Feral

Wong Ha Jung

It wasn't usual for Wong Ha Jung to be so far away from his office, though he did go to the stables from time to time just to talk to Lydia. He was sad to say, however, that those times were becoming less frequent as more and more students began to schedule appointments. Which was great -er, in a certain sort of way?- but the counselor was starting to understand why the part of his contract about work hours became increasingly incoherent starting from about the fourth word. It was kind of daunting, and he probably would have worried that much more about taking the job had the description been any clearer. He was pretty sure that he would have still taken it, though.

In any case, today, he wasn't so much skipping work as he was skipping lunch. It wasn't like he was going to starve or anything over missing just one meal and anyways, he really did feel horrible about not coming around to see his friend more. They didn't exactly work in the same areas, after all, and Wong Ha Jung himself often was up and around the school. So if he didn't make a point of dropping by, they just wouldn't see each other at all.

For some reason, though, it didn't seem like Lydia was around that day. Maybe she's off on break herself? Wong Ha Jung wondered. It was a little late for lunch but some people's habits worked like that and embarrassingly enough, he couldn't remember if Lydia was one of those people or not. He waited around the stables for a little bit longer, standing out in the sun with his umbrella opened. Ah, I guess not... He would come back tomorrow, then, maybe an hour earlier than he had today.

As he was leaving the stables, however, the man heard some kind of commotion going on from the field. He couldn't see very clearly -the same old thing with him, glasses left back in the office for whatever reason- but it looked kind of like a dozen or so students had gotten together to do... something. The shouting, though, was clearly of the more angry sort even though it was hard to make out exactly what the words were. There was a animal growl, however, that managed to catch his attention in particular.

Oh... The counselor bit his lip worriedly, squinting down to make out the large blur of a shape. That's... That looks like one of William's spirits. One of the other shapes had a long streak of silver hair and he guessed that to be the other. He hadn't been watching that shape for very long before something very thin and shiny went up into the air, at which point the man realized exactly what it was that he was seeing.

"Ah- Ah, Wait! Stop!" He threw down his umbrella hurriedly and began to run in that direction. Wong Ha Jung wasn't sure who he was supposed to be more afraid for then, William or the other people. Seeing as he himself had no combat ability to speak of, though, he probably should have thought more of himself in that.

Wong Ha Jung

The fight had basically broken up by the time that Wong Ha Jung had gotten to it, with most of the people involved having fled in direction of the school. There were only three blurry shapes left and at this distance, he could recognize in dismay that yes, it was William and yes, he probably should have pressed administration that much more to hurry up and look into the other incidents that the boy had alluded to in their session. If this was the normal amount of people, however, that was probably why all of the updates on his file had taken so long.

The counselor pursed his lips together, approaching the group with wariness. "William," he started, trying to sound neutral but really only managing to sound anxious. "I don't suppose that this is a usual occurrence... Is it?" He really, really hoped not.

Oh, Dear God. There was blood on the boy's face, too. As it was, he already looked pretty bad but the presence of that just multiplied the alarm that Wong Ha Jung felt. Maybe the man should have been more questioning about the entire situation but whenever somebody was actually hurt, he became much less concern with the why and much more with getting help. Honestly, everything else could wait until afterwards.

"We should probably get you to the infirmary-" But Wong Ha Jung was already cutting himself off, remembering that William was not a hospital person. "Or the stables." Lydia had medical supplies stored up there and he didn't think she'd mind too much if he borrowed some things. "On second thought, let's just go to the stables."

What he really wanted to do was take the boy by the shoulders and herd him off in that direction, but William was already being supported by one of his spirits and that made him keep his distance. So the counselor had to settle for looking on worriedly, clasping his hands together. He wasn't really sure that William wouldn't just run off on him right then either.

Wong Ha Jung

Oh... Oh, third time this month? If that was so, then the man wasn't sure how William even stayed in one piece. It would have been nice to say that he had no idea at all but that would have been a terrible lie. And so many people! The more humanoid spirit's comment was hardly reassuring. Not usually, he had said. Instead of something like never. It was already bad enough to know that the boy had numerous run ins like this one. If this was somewhere near normal levels of violence, then...

Oh God, I'm useless. Because really, there wasn't anything Wong Ha Jung could do about it except report it to administration, which was already kind of not handling the situation too well. Right then, the counselor didn't even know why it was all happening, although he did think that William probably didn't provoke about a dozen students into attacking him. As for what caused that to happen, though, well. That was all theoretical at this point.

"I -I'll go up and get some things from the stables," he said, since the boy refused to come with him. "Lydia has some medical supplies there." He just hated being useless and this, this was all he could do. Even if William didn't want the help, it was pretty clear that he needed it. None of his injuries looked especially serious but it really was better to get them seen to more properly.

"I'm sorry-" the counselor was only apologizing out of nervous habit now "-can you -can you please just stay here for a while? It'll just be- just-" It wasn't clear who exactly he was trying to plead to then, and he left before he could get any sort of answer. Basically, before anybody could say anything to him to make him lose his nerve.

Wong Ha Jung

Inside of the stables, Wong Ha Jung immediately went to the first aid kit that he knew Lydia had stowed away. It the only one there, if he remembered correctly, so he hesitated for a few moments before removing it. Ah, I'll return it soon enough, the man told himself with a silent apology to the absent horse riding instructor. Since there wasn't any paper or pen to write a note with, he left his umbrella at that spot, having taken it up again as he entered. That done, he hurried back out.

To the man's relief, William and his spirits were still back where he had left them. Worryingly, though, it seemed like that decision was less of a conscious choice and more of the result of either injury or exhaustion. Just the way that he looked, that was what effectively killed the counselor's nervousness for the time.

Without much thought, Wong Ha Jung dropped on his knees beside the boy, with the first aid kit next to him. "Sorry it took so long, tell me what's wrong, please." It was just a formality, that first part now, and the second part might as well have been as well. The counselor was already searching for injuries that he might have missed the first time around. There were quite a few that he could see, now that he wasn't worried about keeping his distance.

Pursing his lips together, the the man dug through the first aid kit. He didn't have too much medical knowledge, but he knew he knew the bare basics, at least -something to kill bacteria, dressings, and bandages. What was kind of frustrating, though, was that he couldn't quite remember what the difference between the antibiotics and the antiseptics or what the different types of bandages were for. He just grabbed the antiseptics, because William needed something to wipe his wounds with, and the gauze because, well. Gauze was used for pretty much everything, right? There were scissors, thankfully. He would be needing those later. For the time, though, Wong Ha Jung tore open one of the antiseptic wipe packets.

"Just let me clean your face for now," the counselor muttered coaxingly, putting his free hand on William's shoulder gently. "All right?" He didn't want to shake him, for fear that he might make things worse. It seemed like the boy have having issues breathing, too, which Wong Ha Jung didn't know what to do about. If it kept on, though, the counselor couldn't in good conscience let him walk off without going to the infirmary. Even if William fought him the entire way there, he would get him there some way if need be.

Wong Ha Jung

"I'm fine, doc. I've had worse," William was saying, even as he flinched.

Wong Ha Jung sympathized, he really did. And it was because of that, he was absolutely not going to take the boy at face value whenever he said something like that again. The counselor did let William have the antiseptic, but so his hands would be free to go and cut some bandages and dressings. It was a sort of busy work but as long as his hands were doing something, he wasn't occupied with fretting.

"How bad's your chest?" the man asked softly, as he worked. He glanced at William from time to time. "It doesn't just seem like nothing. You've been having issues since I came back." And probably a good portion of the time before, he guessed. Hiding injuries from other people, that was just what some people did. Wong Ha Jung was quite familiar with that routine. Breathing, issues, though. That seemed pretty serious, well past the point where anybody should stop trying to say that things were okay. And it didn't look like it was going away in this case. Not that he was qualified to tell, but...

There was a kind of mask with a valve attached to it in the first aid kit that the man thought was for something like breathing issues. But he didn't even know what it was called, let alone how it was used. I should know how these things work, he thought ruefully. Hadn't he been hurt enough times for that?