Collette (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
crocodilesmiles) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
exsiliumlogs2013-08-02 08:53 am
crocodilesmiles) wrote in exsiliumlogs2013-08-02 08:53 am
(closed) don't get yourself into mischief
Date & Time: August 2nd, 3313, Unspecified (likely morning)
Location: Initiative Hospital
Characters: Caesar S. & Collette
Summary: Collette wakes up three days post her last mission; Caesar's so ecstatic he's positively irritated.
Warnings: Teenage in-sensibilities?
( The last thing she recalled was the adrenaline that carried her through demorphing, and the sight of her hand elongating out of the fur of a coyote's paw. Those three days inbetween might as well not have existed but for how she felt less totally exhausted now than she did when she'd stumbled down off the Transport Pad with Gamora.
Awareness came to her slowly, along with the lights and niggling familiarity of the situation. Before thought can coalesce into coherence, a deeper thread of fright jolts through her stomach, leaving her nauseated and gasping as she startles herself fully awake, one hand jamming down against the hospital bed to no effect, fingers curling into the blanket, the other being forcibly pulled toward her face with the IV still attached.
Her eyes are wide and she's breathing too fast without speaking as she surveys what she finds: perfect human flesh. Just a palm of a hand, and five nails, as her finger curl inwards. She's fine.
Collette closes her eyes and breathes out, a sigh of relief and a lowering of heartrate as tracked on the machines for such things. She's herself. She opens her eyes, looking past the hand still held over her chest. Where is she?
She'd ask, but it comes out as a dry croak. The cotton dryness of her mouth registers afterward, bittersweet and unwelcome in its familiarity. What happened? )
Location: Initiative Hospital
Characters: Caesar S. & Collette
Summary: Collette wakes up three days post her last mission; Caesar's so ecstatic he's positively irritated.
Warnings: Teenage in-sensibilities?
( The last thing she recalled was the adrenaline that carried her through demorphing, and the sight of her hand elongating out of the fur of a coyote's paw. Those three days inbetween might as well not have existed but for how she felt less totally exhausted now than she did when she'd stumbled down off the Transport Pad with Gamora.
Awareness came to her slowly, along with the lights and niggling familiarity of the situation. Before thought can coalesce into coherence, a deeper thread of fright jolts through her stomach, leaving her nauseated and gasping as she startles herself fully awake, one hand jamming down against the hospital bed to no effect, fingers curling into the blanket, the other being forcibly pulled toward her face with the IV still attached.
Her eyes are wide and she's breathing too fast without speaking as she surveys what she finds: perfect human flesh. Just a palm of a hand, and five nails, as her finger curl inwards. She's fine.
Collette closes her eyes and breathes out, a sigh of relief and a lowering of heartrate as tracked on the machines for such things. She's herself. She opens her eyes, looking past the hand still held over her chest. Where is she?
She'd ask, but it comes out as a dry croak. The cotton dryness of her mouth registers afterward, bittersweet and unwelcome in its familiarity. What happened? )
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But what if it was awkward from the get go?!
Well, until he figures that out, he'll rest his chin on her head as it's tucked against his chest. ]
Just don't do that again. [ What he is sure of, at least, is that this isn't going to get a dismissive 'it's fine'. ] You told me you couldn't manage your shapeshifting. You should have said something, told them they couldn't send you.
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( That's (almost) the scary part. It's part of why she doesn't let go. She hadn't just said yes and flashed a smile, gone to hell with it and pushed on past what she felt she could handle. )
I said no.
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They made you go anyway?
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( Pointing out a fact. It's not the first or only time they've been unreasonable. What's worse is that listening to them had started making sense.
That had been the scary part. She'd said no, and then in listening, she'd been convinced enough that it'd be okay. It'd made sense. Wait for a train, figure out a way to unload cargo. It should have been easy, they said, and she's done it before, hasn't she? They're all working toward the same goal. Aren't they?
Aren't they? )
Anyone else would have been fine. I was looking better...
( But not recovered. Not with the hollows around her eyes still; how she'd asked a network to find him when he'd gone missing instead of looking herself. Three days of playing the part of Sleeping Beauty or Rip Van Winkle and she's starting to realize that maybe people really have no idea about limits. )
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[ The mission that stands out most in his mind is the one where they did have a chair, only he'd been the one in it. Is that how she feels when they do that? Even with her animal forms available? Hopelessly powerless, frightened? Angry?
It isn't a position he likes to imagine ever being in again, admittedly.
Still, if he stops and considers if they had done that to a girl like her with no such powers... ]
Looking better doesn't mean better. [ He finally tries pulling himself out of the hug, back beginning to complain about this position. ] Next time they try to make you do anything you don't want to do, get someone to help you deal with them.
[ And then, he adds, as a grumble: ]
So much for hoping they'd stop treating people this way after that deal we made.
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( As he shifts and moves away, she lets go, albiet reluctant. She rubs at her cheeks, trying to nod and listen and grasp just what happened the last few days. )
Yeah, I know. I will. ( Back to watching the bed rather than looking his way. She tries to salavage soemthing out of it: )
I guess it's almost nice they think I'm useful.
( But the reason that's telling doesn't really help. )
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[ Ultimately, if she thinks it isn't okay, then it really isn't, regardless of the excuses for it. ]
Not really. You can find someone useful and respect them at the same time. This isn't the same, not by a long shot. I'm going to file a complain with those so-called liaisons of ours when I get a chance, if that's alright with you...
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It'd be for everybody, right? It's not just because of me.
( She doesn't want that. She wants to talk to Steph and figure out who found her and thank him, whoever he is, and then work on making up for what another three days had lost. She doesn't want to end up the poster child for someone else's agenda. It's why she doesn't complain. It's why she's only saying to Caesar now that it bothers her that she's never given access to her legs, no matter how roundabout that admission. She trusts him, and that he'll understand what it means to her. She hopes he does. )
My name wouldn't be attached?
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[ Of course it would be. That's something he thought would be a no-brainer, but he guesses reassurances are nice to have. Names, though, he frowns for a moment, thinking. More like recalling something, actually, but same thing. ]
The lawyer already knows it'd be about you, but I can still ask for names to be left out.
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( She ends up flopping back, exhaling sharply with a whoof of air. )
Do you have any gum?
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( she smiles, the haze coming back in without something clear to focus on. Oh. She can focus on the dryness. That'll do. )
I'm pretty dry.
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[ It really is a repeat of her last, far too recent stay in the hospital. He gets up to grab a glass and go fill it with water, then bring it back to hand to her, almost exactly like all those other times. ]
So should I be expecting to be doing this a lot?
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lowering the glass to rest on her lap, she uses the back of one hand to wipe across her mouth, eyes locked on the glass. she smiles; she sounds a little better as she teases: )
What, bring me water? A girl's gotta drink, C, it might be more persistent than you think!
( plucking at the material of her gown, her smile flickers, then settles into something less pronounced. she holds the fabric away from her chest. )
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Caesar doesn't answer immediately, since he's gone back to the bathroom to grab any towel or washcloth that might be in there. When he returns again, he takes a seat on the edge of the bed and offers it to her. ]
You know what I meant, Collette. It isn't going to change anything, I just don't want to be surprised every time this happens.
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this makes her uncomfortable, but her tone slides back into factual and unconcerned. it's an easier place to speak from, dealing with the realities of her life as she knows them. )
If I get really sick, yes. My immune system -- um. Did you ever figure out what those were, back in June? ( she pauses, then shakes her head, giving him room to answer but not really room to expand on an answer. ) It doesn't matter, it's just kind of a bummer that if I do manage to get sick, and I get really sick, I need time and help to get better. You already know getting all the way better takes time, but that's how it is for everything like... that, with me.
I get sick a lot less! Morphing kind of helps with that, and with keeping me out of this place. So it's better, but the limits I knew for being me the last fifteen years are different when you throw morphing in. I don't... know, exactly, what those limits are.
( it's in that admission that she starts sounding unsure. )
Like why was it easier for me to keep up doing a lot worse when we were in the United Earth, but I can't recover or work the same now even being really careful as I could then before June.
( which is frustrating, and she doesn't like it at all, because she doesn't know what to do with it. )
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Which is why he doesn't say it, anyway. ]
I've read about immune systems, yeah.
[ Science! Is incredibly confusing, be he has. He's read those things! ]
So you're only starting to find those limits out now, that's all? And something like that virus was just too much for it to handle...
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( she smiles, giving a slight shrug of her shoulders. )
I'm starting to figure it out now. It's not like I want to be in here for this stuff. If I could swear these places off, I would in a heartbeat!
( it'd be a lie to say she never wishes that she could just totally escape )
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[ It really, really wouldn't! No, his life is far more mundane. Even if one includes the wars full of immortal magic-slingers, since those aren't exactly a strange thing to find hanging around battlefields. ]
Alright. [ He's mostly out of questions now, since it's obvious his disappointment is going to be redirected to the Initiative instead of Collette, so he stands back up from his seat on the bed's edge and stretches a bit once more before adding: ] Just try to pass out somewhere easier to find next time you work on figuring it out, alright?
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( Her attention turns toward him, curious and sipping at her water again. It's a moment later that she giggles, then sighs, eyes closing halfway to observe her waterglass. )
Easier to find than the alley by the apartments? ( she looks to his face again, or what she can see of it, and smiles. ) Roger that!
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[ See? That isn't so difficult to do, is it? Ahem, right. Anyway, it might be he didn't hear her first question, because he doesn't answer it... ]
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I might be able to handle that.
( As for the lack of answer... she looks at him sideways, then looks away, toward the ceiling. )
Really not planning on answering that yet?
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Why? It doesn't really matter here. It's just something irritating from home.
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She doesn't know. She smiles regardless, taking another sip of water before she tries to speak again. )
It matters to me. ( Accompanied by a little shrug -- she keeps it to the point, with that dryness threatening toward a dry cough every so often. Talk about limitations... )
It's about you! I always want to know.
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[ He looks away again for a moment, giving the door quite the consideration, but he doesn't leave. In the end, he sighs and idly scratches his head as he turns back towards her.
Just because it's about him! Who even wants to know that kind of stuff? ]
You're such a busybody, even stuck in a hospital like this! [ Huff. There. That out of the way, he adds: ] My brother and I don't get along, not even a little, but it never really struck me as so serious until we met again in the Grasslands.
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