Military Hospital, Mazerin
Front of Hospital
Muna 29th, 936
11:51 Commonwealth Standard Time
Zus Storhan looked up at the facade of the military hospital before walking past the threshold, its height nearly that of a VANDR, but it was a much larger structure than one of the Organoids she was so used to piloting. Inside, was someone very special to her, and to the Wing itself, someone who had been badly injured on Mazerin. Mu'Tasim Farouk.
The young Eyr Ranr went inside and checked in, before being directed to one of the rooms, where the Temple Guard Acolyte in question was currently staying. Gingerly, the blonde knocked on the door to the room, afraid to disturb its occupant.
"One moment!" chimed a voice from inside. If Zus listened carefully, she could hear a faint conversation being carried on within the room. Judging by the depth, it was two men. Though, the conversation did not carry on for long, as the door opened and out appeared a tallesque doctor, who regarded Zus for a moment.
"Lanbalri Storhan?" He queried.
"Yes, Sir." the girl replied, greeting the man quickly. "How is Vaytulri Farouk doing?" she asked, trying to sound official. Idly, she tried to peer around the doctor without actually showing the rudeness of peering around him, but to no avail, and she could not see Mu'Tasim inside.
"He's been in better condition, he's shrugged off all of the radiation, but he's still going to need to spend some time up and about. He was in his Prajna tank for several months, so he's going to feel fairly weak at the moment." The Medical Officer looked at the pad he was holding. "His surgery also took a bit out of his recovery as well, so he's likely weakened from that as well."
"Doctor Al'Nakir!" shouted one of the near-by nurses, which only caught the Doctor's attention. "You're needed in the ICU."
Al'Nakir nodded to the nurse and then to Zus, as he walked off, "He's in your capable hands, Storhan."
Zus listened politely, and when the doctor finally made tracks, she let herself in the room, looking over its contents. It was fairly spartan, containing all the regular amenities; a bed, a table, a chair, a window, and a viewscreen. Sitting on the very plain bed was the man Zus had come here for, and she eyed him almost shyly, walking forward to him and presenting herself. "Lanbalri Zus Storhan, reporting to pick you up, Sir." she announced, just a little too formally, belieing that she was mildly nervous.
Mu'Tasim was dressed casually, since they had no access to Temple Guard items. To Zus, Mu'Tasim would look somewhat different from the calm, composed Vaytulri she had known on Jarizas. One of which was his different colored hands, his whole left arm was lighter shade than the rest of skin, but that would be difficult to notice, with his long-sleeved Kurta. He looked up at Zus as she entered, almost with a sense of disbelief. The Temple Guard had met no friends in two months.
"Zus...?" His words carried a crackle of disbelief.
Zus smiled at Mu'Tasim, her eyes shimmering slightly with the beginnings of tears- Good tears, mind you, but tears nonetheless. It was apparent that the Lanbalri couldn't hold herself back, and she flung herself at the temple guard, despite the fact that there was something odd about his arm. She would save that for later, happy as she was to see him.
"Oh, Mu'Tasim! I've missed you! We've been so busy nobody had time to come and see you, but... but... I'm so glad you're still alive!" the Eyr Ranr sniffled a bit, her face buried in the shoulder of the man's Kurta.
For a man who felt nothing but his dreams for the bast month, the rush of Zus' emotions were overwhelming. In fact, Mu'Tasim almost felt like crying himself. In return, Storhan would've felt a sort of emptiness that came from being alone for so long, which eventually melted off into similar emotions. He wrapped his arms around her, that affectionate Eyr Ranr, one hand placed on her head.
"I am glad to see you too, Zus..." He spoke tiredly, but with a twinge of happiness in his voice, a smile evident. Something about her gave him some strength.
After feeling Mu'Tasim's emptiness and the subsequent matching of emotions to near hers, Zus remembered why she was here and that she was supposed to be on business. Not really wanting to let go, she reluctantly sat up straight, without slipping from his arms, her arms still around him. "I- I'm sorry, I lost myself there..." the Eyr Ranr apologized, knowing that she was rather forward with her emotions there, having never really shown as many to anyone before, and never showing them to Mu'Tasim before.
"I.. We, the Wing, have all missed you, Mu'Tasim. It has been too long since you were injured..." the blonde trailed off, just looking at the Sund Wakir with whom she had just embraced so tenderly.
Not trully caring for business, and still somewhat caught in the moment, Mu'Tasim urged her close again. She could tell that his muscles had become weaker, by the somewhat loose way they regarded her.
"It is alright..." He spoke weakly again, "I have payed for my folly... I am ready to come back to the Wing, the Erla Haidan, and..." The Temple Guard seemed to address her warmly with his eyes for a moment, but turned his gaze away in what Zus could feel as slight embarssment.
Zus channeled the embarassment now that she had regained her composure, and looked away for a moment as well. It was as if all she wanted to do was stare at Mu'Tasim, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. She looked to one side, then the other, then down, finally stopping with her view on his discolored hand.
"What happened here?" she asked, extricating the hand from its position around her middle and inspecting it with her eyes, nose, and fingertips.
Zus would feel a sharp shock, like one would feel if they saw a tornado touch down in front of them. In the next moment, she would find the hand quickly pulled away from her and stuffed under Mu'Tasim's right arm.
"It is... nothing." Mu'Tasim lied, his eyes trailing to the off-color hand and then to her.
"It isn't nothing!" Zus countered, sounding a little bit annoyed by Mu'Tasim's reaction. "Your arm is a different color!" She seemed upset, and looked at Mu with stern eyes, as if judging him, even though she was not.
After a few moments, however, she softened again, melting into the Temple guard, her arms back around him. "I guess you don't have to tell me" she mumbled "It's just so new seeing you again... with some changes..."
The Temple Guard remained unmoving, when she hugged him, she likely felt a pang of shame and worry. He couldn't find it in himself to look at her at that very moment.
"Are you... a... Purist?" asked Mu'Tasim, refering to a person who was absolutely against Symbiotics and bodily modification.
"What do you mean?" Zus asked, her mind going in odd directions due to her heritage, but she wanted to think positively about Mu'tasim. He did not seem like that kind of person to her, and so she would give him the benefit of her doubt.
Then she thought about the arm again, and what it could mean, she realized what he meant. "Oh.. Umm... Well, I've never met anyone who's done that but. You're still you right? As long as you're still you, then I don't really care."
"Then, I will let you decide..." Mu'Tasim's golden eyes strayed to her for a moment before pointing his hand to the wall. He hesitated for a moment, an unnerving sensation pulsing through his body. By the Saints he didn't want to show her, he regreted ever accepting the Symbiotic, but she of all people deserved to know.
His left hand began to melt, the lines and prints on his hand smoothing over, before his fingers seeming were asorbed into his palm. The palm seemed to slide into his wrist, and his whole arm seemed to slide toward the elbow. At the point of his wrist, was a barrel, to a weapon. She could note the VANDResque qualities his arm seemed to possess now, and most of all the Mini-LLS Rifle it had become. The process took that of a second, but would seem so vivid to one experiencing it for the first time.
Zus stared in shock at the transformation. It was... different. Mu'Tasim's arm was now a gun, that could look like an arm. She looked at the weapon, so cleverly hidden within the man's flesh. "H-How did this happen?" she asked, stuttering slightly. "I mean.. it's..." she paused for a moment, still shocked "You're still you, right?" the Eyr Ranr repeated, a slight tremble evident to the Sund Wakir.
Just as fast the gun had appeared, the flesh reassumed the guise over the weapon. Mu'Tasim turned to Zus and grasped one of her hands, a light grip with rough texture.
"I am still who I am, on the inside... Of that you can be sure..." the Temple Guard spoke with a pleading face, with what seemed like exhaustion painting his eyes. "I am still the Sund Wakir you met on Mazerin. It's just..." He looked away for a moment, "I was afraid to show you, I was afraid you'd turn away in disgust, I was afraid you'd call me corrupt, and I... was afraid you'd never speak to me again..."
The feeling of Mu'tasim's new hand was slightly different from that of a normal hand, and it didn't quite transfer the emotions like his real hand, but, it was him. She knew it was. This was the man she had thought about when she found her mind wandering. This was the person she had volunteered to be the first in the wing to see again. And he was himself. With a gun for an arm.
Zus clung tightly to the Temple guard, at once scared and needy. She was greedy for his company, though she'd never admit it. "It's.. It's allright, Mu'Tasim. I don't care, okay? You're still you." The Eyr Ranr tried her hardest to send feelings of warmth to Mu'Tasim, but he could feel the trembling hidden beneath it.
Mu'Tasim at once felt a wave of relief as he heard her acceptance. His arms found their way around her again, a his embrace filled with a little more strength. Being one more experienced with his emotions and empathy, he seemingly took control. He felt a sort of weakness behind the attempt to console him, and he returned the favor in kind, a loving acceptance, which felt like water rushing over a dry desert.
"Zus... It is sudden... Perhaps... Too sudden." Mu'Tasim began, one again hesitant, "But I want you know, that you mean something to me. That moment we shared... long ago in the Shrine. We both did not expect it. At least, I did not."
He took a deep breath as if exasperated from his talking.
"I thought of you, as I dreamt. I thought of everyone as I dreamt, but you... You were most vivid." He finished for a moment, his mind unable to conjure a better description of his thoughts.
"You're lying." Zus said, her cerulean orbs gazing into their shimmering golden counterparts. She held the man closer, suddenly very happy with his words. "I didn't even know what you meant to me until you were almost gone..." she murmured, sending more of her emotions, some of happiness, some of strife and longing, to Mu'Tasim.
"What about me did you dream?" she asked, after a few silent moments.
He smiled at her, the warmth returning to his face slowly. His heart began to flutter as she came closer to him. The emotions they began to share melted together, their longings intertwining in something that satisfied their desire to erase those longings.
"My mind played on the memories we shared, the moments in which we were together in Jarizas. At times, I felt as if the Saints were using you to speak to me. I am unsure of that or not, I only know that when you are present in my mind, your face is clearest, even amongst a blurry world." Mu'Tasim described to her in a sort of story-telling detail, the strength in his voice also returning.
Zus chuckled a little bit, very quietly. "Was I really the clearest?" she asked, just to make sure. This feeling was something her life had lacked for a very long time, and she didn't really want it to end. Part of her mind knew they were supposed to go, to leave this sterile, stuffy hospital and go somewhere where life happened; But she was happy. Here, in Mu'tasim's arms.
Suddenly or not, it felt right. And maybe that's how it was supposed to go. So slow you didn't notice it creeping up on you until BAM! it hit and your world turned right-side up for once in your life, as if everything that was meaningless had a purpose, and all the striving was useful. Zus felt almost as if she would explode if she could not let these feelings out, and so she shared them with Mu'Tasim the best she could, inexperienced as she was.
She held him tighter.
"You were as clear as the setting sun over the dunes of the Nuocr. I couldn't have missed you even if I had tried." Mu'Tasim smiled, his warmth and hers folding over into a greater feeling. He felt it from her, and he felt it within himself, yet like her, he knew little of such things. Through the entirety of his own life, he was raised seperate from those of his age, alone. He had lost most of what meant something to him in his life, and never found much to replace it.
Yet, here it was, in the form of an Eyr Ranr who seemed to be in the same disposition. Zus became what Famasir, his friends, and his family had been within him when they left his life. He was unsure what to call it, unsure exactly how to name it, as he had rarely felt it ever before in his life. It was too early for him to say it, or was it? It was still so sudden. In that regard he did only what he knew he could.
He held her tighter.
Whatever Zus believed, she knew she felt something right now, and she wanted to let Mu'Tasim know, in a way that not even the sharing of their emotions could tell. They could, however, give him a precursor, in the form of an urging. As Zus sat up straighter once more, she looked into Mu'Tasim's eyes. Her face was beginning to turn scarlet and she inched towards the Sund Wakir. "Mu'Tasim.. I... I wa...." she wanted to say something, but it was as if her throat was preventing her from doing so. She inched closer her emotions making it pretty apparent to Mu'Tasim what her words were unable to express.
Mu'Tasim lost himself in her eyes as she stared back at him, he could feel her desire and want, held back by what he could only guess was that mind that he had come to love. At that moment, he did not see her face, her embarassment, but her emotions and the way they expressed themselves to him. He felt 'Zus', in his heart, mind, and finally, body as he leaned in towards her, placing his lips on hers in a kiss that seemed to tie the knot of their affection for one another. In that one moment, in a stuffy, sterile hospital, he felt as one with a woman that meant something to him, and for that one moment, it was all that mattered to him.
She pressed back, into Mu'Tasim's kiss. Not aggressively, but enough to show that she wanted it. Her eyes had closed upon the moment their lips connected, and remained closed. It seemed as if a new channel had opened up between the two individuals, some new way to share their emotions, unadulterated by what their minds and bodies felt, a pure connection of the heart. This was it, that thing, that reason why her family had defied their culture to live by their own, of why she had been raised such a way.
Zus knew, in her heart, that if she had lived like any other Eyr Ranr, this feeling would be diluted, impure, and unsatisfying. But now? This was something that could not be wrong. After a few moments like this, Zus pulled back, and then leaned forward onto Mu'Tasim once more, content, and ready to do anything to keep this feeling alive, to make sure that she and Mu'Tasim could feel it again.
Someone clearing their throat ended Zus' reverie, and she bolted upright, out of her thoughts to see the Doctor, once more. The Eyr Ranr's normally pale complexion once again turned the brightest scarlet.
"I can understand tearful reunions, Lanbalri," Doctor Al'Nakir spoke plainly at first to Zus, then to Mu'Tasim, "and Acolyte, but we have other patients, one of which is in need of a room."
Mu'Tasim himself carried himself with somewhat plain composure, he lacked the embarassment of his love, but felt unnerved by the sudden change in direction. Though, it caught up with him and he bowed his head, "I apologize, Sentulri." The Vaytulri patted Zus' leg, to signal that he was ready to go, and that he needed her to stand.
Gingerly, Zus slid off of Mu'Tasim's lap, not recalling when she had gotten there, even though that was where she had landed when she first embraced the Sund Wakir. She straightened her uniform, and saluted the Sentulri waiting for Mu'Tasim to get up, so they could go. Slowly, the girl regained her composure as she watched the white-haired man get up from his seat on the bed.
The Temple Guard stood, but weakly, his legs nearly giving way from below him. The Doctor almost diving for the man before he hit the ground, but Mu'Tasim regained his composure with a struggling composure.
"Well, Lanbalri Storhan." Mu'Tasim smiled, a little pride in his voice as he finally noticed her promotion, while he gave a short salute to the Sentulri. His legs worked hard to carry him to the door. "Let us be off."
Zus nodded to Mu'Tasim, walking beside him so that she could lend her strength if he needed it. "I'm sure the Wing is waiting for us" the Eyr Ranr agreed, as they passed through the doors to Mu'Tasim's room, and out towards the hospital's exit. Words had not expressed it, but Zus knew now that she was connected with Mu'Tasim in a way that no one else could comprehend, and that made her happy as she walked forward with the man that she had come to love...
Front of Hospital
Muna 29th, 936
11:51 Commonwealth Standard Time
Zus Storhan looked up at the facade of the military hospital before walking past the threshold, its height nearly that of a VANDR, but it was a much larger structure than one of the Organoids she was so used to piloting. Inside, was someone very special to her, and to the Wing itself, someone who had been badly injured on Mazerin. Mu'Tasim Farouk.
The young Eyr Ranr went inside and checked in, before being directed to one of the rooms, where the Temple Guard Acolyte in question was currently staying. Gingerly, the blonde knocked on the door to the room, afraid to disturb its occupant.
"One moment!" chimed a voice from inside. If Zus listened carefully, she could hear a faint conversation being carried on within the room. Judging by the depth, it was two men. Though, the conversation did not carry on for long, as the door opened and out appeared a tallesque doctor, who regarded Zus for a moment.
"Lanbalri Storhan?" He queried.
"Yes, Sir." the girl replied, greeting the man quickly. "How is Vaytulri Farouk doing?" she asked, trying to sound official. Idly, she tried to peer around the doctor without actually showing the rudeness of peering around him, but to no avail, and she could not see Mu'Tasim inside.
"He's been in better condition, he's shrugged off all of the radiation, but he's still going to need to spend some time up and about. He was in his Prajna tank for several months, so he's going to feel fairly weak at the moment." The Medical Officer looked at the pad he was holding. "His surgery also took a bit out of his recovery as well, so he's likely weakened from that as well."
"Doctor Al'Nakir!" shouted one of the near-by nurses, which only caught the Doctor's attention. "You're needed in the ICU."
Al'Nakir nodded to the nurse and then to Zus, as he walked off, "He's in your capable hands, Storhan."
Zus listened politely, and when the doctor finally made tracks, she let herself in the room, looking over its contents. It was fairly spartan, containing all the regular amenities; a bed, a table, a chair, a window, and a viewscreen. Sitting on the very plain bed was the man Zus had come here for, and she eyed him almost shyly, walking forward to him and presenting herself. "Lanbalri Zus Storhan, reporting to pick you up, Sir." she announced, just a little too formally, belieing that she was mildly nervous.
Mu'Tasim was dressed casually, since they had no access to Temple Guard items. To Zus, Mu'Tasim would look somewhat different from the calm, composed Vaytulri she had known on Jarizas. One of which was his different colored hands, his whole left arm was lighter shade than the rest of skin, but that would be difficult to notice, with his long-sleeved Kurta. He looked up at Zus as she entered, almost with a sense of disbelief. The Temple Guard had met no friends in two months.
"Zus...?" His words carried a crackle of disbelief.
Zus smiled at Mu'Tasim, her eyes shimmering slightly with the beginnings of tears- Good tears, mind you, but tears nonetheless. It was apparent that the Lanbalri couldn't hold herself back, and she flung herself at the temple guard, despite the fact that there was something odd about his arm. She would save that for later, happy as she was to see him.
"Oh, Mu'Tasim! I've missed you! We've been so busy nobody had time to come and see you, but... but... I'm so glad you're still alive!" the Eyr Ranr sniffled a bit, her face buried in the shoulder of the man's Kurta.
For a man who felt nothing but his dreams for the bast month, the rush of Zus' emotions were overwhelming. In fact, Mu'Tasim almost felt like crying himself. In return, Storhan would've felt a sort of emptiness that came from being alone for so long, which eventually melted off into similar emotions. He wrapped his arms around her, that affectionate Eyr Ranr, one hand placed on her head.
"I am glad to see you too, Zus..." He spoke tiredly, but with a twinge of happiness in his voice, a smile evident. Something about her gave him some strength.
After feeling Mu'Tasim's emptiness and the subsequent matching of emotions to near hers, Zus remembered why she was here and that she was supposed to be on business. Not really wanting to let go, she reluctantly sat up straight, without slipping from his arms, her arms still around him. "I- I'm sorry, I lost myself there..." the Eyr Ranr apologized, knowing that she was rather forward with her emotions there, having never really shown as many to anyone before, and never showing them to Mu'Tasim before.
"I.. We, the Wing, have all missed you, Mu'Tasim. It has been too long since you were injured..." the blonde trailed off, just looking at the Sund Wakir with whom she had just embraced so tenderly.
Not trully caring for business, and still somewhat caught in the moment, Mu'Tasim urged her close again. She could tell that his muscles had become weaker, by the somewhat loose way they regarded her.
"It is alright..." He spoke weakly again, "I have payed for my folly... I am ready to come back to the Wing, the Erla Haidan, and..." The Temple Guard seemed to address her warmly with his eyes for a moment, but turned his gaze away in what Zus could feel as slight embarssment.
Zus channeled the embarassment now that she had regained her composure, and looked away for a moment as well. It was as if all she wanted to do was stare at Mu'Tasim, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. She looked to one side, then the other, then down, finally stopping with her view on his discolored hand.
"What happened here?" she asked, extricating the hand from its position around her middle and inspecting it with her eyes, nose, and fingertips.
Zus would feel a sharp shock, like one would feel if they saw a tornado touch down in front of them. In the next moment, she would find the hand quickly pulled away from her and stuffed under Mu'Tasim's right arm.
"It is... nothing." Mu'Tasim lied, his eyes trailing to the off-color hand and then to her.
"It isn't nothing!" Zus countered, sounding a little bit annoyed by Mu'Tasim's reaction. "Your arm is a different color!" She seemed upset, and looked at Mu with stern eyes, as if judging him, even though she was not.
After a few moments, however, she softened again, melting into the Temple guard, her arms back around him. "I guess you don't have to tell me" she mumbled "It's just so new seeing you again... with some changes..."
The Temple Guard remained unmoving, when she hugged him, she likely felt a pang of shame and worry. He couldn't find it in himself to look at her at that very moment.
"Are you... a... Purist?" asked Mu'Tasim, refering to a person who was absolutely against Symbiotics and bodily modification.
"What do you mean?" Zus asked, her mind going in odd directions due to her heritage, but she wanted to think positively about Mu'tasim. He did not seem like that kind of person to her, and so she would give him the benefit of her doubt.
Then she thought about the arm again, and what it could mean, she realized what he meant. "Oh.. Umm... Well, I've never met anyone who's done that but. You're still you right? As long as you're still you, then I don't really care."
"Then, I will let you decide..." Mu'Tasim's golden eyes strayed to her for a moment before pointing his hand to the wall. He hesitated for a moment, an unnerving sensation pulsing through his body. By the Saints he didn't want to show her, he regreted ever accepting the Symbiotic, but she of all people deserved to know.
His left hand began to melt, the lines and prints on his hand smoothing over, before his fingers seeming were asorbed into his palm. The palm seemed to slide into his wrist, and his whole arm seemed to slide toward the elbow. At the point of his wrist, was a barrel, to a weapon. She could note the VANDResque qualities his arm seemed to possess now, and most of all the Mini-LLS Rifle it had become. The process took that of a second, but would seem so vivid to one experiencing it for the first time.
Zus stared in shock at the transformation. It was... different. Mu'Tasim's arm was now a gun, that could look like an arm. She looked at the weapon, so cleverly hidden within the man's flesh. "H-How did this happen?" she asked, stuttering slightly. "I mean.. it's..." she paused for a moment, still shocked "You're still you, right?" the Eyr Ranr repeated, a slight tremble evident to the Sund Wakir.
Just as fast the gun had appeared, the flesh reassumed the guise over the weapon. Mu'Tasim turned to Zus and grasped one of her hands, a light grip with rough texture.
"I am still who I am, on the inside... Of that you can be sure..." the Temple Guard spoke with a pleading face, with what seemed like exhaustion painting his eyes. "I am still the Sund Wakir you met on Mazerin. It's just..." He looked away for a moment, "I was afraid to show you, I was afraid you'd turn away in disgust, I was afraid you'd call me corrupt, and I... was afraid you'd never speak to me again..."
The feeling of Mu'tasim's new hand was slightly different from that of a normal hand, and it didn't quite transfer the emotions like his real hand, but, it was him. She knew it was. This was the man she had thought about when she found her mind wandering. This was the person she had volunteered to be the first in the wing to see again. And he was himself. With a gun for an arm.
Zus clung tightly to the Temple guard, at once scared and needy. She was greedy for his company, though she'd never admit it. "It's.. It's allright, Mu'Tasim. I don't care, okay? You're still you." The Eyr Ranr tried her hardest to send feelings of warmth to Mu'Tasim, but he could feel the trembling hidden beneath it.
Mu'Tasim at once felt a wave of relief as he heard her acceptance. His arms found their way around her again, a his embrace filled with a little more strength. Being one more experienced with his emotions and empathy, he seemingly took control. He felt a sort of weakness behind the attempt to console him, and he returned the favor in kind, a loving acceptance, which felt like water rushing over a dry desert.
"Zus... It is sudden... Perhaps... Too sudden." Mu'Tasim began, one again hesitant, "But I want you know, that you mean something to me. That moment we shared... long ago in the Shrine. We both did not expect it. At least, I did not."
He took a deep breath as if exasperated from his talking.
"I thought of you, as I dreamt. I thought of everyone as I dreamt, but you... You were most vivid." He finished for a moment, his mind unable to conjure a better description of his thoughts.
"You're lying." Zus said, her cerulean orbs gazing into their shimmering golden counterparts. She held the man closer, suddenly very happy with his words. "I didn't even know what you meant to me until you were almost gone..." she murmured, sending more of her emotions, some of happiness, some of strife and longing, to Mu'Tasim.
"What about me did you dream?" she asked, after a few silent moments.
He smiled at her, the warmth returning to his face slowly. His heart began to flutter as she came closer to him. The emotions they began to share melted together, their longings intertwining in something that satisfied their desire to erase those longings.
"My mind played on the memories we shared, the moments in which we were together in Jarizas. At times, I felt as if the Saints were using you to speak to me. I am unsure of that or not, I only know that when you are present in my mind, your face is clearest, even amongst a blurry world." Mu'Tasim described to her in a sort of story-telling detail, the strength in his voice also returning.
Zus chuckled a little bit, very quietly. "Was I really the clearest?" she asked, just to make sure. This feeling was something her life had lacked for a very long time, and she didn't really want it to end. Part of her mind knew they were supposed to go, to leave this sterile, stuffy hospital and go somewhere where life happened; But she was happy. Here, in Mu'tasim's arms.
Suddenly or not, it felt right. And maybe that's how it was supposed to go. So slow you didn't notice it creeping up on you until BAM! it hit and your world turned right-side up for once in your life, as if everything that was meaningless had a purpose, and all the striving was useful. Zus felt almost as if she would explode if she could not let these feelings out, and so she shared them with Mu'Tasim the best she could, inexperienced as she was.
She held him tighter.
"You were as clear as the setting sun over the dunes of the Nuocr. I couldn't have missed you even if I had tried." Mu'Tasim smiled, his warmth and hers folding over into a greater feeling. He felt it from her, and he felt it within himself, yet like her, he knew little of such things. Through the entirety of his own life, he was raised seperate from those of his age, alone. He had lost most of what meant something to him in his life, and never found much to replace it.
Yet, here it was, in the form of an Eyr Ranr who seemed to be in the same disposition. Zus became what Famasir, his friends, and his family had been within him when they left his life. He was unsure what to call it, unsure exactly how to name it, as he had rarely felt it ever before in his life. It was too early for him to say it, or was it? It was still so sudden. In that regard he did only what he knew he could.
He held her tighter.
Whatever Zus believed, she knew she felt something right now, and she wanted to let Mu'Tasim know, in a way that not even the sharing of their emotions could tell. They could, however, give him a precursor, in the form of an urging. As Zus sat up straighter once more, she looked into Mu'Tasim's eyes. Her face was beginning to turn scarlet and she inched towards the Sund Wakir. "Mu'Tasim.. I... I wa...." she wanted to say something, but it was as if her throat was preventing her from doing so. She inched closer her emotions making it pretty apparent to Mu'Tasim what her words were unable to express.
Mu'Tasim lost himself in her eyes as she stared back at him, he could feel her desire and want, held back by what he could only guess was that mind that he had come to love. At that moment, he did not see her face, her embarassment, but her emotions and the way they expressed themselves to him. He felt 'Zus', in his heart, mind, and finally, body as he leaned in towards her, placing his lips on hers in a kiss that seemed to tie the knot of their affection for one another. In that one moment, in a stuffy, sterile hospital, he felt as one with a woman that meant something to him, and for that one moment, it was all that mattered to him.
She pressed back, into Mu'Tasim's kiss. Not aggressively, but enough to show that she wanted it. Her eyes had closed upon the moment their lips connected, and remained closed. It seemed as if a new channel had opened up between the two individuals, some new way to share their emotions, unadulterated by what their minds and bodies felt, a pure connection of the heart. This was it, that thing, that reason why her family had defied their culture to live by their own, of why she had been raised such a way.
Zus knew, in her heart, that if she had lived like any other Eyr Ranr, this feeling would be diluted, impure, and unsatisfying. But now? This was something that could not be wrong. After a few moments like this, Zus pulled back, and then leaned forward onto Mu'Tasim once more, content, and ready to do anything to keep this feeling alive, to make sure that she and Mu'Tasim could feel it again.
Someone clearing their throat ended Zus' reverie, and she bolted upright, out of her thoughts to see the Doctor, once more. The Eyr Ranr's normally pale complexion once again turned the brightest scarlet.
"I can understand tearful reunions, Lanbalri," Doctor Al'Nakir spoke plainly at first to Zus, then to Mu'Tasim, "and Acolyte, but we have other patients, one of which is in need of a room."
Mu'Tasim himself carried himself with somewhat plain composure, he lacked the embarassment of his love, but felt unnerved by the sudden change in direction. Though, it caught up with him and he bowed his head, "I apologize, Sentulri." The Vaytulri patted Zus' leg, to signal that he was ready to go, and that he needed her to stand.
Gingerly, Zus slid off of Mu'Tasim's lap, not recalling when she had gotten there, even though that was where she had landed when she first embraced the Sund Wakir. She straightened her uniform, and saluted the Sentulri waiting for Mu'Tasim to get up, so they could go. Slowly, the girl regained her composure as she watched the white-haired man get up from his seat on the bed.
The Temple Guard stood, but weakly, his legs nearly giving way from below him. The Doctor almost diving for the man before he hit the ground, but Mu'Tasim regained his composure with a struggling composure.
"Well, Lanbalri Storhan." Mu'Tasim smiled, a little pride in his voice as he finally noticed her promotion, while he gave a short salute to the Sentulri. His legs worked hard to carry him to the door. "Let us be off."
Zus nodded to Mu'Tasim, walking beside him so that she could lend her strength if he needed it. "I'm sure the Wing is waiting for us" the Eyr Ranr agreed, as they passed through the doors to Mu'Tasim's room, and out towards the hospital's exit. Words had not expressed it, but Zus knew now that she was connected with Mu'Tasim in a way that no one else could comprehend, and that made her happy as she walked forward with the man that she had come to love...
