Aftermath

[Deleted]

Continued from A quiet return

Slowly Saint regained consciousness to a world of blurred lights and shapes indiscernible to his eyes. The psychosomatic response to his loss of control was slowly causing his eye sight to deteriorate, so far it had forced him to read via reading glasses and when he awoke from sleep his eye sight did not fully clear for a full five minutes afterward. Bright green eyes stared blankly at the ceiling as the injured student tried to sit-up in the bed only to be set back down by a searing pain in his abdomen, much like the muscles had been thrown through a meat grinder and set on fire. With the nerve endings firing, Saint eventually felt the heavy wrappings around his abdomen that were there to restrict movement as he healed, in addition his hands were heavily bandages from the various cuts as was his head. Laying there he heard a woman’s voice come from the corner of the room and turned to face the general direction.

“Glad to see you’re awake, you were out for a good three hours.”

“How did I get here?”

“Another young man, tall boy, spoke with a German accent though he didn’t leave his name.”

“I see.”

“You know you should stop all the fighting you do.”

The young man simply shut his eyes and turned away, which caused the woman to shrug and walk out of the small room within the nurse’s office after writing the boy off as just another one of the kids who did nothing but fight. She was wrong, but Saint would never tell her. Her observation of the scars and disfigured toes had lead her to the conclusion that he just fought and fought, which was understandable when given her surroundings. Saint would never be one to tell her that they were from abuse he suffered as a small child, it was not something he wanted to speak and would make her feel bad.

Nonetheless, once she’d left Saint turned his attention back to the ceiling as he thought over what had happened, obviously no dream as he may have hoped. He was disliked amidst those who knew he was a pillar due to his long periods of absence during the school’s harder times, would they start to attack him knowing he could be beaten? Was he even a pillar anymore now that he had lost a fight in the school? Did it even matter? What he did around the school required no title. A soft sigh escaped him as he lay there vision improving only slightly so that the blurs now had vague shapes to them, the bandages on his hands making it nearly impossible to even more his hands… he would have to thank Jonathan later… and apologize.

[chihiro]

[ooc: It's nearly tradition now.. minus Chi :/ So kinda like...tradition 2.0 XD]

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It was her mom's idea for her to be a candy striper. In her opinion the title sounded dirty, like a female dancer at a club, not someone who went around helping people. Whatever. She'd finished her stripes by the time she hit middle school, though still came by every once in a while to spread cheer. Meridian Van deBogart, her mother and flower shop owner, made miniature bouquets around once a month and had them delivered them to the health facilities around the city. So...that was what Olesya Van deBogart was doing today. Arms full of small, slender flower vases each with an arrangement of flowers, Meridian's middle daughter made her way about the rooms, depositing the trifles among the rooms.

By now she'd nearly finished, only three or so remaining in her hands, reaching the end of the hallway.

She stepped into the room toward the end of the hall as a nurse stepped out. She shook her head. "Best leave him be, he's just come to and in a bit of a state." She said softly before heading back down the hall to the nurses station. The junior peered into the room, hazel eyes searching out the young man in the bed and debating whether or not. A tad reckless, and a little too big of a heart, she stepped into the room as quietly as she could, rounding the bed to where the side table was and setting one of the vases on his table.

"Sorry." She apologized softly for disturbing him.

[Deleted]

((OoC: lol Yay for tradition XD))

"It's quite alright."

The injured student said as his visitor, sounded female, apologized for the intrusion. It was truly no bother to him. In fact it was quite the opposite as his injuries made him feel slightly vulnerable and the company made him feel safer as she had shown manners, not likely that she would then attack. Green eyes shifted toward the vague figure of his visitor and the object that had been placed on the bedside table. He was unsure of what it was, but the fact that he was in the health facility and the most common thing left on the table’s of injured persons was flowers pretty much told him what it was. A good thing as he wanted no one to know of his problem.

“They look lovely, thank you very much.”

A kind and slightly frail smile crossed his features as he spoke. He was thankful that there were people in this school that had some kindness in them that wasn’t buried beneath a macho exterior. Slowly Saint stretched out his arm to touch the assumed flowers gently, moving slowly as though he was too weak to simply reach was to ensure that his sight could not come into question. He could reach out until he felt even the slightest touch through the bandages. Sure it hurt but he felt it necessary for his own sake.

[chihiro]

"Oh!" Olesya nearly jumped when she saw him reaching for the flowers, putting down the two extra in her arms and picking his up, holding it closer for him to reach easier. He looked pretty beat up, he mustn't be too happy here. Before she could contain it, her natural curiosity got the best of her, forming words before she could think twice.

"What happened to you?"

Now, Olesya wasn't so sure how sensitive people were about their injuries, perhaps it depends on how injured they are? What if they're embarrassed and don't wish to talk about it? Other times people will gladly share their war stories, but who was she, a perfect stranger, to ask such a personal question? Why are you you all bandaged up? Why can't you move? Why must everything be done for you while you lie and stew in your own thoughts? The nurse had said he was kind of touchy..

"Well, I mean...I'm sorry, I just, you're, I mean, looks like it hurt...well obviously, but I was just wondering...bugger." She cursed softly to herself, clenching her lips together to keep from rambling as she continued to stand and hold the small vase of flowers in his reach until he was through examining them.

[Deleted]

Slowly the injured Saint retracted his hand at the question, satisfied with his textile inspection of the gift. It was a question that was pretty much unavoidable as he would have to wear the bandages for sometime and would eventually be asked be it by someone who knew him or a complete stranger who was merely curious. He could not be angry as curiosity was natural part of human nature without it many of the greatest inventions throughout time would never come into being… but also some of the worse would have never been created. It was a double-edged sword that Saint felt necessary as the good outweighed the bad, or so he believed… for now.

“Do not worry, I was in a fight early today…”

There was a somber tone to his words and expression as he turned from the slightly clearer blur that was the young lady beside his bed to the ceiling, blinked a couple times in the process. Of course he could have elaborated on his answer with who and what happened but why… if she had not yet heard it wouldn’t take much longer. Saint had a title, was beaten in front of crowd, and all this had three hours to circulate around the school… rare would be the person who hadn’t heard.

[chihiro]

Olesya pulled up a stool, perching herself upon it with her hands resting at the front of the seat and leaning toward him like a curious child. He hadn't invited her to sit, but sometimes Olesya was too curious for her own good. Not curious in a nosy sort of way, but in a good-will-conversational one?

Something like that.

"It looks like you got a little more than you bargained for, eh?" She replied, though it really wasn't much of a question because it was quite obvious that he had gotten his ass walloped.

"Did the asshole want something of yours, or were they just overly pugnacious?" People got jumped all the time for their shit...mp3s, cars, gear...he must have had something really nice to end up in all those bandages.

[Deleted]

A weak chuckle came from young Zachariah at the observation placed in the form of a question. She wasn’t wrong as he had expected a fight that would be difficult to win but when he lost control everything went to hell. When that happened he lost all sense of defense and focused strictly on the offensive making it impossible for him to not be heavily injured in a fight. Shutting his eyes for the moment, Saint knew he had a long way to go yet…

"Did the asshole want something of yours, or were they just overly pugnacious?"

For a moment Saint said nothing as he thought over the vague memories he had of the fight trying to find an answer, also there was the fact that he didn’t much care for her term for Jonathan. He was not a bad guy, or so it had seemed. The warning shot with the trash can lid, the words of advice, and the fact that he was the one to bring the pillar to the nurse’s office. He turned his gaze in the general direction on his guest.

“He was after something, though what I do not know. It seemed he was not after something material, but something else… perhaps my title…”

There was a pause with a soft sigh.

“He wasn’t all that bad though…”

[chihiro]

"Title?"

Olesya was aware that she probably sounded like a parrot then, reiterating what he had just said. But again, curiosity. What title? Titles were usually given to books or important figures, was he an important figure? Who was this guy? She couldn't really recall seeing him around much, though she'd never seen him in this state before so she could be wrong.

"Did you know the guy? You say he's not bad but he messed you up pretty bad though. Well, you already know that of course."

Les swung her feet lightly, toes hardly brushing the ground.

"If I'm being too nosy, you can tell me to go away anytime. Sorry."

[Deleted]

“Don’t worry… it’s nice to talk to someone after being away for a couple weeks.”

It wasn’t shocking to Saint that she didn’t know who he was, those who did were becoming fewer and fewer. His long terms of absence for the school had caused even those around when he was appointed to forget his position, add to that the fact that he never truly enforced himself as a pillar. He smiled in a reassuring manner, more so to himself as he wasn’t one to go around telling people who he was.

“I’m the student body president.”

Letting that bit sink in, Saint thought over how to answer the bit about his feelings that Jonathan wasn’t all bad. There was one example as proof, but other than that it was just a feeling he had… how do you explain that? It difficult quandary.

“No, I just met him. However he was the one who brought me here when he could have easily left me where I fell… those that will carry an unconscious body to help are few and far between. Other than that, he just seemed like someone who had good but perhaps was afraid or unwilling to let it out… or even is going about their good intentions in a frowned upon fashion… I don’t really know. It was a feeling, besides no one is completely bad.”

[chihiro]

Student Body President??? Another pillar! Imagine her luck. She had met the captain not too long ago, challenging her to a quick spar in the cafeteria. Pillars were rumoured to be ruthless and mean, but those she'd met were kind and wise looking.

"Pleased to meet you, Mister President. My name's Oleysa."

Thoughtlessly, she extended her hand in introduction, hesitating and turning it into a short wave. She didn't want to make him move more than he had to for now, he looked pretty banged up, but we've already established this. She listened thoughtfully as he described the boy who'd beaten him up.

"Human kindness is more rare than gold these days, unfortunately. Kindness given always finds a way of returning to its owner. You must be an exceptionally kind person."

She laughed, not in sarcasm or jest but in agreement. She always believed that as long as there was one kind person in the world, there was hope. And thusly, she always tried to be kind when she could, not because she would receive anything in return, but for the good of everyone. Yeah, it was kinda cheesy, but it was better than being a bitter and spiteful hermit, right?

[Deleted]

With his slowly clearing vision, Saint was able to notice the wave and responded with a merger one of his own. How he wished he was not left with such a nuisance, but at least she had not noticed or so it seemed. Nonetheless he couldn’t disagree with her assessment that kindness was a rarity no matter how much he wanted it to be false. There was a slight rush of red to his cheeks at the mention of him being a kind person, sure enough it was quite true, he knew it… everyone knew it, but hearing it from another person still made him blush to his more modest nature. On top of that she’d called him Mr. President… something he had never been called.

“I’d rather that kindness find its way to someone who needed it…”

There were obviously people more needing of a helping hand than himself…

“And please, there is no need to call me Mister President… my name is Zachariah Rose, but most call me Saint. It is a pleasure to meet you Oleysa. Do you go around with these gifts often?”

A fair enough question to quench his curiosity. It was odd though as the only person he’d ever met or even seen anyone else in such a situation was Chi, and she had disappeared somewhere. It would be a lie to say he was not at least somewhat concerned when he thought about it, but all he could do was hope for the best.

[chihiro]

"Someone who needed it? I'm pretty sure you could use some kindness. I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but you're in a hospital."

She grinned, clearly jesting. But she did think he could use some kindness, otherwise she wouldn't have stopped in to speak with him. There were times when she had spoke to the other patients that had visited this facility, but they had simply been short and reassuring. 'How are you feeling? The weather's nice today, you should see if the nurse will allow you out for a spell in the courtyard.' Sometimes there were cute little old women that would talk about their twenty grandchildren, or old men who would ramble on about the war or challenge her to a game of chess. She wasn't really good at chess, but they would tell her which moves were best and sometimes let her win. Despite the horrible things that happened in this world, she truly did like people.

Olesya smirked sheepishly when he said to call him by his name instead. "Pleased to meet you Zachariah, nice name." Olesya was a fan of interesting names, seeings that hers was untraditional, at least on American standards. Her name was Russian. Олеся. There were just so many Sallys, Amys, James', Johns and Sams that when an unusual name came around it was a nice change.

"I bring flowers around sometimes. My mom owns a florist and figures its the least she can do for all the great business she gets." She explained with a small shrug. Ecclipse Florist and Cafe was decently prosperous as far as family owned businesses went. Her mother believed that for all the good fortune they received, they should give back to the community that has supported them. Perhaps that was where Olesya got her kind spirit from.

"I really don't mind doing it. It kinda sounds cheesy but there's something fulfilling about doing something for someone else, you know?"

[Deleted]

A meek chuckle escaped the injured student at his guest’s joke, fair enough. As mush as he may disagree and fight it, she was probably right that he did need some kindness coming his way. Didn’t everyone? Of course he gave a polite nod in Olesya’s general direction as she complimented him on his name, most people found it interesting but never knew the half of it as the pillar never mentioned his middle name. He found that the laughing effect it would cause people embarrassing… Blue Rose… his mother’s choice had not been the best. Rest her soul. Green eyes gazed in Olesya’s direction as she spoke as it was only proper to make eye contact when some was speaking.

Saint found it refreshing that someone is this school came from a normal background, at least it seemed normal when she spoke of it. So many students were from broken families or left with completely horrific and scarring pasts, himself included. On top of that, there was the almost inevitable fact that this school and its happenings would do the scarring that pasts may have left out… a discomforting thought and a part of this school he was trying to change. Of course, though she may have thought it cheesy, Oleysa’s reason for doing what she did brought a smile to young Zachariah’s face.

“I’m glad to hear that you enjoy bringing such lovely gifts to the injured around this place. This place needs more people like yourself who are willing to do such things.”

Whether or not it matter, Saint was quite proud of her. How could he not be? With a smile the pillar began to sit up, his eyesight had reached a point where it was comparable to looking through a pane of Plexiglas and thus a functioning level.

“Would you do me a favor and help me up?”

[olesya]

[ooc: ehhh, account switch ftw? >___> Ignore the inconsistency!]

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Olesya smiled, playing off the compliment with a humble chuckle. Why did she do what she did? Most girls would be out shopping, or sunbathing, or painting their nails, or whatever it was normal girls did, but maybe she did it because it was familiar. Comfortable. She liked being around people, and doing something nice with her time was better than walking around a mall and trying on things she would never buy.

"I do what I can I suppose.."

Her smile turned to a slight 'o' of surprise as he made movements to to sit up. When he asked if she could help him, Olesya jumped to her feet and leaned over his hospital bed.

"Oh! Of course...careful.."

Gently tilting him forward and linking her hands behind him under his arms, she pulled upward in a gentle motion until he was sitting. Unlinking her hands, she arranged the pillows behind him to suit him better.

"Alright?"

She asked, patting one of the pillows with a kindly smile before returning to her seat.

[Deleted]

“Thank you, that’s fine.”

Saint spoke with a polite nod as he settled into the new position nicely enough while internally checking his being. The pain in his abdomen was severe and the short time since the fight had done little to heal it. Of course, not that Saint knew what had happened, when someone runs full speed into a raised knee with even the slightest hesitation there is going to be extensive damage to that very area. He sighed slightly, hiding the pain as best he could while readjusting before turning toward Olesya again.

“Mind if I ask you to tell me about yourself?”

An innocent enough question, he was curious. Saint knew very few people at this school, despite his position, and even fewer on a knowledgeable basis. Honestly the person who knew him the best was the school’s captain Mitsuki and he knew very little about her… or anyone. Perhaps it came with the territory or was self imposed but things were the way they were, nothing to do but move forward.