Post by Swith on Jan 19, 2016 16:13:16 GMT -4
NOMINATION 1: Etla and Craig
Nominated by: The Starlight
Notes by The Starlight: "Etla and Craig, from IJ. The first is a female alien cyborg, the second is a male mutant with technological powers and a multi-billionaire company who was just tortured by the government in order to force him to create weapons and contingency plans against superpowered fellows. Can't post all of it, but here's two posts that stood out, one, here, the other, here."
Craig Thomsen/Silverwing
A Good Man Goes to War - Revelations
Craig smiled, despite the blinding flash of light, welcoming the sun. It had been so long since he had felt its sight. He had been given barely enough food and water to keep him alive, and right now, all he wanted was Etla and some donuts. One of those wishes had been granted, Craig gazing upon the armored figure, drinking in every contour of the Rainborn. "Etla." he whispered, the wind carrying that beloved name to heights and depths unknown.
Silent tears began running down his cheeks, tears of pain, and yet, tears of love and freedom too. He did not watch the fight, but told his armor to start a medical examination. It was not promising, at all. He was malnourished, his body weight very low as a result, Craig feeling his ribs which were showing. His shoulder was dislocated and infected, not seriously enough to require an amputation(he shuddered at that thought), but bad. The ribs that were showing were the ones not broken, and it was becoming a bit hard to breathe, along with several other fractures. But worst of all, something was seriously wrong with his heart, the armor not being sure of what, as Craig hadn't spent much time on its medical functions, which he regretted now. Luckily, he had one of his nanobots with him. Fishing it out and popping it into his mouth, he used his powers to guide it, the nanobot delivering a live feed to his HUD.
He winced at the sight of his heart, appearing nothing like a human heart should. His nanobot, which had been equipped with knowledge of every medical condition known to man had only a vague idea, but it predicted that if the situation remained like this, his heart would completely fail in a few weeks. Craig clenched a fist, turning it off. That was unacceptable. He would not die after all he had gone through, not after he had just reunited with Etla. He turned his attention to other matters, accessing the Internet for the first time in a year, learning, among other things, of the Registration Act. He had to tell the world, and it was even more urgent now. Registration was bad enough, but the government developing contingency plans against superheroes was intolerable.
He fell to the ground, opening his helmet quickly enough to cough blood, Craig staying there until he ensured that it was all out, for now, at least. He looked up, seeing that Etla had finished with the Red Hulk, and he cried again, looking upon her emerald eyes. And he rose, and they ran to each other, Craig's chafed lips meeting hers, their arms encircling one another.
He pulled away, reluctantly, for his heart was already beating too fast. "Let's go home," he said, simply wanting to leave that place of pain. And leave they did, Etla carrying him bridal style, the sun at their backs, while Craig spoke with haunted eyes of what had been done for him. And at long last, they arrived at the doors of Thomsen Tech HQ, everyone there letting out a great cheer that he had come home alive.
There were many hugs and smiles as Craig and Etla slowly made their way up to the floor that was solely theirs, the last employee to convey his wishes being Rob, who smiled at the two of them. "Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"
"Yes, actually." Craig said, snapping his fingers. "Get me a damn donut. Get us a lot of donuts. Buy that donut shop if you have to, Rob!" Craig issuing a smile at that. "And release a press statement, that Craig Thomsen is back, and that I'll be making a statement soon myself. More than a statement, actually, but that's besides the point."
And then the two of them headed into the room, Craig finally getting to take of his armor. He looked to Etla again, memorizing the sight of her again, before speaking. "I'm sorry, Etla. I'm sorry that I couldn't escape sooner. I tried 67 times..." Craig trailed off, thinking of them, tears gathering in his eyes yet again. He wasn't sure exactly how many times he had cried today. "And there's another thing. The world needs to know what the government is planning, what it is doing. And I'm going to show them exactly that. I obtained the recordings of that year, every whip, every cut, every broken bone. If you don't want to watch I understand Etla, because those recordings are going to show me screaming, they're going to show Craig Thomsen being broken. And I don't want you to be broken too. You were the only thing that kept me sane, Etla. Thank you, for that, and also for rescuing me. And after all this is said and done, I owe you a year's worth of vigorous activity," Craig winking at the Rainborn.
A short while later, Craig still not even having taken a shower, he began, Rob centering a TV Camera on him, the video being uploaded live to all the social media sites, the news networks also quickly picking it up. "Hello, America, and those of you around the world. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Craig Thomsen, founder of Thomsen Tech. A year ago, I disappeared. And now, I'm here to tell what exactly happened. Everything I will be telling you is the absolute, unedited truth. So open your mind, watch very closely. And after, talk with your family, your loved ones, your friends, your coworkers, about what you've just been shown."
Taking a deep breath, he began, "A year ago, I was kidnapped and taken to a secret U.S military base after refusing to make contingency plans and weapons designed to disable or kill superpowered beings. I was tortured, because of my refusal, for one, terrible year. And don't think, because they failed to obtain anything from me, they aren't right now creating plans to kill superheroes, plans to create prisons, plans to hurt those who have helped billions, those who have saved this planet on multiple occasions. I obtained the footage of this recording. You can have the experts check it, it has not been doctored in anyway. And let's watch together, people of Earth, of what was done to me. A warning, to all those watching, that I cannot stress enough. This is graphic content. Do not allow your children to watch this."
And so, they watched together, Craig and the world of his torture. They watched the first day, Craig's voiceover describing the perpetrators and his torturers and their powers. And on, and on it went, for hours. "The entirety of the torture will be uploaded to social media sites, divided into days. 12 Hours of Torture, every day of the week. At night, I was hung up on chains with the lights on to prevent me sleeping. In the morning, I would be woken up by a bucket of ice-cold water, a knife, a shot right by head. I was fed slops to keep me barely alive, the only water I got was from waterboarding and the previously mentioned buckets," Craig standing up and showing his scars, his dislocated shoulder and its infection, every gruesome detail. "And now some of you may be wondering why I just didn't give up and give them what they wanted. But I did not do so. Not because I don't love my country, not because I thought I was strong enough, but because I believe in freedom, justice, and liberty. Those words are supposed to describe our great nation, and those words do not describe the Registration Act, nor these contingency plans. The price of freedom is high, our Founding Fathers learned that. It has always been since. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."
"And so, if you still don't believe me, then let these next days go unaltered, continue about your daily lives. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me. Talk to everyone you know, share this video, write your President, write your Representatives in government and the U.N. Voice your disagreement and let us all come together to discuss a solution that promotes both safety and freedom, a solution which is of the people, by the people and for the people. " He stared at the camera for a moment, gazing into its depths, his eyes sincere. "Farewell."
Some time later, Craig was feeling quite better. The reason being that he had called his old friend, Valancy Stirling, Valancy having told him of her healing abilities a few years back. She had managed to fix his broken bones, his infected shoulder and all the other injuries. All save the scars, which would remain for the most part on his back, and his heart.
"There's one more thing," said Craig, looking at Etla, "that I have to do." He pulled up a hologram of his failing heart. "Thanks to the torture," Craig pausing for a moment as if recalling memories, "my heart is failing. There is no Earth medicine or treatment that could fix it. "So I ask," a small smile growing on his face, "How does one make a Core?"
For an eternal moment, frozen in time, Etla stared at the bleeding carcass that was the Red Hulk, a red pool forming on the ground around the crimson titan. He was still alive, most likely, but unless some miracle saved him, he would not survive, turning into a dry husk of an once great warrior. That, however, was none of the Rainborn's concern, for he had been an enemy that tried to harm her beloved. She would not be the miracle to save him. As far as she was concerned, every single one of the terrible men and women who had worked together to take Craig away from her for a whole long year, so soon after she had come to understand a fraction of what she felt for him, could all burn in the fires of some unknowable abyss. She cared not for them, and if she had still held any of the fury that had possessed her when she first found out about her beloved's fate, she would have undoubtedly burned them all herself, turning their memory into ashes. But said fury had long since left her, replaced by a cold determination as she realized what she had to do. And now, she had done what she had come to do, and her enemy lay broken before her.
That eternal moment, however, was but a moment in the end, and the very next, she heard the sound of someone falling to the ground, and heard the sound of someone coughing. Turning to see, she saw Craig, his blood on the ground. Her eyes went wide as she truly saw for the first time the terrible state he was in, and her semblance grew sad, for she had no idea what he must have gone through during those awful months caught in that dreadful place that was now little more than a wreck. Her eyes met his, and she froze for another moment, but then, she ran towards him, her armor fading away as it left her in her usual clothes, the metal no longer forming a barrier between them as she wrapped her arms around the inventor while he did the same with her, the golden-haired girl pressing against him and kissing him with all the affection that she had been unable to show him for the past year, her Core ignoring the copper-like taste in her mouth, which was as new and strange as everything had once been.
But then Craig pulled away, and at that moment, though it did not show on her face, Etla was mad. Why, why did humans have to be so delicate, so fragile? Why did they get sick? Why did they need to breathe? Why did they need to eat? It was all so nonsensical to her! Why did creatures that could be as wonderful as this man get caught inside such frail shells that could crack if she so much as stared funny at them? Why did they wind up inside those bodies that would so easily shatter, that would become weaker and weaker with the passage of time until they eventually stopped working altogether? Would Craig age, too, while she remained alien to the concept of time? Would he leave her, with nothing she could do about it? She shuddered at the thought of something like that happening. Why did she have to fall in love with a human?
"No." She told herself firmly after that last thought. "He makes me happy. I will cherish my time with him, instead of complaining."
Immersed as she had been in her thoughts, she had not managed to realize until now that her emerald eyes had begun leaking a clear, crystalline liquid from its corners, something that happened with the Rainborn much more rarely than it did with humans. She had seldom cried in her life, only once for her brother and now for her lover, and she knew that there were many who had never cried, but even then she could not hold back the tears. Quickly wiping them from her eyes with the sleeves of her jacket, she nodded at Craig, forcing through a smile. "Yes, let's go." She said with a quivering voice, walking forward and gently picking him up, knowing that in his fragile state it was unlikely that he would be able to make it back without help. With her beloved on her arms, the Rainborn took to the skies, flying through the air towards the place that was the inventor's home.
As she carried him, she heard of all the horrible things that they had done to him. Once again, she could feel so much anger swelling up inside her, threatening to spill out, though it was also held back by the profound sadness that she felt at the same time. She wished that humans were eternal things like her, not just so that she could be with Craig forever, but so that she could show them all the magnitude of the pain they had inflicted on Craig, and then some, but she knew that this was impossible for her, and above all that, she knew that he would not approve of it.
Eventually, the couple arrived at the inventor's home, the Thomsen Tech headquarters in Northern Virginia. All of the employees there, with whom she was slightly better acquainted than the first time she had seen them, were very happy to see their boss return alive, and that made the Rainborn let out a heartfelt smile. These people truly appreciated what he had done, what he was doing, not just for them but for the whole world. They were not like those monsters who had taken him for whatever nefarious purposes and attempted to break his body and mind in order to make him obey. No, these people knew what was important, and they were eager to show their appreciation and affection now that he was back. Idly, she remembered her life back in the Skyworld, when she and the other Rainborn would gather around Father Sky, much like the people at Thomsen Tech were gathered around Craig now. Of course, what was different was that Father Sky was alone, and he wasn't particularly eager to get somewhere else.
Following the man upstairs, she smiled slightly as she heard the words he said to Rob, and then walked into the room after him, closing the door behind her and watching Craig taking off his armor, her expression becoming sad once again as the remnants of his torture became more and more evident. Hearing his apologies and seeing his tears, she ran to him and clasped his hands between hers, staring straight into his eyes, her own eyes beginning to tear up again as well. At that moment, Craig Thomsen became the first man to have made a Rainborn cry twice in the same day. She listened to him speak of the recordings he had taken, and of his intentions to broadcast them. Though she said nothing, she promised herself that she would watch, for she needed to see for herself what they had subjected him to, and why, not in order to exact revenge on those who had broken him, but to better understand his pain, and how to help him through it.
Hearing his last few words, she smiled. "I'll hold you to that, human."
. . .
. . .
. . .
Some time later, after Craig had given his statement and shown the world what had been done with him and why, Etla found herself in his room, next to him, cherishing the time she was allowed to spend with him. However, when he began speaking, she listened to him intently, and when the hologram was brought up, she stared blankly at it, unable to make heads or tails of it. She was a Rainborn, not a human, and so, though she had instinctive knowledge of her own anatomy, she had no idea of what human bodies looked like from the inside. Thus, she was confused until Craig spoke once again, saying that the hologram was his heart, and it was failing because of the torture. At this her eyes grew wide in shock. Though she knew very little about human anatomy, she knew that the heart was a very important part of their body. It was where a Rainborn's Core would be, and it was, in away, rather like a human's Core. It did not control their thoughts, movements, emotions or sensations, but it distributed their energy throughout their body and kept it working. If Craig's was failing, then that could only mean bad news.
At his question, however, Etla went through several emotions in rapid sucession, each of them showing on her face. Happiness, confusion, frustration, thoughtfulness, and despair. Happiness, because she initially thought that she would be able to help Craig with his problem, somehow. Confusion, because she had to pause for a moment to realize that she did not, in fact, know how one made a Core, for the only one who knew how to make a Core was Father Sky, far away in the Skyworld, but he was not here to help her now. Frustration, because even though she had some intrinsic knowledge she could not figure out how to help Craig. Thoughtfulness, because she tried to concentrate, and finally, despair, because she failed.
"I..." She began, her voice quivering as she spoke. "I'm sorry... I don't... I don't know..." She confessed, feeling useless at that moment. Surely a Core like hers was just what Craig needed. She had the key to fixing him inside of her, but she didn't know how to use it to save him, and that made her feel terrible. "If only... If only I knew about this kind of thing as much as you do..." She trailed off, but this time it was not because of her disappointment and despair. Rather, it was because she realized that there was something she could do. If only she had his powers, she could maybe figure out how to make a Core! But what? She thought even harder than before, now that she had a definite lead, and finally, she found the answer. It had been in front of her all along! The same analogy she'd made before gave her the answer. The heart was like a human's Core, right? So, their blood must be like the energy flowing through her Coreways, with her abilities encoded within.
A look of determination on her face, the Rainborn looked up at her lover. "Craig, I need your blood."
Nominated by: The Starlight
Notes by The Starlight: "Etla and Craig, from IJ. The first is a female alien cyborg, the second is a male mutant with technological powers and a multi-billionaire company who was just tortured by the government in order to force him to create weapons and contingency plans against superpowered fellows. Can't post all of it, but here's two posts that stood out, one, here, the other, here."
ENTRY BEST ROMANTIC SCENE - PLEASE NOTE THAT EACH POST IN THE SCENE IS DIVIDED BY A LINE.
Craig Thomsen/Silverwing
A Good Man Goes to War - Revelations
Craig smiled, despite the blinding flash of light, welcoming the sun. It had been so long since he had felt its sight. He had been given barely enough food and water to keep him alive, and right now, all he wanted was Etla and some donuts. One of those wishes had been granted, Craig gazing upon the armored figure, drinking in every contour of the Rainborn. "Etla." he whispered, the wind carrying that beloved name to heights and depths unknown.
Silent tears began running down his cheeks, tears of pain, and yet, tears of love and freedom too. He did not watch the fight, but told his armor to start a medical examination. It was not promising, at all. He was malnourished, his body weight very low as a result, Craig feeling his ribs which were showing. His shoulder was dislocated and infected, not seriously enough to require an amputation(he shuddered at that thought), but bad. The ribs that were showing were the ones not broken, and it was becoming a bit hard to breathe, along with several other fractures. But worst of all, something was seriously wrong with his heart, the armor not being sure of what, as Craig hadn't spent much time on its medical functions, which he regretted now. Luckily, he had one of his nanobots with him. Fishing it out and popping it into his mouth, he used his powers to guide it, the nanobot delivering a live feed to his HUD.
He winced at the sight of his heart, appearing nothing like a human heart should. His nanobot, which had been equipped with knowledge of every medical condition known to man had only a vague idea, but it predicted that if the situation remained like this, his heart would completely fail in a few weeks. Craig clenched a fist, turning it off. That was unacceptable. He would not die after all he had gone through, not after he had just reunited with Etla. He turned his attention to other matters, accessing the Internet for the first time in a year, learning, among other things, of the Registration Act. He had to tell the world, and it was even more urgent now. Registration was bad enough, but the government developing contingency plans against superheroes was intolerable.
He fell to the ground, opening his helmet quickly enough to cough blood, Craig staying there until he ensured that it was all out, for now, at least. He looked up, seeing that Etla had finished with the Red Hulk, and he cried again, looking upon her emerald eyes. And he rose, and they ran to each other, Craig's chafed lips meeting hers, their arms encircling one another.
He pulled away, reluctantly, for his heart was already beating too fast. "Let's go home," he said, simply wanting to leave that place of pain. And leave they did, Etla carrying him bridal style, the sun at their backs, while Craig spoke with haunted eyes of what had been done for him. And at long last, they arrived at the doors of Thomsen Tech HQ, everyone there letting out a great cheer that he had come home alive.
There were many hugs and smiles as Craig and Etla slowly made their way up to the floor that was solely theirs, the last employee to convey his wishes being Rob, who smiled at the two of them. "Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"
"Yes, actually." Craig said, snapping his fingers. "Get me a damn donut. Get us a lot of donuts. Buy that donut shop if you have to, Rob!" Craig issuing a smile at that. "And release a press statement, that Craig Thomsen is back, and that I'll be making a statement soon myself. More than a statement, actually, but that's besides the point."
And then the two of them headed into the room, Craig finally getting to take of his armor. He looked to Etla again, memorizing the sight of her again, before speaking. "I'm sorry, Etla. I'm sorry that I couldn't escape sooner. I tried 67 times..." Craig trailed off, thinking of them, tears gathering in his eyes yet again. He wasn't sure exactly how many times he had cried today. "And there's another thing. The world needs to know what the government is planning, what it is doing. And I'm going to show them exactly that. I obtained the recordings of that year, every whip, every cut, every broken bone. If you don't want to watch I understand Etla, because those recordings are going to show me screaming, they're going to show Craig Thomsen being broken. And I don't want you to be broken too. You were the only thing that kept me sane, Etla. Thank you, for that, and also for rescuing me. And after all this is said and done, I owe you a year's worth of vigorous activity," Craig winking at the Rainborn.
A short while later, Craig still not even having taken a shower, he began, Rob centering a TV Camera on him, the video being uploaded live to all the social media sites, the news networks also quickly picking it up. "Hello, America, and those of you around the world. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Craig Thomsen, founder of Thomsen Tech. A year ago, I disappeared. And now, I'm here to tell what exactly happened. Everything I will be telling you is the absolute, unedited truth. So open your mind, watch very closely. And after, talk with your family, your loved ones, your friends, your coworkers, about what you've just been shown."
Taking a deep breath, he began, "A year ago, I was kidnapped and taken to a secret U.S military base after refusing to make contingency plans and weapons designed to disable or kill superpowered beings. I was tortured, because of my refusal, for one, terrible year. And don't think, because they failed to obtain anything from me, they aren't right now creating plans to kill superheroes, plans to create prisons, plans to hurt those who have helped billions, those who have saved this planet on multiple occasions. I obtained the footage of this recording. You can have the experts check it, it has not been doctored in anyway. And let's watch together, people of Earth, of what was done to me. A warning, to all those watching, that I cannot stress enough. This is graphic content. Do not allow your children to watch this."
And so, they watched together, Craig and the world of his torture. They watched the first day, Craig's voiceover describing the perpetrators and his torturers and their powers. And on, and on it went, for hours. "The entirety of the torture will be uploaded to social media sites, divided into days. 12 Hours of Torture, every day of the week. At night, I was hung up on chains with the lights on to prevent me sleeping. In the morning, I would be woken up by a bucket of ice-cold water, a knife, a shot right by head. I was fed slops to keep me barely alive, the only water I got was from waterboarding and the previously mentioned buckets," Craig standing up and showing his scars, his dislocated shoulder and its infection, every gruesome detail. "And now some of you may be wondering why I just didn't give up and give them what they wanted. But I did not do so. Not because I don't love my country, not because I thought I was strong enough, but because I believe in freedom, justice, and liberty. Those words are supposed to describe our great nation, and those words do not describe the Registration Act, nor these contingency plans. The price of freedom is high, our Founding Fathers learned that. It has always been since. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."
"And so, if you still don't believe me, then let these next days go unaltered, continue about your daily lives. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me. Talk to everyone you know, share this video, write your President, write your Representatives in government and the U.N. Voice your disagreement and let us all come together to discuss a solution that promotes both safety and freedom, a solution which is of the people, by the people and for the people. " He stared at the camera for a moment, gazing into its depths, his eyes sincere. "Farewell."
Some time later, Craig was feeling quite better. The reason being that he had called his old friend, Valancy Stirling, Valancy having told him of her healing abilities a few years back. She had managed to fix his broken bones, his infected shoulder and all the other injuries. All save the scars, which would remain for the most part on his back, and his heart.
"There's one more thing," said Craig, looking at Etla, "that I have to do." He pulled up a hologram of his failing heart. "Thanks to the torture," Craig pausing for a moment as if recalling memories, "my heart is failing. There is no Earth medicine or treatment that could fix it. "So I ask," a small smile growing on his face, "How does one make a Core?"
For an eternal moment, frozen in time, Etla stared at the bleeding carcass that was the Red Hulk, a red pool forming on the ground around the crimson titan. He was still alive, most likely, but unless some miracle saved him, he would not survive, turning into a dry husk of an once great warrior. That, however, was none of the Rainborn's concern, for he had been an enemy that tried to harm her beloved. She would not be the miracle to save him. As far as she was concerned, every single one of the terrible men and women who had worked together to take Craig away from her for a whole long year, so soon after she had come to understand a fraction of what she felt for him, could all burn in the fires of some unknowable abyss. She cared not for them, and if she had still held any of the fury that had possessed her when she first found out about her beloved's fate, she would have undoubtedly burned them all herself, turning their memory into ashes. But said fury had long since left her, replaced by a cold determination as she realized what she had to do. And now, she had done what she had come to do, and her enemy lay broken before her.
That eternal moment, however, was but a moment in the end, and the very next, she heard the sound of someone falling to the ground, and heard the sound of someone coughing. Turning to see, she saw Craig, his blood on the ground. Her eyes went wide as she truly saw for the first time the terrible state he was in, and her semblance grew sad, for she had no idea what he must have gone through during those awful months caught in that dreadful place that was now little more than a wreck. Her eyes met his, and she froze for another moment, but then, she ran towards him, her armor fading away as it left her in her usual clothes, the metal no longer forming a barrier between them as she wrapped her arms around the inventor while he did the same with her, the golden-haired girl pressing against him and kissing him with all the affection that she had been unable to show him for the past year, her Core ignoring the copper-like taste in her mouth, which was as new and strange as everything had once been.
But then Craig pulled away, and at that moment, though it did not show on her face, Etla was mad. Why, why did humans have to be so delicate, so fragile? Why did they get sick? Why did they need to breathe? Why did they need to eat? It was all so nonsensical to her! Why did creatures that could be as wonderful as this man get caught inside such frail shells that could crack if she so much as stared funny at them? Why did they wind up inside those bodies that would so easily shatter, that would become weaker and weaker with the passage of time until they eventually stopped working altogether? Would Craig age, too, while she remained alien to the concept of time? Would he leave her, with nothing she could do about it? She shuddered at the thought of something like that happening. Why did she have to fall in love with a human?
"No." She told herself firmly after that last thought. "He makes me happy. I will cherish my time with him, instead of complaining."
Immersed as she had been in her thoughts, she had not managed to realize until now that her emerald eyes had begun leaking a clear, crystalline liquid from its corners, something that happened with the Rainborn much more rarely than it did with humans. She had seldom cried in her life, only once for her brother and now for her lover, and she knew that there were many who had never cried, but even then she could not hold back the tears. Quickly wiping them from her eyes with the sleeves of her jacket, she nodded at Craig, forcing through a smile. "Yes, let's go." She said with a quivering voice, walking forward and gently picking him up, knowing that in his fragile state it was unlikely that he would be able to make it back without help. With her beloved on her arms, the Rainborn took to the skies, flying through the air towards the place that was the inventor's home.
As she carried him, she heard of all the horrible things that they had done to him. Once again, she could feel so much anger swelling up inside her, threatening to spill out, though it was also held back by the profound sadness that she felt at the same time. She wished that humans were eternal things like her, not just so that she could be with Craig forever, but so that she could show them all the magnitude of the pain they had inflicted on Craig, and then some, but she knew that this was impossible for her, and above all that, she knew that he would not approve of it.
Eventually, the couple arrived at the inventor's home, the Thomsen Tech headquarters in Northern Virginia. All of the employees there, with whom she was slightly better acquainted than the first time she had seen them, were very happy to see their boss return alive, and that made the Rainborn let out a heartfelt smile. These people truly appreciated what he had done, what he was doing, not just for them but for the whole world. They were not like those monsters who had taken him for whatever nefarious purposes and attempted to break his body and mind in order to make him obey. No, these people knew what was important, and they were eager to show their appreciation and affection now that he was back. Idly, she remembered her life back in the Skyworld, when she and the other Rainborn would gather around Father Sky, much like the people at Thomsen Tech were gathered around Craig now. Of course, what was different was that Father Sky was alone, and he wasn't particularly eager to get somewhere else.
Following the man upstairs, she smiled slightly as she heard the words he said to Rob, and then walked into the room after him, closing the door behind her and watching Craig taking off his armor, her expression becoming sad once again as the remnants of his torture became more and more evident. Hearing his apologies and seeing his tears, she ran to him and clasped his hands between hers, staring straight into his eyes, her own eyes beginning to tear up again as well. At that moment, Craig Thomsen became the first man to have made a Rainborn cry twice in the same day. She listened to him speak of the recordings he had taken, and of his intentions to broadcast them. Though she said nothing, she promised herself that she would watch, for she needed to see for herself what they had subjected him to, and why, not in order to exact revenge on those who had broken him, but to better understand his pain, and how to help him through it.
Hearing his last few words, she smiled. "I'll hold you to that, human."
. . .
. . .
. . .
Some time later, after Craig had given his statement and shown the world what had been done with him and why, Etla found herself in his room, next to him, cherishing the time she was allowed to spend with him. However, when he began speaking, she listened to him intently, and when the hologram was brought up, she stared blankly at it, unable to make heads or tails of it. She was a Rainborn, not a human, and so, though she had instinctive knowledge of her own anatomy, she had no idea of what human bodies looked like from the inside. Thus, she was confused until Craig spoke once again, saying that the hologram was his heart, and it was failing because of the torture. At this her eyes grew wide in shock. Though she knew very little about human anatomy, she knew that the heart was a very important part of their body. It was where a Rainborn's Core would be, and it was, in away, rather like a human's Core. It did not control their thoughts, movements, emotions or sensations, but it distributed their energy throughout their body and kept it working. If Craig's was failing, then that could only mean bad news.
At his question, however, Etla went through several emotions in rapid sucession, each of them showing on her face. Happiness, confusion, frustration, thoughtfulness, and despair. Happiness, because she initially thought that she would be able to help Craig with his problem, somehow. Confusion, because she had to pause for a moment to realize that she did not, in fact, know how one made a Core, for the only one who knew how to make a Core was Father Sky, far away in the Skyworld, but he was not here to help her now. Frustration, because even though she had some intrinsic knowledge she could not figure out how to help Craig. Thoughtfulness, because she tried to concentrate, and finally, despair, because she failed.
"I..." She began, her voice quivering as she spoke. "I'm sorry... I don't... I don't know..." She confessed, feeling useless at that moment. Surely a Core like hers was just what Craig needed. She had the key to fixing him inside of her, but she didn't know how to use it to save him, and that made her feel terrible. "If only... If only I knew about this kind of thing as much as you do..." She trailed off, but this time it was not because of her disappointment and despair. Rather, it was because she realized that there was something she could do. If only she had his powers, she could maybe figure out how to make a Core! But what? She thought even harder than before, now that she had a definite lead, and finally, she found the answer. It had been in front of her all along! The same analogy she'd made before gave her the answer. The heart was like a human's Core, right? So, their blood must be like the energy flowing through her Coreways, with her abilities encoded within.
A look of determination on her face, the Rainborn looked up at her lover. "Craig, I need your blood."
