Room 323 [Tuesday, Evening]

[pastmewrong]

Effy's head was still full of the fogged up confusion as she ran back to the dorms, and her mind was barely starting to wrangle the stray thoughts and overriding fear into something manageable by the time she reached her room.

There was trippy and there was wrong, and that had been all wrong. Under her hands had been a person, and in her head

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[fratboybitch]

After what happened today with Rose, Alex was headed to his room to just sleep it off before deciding he'd go up one floor just to...pass by. It wasn't checking but he could make an excuse that he was on the roof or some shit.

Whatever, he was there, his nose looked fine and he'd just knock and see. She'd come to his room, he could still go to hers. He knocked a few times, quietly and waited to see if she was in.

[I knoooooow this is late and you are in bed (hopefully) but yes, hard to pass up a post with that icon on it omg awww. Feel free to ignore him, send him away, whatever, though! He'd just want to stop by]

[pastmewrong]

Noises, even those as innocuous as a knock on the door, were going to throw Effy off at the moment, and she twitched at the sudden intrusion on her thoughts that had been a long way from the present.

Eventually she pulled out an uncertain, "Yes?"

[fratboybitch]

Well, that sounded a little off. He'd heard different emotions from her before but this one was somewhat unfamiliar. "Yeah, it's just Alex," he said after a moment's silence. "I was just...passing by, thought I'd knock. You all right?"

[pastmewrong]

Was she? Didn't even know for sure. Probably not, when reality was getting warped like it was today.

But this, it sounded like Alex, and she hadn't lied, there was some trust there. Even so, there was incentive to pull herself together a little before she crawled out into the room to flip the door lock. Falling apart was one thing, letting anyone see to what extent was another.

"It's open." But she took a step or two back from the door without opening it, just in case.

[fratboybitch]

Alex waited a minute before he pushed the door open, slipped inside and closed it behind him. He leaned back against the door and asked, "Having an early night?"

It was an inane question but he hadn't missed her no answer of his question. Hadn't even gone for a brush off there so he went for inane instead of immediate repetition.

[pastmewrong]

Inane questions were a lot easier than the big ones right now. For once she could appreciate banal small talk. Unlike him Effy obviously hadn't done anything much to tidy herself up after her run in. The answer to that earlier question might be apparent anyway. Not obviously hurt, but grappling with people put her at scruffier than she'd ever normally be.

She opened her mouth, but it was a second or two before her, "Guess so," appeared.

[fratboybitch]

Apparent was right but he wasn't commenting on it just yet. It was noted though and he had to wonder what'd happened to make her look like she did.

"Not something you do all that often," he said, pushing away from the door and taking a few step toward her. "Nothing needing your expert attention tonight?"

[pastmewrong]

Effy shrugged hesitantly as she watched him come closer, not making any move herself. Her attempts at casual were rather falling flat today. "People gotta live without me sometimes." Especially while she was busy sorting herself out after encounters like tonight.

[fratboybitch]

"Suppose so," he said, stopping a few steps in front of her and taking in her appearance from closer vantage point now. "What've you been up to today? You're looking a little rough."

[pastmewrong]

"Was them," Effy said. Because that would make so much sense to anyone outside her head. "--I think." Nothing felt certain today, which was an unnerving feeling for someone who liked her control as much as her.

"It's all fucked up."

[fratboybitch]

"Them who?" Alex asked, feeling things tilt a little more to the 'something's wrong' side of things here. He'd been leaning there before but felt more certain now. "Fucked up how? Someone else made you look like the shit someone's scraped off their shoe?"

[pastmewrong]

"Not someone." Effy frowned, but this time it wasn't anything to do with being told she looked like shit. "It." She shook her head and tapped her temple. "But it wasn't real."

"Not really real... You know?"

[fratboybitch]

"Yeah, I know." He didn't know but he had some suspicions just because he'd seen some shit today too. Still, her reactions weren't lining up with his.

The gesture to her temple made something in his expression shift a bit before he buried it down. "What'd you see? What wasn't really real?"

[pastmewrong]

"Monster. All claws and scales and shit," she said, fidgeting with her hands. "Was but it wasn't."

Even in the state she was now that still made her feel like a five year old. Hiding under beds from monsters. Fuck she was pathetic.

[fratboybitch]

All right, at least she'd seen what he'd seen and there wasn't something else showing itself in this fucking fog.

"Sit down, Effy," he said, trying to still those fidgeting hands with one of his. "Sit. You wanna tell me what happened?"

[pastmewrong]

Effy slid her hands over the one he'd tried to stop her movement with, squeezing briefly. She couldn't control everything in her head, but she could turn the control of that little gesture.

"Grabbed me." She frowned again as she went back over it in her mind. "Kept trying so I hit it, and ran." Very abridged version, but really, what could you ever expect from her. "All that fog... And I don't know where she went."