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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 - 07-28-2023
The come down from this is going to hurt all the more and though Remi absolutely knows it, it's precisely because of that impending pain that as he leans his cheek against the top of Isla's head, he fixes the moment into his mind. All of the feelings will fade beneath the scrutiny of his enhanced senses, but right now something about ita ll feels worth it, and gods if he can just hold onto that...he might be able to make it.
Unable to help it, touch starved and isolated as he's been, Remi's breath shivers from his lips in response to her hands, which have goosebumps racing up his spine. Not necessarily arching his back away from her touch but rather pressing himself against her, it's with alarm bells trying to make themselves heard amidst the rain noises that he laughs shallowly, afraid that if he moves too much all of this will somehow end.
[say]'It was an unfair comparison for me to make.'[/say] Remi says softly. [say]'More that..anytime you touched me before, it...well.."[/say] Exhaling a single laugh, Remi slowly spreads his fingers against Isla's lower back. [say]"..made me feel a bit like a pet."[/say]
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
It's with a guilty frown that Remi won't see that Isla hears him out, the medic giving him a gentle squeeze and letting out a soft sigh. [say]"I am so sorry,"[/say] she whispers, shaking her head and shifting back only a small amount so she can try and gaze up at him in the dark - not that there will be much to see.
[say]"It isn't right, the way anyone treats you here. Ronin and I included. Because you were human before you were a wendigo, and you're human again right now. Even prisoners are treated better than this."[/say] She doesn't mean to be a downer, but evidently it's a lot easier to make the comparisons (rightly or wrongly) at this proximity.
It makes Isla want to break Remi out of the complex and let him go, or perhaps isolate his room from the rest of the medical wing so no one else can get at him. Creepy? Yes. Worse than what he's been through so far? No.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
[say]"Please don't apologize."[/say] Remi whispers, tilting his chin down somewhat as if he might be able to make out the blue of her eyes given the distance between them. [say]"It makes me feel worse."[/say] All he can see is the silver edge her nose and lips and-
-pulling in a quick breath, Remi angles his hips away from the doctor with as much subtly as he can muster. Smiling softly, not that she'll likely be able to see any of it, the wendigo can only shake his head against the pillow. [say]"That is the sort of thinking I try to avoid. It does not do me any good, so..meglio non pensarci."[/say] The meaning is clear enough given Remi's slight shrug. [say]"And I do appreciate everything you have done for me, being able to be like this even for a short time is amazing. It's just..."[/say] Trying to make our her expression in the dark was impossible, but gods if Remi wasn't trying.
[say]"Six years now Isla...it cannot just be a coincidence that after just two doses, you're..."[/say] Well. In bed with me.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
Biting back the urge to apologise again, Isla instead swallows and nods to him, easily able to understand why such a thing might not make anyone feel better. And so instead, meglio non pensarci, she reaches up to carefully wipe the tears from Remi's cheeks, having to be incredibly cautious not to poke him in his very human eyes.
And while he makes an incredibly good point, Isla is very much struggling to find an answer that makes scientific and logical sense (because there isn't one, duh). Eventually the doctor lets out a long sigh, more than aware of the way he's shifted in the bed and why that might be, but nonetheless remaining where she is. [say]"You needed it,"[/say] she murmurs. [say]"And I think maybe I did too."[/say]
Strictly speaking, now that Remi seems to be marginally feeling better she ought to peel herself away, but Isla doesn't have a logical response for that either.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
[say]"I can feel you wanting to say it."[/say] He chuckles softly, practically able to feel the I'm sorry bubbling out of her. As her hand wipes at his cheek, the doctor might feel the tremble of his lip or the way the rise and fall of his chest has quickened; perhaps she'll feel nothing but tears and unshaved skin.
[say]"You?"[/say] Remi wonders with a frown. Carefully and slowly, the wendigo slips his hand out from beneath the blanket to try and cover Isla's with it. Softly his fingers fold around hers and though their proximity makes the gesture more intimate than it has any right to be, surely they can write it off as being friendly and nothing more. [say]"I know what I said earlier-"[/say] Reckless, and gods if they weren't being reckless then, they surely were now. [say]"-but just because things are not easy for me does not mean you have done anything wrong."[/say] He whispers as soothingly as he can, or at least as soothingly as tear-y test-subject of a man can.
[say]"This serum.."[/say] Able to feel his pulse quicken at the thought, Remi tries to breath deeply. [say]"..how long did you say?"[/say] Because if they were nearly the 10 minute mark it really would be time for Isla to move.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
[say]"Shhhh,"[/say] Isla says around a smile and lips that want to turn the sound into shorry. And she can feel it all, even with her sub-par human senses. She can feel the warmth of his skin, too, and the tiniest of movements that he doesn't make as a wendigo. But - and that's where things are beginning to change, she supposes - Isla is realising that just because Remi doesn't act like a human as a wendigo, it doesn't change how he is on the inside.
It's the precise reason he's such an anomaly in the first place.
[say]"Me,"[/say] she confirms with a sad smile. [say]"There's only so many times I can watch you suffer and do nothing."[/say] Selfish, perhaps, but it's no less true, and it doesn't change how delightful and strange it feels to have Remi's hand curling around her own. [say]"And just because they aren't wrong, doesn't mean I should be making things difficult for you,"[/say] she adds in return, smiling to him.
[say]"Oh, this batch is for 15 minutes. I didn't start a stopwatch, though..."[/say] It doesn't feel like more than 10 to her.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
[say]'You have never done nothing.'[/say] Remi interrupts. [say]"We both know that doing something at the wrong time is worse than doing nothing at all."[/say] It was only because Isla had been clever for so many years that she'd found herself in a position to make such dramatic changes in his life at all.
That she hadn't pulled away, that her hand was in his, that she was here at all, were going to be things replayed in the wendigo's mind over and over again, but in the moment he tried simply to experience each second he had left rather than worrying them away. Had it been Ronin in bed with him--and gods, that's a thought for later as well--Remi might have asked if she'd meant hard instead of difficult, but precisely because it wasn't Ronin, but Isla, he didn't.
Not wanting to feel frantic for the disappearing minutes but helpless against the tide of urgency he felt tugging at the balls of his feet, Remi exhales shakily as he moves Isla's hand just ever so slightly toward his lips. [say]"In case I cannot say so later..."[/say] He whispers against her knuckles that he might play off the press of his lips against her fingers as being unintentional. [say]"..thank you. This makes me feel..."[/say] He pauses. It didn't make him feel good, or optimistic, or even happy, but..
[say]"..human."[/say]
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
[say]"Well, that is very kind of you to say,"[/say] Isla murmurs, smiling and letting her hand relax against his own, such that there's no resistance as he shifts her fingers surreptitiously towrds his lips. Given how this all started when she'd walked into the room not half an hour before, the last thing the medic expects is to be thanked by Remi, but then again she'd never expected to be in his bed either, but here we are.
[say]"Good,"[/say] she whispers. [say]"Because you are human. I promise I'll do my best to treat you more like it, whether or not the serum is involved."[/say] But since it is involved, at least for another few minutes, Isla settles back against Remi to hold him close, letting him keep one of her hands while the other continues to stroke down the length of his back.
Of course, reckless or not (and this certainly goes well beyond that line), she doesn't want to let Remi spend his last human moments panicking about the time, so it's with quiet reluctance that she slips back out of his bed. Putting her shoes back on and drawing the blankets back over him, Isla retreats back to the control panel to give the wendigo some privacy to come back to his other self.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
Gods but he wants to kiss her now that his lips have brushed her fingers; he wants to do much more than that, and it's actually thanks to his too-eager body that he doesn't even consider Making A Move if only because he's well aware of how he'll let them both down. Still, holding Isla is like holding onto sand. At first, it's hard to notice just how much is slipping away, until it all seems to be disappearing at once.
As she pulls away the wendigo nearly tries to stop her, but of course what would be the point? Wondering about what to say, if anything at all, Remi eventually settles on [say]'good night'[/say], before trying not to flinch at every click of her heels as she left him alone.
The change comes a few minutes later, long enough for the wendigo to consider masturbating in the bathroom or eating the final M&M, and short enough for the proceeding minutes to have felt like a whirlwind. Clutching at his pillow and clenching his teeth as his senses reasserted themselves, it's with an eerie calm that he stretches out onto the bed, suddenly overwhelmed by the scent of Isla on his sheets.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
It is a good night, despite it being mid-morning, but given that they're sending Remi's fully human form back to sleep, it still feels like it counts. Giving it another minute or so until she's almost certain he would have changed back, Isla changes the positions of the cameras and slowly fades out the rain music. Only then does she bring the lights back up, but she absolutely leaves the blinds shut.
[say]"Good morning,"[/say] she murmurs with a bashful sort of smile, Isla moving to fetch the chair and take it back to the desk where her notes and files are. [say]"Do you mind if I type everything up here? You don't need to get up, but if I have any questions, it's obviously easier."[/say] Already sitting at the desk, Isla glances over her shoulder to the wendigo in bed; even if no other changes arise as a result of their little 'sleepover', the expression on Isla's face is one of warm understanding as well as scientific interest. Line? What line?
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
It's very Truman Show in the way Isla is able to douse the rain and bring on the light, but he hardly notices given the way he's finding it harder and harder to swim toward consciousness. His eyes feel heavy in a way he can't really describe, if only because it isn't accompanied by exhaustion, but something like withdrawal. [say]"I..laa."[/say] He manages, rolling over onto his back as best as he was able.
Luckily the change had doused his erection (thankfully), but now the moisture on his cheeks isn't just from tears, but some sort of sweat as well. With a great amount of effort, the wendigo tries to lift one arm but finds that he can't raise it more than a few inches before he huffs out a loud exhale from the exertion. Able to move his eyes only with continued concentration, is he able to vaguely find the doctor in his field of view and though he tries to smile in response, his lips only twitch at best.
[say]"I.."[/say]
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
Isla already has her laptop open and her notes prepared, having fully expected a dry and sarcastic quip from Remi to ease her into her morning's work. So to hear his response in a way that's not just not like him, but more like a human who isn't doing great, the doctor is on her feet in an instant. [say]"Remi? Everything okay?"[/say] The question is more to keep him conscious and talking than anything else, and not for the first time today, she briefly steps outside the room only to return with a medical bag.
[say]"Hey,"[/say] she says with a soft smile as she leans down beside the bed and opens the bag. [say]"I'm just going to take a few vitals from you, okay? I don't know if you can even run a fever, but..."[/say] But I just double dosed you with an experimental serum and I have no idea what might be happening. So saying, it's with old fashioned medical instruments that Isla will try to take Remi's temperature, pulse and blood pressure, at the same time using cool, damp cloth to wipe the sweat from his brow.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Remi - 07-28-2023
Isla disappears, and it's with unhappy awareness that Remi realizes he can't even lift his own head. Feeling like he had one of those flu's that hit you so hard you could barely breathe, it was with a soft flutter of his eyelashes in recognition that he strains to look up at Isla as she reappears. With a thermometer under his tongue and his skin somehow looking even more pale for the sweat beading across his brow, just now Isla would have a hard time convincing anyone that Remi was the reason for all of the security measures in this section of the medical wing.
[say]"I..'eel li'..."[/say] He pauses, finding that even thinking was difficult. [say]"..over'd 'n s'one"[/say] Remi's pale eyes widen a fraction, desperately hoping that she'll understand.
RE: cut our teeth and make our bones right here - Isla - 07-28-2023
Isla soon finds the problem, though it won't look like one unless they're familiar with Remi's very specific set of circumstances. [say]"They're all human vitals,"[/say] she mumbles, frowning gently and visibly trying not to look too worried. As Remi struggles to speak, it's a good thing she is as clever as he believes her to be, because she's reasonably sure she understands.
[say]"It's probably extreme muscle fatigue,"[/say] she explains to him softly, though it sounds like she's telling them both. [say]"Your body can't respond the way it normally does because it's not getting wendigo levels of information from your brain."[/say] Sounds suspicious and it probably is. [say]"I'm going to get something for you to try and help, and some monitoring equipment. We need to try and flush this through your body. Do you want me to call Ronin?"[/say]
For moral support, for company, whatever Remi wants.