i_speak_softly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
i_speak_softly) wrote2011-06-07 07:32 pm
i_speak_softly) wrote2011-06-07 07:32 pm
Entry tags:
Forty-Sixth Theory [Voice/Action]
((Action part backdated to the wee hours of this morning.))
[The horror ends at midnight.]
[Sort of.]
[Don doesn't know how long it takes him to realize that he's lying on cobblestone instead of mud, and that the water pooling around him is only the rain running off his own skin.]
[It's still raining now, but so lightly he can't even feel it through the numbness.]
[He gets up. People are running in every direction. Someone had organized a clinic and healers, and everywhere he looks the injured are being tended to.]
[There are no provisions for the dead. There are never any bodies.]
[Don turns away from the confusion, points his steps towards home. The walk seems to take a long time. When he gets there, the house is quiet. Don finds Mike asleep at the kitchen table, gives him what may be a startlingly cold hug, inhales the plate of spaghetti at his elbow, and moves on.]
[He closes the door of his room, drops his gear to the ground. Climbs into Leo's bed and finds his brother not yet asleep.]
We lost.
[That's all the words he has energy for.]
[He sleeps for the next thirty-six hours. He wakes intermittently to whisper half-intelligible accounts of the battle into Leo's ear. He runs a low fever.]
[On Wednesday afternoon he manages to get out of bed - or at least sit up, if his family won't allow any more than that - speak to his brothers and father, listen to his messages on the journal. In the evening he'll put out some short, poorly-filtered messages to obvious people.]
*
Ms. Daisy... I lost the samples.
*
Frederic, I'm so sorry. Do you want me to come over?
*
Mr. Mulder. Did you make it back safely?
*
Kay, ah... What are you doing Saturday?
*
((Feel free to leave Voice messages, but assume Don's replies are forward-dated to tomorrow. You may also get a more-timely response from one of his journal-stealing housemates.))
[The horror ends at midnight.]
[Sort of.]
[Don doesn't know how long it takes him to realize that he's lying on cobblestone instead of mud, and that the water pooling around him is only the rain running off his own skin.]
[It's still raining now, but so lightly he can't even feel it through the numbness.]
[He gets up. People are running in every direction. Someone had organized a clinic and healers, and everywhere he looks the injured are being tended to.]
[There are no provisions for the dead. There are never any bodies.]
[Don turns away from the confusion, points his steps towards home. The walk seems to take a long time. When he gets there, the house is quiet. Don finds Mike asleep at the kitchen table, gives him what may be a startlingly cold hug, inhales the plate of spaghetti at his elbow, and moves on.]
[He closes the door of his room, drops his gear to the ground. Climbs into Leo's bed and finds his brother not yet asleep.]
We lost.
[That's all the words he has energy for.]
[He sleeps for the next thirty-six hours. He wakes intermittently to whisper half-intelligible accounts of the battle into Leo's ear. He runs a low fever.]
[On Wednesday afternoon he manages to get out of bed - or at least sit up, if his family won't allow any more than that - speak to his brothers and father, listen to his messages on the journal. In the evening he'll put out some short, poorly-filtered messages to obvious people.]
*
Ms. Daisy... I lost the samples.
*
Frederic, I'm so sorry. Do you want me to come over?
*
Mr. Mulder. Did you make it back safely?
*
Kay, ah... What are you doing Saturday?
*
((Feel free to leave Voice messages, but assume Don's replies are forward-dated to tomorrow. You may also get a more-timely response from one of his journal-stealing housemates.))
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
He's been in and out of it since this morning, mostly sleeping.
[He considers for a moment if he should tell Robert about thee fever.]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
Are the rest of his vital signs normal, if you can tell...?
[He's opening the inquiry for it, anyway. And Leo may notice the unusual... urgency in Robert's tone.
By this point, he probably knows Helios is dead. And he really doesn't want to see that number increase to two, especially not of his own partner.]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
They're fine. [Oh fine, he'll find out sooner or later anyway.] He's running a low fever though.
[Beat, cause he knows he would be doing it too.]
Don't come over. We've got this covered.
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
... A low fever... [Robert's voice isn't... panicky, per se, but it's definitely terse.] D-Do you suppose he could have p-picked up some pathogen in the r-rainforest, or might it just be exhaustion...?
...
A-Alright. I... I j-just... I worry.
B-But I know you w-will... d-do your utmost to assist him...
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Leo knows you want to see him Robert. But considering what you two did before he left, he doesn't want to possibly add more stress on top of this.]
I'll have him contact you when he's up for it.
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
Th-thank you...
...
Wh-what about yourself, L-Leonardo? You must be e-exhausted... [And Robert probably sounds tired too, though not nearly as much. Staring at the journals and crying intermittently isn't good for most peoples' health.]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
... P-Please take c-care of yourself too, Leonardo. [This is spoken with genuine... tenderness. Robert does care about Don's brothers - even the ones that don't like him - and he definitely likes Leo.]
... A-And the rest of your family...? A-Are, are they alright too? H-Having Don back must be... r-reassuring.
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
All a little tired, but fine. Raph's strength has been improving.
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
... And th-that is... also good to hear.
...
It is... n-nice to hear some good news, e-especially after the... d-draft.
[... And Helios' death. But he doesn't know if he should bring that up.]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
Yes. After that mess, we can use all the good news that we can get.
......
Are you doing alright?
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
N-not exactly, if... i-if I am honest.
...
... [He breathes in, slowly, though he ends up sobbing a bit anyway.]
... H-Helios was... k-killed in the d-draft.
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
He was a friend of yours, wasn't he?
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
... Y-Yes. Yes, a v-very close friend...
...
A-And h-he is s-such a... w-wonderful person...
H-He... d-died p-protecting his f-friends...
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
I'm sorry.
Dying while protecting friends is an honorable way to die.
[Now he feels a little guilty telling you stay away from their house, but he has his reasons.
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
...
A-At... at least it is... n-not permanent... ... th-though, it is hard to b-believe...
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Even if they'll come back with something wrong with them.]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
...
... G-Gods, I wish I c-could have done something...
... b-but I am always so... i-ineffectual.
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
B-but...
... I-I... s-simply having the option...
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
...
H-He is Helios' friend... a-and the one who told me what h-happened to him. I-informed the whole village, actually...
[Robert slowly exhales.]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
Yeah, I heard of the death from him.
Is he a friend of yours too?
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
... And he is... v-very close to Helios.
[There's still a tiny ghost of jealousy in those words.
Robert still worries, sometimes, that he isn't a good friend for Helios - not when Giles is there, doing everything he can't or won't.]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
Friends always appreciate any help given.
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
Re: [Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
Re: [Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]
[Voice | Filtered 100%]