Event Finished A Mess

Angelo had heard about the video.

He was pretty sure everyone had heard about the video, and plenty more had seen it. He guessed that was probably the point. Whoever had released it had definitely waited until the optimum time, because picking speech day--right when elections were really kicking off--to release a video that was obviously shot at least on the weekend was...

Well, it was obvious. They wanted Aisha out of the running.

Angelo couldn't really begrudge her for it. She wasn't exactly his kind of person--the idea of getting wasted at a party was repulsive to him--but he wasn't going to judge her for it considering what it definitely entailed. He hadn't heard anything official, but he'd have been shocked if she was still considered an election candidate. Regardless of what she was doing with the guys (sleeping around wasn't exactly a school-actionable offense), underage drinking was a pretty big issue at the school, and there was no way the school was going to let a candidate who'd been caught doing just that sit on the council.

He hadn't intended to search Aisha out. Not really. That hadn't been the plan. But a favor had been called in, and Angelo had found himself following a sparrow around the back of the academy, and there she was: Aisha Splendens, sitting on the ground crying.

It was not a happy site, and for a moment, Angelo kept his distance, pausing where he'd first seen her.

"...Aisha?"

Angelo gave the briefest glances to the sparrow he'd followed around the back of the school, and then stepped forward.

"No. I mean - I wouldn't laugh at you either way. I think what happens to you kind of blows, honestly."

He didn't normally say things like kind of blows, but he felt like the circumstances called for it. He scooted over, bending down beside her if only to make it so that he wasn't speaking to her from several feet away.

"I'm sorry about what happened. Do you... do you know who did it?" He suspected she had at least some idea.

Oh boy. Calling her a mess would have been a very nice way of putting it, and Angelo winced despite himself at her appearance. She needed... he didn't know. A hot bath? A warm bed? Something. She definitely needed something, and he considered texting Sprinkles for a moment before deciding that Aisha would probably appreciate no one else having to see her like that.

She seemed like the kind of person who cared about appearances a lot.

"Sounds like it could have been a lot of people. Maybe him, maybe someone else. But..."

He didn't want to lecture. He really didn't want to lecture. He was mentally repeating to himself, over and over again, do not lecture. She'd already lost her chance on the council. Wasn't that enough?

"Hopefully the school isn't too harsh on you for the, uh, drinking thing. I feel like you've already kind of suffered the consequences, and you're almost eighteen anyway." Or close enough. Wasn't she supposed to be a senior? Or almost a junior?

It was familiar. It shouldn't have been, but it was. The situations weren't exactly the same, but it was hard not to see shades of Broen in Aisha's situation. Angelo had already known the general vibe based on what she'd said in the past, but hearing it all laid out so clearly...

"I had a friend who had something kind of similar," Angelo said, pausing for a moment before finally just sitting down. "Before he came here... well, to simplify he couldn't really do the emotional thing. After he came here, he could, and all of a sudden he had to deal with years and years of emotions he hadn't felt. Sadness. Guilt. Anger. He had to sort through them all, and learn how each one felt, and learn how to appropriately deal with those emotions. It was... hard. He had a lot of issues. He still does, actually."

There was a pang of sadness that Angelo tried to hide as he wondered if the reason Broen had left was that he was still dealing with the consequences of all that.

"But I think he was happier for it. He has friends now. Real friends, who will have his back. Who trust him, and who he trusts in return. People are mostly being metaphorical when they say they'll die for their friends, but it still feels good knowing someone has your back."

Clan mentality.

"You're not a monster. You're someone who was raised in a totally different environment, who grew up under different standards. But you're already trying to make things better, right? Just... sometimes there's setbacks. Sometimes things are harder than you thought they'd be."

Unfortunately for Aisha, he wasn't around, and after a moment he shook his head.

"He's not around now," Angelo admitted. "And I think he'd kick my ass for using him as an example in this case."

Broen was definitely not the sort of person who wanted to be used as an example.

But he noticed her wiping at her face and paused, reaching up with his left hand. For a moment his left hand seemed to just vanish into a distortion in the air, and then a moment later reappeared, holding what was obviously a face cloth, which he held out to her.

Probably better than using her hands.

"Here," he said. "You're not the only one. I think a lot of people here feel lonely... a lot. A lot of people are away from the lives they've known. Friends and family. And making new ones is... easier said than done."

Easy enough to say that they should make friends, but actually making them was a whole other thing.