Who: Laura, Rahne, Ralph
Where: Back Patio of Xavier's
When: August 2, 2011
Rating: R (language)


With the summer starting to wane, the days are already getting shorter. Not yet nine and yet already the sun is setting, casting long shadows across the lawn. Figuring that it must be getting late, Rahne starts heading back to the school from sitting out in the gardens for the past several hours. The grounds are quiet as she crosses, so many kids off home for the summer or off doing fun summer things. An art perfected long ago, Rahne reads as she walks, though this isn't some old tome from the library but rather a hand-written letter, a little crumpled and creased as though it's been carried around and read for awhile now. As she reaches the patio and starts down those cement steps, she folds it along the familiar creases and then tucks it away in the pocket of her jeans.

Ralph is sitting on one of the patio chairs himself, and his nose /is/ stuck in a book - some obscure fantasy novel with the words "Sword" and "Fire" and "Mountain" thrown into the title a few times. He glances up casually when Rahne approaches, glances down at the book again, then looks abruptly up once more when it registers his girlfriend approacheth. "Oh, hey Rahne!"

As for Laura, she's been out in the woods again or down at the cove once more. It seems that more and more these days, the anti-social girl has spent increasing amounts of time away from the school and generally in the company of 'me, myself and I'. She's been in quite the foul mood, though she was civil enough to Rahne a few nights ago, and certainly not too receptive to a lot of the happier attitudes at the school. She appears a short distance away as it seems that Rahne and Ralph are about to cross paths. Her steps falter and she doesn't call out to them just yet. She's only just caught a glimpse of the paper being shoved into Rahne's pocket but hasn't really registers it. For a moment, she hangs back, waiting to see what's up.

Although the letter has disappeared from sight, it takes Rahne a moment or two longer to pull her mind from its contents, her smile coming a little distracted. "Ach, uh, hullo Ralph!" she greets as she now alters course to head over towards where he sits, rather than for the doors to the common room. "How are yeh?" she asks, as she glances at his book for a moment and then back to the lad. Laura hasn't yet been spotted.

Ralph doesn't notice Laura yet either - let's face it, the boy has one or two skills to his name, but keen awareness of his surroundings has never been it. He slips a bookmark into his spot in the book and hops out of the chair. "Nothing much, just checking out a new book. It's, um, all right... kind of a Lord of the Rings ripoff, only the elves breath fire. Which /is/ kinda cool." He shrugs. "How about you?"

Laura takes a moment to observe the behavior between the two, then sighs, moving forward again. She's got to head that way to head back into the school regardless of whether it's through the front or the back, so it's go forward or go back to the woods. And frankly, Rahne and Ralph are okay enough. So, shoving her hands into her pockets, she approaches the pair with a quiet, "Hey. What's up?"

Rahne's eyebrows go up a little as she considers that. "Fire-breathing elves? Tha' jus' seems ... wrong somehow," she comments, still sounding a little distracted. "Ach, I was jus' ou' in the garden," she goes on to answer him, before glancing over at Laura's approach. The new girl gets a smile of her own in greeting, and it certainly doesn't seem like Rahne minds her presence here. "'lo Laura. Up? Ach, naething much. An' wi' yeh?"

Ralph smirks as Rahne mentions the oddness of fire-breathing elves. "Yeah... I think he was just really, really trying to find something new to do? Oh, and the dwarves have wings, and there's hints that they're all decended from dragons somehow." He, too, turns at Laura's greeting, also seeming to not mind her approach, especially since it's been a /really/ long time since she made him break her nose. "Hi Laura!" He waves with the book in his hand.

With her hands still shoved into her pockets, Laura offers up a bit of a shrug to Rahne. "Not much. Just worked off some steam in the woods for a bit. Clear my head. You know, right?" She then offers an incline of her head toward Ralph. "Hey. Uh... dwarves... dragons... movie?" she asks, either having not heard what he said already or simply playing dumb.

"Bu' how woul' a dragon have a dwarf for a baby?" Rahne asks, trying to figure out how that could possibly work. In a very PG sort of way, of course. She doesn't really seem to expect an answer, just looking back over at Laura with an understanding nod. "Aye, the woods are good for tha'. Have yeh been verra far ou' then?"

Ralph starts to nod in agreement to Laura's statement, then realizes that know, he /doesn't/ know - when he needs to blow off steam, the last place he wants to go is a forest full of bugs and potentially rabid squirrels, but he figures Laura's not quite of the same mindset as him in that regard. He chuckles at her confusion. "Just a fantasy novel I'm reading," he explains, gesturing to the book. To Rahne's inquiry, he blinks. "...Magic?"

Laura is momentarily distracted by all the fantasy-talk, not really following too easily, either. But to Rahne's question, she shrugs a bit. "Far enough, I guess. Try to go out a little more each day. It's quiet. And no one bugs me out there," she explains with a bit of a nod before looking to Ralph. "Ah. A book. Guess I was sort of close..."

Rahne still looks a little skeptical about magic allowing dragons to have dwarf babies, but she just gives a little shrug before looking back over at Laura. "Aye, the woods are grand for being alone," she agrees. "Jus' so long as yeh dunnae get lost." She leans back against the side of the school, lapsing into silence for a moment as the two discuss book versus movie.

Ralph shrugs again. "Like I said, weird book. Even for fantasy." He blinks at Laura. "...Umm... wait, no one bugs you? Has someone been bugging you lately?" Poor, poor out-of-the-loop Ralph. At least he's concerned.

Smirking a little, Laura says to Rahne, "Me? Get lost? Please. So long as I can smell things, I'm generally fine." She taps the side of her nose, then blinks a bit as Ralph questions her. "Uh, well... it's nothing," she replies, brushing it off. Quickly, she looks over at Rahne as she notices the silence. "You okay?"

"Aye, I understand," Rahne agrees with a nod, of being able to smell one's way out of the woods. "They do get awfu' dense ou' there, is all. Bu' if yeh can smell yer way back, yeh'll be fine." She glances between the two as Ralph questions Laura, but refrains from comment until Laura asks her directly. "Oh aye. Jus' ... had some things on my mind, sorry."

Ralph looks between Laura and Rahne. The woods usually just smell like, um, /wood/ to him. He scratches the back of his head. "Or, uh, you could make sure to bring a cell phone or something?" he suggests helpfully. He glances at Rahne when Laura calls her on her distractedness. "Um? Is anything wrong, Rahne?"

"Cell phone? Why would I do that?" the dark-haired girl replies distracted. Thoughts about the woods are left behind for the time being as Laura visibly shifts focus. She even turns herself bodily so that she's facing Rahne more fully now. "Oh? Everything okay? Like what?" she asks after Ralph asks his own question, echoing him a bit.

Rahne goes a little pink as both of them start looking at her and she ducks her head, shaking it a bit. "Ach, it will be fine, I'm sure," she replies quietly, lifting her gaze to look at both of them and then back down at the patio stones. "Jus' ... news when I was home, I guess yeh coul' say. Bu' I'm here now, so it's fine. Ach, I dunna if a cell phone woul' work way ou' there?" she changes topics rather abruptly.

Ralph shrugs helplessly when called on the less-than-usefulness of his suggestion - hey, /he/ doesn't know how reliable scent-based location works, all right? But he's actually capable of seeing past Rahne's desperate attempt to deflect the topic for once, and his brow furrows slightly. "Wait... news when you got home? What happened?" He frowns. "Did something bad happen to you? Or to Moira, or something?"

Talk of cell phones is ignored. Laura shakes her head, still looking directly at Rahne. No, the redhead isn't getting off that easily. "News from back home? Rahne... what's going on?" she presses, sounding a little more concerned than she was a moment ago. She's not letting this go, apparently, and it seems neither is Ralph. Rahne will have to deal with this sooner or later... right?

Rahne lets out a little sigh, going more pink in the cheeks as she shakes her head again. "Ach, nae, Moira is fine," she insists immediately, glossing over whether something bad happened to her. She's silent for a moment, clearly trying to think of some way out of this that doesn't involve lying. "Really, it's naething. Jus' ... Jus' a letter frae someone I though' was ou' of my life. Bu' wha' harm can a wee letter do, righ'?"

The boy's been dating her long enough to be able to tell that when Rahne says something is 'nothing,' it means she's trying not to worry someone else. Unfortunately for her, that just makes Ralph more worried. "...Well, just because it doesn't, like, physically hurt you, doesn't mean it's not... um... bad... Y-you know what I mean. It /does/ matter if it's something that's got you worried." He resists the impulse to point out that also, a letter could do /plenty/ of harm if it had, like, anthrax in it.

Blinking a bit, Laura looks as though she's been zapped or punched. Something clicks, but she quickly tries to hide the reaction. She looks over at Ralph, then at Rahne, seeming to be a little speechless or perhaps unsure what to say. Eventually, however, she asks, "Well, can you send it back? Like... return to sender? I mean... to let them think you're not here? Or... well... Ralph's right. Harm doesn't have to be physical..."

"Ach, he knows tha' I'm here," Rahne replies with a shrug. "I dunna how, bu' he does. An' anyway, I've already opened it." Which would make returning it to sender harder, is her meaning. "Bu' there's naething to be done for it, so ... wha's the sense in worrying, righ'?" Except that she will anyway, but the sentiment is there. "I think ... tha' I shoul' jus' ignore it."

Ralph glances confusedly at Laura's odd momentary reaction, but his attention is primarily on Rahne already, and when Laura seems to brush past it, he lets it slide - one worry at a time. His eyebrows raise when Rahne mentinos that 'he' knows where she is. "Um.... 'he'?? Who?" His mind casts around for anyone she might have mentioned. She doesn't exactly have a shady past full of drug dealers and mob connections, after all... I mean, there's the way she doesn't really talk about her life before Moira took her in, or about her... parents... "...Is that from, like... your dad, or something?!"

Laura remains silent for a moment before she addresses Rahne's last comment. "Only... you haven't ignored it, have you?" she offers up rather bluntly. She then pauses as Ralph starts asking his confused question, obviously missing some details. Not that Laura has all the details obviously, but maybe a few more than him? She remains silent at this point, leaving the ball in Rahne's court.

Rahne answers Laura's question first, on account of it being easier to answer. Not easy, but easier. "Ach, nae, no' really," she admits, before lifting her gaze to look up at Ralph. An almost sheepish flicker to Laura, as though she realizes the other girl must realize in turn how much she hasn't told her own boyfriend, and then back to Ralph. "No' ... my father, nae. Jus' - the man who raised me before Moira." It's a simple and vague statement, but takes a lot for her to offer up.

Ralph continues to frown worriedly. "O..kay... Ummm. Look Rahne, I... know you don't like to talk about what happened to you in the past, and I don't want to go making you feel any worse or anything like that. But if... if this guy's sending you letters now, then it's not really in the past anymore, is it? And... and I don't want you to have to face anything like that alone, okay?" He blushes slightly.

Laura looks back and forth between Ralph and Rahne, then looks around, as though suddenly feeling a bit like a third wheel. Looking back after Ralph tells Rahne she shouldn't face this alone, she nods once in agreement. "He's right, you know. I mean... why should you face it alone? Remember what you told me... about not being alone here?" This is said rather pointedly.

Rahne gives a little sigh, but she's powerless against being double-teamed here. "Aye, I ... I know. Thank yeh," she adds, presumably for not making her face this alone. "I jus' dunna wha' anyone can do. Including me. He jus' ... Ach, I jus' want to forget abou' him, bu' he... I dunna how he even foun' me here. Bu' he seems to feel tha' ... tha' I owe him? Ach, maybe I do. I suppose it cannae be cheap to raise a wee bairn."

Ralph glances aside at Laura, gaining new appreciation for the girl as she, too, sticks up for Rahne. He frowns when Rahne starts trying to empathize with her oppressor. "Um... Rahne? My parents raised me all the way, and /they/ aren't sending me any letters saying I owe them anything. Well, except mom keeps telling me to clean the basement when I get back. But, uh, I'm, guessing that's not the case here." Ralph Peakes: Master of the Irrelevant Tangent.

Dark eyebrows fly upward toward dark hair. "Uh, Rahne, no. You owe that bastard nothing," Laura says rather bluntly and resolutely. "If he thinks you owe him, he's on fucking crack." Eloquent, isn't she? "Ralph's right. Listen to him. No, Ralph, it doesn't matter if that's not the case here... the point is that she's not telling you that you owe her for being raised. What this guy's doing to Rahne... well, it's bullshit."

Rahne goes a little red, flinching at Laura's language. "Ach, well, I amnae going to pay him. I dunnae have much money, anyway," she points out, maybe missing the point of why it is she shouldn't pay him. "Bu' he only raised me because I was a ward of the Church. It was charity." Which still shouldn't have to be repaid? "It wasnae like wi' yer parents, because they /like/ yeh, Ralph."

Apart from seeming a little surprised to hear the words "Ralph's right" uttered in non-sarcastic tones, Ralph remains focused on Rahne. He frowns. "Well if he /didn't/ like you then he's really stupid!" He crosses his arms as if that settles it.

"So," Laura retorts, "because this tool doesn't like you, it's okay for him to harass you? I don't think so." Hands come out of her pockets so that she can cross her arms over her chest. She's getting angry. She looks at Ralph as he pretty much agrees with her description of this guy's mental status. "Where did the letter come from? Overseas? I mean... if he's over there, he can't really just show up on the doorstep, right? Have you told Moira or the Professor? Maybe you should. Or one of the teachers. Just in case he does show up, they can kick him physically off the property... but if he shows up and I'm around, I'll add a skewering for free."

Rahne can't help a wan smile at Ralph's adamant statement. "Ach, thank yeh Ralph," she replies softly, before looking back over at Laura, her eyes widening just a bit. "Nae, I havenae told them, an' ... an' I don't think tha' I will. I dunnae want to make this into a big deal. Yeh're righ', he's overseas, so I dunnae think tha' he will show up here. An' Moira woul' only worry, an' she migh' try to talk to him, an' I dunnae want her going to the trouble. She's done enou' for me already. It's jus' one wee letter," she almost pleads.

"Yeah," Ralph builds off of Laura's threat, "and I'll... uh... well, I guess I'll hit him if he tries to hit me first," he finishes lamely. He softens a bit as Rahne talks. "I guess you know better than I do how to deal with him... just... don't let him get to you, okay? He's a jerk, you don't need to feel bad or guilty for his sake, right?"

"If he does show up," Laura promises, "he really will meet me on the end of my claws. He does not need to be bothering you, let alone showing up here to be all up in your face." To make her point, she does pop two of her claws, both on one hand. It's a brief maneuver, however, before they disappear again into her knuckles. She then draws in a sharp breath through her nose, trying to calm a bit. "Yeah... I know it's hard, but just... don't reply to him. Maybe he'll bugger off and leave you alone."

"Ach, if he shows up here, then we will all be in trouble. He doesnae care for mutants. He woul' tell everyone tha' we are an abomination frae God," Rahne replies sagely, absently playing with a loose thread on the sleeve of her shirt, her eyes widening just a bit at the sight of Laura's claws. "An' I'm /trying/ no' to let him bug me, I promise. I'll jus' - I'll throw away the letter!" she vows, though it's unlikely she'll do any such thing.

Ralph yelps audibly as Laura pops the claws, and starts breathing again when they withdraw. "G-geez..." He returns his attention to Rahne, however, when she describes her stepfather's enlightened view of mutants. "...Ugh. I've never even met the guy, and I already really, really don't like him."

As Rahne makes her little vow, Laura holds out her hand toward her. "Hand it over," she says resolutely. "I'll dispose of it for you, so you don't have to worry about it," she adds as an explanation. "And I'm sure the Professor wouldn't let him put the school at risk like that, Rahne... now hand it over." She doesn't seem quite as shaken by the information about the guy.

Rahne just gives a little shrug to Ralph's comment, because her niceness keeps her from wanting to say anything unkind. So she won't say anything at all. When Laura suddenly approaches on her, her eyes widen and she crosses her arms, more protectively than defiantly. "Ach, wha'? Nae, I ... I can take care of disposing of it my ainsel'," she replies quickly, glancing over at Ralph for help.

Ralph looks between Laura and Rahne as the claw-girl decides to take matters into her own hand. "W-well, uh... why not hand it over, so you can make sure it gets... gotten... rid of?" He has to check mid-sentence for grammar, and even then is pretty sure he got it wrong. He scratches the back of his neck as he looks at Rahne sympathetically, understanding her reluctance to throw it out - he'd be afraid to, if he was in her shoes - but not wanting to be an enabler of sorts.

Shrugging, Laura insists, "C'mon. You want to forget about it and get rid of it. I can either shred it by sneaking into the teacher's lounge after hours or I can burn it. Either way, if I get rid of it, you don't have to worry about it." She seems bolstered by Ralph's words of agreement. "C'mon, Rahne. Fork it over and I'll go deal with it right now. Then problem solved. If he's not here and the letter's not here, you've got nothing to worry about."

Rahne looks almost betrayed as Ralph takes Laura's side instead, and she hugs herself even more tightly. "Ach, I jus' - I need to read it one more time, an' then I will, all righ'? I jus' ... Well, wha' if I misunderstood? Or ... Or I missed something? I migh' have forgotten to check the back of all the pages," she tries desperately, now avoiding both Ralph's and Laura's eyes.

Ralph frowns, definitely starting to waver in his hand-over-the-note conviction. "Rahne..." He steps towards her. "....Why do you want to keep it?" It's not an accusatory question, just an open one.

Shaking her head, Laura remains staunch in her resolve. "Rahne, if I know you, you've already read it twenty times. You don't need to read it again," she tells the girl, still holding out her hand. "Give it," she says again, stubbornly, though there's a tiny little hint of compassion... but this needs to be done. "She's going to obsess about it... because she feels guilty, Ralph." Yes, has it been mentioned that she's blunt? "Toxic much?" she asks, looking directly at Rahne now.

Rahne glances up at Laura, over at Ralph, and then back down at the tile. "I ... I willnae /obsess/ abou' it. I jus' - I /need/ it, all righ'?" But Laura's pushing at least gets her to fish that worn bit of paper out of her pocket, still holding it close. From the look of it, twenty times would be a conservative estimate. "He's jus' ... He's so angry wi' everything. I shoul' try an' do something abou' tha', shouldnae?" she asks in a quieter voice.

Ralph gulps and looks warily at Laura as she advances, then back at Rahne as she draws out the letter. "Ummm... w-what about a compromise? Maybe... maybe /I/ could take it, a-and keep it safe, so it's not lying around for Rahne to look at and worry about... b-but we still have it if we really need to read it again for some reason?" Compromise. That's how to solve everything, right? He frowns deeply when Rahne mentions she should 'do something' about her stepfather's anger. "...As far as I can tell, he mistreated you and hate us for what we are. I-It sounds like... anger's the least he deserves." He tries his best to be righteously vindictive, though he really doesn't have the stomach for it.

Shaking her head a bit more, Laura sighs, "You don't -need- anything having to do with that sack of shit, Rahne. Hand. It. Over. Now." She takes on a more authoritative tone at this point, motioning with her hand again. "I'm serious. There is no reason you need it. There's no reason why you should want it. And there's nothing you should do about his anger except to write him off because of it." Looking Rahne right in the face, whether the redhead looks at her back or not, she adds, "You don't need that asshole. You. Owe. Him. Nothing." Looking over at Ralph, she shakes her head, "No. It needs to be destroyed, otherwise it's just getting swept under the carpet. Cut the ties or show up on his doorstep to give him a what-for. None of this in-between crap which just enables that bastard to keep bugging her. It will still be there, taunting her."

"Ach, I like Ralph's idea!" Rahne speaks up quickly, holding onto the note even more tightly now, as thought she doesn't trust herself not to do what Laura says just because she's saying it in that teacher-like tone. "Wha' if yeh destroy it, an' - an' I become obsessed wi' wha' it migh' have said?" she points out. "Or I start to remember things wrong, aye?" She can't come up with a good scenario where that would be such a horrible thing, but she'll give it a shot anyway. She glances at Laura, but can't hold her gaze for more than a fraction of a second before looking back down again. "An' I know tha' he ... he doesnae deserve me thinking abou' him, bu' - it isnae always so easy to jus' ... no' care abou' someone who raised yeh."

"Um...uh..." Ralph dithers, as usual. "I-I know what you mean, Laura, but... well... If /we're/ the ones who MAKE her stop thinking about it, isn't that... um... wrong?" He glances sympathetically at Rahne. "I'm so sorry you had to deal with... with being raised by someone who doesn't appreciate you. I think Laura's probably right, that you should probably get rid of the letter... b-but if you can't, I'll... I'll stick by you whatever you decide to do."

For a long moment, Laura is silent, still holding out her hand. But Rahne's last statement stuns her. "What?! You -care- about Mr. Shit for Brains??" she balks abruptly. "This guy's treated you horribly and... and... you... Wow. I don't believe you, Rahne." Her hand lowers as she falters a bit. Looking back at Ralph as he waffles, she throws her hands up. "Your girl's clinging to a self-destructive behavior and you're going to back her on that when you know it's wrong? Grow a fucking -spine-, man," she tells him, shaking her head. "Wow. Whatever. You two do whatever you decide to do. Forget I bothered." With that, she makes a dismissing gesture with her hand, then shoves both hands in her pockets to stalk off unless anyone stops her.

Rahne's chin quivers and the usual cheery and upbeat redhead looks on the verge of tears as Laura yells at her. "Dunnae talk to him like tha'," she mumbles quietly, trying to stick up for Ralph, sticking up for her. "An' - an' it isnae tha' I /care/ abou' him," she goes on imploringly, more of Ralph than Laura since the girl seems determined to stalk off - but the words are there for her to overhear if she lingers. "It's jus' ... This is more acknowledgement frae him than I've ever had in my life an' it's hard to jus' ... burn tha'." She draws in a breath, clenching the letter almost entirely within her fist now, tightly enough that her knuckles are going white.

Ralph is also rather overwhelmed by Laura's vitriolic response. "I... I j-just don't want her t-to...!" But he trails off as Laura stalks away, and since it probably would've been another fifteen minutes of stuttering incoherence before he could've managed something effective, he gives up and sighs. He then sees the effect this is having on Rahne, and instinctively steps forward to hug her. "I-It's all right..." Really, it isn't, but there's not much more he can say to that - compared to what Rahne's been through, being the designated bully-target from kindergarten on just doesn't seem to hold angst-water anymore.

Turning back for a second, Laura says sharply to Rahne, "If I smell bullshit, I'm going to cry bullshit. Sorry if you don't like that." She's about to resume storming off but she hears Rahne's additional statements and visibly pauses. For a moment, her anger drops, but then she questions, "But -why- would you even want acknowledgement from such a waste of fucking flesh, Rahne? Moira and the Professor deserve that adoration, not this douchebag. -That's- why it needs to be burned and forgotten about... and why it needs to be done -now-. He doesn't -deserve- your thoughts, attention nor guilt. He deserves -nothing- from you since he did nothing for you. Why can't you see that?"

Rahne steps into the hug, burying her face for the moment against Ralph's shoulder. She doesn't acknowledge Laura's intended parting shot, but as the girl sticks around to ask a more genuine question, Rahne draws in a breath and lifts her head enough to speak. "I dunna," she replies in a quiet, tight tone. "We cannae all be like yeh, Laura, an' jus' get mad. I spent more than ten years trying to earn his respect an' ... I jus' cannae let go of all tha' because yeh yell a' me." She draws in a breath, getting her emotions under control enough to go on. "I dunnae adore him. I wish tha' I coul' get mad. An' I willnae send him any money, bu' ... he was still as close to a father as I had. An' burning the letter willnae let me forget tha'."

Ralph keeps his arm around Rahne as she speaks to Laura - which is actually kind of a newish thing, as they usually keept their couple-y stuff to themselves, but right now his primary focus is on comforting the poor lass. He doesn't really have any words to add, just keeping his arm around her shoulder and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"Well," Laura replies, "maybe you need to -learn- to get angry. But whatever... don't listen to me. I can't -possibly- know what you're going through." That seems a little more pointed than the rest of her tirade. She holds up her hand and then waves it down abruptly in a 'oh forget it' gesture. "I'm done here. I told you, Rahne... I don't think like everyone else. For a reason. I have a very different perspective on things. Most people here can't handle that. Apparently, that includes you... which is fine. I'll learn to shut my mouth eventually. You do what you feel you need to do. I'll keep my nose out." She then nods at Ralph in a nod of acknowledgement and little else. "If you're ready at any point, either of you, to get real, get Rahne to track me down. She's got the nose for it." With that, she really does stalk off now, heading back toward the woods unless anyone stops her again with words or actions.

Rahne looks a little like she's been hit as Laura turns her disagreeing into meaning that she can't handle the girl's way of thinking. But she's not really got the energy to fight that tonight, so she doesn't raise a sound of protest, just letting her head fall back against Ralph again. "This is why I didnae want to get anyone else involved!" she points out in protest, letting out a sigh. And then rather abruptly, she straightens up, wiping a few rogue tears away and giving her head a little shake. "Ach, I'm sorry. Yeh ... Yeh probably want to go too. I probably shoul' jus' forget abou' the whole thing." But she keeps holding onto that note awfully tightly.

Ralph frowns as Laura apparently wipes her hands clean of this. "Th-that's... that's not right..." is all he can muster in response to Laura's tirade. He either misses the significance of the 'I can't possibly know what you're going through' or chooses not to comment on it. He's got his priorities, and priority #1 is sobbing into his shoulder right now. He holds her tight again. "I-It's okay, Rahne... I-I'll stay here as long as you need me..."