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[ Everybody settling in alright? Or at least, as well as can be expected?

Everybody enjoy their cherry tasting legumes?

Adrien had intended to send this out as a text, but he was still getting used to the new TABs and upon realizing his mistake, couldn't be arsed to change it. The doctor usually looks harried, it might have something to do with his perpetual scowl, but he's looking particularly yanked through a knothole backwards at the moment.

All the way down to the fact that he's obviously showered and made an attempt to trim his beard, only to wind up cutting himself. Please ignore the tell tale little dots of paper stuck to his face at the moment. The blade was dull, okay?! ]

It dawned on me, as these things do when one is slicing their face open with a razor, a question that probably should have been asked a week or so ago.

Those of you in the crew, who are capable of, or posses magical abilities and of a temperament to help, would you have a spell or a ... [ here he gestures with his hands, he's not trying to be offensive, magic is just not something his world has ever been exposed too and he's only aware that it can be vary from person to person. ] ... that would purify water?

Thinking if that ability exists, we might give it a try on those purple streams and see if we can remove some of the nasty side-effects and restock our supplies.

(ooc: Warnings in the comments.)

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[ A smile and a nod. Time to head out. Open door, lack of door, it didn't matter. As she'd said, ten to fifteen minutes. She headed over and found the place fairly easy. She was at least polite as she came up to the open doorway and knocked, poking her head in. ]

Knock knock.

[ Stepping inside, floorboard creaking under her steps, she paused to look about before heading to the room at the right where light was coming from. She went to peek in there and smiled as she spotted him and Courser. ]

You...really got yourself set up in this place. I'm impressed.

[ The lazy flicks of Courser's ears had alerted Adrien to Elena's presence a few minutes before she'd actually knocked, the bahari's otherwise relaxed posture telling him it was a friend. As such, he glanced up when she entered the room but hadn't bothered to tense up or stop his work. ]

I've done this a couple of times. [ He said simply. ] Not sure if that's something I should advertise or hide but there it is all the same.

[ He had been cleaning his handgun, though at the moment the weapon was little more than a paper weight, ammo long run out. Quick fingers reassembled the weapon, before he set it aside and moved to get to his feet. Oddly enough, he was even out of his boots, though his feet were tucked warmly into socks. ]

This won't take long, if you've got things to be doing. [ He offered, glancing around awkwardly at the space. There really wasn't anywhere to sit, beyond the floor. ]

I feel like you should only talk about certain things when you feel comfortable. Or when you feel the time is right.

[ Elena meant that. She would never push someone to talk about something they didn't want to. Like on the observation deck, it had been Adrien who'd called them to him. That had been the time when he'd been ready and not before.

She watched as he moved through the motions with ease of putting the weapon back together, lifting her gaze when he rose. ]

No, I'm free for the rest of the day until Nate sends me a message or until I'm called back to the tent.

Where should I sit? Are you planning on walking me through it?

[ He didn't chuckle, but her comment did pull a small chuff out of him. ]

You've learned. [ Adrien said, giving her a quick glance. It was true, he didn't talk about things unless he was ready. If he guarded ground he did it with ruthless thoroughness.

At the question about sitting, he looked around at the bare floor and lifting his hand to the back of his head, ruffling the damp hair there. ]

Ah ... hrm.

[ Walking over to his tent, he knelt down and dug around until he surfaced with an over sized pillow, it was like a body pillow only not full length. ]

Here. You can fold this up and lean it against the wall. This really won't take very long, and I don't know that there is anything to walk you through; unfortunately, this isn't a technique I can teach you.

[ The last was said with a tone of genuine ruefulness in his voice. ]

I'm no David Copperfield so... [ Elena took the pillow and moved to the closest wall, crouching to set it up, sitting with it partially under her. ] But you do have me curious on this ability of yours.

[ Because seeing was believing. ]

You mentioned skin to skin contact. Ah, do you need me to take my arm out of my sleeve..?

[ That sounded like a bit of a pain in the ass, but if she needed to take off one side of her shirt, he'd seen her in far worse conditions. ]

It's just a tool in the tool box. [ Adrien said and his tone had shifted back to guarded, a delicate nudge to push away from the topic.

Her question provided a welcome chance to re-direct the conversation, as he studied the bandage and sling. ]

It would be easier of you took your arm out of your sleeve, so I can undo the bandages as well. If I help it shouldn't be too bad. [ And hopefully could be managed without turning this into some sort of compromising situation, that would practically demand Nate show up in the doorway.

If Elena agreed, Adrien would actually prove to have the mechanics of proper nursing skills in his repertoire. The ability to help her get free of the shirt without putting strain on her muscles or shifting her shirt around awkwardly. ]

Funny, that's how I felt about each of us up in space. [ Each of them doing a job, chilling in an oversized metal boat.

With a nod she reached up behind her neck to tease open the tie there, loosening the sling. The arm still ached with even the slightest of movement. Her biggest worry was that once it was done healing, months down the road, the damage remaining would be muscle stiffness and aches in questionable weather, much like her shrapnel did. ]

That's as far as I can go.

[ Meaning she would need his help for the rest of it. She gave a short grimace, the sling falling open, and Elena eased the cloth away leaving her with the splint strapped on around the arm on the outside while the padding was within the sleeve.

He could help with the two straps if he wanted but she began on the top one. ]

Brings a whole new meaning to getting dressed and undressed. Nate has the patience of a saint, when he helps.

[ Adrien didn't respond to the comments. He had been a object since the day he'd been born. First as a tribute from his family to Society and later, Gliese's weapon in an impossible war. Granted at least the latter situation was by his choice, which Adrien recognized even as he sometimes struggled to find a balance between himself as a person verse his duties and responsibilities.

Definitely not a conversation he was going to unload on Elena.

Instead, he worked patiently with the straps, letting her set the pace for how they maneuvered her limb. Each piece of the splint was carefully set off to the side as they laid her arm bare. ]

Not surprising. He loves you after all. [ He said, as if that made all the sense in the world to him.

Once he had access to skin of her arm, Adrien settled on his knees and then back on his heels as he reached to wrap his hands around her arm. Though he could wield a suture or a scalpel with the precision of any surgeon, his fingers and palms were still calloused from years of gun work. At least they were warm at the moment, the tensile strength in his fingers laid lightly against her flesh.

There was no fanfare, no real ... fuss even. Elena might become aware of a numbing warmth moving through the limb, possibly attribute it to the flesh to flesh contact. It would be the steady loss of the ache and pain of slowly knitting bone that would alert the body to the fact that the limb was once again becoming whole. The strain on the soft tissues of muscle, ligaments and tendons, steadily starting to relax as the skeletal system once again took up it's proper support duties. ]

Better?

He does... [ A quiet murmur for a response. But Elena loved him just as much. She fell silent then as they carefully worked her arm out of her sleeve, tugging the collar down enough without completely exposing anything. It was a bit on the sharp and tender side and it showed in the effort it took, any pained sounds bitten back. But they managed it.

Adrien's hands wrapped around her bicep once the thick padding was removed and it took everything in her to not jerk away, every muscle tensed, like her body was instinctively bracing for the worst pain possible. Mentally psyching herself up, not the best idea.

It took her a full moment to realize that whatever he was hoping to do, it wasn't hurting her. Instead it felt like a rush of warmth gradually covering and soothing the upper limb which was then followed by a tingly sort of sensation before numbness filled the area. She stared down at his hands, half expecting a glow to be seeping out from beneath them, and then she lifted her eyes to his face to stare.

Elena was at a loss for words.

She didn't want to believe this. It seemed impossible.

A mute nod, delayed, and she broke any eye contact to look down at her arm. The first test would be to move her fingers. The second would be to close a fist. All of these things were easily achieved, no lingering stiffness, no permanent damage. ]

Holy— shit.

[ Elena then reached for one of his hands, hoping to turn it over palm facing up. It wasn't dawning on her that she was moving her left arm with relative ease, as if it hadn't suffered a break to the humeral shaft. ]

H-how?

[ Though he didn't struggle against her when she took his hand, even allowing it to be turned over (palm was perfectly normal) he gave his head a shake in response to the question. ]

Long, boring story. [ He said, and though he gave her a moment to hold on to his hand, he did gradually start to try to draw it back. ]

You should still be careful. The pain will have been removed but your muscles, ligaments and tendons have been resting for a couple of weeks. Stretch them out, reintroduce them to activity. If you don't push it, you should have full ROM by the end of the week.

[ She saw nothing, felt nothing. There were calluses, yes, but nothing out of the ordinary that would be remotely close to giving a healing touch. It really made no sense. ]

I...highly doubt it's a boring story. [ Elena was a journalist. She wrote articles, she wrote stories herself. She lived for them. ] Adrien, you mended my broken arm back together by touching it.

[ Because it needed to be repeated, like she couldn't believe it, but on a soft hiss lowered between them. ] —healed it.

I can't believe I'm saying this but— are you an angel? No ordinary human comes with that ability, at least not where I'm from. People don't heal each other back home, they kill each other.

[ God, first Tony told her he was a fucking superhero. And now this. She half expected Nathan, her own husband, to pipe up some kind of story where he did something magical on the side. ]

[ 'are you an angel?'

The question saw Adrien's eyebrows go straight into his hairline as he looked absolutely incredulous that she would ask him such a thing. He didn't laugh, that wasn't in him but his lips softened in an expression that was rare and gentle. ]

Given what I've told you I've done, and what I will do ... does that seem like angelic behavior?

[ He shook his head slightly and sat back drawing his legs up towards his chest as he wrapped his arms around them and perched his chin on his knees. ]

I have plenty of death on my hands and depending upon how long I survive when I go back, I will blood soaked before my journey is through. [ Opening his hands, he glanced at them briefly and then back to her.

Guess that boring story was getting told regardless. ]

My version of Earth, Elena humanity stripped the planet of it's natural resources back around the time of the industrial revolution. Earth is incredibly delicate, collapse one eco system and you start a chain reaction and ... [ He splayed his hands to indicate a complete eradication. ]

Humanity would have ultimately starved out but we were able to make it out into the stars. We found other species, will to help us with the natural resources we were unable to sustain on our own planet.

I won't get into the whole culture that developed around trade and Society, except to say that it is integral to our way of life. A family survives on the strength of it's trade ability and it's trade partners.

[ Which was an entirely different tangent. ]

The prevailing theory is that living off the natural resources of other species, other worlds for so long has started to affect the human genome. Abilities that are remarkable to us, are natural to another species but they're jumping the species gap and expressing in humanity.

[ Raising his hands, he wriggled them pointedly. ] For the most parts the abilities are low key, harmless but they are considered Fates Spoken, and when they manifest the individual is expected to venerate them and apply them to best use within Society.

Whether they have the temperament for it or not.

Even angels aren't perfect. They're just as flawed as humans, take Lucifer for instance.

[ Not that she thought he'd have no idea about the gods in her version of Earth. She sat there and gingerly tested her arm, opening and closing her fist like she was slowly working on a stress ball. She watched him as he sat there folded up and broke away on a grimace. She would have to try the whole physio thing later.

It was time to tuck in for storytime. A journalist's treat. ]

Okay, hang on. This wasn't something you were born with? And because you ended up with this...ability, you were expected to just become a doctor?

[ Adrien gave a shake of his head. Honestly, he'd forgotten she was a journalist and that she might have curious questions. He wasn't used to talking about himself or his past, most people never asked and he wasn't particularly forth coming in the first place.

Elena already had a leg up on most people, in terms of getting him to talk. Combine that with her job description and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to respond. ]

I was born with it, it's an alteration in my genetics. We're not quite sure how it works, honestly my world is just starting to see such manifestations more wide spread in my generation. Research is still in it's infancy.

It simply hadn't manifested and it might never have manifested. [ Pausing briefly, he exhaled a deep breath and looked off to the side for a long moment. In the silence, Courser stood up and moved from where he had been protecting his bone, over to his companion's side. The bahari lay back down, pressed up against Adrien's back, head up by the doctor's left hand.

After a couple more breaths, Adrien turned back to Elena and continued. ]

Part of what saved humanity was the structure placed upon Society. Trade families, like mine, especially the high placed ones are expected to follow certain rules. Families that break those rules, face ruin within the trade world and families without trade, slowly starve as do those retainers who work for them.

Society is very unforgiving in this.

[ Unfolding one hand from his knees, he dropped it down into Courser's mane. ]

The Duchy of Blake was relatively young, an upstart. My grandmother established the family as a top tier trading duchy, her son -my father- expanded further and my generation was expected to take us further still.

One of Society's rules is that first born children are the heirs, in this case my sister Arie, second born children take a role in one of the five civilian infrastructures, which are based off the five Fates: Educator, Healer, Confessor, Conservationist or Politician. Third born child is conscripted to the Castrensis; our military. Any children beyond that are considered a spare.

I was third born.

[ Here, he paused and then slowly unfolded himself so he could reach out across the floor and drag a battered old leather messenger bag over to himself. Once he had it, he sat back up and rummage within, eventually surfacing with a picture. Studying it for a moment, he hesitated but eventually held it out for Elena to take. ]

Second born was my sister, Amette. This is her. [ There is something in the way the picture has been handled to suggest that it is a very beloved image indeed. ]

When her time came to make her bow to one of the five, she took healer. She was ... gifted for it. She was the nurturer in our family, and she could walk onto a patients' ward and set every one of them at ease with just a brief conversation. She was also an extremely skilled and intuitive physician. The head of her classes, medicine came as easy to her as weapons and combat came to me.

For a few years, Arie was proving brilliant at trade, negotiation and politics, Amette had set the medical world alight and I was making similar brilliant advances within the military. [ It was quick, what came next, but it was definitely a soft and affectionate chuckle. ] Aden, our youngest brother, was happy as a lark pursuing his art work and anything with a pulse.

[ Adrien sobered then, the affection shut down and his expression becoming haunted in the moment before it became shuttered entirely. ]

When I was just past my twenty-first birthday, Amette accepted an internship on another world. It was unheard of for someone as young as she was to be offered such an opportunity and she wasn't sure but my father was ecstatic. It was an amazing coup for the family. So Amette went. Not four months later, she contracted a contagion on that world and it killed her.

[ Elena listened to everything he said, learning quite a lot about him and adding it to what she'd taken away from the conversation she and Nate had had with him on the observation deck a while back. His world was an interesting one, strict and dangerous it seemed but...

She accepted the picture and was careful in handling it, taking in the resemblance between brother and sister. The poses and softness. He looked so young.

It was fascinating to her, the rules of the families. The duties that came with nobility. It reminded her of royalty, in a sense.

A smile made an appearance when she heard the affection in his tone. It saddened her though, that he cared so much for his siblings and yet here he was, hardened by his experiences, by war, by the choices he'd been forced into.

The picture lowered and Elena reached out, her hand resting near the crook of his elbow. ]

...I'm so sorry.

[ He adored his siblings and even his prickly nature couldn't hide that adoration, it was true. He looked over when she set her hand on his elbow and while he didn't reach to touch her hand in return, he didn't try to shrug away.

Instead, he nodded, acknowledgement of her sympathy, even as he continued with the story. ]

Six months after we buried Amette, my father was killed in an accident. That left Arie as a young Duke. The other families are ... ruthless when it comes to securing trade partners. Between the loss of Amette's position in the infrastructure and Arie's youth, they saw opportunity to poach our trade partners, and they were leveraging those opportunities.

Arie had quite the fight on her hands and without Amette in position, Society did not look kindly upon us.

[ There was no safety net. He turned his head and looked over at Elena, his expression soft, though he still did not smile. ]

Looking back, I realize that Arie did everything she could but in the end, when my ability manifested she had no other choice. I now stood as second born, and with a Fates given gift; she pulled me out of the Castrensis and consigned me to the Healing Order. Then she consigned Aden to the Castrensis.

[ Now, he lowered his head and looked down at her fingers on his elbow. ]

It was a bad fit, all the way around. Aden had a temperament much like Amette's, I honestly don't know how long he'll survive the military and ... well, you know me. But Arie's movements stabilized our family's standing in the eyes of Society and she was well on her way to beating off the attacks, as well as launching a few of her own ... when I ... left the planet.

Was that when you had been recruited by the CDC?

[ She remembered the talk they'd had, everything he'd revealed about that world. The horrors of the decisions he'd been forced to make.

Slowly her hand moved off his arm, slipped away to rest on her lap. Not because of what she was remembering but because now she wasn't sure if he wanted her touching him, even out of offering her sympathies. ]

[ It was tempting to reach out and catch her hand, before she could retreat. The simple comfort of human warm through his clothes, something Adrien never recognized he missed until moments like this.

All the more reason why he kept himself from reaching.

Instead, he folded his hands together, lacing and unlacing his fingers as he nodded. ]

Not immediately. I did not handle civilian life gracefully and I pushed the very limit of what was acceptable. I was -miserable- and I made sure the world knew it. [ Slowly he set his chin on his knees, flicking a glance towards Elena and then back down along the line of his leg. ]

All it really did was make Arie's life a living Fates' storm. She and I fought, behind closed doors, constantly towards the end. It was getting to the breaking point. [ His voice had softened as he talked and for a moment, he paused obviously lost to those memories; the shame and the pain that came with them now. ]

The recruiters were smart. [ He continued, his voice a whisper. ] They knew, everything about us when they approached us. Our pressure points. For some, it was money, for others it was love, some it was life. For me ... it was escape.

All I had to do, was say yes.

[ It didn't matter that she'd pulled away moments ago, Elena was reaching again, the warmth of her hand right back on his arm. ]

Do you feel that you...took them up on their offer without much thought to the consequences?

[ This time, despite his fleeting thoughts the moments before, Adrien tentatively fluttered his fingers, before lifting them and just barely settling them atop her own. ]

None of us read the fine print. [ He explained quietly. ] But I don't know how closely I was looking. Here was a man offering me freedom, without bringing ruin upon my family.

It seemed the perfect solution.

You were giving up so much, Adrien. Just for that freedom.

[ And now he was here. ]

Was I?

[ He said the words softly and then went quiet for a couple very tense breaths as he weighed a decision. No doubt she could see him weigh it in his expression, he didn't try to hide it from her.

Balanced on a knife's edge, Adrien studied her face for a long minute, before he continued. ]

You don't retire from the Castrensis. [ He began in a quiet but oddly calm voice. ] You serve until you're killed or you die. It doesn't matter if you're suited for the military, all that matters in Society's eyes is that your family consigns you. That is the Fates' demand of the third born.

There were plenty of my year mates who were not suited to the art of warfare. They were killed during training, or on the field. Those of us who survived, we were never encouraged to have significant others or families, because to do so was considered selfish.

[ This was a point he'd never explained to Neheda and he always wondered ... if he had, would she have had him. ]

How could you ask someone to love you, when your life was forfeit.

[ It may have been odd, how easily these words came from a man who so often found it hard to speak. Chin on his knees, he continued. ]

I was the third born. It was my duty to die for my family's honor, not Amette. Everything went wrong when she died. What's happened with the CDC, the future I face when I go back there ... in a way it's the life I was meant to lead. And as horrible as I know it sounds, when I lay down my life in the war to bring down HQ, to stop what they do? That purpose, is more important than my freedom.

Adrien, it's like that with any war, in any world. [ Or so she assumed, naively perhaps. ] Men and women go to war for their country, they leave behind their families and their loved ones.

War isn't the only answer to life, same goes for living it. But you have a purpose in life and I don't see anything wrong with that.

My purpose, is to serve my captain's wishes. [ He said quietly. ] And this war is only answer for me.

[ Again he paused, balanced on that knife's edge, before he lifted his hand, gesturing towards the side of his head. ]

I hear it, every second, whether I'm awake or asleep, Elena. It was called Macha, the planet. The people were called the Neraki. The planet, cried out for days while we slowly destroyed it. Every creature, every piece of flora ... cried ... and it echoes, here. [ He tapped his temple, his hand trembling when he whispered. ] Constantly, along with the laughter of the children.

[ Slowly he lowered his hand, wrapping his arms around his knees and drawing them to his chest as he watched her. ]

I thought about staying, on that planet as it fell. [ It was the first time he'd ever voiced the desire. ] But the growing knowledge that there was a chance to help bring an end to HQ?

It's what keeps me from eating my gun. [ The words were calm, matter of fact.

He tilted his head, glancing around the immediate area and then back to her. ]

Right now, my purpose is to help get this crew safe and then ... hopefully ... get myself and the disk back to my captain.

I know. And I'm sorry you have to deal with that.

[ He'd talked about it on the ship. She felt as sorry now for him as she did then. And even still, Elena didn't judge him for his actions. She still didn't see him as the monster he saw himself. ]

We all do what we have to in order to survive. And if ever you feel the need to...eat your gun, ever— don't. I know how hard it can be— [ There were a few things she'd never told Nate. He hadn't ever needed the extra worry. ] —but you're not alone.

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