The Distortion of Normalcy[Icicle//Adelaid Belial]

[Icicle]

At Noelle's question, Niko looked over at her, half in confusion, and half in relief. Almost immediately, he continued, "I...d-don't know what that means..." still shaken up by the meeting he just had. He continued to stare at her as she continued, becoming more and more confused as she nudged him, his face getting redder as she laughed, each interaction making the situation more painfully awkward, until finally he mumbled, "I-I have never seen her before...Sh-she just,...appeared!" He looked at the two options Noelle was looking at as he spoke, then, after a few seconds, he chuckled and commented, "we have all day....pick whichever ones you want."

Then, after trying his best to help Noelle pick out the movies and rent them, he followed her back to school, once again making sure to hold her hand whenever he needed to. At one point, he pulled her back suddenly, thinking that he saw someone running towards them from the alleyway. After apologizing to her and blushing, he started to lead the way back, avoiding eye contact with her to spare her of his awkwardness.

Once they arrived, Niko released Noelle and walked over to the Library with her. "I'll be right back," he commented, rushing out of the library, "Can you get the movies set up?"

A few minutes later, Niko rushed back into the library with two large coffee cups and offered one to Noelle. "the cafeteria had hot cocoa dispensers....I thought it'd be easier than going to that street vendor..." he then sat on one of the couches, deciding that it might be more comfortable than the armchairs, and stared at the T.V., expecting a movie to start at any moment.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle shook her head playfully still, returning to the arduous task of picking out a movie. She, with Niko's help, had decided on some older cartoon movies, one about a ghost boy and the other about a robot child. They seemed to be the most interesting of her options. She and Niko went and managed to check them out and started on the trek back to the school. Noelle led the charge back to school with a slightly more relaxed air, fingering her emergency whistle like a pendant of some sort. She got so caught up in her own little world that it really shocked her when Niko pulled her backwards.

She yelped in spite of herself, thinking that some stranger had tried to mug her. Her grip was tight on the whistle when she found out the culprit of the so-called "attack" was Niko. "Oh, Niko......Dear me....No, it's fine, you just surprised me a little is all." She was thusly led back by Niko, who refused to look back at her for the rest of the trip. Noelle sighed, it was a bit of an embarrassing endeavor to say the least, she was the one who screamed like a little girl. Though she didn't say anything else about it, it did stifle the happiness a small bit.

As soo as they stepped into the Library, Niko had asked her to set up the movies while she did something, so, she looked at the movies in her hand to pick which one they would see first. 'Maybe....he would like the ghost boy movie, they have a lot in common......Then again, so do him and the robot child.....Ghost it is.' She put the movie in, and paused it, awaiting Niko's return. She sat in the relative comfort of silence for a little while before the sound of the library's doors were heard again.

"Niko!" It was the only response she could have. She was surprised enough that the boy had managed togo and get the cocoa, but that he was even thinking of this generous gesture at all. "This is Awesome! Thank you and Merry Christmas!" When he was settled in as well, Noelle started the movie, it beginning with a happy young boy sitting in a futuristic classroom, taking a test.

---

When the movie had begun to play the final battle scenes, the good robot boy versus the newly turned robot man, the entire city being destroyed.....it was intense. Noelle was stuck to the edge of her seat the entire time. Jumping back when the explosions made contact, and trying to not physically react to the emotional state of the characters. When the credits finally began to roll after a sort of cliffhanger she finally relaxed, and leaned back wearily into her chair.

"I've seen that movie so many times and it still manages to get to me. I hop you at least liked it, Niko. The next movie's a bit shorter, so we can get through it a lot quicker."

She allowed some time to take a short intermission before replacing the movie with the other one she had bought. This one was more of a cartoon-y loose style. And it too, started with some pre-teenage kid, in school, but he was in the middle of fighting ghosts.

Noelle found the movie just as teary as the other one. The entire earth had almost been overtaken by the King of Ghosts. She had seen both movies like a billion times, but both managed to get the same reaction out of her. She turned to where Niko sat in his own chair. "So, what do you think? I know it's not Christmas movies, but.....still fun, right?"

 

[Icicle]

Niko stared intensely at the screen the entire time both movies played, only diverting his attention for Serenity's more unusual reactions. He did not even respond to the girl's comment about the next movie, instead continuing to stare at the T.V., waiting for the next movie to start as he finally sipped some of his, now cold, hot cocoa. He agreed with the girl about the movie being shorter, but was confused about the message until Noelle settled his confusion by informing him that it was not a Christmas movie.

Niko sighed, then finished his drink and looked over at Noelle. "I liked those...but I think I liked the one with the zombie lady and the Christmas science better." He stretched a little while he remained seated on the couch, then got up and walked over to Noelle, smiling sheepishly at her. "Thanks for doing all of this for me. I...didn't expect anyone to want to be around me so often...when I first got here..." before he realized what he was saying, he continued, "When I first saw you here, I thought you would hate me, because I hurt you...but, I'm glad that you don't. Thanks."

Niko then quickly grabbed Noelle's empty cup from the ground and quickly made his way over to the entrance of the library, where he threw away the cups. He then turned back to say something to Noelle as he started to walk back towards her, but forgot what he was going to say. In the corner of his eye, he swore that he saw eyes staring at him beside just Noelles, but decided that he was just tired. After another moment, he sighed, unable to think of anything else to say, and commented, "If you want to do something else, I would be happy to."

 

[Adelaide Belial]

'Hate you, why......' she wanted to say that, but didn't exactly want to bring up the topic, since the day was going so well. Besides, he seemed reluctant to even try and continue that conversation. "It was all my fault, if I remember correctly." She stated, giving Niko a friendly, curt nod. "I would have loved to go ice skating. But I don't think that there are ice skating rinks in this town. And you probably don't know how to ice skate." She laughed, "But, no...I'm good Niko. This was seriously the best day. Thank you. And, you know...." she gave him a thumb's up, smiling cheekily, "You've still got your friend right here later if you want to do something later."

She led Niko out of the library, ad back out onto the cold campus. When she just exited the doors, she saw a flash of something cross her vision. Immediately, the hairs on her neck stood up, her hand went to her emergency whistle automatically. "Did you...." she stopped herself, shaking her head, yet the feeling of being watched did not go away. "Come on Niko." And she took his hand, even though they were on campus, which was supposed to be safe. Hopefully.

 

[Icicle]

Niko eagerly listened to Noelle as she spoke, wondering about what this, "ice skating" could be. He nodded in agreement as she spoke positively about the day's events, then blushed slightly after she pointed out her availability later. He thought hard about what else he could do with Noelle, but paused as he felt like someone was watching. He looked around right before they exited the side doors of the library, finding themselves out of the warmth of the fireplace and in the chills of the environment, but he couldn't find the source of the feeling, despite his efforts.

He nodded as Noelle made a comment, but quickly grabbed her hand as she reached for her emergency whistle and pulled her along. "I think, whoever it was, it was in the library with us..." he commented, moving somewhat quickly as the first few flakes of snow were starting to descend from the sky, "so it was probably just another class mate." He continued to escort her all the way past the men's dorm and over to the women's dorm, then released her hand in front of the entrance. Before walking away, he quickly asked Noelle, "H-hey, uhh, Noelle..." he then turned back to her and walked back towards her as he continued, "Do you have a phone number? Th-That girl, in the video store....sh-she gave me this..."

Niko then pulled out the box which the girl had given him and opened it to reveal a brand new touch-screen smartphone. "I assume that it's not bound by a contract, so I probably don't have many calls or texts, but if you want to ask me to come over later, it's be easier if we had each other's phone numbers..."

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle looked at the phone for nearly ten seconds with the same wide-eyed expression, before taking it up in hand. "...Wow. A phone? That's amazing, Niko." She racked her brain to recall her own number and when she found it, she quickly entered her number. She looked undoubtedly serious at the lit up screen ".....You should text me when you get to your dorm. Let me know that you're alright, okay?" She handed him back his phone, with her normal smile returning. "I'm so proud of you. A phone? Not many heartthrobs like yourself get such extravagant present on the first day. Good job, Niko." She playfully placed a poke into Niko's ribs.

"See ya in the morning, alright? And Merry Christmas!" Noelle waved good bye to her friend as she entered her dorm. Looking back to the door to make sure that Niko was alight. She could see a glimpse of someone walking away from the dorm vicinity. 'There's no way that's just some other student....' she felt her mouth pull into a snarl. As she made her way to her own dorm, she pulled out her phone, "Just give him a few seconds-. no....two minutes at the most. Everything will be fine, Noelle"

 

[Icicle]

Niko felt like blushing after Noelle's response to seeing the girl's gift, but maintained the same serious expression as he looked her in the eye. He felt like Noelle was trying to tell him something as she gently hit her head a few times, but was relieved to see her stop and take his phone from him. The screen of the phone quickly lit up after she took hold of it, and Niko's seriousness immediately changed to surprise as she spoke. "Text?..." he asked under his breath, staring at her with confusion, then wiping it from his expression before she could see. After she handed it back to him, he was ashamed to find that he was blushing at what she was saying, up until she ended what she was saying.

He stared at her in shock, unable to respond when the girl quickly attacked him, barely pausing at all before continuing to speak. He was momentarily terrified of her, but quickly determined that what she did was supposed to be a normal interaction between friends, and was not supposed to inflict pain. He smiled sheepishly and waved Noelle good bye, then quickly started walking away, pulling his headphones onto his head immediately after he heard the door to the girl's dorm close behind him.

By this point in time, the snow was quickly ramping up and falling much, much faster. He could barely see in front of him, but he didn't care. Niko turned on the sound cancelling function of his headset, then closed his eyes and sprinted along, frowning hard as he ran through the freezing cold air. He nimbly dodged out of the way as a few objects besides snow flew by, and quickly reached his dorm, opening the door and then closing it, then quickly taking his headphones off as he made his way over to the elevator...

----

A few minutes later, Niko slammed the door to his room shut, his noise-cancelling headphones sitting on his ears, and he locked the door behind himself. He hastily pulled his phone out as he leaned against the door and, after desperately searching through the options, he found the "text" menu and quickly touched Noelle's name. He then typed out a quick message saying, [[I'm in my dorm now. Thank you. Tell me if you need anything.]] then he quickly pressed send, shoved the phone back into his pocket, and ran over to his desk as the door made various loud slamming noises.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle, sitting on her bed, sketching out the snowy scene before her jumped when she felt her phone vibrate on her bed. She looked over to it, taking a minute to calm down as she finally realized who the message was from. She smiled, looking down at the horribly bright screen. Noelle thought for a second, then began a return message.

{{That's great! Did you see? It's snowing!! See ya in the mornin' Niko!}}

She looked over her horribly childish message, reading over it before sending to see if it made sense and didn't make her sound like a total twelve year old. After deciding that no amount of time on earth could make her change the six word text, she sent it. Biting back a quick second message, Noelle looked back to her sketchbook. "I can't do much more in my room tonight, and maybe......that's about it. I'll go out to play in the snow tomorrow." She rolled her eyes looking back to the phone one last time before deciding to hit the hay. She put away all her stuff and settled into rest for the night. Closing her eyes and listening to the soft pattern of snow fall against her window.

 

[Icicle]

After a bright flash of light and a powerful thud, Niko slammed the door closed again and deadbolted it, then opened his window and climbed out, shutting the window behind him. He carefully descended down, dropping one floor at a time until he reached the icy ground, then he hastily started to sprint back towards the girl's dorms. Once he reached the building, the snow so thick that he couldn't see a foot away, he made his way over to the side of the building and climbed up a few floors, then gripped the side of a window and pulled out his phone, swallowing his gut.

[[ Noelle opn your windw ]]

He texted, his cold fingers too numbed to hit all the boxes before he accidentally pressed send early. He decided it was clear enough, and shoved the phone in his pocket, then waited a few moments as he pulled his headset from his ears. After the window, the side of which he was hanging on to, opened, Niko quickly swung himself into the room, desperate to be safe once again. He kicked the girl by accident on entering, but quickly got back up and shut the window before rushing over to help her up, whispering, "a boy...I don't know who he was, but he was trying to barge into my room....he won't be able to come here, b-because this is the girl's dorm, and..." he paused, then blushed, his previously concerned face now extremely nervous as he helped her up, realizing what he was saying.

After a few seconds, he gulped and nervously, quietly continued, "I...I'm s-sorry, but...I know he will get into my room if I stay there tonight...d-do you mind?...I'll s-sleep in the corner, if that'll make you more comfortable..."

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle, still half-asleep was registering things at a slow pace. Niko had sent her a text telling her to open her window. Which she may or may not have misinterpreted in her dazed state. Nonetheless she had opened the window, wanting to find out what it was that had occurred in the ten minutes she tried to sleep. She was met, however, with a hit in the gut. Instinctively, Noelle doubled over, falling to her side with a loud groan. "Ahh geez!!....." she sputtered, feeling her insides clench.

She felt someone help her up, and when she met the gaze of her attacker/rescuer, she saw Niko. "Niko, what are-" She sat in shock when he told her about the random boy. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, 'I knew that wasn't just some trick of the mind.....Damn.' She sighed, "Niko, you can stay and sleep wherever you want. I think my mom made me bring some extra covers. Let me get them." Noelle walked over to the only other little closet in the room, the one that would have belonged to a roommate. Inside was tons of comforters, blankets, pillow cases, throw pillows, you name it. She took two comforters, a blanket, and some throw pillows. "Gotta love Mother."

"This should work nicely. I hope you don't snore Niko." Noelle managed to create a little makeshift bed out of the covers and pillows that he could sleep in. "I'll be more comfortable knowing that you're safe." She got some more pillows to put there for good measure, he was going to be sleeping on the ground after all. Noelle made sure the window and her door was locked before tucking herself into bed for the second time. "Good Night Niko." She made sure to watch the window this time, until she had gone at least five minutes without seeing anything suspicious and she was once again lulled to sleep by the beautiful snowflakes.

 

[Icicle]

Niko sighed, greatly relieved that Noelle reacted so calmly. He apologized for hitting her a few more times as she searched through a closet in the corner of the room, but waited patiently by the window, sitting down in the hopes that, by shrinking his presence, he would not make her as uncomfortable. He peeked out of the window twice before she got all of the materials out of her closet. He hastily made his way over to help her assemble the bed once she started speaking, responding to her comment by saying, "I am a very light sleeper...were I to snore, it would wake me up..."

After Noelle crawled into her own bed, Niko hastily got into the bed they made from the extra materials and got comfortable on his back. It was relatively easy to sleep under the window, seeing as the snow blocked any light which the moon would be giving off. After a few seconds, he perked up to hear Noelle speaking and calmly responded, "Sleep well, Noelle!"

---

Later that night, Niko silently arose from his bed and snuck over to the bathroom, trying his best to close the door silently, and, surprisingly enough, almost perfectly succeeding. He left the lights in the bathroom off to prevent himself from becoming night-blinded, then cautiously ventured over to the toilet. After a minute or so, the toilet flushed and he walked over to the sink. Niko noticed a bit of blood on his face, so he quickly wiped his face clean. He also analyzed a few of his injuries and, with a bit of pride, he decided to not treat them, knowing that they were healed fully enough to recover without any more medication.

So, after another minute or so, he made sure his clothes were on right and left the room silently once more. He looked over at Noelle where she slept for a few moments and stepped towards her slightly, veering from his path to his sleeping bag for a moment. But, as if something was compelling him, he quickly tumbled over towards his sleeping bag, and he fell quietly to his side. Niko stayed on his side for a few minutes, continuing to stare at Noelle, then he put his headset on and stared at her more, staring intensely. He swallowed hard after seeing something and quickly rushed over to her.

"Noelle! Noelle! Wake up! Stop doing that now!" he whispered, grabbing his shoulder and lightly shaking her from side to side. He stared at her in disbelief and terror, then pulled his headset off as what he saw started to vanish. "Noelle....w-were you...having a nightmare?"

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle's eyes fluttered in her sleep, she might have been dreaming, but there was some sort of .....blurry figure walking around her room. Her mind took a second to register that the figure was probably her temporary roommate, Niko. Sighing in a fit to return to sleep she turned on her stomach and closed her eyes tightly drifting off again. After a few minutes, she was suddenly rushed awake, Niko shaking her from side to side. She looked around the room, much groggier than before. "I was.....?" she didn't feel like she was having a nightmare. Then again, she couldn't really remember anything about her sleep. As much as she tried to make her brain pull at whatever it was to cause this situation, she could not proverbially "grasp it."

"Niko....Niko, I'm fine. I'm not having any nightmares...." she patted her worried friend on the shoulder, pushing him back a little bit away from herself. "I couldn't have had a nightmare. Wouldn't I be screaming in terror?" She chuckled, oddly enough, at the thought of waking up in a cold sweat, yelling at the top of her lungs. It really demonstrated exactly how tired she was. "....But, no...Alas, Niko. The blood hath not yet drained from my face, noe has it been spilled. So I bid thee Good Night, once more." She laughed once again, and then turned in her bed to lay down to sleep. If she really had a nightmare it couldn't possibly happen again.

In the Dream

{Noelle couldn't see anything around her, she tried to move but couldn't.....It was almost hard to breathe. In a panic, she thrashed her arms around, trying to grasp for anything that could take the squeezing pain off of her chest. In vain, she tried crying out, but her mouth wasn't making a sound. She couldn't even see her attacker. In just a few minutes, it wasn't only the choking,it felt like someone was stabbing her. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to find any sort of rescue plan.....Her eyes, the only things that could see were going darker and darker....In a few minutes, she would be dead-}

Noelle's head popped up like lightning, she gasped deeply. Her neck felt like someone had just let go, and her cheeks were wet too. She had to have been dreaming right? There was no one here to hurt here. She placed a cautionary hand over her heart. 'I can't afford scares like this...' she thought weakly, arms lowering to her sides. She leaned back on her bed, tirelessly looking up to the ceiling, Was she still alone in her room? "Niko, are you still in here?" She ventured the question without even looking.

 

[Icicle]

Once Noelle awoke from her slumber, Niko immediately felt relieved and released her, knowing that what he saw was now gone. "Good," he sighed in relief and stepped back as she urged him to move away, momentarily afraid that he was making her uncomfortable. After she made a comment about nightmares and started chuckling, Niko shook his head and said, "no, but I had a feeling that you were…" and blushed slightly, knowing that it was a horrible excuse. It took him a few minutes to realize what she said next, but, at long last, he finally understood it, and groggily went back to his bed as well, content in the knowledge that he had helped her a little. Before falling asleep, however, he got an idea, and quickly walked back over to her. He placed his headset over her head and activated the noise-cancelling function, then took the headset which she gave him the previous day and tuned it to his phone before going to sleep.

After sleeping for a few minutes, he heard the door open and quickly looked over to see a girl standing in the doorway. Niko had barely heard the door unlock, but didn't pause to think about it. He instantly switched his headset on to a blank track, muting all sound he heard, and bound towards the girl with fright in his eyes. Once he saw that she had two sharp objects in his hand, a large kitchen knife and a bread knife, he stopped short, allowing her to take the first attack.

The girl took her opportunity and another girl immediately sprinted in and jumped onto the bed Noelle was in, an eerie, dark shadow distorting her facial features a tiny bit in the darkness of the room. Niko barely stopped the girl from impaling him, grabbing both of her wrists at the joint so that she couldn't move her weapons around. He then disabled her as she started to scream with agony, and, with one, firm kick, he launched her back into the hallway, where she lay without any of the distortion, unconscious. Niko rushed over to the bed to find that Noelle was being choked and poked hard in the gut by the girl. Without any change in emotion, Niko struck the girl's wrist, causing her to scream in agony as well, but he grabbed her by the throat, stopping her short, and quickly launched her to the ground. After a quick slap to the face, the girl fell unconscious as well, and Niko quickly dragged her and the two weapons the first girl was carrying, out into the hallway, and left the door open a crack behind himself.

Just so that no one would immediately catch him, he covered the top-half of his body with bed sheets, and, spotting an open door further down the hallway, Niko quickly carried the girls and their knives over to the room, blushing hard as one of the girls slipped out of his grasp partially, hanging on by her breasts alone. Niko silently cursed to himself as he brought the two girls into the room, carrying them to two beds on either side, then placing the knives on the two desks in the corners. He hastily made his way out of the room, closing the doors behind himself as he went, and paused in front of Noelle's door for a moment. "What should I do?...if she's still asleep when I get in there, she'll think I did this…" he thought, horrified at the thought.

He did not want to lose his only friend. Niko swallowed his gut and quickly walked back into the room to see that Noelle was still asleep, then quickly closed the door and, in a rush, he re-organized all the extra bed sheets and pillows which she pulled out, getting them back into her closet as he remembered. He then unlocked the window, walked back over to her, collected his headset from her ears, and slipped outside, looking back just to be sure that she was still asleep. He saw a few beads of sweat on her face, but she appeared fine, so he shut the window and hastily made his way back over to his own dorm, where he dead-bolted the door and locked the window, then begrudgingly fell asleep, his headset still turned on all night.

---The Next Day---

Niko woke up with a start and hastily felt the headset on his head. "I must've been too tired to take it off…" he mused, then looked over to see the door opened, but held by the deadbolt. He found a few objects on his bed, probably thrown in an attempt to kill, but without any efficiency. He sighed and gathered the objects up, then placed them in his desk and wandered over to close the door. Once the door was closed and locked, Niko made his way over to the bathroom and tended to himself, his scars even more well healed than the previous few days.

Once his shower was complete, and he had dressed himself adequately for the day to come, Niko rushed over to the cafeteria to meet Noelle, but quickly remembered the previous night. "I…I'm going to act like it was a dream…" he mumbled, gulping down his heart as he collected his morning food, still holiday themed and well-made. After he had a steaming pile of deliciousness, he walked into the eating section to find a few more people in the room, but only a few more, and walked over to his and Noelle's normal eating spot to wait for her, wearing the same outfit as he wore the previous day.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle took a ragged breathe, apparently, Niko had left her. She sat up in her up, swinging her feet over the sides. Rubbing her neck, she felt raw, and cold. Cold? Noelle looked around for the source, immediately spotting the open window, but very sure that she had closed it last night. 'Was someone in here?...... No, there's no way that happened..' She shuttered, trying again to make the cold lessen. With her attempts failed, she got up and begin to get ready for school. Upon further examination in her own bathroom, she found that her neck and lower cheeks carried small scratches, like a cat had gone on a field day with her face. She also had some weird red marks wringing around her neck. She sighed, reaching into her little First-Aid kit, She got some bandages to cover up the scars on her neck, and placed one on the majority of the ones on her face.

With her body looking relatively normal, Noelle took one last look around her room. She sighed. She put on a heavy coat and a scarf, partly for the cold, and partly for the red marks that were on her skin for some reason. Noting that at the very least, she shouldn't be taking off that scarf for whatever reason, she resolved to leave it there for the rest of the day. She wouldn't even tell Niko, hopefully.

She immediately head for the lunchroom, surprising the Lunchlady and many of the people in her dorm with her bandaged face.
"Whoa! Noelle, what happened?"
"Noelle, are you okay?"
"Geez girly, what did this to you?"
Noelle really hadn't thought the bandages looked that bad on her face, so she simply answered that she left her window open and woke up to a bird on her face the next morning. Complete with a "No, I'm fine, but thank you!" and a sweet smile. She wasn't feeling very hungry, the dream of choking really took a lot out of her. She just got a simple hot cocoa and some left over Christmas cookies and found Niko string at the usual spot. She called out, walking over at a relatively fast pace. " Look at this. I guess I really did have a nightmare, huh?" She pointed to the bandage on her face. "Weird, huh? Wonder what I was doing......" She took a small bite of the cookie as she sat down.

"I think, I left the window of my room open, and a bird or something got in.... Weird considering I locked it, but otherwise, no other reason."

 

[Icicle]

Niko was still eating vigorously as he heard Noelle approach the table which he was at. He paused quickly to look over at her, hoping that she was alright after the previous night, and was mortified to see her bundled up like a bed. Niko looked away from her, desperately trying to hide his mortification and dejection as she spoke. "Christmas night, and...that happened..." he mumbled, his rasping breath of a voice too constricted to be audible. He chuckled in a false attempt to lighten the mood after her question about what she did, responding, "Yeah...strange..." be he did not dare look up to her. Any attempt to look at her face was too fiercely competed by his fear of the horrible feeling in his gut, and the possibility of it getting stronger. What was it called? "Guilt..."

He continued to eat as she said something about her window, but Niko was too busy in his own thoughts. Once she finished, Niko continued to eat for a few seconds, then stopped momentarily, lifting his head up, but still unable to face her, and he said, "I...I want to do something for you today, N-Noelle..." He paused for a few seconds after saying this, his face contorting with nervousness, then he looked back down at his food with a sigh. His face brightened slightly as he started to speak, but his tone remained calm, "B-but, I think we should stay here on campus...what do you normally do when you aren't with me?" He looked over at her mid-way through his question, then immediately continued to eat his food, without much of a second thought.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

"Do something.....uh~...I don't usually do much but go to the Library and hang out. I have a school job I need to get to today though! It's on campus though, I serve at a cafe for the students. You wanna come and help me out a bit? " She smiled, but immediately dropped it. Her face hurt to stretch, especially where she'd been cut. Her boss would totally kill her for this, but he might let her bring Niko in to sit down. "I mean my whole life is spending time with friends, and sitting in cozy cafes where they play jazz music in the background....Oh, and I draw, and cook, but that's it." She tried to list them off with her fingers but, there was so few things she did in her life.

And, well maybe it was weird to, but.....She was terrified something would happen. Like the weird gnawing feeling in her gut. She didn't want to go anywhere today, but she also wouldn't be able to not go anywhere. And what would she do? Tell Niko she was scared? Nothing happened, at least not to her knowledge. And she was still scared. Like if she went out today at all, she could get far worse than some bruises on her neck and some scratches on her cheeks. She absent-mindedly pulled at the scar covering her bruises, her other hand holding her chest, or more specifically her emergency whistle....

 

[Icicle]

Niko quickly stopped eating and looked over at her as she started to speak, but, upon seeing her face, he looked back down at his food, feeling an intense, knife-like sensation in his gut. He continued to eat as she spoke, up until she started to count off the activities she liked to do. He looked over at her after she stopped, but paused for a moment after seeing her face once again. "Well...th-that's pretty impressive...I just sleep, study or eat when I'm alone..." he said, starting to feel pity not only for her, but for himself, "I would love to go to your cafe. I probably won't order much, but I'd be happy to watch you work."

Niko then continued to eat his remaining few food bowls without pausing. Once he was done, he got up, apologizing for bumping into Noelle, then brought his tray over to the carousel before following her out of the cafeteria. He asked her a few questions about her job, such as, "When do you work? I haven't seen you work before..." and other questions about what she does and why she does it before they finally reached the cafe. He quickly wished Noelle a bit of luck, then headed off to a table in the corner of the cafe and watched Noelle disappear behind a doorway.

He stared at a menu for awhile, unable to decide which of the incredible-looking pastries to get...

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle laughed, "I've been working for the whole year, actually, last week not included because I wanted to take the week off to study for the big tests coming up." She opened the door to usher Niko in so that the cold didn't disrupt customers and bid him a short farewell to get ready for work. Most of her co-workers were already there. "Yo! Noelle, you're back already? What's up?" She shook her head, saying hello to each of them before going and getting her uniform from her little locker area.Many of them asked about the bandages, and she simply gave the bird story that she had created. She hesitated before picking up her uniform.....the bruise marks on her neck..... The bandages were suspicious enough, but the bruises? She wouldn't be able to explain that.

Quickly changing into her uniform, she covered her neck as much as she could. She looked around for some sort of replacement for her scarf, and coincidentally found a beautiful pink bow wrapped around a flower bowel. It was wide enough to go around her neck comfortably. She tied it around her neck, and finding another one of the bows from another flower pot to tie into her hair. So that the oddly pink bow didn't stand out. When she was finally ready to start work, she was wearing her uniform which consisted of a white blouse, a black vest over that, a red tie, and black pencil skirt. Now complete with two red bows, one in the hair and one around the neck. Noelle node, taking a serving tray and heading out to meet with her tables. She could see Niko reading over the menu trays.

"I know how you feel, the menu has all sorts of good things. " She giggled, walking up to her friend, "Have you at least decided on the drink, sir?" She even curtsied a bit. "May I suggest the Hot Cocoa, or if you're in the mood, Eggnog? We have an excellent deal on the Eggnog."

 

[Icicle]

Niko was busy looking closely at a list of "ice creams" when he heard Noelle's voice beside him, and quickly turned his head to face her. He blushed once he had the opportunity to fully appreciate her new uniform, and even commented, "wow!" once she giggled, unsure of what else to say. He looked up at her head to see a few bow-ties and a neck ribbon, the likes of which reminded him of a dog which he passed by on the street. The association made him blush even more, this time from embarrassment, so he looked back at the menu as she suggested a few options.

After a brief pause, Niko said, "I-I'd like a hot cocoa! Thanks, Noelle!" Then smiled up at her with his blushing face before hiding it in the menu again, wanting his face to cool down. Once she left, he sighed in relief and looked around the cafe to see only a few of the students sitting at the tables, all of whom were either talking to other students, or some of the girls who were walking around in the interesting outfits. Niko only had a vague idea of why he was there, but he was happy to wait a little while near Noelle than to spend his day sleeping, eating, or studying and waste it even more.

Once Noelle arrived again, Niko smiled eagerly up at her and said, "Thanks!" quickly. Once he had seen what was in the contents of the mug, he grinned widely and said, "wow! That looks really good......thanks, Noelle!" Despite his words, Niko found himself unable to drink the hot cocoa except in very small sips, looking around the cafe with an air of curiosity as the day went on...

 

[Adelaide Belial]

"Okay, I'll be right back, Niko!" she laughed, walking away from him to get his order. It took her all of five minutes to get the hot cocoa, the cinnamon stick that's placed in the hot cocoa, the whip cream topping, the marshmallows, and the chocolate shavings ready. She was stopped for a numerous amount of times to talk with her friends and other workers. They commented on the bow, and hardly said anything about the bandages, which made Noelle even happier. "Whose your boyfriend?" She sighed turning to the coworker who had asked, pointing at Niko. "He's my new friend Niko. We're not dating, I'm just making sure he gets his five hours of sun and air."

She returned to Niko's table, cup in hand "Here you go!" Handing him the cup, she began to make her leave. "Oh, thanks Niko! I just put something together!" When she was forced to tend to the other tables under her jurisdiction, she bowed slightly, saying a quick good bye and went on. He seemed alright with the cup, so she left it at that. "Yo, Noelle! More people are coming in! Get ready!" Noelle nodded, putting on a nice smile and waiting for people to enter.

~~~

She'd been working four at least four hours now, and the amount of customers had happily steadied into a slow trickle. She was giving some people their orders of food when one of them pointed out the bandages on her face. "I gotta say, you look like you've been in one hell of a fight." Noelle laughed, nervously, trying to brush it off, "Well, yeah....it wasn't a fight exactly...." The customer laughed, in an almost condescending manner. "Are you kidding? Look, I can see the scratches running down your neck. Whatever you were fighting, it sure did beat your ass, huh?" Noelle glowered at the customer's rude comments. "Look, I've got other tables....."

"Don't let me keep you waiting."

Noelle growled when she had finally managed to get out of earshot of her rude customers. Talking about her like that, who did they think they were? She wasn't fighting, she'd been scratched up! Without any evidence of whatever did that, that's all. Now that she thought about it, her reasoning made little sense at all. She sighed pushing her left hand against her bandages. "They weren't....weren't that noticeable, were they?"
"Well a little."
Immediately, she turned around, her boss, a stocky man named Hardock, staring at her. "I mean, I could notice the bandages from where I sit behind the counter.... What happened to you Noelle? Do you need to visit a hospital?" She looked over to the table where the customers who insulted her had been sitting. Both of which, were now gone. "I honestly don't know."

She went to find Niko, "Hey, have you finished you're cocoa yet? I'll be off in a bit, you know. We've still got some daylight left if you wanna go somewhere." Even as she said this, she was hoping that they didn't have to go anywhere, she was already trying to secretly cover up her bandages and bow tie.