- - - ASK ANYONE

[rory]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true] a criminal mind is all i've ever known Rory still didn’t know what he felt right now. He didn’t know how to react to Astrid’s attack. He didn’t know how to react to the fact that she hadn’t contacted him, even now while he was on his way to her dorm. She had yet to text or call, and that made Rory slightly uncomfortable. He was so at odds with himself right now. Talking to Mack had only helped ever so slightly. Rory knew what he was supposed to be feeling, but it didn’t entirely match what he was feeling. There were so many things Rory wanted to know about her attack about her killer and not entirely because he was worried about her. He was genuinely worried, don’t get him wrong, but he was also an eager little fanboy who wanted to know more about someone he had grown to look up to. But Rory wasn’t stupid, he knew better than to ask about those things. He knew that would only upset her even more than she no doubt already would be. Rory had concluded that he was eager and concerned and even slightly jealous and none of those were what he really should have been feeling. There should be more of the worry and less of everything else. He understood that she needed space but he felt as though he had given enough of that. Rory really did have a need to see her at this point. So he had made his way over to her dorm, hoping that she would be there. It was always hard to tell where she would be in recent weeks. She was a hard lady to find at times, not that he usually minded that. He just needed to talk to her and he needed to see her. There was a strong part of him that needed to know she was okay, and another part of him that had a growing suspicion that really needed approaching. She fact that she hadn’t contacted him had planted this little seed of suspicion that he wasn’t feeling much toward just yet. He was strangely indifferent to her distance. He realized this as he got closer and closer to her door, making his way down the hallway. He gave a few light knocks before testing the doorknob, slightly surprised to find it open. “Astrid,”

[/color] he called out in a gentle tone, making sure the door was closed behind him. Maybe her dorm mate had just left or something of the sort.

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words: idfk tag: dollie/astrid; wearing: here; notes: opppp

[/center]

[astrid marley castle]

[/style][style=width: 510px; height: 460px; background-image: url(http://i50.tinypic.com/qxqhhc.png); padding: 10px;][style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: 414645; letter-spacing: 4px; text-align:center; margin-top: -10px;]I WAS FOLLOWING THE PACK, I WAS FOLLOWING THE PACK

with scarves of red tied round their throats

TO KEEP THEIR LITTLE HEADS FROM FALLING IN THE SNOW AND MICHAEL, YOU WOULD FALL, AND TURN THE WHITE SNOW RED AS STRAWBERRIES IN THE SUMMERTIME - - -

[style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; line-height: 10px; letter-spacing: 2px; color:414645;text-align:justify;]Astrid hadn't expected the door to be open.

Libby must have left it open. She sighed, a huffing, heavy sound, and dragged herself off of her bed. "Libby I've told you, you have to lock the -" Someone was in there. She shouldn't be as scared as she was. The killer, he was dead. She'd seen him. He'd fallen off that cliff on the edge of town, and he was dead. He wasn't going to barge in there and get her. She was safe, she was fine. And still, she could feel her right hand shaking, feel the muscles in her chest get tight, as she moved from the division of her room, into the small shared living area.

"Rory?"

She hadn't expected him to be there. She had sort of forgotten about him - she had sort of forgotten about everyone, honestly, in the past day - and upon seeing him, she instantly felt bad. She should have texted him, or called him or something, but she hadn't. She'd been so wrapped up in making sure Jake and Hayden were okay, in making sure that idiot of a friend didn't bleed out in the back of Chase's car because he was too hyped up on fixing this problem to realize his shoulder was bleeding. She'd spent the car ride to the hospital in his lap holding a wadded up shirt to his shoulder, checking upon Jake, who had a belt around his arm for a tourniquet. So when they'd gotten to the hospital, Astrid had forgotten about herself. The boys had gone off to surgery, and she'd had x-rays, and a cast put on. She didn't really remember getting back to Dulcinea, but she remembered Bruce going to get drunk, and them wanting her there, but she'd ended up in her dorm, in her bed.

She'd been there all day.

And now Rory was here, and she wasn't entirely sure what to do. She didn't want to see him. She didn't want to see anybody really. Although, he was her boyfriend. He deserved a little more than she was giving him, at the moment. "I uh... Hi."

[/style]

TAGGED: dee&rory OUTFIT: click NOTES: fdsjklds
LISTENING TO... white winter hymnal - fleet foxes

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[rory]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true] a criminal mind is all i've ever known He wasn’t surprised when she mistook him for her roommate and he wasn’t surprised that she seemed a bit on edge, for lack of a better term. He moved slowly into her dorm, mostly because his knee still bothered him and he’d had physiotherapy on it earlier that day. Rory didn’t really know what to expect from Astrid right now. He was expecting a breakdown with tears staining his shirt, but that was always what happened with Santana. Astrid wasn’t Santana. What was Astrid going to need out of him right now? He had no way of knowing. He had no idea what kind of consoling she would need. No idea how to help her. He wanted to help (mostly because he felt as though he had to) but simultaneously he didn’t want to be burden. Oh the conflict that came with being a heartless creature. “Hey,”

[/color] he simply said. He knew it redundant to ask how she was doing but he didn’t really know what else to say at this point. He didn’t know where to begin. “Are you okay?”[/color] There was a significant distance between them, as Rory didn’t want to overstep any potential boundaries. Everyone handled trauma differently. There was a significant chance that she didn’t want to be touched after getting attacked. There was also a chance that she’d want to be held. Rory figured he’d just let her come to him if that was the case. He’d follow her signals and her hints, all of which so far weren’t very open to him being there. He didn’t blame her.

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words: idfk tag: dollie/astrid; wearing: here; notes: opppp

[/center]

[astrid marley castle]

[/style][style=width: 510px; height: 460px; background-image: url(http://i50.tinypic.com/qxqhhc.png); padding: 10px;][style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: 414645; letter-spacing: 4px; text-align:center; margin-top: -10px;]I WAS FOLLOWING THE PACK, I WAS FOLLOWING THE PACK

with scarves of red tied round their throats

TO KEEP THEIR LITTLE HEADS FROM FALLING IN THE SNOW AND MICHAEL, YOU WOULD FALL, AND TURN THE WHITE SNOW RED AS STRAWBERRIES IN THE SUMMERTIME - - -

[style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; line-height: 10px; letter-spacing: 2px; color:414645;text-align:justify;]She tried to put up that megawatt smile, the one she usually had on. She tried to tack it to her face, but the bulb had shattered, and what was left of it was just sort of... Lack luster. Part of her was glad he had showed up, part of her wasn't. Astrid wasn't entirely sure what to do - she had never really felt this way before, to be honest. She'd never been so miserable for herself, over something so trivial. She'd had worse happen to her, in Florida, and she had been fine. She'd stiffened up her upper lip, jutted out her chin and carried on. But now? Astrid wasn't sure what was different, really. Maybe it was sitting in the backseat of the car on the way to the hospital, trying to keep an uncooperative Hayden from bleeding out everywhere. Or maybe it was watching people she cared about, nearly fall to their deaths, to be shot. A gunshot was so much different than a strike. People could be pulled off one another, but once you fired a gun, that was it.

Whatever the cause was, it had shaken something very central in her. There had been some visceral reaction that even she was having a hard time coping. It was frustrating. It had hardly been a day, but she had seen this change in herself, and what was worse, was that she couldn't see it going away anytime soon. She blinked, as she watched Rory, and hoped that having a person there would kick in that instinctive selflessness. That by having a person to perform for, she would do just that. Pretend to be okay, pretend to be happy. She didn't even know why she wasn't happy. The killer was dead. Her friends were safe. She didn't have to worry about going outside anymore, didn't have to take the tunnels between Dulcinea and Videlict. She could actually go outside and enjoy the nice weather without worrying about being killed. She couldn't do it though. She didn't even know why she was so upset, and she didn't know how to fix it, either.

Withholding the urge to sigh, Astrid shifted her weight. She would have gotten dressed, she imagined, if she had known she was having company. She felt a little embarrassed, in pajamas. "I probably should have called you. Sorry." Outside of Hayden, Rory should have been the first person she let know where she was going. But she hadn't even thought to do that. Even coming home from the hospital, all she had wanted to do was sleep. She should have called him, let him know she was alright. But she hadn't. She hadn't called anyone. "Wasn't really bad anyway." She held up her left arm, to show off the cast, and shrugged.

"Thanks, for coming by, and all." She was struck, suddenly, by the need to let him go. She wasn't sure what had happened the night before, but whatever it was, it hadn't been good. It had changed something profoundly. Astrid wasn't much for burdening other people, it was against her nature. She was there to alleviate, not to worsen. It wasn't fair to him, to try to drag him around into some emotional whirlwind. She wasn't even sure what she'd do. "Listen.... Rory. I'm really sorry, and all... But I don't think we should... You know." She wasn't entirely sure how this worked. Everyone else she had dated, it had either been a mutual thing - like Vance - or they'd broken up with her. "I don't know what I'm going to be like, anymore. Hell, I don't even know what's going on anymore." She almost wanted to laugh, it sounded so ridiculous. But it was true, and her tone of voice relayed that. "It's not fair to drag you down with whatever this is... So I think it's better if we don't see each other, anymore."

[/style]

TAGGED: dee&rory OUTFIT: click NOTES: aww
LISTENING TO... white winter hymnal - fleet foxes

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[rory]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,10,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true] a criminal mind is all i've ever known Rory almost had a hard time believing that the killer was dead. As twisted and sick at it sounded, Rory couldn’t help but admire someone who could go this long without getting caught. He couldn’t help but feel almost disappointed that it was over so soon. Rory wanted more from this killer. He wanted to see more and he wanted to learn from careful observation. Rory hadn’t really expected it to end so quickly. None of this was stuff Rory had ever expressed to anyone. Of course he wasn’t about to say any of this to Astrid. These were her friends getting attacked and killed. (A poor choice of friends, but friends none the less.) There was so much more about the killer that Rory wanted to know. So much more that needed to be brought to attention. Most of all, Rory wanted to know how the guy managed to go so long without getting caught. Did he make his own bullets that made them impossible to trace back? How did he avoid leaving evidence behind? Did he have connections within the police? It seemed a bit on the ridiculous side that four teenagers could catch someone that had evaded the police for so long. There had to have been something shady going on within the police force. “It’s fine,”

[/color] he reassured her. “You’ve had a lot on your mind.”[/color] It was easy to make excuses for her in this situation, mostly because it didn’t feel like much of an excuse at all. He could only imagine what kinds of things were running through her mind right now and how on edge she must be. Rory hated having to be left to worry but he also felt as though he had no right to push her any farther than she already had been. Besides, it was difficult enough trying to keep the right emotions conveyed in his expression. He was feeling far too many things all at once and he didn’t want the right ones to be showing through. God, if she picked up on his disappointment or his envy or his interest in all of the dirty details it would not end well. “I’m glad it’s just minor.”[/color] And he was. It could have been so much worse and even if she had the worst taste in friendships—and boyfriends too, obviously—he still cared about her well being. His gaze drifted to her cast momentarily but then went right back to her face, studying her carefully and trying his best to be appear gentle and concerned rather than intensely conflicted.

He could guess what was coming from how her tone changed. From her sudden body language and the way she spoke. He could argue against her and say he wanted to be there for her and to help her through this. He could tell her to give it a few more days before deciding if this was what she wanted and thought was best. But Rory didn’t really see the point. First of all, this was just high school. A vast majority of high school relationships didn’t go very far so why would his? Rory cared about her but he didn’t care enough to fight with her about this. It would be for the best, he decided. He gave a slow nod and pushed hair off of his face. He took a few steps forward to close more of the distance that sat between them, putting a hand on her good arm and placing a small kiss on her forehead. “I could argue but if this is what you want that’s fine. Just…take care of yourself and keep in touch at the very least. You’re the only half decent person to jam with around here.”[/color] He stepped away from her and had a small, crooked smile. He understood that he wouldn’t be able to help her through whatever she was going through right now. He wasn’t emotionally ready for that. Rory’s brain didn’t work that way.

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words: 670 tag: dollie/astrid; wearing: here; notes: opppp

[/center]

[astrid marley castle]

[/style][style=width: 510px; height: 460px; background-image: url(http://i50.tinypic.com/qxqhhc.png); padding: 10px;][style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; color: 414645; letter-spacing: 4px; text-align:center; margin-top: -10px;]I WAS FOLLOWING THE PACK, I WAS FOLLOWING THE PACK

with scarves of red tied round their throats

TO KEEP THEIR LITTLE HEADS FROM FALLING IN THE SNOW AND MICHAEL, YOU WOULD FALL, AND TURN THE WHITE SNOW RED AS STRAWBERRIES IN THE SUMMERTIME - - -

[style=font-family: tahoma; font-size: 9px; line-height: 10px; letter-spacing: 2px; color:414645;text-align:justify;]It was unfamiliar territory, and Astrid wasn't sure she was the one who wanted to chart it out. She liked Rory, she did. He was good to her, he didn't treat her badly, or anything. But for those reasons exactly, he didn't deserve to be put through this. High school relationships weren't meant for the strain of... whatever this was. Trauma didn't seem like the right word; she'd broken a wrist, that was it. She had a couple of bruises and a broken wrist. Hardly traumatic - she'd had worse, through far more traumatic situations. Emotional baggage seemed more appropriate, but Astrid hated those words together; the connotation was bad, it made someone seem less of a person, and more of a problem or a hassle. But that was what she was right now, a hassle. Astrid wasn't familiar with this feeling, or what it entailed, and she didn't know how long it was going to last. So she had to do what she did best, she saved the people she cared about. That was what this was; Rory would recover. It was just a high school relationship, and she'd save him from having to go through whatever this disaster she was experiencing was. Hell, maybe it'd even keep him safe.

"Thank you." She said, quietly, as she watched him. "For understanding. I'm sorry it ended up like this." She genuinely was. The end of a relationship was never something pleasant, no matter how understanding the parties involved were, or no matter how good the terms were. Even if he was alright, and Astrid highly suspected he would be, it was still a change. Even if she was alright - and again, Astrid suspected this time she wouldn't be, although the termination of her relationship didn't quite weigh as heavily as other factors did - still, they'd get over it. He didn't seem extremely offended by the proposition, and instead accepted it with the grace of someone who had come to expect this turn. Her tone probably clued him into it, to be honest. She was just glad he accepted it gracefully. She wasn't sure what she would have done if he had protested, she might not have even been able to go through with it. Astrid hated hurting people.

She'd closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead, and she let his words sink in. Maybe someday she'd be better, and someday it'd work out. Astrid didn't know when that would be, though, if it would be soon - she was good at bouncing back, but this was so much different - or if it would take a lot longer than she could anticipate. "I will. You keep in touch, too." She smiled, a hollow gesture, but she meant what it stood for, at least. "Maybe someday things will be different? I don't know. Get a few good hits in on Mack for me, kay?" She might have laughed, but not now. She looked down instead, focused on the ground ahead of her. "I guess I'll see you around, then."

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TAGGED: dee&rory OUTFIT: click NOTES: aww
LISTENING TO... save rock and roll - fall out boy

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