That Dust Is Gonna Settle [ OPEN ]

[axinfinity]

Characters: Rion Steiner, OPEN.
Content: After a month-long coma that followed the fight with Birdman, Rion Steiner doesn’t have much going for him other than to wake up to yet another bedridden day. At least he’s conscious this time, which is debatably a good thing.
Location: St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rion’s Room.
Time of day: Throughout the day.

Comments

[clevermedic]

Rebecca had taken a little longer getting to the Cathedral than she'd expected, between stopping off a few places on her way up, and crab-dodging, even on her bike it was into the afternoon before she arrived. Still, she had every intention of spending at least a little while checking in on Rion, and while she knew she probably wouldn't need it, her medical kit was still strapped to her waist, just in case

[axinfinity]

The volume hadn’t been too incredible loud for Rion not to hear the sound of the door creaking open and the knock. Or that voice, for that matter. The voice was easily to place, just like everyone’s Rion had come to familiarize himself with.

In spite of everything, Rion was grateful to Rebecca for what she had done. He remembered hearing her voice present before the morphine had taken him under... how long ago did Harry say he was out? ... a few weeks? a month? At times it felt like the blink of an eye, and others it seemed to be an eternity.

The nightmares that followed were nothing more than a disjointed mess.

Lowering the headphones from his ears, Rion turned his head in the direction to which he heard Rebecca’s voice.

“Hey.”

While he had a month to recover, there was no doubt that the boy was still pretty banged up and bruised. His arm didn’t hurt as much as it used to, but his legs refused to move. He would have gotten up if he could, but... Oh well.

[clevermedic]

Smiling she moved further into the room, shrugging off the backpack she wore and unzipping her heavy jacket, sliding it from her shoulders and tucking it in the corner. Picking up the backpack she moved over to Rion's bed and sat down in the nearby chair, leaning forward. She almost reached out to take a hold of his face so she could get a better look at his eyes, but thought better of it, folding her hands in her lap instead.

"How's the head?" She knew he'd said he was feeling a little fuzzy. The question doubled for how his pain was, but if he didn't feel like being specific at all she wouldn't press him. She imagined everyone was poking at him enough, now that he was awake. And while she was concerned for his physical well-being, his mental well-being was also something she felt was important. He'd been through a lot. If he didn't want to be poked, she wouldn't poke.

[axinfinity]

Strangely Rion found himself avoiding looking directly at Rebecca. If it was anybody else, he wouldn’t have cared. Except that Rebecca had been nice to him, which was odd. Not very many people were nice to monsters.

“Hurts, but... I’ve always had migraines, so that’s not anything new.” Sadly it really wasn’t, even with the dose of morphine administered. In fact, Rion couldn’t think of a time his head didn’t hurt.

When he died, maybe? Back then all he concerned himself with was just how tired he was. Coughing, struggling to breathe, eyes burning and skin on fire... and Lilia’s voice right there with him, telling him everything was going to be okay.

He had pushed his limits back then when a damn virus program went and shut his brain down. Now here he was, alive again somehow and laid up in bed. The pain wasn’t so bad. He could live with it.

[revedepapillon]

The words 'poor kid' couldn't help but come to mind. She knew better than to say it, though. As easy as she found it to mock and tease him in her head, and as little as they spoke or interacted, she had a feeling pity wouldn't have been in place here.
She almost never understood pity. Maybe because she was used it, or never expected or wanted it from others. Could be why she was reluctant to offer it to people.
Whatever it was, she found herself standing outside the kid's door. Hesitantly and gently, she made a fist and knocked.

[axinfinity]

Rion had been in the process of drifting in and out of sleep once again, a process in which seemed habitual ever since his crude awakening. Whatever medication they had him on, though, it helped, but only just. The blind pulsing behind his eyelids that sunk each time he closed them, rattling their way into his skull and brain...

There wasn’t even a point in complaining about it anymore. The way Rion always carried himself the way he did, his head barely able to hold up as the thundering bolt of pain shot through him.... All of that was barely recognizable to him now.

The footsteps outside his door stirred him from his post recent daze, as the sunken eyelids lifted. He tilted his head towards the source of the noise, the two black holes in his face just facing that direction, but never quite seeing.“Maria

[revedepapillon]

Maria was almost surprised. She couldn't imagine the kind of pain he was in, the drugs he was on, or what he might have been feeling, but he still recognized her, just from the sound of her hand on the door.
Cautious as before, she opened the door and stepped inside.
"Yeah...it's me."
She almost wanted to ask if he was okay, but all the time around James made her refrain from stupid question.
A twisted smile came to her face, one that she knew Rion couldn't see.

[axinfinity]

It was slight, but Rion could get a sense out of Maria’s tone that she hadn’t expected him to recognize her, which was understandable. Admittedly, he was a little surprised himself that he actually got it right, with confirmation of the woman’s voice.

“It’s not just your knock.” Rion clarified as he carefully sat upright, pushing his back up against the bed frame. Doing this with just one arm proved to be a little difficult; the boy managed. “Everyone has different strides. Their breathing and smells are different as well...”

He got a pretty good knack at doing this nowadays. Beforehand it took some effort; Rion had to quickly accept that he wouldn’t be able to recognize people by their faces and instead had to figure out other means to differentiate them.

Much as he had before, when all he had to identify Lilia was the sound of her voice calling out to him in his head.

[crazylikefawkes]

Three sharp raps, and a light thud---knuckles, and the side of a fist. Like everything else, it meant something.

"I stand at the door and knock, although doors are a dangerous business; everything leads to everything, it is said, and way leads on to way." Although unseen, the shadow at the door still smiled. "Might I come in? If you should like to to talk, I will listen. If you wouldn't, well." There was the soft clap of leather-on-leather, gloved hands coming together. "I assure you, I am capable of filling the silence entirely on my own, and I daresay I'm off to a good start. However, should you wish to avoid such noise, I shall be off again."

[axinfinity]

Given his previous visits, Rion had made sure that he kept the walkman’s volume down just in case he found himself in the presence of more visitors. He honestly hadn’t expected any in the first place, even if he did return to the world with a... loud awakening. The fact that the boy was still alive was surprising enough.The pain a constant, but bearable at least. The bottles of medication remained on his nightstand, so far untouched. Those could wait for later when the boy decided to rest again

[crazylikefawkes]

"Thank you. It's been a long time since I've received permission to enter an area." V chuckled and strode to the chair, each step measured by the deliberate clock of boot heels. "It's good that you've got something to occupy the time, though I imagine it hasn't anything on live entertainment. The next time I visit, I will certainly see to that. After all," He drew the chair away from the wall, and sat. "I would hope an organ might be available, in a space such as this."

There was the briefest beat of silence, during which the actor only observed, as he had since entering. The holes where Rion's eyes had been didn't bother him, as he'd seen and done worse...and works were still available, in braille and on audio.

"It'd best be your turn, Rion. Talk?"

[axinfinity]

Admittedly Rion was a little curious as to what V meant about receiving permission, but decided not to touch the subject. Things were just that much different around here than where the boy was from, so much that he had since forfeited any reason to try and figure them out. Or the people, for that matter, who were even more different