screwthatnoise

♥ v2

A cold, delicate hand grabs yours and pulls. It pulls, and it pulls... there's a sense of urgency in this icy grasp, as well as a trace of reluctance. Abruptly the hand let's go, right as your vision fades to black, and for a brief moment, only a brief moment, your senses disappear. There's only the eerie sensation of weightlessness before your feet are settled back on solid ground again.

(please join #echolife! ♪)

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"Absolutely."

Then she struggles to get free.

[NO, JE REFUSE.

He's going to keep hold of her!!!]

Why?!

She grits her teeth, damn you.

"She needs me. I did better than Coping, than the nurse, than that bear. When things were terrible, I soothed her. When dying was an option, I encouraged her. When happiness was accessible... I reminded her that it really wasn't."

[there's a horrifying realization, but--]

No, she doesn't.

"She needs me, Emil. Let me go."

No!

[WHAT IF I CHAINED YOU BACK]

Do you have anything to restrain her?!

[to coping or to the nurse]

Coping has been watching this whole time, unsure of her options, but now—

"Ah... um..." She looks at the nurse anxiously, expectantly.

Nurse Echo sighs from her seat at her desk. The girl is largely indifferent to this scene to be quite frank.

"No. But I can drug her."

[this is why Coping really needs to be alive, and you are not effective for this entire... dealing with things purpose]

Please...

Someday Coping will be effective again. SOMEDAY.

The cloaked figure in your grasp struggles again, and your pain rating goes up from a 5 to an 8.

But Nurse Echo is quick. She rushes over to her side and sedates her in record time.

[IS THE PAIN STILL AN 8?! B-but once she's sedated, dropping her, oh my god]

When you drop her it subsides to a 2; it's still lingering, for some reason.

The cloaked figure is now unconscious. Nurse Echo just shrugs and tucks the syringe away.

Edited 2013-08-03 03:27 (UTC)

[what do I do, here...]

Is... Is she part of this heart? A part of Hail?

"Hm. She must be new," Nurse Echo casually comments, looking down at the unconscious girl. She pauses, thoughtful. "This person was the root of the tree's existence outside. I liked it, but it was probably bad for the heart."

Coping just looks away uneasily.

What was the tree outside? The one she grew?

[motioning to Coping]

Coping jumps, and speaks up before Nurse Echo can.

"Y... yes! After I tore Janta apart at that very person's request... she then reassured me that there was something I could plant with my own hands. Something that would grow."

A deliberate pause.

"She handed me a skull."

What did that tree represent?

"It was the desire to die."

... Why would you plant that!

[FACEPALMING SO HARD-- just. trying to understand]

Y-You're Coping! You're supposed to help her against that!

"Not if dying was the only way to deal with everything! I realize my wrongs now... but that was the only thing I had left! If I could not grow flowers of hopes, but I could grow a plant of death... then...!"

[he... he exhales]

I-I'm glad you see your mistakes but...

[looking at the sedated Hail]

What should we do about her...?

Coping and the nurse just. Kind of glance at each other blankly.

"Kill... her?"

W-What? Doesn't she have a place here too?

"I do not think either of us have seen her before," Nurse Echo quickly comments.

Coping nods.

"She was trying to kill you, too. And the rest of us, apparently."

That's not the same as her not having a place.

[does... does it still hurt to touch her...]

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