forum Private Roleplay with @becfromthedead

Started June 28, 2021 by @Fraust

tune

"Yeah, that makes sense." Caelum looked over at Theo, who was quietly clutching the sheets up to his chin as he watched the group of people come in. "Hey, Theo! Are you feeling any better?" He asked, to which Theo tentatively nodded.

Septima gave Theo a slight smile. "That's good to hear. Everyone else seems to be doing okay as well. We just visited Aurelius- one of the ones who helped rescue you."

After a moment, Felix slipped in the back of Theo's room. His brow was furrowed a bit with worry and frustration. Clearly his talk with Aurelius had borne little fruit. The other was horribly, horribly reckless and wasn't really backing down on what he did, even though it totally could have killed him.

(And no, not any major ideas, except maybe expanding on the whole experimenting thing? Whatever was happening, I feel like it shouldn't be an isolated incident.)

(Sounds good to me ^^)
Theo nodded again. "That's… that's good…" He replied softly, clearly nervous. Ren came a bit closer, trying his best to smile reassuringly at Theo, but Theo just hid under the covers more. He sighed, and Azel pulled him back to stand with the group. It seemed like the two of them were relatively close now, and shared what was akin to a disgruntled brotherly relationship. Caelum looked over to Felix when he entered, looking concerned. "Are you alright?" He asked.

(okay! We can work out the finer details later, or whenever someone comes up with stuff.)
Felix cleared his throat. "Um- yeah… Just worried about the guy, that's all. Not the first time shit like this has happened, and it frustrates me to no end."
Septima rubbed the back of her neck.
"So, Theo. They taking good care of you here?"

(Alrighty!)
"Yeah, I get that… Elio's the same way." Caelum laughed softly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Let me know if there's anything I can do, alright?"
Theo looked up at Septima when she spoke, hesitating before nodding a bit. "It's okay… I don't like it here because it's a lot like the other place, and the people look kinda similar so it's scary, but… they treat me nicely, and feed me and stuff, so…"

(I'm gonna try to be on more, this past month has been absolute hell ;-; But I really do want to get back into rping.)
Felix managed a slight smile and nodded at Caelum. It was reassuring to hear that he wasn't the only one going through stuff like this. He let out a more relaxed exhale.
"Yeah, I really appreciate it. We live together, so I'll have to be the one to keep him down until he's actually okay. He mostly works from home when we're not picking up commissions, though, so hopefully it'll be easy enough. I just- I'm kind of tired of feeling like the more responsible one. It's frustrating, because he's incredibly smart, but he doesn't-"
Felix almost stopped himself. Instead, his voice fell to a whisper.
"I really don't think he cares about what happens to him…"

"That's good at least," Septima said to Theo, "I know you'll be glad to get out when you do though. They're definitely doing their best to care for you here, but I understand itching to get out. I'll be happy to stop by and visit you every day until you're out. It should be soon enough, but still, I'm sure it's better to know you have the company."

(Np ^^ <3)
Caelum nodded along understandingly as Felix spoke. "Just know that you aren't alone. You're always welcome to come to me if you need someone to talk to, alright? I'm usually available to chat, or I'll still get back to you as soon as I can." He smiled softly to reassure the other man. "Elio refuses to be responsible. I'm more like his mother than anything, honestly." He laughed a bit and glanced over to see how Theo was doing.
Theo nodded a bit, listening quietly. His lip quivered and he clutched the sheets on his cot, looking uneasy. "Y… yeah…" He replied quietly after a few seconds, hiccuping and rubbing at his eye. "S-Sorry, I just… um…" He stammered a bit, struggling to find words. "Why are you… um… being s-so nice to me…? Why do you wanna spend time with me…?"

Felix bit down on his lip. "Are you sure?"
He shook his head. "You know you don't have to, but um… thank you."
Felix shyly rubbed at his arm. He didn't want to share more than was appropriate, but it was so hard when things like this happened.

"You need the help to get better," Septima replied, "It seriously helps to have others by your side. And it's really just the right thing to do on our part. You deserve so much better."

"Yeah, I'm sure. You've got my number in case you want to call or anything, right?" Caelum asked. "I can give it to you if you don't have it already. I can't remember if I gave it to you or not." He laughed softly. "But seriously, if you need anything, just let me know."

Theo nodded a little, still clinging to the sheets. "What… what am I supposed to do when I get out of here, though…?" He asked quietly. "My parents didn't want me. I can't go back to them. Nobody's gonna want me when I look like this…" He gently touched the large scar that spanned almost half of his face. He touched his horns as well and sighed. "I'm a freak. That's why they wanted to test on me. I'm not… normal."

Felix, a little flustered, fumbled for his phone.
"N-no, you didn't. But um, here."
He held out the contacts list for Caelum to put his number in.

Septima shrugged, "We'll help you figure it out. I can promise that much. Don't worry about the scarring, though. I've got 'em, too."
She pointed at the jagged white scar across her lip, then showed a couple more that were hidden under sleeves for the time being.
"You're not unwanted for that. Scars tell us stories, kiddo. As for what you are, it doesn't matter. Some people are just awful and will take anything that's different from them and hate you for it. But trust me. Most of us aren't like that. I know there's someone out there willing to take you in, and even if it takes a bit, we'll make sure to find you somewhere to call home."

Caelum accepted Felix's phone and typed his name and number into it as a new contact before handing it back. "There you go. Don't be afraid to call me. I really don't mind." He smiled softly to reassure Felix.

Theo fidgeted nervously, looking down instead of at Septima. "Mm… my scars' stories aren't good ones, though… they're not stories that I want to remember." He rubbed at his eye a bit, sighing shakily. "I don't even really know what I am. The people who were testing on me didn't typically tell me much. They just took things and did what they wanted with them. Are you sure there's people who would be willing to have something like me in their house?"

Felix cast a shy smile back.
"Thanks. We should talk more in general, too. You seem like a pretty cool person, you know…"
He put his phone back in his pocket, and left both hands in his pockets, desperate for somewhere to place them, something to do with them.

Septima shook her head. "Of course someone will. You're just a normal kid. Only difference is, you have features and powers that might be different from what we know. And I mean… weird powers are pretty normal in the grand scheme of things. It's just, some people, when you have powers, want to steal them from you. I think that's what those experimenters wanted from you."
She fidgeted a bit, unsure of how to approach such a touchy topic. Septima was never great with emotions, anyway, and felt she was best off approaching this objectively. There were people who wanted to help the kid. She would've brought up Cyrus' tentative plan to adopt, but felt that was overstepping her bounds. Besides, if it didn't work- if someone decided it was a conflict of interest or he otherwise could not adopt- she would have felt awful getting his hopes up.

(Everyone simps for Caelum, he's hot adghkl)
"Thanks." Caelum smiled softly. "I try my best. You seem pretty cool as well." He turned his attention to Theo and Septima's conversation. Theo still looked pretty uneasy.

"I guess so… I haven't met anybody else with posts other than the other kids who were being experimented on, though. We were different, and that's why they wanted us." He swallowed nervously, struggling to make eye contact. "And they're the only adults I really knew. I don't remember much of my parents, to be honest… I don't think either of them looked much like me. They didn't have these, anyway." He poked one of his horns. "I dunno how that works, though. No one ever explained it to me." (His mom had an affair, obviously). "I just… want it all to stop. I don't wanna be stuck in places like this anymore…"

Felix sank back against the wall, trying to collect himself a little. He listened intently to the others' conversation.
Septima bit her lip. It sounded like his parents might not be his actual parents- at least, not both of them. Yet, she didn't want to have to explain that. She pushed past that, as it was too much to unpack.
"Well, this should be the last time. You get out of this hospital, you should be able to go to some place you can finally call home, and you won't have to deal with things like this anymore."
She turned to look at Felix with pleading eyes. She was so bad with kids. So bad. It was taking every ounce of caution she had to make sure she said the right thing.

Theo nibbled nervously at his knuckles, drawing his legs up to his chest. "They said they have to still bring me in every once in a while to make sure I'm 'doing okay', though…" He said quietly. "I don't wanna come back… I don't like it here. They poke me and put things in me like the other people." He looked down at the IV in my arm. He'd already tried to pull it out a few times, but the doctors always stopped him and told him that he 'needed it'. He glanced up at Felix as well when Septima looked at him. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't be bothering you guys with this. Y-You've done a lot to help me and it's not your fault I'm like this…"

"They won't hook you back up to all the tubes and machines when they check up on you later, though," Felix promised, "They'll just look at your injuries to make sure they're healing alright. And if it makes you feel better, they probably won't even have you in the actual hospital. Just one of the doctors' offices, which are a lot less scary. Besides, we're more than happy to help. You're not bothering us, we want to be here."
Septima nodded and gestured towards Felix. "Yeah, what he said. At worst, they might take a test or two, but it won't be as bad as this."

"Mmmm… I-I don't wanna come back, though…" Theo looked back down, seeming nervous. "They already did all this stuff, so I should be okay now, right? I shouldn't have to come back. I don't want… don't want to…" He hiccuped and rubbed at his eye again, tugging at his IV with the other hand.
"Theo, you really shouldn't mess with that…" Caelum insisted. "You gotta leave the IV in. It's helping you get better." Theo reluctantly pulled his hand away, although he was clearly upset about it.
"It's itchy… I don't like it. I want it off."

"Yeah, no, IVs are a bitch," Septima murmured.
Felix nudged her, as a firm warning against the foul language around a kid, of all people.
"Anyway… but he's right, you do have to leave it in. They're using it to give hydration and medicine. There's probably pain medicine in it, which would be why you're not hurting too badly right now."
"They'll take it out soon," Felix said, "And once they do, they won't have to put it back in, even when you come back to visit later."

Theo sighed softly, scratching around where the IV was. The skin around it was pretty red, so it was clear that it was irritating him. "I want them to take it out now… they fixed me, didn't they? It… it shouldn't hurt anymore." He winced a bit as he bumped the needle, pulling his hand away. He didn't like how it tugged on his skin.
"It'll be alright, Theo. They'll take it out soon and we'll find a nice place for you to stay, okay?" Caelum smiled gently to reassure him.

Felix looked over the label on the IV bag.
"Yeah. Those are definitely pain meds. Theo, if you take it out now, you'll start feeling way worse. Trust me. They helped you so you could start getting better, but you have to keep taking your medicine and doing what the doctors ask so you can be fixed all the way."
"It's basically like putting a bandage over a cut," Septima added, "It helps protect it so it can heal, but it doesn't make you get better right away."

Theo drew his arms closer to himself, clearly upset. He really didn't want to have this needle stuck in his arm anymore, but he didn't want to cause any trouble, and supposedly it was helping him. He tugged on the sleeves of his hospital gown a little, trying to make it more comfortable. The material of it was pretty scratchy and he didn't like it either. Caelum sighed softly. "You should try and get some rest, Theo." Theo glanced up and hesitantly nodded before slowly curling up on the hospital bed.