[dds] [st. petersburg] sick and tired [miha]

Lena had almost forgotten how it felt to be outside. For months she had been confined to her bed, too weak to do anything else than maybe sit up and go to the bathroom once in a while. At least she was awake now. She had no idea how much time she'd actually spent asleep but it must've been at least a few weeks. Hell, she didn't even know if it was still July or already August. A few days ago her father had told her that she'd been lucky, that Durmstrang had been a mess at the end of term feast and that the crazy headmistress had finally lost her mind but she'd just laughed at that and had kicked him out of her room. Of course she'd spent the rest of the day crying. Stupid, pathetic tears. Maybe it was crazy but she was just so angry that she hadn't been there. That she hadn't been there to fight.

Everyone had thought she was getting better, that her head injury wasn't that bad and after the splitting headaches had faded away she'd believed them. Well, obviously they'd all been wrong. Only a few weeks later, it must've been in March, the redhead had collapsed right between two of her classes and apparently she'd spent the next few weeks in a comatose state in a hospital in St. Petersburg. To her it was kind of weird that she couldn't remember a thing, not even weird dreams or anything, but apparently that was normal. Another weird thing? The healers had no idea what exactly had caused her coma. If it had been the curse that had hit her or an injury from the fall and therefore they had been quite clueless how to treat her.

After a while she'd woken up, feeling like death on legs, and luckily there hadn't been another setback. Still, the school year had been over for her which meant she'd have to repeat her sixth year which was certainly not something she was looking forward to. Some friends had written her letters, some had even visited, telling her all kinds of stories about the last crazy months at Durmstrang and while she'd been glad that her friends hadn't forgotten about her, it had made her sad at the same time. Even after her mother's death she had managed to pass the year and now this.

It was just when she was starting to drown in self pity again that she suddenly heard her father's voice. "Someone's there to see you." Raising an eyebrow, the girl tried to sit up and ran a hand through her messy hair as she focused on the door. She still looked like crap but oh well, she was long past caring. "Come in," she said, her voice sounding a lot weaker than she had intended it to.

@Mihaela Lupesco

After everything that had happened at the end of term Mihaela considered herself lucky to of not ended up in a building like this. So many of her classmates had been hurt both physically and mentally when the previous headmistress flipped her crazy switch and started attacking. Everyone thought that Ana Vulchanova was going to be the savior of Durmstrang in the beginning of the term but boy had they been wrong. The magical school had been better off in the tattooed hands of death eater Igor Karkaroff. Mihaela tip toed in her clunky combat boots down the hall of the cold gray hospital and stuck her whole head into every single open doorway. Mostly because she wanted to gawk at all the sick and injured people but a tiny bit because she was looking for one sick person in particular.

She'd heard about Lena's collapse and had wanted to come and see her immediately, only she wasn't sure how or if she even should. They'd spent nearly a year not talking and classes at summer school made her miss her one time close friend even more than she usually did. She knew she should of been here already, she should of done something more than sending a pitiful get well card, but at least she had done something? That had to count for a little right? Even if the card was dreadful looking and Miha didn't even know for sure if it found Yelena or not.

Finally finding the doorway with her name on the board Mihaela took a deep breath, announced to the man outside who she was here to see, and bounded into the room when she heard a voice say come in. Moving around the curtain and nearly tripping over it she held the box of candy and bottle of hairspray up toward Lena and spoke before her mind could catch up. "Damn girl you look like hell on toast." She said, moving around to the side of the bed and setting the candy on the rolling table before again shoving the bottle of magical hair spray into the other girls face. There was a warm smile on her face as she did, one hundred percent meaning well and not even realizing what her words could mean to the other girl. Abrasive by nature and clueless by default Mihaela chewed on the inside of her lip and started pointing at the contraptions hooked up to the other witch.

"What's that for? Did that hurt? Are you okay? How is the food?" She prattled on more and more questions and barely took a breath before twisting one hand into her hair and bobbing her head to music that wasn't playing.

What the... Yelena immediately recognised her forlorn former friend and her hazel eyes widened. She would have expected anyone - even a certain Klyk boy - but not Mihaela Lupesco. They had talked again during last summer's international summer school but they had never managed to reconcile and then they hadn't really talked all year. If she remembered correctly Miha had sent one of these get well cards but she had only skimmed over it and had banished it into the tiny cupcoard next to her bed where all the other cards were as well. It was easy to write a stupid card, it required a lot more to actually visit and she would never have thought that the Krov would come.

In typical Mihaela fashion the girl began to speak without thinking twice about her words but instead of being offended, Yelena actually laughed out loud. She did indeed look like hell on toast, didn't she? Pale face, no make up, messy hair... The stupid white hospital gown she was wearing didn't help either. Her gaze feel on the candy first and then on the hairspray that was basically shoved into her face and it made her laugh again. "That bad, huh?" she managed to squeeze in before Miha continued talking. Of course it was that bad. Who was she trying to fool here?

Question after question was raining down on her and she waited patiently, an amused smile on her face. She wouldn't have thought it could happen but somehow Miha's presence made her feel better, especially the fact that while she could see pity in the girl's eyes, she didn't try to treat her with kid gloves. It was a nice change to her father's behaviour. "It's to keep me hydrated. And no, it doesn't hurt. Not anymore. I guess you get used to everything." She shrugged, focussing on the next question. "I'm... I guess not really okay but better. You should have seen me a few weeks ago." She'd almost been scared of her own reflection. "And honestly? The food is awful." Lena wrinkled her nose, distaste clearly visible on her face.

"Thanks for the gifts by the way." The girl opted for a smile and for the first time in a while it even reached her eyes. "You know, I'd never have thought you'd come. So... thanks for that, too." She moved a little to make some room for the other girl. "Sit, please. How did you survive the end of term insanities? I heard it was pretty bad?"

"I wouldn't lie about hair." She said with a calm and clear certainty followed by a little smile. She wasn't looking to insult Yelena, absolutely not, in Mihaela's mind she was doing what any good friend would do. She hoped someone would stop her from going outside looking like a mess. She could only wish for friends that good. As she started to fire off questions and Lena began to answer them Miha took a good look around at the hospital room and began to explore. She flicked the big canister plugged into nothing but the wall above Lena's head. It had strange markings on it, for measuring maybe, and then proceeded to open the cabinets on the other side of the bed. Rifling through them she pulled out a few tongue depressors, a blanket, and some other random items before shoving them all back in and forcing the door closed again. Nothing good.

"If'n you want I could go hunt for some good grub?" She offered as she twirled around to face the Klyk again, her combat boots squeaking loudly on the clean tiled floor as she did. Long curly hair bounced as she bounded back to Yelena's side and did a small curtesy. The Romanian shrugged when Yelena brought up never thinking she would of come, it pulled at her heart strings a little but she decided to push past it. This was as good a time as any to maybe try and rebuild a friendship right? "That's what'cha do?" She offered, meaning that she did that for friends, which she wished Lena still was. Mihaela had no misconceptions about what had happened between them. It wasn't the first friendship she had set on fire for no reason and it probably wouldn't be the last either. Looking around Mihaela searched for a good place to sit and then decided way too close to her one time friend was exactly where she needed to be. Moving a little further down on the bed the tall but skinny witch plopped down on the hospital bed and managed to shake it up just a little bit as she did. At least she paid attention to where the wires hooked up to Lena were, at least there was that.

After moving around a bit to get comfortable she turned back toward Yelena and dove into the story, hands moving wildly and her voice rising in pitch as she grew more excited by the whole thing. "That crazy bitch went off the wall. Awh man you should of seen it Lena, started hexing everyone and spouting crazy." Mihaela had been caught right in the middle of it when Lev had saved her from a spell sent by Rane. "Turned a ton of students into walking dead. They looked like the Strigoi, I swear to Yaga." She crossed her heart and tapped her forehead to stave off the spirits she may have woken by speaking the name, forever lost in her grandmother's paranoia and then continued. "I think she might have died but we booked out quick after that."

"What happened?" She probed, yet again ignoring boundaries. "One day you were at school and then bam you ghosted and no one had word one about it?" Mihaela's special breed of broken English and grammatical errors spilled out of her lips like melted butter and her rural twangy accent barely slowed her down. "We all missed you at the end of term, coulda' used that hex arm of yours." She nodded toward the girls main hand and laughed lightly.

"That would be nice, actually," the redhead replied with a smile. "I could kill for some pizza right now." The hospital offered only basic Russian food and that wasn't even good quality. At least not if someone asked her. "Maybe you could smuggle some slices in the next time you come?" She quickly realised what she'd just said and smiled some more. Why had they stopped being friends again? Somehow it seemed so insignificant after everything that had happened. Some stupid teenager drama, nothing more, nothing less. It had been easy to be mad at everyone after her mother had died and Mihaela wasn't known to be overly tactful but Lena knew she had overreacted at that time.

The Krov sat down beside her and when she began talking about that last day at school, Lena soaked up every word. It was strange and others would probably think she was crazy but she kind of regretted not being there. It must have been horrible, having to fight your friends because they were possessed by some dark magic, but still... Maybe she could have saved some people from getting hurt. Maybe she could have made a difference. Sure, the possibility of a curse hitting her would have been high as well, but everything would have been better than lying here in bed while her friends were fighting for their lives.

"Honestly? I don't even know. Remember that first big fight between Durmstrang and Koldovstoretz students? Someone hit me with a spell and I spent some time in the hospital wing. After a while everyone thought I was fine, I mean I even felt fine except a few headaches, but then, one day, I must've fainted and when I woke up, I was here." Lena gestured at the room around her, shrugging slightly. "Apparently my head injury had been worse than people thought. It's better now, though. At least I hope so." She smiled once more when Mihaela told her they'd missed her and nodded as well. "It might sound crazy but I wish I'd been there."

Looking back up from her hands to the curly haired girl, Lena raised her brows questioningly. "What's with the rest? Rane, Meike, Sabina? They're good as well?" She knew about the people that had visited her such as Nora but there was still a lot she didn't know.

Nodding excitedly Mihaela agreed, absolutely, to smuggle in some god awful greasy goodness the next time she came to visit. She had no problem breaking the hospital rules and if it brought the two girls closer to the friendship they used to have Mihaela was completely for it. The Romanian bounced a little on the bed, oblivious to the fact that it might of made Lena uncomfortable, before settling in to hear the story of how Lena had wound up in the hospital.

It was strange to hear that some how her condition had gone unnoticed. Maybe the healers were too busy or maybe there was something more going on but it made Mihaela a little bit suspicious. Of course those worries subsided when the other witch stated that she was doing better. Really that was all that mattered. "Good you better be back at school this year." She demanded with a friendly kind of fire in her words before shaking her head.

"Don't think so?"

Mihaela understood her want to be at the fighting, as terrible as it was, or at least she was assuming she understood. Miha would of been upset if she had missed it for any reason, even for being laid up in the hospital. "We coulda' used ya." She followed up, not realizing that probably wasn't the most compassionate thing to say in the moment. It was not her intention to possibly make Lena feel worse about not being there but Mihaela never thought that far ahead.

Bouncing once more she was stupid excited to tell Yelena all of the things that had happened this year. She had stories about all of them, Rane and Meike and Sabina and Lev and Miki and Dima and Marek and especially about the Koldovstoretz boys. She took a deep breath before launching into a story about the cute fanged boy she had met and danced with at the beginning of term and eventually that story led to the one about the boy she had helped to steal a dragon and finally to details about Lev. Some how her stories always wove themselves back to Lev these days.

It was nice to chat with Yelena liked this, it wasn't until this moment that Mihaela really came to appreciate exactly how much she missed it.

And she was hopeful it wouldn't go away.

[[out]]