Chapter One: The Meeting

[backinthsaddle]

Homework, the bane of nearly every student's existence.

Cole's sitting on the couch, surrounded by a modest stack of textbooks, a notebook balanced on his thigh as he takes notes. He's deeply involved in his studies, and has been ever since he got home from class an hour ago. It gives him something to do when he's not out running, or at track practice, although he's still not so sure about his major. But then, what guy his age is? It's not like he's had a long time to focus on what he wants to do as a career.

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[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Fine."

Well, now he's got a cup of tea all made and he's not sure if he should just let her sleep or give her the tea anyway. He settles for putting it down on the coffee table - or, more accurately, on the smallest pile of textbooks on top of it. Well within reach, and he can't help but feel like he's putting out food for an abused dog to try to lure it in.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

That metaphor is not far off. She's a wreck. Smudgey dark circles under her eyes, cracked lips, hipbones jutting out, and who knows what would have happened to her if Liam didn't come along.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"...the tea's done." He doesn't want to bother her, especially if she hasn't been resting, so he says it quiet-like.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She breathes in sharply as she wakes (abruptly, she's a light sleeper), sits up. "Oh. Oh, thank you."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"You're welcome." He hasn't put any sugar in it, it hasn't really occurred to him that it's an option she might want at the moment.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She takes a tender sip through split and slightly swollen lips. She's too polite to ask for sugar, and scared of asking for anything out of an irrational fear that they'll sent her back. "Thank you. It's great."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Okay, good." He doesn't know what to do with himself now, whether to sit down or go for a run while Liam sets her up, or what. He sticks his hands in his pockets, his homework completely forgotten now.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"What's your name? I'm Vic. Um. Shoot, it feels so weird to be small-talking again, I'm sorry, I'm awful."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Don't worry about it. I'm Cole. Liam's my brother."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"It's nice to meet you. Um. Ah. Wanna sit down? I guess... you probably have questions and stuff."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"You don't have to tell us anything right now." He does sit, though, on a completely separate piece of furniture.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"It, it doesn't matter. It's never gonna get any easier, and the, um, the reality itself isn't ever gonna shift. Tomorrow, a month from now, a year from now, what happened woulda still happened."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

Now Cole doesn't know what to say, how to respond to that. "At least... take the chance to rest first?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I'd made my peace that I was gonna die back there. He gave me a choice, and I chose it, rather than...." She just needs to get a little bit out. She needs to talk through this, figure out what happened, she's in some shade of shock.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Why'd he even have you in the first place?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I was... collateral damage. The friend of his enemy. The first time he took me, I was seventeen. Then he got me again. This most recent time I turned twenty on his table. I was really strong for a while."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

Cole shoots a look at Liam, seriously disapproving of his friendships.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

Liam shrugs helplessly, like, 'what else can you do. I'm not my screwbuddy's keeper.'

Victor takes another sip of her sugarless tea.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Well we won't let him get to you again."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"He's gonna," she says. "It's just a question of when."

"No. No, he's not. I'm going to have a little talk with him."

"I've been through this before. When you 'talk' to him, please don't kill him or otherwise maim him. I don't want that on my head."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

Cole's not sure how he feels about this. He doesn't really know her, but no one deserves whatever happened to her. So he says nothing, letting Liam handle it for the moment.

((ooc: sorry for the slow tagging, I am just wiped out today))

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I just, I don't want anyone to die."

Liam makes a noncommital sound. "I'll just talk."

"A guy once killed him for me, even though I asked him not to. He survived in the body of a rat, 'til he could switch. And it just made him hate me more, and...."

Liam flops onto the couch next to her. "Kid. Kid, it's okay now. You're okay now."

((That's okay!))

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"No one's going to die."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She shakes her head sadly and curls into her cup of tea, taking one sip, another, another. She's going to die. Her number is so up.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"No one," Cole repeats, firmly. He means her, naturally.