WALKER, ANGELA

"Good Lord," She murmurs, moving before she can think any better of it, to his side. She wasn't a doctor, well- not the kind of doctor he needed, healing magic wasn't exactly her specialty, either. Still, she knew well enough that she shouldn't just go pulling the knife out of his thigh. She also knew the Hawthornes well enough to know that the suggestion of calling an ambulance wouldn't exactly go over well. Her hand hovers over the handle of the knife, not touching it. "How long have you been sitting here, like this?"

She presses her lips together pensively, nodding as Aalto speaks. This wasn't the first problem like this she'd come across: having a town full of people like them meant, at least, there was plenty of precedent. "Oh, sweetheart, that's an easy fix," The effort is taken not to sound dismissive, but she had been anticipating something far worse, and something far further out of her control. "I can just give you the credit for that class. Who's the professor? I can give them a call."

Wren had tried his best. He had wanted to help people and he had done whatever he could to make that happen. He had never actually thought that he would be found. He knew that he was lucky to have gotten away with his life. He just didn't feel all too lucky. Wren shrugged at her first comment - because what more could he say? He wasn't about to divulge his deepest secrets to a person who he didn't know. At her next question, though, he dropped his gaze and nodded his head. "I am. My family don't even know that I'm in town."

It was an awkward position to be in — to know who he was in the abstract but not be able to acknowledge it. Especially not in public, where his relatives or their associates might overhear. She'd kept Hunter attention off of her for thirty years, she wasn't about to attract it now. Still, the poor kid looked devastated, she couldn't just let him sit out there, moping alone. "Well, I know it's none of my business, but that sounds like their loss," He clearly didn't want to talk about it further, and why should he? She was a complete stranger. "Look, I'm the Dean over at Woodside, and I have a tradition of inviting students to my house for a little early New Year's party — I know you're not a student, but you're more than welcome. It beats being alone, in any case."

A LIGHT GASP ESCAPES HER WHEN A HAND TOUCHES HER ELBOW, coming back into a reality she didn't quite recognize. Where she was and how she got there was unknown, but she can't let that be obvious and so, she manages a small smile after recognizing Angela's face. ❝ Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. I just, have a lot on my mind, apparently. ❞ Why she's suddenly self-conscious is beyond her; if anyone aside from Matiu could understand the brain energy Kora was constantly going through, it was Angela. A fellow clairvoyant and coven leader, they had a chemistry not many could ever understand in full and yet, she still finds herself rather bashful and embarrassed.

Instantly, Angela's face flattens into one of disbelief: seeing plainly through the excuse. She wouldn't pretend that they were the best of friends, but she had known the Ngārori coven's leader long enough to know when she was acting strange. It didn't help that, through the hand that rested still at her elbow, Angela could feel the anxiety flooding out of her. "I'm familiar with the sensation," She says pointedly, her tone weighted — premonitions & visions were a realm they both knew intimately, as was the hazy look that followed an especially potent one: the expression Kora was wearing right then. "Come on, I'm on my way home. Let's get you a cup of tea and maybe we can talk about what it is that's on your mind?"

Wren raised an eyebrow as Angela spoke and quickly nodded his head, sitting back down again. Was he alright? No, probably not. Was he going to admit that? Probably not. "Ah, well, yeah. Yes." He sighed. "Yeah, all good." Even he wasn't convinced by himself. But what could he really say? "Sorry. Just in a world of my own, I think. Christmas always tends to do that to me..." At least, it had in the last few years, anyway. Not being able to be with his family around this time of year was pretty hard.

Her lips press together pensively, nodding a little while she listened. The Hawthornes were infamous in the certain circles in which Angela ran, but if this one was alone on the holidays... a girl had come to her a while ago talking about a hunter that freed her from the Hawthornes. She could only imagine the reckoning that came from such a family. "You don't sound too sure about that," Her tone teasing in a warm, friendly way. She's careful not to let her smile become condescending or worse, pitiful, so she maintains a facade of warm neutrality. "It's a tough time, are you all by yourself this year?"

"Huh?" Wren asked as he glanced up from his book. He had been reading the same page for what felt like hours. He just couldn't keep the information in. "Sorry, were you sitting here?" He asked her. He hadn't taken in what she had said to him, either. He started to get up, "Sorry. Here, sit down." He sighed, gesturing to the now empty chair.

"Oh no, no, honey — you can sit back down," She laughs, taken aback by the reaction. Angela wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected when she'd approached him, but so sudden a relinquishing of his seat was at the very bottom of that list. "I was just asking if you were alright. You had that kind of haunted, traumatized look in your eye, I was just checking in."

"Mm? Oh-" Her words caught up to her, as her mind was seconds beyond it all. Vision readjusted and Diana could feel her sense of self dial back in. "Yes, yes...I'm fine. Sorry about that. I think my mind just wandered to a place that I've been at for weeks, I suppose."

"Now, what are you apologizing for?" She chuckles softly, brow furrowing & head tipping to study her for a moment. Usually, people who divulged information like that so freely didn't have anybody they felt like they could talk to, and the mother in her ached at the sight of her crestfallen expression. "Is this something you'd like to talk about, sweetheart? Sounds pretty serious."

Gina Torres as Jessica Pearson in Pearson 1x09

TOMMY VEGA— 4x07: "Tommy Dearest"