Sneaking Home

Kaitlyn was also on the way to her dorm. Only, her reason had been much more innocent. She'd just finished a short walk, and was on the way back to her dorm when she bumped into Michael.

"Hi, Michael.", she'd said, before noticing something interesting. She smelled a scent she was familiar with from smelling it on people on the streets in her neighborhood, and hoped not to smell again. It brought back nostalgia, but not good nostalgia. It reminded her of home, but not the particularly good parts of it.

Alcohol.

Concerned thoughts clouded Kaitlyn's mind a bit, along with some memories, before asking, with a sliver of suspicion in her voice, "So, uh, where've you been?" With a bit of an odd look on her face, she awaited a response.

@Saber

Multiple red flags were raised for Kaitlyn. First of all, he smelled like alcohol. Second, he had absolutely no excuse for where he was, and thirdly, he seemed extremely nervous. It was all suspicious to Kaitlyn, who was still wondering where Michael had been.

"My day was fine, thanks", Kaitlyn said, honestly, but had an intonation of saying something that'd escalate the situation.

"Well, I'll ask again: where have you been?", Kaitlyn said with a passive-aggressiveness that surprised even her. She felt a bit bad, but then again, Michael was lying to her, and had been doing something apparently bad.

"And please don't lie; I know that scent", she added slightly more politely.

@Saber

Several things ran through Kaitlyn at once. He was honest, to start. Of course, she was a but mad at him for going to a party and maybe drinking. Without saying anything, she went into Michael's room.

There seemed to be a correlation; both him going to parties and his room being a mess. She wondered a bit about what else was going on, but decided to focus on the party.

Kaitlyn had calmed down slightly, but was still using more of a stern or mad tone. She took a seat and was ready to say something, before thinking a bit. She had a bit of a hard time thinking of what to say, before settling on, "Why would you go to a party with alcohol?". In truth, it was a rhetorical question, but one of the more important points was displaying her disapproval, which had come across.

Kaitlyn's eyes wandered to the mess around her, still wondering why Michael seemed to be falling apart. She wanted to help, but had to get past this first.

@Saber

Whatever emotions Kaitlyn had before melded into empathy. Michael had been confined for who-knows-long; forced to do all of that. She listened to what he said, then didn't know what to say herself. The only thing she could think to say was a slightly quiet yet sincere "I'm sorry.."

Kaitlyn felt like she should say something else, so paused a moment before continuing, "You shouldn't have had to live like that. I'm glad you came here".

She looked at Michael, then around his room. He seemed like he was losing his grip on everything.

"I'll help any way I can", she finished.

@Saber

Michael seemed like he’d been tryin his hardest to adjust. Kaitlyn was sure he’d done plenty more than just parties. She’d hugged him back when he did, and listened to what he said.

”It’s okay. You’re trying your best”, Kaitlyn said in a sympathetic and sincere voice.

She hoped Michael would get everything together soon. For multiple reasons, some of which she wasn’t even sure what they were.

@Saber ((Sorry for the pathetically short post; muse doesn’t like me rn))