By now, she knew that my post titles made no sense. They just happened to be the titles of songs I was listening to. Still, it was a song that I decided was stuck in Raion's head today too. She had heard the news - Nobody on campus likely hadn't heard this news in fact. It wasn't every day a crazed girl cut someone's eye out and then ran off. She didn't know the details of the end though, so she decided to try and talk to Zeph instead of wonder.

Still... Being in Miator's area always made her uneasy. This was the enemy - with one exception anyway. She would tough it out for her friend though. This would be good publicity, and she was worried, so it was win win to be here. The only thing stopping her from entering her friend's room was the nerves of being here. She stood at the door for a few minutes in fact before taking a deep breath and knocking.

"It's Raion. Are you home?"

"I raise my head and stare
Into the eyes of a stranger
I've always known that the mirror never lies
People always turn away
From the eyes of a stranger
Afraid to know what
Lies behind the stare."

A soft hum of music was coiling about the dark enclosure. The only light coming from the small desk light on her vanity. She even had the dark curtains synched tight. One crimson hue flashed in the light as her gaze shifted from holding her own to the door, which could be seen directly over her shoulder.

A soft sigh collapsed her chest before she stood and moved to the door. The soft click of the mechanism was the only indication that anyone was even there before it swung open to reveal the tall Gael still in her school uniform.

"Hello, Raion."

The voice that came from between her unpainted petals was soft and a little hoarse from disuse. That was by far the least noticeable change though. What everyone had been staring at all day, of course, was the patch that covered her right eye. A simple black leather piece, but it clashed with her pale skin tone. And it gave an almost menacing feel to her emotionless expression.

"Is there something you needed help with?"

Help? Oh heavens no.

"Just checking on you." she stated with no hesitation. "You were attacked and clearly have some battle scars. I'm making sure you're not in some kind of panic from it."

Panic isn't exactly the perfect word.

"Or hysterics, maybe, I should say. I'm bad at this. Can I just say I'm worried about you?"

And as she said so, she stepped into the dark room, a hand placed on her friend's shoulder.

"And now that I'm here and you opened the door, I'm not leaving until we have a nice time. You earned it."

Her expression remained stoney for a moment before she blinked as Raion moved into the room past her. This made her face contort with a bit of pain, but a quick deep breath and it settled once more. A gentle shove and the door was closed, then she turned to face her friend.

"I'm not in a panic or fit of hysteria. I'm fine, really."

She clasped her hands infront of her and let them hang just as her friend grasped her shoulder. A small glimmer of a smile made her left cheek twitch upward then she turned her head off to the side.

"But I will admit if it's a good time you're looking for, you've come to the wrong room."

"It's obvious that panic and depression are different things, and it's pretty obvious which one you have. And nobody blames you for it either. But I'm worried and I wanted to make sure you smiled at least once today." she huffed, crossing her arms. "I worry about my friends, is that so wrong?"

Her attention turned to the girl's obviously tired expression, too.

"I'm not going anywhere until you've had a good time." she commented, almost harshly. She was so bad at this. "And that's final. Now, it occurs to me that I've never seen your room. Give me the tour and tell me all about your studies. I know so little about Miator life."

Her hackles began to rise but then they were smoothed over by Raion's words. She knew everyone had heard about what had gone on. Of course no details were given.. but since she had been absent from school and returned with an eyepatch things were pretty easy to put together. She knew she was being testy with everyone, but they all acted like it was nothing. No one blamed her. Well, they should. She was a walking catastrophe. All of this could have been prevented of her emotions hadn't gotten in the way.

Instead of showing her inner dialog to her friend, she turned and flipped on the light. Artificial glow flooded the room, allowing Raion to see the tidy space.

"Not much to tour, really, but alright."

She moved over to the vanity that coupled as her desk and flipped the light off. Her makeup work was neatly stacked off to one side, in two piles. The uncompleted far larger than the finished. Most of it was just French worksheets though. Her school books were all stashed on a shelf near the desk so she could reach them without moving. The rest of the bookshelf was filled with novels of all types, ranging old to new.

"I have a lot to catch up on and keep up with. But, I'm managing, don't worry. It won't take me more than a week to get caught back up. Uhm.."

Her fingers trailed over the edge of the desk as she looked around the room. Everything was in plain view now, did she really need to talk about it? Then she noticed the photo over Raion's shoulder. It was sitting up, out of its normal position of face down on her bedside table.

The redhead skirted around her smaller companion and stood before it. With her hands behind her back she slowly lowered it down, hoping Raion wouldn't notice.

"I don't really know what to say.. Here it is? My desk, bookshelf, bed, closet."

The girl shrugged then settled on the edge of the bed, completely forgetting about the most interesting piece in her mostly Spartan room. The coat of arms hanging on the wall next to her bed. It depicted winged horses of gold on a field of green, crescent moons with stars surrounding them and a gilded edge surrounding it.

"Miator isn't much different than any other catholic school, you know. Strict with high expectations. I'm generally fairly quick with languages.. but it's even a bit more fast paced than I can take."

Of course as any trained Dark Souls player-- I mean warrior would know, it's not about the items one sees, but their placement in relation to everything else in the area. This held true for combat, for survival, and for stuffing out traps in video games. She knew what to watch for, and she took mental notes.

The stiff responses were expected, so she was spot on with that.

Flipping down a portrait. That meant whoever was in it was someone she was ashamed of, or at the very least wanted to keep others from knowing she had in her life.

Plenty of following instructions too. She actually agreed to give a tour of the room when it was, in fact, a square with everything visible from this spot. This compliance meant she was trying to rush Raion away faster to prevent something.

Too bad.

"My God, you actually gave me a tour." she brushed her hair back with her hand and shook her head. "For someone so strong in battle, you're really easy to read."

She sat herself down on the bed and offered for Zeph to sit next to her.

"Now you're going to tell me how you feel, and no, I'm not going to accept deflection. I want the whole story."

She felt the slim string of her patience humming at a high frequency as the last of its coiled thread snapped away bit by bit. Zeph tried to keep herself calm and collected. It rarely worked these days and that help doubly true for today.

With a narrowed eye she swiveled her head toward Raion, her mouth pressed into a firm line. Her nostrils flared a bit as she took in a deep, calming breath and looked away once more.

"You wanted a stupid tour, so you got one. I'm trying to be civil when I just want to be alone. If it'll get you out of here faster so I can go back to my work, I'll appreciate it."

Okay. So, that was definitely out of character for the tall redhead. The sweetness of her lit was icy instead and her demeanor very standoffish.

"How I really feel? You don't want to open that can of worms unless you have a sword in your hand. I'm certainly not delving into that unless I have one in mine."

Zeph stood, smoothing out the dark skirt around her thighs as she did so. This was one of the reasons she had barely gotten any work done. She couldn't sit still. Stuck in a hospital for a week.. Forbidden to train until she healed fully. She was left with school work and this room. They might as well have just kept her in the hospital. It was just as suffocating. And she had been avoiding June, so that certainly didn't help her attitude. In fact, her meltdown stage is in range.