023: [ visual ] / [ location: Hyperion Hotel ] Before I come undone

[glowingseer]

No, no, no -

"No!"

Cordelia wakes up with a start, sitting upright on her bed with her hands clutching her blanket like a lifeline. For several moments she looks around her in alarm, wondering where the hell she is and where the others are, wondering if this is another one of those times she unfortunately opened her eyes only to be sliced and

Comments

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

Godric jolts awake in bed, wrested out of a sound sleep by Cordelia's cry. Few other things would have woken him; a tree could have fallen outside and he might have only turned over. But Cordelia's voice, crying out, is something that he's become unfortunately attuned to. For the briefest moment, he's back in the Master's makeshift torture chamber, listening to someone else's suffering. But he's not, of course. He's in his room, and the cry came from the tablet. He reaches for it, groggy and still recovering, but unnaturally whole. The injuries he'd suffered are completely gone.

"...Are you alright?" He knows she's not, but his tone indicates that he's asking in relative terms.

[visual]

[glowingseer]

She grabs her tablet, and for a few moments contemplates on setting it to voice. Cordelia doesn't want anyone to see her, not when she looks like a History exhibit reject.

But then, this is Godric, and god knows he's already seen her in a state far, far worse than she's in right now.

"Hey," she whispers. Any other day and his question would have garnered a catty reply. Now? Cordelia finds she has no strength to even think of a sharp answer. "No. You?"

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

"...I've been better." Godric has been in very bad situations in his long life, and has suffered worse injuries than the ones the Master inflicted on him. But by its nature, torture is horrific and traumatizing, and there had been one element of it that Godric had not been prepared for. As someone who's been a vampire most of his life, his mind had never been invaded. Apparently there truly is a first time for everything.

"Nightmare?"

[visual]

[glowingseer]

She, on the other hand, is quite frankly a bit used to the whole 'mind-invasion' thing. That's how her visions work, after all. But she's never been in a situation where she's being hurt and, at the same time, watching someone else suffer live.

Three cheers for first time fever.

Cordelia nods, then goes to sit on her bed. "Yeah," she says quietly. "I can... still see it. Hear it." Which is unavoidable, considering her hands are tied all throughout the event. "It just won't go away. Like we're still in there."

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

"It will go away," he assures with a kind of certitude that can only come from experience. That may be disturbing, but at least it's plain that his words aren't empty.

"You may find yourself changed in some respects, and you will never forget, but in time it will no longer feel so tangible. The nightmares will fade away."

[visual]

[glowingseer]

"When?" Cordelia demands, rubbing her temples - as if that will help ease the ugly memories away.

Then she looks up, as if remembering something.

"Wait. Are you still human right now?"

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

He shrugs. It isn't an exact science.

"It depends. Having people who love you helps." It's not the experience itself, but what comes after that can make or break a person. Cordelia is fortunate to have a strong group of friends and a lover who will make sure she doesn't fall apart.

"Yes, I'm still human." He cocks his head in a curious sort of way. Why does she want to know?

[visual]

[glowingseer]

It's also a blessing and a curse, since sometimes she can't drive them away with a knife, even if she tried.

"Sorry," Cordelia says. "It's just... I heard Dru--"

Saying that name fills her with so much rage that she has to pause for a while. "I heard her say you were. It must have been a bajillion times worse, for you."

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

Godric's expression darkens at the mention of Drusilla, but he recovers admirably, not allowing himself to simmer in his anger. Not now. He focuses instead on what's been said.

"Worse?" He ponders that a few moments. "It was frustrating. As a vampire, they never could have held me. I could have stopped it all before it began. But as a human I could do nothing, and I hated it." Godric isn't used to helplessness, and that more than anything has soured his experience of being human again.

[visual]

[glowingseer]

"One thing you can say about these aliens, is that they know just how to make a bad situation a thousand times worse," she says, shaking her head. "But... I'm glad. That you seem fine. I mean... you are, right? No... lasting injury or anything?"

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

Godric shakes his head, a small smile on his face. It's very nice to know that Cordelia is genuinely concerned.

"No, no injury at all, thanks to Eric." The healing power of vampire blood is not something he intends to advertise, but Cordelia has a right to know why Godric is only tired, while Cordelia is still wrapped in bandages. But even if she were so inclined to ask for some, which he doubts, a list of the side effects would quickly change her mind.

"Are you recovering well, yourself?" He means in terms of physical injury, only.

[visual]

[glowingseer]

"Eric?" she asks. "Oh, you mean the hot, tall, blond vamp you're always with?" It did enter her brain, the question on how come Godric seems okay now compared to her when he got much worse treatment in that warehouse than she ever did. Add the fact that he's still human, and yep - big questions to answer, right there.

Cordelia nods. "I think someone got a little too enthusiastic with the bandages," she says, waving one arm for emphasis. She's guessing Fred wrapped her up, but she can't be too sure of that.

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

"Yes, that's him. I'm his Maker-- his Sire," he adds, remembering that the terminology for the vampires she's used to is a bit different.

He can't help but chuckle at the excess of bandages wrapped around Cordelia. Her mummy comment hadn't been far off the mark.

"Better too enthusiastic than not enthusiastic enough. Infection wouldn't be a pleasant way to top off a thoroughly unpleasant experience."

[visual]

[glowingseer]

"...oh," she says, curious now. "So he... did something to help you heal faster?"

Cordelia then rolls her eyes. "I know, I know," she says. "God knows how much I'm careful with the whole 'getting infected' thing. Except I'm usually the bandager, not the bandagee." It's probably better that she wasn't awake when her wounds were getting cleaned up, though - she's been on the receiving end of so much winces and sharp intakes of non-breath from a tough vampire that she knows the process is a lot more painful than it looks.

[visual]

[faderbroderson]

"He gave me his blood." He hesitates perceptibly, but continues. "Unless a person is on the verge of death, vampire blood -- of our type, anyway -- will heal that person, not turn them. It has side effects, however. We don't usually tell people about it, lest they decide it's some grand scientific experiment."

He trusts that Cordelia, of all people, won't decide it's a scientific experiment, and it's clear he expects her to refrain from going around and telling everyone about it if she doesn't have to.

[visual]

[glowingseer]

"Side effects." Oh, she really doesn't like the sound of that. It's reassuring, though - and a bit flattering, really - that Godric is telling her about this, when he just said that this was something they usually don't do. "Like what?"