open: "accidents" will happen.

[aberratic]

WHO: Ness Tavane (aberratic)
WHAT: An "accident" and an amputation
WHEN: Backdated-ish to mid-March
WHERE: The Gallows/Infirmary
NOTES: CW for amputation of a limb, illness from infection in said limb, confusion and disorientation as a result of fever. Lmk if you need any other cws and I'll add them!

It's early morning one balmy day in the middle of Drakonis, and the central tower of the Gallows is quiet. A few early risers have already made their ways to their offices, not to mention those who fell asleep in their offices—or those who never slept in the first place—but most of Riftwatch is still asleep, or at least milling about the dining hall. Coffee and tea are still brewing, breakfast is still being served, the work of the day is still at least an hour away for most.

This is purposeful; it means there's no one near the Quartermaster's office to see what happens. There is only silence, and then a sudden cacophonous crash to break it, and a high, sharp scream.

Comments

[aberratic]

She's not mean enough to laugh... but she does smile.

"If you'd like to ask a different question, I can pretend I didn't hear you."

[thereneverwas]

The smile at least suggests she isn’t offended, and Barrow mirrors it.

“All right,” he agrees, “does it come with a good story, at least?”

[aberratic]

"Hardly," let's see how all that practice lying has paid off, "I was trying to reach a book at the top of one of my bookshelves, and, well."

She waves her residual limb demonstratively—then winces. Yeah, that's still a long way from healed enough to be indelicate with.

"I'm told this is why it's important to anchor shelving to walls."

[thereneverwas]

Barrow's gaze follows the arc of her wave, then ge looks back at Ness' face, gentle but admonishing:

"You know there are people taller than yourself," he remarks, "who you can ask to-- well, what's done is done." Something doesn't quite add up in the story, but he's hardly in any position to call her on it. People need to be able to tell themselves what they will.

"Hope it's not too painful, at least." He looks down at his hands.

[aberratic]

Part of being a better liar, she has come to learn, is realizing when elaboration would do your cause more harm than good. Her instinct runs to justify herself, to answer all of Barrow's questions before he can ask them—but Ness restrains herself, and lets him imagine for himself why she might not have reached out to one of the taller agents of Riftwatch. He'll come up with something that makes sense to him; people usually do.

"The fracture itself was... awful," she says instead, and she doesn't have to lie about that at all. "Now..."

She moves her residual limb slowly, flexes the remaining muscle. It hurts, her body trying to carry the message to move down to tissue that no longer exists, and Ness hisses sharply... but she doesn't scream. There's pain, but it's not unbearable. Not all the time.

"I'll survive. That's the important thing. Doctor Strange took very good care of me."

[thereneverwas]

He nods sympathetically, following Ness' gaze-- not staring, per se, but watching as her muscles work and offering a wince.

"He," Barrow begins, like he's about to say something sarcastic, but his resolve crumbles. He can't mean it, it's too fresh, it's not the doctor's fault-- "he does that."
Still, the truth of it doesn't quite meet his eyes.

[aberratic]

Ness has been a bit distracted of late, too preoccupied with her own plans and machinations to notice quite as much of the goings-on around the Gallows as she might usually... but she's free of distractions now, and Barrow's hesitation is hard to overlook. The cause is easy to deduce—his care had taken Stephen's attention for a considerable time, and Ness had had to adjust her own plans to account for it. That he might hold Stephen at fault for his failure to come off lyrium needles at her, conflicting with her inclination to sympathy. She looks away from Barrow to wrestle between the two, picks a loose thread from her linens and chews her lip.

"It's funny," she says, apologetic in a way that suggests that when she says funny she means sad, "despite the obvious, of the two of us I might say I've been left in a better situation."

[thereneverwas]

"Not sure there gets to be a 'better'," Barrow admits drily, the calmness of his expression belying the intensity with which he has to tamp down the anxiety of his failure.
He's never been one to delve too deeply into his own feelings, so instead of lingering on them and risking a meltdown, he redirects: "one of our Researchers-- 'nother rifter, actually-- made herself a prosthetic. Could look into that, if it suits you."

[aberratic]

As someone similarly misgiven to dwelling in her own emotions, particularly in front of others, particularly if those feelings came about as a result of her own failure.... Ness takes the redirection for what it is and follows along with a bright smile—no need to linger on the failures of the past when the future holds such promise!

"Yes, Madame de Foncé! I have seen her notes in the past, I imagine they're likely to come in quite handy in the near future. I have quite a bit of healing to do before that's a possibility, but it's never too early to think about, plan for."

Technically truthful is the best kind of truthful to be, in Ness's opinion.