thirty-seven detention slips

[delincuente]

[It's just after dark when a handwritten note appears in the journal, short and tentative, written in the first ballpoint pen Alex can find in her bedroom. There are no purple sparkles, no loopy letters. It's quick and blunt.]

Well. Time to add "getting murdered" to my list of Things Never to Do Again.

[Humor can still fall flat in writing. Alex debates adding a smiley face or something, just to try to prove that she's okay and that she can deal with this. She's alive, and that's something. That's grand. But her throat hurts and she can feel the prickle of an ugly scar on her chest. Something deep inside her feels broken. She wants to go home, back to Waverly Place and the family she thought she'd stopped missing so badly a long time ago. She wants to wait tables and go to detention and remember what her brothers' voices sound like.

It blows her mind to know that, one day, she might be back amongst all that. Sixteen again and so oblivious, with no memory of getting her chest carved open in a cold, empty hall. She'll have forgotten the raw awareness that it's put in her. She'll have forgotten that she's not untouchable.

In smaller, messier letters, she filters a very short message to all of her friends: ]

Hey. I'm back.

[That business over with, she wishes up a set of warm clothes - despite her request for pajamas, a pair of jeans and an itchy sweater materialize. Instead of sticking around to question that, however, Alex just dresses quickly and heads down to the kitchen, uncharacteristically quiet.]

((ooc: wherein "friends" means, if your character knows her enough to care, then the journal will let them see it, whether or not it's her direct intention.))

Comments

[Dictated]

[cant_breathe_no_heir]

[Since trollds have enough problems as it is, why not add insomnia to the list. Being attacked by your room will do that.]

You have been murdered.

Are you well?

[dictated]

[delincuente]

[Alex pauses, quiet for a moment as she just raises an eyebrow at the journal. That troll guy again. When she speaks, her voice is hoarse from disuse.]

... Yeah, yeah, I'm just peachy. It was really great. I'd recommend it.

[dictated]

[cant_breathe_no_heir]

[There's a soft growl of annoyance.]

That is humorous insincerity, isn't it.

Cease it at once. I believe that this is supposed to be quite serious.

[delincuente]

Yeah? And what do you know about it?

[She gives a sardonic little snort.]

It's my death. I can react however I want.

[dictated]

[lord_wizard]

[Almost dreamily]

You were never gone.

[dictated]

[delincuente]

[Lazily raising one eyebrow at his strange tone.]

Way to make a girl feel missed, huh?

[dictated]

[lord_wizard]

It holds onto us too tightly.

[delincuente]

... Yeah, that made, like, minimal sense. Dude, what's up?

[waterproofed]

Hey. [that's it, that's all he's got]

[delincuente]

Hey, yourself.

[She doesn't have much more, but just hearing a friend's voice is good right now. She keeps the journal open.]

... How are... things?

[waterproofed]

Things are fine. Quiet, like they always are after the huge stuff happens.

[delincuente]

Glad to hear I didn't miss anything exciting.

[A short, heavy pause.]

... How many more people... you know... ? [Died.] After me.

Dictated forever

[indirectcause]

[People really DO come back here, then. And not in the going-to-chew-your-face-off kind of way. Ben lets out a relieved breath]

Welcome back.

[delincuente]

I didn't technically go anywhere.

[She's trying to be light about it, but it falls flat. She's still too uncomfortable, too jumpy and distraught.]

... Glad to be back, though.

[indirectcause]

I guess you didn't. Still...

[God this is so awkward. He sucks at this] Sorry about what happened to you.

[delincuente]

Thanks.

[She'd suck at it even more if it was him who'd been killed. So she appreciates it nonetheless.]

... I'm sorry too, I guess. Should've just stayed in the library.

[im_the_doctor]

It's not something I recommend if it can be at all helped.

[delincuente]

Yeah, no kidding. I should have read the customer reviews and decided against it.

[A short humorless laugh.]

... You're speaking from experience?

[im_the_doctor]

In a matter of speaking. It's never a pleasant experience to say the least. With luck your first time is also your last!

written

[peacockherald]

Are you all right, Alex?

<sub>[ He would think not, but from the few conversations with the girl, he suspects she is someone who would not readily admit to emotional trauma.

And he knows plenty of that, of wanting to die, of nearly dying - well and truly almost dying, mind, he actually met a Goddess who offered him death. But none of this he would force on Alex or out of her. She would speak of it or not, in her own time, he was sure. For now, he would offer what solace he could to the young woman. ]</sub>

;written

[delincuente]

[It takes her awhile to reply. His observations would be entirely correct. Alex has always preferred to joke and hide rather than even acknowledge her own more painful emotions, but this is uncharted territory. Each joking reply she gives physically hurts. She needs to acknowledge this, but the whole thing still terrifies her.

She writes back in small letters.]

Not really.

Re: ;written

[peacockherald]

_{[ He pauses, considering. He does not want to press her, but she is acknowledging in some way. Oh, if only he had his Tayledras teachers here. They could help her properly, as they did him in the wake of the loss of Tylendel, when it felt like his soul had been ripped out of him. He was a pale shadow compared to their brilliance in such things, but he would need to do his best here. He was a Herald. He could do no less for one who was hurt. ]}

Do you wish to speak of it? I can listen, if that is what you need. Or offer distraction if that suits you better. I do need to go out to the stables and see to the horses.

[Alex's Room Action, before entry]

[therealrisette]

{ooc: Just... pretend it didn't take me a whole week to tag this... D:}

[Everyone said the same thing. After a while, the people who died come back. And while she lost other friends too, Alex was... special. She's not thinking too terribly hard about why she's special. It's just... really, really important for her to be the one Alex wakes up to. So she's been spending a lot of time in Alex's room lately.

It hasn't been easy. It took her a week just to muster up the courage to try coming here. And being in a room with a friend's dead body is just... creepy. Knowing she'll wake up soon takes the edge off, but... Rise has to spend most of her time here looking around at the decor, and especially any of Alex's art that might be part of it. Only occasionally giving a painful glance at the still form of someone she always knew as lively and fun to be around.

That is, until she could swear she heard the other girl breathing, and her heart races at even the possibility.]

... Alex-chan?

[She keeps her voice soft, and hopefully soothing. Immediately scooting over next to Alex's bed, she reaches to take her hand. And just... watches. Hoping to see Alex's eyes with that spark in them again... maybe even that confident smirk. Or maybe... she'll be just as shaken as Rise was when it first happened.

Either way, it's fine. She'll do whatever it takes to help Alex through this. But first, she has to wake up...]

[delincuente]

((ooc: no problem at all!!! <3))

[Waking up from death is not like waking up from sleep. There is no slow, disorienting moment of amnesia, blinking up at the ceiling. The realization is instantaneous and horrifying. Alex takes just a few slow breaths before her eyes flutter open -

- and immediately scrunch back closed, overwhelmed by recollection. Her hand flies up to her chest, feeling the ridge of scar tissue under her clothing. That's going to stay, for as long as she's here. She's never going to be allowed to forget this - but then, she already could have guessed that. Everything feels different. Her hair is too heavy, her room too cold. She doesn't want to face this. She wants to go home, to be sixteen and stupid and safe again.

When Rise speaks, though, Alex's eyes fly back open, and she turns her head just a little. Horror and pain are still written on her face.]

... Rise?

[It comes out slowly and hoarsely. She hasn't heard a voice - her own, anyone else's - in weeks. Or is it months? The blur of dark, massless death may have lasted minutes, or decades. She doesn't know. She just knows that she desperately does not want to be here anymore.]

[therealrisette]

[Oh god, that look... she never wanted to see Alex like this. She never wanted to see any of her friends like this. Happiness at seeing Alex alive again is tempered by the heartbreaking realization of just what she's gone through.

She wants to hug her. To tell her everything will be fine from now on. But the wounds are too fresh, for both of them, and she's not sure if she should. So she settles for a gentle but firm grip on Alex's hand. Hopefully a reassuring one.

Tears well up in her eyes as she looks into Alex's... she wants so badly to erase that pain. To soothe it away however she can. And maybe there's not much she can do, but she's certainly going to try! For both of their sakes.]

Yeah... it's me.

[She smiles, sadly, but there's hope in it now that Alex is awake. It'd be stupid to ask if she's alright, wouldn't it? Rise's not alright at all, and she's not even the one that died!]

Do you need anything...?

[It sounds so lame, but it's the best she can manage. Maybe the sincere concern in her voice will help carry across what her words aren't quite enough to convey. That she's here for Alex, no matter what that means. About the only thing she's not willing to do right now is leave her side.]