"Are you...you know, aware of what day it is today?"

Órfhlaith laid on the couch, peering at the little details of the apartment. A wash of her own sick rinses over her. "I'm not late for anything."

"Well, of course, yes, but, you know this is for... the record's sake."

The counselor is caught off guard by the new batch of vomit pasted into the carpet. "You're not perhaps feeling a bit sick?"

"It's not a medical sickness. I'll be fine."

"Uh, of course. When was that from?"

"Yesterday."

Swallowing back a, "Do you think it'll hurt to clean up around here? Why do you insist on being a burden?" The counselor spits out, "Are your medications giving you any problems?"

"No, I don't think it's so." They both know that she seldom ever takes them.

"Any mood swings?"

Órfhlaith smirks at the theatrics Ed Rhames gave her that afternoon. "No, they don't show."

"Do you believe your medication is working?"

There's a dime's worth of silence. "Sure it is."

The counselor doesn't buy it, but of course she has to press on. "Now, here's the last one before you go ahead and, uh, go off to school."

"I'm listening." Órfhlaith props herself up. 

"Are you going to hurt yourself or others?"

Órfhlaith smirk melds into a grimace, feature by feature warping into an emotion one couldn't read. The sick spills over her while something burns and climbs at her throat. Before it meets her teeth, she swallows it all back, the bile, the beaten food. Her smile returns and the counselor is oblivious.

"I won't, that's more than apparent."

Órfhlaith brushes her pants and pushes past her counselor, bursting out of the door.

Ed's actually made it earlier than usual today. Besides the teacher and himself, there's two kids, already tending to their spots. Ed takes this opportunity to strike up a conversation with the teacher. He leans over to catch what Mr. Armaros is doing the computer. The teacher jumps back.

"Jumping Jehosaphat, Edward!" He half-squeals. "You really oughta warn me next time!"

"Uh...yeah, sorry about that."

Mr. Armaros leans in on his chair. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing! Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Alright, sure, what seems to be the matter?"

"I...said nothing, I just wanna...do you know what happened to Mr. Chaskes?"

Mr. Armaros's lips purse and then meld into a smirk. "I'll go ahead and tell you what Mr. Winfield told me. 'Mr. Chaskes had an incident with the law.' He'll be out. Soon." 

The sounds of jabbering scatters across the cafeteria. A new type of flesh labyrinth Ed maneuvers through with his tray, keeping an eye out for his bad friend. And there she sits, girls surrounding her like an interrogation. He tries to digest this as well. He waves and almost immediately, she recognizes him and beckons him over with the jerk of her head. One girl breaks flock when he gets near.

"I'm allowed to sit here, right?"

"Obviously so, Ed. Please do so." Órfhlaith shoos off the other girls and takes the time to give them an attentive send off. When she finishes, Ed's still standing. "Please... do it." She repeats through the smiling gritting of her teeth.

And Ed does.

"Your night was good, Ed."

"I mean, it was alright."

"Your morning." 

At this point, Ed notices that she doesn't have any food. "Pretty okay. I talked to Mr. Armaros about Mr. Chaskes and—"

"I apologize. Dearly. But, that means nothing to me. It means nothing to you. Am I wrong?"

"Uh, not really..."

"You mean this. You're not just telling me this because I said it."

"...Yeah! Yes."

"Tell me something...that actually means something to you."

"...The letter! The uh, letter what are we going to do about it?"

"You have ideas."

"Nope...kinda hoping you had some."

"I do. I wanted you to have a voice of some kind. Teamwork's good."

"Oh! Well, uh, thanks..."

She presses her thumb to her teeth again. "I'm going to talk to my girlfriend. You've heard of a Reign Thyge Gore. Probably."

"Uh, yep, yep! That's the girl who...does those weird role play videos with her friend, right?"

"That's...one thing I did not know. You're not opposed to this."

"I mean, yeah, if this helps you! I'll do...not everything, but I'll try a lot to help you!"

"That's a great thing. Let's meet after school, similar to the last time."

Ed nods and stretches out his hand. Órfhlaith extends her's, it advances towards his, inch by inch, until it creates some odd brand of a handshake.

"Gore, this is my friend, Ed, Ed, this is my lover, Gore," Órfhlaith choruses through her teeth.

Her other arm desperately attempting to keep Ed in her peripheral view, she embraces Gore, who lunges her lips into Órfhlaith's neck.

From a distance, Ed takes in Reign's sedated look, secured by large, possibly useless glasses and her lips, which were the size of a thread that arched into the eye of a needle. And of course, who could for get that lion's mane of a hairstyle.

"Ed." Reign utters matter-of-factly. "There would be an embrace, but this is our, uh, fundamental meeting of sorts."

"I, uh, I understand!"

"Glorious—let's get inside, alright?"

No single word could fully describe the interior of that house. Lopsided furniture, needles in the carpet Reign would happily point out for you, odd but clean wallpaper, the whole battalion.

She leads both Órfhlaith and Ed to what could've been a living room but would be formally called a dinning area. It was arguably the cleanest place in the house for the time being.

"Now, cutie," Reign addresses Órfhlaith while cracking open a briefcase. "What type of ac—"

"No, you'll just...put that away. I wanted you to asses this letter." Órfhlaith slides the envelope across the table, causing Reign to throw the briefcase to the wall. Reign frantically removes the paper from its coating. As she reads it, she makes an assortment of keens and yowls.

Reign concludes, "Beyond the pale!" Then she collapses into her seat. "But not an enigma. No scruple, this is Julianne's thing. The spawn of teach pervert, Stollanus Chaskes."

"You have proof."

"Ah, well, in our favor, Julianne does yap a tad bit too much and she's grows agitated like," She snaps. "So, no, I'm plum dry, but I know if we corner her, we have something."

"She got baker acted."

Reign gets up and begins to stroll, "I know ye have little faith in the realm of conspiracies, yes, and I concur, but you'll have to bite with me here."

"You'll continue."

"Stollanus and Julianne, ever since my keen years at this fine establishment, have been withdrawing from this school simultaneously. Odd things follow when they depart. "

Órfhlaith presses her thumb against her teeth, waiting for the pièce de résistance, Ed drags his eyes around the room. Silence.

"So, naturally, this is a cover up for a grander scheme!"

"Lover. You have proof. Am I wrong?"

"Are you wrong? Never, never! But...it's just an impression. That's all we have."

"I would like to go off based on truth. Solid facts."

"...With these things, it becomes difficult to prove them as fact, but, don't you trust me?"

"I trust you. Not superstition. You understand."

Reign's head dips. "Here comes the test of faith, Orlai. If you come along with me, you'll see all the proof you need."

Reign's pouting digged into Órfhlaith, so she concedes, sending Reign nearly shooting through the roof. She skitters over the table and tackles Órfhlaith. A nervous laugh minces from Ed's lips.

"Ah, I'm overjoyed!" Reign beams, helping Órfhlaith off the ground. "So, you want a game plan?"