Aberrant: Dead Rising - Family reunion [complete]

[Venus]

Violet was an emotional mess. She was tired and upset because the "mission" turned out to be just another catastrophe for her. James almost killed himself and if it wasn't for Myfwany he might have not made it. Just thinking about it made her furious and cry at the same time. She was glad he lived and she was mad he was so stupid to almost blow himself up. Actually he did and that made her laugh again. In a few words - she was a mess.

Jill and Jo immediately helped her as soon as they saw James' condition. He was looking far better now than he did when they left the place. It barely showed that he looked like a burnt corpse just a few hours ago. Of course the sisters didn't know that and Violet made sure it stayed that way. The whole situation was clearly too much for her.

While JoAnna took James to their quarters Violet decided to take a shower and try to wash away the dirt of the day. The hot water felt good on her and it did much to make her relax and calm down a little. Jill had entered the bathroom and was about to undress but Violet just shook her head and excused herself. For the first time since they've met her she was not "in the mood". Jill took that as a bad sign. Something must've happened on that mission.

After an hour Violet came back to her quarters. The sisters were tending to James' wounds and he was not complaining about it. She sat down right next to him and smiled at him. They didn't know if his sight would ever come back. Violet had tears in her eyes but she couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say or where to start.

[Dawn OOC]

Jill sat down next to her as JoAnna finished straightening James' blankets. "I'm sure he'll be ok," Jill said softly to the lovely woman. She took Violet's hand and squeezed it tightly. "He's healed from so much more. And we're here to help him."

JoAnna didn't say anything; she bent down and kissed James' forehead, than sat on the bed next to him. "We need to talk about what will happen if his eyes don't heal," she said softly.

"They'll heal," Jill insisted, giving JoAnna a bit of a shake with her head. She glanced at Violet and asked, "Honey, what happened?" Jill's hands stroked her hair softly, offering comfort.

[Courier]

A little voice inside of James whispered that JoAnna was right. It was dark, blacker than night, blacker than sin... and this could be his world from now on. James suppressed the voice. It was just a meaningless worry about something that could only happen to other people. JoAnna could worry for the both of them.

James leaned back and said, "I screwed up. Not entirely my fault. The roof was filled with explosives, they weren't just a cult, they were a doomsday cult. Just like... Wacko? The Branch Davidians? Anyway it looked like military grade stuff."

James' tone got a little self defensive, "Primal and that other James had insisted on a full frontal attack, and that meant it was just a matter of time before someone hit the switch of doom and blew up everyone and everything at once."

"So I... took a risk. The idea was just pulling the explosives away from roof wouldn't detonate them. First one went off in my hand..." James wiggled what was left of his right hand, it was missing roughly half of every finger. "...and I was looking right at it. Maybe a foot and a half away from my face." From James voice he was almost reliving the moment and trying to get the memory to end a different way.

James tried to continue but couldn't quite push past the memory of looking at the bomb go off.

[Venus]

Violet closed her eyes and slid slowly into Jill’s arms taking her offer for comfort with great relief. Fortunately James answered the question since she was still too messed up inside to formulate any coherent sentence. Slowly she managed to come down from her emotional turmoil and she was glad she managed to keep herself fairly under control. She was weeping quietly and carefully wiped the tears away that had run down her cheeks.

She tried to say something but only managed to sigh heavily but at least she got herself in an upright position again. After a double take Violet finally found her voice “I’m just glad we made it back.” You should have seen him…

She had to shake off the picture she had of his burnt body. He was unrecognisable and then came Myfwany and healed him with just a touch. It was a miracle.

“I truly believe we owe Myfwany James’ life – and to some extent ours, too.” Violet stood up and walked around the bed to the far end her eyes staring past her lovers. She stood there for a while before she continued to speak.

“We need to talk – and not only what we’ll do if James stays blind. A few hours ago I thought I had lost it all, not only James but you, too.”, she was looking at the sisters and her eyes refocused on their faces.

“I can’t describe how I felt and I want to spare you the experience but what I do know is that I don’t have the strength to fight over something that we all want in one way or the other. I love you. All three of you. I don’t want to lose any of you over something as stupid as who is Alpha and who is not. Jo – I never meant to take your place – I forcefully invaded your trinity and just took what I wanted. You know that wasn’t really me and I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”, she paused for a moment before she continued sitting down on the edge of the bed again.

“I… I’m not sure how well you will receive this. I know you don’t want children – not right now at least. If we manage to work this out I would think about it.”, she hadn’t said it directly but she just offered to have children with James.

[Courier]

James realized several things while Violet was talking, *Empath. She took my getting hurt MUCH worse than I did. Not sure what she means about Myfwany but that can wait for latter. Good that she's taking some comfort from being around the sisters.*

Originally Posted By: Violet

“I… I’m not sure how well you will receive this. I know you don’t want children – not right now at least. If we manage to work this out I would think about it.”, she hadn’t said it directly but she just offered to have children with James.

James thought, *Did she just say what I thought she said?*

[Venus]

There was a long moment of silence. James just listened and didn’t share what he thought, Violet did notice that he was having a moment of realization though.

Jill and JoAnna were still too worried about James’ condition and Violet didn’t want to push the matter since the current situation was more important then her worries about the future. If James hadn’t survived there would be no future to talk about. Now they had to focus on his mending.

Violet looked at her ‘family’ and sighed. She had to be strong now. Giving in to the fears and worries she had was not an option. It took most of her willpower to put on a smile and try to make the best of what they had right now.

“Lets talk later about that, ok? Jill and I will try to make ourselves a nice meal and you can stay with James, ok?”, Violet looked at JoAnna trying to find a neutral ground with her. It must’ve been hard for JoAnna – she was constantly caught off guard in Violet’s presence. She didn’t know if she wanted to admire, love or envy her. Was there an emotion that could describe all three aspects at once? Right now James was more important than finding an answer to that question, though.

Violet reached for Jill’s hand and gave her a little squeeze. She was tempted to use her powers and make her feel happy again. Violet preferred that emotion and generally wanted her lovers to feel happy and satisfied – it was wrong forcing that on her, though. At least right now. A smile of confidence had to do for now and that was enough to make Jill smile, too. The ‘buff’ blonde Barbie was new to the situation being the physical weaker partner. Sometimes she struggled and tried to overpower Violet, especially when they were intimate. Violet usually relented but sometimes it shone through that she was far stronger than her.

With Jill’s hand in hers like two teenage lovers Violet took her to the kitchen area and started to take stock of what they had. A good hearty and most importantly large dinner was the prime objective. Starting with the meat they had left she asked Jill to check out if they had beans or any of the quick-frozen stuff to serve as side dish.

“This will be fun.”, said Violet looking at the plates. “We need to feed him because he is still missing half of his fingers.”, she really did her best to keep the spirits high instead of dragging everyone down with her own worries. He would mend… he had to.

[Courier]

James traced JoAnna's face with his fingers and said, "It's not the same. But chin up, this won't last. I healed as much as I could without drawing on... I mean... it's not magic." James smiled at that statement. Jo sometimes argued the 'powers are what we used to call magic' theory but that was a different issue.

James continued with confidence, "I regrew as much as I could, but now I need new tissue, and that means I need food. You'll see. Tomorrow, maybe the day after, I'll be good as new."

Deep inside a nagging voice he tried to ignore whispered, *Didn't you say something similar about recovering in an hour? For that matter didn't you say something about recovering before the trip back was over?*

James forcefully thought, *Yes, but this is different. I lost a pound of flesh and we didn't bring five pounds of food along... or however much you need to eat to gain a pound of flesh. I grew back lots of skin, this isn't any different.*

*And that other fireman... was his name Bob? The one who broke his back? He claimed he'd be better, that science would come through. Some new drug that prevented back injuries from creating paralyzation.*

*I really am different. Falling off a roof wouldn't have broken my back... and if it did I'd still heal from it.*

*Human beings don't regrow their eyes or their fingers.*

*So after I grow back both, I'll admit Jo's wilder occult thoughts on this are right and I'm some kind of god-ish thing.*

With an effort of will James silenced any unproductive worries and focused on the here and now. He said, "So... how was your day?"

[Dawn OOC]

JoAnna nodded to Violet as she and Jill left the room. When they were gone, she turned to him and murmured, "I'm glad you're ok. I'd hate it if something happened without us resolving things." She took his hand, actually, his wrist; she was avoiding the missing fingers. "I do love you, and I'm glad that Violet is willing to give you kids. That solves your need to procreate nicely."

Jill was quiet as she helped Violet. Finally, she said, "We almost lost him, didn't we? It was close, very close... wasn't it?"

[Courier]

James felt where Jo was with his undamaged hand and put his arm around her waist. For the moment she was his universe. He replied, "Yes, to everything, and I love you too." Unspoken James thought, *"I think you'll want kids too eventually. Not today. Maybe not this decade, but sooner or later."*

James used his wrist to bring her hand to his lips, kissed her hand, and added, "If or when you change your mind I'll be there... and if it never happens I'll still be here."

[Venus]

Originally Posted By: Dawn, OOC

Jill was quiet as she helped Violet. Finally, she said, "We almost lost him, didn't we? It was close, very close... wasn't it?"

That caught her off guard. As much as she tried to fight it Jill's question brought it all back. Violet stopped and put down the dishes and dropped them. Tears were running down her cheeks and she nodded at Jill. She reached out to seek comfort in her arms and let go.

Violet cried without restraint and let her tears cleanse her from all the pain, worries and fears. She blamed herself for not being strong enough.

It took her some time to recover and finally she found the strength to speak again. "I can't <sob> explain how terrible it was. I saw him and thought he was dead. If it wasn't for Myfwany he wouldn't have survived. She saved him." I think she is..., Violet didn't dare say what she thought.

"We owe her - a lot."

[Dawn OOC]

Jill nodded. "We'll try to repay her then," she said simply, rubbing Violet's back. "I don't know how, but she's kept us together, so we owe her."

JoAnna smiled and bent down to kiss him. "We still need to talk, but being willing to work things out is the right start." She stroked his hair and said, "Thank you for not being a jerk about the baby-thing. I just... who wants to bring a kid into this shitty world? I know we're supposed to be rebuilding things, but I can't stand the thought of doing that to some little baby. It's cruel."

[Venus]

Violet nodded at Jill and tried to smile at her. “Would you?”, she took a double take, “Could you please serve the plates – I’ll need a second in the bathroom to refresh myself. I’ve been crying too much lately, I’m so sorry, honey.”

Violet stood up and quickly left for the bathroom and locked herself up. Looking at the mirror she stared at herself. What was going on? Everything seemed to slip out of control. People started hating her now even more than before. They feared her – or to be more precise they feared her powers but she hadn’t abused anyone, did she?

She looked at the door and thought about James and the sisters. She did abuse her powers. She had forced herself into their family and practically assumed control. They had no choice although she believed she only enhanced what was already there – but would that have been enough if she didn’t? No one knew how dependent Violet felt. She needed James and the sisters and what they did for her was irreplaceable.

Somewhere inside her there was still Jennifer. The mirror reflected her face and she slowly touched it with her hand. Jennifer – now that she had disclosed her abilities to the other supers she felt even more uncomfortable changing back to her. Why should she? Jennifer was only human – no powers, nothing special about her. And what if she got into trouble and needed to change back to Violet and everyone saw it? Would Jennifer turn into a Zombie if she didn’t manage to change fast enough?

She splashed some cold water on her face and tried to shake these thoughts off. She had to talk with Myfwany – there were too many questions on her mind and she was the only one she believed to have answers. Aside from that she had to tell her how grateful she was for saving James. Taking a deep breath to pull herself together she unlocked the door and joined the others at the dining table.

Violet slung her arms around James and gave him a small kiss on his cheek while Jo and Jill enjoyed teasing him with dinner. She took her seat and laughed joining the teasing and fooling around. They had some laughs and giggles and she made sure to savour this moment. Who knew how long this would last?

[Courier]

James ate with his left hand and 'let' the girls feed him... and felt the trauma of one of the worst days in his life leach away. Ultimately this was real life; the zoms and even his blindness were just a nightmare.