[ And Ava shows up in record time: 27 minutes. She doesn't bother stopping at the front desk or even entertaining having someone take files up to Jon. Once she has the go-ahead - though she's told she'll need to be quick, as the doctor wants to see Jon soon - she slips back there and into Jon's room. She knocks twice, gently, before coming in. ]
[Jon's arms are wrapped up to the shoulders in temporary braces and being held up in slings. He's also wearing a back brace that's fastened around his waist and at his neck that's clearly making it difficult to look anywhere apart from straight ahead. His ankles are also cuffed to the bed. One too many attempts to get up and leave after the ambulance workers had brought him in.]
If you could just hold the Statement up in front of me, please?
[ One last thing, though: she locks the door. The last thing they need is someone interrupting or thinking they're doing something weird. Ava pulls out one of the Statements, making sure all of the pages are in the correct order. She comes around to Jon's side and brings them close. ]
Is this okay or do you need it closer? And I can just read it for you, you know.
No, that's fine. It's... just hold it steady there.
[On the bedside table, a tape recorder clicks itself on, unbidden.]
Statement of Freja Carbone regarding the death of her mother and an old wooden chair. Original Statement given 3rd of November, 2018. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, the Archivist. Statement begins...
[The Statement details a story about a woman whose mother had been growing increasingly isolated in her old age. More and more of her friends dying, fewer connections. The daughter, Freja had tried to reach out now and then, but it had just got so hard with a new job and really, her mother wasn't an invalid or senile. She was perfectly capable of getting out and doing things. And she just... hadn't. Just sat alone in her house, in an old wooden rocking chair that Freja had always hated. It was an uncomfortable thing, forever cold, no matter how long it was sat in, its rocks were uneven, and it didn't even have a satisfying creak to it. It was an utterly silent thing. You felt like you might just disappear into the cold forever sitting in that chair.
But every time she'd visit, her mother would be in it, staring at old pictures on the wall, listless. She'd tried to have it replaced. It wasn't even a nice chair. It had to be terrible for her mother's back. But every time she'd think to bring it up, she'd just as soon had a sense that if she got rid of that chair, something terrible would happen.
And it did. She'd hauled the chair away one evening when she'd forcibly sent her mother out to see a movie with her husband. Drove the thing to the dump and left it just outside the fence line since it was after hours. It couldn't do anymore harm. She'd replaced the chair, of course, with a proper rocker. Something padded, something warm with a gentle squeak that could bring a little life to a quiet room. Her mother had hated it, had despaired. She'd just gone to bed sobbing. Freja had found her like that the next day, lying abed in misery.
She stopped eating, stopped moving. Freja had had to move her to hospital, but even with IVs and feeding tubes and medications, she hadn't lasted long. Perhaps it was because the staff were inattentive, though. Freja had noticed it. They seemed to forget her mother was there sometimes. Missed checking in on her for hours at a time. And no matter how many blankets she had, her mother always felt cold.
Freja had convinced herself, this was the chair's doing somehow. But she'd left it for a few weeks, just mourning her mother. She'd come into the Institute because of something that had happened three days before giving her Statement. A large crate had been delivered, no return address, but clearly postmarked to her. It had contained the chair, and she'd felt compelled to bring it inside, to sit down.]
It's been getting harder to leave that chair these past few days. And I'm very cold.
Statement ends.
[Jon sighs out a breath. Throughout the thing, he's become more and more alert, shifting to sit up more, straining that the braces that are no longer needed.]
A artefact of the Lonely, if I have my guess. Or something very like it. We'll need to follow-up with Ms. Carbone and see that the chair is removed and destroyed. Hopefully, fire will ensure it won't return this time.
[He cranes to look over at Ava.]
Could you get all of this off of me? I don't need it anymore.
[ Ava has one eye on the door through the entire thing, though she watches Jon, too, with both curiosity and wariness. He's looked better throughout the recitation, less pale, able to sit up straight. It's unnerving, or it would be if she hadn't seen it before with vampires, too.
Once he's done, she puts the Statement back into the file and moves to work on the straps binding his arms up. ]
Yeah, let me see...
[ Shit, this is complicated. She's trying to untangle him but she just ends up lowering the straps first so he can pull his arms free. Then, she goes for the brace on his back. ]
You should start coming up with a good reason as to why you went from being broken in a ton of places to suddenly being cured. Before someone comes back.
[And now they're sneaking. Jon... doesn't sneak very well. He's nervous-looking enough to begin with the added element of necessary stealth, he looks like a man who is skulking. He looks around, shoulders tense, eyes wide. A nurse rounds one of the corners and sees them.
[ Ava follows him out, though it's...not a good time, really, because Jon looks like he's fucking guilty of something as they walk down the hall. Her footsteps are soft, even with the boots, but it doesn't help the moment they're caught. She pauses, glances at Jon, then gently slips between him and the nurse as she comes towards them. ]
Yeah, hi, we were...looking to check out? He's doing much better. I made sure he was okay.
[ The woman looks, in a word, perplexed. "What... He'd broken his bones he's-- How on earth? You should be in bed, sir! What's the meaning of all of this?" ]
[ Ava gives Jon a long look that says, Well, we tried it your way. And then she looks at the nurse, gives her an apologetic smile, and casts. ]
No, he's already been seen by you, hasn't he. And you'll be signing his paperwork.
[ The woman stares at Ava, completely transfixed for a time. She stammers, just briefly, "Yes, o-of course. I... I must have forgotten. I did see him. Earlier, I saw him."
Ava takes Jon gently by the hand and starts to nudge him along. She keeps eye contact with the nurse all the while. ]
And now you see he's perfectly fine. You're going to sign his documents, give him a full discharge. One of those nice other-world doctors healed him. Did a great job. I'll be taking him home.
[ "I, uh... Yes. Yes, I'll...go complete his discharge paperwork right away. Thank you." Ava lets her pass, head back towards Jon's room, and then she's nudging him to the elevator. ]
[He feels more than a little bad about this, about Ava having to mesmerize the woman. But at least the hospital isn't likely to come after him for anything more than a bill. Jon goes when Ava tells him to, and quickly. They're into the lift, and he's punching the button for the lobby quickly.]
Well... at least no one downstairs is likely to recognize me. [Probably.] Thank you.
I told you it likely wouldn't have worked. Can you imagine telling them I'm a witch on top of that? We'd have been in some fucking hot water, you know?
[ She settles into the corner, leaning for a few moments. Hopefully, the people downstairs won't recognize them. When the door opens and they manage to head out, no one stops them...until they reach the front desk.
"Oh, sir, miss? You need to sign out." Ava briskly walks over to do that, as she's the only one who signed in. With a smile, she heads back to Jon, and mutters under her breath: ]
Keep walking, I'm not giving them the chance to stop us. Come on.
[He keeps right on walking. The woman at the reception tries to call out again, but she's apparently not that bothered. Not enough to leave her post and come after them. Jon is out and walking briskly along the pavement with Ava within a few seconds. He lets out a breath.]
Right. I can take that Statement back to the Archives. Christ, what a mess.
[Jon realizes something.] Ah- My charm. They took it. I had a green one. [He glances back toward the hospital.] Well, they can keep it, I suppose.
[ She pulls the Statement out from under her arm and looks like she's going to give it back...and then she swipes it away at the last moment, giving him a long look of frustration. ]
What the fuck happened to you? How did you break your arms?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
winterfish
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 03:05 am (UTC)And you weren't gonna tell me???
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 03:25 am (UTC)I knew you'd worry.
[He just doesn't trust people poking around his Archives and Martin would have been worse.]
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 03:40 am (UTC)You're my friend!
So I should just never tell you when anything happens to me, then?
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 04:08 am (UTC)Could you berate me in person when you bring over the statement? This really does hurt.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 04:55 am (UTC)Fine, fine.
Give me 30 and I'll be there.
Any particular Statement you want?
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 03:02 pm (UTC)[ And Ava shows up in record time: 27 minutes. She doesn't bother stopping at the front desk or even entertaining having someone take files up to Jon. Once she has the go-ahead - though she's told she'll need to be quick, as the doctor wants to see Jon soon - she slips back there and into Jon's room. She knocks twice, gently, before coming in. ]
Got them for you. I grabbed two, just in case.
[ She looks him over. ]
...You look like shit.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 03:09 pm (UTC)[Jon's arms are wrapped up to the shoulders in temporary braces and being held up in slings. He's also wearing a back brace that's fastened around his waist and at his neck that's clearly making it difficult to look anywhere apart from straight ahead. His ankles are also cuffed to the bed. One too many attempts to get up and leave after the ambulance workers had brought him in.]
If you could just hold the Statement up in front of me, please?
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 03:14 pm (UTC)[ One last thing, though: she locks the door. The last thing they need is someone interrupting or thinking they're doing something weird. Ava pulls out one of the Statements, making sure all of the pages are in the correct order. She comes around to Jon's side and brings them close. ]
Is this okay or do you need it closer? And I can just read it for you, you know.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 03:38 pm (UTC)[On the bedside table, a tape recorder clicks itself on, unbidden.]
Statement of Freja Carbone regarding the death of her mother and an old wooden chair. Original Statement given 3rd of November, 2018. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, the Archivist. Statement begins...
[The Statement details a story about a woman whose mother had been growing increasingly isolated in her old age. More and more of her friends dying, fewer connections. The daughter, Freja had tried to reach out now and then, but it had just got so hard with a new job and really, her mother wasn't an invalid or senile. She was perfectly capable of getting out and doing things. And she just... hadn't. Just sat alone in her house, in an old wooden rocking chair that Freja had always hated. It was an uncomfortable thing, forever cold, no matter how long it was sat in, its rocks were uneven, and it didn't even have a satisfying creak to it. It was an utterly silent thing. You felt like you might just disappear into the cold forever sitting in that chair.
But every time she'd visit, her mother would be in it, staring at old pictures on the wall, listless. She'd tried to have it replaced. It wasn't even a nice chair. It had to be terrible for her mother's back. But every time she'd think to bring it up, she'd just as soon had a sense that if she got rid of that chair, something terrible would happen.
And it did. She'd hauled the chair away one evening when she'd forcibly sent her mother out to see a movie with her husband. Drove the thing to the dump and left it just outside the fence line since it was after hours. It couldn't do anymore harm. She'd replaced the chair, of course, with a proper rocker. Something padded, something warm with a gentle squeak that could bring a little life to a quiet room. Her mother had hated it, had despaired. She'd just gone to bed sobbing. Freja had found her like that the next day, lying abed in misery.
She stopped eating, stopped moving. Freja had had to move her to hospital, but even with IVs and feeding tubes and medications, she hadn't lasted long. Perhaps it was because the staff were inattentive, though. Freja had noticed it. They seemed to forget her mother was there sometimes. Missed checking in on her for hours at a time. And no matter how many blankets she had, her mother always felt cold.
Freja had convinced herself, this was the chair's doing somehow. But she'd left it for a few weeks, just mourning her mother. She'd come into the Institute because of something that had happened three days before giving her Statement. A large crate had been delivered, no return address, but clearly postmarked to her. It had contained the chair, and she'd felt compelled to bring it inside, to sit down.]
It's been getting harder to leave that chair these past few days. And I'm very cold.
Statement ends.
[Jon sighs out a breath. Throughout the thing, he's become more and more alert, shifting to sit up more, straining that the braces that are no longer needed.]
A artefact of the Lonely, if I have my guess. Or something very like it. We'll need to follow-up with Ms. Carbone and see that the chair is removed and destroyed. Hopefully, fire will ensure it won't return this time.
[He cranes to look over at Ava.]
Could you get all of this off of me? I don't need it anymore.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 04:32 pm (UTC)Once he's done, she puts the Statement back into the file and moves to work on the straps binding his arms up. ]
Yeah, let me see...
[ Shit, this is complicated. She's trying to untangle him but she just ends up lowering the straps first so he can pull his arms free. Then, she goes for the brace on his back. ]
You should start coming up with a good reason as to why you went from being broken in a ton of places to suddenly being cured. Before someone comes back.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-18 04:44 pm (UTC)[They hadn't got him out of his clothes, so, that should be fine, right?]
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 09:10 pm (UTC)Yeah, you think they're gonna just let you walk out and not ask why you're suddenly better? You don't think they're gonna try to figure that out?
[ Even in weird sex city, Jon, that's gonna be a hard thing to sell. ]
If we run into one or two people, I can make them forget and change their memories. But I can't do it for a whole damn hospital.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 10:02 pm (UTC)[And her being a witch is more reasonable than him eating a story to get better...]
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 10:34 pm (UTC)[ /sarcasm ]
Here, let's get the rest of this--
[ She helps him get out of everything else, keeping an eye on the door. ]
Hope they don't try to sue me for malpractice.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 10:46 pm (UTC)Why would they be upset you healed me? You're not even a doctor. We can just say you're my Sub or something.
[It's fine. And he's just going to head for the door and check out the door.]
The coast is clear. Come on.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 10:51 pm (UTC)[ She grabs the envelope and papers, making sure they're tucked closely under one arm. With a gesture, she follows him. ]
Go, I'm right behind you.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 11:04 pm (UTC)[And now they're sneaking. Jon... doesn't sneak very well. He's nervous-looking enough to begin with the added element of necessary stealth, he looks like a man who is skulking. He looks around, shoulders tense, eyes wide. A nurse rounds one of the corners and sees them.
"Um... can I help- wait. Aren't you a patient?"]
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 01:52 am (UTC)[ Ava follows him out, though it's...not a good time, really, because Jon looks like he's fucking guilty of something as they walk down the hall. Her footsteps are soft, even with the boots, but it doesn't help the moment they're caught. She pauses, glances at Jon, then gently slips between him and the nurse as she comes towards them. ]
Yeah, hi, we were...looking to check out? He's doing much better. I made sure he was okay.
[ The woman looks, in a word, perplexed. "What... He'd broken his bones he's-- How on earth? You should be in bed, sir! What's the meaning of all of this?" ]
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 02:34 am (UTC)[The nurse stares. "Your arms were broken."]
Well, yes. But they're fine now. So, if you could just point us to the exit-
["You need to be examined and discharged by a doctor, sir. Miss, please step aside."]
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 03:09 am (UTC)No, he's already been seen by you, hasn't he. And you'll be signing his paperwork.
[ The woman stares at Ava, completely transfixed for a time. She stammers, just briefly, "Yes, o-of course. I... I must have forgotten. I did see him. Earlier, I saw him."
Ava takes Jon gently by the hand and starts to nudge him along. She keeps eye contact with the nurse all the while. ]
And now you see he's perfectly fine. You're going to sign his documents, give him a full discharge. One of those nice other-world doctors healed him. Did a great job. I'll be taking him home.
[ "I, uh... Yes. Yes, I'll...go complete his discharge paperwork right away. Thank you." Ava lets her pass, head back towards Jon's room, and then she's nudging him to the elevator. ]
Go. Go, go, go.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 03:23 am (UTC)Well... at least no one downstairs is likely to recognize me. [Probably.] Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 02:49 pm (UTC)[ She settles into the corner, leaning for a few moments. Hopefully, the people downstairs won't recognize them. When the door opens and they manage to head out, no one stops them...until they reach the front desk.
"Oh, sir, miss? You need to sign out." Ava briskly walks over to do that, as she's the only one who signed in. With a smile, she heads back to Jon, and mutters under her breath: ]
Keep walking, I'm not giving them the chance to stop us. Come on.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 02:54 pm (UTC)Right. I can take that Statement back to the Archives. Christ, what a mess.
[Jon realizes something.] Ah- My charm. They took it. I had a green one. [He glances back toward the hospital.] Well, they can keep it, I suppose.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-05 04:29 am (UTC)What the fuck happened to you? How did you break your arms?
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