"Okay…" Theo huddled up a little tighter, still nervous despite the reassurances. He glanced around the room, eyeing everything that made him uncomfortable. He clearly didn't like the medical equipment that was surrounding him, but there wasn't much he could really do about it. They needed it to help him. He glanced up when Galen asked if he needed anything. "Um… I… haven't eaten for a while…" He said quietly. "S-So I'm… kinda hungry."
"It would be great if you could adopt them!" Caelum smiled a little, looking more hopeful now. "I'm sure you'd be a great home for them, if you think you're up for it. The boy seems to trust you somewhat already, after all, and you said you have firsthand experience so you could help the girl as well."
"Right, I'll have someone bring you a meal," Galen replied, "And if you would like visitors, I was told your rescuers would be visiting later, if you want to see them."
"That's what I'm hoping," Cyrus agreed, "It mainly comes down to conflict of interest, since I'm playing a large role in the investigation. But in my opinion, if anything, I'll better understand what happened to them."
Felix shuffled up next to Septima and they whispered among themselves.
"Um… we're going to go visit Aurelius now," he said, "If anyone wants to come with us, they can."
"Oh… okay… if they wanna see me, that's fine…" Theo said softly, looking surprised that he might have people interested in visiting him. "They were nice… not scary like the bad people. But what about Bee?" He asked. "Is she okay? They hurt her…"
"Right, that makes sense…" Caelum replied softly, looking up when Felix spoke. "Yeah, we might tag along if that's alright. Then we can go check on Elio and the kids if they're alright with us seeing them."
Galen gave a firm nod.
"She woke up a while ago. She'll probably be here longer than you, but she's doing better than when she first got here, that's for sure," he said, "I'll see if I can arrange for you to visit her once you're doing a little better."
Felix nodded and went on his way after Septima. They came upon Aurelius' room and Septima slipped in first to ask if he'd be okay with more visitors. He was visibly tired, but agreed. Felix came in behind, his mouth drawn into a frown as he took in the sights of the room. His eyes wandered to Aurelius' arms where he had several IVs running into his veins. One was clearly a blood transfusion. That's what he'd been afraid would happen.
"How are you feeling?" he asked softly, "It looks a lot worse than you were letting on back there."
Aurelius shifted a bit.
"I didn't want anyone to freak out over me too much," he admitted, a slight flush rising into his cheeks, "But I'm feeling rough, honestly. I-I'll be okay though! I'm not that winded anymore, at least."
"At least you can't push yourself any further while you're staying here," Septima murmured, "You look sicker than I've seen in a while."
"Okay… t-thank you, sir…" Theo dipped his head politely and winced, huddling up more in the covers. He looked down at the IV in his arm, clearly uneasy at the sight of it, but having already been told several times by the doctors that it was necessary and helping him, he reluctantly left it alone.
Caelum, Azel, and Ren slipped into the room behind Felix when they were given the go ahead, looking at Aurelius as they entered. Ren looked a little bit confused, but he was generally confused. Azel and Caelum looked concerned; the latter moreso than the former. "I'm glad you're doing okay, at least…" Caelum said with a soft sigh.
"Of course," Galen said with a curt nod, "Anyway, I'm going to go check on Bee again, and I'll let you know when you can see her."
Aurelius nodded shyly. "Yeah, I mean, it's not like I was in immediate danger of dying or anything."
"I think you really underestimate it, but say what you will," Felix murmured, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm really anemic," Aurelius admitted, "I think things were already getting bad again, and then I lost more blood, so… yeah. I didn't want to leave Felix by himself, and it's not like I was going in with the intent to get stabbed in the leg. Probably should've been more careful than I was, but… Something about the whole situation didn't sit right with me. Those kids… They made me reckless."
"Okay…" Theo curled up under the sheets and sighed shakily, fidgeting with his hands. He had a lot of bandages covering his body at the moment, and he didn't like how they felt.
"You really should be more careful…" Caelum sighed softly. "Especially with your condition. You can't afford to lose much blood." Ren and Azel nodded.
"Yeah, at least you might get a cool scar, though!" Ren chirped with a bright grin, to which Azel smacked the back of his head with one hand.
Aurelius gave a sort of half-smile. He knew that Ren's comment was well-meaning, but it hit strangely. He had a lot more scars than most people knew about. And no one got to see them. Ever. Not because they were particularly ugly, but because when you had scars, someone always wanted to know how you got them, and that was not a question anyone really wanted the answer to in his case.
He answered Caelum first.
"I-I know I should," he agreed, "It just really struck a nerve. I couldn't think clearly through my anger."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Too bad the cool scar is in a place no one is ever going to see it. You'd have to kill me before I'd wear shorts," he said to Ren, laughing softly.
"I'm sor- I'm so sorry that I couldn't protect you better," Felix said, biting down on his lip, "I wish I'd known the gravity of the situation and gathered extra help beforehand."
"I get that… I was definitely more reckless than I should have been as well." Caelum laughed weakly, running his fingers through his hair. "It was hard to see those kids like that. No one should be in that condition, but especially not little kids. It's sick, and I can't believe anyone could do something like that, especially without remorse."
Ren tilted his head to the side a bit, rubbing the back of it where Azel had hit him. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I guess I'll need to buy new clothes at some point…" He started muttering to himself about how to find money to buy clothes that properly fit him.
"Yeah… it's absolutely sick," Aurelius agreed.
His eyes wandered over to Felix.
"Nothing about this is your fault. I went in knowing potential consequences."
He found himself once again fighting to stay awake. Fatigue had set deep into his bones, and his eyes grew heavy.
"We should leave you to rest, shouldn't we?" Felix asked, "I'll come back later, just me if I can."
Caelum nodded a bit and nudged Azel and Ren to get them to follow him out of the room. "We'll go check on the kids. You get your rest, alright?" He then closed the door behind them and waited out in the hallway for Felix, figuring he might want to speak to Aurelius one on one.
Aurelius gave a slow nod. "Will do. Not like I have a choice," he laughed.
Felix stayed by his bedside for a minute after the others. Septima, however, left.
"I won't stay and scold you," she said with a smile, "You already know."
She turned around and followed the others out, leaving Felix with Aurelius.
The two didn't talk much at first. They simply sat in silence.
Cyrus was waiting in the hall.
"Hey, you guys can go visit Theo," he said, uncrossing his arms, "I talked to a couple of the nurses. And they said the other kid is open to visitors as well."
Caelum nodded a bit as Cyrus spoke to them. "That sounds good. I guess it's good that they're feeling well enough to be willing to see people, right?" He smiled softly and sighed, heading towards where Theo's room was. Theo looked up when he heard the door open, looking nervous until he saw who it was.
"Sure, I think they want human contact besides doctors," Cyrus said softly, "All the sterility- it's very strange."
Septima followed the others to Theo's room, while Felix stayed behind briefly before coming with them.
"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.
(Bump ^^ we might want to come up with some longer term plot stuff adfghjj)
(Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Sorry I haven't been around much.)
(Np! Do you have any ideas?)
"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.
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