[OPEN] Bouncing Back

[soul_mods]

Characters: Open to the kidnapping victims, their visitors, and medics.
Location: Death City Clinic
Rating: Varies
Time: June 17th and 18th (if extra time is needed), all day
Description: After a return to Death City and resulting brief surgery to remove the amplification chips, patients are now under observation for the safety of themselves and others as they recover from the ordeal. Visit a friend!



It began with a sigh of relief when the chips were discovered late last night. Nurses and doctors moved briskly down the halls, sedating the maddened and prepping them for an easy surgery. One by one the foul chips are removed, contained for further analysis while their 'hosts' take their first real rest after a whirlwind day spent out alone with their own crazed minds.

By the morning of the 17th, the surgeons anesthesiologists are exhausted, wearily taking their time in the break rooms of the clinic to recover from a very long night of sedations and incisions, but after another examination, they were pleased to announce everyone was clean.

But the environment is tense. Most, if not all of those who were brought back had done unspeakable acts and are ordered to remain under observation just in case. Visiting hours arrives just after Morning Training lets out, allowing patients to see their friends and partners. But take note- each room is accompanied by a Shibusen agent keeping their eyes and ears open in case of trouble, but they won't disturb your visit or conversation so long as you keep things civil.


[ooc: Remember to tag yourselves in!]

Comments

[pregames]

If it were possible to share a laugh through their connection he would. Instead, so deeply submerged within their entwined souls, Atem delivers a pulse along their wavelength, in time with their beating hearts that is equal parts amusement and pleasure and reassurance. Yuugi may be the humble one but Atem had enough pride to share.

The door he chooses parts with ease, giving way to someone’s private quarters, sumptuously decorated in bright colors and gauzy linens that filter the sunlight streaming in through a wide veranda.

Though it was midday, the heat enough to draw out the sound of cicadas, there’s a pleasant breeze in the air that carries with it a strange sound, half whining, half hiccuping, unmistakably that of a child crying.

"Che. You just had to pick something embarrassing." Atem’s voice, that of his disembodied partner, rings out, far less bothered than the words let on.

At the far side of the room, lounging upon an ebony couch strewn with plush cushions, resides a young woman who could not possibly be more than a few years older than Yuugi himself but she holds herself tall and proud and wise beyond her years. She’s clothed in a fitted shift with broad straps that modestly cover her breasts. Gold jewelry catches the light just so and sets her arms and collar and head alight like sparks of a falling fire. Beneath her crown, not the heavy headdress of Nekhbet but a delicate circlet of stars , she wears a wig made up of hundreds, maybe a thousand smooth tiny braids that sway from at her hips with the slightest movement.

Her very essence is so striking that she dwarfs the small figure bent over her lap though the familiar shock of hair is unmistakable. Tiny hands cling to her dress which is damp with tears and, on closer inspection, stained with flecks of red.

[mieru_mienai]

Yuugi steps into the memory and it's like walking into a dream, vivid, but happening all around him; he knows he isn't a part of it but that doesn't leave him unaffected. Rather, he is immediately entranced, hearing Atem's comment but barely registering the meaning of the words, while every detail of the room and atmosphere burn a vivid picture in his mind.

His attention is quickly drawn to the source of the crying and for a moment he's speechless.

"Your mother...?" he manages, speaking softly so as not to interrupt the memory, though the question needs no answer. The identity of the woman is made more than obvious by the regal tenderness in her expression, and those tiny fists curled so tightly in her dress.

She's beautiful, and Yuugi is indescribably moved by the sight of her. In another time, another place, his hands grips Atem's with even more intensity and his throat grows tight with feeling.

[pregames]

"The great royal wife, Iusaaset" Atem replies fondly, giving Yuugi a name to put with her youthful face.

Though their voices carry sonorous in the cavernous space, the scene remains undisturbed save for the persistent crying of the prince. His mother motion to a pair of attendants who materialize out of the shade, dressed simply in pleated white tunics, but not so plainly as to appear amiss in the palace. They produce a shallow bowl full of something dark and viscous along with a pile of clean linens, presenting them reverently to the queen.

"Hush, my love." She admonishes the prince with more love than could possibly be contained in a single voice, lifting him from her lap and taking one of his arms in hand. Turning it over reveals a number of deep, bloodied scratches all along the length. Immediately the child scrubs his face with the back of his hand, reduced to sniffling, only to whine again when one of the servant girls begins to apply the salve.

"Now do you understand why we told you not to tease Beset’s litter?"

"I wasn't... trying... to hurt them." Atem protests in between sobs.

Iusaaset taps her chin thoughtfully. "And how was she supposed to know that?"

Atem winces as the cloth is wrapped tight around his arm, though the knowing tone his mother takes with him makes him feel just as bad. He hated to disappoint her. "I dunno."

Gripping his small hand gently, providing an steadfast anchor against the pain, Iusaaset, runs another hand through her son’s hair. "Exactly. She was only trying to protect them. What do you think I would do if I caught someone trying to hurt you? Or worse, your father?"

"He would punish them." The young heir sounds a great deal more dejected as he admits to it.

His mother only nods in response, knowing the lesson has been learned. In the absence of his crying, a pleasant stillness begins to creep into the room, the very same essence that drew Yuugi to the door in the first place.

[mieru_mienai]

Yuugi draws closer to the mother and her son, unwilling to miss a single word of their exchange, sinking into the memory as though he were completely at home there.

In a way, he is. To see Atem at a time where his greatest concern was, apparently, an overprotective cat... Yuugi loves it. If he could reach out and ruffle the boy's hair tenderly he would, put his arms around the little prince and hold him here for just a moment longer in this place where life is simple and the harshest lessons are learned not far from the safety and comfort of his mother's lap.

That's impossible, of course; Yuugi is merely an observer here. However, his emotions still thrum clearly through the connection of their souls, strong as his feelings always are--and, as they often are, gently restrained and redirected in such a way that doesn't quite impose on his partner, doesn't distract or take away from the scene before them. He settles delightedly into that pleasant stillness, still not saying a word, just watching as lightness and tenderness and appreciation fill him almost to the bursting.

[pregames]

"ATEEEEEEEEEEEEM!"

Like the sudden shattering of glass, the moment is lost, and chaos given form is allowed to pour in through the hole left in its absence. A young girl, no older nor younger than the prince himself runs into the room, barreling right through the spot Yuugi was standing as though her were nothing at all.

"Ate... ah... I mean..." Upon recognizing her esteemed company, as though the thought had never crossed her mind that the Queen would be within the Queen's chamber, the girls with wild hair and clear eyes straightens and sketches a formal bow. She wobbles a little on her toes, filled to the brim with words that come tumbling out before she tips beneath their weight.

"Your highness!"

Atem makes sure to scrub his face of the last of his tears. Letting his mother see him cry was one thing but it wouldn't do to appear red faced and weak when a friend was around. "What do you want Mana?"

"You're late! And Mahaado promised to start teaching us magic today. You have to come. Isn't that right your majesty?" She appealed to Iusaaset, suddenly, eliciting muffled laughter from her attendants. Mana could bring life back to an entire tomb with all the energy contained in her small body.

The queen herself even smiles. "Is that so? I think that sounds like just the thing to take care of a few cuts and bruises, don't you?"

"Yeah!" Mana interjects without waiting for for her friend, seemingly oblivious to his previous predicament.

Atem is slower to come around, dragging his feet and fumbling with one of the seams of his bandages even as his mother nudges him towards the younger girl, who takes his hand, deliberately reaching for the uninjured one.

"It'll be fun. I promise."

Like the spirit of his namesake rising at dawn, a gradual bliss infects the hawk in the nest and his fingers intertwine tightly with hers. "I bet I'll figured out my ka before you!"

"Nuh-uh!"

That was all the queue Mana need to tug at his arm, leading them both past Yuugi and out the door, chattering all the way down the expansive palace halls.

Iusaaset remains seated in their wake, still poised as the young women begin to tidy up around her although the vision begins to blur at the edges, obscuring them, narrowing, tunneling until only a mere portrait of the queen remains with any clarity.

"Take care of him." She calls after the children, long after their echoes diminish, her voice resounding through the phantom standing right in front of her. Her voice is honeyed, thick and sweet as it melts into the distorted air around them. Just before the memory blinks out, she lifts her head, her braids shifting to frame her face and her dark, deep set eyes meet Yuugi's.