Xue Yang has been quiet for a while now, and Lily's almost forgotten he's there. She's studying quietly, working on her essay for her Mandarin Lit class. 

She looks up at the sound of footsteps.

Why are they even trying to save a maleficer. He's going to kill people.

Marian would have a number of things to say about the medical ethics involved in treating patients who are also criminals. She's not going to say that in front of this random other kid, though. 

"Hi!" she says brightly. "Sorry, I was just looking for -" fuck what's his name, did he even say, she doesn't think he did, "- for, uh, this kid. He came to the infirmary and asked for drugs and I, uh, thought I'd better do a followup and make sure he's doing okay." 

This is SCREAMINGLY AWKWARD. She is absolutely going to be judged by a 14-year-old for her extremely questionable nursing judgement. 

She nods. In English: "He's definitely on something. He kept trying to snuggle me and asked if I wanted to have sex with him. I fed him some candy to keep him happy and biddable but I only have so much. I don't think he's had anything to drink." 

She looks down at Xue Yang. In Mandarin: "The nurse wants you to drink something so you don't get dehydrated from the drugs you're on."

Yikes. 

"I - uh - I'm sorry about that, that sounds pretty awkward? Do you want me to try to distract him?" 

"I will drink the thing!" he says to Marian.

She gives him one of the bottles of Pedialyte, the one that's supposedly grape flavored. 

"- He, uh, was kind of scary," she explains to Lily. "Kept saying he was bored and also that he'd done crimes before? I - think he has some sort of really awful backstory. I...guess I was trying to keep him happy too, and also - make sure he didn't go around doing crimes just because he's bored." 

Oh, this stuff is delicious. He drinks it down in gulps.

"He was a bit less scary on the drugs than he was before - they seemed to put him in a good mood - but still not really good company."

"I can...try to bribe him to come to the infirmary because there's more Pedialyte there? I'm - pretty used to patients who're high on things." 

She glances at Wen Qing, who is after all the one who actually speaks Mandarin. 

"I want more of this!"

"You can have more of this if you come to the infirmary."

"Okay! Bye, Lily! I love you!"

"See you!" She keeps her relief off her face.

“Well, uh, thank you for keeping him out of trouble this afternoon.” Marian eyes Xue Yang, trying to judge if he’s actually capable of walking in a straight line.

He can totally walk in a straight line! Several of them at once in fact.

It would be really embarrassing if he fell down the stairs and broke something. Maybe she’ll try to take his hand and see if he lets her?

He snarls and says something in Mandarin.

Wen Qing chooses not to translate the graphic details. "Don't do that."

Well then. Apparently he wants to be cuddly with the freshman girl but won’t let Marian near him? …It’s incredibly stupid to feel hurt and rejected about that. 

“- Noted. Can you - help me keep an eye on him, try to make sure we can catch him if he does fall down the stairs?” She’ll start making her way down ahead of him, then. 

"Yes, I will."

Back to the infirmary, then! Hopefully without any stair-falling incidents! 

Xue Yang does not fall down the stairs! Those lights sure are pretty though.

He can play with her penlight if he wants, once they reach the infirmary? And she gives him the second Pedialyte, which is strawberry flavored.

PENLIGHTS?????

"You," he announces, "are half as good as Lily. Do you want to have sex?"

Marian, who continues to not speak Mandarin, looks quizzically at him, and then at Wen Qing.

"I'm not translating that."

Marian shrugs and shakes her head at Xue Yang, and then wanders over to work on organizing her supply shelf. 

"That's not an answer!!!"

"She doesn't speak Mandarin."

Oh! He can fix this problem by grabbing her butt. It's called Body Language.

Marian is considerably less startled and nonplussed by this than most people who have never done overnight shifts in an ER would be. 

She pauses, reaches down very calmly, and takes his hand and removes it from her butt, with an apologetic headshake. 

Why doesn't anyone want to have sex with him!!

"Will you have sex with me?" he asks Wen Qing.

"... ... ... ...I do not have heterosexual sex."

"The drugs are good in this place but the sex options are lousy."

This is slightly weird and awkward but it's not exactly very surprising, given what the kid is on. And it's not his fault that he has no kind of socialization in what constitutes appropriate behavior with medical staff. 

...He's probably lonely. Marian sort of wants to make it up to him. She - hmm - how far, exactly, can she push the void on broad definitions of 'medical supplies' if they're for specifically tripsitting this high kid, who's right there in front of her? 

She goes over and very politely and respectfully asks it for a soft fuzzy blanket. 

It gives her a fluffy quilt with half a dozen different textures of fabric represented in different quilt squares, all of it in cheery colors. It's also very clearly child-sized and was probably made and donated for a children's cancer ward or something. 

Awww. The void is trying so hard to be helpful. 

Marian goes over and offers the blanket to Xue Yang.

Xue Yang LOVES his soft fuzzy blanket. It is so soft and so fuzzy. He is going to pet it. 

"Can I keep it?"

"He wants to know if he can keep it."

"- Uh, yeah, of course." She has hospital blankets and sheets for the cots, that came with the room, and also she's really on quite good terms with the void right now, it seems especially helpful when she's asking for a patient who's right there with her and she has a concrete immediate plan for using her supplies. 

Besides, it's really sweet watching him be so pleased and delighted by something so small. 

Marian stifles a yawn. "Wen Qing, uh, you can go again if you want. I don't super have anything I need to ask him about, so it's probably fine if you're not here to translate, and it's way past your shift end for today."

And also she's aware that Wen Qing is not delighted about helping a maleficer. That medical ethics conversation is maybe one she'll save for another day when Xue Yang isn't right there. 

"All right." She bows. "Thank you for teaching me, Marian-laoshi."

"Thank you for being such an excellent student! I'll see you on Monday for your next shift?" 

"I look forward to it."

Marian goes back to sorting inventory. Starts singing to herself under her breath while she works. 

Marian is also very good???

There are two good people in the Scholomance. That is two more good people than he's ever met in his life before. This is the best place in the world.

He needs to take care of her. She is even worse than Lily. At least Lily trades for things most of the time. Marian gives people valuable things like drugs and blankets for free without asking for anything in return. All of the bad people in the world are going to take advantage of her! He will murder them if they try. 

Marian, oblivious to Xue Yang's murder-related thoughts, wanders around idly tidying the room, poking things with her enchanted dagger just in case - though the wards mean she's probably okay - and singing. She can't google lyrics on her phone, so she mumbles sometimes, but she has most of the Les Mis soundtrack memorized, albeit not perfectly in key. It's a good distraction from having any thoughts, since there are relatively few non-horribly-depressing topics to think about. 

She glances over at Xue Yang occasionally to make sure he seems happy and isn't getting up to mischief. 

Pat pat pat the blanket. Watch watch watch the pretty lights.

Eventually a bell is going to ring! Which means probably it's almost curfew? 

...Marian had not considered the fact that she can't actually communicate with Xue Yang, including to tell him that he needs to go back to his room. She tries to convey this by mime and making shooing motions toward the door? 

Right! He has to go back to his bed!

Which he has now, because this is the best place in the world.

And Marian smiles and shuts her door and goes to bed.