Ah... Room, Sweet Ro- WTF?

[Rhetoric]

Cuil finally took to her shoulder and filled Liv in on the other goings on around campus. It seemed somehow unbelievable that she had missed so much while she and the others had been collecting the barn animals. "Wow, a sonic pulse, huh? That's awesome. I hope everyone’s alright, though."

My sister egg will be flying in circles for a week. It near knocked her out of the air. Cuil picked at a curl and hopped happily about on Liv's shoulder. Liv grinned and rubbed a finger gently over his feathery little chest. Cuil had only just taken to her last night, but the sparrow was a a keeper. He was intelligent, fierce, and he knew how to keep an eye on things. Cuil and his flock would be worth their weight in gold and Liv only hoped that she knew how to utilize their talents properly. Most of the two-leggers were tossed about. The loud one from last night and his blonde mate were injured.”

That took Liv a minute to work out. “Chase and Sky? Cuil, they aren’t mates.” The sparrow tilted his head, confused.? “I’ll explain the birds and the bees to you later, dude. I need to shower.” Liv paused outside the door to her room, realizing what she just said. “That is so incredibly f*cked up.” Chuckling to herself, she opened the door. Liv was having fun out and about but she was glad to be back at the room. She needed to scrub that morning’s impromptu training session off and she had promised to call home, and she should probably finish unpacking her rucksack… her eyes widened when a blast of cold air hit her and she stepped into the room.

Lorelai was spread across her bed, staring up at the ceiling, her face perfectly relaxed. Even from her place at the door Liv could hear the steady rhythm pounding out from the earbuds that were jammed securely in the blue-haired girl’s ears. Liv took a slow step inside. Her jaw hung open, her honey eyes slowly sweeping the room. She was stunned into silence as her feet crunched over the carpet. Crunched. She looked down at the frost that was covering the floor and something akin to a strangled scream escaped past her lips. Only one word managed to form in her shocked brain.

“Snow…”

It looked like a f*cking blizzard had gone down in the bedroom. Each step was slow and deliberate as Liv moved toward her bed. Her brain had ground to a halt, unable to function in the frozen room. “Wha… wha…" She walked past the dresser in a daze, wiping hard snow from the top of it. The shelf where she had so carefully placed her books the night before was snowed over as well and it was with shaking hands that Liv reached up and plucked Call of the Wild down. It was sopping wet, the pages pulpy from the water they had soaked in for God knew how long. Her cell phone was sitting on her desk, still plugged in, and covered in a frozen layer of ice. “Wha…”

That’s when her eyes fell on the mound of white at the end of her bed. Last time she was in her room that was where her electric drum kit had been. Eyes near bulging out of her head at that point, Liv wiped away some of the snow confirming her assumption. Her roommate had swamped her drums. Her DRUMS.

“WHAT THE F*CK!” Liv didn’t stop to consider why it would be a bad idea. She just leapt at her prostrate roommate, fists swinging. “I was nice to you, you stupid bitch! I didn’t do a f*cking thing to you and you trashed all my stuff!” Liv grabbed Lorelai’s collar and shook her like a terrier shakes a rat. “You *&%(#! *&@%#!” Liv wasn’t even making words anymore. Furious, senseless screams tore out of her as she raged, her fist coming down once again square in the blue-haired bitch’s face.

[Frostbite]

It was sudden, as Lorelai had not been paying attention to anything else since she had withdrawn into her music and felt as if she had fallen asleep with her eyes open after staring at the ceiling for so long. That relaxation quickly ended when Liv jumped her and her arms quickly went in defense of her face, blocking the incoming punch and trying to get Liv’s hand off of her collar while hitting her on the head in the process. Liv’s screaming was blocked out by the music only for a split second as Lorelai’s earbuds were yanked out of her ear in trying to avoid another facial bruising.

The yelling in full volume made Lorelai want to sigh if she could. More drama, and it hadn’t even occurred to her that she’d left the room in a snowy mess. She grunted as she used the surrounding snow to be a pushing force that filled the small space in between her and Liv and forced her livid teammate back off of her. That bridge burned pretty damn fast, but was it so much of a surprise?

The snow in the room was Lorelai’s ally as she used it to push Liv against the wall before having it stiffen to hold her there, forming thick shackles over her arms and legs against the wall. All the while, Lorelai didn’t really have an expression, but now her eyebrows knit together and though she was looking at Liv, it didn’t really look like she was looking at her. Her mouth was a tight line, and her expression looked like she had given up, and just didn’t care anymore.

“What do you want from me? I’m done trying to pay my dues,” Lorelai said, looking at Liv, and then taking another look around the room that she had only just realize had been covered in snow since she found her bed desecrated with sheets that thankfully no longer existed. Her expression was hard, and her hands hung at her sides as she turned to pace in a line. She looked at Liv again from the corner of her eye and glared slightly. Just another person who didn’t deserve decency.

[Rhetoric]

Liv hit the ground hard before she was swept up and slammed into the wall. Some part of her brain registered that she as being restrained and the indignity of it only riled her further. Ice numbed her limbs as she was braced to the wall, snarling and snapping like one of the wild things that she so easily conversed with. “Don’t f*cking talk to me like you’re a victim.” Liv hissed. She was beyond furious, uninhibited anger pumping through her veins. Liv hardly felt the cold at all as she struggled against Frostbite’s restraints. She was just too damned pissed. “No one made you trash my stuff! They warned me that you were out of your f*cking mind, but I gave you a chance, you *&$^% - #@^&$!”

Her words turned back to enraged gibberish as she thrashed uselessly. Liv couldn’t feel her arms and her legs had that painful cold seeping into the bones. She was vaguely aware of her teeth chattering as Frostbite’s element did its work on her. She had just wanted to take a f*cking shower and call home since she had forgotten to do it that morning. Her mother had wanted to make sure she was settled, and her brother wanted to hear about the mutants that she was sent off to live with. What the hell was she supposed to tell them, now? “Sorry, mom, but I got into a brawl with my brain dead, ice cube of a roommate when she swamped my shit… She couldn't say that. Her mom would just tell her to knuckle under and kick the bitch’s ass, but that was the rational part of Liv's brain and it was vastly overwhelmed by her total indignation. Her personal property had been damaged without just cause. Her drum kit, oddly the one thing that usually helped her keep her cool, was ruined and that meant one thing.

She was just going to have to hit something else.

If she could get off the goddamn wall, she’d go Buddy Rich on Frostbite’s ass, no problem, but she was wholly restrained. Liv continued hurling insults and shrieking her outrage, her mouth not ceasing for a second even as her lips started to go blue from the cold. Not for the first time Liv wished she had an active power. Lorelai wouldn’t find it so easy to keep her on the wall if she could generate fire or lightning, or could teleport like Nightcrawler. All Liv had was her mouth and those unfortunate enough to understand the snarls and growls that were dripping from her tongue. All Liv had was her animals.

As if on cue, a small movement behind Frostbite caught Liv's attention. Cuil had been thrown clear of her shoulder when she’d lunged at the bitch and had taken refuge on the ceiling fan that was already drooping under the weight of the heavy snow that had collected on its arms. The sparrow peeped out a small warrior cry before it darted to the wide open door and out down the hall, leaving Liv alone with the ice queen and her involuntary shudders from the cold.

[Frostbite]

“Shut your f*cking mouth! What the f*ck do you know about anything?” Lorelai yelled, the insults that Liv were yelling at her were starting to irk her in that way that was starting to remind her of just the day before when she got her ass beat by nearly everyone she hated. Her hand iced over like it had earlier just before she shot her fist out to punch Liv in the mouth to stop the incessant bitching.

“This wouldn’t have happened if people didn’t trash my stuff! It was unlucky your shit was here when I found out. You’re no better than the rest of them! You all just love making people’s lives miserable and I’m f*cking done! I don’t give a SHIT anymore! Everyone can go to hell!” Lorelai yelled, the snow that was laying around starting to rise again. She took a step back and laughed as she saw Liv’s little bird sidekick fly out of the room.

“Know what, go ahead. Send your little birdy friend to rat me out. What the f*ck do I care anymore? What more can they do to me? Beat my ass? Punish me until I graduate? Kill me? It doesn’t even matter,” she said, stepping around and shaking her head. It only became more clear that nothing and no one mattered in this school, and now it didn’t even matter anymore what she did. There would always be something for what she did, but it didn’t matter anymore, because she just didn’t care. Already it didn’t matter that it seemed that she just lost the last chance she had for something of a friend, because it was as simple as she had realized it. Liv was just another person whose personage now blended in with the rest of the school who was part of that faceless mass that just didn’t deserve anything from her except what she felt they deserved.

“Make one little mistake in this place, you’ll end up like me. Welcome to your new life,” Lorelai said in a falsely welcoming voice, giving Liv a heartless smile as she crossed her arms over her chest. She took a deep breath, inhaling the cold air and let it simmer down her temper. The snow that had started to rise fell again, and she wrinkled her nose. Taking that deep breath let her catch a whiff of Liv’s awful stench, and she didn’t care to hide the discomfort of the smell as she took another step back.

[Rhetoric]

Liv's whole head snapped back into the wall as Frostbite's icy fist made contact with the side of her mouth. The warm, copper tang of blood filled her mouth and with a disgusted howl, she spit a mouthful of the nasty stuff to the floor. Busted lip, probably a broken tooth if the pain radiating through her jaw and ear were anything to go by, and her iced over limbs had gone from numb to painfully numb, if there was such a thing. All in all, not a good moment for the Jersey girl.

"Yeah, poor you," she snarled, honey-eyes narrowed and dangerous. Restrained or not, Liv was out for blood. One little crack in the ice, one little chip and she would go for the stupid c*nt's throat. "They told me about you last night. Down at the lake. The Acolyte in green, the one who's done nothing but sabotage herself from the getgo. Every problem you've got, you've made yourself. You want sympathy? You want a pity party for poor little Frostbite? F*ck that. You say you don't give a shit? Well guess what? No one gives a shit about you, either!" Liv's words were slightly inhibited by her teeth slamming together in involuntary convulsions from the cold. "They all just sit back and watch you self-destruct and you're too f*cking stupid to stop yourself."

She could feel the sticky heat dribble down her chin from her busted lip as she glared right back at her roommate, bitter fury and cold disappointment boiling her blood. She had wanted the Academy to feel like home. Mind you, Liv had been in her fair share of fights... someone with her penchant for trouble was bound to get caught once or twice. It wasn't getting hurt that was pissing her off. It was the fact that she had done nothing to warrant her things being destroyed. Her father had given her the drum kit for Christmas last year. There were hours of beats stored in the MIDI and now they were all gone. Her phone had pictures of her brother and sister, the herd, her parents, the dog. Gone. This was so beyond the line Liv ground her teeth together furiously, ignoring the pain.

“If you were that pissed off, you stupid bitch, maybe you should have taken it out on the people who messed with your things instead of dropping snow all over our room!” Liv was thrashing against the ice again. Part of her acknowledged that it was a good thing that the ice had sapped all feeling from her arms, or the rubbing would have hurt. She’d worry about that later. Snarling savagely, Liv’s only goal was to get loose and kick Frostbite in the face.

Repeatedly.

[Frostbite]

“So, take down the student population?” Lorelai asked, tilting her head slightly with a sarcastic smirk. “Sounds tempting,” she said as she looked as if she considered it, but shook her head. “However, probably not worth my time, like any of you are. You say no one cares about me, but I already knew that. It was kind of pretty goddamn clear to me, and I stopped giving a f*ck about all of you. I have nothing to prove to them, and I have nothing to prove to you.” She shook her head again and made a falsely amused face.

“Think you’re so righteous about all the shit you’ve heard about me right? Get off your high horse. I don’t want anything from you or anyone else. I hope if I self-destruct I take you all with me,” Lorelai snarled, her eyes flashing bright blue for a short second in her anger. “It’s not stupidity. It’s f*cking smarts, cause everything else is better than dealing with all you tools,” she said, letting out a slow, deep breath as she clenched her jaw. The iced-over fist felt cemented in place as the ice had gotten thicker, and felt like it was starting to crawl up her arm.

She saw Liv bleeding from the mouth from the punch she had dealt her, and smirked slightly. Despite the punch, it seemed that nothing would stop that mouth. It was starting to grate her nerves and wear down the patience she was quickly losing. As she saw that Liv was struggling against the thick ice holding her to the wall, Lorelai let more of the snow around the room swirl up and spread more over Liv’s body and further restricted her movement.

“Blah, blah, blah, new girl, whine, whine, whine. Just you wait. I can promise you that that mouth is gonna get you in trouble, even with your beloved team. They may hate me, but they’re still more tightly knit than to just let you in. Make one…little…f*ck up, and any progress you make with those hardheaded fools will be gone,” Lorelai said, knowing since she had seen and experienced what it was like dealing with the Paragons. She didn’t even associate herself with them now; she didn’t associate herself with anyone. She just happened to be in this school that was a great black pit filled with vermin that she was forced to deal with because she had a power. This wasn’t a place she belonged, and it was no longer a place that felt safe. Granted it was her actions that had started it, but it was the incessant actions of the people in it that made it unbearable, and because of that this place no longer felt like a home.

[Diesel]

It seemed like Ian always found himself passing by the weirdest situation. He was just on his way to see Ivy so she could check over his homework, when he heard some serious screaming coming from the end of the hall. Just like with the situation in the library, that kind of feral shouting had him on instant alert that something was really bad, and instinct took over. He dropped his books and papers right there in the hallway and ran to where the screaming was coming from. He didn't know the girls dorm all that well, since he never came down to go to Niki's room cause that was off limits, so he only came down to hang with Heather and Veronika a couple of times.

The sound of the screaming lead him to the middle of the hall where the door was open and the room was.... covered in snow and ice? This was like the winter wonderland from hell or something, and Ian stood in the doorway looking absolutely shocked for a moment before he looked around to see Liv held to the wall covered in ice and her and Lorelai yelling furiously at each other. He came in just at the last part of Lorelai screaming.

"What the- are you oughta your damn mind Lorelai? What's wrong with you what the hell are you doing to her?!" Ian yelled and walked over to Liv. With almost ludicrous ease, he lightly hit the ice and watched it crumble around her as he freed her from the restraint. Right off the bat though, he grabbed Liv as she lunged at Lorelai with one arm, bringing her back to his chest as he held her thrashing form securely to him. The entire time he did this, he was glaring at Lorelai, feeling all the bitterness he had been feeling toward her rise up watching her attack a girl that got here just a couple of hours ago.

"Just cause you #$%*ed up, you think that's why shit happened to you? You really think that's it? Here's a reality check for you, you DUMPED me, and then at every turn I made to try and be your friend, to get my best friend back, you all but gave me the finger after turning your back on me. You made that move, fine, but then you turned your back on your team when you went to him," Ian spat with disgust at the thought of Rumble. His entire tone was both mournful and angry. "How could you Lore? There's something for you to answer." This was a moment that was probably a long time coming for Ian, and damn it he deserved answers.

He couldn't believe that she'd attack a brand new person just like that either, and from the look of Liv's face she had taken a good couple of hits. "Damn calm down babe," he said to the thrashing girl that was clawing and trying to get at Frostbite like a rabid pitbull. It was to effort at all for him to hold her back securely with one arm, she weighed like nothing to him, but damn she certainly was trying.

[Rhetoric]

Liv was on wobbly, frozen legs but she still lunged the minute she felt the ice go slack around her. She didn’t even register the third person in the room until she was drawn up short and noticed Ian holding her back with seemingly no effort on his part. She wasn’t even listening to what he was saying to Lorelai. It was all just noise, senseless buzzing that interrupted the roar of blood in her ears. “Lemmiego, lemmiego, lemmiego!” She snarled at Lorelai, angry tears threatening to escape from her eyes. She was beyond furious, and she was bleeding, and she was f*cking cold! “You ruined all my stuff! You trashed the room! My drums…” She tried to peel Ian’s arm away from her so that she could get at her roommate, but he wasn’t budging. “Just let me go! I’m not gonna hurt her, I’m just gonna stomp on her neck!”

Unable to get loose, Liv let out a frustrated sound and hung over Ian’s arm, feet no longer on the floor in hopes that her dead weight would force him to let her go… It didn’t even phase him. “I am not rooming with you, you crazy bitch! I druther sleep in the barn than stay in this room! And you’re paying for my kit… GAH!” Liv couldn’t get loose but she wasn’t a gymnast for nothing. She bent around Ian’s am and grappled with her back pocket, whipping out her drumsticks and winding up to throw them in Lorelai’s face.

[Frostbite]

Lorelai stepped back from the two of them; the last person she ever expected to interfere in this where they were was Diesel. It made it a goddamn shame and a half. Though he was yelling at her while holding Liv back while she was yelling at her too, Lorelai just shook her head. Her expression was cold and it looked as if it didn't hold anything that used to look like her. Her jaw was clenched again as she stood there and looked at them both. Now that Diesel had interfered it seemed a stop would be put to this fight or maybe it would just change, except she saw Liv get her drumsticks.

"You'd best put those away. No, never mind," Lorelai said as if it wasn't a problem, raising a hand. She used one of the piles of snow to reach up like a solid hand and pull the drumsticks out of her hands, letting them drop to the floor.

"Now, I'd rather be f*cking gone than stay here, and you can tell the miserable f*cks who messed with my stuff... I'm guessing that would be your beloved team by the way, that they owe you some money. I'm not doing anything for anyone, " Lorelai said, her voice lowered and hardened. She looked to Diesel and her face stiffened. That bridge would never be repaired now, especially since she had had the last straw before she got a chance to try to talk things out with him. It was a sad thing especially since she had really wanted to do it that morning, as soon as she could especially since he was the only one she would've done it for, but as could be expected it was not fast enough and complications arose. And of course, she was past the point of bothering to apologize to anyone, because not a one deserved it.

"What does it matter now? Can't do anything about it," Lorelai said with a shrug, the slightest sound of defeat in her voice as she looked at him with expressionless eyes. There was the slightest regret that she never got to apologize, but she wouldn't now. Diesel was too far gone in hating her, so there wasn't a point in bothering even now.

She shrugged again as there was the sound of ice breaking as she let the collected ice crumble from her hand and wrist. "Well, I'm out," she said, her face cold and blank as she grabbed her iPod from her barren bed and started walking off toward the door with her hands in her pockets.

[Diesel]

"Yea that's right, walk away, avoid it. That's all you ever been good at," Ian spat looking at her with anger that she just kept walking away from everything. "Yea go and keep walking Lorelai, you can't ever face anything. Even when I was straight up with you about all that crap that happened with Niki, you walked away from me. You walked away from my friendship, and you walked away from the team. You couldn't even try and work shit out with us, cause you're too god damn scared to have tried." He kept the arm securely around Liv, but he was disgusted that he even bothered.

"Ya know, I defended you to everyone, even when you were acting like a brat. You ain't even a brat now though, you're just being total chickenshit. You couldn't even come and talk to me, or tell Nikki what you think of her. Is that why you went to Rumble? Because you think with him being the scariest, it'd be some big accomplishment for you? That worked out really well I see. Well go on running away, that's all you ever do."

"I'm done trying to talk to you, I'm done feeling guilty and bad whenever I see you, so screw you. You got yourself into this, you threw away all the people that ever tried to care about you, and then you don't even have the guts to apologize to them, your way is to avoid it and blame everyone else. Go ahead, leave. Wouldn't want you to do anything decent for a change, like take responsibility for the shit you did," Ian said coldly, not even bothering to be forgiving anymore. He focused instead on the small girl that had put up a hell of a fight, even though she had to have known she wouldn't break his hold. He was done giving attention to gutless brats, and would keep silent till Lorelai was gone.

[Frostbite]

Lorelai stopped in her tracks in the doorway, her face hard as ever. He had no idea; he wouldn't, because he was too busy running off in the other direction at the sight of her, and it angered her. She turned on her heel to face Diesel again as he spoke, verbally washing his hands of her.

"You wouldn't know I was this close to coming to you to apologize for the shit I pulled," Lorelai said, raising a hand and putting two fingers close together to show her point. "You wouldn't know because you kept f*cking running off, too. Believe it or not, I did feel bad for the shit I pulled, I did want to tell you I was sorry and that I was off base. I was willing to explain the whole f*cking story to you, hell I would've done it this morning had you given me a chance to even speak to you. But you walked that time, and by the time I was going to go look for you to try it, that was it," she said, letting out a scoff as she recalled freshly the memory of finding the soiled sheets on her bed; the last straw.

"Some cocksuckers on my team thought it'd be fun to f*ck with me just a little bit more, so that's it. I'm done. I'm done trying to get the chance to make amends, cause it's clearly not happening. And I'm done trying to work around every thorn in my side that wouldn't let me fix things. Have fun with the rabid new girl," she said, waving them both off and plugging her ears up with her earphones as she turned to leave the room.

The last of anything Lorelai felt in regards to the regret she had felt for failing to apologize to Diesel in time was now gone. She had said her last piece on it, and with that it seemed that the last hindrance that made her feel even remotely bad had disappeared. It now felt like that there was nothing inside her except for the anger and hatred she felt for the school, and a black spot where emotion for others used to be. The relief she felt at the last nagging feeling being dragged out of her left her feeling as if she could let out a sigh, and she did let out a quiet one as she walked down the hall.

Her music blared loudly in her ears, surrounding her in the world of pounding drums, screeching melodic guitars and the screaming voices of the singers. She could see the little brat Allure up ahead, picking up what must have been Diesel's things that he had to have dropped when intervening between her and Liv. Since there was no other way to get around without having to walk by the spoiled little girl, she dealt. Lorelai looked down at the small Plastic redhead and sneered as she walked by. The little queen bee-itch had the backing of the Paragons, as did every other Paragon, and she assumed they were all supposed to be oh-so intimidating. She was sure they had it in for her most of all, but they were just a big group of jungle freaks.

She had a feeling things with them were far from over, but she didn't care anymore. There wasn't a reason to, and the most they could do was physically harm her. She was emotionally gone as far as she was concerned, and they could f*ck with her stuff some more of course, but it was all just worthless. Right then, the only thing that mattered was the tough decision of deciding where she was going to go at this time, and she deliberated as she headed into the main building of the school.

[Diesel]

Not saying another word, Ian glared at Lorelai as she walked away. She was doing the same thing as she always did, turning it around so it was no fault of her own. He didn't owe it to her to find her once in awhile in case she wanted to apologize, that wasn't how things worked. If she had wanted to talk to him, all she had to do was say so, he wouldn't have turned her away, but of course he realized now that Lorelai always needed to blame someone else, because she couldn't own up to the fact that she screwed up all on her own, somebody else had to be at fault with her.

When he was sure she was far away from the room, Ian let up his grip on Liv, his face now looking concerned and sorrowful. "Babe, I'm sorry she did that, and you got caught in the middle of all her shit," Ian said softly, looking at her small shivering body. She looked so upset, and he knew the look on her face well, one where she was trying to hold back a stream of emotions and that hold was straining. It was something he did a lot, especially all those months ago when that whole thing with the Brotherhood and Limbo happened. Things were so different then though, and moments like this made Ian realize just how quickly things could change.

"C'mon babe, you're shivering and a bit beat up. Let's get ya outta here," he said softly holding out a hand to her. He couldn't imagine what she was thinking, since this was a hell of a lot to happen to her being only her first full day. Ian liked her though, she seemed really cool this morning and was one hell of a cook. He hated that something like this had to happen to her at all, let alone her first day.

[Rhetoric]

Finally free, Liv took a shivering, shuddering step away from Ian, pushing his hand roughly away, her own hands damn near numb. Her eyes traveled over the snowy room, a vacant expression on her slightly battered face. With Frostbite gone Liv’s anger had left her in one painful whoosh and a defeated sense of bewilderment had taken its place. She sunk to her knees, unsure if it was the cold or the weight of her loss that pressed down on her so heavily. Silently, Liv dug her drumsticks out of a pile of snow, her fingers clumsy and tinged blue. Liv clutched the Vic Firths to her chest like a little kid clutching a doll for security and continued to stare around the room, pointedly looking everywhere but at Ian. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Not after he watched her get her ass kicked like that.

“You… why… why did you stop me?” She dragged in a heavy breath and tried to keep her tone even. If she cried in front of him, too, she’d have to kick her own ass and to be honest she was too sore to even try and figure out the logistics of that. “Why didn’t you just let me go?” She had no idea what she would have done if she had gotten her hands on Lorelai. Logically, Liv knew it was good that Ian had held her back but things felt so utterly unresolved. She wanted to hit something. Anything. Angrily, she slammed her fist into the snow-covered carpet.

“All my things. My books. My phone. My drumset! My drums.” She near choked on the word. “Who the f*ck does something like this? I don’t even know her. She doesn’t know me!” It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She wasn’t stupid, Liv knew perfectly well that she wasn’t going to be best friends with everyone at the Academy. She had no interest in superficial friendships, but she had thought that Lorelai was going to be a friend. Instead, her very first day away from home, Liv’s things had been trashed, her roommate was a psycho bitch, and some guy had just witnessed it all.

Some Paragon she made. Iced to a wall while Frostbite took cheap shots at her.

Sitting up slowly, Liv wiped the blood off her chin. Her lip was swollen and split, but she hadn’t chipped any teeth after all. Gingerly she touched the small injury. “I’m fine.” She said it more to herself than to Ian. “I’m fine. I...” she looked up at Ian, confused. “I just wanted to take a f*cking shower.”

[Diesel]

Ian allowed a small smile to come on his face, though he really felt bad for her more than anything else. He bent down on the balls of his feet and gave a resigned sigh. "C'mere babe," he said and pulled her into a light hug. He didn't take her as the type that liked hugs or people touching her period, kind of like Spitfire, but right then she looked like the one thing she needed was just a hug from someone. She was freezing though, and yea she smelled a bit funky, kinda like the corner of Ian's room on the day before he did laundry, but he didn't care.

"Look babe, don't worry about your stuff, they can be fixed! My buddy Sean, he's this mad chill dude from Texas, he's like our general Mr. Fix it here. He fixed my Playstation last month when I accidentally sat on it. Don't ask," Ian said with a bit of a smile, trying to cheer her up. "I bet he can fix your phone too. And Blondie, oh she's mad cool, she can take the water out of your books and stuff. She's cool enough to do that, and they'll be fine. Don't worry." He rubbed her back lightly, trying to cheer her up as best as he could.

"It ain't cool what happened, I really am sorry you got caught up in all this. What Lorelai did to your stuff... and you..." He looked down slightly to look at her bloody lip. "It wasn't cool. I can't stand it when anyone goes to fight someone else and they got no way of defending themselves. It's just plain uncool." Even as he spoke those words, a part of him cringed inside as he remembered the incident yesterday at the cookout when Nikki did the exact same thing to Frostbite. He shuddered internally, not wanting to think about it. It wasn't Nikki's best moment, and Ian remembered feeling ashamed for her. And now the vicious cycle continued and in the process, an innocent bystander was hurt.

"How 'bout we get you cleaned up, huh Liv babe? Then I'll help you take care of all your stuff," he offered in a soft voice, patting her back comfortingly.

[Rhetoric]

If he hadn’t been so damn warm, Liv wouldn’t have let him hold her like that but f*ck it was like the nicest thing ever. It should be illegal to be that toasty. Eyes pressed shut in humiliation, Liv tried to force herself to relax. She felt like the biggest sissy in the world and it didn’t sit right with her that someone had watched her crack like that. Still, it was hard to be tense with Ian chatting calmly away next to her. Liv finally opened her eyes when Ian mentioned that her stuff could be taken care of.

“I forgot about the cowboy,” Liv scooted back and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to retain some of the borrowed warmth. “He was nice. Do you really think that your friends would be able to… I mean, I don’t…” Why the hell couldn’t she get the words out? “You must think that I’m the biggest freakin wimp on the planet,” she muttered, frowning down at her icy sneakers. She was way out of her element here and the disappointment was eating at her. Her pop would have a conniption fit if he could see her. “Don’t start what you can’t finish, kitten.” She could practically hear his voice and it echoed around inside her hollowly. She was never going to let this happen again. Passive power or not, she wasn’t a doormat and if it took fighting dirty… well, Liv was a Paragon after all and she was ok with that. An idea was already forming and if her jaw didn’t hurt so much she might have smiled.

“Dude,” pressing the heels of her hands against her eyes just in case, you know, there was ‘something in her eye’, Liv shivered her way to her feet. “Can we get out of here? Please? Anywhere else is fine.” She slid her drumsticks into her back pocket, eyes on the door. If nothing else, it looked like she’d gained a pretty solid friend out of Ian. That thought finally coaxed a smile back to her face.