Visitation

Posted on Wed Jul 5th, 2023 @ 4:50pm by Connor Bruin & Iris Walker

1,772 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 2: Northern X-Posure
Location: Hospital Wing- or whatever it’s called
Timeline: August 7th, 1990

This assignment was proving to be the most difficult one Iris had ever taken on.

Yesterday had been exhausting, mostly mentally. When they had returned to the mansion, she had withdrawn to her rooms at her earliest convenience for a good stress cry and to just sleep it all off. She had awoken early the next morning and just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for almost a full hour before getting up and heading for a hot shower. She had felt better at that point, but dealing with her tangled mess of hair finished calming her frayed nerves.

Once dressed and ready for the day, the rest of the mansion had started to stir and she went to get breakfast. For once, she was glad of her powers; they enabled her to be with people while ensuring nobody would talk to her. And that turned out to be exactly what she needed. She spent some time watching everyone until she felt like her old self again.

Now it was time to check on a friend.

Connor had been taken to the basement- well, one of them anyway- for the autodocs to fix up the wound in his shoulder. Now that her mind was functioning properly again, she was concerned about him and wanted to see how he was doing. So, she wandered down to see how he was feeling.

The autodocs had been at work all night long restitching Connor's fleshy sinews. It would take some time before he was back to snuff, but otherwise he was in remarkably good shape for someone who had been stabbed with a katana 24 hours earlier. He sat upright in bed, lackadaisical and only half conscious, hooting in 2/3 time to whatever tune was on loop inside his head.

Was that his name? Connor opened his eyes and looked around, but didn't see anybody. Perhaps he had been dreaming. Closing his eyes again, he returned to his hooting, but skipped to a 3/4 tempo.

“Connor, it’s Iris,” she repeated, having seen his eyes open briefly. She had found his bed without any trouble at all- there weren’t many patients here- and had approached to see how he was feeling. “Are you awake? I can come back later,” she added softly.

"Uuh-ROO-uhhhh"

Fumbling across his body, Connor found the speech-generating device he had left resting at his side and did his best to operate it single-handed. Under the friends menu, he selected the top name.

"IRIS." The digitized voice lacked inflection, but the grin on Connor's face more than made up for it.

Iris grinned. “How are you feeling?” she asked. “I’m sorry I didn’t come by sooner. My nerves were shot and I figured you probably weren’t up for visitors anyway.“

"I. WAS. SEDATED." Connor was running his fingers across his device so quickly that he didn't look up. "SO. YOU. WOULD. HAVE. BEEN. BORED. DO. YOU. HAVE. NERVE. TROUBLE?" His two sentences ran together due to his lack of punctuation.

Iris grinned. “No,” she said. “It means I was stressed out to the point of being completely useless. All I could do was lie in bed and stare at the ceiling.”

"SOUNDS. LIKE. YOU. WERE. SEDATED." Connor started chuckling, but the rocking motion made him wince. "IT. STILL. HURTS. BUT. AT. LEAST. I. CAN. MOVE. MY. ARM." Looking at the autodoc machines, Connor narrowed his eyes in his telltale sign of deep thought. "IT. IS. IMPOSSIBLE."

Iris glanced in the direction in which Connor was looking and spotted the machine lying dormant. “What’s impossible?” she asked.

"THIS." Connor raised his arm. He winced at the motion, but he still did it. "IT. SHOULD. BE. IMPOSSIBLE." While the delayed words of his device sounded off, he returned his focus to the machine. "I. WONDER. HOW. PROFESSOR. X. OBTAINED. IT."

Iris mused over that for awhile. The Professor was definitely very wealthy and wealth could buy a lot. But, these robots seemed impossible. “Maybe he’s from the future,” she suggested. “You know, like Star Trek? And he got tossed back in time and stuck here with his ship and all the machines in it.” She grinned. “Or maybe he knows Batman,” she joked.

"COMIC. BOOKS. ARE. FICTION." Connor paused from his typing and fixed Iris with a solemn stare. His grumpiness relented when he saw her grinning. When Iris smiled big enough to squint, it meant she was being humorous. "TIME. TRAVEL. MIGHT. BE. TOO. BUT. IF. WE. ARE. CONSIDERING. SCIENCE. FICTION. OPTIONS. THEN. WE. SHOULD. ADD. E-X-T-R-A-T-E-R-R-E-S-T-R-I-A-L-S."

Iris giggled, nose wrinkling adorably. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of aliens!” she replied. “He could’ve got the robots from aliens. Or!” she amended, eyes going wide as her grin followed suit. “Do you think he’s an alien?”

"ACCORDING. TO. THE. THEORY. OF. PANSPERMIA. WE. ARE. ALL. ALIENS." Now it was Connor's turn to grin. "BUT. IF. WE. ACCESSED. CEREBRO. THEN. WE. COULD. LEARN. THE. TRUTH."

Iris giggled again. “I could just see me trying to use Cerebro,” she replied. “It’d probably kill me.”

"CEREBRO. REQUIRES. TELEPATHY." Connor frowned at Iris, though, and began typing more. "BUT. WHAT. IF. YOUR. MUTATION. HAS. A. TELEPATHIC. ASPECT?"

Iris’s first reaction was disbelief, but it was quickly quashed by thoughtfulness. “You mean like my brain subconsciously forces people to not notice me?” she asked. “That’s an interesting thought. I guess it’s possible. I have no idea how it works.”

"I. DO. NOT. UNDERSTAND. MINE. EITHER." Looking down at his body, Connor's frown deepened. "MY. BODY. DOES. NOT. WORK. RIGHT." And then he placed his hand over his mouth.

“Your body works just fine,” Iris defended. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody more agile. You can climb trees like it’s nobody’s business. And that kick you gave that guy on the jet was pretty spectacular. Just because you have different strengths than most people doesn’t mean something’s wrong with you.”

Connor tried to form words, but the sounds came out as meaningless grunts. "WRRRRRRUHHH!"

She crossed her arms. “I meant what I said, Connor,” she told him sternly. “There are other ways of communicating. You do pretty well with your… communicator… whatever it’s called.”

Despite her reassurance, Connor's chin quivered as he choked back tears. His feet started kicking against his bed linens and his free hand started swatting the air. "NUHHH WAAAH ROOO!"

Being the oldest of seven children meant that Iris had seen her fair share of tantrums. And she knew how to deal with them. Her hands went to her hips and she stared at Connor, looking unimpressed. Then she simply waited for him to calm down.

The emotional outrage had taken a neurological level such that Connor was unaware of his bodily movements until Iris's change of position finally registered in Connor's field of vision. Only then did he realize he had nearly torn the hospital bed apart.

"SORRY." Connor stared straight down at his device, ashamed to even look Iris in the face. "I. WISH. YOU. HAD. NOT. SEEN. THAT."

“It’s okay, Connor,” Iris said gently. “We all get overwhelmed sometimes. I don’t think any less of you.”

"I. SHOULD. BE. ALONE." He turned his head to face the wall. "I. COULD. HAVE. HURT. YOU."

“Hey, if I don’t know enough to get out of the way, that’s my problem,” she joked. “Besides, it’s a risk I’m willing to take to be able to call you friend.”

Connor didn't turn away from the wall, but he did give her a strong side eye. "FRIEND," said his device.

Iris was unclear if he was asking if she meant it or if he was calling her friend back. Either way, she simply nodded. “Of course,” she said. “You’re the best friend I’ve had since… well, for a long time.”

"EEEEEE!" Connor grinned and softly thumbed one eye over and over as if checking a fruit for ripeness. Then, deciding he was done, he pulled himself free from the slightly damaged hospital bed and scooped Iris up in a twirling bear hug. "HEH! HEH! HEH!"

Iris giggled and returned the hug. “Are you sure you’re well enough for this?” she asked. “I don’t want to be responsible for reinjuring your shoulder.”

Setting her down as quickly as he picked her up, Connor spelled out his letters. "NOT. HEAVY." And then he scooped her up again for good measure.

“Just because I’m not heavy doesn’t mean you can’t hurt yourself,” laughed Iris. “My dad threw out his back picking up a jug of milk!”

Connor grunted in protest and tossed her in the air with his good arm. After shooting up and falling down several feet, Connor caught Iris in his arms with ease.

Which elicited a shriek of surprise, followed by a giggle of frightened delight from Iris. “Oh my goodness, Connor!” she gasped. “Don’t do that!”

Setting her down, Connor rubbed his palm in circles over his chest in apology as he reached for his device. "DID. I. HURT. YOU?" His eyes grew wide in concern.

“No!” she assured him. “No, you just surprised me. I think my heart may have stopped for a second. Not literally,” she added quickly, remembering how he tended to misunderstand idioms as fact.

"FUN. OR. FEAR. QUESTION MARK." Connor looked up expectantly from his device.

“A little bit of both, I think,” she replied with a giggle. “It was fun, but also terrifying. Like a roller coaster.”

Looking down, Connor furiously typed. "I. HAVE. NEVER. BEEN. ON. A. ROLLER. COASTER." After switching to preloaded sentence mode, he added, "WHAT ARE THE MEDIAN G-FORCES?"

Iris puzzles over that for a few seconds. She knew what all the words meant, but not when they were put together. Finally, she giggled again. “I don’t even know what that means!” she said with a grin.

"NEVER. MIND. I. AM. HUNGRY." Connor stood up nearly naked with no shame and pulled on the bedclothes that had been left for him.

Iris quickly averted her eyes while Connor dressed. “Are you sure you’re allowed to leave?” she asked, looking around for a doctor or someone who looked official.

But Connor was already out the door. "Foooooooooooooo...duh!" he called out with his voice.

“Wait!” called Iris, hurrying after him. “Connor! Put your pants on first!”

"SHORTS. WORK. FINE."

“But not boxer shorts!” protested Iris.

Connor just hooted in laughter as she chased after him.

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