You stand at the entrance to the market place. To the west, you can see a well, around which the marketplace is built. To the south is an item shop, and to the north is a light armory store. Townspeople chat and haggle with the shopkeepers, others are sitting by the well talking amongst themselves. The whole marketplace has an air of relaxation

Razz is huddled beside a shabby stone wall, her knees drawn up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them, huggling two moogle stuffies. She appears to be asleep, her head laid down over her knees, unmoving, a figure that could be easily missed in a night such as this. To make the desolate picture complete, her attire has been completely soaked by the rain, her long dark hair plastered against obscured face and shoulders. Her shoes are muddy, as if she had been spending the better part of the day walking. No one else is around the girl, she seems entirely alone.

Justin is not wet, despite the rainstorm; the raindrops just don't seem to hit him... Over one shoulder spins a light ball, filling the street with blue- white light and illuminating a few likely-looking shapes under awning and against buildings. "...Razz?"

Razz is hardly conscious. The day had been... tiring. It started out just like any other day at the tower, until some four or five of her fellow students there decided to take her stuffies and not give them back to her. She wasn't quite sure what had happened, only that she had been /very/ angry once she'd realized that they were doing this out of spite. Awfully angry. She was hurt, confused, and mad. She wanted to make them stop, wanted them to suffer for the wrong that they had committed against her. Though, as mad as she was, she didn't think she wanted to hurt them so bad... did she? Next thing she knew, someone was yelling at her, demanding an explanation for her actions. Frightened, she had ran, knowing that Justin would /not/ be happy about this... she couldn't bear to see him upset with her... she just couldn't.

Justin's day has, in its own way, been just as tiring because of Razz's actions. It's things like this that remind him why he left for Elfland again... No response is forthcoming from any of the possibly person-shaped objects, so Justin begins to check them each individually. The first few turn out to be tarp-covered stacks of goods, and one drunk and quietly raving old man who warns him gravely about Millenium Hand and Shrimp. Not what he's looking for...

Justin continues for some minutes around the area in this manner, poking at things and mostly turning up more piles of stuff, and no sign of... no, wait. /There/ she is... he must have passed her twice already. He doesn't pass her this time, he crouches down next to her. "Razz?"

Razz's ears twitched, however faintly, at the call of her name. Sleeply, she opened her eyes, made hazy by exhaustion and tears. Turning her head towards the source of the voice, she blinked slowly, her foggy vision taking its time to focus. It wasn't long until consciouness finally came to her, and she flinched, her eyes wide with surprise, staring at Justin. She hadn't expected to see him... though she /had/ been running away to avoid him. She didn't expect him to come look for her. Was what she had done so horrible that she must be tracked down and be berated? Perhaps there was some punishment that she was to go through before they kicked her out... she lowered her eyes, not wanting to see anger in Justin's eyes.

Justin winces slightly, and understands from Razz's glance a bit of what she must be thinking. He raises his hand in a placatory gesture. "No, it's okay. All I want is for you to explain, and for you to come back to the tower and get out of this rain." His expression is still emotionless, but there's some compassion in his tone.

Razz peered up at Justin's face, a bit hopeful, a lot more fearful. Was he angry with her? Has she been forgiven? He still wants her to come back??? She's missed him - a large part of her sorrow came from the thought that she'd never see him again - the other part from the thought that he must be upset wit her. Even after everything he'd done for her, she'd caused nothing but trouble....

Justin leans a little closer, to look her in the eyes. "...I want /you/ to tell me what happened. I've already heard what other people saw. I need your side of it."

Razz cringed in reflex, yet she still wasn't sure what Justin wanted from her. Her side? How much does he know about what had happened? She knocked out 5 of her fellow students and they weren't even causing her harm... "I... my side? I-they already told you what happened... I- I'm sorry..." the elf girl whimpered, and squeezed her stuffies a bit tighter.

Justin frowns again, and leans in a further few inches to places his hand on her shoulder. "...Okay, it's not really that important that it can't wait, if you're sure you can't tell me."

Razz opened her mouth to reply, but found that she was having a hard time making a sound. Justin's words were almost reassuring, in their own right. And his hand... He's not angry at her, he's not... Looking into Justin's eyes, the elf girl suddenly bursted into tears. Sobbing her heart out, she bended over and covered her face with one half-closed palm.

Oh, /hell/. Not again. Justin is slightly more prepared for it this time, however, and he makes his decision quickly enough. He closes the last bit of distance between them and rather gingerly puts an arm around her.

Shocked into silence by the solid warmth that suddenly surrounded her, Razz realized with a start that Justin was holding her. How long has it been, since another being had touched her with affection? She had not realized how lonely she had been and how much she craved physical contact until the day Justin covered her hand with his in an attempt to comfort her. The dam broke again, and Razz leaned into Justin's embrace, her hands coming up and clutching tightly at the front of Justin's shirt. She shook with wreaking sobs as she buried her face against Justin's collarbone. Still, the embrace was somewhat awkward as she was sitting and Justin was crouching, so she leaned forth, pushing Justin into a sitting position while she settled herself on his lap. There she curled up against him, crying the tears of loneliness and relief, of a desolate child finally finding comfort, and of a confused girl finding assurance.

Justin really is barely equipped to handle situations like this. Do we know how long it's been since another being looked to him for affection? Outwardly he seems calm enough, but who knows? He puts both arms around Razz, now, and holds her, and doesn't ask for an explanation.

Eventually, Razz's sobbing quieted down to faint hiccups and sniffles. Feeling as if all tension had been drained out of her body, the elf girl lay limp, leaning against Justin. It was still raining, but somehow they remained untouched by raindropsˇK well, Justin has a big wet patch from Razz's soaked state and tears, but he was otherwise dry. Taking long and slow breaths, Razz closed her eyes, and tucked her head under Justin's jaw. She feels so warm... not alone...

Justin leans back against the building, and loses perhaps a moment setting the rain-screen as an independant spell. At least he found her, and she's okay... He tightened his hold on her gently, and settled in to wait out the storm.