damn the fog.

[-poe]

the infirmary was not a place poe wanted to go. ever since her accident that had caused her and xander had been separated for something like 2 months, she hated that place with a passion. she never wanted to be away from him for that long again. despite the commanding tone in stan(dan?)'s voice, she shook her still-ringing head. carefully she wiped her slightly bloody fingers on her pants, leaving a tiny stained spot. slowly, she drew her knees up to her chest and hooked her arms around them.

oh, that infirmary. not a day had gone by there when she hadn't thought about xander, hadn't longed to be with him. the tears that had originally been from her fall started to spread across her cheeks. how could she be so attached to this man whose voice she'd never even heard? who she'd met in an asylum for christ's sake! but hell, none of that even came close to mattering, not when she thought about how much she wanted to be with him. the thought came to her.

yep, it sure did. barely a whisper, but it was there all right- what if i love him? what would she do then? her eyes turned back to him, studied this scruffy, silent excuse for a man. and she knew it to be true.

[.xander;;]

although the female patient didn't follow his "suggestion," stan failed to bring it up again. his guarded seemed not to notice the last remnants of blood, even when he was nearly finished being distracted.

had it really been that long since his last shave? did he have any haircuts in the past three months? when was the last time he looked in a mirror? from what he could tell, xander gathered that he probably looked appalling, like a scruffy, feral animal. how was he supposed to keep himself more human than beast when even his appearance was more animalistic? suddenly xander felt like he was becoming the wolf, and that the human was the one trapped inside this body.

the lycanthrope glanced up, eyes briefly meeting poe's. he didn't look her in the eye for more than half a second, fearing that either she or the wolf would grow angry with him. but what he did see in her gaze for that brief moment perplexed him. the look was vaguely familiar, like something he had once seen, perhaps many years ago, or perhaps in a dream. no matter how he racked his mind, he couldn't place exactly where he recognized it from. yet, somehow, as he dwelt on it, he felt something in his chest well up. the feeling struck him as uncanny, although his intuition told him it was supposed to be something good.

that must have been the wolf trying to manipulate him. how else could such a strange feeling be positive?

in an attempt to rid himself of the swelling, the brunet dug deep into his lungs and finally released a heavy sigh. he was relieved to find that it worked, to some extent.

to be honest, xander was scared. he didn't understand the strange feelings he had been getting on account of poe's behavior lately. his brows furrowed in confusion and trepidation. trying to make sense of it all and failing in doing so, the brunet found himself leaning over and laying his cheek on his friend's somehow consoling shoulder. although he felt bizarrely solaced in her company, he was still upset that he couldn't comprehend what had been happening between them as of late. face stretched with worry, the man stared inertly at the opposite wall. a profusely faint whimper escaped his throat.