Trainwreck With Good Hugs

<epiele|offline> [You took the stairs because like /fuck/ you're going to let someone corner you in the elevator right now.]
<epiele|offline> [So you're obviously breathing heavily when you open the door to Skye's room with more force than strictly necessary.]
<speNih|Online> [>Skye:  Be not sitting up or propped up on the pillows, sleeping, like normal!]
<speNih|Online> [Instead, there is a blue fuzzy lump on the bed and an IV drip trailing on the floor.]
<epiele|offline> [...]
<epiele|offline> [You hit the call button with one hand and shake the lump with the other.]
<speNih|Online> [You make a pained noise of protest when the shaking moves you - and shifts the weight on your ribs.]
<speNih|Online> [Your good hand brailles to find the person shaking you and make them stop through the blanket.]
<epiele|offline> [Aaaaaaah abort abort abort step backwards until you trip over the /chair/ behind you and end up sprawling on the floor.]
<epiele|offline> [Wow you are just so graceful today.]
<speNih|Online> [Alarm!]
<speNih|Online> [You fight your way out of the blanket, sniffling and blinking blearily.]
<epiele|offline> [The nurse shows up in the doorway. You squeak "I'm fine, her drip line is out" and then at least try to sit up.]
<epiele|offline> [Only to bang your head on the wall.]
<speNih|Online> [You blink at the nurse when she takes your hand and starts fussing over the drip line again.  You flinch when Epi bangs his head on the wall and make distressed faces.]
<epiele|offline> [You give up. You're just not going to get up. The floor doesn't move every five seconds. Unless it was like in that land you had once with the Earthquakes descriptor in which case - you scramble up before the memory finishes running and just lean over the chair with your elbows on the seat, head against the windowframe.]
<epiele|offline> ["You - /scared me/ - "]
<speNih|Online> [You reach and can just /barely/ touch the top of his head from where you're sitting on the bed, once the nurse gets out of the way.]
<speNih|Online> [You then braille for your paper and pencil.  "she's sorry"]
<ophcun|online> [>Cho: nudge at the door and move to come in.]
<epiele|offline> [You're not looking at her. You're too busy staring at the floor.]
<speNih|Online> [....]
<speNih|Online> [You tear off the piece of paper and drop it in his lap.]
<speNih|Online> [Or as close as you can get it.]
<ophcun|online> ["...should I leave you two alone?"]
<epiele|offline> [On the seat of the chair, then. He doesn't have a lap right now.]
<epiele|offline> ["Oh oh hey 'Cho uh"]
<speNih|Online> [You shake your head, and then make /another/ distressed face when you see Echo's hands.]
<epiele|offline> [You trail off.]
<ophcun|online> ["'m fine, Spenih."]
<speNih|Online> [You think you're starting to feel that headache come back with a vengeance.]
<epiele|offline> [You don't even bother looking up. "Can you give us thirty minutes?"]
<ophcun|online> ["Yeah, sure. I'll... go sit in the waiting room."]
<ophcun|online> [>Cho: depart.]
<epiele|offline> [You shut the door behind 'Cho (and the nurse), go back to sit in the chair properly this time, and start crying.]
<speNih|Online> [You reach for him.  It /hurts/ to see him cry.  You want to /help/ him.]
<epiele|offline> [You're just going to cling to her hand right now.]
<speNih|Online> [You squeeze his hand back and rub your thumb against his skin.]
<epiele|offline> ["I - step out - for half 'n hour - and come back - to /this/ - " you force out, between sobs.]
<speNih|Online> [Guiiiilt.  You feel very small as you squeeze his hand again.]
<speNih|Online> [You open your mouth to apologize, but can't /say/ anything.]
<epiele|offline> [Reach for the tissues. Blow your nose. Drink some water from a bottle.]
<epiele|offline> [Hug her proper-like.]
<speNih|Online> [You watch him, trying to figure out how he's doing.]
<speNih|Online> [Oh!  Hugs.  You can do that.]
<epiele|offline> [Good. So can you.]
<epiele|offline> [You pull away after a little while and let her... write something, if she wants to.]
<speNih|Online> ["she's sorry for scaring you"]
<speNih|Online> ["she didn't mean to upset you"]
<speNih|Online> ["she's sorry for that too"]
<speNih|Online> ["she'll be more careful"]
<epiele|offline> ["Did something happen, to make you - "]
<speNih|Online> [You look at your phone, sitting on the bed against your side.]
<speNih|Online> ["she's just going to stay off the memo for a while she thinks"]
<epiele|offline> [" - why?"]
<speNih|Online> [You try to keep in mind Harris' reassurances.  "so many people hate her for what she's done"]
<speNih|Online> ["as a [ca acly m] and as a [ peak r]"
<speNih|Online> ["that she"]
<speNih|Online> ["she's not welcome not really"]
<speNih|Online> ["and it's easier to be lonely"]
<speNih|Online> ["she can keep in contact with her family and quadrants through pms so it's not a huge deal"]
<epiele|offline> [It's /easier/ to be /lonely/ - no no no that's not how it's supposed to work]
<epiele|offline> [That's /not/ how it's /supposed/ to /work/]
<epiele|offline> [Instead of finding the words to say this you hug her more.]
<speNih|Online> [You blink, and smile, and hug him back.]
<speNih|Online> [Zeimah's right; he gives good hugs.]
<epiele|offline> [If this is a trainwreck, population: this session, it's at least going to be a trainwreck with good hugs.]
<epiele|offline> ["...'Cho got into a fight with a wall and a bottle of alcohol. At the same time."]
<epiele|offline> ["I don't think it went well."]
<epiele|offline> ["Did something happen? Do you know?"]
<speNih|Online> [You wince at that.]
<speNih|Online> [And then nod.]
<speNih|Online> [Pull back, grab your paper... "she told serlin about heries being dead"]
<speNih|Online> ["serlin wasn't very happy about it"]
<speNih|Online> ["spenih got lonely so she went on the memo and"]
<speNih|Online> ["well"]
<speNih|Online> ["decided to cocoon instead of sit"]
<speNih|Online> [You pluck at the blanket.]
<epiele|offline> ["You could've asked me to -- oh."]
<epiele|offline> [Your replayee didn't have a phone with internet access.]
<epiele|offline> [You have neglected to fix this.]
<speNih|Online> ["could have asked you to?"]
<epiele|offline> ["I still don't have mobile internet access."]
<epiele|offline> ["I should fix that."]
<speNih|Online> [You nod.]
<speNih|Online> ["you've been busy"]
<epiele|offline> ["I haven't been /busy/, I've been doing nothing but sit here and /cry/ half the time I've been here."]
<epiele|offline> ["And I'm supposed to be the one helping /you/ recover."]
<speNih|Online> ["she feels best when she can help people"]
<speNih|Online> ["don't ever feel bad about crying"]
<epiele|offline> ["Heh. Zei used to say that, too."]
<speNih|Online> ["probably because it's true"]
<speNih|Online> ["zeimah's a very smart young woman"]
<epiele|offline> [You hum, a little bit, and stare out the window.]
<speNih|Online> ["can she ask what you're thinking?"]
<epiele|offline> ["I... /dislike/ Echo. Why did I help her to the emergency room anyway?"]
<speNih|Online> [You give him a baffled look.  "because it's the right thing to do"]
<epiele|offline> ["Because every time I see her I want to smash her against a wall until she /tells/ /me/ what she hasn't been telling me!"]
<epiele|offline> [...]
<epiele|offline> ["Maybe it's because she already smashed herself against a wall?"]
<speNih|Online> ["or maybe because you don't want to see someone else seriously hurt"]
<epiele|offline> [...would you have done it for someone who wasn't her?]
<epiele|offline> [Opened the door, maybe. Sat with them, almost certainly not.]
<epiele|offline> ["...because /coplayer/ is why."]
<epiele|offline> ["Fffffffff. Now I can't even claim to dislike her."]
<speNih|Online> [You are a little baffled by this, but....  "well"]
<speNih|Online> ["it's a start on trying to iron things out then"]
<speNih|Online> ["isn't it?"]
<epiele|offline> ["..."]
<epiele|offline> ["She still"]
<epiele|offline> ["I don't /want/ to like her."]
<speNih|Online> ["because she's keeping something from you?"]
<epiele|offline> ["Well, yes, but -"]
<epiele|offline> [But what?]
<speNih|Online> ["but?"]
<epiele|offline> [How about you just hoist your feet up onto your chair and hold onto your knees instead.]
<epiele|offline> [Yeah, that sounds good.]
<speNih|Online> [You pull your pad of paper back and begin scribbling furiously.]
<speNih|Online> ["she doesn't like having things hidden from her either"]
<speNih|Online> ["and serlin has told her that she's keeping things from spenih"]
<speNih|Online> ["and promised to tell her"]
<speNih|Online> ["without saying when"]
<speNih|Online> ["and it's a little frustrating"]
<speNih|Online> ["or a lot frustrating"]
<speNih|Online> ["and upsetting sometimes"]
<speNih|Online> ["she knows she doesn't have it as bad as you do because she's not a [s er] or [m nd] and that does make it worse"]
<speNih|Online> ["but she wants you to know she sympathizes and she wishes it didn't have to be this way"]
<speNih|Online> [You turn the pad back around to face him.]
<epiele|offline> ["I," you hiss, "am the very same man who /perpetrated/ /Seergate/. She could've figured out I wouldn't keep a secret from /context/, without ever having to ask me, and then at least I wouldn't know she was keeping one."]
<speNih|Online> ["so because you don't do it it means it's not appropriate?"]
<speNih|Online> [You give him a hard look.]
<epiele|offline> ["Yes! I mean, no! I mean - "]
<epiele|offline> [You shake your head.]
<epiele|offline> ["Fuck this."]
<speNih|Online> [You put down the pad of paper.]
<epiele|offline> [You push a roll of something in a stuffsack out of your sylladex and leave it on the chair. "This is a camping mattress and a sleeping bag. I /have/ noticed 'Cho sleeps sitting up. She should stop doing that. I'm going to leave and tell her she can come in now."]
<speNih|Online> [You pick the pad of paper back up.  "thank you"]
<speNih|Online> ["would you prefer if spenih didn't say it came from you or do you want her to know?"]
<epiele|offline> ["I don't care."]
<epiele|offline> [You walk out.]
<epiele|offline> [scene]