trans_9 | Go to Sleep, This Won't Hurt a Bit

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Go to Sleep, This Won't Hurt a Bit

Sherry had gone to the media library for some relaxation. Sure, other people ran off to the sensoriums, but Sherry liked reading. It relaxed her, even if the pages weren't paper, and she found something calming in the series of words on paper. Besides, her mother wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, and Sherry was tired. Purplish smudges from too many hours trying to stay awake decorated the skin under her eyes. She had lost some sleep over Claire, and knew she'd fallen asleep awkwardly over a chair in a way that had probably looked uncomfortable.

She hadn't been, but that was beside the point. Sherry removed her headband and put it beside her, fluffing her hair and combing it out with her fingers. She was thinking too much, and that wasn't relaxing at all. She returned to her book of short stories and blinked at the screen.

May 16. I am ill, decidedly! I was so well last month! I am feverish, horribly feverish, or rather I am in a state of feverish enervation, which makes my mind suffer as much as my body. I have, continually, that horrible sensation of some impending danger, that apprehension of some coming misfortune, or of approaching death; that presentiment which is, no doubt, an attack of some illness which is still unknown, which germinates in the flesh and in the blood.

Sherry looked down at the screen in sympathy. Guy de Maupassant, I know exactly how you felt. She continued reading The Horla, but soon, her eyes drifted closed and she slumped over, her cheek pressed against her omnicomm.

The last words she read still repeated slowly in her mind, She was already half asleep on a reclining chair, overcome with fatigue.

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"I think my parents would tell me if I was carrying something infectious," Sherry said stubbornly. She reached out a foot to pull her headband closer to her, just in case she needed to run.

She picked up the red band and put it on her head. "So, I don't think it's up to you to suddenly announce weird things about my health. So. Bye." Sherry announced brusquely, and ran from the pod, and out the Media Library door.

"... wait ..."

It's a few long moments before Roxie shuffles to follow.

... and shuffles faster ...

... and slides into a swift lope ...

... and then a full run, skidding past Sherry as she turns, clearly not so adept at losing speed as gaining it. She ends in a half-crouch a few yards down the hall in Sherry's way, the stethoscope twined with disturbing fluidity around the arm of her jacket.

Sherry was better at controlling her speed than Roxie was, but felt herself immediately panic when she realized how much faster Roxie was than she. As she bowled towards the girl, she realized that the hub to the other levels could be accessed another way, and turned on a dime -- so to speak.

"Not today, Roxie!" Sherry begged, hoping that her friend (enemy? Frenemy?) would not pursue... but had a sinking feeling that she would.

"Please," Roxie says, skidding forward to outflank Sherry again. "At least let me try and get an idea of what it is."

She's not even breathing hard.

But Sherry is, and the fatigue of being up, not sleeping properly, and using up her energy to worry about her parents has taken its toll on the little girl. Sherry drew herself up and straightened her shoulders. "No means no!" And as Roxie came up from behind, Sherry turned and ran towards her.

Please avoid me, please avoid me.

Roxie—ducks, ending up nearly scrabbling on all fours, because she really doesn't want to clothesline or tackle Sherry, but she does reach to try and snag the edge of the other girl's plantsuit at the last moment to pull her back. Still, with the burst of speed Roxie's built up, that makes it pretty likely that Sherry will fall and land on her as part of the process.

"Urk!" that's all the noise Sherry makes. A little mixture of a sound of dismay and surprise as she comes falling on her side down on Roxie's back, driving them both to the ground. Sherry felt all the air drive from her lungs as she landed and lay there, half-stunned and gasping.

"... sorry," Roxie says from under Sherry, not moving. Her voice doesn't really sound disturbed or in pain at all, though.

"Uhn," Sherry groaned in reply and rolled off her friend onto her knees. "Still... no." she gasped out, trying to catch her breath. "Meh... Medbay. I'll go. There." She would probably also need to have actual air if she intended to get there. Sherry coughed a couple of times, turning her face from Roxie's. She might be upset with the other girl, but she wasn't rude.

"... all right," Roxie says edging her way up to her knees and then her feet. She offers an arm for support after a moment of deliberation.

From her other arm, the stethoscope is snaking its way back into a pocket, apparently without one of her her hands being involved.

Sherry is not looking at Roxie, exactly, but rather the ground between them and their feet, while the air slowly starts working in and out of her lungs like it was supposed to. She looked up just in time to see Roxie's offered arm and takes it.

"If that was all you wanted, you should've said so," she muttered after a moment.

"... but you ran away," Roxie says as she holds Sherry up with her seemingly inexhaustible supply of barely-exercised strength.

And she starts shuffling in the direction of the Medbay, with the approximate speed of a turtle again.

Sherry pursed her lips and sighed through nose at her friend, "Anyone would run away if they woke up with you hovering over them, looking like the Horla," she replied stiffly. "...Wait. We have to go back to the Media Library. I think I left my omnicomm there."

"Like a what?" Roxie asks she helps Sherry back to the Media Library, at least as long as she continues to want the help. She frowns a little at what she already guesses is a not-so-good comparison, though.

"A Horla," Sherry repeated. "It's the monster that was in the short story I was reading." And, no, it wasn't a very nice comparison, but considering it had been the last thing she remembered reading about, somewhat truthful.

"You don't actually see the creature he's talking about, though. It's left to imagination. At least, it was before I fell asleep."

"I'm not a monster," Roxie says with a little more of a frown. Now that they've gotten close enough, she peers into the media library pod Sherry was in. "Why were you sleeping here?"

"Well, if all you saw were teeth and eyes in the dark and you were half asleep, what would you think?" Sherry answered and plucked her omnicomm up from the floor where it'd fallen during Sherry's escape attempt.

"I don't know. I was reading, but," she shrugged. "I guess I spent too much time awake, sitting next to my mom while she was recovering. She's awake now, by the way. But she said I should probably not stay up much longer. So I came here to clear my head and relax." She felt slightly better, but... falling asleep in the media library, where anyone could've come up on her, was probably kind of stupid. "The precinct's been busy, so it's been hard to sleep there."

"I would think that someone was wondering why I was sleeping there," Roxie says matter-of-factly. Not the kind of person who startes easily, apparently.

"It's not good to not get enough sleep..." she comments after a moment. "Dreams are an important part of mental health." And she thinks— "... you could use my meditation room if you want. It's pretty quiet."

Clearly, Roxie hadn't watched enough horror movies. ~~Or survived a zombie apocalypse.~~ "Hmph."

"I know it isn't," Sherry replied a little grumpily. "But thanks, Roxie. I don't know, maybe things will settle down a little more in a day or two." At least, she hoped so, but who really knew? "First, I'd like to make my dad get some sleep before he starts moaning for brains."

Roxie looks kind of confused by the brains reference. She does nod a little, though. "But Medbay first."

"Yes, I know," she replied with a frown. At least she felt a little better, even if her side was a bit sore from landing on Roxie.

Note to self: learn to roll. "You'll see, Roxie, they'll wonder why I'm there, and then note that I am perfectly fine." She was sure of it.

Roxie just takes her hits in the face. Then again, she can heal from them much more easily.

"... I don't think so," she says, glasses tilting so they glare up a little bit again.

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Go to Sleep, This Won't Hurt a Bit

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