Burning Sensations

    Waking up bright and early to a notification from the school staff always brought a damper on the day. What did she do wrong this time? But, no. In this case, it concerned one of 'her' students. Not that she even knew she had been assigned to him until five minutes ago. Let alone that he existed. Wait, no, no. He was assigned to her. Yes, that's it. Also, unimportant.

    As both campus security - the entire island if one were being serious about it - and as a guidance counselor Nathaniel Morosec's messes, injuries, and supposed traumas were her responsibility. Really, who had the bright idea to send Arwen, of all people, to talk someone down? She was no psycho-analyzer-therapist. She was not the one to let a werewolf loose in the forest to greet new students! Besides, last night the forest had been Serenity's responsibility. Serenity! That explained everything! Arwen's fist tightened with entirely misdirected frustration.

    Serenity's report, no longer an anonymous staff notification in Arwen's mind, indicated that Nathaniel had issues. Vampire issues. Which meant Arwen had vampire issues. A spiteful, snivelly, wounded vampire of an issue. Which meant blood. Blood not to be taken from other students at the academy and preferably not from faculty, either. She really could not imagine a vampire wanting to sample the taste of someone like Lockwood. So, naturally, as his assigned counselor it would be her responsibility to fetch fresh blood for him. Of course, that was the only feasible reason to assign a vampire to her care. Also, he could probably take whatever punishment she saw fit to give out. Reckless practically sang her a theme.

    So, of course she would have gone to get the little pulse-sucker some blood. She could do it the fastest, having to travel to the mainland was no small feat for anyone, but that hardly meant it had been easy. Despite being perfect for the job because of a limited time frame and the supposed 'ease' of travel, the Labyrinth carried its own dangers and always seemed a long walk besides. She also did not particularly care for negotiating with hospitals for a cooler of blood packs. They would have to set something formal up, sooner than later.

    Several hours of walking, negotiation, and lop-sided battles later, Arwen found herself stalking down the Lyra Dorm's hallways while cursing Serenity's lack of doing-something-sooner. So, when she finally arrived at the door she felt ready to bust it down. And she did.

    "Wake up! We've gotta talk!" In the same motion of her forceful entry, Arwen tossed a blood pack straight for Nathaniel's head.

The night had tread long for a vampire who had frozen through most of it. Nathaniel tossed and turned uncomfortably in his sleep, but despite his evident pain he was very thankful to be both safe and warm. A day of peace is exactly what he needed to rest off his wounds and that's what he committed to doing, until a stranger burst through his locked door and a bag of blood landed on his face.

There were worse ways to be woken up, but this still ranked pretty high on his list of times not to be disturbed. The vampire made no effort to hide his fangs from the pained groans he let out when he sat himself up, shirtless and startled. When he rose, the Lyra colored sheets he had been so comfortably snuggled underneath slid down his body to reveal a large bruise near the center of his chest where the werewolf's paw had struck him fully. He figured his ribs must have been broken last night, because the bruise on his chest had barely healed. In fact, the vampire felt terrible for a full day's recovery.

The feeling had finally returned to Nathaniel's left arm which was marred by deep bite wounds covered in gauze and medical tape, but the pain was too fierce for him to bend it or use it to support his seated stance. Nathaniel wanted to find that werewolf and kill him right now but he hadn't been strong enough to protect himself last night, let alone in his current condition. Serenity Hikaru had taunted the vampire for that, but she was right. Still, he knew that every werewolf had a human side, and Nathaniel could definitely kill a human. And he would, as soon as he had healed.

Immediate concerns would have to come first, though, because something was terribly wrong. His bloodline was weak, yes, but he knew he shouldn't feel this bad after a full day's rest. Nathaniel checked the time on his phone, barely aware yet of who had breached his room screaming.

11:45 AM. ...

"Fuuuuck youuuu," Nathaniel said to her and groaned defeatedly. His tired eyes rolled up in their sockets and his lids slammed shut when he collapsed back to his pillow in a feeble attempt to shut the outside world out because nope. No way. That was not happening. This was the equivalent of waking up a human at two in the morning - Not the least bit cool.

The school owed him for the suffering the rogue faculty member had caused not twelve hours prior and as far as he was concerned, they owed him even more now for interrupting his rest. Nathaniel simply ignored the woman and held his pillow over his head, which was his best attempt to block out her conversational imposition.

    There was not a whole lot to say about the small abode. Certainly large for a student's dorm, but then the intent is likely to provide students with comfortable living space away from home. Or to double as their home, in some cases. Not like they would have much choice to live elsewhere while on the island. The real concerning fact was the scarcity of personal presence. As far as Arwen could see, Nathaniel had not settled in much at all. Or, maybe he had nothing with which to settle in with. Did that fall to her? Would she have to make a list of needs? Things to help him feel relaxed and at home? Fresh clothes might do wonders. School supplies are necessary.

    As the hardened veteran takes the effort to mentally catalogue possibilities it is with some annoyance that he simply ignores her wake up call. Now, the last thing she came to do is give someone a hard time, least of all an injured student. Inviting discourse when seeking collusion hardly seemed the best way to start the day. And yet, all that work! Back and forth. Near deaths to be accounted for. Haggling! She loathed haggling. Despite all she had gone through in his favor, she had not earned even an ounce of his attention? Not to mention, swearing at faculty was surely against the rules somewhere.

    For a moment, the thought genuinely crossed her mind to just slice open the blood pack where it lay. It would wake him, no doubt, but then the sheets would be stained. Would she be responsible for those, as well? Screw that mess! Still, Nathaniel remained dismissive even with her persistence. No recognition!

    Oh, no. Arwen had gone too far to be ignored now. The blond bruiser had not traipsed halfway around the world and through its malicious underrealm to be so completely disregarded by an inconsiderate little shit like this! Fickle be her selfless heart. Her fingers may be hardly capable of doing silly things like writing or, hell, using keys, but they could make a two-finger jab with impunity. She had half a mind to go straight for the vampire's clearly bruised weak spot on his chest. Yes, she supposed, that would teach him to ignore a foreign presence while he suffered such clear injuries. He would not make that mistake twice. She would teach him, yet.

    "I heard you may be suffering from mental and physical trauma!" A sharp cry of pain later the unrepentant, dismissive bloodsucker found himself dragged straight out of bed and tossed to the floor. No way he could retaliate with this kind of disorientation! In a clear effort to solve all problems forever, Arwen shoved the blood bag into the vampire's mouth to force his fangs to bite into it. Sure, there would be a mess, but it would be his mess. A mess not staining the sheets. Maybe the carpet. Was that worse? Well, it would keep his mouth shut.

    "More-in-a-sec, Morosec!" She grinned cheekily, completely unrepentant for her actions. He was awake now, and they could have their talk. With a hearty kick the blood cooler, packed full of such bags, slid over to his bedside. He could check to see its contents for himself. All would be forgiven. Here to help, clearly! She crossed her arms and firmed her stance as if to say, now show some respect!

Nathaniel had fallen asleep already despite the woman's antagonistic presence, but his relief would be short-lived. The wounded vampire was dragged hard and suddenly off of his bed and he met the ground with a thud that sounded more comfortable than it felt. Needless to say, he was awake and he was livid.

"You fucking bi--" he was interrupted by a bag of blood that she forced into his mouth. It caught on one of his fangs and the substance drained down his throat, but he hadn't finished screaming so Nathaniel unintentionally gargled it up in a crimson mess over his face that dripped down through his hair into the carpet. The saline sustenance nearly suffocated him with its volume so he was forced to prioritize it and swallow, although the very motion pained his chest. However, the vampire's body instinctively knew that the salty liquid was what it needed to restore his strength, so by the end of the bag's content he had been calmed. Physically.

She told him there would be more in the most annoying way possible, to which he realized he hated everything about this person. Literally everything. If she couldn't even feed him blood in a way that didn't make him want to gouge her eyes out, there would be no redeeming this human. Nathaniel hadn't really thought to make a hit list before now, but since it suddenly seemed like such a worthy appropriation of his focus he decided she was second only to the werewolf.

Briefly, the vampire wished again as he had only hours ago that the werewolf had just killed him so he wouldn't have to suffer like this. Nathaniel tried to move his left arm and stifled back tears from the agony that induced. He wasn't getting back up on his own any time soon so he laid on the ground beside the fallen pillow, his haphazard blankets and the blood cooler.

"If I'm going to tolerate you, the rest better be mixed with painkillers and vodka. Who are you, why are you here," he groaned from the pain in his chest as he spoke, "and tell me why I should care before I call campus police on you."

    Ah, so quick to change the mind. So quick to fall into a habit of hunger and satiation. So quick to swear, really. That definitely went on a report card somewhere, Arwen had no doubt of that. Still, a bit of a problem with how much he spit up on the carpet. Totally not her fault.

    "Vodka? Aren't you a bit young for that?" Then again. Vampire. "Hey! You're not a pedophile, right!?" With wild gesticulation, one arm moved with unwavering purpose to stab at the air, a couple feet short of her target. If Nathaniel had been standing, he would have been victim to yet another assault. As it was, Arwen had no inclination to do serious bodily harm. Also, laziness kept her from closing the gap. "You better keep yourself in check, boy!"

    As quickly as her accusations flew the blonde switched mental tasks. She stood straight and proud, hands on her hips as a menacing and awe-inspiring red aura flowed out around her silhouette.  "I am Campus Security!" Her stance shifted to glower down at him after the prideful declaration, "Heard you got in a tussle with one of our pups last night. Not very smart. Just imagine if you'd run into me, instead! Ah-hah!"

    Brimming with energy, the woman forced herself to step back. By no means a retreat, Arwen decided to visibly give the new student some space. Her movement revealed the source of the crimson glow as a strange free-floating mechanical contraption. Its light bathed the entire room with a harsh presence, drowning everything in the colour. "If you had come through one of the 'legal', commonly accepted routes," She appropriately made quotation gestures in the air, "You would've known the Forest is super dangerous! Foresta accepts no responsibilities for evisceration, maiming, long term injury, or malfeasance from creatures or malicious beings while within its surrounding woods. Lucky you, I'm so nice I spent all morning getting you this little snack! I'm your best friend right now. Maybe if you play nice, there'll be more where that comes from." 

His face was messy with blood and Nathaniel wanted to clean what he could off of his lips, but he imagined he already looked pretty ridiculous without his tongue lolling out over his skin so he withheld the desire. There was a bloodstain seeping into the carpet, which was completely not his fault and he refused to be held responsible for that or the damage to his door.

How did Arwen's mind randomly jump to pedophilia? Oh god, was she projecting? Maybe he didn't want to know. It wasn't that she wasn't attractive, nor did he suppose he would mind getting roughed up by her on some other occasion, but he did have intelligence standards to be upheld and anyway this morning was not the time for that.

The fact that she claimed to be the police ruined an already terrible morning, and to make things worse Arwen began to prattle on about the local law. Her never-ending voice grated at a pair of ears that begged desperately for silence and solitude. Again the suffering vampire wanted to die, but that option did not make itself readily available.

"With friends like you, who needs enemies? Besides, what are you, some kind of lawyer? I thought you said you were the police. You've given me a meal, thank you kindly, but your stupid disclaimer isn't going to change the fact that I'm going to find and have a few final words with that werewolf. Now explain to me what a police lawyer is still doing in my room, because I'm miserable and you've long overstayed your welcome."