Participants:
| Scene Title | Lie To Me |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kazimir does what comes naturally to him, when Gillian has questions about what happened to her: Lie. |
| Date | January 9, 2010 |
This isn't the first time Gillian Childs has woken up somewhere she does not recall getting to.
When her eyes finally flutter open, fluorescent lights flicker and sputter overhead, washing out her vision in a haze of light. A breath reflexively escapes her, something soft and painted, her head hurts.
Where she lays on one of the medical bay cots, it becomes increasingly obvious that she's not alone. Seated beside her on a rolling stool, Kazimir Volken looks much like the specter of death waiting at a sick person's bedside. Black clothing making his silhouette sharp in still blurry vision, one leg crossed over the other, gloved hands folded in his lap. It's only when that scar across his face comes into focus that Gillian's mind starts reaching back, trying to figure out how A connects to B.
She recalls going to her bunk, finding the note from the Haitian, and heading to the engine room— and then nothing. "You had us all worried," Kazimir offers in a hushed tone of voice, the compassion in his tone seeming unusually offered. "We were concerned you would not be able to perform for the mission."
No, never mind, he's still an asshole.
"Worried for your precious mission," Gillian mutters under her breath, reaching up and rubbing at her face as she often does when she's upset, or confused. And when she's first waking up. At first she doesn't even realize something's missing, cause there's a lot missing… and there's an ass at her bedside who she didn't really want to see today. Then again, he's making things easier for her.
"I— I was supposed to meet someone." Did she meet with him? She doesn't— remember. Maybe she got what she wanted erased, but after a moment she thinks back and— no, it's still there. Unless she changed her mind and doesn't remember…
"I'm fine. I'll be good for the mission." But something happened and she doesn't know… the finger tips finally settle on her right cheek, and stay there. "Wait a fucking…" she trails off, sitting up more and looking around, as if for something. Specifically a mirror.
At the confusion, Kazimir lifts his hands from his lap, offering a small and round mirror to Gillian to confirm what she already suspects. "You were injured when they brought you to me…" he offers in a mild tone of voice, "you went to see the memory manipulator below decks. When he tried to erase your memory, he made skin to skin contact with you, and your augmentation went haywire. He knocked you out unintentionally, and you struck your head hard on the metal piping."
Once Gillian's taken the mirror from him, Kazimir folds his hands back down in his lap and breathes in deeply, then exhales a tired sigh. "I am the only… healer," he offers the words in an amused tone, "on this ship. The Haitian offered up a small bit of his life force for you, and I healed your head injury, and rather unintentionally your branding as well."
Dark brows lift, blue eyes assess Gillian, and Kazimir shakes his head slowly as those eyes fall shut. "Now that I know you are well enough…" he admits, rising up from the stool as if to leave, "…I suppose I will give you your space."
"Oh," is all Gillian says at the explaination at first, running her fingers over her skin carefully. That might actually help the mission a little. If she's supposed to be a member of Vanguard, why would they brand one of their own? Unless she was branded and then forcefully converted, but it could still be suspicious… She's already thinking more about the mission, even if she mocks it for being his precious.
"Guess I'm lucky I didn't lose more than a couple minutes…" She could have been like Tavisha for a while. That wouldn't have helped the mission at all. Nor would she really want to have been clueless about everything. "I guess a thanks in order. For him." Not the guy walking away. Even if he's the one that did the healing.
The hand goes back to her head, as if trying to feel out the scar, but she can't find it. Good healing there too. She opens her mouth, as if to say something else, or ask a question, and then closes it again.
Did he hear the sound of her jaw working beneath her skin? Did he hear the subtle change in air pressure of her mouth opening? Something makes Kazimir turn, look back over his shoulder at Gillian wordlessly. Blue eyes seem so unnatural on him, but she can hardly remember what brown looked like, six months he's been possessed by this ability, twisted and changed by the power of whatever legacy twisted and changed Kazimir Volken himself.
One dark brow rises, crinkling the skin around his horrific scar, and Kazimir tilts his head to the side in that motion. He may not say anything, but his posture and his expression ask a silent question; yes?
"I— was just wondering if it would be okay to still try to… talk to him. The Haitian," Gillian says, looking down and away from those unnatural eyes, frowning at where her knees are moving up to allow her to sit on the bed better. She'd gotten so used to feeling the brand on her face every time she spoke that it now feels odd not to have it. She'd… actually been considering keeping it. Only briefly. She's glad it's gone, no matter how strange it feels. "I mean I don't really remember what happened that made me augment him by accident. Unless it hurt…" Does losing a memory hurt?
That's probably a question she won't ever know the answer to. Cause she doubts someone would be allowed to remember the erasing. Cause that would likely tell them what they got erased.
"Losing yourself is never painless." Kazimir admits with an arch of one brow. "I think it might be best… if you hold off on erasing those memories you wanted." One gloved hand tucks into a pocket in Kazimir's slacks, blue eyes settled on Gillian with a narrow-eyed scrutiny. "You'll have all the time in the world to erase your regrets…" There's a momentary softness in Kazimir's expression, something strangely grandfatherly in his voice, like a regret left unvoiced.
He turns, resting his free hand on the door frame. "For now," he offers in silence, "take your time to recover and get your bearings. I'm going to need you one-hundred percent come time for the mission," a glance is afforded over Kazimir's shoulder, back to Gillian. "There'll be time enough for regrets later."
"What I was planning to get erased was supposed to help with that," Gillian says with a mutter, before she lays back and focuses her eyes upwards, letting her hands drop. "It was supposed to make it easier. I can't look at you without seeing…" she trails off. They barely even look alike, anymore. The eyes don't make all the difference, but they make quite a bit of it. The way he holds himself most the time now, the way he walks…
"You ever going to tell me what you wanted me to do? You stressed the whole exactly what you tell me and then you skipped out on meeting with me and Noriko about it." Noriko's not there, but that doesn't stop her from talking. At least she's not cursing right now.
Wait. He was walking away. She sits up enough to look for the door. She better not have been talking to the wall…
She was.
Yes, he's still an asshole.
"Fucker."