Stumbling home(Holley)

[Jonathon Montoya]

Jonathon limped trough the street, cursing and wincing a little with every step.  The battle on the full moon was, to say the least, bad.  Jonathon had gotten the crap beat out of him and was sick for days afterwards.  Getting beat up by a pack of regular shadows, that was mildly humiliating.  He'd been wandering around the outer circle and was jumped by a handful of shadows.  Now he was battered and bruised, bleeding from a few stray cuts and scraps.  Needless to say, he was not happy.  He mumbled something offensive under his breath as he walked up to the town square, looking around.  He started to head to the school, hoping not to get found.

[Holly Mason]

While today wasn't exactly a productive evening, it was an extremely entertaining one.  She went to the movies with a group of friends and then got some ice cream.  She didn't really care for the food herself, but she wasn't about to pass up an excuse to hang out with people she liked because they wanted to have food they really enjoyed and she was just indifferent about.  She was there for the conversation, not the food.  The group parted ways at the ice cream parlor since they all lived in different places, leaving Holly to walk back home alone with her usual grin on her face.  Life was good.

As she made her way to her apartment complex in Red Sun Heights she noticed something rather odd.  There was a person limping outside.  Holly glanced around for a moment to make sure there were no thugs around, but as usual this place was pretty empty at this time of night.  Upon closer inspection, she realized it was that guy; the guy she had seen in the park and at that one meeting that was broken up by the cops for some reason.  Dear god, what happened to him?  She approached him, not changing her pace any and making no effort to be quiet.  She didn't really want to sneak up on him after all.

"You look terrible.  What happened?"

[Jonathon Montoya]

Jonathon turned to see who was behind him. "Holley?" He said, mildly surprised to see her. "Oh...hey...Uh, I had a run in with some shadows. They sort of caught me off guard and I have no real way to heal myself." He said, chuckling a little. He was trying as hard as he could to resist the urge to blush around her, mildly embarrassed to be seen beat up like this, especially in front of her. "I was just on my way home...so...uh, I guess I'll just keep heading that way." He slowly turned and continued to walk, cringing a little on his first step.

[Holly Mason]

For a moment, Holly just stood there with her arms folded and her eyebrows raised as he tried to stumble away.  It wasn't the same judging stare he was probably familiar with by now, but it could easily be mistaken for it.  After watching him try to move for a few steps it just became too embarrassing to watch.  Resisting the urge to rub her forehead, she walked up beside him.

"I can't use my persona on the inside or I'd just heal you here.  I'll at least help you home, borrow my shoulder.  Where do you live?"

If he wanted to be a tough guy she was content to let him and go home herself, but she couldn't just let him hobble home like that.  It wasn't healthy.  She might as well see if he saw anything interesting while she was at it.

"What was the shadow anyway?  Where'd you find it?"

[Jonathon Montoya]

"Oh. Thanks." Jonathon said, surprised Holley was helping him. Despite the fact that he had feelings for her, she didn't seem to give him the time of day. "I live at the school. While the world is coming to and end, I still value my education. This is what happens when my mom and dad are both in education." He chuckled a little, then winced, laughing hurt. "I was exploring the outside, and I thought I was keeping a good eye on my surroundings...then I got jumped. I'm not quite sure what kind they were, there was a group. By the time I managed to summon my shadow they'd already beaten me up quite a bit." He said. "Thanks again for helping me, by the way."

[Holly Mason]

He didn't even bother to look at them?  Lovely.  No wonder they were able to jump him, someone with that little awareness was practically asking for it.  Holly just sighed.  There wasn't much point in thinking about.  Her current mission was just getting this guy home anyway.

"Aaaalright then.  Don't worry about it," she shook her head slightly at his thank yous.  "Just be grateful that I was here to save the day."

She just shrugged at his talk of education.  Part of her was skeptical given his nature, but given the nature of academia it actually made sense.  Academia had very little place in the real world and most people that considered themselves academics were flaky and didn't understand how the world actually worked.  Well, there were worse things the care about she supposed.

[Jonathon Montoya]

Jonathon just sighed a little. Partially from the pain, partially from his stupidity for getting attacked so easily like that, and partially from the fact that he was looking like an idiot in front of Holly...again. He hated that he kept doing this. The first time he met her he went all out with showing off his persona, and then she scolded him. Now he was beat up and in some weakened state, and she just so happened to be the one to find him. He really needed to just bump into her on a somewhat more casual standing. A meet up where he doesn't make a fool of himself. "So..uh..what've you been up to?"

[Holly Mason]

Jonathan was one of those people that was just so awkward that she honestly felt bad for him.  It must be really hard to live like that.  He was just looking depressed again, he really needed to stop that.

"I was just heading home.  I spent the afternoon at the movies with some friends.  I'm not that into movies, but the company was hard to pass up."

She nodded.  It wasn't an eventful evening, but it was a fun one.  It was nice to have a break from saving the world now and then.  After all, she did have to make sure she didn't forget why she wanted to save it in the first place.  ...Well, besides looking cool and being a big, awesome hero, but really that was secondary to protecting all the people.

[Jonathon Montoya]

"Sounds like fun..." Jonathon said, not really paying attention. He looked up and realized they were pretty close to his dorm. "Err...I think I can handle it from here." He said, moving away from Holly. He attempted to bow to her. "Thank you...again." He said. "So...uh...yeah. See ya later, maybe." He then turned and started limping towards the dorm hall. As he was about half way to the steps he tripped, turning to land on his less hurt side he cursed as he hit the ground. Slowly and shakily he managed to pull himself up and try to keep going.

[Holly Mason]

"Are you--"  She was cut off by him falling over himself again.  "...Sure?  I mean, I won't tuck you into bed or anything, but I can at least help you to your room.  You're on your own after that though.  I'm sure a good night's sleep will heal most of your wounds anyway."

At this point she just felt bad for him.  It must have been embarrassing to get your ass kicked that badly and not remember anything about it.  Still, if he insisted on being a tough guy, she was going to let him go.  She wasn't his mother and it wasn't her job to babysit him and make sure he was okay.  He was close enough to an adult that he could take care of himself and make his own decisions.

[Jonathon Montoya]

"No! No...it's alright. I...I can make it the rest of the way." Jonathon said, making it to the bottom of the steps. He cringed a little bit as he went up every step. "I...I just need to rest, I'll be back to my usual self in no time. Don't worry about me Holly. I'll bounce back. I did after the full moon and I was feeling worse after that. This is just a few scrapes and bruises. I'll feel better not have people worrying about me. You're bound to have something better to worry about then some unlucky kid like me." He finally made it to the door. "Nigh Holly...See ya." He opened the door and wandered over to his bed, sitting down on it and catching his breath, trying to slow down his heart beat while he did so.

[Holly Mason]

Holly just looked at him clearly struggling up the stairs and shrugged.  If he didn't want her help then she wouldn't force it on him.  That would just be weird.  Instead, she stood at the entrance to the school dorms and waved silently with her eyebrows raised as he hobbled up the stairs.  Once again, as he left she still had no idea what the heck just happened.  That guy was weird.  Once he was out of sight, she turned and started heading back to her own place.

She was sure that her face was going to get stuck like that if she kept bumping into him.