Biting her tongue didn’t work. For some reason, her head was still breaking into tiny shattering pieces. She covered her ears, blocking out a bit of the sound.It still didn’t help much, though. The pain felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing her skull and ripping it apart.Every tiny sound was like an extra knife added to the attacker’s hand.<br/><br/>She once fell out of a tree and broke her leg on a gathering trip. She’d nearly passed out from the pain, though she’d refused to cry. Her partner had carried her all the way back to the clinic, where she’d been splinted and placed under a terrible period of bedrest. That was actually the injury that led to her pain-to-color synesthesia diagnosis when she described the agony as violet.<br/><br/>She tried to remember what had kept her from screaming her lungs out then as she began to sob now. She could hear screaming coming from somewhere, only igniting her pain even more. She didn’t even know if it was her. It probably was, but trying to stop only left her with a few precious seconds of silence.<br/><br/>It felt like eternity before she heard footsteps, treading carefully, as if someone were trying to walk silently. It didn’t work very well, though she guessed she appreciated it. And then they stopped, directly beside her<br/><br/>There seemed to be some hesitation, and Thea almost wanted to scream at the person to go away. She wanted to be alone, she couldn’t deal with people trying to figure out how to help her or what was wrong with her, asking her questions. Before she could, though, there was an arm around her, and someone speaking very quietly.<br/><br/>She swore she recognized the voice, though she just couldn't quite put her finger on who it could be. She really didn’t care, though. Covering her ears wasn’t working, and squeezing her eyes shut somehow still left her with bits of light cutting into her. She shoved her face into the person’s shirt, using them as a shield against the knives of pain.<br/><br/>It took her a few moments before recognizing the voice with a jolt of regret. A small jolt, of course, because the person was actually really good at blocking her line of sight. Her hearing was still all over the place, but it seemed a bit better.<br/><br/>“Why the<span style="font-style: italic">hell</span>are you in<span style="font-style: italic">here</span>?” Thea silently commented, not moving her head or even loosening her hold on the person. Her tears had somewhat slowed down, and the screaming had paused for a while, thank God. But now she was pressing her wet face into Lucas’s self in a terrible moment of weakness. She hated being around people like this. Especially people was was going to be spending a lot of time with. This had been the reason she’d shut herself off so often. When she didn’t, she ended up sobbing into someone about her misery. This was not a good thing to do, and certainly not when you just met the person.<br/><br/>She was considering shoving him away and letting the pain just carry on, when the intercom overhead gave a shrill pinging sound. Thea yelped, pulling him closer into her as she trembled.<br/><br/>Feeling as if she should give some sort of explanation, she hesitantly loosened her grip, biting into her tongue once again. “I’m not usually like this. And, I swear, this has nothing to do with you. So don’t get any thoughts,” Funny, how at a time like this, she could be so focused on making sure that people see her the way she wants to be seen.<br/><br/>“I have some sunglasses in my bag,” She whispered, still not even sure if he could hear her. But the whole fact that she wasn’t able to open her eyes was freaking her out. She relied on her eyesight a lot, and she never really thought about how terrible it would be to have to experience things without it. Besides, closing her eyes seemed to only make the noise worse.<br/><br/>There were a few seconds of movement as she returned to her solitude, before she felt something being placed in her hand. She carefully unfolded the glasses and, after a few tries, finally got them on over her ears, before slowly opening her eyes to a much more bearable site.<br/><br/>Sure enough, there was Lucas, kneeling relatively close to her. She cleared her throat, wincing a bit at the sound.<br/><br/>“Thanks. You can leave now. ” She dismissed, even though the pain was still splitting her head open. It felt as though it was getting better over time.The blue throbbing still coated her vision, but it wasn’t as opaque or bright anymore, mainly just a pulsing stab at the edge of her vision. She figured if she just spent a few minutes alone, she might be able to get to a point where it was bearable.<br/><br/>That was when another voice entered the room, loud and booming. Thea winced visibly, flinching a bit. She turned towards the doorway to find Gerhard, looking rather smug as he leaned against a PVC pole.<br/><br/>And then there was Dan, poking his head in before running directly back out, shouting over his shoulder.<br/><br/>Thea sighed at their comments, before making a motion with her hands that could obviously be interpreted as “get out”.<br/><br/>“Oh, don’t get any ideas. I was screaming, and he just came to tell me to shut up. Come on, party’s over,” She whispered, not even sure if anyone could hear her, and certain that Gerhard couldn’t, wiping a bit of remaining wetness from her face with the jacket. She really didn’t mind making the excuse for Lucas, because later on she’d be able to bring it back up and ask for something in return. Selfish, yeah. Smart? Definitely. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”<br/><br/>Once everyone was gone, she shakily stood up, and testingly walked a few steps. The sound still heart her ears, but it wasn’t quite as bad. After about ten minutes of tapping and just sitting without making any noise, letting herself get used to the constant shouting, it was almost bearable.