Painful Research [Open]

[Kyle Ehrlich]

Kyle had been bouncing around the library for about an hour now. It had been a slow week, only one case of overzealous allergies. Boredom had finally set in. Kyle wasn’t ready to enter the dream world again; he was only on his second day without sleep. So here he was, spending his evening browsing through the school’s literature.

Kyle had made his way from one end of the library to another, stopping every now and then to pull a title that looked interesting. He currently had a stack of twenty three books ranging from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe to nonfiction books about dream analysis, oceanography, and the geography of Norway. He had stuck some of the smaller books into his lab coat pockets for ease of carrying.

Kyle was attempting to find one last book about Scottish Mythology before calling it a night. His eyes scanned the shelves finally settling on the book. It was on the second highest shelf, just out of his reach. He sighed and looked around for a stool or ladder. Luckily, a short stepladder was in the next aisle over. Kyle kicked it to where he needed it and stepped up. In retrospect, he probably should have put the stack of books he was carrying down first. Kyle grabbed the Scottish Mythology book and stepped backwards down the ladder. His right foot caught on the tail of his lab coat and he began to lose his balance. Without thinking, Kyle twisted his body, attempting to compensate.

Half a second and one very loud crash later Kyle found himself on the floor amid a pile of books. His right foot had become tangled in the ladder. Kyle paused before attempting to untangle himself. He didn’t like the angle his foot was currently turned in. Carefully, Kyle pulled himself to a sitting position, slowly straightening his foot. He reached down and applied some pressure to the ankle. A jolt of pain shot up his leg. Kyle rolled his eyes. Moving his right leg as little as possible, he pulled himself upright and leaned against the bookshelves.

He slowly shifted his weight from his left leg to his right. He began to feel pain after placing a little under half his normal weight onto the foot. He swore and smacked the bookshelf in frustration. Best guess, he had twisted or sprained his ankle. One the plus side it was, at worst, only a first degree sprain. Kyle sighed and raised his voice, “Is there anyone out there? I could use a hand if you would be so kind…”

[Leyah Luna LaNoche]

Leyah had been on the aisle that the nurse had taken the ladder from. Sitting with a fort of books around her reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She planned on finishing the whole library, she was a faster reader and only in year 10.

When she heard the crash she ran over. "Oh Mr. Ehrlich, are you o..." She saw his foot. "Oh Mr. Ehrlich, ummm,ummm. I'll need your keys, get you some crutches or a strecher or...or." What do you need me to do? I'm so sorry."

[Kyle Ehrlich]

Kyle smiled at Leyah. As usual, he recognized the girl’s face but couldn’t think of her name. “Hi. I’m ok, its not as bad as it looks…” Kyle thought about standing upright to show just that. The thought was quickly erased by a now constant pain from his ankle. He laughed and winced at the same time. “Well its not life threatening anyway. No need for you to be sorry. You didn’t push me.”

Now that help had arrived, Kyle was unsure what he really needed. It didn’t seem logical to have the girl run to the infirmary and back again. A stretcher was overkill and the crutches were buried in a storage room. He eyed his mess of books and pondered.

“Tell you what, I can at least hobble back to my office but there’s no way I can carry these books at the same time. Do you have a backpack or bag I can borrow?” It never occurred to Kyle to ask the girl to carry the books for him. It also didn’t occur to him to just leave the books and come back for them later. If he was going to be unable to move for a couple hours, he didn’t want to spend the time sleeping.

[Leyah Luna LaNoche]

"Sure." She bent down to pick up the books. The titles were classics. "The Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe, you a big fan?" She began to walk slowly, hoping that he could keep the pace. "He's really.... different, but a great writer."

She was just making small talk.


(sorry about the shortness.)

[Kyle Ehrlich]

"Sort of. I have to be in the right mood for Poe. Otherwise, I tend to lose myself in the words and miss the imagery." Kyle carefully bent and grabbed the few remaining paperbacks. He placed them back in his lab coat. "There's only one story in the collection I'm interested in at the moment: A Descent into the Maelström I'm doing some research in my spare time."

Kyle steadied himself and slowly pushed away from the shelf. He took a cautious left step forward, paused, and dragged his right leg. The pain was intense, but Kyle was becoming used to it. This was going to be a long, short walk back to the infirmary.

"Tenth year, right? I'm sorry to ask, but what was your name again?"

(No worries )

[Leyah Luna LaNoche]

" A Descent into the Maelström, and the DreamWorld Maelstorm?" She wondered if there was a relation. "Leyah... You've probaly seen me on the way to French." She didn't say she usally ran past because he used to creep her out.

She walked slowly and smiled causally. The books in her hands were very intresting. She had read most, but not all of them and made mental notes the next to read in her mind.

[Kyle Ehrlich]

"Leyah," Kyle said the name aloud and let it hang for a moment, "That's a rather nice sounding name. And yes, there is some correlation between my resear..."

A particularly sharp jolt of pain stopped Kyle in mid sentence. He swore under his breath, glancing around quickly. He carefully dragged himself to the nearest wall and leaned against it.

"Sorry, give me one moment to catch my breath," Kyle reached into his coat and pulled a bottle of aspirin out of a pocket. He dry swallowed two pills and replaced the bottle. He gave Leyah a grin only slightly marred by pain. "Fun, eh? So tell me, what literary adventures did I pull you away from? Work or pleasure?"

[Leyah Luna LaNoche]

She gasped when he dragged himself over. He was a nice guy... She might have to learn more about his past... It's necessary to research before judging. She believed speech could ease any pain and was glad he was strong enough to talk.

"Both. English teacher told me that if I could read the whole library by Year 11, I would get extra credit. I'm on the last 40 Non fictions, then I have the dictionary thesauruses and encyclopedias. I'm really close." She was a nerd, but a popular nerd. She made others feel better. If they were ever down, they looked at her and said "It could be worse" and their day was better. She didn't mind and didn't have any self pity.

She felt real pity for the nurse. "Here, let me help you out." From her babysitting days she balanced half the books on her hip and tired to help him balance. A girl who she knew walked by and whispered in her friends ear. Leyah sighed. She could see the headlines now. "Nurse and Student Crushing?" Of course she had no emotional feelings for the nurse but pity and as she offered her hand so that he could wrap his arm around her shoulder, she felt a great alliance with the man.


(This is huge for me... I'm proud!)

[Kyle Ehrlich]

Kyle blinked, "Wait, you've read almost the entire library already and this is your first year here?" He raised an eyebrow and made a mental approximation of the library's collection. "I'm thoroughly impressed. Although," he added, conspiratorially, "just between the two of us, I'd skip the thesauruses. They're a little dry."

Kyle's thoughts spun for a moment, giving him a brief rest from the pain. Another girl walking by snapped him back to reality. When she had gone, Kyle sighed and accepted Leyah's hand. He did his best to not completely lean on Leyah and his foot at the same time.

Kyle nodded towards the departing girl, "Looks like we'll be the talk of the girl’s dorm for a moment at least. Sorry 'bout that." Balance achieved, Kyle began slowly moving down the hall again. His thoughts were still on Leyah’s knowledge, though.

“This may seem random but have you explored the Dream World much? There may be something you could help me with later if you’d be interested.”

(( This calls for a celebration cookies then! ))

[Leyah Luna LaNoche]

Leyah was glad he was impressed, she didn't want to be the dull Jane girl that is the teacher pet, and almost top, but no cigar. (Love that phrase no cigar!) "I am dreading the thesaurus, even though the dictionary sounds pretty interesting," she spoke slowly. "I've heard that the encyclopedias are the best however, one other person started there and is going to Fiction." She really hated none fiction, because it was learning, but not in a interesting way. "I loved the Historical Fictions, now that was a good place to read. I love learning and sort of relating to the characters, its just amazing how writers can do so much."

She watched the girls run by. "No problem, I'm not really concerned about anything people say, it's almost summer and people forgive and forget. But when I tell you the truth, girls are so... gullible. Sometimes I'm ashamed." It was true to her. Some of the girls here where extremely gullible, which made her angry. She easily had the best grades, because the other girls were just doing nails in class.

"Ah, the Dreamworld! I love the Dreamworld. Even though my form is less than lovable." She blushed slightly as she admitted, even though honestly she didn't care if others knew. "I'm a caged bird... I'm trying to figure out why. The only bad thing is... I can't get out without help... I'm assuming this is personality related, but I don't see it at all." She caught herself about to tell the nurse about her personal life and quickly slided around it. "What sort of help?"


(BROWNIES)

[Kyle Ehrlich]

A caged bird, now there was an interesting dream form. Kyle didn’t want to jump to conclusions but he assumed the girl was right. In his experience, most of the dream forms reflected true personalities, particularly the student's.

“Not many people know this,” Kyle glanced around, checking for others in the hall, “but if you ever see a large black gryphon flying around, that’s me.” His dream form wasn’t exactly a secret; he just wasn’t sure how people would react if they knew the school Nurse spent most of his dreams attempting to enter the Maelstrom.

“I’m not quite sure what it says about me personality wise, either. I suspect the gryphon has something to do with a love of travel, freedom, and a desire to fly.” He had some other suspicions too, but he kept them to himself. No reason to burden Leyah with his quirks.

“As for help, I’m using my form to research as much of the dream world as I can. I focus more on the actual world rather than the people: topography, geography, weather, things like that. It seems that even in my dreams, I’m driven to learn. Someone with your knowledge and ability to fly would be a great asset. Sound like something you’d be interested in?”

(( not just brownies, BROWNIES! best kind))

[Leyah Luna LaNoche]

"A black gryphon, wow." Leyah loved mythical creatures and wondered why she could have one for a Dream form. "It's amazing what I can do once someone unlocks me, the only problem is..." She searched for a analogy. "It's like I'm the beggar on the street everyone walks by. No on but the good Samaritan stops to help, and then they laugh for a while, and finally they unlock me." She smiles, imagining flying for another day.

"Assuming you usually hang out in the 6th square, since the Maelstrom is there, why don't I ever see you. Surely you sleep." She had heard about people who hated their form, and they took pills or only drank coffee. That would be horrible in her mind.

"Of course I would love to help you sir, I love the flying and going into the Meal storm, or even near would help me." She gave a sincere smile as they reached the began to reach the nurses door.

(YA!!! Who plays you?)

[Kyle Ehrlich]

“I spent a lot of time in the 6th square at first, but I have already mapped out the shore and coastal area. Now, when I return to the square, I go as far out to sea as possible. Lately, though, I’ve been exploring the 3rd square. The mists can be quite confusing at times.” That was an understatement. The last time Kyle had ventured into the mists, he flew for what seemed like hours only to wind up at the place where he entered the mists.

Kyle gave Leyah a somewhat serious look. “I really wouldn’t suggest exploring around the Maelstrom area, especially not alone. Even though its only a dream to us, things can get unpleasant rather quickly.” He half smiled, attempting to not sound ominous. Kyle couldn’t help thinking of the dozen or so times he had either gone feral or died after venturing too close.

He noticed they were reaching his office door and let out a silent ‘Thank you’ of relief. He paused and pulled the key out of his coat. ‘Its kind of a mess…” Kyle pushed the door open and hobbled into the office.

It was a rather small room, which suited Kyle just fine. Three of the walls had doors leading to the hallway, infirmary, and Kyle’s room respectively. The fourth wall had a window overlooking the gardens. Kyle’s desk and chair stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by bookshelves packed full of books.

Kyle slouched into his desk chair, happy to be off his feet if only for a moment. “May I ask one more favor of you, Leyah?” Kyle nodded towards the door to the infirmary. “The infirmary is through there. Would you be able to grab a couple ice packs for me? I keep them in the freezer next to the exit. I’d really appreciate it.”


((Eep, that was longer than I thought It was going to be...I'm Sapphire or Bluesaphir1 as I’m called in the chat box thingy.))

[Freddrick Redford]

She took the warning into her mind, but then brushed it out. The Maelstorm sseemed amazingly deadly, but intresting. She really would rather take her chances going into it. The mists... Sounded intresting. She would have to go there next.

The room was a mess. It just needed a... femine touch. Someone who would take care of it, like a mother. she smiled and walked toward the infirmary. In there, it was much neater, and she easily found the packs. She grabbed 4, and walked back in. She wasn't sure where she wanted them, so she set them on his desk. sh esmiled, while standing, happy he made it all the way.

(Sorry, wrong account)

[Kyle Ehrlich]

Kyle waited until Leyah left then carefully removed the shoe from his right foot. As he suspected, the swelling had increased. Kyle sighed and resigned himself to doing nothing until the swelling went down.

He looked up as Leyah reentered the office and set the ice packs down. “Thank you again. You’ve been a tremendous help. Should you ever need a ‘get out of class free thanks to doctor’s note’ let me know. I owe you one.” Kyle pushed himself out of the chair and half sat on the edge of the desk.

He smiled to Leyah, “If you don’t mind, though, I’m going to go lie down. I need to keep this elevated,” Kyle cast his ankle an evil glance. “If you’d like, please drop by sometime later and I can show you my research. Or perhaps we’ll meet up in the dream world.”

(( ))

[Leyah Luna LaNoche]

She smiled as she watched him propping up his foot. "Mr. Elrich, don't you worry, I don't need to worry at all... though that doctor's appointment excuse might come in handy." She smiled. "Goodbye sir." She walked out, thinking of... the new friend she'd made.