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 Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:47 pm
This will hurt more than you expect.
She had never liked the lab. It was cold and smelled of disinfectant and Juno lived in it. And now it was even more terrifying than usual because she was sitting on a lab bench, swinging her feet nervously and trying to keep her eye on Juno. He wasn't out of her sight in any way, shape, or form. No, not at all. He was working at a counter not far from the lab bench, in plain sight, setting up a number of syringes and disinfectants.
It was scaring her silly, to be frank. She had finally seen Angelique, for the first time in two weeks, and the young woman had looked harried and nervous...Ishi had decided it was best to keep what she was doing from the Nobody. For one, Ange would never have allowed it. For another...she didn't want anyone to know this for now. Leviathan couldn't know (not that he interacted with Ishi at all anymore. Since the first meeting, the pair had carefully constructed their schedules to avoid even looking at each other). None of Juno's other pet projects (of which there were varying numbers) could know.
Just her and Juno.
Who was watching her with mild interest, one hand on his hip and a needle in the other. When Ishi made eye contact with him again, she had to glance away. She was shaking. This was a horrible idea, and she knew it was, but she couldn't stop herself from doing it. She needed to try, and if Juno thought he could do it, he was probably right...
"This is going to hurt," Juno informed her simply, waiting for her to strip off her gloves and roll up her sleeve. When Ishi did, he took her hand in a grip that was surprisingly gentle, bared her wrist, and then let go of her for a moment to swab the area with iodine. Ishi glanced up, closed her eyes, and chewed her lip. She heard Juno make a soft, slightly amused noise, and then the man took her wrist again and Ishi tensed.
“The more tense you are, the worse it will hurt,” he informed her mildly, and Ishi cracked open her good eye. Juno made eye contact, shrugged and then made a slight gesture with the syringe. “Just relax. Close your eyes and relax.” And Ishi tried. She closed her eyes and took deep, measured breaths, trying to think about something completely different. Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…
Then a sharp pain and something that felt like acid in her veins. Ishi shrieked without realizing she was doing it, and then everything went black.
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Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:49 pm
You may find that those you once knew have changed.Ishi, out to keep herself from going crazy, goes stargazing and runs into a star rather closer to home than the ones she had originally intended to watch.in progressBut some of us are looking at the stars.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:24 pm
What has time done to us all?
“No, Mercury, it’s all right.”
Ishi’s voice was odd, slightly dull, and Mercury frowned at the fact that her daughter had said her name, rather than her typical ‘mama’. Had the few weeks with Juno really been enough to change her that much? It didn’t make sense to her. “Ishi, are you sure?” she asked doubtfully. She would be by to pick up Angelique; of that much she was certain. The Nobody had been panicking for the past two weeks, and Mercury didn’t want any more of that to happen. She had assumed the same would be true for Ishi, but it…wasn’t.
“Really, Mercury. I need to be here.” And Ishi again sounded…off. Her voice wasn’t quite dull, that wasn’t the right word; it was just strange, very slightly muffled or slurred, and the tone was distracted. It made Mercury nervous.
“Is Juno treating you all right?”
“Yes, Mercury. He’s treating me well…he’s trying to cure me. It seems to be making some progress…” Ishi sounded happy for a moment, but then the tone disappeared and she was back to that peculiar dullness again. “I have more treatment tonight. But Juno says he has great hopes for this round of injections.” Again the slightest brightness in her voice.
“…And you can’t come home, are you sure?” Mercury asked. She didn’t like the idea of her daughter living in that house with that man…even if he did have Leviathan and Rook. Mercury didn’t like Rook anymore than she liked Juno, although she remembered Leviathan as a darling little child…somehow, she didn’t think it was the same. Ishi spoke his name like she would talk about a snake that had bitten her. That, too, worried Mercury. What was going on in the house?
“Honestly, Mercury, I can’t. Juno needs to monitor my treatment. Twenty-four-seven care.”
“But Ishizuke, really, I’m sure it can…”
“No, Mercury.” Ishi’s voice was suddenly hard, almost desperate, and Mercury blinked. “I need to stay here so Juno can monitor me! He’s going to cure me!” And she sounded suddenly close to tears. Mercury stopped her insistence, frowning, and looked at Nereus, who was listening to her half of the conversation. He frowned at her and shrugged. Mercury shook her head.
“If you’re sure, sweetheart.”
“I am sure, Mercury! I need to be here. You can’t take me away!”
...Mercury blinked. There was no qualifier. Not ‘you can’t take me away now’. Just ‘you can’t take me away.’ …What did it mean? She didn’t like it at all.
“All right…” she said softly. “All right, Ishi. Calm down.”
“I need to stay.”
“I know, sweetie. I’ll come see you when I pick up Angelique.”
“I need to stay.”
“Yes, I know honey. I’ll talk to you later, all right?”
“…I need to stay.”
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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:01 pm
The best-laid plans of mice and men...
"Juno."
Ishi walked into his lab, mostly without looking at him. Juno didn't look up from the notes he was scrawling, either. His expression never changed, and he didn't even bother to deign her word with an inclination of his head, not even a grunt. He just kept writing, though for a moment he paused to hold a test tube up to the light. Ishi shook her head, stamping her foot a little.
"Juno."
"You've said that already," the man pointed out mildly.
"Juno, I don't want to do this anymore," Ishi answered, her voice breaking a little bit as she spoke. "I feel like crap all the time...I don't want to do this. It's hurting me, Juno, and I'm not getting better....I'm just...getting tired..." s**t. She thought the word without noticing she was doing so, her view of proper language long-since skewed by the creatures with whom she had to spend her time. She was starting to cry, and no matter how much she ferociously scrubbed at her eyes, there was nothing she could do to hold the tears back.
"Juno, I don't like this. I'm scared. Why do I just feel sick? Why am I not getting better?" She felt like her veins were on fire, every moment of the day. The sun was blinding, other lights in the house too bright. Sometimes it felt like her skin was sloughing off...sometimes her gums bled for no reason, for hours on end. She didn't know why, didn't understand. Juno was supposed to have helped her...but it only made her worse.
"Because the process it taking longer than I thought," Juno answered coldly, barely even glancing at her. "Crying's not going to get you anywhere," he remarked after a moment, flippantly as he would if she had a papercut that she insisted on bawling over for more than a second.
Ishi felt a scream growing in her throat, but she swallowed it, gasping and choking and forcing down the lump, forcing her tears away. "Juno," she said, taking a shuddering breath. The man didn't look at her. "Please, Juno...give me something to feel better," she begged. "Make it stop. It's hurting me. I don't like it."
Juno glanced up at her, an eyebrow raising a miniscule amount as he made eye contact. "...stop sniveling," he answered after a second, but he stood up nonetheless, crossing the lab to the large cabinet in which he kept most of his chemicals. "There isn't much I can do, Ishizuke," he remarked after a moment. "The only thing I can give you is something that will mean you feel nothing at all...I can't give it to you frequently, or you'll be like a zombie."
"I don't care."
For a moment, something alien clouded Juno's expression. Ishi blinked. Was it...worry? But it was gone before she could see it, and Juno was walking over to her, already selecting what he had chosen and putting it into a syringe. He looked at her for a moment, and that look turned up again, for a second. But then it was gone and there was nothing but coldness in his stare.
"Hold still," he said, almost snapping it, and without ceremony, gave her arm a quick swab and drove in the needle.
She screamed, and the world went black.
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