thebetterhalf | 04 | [Action] (forward-dated to Monday!)

[The first thing Marco becomes consciously aware of is that he's cold. No, freezing, even. The next thing he notices is a nausea that’d settled in the pit of his stomach, then that nausea turns into mild panic when a string of odd, blurry memories hits him and he gets the strong sense that he's in danger. That his life is in danger.

He awakes with a start, moving straight into a sitting position. Both hands shoot up to his throat, even if he isn’t sure exactly why he’d felt the need to do so. He's groggy, exhausted and disoriented. Where is he? What’d happened? What day is it, even? Why isn’t he wearing a shirt? In the back of his head, a few hazy memories are trickling away. Dreams, perhaps. Dreams of a crowded village and glowing green balls surrounding him. Dreams of pain shooting up his leg and his hand getting crushed. It’d seemed so real, but his hand is fine so there was no way it could’ve happened. He’d know if his hand had gotten crushed for some reason. …Just another nightmare.

His eyes scrunch shut for a moment, then open again to try and survey the area. Forest, with the moon high up in the sky. It's hard to tell exactly what time it is- likely somewhere early in the morning. Past the trees he can see distant lights, presumably from the village. His gaze moves down to his legs, noticing the odd pair of pants he's wearing. The standard type that New Feathers would wear upon arrival. His mind's unable to really piece everything together. Is he a new arrival again? …He still remembers the village. He can’t recall being sent home. A quick check confirms that his pockets hold the keys to his apartment and his journal.

What’d happened to him?

He manages to scuttle into a crouching position just in time to start retching. His stomach's roiling and the confusion only serves to fuel his nausea further. Not that he ends up spewing more than a bit of bile. Apparently, he hasn’t eaten recently. Retching turns to desperate gasping and shaking, both from the stress inflicted on his body and the cold. He has no idea how long it takes him to calm down again. Five minutes, maybe ten. During that time, he notices something else. No sounds are coming from him. Nothing vocal, anyway. His suspicions are confirmed when he tries to speak, but produces no words. Carefully, he raises a hand to his throat again. His vocal chords aren’t working. Why?

Despite the protest coming from his muscles, he manages to push himself to his feet and turns his attention to what’d been lying beside him. The 3D Maneuver Gear- all of it. The canisters, the blades, even the body harness is attached to it. Putting it on is too much trouble, but he can’t just leave it out here, so he grabs the leather straps and slings them over his shoulder. This way, he can support the gear’s weight with his back. He’ll have to be careful with his wings, though. Once he's sure he can keep his balance, he begins his trek towards the village. His whole body's still shaking, but he has to get home. Jean's going to kill him for this.]

[Action]

[By the time Marco’s up and about again, it’s late in the afternoon. He’s wearing a spare set of clothes from his wardrobe, but the absence of his uniform just stings something awful. That’s why he hopes he’ll be able to find a replacement in the store. After having a few bites to eat and assuring Jean that he’ll be fine, he’s off to run some errands. There’s a notebook under his arm, because now that he can’t speak, he’ll have to write his responses down.

First he needs to stop by the apartment belonging to Commander Smith and Captain Levi to let them know he’s back. Then, he’ll leave the flame building and head over to the plaza. He stops by the school to see if Professor Sage is still there, so he can apologize for missing over a week of classes. Then, the clothing store, where he ends up finding a replacement uniform just like he’d hoped. However, there’s just one problem with it. The insignia. It’s clearly his size, but it’s designated as Military Police. Are the Malnosso just messing with him, or is it meant for someone else? Until he’s decided on either, he’ll just stand there with the jacket in both hands, giving it a conflicted stare.

Finally, he’ll take a detour to the wind building to pay a visit to Ginia. He feels that after everything that’s happened, she’s the best person to talk to. Or uh… write to, now that they’re both in the same position.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Considerate and Ginia knows how it goes. It's rare she's the one reading and writing in return, but it's not the first time either.

An early return, but at least he got some sleep.]

Any other side-effects? Injuries?

"Just exhaustion and nausea."

[And some utter disorientation, but that's what comes from losing over a week's worth of memories, he supposes. Or maybe he wasn't even conscious for that week. Who knows?]

Take it easy, stay hydrated even if you can't eat much. Maybe drop by the clinic at some point.

[His guess was as good as anyone else's. There were two days no one could account for and no one else knew where he was for the remainder of the week. Ginia wonders if she should ask? No, it's only been a day. If he wants to talk about it later, she'll listen.]

I have plenty of notepads if you want to have some. I've been stocking up.

[The clinic... Should he really? He's not sure if there's anything they could do for him, but maybe a check-up wouldn't be too bad, so he ends up nodding at the suggestion.]

"Thanks. I've got enough pages for now, but I'll let you know if I run out."

[Oh, he'll run out. If there's anything Ginia's learned over the years, it's always carry an extra notepad and extra pens. Pens have the worst way of dying when you need them most.]

Of course, if you need anything else, I'm always here. But from experience, everyone's been pretty understanding about reading what you write.

"That's good to know."

[He never appreciated how great it is to be able to talk until today. Having to write everything down is a huge pain.]

"I don't know how you manage this every day."

Because I have to. I don't have any other choice.

[Ginia prickles slightly at his words, but it's not his fault. She stands out in the village as the one person who can't talk. And though she's lived with it her whole life, has few regrets about it, sometimes things get under her skin.]

[He flushes a bit at that response. Wow, it sounded a lot less rude in his head, but now he can understand why she'd react like that.]

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say something insensitive. I just mean I have a lot of respect for you for being able to cope with this every day."

[Is... Is that better? It still doesn't look quite right.]

[Oh, Marco, it's not your fault. Ginia smiles and gives Marco a light pat on the shoulder.]

It's okay. I guess I am a bit prickly about this for other reasons. I shouldn't take it out on you.

[Geeze, the Malnosso seemed to really like throwing people back without voices. Though Marco seemed to be handling it far better than McCoy.]

I know it can't be easy on you, so I'll do whatever I can to help. I assume the other guys know?

[Oh. Oh, phew. That worked well enough. He smiles lightly at the pat on his shoulder, then nods at the words she types out for him.]

"I went to see them in person."

[Good, probably for the best. Things are probably fine them, especially if they didn't have any issues with her being unable to talk.]

They probably appreciated that.

[A pause before Ginia adds on:]

Jean told me you were back, but it's good to see you.

"It's good to see you too."

[He lifts his pen from the paper and taps the back of it on the table for a moment as he ponders whether he should write down what's on his mind. ...Well, if there's anyone in Luceti he could tell, it's Ginia.]

"I don't remember what happened, but in a way, that just makes it worse. I'm pretty sure I died, but I can't prove it."

[She can and sometimes Ginia wishes she could shut off that side of the brain. Teach herself not to look too much into body language, spend all of her time picking apart words for hidden meanings. But if it makes her care and worry a bit more, maybe it's not so bad.]

I was out of the village during the weekend, but it seems like no one can remember what happened. Which means you're not alone in not remembering, but that doesn't make it any easier.

If you were kidnapped, then your voice should come back in time. And if you died, then you can get your penalty removed.

I know it'll be hard, but try not to think too much about what could have happened. And if you find you can't stop thinking about it, find someone to talk to.

[Familiar advice there.]

[The thing is, it's not just the weekend he doesn't remember- it's also the week that followed it. He's never been kidnapped by the Malnosso so he doesn't have any first-hand experience, but he's pretty sure most other villagers remember vague shreds of being in captivity. For him, it's like that whole week just didn't happen.]

"I will. I just really hope it's not a penalty." [Because if he needs to go have it removed, it'll be certain he died. He wouldn't be able to pretend it was anything else. Besides, he'd need to let Jean know too.]

[It's probably the hope on all of their minds. Because if it is a penalty, then it means Marco died without anyone knowing. And if someone killed him, that person could still be in the village without anyone knowing.

It's hard starting a hunt when there's nothing to go off of.]

hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Regardless of what the situation is, the offer stands; let me know if you need anything, even if it's correcting your homework.

04 | [Action] (forward-dated to Monday!)

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