lukeoutbelow | (no subject)

Julien had been feeling unwell for a couple of days. He'd spent all of yesterday in, doing nothing much but sleep and eat, feeling hungry almost constantly. Putting away the detritus left behind by that seemed unusually difficult. He had to leave some wrappers where they lay, and couldn't focus to cook, and that thing kept happening, where it was like he couldn't remember how to move his face, and somehow his resting expression was a Mona Lisa look.

He'd wanted to think he was just sick. It didn't happen much at all, his body wasn't used to it. But on some level, he knew. It was in the occasional paralysis of his face, and the thick warm feeling in his sternum, and the way both his hips clicked when he stood up.

So in a way it wasn't a surprise when he woke and that feeling was pressing out, hot and throbbing and painful, getting worse as he pressed his wing against his chest. It was a surprise when he tried to get up, and fell. He'd wanted, when he thought about this day coming, to do it alone, but he couldn't manage to heat water or pick athelas. It hurt. Eventually he couldn't take it. He had to call for help.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Details. Who needs 'em? It's easier to say it was unlocked, or that he had managed to unlock it somehow, than to say that Aaron had talked to someone on staff to let him in, which he could have, or broken the door down, which he would have if the former hadn't worked. He is getting in that room.

And the first thing he does is cross to Julien with long strides (carefully avoiding any of the feathers from the outstretched wing) and drop into a crouch. He scuffs out the number on the floor -- he thinks that this is not something Julien would like broadcast. Aaron has already let the network know he's here -- there's no need for them to see any more.

Then, he drops the bag to the ground, and leans in close, to get a better look.

Good god. He knew this was going to happen -- he knew a year and a half ago -- but that doesn't mean he knew what it would be like.

"Julien," he says quietly -- quietly but evenly. "Julien, it's me."