat a trainee to a pulp?! I don't have time for this! There's reports of something big stirring, and we need everyone at full power but your little tantrum caused by unknown reasons just put yourself and another body out!"
Aria raised her hand, fist clenched. She stood there, shoulders shaking before she turned and viciously kicked at her desk. "Goddamnit, Cassandra! I had high hopes for you. You... You remind me of myself." She stood with her back turned to the trainee, fists clenched. "I won't bore you further. Hold out the arm you held your weapon in."
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