necroslacker | seattle ; tuesday

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seattle ; tuesday

Sam had walked all the way back to his house after waking up completely lost yesterday. He still had no memory of what had happened and that was scaring him. But, he'd made it back after multiple people had offered him help and some food. He didn't know how he must have looked to them if they were offering him food and shelter and water.

But, he turned down each offer and kept walking. By the time he ended up back at the estate, his feet were bloody and sore, his stomach was growling and he was dirty and tired. It hadn't been a good day. There was fear clawing at him, deep inside his belly but he was ignoring it.

He stared at the door in front of him, almost not wanting to open it. He knew his friends would be on the other side, possibly angry, possibly scared and he wasn't sure if he wanted or even had the ability to face that down right now.

He needed help. He really did and he knew it. Maybe he could sneak in, pack a bag and leave. That's what it was coming too. He was going to have to leave and either find his uncle or...find Douglas.

Sam shuddered and turned the knob so he could slip inside the house. He'd shower, pack a bag quickly and leave.

[NFB again but open for interactions, if needed]

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"Yes, I've made it clear that if he doesn't do that, I will bind his powers for as long as it takes," Miss LaCroix said and it was evident that she meant it. "He's not taking care of himself because he's too worried about everything else. Sam's...he's very sad about a lot of things but that's no excuse and he knows that now."

"Can we see him?" Brid asked, glancing at the door.

"If you'd like but perhaps do it one at a time," Miss LaCroix said. "Don't overwhelm him. He knows what he attempted to do was wrong."

Brid didn't wait any longer and took the first turn, leaving Miss LaCroix with the three others.

Natalie fell back into silence. Guess they couldn't yell at him. She didn't think they should, either, although she wanted to.

All of this was stupid and hard and for a few seconds she wondered if she shouldn't just go.

Miss LaCroix glanced at her and tilted her head. She smiled gently.

"It's been awhile, Natalie," she said, nodding. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Standard answer with very little in the way of inflection, yeah. "I'm not the one hearing voices."

Nah, she was just the one with a mass of guilt and other assorted feelings all in a clump inside her.

"You don't look all that fine," Miss LaCroix said, smiling lightly at her. "And, as I'm sure your mother can tell you, mothers know when you're lying, dear."

"I prefer to think of it as a modified truth," Natalie replied mildly, not letting it get too dry. The words did that enough on their own. She shook her head. "I'm not your problem, Mrs. LaCroix. I'm fine."

"If you're here because of Sam, you are my problem but I'm not going to push either," she said kindly. "I'm going to go downstairs and make some tea, though."

With that, she nodded at the group and headed for the kitchen downstairs.

Pushing would have been pointless, anyway. Natalie was doing her best to keep her own crap on lockdown. She'd deal with it later, on her own.

Because that always worked oh so well.

She was quiet for a moment, then noted, "Well, at least I can't hear Brid yelling at him."

"Hopefully she hasn't killed him," Frank said, crossing his arms and sighing. "I don't think she would but...well, she's Brid and she's unpredictable that way."

As he was saying that, Brid came out of the room, wiping at her eyes a bit. She looked at the group once before pushing past and heading downstairs as well.

"Yeah," Natalie muttered quietly, glancing after Brid, "unpredictable."

She hesitated for a second before asking, "Either of you dying to go next?"

"Go ahead," Ramon offered. "We live with him. We can wait."

Frank nodded his agreement to that.

Natalie wasn't sure she was dying to go back in, either. Wasn't sure why that was either, exactly. But she nodded and turned and went in because she also wasn't about to argue.

She closed the door behind herself.

Sam was still in bed and that was probably due to his mother threatening bodily harm if he moved after this whole passing out episode. He glanced over at her for a moment and then closed his eyes.

Maybe he was embarrassed or scared or worried. He didn't know.

She thought he should have been all of those things, if she was honest.

But she retook her previous place on the edge of his bed. Watching him. "Hey."

"Hello," he answered after a moment. His voice still sounded rusty but at least he was using it. "Sorry about scaring you."

"No matter. I'm used to getting scared occasionally." Was that a joke? Who even knew. She reached to take his hand, but she did it gently, almost gingerly. "But I wouldn't recommend doing it again."

He let her take his hand this time but didn't really move otherwise.

"You don't have to be here," he mumbled quietly. "You can go back to your life."

"This is a part of my life, Sam," Natalie pointed out softly, curling her fingers around his. "I'm not here out of obligation. I'm here because I care. Because I'm your friend, whether you want me to or not."

Sam prickled a bit at that word but said nothing for the moment.

"Yeah, well I don't have anything for you," Sam said, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. "I still don't want to just be your friend and I still think I should leave. Nothing's changed."

"Maybe so," Natalie replied, almost business-like in her neutrality. Repressing some things pretty hard. "And we can't keep you here indefinitely. But at least until you're rested and fed."

"It won't make a difference," Sam told her, keeping his hand over his eyes. "I just need to go. I need to get away from people and just deal with this."

"It makes a difference," Natalie stated, giving his hand a light squeeze. Not wanting to push anything at all. "Fainting doesn't help you deal. Punishing your body makes your brain work less. But I'm sure your mother covered that already."

"Yeah, she told me plenty. I still disagree," Sam told her, rubbing his eyes once again before letting his hand drop. "There is nothing anyone here can do. You know why I didn't ask for help? Because no one can help me. No one has this inside them. It's just me. I'm alone."

"You haven't even given anyone a chance."

She was pretty damn sure of that.

"You've just decided that because we're not necromancers, we can't possibly be of any help."

"What can you do for me, Natalie?" Sam asked, point blank. "Tell me because I can't think of anything."

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