[Rinrou]

Rosen's chuckle followed her.

Around lunch Laurel poked her head into Nic's room.

Dot had made a mess while Dan was drawing. A blue paint bucket had been upended and she now looked like a blue imp. She giggled as she rubbed the paint in swirls around the floor.

[Kaliko]

Surprisingly, Nic wasn't in his room.

Dan noticed, but let Dot have fun. She had barely let Dot out of her sight since she learned why she was here. She was overly protective of the little girl and spoiled her.

[Rinrou]

Laurel sighed a little but after a moment she walked in anyway. After pausing again she began to look around for Nic's scarf.

[Kaliko]

Nic's scarf was in the drawer she had seen it in last.

[Rinrou]

Laurel took it out and sat down on the bed. She ran her hand along it before sighing, "Hey, Nic's brother, can you give me some clues about Nic's maze of a mind?" she asked before grunting a little and laying back on the bed and putting the scarf over her eyes, "It's not like I'm not trying!" she complained, "He just..." she sighed, "seems like he doesn't want to try. He doesn't seem to want to tell me anything." She rubbed the scarf over her face, "I keep hitting on former wounds without even realizing it. I feel like I'm walking on egg shells around him. It sucks." she confessed with a sigh, "I'm just worried... that we won't make it, brother." She pulled her legs up and moved the scarf to hug it to her chest, "I love him so much but he has to move on his own. And when the time comes, I have to let him go. So I... have to keep this to myself, right?" she asked the former owner of the scarf, "I can't add to his burden. I can't... keep dumping my emotions on him."

[Kaliko]

The scarf didn't reply. But after a moment, the light Nic had left on in the bathroom flickered a little.

[Rinrou]

Laurel blinked over at the light and smiled, "Yeah, I have to get stronger. No more hiding behind him," she glanced at his pillow. "... I'll be stronger in ten minutes..." she reflected as she scooted up and pressed her face into his pillow, still hugging the scarf. It wasn't long before she was out cold.

[Kaliko]

When Laurel woke, she had a nasty headache. And the room was starting to stink. It was unfamiliar, but ever now and then Laurel got a hint of something she'd smelled before. Including Dedi.

By now, others had noticed Nic's presence in the infirmary. He was laying on a hospital bed he had pulled up next to Yue and was out as cold as she was.

[Rinrou]

Laurel used the scarf to try and mask the smell. "Wha-?" she got up and tried to trace the smell to it's source.

[Kaliko]

It was coming from the bathroom. It looked like he had somehow procured a lot of nasty stuff and mixed them up to make... something... It looked like there was still a little left. There was a scorched bud in an almost closed container of what was left, which would explain why Laurel didn't notice it at first. But it probably wasn't a good idea for Laurel to stay much longer; she recognized a powerful hallucinogen that it looked like he had used quite a bit of.

[Rinrou]

Laurel was so shocked she nearly forgot that she should leave. Then she took off at a run, ripping the door open and looking for Nic.

When she finally found someone who had spotted him she continued to run to his side, arriving out of breath and worried. A nurse was already looking Nic over.

[Kaliko]

Nic's vitals were virtually identical to Yue's, and he was stable. Despite such rash actions, it appeared, at least for the moment, that Nic had known what he was doing. One of his hands was reaching out toward Yue a little. The other was clenched tightly into a fist at his side.

[Rinrou]

Once she was assured that Nic was stable, Laurel went from worried to angry almost instantly. She stared a them for a long moment before grabbing Nic's and Yue's hands and putting them together a bit violently. The nurse looked a little worried but Laurel immediately left and sought out Raven once more.

[Kaliko]

After a little while longer, the nurse noticed something was in Nic's clenched hand.

Raven was eating lunch with some of the girls from around the house.

[Rinrou]

The nurse frowned a little before giving him a small shot to relax his clenched hand.

One look at the raging storm in Laurel's face was enough to send the girls scurrying away.

[Kaliko]

Nic's hand eased up a little. There was a piece of paper in his fist.

Raven was tempted to run away too. He didn't say anything, figuring Laurel had enough on her mind already.