[Fear is the furthest thing from her mind. She doesn't mind the pain; intense as it is, she can forget it behind the necessity of keeping her mind clear to find the way out of this place. Her eyes rove the room, searching out any path, any tool.
No, what Ami hates is being so exposed. It's as if that scalpel can cut into her and come away with the dregs of all these years of darkness and bitterness. And Aerith, who still smiles, will see the blackness of those depths. Worse, it's as if it can cut away the hard growth surrounding a lonely teenage girl and leave her open to pain again.
It doesn't seem to be the first time something's cut through her; there's a large, nasty scar at her chest that looks old, but never faded.]
Don't look.
[She growls out the simple words, and all at once she could laugh at herself; right now, she's so pathetic.]
You're looking. [ Though really, scientists know better than to leave useful tools within the reach of temperamental specimens. Look as she might, nothing apparent stands out. ] The best way to learn is direct observation. No one ever proved theories by closing their eyes.
[ She smiles like Aerith, but she doesn't talk exactly like her ... she doesn't even feel like herself on the inside. She senses something bad is going on, but she's detached from it. Only an observer, even as she goes through the motions, reacting with her own curiosity as she touches lightly on Ami's scar with her finger. ]
[She doesn't have much choice. With nothing more mundane at hand, she creates her own tools.
She will turn this room to ice. If she can ice over the tools and implements, Aerith can't use them. That will buy her time. She doesn't even turn her head to look.]
(ooc: wasn't sure if there'd be anything in place to prevent magic, so I left it open with Ami trying to ice over the instruments)
[She tries, she really does try her hardest, but the straps are too tight for her. Not only that, but her Pokeballs are close enough that she can see them, but far enough that she can't reach out and call her Pokemon out to cut her free and make a break for it.
But it's only when she sees Aerith--no, the scalpel that she really feels fear rising in her gut. The assurance that she shouldn't be scared doesn't help her feel better, instead making her feel worse.]
sob I have no excuse for this latenessauncyenhaligMay 1 2011, 04:46:31 UTC
Hmm ... [ She thinks for only a scant few seconds before shaking her head. ] I just wouldn't feel right, playing with your hopes like that. You're not leaving. That never happens. [ Except one time ... ]
[Tomoe turned blank, cold eyes on the woman standing over her. She was scared, and she was outraged, and she was in pain... but there was no trace of any of that in her expression. Only in her stiff posture, the way she subtly pulled against the restraints and the way the tendons in her neck stood out as she breathed.]
It seems a waste of breath to tell someone that under the circumstances.
[She frowned at her. She... should know this woman, she was sure of it... but there seemed to be a block as to... how or where...]
What is the point of this?
[ooc; lol if I'm not doing it right I can redo /o/]
[ ooc; I am trying to pull off Aerith as a mad scientist what is "right" lol ]
The point? The point is to learn. What makes things tick ... even the greatest scientists don't have all the answers for life's workings.
[ To a little girl, though, all she had ever seen done to other specimen -- animal or otherwise -- seemed simply barbaric. So when Aerith picks up the scalpel again, there isn't a specific plan in mind, not yet. Just the thought of cutting to see what lay underneath. ]
[ She doesn't know how she got here. Everything leading up to this point was a blur, and some haziness still lingered in her mind. Though she is trained to withstand torture, she cannot help but let some of her outrage show in the way she struggles against the bindings and the fierce glare of her green eyes.
Shira's body has had its share of reconstruction - nearly being crushed by a guardian servitor will do that to a woman - but she was still as tough as always, and had no shame about the various scars, wounds, and bruises adorning her body. ]
Fear denies faith. [ She nearly spat it out, trying best to remain composed; to remember her training. Someone has to know she was kidnapped. Calpurnia was not just some random civilian off of of the street... ] My faith shall be my shield...
Sorry for the lateness D:auncyenhaligMay 1 2011, 05:16:18 UTC
Looks like your shield's been dented. [ Still, the words reverberate with Aerith. Fear denies faith ... Faith, and defiant green eyes -- somehow they seemed familiar, even though she knew she'd never seen this one before. ] But you've held together this far. Maybe there is something to your faith.
[his breathing is harsh in his own ears and somewhere in the back of his mind is a litany of 'please no, please no, please no' running too fast for him to draw breath. If it runs fast enough it will keep him from being able to scream when the time comes.
His wrists are strapped in place as well as his elbows, his arms outstretched and his legs are bound in three different places just to keep them down. He knows they'll hold - because they always hold - but he jerks at them anyway and the metal and thick leather grinds and protests. He's already broken out into a cold sweat and he's shivering the smallest bit, muscles already too tense and strained. The air is full of the scent of sharp, biting chemicals and thick cloying, smothering ones and there's the unmistakable lightning strike scent of mako somewhere hidden under it all.
please no, please no, pleaseno, pleaseno, pleasenopleasenopleaseno...His pupils are dilated and huge in his mako eyes as they flick toward the sound of a voice. His throat is bone dry and his teeth ache
( ... )
as okay as absolute wrongness can be XDauncyenhaligMay 22 2011, 06:57:50 UTC
"Professor Aerith" to SOLDIER boys.
[ Aerith leaves over Cloud. She sees him; she sees through him. She doesn't see him except as a mish-mash of features. Only the musculature of a SOLDIER body lies on her table, and the trademark mako glow stares at her. There are no skies in the labs, nor are there bodyguards willing to do embarrass themselves for a childhood friend -- and in the process endear themselves to a new one.
Her tone is playful. It's not a tone Aerith would take with Cloud. There's no warmth in it. ]
You wanted to be SOLDIER. Well, you got it! But there are strings attached. There always are. You understand, right?
[ Agreeing to surgery. Throwing their lot in with Shinra. Why don't they realize something will happen?
She knows a SOLDIER can take it, so there is no point in deliberating. The scalpel rises to the exposed forearm and finds its target with just the slightest pressure, ready to cut into the flesh. ]
absolute wrongness is our speciality!findmyownreasonMay 23 2011, 05:04:22 UTC
[his eyes stare, huge and horrified in his frozen face, until she speaks. And then he blinks, just once, as her words slowly penetrate his terrified mind.
...
strings attached. There always are. You understand, right?...
Minutely, he nods, more a brief tipping down of his chin that barely moves him or the spikes of his hair.
Right. He understands. He understands that Aerith would only do this to him if he deserved it.
And he does. Gaia, he knows he does. He'd promised to protect her, he was supposed to be her bodyguard. She'd counted on him. Even though there's no liquid, he swallows thickly, huge eyes still fixed on her.
He deserves this for failing her. For failing her so many, many times. And it should be her hand to do it to him too. It's her right. He pulls a breath in through his teeth and if it shakes, he can't help that. He deserves this and he trusts her. The blade presses down and before he can stop himself, he blurts:]
Don't!
[his heart is pounding in his ears so loud he can hardly hear himself
( ... )
I'm trying to take "absolute lateness" off my menu XD;auncyenhaligMay 27 2011, 21:00:49 UTC
[ The scalpel eases at "don't", a knee-jerk reaction -- one that's out of place for a scientist. She isn't supposed to be affected by the pleas, it just gets in the way of work ... but his is different. ]
... That's strange. You want it drawn out? But you're not hoping to escape. I can see it in your eyes. Are you trying to prove how tough you are? [ She shakes her head strongly, disapprovingly. ... Not that she should really care. ]
Comments 35
No, what Ami hates is being so exposed. It's as if that scalpel can cut into her and come away with the dregs of all these years of darkness and bitterness. And Aerith, who still smiles, will see the blackness of those depths. Worse, it's as if it can cut away the hard growth surrounding a lonely teenage girl and leave her open to pain again.
It doesn't seem to be the first time something's cut through her; there's a large, nasty scar at her chest that looks old, but never faded.]
Don't look.
[She growls out the simple words, and all at once she could laugh at herself; right now, she's so pathetic.]
Reply
[ She smiles like Aerith, but she doesn't talk exactly like her ... she doesn't even feel like herself on the inside. She senses something bad is going on, but she's detached from it. Only an observer, even as she goes through the motions, reacting with her own curiosity as she touches lightly on Ami's scar with her finger. ]
You must be hardy to have survived.
Reply
She will turn this room to ice. If she can ice over the tools and implements, Aerith can't use them. That will buy her time. She doesn't even turn her head to look.]
(ooc: wasn't sure if there'd be anything in place to prevent magic, so I left it open with Ami trying to ice over the instruments)
Reply
But it's only when she sees Aerith--no, the scalpel that she really feels fear rising in her gut. The assurance that she shouldn't be scared doesn't help her feel better, instead making her feel worse.]
H-Hey, maybe we can talk this over?
Reply
Reply
[She's trying to buy time for herself, trying to formulate a plan or something beyond "get out and survive".]
Reply
It seems a waste of breath to tell someone that under the circumstances.
[She frowned at her. She... should know this woman, she was sure of it... but there seemed to be a block as to... how or where...]
What is the point of this?
[ooc; lol if I'm not doing it right I can redo /o/]
Reply
The point? The point is to learn. What makes things tick ... even the greatest scientists don't have all the answers for life's workings.
[ To a little girl, though, all she had ever seen done to other specimen -- animal or otherwise -- seemed simply barbaric. So when Aerith picks up the scalpel again, there isn't a specific plan in mind, not yet. Just the thought of cutting to see what lay underneath. ]
Reply
Shira's body has had its share of reconstruction - nearly being crushed by a guardian servitor will do that to a woman - but she was still as tough as always, and had no shame about the various scars, wounds, and bruises adorning her body. ]
Fear denies faith. [ She nearly spat it out, trying best to remain composed; to remember her training. Someone has to know she was kidnapped. Calpurnia was not just some random civilian off of of the street... ] My faith shall be my shield...
Reply
Reply
His wrists are strapped in place as well as his elbows, his arms outstretched and his legs are bound in three different places just to keep them down. He knows they'll hold - because they always hold - but he jerks at them anyway and the metal and thick leather grinds and protests. He's already broken out into a cold sweat and he's shivering the smallest bit, muscles already too tense and strained. The air is full of the scent of sharp, biting chemicals and thick cloying, smothering ones and there's the unmistakable lightning strike scent of mako somewhere hidden under it all.
please no, please no, pleaseno, pleaseno, pleasenopleasenopleaseno...His pupils are dilated and huge in his mako eyes as they flick toward the sound of a voice. His throat is bone dry and his teeth ache ( ... )
Reply
[ Aerith leaves over Cloud. She sees him; she sees through him. She doesn't see him except as a mish-mash of features. Only the musculature of a SOLDIER body lies on her table, and the trademark mako glow stares at her. There are no skies in the labs, nor are there bodyguards willing to do embarrass themselves for a childhood friend -- and in the process endear themselves to a new one.
Her tone is playful. It's not a tone Aerith would take with Cloud. There's no warmth in it. ]
You wanted to be SOLDIER. Well, you got it! But there are strings attached. There always are. You understand, right?
[ Agreeing to surgery. Throwing their lot in with Shinra. Why don't they realize something will happen?
She knows a SOLDIER can take it, so there is no point in deliberating. The scalpel rises to the exposed forearm and finds its target with just the slightest pressure, ready to cut into the flesh. ]
Reply
...
strings attached. There always are. You understand, right?...
Minutely, he nods, more a brief tipping down of his chin that barely moves him or the spikes of his hair.
Right. He understands. He understands that Aerith would only do this to him if he deserved it.
And he does. Gaia, he knows he does. He'd promised to protect her, he was supposed to be her bodyguard. She'd counted on him. Even though there's no liquid, he swallows thickly, huge eyes still fixed on her.
He deserves this for failing her. For failing her so many, many times. And it should be her hand to do it to him too. It's her right. He pulls a breath in through his teeth and if it shakes, he can't help that. He deserves this and he trusts her. The blade presses down and before he can stop himself, he blurts:]
Don't!
[his heart is pounding in his ears so loud he can hardly hear himself ( ... )
Reply
... That's strange. You want it drawn out? But you're not hoping to escape. I can see it in your eyes. Are you trying to prove how tough you are? [ She shakes her head strongly, disapprovingly. ... Not that she should really care. ]
Reply
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