Private Never Skip Leg Day

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

D E N I A L​

Gwyneira was growing more impatient as the leg was worked on. Despite the strange calm upon her, she was anxious and antsy. She remained still as Alora worked, but her heart pounded violently. A rapid drumbeat rolled within as she squeezed the seat again. As Alora spoke about adjusting to the leg, Gwyn bit her lip. A learning curve? Getting used to it? No! This was her leg! She needed it back! She needed to get back to normal!

Her thoughts were streamlined in anxiety. She was unable to focus. So intent on her desires, she spaced out as Alora continued to speak. Gwyn could not hold a conversation on anything much longer. She was too much in a trance of denial.

She suddenly realized that Alora had stopped talking. How long ago had she stopped? Gwyneira looked down, as she as she was trying not to. She blinked in confusion and spoke, "Uh, yeah."

She was unaware of how rude she may had been coming off. With a burning eagerness, she asked, "How much longer? Can I walk yet?"

Alora Vizsla

 

[Alora Vizsla]

Alora was quietly humming to herself with her fingers dancing over a data pad. At Gwyn's half-hearted reply, her honey brown eyes bounced up from the display for a tick before they dropped back down to the readout. "Alright. Alright." She rose slowly to her full height and took a step off to the right side of the chair. "You really shouldn't rush things though. Go ahead, do a jig if you like."

The data pad was set down atop a tool tray before Alora lay one head atop the other over her waist. A smile touch her lips even though she worried about Gwyn suffering long-term effects like the others had. Trauma was traumatic. Oh, it sounded easy to say and easier to ignore until months or years later you look back and see you'd done same damn stupid things. Then you had a choice -- try to fix things, or give in.

Probably be easier if Alora was more open about her own condition with customers/patients, but trauma was traumatic. Maybe she was hiding from it. Maybe it was for their protection. Whatever it was, though, she'd do whatever Gwyn would let her to help.

"We'll swap it for the souped-up version later. Won't take half as long." Which is why it took as long as it did this time, and that was pretty darn fast. Not that a first time customer would know that; and you couldn't exactly boast about it up front either.

POYO! Gwyneira Vizsla​

 

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

R U N N I N G​

The moment she was given the word, the very moment, she pulled herself up in a hurry. She... she was standing! She was standing again! She felt numb in exhilaration. She beamed, crying out, "It's back! It's back!"

She did what she always did. One foot in front of another. She did not walk though, or take it carefully. No. No, she ran. Or... she tried to run. She did not even make it past the second step before she found herself falling.

Falling.

She was dumb with shock as she caught herself. Hands on the floor, she blinked in complete confusion. Why... why had she fallen? It was then that she realized what she had been feeling since standing up. It was far from natural. It felt bizarre and out of place. She looked down to see not a real leg, but a robotic replica. She remembered the truth she had been avoiding despite it being in front of her face the whole time.

She was not getting her leg back. The damage had been done, there was no going back.

The painful truth rammed into her like a full speed ship. She blinked, mute. Tears flooded her eyes as she looked back to the floor, vision blurred. She started panting. She felt the pain of her leg being sawed off, piece by piece, again. She felt all the expiraments. All the agony. All the times she bawled and screamed until her swelling throat went numb. Her memories drifted further back than that, to listening to a holographic message for the first time, confirming one of her greatest fears. That her lover was dead. Dead. Gone. Nothing could replace. Nothing could heal. Nothing could restore

"It's all..." She whispered hoarsely, "Gone..."

She started crying. The heavy throbbing of her back hurt, but all she could do was cry. Everything. Everything she had been avoiding attacked her now. All the woe, everything stolen from her. Her health, her leg, her eyes. Her lover. Oh, her lover! She was wailing. Wailing. On the pathetic floor, reduced to a worm, she wailed and cried out.

"I want it back! I want you back! Eliz! Please! Come back! I need you! Why did you have to die! Why! Please! Eliz! Eliz! Jac'Eli'Zirem!"

For the first time, after so much running, all her grief had caught up with her. The ugly truth of reality had forced her attention, and it was too much to bear.

Alora Vizsla

 

[Alora Vizsla]

Is this wise?

Alora watched as Gwyn bound out of the chair as though it burst into flames. A smile was forced to her lips even as the corners of her eyes creased with the other woman's elated cry.

Worse, Gwyn tried to run. Why she thought to run while inside of a starship and this small cybernetics lab on top of that (though she chould have run out into the mechanics bay for a tiny circuit)... Whatever the motivation, there hadn't been time to say anything edgewise. The die was cast, and it came up short of expectations.

The colorfully maned woman left behind didn't say anything with Gwyn on all fours on the deck as she was. For a moment the woman had gone still. Silent. Shock. Realization. As Alora expected, trauma. Post-traumatic response to be precise. Not that Gwyn hadn't known her leg was missing. Little difficult to not realize that while you went around in crutches. Problem was the thought of the cybernetic being a complete replacement -- an undoing of what was done -- brought all that back up; but in a different manner, one she hadn't already rationalized and explained away like it'd all been one giant muscle cramp Alora had fixed.

Alora...

No. Alora slid a hand quietly over the front of her suit before she stepped out from beside the chair. Slowly she knelt down beside the weeping woman to put an arm around her shoulders. Offer a slight pull for Gwyn to turn in and fall against Alora if she wanted to be held as she wept. She didn't bother with words telling Gwyn everything would be all right. They were most certainly not all right. Or that it would get better in time. There was no time except this moment. She was in pain. Alora understood that. Gwyn needed to let it out. Bottling it up and ignoring it wouldn't help. They'd deal with becoming consumed by grief later. Right now an outlet for emotion would do.

"I'm here," she murmured softly if Gwyn needed to know she wasn't alone in that moment. "I'm here."

POYO! Gwyneira Vizsla​

 

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

B R E A K D O W N​

Gwyn leaned into Alora's hug, desperate to not feel alone. She sobbed heavily, back throbbing violently. Bringing a hand over her face, she kept reliving her memories with Eliz, only to remember the recording confirming his death. Then, another train of thought, her begging and pleading for him to come save her, despite being dead, in that wretched lab. Her leg, being cut off piece by piece for her DNA samples or something. Her mouth was agape, her wheezing intensifying as she relived the pain. She twitched, her leg feeling unnaturally there and unnaturally replaced. Like the flesh was wrapped around the cybernetic frame, and wires were infused within her bones.

She crumpled onto the floor, huddling in the fetal position. Panting, she reached and grasped the area where flesh and bone connected to the cybernetic arm. She shivered, massaging the unnatural feeling and connection, as if some foreign object needed removed from her body.

She was wordless for a long time, unable to speak in the hurricane of emotions and trauma she bathed in.

Eventually, she exhausted herself with the reactions. Now laying on the floor, breathing shallowly, she opened her eyes to whatever passage of time had transpired. She was so tired, like she just fought a week long battle without sleep. As she shook, on the floor, she became aware once again of Alora Vizsla being present.

Shaky, dull eyes looked up to her from the floor, guilt ridden. She had caused such a racket here, to her host and hired help. Furthermore, in response to the new leg Gwyn had essentially thrown a tantrum - at least in her distorted view of herself. She blinked away, shy and unable to look into her eyes.

"I'm sorry," She rasped, "I appreciate all you've done for me. Sorry for being an ungrateful brat..."

Alora Vizsla

 

[Alora Vizsla]

Alora settled down to the deck with Gwyn in her arms. She slowly slid her hands along the tops of the other woman's arms and gave her gentle squeezes so Gwyn knew she wasn't alone. The only action she did otherwise was to silently ensure Gambit buttoned up so no one came looking to intrude.

"You don't need to apologize." Her honey-brown eyes peered down at the sheepish woman. "It's normal and healthy to let it out. Anyone that says different is the type that'll crack like an egg in the middle of a life-or-death battle. Be strong, Gwyn, not hard, okay?" A small smile touched the young woman's lightly painted lips.

"Matter of fact, if you ever need someone to talk with, I don't charge money. I know more about cybernetics than just how to construct, install, and maintain them." The psychological ramifications were far from unfamiliar. Alora didn't believe in throwing people out the door afterward, only interested in fixing the technological aspect of their transaction.

With a subtle shift, Alora positioned herself along side Gwyn. "Why don't we sit down. Have a drink. We have all the time we need."

POYO! Gwyneira Vizsla​

 

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

A F T E R M A T H​

Still in a cold sweat and shaking, Gwyn blinked her shy eyes away again. How was Alora being so compassionate and kind? It was a care that reminded her of Kranak... and Eliz. She closed her eyes, tearing up as she remembered her lost love. Physically, the girl was parched. Bone dry inside from all the crying and sweating, she shakily pushed herself up with her hands, half reclined on the floor. Her long hair fell over her face, blocking her view of the world. Still shaking, she struggled not to break down again as she steadily sat up. Her cybernetic leg was completely limp and unused, if anything dragged along like a heavy suitcase. As she sat up, she asked.

"Water... please?"

Drained, she was so drained. Tired beyond tired. What on earth was causing her to be this sleepy? Had that tantrum taken up that much energy? With nothing to lean on, she fell to the ground again. Surprising sleep overtook her before she could even get that drink.

 

[Alora Vizsla]

Alora smiled at Gwyn for a moment before she slowly stood up. "Of course." Much as she rather not part from the poor woman, Gambit would keep an eye on her in case she did anything reckless. It wouldn't take long to get some water, after all. It wasn't exactly a kitchenette, but there was a little brew station setup in the mechanic's bay that had clean water and a cup.

Wide-eyed, Alora turned to look back toward Gwyn at the sound of her collapsing to the ground again. The water quickly finished filling the vessel, however, to allow the woman of colored hair to return soon enough. Maybe help get the poor woman into a seat -- you didn't need a leg to sit, and she had more than enough to ensure balance.

In the time it took to cross the room to reach the other woman, however, she'd already passed out. Alora blinked at the sight with the cup held steady in one hand. There were a lot of emotional issues weighing on Gwyn. No need for telepathy. Personal experience came with an eye for these things. Shai had similarly been wracked with pain.

With the cup set aside quietly, Alora turned back toward Gwyn. She stepped forward to slip one arm under Gwyn's shoulders and the other under her legs. Despite the weight of the new, metal leg Alora fluidly stood to her feet with the other woman in her arms. The floor was no place for Gwyn to sleep. The Gambit might not be a luxury yacht, but Alora did have a comfortable bed for just such an occassion.

POYO! Gwyneira Vizsla​