Once again she's awoken by a throbbing all throughout her body; it's so painful that she stares up at the ceiling, unable to sit up. She knows without even looking that her stomach was Stein's operating area. Stretching her fingers over the stitched wound she waggles her fingers across the damaged tissue. Fire clouds her vision as the pain grows to a white hot hammer being forced down her throat, she gags and the pain of her clenching abdomen hits her, finally she comes to the conclusion that lying still would be the best option.
Twisting her head to the side she sees an envelope, and on top of the envelope are large tablets, what she guesses is Vicodin. Without much thought she reaches out with her left arm, and lets out a painful gasp as the movement pulls against her new stitches. Grabbing the tablets, she pulls back quickly, sharply, stupidly attempting to avoid the pain. It didn't work. Sighing she places the tablets on the tip of her tongue for a moment, before swallowing dryly, no water in sight.
This time with much more decorum and patience she reaches over and pulls the envelope so that she can open it easily with each arm. Inside Stein's left her a note, his scratchy handwriting playing across the paper.
Extended experiment, starting now. The hypothesis is simple: If I remove your daily dose of 'angel dust' without any gentle decent or warning, then your body will be sent into a withdrawal like state as your detached mind is suddenly sent into a state of chaotic emotions which it hasn't felt in a total of two years. Because the 'angel dust' has been keeping these emotions at bay I am curious as to how you will cope…don't worry though, this isn't permanent, when I feel I've collected an appropriate amount of data I will put you back on the drug. While you were sleeping I noted that your body temperature was above ninety nine degrees, I suggest you look into that. Find me in my room when you are prepared to discuss.
Franken Stein.
She stared at the paper for a moment, soaking like a sponge all the information in the paper. He wasn't putting her on a placebo without her knowledge, he wasn't just simply taking the drug away, and no he was directly confronting her, stating his intentions without any deception. That may have been what caused the twinge of weariness, he wasn't usually so blatant, and it caused her to believe he had something else entirely in plan. For the first time since she had met him, she questioned his motives.
(…line break…)
He sat in a chair, one that sadly enough, didn't spin. He watched her while she remained impassive. She hadn't bothered to get properly dressed, having only pulled his earlier discarded black shirt on, one of his older more dirtied lab coats covering everything past her knees. He made a note that she probably wasn't wearing undergarments, they having been thrown off to who knows where in the whirl of motion last night.
He touched the tip of his tongue to the roof of his mouth before he broke the sweetly comfortable silence. "After my experiment last night, I find that I've grown emotionally attached, to you that is." He says it matter of factly, and she responds matter of factly as well.
"It's to be expected I suppose, we have spent a great deal of time each other." Yes, a great deal of time together, twenty five months, two weeks and three days. She had an extremely accurate mental calendar. He nodded, "Yes that was the conclusion I came to as well. When I realized that an idea came to me." He was grinning again suddenly. "I thought about how interesting it would be to see your mind try and cope with the sudden loss of the drug you've been on for the past two years, one and a half months a two days. Not only that, but dealing with the sudden existence of emotion. I want to know what you will experience in this area of mental expertise." He stood then, pointed to his dresser and stated very simply, "For your first day off the drug I'd like to take you out to a public area, see how you react to the sudden sociality of everything. You'll have to get dressed of course."
(…line break…)
The line was aggravatingly long, and she found herself growing tired of all the looks they got, what with their equally strange dress and attitudes. Stein in his lab coat, glasses, knobs and various scars, needless to say he glared at everyone who looked at him strangely. She was in a scratchy pair of shoes which she'd had for ages, washed out jeans with all kinds of stains which she had never been able to get out including blood and chocolate, her shirt was a comfortable fit which dragged attention away from the circles under her eyes and the dirt colored mop which hung from her head.
Already she was feeling…uncomfortable, her fingers kept interlacing with each other, pulling-popping and scratching. At one point Stein had to grasp her shoulders to keep her from falling after a particularly violent convulsing. He muttered an almost inaudible sentence that she only heard a snippet of; "…paroxysms…caused by secession." He looked at her for a moment before he sighed, allowing her to sit at a bench away from the crowd at the small stand which sold who knows what. She didn't look up as Stein turned and walked off, calling behind him for her to stay still. She remained unmoving for approximately five minutes before a small body no older than five slammed into her lower leg. Her eyes zoned in on the child, a female who quivered under her intense stare. Sudden childish courage caused the girl to stick her stubby hand out stating her name, a rather silly name as well; the child called herself Mary.
"What's your name?" The girl enquired.
"Junko." She stated simply gaining a strange look from the girl named Mary.
"That's a weird name."
"It means 'obedient child'." Junko replied after a moment, slightly annoyed. She momentarily paused and concluded that annoyance was a small sliver of anger; the drug was losing its effect quickly.
"Does that mean you follow rules?" Mary asked seemingly mortified. Suddenly she got a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Want to go swimming? My mom says I can't but I told her that she's a big fat head and ran over here." Mary said almost proudly. Junko looked at her curiously before stating; "That was irrational."
"What does that mean?" Mary asked swimming forgotten momentarily. Junko sighed, patience wearing thin. "It means that was stupid. You ask a lot of questions don't you?" Mary ignored Junko's question and instead gripped her injured hand tightly in her own, though her grip was slight and all together weak, it still caused Junko to cry out in pain. Mary sunk into herself as Junko turned on her, eyes lit with a fire she hadn't felt in a long time. When she saw the fear in Mary's eyes she calmed and released a breath between her lips.
"Fine, swimming it is."
(…line break…)
"Irrational, juvenile, and risky. What gave you the incentive to wander off and go swimming with a child who you had only just met?" Stein demanded as he threw her a towel which she only just managed to catch. The trip back to the house had been a silent one; Stein's fuse had been lit. "Have you any idea how long I spent looking for you? I was worried." Stein said anger evident in his voice as he grabbed a pen and pad of paper.
"You didn't want your experiment to disappear so soon into research." She said quietly. The subtle outburst has both Junko and Stein surprised, as neither expected the reply to come. Stein abandoned the pen and paper took another towel and placed it on her head slowly twisting her hair around. "That is true, but I also find that I would've been extremely distraught had you left." He dropped his hand from her head and turned back to the paper, setting himself down on a couch.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised though, throughout the day you had been extremely jumpy, also you appeared to have a slight gaining sense of the perceived emotions all around you." He hummed gently as the pencil scratched across the pad. He looked up and noted how tired she looked, and with a bit of a hesitant movement, he motioned for her to take a seat on the couch next to him. She took a moment to think before she complied, falling into the softness of the cushions.
"Please list all the emotions you felt today." Stein said after a moment.
"Annoyance, content, concern, a very small amount of pride and…" She faltered slightly, voice cracking. Stein's pencil paused with her.
"And?" He asked, egging her to continue.
"Rage." She finished finally. She sounded tired.
"Now could you-" He was cut off when a weight found its way onto his arm, looking down he sees the mess of dirt colored hair, leaning against him. He looks at her eyes, which are closed, a sure sign that she's asleep.
She's never touched him without his permission before, always keeping a professional distance or remaining stark still while he touched her to his own pleasure…but this was a nice change of pace. The pencil was back in his hand as he started scribbling down his observations.