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xp_logsLate Friday night. Alison waits for Haroun to return to their room, needing someone to lean on herself. You can be strong forever if you can safely surrender all to another.
Haroun walked into the suite he and Alison shared and yawned expressively. He'd spent just about the entire day down in the Teacher's Lounge, grading final exam papers. Not his favorite way to spend the day, but it had to be done, and when such things loomed he generally preferred to just do it and get it over with.
She hadn't quite lurking by the door, but she'd certainly been perched on the edge of her seat, waiting for Haroun to return. Alison had left the medlab on her own, before being shooed off - Paige was tucked away for the night, in isolation. Safe and tended to - physically at least. After speaking shortly with Charles, reason had prevailed and she had decided to head back up and do her level best to drown herself in a long hot shower. And then wait for Haroun, who wasn't exactly pounced upon as she rose to her feet and nearly trudged toward him, murmuring a greeting before leaning against him tiredly.
Hrm. This was unlike her. She looked exhausted. "You OK?" he asked her before settling into his usual spot at the end of the sofa. "You look exhausted. Rough Danger Room run?" he asked her.
Alison blinked at that, though she stayed exactly where she was and he missed the expression. Heavily winding her arms around his neck and sighing again, she shook her head slightly. "Forgot I had that. No. Got a call earlier today. MIT people were looking for Paige. She's missed her second interview."
Haroun blinked. She was extremely clingy - he had come to realize that that was a grade-A Bad Sign. "OK, talk to me. Something's eating you, and not in the good way. Wanna talk about it, or should I just put some of that crap you listen to on and make another pot of tea and let you relax however you see fit?"
"Hold me for a bit longer first?" The idea of tea sounded divine though, something simple, a scent that was familiar and spoke of good things. "Tea after. Just you. And tea." She turned her face, just enough to press her lips to the side of his neck before resuming hiding against him once more. "She's in the medlab now. Paige I mean." Making a minimal amount of sense would be good. "Went to find her."
Haroun adjusted himself so as to present the maximized amount of his torso for snuggling purposes, should she be so inclined. "I see. I take it what you saw wasn't very pretty?" he said, the understanding and empathy showing in his face and in his tone. "No, I know it wasn't, or else you wouldn't be as torn up as you are now."
It hadn't even been the wounds or the gashes, really, though those alone would have been enough to tear at Alison's heart - it had been the look in Paige's eyes, which Alison could see still even now, as she tried to blend herself against Haroun. Everything else faded compared to that. "Thank you." He understood and the sound of his voice was a siren's call, as was the heat of his body, the contrast to the memory of the cold in the tunnels drawing a shiver from her.
Haroun kicked up his body-temperature a full degree and a half, and brought it up close to the skin to let her bask in it. Sure, he'd sweat buckets, but that's what showers were for. "Shhhhh." he said, mistaking her shiver for something else entirely. "She'll pull through. Charles and this Samson fellow are the best there is. They'll put her back together. It is taught in my faith that one should have the greatest charity towards the mad, for they have been touched by Allah directly."
A strangled sound escaped her at that, the response oddly reassuring despite everything else. "I know she will. She wants to, now. S'all that matters." Closing her eyes, Alison took a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing the tension that had accumulated during the day to start ebbing away somehow. For some reason restlessness was catching up with her now, but she still clung to Haroun's solidity, taking another deep slow breath and holding it this time for a moment.
"Breathe. Breathe in serenity, peace, calm. Breathe out worry, fear, doubt. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Concentrate on nothing but your breathing. Let your mind go where it will, do not try to hold it in." he said, talking her through some elementary meditation. He was taught it to control his own panic post-operations, so it was only fitting that he passed it on to her now in a similar circumstance.
Every inch of tension was suddenly there, present and nearly keeping her from breathing, choking the breath from her. And finally, when she managed to let go of the breath she'd been holding, Alison slumped against Haroun, concentrating on doing exactly what he was saying. Breathing. She could focus on breathing. That and the heat and Haroun.
It was safe to surrender to that.
Haroun walked into the suite he and Alison shared and yawned expressively. He'd spent just about the entire day down in the Teacher's Lounge, grading final exam papers. Not his favorite way to spend the day, but it had to be done, and when such things loomed he generally preferred to just do it and get it over with.
She hadn't quite lurking by the door, but she'd certainly been perched on the edge of her seat, waiting for Haroun to return. Alison had left the medlab on her own, before being shooed off - Paige was tucked away for the night, in isolation. Safe and tended to - physically at least. After speaking shortly with Charles, reason had prevailed and she had decided to head back up and do her level best to drown herself in a long hot shower. And then wait for Haroun, who wasn't exactly pounced upon as she rose to her feet and nearly trudged toward him, murmuring a greeting before leaning against him tiredly.
Hrm. This was unlike her. She looked exhausted. "You OK?" he asked her before settling into his usual spot at the end of the sofa. "You look exhausted. Rough Danger Room run?" he asked her.
Alison blinked at that, though she stayed exactly where she was and he missed the expression. Heavily winding her arms around his neck and sighing again, she shook her head slightly. "Forgot I had that. No. Got a call earlier today. MIT people were looking for Paige. She's missed her second interview."
Haroun blinked. She was extremely clingy - he had come to realize that that was a grade-A Bad Sign. "OK, talk to me. Something's eating you, and not in the good way. Wanna talk about it, or should I just put some of that crap you listen to on and make another pot of tea and let you relax however you see fit?"
"Hold me for a bit longer first?" The idea of tea sounded divine though, something simple, a scent that was familiar and spoke of good things. "Tea after. Just you. And tea." She turned her face, just enough to press her lips to the side of his neck before resuming hiding against him once more. "She's in the medlab now. Paige I mean." Making a minimal amount of sense would be good. "Went to find her."
Haroun adjusted himself so as to present the maximized amount of his torso for snuggling purposes, should she be so inclined. "I see. I take it what you saw wasn't very pretty?" he said, the understanding and empathy showing in his face and in his tone. "No, I know it wasn't, or else you wouldn't be as torn up as you are now."
It hadn't even been the wounds or the gashes, really, though those alone would have been enough to tear at Alison's heart - it had been the look in Paige's eyes, which Alison could see still even now, as she tried to blend herself against Haroun. Everything else faded compared to that. "Thank you." He understood and the sound of his voice was a siren's call, as was the heat of his body, the contrast to the memory of the cold in the tunnels drawing a shiver from her.
Haroun kicked up his body-temperature a full degree and a half, and brought it up close to the skin to let her bask in it. Sure, he'd sweat buckets, but that's what showers were for. "Shhhhh." he said, mistaking her shiver for something else entirely. "She'll pull through. Charles and this Samson fellow are the best there is. They'll put her back together. It is taught in my faith that one should have the greatest charity towards the mad, for they have been touched by Allah directly."
A strangled sound escaped her at that, the response oddly reassuring despite everything else. "I know she will. She wants to, now. S'all that matters." Closing her eyes, Alison took a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing the tension that had accumulated during the day to start ebbing away somehow. For some reason restlessness was catching up with her now, but she still clung to Haroun's solidity, taking another deep slow breath and holding it this time for a moment.
"Breathe. Breathe in serenity, peace, calm. Breathe out worry, fear, doubt. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Concentrate on nothing but your breathing. Let your mind go where it will, do not try to hold it in." he said, talking her through some elementary meditation. He was taught it to control his own panic post-operations, so it was only fitting that he passed it on to her now in a similar circumstance.
Every inch of tension was suddenly there, present and nearly keeping her from breathing, choking the breath from her. And finally, when she managed to let go of the breath she'd been holding, Alison slumped against Haroun, concentrating on doing exactly what he was saying. Breathing. She could focus on breathing. That and the heat and Haroun.
It was safe to surrender to that.
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