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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 19:15:07 GMT -5
The walk here hadn't been too horribly bad. The students on the grounds were more interested in the sunshine and the cool breeze than in the guys walking by with their hands linked. Nearly everyone was outside, even before Dare and Michael had gotten to the Great Hall. Another fifteen minutes and they would have missed breakfast entirely.
Breakfast had cleared the air a little. Michael hadn't wanted the tension any more than Dare had, so they'd talked a little. Still, there had been no forgetting where they were going after.
So here they were now, standing outside the door to the counselor's office, someplace Dare had never been. All he really knew about the guy was that he'd been an unbelievable help to Michael, and that he was on the guest list for the wedding.
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Post by Kane Garrett on May 11, 2009 19:22:43 GMT -5
Kane didn't recognize the knock at the door, so as usual, he was up and to the door in a heartbeat, before whoever it was could change their mind. He wouldn't have been surprised had it been Michael alone, but this was the first time he'd seen Dare, and it was easy to tell that something wasn't right. He didn't let that affect his easy, encouraging smile.
"Come on in," he said, stepping aside. This would probably be the first time both chairs would be used where it didn't involve either a fistfight or a parent conference.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 19:30:08 GMT -5
Michael nodded his greeting and led Dare inside, then took his normal seat, clasping his hands together in front of him and finding his favorite wood pattern to stare at. He had stopped needing to stare at it for the entire session, but it still helped at the beginning. This time, he needed all the help he could get. Somehow, though, it was a relief to see Kane, someone that had helped him through so much before. Of course, all of that had been out of his control. Although...so was his weight loss.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 19:52:49 GMT -5
Dare's attention was pulled away from the counselor's noticeable American accent-- had Dare really been here long enough to notice something like that? --at Michael's withdrawal. His tongue swept briefly over his lips as he sat uncomfortably in the other chair. He wasn't sure what to do with his hands now that Michael had pulled his away, so he tugged his sleeves low and messed with the ends of them.
He sat there a moment before he realized he was probably supposed to do something, though he had no idea what he was supposed to do, anyway. Michael was quiet, but was that because they were supposed to be quiet, or because Michael didn't want to be here? Dare lifted his gaze to the counselor-- Kane --and waited for some kind of direction.
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Post by Kane Garrett on May 11, 2009 20:05:59 GMT -5
Kane didn't know whether Michael had ever told Dare about his previous visits, so he refrained from a welcome back, and greeted both boys simultaneously. When he had the introductions out of the way, he began to work on finding out what the problem was. He started with the usual open-ended questions about life in general, but as those wound down, there was little left to do but ask. "So, what brings you here today?"
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 20:08:52 GMT -5
Michael immediately fought down his response of Dare thinks I have a problem and leaned back in his chair, though he was still obviously anything but comfortable. He was more so than he would have been before, but even with how comfortable he had become with Kane, he still didn't want to be there. His eyes hovered on Kane for a moment, then flickered over to Dare.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 20:15:15 GMT -5
Dare felt Michael's gaze on him, and he looked aside as well, pausing at the look he saw. It was painfully obvious at that moment that Michael was only here to humor him, and though that was all he'd wanted, he'd at least hoped for more. He paused as he looked back down at his sleeves, then just said what he could.
"We've... I mean, Michael's losing a lot of weight and it's scaring me, but he doesn't think anything's wrong." He glanced aside at Michael, hoping he wasn't saying anything stupid, then looked back down again. "I know he's eating because we eat together."
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Post by Kane Garrett on May 11, 2009 20:18:23 GMT -5
Kane waited patiently while Dare spoke, then looked toward Michael. It had been months since they'd talked, but now that he looked, Kane could tell the difference in the shape of his face. "What do you think about this, Michael? Do you know how much weight you've lost?" He'd get into the whys once the problem was established.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 20:23:13 GMT -5
Michael had the ends of his sleeves tucked tightly into his fists again by the time Dare was finished speaking. When the voice changed to Kane's, he found himself shaking his head. No, he didn't know how much he had lost. And even if he had realized that he had lost too much, there was nothing he could do about it. "I haven't changed anything," he said finally, "I see no reason I should be here." He glanced up at Kane before his eyes found that familiar pattern on the wood of his desk.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 20:26:37 GMT -5
Dare's brows knitted, and he looked aside at Michael again, from behind the safety of his fringe. "I think he's sick. He... he's gone through every notch on his belt, he's just bones!" As much as the emotion in Dare's voice rose, his volume only lowered, until he was just barely speaking. "There's got to be a reason!"
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Post by Kane Garrett on May 11, 2009 20:29:31 GMT -5
Again, Kane waited until Dare was finished before turning back to Michael. "Is this true? Have you noticed that you've lost any weight?" It was a simple yes or no question, without any room for interpretation. Dare had obviously noticed a change, but had Michael?
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 20:34:42 GMT -5
Michael nodded and looked up at Kane, "But like I said, I haven't changed anything. I eat, I don't over exercise, I don't do anything differently!" There was no reason for him to have lost weight! And if he hadn't done anything, then there was nothing he could do about it, if there really was anything wrong. "And it's not as bad as he thinks it is." Dare was acting like he was going to fall apart or something!
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 20:38:34 GMT -5
Dare's brows couldn't draw any further together as he looked at Michael. He kept his mouth shut this time. He had no clue what was wrong, aside from the suggestions that Michael had already thrown out. Even he had said that Michael was eating, it wasn't as though he was insisting that Michael was throwing up his meals, though the more time passed without another possible answer, the more his mind came back to that one.
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Post by Kane Garrett on May 11, 2009 20:49:34 GMT -5
Kane waited for Michael to finish this time, and when Dare had nothing more to add, he folded his hands on the desktop. "There are a lot of possible causes for unintentional rapid weight loss; some are physical and some are psychological. I can help you try to find an answer, but the bottom line is that if you've lost more than five percent of your normal body weight over the last six to twelve months or less and it cannot be explained, you should see a Healer."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on May 11, 2009 20:54:49 GMT -5
Michael glanced over at Dare, then back to Kane, "I haven't lost that much!" It felt like a lie to say it, though. So he shook his head. "If I'm not doing anything, then what help could a healer be?" It wasn't like there was something there to fix! He tightened his fists around the edges of his sleeves more. He didn't want, or need, any more stress to add on to everything else.
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