03-06-2017, 03:37 AM
--ning.
...ood morning…
“...stop it…”
The world blurs and sharpens, falling in and out of focus at random as I reorient myself. I honestly can’t recall the last time I was awake - was it outside the hospital? In the taxi? No, was it in the halls…? Maybe it was out in the Nexus… with a few grumbles I myself can’t even understand, I let my eyes open.
...Eyes. Open.
“Eyes…” I hiss irritably. “Eyes, open…” I try to raise my arms to physically pry the star-crossed lovers that are my eyelids apart, but… I can’t seem to move my arms.
Sleep crumbles off my eyes like rust off old, creaky steel doors as my eyes finally give, revealing the blindly white decor of a hospital. Oddly enough, this feels familiar in its own weird, sick way. But… everything’s a bit fuzzy still, and I can’t quite make any details out.
Humming at my side. Familiar humming, to my right… a voice which shouldn’t reach that high. A woman, all brushed-straight rouge hair and big brown eyes. I… almost worried I’d never see her again, and looking back, I realize how silly I was.
“...Ciamath,” I breathe, and I feel a little tear in the corner of my eye. “How did you…?”
My eyes widen as a black-gloved finger is placed over my lips. “Shhh. No questions,” she interrupts. “You need to relax. You’re in no state to be speaking as much as that would demand.”
“Or moving,” adds another voice. Another, much less familiar one. One which I immediately associate with a kick to the stomach, and almost instinctively heave at. It’s her - with her faded golden eyes, slightly grinning in a way that deeply unsettles me. “That won’t be happening anytime too soon, either. Never seen that many broken bones in someone still among the living…”
“What? I…” I shake my head, moving the finger from my lips with what little strength I can muster. I look down at a blanket covering most of my body - almost everything below the shoulders is covered by the thin, light-grayish sheet of fabric which makes me itch a little all over. Trying not to wrap myself up too much in how much I hate the texture of wool, I try to raise my arms to lift the blanket and get a good look at myself.
“Agh-- Gods!” I shout, clenching my fists until my knuckles go white. Pain surges through my body suddenly, and my eyes follow to each point where I feel it - burns along my arms and legs, joints bent in ways they should never be, skin and tissue in all different colours of the bruised rainbow, even stiched cuts and gashes in more than a few places. “Ow! Gah-- fuck! Ciamath!” I wheeze at last, my voice nearly giving out as I speak her name. I reach out a hand to her, hoping for my fingers to lock between hers.
As my arms fall limp at my sides, I let my eyes look to where she once sat. There is only an empty chair beside some sort of monitor showing my vitals, on which a number of lines in different colours all spike up at one point growing slowly more and more distant.
That tear finally drips from my chin and I grip at the sides of my bed. My whole body starts to shake and my face starts to feel hot. I thought…
I never thought it would be like this.
That I would feel so alone.
My eyes and nose start to run beyond my control. My lips move in unfamiliar ways as my mouth produces alien sounds and syllables, catching the awful, salty taste of sadness on the corners of my mouth where I fail to wipe it away. By the time I can hear or see anything outside my own little world, I’m being shook violently at the shoulders by a pair of big, metallic hands.
“Joline. Joline. Joline.”
Through a haze of moisture I see a familiar figure, a towering one which I instantly recognize as the one which beat me to a bloody pulp. The trembling sets in again and I feel the overwhelming urge to run as fast and far as I can, and yet…
I don’t.
And it’s not like I feel like I can’t, either. I try to move my body again, and… though stiff, my arms and legs seem to move relatively normally. How much time passed during all of that…?
“You’re…”
I gulp and glance around. I notice a tissue box where I once saw Elise sitting. Grasping at one, I dab at my eyes and hastily clean my face off. I know what I want to ask, and I know that I shouldn’t ask it. It’s a stupid thing to ask. Instead, I just let myself smile. Everything has to be fine. I… just have to tough this out, and I’ll be perfectly fine.
“...stand me up, would you? I’d like to take a quick look at myself...” my eyes flick about the room for a moment. “...in that mirror over there.” They land on a mirror about seven feet tall embedded in the wall - or at least that’s what it looks like. This place is… sci-fi-y. Could be something else for all I know.
Looking unimpressed, Colonel faux-sighs. “You fell over twice the last time you stood. No.”
“If you won’t, then fine.” I roll out of bed and, in an act of acrobatics unfamiliar yet natural to me, I break my fall with a somersault. “I will.”
As I stand, I lazily adjust my patient’s gown, untying and re-tying a pair of thin strings at the back into a relatively nice bow. I take a few steps toward the mirror with one eye shut and the other squinted, dreading what I’m about to see--
And… comparatively, at least when I recall how I looked under the blankets… not horrible. How long had passed? What happened? Maybe this was one of those weird Prime things. I notice, as I squint at my reflection, there’s flecks of Omnillium glowing in my injuries. Maybe I packed the stuff into my wounds while I was, er… losing it a little?
I puff out my cheeks and take a long, good look at me. As Colonel approaches to make sure I don’t keel over, I can’t help but draw parallels from what was only a day ago, or at least I think - looking at myself in the mirror at Falconsflight Smithy. For a moment I swear I see that girl, the one with a sword and shield slung over her back and a cheeky grin as she thinks, I’m going to be a hero.
...Gods. It’s only been two days here and I’m already looking back on my life like an old woman, I think. But… those don’t feel like my thoughts.
Who else is in here…?
Who else could be?
I catch myself in the mirror - my hands are moving seemingly on their own. They pull a series of hair elastics out, taking them from keeping my hair up and… doing the only thing that they could - letting my hair hang down all the way to my waist.
Following watching this, I rub at my temples. “How many times did you hit me on the head, now…?” Immediately I hold up a hand. “Nevermind. Not… not important.”
Taking a moment to look out the window, I puff out my cheeks and roll my shoulders. I get the feeling I’ll need to stretch a lot - I feel stiff all over, among other, more unpleasant feelings. “I don’t know about you, toaster-man, but I don’t know where I’m headed. I… think I need some time to myself before I go looking for her.”
I can feel confusion emanating from the toaster over my shoulder. Whether that’s a delusion or not, I’m not really sure. I look over my shoulder, opening my mouth to explain, only to see… a man adorned in a fancy-looking military-style getup. Next to Colonel, he doesn’t look too tall… nor too out of place. In fact, their expressions look interchangeable.
I giggle a little bit, mentally swapping their faces for a second. I needed that.
“Greetings, Prime. I would be Captain Aldridge, representing the Emperor’s finest. How have our doctors been treating you?” goes Military Man, sounding awfully… formal and important, for lack of better words.
I immediately draw a blank. Somewhere in my awful, foggy memory I recall… generally good things. I think I got a cookie and some orange juice at one point. I also think I hit on one of the nurses… the line ‘did it hurt when you fell from Heaven, because you’re the only ten I see’ rings painfully loudly in my mind.
I choose to omit the details. “Pretty well. Thumbs up.” Clearing my throat, I add, “so… Captain, is it? What’d I do to deserve this kind of attention?”
Colonel stands silently beside the conversation. I catch a knowing look in his eyes, almost as though if he hasn’t experienced something like this before, he knows the motions that are being gone through. Unfortunately, I don’t. “Do you recall Omni’s words? Or shall I refresh your memory?”
Actually, I don’t. “Nope. Don’t remember that, actually. Don’t remember a lot of things, in fact, but… I think I know what I have to. Oh!” I snap my fingers and smile a bit. “It’s the Prime thing, isn’t it?”
“That would be correct,” he replies. “If you are interested in compensating us for the medical assistance we provided, you could offer your services to the Empire. Positions are always in need of filling, and given what you are… you might have an advantage getting into one.”
Well, if this doesn’t sound like a perfect idea for getting a bit of a break, I don’t know what does. “Don’t have to sell me,” I reply. “I think I already am. Sold, that is,” I add.
This grabs a look of faint concern from Colonel. “Well? Where might you be headed off to, toaster?” I inquire, gently elbowing the tall mass of steel to my side.
“I have no plans for the immediate future,” he notes. “However, I am afraid I will have to decline this offer, should it also extend to me.” His eyes flick over Aldridge as he says this.
“That is understandable. You and I have a few things to sort out, then,” goes the Captain, first to Colonel and then to me. “A residence has been arranged for you on Tier 2. If you have a Dataverse Device, I can provide its coordinates to you. I will meet with you again tomorrow, to discuss what it is exactly you will be doing under my command.”
I rub at my arms, making sure not to irritate any of my mending wounds. “Sounds about good. Especially because tomorrow I’ll have more on me than… this.” I eye the serviceable but not particularly flattering patient’s gown which is… just about the only thing on my person. “Speaking of, where are my clothes?”
Silence. At last, Colonel chimes in. “Almost too torn and burned to be considered clothing, much less function as such,” he responds. “They were likely thrown away. You can summon a new set, if you had any particular attachment for what you were wearing.”
I shake my head. “Not… really. At least, not right now.” I rub at my neck. “Probably best I get something new, though. Something that might make me stand out a bit less.” Curious as to how well my gown’s staying on me, I shift a little and adjust it, hiking it up a bit around my chest.
“That would be wise,” notes Colonel. Aldridge adds, “if you’ve any interest in not standing out, as you say… you may want to fully enjoy what the Verse has to offer. Go shopping. Live the city life a little, rather than relying on Omnilium. Surely it has its uses, but it can be time-consuming and uninteresting, or so it’s said.” He clears his throat. “This choice, however, remains yours.”
He excuses himself with a few formalities which immediately slip my mind. Colonel and I go off on a bit of a walk after I produce some relatively normal clothes for myself. After a while I decide to produce a cane, because my legs decide a few times to have a bit of a nap.
It takes a while spent wandering around. Eventually I just get tired of walking, get rid of my cane and just get Colonel to give me a ride on his shoulders. It takes until what’s just about sundown to finally make way to the right place.
Apartment 5-E of Valtheim Towers, Central Avenue, Coruscant.
...ood morning…
“...stop it…”
The world blurs and sharpens, falling in and out of focus at random as I reorient myself. I honestly can’t recall the last time I was awake - was it outside the hospital? In the taxi? No, was it in the halls…? Maybe it was out in the Nexus… with a few grumbles I myself can’t even understand, I let my eyes open.
...Eyes. Open.
“Eyes…” I hiss irritably. “Eyes, open…” I try to raise my arms to physically pry the star-crossed lovers that are my eyelids apart, but… I can’t seem to move my arms.
Sleep crumbles off my eyes like rust off old, creaky steel doors as my eyes finally give, revealing the blindly white decor of a hospital. Oddly enough, this feels familiar in its own weird, sick way. But… everything’s a bit fuzzy still, and I can’t quite make any details out.
Humming at my side. Familiar humming, to my right… a voice which shouldn’t reach that high. A woman, all brushed-straight rouge hair and big brown eyes. I… almost worried I’d never see her again, and looking back, I realize how silly I was.
“...Ciamath,” I breathe, and I feel a little tear in the corner of my eye. “How did you…?”
My eyes widen as a black-gloved finger is placed over my lips. “Shhh. No questions,” she interrupts. “You need to relax. You’re in no state to be speaking as much as that would demand.”
“Or moving,” adds another voice. Another, much less familiar one. One which I immediately associate with a kick to the stomach, and almost instinctively heave at. It’s her - with her faded golden eyes, slightly grinning in a way that deeply unsettles me. “That won’t be happening anytime too soon, either. Never seen that many broken bones in someone still among the living…”
“What? I…” I shake my head, moving the finger from my lips with what little strength I can muster. I look down at a blanket covering most of my body - almost everything below the shoulders is covered by the thin, light-grayish sheet of fabric which makes me itch a little all over. Trying not to wrap myself up too much in how much I hate the texture of wool, I try to raise my arms to lift the blanket and get a good look at myself.
“Agh-- Gods!” I shout, clenching my fists until my knuckles go white. Pain surges through my body suddenly, and my eyes follow to each point where I feel it - burns along my arms and legs, joints bent in ways they should never be, skin and tissue in all different colours of the bruised rainbow, even stiched cuts and gashes in more than a few places. “Ow! Gah-- fuck! Ciamath!” I wheeze at last, my voice nearly giving out as I speak her name. I reach out a hand to her, hoping for my fingers to lock between hers.
As my arms fall limp at my sides, I let my eyes look to where she once sat. There is only an empty chair beside some sort of monitor showing my vitals, on which a number of lines in different colours all spike up at one point growing slowly more and more distant.
That tear finally drips from my chin and I grip at the sides of my bed. My whole body starts to shake and my face starts to feel hot. I thought…
I never thought it would be like this.
That I would feel so alone.
My eyes and nose start to run beyond my control. My lips move in unfamiliar ways as my mouth produces alien sounds and syllables, catching the awful, salty taste of sadness on the corners of my mouth where I fail to wipe it away. By the time I can hear or see anything outside my own little world, I’m being shook violently at the shoulders by a pair of big, metallic hands.
“Joline. Joline. Joline.”
Through a haze of moisture I see a familiar figure, a towering one which I instantly recognize as the one which beat me to a bloody pulp. The trembling sets in again and I feel the overwhelming urge to run as fast and far as I can, and yet…
I don’t.
And it’s not like I feel like I can’t, either. I try to move my body again, and… though stiff, my arms and legs seem to move relatively normally. How much time passed during all of that…?
“You’re…”
I gulp and glance around. I notice a tissue box where I once saw Elise sitting. Grasping at one, I dab at my eyes and hastily clean my face off. I know what I want to ask, and I know that I shouldn’t ask it. It’s a stupid thing to ask. Instead, I just let myself smile. Everything has to be fine. I… just have to tough this out, and I’ll be perfectly fine.
“...stand me up, would you? I’d like to take a quick look at myself...” my eyes flick about the room for a moment. “...in that mirror over there.” They land on a mirror about seven feet tall embedded in the wall - or at least that’s what it looks like. This place is… sci-fi-y. Could be something else for all I know.
Looking unimpressed, Colonel faux-sighs. “You fell over twice the last time you stood. No.”
“If you won’t, then fine.” I roll out of bed and, in an act of acrobatics unfamiliar yet natural to me, I break my fall with a somersault. “I will.”
As I stand, I lazily adjust my patient’s gown, untying and re-tying a pair of thin strings at the back into a relatively nice bow. I take a few steps toward the mirror with one eye shut and the other squinted, dreading what I’m about to see--
And… comparatively, at least when I recall how I looked under the blankets… not horrible. How long had passed? What happened? Maybe this was one of those weird Prime things. I notice, as I squint at my reflection, there’s flecks of Omnillium glowing in my injuries. Maybe I packed the stuff into my wounds while I was, er… losing it a little?
I puff out my cheeks and take a long, good look at me. As Colonel approaches to make sure I don’t keel over, I can’t help but draw parallels from what was only a day ago, or at least I think - looking at myself in the mirror at Falconsflight Smithy. For a moment I swear I see that girl, the one with a sword and shield slung over her back and a cheeky grin as she thinks, I’m going to be a hero.
...Gods. It’s only been two days here and I’m already looking back on my life like an old woman, I think. But… those don’t feel like my thoughts.
Who else is in here…?
Who else could be?
I catch myself in the mirror - my hands are moving seemingly on their own. They pull a series of hair elastics out, taking them from keeping my hair up and… doing the only thing that they could - letting my hair hang down all the way to my waist.
Following watching this, I rub at my temples. “How many times did you hit me on the head, now…?” Immediately I hold up a hand. “Nevermind. Not… not important.”
Taking a moment to look out the window, I puff out my cheeks and roll my shoulders. I get the feeling I’ll need to stretch a lot - I feel stiff all over, among other, more unpleasant feelings. “I don’t know about you, toaster-man, but I don’t know where I’m headed. I… think I need some time to myself before I go looking for her.”
I can feel confusion emanating from the toaster over my shoulder. Whether that’s a delusion or not, I’m not really sure. I look over my shoulder, opening my mouth to explain, only to see… a man adorned in a fancy-looking military-style getup. Next to Colonel, he doesn’t look too tall… nor too out of place. In fact, their expressions look interchangeable.
I giggle a little bit, mentally swapping their faces for a second. I needed that.
“Greetings, Prime. I would be Captain Aldridge, representing the Emperor’s finest. How have our doctors been treating you?” goes Military Man, sounding awfully… formal and important, for lack of better words.
I immediately draw a blank. Somewhere in my awful, foggy memory I recall… generally good things. I think I got a cookie and some orange juice at one point. I also think I hit on one of the nurses… the line ‘did it hurt when you fell from Heaven, because you’re the only ten I see’ rings painfully loudly in my mind.
I choose to omit the details. “Pretty well. Thumbs up.” Clearing my throat, I add, “so… Captain, is it? What’d I do to deserve this kind of attention?”
Colonel stands silently beside the conversation. I catch a knowing look in his eyes, almost as though if he hasn’t experienced something like this before, he knows the motions that are being gone through. Unfortunately, I don’t. “Do you recall Omni’s words? Or shall I refresh your memory?”
Actually, I don’t. “Nope. Don’t remember that, actually. Don’t remember a lot of things, in fact, but… I think I know what I have to. Oh!” I snap my fingers and smile a bit. “It’s the Prime thing, isn’t it?”
“That would be correct,” he replies. “If you are interested in compensating us for the medical assistance we provided, you could offer your services to the Empire. Positions are always in need of filling, and given what you are… you might have an advantage getting into one.”
Well, if this doesn’t sound like a perfect idea for getting a bit of a break, I don’t know what does. “Don’t have to sell me,” I reply. “I think I already am. Sold, that is,” I add.
This grabs a look of faint concern from Colonel. “Well? Where might you be headed off to, toaster?” I inquire, gently elbowing the tall mass of steel to my side.
“I have no plans for the immediate future,” he notes. “However, I am afraid I will have to decline this offer, should it also extend to me.” His eyes flick over Aldridge as he says this.
“That is understandable. You and I have a few things to sort out, then,” goes the Captain, first to Colonel and then to me. “A residence has been arranged for you on Tier 2. If you have a Dataverse Device, I can provide its coordinates to you. I will meet with you again tomorrow, to discuss what it is exactly you will be doing under my command.”
I rub at my arms, making sure not to irritate any of my mending wounds. “Sounds about good. Especially because tomorrow I’ll have more on me than… this.” I eye the serviceable but not particularly flattering patient’s gown which is… just about the only thing on my person. “Speaking of, where are my clothes?”
Silence. At last, Colonel chimes in. “Almost too torn and burned to be considered clothing, much less function as such,” he responds. “They were likely thrown away. You can summon a new set, if you had any particular attachment for what you were wearing.”
I shake my head. “Not… really. At least, not right now.” I rub at my neck. “Probably best I get something new, though. Something that might make me stand out a bit less.” Curious as to how well my gown’s staying on me, I shift a little and adjust it, hiking it up a bit around my chest.
“That would be wise,” notes Colonel. Aldridge adds, “if you’ve any interest in not standing out, as you say… you may want to fully enjoy what the Verse has to offer. Go shopping. Live the city life a little, rather than relying on Omnilium. Surely it has its uses, but it can be time-consuming and uninteresting, or so it’s said.” He clears his throat. “This choice, however, remains yours.”
He excuses himself with a few formalities which immediately slip my mind. Colonel and I go off on a bit of a walk after I produce some relatively normal clothes for myself. After a while I decide to produce a cane, because my legs decide a few times to have a bit of a nap.
It takes a while spent wandering around. Eventually I just get tired of walking, get rid of my cane and just get Colonel to give me a ride on his shoulders. It takes until what’s just about sundown to finally make way to the right place.
Apartment 5-E of Valtheim Towers, Central Avenue, Coruscant.