Hubris

@Thirteen

Instincts overrode rational thought as she immediately took charge down the hallway, that felt like it stretched on for miles. As seconds passed her chest began to tighten further. She was running out of time. She could feel it, and she could see it. Or at least, every sign pointed to that conclusion. But specifics were the last thing she needed right now. For all she cared about was the fact that her husband’s seemingly lifeless body was in her arms. And that is she didn’t hurry, she would collapse on the floor with him.

Loralei’s mind was closed out to practically everything else around her. Nothing but her path was in her mind. Perhaps that teacher too that caused all this. Was she the bad guy? Getting down to it… No. She was trying to save people. From the wrath of her spouse. The one she so willingly married… And the one who caused all this destruction. Moral righteousness would be something she’d mull over in her head later. Because honestly? Picking a side was one of the most toughest things she ever would do.

Fortunately the infirmary was not terribly far, and as the genie was on a mission she was going to plow every form of life that found themselves in her way. Luckily for the other students, the halls were rather vacant. Leaving her bursting through the open door a lot easier. Her arms tightened around her husband’s beatless chest. Immediately, nurses knew what was up.

"H-he’s not breathing!" She declared distressingly, looking at the staff who seemed to be awestruck and frozen in place. In turn Lori’s panic became displeasure. . "Don’t just stand there, help him!" Soon enough, the weight of him was alleviated by a sudden call of staff to take him into a room. Her arms now feeling empty as she followed suit, only to have a door closed on her face. All she could do was wait.

She watched with unblinking eyes as fate would take her husband’s life in its hands. Her body would shut off it seemed. Trudging slowly over to the waiting room. Sitting carefully in a chair, only to tuck her knees into a chest. Squeezing her arms tightly around them, as she looked forward. At nothing. Her stare was blank.

All she could wait for was a voice to tell her it would be alright, or the seizing of her vitality to tell her that nothing was, or ever will be again.

((OOC: Sorry for lameness, I hope this is alright!))

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Sitting in the waiting room, Loralei honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. He had been wounded in a way she couldn’t describe, but he was also in the hands of some rather talented and magic wielding personnel. At least she assume they would be. Now that she had the chance to process her emotions, she figured this school would only hire the best of the best. This sort of stuff happened often… Right? At least, she assumed so. Regardless she wasn’t going to be completely comforted until Carl’s safety was a given. She didn’t even look up when Aurora first entered the room.

The sound of the shout before the defibrillator caused her to nearly jump out of her seat. An electric shock was administered to her husband to bring him back from what seemed like the dead. At least, hopefully. Loralei lifted her face from her arms to listen more carefully. She did glance at Aurora for one moment but… It was like the genie wasn’t even there. After all, she was the only one that sought his wellbeing. Perhaps she was just here so that the admins wouldn’t chew her out. Because honestly, who else in this school cared if he lived? The thought felt as though it ate a hole in her stomach. To think that no other student had befriended him. She knew he didn’t care but… In a way, she did. She didn’t want him to pass without having someone able to be by his side. He… Deserved better, in a way. Or at the very least not passing the same way he did in life as in death- alone and without love.

She shook her head of these thoughts, as she pulled in her legs tighter to her chest. Waiting for a word, or a sign… Waiting for the inevitable or the miracle. Either way she gave herself time to prepare. Taking a few steady breaths, as she lowered her feet to the floor and crossed her legs. Her hands squeezing themselves when they were placed on her lap. Any moment now and…

The doctor opened the door, to deliver whatever news she would have. Loralei looked right up to her. And in two words, every fear, doubt and shred of paranoia she had disappeared all at once.

Well, sorta.

He was awake, but she couldn’t tell what sort of mindset he would be in. After all that was said… Did he even care that she was here to make sure he was alright? Did he even care himself that he was alright? Without a word, Loralei stood up. Not in elation, or visible massive relief quite yet. Running her hand through her hair, to fix herself up before entering. Before going in though, she looked at the doctor, with a small nod. "Thanks so much for your assistance. I’m… Sure he’s grateful too. At least… I hope so." For what it was worth, Loralei really did have a lot of gratitude for her doctors. They saved her life, too. And to that she’d be extremely thankful. But there were.. Other things that may needed to be attended to.

She slipped quietly into the room. Looking at her husband laying in bed. She leaned against the wall, to look down at him. At least, she would had she not been focused on anywhere but his line of sight.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Loralei uttered, a quick, second-long smirk appearing faintly on her face. "Are you… Doing okay?"
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Loralei couldn't decide how she should have interpreted this situation. Carl didn't seem upset at her. But she knew that look anywhere. The look of someone getting stabbed, not physically, but rather at their pride. She bore it too on occasion. This however... This wasn't common for him at all. Even when she saw him at his weakest when he was sick... She didn't think much of it. He was still strong in her eyes, however when he went out of his way to prove it rather violently, well she couldn't say she knew what it felt like. Her empathy was gone for a moment, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to listen. Even when it was hard to believe what he was telling her.

"Sure didn't seem like it." She looked up from the ground. "Thought standing up for people meant I deserved death. Thought you were going to execute that for a second."

She stopped herself after that. Letting Aurora do the talking. Lori was speaking from emotions. She spoke from logic and reasoning. The genie leaned back once more to watch the teacher as she spoke. Nodding at her points, though... Technically, if Aurora hasn't shown him mercy she wouldn't be spared. She was unaware of this. But Lori thought it not fit to bring it up. After all, if she were to expire because of him, it would be her responsibility. She consciously allowed him to possess her magic. If she was going to be with him for the rest of her eternity, she couldn't imagine having her life handed to anyone else. So... It was up to him to think up what was right for himself. And her. But as a genie, she was built to be disposed of when the going got tough. She wasn't trying to fight him by turning into something terrifying. She was just trying to keep him safe.

She snapped from her thoughts as Aurora said something that really stood out in her mind. That people would have to dread that he made it out alive. That... Really shook her. In a sense. Sure Carl was a forced to be reckoned with, but... To think that people wanted him dead. Not just anyone. Her friends. The little she had wanted her boyfriend to pay for what he did. All she could do was look down, and shake her head. As she chewed him out, and rightfully so. But her silence wasn't permanent, as the teacher went over how she would be grieving for more than a moment.

"Actually, I wouldn't." Loralei turned to look directly at him. This time not trying to avoid eye contact. "And he knows exactly why. Or, he should." She leaned back up to walk over to him. A bit of melancholy clear in her eyes. Trying to figure out who he was in this moment. "Why'd you do it? Did someone threaten you? It... Looked like nothing was going on before you showed up. That true?" She placed a hand on the side of the bed. Not close to his, but within reach. "Look, I know how you are. I should know more than most people. And I know how you can be with just me. But this... Was this really necessary?" Her expression hardened. She was going to nag him out for what he did. Or at least try to get the memo out to him.

"Not everything is a challenge of power. Not everything has to be like this. When you get pissed off at the world, the world's gonna bite back. Especially when lives are thrown into the mix. And if you can't even calm yourself down for a wife that's trying to help you?" Her on-edge tone calmed a bit for a moment. As the palm on the bed clenched into a fist. "Then I hope you feel okay in your attempts to bring her down with you. Aurora's right. It hurts. It hurts knowing that people have to live with what you did to them. Insignificant in your millennia-long life span of not. People do matter. This isn't the battlefield, Carl. No one is out to get you, if you don't try to get them. And you don't have to go out of your way to win a war that nobody started but you." She breathed for a moment. Closing her eyes. "I say these things because I care. Because if you're not careful, that eternity we promised each other could be shattered in seconds." And not everyone would be as merciful as Aurora.​

Good.

The word instantly proved that everything she tried to reason with fell upon deaf ears. Her determined look slowly decayed into disbelief. There was just no reasoning with him. But would a five minute lecture change thousands of years of thinking? Of course not. Loralei didn’t know what she had expected from him. She wanted him to know that she just cared, but all of her words were taken in more as an insult to his pride than anything else. At least, that was how she saw it.

So why again did she bother? She couldn’t change him. She didn’t necessarily want to either. Deep down she still found his confidence ensuring and his bouts of pride charming. But this… This violent, nasty streak was what she liked the least. ESPECIALLY with the fact that he knew damn well that those were her friends. And he didn’t care. If they were weak, they didn’t deserve the lives they were granted. As if breathing was a privilege by those who went out of their way to test the factor of survival of the fittest.

That was what hurt her.

Her gaze fell to Aurora. Who stood as he spoke venomous words to her. Words of hatred, and bloodshed. And all she could do was watch it happen. There was literally nothing she could do. If her husband killed this woman? Well… She didn’t want to think of the consequences. For both of them. Her stare only returned when she was directly addressed. And he told her directly how ignorant she was in the situation. That there was some ulterior motif that she couldn’t fathom. She was… Stupid, in a sense. Or at least she thought so. Just a twenty one year old genie amongst those who lived past a century. She clenched her hands to fists at her sides. As for her gaze? It remained forward. Empty. To take in his words as they were without her disputing any one of them.

And at the end of it all, he made her feel more useless than she had been earlier. When she carried his presumed corpse in her arms and nearly allowed his death to create her own. A creature meant to help others couldn’t even do her sole task. She couldn’t save lives. Or herself. She was powerless to her husband, and the cosmos themselves. She tried to tell herself that this wasn’t true but… The evidence was obvious.

"Then I’m glad mine is just as disposable as the rest."

Loralei could only say in regards to her own life. She turned to talk to Aurora, who discussed the fate of her beloved. Only to be lost moments after as she spoke of words she didn’t even think were english. But there was a word or so she could pick up in her spheal. Accomplice. Lori’s expression hardened to bitterness, as the immediate realization was granted that she in fact was considered a menace like him. "But I did nothing! You saw-" Lori cut herself off when Aurora spoke further. Leaving her to silence and her growing anger. This wasn’t her fault. This was what happened when she tried to do the right thing. She would end up with a husband that seemed to lower her and a charge of his that was mutual for her. The charge itself? It was.. More awful than she could have fathomed.

"So wait… He’s trapped here? For how long?.. Rebirth? What?" That.. That much hurt her. To think that months before they married she fantasized traveling with her husband at her side. And now that was shattered. Lest he be killed, with her dragged down with him. What did that mean for her? She glanced over to his bod. Everything had seemingly changed. All because of his reckless behavior. He was doomed it seemed. And by obligations, she was too. Her heart was racing, and her head hurt. She wanted to say a lot of profane and displeased words right now to make things worse, but all that came out?

"I understand."

She looked to her husband. As he lay there, she couldn’t help but to think about what was running through that mind of his. How casual he was about this… They were at school now, but when they got home? Well, things might not be as civil. Just as Emeraude gave her the word, Loralei straightened back up and approached the door frame. "If that’s the case I’m going home. Thank you again for the help. And Carl?" She looked to him over her shoulder. "Do what you please. Come home, stay here. I couldn’t help you otherwise. But you heard her. Whether or not you choose to listen is up to you. Just remember that little link we share. Y’know, the one where I’m your genie. And your wife. My life is yours… What you do with it is up to you. I just fear how much or little you think of it."
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