cut me loose --- [colby]

[AVERY JUNNOSUKE KAEL]

Let’s just say Avery wasn’t the best with dealing with people. He came on too strong, which in turn, threw people off at his forwardness. He didn’t adjust well either, and when things got awkward, he panicked. He couldn’t help it—all these going-through-puberty aka the awkward stage teenagers were just too adorable to him. Looking at them, Avery faintly remembered this stage in his life—he was lanky, pretty weak, and was less of a… flirt back then. Thinking about it, it kind of surprised him that he was actually pretty normal for a portion of his life, minus the drinking and drugs.

Maybe that’s why some days in his office were lazy days. There were some students who enjoyed his presence (though most of them were Waters and a select few Winds) and the others… well, if Avery wasn’t a figure of authority, he’d probably barbequed, electrocuted, and most likely hung from the Thunder tower, naked. The though itself wasn’t what bothered him, though. It was how true it was that made him feel a bit uneasy whenever he was dealing with a time-bomb Fire. Even after graduating from the Academy nearly a decade ago, Fires and Thunders were still scary to him. Their whole demeanor and capabilities made him want t shrivel up in a ball and cry in the corner whenever they gave him one of their looks. But often times, Avery brought it onto himself. He liked pushing boundaries because that was just his personality. The flirting was harmless, but the teenagers were not.

Probably didn’t help that he was oblivious to most things.

But awkwardness. That’s the one thing he couldn’t truly deal with. Anger, annoyance—he can brush it off with a small joke or his signature grin. They’d leave soon enough, right? And he liked to think that if they truly disliked him, they could’ve gone to another nurse instead of heading into his office. That meant they had some soft place for Avery, right? Doubt it. But it was a nice thought.

He aimed a ball of paper at his trash bin, squinting one eye and closing the other with his tongue sticking out in concentration, hopefully this time making it in. The flurry of crumpled up paper in the surrounding area was depressing. He didn’t have that bad of an aim. And he was usually good at this! Slowly, he tilted his head, arm pulling backwards, and was almost ready to throw, until the click of his door opening interrupted him and his arm spasmed for a second before he actually did. Not at the trash bin, but it hit and bounced off perfectly at the person’s head. Yeah… he had really bad aim. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to further injure the patient before they were able to sit down, let alone introduce himself.

“Oopsies.”

[colbygraves]

Colby hadn't really spent a whole lot of time in the medical wing. A few times when he was younger but it had been a little while. He didn't go unless it was absolutely nessicary. Mostly because the nurse kind of intimidated him. Not that he was big or mean or scary or anything of that nature, but he tended to come off a little strong. It had been over a year since he had been in here, so maybe he wouldn't remember him. But Colby had always been one awkward duckling. That hadn't changed. In fact, it had probably gotten worse since he had gotten older. Did he want things to change? Of course he did. He couldn't talk to anybody without getting all awkward and babbling like a retarded seal.

But today he was instructed that he had to. But not for something somebody else did this time. He had gotten a pretty nasty chemical burn from class. Though he was pretty sure one of the water students had done it unintentionally, but he wasn't going to lay any blame on anybody. He didn't have anybody too blame. When it very well could have been his own stupid fault. God knows he's a klutz and can get himself hurt in just about any situation. He could be walking on a perfectly flat surface and trip and fall and probably break something. Because that's just how graceful he was.

The burn on his arm needed to be cleaned, probably bandaged. It was a chemical burn and was still - for the lack of a better word - bubbling. And it stung. Badly. But he wasn't going to be a baby about it. He could tolerate a lot of pain. He was used to things like that, to the point he knew not to let it bother him anymore. At least not around other people. But he wasn't the kind to wallow in self pity and cry in the shower, either. That just wasn't him. He didn't care enough about what happened to him for that, but his teacher thought he should get this burn looked at. Since dangerous chemicals on your skin weren't exactly a good thing anyways. Not unless you were made of rock or something.

I wish I was made of rock. That'd be bitchin'. Nobody would mess with me. I could like... crush them.

He shook the thought out of his mind as he neared the door. Who was he kidding? A world where he would be above slime on the school heirchy was a dream. He slowly opened the door. "Err.. Mr. K.." He started to say, before being promptly met on the forehead by a piece of paper. He blinked a few times, taking in what happened, before glancing to where the paper had made its final resting place. "Err..." He started, not really able to meet his own school 'nurse' in the eyes either. He hoped he didn't remember him. Why would he? He had lots of other students right? Colby was just probably the most awkward of them all. "I uh. er..." He continued, before holding his arm out. "Could you uh. Like. Uh. Do you uh. Have stuff to .. clean this.. or whatever..." He started, his voice hushed and low. He was too awkward for his own good. "And hi. Sorry." He hadn't said hello and that was right rude of him, right? He always felt weird in these situations.

He felt helpless.

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[AVERY JUNNOSUKE KAEL]

Awkward. Avery couldn’t deal with awkward. He always tried his hardest to as he was the school nurse and it was important for him to make students feel comfortable in his presence—though, it was a lot easier said than done. Avery originally has a strong personality, so anyone who wasn’t like him or weren’t able to deal with him, it made things difficult. It was either stay silent (making the situation suffocating and ever more awkward) or be himself. The latter was what he always chose, and often times, it didn’t end well. He didn’t mean for any students to feel uncomfortable around him—or even worse, dread going into his office, but he always tried his best. That’s what counted, right? Right?

… right.

And maybe that’s why he felt so bad when Colby, a student he recognized from a few visits long ago, walked in. Their first encounter was incredibly awkward—even Avery couldn’t save the atmosphere—and so the nurse left it at that, using the Wind student as an example as to what happens when he comes off too strongly. Suddenly the bad feelings became worse as he stood up noting that Colby really wasn’t meeting his own eyes and he pouted slightly. Yup. Awkward. Don’t come off too strongly, don’t come off too strongly, don’t— “Hiya, Colby!” he chirped brightly, walking over to him to pat his shoulder lightly. “Couldn’t keep away from me, could’ya?” Well, so much for that. Avery just wanted to keep the atmosphere light; and so far, he was probably doing a really bad job with it.

He glanced down at Colby’s arm as he extended it, his eyes widening comically. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” he scolded lightly, pushing the Wind onto a chair as he shuffled frantically about to get his supplies. Multiple items fell onto the floor as he searched through his cabinets to find something to treat his burns, his nose scrunching slightly as he suddenly thought of how much pain Colby might be in. With his hands full of supplies, he sat across him, taking the arm in his hands gently, blowing slightly to hopefully ease the pain. “Does it hurt? How long ago did this happen? What happened? Why is it bubbling?” Okay, so Avery probably should’ve paused in between each question so Colby could answer, and the only thing he was doing was bombarding the poor kid with questions. He was a nurse, it was his job t worry.

Carefully, he patted the burns with some gauze, trying to soak up what was left of the chemicals. He cringed slightly. He assumed this happened in chemistry class, and if it were someone else, he probably would’ve made a… “joke” which was really just a sugar coated word for “pick up line” about having chemistry. Of course, it would’ve been all in good fun, but he felt like it’d just make Colby more uncomfortable than he already was. Obviously, Avery was probably the last medical wing staff he wanted to go. “No need to apologize!” he exclaimed, nodding once as he began cleaning the wound gently. “The only thing you need to apologize for is for not visiting me more often~” Okay. That was the last one. Avery promises to restrain himself.

But then again, Avery was horrible with promises.

[colbygraves]

Just the school nurse. He was just the school nurse.

No need to feel strange or awkward or stutter over his words or mutter or even be himself. Right? Right. He wasn't awkward around his other teachers. Well, most of them anyways. He tried to avoid talking in class, and usually did his group projects alone. Just because that was the way he was about things. He prefered to do things alone. Unless, of course, he was with a close friend. If he ever got an assaigment to do with Pacey or Bastian - which happened since they were in the same grade and element - he would gladly do it. But even then, sometimes he didn't like to actually do his homework.

He couldn't help but laugh dryly, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Heh ... heh... yeah. Of c-course that's why I'm here..." He muttered, his eyes still trailing the ground. He was pretty sure that Mr. Kael probably was only doing it now to make him feel awkward, since everybody knew just how strange he was. He was friendly, Colby wasn't. Most people would probably just laugh it off. Colby wanted to, but flirting - even if harmless and friendly and unintentional, made him feel weird and awkward. Actually, just breathing made him feel awkward.

Colby didn't like to draw attention towards himself, really. He preferred to just be in the background. Unless he was on stage, but even then, he didn't want to be the lead actor. Maybe someday if he found a bucket full of confidence to swallow, but not right now. People just made him feel... strange. Like not in a good way strange. Like in the kind of way that made him want to bury his head in the sand like an ostrich. " I- " He started to answer, before getting pushed into a chair. He just blinked as he watched Avery frantically go about gathering supplies. He let him look at the wound, feeling a little bit less awkward. He flinched as Avery blew on it. "Ow - yes. It hurts. I-it just happened... in Chemistry. Ch-chemials.. spilled over..." He was trying to remember all the questions Avery asked. " I - i d-don't know wh-why it's b-bubbling."

That was probably a good question. But it was probably bubbling because chemicals were on it. He flinched as Avery more or less mopped the chemicals up off his arm. It was raw and it hurt but he wasn't going to complain. He didn't want to complain. He didn't even want to be here. But it was better than his arm catching on fire and falling off or something. " Uh... er. Uhm..." He couldn't find the words to respond to Avery as he spoke, shifting a little bit uncomfortably in his seat. " I - uh. S-sorry..." He muttered, still looking at the ground. " I d-don't try t-to get hurt often..." He said, moving his gaze up towards Avery slightly, cracking an awkward but weak smile. " But I m-mean if you... really want me to I .. g-guess I could ... try." He probably would have winked had he not been so strange. Instead, he just glanced away, back at the ground.

Awkward.

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[AVERY JUNNOSUKE KAEL]

Avery cracked a grin when Colby stuttered—noticing it always happened when he spoke. Did he do that? He was pretty sure he was making the poor Wind student uncomfortable with his choice of words. It was a bad habit he needed to break out of, especially with the more… socially adept students. Was those the right words to use? From what Avery could gather in their few, short meetings, Colby was quite the awkward turtle. Don’t get him wrong, the nurse loved all sorts of people (probably a bit too much) just some were a bit harder to deal with than others. Awkward turtles just so happened to be in a love-hate relationship with Avery.

Don’t get him wrong, he used to be quite the awkward turtle as well. Avery used to be lanky and skinny and weak during high school—the perfect target to bullies. Any form of socializing made him flinch, mostly because he assumed they’d hurt him like every other person at the Academy. Eventually he grew out of that (thankfully) and he grew into the person he was now. He found it as a good thing—most… well. Too bad not everybody thought like him. “D’aww, then you should visit more often~ my door is always open for you!” he exclaimed cheekily, getting up to ruffle Colby’s hair. Avery was always a bit touchy-feely (he rarely had limits, honestly) and silently hoped it wouldn’t make the atmosphere even more uncomfortable. Avery liked to think of himself as a father to the students. If that wasn’t weird, which it probably was. He just liked to comfort himself.

Chemical burns… chemical burns… Avery absentmindedly searched through his mind on how to patch up chemical burns in the least painful way. The nurse already felt like he was hurting Colby just with his forwardness. He grabbed some gauze and a pair of gloves, snapping them onto his hands, and led him over to the sink in the corner, turning the water as cold as he could before gently running Colby’s arm under it, back and forth slowly. Avery cringed as he looked at the burn, somehow remembering when he got a nasty burn himself when he was younger. Needless to say, he cried. A lot. “You should be more careful!” he scolded playfully, using his Water abilities to lace the water underneath the burn as well in an effort to get rid of all the chemicals. “I wouldn’t want any of my favorite patients to get hurt,” he said honestly, though he nudged him lightly with a grin. Avery meant it with good intentions. Every time he had to tend to an injured student, it just made him feel horrible inside. Nothing really has changed.

“Do you want something to hold?” he asked, observing the obvious pain on Colby’s face. Avery’s face only stayed serious for a split second, though, and grinned cheekily as he patted his own shoulder. “I don’t mind~” But as soon as he said it, he tossed an old towel at Colby for him to squeeze as he removed his arm from under the water, patting it dry with a new towel. “Don’t’ hurt yourself at my expense,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I’d get in trouble~” And with a snide smile, he sat Colby back down onto the chair and began wrapping his burns.