towerofanimus | Hacking #04: Body Swap

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Hacking #04: Body Swap

Characters: April (In Naoya's body) and anyone else!
Setting: Hallways of the tower and then the infirmary.
Format: Brackets to start with, but I can match you!
Summary: Day 3 of the body switch, and April now has access to around 6,000 years worth of memories. Sadly, she is not equipped to handle that much and thus... isn't dealing with it well. Plus massive headache from hell.
Warnings: Possibly some mentions of violence and gore and possible snapping from April.

[The Hallways]

[April had been able to to handle vast amounts of information before, it came with being able to literally download information to her brain. But this... She couldn't handle this, it was too much. Everything blurred together and it made it hard to think and there were too many memories and her head hurts, it hurts too much-

-She leans against one of the walls in the hallway, pressing the heels of her hands hard to her forehead, as if that would soothe the horrible pressure there. And she stands there for a few long moments, coughing occasionally, before she forces herself to walk again on wobbly and uneasy steps, hand still holding her head.]

D-dammit... This is too much...

[She'll be quietly mumble to herself as she walks, as any attempt to distract her from all these new memories in her head.]

[The Infirmary]

[April can be found rummaging through the cupboards in the infirmary, looking at random bottles of pills and squinting at the labels with a frown, before looking through the cupboards again.]

… It would help if I knew what any of these mean...

[She sighs quietly, before continuing her search, now coughing a bit more harshly than she was earlier.]

(OOC: Replies will be coming from

wrongsin)

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[When Naoya had woken up with a memory of being thrown out of 'her' home to die in a wasteland, he had taken a moment to deal with it... and then started to look for April. If he was getting her memories, then she was getting his - and from what he could 'remember' from her, she would have no idea how to deal with them due to lack of both cultural context and time spent with the memories.]

[She'd be having a headache, so he heads down to the infirmary, pausing when he sees 'him' rummaging through the cupboards. He steps closer and picks up a pill bottle from one of the shelves, handing it to her.]

This one.

[She glances over at him, her expression confused for a moment before she realizes who it is and shakily takes the bottle from him. She's a bit better at withstanding with the pain now, even though her head still feels muddled from the memories.]

... T-thanks. [She takes a moment to squint at the label, before deciding to just take a couple of the pills which a small wince.]

[He guides her over to one of the beds and draws the curtain around it, putting a hand on her shoulder.]

You might want to avoid bright light for a bit, until it lessens. It'll never go away, though.

[She takes a seat on the bed, nodding faintly as she rubs her forehead.]

... R-right... [A combination of the shock from the memories, both from how many there are and the content of some of them, along with the headache has already made her exhausted, and it shows.]

... How many years worth of memories do you have? [She knows some are really old, but she doesn't know how old.]

[He closes his eyes and sighs.]

Over five thousand five hundred years. Before there really was civilization in my world.

[She stares up at him in surprise, though moving her head was a bad idea and it prompts another wince from her.]

... And this pain... How long have you had that?

It started about three hundred years in. It got to be too many lives to hold in my head at once.

[Three hundred years with this pain... She shivers at the thought of being stuck with this pain for so long.]

That's... [She really can't of a word to describe how awful that sounds, so she settles for shaking her head and burying her face in her hands.]

Five millenia with it... yes. It's been a challenge.

[It's strange, to feel like this. Someone outside looking in.]

[He puts an arm around her shoulders, closing his eyes.]

[April is still for a few moments, before glancing over at him.]

... Maybe there's a way to at least permanently dull the pain... I'm not sure how. but there's got to be something...

I've tried to break the curse. My last ditch effort was to try to kill God - remove the source of the curse, remove the curse itself. That was my hope, at least. But in my world, my brother chose to stand with God instead.

... [She winces again, glancing down at the floor. Sure, she has some of the memories, but she has no idea what to say to that.]

... I'm sorry.

[He almost snaps at her, telling her she doesn't understand... but that's wrong. At least somewhat. She can feel it. She knows.]

[And it's enough to make his eyes water. Just those two simple words... his voice is rough when he speaks.]

... Th... thank you.

[April glances over him, though she glances back down at the floor when she can feel her throat tighten. And she has to blink hard when she feels her own eyes start to water.]

I, um... [She swallows and clears her throat before trying again.] I'm... not sure if this'll work, but there might be something I can do for your headache, to maybe make it more bearable...

... Do you remember how I told you I can usually control the electrical impulses within a body? C-cause I might be able to use that ability to at least cause the pain receptors to dull the pain... B-but I still can't control that power completely yet, and I still need to do a lot of research and stuff, b-but it's something I could try when we switch back and I've gotten complete control over it, if you want...

[He quiets for a moment, considering it. Some of the impulses would be chemical, but the electrical ones...]

Yes. That... would be appreciated. If something goes wrong it'll just kill me and... well. You know my thoughts on death by now.

[She nods slowly; the memories she suddenly had certainly shown that.]

... But still, I'll do my best to help. [There's a pause for a moment.] ... Since I have some of your memories, I'm guessing you have some of mine, right?

... Yes. And... I know what it's like to be thrown out into the wasteland. Not exactly like how you had it, but... yes.

[He struggles to retain that particular memory of his - her memory seems stronger, for some reason.]

I wouldn't have thrown you out if you were my child.

[She tenses up at that, her eyes widening in complete surprise. Not even blinking hard can stop her eyes watering, and there's a quiet hiccup sound from her as she presses the heels of her hands to her eyes.]

I... Th-thank you...

[He smiles slightly, and pulls her in a bit to give her a comforting hug, rubbing her back gently. He's had enough experience to know how to comfort a child.]

You're welcome.

[She takes a few breathes to calm herself down, since the last thing she wants to do is to start sobbing, even if that seems tempting to do.]

... S-sorry, I, uh... [Dammit feelings are hard.]

It's all right.

[He strokes her - his? - hair, pulling her closer.]

It'll be all right.

[April tenses up slightly when he pulls her closer, due to not being used to hugging, though she relaxes a bit at the hair stroking and soon gives a nod in reply. She's calmer now, even if her voice still sounds shaky.]

... O-okay... Um, thank you, again... [She takes a moment to rub her eyes when they threaten to tear up again before speaking.] ... Ah, has the leg been okay?

Edited 2012-09-22 02:34 (UTC)

[He pulls away a bit, nodding.]

I've been able to compensate for it all right. The stride took a little bit of getting used to.

[She rubs her eyes again with a faint nod.]

Well, you are usually like... a foot taller than me. But so long as you keep it away from the cold, the leg pain should be minimum.

[And she pauses for a moment.] ... Oh, and, uh, there was probably a Bullfairy hanging around when you first woke up and it stays in the room... How is it?

He's fine. I got him some food and left him on the bed.

*Enoch was just passing through, just going up the stairwell to the library. It was as close to a routine as he'd ever get to in a place like this, going to the library at least once a day. Even then it wasn't a constant, sometimes he just didn't feel like it.

But it always began with a climb. He would always at least pass the second floor. So to see whoever it was in his ancestor's body having so much trouble...well, it wasn't actually Naoya, but he still couldn't simply leave them.*

Ah... *He steps off the staircase and approaches...her, he knows Naoya was swapped with that redheaded woman, even if he didn't know her name.* Are you all right? You shouldn't exert yourself so much...

*This was just going to keep getting worse for all of them, wasn't it...and there wasn't anything he could do. He couldn't contribute to finding a cure beyond being able to kill things.*

[She glances over at him, her expression tired and unfocused. She recognizes him, but her head is so messed up that it's only a faint recognition. It takes a moment for her to respond, and she sounds just as tired as she looks.]

... Head really hurts, I need something for it...

*And he couldn't even help with that. The bottles looked so different from the bottles in the cabinet back in Meridian. They were all similar...*

I...find it's best to sit in a dim or dark room when I have a severe headache. I'm afraid I don't know enough about the medicine here to help you...

It's fine... If I just sit in a room, I'll go nuts... [Even if her head is in a lot of pain, she wants to focus on something to keep her attention away from all the memories floating around her head.]

...One of the workers here might know which medicine you need for a strong headache.

*It's not a good feeling, only being able to make suggestions. But he honestly doesn't know what else to do to help the woman in his ancestor's body...*

... Maybe... [She keeps sorting through the bottles though, as something to occupy herself with.]

... Are any of the workers around here right now?

*Enoch glances over his shoulder. They were, but all of them seemed busy with items for sore throats...*

Yes, but...

[Aelita was beginning to feel the side effects of the switch for herself. What had started as a negligible cough was only getting worse, and combined with the blurring vision and the unusual memories she was sure weren't hers, it was beginning to be a worry. she hadn't made a trip to the infirmary since exploring the tower after her arrival, it couldn't hurt to go and visit again.

On the way, though, she comes across April, unable to place the face at first before recognizing her from the brainstorming meetup. Side effects or no, she looked worse than Aelita felt at the moment.]

...Hey, are you alright? Do you need some help?

[April shakes her head, wincing in pain at the action. She barely recognizes the person in front of her, since everything was too muddled by the pain in her head.]

Too many memories... M-my head feels like it's gonna split open.

[She's reaching out a hand to try and help steady her now, slowly so as not to look threatening]

Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?

[April manages to resist the urge to flinch away, though she does tense up.]

I... That would p-probably be a good idea...

[That was a better reaction than what she was expecting, in all honesty. Aelita hesitates fro a moment, trying to get her vision to stop swimming before guiding her way from the wall.]

Alright, we can make it together, just hold on.

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Hacking #04: Body Swap

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Hallways

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