2nd Spell

[moontothetide]

Characters: Tara Maclay and open!
When: July 1st, and then July 3rd
Setting: Listed below
Format: Action or commentspam, I'll copy you
Summary: Today is a day where many things happen. Most of them are awful
Warnings: Death and possibly violence

1. Floor Thirty-Eight
Tara is pacing. She's pacing and wandering around the room, so lost in her own pensive thoughts that this occasionally involves bumping her shin painfully against a table or stumbling against an armchair. But, whenever she does this, it only results in a brief pause in her movement, and she doesn't put the letter down at all, instead simply standing there and reading it again and again and again.

Because she is holding a letter in both hands, and both those hands are shaking, and Tara is reading and rereading it as though each time is the first, and each time makes as little sense as the time before it.

Needless to say, Tara isn't in the right frame of mind to notice people, unless she bumps into them. "Oh! Oh god, I'm, I-I'm so sorry. D-Did I hurt you?"


2. Floor Two
Tara doesn't normally take the elevator in any case, so she doesn't notice that it isn't working to take her down as far as the infirmary. No, the walk down there is peaceful enough, for the tower, which is to say that she only has to strike down a couple of annoying little daytime creatures with a quick spell or two, and manages without having to take very much care to avoid the environmental hazards.

Her first collar check had been an early collar check, on her arrival, a fact she'd been made brutally aware of by some retrieval units dragging her kicking and shouting out of the library. After that, well, Tara had been even less sure of the schedule than she had before and, not being terribly eager to be dragging kicking and screaming from her work, she was taking a walk down to the infirmary just to check whether or not there was a collar check today, and get the indigo liquid in her collar topped up if there was. Ever since learning from Xion that the collars were necessary in more ways than one, she was eager to it topped up.

But, upon arrival, Tara was unpleasantly surprised. The clinic was empty, utterly devoid of the blank eyed, bland workers she'd met there on her last visit. In fact, the place seems completely deserted. Tara fortunately hasn't had to visit this floor more than once, so she has no way of knowing if there are days where it's supposed to be empty. But it still doesn't feel right to her, and so Tara lingers, knife in hand, pacing among the beds and checking the cabinets and rifling through whatever's been left out for her to rifle through.


4. Floor Twenty-Four
Ninety nine percent of the time, this floor is empty.

One percent of the time, it's not.

Tara stumbles as she appears at the far end of the room. The thing makes no sound as it marshals itself, but some hidden, long developed sense of danger makes Tara look up.

Her eyes grow wide with terror. Her mouth opens, but she can't even draw in the breath to scream. Instead, she starts to run, mad, desperate strides bringing her on and on back towards the stairs. If she weren't quite so terrified she would fly instead, but it's been too long without a power boost, and she can't take to the air without pausing for a few scant seconds that she doesn't have.

They're the stairs down, but she doesn't care, she just has to get away.

...and she doesn't.

Tara shrieks in agony as the shadow falls upon her. She prays for help to come or, failing that, for unconsciousness to take her.

No one comes, and it doesn't.


5. Room 2-07, then Dormitory Floor 2
It's two days later that Tara awakes, in agony, in her bed in the room she shares with four other girls. And, for ten minutes, she can't even move to take any action to ease the pain. But any of her roommates that happened to be present will be made aware to Tara's presence, if not by her soft whimpers of pain, then by her voice, faint and exhausted and bewildered.

"It's...i-it's not supposed to...to feel this way. They said..."

But then her words are cut off by a fit of ragged coughs that make her body twitch despite its paralysis, and leaves blood dotting her chin.

It's clear even to Tara that she needs medical attention, with every inch of her skin feeling like it's aflame and her insides feeling as though they were messily chopped to mincemeat before being clumsily reassembled. Who's to say this wasn't the case? But the painless resurrection she's heard so much about has been anything but, so far. So fellow wanderers on the second dormitory level will likely see Tara, limping along, one hand braced against the wall, staring straight ahead with the ragged determination of the exhausted but desperate.

And it's then that she finds that the elevators aren't working. Tara can't help herself, she collapses back against the elevator doors to sob. But she does so standing up. She knows that, as horrible as she's feeling, if she sits down getting back up to haul herself all the way back down to the infirmary will be even more of a hellish effort.

Tara can be found on any floor, after that, making her slow but grimly determined way down the stairs. It's clear that she's in pain, one hand pressed tight over her stomach despite how much pain even wearing her clothes is causing against her brutalized skin. There's blood around her mouth from the cough fits that occasionally seize her body, leaving her doubled over in pain.

But she keeps going. For an emergency like this...and she's sure she counts, even in this place...there has to be a way to get a doctor. There must still be doctors somewhere in the tower. Aren't there?

Back on the second floor for the second time in three days, she finds that there isn't. And then, defeated and in pain, Tara collapses onto a bed and just lays there.

Comments

[savedbyasong]

Shion usually helped out in the infirmary when he wasn't doing his actual job in the library. He hadn't at all since the labyrinth and he hadn't been in the infirmary since he his incident with the workers... But now the workers had disappeared he checked in there, because if people were injured and there were no doctors... Shion was lucky enough to have one of the few light sources left in the tower as Reno had lent him his spare EMR.

He shone the light into the room and saw a figure on one of the beds. "Hello?" He moved closer, his eyes had got worse again with the electrical light of the Tower but he could see her through the gloom. "Are you hurt?"

[moontothetide]

Tara forced her eyes open. In front of her, she could see a light shining against the walls. Dazedly, she could only register that someone was talking, not that they were talking to her.

But there was someone there, and so Tara forced herself to roll over to face them, wincing as the light suddenly struck her eyes.

"H-Hello...?"

[savedbyasong]

"Hello..." She was injured... Shion moved away for a moment before coming back with a trolly with supplies. It was hard steering it and keeping the EMR lit at the same time but he managed. "I'm Shion, what happened?"

[moontothetide]

Yeah, you just do that, Shion. Tara is just going to keep laying down - the best she can manage is staring blearily at Shion as he goes about gathering supplies.

"I'm Tara," she replies, after a beat to process what he's just said. "I...there was this, this thing, on that empty floor, and..." Even now, she can't describe it, all her memories provide is a nightmarish haze of teeth and claws and blackness that makes her shiver with fear.

"...is it supposed to hurt? Is, i-is it supposed to hurt this much?"

I am the slowest I am so sorry

[savedbyasong]

"Tara, it's going to be alright Tara, there's still bandages and medicine..." He listened to her talk, he knew what floor she was talking about. Had there been a monster there?

"You escaped then?" Because she was still injured, he found some cleansing liquid and a cloth, "This will probably hurt as well, but it will be better in the end..."

I'm not doing so great on that front myself.

[moontothetide]

"I...I don't think I did."

She couldn't remember getting away, certainly couldn't remember getting up as far as her rooms. Of course, someone might have found her, stitched her skin back on after putting the rest of her back in, but...was there anyone with that sort of power, even here?

She cringes slightly, seeing him moving about in the darkness. It's reassuring to her to know that at least there are still bandages and medicine around the place, so all her efforts getting down here weren't wasted. But she's had enough of pain.

"Better. Y-Yeah. And...th-thank you."

[savedbyasong]

"Your welcome, I am just glad I found you." He thought about her words though, she didn't think she had gotten away? But she was injured... He reached out to support her and started dabbing the skin with the cloth.

"Can... what exactly do you remember, after you were attacked."

Floor Thirty-Eight

[cutestprogrammer]

Chihiro sat in one of the sofas resting a bit after spending the whole day exploring the tower when he spots a familiar face and something was wrong...

He called out to her. "Tara-san?"

Re: Floor Thirty-Eight

[moontothetide]

"Hm?" Tara looks up from her letter, blinking a bit as though dazed. But then she sees who's just spoken, and smiles wanly at him, folding the letter and tucking it into her coat pocket.

"Chihiro-san? Um, hi. H-How is everything?"

Floor Thirty-Eight

[cutestprogrammer]

"I'm fine!" He smiles brightly then his expression quickly turns to one of concern. "But are you alright, Tara-san? You... don't look so well..."

Re: Floor Thirty-Eight

[moontothetide]

"I don't? O-Oh. Um, I'm okay, Chihiro-san. I was just...thinking. About...well, everything." She smiles wryly. "Kind of, um, leads to distraction. A-And, um, bruises."

She walks over to join the boy, taking a seat on the free side of the couch and drawing her knees up to her chin.

Floor Thirty-Eight

[cutestprogrammer]

He watches her for a moment. "Do you-Do you want to talk about it? Maybe... I can help?"

Re: Floor Thirty-Eight

[moontothetide]

She gives a slightly sheepish little half shrug. Chihiro probably can't help her, not with this, but...well, it would be nice to talk to someone.

"I...I got a job. Here."

[ravenmaker]

[He travels for the most part between his room and the Laboratory-- though sometimes he accompanies a certain colleague on business of his own. At the moment, however, Fuhito is alone. He is also heavily armed, though it's obvious he hasn't gone completely unscathed, as some long, thin tears down the back of his shirt attest. He's collected a few samples in this area, but seen nothing of his fellow inmates. Until now.

A female. Obviously in severe shock. Both fresh and dried blood evident around her mouth. She's a pitiful sight, limping and lurching along the hallway, sliding along the wall for support, slipping to her knees and trying to rise. How easy it would be for something, or someone, to come out of the darkness and put an end to her suffering. For a little while, at least.

He moves out of the shadows and into her line of sight. Kneeling beside her, he lays long fingers on her throat. Her pulse is thready, her heartbeat irregular, her breathing labored. He raises his hand to her eyes, shining the dim light of the portable emergency lantern he carries on her face.]

Can you hear me?

[moontothetide]

[Tara whimpers when he touches her. Her skin feels like its on fire, even the faint contact of her clothes is too much, let alone someone deliberately touching her. She weakly tries to shake him off, only for the light to become a bigger distraction and concern.

She winces, closes her eyes tightly as even the dim light of the lantern assaults her sight, raising a hand to shield her eyes.]

Y-Yes.

[She can hear him, at least, and she has her head tilted towards him even if her eyes are closed.]

[ravenmaker]

[He makes note of the aversion to light, to touch-- the female's skin, flushed yet cold and tight under his hand does exhibit a consistent low level of inflammation. Possibly fever due to secondary infection, or a system wide reaction to some trauma.
Fuhito lowers the lantern a bit, impressed that she can move to protect her eyes-- he opens one in spite of her resistance. The pupil is well dilated, the flesh around the eye is puffed and clammy.

Someone, or something, seems to have done some slapdash work on this female-- scrolling through what he knows of the usual suspects he is tempted to hypothesize the Tower itself, or one of its denizens. But perhaps the situation can be remedied in a way that might benefit his research. Yes, a typical human woman-- familiar ground and a good place to begin. At any rate, she seems in no condition to resist.

He checks the holster at his side and rifles through a pack at his hip. He'll have to sedate her, of course. Carrying a weeping, bleeding woman to the Lab in darkness would be a most unwise idea.
He doesn't show her the needle. The sight can cause unnecessary stress, and her eyes are closed in any event.]

Rest now. I'll take you with me.

[Some time later, he sits in near darkness at a table in the Laboratory. His lantern is low, he won't waste light on notes he can easily squint over when he'll need the light far more for his subject. She is nearby. Fuhito has stripped and bathed her, sterilized her skin and the surface of the table to which he's secured her. She's stable, for the moment. He's administered fluids and muscle relaxers, as well as made a preliminary examination. He's gathered his equipment, put on his coverall. When she regains consciousness, he'll begin.

He's a patient man.]

[moontothetide]

W-What?

[The word barely has time to leave her before the needle slides home. It's one brief pinch against a whirling nightmare of pain, and so goes unnoticed. Tara had been trying to force her eyes open to get a better look at him but, almost immediately, they slide shut again. Raven won't have to wait more than about ten seconds for the sedatives to finish off what exhaustion began.

Consciousness returns slowly. Details filter in just as slowly, her dulled senses not really registering much of her environment besides a cold, hard surface against her back and the pressure of the straps securing her and a dull ache all throughout her body that's a shadow of what she'd been enduring earlier. Tara is much too dazed and disoriented to register just what that might mean.

But when she tries to lift her head to look around, she can't even manage that much. Her body is leaden and unresponsive, just like it had been when she'd woken up that morning, and for a brief, terror filled instant Tara is afraid that she'd died again. But, no, it doesn't hurt. She doesn't hurt. Not as much, just the memory of pain, really, the promise of it for when the sedatives wear off.

Growing anxious as her mind struggles to process all these bits of information, Tara's eyes flicker and rove around the room, taking in the walls, the surface of the table, her own undressed and washed state, and finally her eyes come to rest on Raven and widen in fear.]

W-What...w-who are you?

[ravenmaker]

[Coming to stand at her side, he checks her pulse and pupils once more. He looks down at her, his face impassive.]

My name is Fuhito. I'm a scientist-- a biologist, and a surgeon.

It's obvious that things aren't all they should be in the Tower, its attempt to repair whatever injuries you sustained was less than successful. Given the state of things, I did not think it would be wise to leave you alone in the corridor. I've brought you to the Laboratory, where I will perform a few procedures that should ease your pain and speed your healing.

You are restrained for your own safety, and may find it difficult to speak. I've administered a load of muscle relaxants in order to allow the work to proceed with more ease. I'm unable to anesthetize you, of course, due to my lack of monitoring equipment, but I will make every effort to be as thorough as possible within a relatively small window of time.

[Fuhito adjusts the flow on one of two bags of clear fluid hanging from a stand. He pulls surgical gloves from his pocket and pulls them into place over his long-fingered hands. There is a tray of instruments nearby.]

Let's begin.

[He follows the inflammation under the skin first with his fingers, then with a scalpel. True to his word, Fuhtio works quickly, but he takes as much time for observation as he can and as many samples as he's able. Concentrating on the abdominal cavity (there seems to be nothing compromising the heart), he begins to repair the tissue and organ damage he finds, leaving clean sutures in its place. The drips being administered during the procedure are are fluids and antibiotics.]

[moontothetide]

[She can't understand what he means by "for her own safety". Tara can't even turn her head away when he checks her pupils again. Even keeping her eyes open so he doesn't have to lift her eyelid requires some struggling against the muscle relaxants.

And then Tara hears the words "unable to anesthetize" and panic sets in, icy and cold and sharpening her mind wonderfully. It will likely be clear to Fuhito, then, that Tara is evidently trying to struggle, but the restraints and the sedatives keep her still.]

S-Stop. D-Don't...

[Hypnotized by fear, she watches him pick up a scalpel, watches him draw it across her skin at just the right place.

There is pain, blessedly muted despite the lack of anesethetic, but there is pain. She watches him draw back her inflamed, brutalized skin, reach inside...and then she feels the sharp prick of the needle, nothing like the claws she'd felt before, but close, so close to it. She knows, on some sensible level, that such procedures might really be necessary to heal the damage done to her, but tears of pain still sting at her eyes and her breath comes in deep, ragged gasps.]

...dream. D-Dreaming.

[She has to be.]

hi my name is latey lateperson (in their dorm)

[syncingdoll]

When the tower had fallen into inactive disrepair, Kohaku hadn't much of an idea of what to do with herself - it was clear enough that she couldn't stay to her daily route, and by today she'd confined herself in their dormitory room. She still had a half-healed bite on her arm to take care of, and even without power this seemed the safest place to hole up.

Tracing patterns across the glass of their room's window was today's distraction, and Tara's whimper startles Kohaku noticeably when she realizes the other girl is actually there. The bed had been empty when she last looked, so now...?

"Tara-san, where did..?"

Then Tara bursts out into a long, hacking cough that brings forth blood, Kohaku quickly strides up to her bed, face turned impassive because she's in evaluating-a-sick-person mode. She doesn't have the right supplies stole--stashed to help much of anyone. Maybe there's something with an anesthetic property, but she doesn't want to reveal that she's been stockpiling medical supplies ether...

Hi, latey~. Can I call you "lunch"? (Also, sorry for the delay, myself, busy day.)

[moontothetide]

The coughing fit seizes Tara for several long and painful seconds, making the world swim and her stomach heave with nausea. There's just nothing left to vomit back up. The thing on the empty floor had seen to that...

But, when she blinks away tears of pain and her vision swims back into focus, Tara finds herself looking up at a familiar, impassive face.

"K-Kohaku...?" she asks weakly. Then, drawing her own conclusions based on the girl's presence, Tara looks slowly around the room, taking in the by-now familiar environs even through the pain. "I'm...back? H-Here? How? W-When?"

looking at the hour, perhaps "dinner" /also i broke my icons & needta fix 'em, sob

[syncingdoll]

"Ah... I'm not sure."

A bit of the impassivity fades for simple contemplation, as Kohalu glances back towards the window she'd been occupied by, perhaps that it might jog a better comprehension of events.

"I wasn't watching, but I've been in here this whole time. So I think it wasn't long ago."

They don't look broken to me! O_O

[moontothetide]

It doesn't for Tara. She's lost more and more of her sense of time as the weeks go by, and had more or less resorted to asking those nearby what day it was. It didn't seem to make very much of a difference in any case.

"You...y-you didn't see them bring me in?" Someone must have brought her in from that floor, stitched her back together after that...thing had finished with her.

Tara tries to sit up, bracing herself against the head board. Her insides, all her insides, scream with pain, and she doubles over with her arms wrapped tight around her stomach, as though to hold it in.

"H-He, he didn't say it hurt this much..."

cuz DW's nice. all but 15 are inactive :'|

[syncingdoll]

"My apologies. I wasn't paying all that much attention, I guess!"

She threads her hands together and bows her head a bit, definitely trying to look apologetic.

When Tara moves and visibly agitates every single nerve ending formerly known as 'her existence,' Kohaku tsk's over her. "Please don't move too much. Do you think there's anything open, or is it all internal? ..I hadn't heard about anything like this myself, so..."

Welcome to my world. Hope you don't stay long!

[moontothetide]

Tara isn't at all sure. It feels like it's everything at once, but...no, that's a legitimate enough question. And, because she's well past the poiont of caring, Tara answers it by lifting her shirt up and checking her stomach and chest.

A long, jagged y-shaped scar marks her chest, but that's all it is. A scar. Tara slowly, carefully, lowers her shirt down again, her gaze hollow and glassy.

"Guess it's just...insides, now."