It's time to move on, Speedster [Closed]

Barry took a shaky breath, looking at the ground. "Maybe you're right." he said. "Maybe I should go kill myself. The whole world is fucked anyway so what's the fucking point in trying?" His eyes were still glowing with anger and his insides were boiling. But he clenched his fists and didn't move. He didn't say anything else. Nothing about Magic's comments about himself, nothing about Lamia. That was the only thing he said. He knew he shouldn't have come over. He knew this was a bad idea. The Autumn put his head in his hands and sighed. The anger was gone, he had no explanation for how his emotions worked anymore.

"I'm falling apart... over one stupid girl. I'm haunted by the way she just.. shattered. In front of my eyes. While Cadence laughed. What happened to me, Mason? What have I become?"

Magic sat with his eyes narrowed not really caring for Barry's response. No Barry shouldn't kill himself. He should attempt to change the world that didn't involve throwing his life away. Magic waited from another response. For more angry. He could still hear that emotion in the other boy's voice. He waited for him to lash out. To yell at him again or to attempt to hit him but it never came. Then it all vanished. All of the anger and tension vanished from his body, and Magic visibly relaxed too. There was no longer an immediate threat. Finally he could help his friend without being angry. 

Magic let out a small sigh. "I never said she was stupid, and you shouldn't believe she was stupid either. You cared for her, you hurt to see her go, but you should enjoy the memories you have with her, and carry on with her spirit." Hopefully this was the right thing to say. He wasn't good at this kind of thing. If only Laine was here.. he was better with people. Maybe he could call him and ask him to talk to Barry.. but would his friend listen to someone he didn't even know? "And you are still you. You haven't become anything else. You are still Barry, you are just overcome by grief which will pass with time.." He felt like he shouldn't be saying any of this. He didn't feel qualified. After what he had done, he just felt like a hypocrite saying this. He glanced over to Adeline for help but he didn't know exactly what she could do.

All she had been doing the entire time was listening to the conversation.

That really was all she could do. No means of communication without being able to utter a word, no knowledge of sign language, and even body language wasn't much when she was keeping her distance from them to stop herself from interfering too much. Under the circumstances that, somehow in her past, she had picked up on what the various gestures and movements that someone made with their hands when they were mute and took the time to learn it, there was little chance that either of them actually knew what the unspoken phrases meant and the aftermath would consist of a painstakingly scarlet face with awkward, uncomfortable expressions of perplexity being tossed in her direction. But that wasn't what she should be caring about, no, it was that her lack of means to talk meant that she was without any ability to help Barry.

Being there was a commodity that anybody could accomplish, acting as a shoulder to cry on, as some liked to put it. Yet, that only really worked when the verbal component was there. Offering meaningful expressions of encouragement to cheer people up or maybe communing statements that could make them smile or possibly advice and remarks of comfort - that was what it meant to be there for someone, and pretty much any person could do so as long as they could convey their meaning across in some shape or form. Whether it be signals or spoken word, it was something that should be an easy enough task for a human to check off their list of activities that they could participate in.

But Adeline couldn't do that.

Here they were, in the middle of the dorm that she was staying in for the remainder of her time until she departed for good, and all she could do was listen as her friend choked out sentence after sentence of traumatic experiences and wounds that ran too deep into the mind to heal. Rage sneaked their way into Barry's voice, confusion and hurt written all over his face. Her attention was snatched immediately at the mere mention of suicide, and she found her mouth parting, slightly agape, but shutting tight into a negligible half-smile. There should've been something she could do right then and there, something she could've said to dissuade him from that line of thought. Instead, Adeline found herself twiddling her thumbs, taking heed not to misplace the white cloth wrapped around her cut finger and keeping her eyes away from the two figures still interacting with one another. It was agonizing, watching it all take place in front of her, and that there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The thoughts were toxic, invading her mind to force her into her swirling self-consciousness.

Softly, she shook her head, as though it were an action that could get rid of the poisonous feeling settling within her. At least, at the very least, Magic managed to say something about it, with the way his posture seemed to calm down, and he voiced what needed to be said. That much managed to recover her smile, if not by a small margin. Thank you. Maybe Magic didn't think that what he was saying was the best thing ever, or maybe he believed that it wasn't what he was supposed to say in the current situation, but what mattered was that he was doing his best and there was't anything wrong it. He could've continued to be angry or lash out and lose his composure, but he didn't. How could he keep telling himself that he was a bad, selfish person? Things like this were enough to illustrate his kindness in their fine details and how much he did care for others, and especially his friends. She would've laughed a bit and told him that what he was saying was correct if she could. Even so, she found herself pondering over whether he wasn't lying about a minor detail.

Would grief really pass with time? If he advocated that and meant what he said, Adeline would feel more at ease with the fact that she had already signed her contract to death. Even so, that didn't make involving him in the first place all that much better... Stop. That could be resolved another day. Her problems shouldn't come before Barry's.

As if on cue, Magic was now looking in her direction, expectantly so. It would be a blatant lie if she tried to convince herself that it wasn't surprising. For all the minutes that had passed by, she had expected him to have forgotten that she was in the room as well. The silent question was out there, though. What should I do? That was what she had been trying to figure out the entire time, but no answer had come. And now, the pressure was there to solve the puzzle and find the answer already. Swallowing her anxiety down, Adeline took a deep breath, hand reaching up to twirl locks of hair, and forced her mind to clear itself. All she could come up with was various expressions and phrases that she should be able to say, the things that people should tell the bereaved.  Physical touch never was her specialty for many instances, and something as simple as speaking was a challenge as well.

Carefully, she managed to muster up the courage to walk over and finally place one hand on Barry's shoulder gently. It wasn't much, it probably wouldn't ever be enough, but it was the best she could come up with now. It was the only thing she could do at the moment.

Barry placed his hand on Lamia's, which resided on his shoulder. He merely nodded his thanks, tears beginning to form again. He was falling apart and he didn't know how to put himself back together again. He couldn't think of anything to say that hadn't already been said. He wiped the tears away with his free hand and took a shuddering breath, trying to calm himself. It kind of worked, and at least he stopped shaking. But all he did was stare at the ground in silence. He didn't know what else to do.

Magic didn't really know what to say after that. He wasn't good with these kinds of things. He could only offer up what he thought was best and even then it actually wouldn't help at all. He could only hope what he was doing was right, and from Barry's reaction he didn't know if what he had said was helping or not.. He blinked when he saw a hand enter his vision, but then he knew it was Adeline and she was helping in the way she could. He felt some relief that she was trying to help to. He wasn't alone dealing with Barry and his grief.

Taking a step back and letting Barry and Adeline have a small silent moment. The winter went off to the kitchen to get his friend a drink of water. While he might not want it he would have it when he wanted it, if he would ever want it while he was here. Once he was away from the two the winter pulled out his phone. He set it down on the counter while he got a glass from the cabinet. Holding the glass in his left hand. He used his right hand to unlock his phone and check the messages he had received. There were a few from Laine. Well that is who he figured it was. There was a voicemail too, but checking texts at the moment was easier. Tapping on his friends name, he opened up the conversation. His eyes read the first message without problem, nothing new there then his eyes went to the second message.

The glass slipped out of his left hand, and fell to the ground with a clang bounced up slightly, and then shattered on the ground. The shatter seemed to break him out of his thoughts enough to remember there were two other people in the room. He looked down at the glass. "Whoops. Didn't mean to do that." He said, using his gift to keep his tone from wavering from the news he had just received. "I got it." Stepping over the mess and over to the closet they had, the winter pulled out a broom to take care of the mess. He couldn't believe what he had just read. He couldn't believe it... but he couldn't share it with them. They had enough to worry about already. Barry was basically falling apart over there, Adeline was a few months away from dying herself.. They didn't need to know. They didn't need to know til later that Vincent was dead.

Normally, lingering this close to someone with barely any room to breath and keeping in physical contact with them - especially when they were returning the gesture - made her queasy, anxious, and she would've torn away within mere seconds of their hands touching each other. It was stupid how she never managed to get over the phobia after years upon years that gave her the opportunity to do so. Upon attending Beata however, it slowly started to melt away around certain students. Maybe that much should be a sign that she was improving a bit, that it wasn't so bad anymore after all, but those thoughts discarded themselves immediately when it reoccurred to her that she already gave her time away and that it was too late for it to make much of a difference now. Even so, at least this permitted her to stay put where she was now. There really wasn't anything that she could do under current circumstances, though seeing Barry show a minuscule of appreciation for it was enough to tell her that it was alright for the time-being.

Adeline couldn't feel his hand nor how much he trembled as he began to sob, releasing tears that shouldn't have to be held back. All she could keep doing was to stand her ground where it was and give sympathetic looks of concern. Hopefully she wasn't clutching too hard or anything... The only visual cues she had were a slight blur and shaky. For the most part, the way the fabric on his shoulders were being pulled and folded told her that it wasn't deadly tight. She never was amazing when it came to comforting others; her brother or mother were usually the ones to hold her close and calm her down, to console her. Advice wasn't something she was remotely qualified for, so in a way, it wasn't too bad that her lack of ability to speak was gone. After all, it would be tiring to hear the same voice repeat the same thing over and over again with slightly dissimilar phrasing. He had managed to get a hold of himself for the time being.

Before it could've gotten any more awkward than it already was growing to be with the heavily coated silence, the sound of glass breaking into millions of pieces cracked through, causing her to flinch and withdraw her hand from where it was before. Noiselessly, she mouthed a tiny apology to Barry before turning to where Magic was by the kitchen. She couldn't put her finger on it, especially without any evidence to back up said claim, but something seemed off. No. It must simply be her paranoia or nature to doubt everything. Fate wasn't that cruel to toss on more weight one after another so soon. Absolutely no way that could be possible. Magic had already started cleaning up the mess before she could volunteer to do it for him, but seeing him over there reminded her that she had been making dinner only mere moments ago.

How had she forgotten? Cautiously, Adeline took a step forward back towards the cutting board and ingredients, yet stopped herself to glance at Barry again, only to find herself mulling over whether or not it would be a good idea to leave him there on his own for a bit. There was no reason to be torn over a matter this trivial, one where practically anyone could make a decision within a split second. Her eyes kept flickering back and forth between the two, directionless as she lingered awkwardly in the middle. Getting Barry something to eat would be ideal, considering how thin he looked from lack of weight, and a nice homemade meal usually helped cheer people up a bit, but at the same time, forcing someone to eat when they didn't want to wasn't polite either...

What should I do? She really was stupidly hopeless with these things. For whatever reason it was, she couldn't make up her mind, and she subconsciously shot a fleeting look towards Barry once more before shaking her head. No relying on him to make the decision for her - he had enough to think about already. Her lips thinned, eyes fluttering to a close. Make dinner. Magic still hadn't eaten yet either and they could converse at the same time. With a silent apology, Adeline made her way back over to the kitchen, taking special care not to get in Magic's way, and resumed her progress from where she had been at.

Barry flinched when he heard the glass break, but he didn't look up. His whole body jerked when Magic dropped the glass. The shattering noise made him think of Cassandra. He clenched his fists but remained silent. He would let Lamia and Magic deal with whatever had upset Magic enough to drop the glass. Barry knew that Magic never usually dropped glass. The noise of glass breaking was a piercing sound that would surely cause Mason's gift to go crazy.

Magic bent down next to the mess of glass, a dust pan in one hand the broom in the other. His green eyes stared down at the mess in front of him. One hand pushed the broom to sweep the scattered pieces into the dust pan as his mind wondered. His brother was dead. The person he grew up with.. and didn't hate til recently.. He didn't want him to die, but yet he had... What happened? How did he die? He needed to know... But he couldn't exactly go asking all these questions.

Letting out a sigh he pushed the rest of the glass into the dust pan. He stood up straight, and walked over to the trash can putting the glass in there. It wasn't anything to mess up the bag and there were other things in there that would prevent it from doing so. Soon after he put the cleaning supplies up. Well he was attempt number two at grabbing a glass of water. He acknowledged that Adeline had gone back to whatever she was doing in the kitchen. At this point his mind was a bit too clouded to to tell. Grabbing another cup from the cabinet he filled it with water and took it over to his friend. Setting it down on the table in front of him.

"Do you.. uhh.. want to talk about her at least the good times?" The winter asked. It might be start to getting better if he talked about the good memories. Might get the Autumn to laugh. He didn't know he wasn't good at this.

Oh, right. She was still bleeding. It was something that had wound up slipping to the back of her mind as everything unfolded right in front of her - not that having the small injury was that important in the first place, especially in comparison to what was actually transpiring with Barry -, and the miniature white piece of tissue she had used to keep it in place was soaking, drenched entirely in vermilion. At a snail's pace, Adeline unwrapped the thin sheet of red with clumsy fingers, finding it much more difficult to do so than she would've expected from such a plain and easy task. What was even more complicated seemed to be tying another piece on as a substitute, an action that wasn't all too terrible to accomplish earlier. Adeline bit her lip to suppress any signs of a frown, a deafened sigh escaping once she finally managed.

Almost in synchronization, she could hear Magic let out his own as well. Was he alright? Her previous suspicions about something being wrong flooded back into her head, and as much as she wanted to ask that little question, she couldn't. Not only because of her own failures with speaking, but also because it wasn't something that she was allowed to ask; if Magic wanted to say anything about it, he would - except he most definitely wouldn't now. In the future. Not too far into the year that it was something that she would forget, but more of something that she would keep in mind, just in case. But Magic didn't have to tell her anything if he didn't want to. After how much she had kept to herself, it was only fair that he was allowed the same and that she would respect his wishes.

Violet-blue eyes followed his figure as he took his place next to Barry once again, and Adeline smiled a bit. He was trying his best. She didn't have to worry too much; those two were close enough that they could understand each others' motives well, regardless of whether it may come off as a misunderstanding. Her hand clutched around the knife again, and she went back to work. She could listen in and offer whatever when possible, but the faster she could get this done, the better. It was more difficult to be happy on an empty stomach... at least, that's what Adeline could remember her brother saying when they were younger.

Barry ignored the glass of water that Magic had set out. He wasn't thirsty. Looking at Magic with tired eyes, he sighed. "I guess we can try." he said, thinking of a good time between him and Cassandra. "There was the time, last winter, when Cass and I went ice skating. That was fun. Although she did fall through the ice, nearly scaring me to death. But I got her out and I ran her to my dorm where she warmed up with hot cocoa." he cracked a small smile as he thought about what happened in that dorm. "I uh, I was actually shirtless for most of the time that we were in the dorm together." He thought about another time that Cass and he shared. "There was also the Winter Formal. I had a blast dancing with her." he sat back, lost in memories for the moment.