[sylvanSpider]

Leaning his head back, Fikri focused on a spot on the ceiling, catatonic and unable to move. No, “focused” is wrong. His eyes fell on that spot and that was where they stopped. His vision blurred and he wanted to cry, to scream, to...something. He'd come out of slavery, made friends, became part of a family, but for what? It all culminated into naught but his solitude.

What did I do to deserve this? Why her? I would have taken those spikes for her, for Riola, in the blink of an eye. Why couldn't it have been me? Why...did I...have to taste it...

To think that there was once a time when that was all he wanted. But now that he'd had that taste...that glorious taste of what it meant to love...the solitude was anything but wanted. His body stopped listening to his mental commands in the most uncomfortable position, head resting against the hard wall. If he could just make his way to the bed, he could sleep and forget about himself for a little bit.

As if it could call, he looked back down at the pyramid, now on the ground and turned off. It wasn't far from where he sat; he could feel its smooth surface against the side of his hand and soon he grasped it in his hand, flipping the top to the setting “joy.” The beginnings of the shift in feelings were immediate. The boulder in his chest faded and he could get up. Further, he wanted to get up. He felt like a kitten again! He felt like he was flying! But why? There was nothing making him feel this way, and the question of why, why, why, still beat like a drum in the back of his head, but he could feel his tail twitching with ecstasy. He could do anything now.

Getting to his feet and stretching, he let the tips of his fingers touching the ceiling to his room and looked to the boxes. He'd get it unpacked. He was happy! He had no reason to be happy, but he was!

<<<

Ashi lay as still as she could attempting to make Dr. Analoka's job as easy as possible – especially considering her girlfriend's mental state. The tub that she was laying in began to fill up, and Ashi gasped at how much colder it was than the air that she previously was freezing in. Soon her entire body went numb, the pain diminished and she could feel fingers prying at her body, but that was it. She could see her naked body distorted through the viscous liquid, Analoka's hands moving deftly over the more injured areas, snapping things back in place. The horrendous pain that she'd imagine was noticeably and thankfully absent. Ashi, despite her better judgment, watched the entire process as it was happening.

“It truly is,” Ashi breathed, not taking her eyes off of the hands that were working on fixing her. She cleared her throat, her bodily troubles being mended, she had other problems to attend to. “Um, doctor? Once I'm mended...when can we...see Shaldag?”

>>>>

Mendez nodded his understanding. “They're probably too scared to try hurting you,” he laughed, trying to comfort her with his incredibly lame sense of humor. He could see how nervous she was about actually needing to be fixed herself, a concept that he found rather unnerving. He'd never seen Atrix nervous before. She wasn't nervous when they'd first kissed or made love. She wasn't nervous when meeting anyone new. She certainly wasn't nervous at the idea of brandishing weapons and killing another living being. But here? She was nervous.

When she squeezed his hand, his eyes widened for just a moment but soon he was laughing again, massaging his hand for just a moment, “You've done worse to me in the bedroom. Don't worry, querida, you're fine.” Satisfied with finding none of his bones had been broken, he went to grab her hand again, placing his other on the small of her back guiding her to room 112. “No, no, mamacita. We're making sure you're not in pain. Don't worry, I've got you. If they try anything funny, I'll kill them and you'll have a nice snack for later, si?”