Do I Know You? (Oriel)

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“Hmph,” Oriel grumped. Maybe he’d try it…when he wasn’t feeling like such an ass. Then again, if he was going to do work, then he may as well get paid for it. Then again, then he’d be just like all those fucking social workers he hates, who only cared because they were paid to care. So in retrospect, volunteering was probably one of the most genuine things he could do to show that he cared….but then again, if he could get paid for caring about something he cared about anyway, then it was two birds with one stone. Because lord knew he needed a job of some sorts, and it was looking more and more like his goal of getting into theater was nothing but a hopeless dream.

Sigh…just another reason to stop trying…like he needed any more.

Oriel just didn’t feel like trying in anything anymore. As he was doing throughout this class, he had similarly been doing for the rest of his classes, either sleeping or just mindlessly watching the rest of the class go about their business and refusing to participate outright. He’d gotten yelled at for it. He’d gotten detention. Seriously, what else could they do to him? He was already grounded, had detention for life..what were they going to do, call his parents? Oh, wait, he didn’t have any!! It’d gotten to the point where some teachers just wrote up a report and didn’t even bother trying to get him involved anymore. Some had tried talking to him, those he was especially close with, people like Hay-lin, but Oriel even shut them out. Why he was daring to open up to this Yigger, even Oriel didn’t know. Must’ve just caught him in exactly the right mood.

Oriel turned his eyes over to the Rue guy, curious to see his reaction to what he’d said. Huh…figured. His expression said everything, he was in way over his head and all his good intentions were worthless.

“Yeah…he’s fine…” Oriel mumbled, looking down at his fingers as he fidgeted with the torn, chewed up skin surrounding his nails. They were starting to look raw. “….no….He, uh…fuck, he forgave me long before I…fuck, I still haven’t forgiven myself…” He wasn’t sure if Rue could understand him through the mumbling, but the words were there. Oriel shook his head at the hope of professional help. “Don’t fucking help…already been doing it for six months, and then this shit happens…feels like I’m just getting worse and worse.” Oriel scoffed. “No fucking shit, pretty sure nobody here’s been through what I…fuck…” Now he really was sounding emo. He should probably just stop talking already.

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Rue just smiled a bit sadly and left the boy to his own thoughts. If nothing else, he'd planted a seed of an idea in Oriel's head; if he chose to pursue it some more, it was up to him. The older man had no idea if he would or not, because he still only had a vague sense of his character, but at least he was trying to help in some way.

Rue's eyes fell to Oriel's aura once again, and his brow furrowed in concern. The grey tones of the lion seemed to be spreading, leaking over the areas of crimson. He wasn't sure what was worse - overwhelming anger, or sadness. He began to wonder if he was really helping, or just making things worse. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to intrude in your life and make things worse for you by thinking about them so much," he murmured, staring into what would seem to an outsider like thin air. "I mean, I'm sure that's all you're thinking about already, but... Your aura is just incredibly concerning to me." Rue wondered if he was going to be able to break through at all, or if this teenager was going to need more artificial ways to deal with his problems. "It might sound a bit hokey, but... Have you ever tried meditation? It's something else that has helped me when my mind is chaotic, but... It takes some practice to get used to."

He was just trying to offer options. That was all.

"That's good," Rue replied softly. He didn't know if the 'taking out on' had been emotional or physical or both, but at least, it sounded like, there wasn't any lasting damage on whoever his boyfriend was. His scarred eyebrow rose curiously at the complicating factor. "Ah... So you both want to be back together but they're not allowing you?" he presumed. "I can't say I have an opinion on that matter, because I'm sure there are viable arguments for each side, but I'm sorry to hear that it's been hard for you." Relationship problems were never easy, especially when authority figures got involved. At the mention that the help he was getting wasn't, in fact, helping, Rue replied,"Well.... Maybe you're not seeing the right person. It took me a while before I found someone who helped me, to be honest." He sighed. "The road to recovery often feels like it's nothing but setbacks. It's difficult. It sucks. It takes a lot of time and energy and commitment into changing yourself into who you want to be."

He was going to go on, but the teacher finally called for Rue's attention to go and assist with something else. The older man offered a supportive smile and gently clapped Oriel on the shoulder. "I guess I better go. But I'll be around if you need anyone to vent at or anything, alright?"