gooseberryhigh | [backdated to earlier today :c]

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[backdated to earlier today :c]

Who: Ravi Dhaliwal & OPEN TO MULTIPLE
When: Monday, May 15, 2014
Where: The infirmary
What: Ravi poisons himself in the name of scientific progress.

a. NOON: Ravi & Diego

Ravi slides out of sleep by slow degrees. There's a touch of something unpleasant on his tongue, a strange aftertaste he can't distinguish. Oversweet but bitter at the same time, almost like licorice. But aside from that, he feels... warm. Languid. Better rested than he's felt in weeks.

Until he opens his eyes to the ceiling, and realizes he's not in his cabin anymore. What...? Ravi turns his head, confused, and sees a familiar figure at his side. Of course. Of course it would be Diego. "Hi." Then he looks past Diego, and sees the rest of the infirmary. "...oh, God."

b. AFTERNOON: Ravi & VISITORS

Despite feeling just fine, Ravi's not allowed to leave just yet. He wonders if Mr. Elmasry convinced Mufferaw to keep him a little while longer, as a lesson for risking his life. Ravi regrets the thought as soon as he thinks it. Mr. Elmasry was the one who'd said the potion was likely safe, and must be feeling awful about that now. It's not his fault. Ravi had pushed him for reassurance.

It's not Asher's fault either. He winces, thinking of the note he'd left for his friend to find. I'm testing a sample of my potion tonight. It's probably fine, but if it's not, please check on me when you see this? Thanks. —Ravi He'd written each word carefully, each letter perfectly formed and straight on the page, as though anything less might betray doubt.

At least he's allowed visitors. Which might be more of a curse than a blessing, after his little stunt. Ravi steels himself when someone new approaches his bed.

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Diego inhales sharply and seizes Ravi's hand, which he'd been holding on and off for the past hour. He thought once Ravi woke up, he'd be able to breath again, but seeing that yes, Mufferaw was right, and yes, Ravi will be fine, just knocks the air right back out of him. He takes another breath, this one shuddering and emotional, like a dry sob.

"Hi," he wheezes, squeezing Ravi's hand with all his strength. "Hi? Hi? Fuck. Oh my god. Ravinder. I... Oh my god."

It seems as though, despite his best efforts, complete sentences are still beyond him.

Edited 2017-05-16 03:53 (UTC)

"Diego..." He still feels half-asleep, but Diego's grip makes him wince a little. Ravi rolls over to put his other hand over Diego's, gently, comfortingly. "Hey, it's fine. I'm fine." He doesn't actually know if that's true, but he doesn't feel sick, which should count for something. He hopes. If Ravi thinks too hard about what he did last night, something like nausea threatens to overwhelm him.

So he keeps talking to Diego, his voice even and calm. "I'm here, Diego. It's okay. You know... I dreamed about you."

Diego hurriedly moves off his chair to sit on the edge of Ravi's bed. At the same time, he pulls their clasped hands to his chest where there's a physical ache. It only worsens when he hears Ravi's voice.

He already cried earlier. His glasses are spattered with the tears his eyelashes flicked onto them, and smudged from where people tried to hug him. He's long since calmed down, but it'll take another week at least to recover from the embarrassment of his outburst(s). He'd tried to maintain some resolve as he sat over Ravi or waited in class, and wanted to die a little every time his sadness peaked him and another tear threatened to fall. Mr. Merrill had finally taken pity on him and told him he could leave. It'd been humiliating, but Diego hadn't said no.

Now, against his will, the crying starts up again. "What?"

"Is his head alright?"
"Is his face alright?"
Mufferaw refused to answer questions after that. You can visit with Ravinder if you want but don't waste my time. Fine, then! She'll visit with Ravinder!

Quinn announces her arrival to Ravi's bedside by dropping a light duotang on his face; after all, she'd been assured that it, and the head to which it's miraculously still somehow attached, is uninjured. "Hermeticism." A second, heavier, folder falls to his chest. "Artificing." She pauses to shove the latter back into her bag. "That one was for dramatic effect, but you seem to know all about 'dramatic effect' now."

Edited (my italics disappeared D:) 2017-05-16 04:20 (UTC)

"Would you believe," Ravi says mildly, "that I'd anticipated a largely uneventful Monday morning?"

Still, his hands pick up the Hermeticism notes with the careful reverence of a straight-A teacher's pet. He's grateful, really, and not just for the notes, but also because Quinn Cunningham is one of the least emotional people he knows, and her dry wit is a welcome break from... the concern of his loved ones? Ugh, Ravi, he silently berates himself.

"Thank you. I'll return this to you tomorrow morning, at the absolute latest."

Edited ("duotang" made that the most canadian tag. thank u.) 2017-05-16 04:46 (UTC)

"Technically, Sleeping Beauty, you got your wish." Quinn drops heavily into the chair beside the bed and kicks her feet over the arm. Perfect infirmary etiquette. "Don't bother returning it, I bet it'll be covered in cooties... and I coped them out at lunch."

Her modus operandi for receiving bad news usually begins with her half worrying, half fretting before she distracts herself with work. When she's finally starting to come to terms with whatever happened, in roll the inappropriate jokes—a defense mechanism? Sure, but they're easier to spew out than emotions and heartfelt conversations; she sifts through those much later, in private, and... poorly.

And she's so not ready for that. "So, how's your year shaping up? Well? And your senior project? Getting enough sleep?" She rests her chin on the heel of her hand and looks at Ravi with an expression that's only, like, twenty percent patronizing.

[i keep forgetting they're a canadian thing so let's pretend that i was going for authenticity]

As soon as Sun-mi heard what had happened, she had rushed to the infirmary and then it had been a lot of sitting and waiting. Or standing and pacing, in Sun-mi's case. Some of the time had been spent distracting herself by trying to not-so-successfully soothe Diego, but most of the time had been spent just staring at Ravi while he lay there in bed, oblivious to all the chaos around him, as Sun-mi went through all the 'what ifs' in her head. Eventually the whole thing became unbearable and she'd forced herself to go to lunch, even though she spent the whole time just pushing food around her plate with her fork.

When she returns, he's awake and the sense of relief stops her in her tracks momentarily and then she's at his side. "Ravi," she says and the first tears of the day are finally allowed to spill. "What were you thinking?"

Edited 2017-05-16 14:35 (UTC)

Asher has taken the morning to get his heart rate back down after initially finding the note and Ravi - by the afternoon he's regained all of his outward composure, though honestly he's still a little rattled.

It helps to see Ravi awake and functional when he peeks into the infirmary. A part of him really wants to lay into the other boy as he approaches, but... it's hard to be mad when he's just feeling so relieved. The lecture (that Ravi's likely received from everyone he's talked to so far already anyways) can come later.

"Hey."

Edited (Actually yolo doing this before bed) 2017-05-16 04:04 (UTC)

By now, that potion-induced post-sleep serenity has passed, but if it hadn't, Ravi suspects it would've dissipated immediately upon seeing Asher's face. Not that Ravi has anything to fear from his dear friend. He can count on one hand the number of times he's seen Asher get angry, actually angry, and even then, Asher will always put an immediate lock on his emotions.

They're similar like that. They've always been too similar for their own good, but now Ravi can point at a clear difference between them: Asher would never be so thoughtless. Asher would never lie so egregiously to him. I'm not that reckless, I promise. Ravi cringes a little, remembering.

But he keeps his hands folded in front of him, and doesn't shy away from Asher's direct gaze. "Hey." Ravi sighs. "I believe I owe you a thank you."

While he definitely doesn’t look angry, Asher’s expression shifts to something not entirely impassive as he sits down – he’s definitely frowning now. He rests his elbows on his knees and his chin in his upturned hands, seemingly taking a longer moment than usual to formulate words beyond his initial ‘Hey.'

“No thanks needed – you wouldn’t learn your lesson if I would've just left you there, right? Plus, I still need you to proof my project.” He tries to inject a hint of humor into his words, but it falls flat. Maybe he’s not as recovered as he thought – at least the anxiousness has just shifting into exhaustion, though. He figures it’s kind of a win.

“You’re feeling alright, yeah?” Asher pauses, adding, “And I’m not going to lecture you right now, but I would like to submit a request: please never do something like this again. Like, ever."

This is a role reversal. Usually Ravi's the one who’s visiting Zav in the infirmary. It's uncomfortable being on the other side of things, especially when your brain pins every worst possible scenario to the cork board in your head before you even have all the details of what’s going on. The thought of losing Ravi has Xavier's head jumbled into a mess.

When he steps into the infirmary and sees Ravi up and alert, Zav's eyes water, relief rushing over him. Sad-eyed, silent but mostly composed, he nods in greeting as he approaches Ravi's bedside. The question of why Ravi would do something like this is at the front of Zav's mind, but it’s the last thing he wants to talk about. "I made cookies in Rudiments," to keep his hands and his head busy. Xavier holds up a saran-wrapped plate, "You allowed to eat? You want some? They’re vanilla wafers."

Edited (well well if it isn't my old friend pronouns so we meet again how are you besides terrible) 2017-05-16 04:55 (UTC)

"Ah, how perfect. Vanilla wafers for the most vanilla person in the school." This is probably an inappropriate time for one of Ravi's 'ha ha, I'm so boring' jokes, but bad self-deprecating jokes have always been his refuge when he's uncomfortable. Give him a sobbing freshman, and Ravi's cool under pressure, ready with a handkerchief and kind word. Tell him about your heartbreak, and he'll hold your hand through it. But show worry over him, and Ravi's at a total loss.

He screwed up, and made a stupid mistake. He doesn't deserve all this attention. But self-recrimination helps no one. Ravi reaches out, not for the cookies, but for Xavier's arm, carefully pulling him closer. "Thank you," Ravi says. "They look great, and I bet they taste even better. Zav, are you alright?"

Xavier isn’t surprised that a self-deprecating joke is the first thing out of Ravi’s mouth but it knocks him off balance, anyway. Of course Ravi is still Ravi; how could he be anything else? Ravi is a constant - or he was until he almost wasn’t. Xavier feels suddenly guilty for putting so many expectations on his dearest friend's shoulders. He told himself he’d keep it together, for both of them. No hugging. No crying. But as he sets his jaw and presses his lips together into an unsure smile, he isn’t sure that’s still going to work out.

"Me?" Xavier laughs, a thin, uneven barrier against everything else he’s feeling. He sets the cookies aside and, sniffling, pats Ravi's hand. "I’m great. How was your nap?" Zav tries his best to sound dry, flippant. His voice only cracks a little.

Ivy doesn't get a chance to drop by until after charms, and by that time she's already heard that Ravi is alright. Hearing your friend wouldn't wake up in the morning and is in the infirmary via word-of-mouth is still a pretty unsettling thing to go through, though, so she wants to check in on him in person.

"Hi," she says as drags a chair right up next to his hospital bed and plunks herself down. She looks slightly more frazzled than she usually is this close to finals, and has a devil-may-care confidence about rearranging the furniture when she'd usually be loath to irritate Healer Mufferaw. "Has everyone else been by already?"

Isaiah deliberately waits until he knows that most of the other major players in Ravi's life have shown up to his bedside. No need to overwhelm the poor guy.

He comes in, sits down next to the best, and doesn't say a word. He and Ravi do the whole 'hanging out in silence' thing a lot. No reason to change that now.

Besides, he's probably gotten yelled at enough today. Not that Isaiah is any good at yelling regardless.

Edited 2017-05-16 20:05 (UTC)

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[backdated to earlier today :c]

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