Do you see them too?

She is. The air I breath.

So when a text comes in from Felix asking to meet up to talk about something, Ezra's entirely thrown into uncertainty on how to approach before the day even comes. They barely know the boy, outside of a few handful of interactions they've had with him before.

The day comes quickly and Ezra handles it with more ease than they expected, going out to welcome Felix in and greet him, doing proper introductions between themself, him and Coalette before anything. Their partner remains shy though, keeping tucked close to them.

For what feels like a long moment of silence, Ezra's eyes flicker over the nervous boy as he fidgets and then their gaze lowers to take notice of the little ghostly cat that has followed Felix in. They're unbothered by this, since its harmless in comparison to anything else that lies beyond the protective seal around the property. So they focus forward.

Ezra listens closely as Felix talks about a haunting hes been dealing with for the past few months, about what the ghosts are like and how there seem to be several consciousnesses in one uncomfortable form. They listen as he talks about wanting to help them, pausing to think.

"Do you want me to be a mediator?" they wonder, deciding to be direct with the knowledge that Felix himself can't communicate with them. It wouldn't be a first, Ezra's seen many things that have more than one mind within them. Though perhaps a little different than this situation.

When Felix agrees that it would be helpful, Ezra assures their willingness to do so. But, they take another moment before asking. "Why didn't you seek out help sooner for this?"

They see how the boy hesitates before speaking, then he admits to being overwhelmed and uncertain about it all. Ezra can't find blame in him for that reaction, its probably how most people would and they simply hum before their voice comes up soft and thoughtful. "I get it, personally. I was overwhelmed with my own situation too when I was younger. Its easy to be uncertain in whats new or unfamiliar."

After the bit of comforting though, Ezra speaks more bluntly. "Felix, you need to remember that you're human. You really should be more careful when handling these types of things, at least for those around you.. if you feel you can't do it for yourself. Amalgamations like this one haunting you can be extremely dangerous and unpredictable, especially because there is no solid consensus with that blender of consciousness that makes them up. You could end up hurt badly, or worse.. and I'm sure you don't want that. I know your people don't."

Felix seems to take Ezra's concerns and warning seriously, nodding and thanking them. They can read in his expression that hes thinking about it more now, then they carry on talking about when would be a good time to meet again and end up deciding on Thursday before long.

By the time their conversations come to a close, realization hits on how late it is and its already dark out, so Ezra offers to walk Felix back down to the end of the road. They leave the barrier without thought, not even thinking about David who they had been intentionally aggravating.

That is, until they feel like they've been hit face first by the full force of a semi, both mind and vision blanking to black for what feels like forever. When they blink back to, they're disoriented and can feel something hot at the side of their face buzzing, their body too heavy to touch it.

What pulls them fully back is Coalette's emotions sending sparks through them, white hot anger pricking sharply at them both mentally and physically, realization finally dawning on them and hands moving to cover their face in a spike of adrenaline as David's words repeat in their head. They feel immediately fearful and self-conscious. "She'll never love you now that you're even more hideous."

But when Ezra looks and sees Coalette, her wrath directed toward David in reaction, they snap themselves out of it and move to hug onto her. They're not even thinking about the bloody mess smearing over her clothes, slurring words in a desperate attempt to assure they're okay, their delirious head a mix of reaction to the situation at hand.

'My wife is beautiful,' 'I should calm her down so she doesn't get hurt.' Various things are swarming in that damaged head of theirs.

When Coalette's eyes finally meet Ezra's and her hands take their now mangled face into her hands so gently, they give a dazed smile and nod along with her reassurances that they'll be okay. "I'm okay." they agree, bloodied cheek pressing into her palm with a soft rub that aches as they finally go limp against her, all the adrenaline fizzling away.

They do try to tell Coalette to get Felix home first, but she focuses on them instead and the boy is made to sit through his panic. He suggests calling emergency services, which is immediately shot down by Ezra through messily spoken words and then a medkit is clumsily offered instead, after Felix nearly drops it to the ground.

Ezra sits as still as they can through the cleaning and bandaging, twitching and shaking from ache, turning the good side of their face toward Felix in order to apologize to him. Telling Coalette again to text Brass and she does so this time, blooded fingers slipping over screen before shes finally able to send a message off.

Upon arrival, Brass is with Gemini, both going to check over the scene and Felix particularly after being told to. Gemini holds Felix's hand and Brass goes through some calming exercises with the boy, eventually calming him enough to allow him a moment to call Ophelia.

The shifter takes zero time to get on sight, looking over everything happening but lifting Felix to take him home after saying so. Coalette, remaining and being protective, swatting at Brass who tries to offer help and making Ezra laugh despite the situation.