Encounterlogs
Lilahs Odd Encounter Sr Legion 240415
In a tale woven within the confines of a seemingly quiet room adorned with the trappings of a studious life, Lilah finds herself entangled in a night unlike any other. After a long day filled with the mundanity of studies, an unexpected visitor, Hailey, a newcomer to White Oak struggling to stay afloat in a sea of secrets, knocks on her door seeking solace and understanding. Hailey, grappling with the weight of discovering the supernatural in a world that vehemently denies its existence, chooses Lilah, hoping for an empathetic ear. Unbeknownst to both, this meeting would spiral into a revelation of the darker corners of their reality.
As Hailey recounts her encounter with a figure shrouded in the allure and danger of the supernatural, Lilah listens, offering a shoulder and an open heart. Hailey's tale of a macabre twilight, filled with blood, fear, and an undeniable pull towards the unknown, challenges both her sanity and the very fabric of what she believed to be true. Lilah, seasoned yet still navigating her own truths, leads Hailey through this maze of fear and revelation, gently pushing her towards acceptance and caution. The night unfolds with confessions, shared vulnerabilities, and an unspoken understanding that some truths, once uncovered, demand a resilience they are only beginning to muster. The conclusion leaves a chilling void as Hailey vanishes, a ghost among their midst, leaving questions unanswered and a palpable tension in her wake, a poignant reminder of the shadows that lurk just beyond the veil of disbelief.
(Lilah's odd encounter(SRLegion):SRLegion)
[Sun Apr 14 2024]
In Lilah's Room
Though most of this single-occupant room remains an empty canvas, the desk is piled high with books and a laptop computer. The bed is a heap of comfortable pillows and comforters, and looks to be used as much for studying as sleeping, given the books on the floor beside it, and stacked at the foot of the mattress. The walls are blank, though on the back of the door, a full-length mirror offers the occupant a good look at herself before leaving.
It is after dusk, about 64F(17C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. There is a first quarter moon.
(Someone in Haven has found out about the supernatural and is freaking out about it. They're at risk of exposing the secret, hurting themselves, or hurting others. Your target and their allies are tasked with containing the situation.
)
It's been a long day - no classes of course, but studying aplenty, and Lilah has just managed to make it home from the library. Dropping onto her bed with a weary sigh, she lets her head fall to the pillow. For now, at least, she's taking a break.
There is a knock, panicked, on the door. Knock, knock, knock. It's frantic, a little uncertain, off-kilter, and then a voice. "Lilah?" She can recognize the voice -- it's Hailey, a brand new arrival to White Oak. The girl came here in a state, with a stay as a patient in the clinic for a little while, and has only just officially enrolled and joined Tri-Delt. She's also, obviously, Unaware, which is a hard state to maintain at the Institute.
With a soft groan, Lilah sits up. "One sec," she calls, despite the apparent panic on the other side of the door. She rakes her fingers through her hair and then heads for the door, pulling it open. "Hailey?" she asks, "What's wrong?"
"I just..." Hailey is in casual clothes, yoga pants and flip-flops and an oversized hoodie. "I just." She swallows heavily. "I think I'm having -- I just need someone to talk to, okay?" she says. "I don't really, like, want to tell one of the teachers, because..." Her eyes track north, immediately, towards the clinic. "I just think maybe they'd overreact."
"Well, have a seat," Lilah says to someone, though she looks a little awkward, like she's just not sure what to expect here. She waves to her bed, covers askew, and then the desk chair, giving the other girl her choice. Once more, the redhead runs her hand through her hair, before she says, "Seen something strange?"
"Well, have a seat," Lilah says to Hailey, though she looks a little awkward, like she's just not sure what to expect here. She waves to her bed, covers askew, and then the desk chair, giving the other girl her choice. Once more, the redhead runs her hand through her hair, before she says, "Seen something strange?"
Entering the room, Hailey sits, looking at Lilah with a little worry. "Am I interrupting something?" she wonders as she drops on the edge of the bed, grabbing a pillow from the mess to hug with some unconsciousness defensiveness. Her eyes skim Lilah's relatively formal clothes. "Like, if you were going out or something, I don't like -- I can go just back to my room."
"I just got in," Lilah tells someone, then waves a hand to dismiss the concern. She offers, with a slant of a smile, "The only thing that would've happened, probably, is a nap. So what's up?" she wonders, tipping her head curiously to look over the other girl. "You look like you saw a ghost or something."
"I just got in," Lilah tells Hailey, then waves a hand to dismiss the concern. She offers, with a slant of a smile, "The only thing that would've happened, probably, is a nap. So what's up?" she wonders, tipping her head curiously to look over the other girl. "You look like you saw a ghost or something."
Some startlement at the word ghost. "Ghosts aren't real," Hailey says too quickly. "But. Uh." She looks at the closed door, then the window, then the door again, and then Lilah. "Uh. Something kind of like that?" she says. There's a bit-lipped pause. "I -- it must have been someone from like Sigma just joking around, though I never saw him," she tries to explain.
"Sure they are," Lilah says mildly. "Ghosts are very real. But..." She gives her head another of those small, curious tilts, inviting the other girl to go on with her story. "Sigma? Maybe. Some of them are assholes." After that brief moment of commiseration, "What happened?" she asks.
"Wait, what?" Hailey's voice pitches a little higher. "They told me they weren't real, in the clinic," she says. "I'd seen a ghost -- a girl with no eyes -- and they insisted, the doctor's insisted, that I was hallucinating." A little panic begins to creep into her tone. "But I knew it," she says. "Like you get that feeling sometimes, right here?" She touches her breastbone, where her rib cage gives way to her abdomen. "Like you just can't shake it."
"Well, I believe in spirits of all sorts," Lilah says with a little shrug of her shoulders and a small smile, something meant to be encouraging though she doesn't have any way to push that belief onto the girl. Still, her tone turns soothing, and she nods again as Hailey explains that gut feeling of hers. "Totally," she agrees.
Really a great question. No one stays Unaware for long at White Oak, but the staff -- in their wisdom -- try to roll it out slowly. That's harder, though, when a bad full moon can result in a really unsettling revelation, which is perhaps why the Clinic exists. "I saw -- he was maybe a little older? But like maybe your age," Hailey says. She's in her late teens, blithely calling Lilah 'older'. "Like twenty-five or twenty-six, no more. And he was making out with Daria," she says. "Like no biggie, right?"
"I'm not that old," Lilah grouses as twenty-six is thrown out there like that! She looks rather grumpy for a moment, before nodding briefly and gesturing for Hailey to go on. "A guy, making out with a girl. Alright," she says simply enough, with a little nod. "That fits about half the guys in Sigma. Almost thirty and acting like they're ten."
"I was like -- oh, sorry," Hailey tells Lilah. Twenty-six. "Like." She worries her bottom lip, hugging the pillow. "He was kissing her neck, but then there was something in her eyes," she says. "Like. That feeling," she tells Lilah. "You know when you're at a party and like you see someone and it just isn't right?" she says. "Like just... I didn't feel like it was right."
"Ahh," Lilah says with a mild little nod. "Yeah, I do understand that feeling. It just left you a bit unsettled?" Then, with an impish little giggle she wonders, "A bit Twilight-esque?" She reaches over to lightly pat Hailey's hand, as if to reassure that she's not making fun. Not really.
Hailey nods. "Maybe more like -- I don't know. I mean. Twilight was kind of hot, and this was kind of scary," she admits to Lilah. "But it was -- like. He looked up when I walked over, and his mouth was blood and teeth, and Daria just kind of... it was like she whimpered," she says, her voice with a tone of fear. "And not like. It was like she was scared but couldn't leave."
Lilah nods again. "Hailey," she says lightly, trying to still keep that edge of calm in her voice. "Don't talk yourself down. You saw what you saw," she offers which may or may not be a good idea, but there it is, said. "You can let people talk you out of believing it, or you can use what you know, to learn how to protect yourself from the weirdness that's out there." There's a pause and then she says, "I half suspect Daria won't even remember it happened, tomorrow."
"What do you mean ... learn what I know?" Hailey asks. "And I know she won't remember. I saw him -- he turned to her, he told her to forget and to run away, and then she did. And then he..." She shakes her head. "He walked towards me," she tells Lilah, squeezing her pillow tighter. There's a little bit of calm in her as Lilah exerts some mental power, keeping her off the edge. "He said his name was Paul, and that he was a former student who was... visiting."
"Oh?" Lilah arches an eyebrow at that admission. "You -talked- to him?" Now she looks just a little bit wary, admittedly, but she says, "And he didn't make you forget it? Go on... tell me what happened?" she repeats once more, not yet answering the question posed to her.
"He asked me who I was," Hailey tells Lilah. "I gave him my name, but I was so, so scared. I could still see his mouth -- it was just red," she says. "Too red, and he licked his lips, and..." There's a visceral shiver. "And all the same I felt ... like. Like have you ever been with a boy you know is really bad for you?"
Lilah laughs. It's humored, yes, but very self-aware at the same time. "Oh Hailey," she says with a wry, amused smirk. "You have no idea. It's been one after the other for the last... year?" She shrugs her shoulders, then corrects, "Five months. God, it feels like so much longer. But yeah," she relents from her self-deprecating amusement to nod. "Trust that gut feeling, girl."
There's a shrug from someone. "It's like that, where you know you should go but just something..." She bites her bottom lip. "Anyways, he talked to me, and then he told me -- he said I was pretty." Her nose wrinkles. "Not like in a good way. He called me a pretty little poppet," she says. "And just, like -- he looked in my eyes and he told me to come with him to his hotel, and something..."
There's a shrug from Hailey. "It's like that, where you know you should go but just something..." She bites her bottom lip. "Anyways, he talked to me, and then he told me -- he said I was pretty." Her nose wrinkles. "Not like in a good way. He called me a pretty little poppet," she says to Lilah. "And just, like -- he looked in my eyes and he told me to come with him to his hotel, and something..."
Lilah hisses out a breath. "I hope you said no?" she asks, watching someone closely. "Vampires have a way of controlling people's minds. They're not the only ones, but... yeah." There's a pause and then she says, "The sex might've been hot though. But dangerous..."
Lilah hisses out a breath. "I hope you said no?" she asks, watching Hailey closely. "Vampires have a way of controlling people's minds. They're not the only ones, but... yeah." There's a pause and then she says, "The sex might've been hot though. But dangerous..."
"I said no," Hailey breathes. "It was like my whole body seized up, and I got the chills, and then I knew I had to run. I think maybe he chased me?" she says. "I don't know, I got back in the house, and I've been hiding out." She leans in, whispers. "But I'd swear," she says to Lilah. "I'd swear I heard his voice in my mind saying he'd find me."
Lilah nods again. "He probably won't bother," she says simply to Hailey. "Like, really it's a lot of work, right? I think he probably just wanted to scare you. To make your mind start thinking of all the horrible things he might do, and make you give up and go to him. But," she says and then lightly pats the girl's arm again. "That's the great thing about this school. Their rules are so strict," she muses softly, "That as long as you're careful if you see him again, stay on campus and keep your guard up? He won't be able to hur you." It's not entirely true, but... well. It's a start.
Worry in Hailey's face. "What -- what was he?" she asks finally, her arms tightening as she squeezes the pillow close.
"You know what he is, Hailey," Lilah says. She's blunt, though her words remain kind. "Say it. The first step to owning your own mind is to acknowledge that the shit you see out there is real, but that you're safe, if you're careful." She pauses, then looks intently at her classmate and says, "Go on. Say it. What is he?"
There is a long, low moment. "Was he... really?" Hailey asks Lilah. She seems on the verge of tears. "What?" she asks. "How... why?" That's the real question. "Why? What would he have done to me, Lilah?" she asks, her questions now tumbling over each other in a cascade of tears.
"Well, as a student here, he couldn't have killed you - unless you had sex with him. That sometimes weakens the protection the school gives us. You know how strict they are about all that," Lilah muses to someone. She doesn't bother to confirm, but instead offers a matter-of-fact bit of information, instead. "But he might've tried to warp your mind. Make you want to serve him," she says simply, succinctly. "It's definitely best to be on your guard around people like him."
Oh, if only she took her own advice.
"Well, as a student here, he couldn't have killed you - unless you had sex with him. That sometimes weakens the protection the school gives us. You know how strict they are about all that," Lilah muses to Hailey. She doesn't bother to confirm, but instead offers a matter-of-fact bit of information, instead. "But he might've tried to warp your mind. Make you want to serve him," she says simply, succinctly. "It's definitely best to be on your guard around people like him."
Oh, if only she took her own advice.
Hailey wonders, "Are vampires real?" It's a shaking question. "It's not like Twilight," she says. "I never saw Edward's mouth just covered in blood, not like that," she says. "It was so red, and the way he looked at me, Lilah... It was like I was just... just some -thing-."
Lilah nods slowly and thoughtfully. Her expression suggests she knows that feeling herself, all too well, but she says simply, "Yes. I know a few that aren't too bad. I mean, don't -date- them, because they're assholes and will dump you for stupid reasons, but yes," she offers mildly, before breathing out a quiet sigh.
Hailey breathes, "Huh." She settles back. "Like, um..." She hugs the pillow. "What should I like, do with this information?" she says. "Like..."
"Just make sure you're careful around people. Trust those instincts that tell you if there's a predator nearby," Lilah says quietly to someone. "That's the most important thing. Trust that instinct."
"Just make sure you're careful around people. Trust those instincts that tell you if there's a predator nearby," Lilah says quietly to Hailey. "That's the most important thing. Trust that instinct."
Nodding slowly, Hailey says, "Thank you, Lilah." A pause. "I should -- I should go lie down," she admits, moving to hug the girl.
"Sure," Lilah says. She leans into the hug, giving Hailey's back a reassuring rub. "If you need to talk more, you've got my number - and you know where I live," she adds with a smirk. "It's weird, I know. But you'll be fine," she assures in a tone too serious to be empty promises.
"Okay," Hailey tells Lilah -- and then, with that hug, she's gone.
Troublingly, though? After tonight, Lilah doesn't see her again. She's completely absent for two or three days, and then, according to staff, sends a note to mysteriously withdraw.
As Hailey recounts her encounter with a figure shrouded in the allure and danger of the supernatural, Lilah listens, offering a shoulder and an open heart. Hailey's tale of a macabre twilight, filled with blood, fear, and an undeniable pull towards the unknown, challenges both her sanity and the very fabric of what she believed to be true. Lilah, seasoned yet still navigating her own truths, leads Hailey through this maze of fear and revelation, gently pushing her towards acceptance and caution. The night unfolds with confessions, shared vulnerabilities, and an unspoken understanding that some truths, once uncovered, demand a resilience they are only beginning to muster. The conclusion leaves a chilling void as Hailey vanishes, a ghost among their midst, leaving questions unanswered and a palpable tension in her wake, a poignant reminder of the shadows that lurk just beyond the veil of disbelief.
(Lilah's odd encounter(SRLegion):SRLegion)
[Sun Apr 14 2024]
In Lilah's Room
Though most of this single-occupant room remains an empty canvas, the desk is piled high with books and a laptop computer. The bed is a heap of comfortable pillows and comforters, and looks to be used as much for studying as sleeping, given the books on the floor beside it, and stacked at the foot of the mattress. The walls are blank, though on the back of the door, a full-length mirror offers the occupant a good look at herself before leaving.
It is after dusk, about 64F(17C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. There is a first quarter moon.
(Someone in Haven has found out about the supernatural and is freaking out about it. They're at risk of exposing the secret, hurting themselves, or hurting others. Your target and their allies are tasked with containing the situation.
)
It's been a long day - no classes of course, but studying aplenty, and Lilah has just managed to make it home from the library. Dropping onto her bed with a weary sigh, she lets her head fall to the pillow. For now, at least, she's taking a break.
There is a knock, panicked, on the door. Knock, knock, knock. It's frantic, a little uncertain, off-kilter, and then a voice. "Lilah?" She can recognize the voice -- it's Hailey, a brand new arrival to White Oak. The girl came here in a state, with a stay as a patient in the clinic for a little while, and has only just officially enrolled and joined Tri-Delt. She's also, obviously, Unaware, which is a hard state to maintain at the Institute.
With a soft groan, Lilah sits up. "One sec," she calls, despite the apparent panic on the other side of the door. She rakes her fingers through her hair and then heads for the door, pulling it open. "Hailey?" she asks, "What's wrong?"
"I just..." Hailey is in casual clothes, yoga pants and flip-flops and an oversized hoodie. "I just." She swallows heavily. "I think I'm having -- I just need someone to talk to, okay?" she says. "I don't really, like, want to tell one of the teachers, because..." Her eyes track north, immediately, towards the clinic. "I just think maybe they'd overreact."
"Well, have a seat," Lilah says to someone, though she looks a little awkward, like she's just not sure what to expect here. She waves to her bed, covers askew, and then the desk chair, giving the other girl her choice. Once more, the redhead runs her hand through her hair, before she says, "Seen something strange?"
"Well, have a seat," Lilah says to Hailey, though she looks a little awkward, like she's just not sure what to expect here. She waves to her bed, covers askew, and then the desk chair, giving the other girl her choice. Once more, the redhead runs her hand through her hair, before she says, "Seen something strange?"
Entering the room, Hailey sits, looking at Lilah with a little worry. "Am I interrupting something?" she wonders as she drops on the edge of the bed, grabbing a pillow from the mess to hug with some unconsciousness defensiveness. Her eyes skim Lilah's relatively formal clothes. "Like, if you were going out or something, I don't like -- I can go just back to my room."
"I just got in," Lilah tells someone, then waves a hand to dismiss the concern. She offers, with a slant of a smile, "The only thing that would've happened, probably, is a nap. So what's up?" she wonders, tipping her head curiously to look over the other girl. "You look like you saw a ghost or something."
"I just got in," Lilah tells Hailey, then waves a hand to dismiss the concern. She offers, with a slant of a smile, "The only thing that would've happened, probably, is a nap. So what's up?" she wonders, tipping her head curiously to look over the other girl. "You look like you saw a ghost or something."
Some startlement at the word ghost. "Ghosts aren't real," Hailey says too quickly. "But. Uh." She looks at the closed door, then the window, then the door again, and then Lilah. "Uh. Something kind of like that?" she says. There's a bit-lipped pause. "I -- it must have been someone from like Sigma just joking around, though I never saw him," she tries to explain.
"Sure they are," Lilah says mildly. "Ghosts are very real. But..." She gives her head another of those small, curious tilts, inviting the other girl to go on with her story. "Sigma? Maybe. Some of them are assholes." After that brief moment of commiseration, "What happened?" she asks.
"Wait, what?" Hailey's voice pitches a little higher. "They told me they weren't real, in the clinic," she says. "I'd seen a ghost -- a girl with no eyes -- and they insisted, the doctor's insisted, that I was hallucinating." A little panic begins to creep into her tone. "But I knew it," she says. "Like you get that feeling sometimes, right here?" She touches her breastbone, where her rib cage gives way to her abdomen. "Like you just can't shake it."
"Well, I believe in spirits of all sorts," Lilah says with a little shrug of her shoulders and a small smile, something meant to be encouraging though she doesn't have any way to push that belief onto the girl. Still, her tone turns soothing, and she nods again as Hailey explains that gut feeling of hers. "Totally," she agrees.
Really a great question. No one stays Unaware for long at White Oak, but the staff -- in their wisdom -- try to roll it out slowly. That's harder, though, when a bad full moon can result in a really unsettling revelation, which is perhaps why the Clinic exists. "I saw -- he was maybe a little older? But like maybe your age," Hailey says. She's in her late teens, blithely calling Lilah 'older'. "Like twenty-five or twenty-six, no more. And he was making out with Daria," she says. "Like no biggie, right?"
"I'm not that old," Lilah grouses as twenty-six is thrown out there like that! She looks rather grumpy for a moment, before nodding briefly and gesturing for Hailey to go on. "A guy, making out with a girl. Alright," she says simply enough, with a little nod. "That fits about half the guys in Sigma. Almost thirty and acting like they're ten."
"I was like -- oh, sorry," Hailey tells Lilah. Twenty-six. "Like." She worries her bottom lip, hugging the pillow. "He was kissing her neck, but then there was something in her eyes," she says. "Like. That feeling," she tells Lilah. "You know when you're at a party and like you see someone and it just isn't right?" she says. "Like just... I didn't feel like it was right."
"Ahh," Lilah says with a mild little nod. "Yeah, I do understand that feeling. It just left you a bit unsettled?" Then, with an impish little giggle she wonders, "A bit Twilight-esque?" She reaches over to lightly pat Hailey's hand, as if to reassure that she's not making fun. Not really.
Hailey nods. "Maybe more like -- I don't know. I mean. Twilight was kind of hot, and this was kind of scary," she admits to Lilah. "But it was -- like. He looked up when I walked over, and his mouth was blood and teeth, and Daria just kind of... it was like she whimpered," she says, her voice with a tone of fear. "And not like. It was like she was scared but couldn't leave."
Lilah nods again. "Hailey," she says lightly, trying to still keep that edge of calm in her voice. "Don't talk yourself down. You saw what you saw," she offers which may or may not be a good idea, but there it is, said. "You can let people talk you out of believing it, or you can use what you know, to learn how to protect yourself from the weirdness that's out there." There's a pause and then she says, "I half suspect Daria won't even remember it happened, tomorrow."
"What do you mean ... learn what I know?" Hailey asks. "And I know she won't remember. I saw him -- he turned to her, he told her to forget and to run away, and then she did. And then he..." She shakes her head. "He walked towards me," she tells Lilah, squeezing her pillow tighter. There's a little bit of calm in her as Lilah exerts some mental power, keeping her off the edge. "He said his name was Paul, and that he was a former student who was... visiting."
"Oh?" Lilah arches an eyebrow at that admission. "You -talked- to him?" Now she looks just a little bit wary, admittedly, but she says, "And he didn't make you forget it? Go on... tell me what happened?" she repeats once more, not yet answering the question posed to her.
"He asked me who I was," Hailey tells Lilah. "I gave him my name, but I was so, so scared. I could still see his mouth -- it was just red," she says. "Too red, and he licked his lips, and..." There's a visceral shiver. "And all the same I felt ... like. Like have you ever been with a boy you know is really bad for you?"
Lilah laughs. It's humored, yes, but very self-aware at the same time. "Oh Hailey," she says with a wry, amused smirk. "You have no idea. It's been one after the other for the last... year?" She shrugs her shoulders, then corrects, "Five months. God, it feels like so much longer. But yeah," she relents from her self-deprecating amusement to nod. "Trust that gut feeling, girl."
There's a shrug from someone. "It's like that, where you know you should go but just something..." She bites her bottom lip. "Anyways, he talked to me, and then he told me -- he said I was pretty." Her nose wrinkles. "Not like in a good way. He called me a pretty little poppet," she says. "And just, like -- he looked in my eyes and he told me to come with him to his hotel, and something..."
There's a shrug from Hailey. "It's like that, where you know you should go but just something..." She bites her bottom lip. "Anyways, he talked to me, and then he told me -- he said I was pretty." Her nose wrinkles. "Not like in a good way. He called me a pretty little poppet," she says to Lilah. "And just, like -- he looked in my eyes and he told me to come with him to his hotel, and something..."
Lilah hisses out a breath. "I hope you said no?" she asks, watching someone closely. "Vampires have a way of controlling people's minds. They're not the only ones, but... yeah." There's a pause and then she says, "The sex might've been hot though. But dangerous..."
Lilah hisses out a breath. "I hope you said no?" she asks, watching Hailey closely. "Vampires have a way of controlling people's minds. They're not the only ones, but... yeah." There's a pause and then she says, "The sex might've been hot though. But dangerous..."
"I said no," Hailey breathes. "It was like my whole body seized up, and I got the chills, and then I knew I had to run. I think maybe he chased me?" she says. "I don't know, I got back in the house, and I've been hiding out." She leans in, whispers. "But I'd swear," she says to Lilah. "I'd swear I heard his voice in my mind saying he'd find me."
Lilah nods again. "He probably won't bother," she says simply to Hailey. "Like, really it's a lot of work, right? I think he probably just wanted to scare you. To make your mind start thinking of all the horrible things he might do, and make you give up and go to him. But," she says and then lightly pats the girl's arm again. "That's the great thing about this school. Their rules are so strict," she muses softly, "That as long as you're careful if you see him again, stay on campus and keep your guard up? He won't be able to hur you." It's not entirely true, but... well. It's a start.
Worry in Hailey's face. "What -- what was he?" she asks finally, her arms tightening as she squeezes the pillow close.
"You know what he is, Hailey," Lilah says. She's blunt, though her words remain kind. "Say it. The first step to owning your own mind is to acknowledge that the shit you see out there is real, but that you're safe, if you're careful." She pauses, then looks intently at her classmate and says, "Go on. Say it. What is he?"
There is a long, low moment. "Was he... really?" Hailey asks Lilah. She seems on the verge of tears. "What?" she asks. "How... why?" That's the real question. "Why? What would he have done to me, Lilah?" she asks, her questions now tumbling over each other in a cascade of tears.
"Well, as a student here, he couldn't have killed you - unless you had sex with him. That sometimes weakens the protection the school gives us. You know how strict they are about all that," Lilah muses to someone. She doesn't bother to confirm, but instead offers a matter-of-fact bit of information, instead. "But he might've tried to warp your mind. Make you want to serve him," she says simply, succinctly. "It's definitely best to be on your guard around people like him."
Oh, if only she took her own advice.
"Well, as a student here, he couldn't have killed you - unless you had sex with him. That sometimes weakens the protection the school gives us. You know how strict they are about all that," Lilah muses to Hailey. She doesn't bother to confirm, but instead offers a matter-of-fact bit of information, instead. "But he might've tried to warp your mind. Make you want to serve him," she says simply, succinctly. "It's definitely best to be on your guard around people like him."
Oh, if only she took her own advice.
Hailey wonders, "Are vampires real?" It's a shaking question. "It's not like Twilight," she says. "I never saw Edward's mouth just covered in blood, not like that," she says. "It was so red, and the way he looked at me, Lilah... It was like I was just... just some -thing-."
Lilah nods slowly and thoughtfully. Her expression suggests she knows that feeling herself, all too well, but she says simply, "Yes. I know a few that aren't too bad. I mean, don't -date- them, because they're assholes and will dump you for stupid reasons, but yes," she offers mildly, before breathing out a quiet sigh.
Hailey breathes, "Huh." She settles back. "Like, um..." She hugs the pillow. "What should I like, do with this information?" she says. "Like..."
"Just make sure you're careful around people. Trust those instincts that tell you if there's a predator nearby," Lilah says quietly to someone. "That's the most important thing. Trust that instinct."
"Just make sure you're careful around people. Trust those instincts that tell you if there's a predator nearby," Lilah says quietly to Hailey. "That's the most important thing. Trust that instinct."
Nodding slowly, Hailey says, "Thank you, Lilah." A pause. "I should -- I should go lie down," she admits, moving to hug the girl.
"Sure," Lilah says. She leans into the hug, giving Hailey's back a reassuring rub. "If you need to talk more, you've got my number - and you know where I live," she adds with a smirk. "It's weird, I know. But you'll be fine," she assures in a tone too serious to be empty promises.
"Okay," Hailey tells Lilah -- and then, with that hug, she's gone.
Troublingly, though? After tonight, Lilah doesn't see her again. She's completely absent for two or three days, and then, according to staff, sends a note to mysteriously withdraw.