Re: Vignettes, Asides, and Hidden Moments
Jason groaned as he opened his eyes. The white fluorescent lights above him may as well have been magnesium flares, the light burned into the backs of his eyes and sent fresh new waves of pain into his head. How that was possible, he had no idea, but he was in even more pain. He moaned, and tried to move his hands up to his head. He couldn't. He could move his shoulder, but couldn't bend his elbows. He also couldn't turn his head and his body felt like it was being crushed. He opened his eyes a fraction and looked around. A hospital. Hunh. Where were the drugs that should be pumping through his veins right now.
"Nurse!" he croaked. His voice broke in the middle of the word. that hadn't happened since puberty. well, not even at puberty really, his voice had always been a raspy squeak.
He tried again. "Nurse!" he called, loudly enough to make his head feel like it was imploding. even through this fresh new hell of sound he was surprised and worried. His voice sounded deeper. what the hell??? And what had been that cracking sound when he drew breath to call out.
the nurse came over. "I'm here Mr. Tybolt. What's wrong?"
"Please God give me some drugs." he whispered softly. Her breath hissed in, surprise or anger he wasn't sure, he never was around women. Probably both.
"Your cast is all cracked. How did this happen? Who did this?" He heard her push the emergency call button beside his bed. How had he heard that?
"Please stay still, sir. You've broken nearly every bone in your body and suffered massive damage internally, please don't move or speak. You shouldn't even be awake. Why aren't the drugs working?" He heard her fiddling with the I.V. drip beside his bed. A gentle feeling of euphoria came over him, and the pain eased slightly, but other than that, nothing.
the sound of running feet announced three people, one of whom was female, who was overweight and smelled vaguely of weed, cheese doodles, and juicy fruit.
They were talking rapidly in medicalese, sounded worried, and seemed to think that he was going to die.
"Umm, other than being in incredible pain, I don't feel that bad. I'm probably not dying. Oh, and these drugs aren't working worth a shit." his voice was deeper--deep, manly, and almost oozed sex appeal. It was like he was a white Barry White. He laughed. that hurt. Fuck did that hurt.
"Seriously, I can move my arms and legs, sorta, and nothing seems to be moving around inside that shouldn't." he experimentally flexed an arm and felt the plaster give.
Eventually they cut the cast off him--he was a massive bruise. Not only that but he was a good foot taller, his hair had changed from tightly curled puke orange to a lustrous sandy blond, and his once weak muddy brown eyes were now a striking grey. He heard them whispering, but he knew before they did. Nova. he was a fucking nova. Homo sapiens nova. Fucking awesome.
It took a few days for the bruising to fade, during that time he ate more food than he had eaten in the last month. Anything even remotely digestible was fair game. He tasted more too, flavours were subtler, richer, more striking. He was putting on weight at a terrifying speed. 50lbs in 3 days. How the hell had that happened when he had only eaten 45 lbs of food. He quit school after writing a dissertation the night after he woke up. His brain was overclocked, his metabolism was overclocked, he looked like a human blueberry. time to go home.
He arrived in Seattle and walked right up to his old man without the old boy even recognizing him. No reason for him to, his son, Jason, looked nothing like he did before. His bruising was starting to fade, along with much of the pain and his face was as different as the rest of him. For starters he had a chin. And a jaw line, a manly tough looking jawline. His nose, once stubby and bulbous, had straightened and evened out. He was fucking hot. Even his teeth, long since dyed a permanent shade of gray from years of binging on coke and pizza and weed while playing dnd in his parent's basement, were dead even and dazzlingly white.
Two weeks after his accident his appetite subsided to roughly double human norms. Roughly. He was 6'3, 200lbs, and ripped. Well, not ripped, chiseled. Carved out of granite, muscles big, symmetrical, perfectly formed. 8 pack abs. It was the first time in his life he ever wanted to wear something that wasn't big and baggy.
He went shopping with what little money he had saved. he walked into the mall and people were looking at him. girls were looking at him. Not with the dismissing boredom he was used to. Staring at him. Grabbing their friends and turning them around so they could look too. Jason blushed crimson. this was fucking weird. And awesome. Fucking awesome.
He went into a small boutique shop and approached the girl behind the counter. "Hi, can you help me find some clothes?" he said. She stared at him. Didn't say anything for a long minute, then shook herself. "Umm, yeah, clothes. We have those." She helped him find clothes that fit and that looked good together, things he had never worried about before. She really liked checking the waist of his new jeans to see if they fit snugly. Really liked it. He was in Heaven. He left the store with two new outfits, and the first girl's phone number that he wouldn't have to give his credit card number to use. Amber. Amber Jones.
He had sex for the first time that week. Well, not the first time, but he didn't want to think about the other time. Couldn't think about it without a ball of shame and guilt welling up inside of him. he'd never do that again. Ever.
His old man was a plumber, hardworking, honest, salt of the Earth. He had no idea how to talk to his son anymore. Not that he had talked to Jason much before.
His Old lady was sweet, quiet, and slightly absent. she was shocked by her son's appearance, but then quickly got over it saying that he could get a nice girl now and get married.
Married. Hah. A nice girl. hah. He was going out to clubs and picking up different nice girls every night. Sometimes there was competition to see who could take him home. Not that it was difficult to convince Jason to go back to their place. Far from difficult.
During the day he figured out how to slow things down and speed them up using just his mind. He still had headaches, but they were getting easier to manage.
He saw advertisements for Project Utopia on the news. He decide to join, but not right away. he became a fashion model, made big bucks, way more than he could have before. He moved out of home. got his own place. Life was good.
One day he decided to head to a daycare that he knew about. There was somebody he had to see. He walked up to one of the ladies working there and gave her his best smile, quelling the butterflies in his stomach. "Hi, I'm Jenny Campbell's uncle, can I see her?" She is so going to think I'm a pedo he thought to himself. I'm her uncle, fucking lame. Oddly enough she did bring him to the little girl playing on the swing set.
"Hi Jenny, what are you doing?"
"I'm flying."
"Flying, hunh, that's cool."
"yeah, it is. Can you fly?"
"Not yet, but I will real soon, I promise."
"Really, you can do that? Are you a nova? Do you work for Team Tomorrow?"
"Yes, I am. My name is Impetus. And I will never let anybody hurt you. I promise."
the next day Impetus went to the Mazrim Rashoud office in Los Angeles to sign up.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:45, Thu 14 May 2009.