[open-ish]

[girl_unlocking]

Who: Dawn girl_unlocking, Sakura sucker_punches, (?) Utena princely_calyx and ...Sephiroth givesdespair! (Maybe others?)
When: The evening of October 2, just after this post.
Where: The clinic.
Format: Paragraph for me, but it's mutable!
What: Dawn & Utena(?) head to the clinic to have their gray splotchiness looked at. Dawn tells Sakura something she never meant to. Sephiroth shows up later when Dawn

Comments

[later : 'sup Sephiroth?]

[girl_unlocking]

[She's ...outside?]

How did I get outside? I. Oh, man. My legs. I just need to. Sit.

[Palms down on the ground, head spinning, she takes a deep breath.]

I'm fine. I'm gonna be...

[Another wave of it. Of ...nothing. Of black, inky nothing and when she able to open her eyes again, she's no longer near the clinic at all.]

Sakura? ...Utena? Al?

[oh, crap. I need a *new* hand. Mine's gray /sob]

[girl_unlocking]

[The weight of his hand against her shoulder is cool - cooler than the air around her, which hangs oppressive and only hastens the feeling that she's burning up on the inside.]

I-it's me. I'm not. Energy. [Her words are slurred, mumbled low against her chest as her eyes flutter closed and then open again.]

[She raises an arm to steady herself against him - whoever he is - she doesn't care, she just wants to try to stand - and to get away from the heat her own body radiates.]

Clinic. I was. There? But now I'm here? A-and everything's so heavy.

[With no small degree of effort she raises her head - blinking slowly before her eyes widen in shock as she recognizes him - and she falls back, striking the ground with a whimper and trying to move away. She's too weak to crawl, so she's really only half dragging herself away by inches, legs kicking out in front of her.]

No! G-get away! You ...you hurt that bird. Get away. I saw you Yazoo. On the forge with that boy! [Tears are coming now, and she shivers uncontrollably.] You made him kill

[stray_gunner]

He had been walking down the stairs. He had been perfectly content (if a little on edge). He had been about to walk past her.

Then she talked, and that made him pause. Sakura wasn't there, he thought, and she looked very, very... sick.

"You might want to sit down," he said suddenly. "Before you break something."

[girl_unlocking]

His words startle her at first - she's aware she was talking, but she hadn't meant to say anything out loud. It's getting a little hard to tell. If she's awake. It's beginning to scare the shit out of her.

"I was looking for Sakura. A-and Utena. Utena came in with me, and..."

Another wave of too-tired-to stand, and she's plopped down, right there, butt to floor. She draws her knees up and shifts the nightshirt she's wearing. The splotches are raised now, and covering both arms. There's a dark smudge on her left temple that's not ink.

"Oh. Wow. You're right. Dizzy now."

She looks up from the nothing she's staring at. "Do you know them? A-are you here because you have it, too?" And managing a weak smile, "Or is this where all the cool kids are hanging out these days?"

[stray_gunner]

He's definitely not squeamish - literally biting people's faces off, anyone? - but those splotches look distinctly wrong.

And Heine's definitely not a medical expert, either, but this sickness is evidently dangerous.

"Haven't seen her," he finally says, tone shorter than usual. It doesn't help that this... girl isn't exactly being careful about her proximity to him. Which isn't surprising, as he's never talked to her before - which makes it worse, and he finds himself leaning uncomfortably against the wall and as far as he can be without being completely disconnected.

"No." Heine pauses, scratches the back of his head. " - stay there and don't get up," he adds. "You might fall over or something."

[girl_unlocking]

"Oh." She hardly notices his clipped tone, what with all the staring at her arms. And her fingers. "My toes are grey. I took my shoes off before I came here because I wanted to wear these."

And tapping her tunnelman-made shoe against the floor, "...did you go to the fair in Dismas? I got these there. They're voice activated." Maybe, if she just keeps talking, she won't cry.

"When I put them on I noticed that my toes were. Grey with whatever this is. I. I don't think I could get up again right now if I tried. Trying to keep the falling over to a minimum today. I don't think we've met. I'm Dawn."

She's too far away to offer her hand, besides - who would want it right now? Even if it isn't contagious. "Are you okay? You look kind of wigged out. It's ...not contagious, I hear. But I get why you wouldn't really want to come near me. I don't really want to be near me either, but hey, looks like I'm stuck."

[sucker_punches]

Sakura didn't hear her at first. There's too many others, the illness is spreading and the clinic and its staff is stretched thin doing what they for them.

Eventually, though, she spotted Dawn's form against the wall, and with a jolt of alarm, hurries to her.

"Dawn? You're sick." It wasn't a question. Quick, analytical eyes have already noticed the tell-tale discoloration and fatigue. Wordlessly, Sakura bent down to pull one of Dawn's arms over her shoulders.

/ apologies for runon!questions

[girl_unlocking]

"Yeah. I ...it's not ink. I...really wish it were ink. I'm scared. I'm so tired. A-and kind of warm?"She lets herself be led, looking back over her shoulder once as she follows.

"Utena's got it, too. Is it from the squid, maybe? Or a curse of some kind? Maybe I'm allergic to the Mist? Al's okay. I. I think that's because he doesn't have a body? I left Miss Kitty with Priscilla."

She can't stop talking. Or her voice from shaking. Because there are other people here - and they have ...smudges too.

"Can you get rid of it? Or will it just go away on its own?"

A-apologies for late ;

[sucker_punches]

She's babbling. Dawn is definitely babbling. She seems prone to it, frankly, but Sakura doesn't mind because Dawn is clearly terrified, too. Not that Sakura blames the poor girl.

Most of her questions, Sakura doesn't answer. Can't answer. She has no idea where it came from, what caused it, why some people are immune and others are affected. Whatever it is--virus, bacteria, poison, maybe a curse--it's wide-spread and indiscriminate, as far as she can tell.

"It's all right," she reassures, even if she really has no idea whether it will be. "I'm going to do everything I can for you." That, however, is a promise.

Sakura leads Dawn to the nearest available bed, and instead of helping the her onto it, she simply lifts the girl in her deceptively strong arms, as though she weighed nothing, and laid her on it.

Pfft! There is no late! XD

[girl_unlocking]

She hadn't expected to he in the air. But she is, and then suddenly she's in a bed.

"Do you have slayer strength? My sister. She can pick me up. Like. That. I don't like it when she does but ...thanks. You're strong."

A bed like Riza was in not too long ago. She remembers the butterflies, is reminded of two of them by Sakura's hair. The bed is better than sitting on the floor, even if there are no interesting frowny pale boys here.

Another wave of heat and she can no longer tell if her legs feel like jelly because they're sinking into the mattress - and that's okay. Only it's not. Because another wave brings with it fresh panic at Sakura's words.

"But. What if you can't? What if I'm---"

[No. Don't. I can't.]

"If I don't get better? Will I die? Maybe it only eats up human parts. I. I don't know if that makes me safe or not. I can't."

She's not crying yet, but it's close. It's eventual.

"I have to tell you and I'm scared." She looks away as she speaks, her eyes following the older girl's hands.