Fifth time point

[koschei_oakden]

Koschei sat on the steps to the planetarium. The sun was just beginning to set and his shift was now over. With his head bent to his knees and his arms wrapped around his shins, Koschei couldn't see the sun setting. It didn't matter. He wasn't paying attention to anything outside his own mind. He'd barely made it out of work, before giving in to what he perceived as his greatest weakness. Koschei tried to keep the drums secret, but, in most ways, he was still a boy. Now, he was a boy in pain.

It was not a good day. dum dum dum dum

It was a day for the drums. dum dum dum dum

The never-ending drum beat was loud today. dum dum dum dum

Today, the drums almost seemed to speaking. DUM DUM DUM DUM

Koschei hated days like today. He feared the message of the drums. They always seemed to speak of anger, pain, and even violence. Koschei hated the persistence of the drums, even at their most quiet. At their most quiet, they weren't peaceful, but ominous, whispering of tragedies to come. Koschei tried not to listen.

Koschei knew, if he listened too closely, he might go mad...or worse.


[OTA Feel free to question, comfort, or harass Koschei. :D]

Comments

[livable]

[ Liv had been looking for answers to a lot of questions. Someone had suggested Nova City for the biggest innovations, so she'd headed over here, but she hadn't exactly expected some kind of sci-fi trip. The fact that these two cities exist right next to each other without sharing technology seemed a little crazy to her.

She almost passed the boy in front of the planetarium by, but in the end, she decided that at least asking one simple question would be a good idea. ]

Hey, kid. Are you okay?

[koschei_oakden]

Koschei looked up at her. His eyes were full of pain and weariness and he knew it. Koschei wasn't adverse to lying, if he had reason to, but he preferred his lies to be believable. He doubted anyone would believe he was truly all right. Anyways, the best lies were based in truth.

"My head hurts."

[livable]

"Which part of your head is it coming from? Front, back, is it pinching or just sore?"

The person who happened upon him happened to be a doctor. Maybe not the kind that Koschei needed, but she could at least go get him some aspirin if it didn't seem serious. Liv moved a little closer, kneeling down near where he was sitting.

[koschei_oakden]

"It pounds. My entire mind aches with it," Koschei explained.

She certainly sounded to Koschei as if she had knowledge. He wondered about that. It would almost make his exile in this place worth it, if someone here could help him.

[livable]

"Alright. I know this probably doesn't seem like it's helping, but I'm going to ask you a couple more questions. Did this happen rapidly or did it come on slow, like sinking into a whole world of aching? Is this a one time thing or does it happen often?"

Liv was trying to get a look into his eyes, but she didn't touch him yet. There were other things she could check, but she knew that suddenly touching a stranger wasn't the best move.

"My name is Olivia Moore. I'm a doctor."

[koschei_oakden]

Koschei stared hard at her for a few moments, trying to get a measure of this near stranger. He was reluctant to tell anyone about the drums, but this person was not a Time Lord. She couldn't affect whether he graduated from the Academy. She also couldn't help him, if she didn't know what was going on.

"What I tell you, you must promise not to repeat to anyone else. I don't want this known about me. Will you give me your word?"

[livable]

"I promise. I wouldn't be much good as a doctor if I couldn't at least keep your privacy yours."

Even if she wasn't exactly in a position where most of her 'patients' needed doctor-patient confidentiality anymore, once upon a time she did have every intention of becoming a surgeon. The only reason she wasn't was because of that pesky zombieism.

[koschei_oakden]

Koschei sighed, a bit relieved. He inched a bit closer to her and spoke in a low voice.

"I always hear this pounding in my mind, like drums, since I was a small child. Always. Every minute of every day. Sometimes they're soft and I can ignore them easily. Other times, they're so loud and so painful...I can only function by a force of will."

[livable]

Liv stayed silent for a few seconds, like she was trying to think. Auditory hallucinations congruent with migraine auras were rare but not completely unheard of. But constantly was another issue.

"Would it be too much to ask you to go to the hospital with me?" She could.. probably get the other doctors to let her do what she needed to, even if she worked in the morgue now.

[koschei_oakden]

"Yes, it would," Koschei practically snarled. "Don't you see? The more people who know about my condition, the greater the chance the Time Lords will find out. That would ruin everything!"

[livable]

"Hey, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. They're already used to me having odd requests, I'll just say that you just arrived and I'm trying to run some tests. Give me a heads up if you see anyone you know so we can duck past them. If you still don't want to go, we don't have to go. I work in the morgue, no one cares whether my patients have charts unless they were murdered. You don't look very murdered to me, so no one's going to ask questions."

She understood the snappiness. She didn't know about time lords, but Liv had a fear of anyone finding out about her own condition. Even if it still wasn't cured, simply not being alone in it once her boss back home found out at least made things easier.

"I know what it's like to have something you don't want anyone else to find out about. You can trust me."

[koschei_oakden]

"It's not a person here that concerns me. It's the Time Lords," Koschei tried to explain. "You'd be amazed at the ways they have of collecting information. How can you run tests and use equipment on me, without anyone knowing or asking questions? If you run the morgue, won't they find it odd to see you with a living patient?"

Despite his questions and reservations, Koschei was considering it. The pain was only growing worse and he wanted it to stop. Oh he wanted that badly!

[livable]

"Because I've already let them know that I have every intention of trying to test people as they come in to see if I can't figure out what kind of drug they used to knock us out. I couldn't do it when I first got here because I didn't have a job yet. Which is why you'd just have to give me a heads up if you see anyone you know. It's a lot harder to fool someone who's known you for a couple months. Or weeks. I don't know how long you've been here," she admitted. It didn't detract from her argument at least, so the lack of information about how long he'd actually been here just resulted in a brief expression of 'oh well' before she finished speaking. "I have keys, we can do it late if that would make you feel better. The hospital doesn't really close, but it gets less busy.

[spitfireprincess]

Sakura was taking her time to look around the city. Each day after helping Fai-san some she went out exploring a little further each time. Her footsteps slowed to a stop seeing the boy sitting on the steps to the strange building.

She walked forward slowly looking up at the building behind him before looking at the boy. He didn't look happy and Sakura was the type who loved helping. "Hello."

She smiled a bright happy smile that rivaled that of the sun. "What are you doing here?" She hasn't been in the city long enough to even know what this building was.

[koschei_oakden]

The drums pounded just a little bit harder. Koschei frowned at her, sighing almost silently.

"I work here. I just got off duty."

Koschei was in pain and the drums tended to make him angry, but he prided himself on his good manners. So, he added, in as calm a voice as he could manage:

"Hello."

[spitfireprincess]

She looked up at the building, her delicate fingers dancing along her lips as she thought. She didn't want to interrupt him but she was curious about the tall building. Her gaze shifts down towards the boy with a gentle smile.

"I'm Sakura."

Her smile was bright and cheerful as if it could spread happiness on it's own.

"Is it alright if I ask you about this building? I mean if not I can go."

[koschei_oakden]

"I'm Koschei," he said, reluctantly. He hoped the questions were intelligent. A good conversation might help distract him from the drums. "What would you like to know?"

[spitfireprincess]

"That's a really great name." She smiled brightly.

Sakura couldn't promise that they would be intelligent questions. Her world was very different than this one and she didn't remember all of it. Her eyes were on the building, her fingers lightly playing with the hem of her sleeve. Her eyes were filled with a mixture of wonder and confusion. There were so many things she didn't understand fully.

Her gaze shifted back down to the boy and she smiled brightly. "I wasn't sure what was here or what the building was used for." She pulled out a small piece of paper showing it to Koschei. "I've been trying to make notes on my map, where everything is. I keep getting lost though."

[koschei_oakden]

"Thank you," Koschei said. He took a deep breath, trying and failing to push the drums away. "This place is a planetarium. Um. Lost how? You can't find your way back?"

Koschei looked at the paper. Fortunately the drums didn't mess with his vision or equilibrium much.

[spitfireprincess]

"Um..no. I've been trying to find my way around since I woke up here." Sakura felt bad that she had kept relying on Fai for his help. She glanced up at the building with a wide smile.

"So you can see the stars here."

Sakura loved the sky. She looked back at Koschei with a wide smile. "I think that's amazing!"

[koschei_oakden]

Koschei's grin was brittle at best. He rubbed at his temples, hoping to release some of the pressure in his head.

"Where are you trying to go?" Koschei asked.

He didn't answer about the planetarium. It didn't seem very amazing to him, but he supposed it would to anyone not bred and raised steeped in the sciences.

[spitfireprincess]

Her smile was bright though she noticed that his looked strained. "No where specific. I was hoping to find my way around."

Sakura took a step closer to Koschei inspecting him for a moment with a worried gaze.

"Are you alright?"

[koschei_oakden]

Koschei grimaced, shrugging.

"My head hurts. How can you be lost, if there's no particular place you want to be?"

[spitfireprincess]

"Ah, well.. it's because I don't know where I am." Sakura had to resist the urge to reach out towards Koschei.

"I'm sorry that your head hurts. Is there anything I can do to help?"

[koschei_oakden]

"You're at the planetarium in Nova City," Koschei told her. "I doubt it. Are you a healer?"