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It might have been slightly longer than she'd promised, but she contacted both Bella and Mort when she knew she was ready to tell them the truth behind what she knew of Herryk's current.. life. So she showed up at Belladonna's dorm, knocking on it softly. She seemed calm, on the surface. She was a bad liar, but she'd prepared herself for this situation. She was ready to be strong.

In her pocket, a few letters stuck out their corners. And in her hand was another, tightly gripped into her own. She hadn't asked Kettil to come, but he'd just known better than to let her face this alone. Her overly tight grip on his hand was the only real indication that the impending thought this conversation scared the s**t out of her.

All in all, it was better that this meeting had waited a few days after Prom. There was just too much happening at once, too much emotion being doled out in the wrong proportions to really handle such a situation properly. Things felt disjointed, but they had to be dealt with regardless, which of course meant being brave for others. That was something Belladonna found herself quite adept at, normally a point of pride had she not felt so strained in the effort as of late. And even though she knew when she received the text message from Freya that the ghoul would need more than just some kindness, Belladonna could not help but sigh to herself as she set the phone down and wonder why they bothered with the witch at all. A bitter part of her that had begun to fester since she had been involved in all this thought that maybe they just felt bad for her, that maybe they knew Mort wouldn't tell her so Freya and Kettil took pity on her enough to include her in their going on's.
Of course, that part was very small and easily squashed in the face of sheer optimism and gratitude for her friends. They were kind enough to include the couple in their fake wedding, and hopefully would extend a similar kindness to their actual wedding, an event the witch honestly was looking forward to. So maybe this meeting wouldn't be all that bad! Maybe it would just be something about the wedding or some other future event! Things would be alright!

But even as the witch gently woke Mort with a soft smile, doing her best to break the news that they would be having guests in the most positive manner she could employ, a trickle of doubt still ran through her. As much as she wanted to believe that things would be alright, when Belladonna opened the door to find Kettil looking strained, her hopes plummeted.
"Freya-darkling, Dul-oo-si! So nice to see you two again! How is practice married life?" The witch cooed, taking a deep breath before she pushed a bright demeanor onto herself for the couple. With a smile she ushered them into her room, inviting them to sit on the pink couch while she grabbed another seat for herself and Mort.

Freya nodded sharply, keeping up the act of a perfectly calm and capable person even to Kettil - who had the magical ability of seeing through her in an instant. When the door opened, she smiled brightly, letting Kettil go so she could rush in and hug Belladonna fiercely. She kissed the ghoul on the cheek, even as they were ushered over to the couch, and let her go to give Mort a similar greeting. Mort looked like he could use as many hugs as he could get.

"Is good! Hooter is a good husband. He doesn't leaves teh toilet seats up and everything." She sat down on the couch, between Bella and Kettil, and folded her hands in front of her. She loved small talk.. and she loved chattering on for hours about nothing in particular.. but she didn't want to small talk very much today. What she has to say was too important. Too heavy to bear.

"I'm really glads yeh lets me comes and talks teh yeh buuth." She started. "Is very important."

While Belladonna might normally have objected to Mort wearing pajama pants for such an important meeting with their dear friends, she was loathe to really mention it when upon waking he looked so tired. And, well, she did like that shirt, so it managed to offset the ensemble enough that she did not wrinkle her nose or tut at him or anything. Even if in her mind she did, just the tiniest bit.
Although she did not miss Mort's attempt to block the two from entering the room, the witch did try her best to gently push him back from the door, successful enough that the couple could pass through the threshold. Once they were through and while they gave introductory pleasantries, she let one hand rest on the back of Mort's shoulders as though that might help. Nothing would, of course, she wasn't fool enough to believe it would. But something, even a small thing, was better than nothing.
At Freya's words the witch smiled and issued a chirpy "That's nice!". With a tiny pat to Mort's shoulders, the witch pulled him closer to the couch and sat next to Freya, an effective barrier between Valkyrie and Zombie.

"As I have told you both before, you are always welcome to come talk to me. And Mort too! Even about the non-important things." They didn't talk about the non-important things enough. It only seemed they got to chat about the important, sad things that happened. But the witch gave the couple a gentle smile, taking a deep breath and settling herself before she tried to be brave.
"So! What have you come to talk with us about today?"

Mort's reaction to her hug was visibly heartbreaking. She went from the bubbly, loving valkyrie she normally was, to a thin and haunted spectre. This was going to be so much harder than she'd thought.

"I'm not goings teh dance around the subject, I'm just goings teh tells yeh, and I hopes yeh can forgives me for not softening the blow. But the fact is, he asked me teh tells yeh about him, and I has teh. So, here goes."

She took a deep breath, and her hand squeezed Kettil's tighter. She even managed to smile, somewhat. "I knows that yeh knows as much as I duu about the day Herryk was taken away by the hunters. But I thinks we all knew what was goings teh happens. So I wasn't really.. surprised, when I met the hunter who - " Owns Herryk? Wields Herryk? Works with Herryk? How was she even supposed to explain?! "The hunter who.. Herryk bonded with. But it still hurt, and at the same time.. it felt so good to know he wasn't completely gone."

She felt like she'd dropped the bomb in as soft of a way as she could. "But he's happy, somehow. I don't knows how.. but.. he is. And I talks teh him.. a lot. But he doesn't remember me - he doesn't remember any of us. I tolds him he had friends who loved him as much as I duu and he was curious about yeh. But.. I knows it's.. not easy teh thinks.."

Her entire body was shaking. She didn't know how much longer she could talk about this without crying - but so far, she'd held on.

Such an odd thing it was to constantly feel like an odd wheel in an evenly numbered group. But once again the witch waited, listening carefully to what Freya had to say and feeling rather silly. She hadn't even known Herryk, but she was the support. That was important too she reminded herself, they wanted her here. Freya had asked for the witch to come along too, so that meant she was involved somehow, even if the witch wasn't so sure of that for herself.
Still, there was little time to really feel selfish as what Freya said had more importance. The witch cast a glance to Mort who did not choose to stand next to her but before them all, the ghoul almost raising a hand to beckon him closer but deciding against it. If he wanted to be near her, he would chose that himself. She was not going to ask him for anything when he and the others were obviously the ones who would soon be in need.
But there was no real preparation for what Freya said next. Surely the witch knew Herryk had been turned, at least she had assumed that was what was going to happen, momentarily forgetting that not everyone made the change. That came back in a memory that made her shiver, but she put on a kind look and nodded at the Valkyrie, a sign the witch was still listening.

It was the mention of speaking to the lost boil, however, that made the witch lean back just the tiniest bit to blink at her friend.
"T-talk... to him?" That was... That was no, that was bad, that was Freya stop it why would you do that. "A-a lot?" Normally very good at hiding her emotions, Belladonna could not hide her shock, nor the creeping sense of doubt that flitted across her face.
How did Kettil feel about all that? Curious, the witch looked at him, her eyebrows moving down a little as if to silently ask him such a question.

Even though Mort's attitude had initially saddened Freya, the tone of his voice when he finally responded to what she'd offered struck her sharp, like a jagged blade. She lifted her head and met his icy stare, returning it with a heated glare of her own. She could hear the accusational tone of his voice, and it enraged her. "Don't talks teh me like that, Mort. Yeh has no right. Watch yehr tongue before I watch it for yeh." Her fire burned bright, hot, and ready to turn their friendship into an all out war with the blink of an eye. "It hasn't been very long since I first met him. And I haven't seen either of yeh until prom - the first time I've seen yeh in forever, and it was the first thing I says teh yeh. Not that I should has teh explains myself teh yeh. Because I don't."

She looked like she was about to get up and storm out, but she'd promised Herryk she'd try.. even if Mort didn't deserve it.

Or worse, what if Mort made things worse? Herryk was already suffering from confusion because of her.. she should have known this was a bad idea.

But she did stand up, because it made her feel better. "I tells him he had friends who loves him when he was here with us. I tells him they miss him, and would be happy teh hears that he is happy. Was I wrong? Maybe I shouldn't have told him s**t abouts yeh!" Her wings flared up behind her at the curse word. It didn't take much to get her going.

Crumbling fast was a nice way of putting things because the situation was deteriorated from the start, they had all just pretended that maybe things would go alright. Honestly they should have known better, but they were young and not necessarily known for their good luck.
Things got all the more complicated for the witch as the tension rose in the room, mostly because she was put into the happy position of mediator. Whether she really wanted to be or not, she had absolutely no stake in this claim. Freya might have told Herryk's new persona about his friends, but she most likely hadn't mentioned the witch. And even if she had, what good would that do Belladonna? She was not going to buddy up to some Hunter, thank you very much.
The shrug Kettil passed her distracted her momentarily, but Mort's words drew her attention more. It was true he was visibly angry, but it was certain the anger wasn't all his own doing. When Freya snapped back at him, a flash of fire rose within the witch and she almost jumped to her feet. Didn't Freya understand that the zombie was just as hurt as she was over this? Maybe Mort had an occasionally short temper, but it was made all the shorter by his Insanity. Didn't Freya understand that at all?

Instead the witch cleared her throat daintily, leaning forward to give Freya a mild look of warning.
"I would advise not speaking to him in the same manner you do not wish to be spoken to." Belladonna told her, careful to keep her voice free of any malice, but delicately firm. This situation was already out of hand, but there wasn't any reason she couldn't bring it back. They were all friends after all. But that didn't mean the witch would let anything escalate and she'd be damned if she let Freya fly off the handle at Mort just because he asked a legitimate question.
"It is understandable that we have not seen you in a while, but you must have been aware that Mort was busy with student council. I've had more time on my hands, you could have always come to me." Once again, the witch was methodical in her voice so that she seemed kind but gently pointed out the minor flaw in Freya's defense. "But darkling... Why are you talking to Herryk at all?"

He didn't remember her, she had Kettil and she was only hurting herself by continually seeking the boil-turned-weapon out. What was to be accomplished by all her communications? As much as the witch tried to chase the thought in her head she couldn't understand it. If one were on the brink of marriage, why would one continually meet an old flame? That was just asking to be burned!