pale october twilight

sgetober day eleven and twelve: doom room and underrated character(s)

very minor descriptions of violence, will mark with a * if you need to skip
sorry about the late update! i decided to merge both days together, just for the angst. takes place during tlea

On a good day, Ravan would look forward to a visit to the doom room.

Today is not a good day. But to be fair, he hasn't had many of those in a while.

The defining feature begins in the stairway. It's a damp, narrow, steep hallway. Ravan is watching his prim, tiny steps through bleary eyes. It was a long night.

So he's not fully awake when Chaddick of Foxwood suddenly stops. He crashes into the boy's back.

What follows is a beautiful symphony of organized disaster.

Chaddick falls into the student in front of him, and that student falls into the student in front of fun, and it's like dominoes, the amazing way everything falls apart.

Ravan wishes he could disappear.

"What the hell?" He hisses under his breath, to a disoriented Chaddick.

"Watch where you're going!" Chaddick snaps back.

"What kind of idiot stops in the middle of the narrowest stairway!" Ravan demands.

"He dropped his books!" Chaddick defends. A nervous boy pokes his head out from behind Chaddicks shoulder. Ravan sneers.

There's a clinking coming down the stairs. Both of the boys turn their heads to see the shiny boots stand in front of them. "Looks like someone gets to go to the doom room!" Aric says in a sing-song voice. Both of their attention is drawn to the whip on his side.

Ravan can feel Chaddick's panic, and it's not helping him out. "This can be explained-" Chaddick begins, but is ignored. Ravan scowls at Aric, who's grinning like a maniac.

"You ruined the very foundation which the school is carried on. You're the first student who fell, therefore you're the student who's caused this disaster. I'll see you in the Doom Room- Flopsy." Aric says, with far too much pleasure in those words. Ravan furiously evaluates his nickname- no doubt taken from the damp curly locks that are pulled back.

With that, the clinking carries on up the stairs, and Chaddick is the one who pulls Ravan up and to the side so that they can be narrowly passed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't know why I didn't say anything, I was just-" he grapples with words. Ravan is hardly looking at him.

"Let go of me," Ravan snarls, wrestling loose. "Haven't you done enough?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Chaddick cries.

"Forget it." Ravan replies sourly. He picks up his bag and sends Chaddick one more despising look. "It's not your fault, but that doesn't mean you're innocent."

Chaddick blinks, but Ravan is already going back up the stairs. "Tell Sheeba where I am." he calls.

"I really am sorry," Chaddick yells back. "Tell me how I can make it better!"

Ravan just sends him a look and follows the boots. He doesn't know what Chaddick gets out of it, but he doesn't like the light bulb that goes off.

*It's excruciating in there, with him. Ravan blocks out most of it, other than the sharp hits. Luckily, there's a queue. Ravan never thought that would be a good thing. This really hasn't been his year. He's so vulnerable. He has no power. He's not who he was. He's starting to feel alone, and isolated. He never felt alone before. *

There really is something about the Doom Room which brings all dull pain to focus.

He's hoping for an empty room so that he can be weak on his own, but when he comes in, Chaddick, Beatrix and Reena are sitting there, facing the door like they were waiting for him.

And despite everything that's threatening to come to surface, they look like they belong there, Chaddick sitting low on the bottom bunk, Beatrix sitting against the bed frame with Reena, the latters legs against her chest.

He feels shame rising in himself, his throat constricts, and he has to fight back to the urge to grovel or cry. Chaddick is the first to speak. "C'mere." he pats next to him on the bed.

Ravan hangs his head and ambles over, so that Reena and Beatrix can expose his shoulder. Chaddick sucks in air through clenched teeth. Ravan doesn't need to look to know that it's bad.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," Reena says, as Beatrix takes initiative, pouring water over it. Ravan hisses. "We've got to stick together."

She clears her throat and gives Chaddick a pointed look. Chaddick starts, then softens. "I'm really, really sorry about not saying anything when Aric accused you."

He wouldn't either. But he'd like to be forgiven, so he forgives Chaddick.

Chaddick's moderate reaction changes to anger when he sees Reena hand Beatrix another bandage. "That creep. He's always just looking for an excuse to... to.." Ravan's left leg twitches violently.

"You're very loud, you know that?" Ravan asks.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Chaddick says, moving so he can sit on the floor across from him.

"It's not a bad thing." Ravan says. It's your character. Ravan used to be loud as a child. He learned though. He hopes Chaddick never has to.

"Stop moving." Beatrix says, no bite behind it.

"Bea, his shoulder bone-"

"Oh shit." Beatrix mutters.

"What? What's wrong with it?" Ravan says, craning his neck around. Reena pushes it back. "Stop looking."

They're quite a force to be reckoned with.

Chaddick is pulling at the thin rug, rubbing strands of strings between his fingers. Ravan doesn't know what to say to him. A thanks? They already said sorry.

Eventually, they let him tug his shirt back up, and Beatrix moves around from behind him. "Alright Ravan, as long as I change your bandages and we have a steady stream of ointment, you'll be okay. Be gentle though! No starting fights in the stairwell." she fake scolds, crumpling up the paper left from the bandages.

"Is that what happened?" Ravan asks dryly. Chaddick sends him a mischievous smile.

"Maybeee."

"Well, thank you both. I guess" Ravan says, buttoning up his shirt. The girls smile at him. Reena's is more sympathetic and caring, which Ravan doesn't know how to feel about, while Beatrix's is more amused. He decides, maybe all Evers aren't so bad. But he'll deny it if needed.

"You guys wanna play cards?" Chaddick asks, pulling out a small deck.

"Where were you hiding that?" Reena asks amusedly.

"Well, in my boot, but I swear, they're not smelly or anything." Chaddick says, sniffing them. "Well, they're in the box!"

Ravan surprises them by laughing. "Yeah, okay. We have time before the fairies come around."

"Excellent! Have you guys played Go Fish before?"

They all groan.

a/n: could be platonic,, could not be,,, you decide lmao, personally, i think they're cute!