there is nothing left inside

[idontlikecake]

Her bags are packed, and she's ready. She was ready a long time ago, to be honest. Today, Lily is finally getting out of rehab. It wasn't exactly necessary, she still doesn't think. She doesn't have a drinking problem like the rest of the folks here. And the whole mixing alcohol and pain killers thing was Ken's fault anyway. ...and Ken existing in

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[doyoulikecake]

Kaden's exactly on time. He was a little early, actually, but he stopped at a nearby coffeeshop to get a dose of caffeine -- yeah, the detox went well, but he only did it so he could get the desired effect from his perpetual caffeine intake again. He's got two cups, and Iris, whom he's dragged along for this little adventure, has all the cream and sugar they could grab. He's not going to mess with the alchemy of Lily's coffee.

He figures he's got some time before his next class; he can put off schoolwork for a few hours and drag them both to lunch. Get this guardian thing sorted out properly. Or at least revel in the awkwardness the entire lunch will cause. So there's an Iris with him as he walks up to the ward. She'll have to wait until he gets Lily, but it won't take long. He knows his sister's eager to leave.

And she'll appreciate the coffee gift, particularly if she has to go outside to get the sweeteners.

[idontlikecake]

Coffee.

Dear Einstein, it's coffee. For the love of everything Newtonian, coffee. ...the coffee better be for her, and not for Iris. If the coffee is for the Wanderer, she's going to be not okay because she hasn't been able to sleep for a month and they took away her drugs. Drugs that include caffeine.

But she's just going to assume that it is her coffee because Kaden loves her. And the other girl is holding an obscene amount of cream and sugar. She's so glad that Kaden actually managed to bring enough this time.

«What's she doing here?» she asks Kaden, putting her bag down so she can take one of the cups from him. Then she smiles at Iris, reaching for the bag.

"Taking good care of him, are we?" Really, we swear, she's not being passive aggressive here. ...well, maybe a little. But don't blame her. She hasn't slept in forever and Iris is intruding on her most important relationship.

[sophicsulphur]

Of course the coffee's for you, Lily. It is all for you. Unlike you, Iris doesn't actually need any more stimulants on top of the insane amounts of caffeination she gets fed through the bond. Granted, there was that brief time Kaden spent detoxing, but given that everything went right back to normal after that (and she was almost glad of it, after two days of nausea)... yeah, no, she's not touching the stuff.

Dutifully, she hands the bag over to Lily with both hands, her head bowed in deference. She doesn't know if Lily's trying to be snippy or playing it straight, but she wouldn't blame her if it was the former. She agrees with her, on that one point: she did basically run roughshod over their relationship without even telling her what they had planned. And for that, she's genuinely remorseful

[doyoulikecake]

Kaden hands over the caffeine readily, pulling Lily closer with his now-free hand and giving her a half-hug. He kisses the top of her head, then lets her go.

"She's been doing fine," he says -- answering for people isn't and never has been limited to Lily. "Though she'd have to have a hell of a learning curve to catch up to you."

He lets go of Lily with a smile over at Iris. Clearly he means no harm if he's smiling, right? "I was thinking we could all grab lunch somewhere." And by 'grab lunch' he means 'buy Iris food and watch her eat it'.

[stillaboyscout]

Vaughn is just poking around in the Kashtta looking for a snack when he comes upon the tiny sobbing girl. And he stops in his tracks and already he has an incredibly uncomfortable look on his face. He's not good at dealing with things like this. Tiny crying girls... it's why he stopped teaching (never mind he taught at the high school level when he did actually teach... that's not important).

So he's just going to stand here quietly for a minute before managing to collect himself enough to clear his throat. "Is everything okay?" he asks, even though he can clearly see that everything is not okay. But hey, stating the obvious is a step.

[doyoulikecake]

Later, after lunch has been eaten and Iris has been dropped off to pack and the movers have been directed as to which furniture goes where, they're at Lily's house. They still have a little bit of sorting to do, to figure out what goes back to the apartments from the house -- there's not much, not more than a car load of boxes, though there's two pieces of furniture, and that's why the movers are taking it

[idontlikecake]

It's hard to tell what that emotion is. Maybe it's too mixed up with her own stress to really pull it apart. Moving hasn't been easy, even though this should be a relatively easy move. Either way, she should check on him. Just poke her head in, and see what's going on. Unlike Iris, who seems to think that it's better to actually ask him if he's okay. The girl hasn't gotten subtlety down.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket, as she's making her way to find him, and she hastens her step, positive that could only be from her brother. It probably hadn't been able to pick up the signal in the basement.

When she finds him in her room, she freezes, her hand resting on the threshold. Her eyes rivet on the box in front of him, and she feels slightly nauseated. She opens her mouth to say something, but no words come. What's she supposed to say? She can't help him understand why she had to leave, so how is she supposed to explain why she never sent any of those letters?

[doyoulikecake]

He knows she's there. He heard her footsteps walk to the door and stop, he can hear her breathing. But he can't look at her. He hardly feels like he can move.

But he does, eventually. Just reaches one hand toward her, palm up, waiting for her to come to him, take his hand.

[idontlikecake]

Lily stumbles forward, taking his hand and falling forward. She buries her face in his back, wishing she could stop her stupid tears. She's usually so good at keeping from crying, especially when it comes to him. But right now, the tears sting her eyes and she can't hold them back