RP: Lazarus [Lazarus] - The long walk back

"Damn the pay is nice too." Miles spoke, looking up to the sky overhead as a single cloud muted the orange-ish sun of the Lor system. "Though, you're right, getting pinned into things does not feel right anymore. I had my time in the service and I was told exactly what they thought of me, even though I did everything I was told, and then some." Miles continued, as he brought his gaze down from the skies above. "It's fucking nice to have a guarantee of freedom if the milk sours here."

There was a pause, a thought as Miles thought on their employer, and he looked to Sana before whispering...

"You know..." He spoke, as his cybernetic eye glanced about once more as they walked, "We could find out more about our real employer with her like this... figure out what we've gotten ourselves involved with."

A smile crept across Sana's lips, a delightful warmth enveloping her features as a single eye opened to look in Miles' direction, knowingly.

"And... How would you suggest we go about this?" she began calmly, gently raking her fingernails through his hair sensually, feeling Miles' mind at work.

There were myths and superstitions about the peak of the scalp, in ancient Nepleslian cultures, there was a belief that the very soul of a person emanated from the peak of the head, to touch the top of a person's head, was seen as an ill omen. At that moment, as Sana's fingers went through Miles' hair, he understood just why such a myth would exist, as he felt his very soul being tickled by her touch, which produced a pinkish flush upon his pale five o'clock shadow clad cheeks.

"I ahh..." Miles needed but a moment to focus, before he continued; "We can put her into a semi-conscious state kin to a trance, she won't remember a thing, and we could just ask her a series of questions. It would be rather straight forward really, in comparison to everything else we've done to her."

"I say we stay out of her head for a dew days." Sana continued, nails digging and swirling as her eyes fell closed again with a smugness she normally wasn't privy to. "Let her get used to feet."

There was a saying which was not nearly as ancient as the superstition which came to Miles' mind, a saying which had also been passed down from times long ago; 'When in Rome', and that was the phrase that leaped at Miles as Sana issued her statement, thinking on the world they were on, and the society they were surrounded by, and in that moment Miles could understand how a society like the Matriarchy could work so well. Another thought did cross his mind as well; his cybernetically enhanced muscles were the only thing keeping him from losing his balance as he carried their lunch, especially as Sana grabbed so much of his focus.

So, with the touch of a woman, the confidence she had in that moment, Miles was diverted; "Yeah, feet can be a challenge..." as he spoke those words, Miles looked up to the dorm building which they had just reached. As he looked up, at the unassuming building, and thought on the kind of person who lived within those walls, he thought on just what other secret lives the other residents could have. A few days by our calendar perhaps. Miles decided as curiosity butted heads firmly with the swirl of emotion which Sana brought out in him.

With that thought in mind, Miles stood beside the doors of the dormitory, and gave Sana a smirk, a smirk that was saying just what he had thought before; 'When in Rome', as he waited for her to open the door for him, so they could walk in and head up to Aiesu's room.

Elsewhere, pale hands ill at ease stumbled clumsily through the piles of books on her floor for some semblance of sanity. She wiped sweat from her brow with the back of her synthetic hand, not caring for what it was and only that it would service her. It took a few attempts to prize open her plastic medication compartments which in her eyes were always like the hump back missile doors of old Lorath airships, opening side by side in swing panels. But what she saw would disappoint her. She threw the whole thing to one side, narrowly missing her computer with a screech and continued to search before finally finding a bottle.

Which was once again empty.

Aiesu quietly butted her head against the wooden panel flooring of her abode like a spoilt child and curled up inside her bed into a withering cold shivering fetal ball of albino self-defeat, synthetic limbs and opiate withdrawal.

Conversation between the food carrying lovebirds continued through the stairway and halls of the dorm building, as Miles and Sana traded their banter, they approached Aiesu's dorm room as the Nepleslian doctor began to draw the conversation to a close, since they were nearing Aiesu's room. "So, what I'm saying is, we should be looking into a way to get mobile again. I know there's talk about a ship, but I've yet to see it, and frankly, I don't even like the idea of trusting some shady characters in regard to building us a flying machine of metal and organic compounds, intended to carry us through the universe at speeds faster than anything has ever traveled... and especially without a proper captain, since your other-half decided to make a break for it."

There was a jingle of keys, as Miles held the keys he had 'borrowed' from Aiesu, and opened her door before stepping inside and immediately noticing two things; first, the mess of items which he could see to the doorway of Aiesu's domain, and, the scent of sweat. "Excuse me Sana, I have to go check on our patient." with that, Miles set down the bag of food upon the kitchen counter, and strode over to where he knew he would find Aiesu. "I'm back with lunch. How did you rest?"

Miles was greeted with the sight of most of her shelving ripped out, books and articles scattered and her computer chair upturned. The only evidence of life here was a small pair of white toes quivering, sticking out of the bottom of the bed-pit's sheets.

"What did you do with them?"

"Them?" Was the only word spoken by Miles, as he approached the bed-pit, as he crouched beside the nest-like recession in the floor, certain to stay out of Aiesu's immediate reach. He knew what was wrong, just from her attitude, and the way her body quivered, as he reached into the pocket of his slacks and produced a small plastic container with a flip-top lid, a typical single-dose pill carrier, which he shook, producing a rattle. Though, even as he held the container in hand, he did not surrender the two high-dosage painkillers to the withdraw stricken Aiesu.

A hand reached out from the sheets, exploring for the pack. Not finding, she withdrew it back into the mound of sheets which slowly sat up. Her hair was slicked back with sweat and she was shivering, dark shadows beneath her eyes as she stared at him.

"Give."

"Say 'Watashi ni sorera o ataete kudasai'." Essentially, what Miles wanted from her, was for her to ask nicely, though in the language of the imperialist felines who he was still unsure how Aiesu felt about.

"Uh... What now?" were the first words to leave her. "W...Waaytaushee..." she struggled. The words soon came, grating on Miles' nerves as she mangled the Yamataian in the thick sovietesque blades of her lumbering Lorath accent.

"Hnei Trsuoroerah ouh akaeh-teh kyur-dursei...?"

"Close enough, but next time you'll have to try harder." With that, Miles tossed the small container to the Lmanel, inside of which rattled a dosage of the painkillers which Aiesu so desperately wanted.

Aiesu quickly popped the cap off with no concern for anything resembling decorum or even dignity and soon vanished into the kitchen on shaky legs with the covers wrapped around her. Miles could hear a tap running and a glass being taken from the cabinet before she returned, the container safely hidden from him as she cradled a glass of water in her hands.

"Why are you being insufferable? You're a doctor. A professional. You know what I'm going through" she said, the surface of her glass quivering as she struggled to steady her trembling fingers, waiting for what she'd taken to kick in.

There were many ways Miles could respond to her question, many ways which were honest and truthful. 'I'm an asshole' was very high on the list of most applicable responses, however, the best response he had was one which was slightly more verbose, and, a bit more caring. "Yes, I'm a doctor, but that does not make me an enabler. You don't need those as treatment for any ailments at this time, but you do need those on account of a dependance. So, I'm going to give you a choice from here; you can either try to quit, or, I'm going to make you earn your pills when you want them."

Aiesu's gaze rose up and over him before floating to one side as she seriously considered this. She clicked her tongue a few times before wincing, a hand reaching for her cheek before she grumbled quietly to herself.

"You're very big on this invade and conquer thing you do, aren't you?" she began with a shrug and something of a sly smile.

"You're wasted as a male."

"If roles were reversed, if you were the one visiting my homeland, I would have to tell you that you're wasted as a female." Miles spoke, with a smile that crossed his lips that spoke not of mirth and amusement, but of a cunning that was built by a Nepleslian childhood which forged him into the man he was. "None the less, gender does not change the nature of the situation. You'll be fine for the next four hours, we'll touch on this again later." With that, Miles raised from his crouched position by the bed pit, and gave a tilt of his head directing to the kitchen. "Don't know if you saw, but we brought lunch. Lorath-Nepleslian fusion cuisine. There's a burger with duq sauce with your name on it... literally, they branded your name on the bun."

"...Why would ...Nevermind." she began, feeling the chattering in her teeth begin to subside as a firey warmth tickled through her belly: the ache in her back melting with the sweet licks of flame that came with it. She soon followed after him, her head barely as high as his waist as she stood aside him, climbing up a stool like it were a ladder to get to the standard height counter-top. There she sat next to him, watching.

"You're being awfully familiar in a stranger's house, aren't you?"

"Well, how much more familar can you be with a person than to be wrist and elbow deep in various portions of their internal anatomy?" Miles rhetorically asked, as he reached into the big brown bag which he had carried the food in, and presented Aiesu with her duq sauce slathered burger, which also included a variety of Lorath vegetables and spices, but with imported Nepleslian meat product, and a synthetic wheat bun, with extra vitamin enrichment to make for muscle and girth, along with the burger came fries... made from the humble potato, which had gone unchanged for thousands of years.

"Being someone's attending physician doesn't necessarily make you their friend" she snapped hastily as she piled her gifts into a large bowl. The scent of Nepleslian meat specifically confused her: as if he'd just delivered her a newborn baby and was about to hand her it. Curiously, even then she still salivated at the thought.

"What's this?"