Above and Beyond [Vanyel/Amelia]

“A friend, hm?” Amelia’s smile grew a little, an obvious hint of assumed romance between him and this “friend.” She could understand being really worried about someone like that. Amelia found a bench and sat down, patting next to her. A small hiss of pain and she lifted her foot. The bottom of her foot was filthy, with both dirty and drying blood. “I had a feeling I stepped on something… Damn it.”

“So," Amelia continued as she pulled some wipes out of her purse and began cleaning the wound. "This friend of yours, what exactly is she going through? I deal with a lot of personalities in life, so maybe I can help you out."

That smile caught him off guard. Romance had been the furthest thing from his mind when it came to Violet. Nevertheless, such an implication, no matter how subtle, caused his cheeks to flush red as he shook his head immediately.

"No, not like that."

Sitting down next to her, a hand instinctively went to his other pocket, retreating when he saw her pull out some wipes to clean the wound. At first, he thought to get the first-aid kit from his motorcycle...but, his motorcycle wasn't there. So, he fidgeted lightly in his place, contemplating on how he was going to respond. After a small bit of time, he sighed, bringing his hands to his face.

"As long as no cops get involved. It...might involve drugs, among some other things that...I don't have the right to talk about. I don't want anything happenin' to her except trying to help her get better. Okay?"

“Don't worry; I’m no snitch,” Amelia said as she cleaned the wound and then tested it to see how much it was going to bleed. As he explained, she pulled out a band aid and some ointment to wrap it all up. She nodded along, listening intently, that sweet smile never leaving as she took it all in. She let out a small “hm” as she finished cleaning up her foot. “I see… It’s not like I’m gonna meet this woman, so you can explain further. How am I gonna help if I don't know what happened? The drugs... what happened for her to do something like that? She do it before?”

She had a point. He didn't plan on divulging that much information, especially since, in all likelihood, she'd never meet Violet. So, with a light nod and a brief shrug of his shoulders, he thought back to how Solomon had explained the situation. He had gotten hospitalized from a spar, Violet came in a panic...

"I don't have her side of the story, but...from what I could tell, it didn't seem like she had used before. She'd left the house earlier in a panic, one of her other friends had gotten hospitalized from an intense sparring session, and...they exchanged words at one point. I'm not gonna try and recite the entire mouthful he told me, but..."

Vanyel sighed as he thought back to that morning, putting his head in his hands.

"From what he told me, it was supposed to be from a place of care, but, he basically said that she needed to be prepared for everythin' that she works for to potentially be erased and made meaningless. I think that's what set her off. I don't know what happened in the past that made her have a reaction like that, but, it...led to where we are now."

Amelia slipped her heels back on and crossed on leg over the other. Leaning back and letting her head hang so she can stare up at the sky, Amelia took a moment to think. There was something missing there, but she wouldn’t push any further. He explained what he was comfortable with explaining, and that would have to do. And from what Amelia knew about people, she had an idea…

“I’m guessing your friend, the one with the drug problem, is probably a pretty insecure girl? Do you know if she was abused at all? Growing up in an abusive household can cause a lot of developmental problems…”

"She doesn't...really have the best view of herself. Especially not right now. I don't know about abuse, but...it..."

The orange aura that Amelia had seen would slowly grow more bright and saturated as his heart shifted from nervousness and worry to horror, a bright, sulfurous yellow. His lip quivered and his leg bounced in place as his gaze turned far more intense, boring a hole into the concrete at his feet.

One hand was folded over the other, knuckles turning white as he gripped his fingers with enough force to start warping and tearing the steel of a car, though his hands themselves showed no signs of damage. The idea made sense, especially with what he'd heard during her...episode, and how she reacted throughout the day when she woke up.

"When I was trying to talk to her and help her, I said that she was stronger than what she believed, but, she just said that she wasn't...and that she never would be."

“M’hm,” Amelia’s expression softened to pity. She felt bad for Vanyel, and this girl, but seeing him so upset about it proved his care for her at least. Watching the orange flare up was also upsetting, so she reached over to pat his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but the color quickly shifted to something worse. Seeing his aura change and the rest of his body language, she sat up straighter.

“Hey, hey, hey…” Amelia gripped his shoulder firmly. “Take a breath. If someone has that kind of negative feeling about themselves, it is usually because that is what others have told them over and over again… How long have you know her?”

Patting his shoulder did little to snap him out of it. All he could do upon realizing the possibility was start to draw connections -- how she usually acted, the way she spoke about herself, the nightmares, everything, tragically, lined up. But, all the thought process did was make him more angry and disgusted. As she gripped his shoulder, he jolted up, sitting straighter as his fingers released their death grip on each other.

"I...um..."

Vanyel paused, his arms defensively wrapping around himself, the yellow aura changing again, this time back to the original bright orange. That question was not something he really wanted to answer. It was embarrassing to admit how little he'd been in her life in the grand scheme, and yet he had such visceral reactions as if he'd known her from when she was a toddler.

"God, this is gonna make me look really stupid, but...a few weeks. Make the laughing quick."

Amelia blinked. That was surprising. “Either you attach yourself to people very quickly, which is a different type of unhealthy, or the two of you bonded over something big,” Amelia said, but her tone clearly showed it was a guess. Releasing his shoulder, she crossed her arms again. “I’m not going to laugh at that… It only tells me this is an adorable ‘love at first sight’ romance,” Amelia heightened her voice and gave it an airy sound, trying to playfully mock Vanyel, but she pulled that back a moment later. “But seriously, why care so much so quick?”

The idea that he and Violet's relationship was some kind of love at first sight romance made Vanyel groan, putting a hand to his face again. Even when he had first met her on the beach during a small bit of time off he took to go to the City of Lights, romance had been the furthest thing from his mind.

But, he knew that wasn't the case. So then, why did he care so much so quickly? He scooted back a bit on the bench, bringing his knees up a bit and resting his arms on them as he thought. He hadn't ever thought about it much -- and the only things that came to mind that would even relate to the question didn't feel entirely right as answers. Then again, he didn't even know what the proper answer was.

"I...I don't know. I guess, it's just...I have experience with it. The drugs, and...something else."

His arms went from relaxing on his knees to wrapping around himself again at the thought of what he had deduced that day, and Violet's confirmation. Even the thought of it sickened him.

"...I've seen this shit ruin people's lives. I didn't want her to become another."