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+---- Thread: cut our teeth and make our bones right here (/showthread.php?tid=7764)
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-27-2023
[say]'Well, like we said, it isn't like there's anyone else to talk to about it.'[/say] Remi says defensively, and though this is a bad thing before the wendigo would absolutely benefit from some outside conversations, he's clearly pleased that, no matter how small his circle is, that it's Ronin here with him.
[say]"I think that just goes to show you are not the expert you think you are."[/say] Flinching with a laugh as he's assaulted, the wendigo looks down into his lap and then his sheets, feeling around for the candy and not finding it, before glancing up. [say]"Oh, no thank you Ronin, I wouldn't like anymore, but thank you so much for asking."[/say] He huffs with a playful roll of his eyes before suddenly realizing that he could smell the hunter again.
Sage and Sandalwood filled his nose in equal measure, and though the scent filled him with a certain sense of calm, it also heralded the end of human time. [say]"Back up-"[/say] He whispered, scooting back onto the bed and fixing his eye line down onto the floor. This time the change came with a rush of nausea, as the small lumps of bread in his stomach and the M&Ms were violently rejected by his wendigo tolerances. [say]"Fuc-"[/say] He managed just before rolling forward out of the bed and lunging toward the garbage by his desk. What followed was the efficient and succinct sound of his body regurgitating the coffee, croissant, and chocolate.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Ronin - 07-27-2023
[say]"Oh, I see. So I'm just the convenience therapist, alright."[/say] Rolling his eyes, there's something nonetheless affectionate about the smile on his face as he regards the other man. Said smile does turn smug, granted, as he successfully loses the M&M in Remi's bedsheets. He privately hopes it melts on his face or something when he's laying down later. [say]"You are so welcome,"[/say] he murmurs, before everything takes a sudden wendigo turn.
Able to understand despite not being able to hear the whisper, Ronin rises to his feet and steps back towards the door, before Remi is suddenly lurching for the garbage by his desk. [say]"Yeesh, that's a shame,"[/say] he says apologetically as the coffee and snacks make a reappearance - hopefully Isla can make it so that doesn't keep happening. [say]"I owe you breakfast."[/say] Not opting to get any closer just yet, both out of respect and safety, he waits for Remi's go ahead.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
[say]"As opposed to what? Being a highly qualified one?"[/say] The wendigo smirks, finding the rhythm of their banter the thing he was most amused by rather than the actual content of it. Quite what it looks like from Isla's—or the interns transcribing it—point of view, Remi has no idea. But down here, on his bed with M&Ms hiding somewhere in his sheets, it all feels perfectly natural.
Until you know, it doesn't.
Perhaps the strangest part about vomiting as a wendigo, was that it wasn't followed by a huge inhale the way it should have been. Remi simply ceased throwing up, such that as he leaned back and wiped his mouth, it might have seemed like some poorly executed bit of theatre. [say]"Mmmmmmm."[/say] The wendigo murmured, rubbing between his eyes with one hand before glancing up toward the window—where now, thanks to both his redirected attention and his vision, he could see Isla quite clearly—and pushed his lips together slightly. No eating, apparently. Or at least, not if he could only be human for 15-minute intervals.
Leaving the garbage where it was just in case it needed to be tested or something, Remi straightened, wrapped his arms around himself and gave Ronin a rather vacant stare. [say]"You don't owe me anything."[/say] He said in a dull voice.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Ronin - 07-28-2023
It's like watching someone stop wearing a mask, or (as has already been suggested) it's like a show has just ended, such that Ronin is a little shell-shocked as his friend becomes somehow lesser for returning to his wendigo state. For all of his enhanced senses, Remi seems more muted and mercurial now, like he's just out of reach. Later, the hunter will reflect on the fact that he was trying to reach him at all - and later still, he'll realise that he ought to be well beyond being surprised by that.
[say]"And yet,"[/say] he says with a lopsided smile and a shrug, [say]"I'll owe you it anyway."[/say] Slowly crossing the distance between them and feeling the sudden urge to apologise to Remi, or to embrace him, or to apologise by embracing him, Ronin settles on reaching out to squeeze the other man's shoulder. [say]"I'll bring some more coffee down when I get the chance. At least you can enjoy the smell of it."[/say]
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
Whatever discomfort the wendigo had felt in his body from Ronin's early heroics was now gone, leaving Remi feeling Perfectly Fine in such a way as to have his mind wanting to slam itself against the mental confines that Isla's serum always left him hyper-aware of.
[say]"Sure."[/say] Remi agrees, only able to offer the hunter a tight-lipped smile where moments before he'd been all but tripping over his emotions. If he looked less than, he felt like nothing at all; like there was nothing inside of him capable of feeling, even though his mind gestured wildly at what had occurred just moments before. But, like coming into the dark after having been in the sunlight, the sudden contrast was not something his mind was able to seamlessly smooth away.
[say]"Well..."[/say] Looking up toward the window again, the wendigo blinks. [say]"I"m sure Isla will have some follow-up tests, so..."[/say]
..go. You should go.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Ronin - 07-28-2023
Unable to put a name to the feeling sitting heavy all of a sudden in the pit of his stomach (it's like disappointment served with a side of concern), Ronin lets his hand slip from Remi's shoulder and nods to him softly. [say]"Right, yeah. I'll uh... I guess I'll be around this evening if there's a call out for us."[/say] And if not, the wendigo would see Ronin when trouble did next come knocking at their doors.
[say]"Take care of yourself,"[/say] he murmurs, gathering the coffee flask and putting it in the bag, before slipping out of the wendigo's room with a small wave. It isn't long before the interns return to clean up, though they understandably give Remi an extremely wide berth given his recent transformation back.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
[say]"Sounds good."[/say] Remi agrees, not sounding as though he believed the words at all. That he should have wanted to reach out for Ronin, to offer some sloppy explanation of what had just happened that would make them both laugh and roll their eyes was precisely the problem, because Remi didn't feel like doing it. Gods, if this was what coming down from Isla's serum was going to be like, Remi wasn't sure it was worth it.
Eyeing the interns with a menacing sort of glare which was unfair to them as it was unsatisfying to Remi, the wendigo waited until they were gone before once again pausing to consider a bit of impromptu destruction in his cell. Like last time, he opted instead to sit motionless on his bed; not blinking, not breathing, and doing his best not to think.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
[say]"Do you want to talk about it?"[/say] Isla's voice doesn't come from the intercom but the doorway; she's given Remi a good twenty minutes to come down from the serum - in whatever way that entails, because they really haven't trialled it enough to tell. Standing with her files and her closed laptop, both her posture and her expression suggest that she'll leave the wendigo alone if that's what he feels he needs.
[say]"I've got an IV I can bring in, if the change back made you hungry again."[/say] It shouldn't have been as intense given the changes Isla had been making, but again, there's very little known about the serum at this early stage. Including, as it happens, whether it's actually going to do any good for whoever takes it. (Remi).
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
Remi doesn't move, but that's no reason to think he hasn't seen the light blink over the door, heard the hiss of the pneumatics, or smelled Isla as she entered. [say]"Talk about what?"[/say] He asks mildly, watching a small speck of dust lazily move across the floor thanks to the slight change of air pressure from the open door.
Shrugging and feeling like saying something along the lines of, it's in your best interest if I'm not hungry, not mine, the wendigo eventually straightens in a way which seems entirely mechanical, before glancing at Isla. [say]"Sure."[/say] He agrees, moving placidly but obediently toward the edge of the bed.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
He knows exactly what, but Isla doesn't point that out. In fact, it's with a soft sigh that she brings in the IV stand and lets the door hiss shut behind her, setting her things down on the desk. If he'd said no that would have been the end of it, but the open ended question keeps the conversation rolling. [say]"A few things,"[/say] she murmurs as she steps over to hook the IV into his arm.
[say]"The change from wendigo to human and back again, maybe. How you almost choked to death. Being able to eat and drink only to have your body reject it a few minutes later. Even your relationship with Ronin."[/say] Fifteen minutes of heaven it had not been, but no one can deny that it had been busy to say the least.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
Looking entirely uncanny valley for the way his eyes were no longer quite right, and how he sat almost doll-like despite the ability to break every bone in Isla's body before anyone could even get to the door, it was with a rather eerie smile that the wendigo raised a brow. Extending his hand for the IV, Remi merely shrugged.
[say]"You are the doctor."[/say] He points out, eyes drifting up to the window where she'd been standing. [say]"I am sure you saw it all?"[/say] She had of course, and though Remi had never once had the inclination to be intentionally difficult with Isla, gods but if it wasn't tempting just now. You put me through this and you sat up there watching, so you figure it out.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
It's been a long time since Remi's brand of creepy affected her, especially given that she knows he can more or less switch it on and off. (The interns, on the other hand, are likely shitting themselves upstairs behind the two-way glass). Nonetheless, Isla keeps a respectful distance after hooking up the IV, taking a seat in the chair Ronin has only recently vacated.
[say]"I am, and I did,"[/say] she says, brows furrowing as she looks him over. [say]"The serum isn't meant to be a punishment, Remi. I developed it to try to help you. I know it isn't perfect right now, but if you want to stop trialling it, you can tell me, okay? Things are difficult enough for you in here without anyone making them worse than they have to be, and that includes me."[/say]
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
It's very Hannibal, how the two dance around one another. Neither is ignorant of what the other is capable of and yet it's almost laughable the barriers that they bother putting up and taking down. Still, it's with an entirely blank expression that the wendigo looks at the doctor, hearing her out but seemingly intentionally not breathing or blinking for far longer than is necessary.
[say]"I never said I thought it was one."[/say] He replies, eyeing the intentional distance between them. You are what makes this difficult, Isla, he thinks with a small frown, before looking down at the IV in his arm and contemplating tearing it out. [say]"Things are only difficult because you are being reckless with me."[/say] Remi says in a low and intentionally slow voice. [say]"And I am sure instead of thinking about the reasons why, you'll just opt to stop the trials, but..the damage is already done."[/say] He shrugs roughly.
[say]"It isn't the serum, Isla, it is you. You and Ronin, though it was your choice to let him in here so I'm not sure I blame him."[/say] The wendigo continues, and it's probably for the best that Isla had positioned her chair where it had, because had she been in reach...Remi makes a fist with one hand, before relaxing it into his lap.
[say]"Did you even for a moment stop to think about what the your eyes are so green, Remi, and the here let me cover you with a blanket while you're on the floor, Remi, and the lets talk about how you forgot to eat and nearly choked, Remi, feel like to me? To have the only two people I have any sort of normal contact with act like I am suddenly so much more palatable to them as just a man? Both of you pitying me all the more when I change back, and though I have noticed the lack of security-"[/say] He gestures vaguely to his throat. [say]"-no one wants to get too close."[/say]
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
It takes a lot for Remi to make Isla flinch these days, but at the word reckless he manages it, the doctor frowning and forcing her fingers to smooth out a non-existent wrinkle in her lab coat as he continues. There have been dozens of times where the wendigo has lost his temper, and it usually results in restraints and sedatives and the destruction of some or all of the furniture in his room.
But it's almost always been at other people. It's never been at Isla before - and it's never been with words. Feeling a lump growing in her throat and having to swallow past it to speak, the doctor tries to be careful with what she says next. [say]"Whatever anyone else in the medical wing has been trying to use you for, I have always been looking for a cure for you,"[/say] she murmurs.
[say]"You sound as if you prefer being a wendigo to being human again,"[/say] she admits. And as for not getting too close, she can only shake her head at him. [say]"You warn people to stay back,"[/say] she points out - she and Ronin in particular, in fact. [say]"What is it you want, Remi?"[/say]