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Post by Linyü on Apr 11, 2020 17:22:12 GMT -6
San stood at the door to the room where his unit usually gathered. There was no meeting, not this late, when everything that could be done had been already. The others would be attending to their own business, preparing for sleep.
The only one who would still be there was Rei.
She had nowhere else to go; she had never been given proper quarters, likely due to her size, though San suspected the higher-ups were simply unconcerned about her condition on top of that. She had a makeshift bed, constructed out of discarded odds and ends, though San never knew if she really used it.
When he found her collapsed that morning, she had been on the ground.
Quietly, he pushed open the door. The room was silent, dimly lit. He made his way to the shelf holding the makeshift bed; he had relocated Rei to it and turned her to her side before his work called him away, though he hadn’t dared do any more than that.
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Post by Linyü on Apr 11, 2020 17:22:28 GMT -6
Now, as he approached, a part of him dreaded what he might find.
Not dead, he told himself. Not dead. They had no reason to kill her. And yet, in that moment, it felt suddenly unconvincing.
She wasn’t moving.
Terror and hysteria shot through him, cold and hot all at once. No--- They couldn’t have--- Hachi had said--- But then he registered the minutest movement--- she was breathing. It had been difficult to see in the dim lighting, but she was breathing. Gently, as though she were only asleep.
San sighed, feeling weak with relief. Here, with Rei unconscious, there was no one to see it. He allowed himself a moment, resting with his forehead against the cool surface of a wall, adrenaline draining from his system and leaving weariness in its wake. Then, slowly, he went to turn on the rest of the lights, so he could see her properly.
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Post by Linyü on Apr 11, 2020 17:22:41 GMT -6
Returning to her bedside, he noticed something odd. The bedsheets were damp with some sort of liquid, the stain spreading from the slight depression where Rei’s body was resting. Frowning slightly, he had a closer look. There was the possibility that it was just urine; not a pleasant thought, but still the most likely, and certainly not the most alarming option. But there was no smell, and now that he was looking for it, he could see that her clothes were damp too--- mostly on her back, rather than her skirts.
And then he saw the cloth twitch.
No. Not the cloth, he realized. They were still crumpled and damp from… whatever process had formed them, but what he had thought were parts of her dress were actually insectile wings. A memory of his boyhood, watching a moth unfurl from its cocoon--- the wings had been just like this, only smaller.
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Post by Linyü on Apr 11, 2020 17:22:53 GMT -6
So this was the ‘use’ that the medication had been suppressing. San felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t know exactly why. Maybe he had gotten too used to thinking of Rei as human--- or if not that, then something very adjacent; and this new reminder of her otherness was something he found repulsive. Maybe it was just the thought of what the transformation must have cost her, to lose her wings and then regain them, if they had been something she’d always had. San forced the thoughts from his mind, and focused on breathing until he felt he had control of himself again. Then, moving stiffly, he touched his fingers to her forehead, checking for signs of fever. She was warm to the touch but not hot. Gently, he lifted her, then changed the damp sheets for dry ones before setting her down again. There was no sense in jumping to conclusions now. He would see how she fared in the morning. -----
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Post by Linyü on Apr 11, 2020 18:05:44 GMT -6
The next time he saw her, Rei was sitting upright again. She looked pale, moreso even than usual, but otherwise no worse for wear. The nascent wings he had seen the previous night had filled out and dried, and remarkably, she had somehow arranged her clothes so that the wings fed through them.
It might have been a good thing after all that they had kept the dress.
She looked up at his approach, and San did his best to put on a smile. “-How are you feeling?-” he asked.
She didn’t answer. The wings on her back slowly opened and closed. They were much the same color as the fabric, an iridescent dark edged with purple and green. Compared to her pale coloring, they looked more as though they were part of her outfit than herself. It still felt a little surreal to see her with them.
“-Are you hurt?-” he said.
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Post by Linyü on Apr 11, 2020 18:06:31 GMT -6
Slowly, she shook her head. She seemed… tired, but not any worse than that. It felt like an anticlimax after the state she had been in just a day ago, but if she was well, then San had no complaints. It was all he could really hope for.
“-Just rest for today,-” he said. There was no sense in pushing her to work so soon after her ordeal. Whatever needed to be done could be put off for a day or two, at the very least, and by then he would have a better idea of her condition.
San turned to leave, but before he could walk out the door again, he felt a tug on his pant leg. Looking down, he found Rei there, one hand grasping the fabric, her gaze lowered to the ground.
Wordlessly, San checked the clock on the wall.
“-Alright,-” he said, “-I can stay a little while.-”
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Post by Linyü on Apr 11, 2020 18:06:55 GMT -6
Rei let go, and San walked her back to the bed. She settled into it almost gingerly, though whether it was because she was unaccustomed to using it or if she was sore, he couldn’t say. San stood, leaned against the wall next to the shelf. Rei lay on her side, her wings folded behind her, but her eyes stayed open, staring into the middle distance.
“-Can’t sleep?-” San said. He stayed silent a while after that, but the silence felt as though there was a weight to it. He felt strange, out of place, just standing there doing nothing while Rei lay awake next to him.
Quietly, he began to hum.
Rei’s ears twitched, then one shifted, angling towards him to better catch the sound. San didn’t quite know himself where the melody came from at first, and the notes were halting in places as he tried to remember what came next.
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Post by Linyü on Apr 11, 2020 18:10:04 GMT -6
But gradually, it unfurled in his mind like a long scroll of parchment, and he remembered: a lullaby, one that his mother used to sing to him years and years ago, before his sister was born. Time had worn away the words, but the melody remained, carrying with it half-remembered impressions of a small room in a stately old house, a gentle hand resting on his head. Gradually, Rei’s eyes drifted closed, and her breathing slowed, evening out into the steady pattern of sleep. San lingered a while; he told himself it was only to make sure she was really asleep, but… When he left the room, he would be San again, and he would carry the weight of the name that he had worn these three long years. But for a moment, just a moment longer, he wanted to stay where he was, held in the comforting shroud of an old memory.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 21, 2020 1:58:39 GMT -6
Despite San’s own sense of anticipation after Rei’s official induction into the unit, her first mission didn’t come for quite some time. San himself didn’t question it; it wasn’t his place, and after the incident with her… medication, he knew he couldn’t afford to raise any more doubts about his own ability to keep his head. The only reason Hachi hadn’t reported him was what it would mean for the rest of their unit if he did. They had already lost Shi, and the higher ups had been slow to give them another elemental. It was a bad sign. And yet, there was a part of him that was… if not glad, then at least relieved, on some level, for this last temporary reprieve. He spent all his spare time practicing with Rei, making sure that her skills were sharp. It was all he could do for her now. If she sensed his unease, she drew no more attention to it.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 21, 2020 1:59:00 GMT -6
He couldn’t imagine what she must have been thinking.
But it was a tenuous equilibrium that could not last. Eventually, the job was handed down, and Hachi handed San a tiny silver band. “Her earpiece,” he said.
San stared at it. Everyone in the unit had one. Presumably all the agents did, but each unit’s set was tuned to a different frequency. This was what kept unit members in touch throughout missions where they had to coordinate with one another. San had received his with Shi, when they had become an official part of the unit.
It was voice activated. As a scout, Rei’s primary job would be to feed information to the rest of the unit. She couldn’t do it if she couldn’t speak.
Wordlessly, San palmed it and made for the meeting room. When he arrived, Rei was there, alert and waiting. San was used to moving quietly, even when off the job, but she had probably heard him coming; just another reminder that her senses were sharper than his own.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 21, 2020 1:59:11 GMT -6
“-Rei,-” he said.
She looked up at him. Her eye contact had been getting better. He wondered if it was simply a sign that she was recovering, or if it had been something she had actively worked toward. It wouldn’t help her much as an agent, since her job was to stay out of sight, but it was heartening to see nevertheless.
San sat on a spare crate, and she fluttered down from her perch to sit next to him. “-This is for you,-” he said, opening his hand to reveal the earpiece. “-It goes on you ear, just like mine.-” He turned slightly so she could better see his own, fitted over his right ear. It was a small silver clasp, unadorned and unassuming. Her own was made in the same way, only smaller, and the shape slightly altered to fit the shape of her ear. They had likely used Roku for the model.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 21, 2020 1:59:25 GMT -6
She blinked, then carefully took her earpiece from him, staring at it a moment as she turned it over in her hand. He smiled at her, as though this were some ordinary milestone. He watched as she lifted it to her ear, fitting it on the right side, just like his. “-Is it comfortable?-” he said.
Rei turned her right ear one way and then the other, then flattened it against her head, before nodding. “-Good,-” said San. “-You turn it on like this.-” Slowly, so she could follow what he was doing, he showed her how to activate it. “-Can you hear me?-”
Her eyes went wide for a moment, and then she nodded again, more quickly this time. But before he could say anything else, a different voice came through across the line. “Sod off, San,” said what could only be Nana, from the timbre and gruffness of the tone.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 21, 2020 1:59:37 GMT -6
And then, a low, familiar laugh. Hachi.
“Having fun, hmm?” said Roku. “Let’s not get too carried away here.”
Everyone had chimed in.
“-Could you hear them all?-” San said to Rei, his own earpiece turned off so as not to broadcast his words this time. Again, she nodded.
And now the difficult part.
“-Rei,-” he said. “-The thing is… To use this, you have to talk. You… have to be able to tell us if a place is safe to go, or if you see something we’re looking for.-” He paused for a moment to watch her as his words sank in, to gage her reaction. Rei’s gaze rested on her hands, lying loosely in her lap.
He took a breath. “-I know what I’m asking isn’t easy for you. You don’t have to speak except on jobs if you don’t want to. No one will… We don’t need more than that.-”
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Post by Linyü on Jun 21, 2020 2:00:26 GMT -6
His own Common wasn’t sufficient to convey all he wanted to say, but perhaps that was for the best.
“-I know,-” he said gently, “-that you aren’t… I know you have a voice.-” He had never heard her speak a word, not even in her sleep, but sometimes when she sighed, or if she fell or was hurt, there was a very slight hint of sound. “-I don’t know what happened to you, but I know… what I’m asking isn’t easy.
“-I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,-” San said. “-Please.-”
He could not implore her more than this. San fell silent after that. The room fell silent, and that silence stretched from one moment into the next. Rei said nothing, gave no indication of what she thought of his request.
But San had expected this. He had meant it when he said he realized how hard it would be for her.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 21, 2020 2:00:44 GMT -6
He had even steeled himself for the possibility that he might fail. If that was the case, he would have to think of an alternative; he didn’t have one, not just yet. But even if that wasn’t the case, he knew it might take time. He didn’t have time, he knew that, but time was easier to buy, at least. That much he could do for her, surely. “-Do you need,-” he said---
“-I know.-”
San blinked. For a moment, he thought he might have imagined it. The words were soft, very soft, barely more than a whisper. But the room had been noiseless save for the minutest sounds of their breathing, and the cool, quiet voice felt strange and familiar all at once.
Rei. And as he watched, she opened her mouth and spoke again, her face still angled down, lashes lowered, her eyes hidden from view. “-I know,-” she said, a little more clearly. “-That you wouldn’t ask… if it wasn’t important.-”
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