X-Men: Renewed
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Cantaclarac
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The Shower: After Noelle's Reappearance Empty The Shower: After Noelle's Reappearance

Fri May 29, 2020 9:53 pm
Steam clouded the mirror, hazing the image of the rake-thin girl holding onto the sink. The bathrooms as honestly a bit of a mess- towels all over the ground, dirty clothes/underwear shoved into every corner and crevice. Even the rubber-ducky bathmat was, for some reason, flipped upside down, the non-slip beading glistening in the dim lighting. Hell, she was a little nervous when she had to flip the toilet seat cover, and found herself sighing with relief that it was empty and clean. Thankfully, despite the rest of the mess, the shower was stocked with shampoo and conditioner and soap and the water was warm enough to give everything else in the bathroom a soft sheen of condensation. It made her feel heady and it coaxed her to release the tension that had been held for oh so long on her shoulders.

Still.

She kept her head down, her left arm locked in place over the sink. The hand gripped the porcelain bowl with white knuckles. Knuckles as white as the bubbling ink dripping off her right arm was black. A trail like breadcrumbs followed from the short walk from the door to the sink, little droplets refusing to let the light catch it. The inky blackness absorbed the light, a void of nothingness and emptiness. It matched the fucking dark matter stump she had for a leg. Jake had been a dear- grabbed a big white trash bag and somehow wrapped it around whatever was left of her leg, containing the goo into something,

Noelle knew why Jake wrapped her up so quickly. She knew Tobi didn’t mind that it stained his clothing when he scooped her up in the biggest hug in the world. And Jake didn’t mind the mess- he lived like a goddamn raccoon. But she did see him stare at her leg, at her hands. He had seen her lose control before, up on the roof of his van. Saw the ink well up in her palm and dissipate. She liked to think that he was doing it so she wouldn’t drip everywhere, stain his floors, his rugs, his crusty old couch. But she knew better. Jake wrapped the trash bag around her leg to give her some sense of control. If it was all contained, she didn’t have to worry about the trail she left, or if she was going to be pulled under again. She wouldn’t get stuck and pulled in one place.

She had already soaked through two bags.

Noelle was outfitted with a fresh one before entering the bathroom. It was a kindness that Jake offered before going downstairs with his lizard-friend. She caught the name Steve, but Noelle wasn’t soaking information like usual. Since the first fall into the darkness, everything felt so surreal. She hadn’t told any of them that she somehow zipped to that clearing in Pennsylvania, then to a rocky beach in Maine, before rocketing back here. She couldn’t even remember time passing, but they had told her that she had been missing for over a day at this point. They tried to stuff her with food and water, nudging plates of whatever was lying around. But she wasn’t hungry- physically she felt fine. Well, except that she had no feeling in her leg. Or her arm.

She did nibble on some toast, mainly to appease Tobi. He was so tired and so insistent, and the look on his face broke her heart every time she took a glance. If it was just one thing she could do to reassure him that she was doing okay, great. It was one of the reasons she needed to take this shower- to act like a normal person who doesn’t phase in and out of the earth. He needed to see that she was okay, even if, mentally, she felt like she had been hit by a bus. Then that bus carried her the next state over. And then some.

The tights were already ripped, so peeling those off was easy. As was the skirt, for the most part. And unbuttoning the shirt hadn’t been a problem, she just pulled one side of the placket quickly and let the buttons pop off with ease. But her fucking bra- her long, stick arm tried it’s best to reach back and unclasp, but her hand shook too much, her other hand was MIA, and when she lifted her hand to reach back, she had to lean against the wall to balance, or else risk toppling over and blowing her cover of 'I'm just going to take a normal shower, with normal hot water, doing all the things normally.' And she wasn’t going to call out for help-she had to do this herself. Spidery fingers twisted and tugged until success was found. It was her first triumph since this bullshit started and she allowed a grin to play on her lips.

It took a little more effort than she would like to admit to trudge to the shower, but once the hot water pattered on her scalp, onto her back. She felt tension she didn’t know that she was holding released in a glorious uncoiling. Her forehead pressed against the war plastic shell of the shower, eyes closed to ignore the diluted black liquid swirl down the drain. She needed this, a moment of pure, unadulterated bliss that only comes from washing away the grime during a hot shower. Her hand snaked out and reached for the plastic bottle of shampoo. One it was in her grasp, she pulled her arm back over and held it flush to her chest. But there was a problem. She couldn’t move pushing herself off the wall would cause imbalance and a fall, and she was completely unable to open the shampoo bottle with one hand.

It didn’t stop her from trying.

She tugged at the cap, even bringing it to her teeth. But it was slippery, and it fell, clattering outside of the haven of hot water. The cap split and shampoo flung everywhere.

And that’s what broke her. She slowly sank to the ground, the hot water bouncing off of her and back down the drain. Her head sunk to her knee, her body shaking with tears, the loss of everything. She couldn’t live like this- not knowing which limbs would coagulate and turn liquid and drag her down deep, past this town, past all this bullshit. Choked sobs filled the bathroom, the noise muffled into her skin and bubbling over into the bathroom.
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