Not Until

Participants:

delia_icon.gif koshka_icon.gif

Scene Title Not Until
Synopsis A number of things will have to wait, but it opens up other possible avenues to find answers.
Date May 7, 2011

Eltingville Blocks : Brian's Residence


After laundry, after gardening, after a little light reading, Delia finally packs up her things and heads over to Harbor Court. Only to find that Koshka/Bethany is no longer residing there. It's sometime in the late afternoon when she plods over to Brian's house, the only other logical place for the teen to be.

Armed with only a file folder full of copies, she raises her knuckles to rap on the door three times. Brian probably has a doorbell but at this point the redhead is just too tired and cranky to use it. Drawing her fist back to hug the folder against her chest, she takes a deep breath and just… waits.

She probably should have tried contacting Brian a while ago.

Brian doesn't seem to be at home, and enough time passes that it might seem as though no one were home. But just as the wait reaches that point, the door cracks open and the resident teenager peeks out. She offers a small, very unsure grin. It's meant to be welcoming, though could just be coming off as though a last stand against a storm, if memory serves for her last encounter with the red head. In short, she's a little intimidated by Delia.

Taking a step back from the door, a step laden with favoritism for a leg and different from the previous limp, Koshka pulls the door open a little wider. No sense in not being hospitable at least. "…If you're looking for Brian, he's out. You can come in and wait if you want."

The redhead takes a step forward, holding out the folder. "I was looking for you, actually. I went to Harbor Court and you weren't there." Her tone isn't unfriendly, more matter of fact than anything. "I made the copies but I have something to tell you about the things and where they came from."

The limp doesn't go unnoticed, it causes Delia's eyebrows to pull down into a frown and, her gaze flitting between the leg and Koshka's eyes. "What happened to your leg?" She would ask if it was a sporting activity but refrains, almost as if she's afraid to hear the answer. "Did someone at that place hurt you again? I heard some of the other kids tried before…. Brian told me when you left."

"Oh." Koshka's expression, and her tone, flickers toward surprise. She wasn't expecting to get anything back from Delia, having written it off as a loss that she'd apologize for and explain. "…Thank you. I… Yeah, Brian and… we talked about it, kind of, and this is home. With him and…" Samara, too. Though the name goes unsaid, erring on the side of caution for the phaser who isn't suppose to be here.

A shrug replies to the question of what happened, and a refusal to meet the woman's gaze. "It wasn't from there," Koshka answers. "I… I'm… not going back. Not until… I need to think things over better. You and Brian were right and I can't ask anyone else to help me if I can't keep them safe."

"A good way around it would be to get someone who doesn't have an ankle bracelet to go around the long way. But… I think maybe if you can, try to meet with some of the people that these things actually belong to." How, Delia has no idea.

She takes a few more steps, further inside the house before closing the door behind her. "How long ago did it happen, I can take a look if you want. I'm not a doctor but I was trying to be one before I had to run. I'm going to go back to school in the winter, when I've straightened everything out again." One shoulder is brought up in a shrug, as though giving the girl an excuse to refuse the offer if she so desires.

A slow nod follows, and Koshka pushes the door closed behind Delia. "I think… Either option might be a good one." Though how she's going to meet anyone that can claim ownership of the things from the house is anyone's guess. "I kind of met one. I think anyway, the precog that broke in here said the treehouse drawing was his."

She half hops to the couch, giving a gesture to Delia that could easily mean to make herself at home. "Happened about a week ago. I was trying to keep the hunterbots from pouncing on Sable and someone else." She sinks onto the couch to manipulate her jeans a little, the tear through the denim exposing cleanish bandaging on her thigh. "I was going to find Doctor Sasha, but going to school is bad enough." And the one time she'd made it over, he wasn't home.

There's a small nod from the dreamwalker as she follows the girl further inside. "I remember, it was when Brian got hit in the head… He must be fine though, I haven't heard about any deaths and any brain damage… well we don't know if he already had that or not, do we?" It's a small joke, only made known by the half smirk on Delia's face.

"I'll have to unwrap it to look and I can leave a message for Sasha with Tania or something… I don't see him or Mister Logan very often, not long enough to actually talk anyway." Placing the folder on the table, she heads into the kitchen to wash her hands. They're still wet when she returns, she apparently didn't risk drying her hands on the tea towel that was there.

The joke, small though it may be, generates a little grin within Koshka's expression. "He's still alive, and normal." In whatever can be considered normal from the former replicator. "The precog was called Astor by the other guy that showed up. I don't know his name or how he got there. Or… how either got inside. But Astor would… just appear places. Like how he got inside here or caught up to me so fast. My ability didn't bother him much either." Her brows furrow, knitting together over the unknowns.

The teen's eyes track after Delia as she goes into the kitchen to wash. She folds up the pant leg while the red head is gone, working the clothing up high enough to expose the bandaging. After it's revealed, Koshka picks at the layering of gauze to start pulling it away. When Delia returns, her head lifts and eyes go to her. "Thank you…"

"Not a problem… One of them is my nephew, his name is Kincaid. He wanted me to give the clipping to my brother. Another one is my son… daughter… a bit of both," Delia smiles a little, proudly, when talking about the dream manipulator to the teen. "She said that the rubbing was my idea, because Beth might not be remembered any other way. She won't now… and Kincaid will never be born either. These things they brought with them, they're all the proof they have of who they are."

The nurse speaks quietly as she finishes unwrapping the girl's leg, easing the gauze away where it's been stuck by blood. "You know the only reason I didn't want you to go out there is because of things like this… right? I could have brought them here in dreams if you wanted, we could have set something up somewhere safer."

"Sorry for… calling her a liar, too. That wasn't fair of me." Koshka winces as the wrapping is pulled free, letting out a measured breath. Once exposed, it's a laceration that stares up at the pair, a cut through the meat of her thigh and half cauterized, giving it an angry look. It's mostly clean, like the bandaging, but still weepy for its size. "It's just… I don't know. You all were willing to trust that these strangers from the future are here to help and… maybe this Kitty person is too."

Koshka glances downward then looks over to Brian's favored Dogs Playing Poker picture. "I know," she admits quietly. "I didn't want anyone else to get hurt. I didn't want anyone to go with either, because… I think those robots hunt the woods. I think even someone without a tracking anklet would get caught. —But I still kind of think I can make it alone."

"What if Kitty's one of them? Like.. what if she's with them?" Delia suggests as she stares at the gaping wound. She keeps her hands away from it, for now, choosing to look at the color of the blood on the bandage and what's seeping from the gash. "This is going to scar— horribly— and it's too late for stitches. I'll leave a message for Sasha about it but… it's cut muscle. You should have found one of us right away instead of waiting."

She sighs and shakes her head, finally placing her hands on either side of the cut to try to pull them together. "Nevermind that now though… you don't need a lecture. Just— please don't try to go out there again. I can bring them to you in a dream if you tell me who to look for. I'll return everything if you promise not to risk it again. Next time the robots might not be this nice… What if they'd gotten your neck?"

"Exactly," Koshka replies. "She could be. She could be bad or good or… I don't know. I didn't see her, I saw the guy who owns the house and… He seemed nice enough, so I want to think Kitty is too." She looks back to Delia, as though that alone could justify and explain her insistence on going back. "What… what if she or they knew how to get us out of here? Or how to improve things in here?"

A pained wince follows the pressure to her leg, a whimper escaping through clenched teeth. If the nurse were looking to get the teenager's attention, she's certainly got it now. "I'll promise… I won't go back unless I'm sure I can do it safely. And… and we can try your dreams if you'd like. I don't know how it works but… I know what Ted looks like, and the house."

"They were built to hunt people like us, weren't they? Brian managed to fight one off before but what if they learn from things like that and it doesn't work twice?" Delia frowns and pulls her hands away at the wince and shakes her head. "I saw a television show once, a long time ago… about robots that learned. I want to say it was Star Trek or something… but I can't be sure."

Her face lights up then and she takes a gasp inward. "Hey!" The too loud exclaimation catches her by surprise and she flushes a little before lowering her head a little shyly. "Uhm… There's a guy.. He's staying at my house for now, uhm.. I bet he could get in there and back again without the robots knowing. He came through my television set."

"Mister Ulyanov?" There's the hinting of another grin on Koshka's face, somewhere in with the relief and ache combined as manipulation of her leg is eased off. "I think… that they're drawn by use of powers. If… if he showed up there? That could bring the hunterbots back to Ted's house and… No." She gives a firm shake of her head. "I'll agree to exploring in dreams but I'm not risking him or Ted and Kitty to those things."

"Uhm.." Delia's blush grows deeper as she nods, "yeah— him." She quiets a little as she eyes the wound, pressing her lips together in thought. "I don't know Koshka.. things like this usually calls for surgery to repair the muscle, stitches on the inside and outside. We can pack it so it heals that way naturally but it's going to hurt every time we unpack and repack but it might be the only way you'll heal. The outside is going to heal faster, that's bad, we have to keep it open while the muscle knits itself back together— if it will."

Biting her lip, she shrugs a little and reahes into her pocket. Unfortunately, she's not a girl scout and doesn't have the necessary items. "Uhm… I'll leave a note for Sasha, see what he wants to do. Maybe he'll come and take a look here instead of you having to travel. I'll get you a pair of crutches, you need to stay off the leg as much as possible. Can you do that?"

It's Koshka's turn to blush and look rather lost, turning her gaze down to the wound in her leg. "But…" Her tongue dabs at her lips and she lets out a slow breath before nodding. She'd known it was bad, just how bad was something else. No one to blame but herself, she looks up at Delia finally. "It doesn't… It doesn't need to be pretty. Just needs to heal and… and work right."

Hands rub against her face as Koshka leans back slightly. "I'll stay off it as much as possible." Which means she should stop balking and make the quick trip to see the speedster, hopping if she has to. "And more… once… I have a card, my dad's. If you need money for anything."

The young woman doesn't waste any time after the initial nod is given. Darting off to the bathroom, she rummages around loudly and then returns with an armload of gauze. "Stay off it, not as much as possible, off. I'll bring you back some crutches in a couple of hours. Use them, fake doctor's orders." She gives the girl a smile before nervously eying the wound.

"I'm going to make you a bunch of poultices too, they're not going to be as good as going to a real hospital but if you stay off the leg and we're careful you might be running again… oh… uhm.." One shoulder is lifted in a shrug and Delia shakes her head, she doesn't know. "Maybe we can find a place for you to go swimming when it's closed completely, you can work on your muscle strength. If it makes you feel any better, I can't run either, not yet. Did Brian ever tell you that I got lost? That's how I met him…"

Trying to keep the girl's mind off the pain of packing the wound and wrapping it with gauze, Delia begins relating her own story. In great and quite boring detail. Quite possibly the only thing that could keep Koshka from falling asleep is the fact that Delia's poking around the wound a little too much for her to get comfortable.


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