Jack Pine
Well-Known Member
- RP Date
- 5/22/YE41
- RP Location
- Sirris VI - Obsidian City - Residential District
Long nights were something Rose had grown accustomed to in Sarah's absence. It wasn't something she didn't like. But it was something she had to do. She had to take care of her children. Orias convinced her that for her own sanity, she had to keep teaching. Now she had to go out on this moonless, cloudless night to grab her students' papers from the car.
For once, she was glad the little ones laughed and played as orbiting bodies in a physics demonstration today. They were starting to get to the age where tired babies fell asleep easier. So she checked once more to make sure that they were asleep. Especially little Thistle, who had inherited Rose's facial features, but with Sarah's complexion and hair, along side a mild heterochromia. But as Rose wrapped herself in a sjawl and slipped out the door, she reminisced about how Thistle had taken after Sarah, and the first few weeks had refused to sleep without her. Now, with the love of Rose's life dead, Thistle had trouble getting to sleep.
The car's door opened at some mental command, and the folder was quickly in her hands. The events of the last month and a half had left her hair duller, her eyes tired and her strength waning. She needed help, and Spark and Harmony could only do so much. Rose stepped back into the house, silently closing the door behind her. The kettle clicked on as she breezed by, slipping into the bedroom to make one last check before she could start grading papers.
All the little ones were fast asleep save one, Thistle, the toddler with intent eyes staring into the corner on the opposite side of the room. When Rose turned around in curiousity as any mother would, she would realize they were not alone. A bodysuited figure with a hooded cloak silhoutted in the dark. They sat there, silent, unmoving, and having been unseen. The suit Nora always wore when about could be made out to adorn the person, a bit of raven hair visible as well, adding to the suggestion it was the young woman possibly.
Rose instantly bristled, letting off a hiss as her eyes lit, like green fires as she attempted to call for some form of help, only to bounce off some firewall keeping her contained. "Nora." Her voice was calm, quiet enough to not wake the babies.
"If that's you, you'd best step out into the parlor so I can beat you to a bloody pulp without waking the kids." A quick glance to Thistle confirmed that the toddler had stayed awake. Still, the knife she had kept since before her wedding slipped out of its sheath somewhere and attatched itself to her arm as she glared. "Well, the other ones. If you're nor Nora, we aren't doing this song and dance, here."
"I doubt such a sweet girl would do anything to cause you harm. And neither do I have hostile intentions, and I don't believe I will be going anywhere. Side note, I have the access code for that knife already if you were thinking of using it on me. So.......let's talk Rose." came a modulated voice of neither gender from what could be made out as a smooth mask covering their face. The figure simply crossed one leg over the other, before giving little wave to Thistle from their seat.
"Only three people have that code." Rose sheathed the blade in its gauntlet, absently flipping the safety before she scooped up her unruly toddler with one arm. Starting to gently try to rock Thistle back to sleep, she commented. "One of those is me. One is someone I trust. The third is dead. So how'd you get it? And I've gotten used to people being in my house with hostile intent."
"Sourced from a friend of a friend I'll say for now. But this is beside the point. Let me ask you something Miss Pine. Have you paid fully for your sins do you believe? Has your actions bared the fruit of your unwise decisions?" the figure answered waving the question away in favor of one of their own. Hands steepled as they waited for Rose's answer, watching quietly from behind the mask.
"I... I wish I could say." Rose's response was simple, inelegant. "My mistakes already cost me my wife. All I have left are my daughters, my son... I..."
Her voice cracked as she finally seemed to feel the weight of her daughter in her arms, and her world on her shoulders. Those few steps to her bed could have been miles. And Rose sat down heavily, still rocking Thistle in her lap as a tear rolled down her cheek. "She had a hundred years left. Maybe more. And I thought that I could find peace, be better for her if I sent Thorn back out there. Now I'm... My sins cost me more than I was ever willing to pay. I'm not losing my children, too."
"Your selfishness damned a copy of yourself, just because you were desperate for a happy ending. And in the end, it took your wife's life as payment. That girl wept for her, angry at the pain you caused her, and forced away from the woman you both love. A strange thing, to hate yourself, and to screw yourself over just to get what you want. It's a exotically strange paradox wouldn't you think? I'm not here to take your children away, you have lost enough as is."
"The way you talk... You remind me of her. Sarah, I mean. Thorn is... I thought... She could have sold us out. My sister was always one to deal in information. When the Thorn clones showed up, I thought the worst had happened. That one of them could be my sister, twisted beyond reason." Thistle started squirming in Rose's grasp, and Rose repositioned her at her shoulder. The Geist was probing at her guest's firewalls, tracing back to find the Geist's ID and serial number, trying to cross reference to find out who it was sitting in her bedroom and watching her pour her heart out. "But you're not giving me any confidence as to your intent. And I failed to keep my wife safe. I was supposed to waste away in her arms seventy years from now. Now... That Geist jammer you're using tells me you are, or were one of us. Please, make sure Thorn gets what I don't deserve. I just wanted Sarah safe and happy. Where she could put up the rifle for good, just like she wanted."
Rose had apologized at Sarah's memorial many times. She had hoped desperately that there had been some way to save her. She bad been inconsolable at the funeral, unable to pull herself together to even tend her children. Spark and Harmony had stepped in, with Spark standing tall and proud in her dress uniform. Not minding when Michael had spit up on the jacket at the podium. "If you find her... Could you tell her how sorry I am? For what I did to her? I... took a calculated risk. But I'm so bad at that math."
"You can tell her yourself. She's getting what you denied her, now I'm here to decide whether you're still worth saving. I made a promise to Sarah, and I intend to keep it."
"I'm not. I took a risk with someone's life, used the woman I love to do it." The tears were in full flow, now. "I hid it from her. I dodged the questions and kept from answering. I was working two jobs and only quit one because of our kids, not for her. I put someone she loved at risk, just to keep her in my arms. I was selfish for years, trying to survive. I never grew out of it. I wasn't worthy of Sarah. Not even when I was Thorn. Even if I hadn't done all that. I was never worthy, and yet she chose to love me. I still don't know why. I'm not especially kind, or smart. I'm not very funny. Really kind of average, and not the best of people."
Gently, she placed Thistle's snoring form back into the crib, wrapping a blanket around her. "I wanted to be better, for her. Now I have to be. For them. But I'm waning. I'm just not good enough. I loved Sarah, and I did terrible things to try for a shot at giving her the rest of my life. I don't expect to be forgiven. If she were alive, I suppose she would have left me by now. But if that were the case, at least I'd know she has the shot I couldn't give her. But if you find that I'm wrong, then what will it cost? Not for me. I don't care anymore. What will it cost them?"
Rose gestured to her children, her voice shaking as though she wanted to yell, scream and shout. "My sins cost me my wife and cost my children their mother. They will pay no more."
"Because she saw part of herself in you, a girl struggling in a world that wasn't made for the kind, but those hardened from it's cruel embrace. When the time came, she couldn't even pull the trigger on her own parents. The creators of the Fenrir project, who faked their deaths just for research, and tossing their daughter away because she wouldn't follow their path. Becuase you loved her. You, and this family, are the best things that happened to the woman. She was lied to all her life, leading her into a life of hate, regret, self-loathing, pity, and a hunt for meaning." The figure hissed, annoyed for some reason at Rose's answer. The figure shook with irritation, putting their fingers to the sides of their head in a I can't believe this gesture, "You are...so...frustratingly ignorant. The self-doubt bullshit has to stop, that's half the damn problem, so grow up. Obviously you were worth it if she was willing to argue with you that night over hurting another you. How blind can you be to not see, that is how much she loved you."
"Okay, yeah, I deserved that." Rose sighed, dismissing her knife for now. "I... Look, Sarah was the best thing to happen to me. Whether as Thorn or not. But I'd be sitting here grading papers and listening to that delightful snore if it weren't for my dumbassery!"
Her voice had raised instinctively, causing stirrings in the triplets. She steeled herself, looking down to catch Thistle's eyes open. "And I woke the baby. figured if you're gonna be all philosophical with me, two can play that game. And I'd rather be grading papers than arguing with some stranger who thinks to claim to know Sarah! And know me in ways I don't know? Who are you?!"
It was quiet for a long moment with no answer, only broken when Thistle sat up to eye the figure yet again, intently just as before. "Mama." left the little girl's lips as she neared the crib's bars. A soft chuckle left the masked woman, "It didn't take Thistle long to figure it out. She always was a smart girl."
"Smartest of the bunch. Scary, sometimes." Rose commented, visibly shaken. Her mind raced and fought with itself as she paled in the dakness. She wanted to curse and scream, to demand to know why. But all she could come up with was a quiet, almost inaudible "Please don't do this to me. Sarah Pine died while I watched the best doctors we have try to save her. We don't have ST technology. There's no way you're her."
"I know your trigger phrase, why you hate your parents, and why you hate slavers along with forced augmentation. It may be hard to process Rose, but...," Sarah said as she stood, undoing the cloak to let it fall, her long raven hair cascading free. Next, the mask was slowly slipped off, a soft and apologetic smile on soft lips. Then a very elegant nose, finally followed by crystal blue eyes moist with tears. "I'm alive, no longer an ageless Geshrin, but I'm alive. Seraphina gave me a second chance, to do things right this time. For a month, my mind was preserved, even after my body died, unable to feel or leave as I was kept in digital white room. For a month, I watched everyone move on, everyone mourn. For one month, I screamed trapped without a physical body. For one month, I waited, for a new one to grow."
She trembled as she spoke, clearly holding back so much emotion, from this meeting and her time stuck as just a conciousness. The strength left her legs as she slumped to her knees. "I didn't want to die, I didn't want to leave everyone I loved. Even as I knew it was too late, feeling myself slip away, I only thought of you and the kids. When I woke up, I thought I was someplace else, but then I felt hope when I learned the truth. Rose....I'm sorry. Sorry I yelled, sorry I got angry, sorry I couldn't hold on in the end." The tears were flowing, her voice cracking now, "I just want to come home."
"Sarah..." Rose had thought that she'd run out of tears, and felt her Geist shut itself down. Her breath cought, her hands covered her mouth. Her head started to feel fuzzy, and she gripped the edge of the crib for support. "My... My perfect wife... Please, You don't need to be sorry."
Slowly, Rose slipped down to wrap her arms around the soft skin covered by Sarah's armored suit, pulling the sobbing woman into her own thinly clad breast. "I'm sorry for everything that caused this. It's my fault, but I can't lose you like that again..." Sarah's hair was soon wet with Rose's tears, the brunette's breath shuddering as she tried to be strong just one more time. "You're home, now... I'll always be waiting at home for you, but I can't be having you die again. Promise me you'll outlive me this time?"
She wrapped a hold of Rose, clinging tight as if desperate to hold on, "No, if I have my say, we'll grow old together to pass the same day. Buried together, the three of us. I want to spend my life with you, just as it should be. And even if my body dies before then, my mind will always live to return to make good on that promise. That will be the day I rest one last time." Her voice was still shakey, pleading her vow to her wife.
Rose could not have heard that right. "Three?" Her cracked voice wbispered. Slowly, she shook her head, resigning that as her mishearing. "I'll do everything in my power to make that happen. We're going to grow old together. And maybe next time Spark speaks at our funeral, she won't have Michael's up all over her jacket. Come on, my love. Let's get you to bed. You must be tired."
The emotional wear and tear, along with the paranoia of how this meeting would go, had drained Sarah of her energy. With lids already growing heavy, she decided it was best to reveal the fact Thorn was now apart of that life plan for when the time was right. "Yeah, that would be nice. I've missed feeling you next to me at night, more then ever. Will probably need to have Thistle join tonight, she gotta sleep too."
"Yeah. I'll go get her." Rose nodded, slipping an arm under Sarah's legs and leaning back onto the balls of her feet. It was a struggle, with how much weight Rose had lost, but she managed to heft Sarah into a princess carry. "Sorry if I'm not quite as strong as usual... Missing you is a Hell of a drug."
Gently, Rose set her wife on the bed, giving a soft smile as her hand slid up Sarah's back. A small motion guided Sarah's head to the pillow. "open up your suit and I'll see if any of your sport bras are left. Thistle likes to nurse on whatever she can reach. And she ate an hour ago. Michael's missed you, too. Yilan and Nadine have been quieter than usual since you've been gone."
"All the babies to snuggle with, I missed my babies." Sarah managed to say before her voice became a soft snoring.
Rose gave a soft smile, gently rolling Sarah onto her side before gathering up the four rapidly growing infants and placing them in a neat little group against Sarah's body. With that done, she slowly lay down on the opposite side, intertwining her legs with Sarah's, their foreheads resting together. Rose took Sarah's hand and gave a reassuring squeeze, laying their intertwined fingers across the children. For the first time in a long time, she wouldn't remember quite when her head hit the pillow.
For once, she was glad the little ones laughed and played as orbiting bodies in a physics demonstration today. They were starting to get to the age where tired babies fell asleep easier. So she checked once more to make sure that they were asleep. Especially little Thistle, who had inherited Rose's facial features, but with Sarah's complexion and hair, along side a mild heterochromia. But as Rose wrapped herself in a sjawl and slipped out the door, she reminisced about how Thistle had taken after Sarah, and the first few weeks had refused to sleep without her. Now, with the love of Rose's life dead, Thistle had trouble getting to sleep.
The car's door opened at some mental command, and the folder was quickly in her hands. The events of the last month and a half had left her hair duller, her eyes tired and her strength waning. She needed help, and Spark and Harmony could only do so much. Rose stepped back into the house, silently closing the door behind her. The kettle clicked on as she breezed by, slipping into the bedroom to make one last check before she could start grading papers.
All the little ones were fast asleep save one, Thistle, the toddler with intent eyes staring into the corner on the opposite side of the room. When Rose turned around in curiousity as any mother would, she would realize they were not alone. A bodysuited figure with a hooded cloak silhoutted in the dark. They sat there, silent, unmoving, and having been unseen. The suit Nora always wore when about could be made out to adorn the person, a bit of raven hair visible as well, adding to the suggestion it was the young woman possibly.
Rose instantly bristled, letting off a hiss as her eyes lit, like green fires as she attempted to call for some form of help, only to bounce off some firewall keeping her contained. "Nora." Her voice was calm, quiet enough to not wake the babies.
"If that's you, you'd best step out into the parlor so I can beat you to a bloody pulp without waking the kids." A quick glance to Thistle confirmed that the toddler had stayed awake. Still, the knife she had kept since before her wedding slipped out of its sheath somewhere and attatched itself to her arm as she glared. "Well, the other ones. If you're nor Nora, we aren't doing this song and dance, here."
"I doubt such a sweet girl would do anything to cause you harm. And neither do I have hostile intentions, and I don't believe I will be going anywhere. Side note, I have the access code for that knife already if you were thinking of using it on me. So.......let's talk Rose." came a modulated voice of neither gender from what could be made out as a smooth mask covering their face. The figure simply crossed one leg over the other, before giving little wave to Thistle from their seat.
"Only three people have that code." Rose sheathed the blade in its gauntlet, absently flipping the safety before she scooped up her unruly toddler with one arm. Starting to gently try to rock Thistle back to sleep, she commented. "One of those is me. One is someone I trust. The third is dead. So how'd you get it? And I've gotten used to people being in my house with hostile intent."
"Sourced from a friend of a friend I'll say for now. But this is beside the point. Let me ask you something Miss Pine. Have you paid fully for your sins do you believe? Has your actions bared the fruit of your unwise decisions?" the figure answered waving the question away in favor of one of their own. Hands steepled as they waited for Rose's answer, watching quietly from behind the mask.
"I... I wish I could say." Rose's response was simple, inelegant. "My mistakes already cost me my wife. All I have left are my daughters, my son... I..."
Her voice cracked as she finally seemed to feel the weight of her daughter in her arms, and her world on her shoulders. Those few steps to her bed could have been miles. And Rose sat down heavily, still rocking Thistle in her lap as a tear rolled down her cheek. "She had a hundred years left. Maybe more. And I thought that I could find peace, be better for her if I sent Thorn back out there. Now I'm... My sins cost me more than I was ever willing to pay. I'm not losing my children, too."
"Your selfishness damned a copy of yourself, just because you were desperate for a happy ending. And in the end, it took your wife's life as payment. That girl wept for her, angry at the pain you caused her, and forced away from the woman you both love. A strange thing, to hate yourself, and to screw yourself over just to get what you want. It's a exotically strange paradox wouldn't you think? I'm not here to take your children away, you have lost enough as is."
"The way you talk... You remind me of her. Sarah, I mean. Thorn is... I thought... She could have sold us out. My sister was always one to deal in information. When the Thorn clones showed up, I thought the worst had happened. That one of them could be my sister, twisted beyond reason." Thistle started squirming in Rose's grasp, and Rose repositioned her at her shoulder. The Geist was probing at her guest's firewalls, tracing back to find the Geist's ID and serial number, trying to cross reference to find out who it was sitting in her bedroom and watching her pour her heart out. "But you're not giving me any confidence as to your intent. And I failed to keep my wife safe. I was supposed to waste away in her arms seventy years from now. Now... That Geist jammer you're using tells me you are, or were one of us. Please, make sure Thorn gets what I don't deserve. I just wanted Sarah safe and happy. Where she could put up the rifle for good, just like she wanted."
Rose had apologized at Sarah's memorial many times. She had hoped desperately that there had been some way to save her. She bad been inconsolable at the funeral, unable to pull herself together to even tend her children. Spark and Harmony had stepped in, with Spark standing tall and proud in her dress uniform. Not minding when Michael had spit up on the jacket at the podium. "If you find her... Could you tell her how sorry I am? For what I did to her? I... took a calculated risk. But I'm so bad at that math."
"You can tell her yourself. She's getting what you denied her, now I'm here to decide whether you're still worth saving. I made a promise to Sarah, and I intend to keep it."
"I'm not. I took a risk with someone's life, used the woman I love to do it." The tears were in full flow, now. "I hid it from her. I dodged the questions and kept from answering. I was working two jobs and only quit one because of our kids, not for her. I put someone she loved at risk, just to keep her in my arms. I was selfish for years, trying to survive. I never grew out of it. I wasn't worthy of Sarah. Not even when I was Thorn. Even if I hadn't done all that. I was never worthy, and yet she chose to love me. I still don't know why. I'm not especially kind, or smart. I'm not very funny. Really kind of average, and not the best of people."
Gently, she placed Thistle's snoring form back into the crib, wrapping a blanket around her. "I wanted to be better, for her. Now I have to be. For them. But I'm waning. I'm just not good enough. I loved Sarah, and I did terrible things to try for a shot at giving her the rest of my life. I don't expect to be forgiven. If she were alive, I suppose she would have left me by now. But if that were the case, at least I'd know she has the shot I couldn't give her. But if you find that I'm wrong, then what will it cost? Not for me. I don't care anymore. What will it cost them?"
Rose gestured to her children, her voice shaking as though she wanted to yell, scream and shout. "My sins cost me my wife and cost my children their mother. They will pay no more."
"Because she saw part of herself in you, a girl struggling in a world that wasn't made for the kind, but those hardened from it's cruel embrace. When the time came, she couldn't even pull the trigger on her own parents. The creators of the Fenrir project, who faked their deaths just for research, and tossing their daughter away because she wouldn't follow their path. Becuase you loved her. You, and this family, are the best things that happened to the woman. She was lied to all her life, leading her into a life of hate, regret, self-loathing, pity, and a hunt for meaning." The figure hissed, annoyed for some reason at Rose's answer. The figure shook with irritation, putting their fingers to the sides of their head in a I can't believe this gesture, "You are...so...frustratingly ignorant. The self-doubt bullshit has to stop, that's half the damn problem, so grow up. Obviously you were worth it if she was willing to argue with you that night over hurting another you. How blind can you be to not see, that is how much she loved you."
"Okay, yeah, I deserved that." Rose sighed, dismissing her knife for now. "I... Look, Sarah was the best thing to happen to me. Whether as Thorn or not. But I'd be sitting here grading papers and listening to that delightful snore if it weren't for my dumbassery!"
Her voice had raised instinctively, causing stirrings in the triplets. She steeled herself, looking down to catch Thistle's eyes open. "And I woke the baby. figured if you're gonna be all philosophical with me, two can play that game. And I'd rather be grading papers than arguing with some stranger who thinks to claim to know Sarah! And know me in ways I don't know? Who are you?!"
It was quiet for a long moment with no answer, only broken when Thistle sat up to eye the figure yet again, intently just as before. "Mama." left the little girl's lips as she neared the crib's bars. A soft chuckle left the masked woman, "It didn't take Thistle long to figure it out. She always was a smart girl."
"Smartest of the bunch. Scary, sometimes." Rose commented, visibly shaken. Her mind raced and fought with itself as she paled in the dakness. She wanted to curse and scream, to demand to know why. But all she could come up with was a quiet, almost inaudible "Please don't do this to me. Sarah Pine died while I watched the best doctors we have try to save her. We don't have ST technology. There's no way you're her."
"I know your trigger phrase, why you hate your parents, and why you hate slavers along with forced augmentation. It may be hard to process Rose, but...," Sarah said as she stood, undoing the cloak to let it fall, her long raven hair cascading free. Next, the mask was slowly slipped off, a soft and apologetic smile on soft lips. Then a very elegant nose, finally followed by crystal blue eyes moist with tears. "I'm alive, no longer an ageless Geshrin, but I'm alive. Seraphina gave me a second chance, to do things right this time. For a month, my mind was preserved, even after my body died, unable to feel or leave as I was kept in digital white room. For a month, I watched everyone move on, everyone mourn. For one month, I screamed trapped without a physical body. For one month, I waited, for a new one to grow."
She trembled as she spoke, clearly holding back so much emotion, from this meeting and her time stuck as just a conciousness. The strength left her legs as she slumped to her knees. "I didn't want to die, I didn't want to leave everyone I loved. Even as I knew it was too late, feeling myself slip away, I only thought of you and the kids. When I woke up, I thought I was someplace else, but then I felt hope when I learned the truth. Rose....I'm sorry. Sorry I yelled, sorry I got angry, sorry I couldn't hold on in the end." The tears were flowing, her voice cracking now, "I just want to come home."
"Sarah..." Rose had thought that she'd run out of tears, and felt her Geist shut itself down. Her breath cought, her hands covered her mouth. Her head started to feel fuzzy, and she gripped the edge of the crib for support. "My... My perfect wife... Please, You don't need to be sorry."
Slowly, Rose slipped down to wrap her arms around the soft skin covered by Sarah's armored suit, pulling the sobbing woman into her own thinly clad breast. "I'm sorry for everything that caused this. It's my fault, but I can't lose you like that again..." Sarah's hair was soon wet with Rose's tears, the brunette's breath shuddering as she tried to be strong just one more time. "You're home, now... I'll always be waiting at home for you, but I can't be having you die again. Promise me you'll outlive me this time?"
She wrapped a hold of Rose, clinging tight as if desperate to hold on, "No, if I have my say, we'll grow old together to pass the same day. Buried together, the three of us. I want to spend my life with you, just as it should be. And even if my body dies before then, my mind will always live to return to make good on that promise. That will be the day I rest one last time." Her voice was still shakey, pleading her vow to her wife.
Rose could not have heard that right. "Three?" Her cracked voice wbispered. Slowly, she shook her head, resigning that as her mishearing. "I'll do everything in my power to make that happen. We're going to grow old together. And maybe next time Spark speaks at our funeral, she won't have Michael's up all over her jacket. Come on, my love. Let's get you to bed. You must be tired."
The emotional wear and tear, along with the paranoia of how this meeting would go, had drained Sarah of her energy. With lids already growing heavy, she decided it was best to reveal the fact Thorn was now apart of that life plan for when the time was right. "Yeah, that would be nice. I've missed feeling you next to me at night, more then ever. Will probably need to have Thistle join tonight, she gotta sleep too."
"Yeah. I'll go get her." Rose nodded, slipping an arm under Sarah's legs and leaning back onto the balls of her feet. It was a struggle, with how much weight Rose had lost, but she managed to heft Sarah into a princess carry. "Sorry if I'm not quite as strong as usual... Missing you is a Hell of a drug."
Gently, Rose set her wife on the bed, giving a soft smile as her hand slid up Sarah's back. A small motion guided Sarah's head to the pillow. "open up your suit and I'll see if any of your sport bras are left. Thistle likes to nurse on whatever she can reach. And she ate an hour ago. Michael's missed you, too. Yilan and Nadine have been quieter than usual since you've been gone."
"All the babies to snuggle with, I missed my babies." Sarah managed to say before her voice became a soft snoring.
Rose gave a soft smile, gently rolling Sarah onto her side before gathering up the four rapidly growing infants and placing them in a neat little group against Sarah's body. With that done, she slowly lay down on the opposite side, intertwining her legs with Sarah's, their foreheads resting together. Rose took Sarah's hand and gave a reassuring squeeze, laying their intertwined fingers across the children. For the first time in a long time, she wouldn't remember quite when her head hit the pillow.
