RP: Awakening

Al:

After Natia had passed out in the dungeon and her Spirit disappeared, Al wasted no time and hefted her onto his back and carried her up towards the nurses wing in the castle. At first, he'd considered bringing her to one of the teachers but an passing upperclassman had directed him to this wing where Natia was taken from him and poked and prodded by the odd staff, who assured Al that Natia would reawaken soon and nothing was physically wrong with her.
Al then sat next to her bed and glanced around, figuring he should wait, in case she woke up and was still able to see spirits (because Spirits of the sick always seemed so horrible to Al) but after an hour or so, he'd fallen asleep as well and was bent over the back of the hard chair he'd been given.

Natia:

Natia stirred uneasily as the remnants of a lingering dream seemed to still haunt her, even though she couldn't quite remember the dream itself. Something about frightening faces, feeling surrounded, and a strange odor of decay rested on the brink of her liminal state. She tried to grasp at these dream tendrils with her memory, groaning softly as she felt something almost familiar brush her consciousness as she struggled to take a stronger hold on the feeling. Coldness washed over her and she trembled as her memories came back to her in a terrible wash. Natia screamed.

Her eyes flew open as she gasped for breath, drawing in air shakily. The room was dark, but she was not laying upon cold stone slabs as she had expected. She lay still, her eyes slowly taking in the dimness around her. She was in a bed. The sheets were a bit starchy, not those of softness that she slumbered in safe in her dormitory. The infirmary, she guessed. I fainted. I was in the dungeon and I fainted.

Natia turned her head to her left and was assured her guess was right upon seeing a nightstand with bottles and cotton swabs by her bed, a glass of water just within reach should she wake and be thirsty in the night. Natia sighed. How late is it? She wondered with a frown as she rolled her head to the other side. Al still slept in his chair, his head rolling back as he dozed. Natia smiled, relieved to see her friend by her side and glad to know her horrified scream only happened in her dreams.

"Al?" she half whispered, feeling a little guilty to see her friend sleeping on the wooden chair. "Hey, Al."

Al:

Al lolled his head to the side and shrugged slightly like he was working a crick in his neck, and seemed to be going through the motions of waking up. After a moment, his eyes opened heavily and almost immediately dropped before he noticed Natia was awake. He jolted up, his tired face morphing into grinning excitement at seeing she was alright, if not a little scared and pale.
"Natia!" Al cried loudly, sitting up and leaning forward with his hands on his knees, "I'm so glad you're awake!" he grinned stupidly for a few more moments before remembering that Natia may be feeling dizzy or sick, "Oh, do you feel alright? Can I get you anything?" he offered quickly, lowering his voice as well. He wanted to ask so many things but definitely didn’t want to barrage his friend with questions when she had only just woken up from a exhausting ordeal.

Natia:

Natia gave Al a grin, his exuberance being a bit infectious as it was, the levity helping ease the tension. She blinked a bit, noticing a few spirits watching them but maintaining a bit of a distance. They were a little foggy looking, as if their existence was unsteady. Natia doubted this was the case, for they seemed calm and unafraid, not desperate or wary.

"I'm alright. But something is...odd," she said slowly, keeping an eye on the spirit of what she thought looked like a male vampire although she could only guess. "My spirit vision seems a bit foggy." She sat up and pointed to the spirit. "The horned spirit in the dungeon, I saw him clearly. Now, the spirits in here...it's like looking at them through a cloud. Their shapes are firm, just not clear. But not fading like a rainbow, either."

Natia frowned again. She turned to her friend, drawing a slow breath, her face still pale. "Al, how long has it been? Why am I still able to see them?"

Al:

Al listened to her with rare seriousness, a few times glancing back at the spirits, all of whom seemed perfectly content to be scary far away, "You were only out a few hours, seven at most." Al confirmed, giving her a steady look before thinking of how to answer her best, "I don't know, I've never been able to not see them," he frowned and glanced back at the spirits again and waved furiously at one who was drifting too close, "Maybe the sight wares off?" he asked hopefully, grinning a little, "That would be lucky!"

Natia:

Natia nodded, wishing she though Al was right, but after being unconscious for several hours she would expect more of a progression of the loss of spirit sight. She could still see the spirits, they were not fading away or semi transparent. Their coloring was some what off, as had been the same with the horned spirit in the dungeon, but these ones seemed somehow grayer now. The horned spirit had a faint hint of color to him, but these spirits seemed almost devoid of coloring in Natia's eyes, as though she were seeing them through a morning fog.

"Perhaps," she murmured, still watching the spirits in the corner. "Or maybe my sight just isn't as strong with them. I didn't summon them after all." Natia sighed, being a little less than thrilled that she was still seeing spirits outside of the dungeon.
it would take a little getting used to, especially if she started seeing spirits in the bathrooms. "I suppose time will tell."

She looked at Al, a bit of apprehension hiding in her eyes as she chewed on her lower lip. "Al, what happened in there, after I fainted? I remember the horned spirit sharing his memories with me...and then being back in the dungeon surrounded by spirits and demons. But that's all I can remember."

Al:

Al leaned back in his chair, listening to Natia’s theory and thinking it over, he wished there was someone, someone knowledgeable like a teacher, who they could consult about this. Al didn’t think he wanted Natia to see such things if she didn’t have to and he silently hoped she was wrong and she was losing the ability to see spirits, even though he knew she wasn’t. There hadn’t been a moment of Al’s life when he hadn’t been trailed by a stray, drifting spirit so he was trying his best to sympathize with his friend, who must be horrified with this development in her new found sight.

At Natia’s question, after a small moment of silence, Al sat up straight and leaned over the side of her bed, “Your Spirit brought you would out of the Dungeon, he said, ah-“ Al closed his eyes to remember the exact words that had made him so suspicious, “He said that he was your guardian. Then I brought you here, the professor in charge of the Medical Studies Classes was in here at the same time and looked you over, he said you’ll be fine.” Al added that part towards the end in a strange attempt to possibly calm Natia.


Natia:

Natia gave Al a quizzical look.  At first she was not certain she had heard him correctly. Did he just say- Natia shook her head vehemently.

"What does he mean my guardian? I don't need a guardian and I sure wasn't going to go looking for one in that dungeon!" She grumbled a bit more, under her breath, mostly low curses.  Her head snapped up and she looked about the room angrily. She saw other spirits watching her curiously, but not the horned spirit. She let loose a long, slow breath, relaxing just slightly. "Well, at least he is not in this room now.  The last thing I want is some ghostly babysitter."

Natia slumped back in her bed, staring sullenly at the wall, much like a petulant child.  She was not happy with her situation. The more she thought about her loss of privacy with both a new found guardian and her spirit sight, the more depressed she became. I'm stuck with strange spirits watching me, she lamented. They are going to be everywhere I go. And now I've got some creepy spirit guardian that I didn't want. I didn't even get a say in this, I'm just stuck like this. Natia couldn't help it, she began to cry softly. She buried her face in her hands as the tears fell from her eyes.

"It's not fair," she sniffled. Suddenly it dawned on her that Al was still sitting beside her. Natia swiped at her tears with her fingers, forcing herself to regain some semblance of composure.  She could cry when she was alone, if she needed to, but not now.  She was stronger than this, and Natia was not about to allow herself to look weak in front of Al just because of her predicament.

Al:

Al watched her for a moment, feeling sad and a little confused, but he tried to understand why Natia would feel so upset over her new lack of privacy.
At a loss of what else to do, Al simply handed her a glass of water that a nurse had placed on the side table and gave her a soft smile, "Not all spirits are scary and bad." he tried to explain, trying to think of some way to assure his friend that it would be all right.
He glanced sideways at the spirits who had surrounded them, since they were the only source of entertainment in the room. They all looked horrid and some looked down right evil (If a spirit found home in a place of injury and sickness, Al thought to himself, then they'd have to be pretty evil...) Al frowned at them and tried to shoo them away but the most they did was take a few steps back.
"Anyway..." Al groped stupidly for something to say that would cheer Natia up, he glanced out the window and saw a small blur of yellow light on the horizon, "Uh... the sun is coming up?" he ended up saying, blushing at how silly he sounded, "The doctor said we could leave at morning... are you feeling well enough?" he thought maybe leaving this place would cheer Natia up (even though she'd stopped her tears, Al was smart enough to understand that it didn't mean she was happy)


Natia:

Natia offered Al a halfhearted smile as she took a few sips of cool water from the glass he pressed into her hand. She guessed from his reactions, that he didn't really understand why she was feeling this way, but he had spirit sight all his life. He was used to this. I suppose, in time, I will be, too. Natia tried to comfort herself. Maybe this won't be so terrible. Just because I can see the the spirits and demons, doesn't mean that they know I can see them. There is no need for me to engage them in conversation if I do not wish to speak with them. She knew that was not really what was upsetting her, but she was trying to keep from being upset over this guardian business, the one spirit she would have no choice but to deal with, and right now she was not sure how often he would appear to her. She hoped it would be a long time before he returned to her. Even though he had helped them earlier, Natia was still a bit frightened by him and had hoped she would never have to be reminded of their visit to the dungeon again. she sighed and leaned back, resting her head against the metal headboard of her infirmary bed.

"I'm a bit tired, strangely enough, but I am feeling well aside from that. I would like to get out of here soon." Natia reached out to Al's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Thank you for watching over me, Al."

Al:

Al smiled brightly, gripping her hand as well, "Your clothes are over there." He pointed with his other hand towards the table where Natia's dress had been folded neatly by the nurse who'd checked them in, "Ah, right," Al stood up and made to leave, "Call if you need any help, a nurse will surely come!" He swept a few spirits out with dramatic sweeps of his arms and shut the curtains that surrounded the bed in a rectangle shape to give her some privacy.

Natia:

Natia rose from the bed, glad to see that at the very least there were no spirits in the small space the closed curtain provided her. She quickly changed out of the infirmary gown she was dressed in and donning her familiar burgundy robe. Comfortably back in her own clothes, Natia began to feel a little more like herself.

Pushing the curtain back a little ways, Natia stepped back in to the spares room lines with beds, and smiled at Al. Even the sight of the lingering spirits in the room didn't seem as bothersome to her as they had moments before.

"What do you say to some breakfast?"



Al:

Al gave Natia a wide smile as she emerged, "Always!" he clapped his hands together and sat down to put on his boots and fix his jacket, "Let's go then!" Al escorted Natia out of the Medical Wing, for the place they'd just emerged from was far more then a room, and through the maze of windowless, dark halls that twisted through the castle.
As the two walked through the halls, a whole manor of spirits woke up to watch them pass, the peaked out of cracks in the walls and gaps in the ceiling and floors. Most of them made no effort to communicate and disappeared as soon as either saw them, but a few made themselves known by whispered sly, cruel things as Al and Natia walked by. Al ignored them for the most part and rushed Natia through the maze towards a large, double door with light seeping from under. Al wretched open both doors as quickly as he could and the second the doors swung open and the fresh air burst in, a gust of crisp wind blew through the halls they'd just left, the whispering spirits were immediately silenced.
Al gave Natia a sheepish grin, "Uh, that's the worst part... They're not as, uh, intrusive outside."

Natia:

Natia nodded with a soft sigh. It was just another thing for her to get used to, but she suspected that if she carried a few charms and protective stones in her pockets she may not have to endure quite so much.  A small smile played on her lips.  The benefit of her being a student at this academy was that she would be learning ways to help her deal with certain similar situations, lessons that she found rather applicable to her life.  A few trips to the library and she would know just what enchantments to use and which stones would be best to use as amplifiers for those enchantments.  She was looking forward to the challenge.

"I think I'll learn to cope with it, Al," she said with growing confidence.  "It may take a little getting used to, but if you can do it, so can I.  Besides, that wasn't so bad, Kazu is a lot worse." She shook her head with a smile. "I think a nice bowl of hot cereal and cinnamon with tea would be nice. Or maybe a warm pastry…yes, that would be perfect."


Natia took Al's arm, cheerful again at the thought of a nice breakfast. Now that she had a plan of action for dealing with the newly discovered constant presence of spirits, Natia was no longer nearly as bothered by the temporary lack of privacy.  She lead Al toward the Nightshade cafeteria.  "Come on, I'm treating today."