Alaric, after a couple of nights, was now getting behind the idea that whatever caused him to lose consciousness for a few hours was also giving him magical regeneration powers. While being healed wasn't a whole new ball game to him, it usually came after death, not... slightly painful wounds. But when he woke up? Bam. No more huge, throbbing bruise on his arm. It was still a little too purple to look normal and the skin around the crook of his elbow was swollen, but not painful.
That was one irritation checked off his growing list.
Oh, and it had been bandaged. Like his neck. He'd only seen what it had looked like after hooking a finger on the gauze and sneaking a peek. Speaking of his neck, there wasn't even a scratch left behind at this point. Experimentally he'd pulled at the skin there without pain or blood, which was a lot more than he could say for it two days ago. Might as well be like it'd never happened in the first place.
Along with those encouraging discoveries was another one: he was pretty damn hungry. Ever since the bad luck thing, Alaric had been eying his food without trust. It could have been worse, sure, but... well, if he was going to be giving blood, he'd need the right nutrients. Hopefully the gruel provided that. (He could not believe he was doing this.) And orange juice. They usually gave that out after donations, right? (Seriously.)
Easier said than done. Going through the motions for gruel was simple enough, but apparently asking for something that wasn't water would interrupt the flow of rewarding the seniors. Not literal seniors, obviously.
"Just water."
Alaric lifted an eyebrow. "Just this once? Like... even apple juice, I guess. I'm not picky." He wasn't even complaining about being stuck in the ROTC uniform again. Throw him a bone here.
"Water."
"Look, I'm just having a-a low blood sugar problem. I just need it this once." He held out a hand, which was shaking naturally. Good on him. Not eating enough for a couple of days was doing him favors. At least at this particular point in time. He was just really sick of water. He'd even tolerate tea at this point.
The soldier's eyes jumped down to the bandage on his arm, then back up. There was a creepy feeling at the back of Rick's neck, which either came from the dread he was going to have to think of a stupid lie about why his blood sugar was low or from the paranoia the guy might already know exactly why. If the latter was the case, he didn't say anything about it. Maybe because Alaric didn't make a big deal of it helped the soldier to eventually pass over a glass of orange juice, shooing him out of the way.
Small victories.
As for company... well, he was more than willing to sit in a corner and put the metaphorical hood over his head, that wasn't probably the best option. He'd spotted a somewhat familiar face. Rose, right? It was familiar in that he'd only seen it a couple of times, but not in Landel's. It was probably past the time to re-introduce himself, even if the company she was keeping would have best been avoided, lest he be forced to endure round two of the walk of shame.
It was really, really weird to remember Damon probably didn't recognize her. They must have jumped over that ice-breaking pretty fast. If he was interrupting something, he could always... leave. He thought of that after sitting down, of course. Awkward or not, he was hungry.
"Hey, uh, Rose." He avoided the awkward little hand wave, but it also wasn't his best greeting. Even he could notice something was screwed up here. "You okay? You look beat." That was a good way to skip all of the weird introductions. Draining half of his cup of orange juice was a good follow-up.
no subject
That was one irritation checked off his growing list.
Oh, and it had been bandaged. Like his neck. He'd only seen what it had looked like after hooking a finger on the gauze and sneaking a peek. Speaking of his neck, there wasn't even a scratch left behind at this point. Experimentally he'd pulled at the skin there without pain or blood, which was a lot more than he could say for it two days ago. Might as well be like it'd never happened in the first place.
Along with those encouraging discoveries was another one: he was pretty damn hungry. Ever since the bad luck thing, Alaric had been eying his food without trust. It could have been worse, sure, but... well, if he was going to be giving blood, he'd need the right nutrients. Hopefully the gruel provided that. (He could not believe he was doing this.) And orange juice. They usually gave that out after donations, right? (Seriously.)
Easier said than done. Going through the motions for gruel was simple enough, but apparently asking for something that wasn't water would interrupt the flow of rewarding the seniors. Not literal seniors, obviously.
"Just water."
Alaric lifted an eyebrow. "Just this once? Like... even apple juice, I guess. I'm not picky." He wasn't even complaining about being stuck in the ROTC uniform again. Throw him a bone here.
"Water."
"Look, I'm just having a-a low blood sugar problem. I just need it this once." He held out a hand, which was shaking naturally. Good on him. Not eating enough for a couple of days was doing him favors. At least at this particular point in time. He was just really sick of water. He'd even tolerate tea at this point.
The soldier's eyes jumped down to the bandage on his arm, then back up. There was a creepy feeling at the back of Rick's neck, which either came from the dread he was going to have to think of a stupid lie about why his blood sugar was low or from the paranoia the guy might already know exactly why. If the latter was the case, he didn't say anything about it. Maybe because Alaric didn't make a big deal of it helped the soldier to eventually pass over a glass of orange juice, shooing him out of the way.
Small victories.
As for company... well, he was more than willing to sit in a corner and put the metaphorical hood over his head, that wasn't probably the best option. He'd spotted a somewhat familiar face. Rose, right? It was familiar in that he'd only seen it a couple of times, but not in Landel's. It was probably past the time to re-introduce himself, even if the company she was keeping would have best been avoided, lest he be forced to endure round two of the walk of shame.
It was really, really weird to remember Damon probably didn't recognize her. They must have jumped over that ice-breaking pretty fast. If he was interrupting something, he could always... leave. He thought of that after sitting down, of course. Awkward or not, he was hungry.
"Hey, uh, Rose." He avoided the awkward little hand wave, but it also wasn't his best greeting. Even he could notice something was screwed up here. "You okay? You look beat." That was a good way to skip all of the weird introductions. Draining half of his cup of orange juice was a good follow-up.