Caught in the Courtyard

Violeta, fully covered head to toe in her usual brown cloak

It had been frustrating once again in classes. It was always a little difficult to concentrate on the teachers' lessons when the other students were giving off strong emotions and all she had wanted to do was sit back and feast. Now that summer was here and the other students were making all kinds of fun plans and getting excited to go to the beach it seemed like the problem had gotten ten times worse. She didn't hate school. In fact she was pretty ok at it when she wasn't distracted. She was actually hoping to move out of remedial next year and try experiencing highschool as a senior. Technically she was 20 years old but since she had been turned by a vampire at 17 she still would fit in ok.

As she left the building she pushed all of those thoughts out of her mind. It was lunch time! She didn't actually eat food but it was the best time of the day to stretch her legs a bit, and to be completely honest seek out some juicy emotions or find a secluded spot to sing to herself. Her cloak was carefully wrapped around her and arranged so that not a single speck of her skin was exposed to the sunlight. It wouldn't kill her but she preferred not to experience the boiling pain of it if she didn't have to. They of course had offered her night classes but she had declined so she had more time to actually enjoy the nighttime instead.

So it was that Violeta wandered out into the courtyard, quietly humming to herself. It was probably a good thing that she hadn't actually planned out her lunch period that day. For as she went she began to notice a spike in emotions from virtually everyone within her range. It was a mixture of fear and confusion mostly mixed in with a little pity. She looked up to see what was causing the ripples of emotion and saw.... well there probably wasn't an easy way to describe the person.

The girl looked like some sort of robot crab thing with a large tube on her back. Still she could tell the person wasn't entirely mechanical based on the little bit of flesh that could be seen. Honestly the whole thing looked crazy but a little cool. If this girl was what caused all the activity then Violeta was curious to go meet her. Sure all the visible machinery was a little intimidating but Violeta was tougher and stronger than her girlish frame looked. Plus the other girl looked kind of like she was trying to do her best to hide- very poorly. It didn't matter how low to the ground she sat, no one was going to miss that huge contraption on her back.

As Violeta approached she overheard only a few nasty comments from other students about how the girl looked. Most of them seemed to actually just be wondering what she was and why she had just made a couple grooves in the path and then laid down like she was waiting for something. Also she could hear the boiler on the girl's back and as she drew even closer she could hear each metallic movement the girl made. Her hearing was very acute and in fact she was starting to wonder if she should put her earplugs in. Ultimately she resigned to keep them out at first until she had at least said hi.

Beneath the hood of the cloak Violeta was looking at Eremita's face, but aside from the general movements of her head there was little way of showing where exactly she was looking. "Hi, i'm Violeta. Are you ok?" Her voice sounded cheerful and friendly though perhaps a little bit muffled by the cloak. Once she was within 15 feet she stopped to give the girl a chance to tell her to go away. Also because she began to taste the emotions being given off by the girl. In some way she actually seemed to be very muted but other emotions were quite strong. She wasn't in the habit of revealing the emotions she was feeding on but to summarize things it was clear this girl was not having a pleasant time. After a moment she also added another bit. "I can try to help if you want?" She was trying to keep it casual and that was probably the best way she could ask that without outright saying she could taste what the girl was feeling. That was almost never a good thing to start a conversation with.

Violeta noticed that another person had come closer too but for some reason they were staying quiet. Because of her hood and the way she was facing Eremita she couldn't actually tell who it was or what they were doing. She planned to keep an ear out in case they came closer and of course if they were having any strong emotions she would taste that once they were within her range.

For that moment however Violeta was the only one addressing the poor girl. She was grumpy and abrasive but Violeta chalked a lot of that up to her probably just being embarrassed at needing help. Besides in all honesty she had spent plenty of time with people who were way worse to her. She fed on all strong emotions and thus was drawn to people who tended to have them. Although she preferred positive emotions it was far easier to find negative ones and they were just as tasty.

She brushed right past the first comment the girl made. She hadn't been asking about the girl's appearance or.... construction, but it seemed like maybe that was a particularly sore subject for them. It was a pretty good point though- if she had been ok she wouldn't have been laying down in the courtyard afraid, angry and embarrassed.

"Well I want to help you because I can. Honestly though I do feed on strong emotions so I'll be getting something out of it too. Don't really know what you mean by 'take out the trash' but I don't really care what I look like to other people. I'm just me." In reality Violeta was already feeding just by being close to the girl. Technically helping her would probably reduce some of the emotions she was giving off but Violeta was fairly sure other emotions were going to remain just as strong. Plus she really did feel bad for the girl. If Violeta had been stranded without her cloak during the day she hoped someone would be willing to help her out.

As Eremita tried to stand up the grinding of metal and increase in sound from the boiler was nearly deafening to Violeta. Even before she thudded back to the ground Violeta had raised her hands, still hidden by her sleeves, up to cover her ears. "Ow, please stop trying to get up. I think it's hurting both of us." Fortunately the noise wasn't loud enough to send her writhing on the ground in pain. Maybe this whole 'help the poor trapped girl out' thing wasn't such a great idea.

Once the girl stopped trying to get up Violeta was able to take her hands off her ears again and then cautiously approached to take the pill bottle. "Eremita huh? Nice to meet you. I can go do that but are you sure they'll just give me medicine? I've never had to learn about how the rules on medicine work here." She wasn't trying to stall or anything- she could hear the pain in the girl's voice but she didn't want to just leave here there alone. Especially if they sent Violeta back empty-handed. "If you think it'll work I'll head off to the infirmary. I'm actually pretty good at running."

The other person agreed that Violeta should go and get the medicine so they must have thought it would work. Plus he said he could probably help Eremita up. Glancing back at him Violeta seriously doubted that but her looks didn't show how strong she was either, maybe he could lift really heavy things. "Uh alright, you stay here and help make sure she's ok," she said as she pointed to Eli and then Eremita, "I'll go run to the infirmary and hopefully they'll give me some medicine or I guess send someone if they can't."

Wow, if she weighs that much not even my strength could help get her to stand up.

It looked like the only option was to go get the pain medication. Violeta was going to do just that but it was a little difficult to pull herself away from Eremita. As an emotional vampire she was drawn to people experiencing strong emotions and a little part of her wanted to just remain there and feed for a bit. Aside from the pain and physical issues this girl seemed to be pretty damaged emotionally too.

Finally Violeta visibly shook her head to clear it and then ran off towards the infirmary. She wasn't at her full 60mph because she had to be careful not to let her skin get exposed to the sunlight but it was still far, far quicker than a normal human's run speed.