Mu - Hearts and Elixirs

Mu - Hearts and Elixirs
Date of Scene:	05 August 2014
Location:	Njorun Station - Medical
Synopsis:	Worried and burdened by loss of others past, Corvo decides to do what he can to help another young girl. Although he is reluctant to pry, answers must be found.
Cast of Characters:	20, 398
Tinyplot:	Mu

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Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
She's going home today. That's the only thing she can focus on at the moment. Things just need to be cleared up paperwise they said. And the nurse was pretty insistent that she should really stay until the IV drip had finished. So for now, Toph is curled up in bed, resting on her side. The hospital gown has been taken off and she is instead wearing some green shorts and a white t-shirt. Her bag is packed and next to the bed, and the IV bag is dripping away in the quiet room she has been given on her own. The sign on the door states that no more than five visitors are allowed at a time.

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
Hopefully there's not a crowd.

It's Corvo. Of course it's him. But where had he been before that? Why hadn't he come earlier? What kind of a jerkass friend is he where he can't even come around to see a friend who's hurt and sick and not doing well?

Jerk.

But he's here. Finally. The day before she gets out, and he finally shows up.

He's... pale, as he steps in, trying to compose himself and not doing too terribly well. Pale and sweating, and a certain haunted, flinchy PTSD sort of air about him, a glazed cringing distance in his eyes.

...And he's holding a human heart in his hands (albeit a vaguely cyborged looking one), sort of clutching it helplessly as he slips silent through the door.

WHY ISN'T THAT TERRIBLY REASSURING. NOTHING LIKE SHOWING UP HOLDING A HUMAN HEART. WHAT A GREAT IDEA.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
It's a good thing that the girl in the bed is blind and unable to see just what is being dragged into her room. And it doesn't seem like she's registering the foot steps as Corvo walks into the room either, not when he's quiet and silent like that. Perhaps Corvo has heard Toph on the radio, maybe not. Either way, her eyes are closed as Corvo steps inside the room, her chest rising and falling at an even pace. At least she doesn't /look/ sick. If it wasn't for the IV infusion she's getting, one might not even suspect she is a patient here.

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
It's just instinct at this point. Instinct and training. He moves silently; from his gear to his walk to his softened breath, he moves like a whisper, like a dream, like a thing that never was, and he ghosts into the room like a fragment of memory, gone and then here again, breath held for a long moment... before he gently lets it out. He eases to the edge of the bed, one hand on the railing, one hand on the AUGHWHYAREYOUHOLDINGTHAT, cradling it softly, or her, softly, as he is often quick to point out.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

The blind girl remains asleep for now, only mumbling slightly as she rolls onto her back more, the hand with the IV needle resting on her belly. Even as Corvo grabs the railing, she is calm... then suddenly, her eyes snap wide open, and she tenses where she lies. Except no sound escapes her. Then her hand reaches out, fumbling. "Dad?!"

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
The hand she might find would be large, with soft cool shiny lines branded into the back of it. It would turn over, and close very softly over her own fingers, and his mouth would open... ...and then close again, a small, shaken breath coming from him. The smell of the sea, ever present around him no matter how many times he washes or launders his coat is there, soft and thin with the scent of whale oil. "...Are you..." in pain, alright, gonna make it, dying, bleeding from the eyes... "...Oh Toph..."

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
It smells a bit different from Tony. The hand is larger than his or Pepper's. Somehow she seems a bit disturbed when it closes over hers and she isn't sure just /whose/ hand it is... But then he speaks, and Toph visibly relaxes once she recognizes the voice.

"Corvo...?" Her voice is a bit weaker than normal, though she manages to push herself up in a sluggish manner, slumping forward in bed. "Why're here...?" she asks, blinking tiredly in confusion.

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
He's silent, for a long moment. "...You're one of my best friends. And I'm a chauffer for having let you go this long without seeing you." Sadness, regret, and guilt. "...I couldn't. I just- when I heard you were sick, or, or poisoned I..." sudden feelings, images, memories. Tyvian red, glasses of wine, carmine blood streaked down gaunt, pale faces, hollow and flyblown and yet still WALKING AROUND, groaning in mindless pain... he flinches back, shaking his head, and she'd find a couple of glass objects pressed into her hands. "I know they say you're, almost better. I know they do." He has so very few of these though- "And I want you to take one. One of each, just to be sure. In case there's... anything lingering. These should take care of it." Anti plague elixers. Technically they heal the body, but their true purpose is and has always been fighting off sickness, as only void-touched alchemies can. He presses them into her hand, fingers soft on hers, the brush of the old, softly shiny heart a brush against her knuckles on one side. He's so earnest...

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
One of his best friends? Toph blinks a bit, then sighs and shakes her head. "It's okay." Oh man, he's talking a lot. All the words do take a moment for her to process, and she focuses on breathing. "Not poisoned... not sick, just... not me," she explains. Well, she's still her! But not like the usual her.

Then there's the strange glass objects pressed into her hands. It makes her blink, her mouth opening as if she is about to ask. Then he begins explaining. "More to drink...?" It's confusing indeed, and Toph brushes her fingers over them in turn. "This... medicine? Why?" The doctors said she isn't sick, so why?

But nonetheless, the girl begins fumbling with one of the bottles, having some trouble with opening it.

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
He's shaking. "...Because I'm a stupid, sad, foolish old man, and it would help me sleep at night without imagining you crying blood." Not herself? What does she mean by, not herself? He hugs the heart, looking at her... "I want to see. What you're talking about. Hear, it. But... ...I don't want to, pry. Into areas you might not, like me to go, Toph. I want to find out what happened." His teeth are clenched, almost a hiss... before a very faint, tired little whimper. "...I'm worried. But I- I wouldn't. Not to you. Not like that."

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
"I'm not crying... blood," Toph responds with a look of confusion, even as she reaches a hand up to her face. She's almost got the bottle up, but then she is distracted by the man again as he babbles on and on about something that just doesn't make sense. She blinks twice where she sits. "I... don't understand, Corvo." What /is/ he talking about? "See what?" And how? And why is he acting like it's something horrible and bad? It sounds that way.

All in all the girl looks confused. And tired.

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
He shakes his head. "...What happened to you, what's wrong, do you know? Do they?" His hand is gentle and careful and sad on her face, caressing gently with what probably is quite the concerned expression on his own, though she wouldn't know it. And he's hesitating... normally he'd use her without thought, without hesitation. But he doesn't want to dig around in Toph unbidden without so much as a by-your-leave...

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
At that question Toph shakes her head. "They are looking... don't know more," she responds tiredly, not really responding much to the hand on her face as he caresses her cheek. But she does seem aware of his distress. And the words he said before...

"I don't really understand," she admits. But he wants to help her, right? And that is one thing she does understand. That she needs help. A wise man told her once that it's okay to let people help you. "If you want to help... okay." That is as much consent as the girl can give at the moment.

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
He nods. He'd hate any secrets he stole. He would. He readies her, holding her reverently in his palm. And she shifts slightly, in his hand. A little flash of light... or his imagination, hopeful, nothing more. His eyes close, listening to her... and fighting tears. It's always hard, hearing her voice, so detached and distant and dull and sad, so sad...

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
There are some secrets that Toph holds dear to her heart. But perhaps not as much as some people.

For now Toph isn't aware of how Corvo holds up the heart, the grim organ unnoticed by unseeing eyes and dulled senses. Some seconds pass, and then Corvo's asset speaks.

"She truly does not know. Neither does he. Like her will, the memories have been swept away like clean water having to give way to pungent floods."

Upon hearing that voice Toph turns her head a bit, her eyes widening a bit. "Huh?"

The heart continues. "He brought it there after hearing the whispers. The half truths. He is not fully to blame, yet he is hardly innocent. With one she will wither. The other will bloom. Just as it is with the cause." It is quite talkative today. "Beware the darkness and the false lights it brings. While one will take, the other will give."

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
She's...

Being.

CRYPTIC.

And what does he do? Love of his life? Murdered right before him, died in his arms, source of his madness and pain?

He shakes her.

Just a little, looking vexed.

Shakeshake.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
"Corvo...?" Toph sounds hesitant when she speaks, and she halts in trying to get the bottle open. The others are resting in her lap. "Who's that?" Who does that sad voice belong to? It's not Pepper...

"What it will give might not be what you want. And not just to her, but for those who seek to return her to life."

All the words make Toph whine slightly, and she reaches a hand up to her forehead. Too many words to follow them all!

"Nothingness eats at all that she is. It is good that she has so much to give."

Then the Heart remains quiet.

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
His voice is soft and choked. "...Jessamine." It's an explanation. And a call, soft and crooning and hopeless, a call to someone far far too far away, worlds too far away to ever hear him.

And then she falls silent. He shivers, his face hot and his eyes closed- and then that battered notebook comes out, and he's scribbling with a grease pencil, the book a tattered, stuffed-full frankenstinean thing in an oilcloth cover, and he's writing, writing, panting slightly, "So, much, to give." KLAK goes the grease pencil, losing a bit of the tip and he looks around, a little squirrely eyed, staring. Return her to life. Not give what you want. Nothingness eats all that she is. A little whine slips from him, high and keening and near mindless, his face in his hands a moment. "Drink your elixer. It can't hurt, please- please let it help, please let it do something, anything at all..." He's, scared. Oh by the Outsider he's damn scared. She's not a daughter to him as much as she is to Tony, but by the Outsider's eyes she's so much to him he could scream with the holding of it all, and she's, she's...

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
Jessamine? The name invokes silence from Toph, her pale unseeing eyes lethargic. She keeps still where she lies, rubbing her forehead even as Corvo pulls out his battered notebook. Then there's the urging, and Toph whines just slightly. Man, they tell her to drink all the time. She can't drink much more, she drank several bottles. It feels that way. But she does as told, and her free hand fumbles with the bottle to get it open. And when it's open, she brings the bottle to her lips, drinking carefully and a bit clumsily, part of the elixir running down her chin. Though she can't help but wince, pulling the bottle back. "Tastes like crud...!" she complains, a begging tone to her voice. Does she /have/ to drink it?

Corvo Attano (398) has posed:
A sigh... and he recaps the bottle. "Just... drink some every few hours. The blue one is worse. But it's good for the mind, and maybe I should've had you drink that one first." He rubs his face, before hunching down, his hands on her face, his eyes on hers. "I will not lose you." It's tight. "I will NOT lose you." A slight shake, his eyes a little crazy. "I will NOT LOSE YOU. I will not lose another person I love. I will not." Shakeshake. And then he's standing up, in a swirl of coat and 'whf' and he's gone. Drama whore.

Toph Beifong (20) has posed:
Ugh. More drinking. Toph lets out a tired sigh. The mention of colours does make her want to come up with a snarky remark, but... ugh. That is too difficult. Then there's the feeling of his hands on her face, and it feels like he's close. Her own unseeing eyes 'stare' straight forward, and she tenses slightly as he speaks, repeating those words as a mantra. When she's shaken like that, she gives a slight whimper, confusion easy to read off of her face. And when he shakes more, she gasps, only to fumble, clutching onto the bottle in her hands when he lets go.

Several seconds pass, and she speaks to the empty room. "Corvo...?" No response. And she pulls her knees up to her chest, letting go of the bottle as it rolls down onto the bed, its contents spilled as the girl hugs into her legs, breathing quickly and uneven.