numbered_doctor | Not Exactly A Good Day

It's been a while since she's been in the Bar. Between very long hours at work, and House running the team ragged, she hasn't even had time to think about Milliways, let alone come here.

Today is different, though. Milliways has usually refrained from pulling the young doctor in, since she had found a stable door, but now, she's stumbling in, almost unseeingly, and it takes her a moment to realize where she is.

Remy's certainly seen better days, hair a mess, red-rimmed eyes, and, oh yes, did we mention the blood? Though that's not exactly on her mind at the moment, as she's just noticed her lack of door and has turned to pound on the bare expanse of wall, leaving bloody prints as she hurls insults and generally screams at it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

futures_of_ash

Well...that wasn't a good sign. In fact it was a bad sign.

Funny how a girl could just drift out of the sky...or rather hang from the rafters of the ceiling anyway. Hang in such a way that the red-heads face was just about at the point where Remy was beating on the poor, defenseless wall.

From:

numbered_doctor

Remy's...not really noticing much else beside the wall at the moment, and, the rage seems to fade from her all at once as she rests her forehead briefly against the wall briefly, before slowly crumpling to the ground.

"Fuck."

...at least the blood isn't hers?

From:

futures_of_ash

Well, Rachel was glad not to get hit when she put herself between the wall and Remy?

And yes, she could see that the blood wasn't Remy's. Wrong type and no nanites. "I'm sorry."

From:

numbered_doctor

"I-"

["Kutner!" "Come on, Kutner, breathe." Blood. So much blood. Everywhere. "Nononononononono."]

"I...tried."

From:

futures_of_ash

She drifted down entirely from the rafters to sit beside the girl. "Sometimes we can only try. Some times people cannot be held onto when they choose to leave."

From:

numbered_doctor

She lets out a shaky breath, leaning against Rachel as she blinks rapidly.

"I...didn't even know anything was wrong. He was my friend."

From:

futures_of_ash

"Inner minds are terrible things sometimes. People can be trapped in them, caught, so tied up in what is there that they can't reach beyond that to tell anyone or to even change how they act." She knew from experience with more minds than she could count. And, sadly, not even a hero like her could prevent the few who chose to die.

From:

numbered_doctor

"I know," she says miserably, and, there may be just a bit of clinging now as she tries to draw some comfort from her friend. "It's just...jarring."

From:

futures_of_ash

Rachel dragged a hand down Remy's arm, drawing the blood off them. The red droplets clung to the mutant's fingers for a moment then drifted upward, dissolving in small bursts of flame. Each tiny flicker showed a picture, a hint of the man the blood had belonged to. "Tell me about him."

From:

numbered_doctor

She huddles against Rachel some as she starts brokenly/

"He...was always so cheerful, and he was smart, always challenging House."

She pauses to take a breath and compose herself a little better.

"He talked me into coming over to watch a Star Wars marathon at the end of the week."

From:

futures_of_ash

Rachel listened, it was one thing she was good at. And then, "What did he enjoy? What was his life like when he wasn't at work?"

From:

numbered_doctor

Remy gives a humourless smile.

"He was a...geek like me. He loved comics and video games, and all the like. I...was letting myself get closer to him."

From:

futures_of_ash

"What kind of comics and video games?" She asked, curious. The flame she was holding hadn't dimmed in the least though surely the fuel for it had to have faded long since. More, the pictures in the flame had only grown, consolidating at each word Remy uttered.

From:

numbered_doctor

"Anything he could get his hands on, I think. From Superman, to Green lantern and lots more."

She's shaking a little, but she's not crying now, though she probably will later.

"I know he played a lot of Halo, but he had shelves of games."

From:

futures_of_ash

"How did he look when he played? When he was relaxed?" These were important questions.

From:

numbered_doctor

"Focused," she says softly, wiping at her eyes. "He always had this dopey grin on his face though. But when he was concentrating, he got so focused, and he got this furrow, right here."

Absently, she lifts a hand, motioning to her brow.

From:

futures_of_ash

"Dopey grins are always a good thing. It's always fun to see when a guy gets that look. They always deny it." She chuckled, the flames still drawing together into a larger form. "What else about him made you want to get closer?"

From:

numbered_doctor

"He was...soft. No...that doesn't make sense."

She sighs, rubbing at her face.

"I dunno...he...cared."

Asked after her, when they others didn't bother. Just smiled and poked at her to get her out of her apartment some nights.

From:

futures_of_ash

"That isn't soft. That is a very rare kind of strength." A gentle strength, one that should be treasured. And sadly...an empathetic strength that tended to lead to pain and inner sorrow. "You needed more people who cared in your life."

The flame in her palm was now a single, glowing column. A man, standing with his own customary body language and burning with a shade of gold that only spirits and Life energy could achieve. "Memory can trace a soul, link to it for a while..."

From:

numbered_doctor

Carefully, she lifts a hand, nearly touching the golden form, but pausing just shy of it.

"I...was starting to let him close."

From:

futures_of_ash

Rachel smiled and moved the column into Remy's hands. "Keep him close, in your heart, in your soul. It is never a mistake to care for someone enough to let them close."

From:

numbered_doctor

She doesn't really say anything in response, blinking rapidly as she holds the column carefully in her hands.

Part of her wants to rage against that, that letting people close only makes things hurt more then they inevitably leave.

Newfound things in her mind tell her otherwise, though, proof that others can help you through dark times.

From:

futures_of_ash

The column was fading, sinking slowly into Remy's fingers, beneath the skin to the veins beneath. Warm, it was warm and it held memory of a man that mattered, destined always to be a part of Remy now.

Always.

From:

numbered_doctor

She watches quietly as the golden glow fades beneath her skin, absently flexing and un-flexing her hands as she leans further against Rachel.

"Goodbye, Kutner."

From:

futures_of_ash

"A pleasure meeting you." Rachel added into the quiet. No, there was nothing strange in those words at all from her point of view. She had after all. "Until we meet again."