ArchivedLogs:Sojourner

Sojourner
Dramatis Personae Joshua, Tag, Tian-shin
In Absentia	2015-11-22 (Part of Flu Season TP.)
Location <NYC> Mount Sinai Hospital - Harlem
On the cutting edge of many medical technologies, Mount Sinai Hospital is often ranked as one of the nation's best hospitals. The medical school attached is one of the best in the world, meaning that even your med students know what they are doing. Chin up, then -- when you come in here badly mutilated after the latest terrible catastrophe in Times Square, you're in good hands. The Intensive Care Unit has remained steadily full these last few weeks, and charged with a growing tension almost palpable. The security personnel stationed in the hallways look haggard, and the nurses and techs go about their duties with frequent nervous sidelong glances. Get-well cards of every color and description and flowers both live and synthetic crowd every available surface in this particular room. Joshua looks pale and thin, lost in a tangle of tubing and life support equipment that emit a constant stream of soft chirps. He has the room to himself at the moment--if only because his last roommate has recently expired, then risen again to be summarily dispatched by Tian-shin’s sword. She stands by the window now, staring out through a gap in the curtains at the bleak wintery sunlight that does little to warm the gray, gray cityscape outside. Her hair, gathered into a loose bun at the back of her head, looks uncharacteristically messy. She wears a black tunic with scarlet piping and black jeans with red stitching, her long sword slung across her back. Her red canvas jacket and a red-and-black plaid newsboy cap hang over the back of a nearby chair, beside which sits a black nylon tactical backpack. Tag is curled up in a chair pulled up beside Joshua, his arms folded on the bed itself to serve as a pillow for his head, rainbow hair spilling out loud and glossy over pale blue sheets. He's wearing a blue ombre t-shirt over a long-sleeve thermal shirt with horizontal stripes in purple and black, and black cargo pants with bright yellow lightning bolts along the outseams. His glittery pink boots sit on the floor nearby, a dagger in its sheath (fancifully decorated with chi-ling) slung around the ankle of one and the hilt of a longer, matching knife protruding from the top of the other. His backpack, yellow and marked with a large blue star of life, is next to Tian-shin's. He has just fallen asleep, and is now whimpering softly, rainbow-socked toes twitching where they hang out over the seat of the chair. Tian-shin turns and regards her brother, then picks up a blanket heaped in yet another chair, bringing it to drape over his shoulders. She lingers by the bed, gazing down at Joshua with bleary, bloodshot eyes. After a moment, she blinks her eyes clear and stretches out a hand to touch his shoulder with the tips of slender fingers. Then she picks up /his/ phone, lying on a small table near his head and almost buried with cards, and nudges Tag awake. Holds up the phone and waggles it as she heads for the door, as if that alone would serve as explanation. Tag starts awake, but relaxes when he regains his bearings. Seeing the phone in his sister’s hand, he nods and gets up, snagging the longer knife from his boot and strapping it to his waist as he pads across the room to fetch Tian-shin’s jacket and hat, along with his own double helix scarf. The latter utterly clashed with her outfit when he picked it up, but by the time he makes it back across the room it has turned red-on-black like the rest of her clothes today. He intercepts her with a tight hug, handing her the pile of outerwear, then pulls back to watch her leave. Returning to Joshua’s bedside, he slumps back down into the chair but keeps his eyes open this time.