Malcolm (fck) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2012-10-03 09:55:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, audra deroux, mal macdonald |
WHO: Audra Deroux and Mal MacDonald.
WHAT: Audra narrative, then Mal finds her later.
WHEN: October 3rd, morning (after classes started).
WHERE: 3rd floor boys bathroom.
WARNINGS: None.
STATUS: Complete.
After two days and three nights of crying and moping, Audra had tried to pull it together. Her mama wasn’t picking up her phone calls and neither was her father. She had wondered if her parents were really separating, and how angry her papa was with her currently. She knew he didn’t want a Vol for a daughter either, but she wished she could be back in France to show her parents’ colleagues that she wasn’t a bad girl. She was still studying and doing her best at IVI, or at least she was trying. Other thoughts included wondering if she would be welcomed back over the holiday times, if her parents or aunts or uncles would care to spend Christmas with her. She had worked up the nerve to fully check out the tweets and pictures from the tiki party. She almost smiled, looking at her peers and a few pictures of her playing her guitar and singing. She looked happy, which is what brought on the next bout of tears. Audra felt guilty for being a Vol ever since her powers had manifested. She felt infinitely times worse when her brother died as a result of it. But after all that time, she was able to smile a bit and enjoy her time with others like her. ..and she felt so incredibly guilty for feeling this way. Her mama had always been so against Vols. Perhaps her parents would eventually call back or return her e-mails, Audra reasoned. And Wednesday morning, she decided she would follow up with her counselor and try to get back on track. She spent a few minutes looking through the IVI intranet and bit her lower lip as she read about complaints of the rain. She had been selfish, and she would soon apologise for it when she could. She decided to check her e-mails first before her texts and saw twelve (!!) e-mails that were marked unread from the last time the IVI internet hours were on. Several were friends, some close, some not so much. None were from family. She opened up one from Adrien, a good friend of hers and her late brother’s best friend. “I know you may be going through a lot, but read this when you can. I rather you know rather than hearing rumours about it later,” followed by a link. Audra hovered for a brief moment before clicking. AUDRA DEROUX, SISTER OF MURDERED POSSIBLE-VOL IN JUNE 2010, IS A VOL HERSELF. Audra Deroux, 18, beloved by her schoolmates, volunteering at several non-profit organisations, and talented with art and music, but with a secret. None of her friends seem to know that she was attending IVI and her powers remain a mystery. Daughter of a prominent news column writer with an anti-Vol skew, Edita Veva-Deroux, and Audric Deroux, Général de division (Divisional General) of the French Army, Audra is better known as the younger sister to Allard Deroux, the claimed-human who was murdered in the unprecedented case in June 2010. His death established several... Outside one of third floor boy’s shower stall, the curtains were drawn and a lavender coloured towel was just outside the shower stall, a delicate ‘A’ embroidered on it. Audra was leaning against the tile walls, her arms wrapped around her knees. She wasn’t sure which floor she was on, only that she knew boys would be less likely to question a sniffling person in the shower than girls would. While the weather outside was rather humid, it had, at least, stopped raining. Instead, a fluffy, pillow sized raincloud was above Audra, raining down on her as a shower would. She was shivering, either from the cold rain water or from the events that had transpired in the past few days, or perhaps both. She drifted in and out of crying and sleep. Despite popular opinion, Mal actually did take a shower more than once a week. He was done with that phase, at least. In fact, he kind of looked forward to them. It was one time when people tended to leave you alone and being stuck in the desert, Mal could turn the temperature down and almost pretend it was raining. Not that he had needed to do that the past couple days…. The lavender towel gave him pause, then he noticed an actual cloud inside. That was odd. Glancing back at the towel, he noticed the A. "Audra?" he blurted out without thinking she might not want to be bothered. He had wondered where the girl had been lately and even went so far as to send her a text the night before. But it wasn't the first time a nice girl had just suddenly stopped bothering with him, so he assumed that like Daisy, for example, another one of them was done with him. The voice was familiar but Audra had been dozing again. The edge of the curtain pulled back a few centimetres as Audra looked up at whoever was calling her name before quickly shutting. Malcolm. She squeezed her eyes shut briefly before opening them again. She had practically abandoned her friend that she was supposed to be there for, she had told him that as long as he tried, she would too, but Audra hadn’t spoken to Mal since Sunday. She bit her lower lip before pulling the curtain back again, this time, a bit further. “Hi, Malcolm,” she said with an apologetic tone. All of Mal's self-absorbed concerns went out the window when he caught a glimpse of her and heard her. If she was on his floor, in the showers, she must not be avoiding him specifically. He knew all too well about avoiding people in general and he was pretty sure that's what was going on here. "What's wrong?" He sounded uncharacteristically concerned about someone else. What wasn’t? Audra felt exhausted. She sighed, though it was mostly unheard through the rain. How was she going to explain? “They found out I was a Vol back at home. My mam--” Her voice cracked slightly and some thunder could be heard from outside, though there was no rain except for above her head. She tried not to sniffle and she was thankful for the rain to hide the tears. “Sorry,” she muttered, not really apologising for anything in specific. "Oh," Mal said. He had no idea how he could help, but he wanted to do something, especially since she'd been trying to help him. He still had no idea what was wrong, though maybe it didn't matter right then. "Erm," he shifted uncomfortably on one foot before deciding to just sit down on the floor next to the shower stall. "What can I do? Can I help at all?" “Sorry I haven’t talked to you at all,” she said, equally as miserably. “I --” forgot? That sounded even more awful. “-- was caught up. I knew I said I would be here for you. I hope you haven’t jumped off the roof recently without me.” Her tone remained the same, but she was clearly just trying to lighten up the mood a bit. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine.” Audra pathetically attempted a smile. “I’d hug you but then you’d get all wet.” "It's okay," he replied. He should know better than to rely on people anyway… not that Audra was unreliable, but things happen and he knew that. He didn't blame her for anything. "Shit happens, I know." He shrugged before smiling wryly. "No. No more jumping off the roof. I don't think anyone really appreciated it. But… you don't have to pretend to be fine if you're not. I was going to take a shower anyway, I don't mind getting wet." Audra wasn’t sure what exactly she was expecting from Mal. Perhaps a bit more apathy. It wasn’t that she thought any less of him, she supposed she just didn’t think she was important enough for him to come sit with her. At the last part of his sentence, she shifted over, reaching out to link arms with him. The cloud would move with her, quickly soaking his arm with wet, cold rain water. She thought again about the words he had just said. You don’t have to pretend to be fine if you’re not. Audra’s lips twitched slightly, as if she was trying to contain tears once again. Mal didn't mind getting wet at all. It felt kind of nice, but maybe that was just his Scottish blood. He didn't notice her lip twitch, but he did try to pull Audra into a hug. He kind of needed one himself, after all. But he didn't try to make her talk about it or anything. He just sat there. Silence was fine with him. Audra wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed, but the cloud was now but a light drizzle. Or at least it was until she seemed to dozed off again, which was when the rain cloud seemed to disappear completely. Who knew emotional exhaustion would tire her out much quicker than all the effort she had been putting into team training? Well Mal hadn't counted on her falling asleep on him. At least he thought Audra might have fallen asleep. He sat there for a bit, not really sure what to do. It couldn't be comfortable though, sitting on the floor like that because he sure wasn't. "Do you want to lie down somewhere?" he finally asked. Audra jolted up, her head lightly hitting the tile behind her with a thud. She let out a small gasp, then looked really embarrassed. “Hmm? Sure,” she said, using her free hand to massage the back of her head a few times before unlinking her arm so they could stand. Then she remembered how dreary her room had been for the past few days, and how it was morning and Malcolm probably had class, and how she didn’t want to deal with anyone or anything right now. The immediate area around her seemed to grow damp from precipitation, on the brink of another small rain cloud. "Sorry," he said. He hadn't meant to make Audra bump her head. After standing back up, he couldn't help noticing that the weather was changing again. He knew he'd be rubbish to talk to but it seemed like she needed it. Maybe there were other people she could confide in. He really didn't know what to do. "C'mon, let's go to the lounge." Maybe they could watch more movies; it'd helped him take his mind off things. Either way, Mal didn't think she should be alone, classes be damned. Audra nodded. For most of her life, Audra had taken directions from others, it’s something she found solace in. It wasn’t until she was really comfortable with a certain group of people or strong in her beliefs of something that she was able to speak out. But right now, she wasn’t even sure who she was supposed to be anymore. Before, it was being a good student at IVI while also convincing her mother (and herself) that she was a good daughter. Now, the two had collided and she had no idea what to do. The precipitation in the air lingered as Audra bent down to pick up her towel. It looked like she had just stepped out of a pool and she began to shiver again. "Or maybe we should change our clothes first," Mal suggested, seeing Audra shivering. He wasn't particularly used to telling people what to do, but that seemed obvious. Whatever was going on with her, she didn't deserve to be that miserable. "Meet you there in ten? Or, you know, we don't have to. Whatever would make you feel better." Clothes, right. Well, she hoped the rain had definitively stopped or else a change of clothes would prove to be useless. She smiled weakly, as if she hadn't heard the last part of his statement. "Ten minutes," she said with a small nod. Mal nodded back and waited for her to leave. He hoped a change of clothes would make her feel a little better. He really had no idea what else he could do to help. He realized that’s probably how plenty of people felt about him, too. Even worse, he had no idea to help himself, either, or if he even wanted anyway. It was a sobering thought as he walked back to his room. |