ghost photography
who: eben and tad
where: looney bin o doom
when: afternoon
Eben was wandering. He had his map with him, though he wasn't really checking it so much as he was letting himself go wherever looked interesting. That sort of mentality had taken him down a wing that had a lot of windows and there were spirits wandering the halls. So he was taking pictures.
He'd taken shots of strangely located dead birds, all in their own window pane next to one another. He'd also found a bird skeleton on the floor, so he'd taken a shot of that as well. Now he'd moved onto more spirit-photography, asking permission to take shots, even if they didn't come out as clearly as he could see them. So far, the ghosts he'd encountered seemed a little confused that he was there, but otherwise alright. They didn't make a bunch of sense in conversation (since he'd tried) but it was still interesting, one way or another. He paused, seeing a non-spirit type figure up the hallway, though the light was too bright to make out who it was. So he just took a photograph anyhow, thinking the fact that there were two spirits between himself and the figure interesting.
Tad had been wandering the halls with one person in mind: Kaysen. He'd kept an eye on her during the trek over, trying hard not to sulk on the fact that they were in standard school time "ignore each other" mode. Once they'd arrived and he realized, even with the size of their group, there would be time and space to snag some alone time with her he'd set his mind to doing just that. Part of him was sort of embarrassed by the tunnel vision his brain had seemed to take recently but he kept reassuring himself that it was just part of being a guy and he should consider himself lucky that it wasn't a more scandalously-themed tunnel vision.
He'd been following the map for a while but got lost and gave up, shoving it in his pocket. Instead Tad had settled for just wandering up and down hallways sticking his head in rooms looking for his skater girl. Instead he just found creepy things, like lost shoes and old and dusty medical equipment. It didn't help the overwhelming sense of weird that seemed to linger in the air. The light click of the camera pulled his attention from the room he was looking in, a sound of life in otherwise more than dead hall. Spotting another student at the end of the hall Tad raised a hand greeting and continued towards the other person, shivering as he passed through spots in the hall that seemed colder than usual. "Hey."
Eben smiled. "Hello!" he greeted warmly. "Wait, look out the window that way." he said, pointing to his right, as he pulled his camera up again, waiting for Tad to comply. "The lighting in here is really awesome, so I'm trying to get some good shots out of it." he explained.
Tad, ever used to just taking orders most of the time had already turned, squinting in the sun to see what he assumed Eben was pointing out that was drifting just outside of their oversized prison. "What am I..." he started to ask but then stopped Eben kept going on about lighting and shit. Fuck, the dude was taking pictures of him. "Wait, what? Why?" The words just stammered out.
"Because I'm taking your photograph?" Eben said, snapping a few shots even if Tad looked kinda confused and was talking. He looked at him over the camera and grinned. "Thanks. I appreciate it." he added, sounding genuine. Which he was. Eben wasn't really the type to blow smoke up anyone's ass. Lying wasn't part of his persona by any stretch of the imagination. "You know, I've seen you around school and all, but I don't think we've ever been properly introduced. I'm Eben, and you're...it starts with a T, doesn't it?"
"Tad," he answered, flushing slightly from the attention. Outside of Grams no one held a camera in his general direction. Not that Tad could say he'd been in a situation where there'd be a need to point a camera at him. There weren't awards banquets or sports and certainly not homecoming dances or junior prom. "You're always around the art class a bit right?" Tad asked but he knew the answer. With the unfortunate pleasure of being given a locker in the least convenient location for his classes and thus outside the art class he'd seen Eben and heard about the kid's talent or something.
"That'd be me." Eben said, smiling in his usual serene sort of manner as he headed towards Tad. "So, find anything interesting in here so far?" he asked conversationally, looking around again before he leveled his blue eyes on Tad again. "And you have fabulous eyes." he noted, like he had a tendency to do. Eben just found things to compliment people on. If it went through his mind, he shared it, if it was something good about his current company.
"Creepy shit, like everywhere. And everything just feels, I dunno, off." Tad was looking about, talking and breathing easier now that Eben had stopped with the pictures or whatever. The comment about his eyes came out of left field. Not that it wasn't nice to hear a compliment for the first time in a while. The last one he'd gotten was Kaysen commenting that his hair was floofy or something. All that didn't make it any less weird though. "Thanks?" It came out sounding more like a question than a statement. "You too?" Another question.
Eben laughed a little. "You don't have to sound so surprised." he said. "Or give something back if you don't think it." he added. "I just noticed, and thought I'd say." he said, smiling again. "I'm not sure if I think the place feels off so much as different." he added conversationally, looking around again. "Definitely not like other places I've been, unless one counts the orphanage. But even that place feels differently to this one." he continued.
"Right, sorry. I mean, I meant it, but yea." Tad stopped talking before the hole he was digging was bigger than he was. "Different?" Changing the subject made things easier and he was able to put together coherent thoughts into understandable sentences. "I think that's putting it lightly. This place is freaking spooky in the middle of the afternoon. I can't even begin to think about what it's going to be like after dark."
Eben laughed a little, and looked back at Tad. "Probably the same." he said. "That whole after dark thing is really just kinda psychological." he said. "A lot of things are. I know it sounds corny but there is something to the whole power of thought thing. It's why placebos work. But it's just a building. There are some spirits that hang out in it, it's not going to become more sinister after dark, just because the sun isn't out." he said, though he managed not to sound like he was trying to put Tad down, more that he was just sharing a point of view. Eben didn't put people down, it just wasn't how he did things. "So, don't worry about it. Really, after dark it'll just be brighter in the hallways because we'll turn the lights on."
Tad was listening taking in what Eben said, realizing that even though the guy had a point, Tad doubted that the place would be any less scary. There'd been one word though in the speech that threw off Tad's concentration and suddenly the hair along the back of his neck was stand up just a tad. Spirits. How that differed from ghost, Tad wasn't sure, but as far he could tell ghosts he could see, especially lately. Spirits though, that just sounded far more lurk in the shadows. And here Eben was talking about them like they were classmates. Ghosts Tad could get over, he'd even made friends with a ghost. But spirits reminded him of watching A Christmas Carol with Grams and even now the idea of people coming out of the dark and teaching you about your mistakes in life was creepy. He swallowed hard before talking. "Nothing to worry about." It wasn't very convincing.
Eben looked over and titled his head to the side, regarding Tad. "You alright?" he asked. "You seem really...freaked." he landed on, since there wasn't really another word that accurately described what he was seeing. He didn't really personally see what the big deal was, but he guessed other people did. Like Tad, apparently.
"No," Tad started with a tough guy routine, but then dropped it. "I guess yea. I've read too many either horror books or murder books and play too many zombie video games. This whole 'locked in an insane asylum for a few nights' is essentially the plot line to a bad teen horror flick." Tad could appreciate gore and violence, and his choice of reading material tended to lean towards horror or supernatural or just the standard suspense serial killer novel. But reading and playing video games was one thing. Living it was completely different. He didn't do haunted houses or go to scary movies just to be scared. Someone else experiencing it was one thing, he didn't need to live through it himself.
"Well, horror flicks or anything else are really really rarely anywhere near close to real life." Eben said reassuringly. "I think you might be psyching yourself out. I mean, so we're in a state hospital that's been shut down. It hasn't been shut down long. And there are spirits wandering around. But spirits have been wandering around since there've been people, the only difference now is we have proof that they're there, and we can talk to them like regular people. Being afraid of someone just because they happen to be see-through seems a little harsh, doesn't it?" he suggested.
"Probably am just psyching myself out." Just because Eben said everything was going to be alright, didn't make Tad feel much better. Deep down part of him wondered if this would turn out to be some sort of horrible prank where they tried to scare the kids or worse try to do some sort of social experiment with them. "You have any guesses why they drug us out here to begin with?"
Eben looked at Tad like he'd missed something. "....because it's a haunted location where they can have a group in without getting a bunch of intereference from the outside world where we can learn about spirits?" he suggested. Which had been what the write up they'd all been given said. "You're really paranoid, aren't you?" he asked, not sounding like he thought it was a bad thing, mostly just a really telling sort of thing. "Why else would they have done it?"
"Millions of reasons. I mean they could very easily toss all of us in here, and then randomly start pulling people out, with no explanation, just waiting to see what sort of reactions we'll have. Money is tight in public schools these days. If some psychological research group came to them with a good enough offer? They might just consider it." Tad stopped and realized that yes in fact he seemed to be feeling a bit paranoid. He assumed it was Kaysen rubbing off on him. "Or were here, like you said, just observing spirits or whatever. Seems silly. I mean it' just like you said: they are dead, and they're here. What more do we need to know."
Eben was still looking at him with a bit of an odd look. "...that would be hideously illegal." he pointed out. Then he shifted his weight a little, and regarded Tad. "They're here, yes, but theirs is an entire culture and existence we didn't know positively about before. Why would you not want to know? Depending on how long a spirit's been around, they've likely got a wealth of knowledge just ready to tap into, considering what they've seen, how they've witnessed time passing by, eras going forward. Seems kind of..." he shrugged one shoulder "to dismiss an entire group of people out of hand just because they're possibly inconveniencing you because of a school trip to learn about them."
A school trip where I'm stuck within close vicinity of my best friend but I still have to pretend she doesn't exist, Tad thought but didn't point out. "I dunno, I talked to one of the ghosts who showed up at school, asked her a buncha questions and such and her knowledge was sorta limited. She even said herself she'd lost interest in a lot of things since she died. Mostly she was just worried about graduating or something. She was cool and such, but not much different from the rest of the kids at school." He shrugged at Eben's points. "It feels like we're having them forced on us with this trip. Do they even want us around? Did someone ask them if we could crash on their places for a few days? 'Cause if I was a ghost and they asked me if I wanted a buncha teenagers running around my normally spacious and quiet home for three days I'd probably say no."
"So you're going to judge an entire population on one chat with one spirit?" Eben asked, though it was rhetorical. "Though I agree on the asking permisison thing. Though so far, I haven't felt unwelcome. A lot of the spirits here seem to just kind of be off in their own little worlds, which I imagine is due to the nature of the location."
Tad raised an eyebrow at Eben's question but opted not to answer. "By due to the nature of this location do you mean, we're in a mental hospital and most of the people who died here were crazy and now we've just got crazy spirits on our hands?" Perhaps it was the paranoia again, but that just made the whole experience seem even better. Crazy ghosts. What in the hell had their school gotten them into?
"'Crazy' is kind of a relative term..." Eben said. "I've known a lot of pretty nutty people in my time." Did he ever. "But that's sort of what I'm saying. Though really, mental hospitals aren't quite what people think they are either. Popular media really hypes them up to be terrifying places or whatever, but that's not really the case." he said. "And really, none of the spirits I've encountered so far have been anything but either disinterested or happy for some attention."
So mental hospitals aren't full of schizophrenics who are either too dangerous or can't function in regular society? Or depressed people who've tried to off themselves and now they need someone to watch them closely? Perhaps this place wasn't completely terrifying but it wasn't friendly that's for sure. "At least you haven't run into anything angry. That might be awkward. The last thing you need is some sort of ghosty thing attempting to hurl rusty medical equipment at you." Tad's voice was joking, but somehow he wondered if the humor would be lost on Eben.
Eben chuckled a little. "I guess I'll have to deal with that if it comes to that, but I'm not going to be wary of everyone just in case." he said. "You know a good lot of how people react to you is how you react to them." he added conversationally. "I wouldn't recommend being standoffish and paranoid at them...doesn't make anyone want to be friendly towards you." he said sagely, something he'd definitely learned in his life. If you were nice to people, they were generally nice to you. If you weren't, then all sorts of things could go sideways and fast. "Smiles go a long way."
Tad quirked his half grin at Eben and ran a hand through his hair. "Not everyone adjusts quickly to things of nightmares suddenly being in English class or part of extracurricular activities." Tad voice still held the slightly sarcastic and light tone, but it was the truth. It was hard to pinpoint what exactly, but he was almost certain there'd been ghosts in his nightmares. The nightmares that felt more like memories.
Eben winced. "Dude, we're standing in a hallway where your voice might carry, and there are spirits all over. Please put a tiny bit of thought into what you're saying before you speak--calling them 'things of nightmares' is not the wisest of word choices." he said.
"Right, yea. I was speaking more, you know experience wise. 'Cause that's sort of where my experience with them lies. In nightmares." Which was probably rude or whatever, but hell, it was true. Tad didn't talk about his dreams, much or ever really. Not even to Grams even though sometimes she woke up to his shouting. "Sorry," he added, but it was still sort of half hearted.
Eben looked at Tad a long moment, his expression unreadable. "Just because they're dead doesn't mean they don't have feelings, and they can hear you." he said. "If you're going to be that insensitive, then I would prefer to spend time in different company, if you didn't mind." he said, as ever, very polite. He didn't sound like he was angry with Tad over anything, because he wasn't. Eben didn't do angry. He was just being honest, and it was a bit surprising to hear someone so overtly tactless. In Eben's mind, Tad's statements were equivalent of going to another country and saying you didn't like the indigenous people when surrounded by them. "Which way were you heading? I can go a different way, I didn't have any specific locations in mind, so it doesn't matter where I head, but I don't want to inconvenience you." he said genuinely.
Eben's even tone caught Tad off guard. Usually when he did something insensitive or overtly stupid, Porter chided him with displeasure and Kaysen, well Kaysen got all in his face. Instead though, Eben just politely informed Tad that he was an ass and asked how best to avoid him for future reference. Tad stared at the other boy, then stammered as far less pathetic apology. "I'm sorry. It's just, I've been cranky all day, my blood sugar's all wacky or something," he started, pulling the kit out as he talked because he was wondering if his bitter attitude was just another side affect. Living with diabetes meant everything could be a result of a lower and a high. Once that issue was ruled out, then you could move on to the million other things that could be wrong. "It's just, well...Isn't there anything you're just afraid of? And isn't fear a natural defense mechanism?" He was rambling a little and his hands were sort of shakey while he set up the meter to test his blood. This of course worried him about how low he'd gotten and how quickly. Never a good feeling. "Like some people are afraid of cats, which is you know, kind of stupid because they're cats. But it doesn't mean people don't freak out when they see them?" While babbling he'd pricked his finger and put the blood on the strip, only stopping talking to put the pricked finger in his mouth to stop the bleeding. When the meter beeped he looked down again. It read fifty-five when just twenty minutes ago he'd been over a hundred. Shit. Tad slumped against the wall, sliding the floor, while he dug for a juice box and snack in his bag. "Not going anywhere at the moment dude. Leave if you want."
Eben watched Tad as he tested his blood, and also listened to what he had to say, since Eben always listened to what people had to say. He watched the other guy slide to the floor, and assumed that meant things weren't on the level with his bloodwork. "Is there anything I can get you?" he asked first, concerned. "As for fear of cats, cats don't understand what's being said. These spirits do. They've got feelings that can be hurt,and what you're doing is pretty insensitive to that. It's like you aren't getting that they're people, just not quite the same as us. Honestly, I'd put it in the same vein as racism. And you're clearly not caring about the fact that they can hear you. If you were truly phobic about them, you wouldn't just be wandering around being rude about them where they could overhear, you'd likely be climbing the walls and trying to find the nearest space where they weren't located. Not basically handing them an excuse not to like you, should they take offense." he said, still not even sounding like he was chiding Tad, his tone was even, conversational, just like he was giving his point of view. "Fear is a natural defense mechanism. But you wouldn't go up to someone you were afraid of at school and start saying the same sorts of things. You definitely come across as someone who doesn't view spirits as being above animals or even anything with a consciousness. I would suggest you rethink that. And in the future, think over what you're saying while within earshot." Finished, he didn't walk away just yet, instead he waited to see if there was anything he could get Tad. "Do you need me to find you a friend or one of the teachers?" he asked, still concerned over Tad's health. He would prefer not to leave someone who was possibly in a medical emergency alone. It just wasn't what you did, really, was it?
Tad's face was losing a little bit of the color, but otherwise he was doing alright. Lows were just something he'd learned to deal with even though that didn't make them any easier. He'd managed to stab the juice box and chug it faster than most alcoholics take shots. He'd followed it up with another and was chewing a package of graham crackers. "I'm fine-ish," he told Eben. "Nothing a little juice won't fix. No need to get someone. Plus there's not much of anyone to get; the teachers are baffled by my diabetes and...Well I don't know where Kayce is." He rubbed the side of his head a little and tried to grasp what Eben had been saying. "I wouldn't say I go as far as on levels with animals. I mean that's not entirely right. Even though I do think cats understand. One of those old ladies my Grams hangs out with has one and I swear that thing hears everything you say. I'm not sure what I think. I guess it is bad, I just..." Tad blinked a little. He was could feel his blood sugar going back up again but the quick back and forth was a little exhausting. "I dunno. I guess that's the point of the trip right? To improve our attitude?"
"I'm not sure everyone's attitude starts at 'poor at best'." Eben said. "I think it's more just learning and experience. And you don't look very good. Who's 'Kayce' and are you sure you don't want me to find them?" he asked. "Maybe we should get you back to the dorm to lie down?" he suggested.
"Perhaps I need more work than the rest. Seriously I'm fine. Like I said, it's been wacky all day, and when it goes way down then way up, it's a little joggling. I'll be fine in a moment." Tad flinched when Eben said Kaysen's nickname. He'd been good about not actually referring to her by her name lately and he'd slipped up. At least Eben didn't know who he meant. "Don't worry about Kayce; she wouldn't really know what to do, and I don't need her worrying." Tad checked his watch, preferring to wait longer before checking his blood again, but he was starting to feel better, and if he could stand up Eben would stop offering to take care of him. Not that he didn't appreciate the concern, he was just feeling like shit for the guy already disliking him and still being nice.
"Still, I know that diabetics can make poor decisions and such when they're having an episode, I apologize I don't know more about it. I'd feel much better about your safety if we went back to the dorm." Eben said, really not at all cool with leaving the poor guy alone.
Tad watched Eben carefully before talking. "I wasn't that low man, just dropping quickly. I've got it under control at the moment, but it's been going back up a little slowly. I swear I'm going to be ok, I've just gotta give it another five minutes or so. We'd be worse off if I wasn't dragging around three days worth of supplies in my bag here." Tad pulled off a weak smile as he patted his backpack. "I've been worse." He wanted to stand and prove he'd be alright, but it wasn't worth the risk.
Eben didn't look terribly convinced. "Well, I'll just stay here til you're mobile again." he said, tone suggesting he wasn't really going to be talked out of it. Maybe some people in the world would have bailed, but not him. It would have been entirely against his nature.
Tad just nodded, letting Eben stay. Some other day it might be worth the argument but today it wasn't too bad. "Tell me about you Eben. I just see you sometimes when I'm at my locker which happens to be near the art classes. Which is also on the other end of the world from my classes." Listening to Eben talk would be distracting and help keep both of them calm. Tad wasn't particularly worried though, as he was starting to feel a little better, but it would be a few minutes still until he was back to one hundred percent.
Eben thought about that, then shrugged, leaning back against the wall. "I grew up in a household that traveled a lot." he said. "My parents are hippies, to put it mildly. Kind of really really openly spiritual, and they're always searching for new experiences, or who they think might have nailed it. We hopped kind of from commune to commune, cult to cult, to put a fine point on it. I've known a lot of very interesting people. I've seen a lot of different ways to view the world and people, and their place in the world and the cosmos and everything that goes with. My parents are true believers. They sort of...latch onto whatever and when they do, they're fully into it. I was never quite like that. Not that I don't believe, mind. More just...I don't really think anyone's wrong." he admitted thoughtfully.
That was not the answer Tad was expecting. He assumed he'd get something about art, or school or something not a discussion on spirituality. "My parents traveled around a bunch too," he offered, which wasn't much but it helped. "I'm not really sure what they did or why though." Once he'd found out about the whole "fake identity" thing he'd let whatever bullshit story his Grams had told him about his parents drop. It was stupid to believe it and now he'd just have to find out the truth.
"Why don't you know?" Eben asked curiously. "Seems like something you probably should know, so there must be a reason why you don't. Unless you were adopted or something and don't consider your adopted parents 'real' parents." he suggested thoughtfully, trying to work out the logic there.
"They're dead, I live with my grandmother," Tad explained. "I moved in with her when I was diagnosed, and I was just a little kid. They died a few years later. I'm not sure what they did or why they had to travel around so much. I'm trying to figure it out but it's slow going. Grams isn't really giving me useful information."
"Huh. That's interesting." Eben said. "Sorry to hear about your parents. I'm sure that was difficult. Do you really have to know about them if they abandoned you?" he asked, not trying to sound like he was prying too much, but he did wonder about the logic. And when he wondered about things he asked.
"They didn't abandon me," Tad pointed out with some anger in his voice. "It wasn't safe for me to travel with them when they found out I was sick. With the diabetes, I need structure in my life and their life didn't have it. They didn't want to. And they died trying to get to my birthday in time."
And if they were really loving parents, they would have altered their lifestyle to suit a child who needed them with a disease, instead of dumping the defective kid off with grandma. went through Eben's mind but he didn't say it. Instead, he nodded. "I didn't mean to offend. Sorry." he apologized sincerely, since he hadn't meant to rile him or anything. He pretty much never meant to rile anyone. He never understood the point.
"It's fine," Tad told him. He'd never put the word abandon in association with his parents and now that it was there his thoughts were traveling down that path. Wouldn't that be what it was? Part of him desperately wanted to run the idea by Porter or Kaysen, but odds are they wouldn't give him such an objective opinion like Eben had. Still he didn't bring it up again; the subject was too raw.
Eben nodded. "You feeling good enough to walk yet?" he asked, though he didn't sound like he was trying to rush him. He was still concerned over Tad's health, and would be until they got back somewhere where a teacher or at the very least someone who knew more about diabetes could help him out. He knew he was inadequate at best on that score, and he didn't want anything to happen to the poor guy on his watch. Especially not if it was due to ignorance of the problem on his part.
"Let me check," Tad told Eben, pulling out his meter again. He pricked his finger and held the drop of blood up to the strip then sat back waiting for the beep. After a few second it beeped and he held it up. "Ninety-five," he told Eben, even though the number wouldn't mean much to the other kid. "I'm fine." No wonder he was feeling so rough, his sugar had just soared up again. He was going to have a rough few days if it kept like this. Using the wall for leverage, Tad stood up and hefted his bag onto his back. "I guess I should head back towards the dorm. I've got more low supplies stashed there, and I should put some more in my bag just in case."
"Want me to carry that?" Eben offered, nodding towards the bag. And he still planned on walking Tad to the dorm. "It's this way, I believe..." he said, sort of looking around first, then choosing the direction he thought was most likely the answer. If he was wrong, Tad might know. Wait, he had a map, didn't he? He tugged it out of his pocket, and behind him, a window cracked. It didn't shatter or anything, there was just a light little noise, and suddenly there was a single long crack coming up from the bottom corner of a window that hadn't been there a moment ago.
"I think I got it alright," Tad told him, not wanting to be a major burden. He did pick up on the fact that Eben wasn't entirely sure where they were and of course that worried Tad since he'd gotten lost almost half an hour ago. It might be dinner before they found their way back. The cracking noise caught Tad's attention and he turned from Eben looking at the window curiously. "Well that was just weird. Did you push on it or something?" he asked pointing towards the cracked pane.
Eben glanced back, looking up from the map as he tried to figure out where they were in the first place. "No." he answered. "...sometimes things like that just happen around me." he offered. Which was true! Chaotic events just kinda...followed him around. It was due to what he was, of course, and he knew that, he just couldn't control it. Sometimes it was bad, sometimes it was good, sometimes it was just random, like that.
"Follow you around? You just break things with your mere presence?" Tad's voice was tinged with his humor that hadn't surfaced yet. "That's not really a good thing," he pointed out with a slight grin.
"Oh, not always breaking things." Eben said. "Sometimes weird things just happen, that's all." he said, picking a firm direction and pointing. "This way." he said, starting off. "And yeah, I suppose it's not always. It's mostly just interesting. I don't mind, so much. I just know it happens. And from discussion with others, more often with me than other people."
"Any guesses why that is? Why it happens to you more than others," Tad asked with evident curiosity as he fell into step next to Eben. "Is it just...weird luck? Or are you just directly affecting the space around you?" Tad had read enough fantasy novels to find the words that hopefully asked the right questions.
"I'd guess weird luck." Eben said thoughtfully. It was a form of that, he knew, even if the answer was more complicated. "Some people are lucky, some people aren't, some people are like me, I suppose. Just with odd luck. Or odd environmental factors, since I'm not sure 'luck' is the right word. But you get what I mean."
"Crazy. Shame you can't use it to your advantage ya know? Could come in handy or something." Tad didn't point out that every situation he could think of involved gambling or theft.
"...I guess.." Eben said doubtfully. "Guess I never really thought about anything like that." he said. His head was a little too flighty to really get there. His areas of concentration weren't really on gain either, he was just an artist, who liked to record beauty and put more of it into the world.
"Well, consider it a gift of sorts. Between that and art, you've got me beat by miles," Tad told Eben, meaning the statement as a compliment. "Unless being really kick ass at video games counts for something." He grinned his lopsided grin again.
"I think it does." Eben said. "I think any talents are talents, and none are really that much more valuable than others. So, don't sell yourself short." he said, giving the other boy a smile as they walked. When they got to a cross hall, he looked around and was happy to see he'd read the map correctly and they were on the right path. "The dorms are just up that way." he said, pointing, before starting them off again.
Tad nodded, letting Eben lead the way even though he'd finally found a part of the building that looked familiar. He really hoped they wouldn't be required to wander around too much in the dark, because he was having trouble getting a good feel on his sense of direction in this place. Granted in the dark it might look more like a video game with the long corridors and doors on each side which would probably work out in Tad's favor.
Eben led them back without incident, just a few ghosts wandering the halls with them, and smiled. "Well, here we are." he said. "I'm going to head out again, but I hope you feel better." he said, at least okay with the knowledge that a teacher was nearby. It meant Tad wouldn't be totally alone and if anything happened, it'd be taken care of by someone who at the very least knew more about what they were doing than he did.
With a smile Tad waved Eben off. "Thanks, I'll be alright don't worry." He didn't have the heart to tell Eben that with him leaving, technically Tad was on his own again. The chaperones they'd picked for the trip not only didn't know that Tad had diabetes prior to the trip, they'd also decided it just meant he couldn't have the dessert in his bagged lunch. Not that Tad had been surprised by the situation, being overlooked was standard. "I'll see you later."
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