Even with blurred vision, she could tell that this 'comforting' thing wasn't Kimiko's forte either. Though, maybe it wasn't what she was doing, or what she was saying--more how she was saying it. A little strained, a little panicked. Odette wouldn't fault her for that; she'd just tossed a great deal of nonsense on her within a matter of seconds.
if anything, it made the words mean a little more. Because she was trying. And she had a point. Odette had not told Hazel to shoot him. Odette had not gone into this assuming that anything would go wrong. The worst she'd assumed would happen was she found herself in a less than savory position at the other end of the switch, provided the missing trainers were dealing with something less than savory. But no, she'd never anticipated swapping a body with a Type:Null, and that Type:Null feeling the need to shoot somebody.
And again. He did it to himself. There would have been no need for any shooting if things had been going how they started. With her just teaching Hazel dance moves, and everyone else just getting used to their temporary bodies.
Slowly, she nodded. "It definitely was for the best," she breathed. "It was the only thing that made him stop."
Motherfucker. She'd left the cove to avoid a confrontation with Nurse Joy, and now she was flanked by not one, but two others willing to drag her there kicking and screaming.
"It'll work," she said stiffly. The unwavering tingle caused her voice to shake as she spoke.
Yeah, super fucking convincing.
Honestly, thank gods. This girl had some sense. If Enora alone couldn't get Odette to snap out of this fear for the sake of her health, then they'd sure as hell do it together.
"She is correct. I'll give it five more minutes. If you're not better, we'll be going to the infirmary."
"Ten minutes."
"Five."
"Seven minutes."
"This isn't a shop where you can haggle a price. Five."
"...six minutes."
Enora rolled her eyes, deciding to relent. "Fine. Six minutes."
Odette didn't mean to look greedy, but she snatched the bottle out of Kimiko's hand and had it open before the latter had even finished speaking. Cold or not, water was water. And she didn't realize how desperately she'd needed a drink until it was offered to her.
She managed to down nearly half the bottle before she give herself a moment to breathe. "Thanks," she panted. "I have a blood pressure problem. Perk of being a vessel," she said simply; a little bitterly. "Water's one of the only things that keeps it in check."
She took another long sip. She had half a mind to ask just what the hell they'd been doing out here for a few hours already, but it was safe to assume that they were doing something in a vein of investigating. Or hiking. Odette had gone on several runs herself already, so that wasn't an over-the-top guess.
As Odette pulled the bottle away from her mouth again, this time wiping off the excess water that dribbled down her chin, she suddenly felt the most calm she had since she watched Hazel find the gun. She wasn't quite sure how much time had passed since then, but it felt like hours. For all she knew, it had only been a couple damn minutes.
And of course, it wasn't meant to last. The inevitable tongue lashing made sure of that.
It was as expected. Are you crazy? What if something happened? What if something went wrong? All in the same vein as what Enora and Odile had thrown at her before anything had even happened. Except, much angrier. And rightfully so, it was pretty goddamn reckless. In the face of a harrowing mystery, she definitely had a history of being very rash. No matter how much thought she put into it.
However, it was that final bit that really got her attention. About being tortured, and shocked. It was then that she remembered, Kimiko had also been kidnapped. And she wasn't as lucky to have been kidnapped by somebody who went out of their way to make sure everything was as plush as possible for her. That seemed to be the only difference.
"I--" she started to say, entirely unsure of where she wanted to begin with that. She figured she'd just leave it up to the will of the gods.
But, there was no need. A backtrack. Though, it wasn't enough to stop her.
"No, you're right," she said. "It's good you weren't there. There were way too many people; you'd have only exacerbated the problem, and I'm not saying that to sound rude. Too many people meant too much to go wrong," she added, sending her eyes down to the ground, where she'd already managed to dig a hole in the dirt with the toe of her shoe.
"I know it was risky. Enora and Odile made sure I knew, and I thought long and hard about it. I've always been a logician, but I've never been one to settle for the cautious route. So, I've heard this before. You don't need to apologize."
But the thing about her friends getting hurt...that hit a little close to home. All she could think about in that moment was Noel, and that beating he took in the face of trying to be ballsy. She cringed, and she didn't bother to hide it.
"So have I," she admitted. "So it's amazing I still don't know any better."
Her eyes slipped shut and she forcibly shook her head. After a second, she actually managed a laugh.
"We've been through far too much. I think we're both overdue for the universe to throw us each a bone."
"̴M̵y̵ ̸a̶s̵s̸.̵"̸ she hissed. They'd barely done any investigating, so this wouldn't fucking hurt.
