Add to the herd (Aurum+Lei)

Lei thought she was fine on her own, but she'd been visiting the school counselor lately. She confided in her what happened during those three days and the month of November, and every week, they worked through her issues. Lei expressed her problems about not feeling safe in Manta Carlos anymore. The topic of Legal Guardians came up, and Aurum Hyperion was one of the most recommended guardians when it came to protection, mostly because he was an indestructible tank.

That sounded like a good idea to her. Sid and Clarence were pretty sturdy by themselves, but she wasn't so shameless that she'd depend on them for safety. They had already done enough for her during November. It was time to take this issue up with the proper authorities.

When she went to the designated area and the door was answered... Whoa. She didn't realize that was Aurum. He was huge and scary. She felt her cheeks flush and her knees tremble, nervous and suddenly very uncertain of this course of action. She hugged her chest and made herself very tiny and nonthreatening, keeping her gaze to the ground to maintain politeness.

"Mr. Hyperion... right? Um. My name is Lei Feng and. T-the guidance counselor told me I should... see you about being my legal guardian? I've been having some issues with bad people that want to hurt me. If... If you're interested, I can elaborate on it more inside —" It was very cold out. She'd rather not keep standing here, if she could help it. "— It's ok if you're not, h-honestly."

Lei picked up the cup and cooled the tea down to a more drinkable warm. She took a few sips as she observed Aurum.

One of the harsh lessons she learned with Deith was that she shouldn't trust people so easily, but Aurum had a respectable reputation and two daughters that seemed to be happy with him because of the program. As scary as his appearance was, he was gentle with her, and with a man that strong she felt like she could feel safe for once.

She was silent as he asked her, psyching herself up to relay the story. It... wasn't a pleasant recollection. But if she was going to convince him to adopt her, she needed him to understand why. She hugged the blanket around her and stared at her feet, sighing, voice shaky as the words came out.

"I... um. I met this boy, Deith Rosenn, last March and after a while we started dating. I was convinced we were in love and it was, um, it was perfect, you know? He was really nice to me. He gave me lots of nice stuff and he promised he'd protect me. But um." Aw. Fuck. The tears were coming in. She wiped the incoming tears away with the blanket and laughed, a bit bitterly. "S-sorry. Last November. It was just last month, you know, so um. Last November, I went to his house, and I saw him fucking another girl and we argued and it turned out... He was fucking a corpse."

It all sounded so ridiculous, saying it like this, but it was true. Being in that situation, having it affect her like that... Jesus. She was silent, for a bit, as she tried to get her shaking in control. She was okay. She was okay. "So then, I called him a freak, b-because it was fucked up, you know? Knowing your boyfriend is some sort of dirty corpse fucker? And then he told me this sob story about how everybody leaving him, or whatever, and I told him I was gonna leave him because what if he kills me to fuck my corpse, too. He told me — he told me that I couldn't leave. He tried to kill me so he could make me his weird corpse bride. I-I don't really feel safe going out or being alone anymore because, I keep thinking, what if he comes for me in my sleep? I-I told the school counselor about this, and she said that it might be good to have you as my legal guardian. Please... please help."

Lei returned the hug and tried to steady herself. Right. Right. She'd shaken off the bulk of the trauma last November, but the wound was still fresh and sore. She hated breaking in front of people like this. It was like a shameless display of weakness, soft spots for people to poke at. But damage to her dignity aside, she'd convinced Aurum, at least. In that, she felt a little safer. Friends were nice, and Sid and Clarence were very loving, but parental figures were secure. Lei felt safe under a higher power watching over her.

"Ok." She nodded, uncertain. "Aurum. Dad. That's what... guardianship means, right? Is t-that all right, or." Her cheeks flushed for a moment. Damn it, maybe that was too forward. "I-If it's just Aurum, that's ok too." As she pulled out of the hug, she smiled at him weakly. Man, that probably looked a bit gross, with her crying and all, but the sentiment was there. "Thank you, sir. You don't know how much this means to me. I-I, um..."

She pulled out some paperwork from her jacket and weakly offered it to Aurum. "T-the usual paperwork and. Stuff. Um, my contact info and junk is there too. How does this work exactly?"

Lei took the tissue with a small, grateful, "Thanks" and stood up to the bathroom. En route to her destination, the skull appeared, which made Lei's insides jump at fright and send her back reeling to the couch. Upon being informed that it was, however, a Servo Skull, that meant... uh. She didn't know what that was but that meant it wasn't bad, right?

Okay.

She circled Aurum to go to the bathroom. Except, it wasn't the bathroom, it was someone's bedroom! Um! That was embarrassing. She shut the door politely, thankful nobody was inside, and entered the real bathroom.

She washed her face, and looked at herself in the mirror.

As much as she wanted a guardian and tears could very much win a person over, this overblown reaction was... It was real. At times like this, when she was done crying, she ruminated how surreal it felt to be broken so badly the recollection of an event brought her to the brink of tears. It didn't feel good. She didn't feel like a whole person. She felt like she got dropped on the ground and broken into pieces and she superglued herself back together, but it wasn't good as new, it was very obvious that she was just put together and at times her trauma would whistle through the holes and cracks.

Fucked up. She was fucked up. Broken and never okay.

But... but better.

She dried her face off and entered the living room again. "I don't think I'll be able to stay here full time..." she told Aurum weakly. "But weekends, and some weekdays. I'll tell you wherever I'm going and when I get back and if I don't get back..." She swallowed. "Please look for me. I don't want to disappear one day. I really don't."