sometime after day 5

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam’s never really reached out to the Nest in general like this before, but at this point - well, he’s running out of options. The work he’s done on his mental walls has paid off, and nothing escapes his thick cloud layer except his words, and the soft hint of wind and feathers that flavors his mental link. ]

( Seems like we got a bit of down time, and I’m looking to put it to good use. I’m getting better with my symbiote ability, but I need someone who’ll let me practice it with them.

Simple explanation is that it’s healing, with a side effect that means it’s gonna hurt. Most likely for me. I can get into specifics if you’re up for it. ) [ If it doesn’t bother them or they’re willing to overlook that it means Sam getting hurt, he means, but seeing as he’s communicating with the Nest in general, he’s not gonna say that.

He already knows more than who person who is bothered by it and never seems willing to let Sam use it on them. ]

( I’ll take as many as I can get, more training can’t hurt. )

Comments

[shiro2hero]

(How exactly are you suggesting you train yourself?)

[Doing his best to keep his own tone neutral. Because on the one hand, yeah, they could all use some training in... that area. Himself included.]

[But this doesn't sound all that good of an idea, and he's sure it's his own personal feelings talking. Hence why he does his best to keep from letting that show through.]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ And there's one of the people who Sam knows doesn't like it. Maybe Sam should work more on figuring how to to block specific people out when speaking over the mind link in general, though hell if he knows if that's even possible.

Still, it's a neutral enough question, and Sam can respond in kind. ]

( Depends on who volunteers, if anyone, and what they're up for. )

[shiro2hero]

(You're evading the question.)

[Says the usual suspect of question evasion. But, that just makes this a little more concerning.]

[earthborn]

[Shepard hates using the mental link for conversation, but she hates it in the way she used to hate helmets on hardsuits-- you hate something when you're young with the deep and abiding hatred that comes of not seeing the point. And then, when you grow up, you carefully make sure the shoulder-strap is correctly belted across when you drive, because you've had enough time to imagine what it'll be like to die without one. She is at least this self-aware: so she replies.

So, there is a pause, to master the reflexive flinch away from the task at hand. Take a breath. And then--]

(Let me guess.) [Her tone is caustic sarcasm, but then, there's always a heat to Shepard, even when she's being merely dry. Her mind is not a gentle landscape.] (I'm gonna bleed for this.)

[She's not exactly dismayed by the concept, although clearly she'd like to pretend to be.]

(Yeah, I can help. Might as well use somebody with an enhanced healing factor to begin with. In case you screw it up somehow.)

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ He's actually a little relieved to hear from Shepard. Sam likes her well enough, in the way he feels a common bond with soldiers and with people who aren't afraid to speak their minds, who're down for a little flirting - but more than that, from the sense he'd gotten from her, she's one who won't balk at the practicality of needing to be able to control this ability he has because someone's getting hurt. ]

( Usually I'm the one bleeding for it, but yeah, it works the other way, too. ) [ There's the sense of him perking up when he hears she has an enhanced healing factor. Sam has one, too, when it comes to the injuries he takes on, and it makes him feel a little better than he would about using it on someone who didn't. ]

( It might be easier to think of it as less healing and more transferring. If you're injured or sick or tired, I can take it from you. Or I can give you mine. )

[miscreant]

( Healing, you say? Is it magic-born? )

[She likes to imagine not, if its a result of the symbiote. Any healing spells were almost always harmful to her kind -- but she isn't looking to be healed. She is more than happy to do the harming that requires the healing.]

( Perhaps we might help one another. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Not unless the symbiote counts as magic. )

[ He's not sure it doesn't, but that's beside the point. Sam lets his curiosity around that trickle out through the mental link. ]

( What'd you have in mind? )

[zerkalos]

[ His mind grinds out like his voice does, but where he's still too new to really have the walls up - and, rather, that the void would abide being kept, he rolls in like a house in flood around the ankles.

Heavy, steady, and so always in pain. ]

( What can I help you with? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Oh hey, toaster buddy, it's you. Sam'd recognize that empty chill anywhere.

But he also recognizes the pain that comes with it, and where there's pain - it pulls at him, and now not just metaphorically. His symbiote wants to protect the others. ]

( Would you let me try to heal you? )

[wille]

( Okay. )

[ This is trust, plain and simple. She'll do it if he thinks it's what's good for him. ]

( How did you figure out your ability? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ He has to admit, he's glad to see her here. She's one that he'd try to heal whether or not he needed to practice, and it's good to know that she's at least a little bit on board.

He's distracted by her question, though, giving off a faint hint of amusement. At least his discovery isn't as bad as Clint's, who fell into a shadow under the bed. ]

( I had a friend who was injured; I touched him and it healed. When I first got here, I couldn't stop it from happening. )

[wrackful]

( So what, you're going to cut people up just so you can practice on them? Nice offer. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Hey, I don't judge what people are into. )

[ There's a dryness to his mental tone that wars somewhere between amusement and unimpressed. ]

( I'm just looking for people who won't say no when I try to heal them because they know it means I'm gonna be walking away with it. )

private

[erbier]

( And what of the consequences. )

[ She's curious how he's justifying this experiment. ]

private

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( The one I know about? I've had it since day one. Any that might be coming down the road? ) [ There's a pause there, because he's less resigned to those than he is to taking on any injuries he heals. ] ( I don't like having an ability like this that kicks in whenever it feels like it. And I'd like to be able to touch people without fighting it. )

[deployed]

( I'll help you practice, but I have a condition. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( What's your condition? )

[ Yeah, he's maybe just a little bit surprised, since Bellamy is one of the people who've turned him down before. ]

[adamance]

[It's not surprising to find that Sam is a healer. To some degree, he reminds her of Nyko, who, like Lincoln, she had grown up knowing as a part of Trikru before she had been swept off to Polis to train as the next commander.]

( On the contrary, it sounds as if it will hurt. ) [The words hang for a moment before she proceeds. Always the drama with this one. She likes her cleverer observations to settle before she presses on.] ( Can you heal burns? Or something as minor as dehydration and exhaustion? )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ There's a burst of amusement during that moment, a soft flare of warmth like a low chuckle. All right, yeah, that was good. He deserved it, and it's exactly those kind of little clever observations that he enjoys. ]

( Definitely dehydration and exhaustion. Hunger, too. I was getting a lot of that when I first got here. Burns, I haven't actually done yet, but I had to fight it from healing one, so it's likely. )

[100mitsubishis]

( I got you. )

[All he has to do is get hurt, right?]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Good to know; otherwise I might've had to harass you a little. )

[ He likes the kid, which means he's definitely on Sam's list of people that he want to heal with or without needing to practice. Despite the sometimes eyeroll worthy flirting. ]

( Hit me up whenever you need something patched up, all right? Doesn't matter the time. )

[narcissithstic]

(I want to see it.)

[Healing is beyond him, but there were old ramblings about ancient Jedi— and Sith— being capable of so much more.]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

( Any time. I can show you now if you want; won't be as obvious if you don't have any injuries, but I can take on fatigue and hunger or dehydration, too. )

[batmotif]

(I'd like to hear these specifics.)

[And here we go. Here's Bruce, with his connection that feels more than a little cautious, a little uncertain.]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ By now, Sam expects that caution from Bruce, and the uncertainty reflects his own. But he respects Bruce, and has no problem going into those specifics with him. ]

( Best as I can tell right now, the way it works is some kind of transference. If I use it on someone who's injured, they're healed and I get the injury - but I heal it faster. If I'm injured and I use it on someone else, I'm healed and they get it. )