| Just Enough Rope [Hiro] |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|12:04 am] |
[Takes place in the early morning of April 2nd, several hours following After the Rain, three days after All We Know is Distance, four days after Meet You on the Other Side, and eight days after Dude, that was YOU?.]
Hiro slipped through the hospital like a wraith, trying not to observe his surroundings or have any impact upon them. He was a container tipped to the brim with precious information, and he couldn't be a person again until he had poured it all out in pages of notes spilling over Kotoe-san's desk.
Raidou had slept through the rest of the debriefing. Hiro wasn't sure Genma would be able to sleep for days.
It was still in the small hours of the morning -- it had only taken that long? -- and the usual ICU hush had escalated into a deathly absence of sound. At this hour the electrical chirping of monitors was muffled behind closed doors; the visitors were mostly slumped, asleep, over uncomfortable hospital armchairs; and the patients seemed to be taking a brief respite between emergencies.
Experimentally, Hiro scuffed a foot on his next step. It echoed.
The sound reverberated in the ache behind his eyes, creating ripples in his carefully-constructed equilibrium -- Genma's experience, painstakingly recreated image by image, moment by moment, carried whole and entire within the confines of his skull -- and he quickly withdrew back into himself.
( An image caught the corner of his eye and held it, jostling his mental load until he had to scramble for security. ) |
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| The Shadow Proves the Sunshine. [Genma and Raidou] |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|10:13 pm] |
[Takes place in the morning of April 5th, the same day as Welcome to My Morning, three days following After the Rain and Just Enough Rope, and six days after Meet You on the Other Side.]
The day after Genma's second hand surgery and two days after Rina's visit (which he'd had heard about only in reluctant snatches from Genma), things had settled into something like a routine. 0600 brought a snap of florescent light as the first nurse of the day began the morning shift, followed almost immediately by the first cardiac clench of the day as Genma and Raidou twitched awake with their own personal curses.
(Holy Buddha's scrotum, was Genma's contribution today.
Son of a riddled whore, Raidou returned, with equal fervor.
Mornin', said the nurse.)
Then there was the ritual peeing in a cup (which Genma, as always, wanted to make a race), followed by the first blood samples of the day (there was no way to make that a race, but Raidou decided he won on account of not going corpse pale), and finally the systematic checking of IV lines, monitor screens, the black seals on Raidou's bandages, and the glowing blue ones on Genma's cast. Medications were adjusted and given, and Raidou almost missed it when Genma tucked his psych pill under his tongue and pretended to swallow it. He glowered; Genma gave him a narrow-eyed, slightly sulky look in return. The nurse stepped in before anyone decided to punctuate the lowering argument with a thrown bedpan, and made Genma swallow the pill.
( Then they had to rate their pain on a scale of one to ten. ) |
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