Change. (Kane/Jory)

[Kane Garrett]

Kane withheld the grimace he felt. He wanted to look at Lyric's file again, but he wouldn't do that now, with another student sitting across from him. "Dr. Reynolds might have been hoping that with two of you visiting together you'd have an easier time keeping yourselves objective. Lyric is having a difficult time adjusting."

[Jory Addison]

"I know! I want to help him, I really want to. I thought me and Quinn were okay until she jumped on me. We fought the first time we met, but then we were okay. Lyric's not doing okay and me and Quinn just fight. I read some of the stuff he gave us, these brochure things," Jory said, still examining his shoe. "About what's going on with Lyric, and it sounds scary, and he doesn't have anyone with him." All those people were probably touching him, too, and Jory knew that Lyric hated that.

[Kane Garrett]

"If you and Quinn were okay before, then maybe it's just a matter of patching things up," Kane suggested. "This is hard on both of you, and it's easy to snap at people who may not deserve it. It's good that you read the materials Dr. Reynolds gave you. Understanding, even a little, is better than being left in the dark. As for Lyric, he's being taken care of the best the facility can." He'd let Jory decide which way to lead the conversation for now, back to whatever had happened with Quinn, to the information he'd read or to how Lyric was doing.

[Jory Addison]

"The first time I met Quinn we got in a fight, because as far as I knew Lyric had been able to touch her and kiss her sober, and he could only touch me drunk. That's what he told me he was doing, anyway, he said he couldn't think about it because it was too much, and when I asked him why he couldn't tell me. I told her I wanted to understand and she got all mad at me saying I couldn't and I was being selfish for wanting to understand.

"She kept pulling all this stuff about how I wasn't looking at it through their eyes, even though she refused to listen to anything I said. I just wanted to understand why I can't touch Lyric, even by accident, and she said I couldn't. It was like...I was an idiot for not understanding and an idiot for wanting to understand." Jory sniffed and rubbed the corner of his eye against his jeans, drying up some of the tears that were falling. He had wanted to help and who was Quinn to say he couldn't?

[Kane Garrett]

"Do you think there's any possibility that there might have been a misunderstanding between the two of you?" Kane asked. "Do you really think she was upset because you want to understand?"

[Jory Addison]

Jory brought up his other leg and hid his face against his knees. "I don't know. She was mad because I was hurt because Lyric couldn't touch me sober, and she was mad because apparently she has all the answers but she was just saying stuff, I couldn't figure out what she even wanted! It was like...because I wasn't abused I'm not allowed to be hurt." He had gotten so much information during their first meeting that it was hard sorting through it all. It had been hard then, and now it was nearly impossible.

[Kane Garrett]

"Sometimes when people are angry they say things they don't really mean. Sometimes people are more harsh than they should be because their own emotions are too high. I'm not excusing her behavior. You're allowed to have hurt feelings, especially if you were confused, but sometimes things sound more personal than they are. Your thoughts and feelings aren't any less valid because someone else doesn't understand."

[Jory Addison]

Jory sighed heavily, no closer to understanding things than he had been in the first place. It was nice to have someone talking to him that wasn't flat-out telling him he was wrong, though. It was a relief to be told that he was allowed to be hurt, even if it was something different than what some of the others had said. "I was willing to forget all of it, me and her and Markise even went to the Bloody Mary together."

[Kane Garrett]

"And how did that go?" Kane asked.

[Jory Addison]

"It was fun," Jory said. "But now I'm not even friends with either of them anymore. Markise got mad at me for wanting to go to a gay club and then Quinn said that stuff when we went to see Lyric about how it's my fault it hurts when the guys are jerks." But somehow, he was feeling the slightest bit better now that he had been able to tell Kane this. He still wished he had someone he could talk to as a friend, but it seemed like he would have to take what he could get.

[Kane Garrett]

"Have you tried to talk to Markise lately?" Kane asked. "Tell me about the argument. What happened?"

[Jory Addison]

Jory shook his head, no, he hadn't talked to Markise. He hadn't even wanted to talk to Markise. "He said he used to go to the clubs, but that there were bad guys there that would try to do stuff. Well yeah, I guess so, but if you don't go alone, you'll be okay, right? He just kept going on about how a big guy could take me away, even though he made it though. I just wanted to go and be around other guys like me."

[Kane Garrett]

"If you're talking about the Bloody Mary, you should be fine alone. If you mean going into London, he's right. Not to mention that most clubs require I.D. to get in." He knew an increasing number of students seemed to be sneaking off to London clubs, but he wouldn't encourage it. However, he wouldn't preach abstinence alone. The best help was information.

"If you do decide to go out to London clubs, it would be best to go as a group. Three or more, and stick together at least the first few times. A lot of people go to clubs to hook up, and they'll be older than you. There's a lot of temptation in places like that. Maybe Markise had some trouble and wanted to keep you from making the mistakes he had. Does that sound possible?" It was doubtful that any friend would want to keep someone from going out just to prevent them from having fun. "Those things almost never live up to what people think they'll be like."

[Jory Addison]

"I know," Jory said. "I wasn't going to go alone, I won't even go to London by myself. That's why I wanted him to go with me. I mean, he's done it all, he knows what's going on, and it'd be so great to be around other guys." But he couldn't even talk to Markise, and he didn't even want to think about Jamie anymore.

[Kane Garrett]

"Give it some time, then. Bring it up again when you've both had a chance to cool off. Chances are that he's thought about it too, right? If there's a chance he'd tell you why he's so against it, it'd be worth trying."