[from here.By some saving grace, nobody tried to stop Elena from heading straight back inside. Probably because they knew if she tried to go anywhere other than the Sun Room, she'd be stopped. And most likely with brute force, if the rest of the day had been any indication
( ... )
There was an instant where Stefan couldn't let himself believe it was her. The day had stretched on so painfully so far that he'd already resigned himself to a long wait, but the look on her face was so exactly Elena's face on the hundreds of other times she'd stepped into a room and seen him. Stefan heard himself say her name, as he always did when she looked at him like that. He stood, but had barely taken a step before she'd collided into him, her arms wrapping around his neck. He pulled Elena tighter against him and breathed in the scent of her hair, and if even for a moment, it occurred to him how hungry he was and how good she smelled, well-
It didn't matter. Elena was here, and it didn't matter.
The wound on her shoulder wasn't bleeding anymore, he did notice that, although he could feel the outline of a bandage when he ran his hand over it. Everything else besides that was something he could withstand, if he was allowed to just hold her and hear her breath against his ear and feel the steady beat of
( ... )
Elena clung to Stefan as soon as she could reach out for him, there was no other way to put it. She held on tight and buried her face in his neck, letting the relief of finally having him there with her again sink in all at once. Her throat burned for a second, threatening to start tears in her eyes, or maybe even just make her start spilling everything that she felt and what happened, all at once-- But she wouldn't let that happen, not yet. It would ruin the moment
( ... )
Stefan pulled away automatically at her words. Not far - nothing short of certain obliteration could drag him away from Elena right now - but enough so the only part of him which touched her was his right hand, still tangled in her hair. She'd felt his skin before when it had dropped below normal temperatures, but he usually made the effort to drink caffeine and animal blood regularly enough that the effect was mitigated. Right now, with no coffee in sight and four days with proper feeding... this was probably as cold as his skin had felt since he'd sat in the basement of boarding house, resolving to die
( ... )
That announcement was interesting. The head nurse had a spine, and some sneakiness to her, imagine that.
"Did you catch all of that?" Mello asked his own nurse. "That IRIS thing?"
She ignored the question. That figured.
But Mello would've been in an excellent mood, if he hadn't still been worried about Matt. It wasn't just because of the last lingering effects of the sedative. Lunch had been very productive, and Mello planned to build on his alliance of sorts with Javert as soon as possible. Lamperouge had said the older man needed someone else in on his research into the torture sessions; it was the perfect alignment of two separate goals. And Landel had clearly got his ass handed to him over the food fight.
"Hey, lady, I need to check on a friend in the Sun Room." 'Just fine,' Matt had written, but he would've claimed that regardless.
The nurse had no problem hearing that. She even gave her usual syrupy smile, as if she'd award Mello a gold star, if she could have, for having a friend here
( ... )
Matt was awake, just... incredibly cranky. At the nudging, he tilted his head to one side before opening his eyes a crack and glaring up at the blond. "At least it looks like someone's had a good day," he noted, shifting in the chair to sit up and properly greet his friend.
He stayed silent another minute, looking Mello up and down and dropping the glare. A sigh, and then his eyes close again while he stretches, obviously expecting Mello to sit down close to him. "So. Who's starting share and care time? You or me?" It should have been apparent that they both had stories to tell: Matt needed to discuss the weirdness from the night before with his fellow investigator, and Mello was stuck in the position of filling in his mate's blanks from a less than active day. It was a match made in Landel's.
Mello helped himself to a seat on the arm of the chair, scrutinizing Matt. "That depends," he said, "on what you've got to share."
He'd seen Matt's post on the bulletin board, but he remained deeply skeptical. You never knew with these bastards; they might have done something to Matt with a time-delay effect, or some sort of trigger, or something else not readily apparent. The idea they'd drag someone up there and do nothing was… just fucking weird.
"Are you sure you're all right?" That probably gave away some of the worry that had been gripping him, but this was Matt, damn it. Mello had spent the entire last night pacing the hall and banging on doors, only to have it end before he even confirmed Matt was okay. Not that he'd be sharing that information.
[ from here ]The hallways, at this point, were all horribly familiar. It was really just salt in the wound that she had to have the nurse babysitting, pretending to lead the way, while they navigated the halls that Claire had run up and down a half dozen times. Insult to injury and all that. Still, she kept her mouth shut tight until they reached the sun room, and there she shot a precautionary, forced smile to the nurse that didn't even look like it was in the ballpark of genuine
( ... )
At his olympics remark, she visibly cringed. He was mad. At least a little mad, that much was obvious, and well, she probably deserved mad. It certainly harkened back to her earlier conversation with her uncle, reminding her that Lying Is Bad and all that, especially considering how betrayed she'd felt by Bella doing it. But, it was instinct. It was the only way she had left to protect herself in this place.
When he called her out on her lie, she opened her mouth to argue at first -- no, I'm normal. I am. She might as well have been a wooden puppet masquerading as a real boy. So, she just snapped her jaw shut and let him talk. It made a lot of sense -- she'd noticed that it seemed like almost everyone had something special about them here. Even Bella had some dark secret she was hiding that was supposedly going to get her killed
( ... )
Normally, Claude would have been interested in spending the whole shift in the greenhouse. That thick, moist air, along with the small variety of plants, proved a nice change of pace when compared to the rest of the institute's sterile environment. With all the excitement today, though, taking some time to himself in the Sun Room sounded pretty appealing. These days it felt like he was doing that more and more often, but there wasn't anything wrong with that, right? Since this shift was often divided by sex, staying in the Sun Room also gave him a chance to talk to people he might not have otherwise
( ... )
[From here.]The walk back proved inconsequential, though her nurse took a moment to commend her for her good behavior. To Tear's surprise, she even made note of the chastisement on the bulletin board, regarding it as a "brave thing to say" (with an added comment on not using such an elaborate and drawn out alias, of course). It was the first time the teenager had heard her string more than five sentences together, and thus, Tear was marginally taken aback
( ... )
He hadn't expected anyone to approach him so soon, but Claude honestly didn't mind. Company prevented his thoughts from wandering too far, and now was the time to keep his head in the here and now. Opening his eyes, he sat up straighter in his seat and turned toward the source of the voice. Even though they'd only met once before, he recognized her right away. She had a distinct way of carrying herself that struck Claude as the very essence of cool, calm and collected. The fact she was military didn't surprise him
( ... )
The same thing? The phrase took a moment to process, leaving Tear a beat behind and somewhat perplexed. She remembered a second afterward, a fact that evoked some irritation. The staff had not informed anyone of her stay in the medical wing; she was good as missing in those two days. The Melodist would do well to remind her nurse of that mistake
( ... )
By now, Sam had gotten used to hearing what was sometimes weirdly close to a full-on radio drama happening through a bunch of speakers, but it was still hard to take it seriously. Not that he didn't take it seriously; it was just that it tended to come with a brief are you kidding me moment.
And yeah, he couldn't say he liked what he was hearing. It'd started to become clear a few days ago, maybe even longer than that, that something was changing. It'd started with, what. Jill? Jill, yeah, and then the changes to the bulletin board, the sudden crackdown on the notes that went up. Little things, here and there. So this thing with the Eagle and the soldiers, it'd been a long time coming. Now that it was here, though, Sam wasn't sure what to make of it
( ... )
Sam didn't close the book, but he did lower it. Because yeah, he wasn't actually reading it, but honestly, he'd pretty much read the entire selection the tiny library here had. One of the upsides of the combination of college plus a childhood filled with endless road trips.
He snorted softly. "Tell me about it. Looks like we have some inner politics going on."
Which wasn't a bad thing, but it wasn't good, either. It was weird-he'd spent a good while trying to sort out how this place worked. He'd just gravitated towards the supernatural part of it which yeah, was kind of a mistake, wasn't it? If they brushed all that aside, the situation seemed deceptively simple. And what was especially clear was that whatever was going on, the patients were as good as bystanders dragged into the middle of it. Maybe even as far as the nurses and doctors. Maybe. If he opted for the generous option
( ... )
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There was an instant where Stefan couldn't let himself believe it was her. The day had stretched on so painfully so far that he'd already resigned himself to a long wait, but the look on her face was so exactly Elena's face on the hundreds of other times she'd stepped into a room and seen him. Stefan heard himself say her name, as he always did when she looked at him like that. He stood, but had barely taken a step before she'd collided into him, her arms wrapping around his neck. He pulled Elena tighter against him and breathed in the scent of her hair, and if even for a moment, it occurred to him how hungry he was and how good she smelled, well-
It didn't matter. Elena was here, and it didn't matter.
The wound on her shoulder wasn't bleeding anymore, he did notice that, although he could feel the outline of a bandage when he ran his hand over it. Everything else besides that was something he could withstand, if he was allowed to just hold her and hear her breath against his ear and feel the steady beat of ( ... )
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"Did you catch all of that?" Mello asked his own nurse. "That IRIS thing?"
She ignored the question. That figured.
But Mello would've been in an excellent mood, if he hadn't still been worried about Matt. It wasn't just because of the last lingering effects of the sedative. Lunch had been very productive, and Mello planned to build on his alliance of sorts with Javert as soon as possible. Lamperouge had said the older man needed someone else in on his research into the torture sessions; it was the perfect alignment of two separate goals. And Landel had clearly got his ass handed to him over the food fight.
"Hey, lady, I need to check on a friend in the Sun Room." 'Just fine,' Matt had written, but he would've claimed that regardless.
The nurse had no problem hearing that. She even gave her usual syrupy smile, as if she'd award Mello a gold star, if she could have, for having a friend here ( ... )
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Matt was awake, just... incredibly cranky. At the nudging, he tilted his head to one side before opening his eyes a crack and glaring up at the blond. "At least it looks like someone's had a good day," he noted, shifting in the chair to sit up and properly greet his friend.
He stayed silent another minute, looking Mello up and down and dropping the glare. A sigh, and then his eyes close again while he stretches, obviously expecting Mello to sit down close to him. "So. Who's starting share and care time? You or me?" It should have been apparent that they both had stories to tell: Matt needed to discuss the weirdness from the night before with his fellow investigator, and Mello was stuck in the position of filling in his mate's blanks from a less than active day. It was a match made in Landel's.
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He'd seen Matt's post on the bulletin board, but he remained deeply skeptical. You never knew with these bastards; they might have done something to Matt with a time-delay effect, or some sort of trigger, or something else not readily apparent. The idea they'd drag someone up there and do nothing was… just fucking weird.
"Are you sure you're all right?" That probably gave away some of the worry that had been gripping him, but this was Matt, damn it. Mello had spent the entire last night pacing the hall and banging on doors, only to have it end before he even confirmed Matt was okay. Not that he'd be sharing that information.
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When he called her out on her lie, she opened her mouth to argue at first -- no, I'm normal. I am. She might as well have been a wooden puppet masquerading as a real boy. So, she just snapped her jaw shut and let him talk. It made a lot of sense -- she'd noticed that it seemed like almost everyone had something special about them here. Even Bella had some dark secret she was hiding that was supposedly going to get her killed ( ... )
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And yeah, he couldn't say he liked what he was hearing. It'd started to become clear a few days ago, maybe even longer than that, that something was changing. It'd started with, what. Jill? Jill, yeah, and then the changes to the bulletin board, the sudden crackdown on the notes that went up. Little things, here and there. So this thing with the Eagle and the soldiers, it'd been a long time coming. Now that it was here, though, Sam wasn't sure what to make of it ( ... )
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He snorted softly. "Tell me about it. Looks like we have some inner politics going on."
Which wasn't a bad thing, but it wasn't good, either. It was weird-he'd spent a good while trying to sort out how this place worked. He'd just gravitated towards the supernatural part of it which yeah, was kind of a mistake, wasn't it? If they brushed all that aside, the situation seemed deceptively simple. And what was especially clear was that whatever was going on, the patients were as good as bystanders dragged into the middle of it. Maybe even as far as the nurses and doctors. Maybe. If he opted for the generous option ( ... )
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