trans_9 | [ >( ] (open to anyone who wants to visit)

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[ >( ] (open to anyone who wants to visit)

[ooc: BENDYTIME, ACTIVATE! Anytime after the crew has returned to the ship.]

When the medics finally woke Steve up from his healing trance, he was not in the best of moods.

For one thing, the trance had left him feeling much, much better than before-- but had not done much for the virus. A good supply of bandages were able to conceal many of the external signs, but he couldn't very well wrap them around the green marks on his face, his fingers or both of his eyes. His levels were stable but until the virus had gone back into remission, he was stuck in quarantine.

For another, there was no news as far as what had caused GLaDOS to go off on him. No clues as to who found out about him, no sign of who might have done it-- just the knowledge that someone on this crew, who he was supposed to trust, was capable of attacking him like that and there was little to be done about it right now.

And of course, someone had to inform him that Zokez II had been nearly annihilated by the Ohm. The beautiful beaches, resorts and cities-- the places where he spent a happy week relaxing, feeling normal, and spending time with Miku-- were gone, destroyed, the people fled and with no hope of rebuilding. His week had been cut short anyway, but now it felt like the whole thing had been ripped away from him. Even the happy moments he had here on this ship were fleeting-- in the end, everything was now just a memory, stuck in the past and never to come again.

And furthermore, he'd slept through it. The first encounter with the Ohm, the stupid aliens who were the whole reason he was awake on this goddamned ship in the first place, and Steve was too busy sleeping off a virus outbreak that nearly stole his mind from him to help out.

"A mistake" indeed.

Steve was not in any kind of mood at all as he sat on the floor and leaned against the bubble, staring at the ceiling. His silhouette was visible through the dimmed bubble.

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He hesitated again before saying anything else, sinking down to sit on the floor by the bubble.

"When the computer attacked me, I got hurt in the sensoriums," he said. "And the virus flipped out and started to take over me. I don't remember a lot about it because it... it got to my brain again."

Steve looked very mortified about it. "I wasn't pretty."

Miku slid down with him and leaned against the bubble, too, tucking her legs under her. "And then Luke found you? I saw him come out of here earlier, while I was trying to help Dr. Sera."

She had been able to piece some things together, but until she could go and touch the sensorium in question (if she could even still get to it), Miku felt like she was fumbling in the dark.

"Yeah," he said, a little solemnly. "If it wasn't for Luke..."

He refused to really elaborate much more on that. He'd sprouted nipple arms for god's sake. It scared him to think what a few more minutes might have done. There might have been no coming back at all.

His face sank at the thought. And much to his chagrin, the aforementioned new arms twitched at his side, forcing him to clap his hand over them to keep them from pulling away from the bandages.

"I don't ever want you to see me like that," he muttered. "This is bad enough. And I don't even know how I look at my worst."

"What's wrong with your side?" Miku looked instantly concerned. "Should I go get Dr. Sera?" She started to stand up.

"Nothing!" Steve said instantly, and sat up quickly as though to show just how fine he was. "It's nothing, seriously, I'm fine. Just- itchy!"

Miku hesitated, still between standing and sitting, before she flopped back down again. Her fingers brushed against the ugly bruise on her cheek, "Well... well, alright. If you say so."

There seemed to be a but at the end of that sentence. Miku sighed and leaned against the bubble. "When you get out, I have something for you," she murmured.

"You shouldn't be so worried about me when you have a bruise like that." It was a weak attempt to change the subject and he was well aware it wasn't going to work, since Miku wasn't in quarantine or anything similar. "I'm glad you weren't hurt worse down there."

But then she changed the subject better than he ever could have. "You do?" Steve's interest perked. "... that's funny, I have something for you too."

"Why would you buy me anything? I thought I dragged you through enough stores that you'd never want to see a shopping district again." Miku smiled at him. "I'm sorry about that, too. We should've done... other things." Better couple things.

Something.

"Because you're my girl," Steve pointed out, looking positively dweeby when he said it.

And he was quick to correct her, too. "No, it's okay-- I really... I really, really had a great time with you. I wouldn't change anything about it." Well, okay, maybe one thing, that caused his expression to sink a bit. "I'm sorry I ruined it."

"You didn't ruin it. Who ever did this to you did." Even if they did fight about it, at the end of the day, it was whomever had decided to sic the AI on Steve.

Suddenly his first statement caught up to her, and Miku smiled brightly. So brightly in fact, it irritated her bruise and she winced. "Ow, ow," she laughed softly through it. "You... you've never called me that before."

He seemed relieved to hear that she blamed his attacker rather than him. Of course he had no reason to think she would have blamed him anyway, but this was Steve, the King of Pessimism, here.

His face turned a lovely shade of pink as Miku reacted to what might be the corniest thing he'd ever said. Crazy cat eyes or no, Steve always looked the same when he was sheepish. "Well- well, you are," he retorted. "And I never did get you a birthday present, so it'll be for that, too."

Say it that way made Miku think of a defensive middle schooler, but she kept that to herself. It was a bit endearing. "I'll look forward to it. I'll have to see if some of the supplies Nanoha-san and I bought made it up here, but maybe I'll see if I can't make a cake. For us." She shifted in her seat and went to touch Steve's hair... but was stopped by the bubble.

She frowned at it. "As soon as you're out."

He looked a little somber at Miku's failed attempt to touch his hair, reaching up and sticking his hand against the bubble.

"I won't be long," he said, with far more confidence than he actually had. "I'll be out of here soon. Count on it. As soon as I look normal again."

Miku smiled again, almost widely. "I'll be waiting for you." She put her hand over his, and thought she could almost feel the warmth through the bubble. But that was probably just her imagination. "And then we can put some of this behind us, right?"

Steve didn't answer for a moment. It seemed like every time he got close to putting something behind him, something even worse happened. Not to mention he had the feeling that this one was going to stick with him a while-- the mere thought that one of the crew members, people he was supposed to be trusting and working with, would attack him-

He let out a little breath and smiled crookedly at her. "Yeah," he said finally. "I hope you won't see me like this every time you look at me now. I don't like being the real live version of Beauty and the Beast."

"I won't," Miku promised. When he hesitated in answering, she had felt a little twinge of fear that he might just add it to a huge chip on his shoulder, one that she'd hoped was breaking down a little bit each day. It made her want to find the person that had done this to him and punch him.

It was possibly the most violent thought Miku ever had in her entire life.

"Anyway, isn't the moral of that story to not judge by appearances? Something like that?" Western fairytales were a little lost on Miku, unfortunately. She was more of a Momotaro girl. She smiled at Steve again and sighed. If the situation were reversed, would he think the same thing? It was something to think about, but not right now. "You don't judge me for the weird things I can do," and they were weird. Weird and harmful, "I wouldn't think about doing the same."

He leaned his arm against the bubble, and nodded a bit. "I know I don't have to worry about you judging me-- and vice versa. Like I'm in any position to judge other people for being weird," he sighed. "But even if I wasn't like this, I wouldn't anyway." It was just rude and cruel. And Steve's mom didn't raise a rude boy.

Then he glanced at her and smiled again. "I hope you like the present I got you. As soon as I can get to it I'll give it to you."

"Do I get hint?" Miku brightened, glad for the subject change. "I'd give you one, but you'll probably guess it." She had never been very good at keeping hints mysterious.

He thought about it briefly. "It's pink," he said. "That's your only hint."

"Just that?" Miku crossed her arms and pretended to pout. "Ah, well. It's pink, so I'm sure I'll like it."

"I hope you like it," he said. "I have no idea what girls like. But I feel pretty good about it, so I think it was a good choice."

"Well, if you gave me another hint..."

Steve looked like he was thinking about it for a minute.

"Naaah," he insisted. "I don't want to give it away."

Miku settled her large, innocent, brown eyes on him. "Not even another, tiny, tiny one?" She rested her chin on her knee, hoping to further cajole him (it was sort of fun, in a way, better than cajoling her brother about gifts).

"Nope." Steve grinned at her. "You have to be patient!"

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