The Principal's Office

[tailor_made]

The door to the principal’s office is open at all hours, although you will only find Hester at the receptionist’s desk from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. This is primarily where you can have private conversations with her. Though there’s an actual office in the back, it is always closed and locked.

Comments

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus smiles, glad to have brought something she needed after all. ]

I think a lot of us did, the past few days. [ Between finding Salieri's body in the cafeteria and the stunned haze they spent Saturday in, he's pretty sure all he ate was a banana muffin, despite Angus's best efforts to keep them fed at the trial. ] How's your leg? It seemed like you, um. Got hurt, when Discord...

[ He trails off, unsure of how to finish the sentence. ]

[mayavericks]

I'm glad to hear that. I have been... worried about you, you know.

[Maya flashes a nervous smile. She's more distracted by her thumbs drifting over the back of Hester's hands, though.]

You know, if you ever have trouble sleeping, I could help?

[comeandfindme]

[ ...That's...reassuring, in a way. Is she visibly injured? No, you know, Peregrine's just going to— ]

Are you hurt? From Friday.

[stopbelieving]

[He blinks down at the hand, as if surprised to find it there.]

...I knew your type. A small-town kid heading off to the city, looking for a dream to follow?

[His mouth twitches in something that can't quite become a smile. It's so strange to think about a time when that was his greatest goal. Performing in New York. Seeing Rachel follow that path in his stead. Like any of that ever really mattered.]

You...reminded me of...an old student of mine.

[barberic]

[He hisses and flinches, as the antiseptic runs into the cut, but doesn't pull his hand away completely, just watching her.

How can she stand to touch him, knowing what he's done? She knew before he did. Yet she gave him a photo of his daughter.]

...You weren't hurt badly, were you?

[tailor_made]

Yeah...a lot of people have been. I'm sorry for worrying you. [Hester returns the smile but becomes very suddenly keenly aware of Maya's hands in hers when that offer is made.]

I- oh? [Her voice certainly didn't just go up half an octave.] Could you?

[violentenvies]

[he'll take that second towel and dip it into the water, wringing it out before starting to brush it over her face where it's not covered by the other one]

Oh? He sounds like a kind man.

[tailor_made]

No, I'm- [If Peregrine comes around to the other side of her desk, she'll see the leg Hester had clearly been grabbing at at the trial is fully healed. Not even a scratch.] When things started to go wrong, he brought us here and fixed it, I'm okay now.

[If she looks closely she might see a few small drops of blood dried onto the carpet. Easy to miss but definitely there.]

[tailor_made]

He was a single dad and I was his only foster kid so he was always extra sweet to me. [She's not falling asleep but this is, by far, the most relaxed she's felt and sounded in weeks.] ...I was really sad when he got sick and I had to go to a new placement. I think he was too.

[violentenvies]

That's unfortunate. I'm sorry for that. [he moves to wet down that cloth again, and keep just gently wiping her brow and cheeks and jaw with the cool cloth, attempting to cool her down] I'm sure he would've very much liked for you to stay with him.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine looks down. She doesn’t want to talk about anything the Wizard’s done. It’s that reason that she sees— ]

Is that blood?

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Just a little, I guess.

[Truth be told, she didn't feel good talking about what the group had said about Hester, for secrecy reasons or otherwise.]

...Can I ask what's up with that? I'm not going to judge.

[mayavericks]

You are rather deeply cared for, Hester. In case you had not noticed.

[Maya glances up rather abruptly, alarmed by the change in Hester's tone. It takes her a few moments to process why she seems so worked up. Even then, though, Maya can only chuckle.]

In only the purest and most innocent of ways, I assure you. You could spend the night with us, is what I am trying to say. We... have Broadhurst to ourselves at this point, practically.

[tailor_made]

[She's being gentle as she can be, which is not as much as she wants to be. She wipes away the blood and the dirt and a grass stains, throwing away the cotton pad when it's dirty enough before repeating the process with a new one.]

A little but the Wizard fixed it. It...didn't even hurt, it was so quick. [She goes still a moment, draws in a slow breath before finishing her clean-up and reaching into her second drawer to pull out a needle and some golden yellow embroidery thread to dip in the antiseptic.] I'm okay now, it really wasn't that bad.

[tailor_made]

He had a heart attack when I was fourteen. [She leans her head in the direction of his hand. She hasn't talked about him in...not really since she had to leave, actually. It hurt to think about, how she'd almost lost him to his health and then did have to lose him to the system.] He was okay in the end. He said he wanted to adopt me but...it never worked out.

[barberic]

[He doesn't flinch with the second time. The wound is already raw and burning, by now more fire won't make it any hotter.]

...That's good. I know Maya was quite worried about you. We all were.

[His voice is still soft and low, not dull but hollow, meant for just the space between them as she tends to his hand.

When he sees the needle, a flicker of emotion (displeasure? sadness?) crosses his face.]

Are stitches really necessary?

[tailor_made]

[Hester is quiet for a long minute, twisting the hem of her wet skirt in her hands while she mulls over what she wants to say, if she wants to.]

...I don't know.. I've already talked to Peregrine about it but after the sleepover, I started having problems sleeping. Then the dreams started. I started losing time and today I- [She stops herself and squeezes a little water from the hem of her blouse.] I got stuck in the rain, out by the football field. And I don't remember how I got there.

[tailor_made]

Is what-? [She looks down at the floor, her eyes widening and a hand reaching down to unconsciously clutch her previously injured leg.] Oh, that's...that's probably mine...

[Whose else could it be? She's the only one who's ever bled in here.] Sorry.

[comeandfindme]

[ How dried is this blood? Enough for a few days to have passed? ]

[tailor_made]

[It is! And it's a very small amount, just a few slightly smeared drops.]

[tailor_made]

I've gotten that impression several times. [It doesn't make it any more of an adjustment, being cared for by more than one person at a time.]

Oh! Oh, right of course. I knew you meant it that way. [Her bright pink ears didn't know.] ...do you think Peregrine and Janis would mind?

[She and Per are on, arguably, better terms now and Janis is...extremely cool...and it would be nice to curl up with someone other than a stuffie.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Okay, that's a relief! ]

Are you sure you're completely healed?

[tailor_made]

A little but, [She reaches down to touch the leg that she's clutched at the fire-y trial conclusion. It's perfectly fine, not even a tear in her stockings.] It's fixed now.

What about you guys? I know you all got out but is everyone okay? No burns or anything?

[mayavericks]

I don't think they will.

But -- You don't have to be in a rush to decide. We have time and... I want you to be confident that this is something you want. You deserve to be able to make a choice.

[tailor_made]

Mmhm! [She extends her leg more fully, flexes her calf muscle and rolls her ankle just to prove she's fully healed.]

Good as new. It didn't even-...It hardly even hurt at the time.