shh i'm punctual shh

[theguideless]

Date & Time: 3/10...
Location: Clinic
Characters: Martin and Martin
Summary: Post-de-chipping random meetings
Warnings: 8 billion apologies for no reason



Well...That was that?

Man, Martin sure hoped so. He was pretty tired of the whole chipping business, and could probably be very content to never hear a word about them ever again if he could. The whole experience was probably going to color his opinion on the food of the same name, too...though he'd only encountered those once before. Frankly, most of the new experiences in Exsilium were wearing him out.

He probably wasn't as polite as he should've been to...to the Johns. Both of them. But Martin was getting frazzled and tired again. It wouldn't have been so bad if...if things made sense, but...

Leaning against the wall just outside the clinic, he sighed loud, feeling his back move and cause the fresh incision to burn a little. The hurt was a good thing, considering the circumstances. Avoiding all the...the extra stuff outside of a knife the doctor offered was a good thing. He'd already done about a dozen and a half things against protocol already; he could at least keep to one rule.

That's not really much good at all, he thought grimly.

Comments

[septim]

This afterlife isn't so bad: there's technological wonders he'd never dream of, foods that taste as if crafted by the goods, public libraries that loan you books for free and whose holds you can renew.

"Bless you, Akatosh." Martin whispers beneath his breath, walking outside the clinic for some fresh air. He's peering into a thick book, angular nose almost touching the pages, not really watching where he's going.

That lack of caution costs some pride. Luckily, he doesn't crash against the wall, but against someone, smaller and squishy. The book tumbles out of his grasp, landing with a heavy thud on the concrete, as he bowls over the person.

"Divines, are you okay!?"

[ OOC: I love my canon. ]

[theguideless]

Shame on the littler one for not paying attention; he was the one with unoccupied eyes, after all. But he'd fallen into a dreary, groggy daze, startled only at the feeling of a body suddenly very close. By then it was far too late to evade, but only brace and bear the brunt of the weight crashing into him. A confused, garbled sound escaped him, muffled against the body and left at a bit of a weird squeak in the open.

He himself doesn't fall, pressed up against the wall as he was, but did slide and stagger, nearly tripping over the book obstacle suddenly there. It took a few unsteady, startled steps to regain balance, arms up and crossed in front of him just in case for the remaining intrusion that never came.

He opened an eye, moving his arms enough to see.

Oh, it's...

He exhaled, dropping the arms mid-way. "M-Martin..."

Still strange, saying his own name yet addressing someone else.

[septim]

Martin meets Martin once more, albeit in a rather crushing sense. Divines, he needs to stop scaring this boy every time they meet—last time it was a barrage of master-level elemental spells, this time a bone-crushing, though accidental hug.

"I need to stop reading while walking..." He dusts himself off, standing, then rushes towards the smaller figure, hands glowing with a healing spell. "I'm sorry, I need to stop scaring you every time I meet you." He laughs nervously, tilting his head here and there to check he didn't cause any injuries.

[theguideless]

Martin flinched away from the well-meaning hands, feeling the warning tingle up his spine and grip at his neck. Again, his arms rose in a crossed defense, the sound of his breath sucking in sharply coming off as a hiss.

"It'salright!" he said quickly, loudly, a bit high in pitch. "I'm not hurt! Please don't--"

[septim]

That defensive body language says it all. Martin flexes his hands, extinguishing the spell. As a kitten scared of strangers, dealing with this Martin is an exercise in caution and calmness. "Okay, I won't use any magic." His hands are kept open, visible at his sides. "What brings you to the clinic?"

[theguideless]

The boy didn't let his breath out until the light – and the weird sensation that it triggered – faded, shoulders sagging shakily. One too many scares...Once his arms dropped, he dragged his hands against his thighs to dry them of sweat.

"Sorry," he uttered, starting to settle. "I came with John, so...To get the chips out, I mean. That's all."

[septim]

"I just crashed into you and you're apologizing?" It isn't a derisive question, mostly rhetorical. Martin flashes a soft smile, then picks up his book, straightening the crumpled pages. "Ah, you were chipped. I'm sorry, it's not a pleasant experience, at all."

[theguideless]

Martin flushed at the question, mouth tugging on one side. He shuffles back a couple steps more to give the elder room to get his things, only suddenly aware there were things at all.

"Oh, uh," he grimaced a little, getting back on track. "Yeah...I mean, no. It wasn't. But...it's done, now. So it's alright, I hope."

[septim]

Martin carries the book underneath his arm. Hair, still disheveled from the fall, gets combed with his fingers, a temporary fix. "I'm glad to hear it. I've been worried about you." Ever since that excursion into the outlands, as a matter of fact. "Was it difficult, getting back to the Hold?"

[theguideless]

Difficult? Martin thought. As opposed to...to what? He wasn't really sure what that meant for anyone else – especially someone who seemed to command fire and...and everything. He squinted as he thought harder on it.

Well, in my case...

"It wasn't...hard, I don't think," he said. "I mean, it was mostly quiet up until the end. And I didn't really know where we were going, but I wasn't driving the...the machine, the truck."

[septim]

"A truck." One of those metallic automatons that functioned as a self-propelled carriage. Must've been exciting to ride in one. "Someone found you and brought you back to the Hold in one of those...trucks. Who was it? I should thank them."

[theguideless]

He nodded a little, because that's how it was. It sounded less strange when other people said it.

"Bariyan did," he replied, scratching at his elbow. "He went out and found me..."

Because someone had to, he said. I don't know why.

[septim]

Bariyan. The name is familiar, yet much time has happened since their last conversation. He'll need to refresh his memory, if he wants to avoid the possibility for embarrassment. "I will thank them." Martin moves closer to the smaller Martin, as more personal conversation dictates. "So, how have you been? I hope you feel a bit more comfortable in this place."

[theguideless]

Comfortable? Martin grimaced, shrinking out of sheer habit, thoughtlessly. Shrinking away from not only the other Martin, but from the question. And answer, perhaps, because he absolutely didn't want to lie.

Best to just turn the talk to something he could answer with less detail.

"I'm still learning," he said. "I didn't...look around right the first time."