Gawain punched a wall so hard he broke a couple of fingers.

He was standing outside Evelyn's room; he was not sure she was in there, but he had to find her anyway, and it was a good place to start. He had been pacing up and down the hallway for a few minutes now, trying to wrestle down the seething anger at the Summers parents, and himself, and the world in general. He failed; anger bubbled up in the form of a punch that left cracks in the wall boards and his bones, and Gawain let out a string of curses that made Angua, who had been following him since he got back, whine in worry. The mirrorwalker bit his lips and cradled his hand. He was still wearing a suit, and feeling all-around miserable now.

And he had not even told Evelyn yet.

Evelyn was exhausted. But that wasn't exactly anything unusual.

After a short shift at work, she decided to do some training in the Danger Room. But her mind wasn't really in it. The end result was a few extra cuts and bruises, and a killer headache. She still hadn't learned how to really reign in her new power growth, and the frustration just seemed to built.

As she came around the corner to her room, however, the echoes quickly noted that someone was having a worse day. Slowing down, she squinted at Gawain and tried to assess the situation. "Did I show up at a bad time?" She remarked slowly, confusion stuck on her face now.

>>"Did I show up at a bad time?"

"Nope" Gawain managed to squeeze out, blinking tears of pain away as Angua lolled down the hallway to greet Evelyn with much tail wagging and doggie kisses. "Actually, I was looking for you..."

How do you break such news to your girlfriend? It was kind of an ironic question, after Gawain managed to break so many other things in just one day.

"Um... I gotta tell you something." the mirrorwalker said nervously, shaking his hand out. Bad idea. The fingers hurt like hell. He would have to go see DocProf later, if he ever wanted to do archery again.

First things first, though.

Evelyn sighed and motioned to his hand, while also giving into Angua's petting demand. "You can tell me something after you deal with your hand. Unless you're planning on breaking more things first?" She remarked with a raised eyebrow. The hallway was practically caked in nervous energy. Gawain seemed guilty, and the echoes wanted to know why.

Well, Evelyn wanted to know why. But the echoes were trying to tell her.

>>"You can tell me something after you deal with your hand. Unless you're planning on breaking more things first?"

"No..." Gawain muttered, feeling his cheeks heat up in embarrassment "... I have broken enough things for one day I think." he said, glancing towards the crack in the wall. He sighed and started walking towards the Infirmary.

"So... how is your day going?..."

..."how's your day going?"[/b]

"Long... did some training in the danger room, wandered in on my boyfriend beating up the walls in the mansion in a suit...so I guess it's getting interesting." She remarked with a raised eyebrow. Her frown deepened as she glanced at his hand.

"Something tells me your day was more interesting though..."

They reached the infirmary so further explanation was temporarily put on hold while Doc Prof yelled/healed Gawain. Something about self-inflicted injuries, should just leave it...avoiding permanent damage was important though, so begrudgingly he healed the mirrorwalker.

>>"Long... did some training in the danger room, wandered in on my boyfriend beating up the walls in the mansion in a suit...so I guess it's getting interesting. Something tells me your day was more interesting though..."

"Believe me, the suit is the good part." Gawain said with a weak smile.

DocProf was not happy - not happy at all. He healed Gawain's had, because fingers are delicate parts of the body, and he was not a complete jerk. His face twitched though as Gawain's memories of his injury played out through his powers.

"You have made a spectacular mess, even by your standards" he grunted as he let Gawain go "I suggest you two take that somewhere far away from my office and clean it up. Scoot."

Gawain thanked him sheepishly, still cradling his hand, and they walked out into the hallway again.

"So, um... we should go somewhere private for this. Your room or mine?"

Evelyn considered the two options: Gawain's room with chance of roommate possibly arriving, or hers with an evil foxsquirrel that could wake up at any moment. She motioned towards her room. As they walked, she tried to work out what was going on. But even the echoes couldn't piece together a) broken hand, b) suit, c) Gawain's embarrassment. Whatever he did, it seemed bad. At least bad enough to make Gawain this upset.

As they walked in, she sat on the bed and crossed her arms, preparing for the worst.

"So, spill. How mad should I be at you?" She remarked.

>>"So, spill. How mad should I be at you?"

They entered the room, and Gawain made Angua stay outside. He did not want a wolfhound chasing a foxsquirrel to interfere with his confession; also, it was enough if one person in the room was making the puppy eyes, and it had to be him. Shrugging off the suit jacked he stood in front of Eve, his left hand rubbing his recently-healed right nervously.

"Um... I don't want you to be mad..." he sighed "I'm sorry, I meant well, but it kind of ended up being a mess. I mean... yeah. I messed up. But I didn't mean to."

This was not going anywhere.

"... I punched your father."

Evelyn blinked slowly as she processed the information. The room was silent in the meantime. It was unusual for Evelyn to take so long responding, considering how fast her brain processed things, but the news took her off guard. At first she wanted to laugh, then she felt concerned, but in the end she just blinked and tilted her head to the side.

"Maybe you should explain the whole story...first." She finally remarked. At least then she'd know whether to laugh or cry.

>>"Maybe you should explain the whole story...first."

Those were some excruciating long moments.

"Yeah, I kinda started at the end didn't I." Gawain sighed, finally sitting down on the bed next to Evelyn.

"I... I went to talk to your parents" he confessed, and once he started, talking got easier "I mean, it's almost Christmas, and I, dunno, thought they might be in the holiday spirit or something. I know that it sucks to be without a family, and especially if they... well. I felt bad that they disowned you, and it was partly... well, mostly my fault, really. So I went to talk to them to see if I could change their mind and... maybe start a conversation. I thought maybe they just had no idea... I'm sorry, looking back, it was probably a bad idea from the start."

Evelyn just stared, and her emotions went from one end of the spectrum to another. She was annoyed he decided to confront her parents, touched he was trying to help, and embarrassed he made such a mess of it. Slowly she shook her head and sighed, rubbing her forehead. The echoes were picking up too much on his guilt, and it made it hard to really feel upset about anything.

"Well, you meant well, but I could have told you it wouldn't work. They aren't exactly...open minded. I'm sure you can think of some other colorful terms for them." She sighed, and grimaced. [col.or=65C6C3]"And how exactly did the punching happen?"[/color] She dared ask.

>>"Well, you meant well, but I could have told you it wouldn't work. They aren't exactly...open minded. I'm sure you can think of some other colorful terms for them."

"Yeah" Gawain agreed whole-heartedly. "I just... I guess I thought if I went, they'd see it as a gesture."

They definitely did. It was not a nice gesture.

>>"And how exactly did the punching happen?"

"Well, I... I tried to convince them to be willing to talk. I was going to explain that mutations are a natural thing, and that there is nothing embarrassing about yours, and... well. They told me that they... that they might let you back in the family. If you broke up with me."

Gawain felt like he owed Evelyn the truth, even if he was talking against his better judgment.

"So I told them that... they should be asking you to let them back in, not the other way around. They thought I was threatening them, so they threatened me. And they... said some very bad things about you. At some point... I just snapped. I didn't mean to... well, no, sh*t, I did mean to hurt him. I think I broke his nose."

Evelyn had to resist face palming as Gawain spoke. While she understood the methods behind his actions, her own personal understanding of her parents told her just how bad the idea had been. She was lucky Gawain wasn't in jail or worse right now. Knowing her parents, they were looking at some type of legal actions they could take against her boyfriend. But she stayed calm and focused on the meaning behind it. Gawain just wanted her to be with her family for Christmas. Best intentions.

..."I think I broke his nose."

At that, Evelyn started laughing. It started as a tittering giggle then burst into a laugh until she buried her face in her hands in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but I wish I could have seen his face....I always warned him he's push someone too far. I hope they don't retaliate, but...I'm glad you stood up to them." Evelyn finally remarked.

Gawain couldn't really guess how much trouble he was in while Evelyn listened to him rambling. And then she started to laugh, and after that, he had absolutely no clue at all.

>>"I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but I wish I could have seen his face....I always warned him he's push someone too far. I hope they don't retaliate, but...I'm glad you stood up to them."

"I'm really sorry I made a mess of it" he sighed "I know you told me they were jerks, I guess I just never realized the full extent of that."

He glanced up at her with a small smile.

"They did threaten to get us banned from all the fancy restaurants in town. So there goes our daily lunch."