Razz's dreams were not restful. Her mind, made skittish by the recent intrusions, damages, and muddled memories, no longer seems capable of staying assured for the sake of rest. Razz woke, feeling awfully sore and sick, and realized that the bed that she's lying in is not the one that she had been sleeping in for the past couple of weeks. The room's awfully dark, too, she can't see anything. "Justin?" She called out, reaching out for Justin on the spot beside the bed where Justin usually sits. Justin is a bit further over than his usual spot; this room allows a little more elbow room, and he took advantage of it, forgetting Razz's new dependance on 'usual locations'. He catches her hand and holds it. "Razz? How are you feeling?" Razz held onto Justin's hand. "Sore, but not too bad," she replied, comforted by Justin's presence. "How long have we been back?" > > Justin is a trifle disoriented by all the planar travel, but he can hazard an estimate of, "Oh... about half a night. It's good to see you're recovering quickly." Razz nodded, and pushed herself up from the bed with her other arm, wincing slightly. Blinking, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the light in the room... Something kept on nagging at the back of her mind, though she wasn't certain what it is. "How did we get back?" She asked. Justin has left the room dark; it's practically the middle of the night by now, and he doesn't need light. "Mirai brought us. It took her a while to find us again, but once she did she got us out of there quick." Razz nodded. "What happened to Crulath? Did he come back?" > > Justin shrugs, and, reflexively, peers about a moment. "We've seen neither hide nor hair of him since you tossed him through the wall. It's probably far too much to hope that he's gone for good, though." Razz nodded again. "Aaah... I remember everything this time..." she said, lowering her head. > > Justin really doesn't know what to say. It must've been a /very/ traumatic experience, and /twice/, no less. And they haven't even gotten to possibly the most traumatic bit, yet. Razz sat silent for a moment, mulling over things. She's back at the tower again... and she'd thought that she couldn't stay if she wouldn't go through sessions with Gareth... But she's back again... but then... it's hard to know where exactly things are standing, right now. Wanting to take her mind off of things, she looked for random things to say. "Uhmm... Can you turn on the light? What time is it?" > > Justin generates a puff of flame, producing a brief flare of heat easily tangible throughout the room, and leaves Razz's side briefly to light the candles. "It's perhaps a little past midnight," he says, returning, and extinguishing the flame. Razz turned her face towards the slight flare of heat she felt caress her cheek, but found herself to still be engulfed in darkness. "..." The girl was silent as she tried to puzzle out why the light hasn't come on it... Justin frowns, faintly. Not that Razz would see, of course. "...well. It wasn't helped any, then." Painful to have to say it, especially to someone so young. Too painful for Justin to do it, certainly. Razz asks: What? Justin has no choice, it seems. "You can't see, still. It seems to have happened the last time the power used you." Razz repeated Justin's words, dumbfounded. "Still?" she murmured, and suddenly she knew what had been gnawing at the back of her mind the whole time she's woken up - she can't see anymore, she's blind. It was like lightning had struck her, she just sat there, eyes wide, lips slightly parted, a painted expression of shock over her face. Her hand lay in her lap, lax as she sat, still as a statue. > > Justin tells her, quietly, "Yes. Mirai thinks it's some sort of nerve damage. She couldn't do anything for it." Razz nodded, slowly. "...... I can't ever see again?" she asked, a hint of a whimper catching onto the last note of her question. > > Justin shrugs, and winces instantly, glad in spite of himself that she saw neither gesture. "It's not known. There are better healers in the world than Mirai, undoubtedly." ...not many, though. Razz lifted her face up at Justin, despite that fact that she couldn't see him anymore. "... what am I going to do?" Justin places a hand on her shoulder. "You can adapt. And we can find some of those better healers." Justin releases Razz, and sinks heavily back into the chair. "Mmmh. How well can you place sound? Do you know where I am?" Razz blinked, her mind hadn't been prepared for this line of questioning, thought she probably should have. Her ears perked up, and her head was cocked slightly as she listened. Waving a hand, she waved in Justin's general direction. It is, however, a very rough generalization. "Somewhere over there?" > > Justin smiles, "Good. Can you get any idea of the size of the room?" Razz blinked again, and slipped out of bed to reach a wall, trying to measure the room by pacing. > > Justin moves to her side quickly and silently, and places a hand on her shoulder. "No, see if you can /hear/ it." Razz turned her head to face Justin. "How can I hear sizes?" > > Justin waits, several moments, until the room is entirely silent, and then claps, once, crisply. The sound echoes and fades. Razz's ears perked up again, even as she jumped a little at the sudden sound. Now she understands what Justin meant. "Uhmmm... it's not a small room." Justin nods, "Right. You're doing pretty well already. With enough practice, you'll be able to place sounds almost as accurately as you can place sights." Razz smiled, her lips parting, forming a small grin. Then it faltered and dropped as her mind turned back onto the issue she had been mulling over before this. Lowering her head, she hesitated before speaking. "Uhm... Do I, I mean... Gareth... Do I have to..." Justin shakes his head, and wonders as he does so why he's bothering. "No, those sessions were over the minute you wanted them over. And, quite frankly, I don't want to see Gareth again any more than you do." Razz continuted, a bit hopeful, a bit timid. "... I can stay?" Justin says: It was never a question whether you could stay. Gareth is not the head of the Blades. Razz's face split into a relieved smile, realizing that she would never have to go through those sessions again. "Thank you," she breathed, relief heavy in her words. Justin shrugs, another pointless gesture. "It really was never a question..." He trails off into silence a moment. "...Well. Are you feeling up to anything?" Razz cleared her throat, and nodded. "I'm really thirsty..." Justin calls the torchflames out of existance. "Right. Go get you something?" Razz nodded, and reached out to catch hold of Justin's great coat. > > Justin reaches behind, and takes Razz's hand, and leads the way out. Thank gods for the mostly empty room. Razz smiled shyly, and nearly stumbled as Justin started moving. Justin really isn't moving very fast, in fact, it's really only a slow, steady pace. But being unable to see, Razz, for some reason, thought that she was about to walk into a wall. The moment passed and she tightened her grip, trusting that she's in good hands. (zaps to a few days later) > > Justin stands in the center of an empty classroom, without his heavy coat, for once. "Come on, there's nothing to trip over besides me." Razz still keeps her hand out, to keep her balance and to feel if she's about to ran into a wall, she's done it at least twice. "Where are we?" > > Justin taps his foot, not out of impatience but to give Razz a sound to orient on. "It's an empty classroom." Razz turned her head towards Justin, and walked slowly to him, waiting for him to tell her what they're doing here. > > Justin stops tapping as Razz draws near. "We're here to practice some things. To help you find your way around. You remember the sound thing?" Razz says: Yes. Justin nods again. "Right, you're adapting to it already. This is going to be more practice of that, and some other things. Right now," he says, reaching out to tap her on the shoulder, "I am about an arm's length from you. Now," stepping back a few steps, "I'm further. You can hear the difference." Razz stepped around to continue facing Justin, and nodded, waiting for him to go on. Justin continues, silently this time, to the far corner of the room, and waits several moments. "And?" Razz's head jerked as Justin's voice suddenly manifested far from where he had been. Turning her head this way and that, she wondered why Justin had done that. Justin remains where he is. "You need to be able to orient on sounds other than voice. Ideally, you need to be able to orient on things other than sound, but that's fairly advanced. Now," he crosses quickly, unstealthily back to the center of the room, and stands before her again, "you should've heard some of that." > > Justin nods, "Right. You're already doing well there, then, not much more to work with. Spacial sense, though... How big is /this/ room?" Razz bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to describe the size. "Uhmmm... like a normal classroom? Not the... big ones, but the... uhmm... small-er-ones?" > > Justin nods, "Yeah, that's about right. How far away are you from the wall in front o... wait, better, are you facing a wall?" Razz shook her head. "I don't think I am..." She doesn't remember walking close to a wall when she came in, she had that impression that she walked right into the room, following only Justin's voice. Justin hmms. "Well, not quite. You are facing a wall. About where do you think you are in the room?" Razz thought hard about it. "I am... how do you describe where you are in the room?" she asked helplessly. > > Justin pauses, frowns slightly in though. "Erm. Well." He takes Razz's hand, and raises it until her arm points directly off to her right. "That way is the north wall." Razz shook her head. "No, I mean... how do you describe where you are in a room?" > > Justin blinks a bit, and after a further moment, shrugs. "Relative to one or another of the walls, or the front, back, or whatever." Razz looked up at Justin out of habit. "Which way is the front of a room? I mean... how do you normally determine what side of the room is the front?" > > Justin shrugs. "It's all relative. You know which walls are which, now, just use one of them." Razz bit her lips again, and promptly reveal exactly why she couldn't read maps and why she always seem to be lost and unable to follow directions from semi-helpful by-passers. "... Uhm, Justin, where's south, east, and west?" > > Justin is either not exasperated in the least, or damn good at hiding it. "South is opposite North. East is to the right of North, and West is opposite East." Razz nodded, and, muttering to memorize the directions, points in every direction she's murmuring at the moment. "South is the opposite of North, East is to the /right/ of North, and West is opposite East, okay." > > Justin nods, "Yeah. Now, where are you in the room?" Razz frowned again. "I'm in the... wait, you still haven't told me how you usually tell which way of the room people call front." Justin shrugs. "Some rooms don't have fronts. Best not to worry about it." Razz nodded. "Okay, I am..." she blinked. "I don't know where I am." > > Justin says: No, try harder. Are you close to a wall?" Razz thought hard. "I don't think so." Justin nods, slowly. "Right." He took a few quiet steps back, and sidewise. "Now, am I?" Razz cocked her head. "You're behind me." > > Justin asks: Yeah. How far? Razz turned to face him. "Not too far, I can probably reach you in a step or two." Justin continues to pace the room. "Follow me, then?" Razz started walking slowly, towards Justin, following him, her ears perked to listen for rustles and footsteps. > > Justin slowly starts to take greater care to move silently, until, after a few tens of steps, he's no longer rustling, and his footsteps a barely a whisper across the tilework. "Still following? I'm sorry if this seems mean, but the only way to learn this is to do it." Razz shook her head, even as she tried to pick up any slight sounds that Justin might make. "I didn't think it is." Razz says: Mean, I mean. Justin shrugs. "...Alright. You're still with me, I see, that's good." Razz nodded. "Because you're still talking." Justin grins. "Heh. Suppose so." He shuts up abruptly, sidesteps silently out of Razz's path, and stops. Razz frowned as everything fell silent. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she reached out with her arms, wandering, trying to find Justin. A cold feeling started at the back of her mind when she did not find him immediately. It began small, at first, but grew quickly. The room's so silent... is Justin even there anymore? "Justin?" Razz asked, a slight tremor in her voice. "Justin?" Justin is right behind her in moments. "I'm right here. That wasn't... quite so good, but still." Razz turned around, and walked right into Justin. Her arms went up around him, holding him, assuring herself of his presence. "I'm sorry," she said, but she was relieved in her tone. Justin gives Razz a small hug. "There'll be plenty of time to work on it. You'll do fine."