Painful Arrival

    Tucker Avari had endured the crashing waves and sea-sickness for far too long. Despite some basic treatment to his injuries he proved overly prone to infection, and, as a result, his wounds had not had a proper chance to heal. The trading ship he had hitched a ride on had welcomed him surprisingly well, but they couldn't do much for him, and so he had mostly kept to himself, out of fear of getting one of the sailors sick. The combination of infections, festering wounds, and sea-sickness had not made the trip an enjoyable one.
    Now, at last, Tucker staggered from the boat onto the wooden planks of Albion's port. The dock workers let him pass as he put on a drunken display, nearly delirious with illness as he tried to make his way inland. Fatigued and hungry, Tucker didn't spare much attention to the view of Albion or the island. Where ever the mysterious pull had taken him, he was barely conscious enough to register that he had made his destination.
    When he collapsed, he had no strength to stop himself, hitting the deck hard. He was a horrible looking heap of old, worn clothes stained with blood. His previous behavior had brought enough attention that when he fell it caused a decent commotion, but no one wanted to go near him. The combination of warning signs on his body in the form of gloves, a mask, and a peculiar statement on his backpack meant he was potentially dangerous.


    When Tucker awoke in the white rooms of the Albion Hospital his heart sank, too often had he lived in this environment. Was he going to be sealed into a bubble again? His clothes and possessions were not in the room with him. Hopefully the staff was competent enough to burn contaminated clothes to avoid spreading disease, but he hoped they had not destroyed his belongings. As he sat up, he found that he could barely move, but he could sense that his wounds had been properly cleaned and disinfected. The bandaging around his chest, a necessity after re-setting a broken rib, restricted some movement, so he resigned to stay put until someone saw fit to greet him.

Tem was quite surprised when she got an anonymous call about a boy who appeared to be dead out at the docks. She guessed that she, of all people, was informed about the potentially deceased boy because she couldn’t be affected by diseases since she didn’t have any internal organs to infect. Tem hauled him off to the hospital with the help of a group of paramedics that were either too stubborn or too paranoid to pick him up themselves. She thought them all to be pathetic creatures regardless.

It had been a long time since Tem had to deal with people dropping off plague victims at her doorsteps, so she found the whole endeavor to be quite odd. She was sure that the island had enough enemies to where that was a possibility, but the whole gesture would have been completely ineffective anyway.

As much as Tem had others problems she had to attend to, she was best fit to stay within the vicinity of the new patient’s room to get some questioning behind who dropped him off since he was obviously in no shape to have helmed his own boat over to Albion. She waited at the door immediately outside of the infected boy’s room twiddling her thumbs as she waited for the boy to regain consciousness. She was in her regular human form, she was sick of having to disguise herself as of lately. She also couldn’t be in golem form because apparently that would freak out some of the patients, she was also tired of having to appeal to lesser minds.

When Tem glanced back into the room, she noticed the boy moving. She stood herself up and entered the room with a fairly uncaring walk cycle. “Heh, so you are alive” she commented with a sort of harsh comedic tone.

    Tucker had settled himself into the medical bed, sitting up with his back to a pile of supporting pillows. The shift had been an uncomfortable process with a broken rib, which wasn't any sort of injury he could say he'd known before. Whatever drugs being used on him was doing a decent job of keeping the pain at a lower level of dull throb, with sparks of tenderness should he try to move too much or curiously poke at it. He was roused from his thoughts by Tem's voice, looking up to take note of her presence and identify her physical features, expecting them to be a constant.

    "Thankfully," Tucker agreed, deciding that even if he did not yet wish to be entirely candid they were not about to get anywhere without a name, "I'm Tucker Avari."

    If they had investigated his belongings they would have found the dossier with all of his details. At least, in that case, they would have seemingly taken precautions to guard against his particular issues. He wasn't currently fitted with an air filter mask, so he wondered what sort of clean room would allow a nurse or doctor in with him without protective gear. Tem didn't look to him like either of those. It spoke to him of a lack of concern for his condition, or a complete lack of awareness of it. He wasn't sure how readable the signs were to these people.

    "I'm terminal. Contagious; not exactly the safest person to be locked in a room with."

Tem had only skimmed over the boy’s records when she first investigated his things, she sent the records to be analyzed by the doctors watching over him since they probably needed them more than her. Besides germs didn’t scare her or her non-existent organs. She wandered further into the room, making sure that she closed the door behind her because apparently whatever the boy had was that bad. She was appointed the best suited to speak with him since there would be no chance of him infected her, unlike most in the building.

“Tem Demostrate, I’m with Albion’s police force” she stated as she searched the room with her eyes. Hospitals were so strange to her, a place for recovery sounded preposterous. People complained about there being overpopulation problems yet places like this to prolong lives were celebrated. Humans were strange indeed. Perhaps they’re just looking for an excuse to extend their short lifespans.

“I’ve dealt with the plague, I have no issue with whatever it is you have” she explained simply to Tucker. She was probably more of a danger to him than he was to her. “The real issue I have with you is why you were dumped on this island as sick as you are” she investigated the youngness of his person for a second. “Oh, don’t tell me, you’re here to attend Foresta. What the hell made you think you were in any condition to attend school?”

    Albion. Good, the place had a name. Tem Demos-...? Just Tem would have to do, if she allowed it. Officer Tem.
Tucker was a bit slow to take in the fact that he had made it to the island, not that he had been entirely sure what his destination was to begin with. He was in a hospital and he had seen a decently sized port when he arrived, meaning he was somewhere with an established population. That was both potentially good and bad. Her mention of 'plague' brought his attention, he'd been called that before.

    Dumped? No one from the trade ship must have claimed me. That's embarrassing.
    "School?" The confusion on his face spoke volumes, he had no idea why he was here. He merely followed the pull. No one had been around to tell him what to expect, but apparently the inhabitants of this island expected him to go to this Foresta school. With frustration, "I came all this way for a school?" It dawned on him, albeit slowly, "I-Is it for 'Gifted'?" That had been the term used in the files he had stolen from Infinity, and unfortunately it was still a purposefully vague term. He could only hope to ride this out until things were clearer.

Tem shot the injured boy a strangely confused glare as he made it clear he wasn’t even aware of the school. Maybe she was not as good at noticing age on humans as she thought or he was as young as he looked and he was just not interested in the school, just the island itself. Either way, it still didn’t make sense why he came to the island in the condition he was in, unless he was on the run and had nowhere else to go. That was a possibility, but she didn’t particularly care for it.

“Yes, it is a school for the gifted variety, that’s usually the reason behind the usual randoms that appear around the docks. Especially for ones as young as you” she explained simply as she ceased her movements at the right side of Tucker’s bed. She wasn’t necessarily close enough for him to easily grasp at her, but she was close to him nonetheless. She began to ponder as she studied him once more.

“You still haven’t answered me what it is you’re doing here while being so sick, our hospitals aren’t the most well-renown in the world, so I’m not buying that” she stated sounding a bit impatient in her tone.

    Tucker was sitting up now, leaving the comfort of the pillows so that he could engage in the conversation a bit more directly. The hospital was cozy and all, but he felt he was at too much of a disadvantage with his injuries and patient gown already. Tem was a woman that wanted answers and despite his claim to illness she was not afraid to get near him. He was definitely wary of her approach, more for her safety than his, since it was hard for him to accept that she might be immune. That wasn't exactly a topic thoroughly discussed.

    He listened closely, recognizing that his unannounced arrival was not entirely unusual. Others came here seeking the school for Gifted. He was Gifted. That must be what he was here for. He could now likely answer both her questions at once.

    "I am Gifted. Or at least, I was told I am. My 'gift' is also the reason for being sick," He paused, looking down at the bandaging disguising multiple cuts and recalling his rib, "But, I didn't get these injuries from my.. power." He took a noticeable second to think over how he would continue, "Because of my power, I was told to come here, but they never told me why. I don't really think they knew why. But there were other people who did not want me to make it; they were the ones that did this to me. I had no idea what I was going to find here, and I didn't come here to get healed. I came to get answers."

 Or, thought Tucker, to get this curse lifted.

Tem released a sort of bellowing chuckle and tried to not let it escape her lips as she listened to the boy’s reasoning. It was a unique explanation for why he was ill, she never quite heard of somebody becoming sick because of their own power, or maybe she had and she couldn’t quite remember. Either way the concept was quite humorous to her. “Heh, that’s a new one” she commented more so from reaction than reason.

Tem usually gained so much joy from watching people who led disastrous lives, perhaps this was another person she could add to her watch list. She might be able to get a few hours of entertainment from a boy who could barely even survive with his powers.

Tem glanced at the area of Tucker’s body when he indicated his injuries. “Hrm, I suppose you’re not much of a threat then, well besides how contagious you are I guess, but only the humans have to worry about that. I thought the old plague dumping routine was coming back into style, what a shame” she spoke rather nonchalantly as she peered out the window.

She began to ponder whether or not she should stick around and answer whatever questions she could for the sickly boy. Well, she didn’t have much to do, it was either stay with the patient or play undercover for the next little while. She definitely preferred watch duty over pretending to be a student. “I don’t know too much about the school, but I’ve been around this island long enough to know plenty about just about anything else.”

    It seemed that Tucker grew more comfortable with Tem the longer she stayed, the paranoia of his potential to harm her in some way fading the more his interest shifted into conversational topics. She had since distanced herself from him, so that was a mild comfort as well, but not out of any fearful regard for his condition. She was being completely familiar and 'normal' with him. He had missed that.             

    A threat? ...I am a walking bio-weapon, huh? What does she mean 'Humans'? Is that how they view themselves? Gifted and Humans? Is there antagonism there?


    Tucker was uncertain about so much, and he missed the pertinent clues to Tem's ageless quality. Admittedly, he had a very poor knowledge of world history, so what did he know if 'plague dumping' was an ancient practice or as recent as three decades ago? Don't know much about the school... But she already told him plenty. People from around the world came here, unanticipated, to attend the school specifically for Gifted. A school located in the middle of the ocean, which he had found by following the advice of a nearly incontinent girl and that strange feeling that had pulled on him in the back of his mind.
 When he was little, he was told it was probably nothing. Not to worry about it. After ignoring it for his entire life, he was here.


    "I followed this pull, a feeling in the back of my mind like I knew the place, I always had, like it was familiar territory. But obviously I've never been here before. Do all Gifted feel it?" He guessed that not all Gifted came even if they did feel it, and how would Tem know? There were dozens back at Infinity that would likely never come here; guilt hit him suddenly, turning his open curiosity and contemplative frown into a slack-shouldered sorrow. Whether or not other Gifted felt the pull, he had a more pressing question, "Is there a way to remove my power?"

Tem nodded as she listened to the boy’s questions and glanced out the window. She wasn’t necessarily staring at anything in particular, but she did like the view of the plentiful architecture. There was nothing quite unique about any of the buildings, she just admired the way they looked together in their formation.

At the least, the boy provided her with very simple questions that she didn’t have to think hard about. That being said, there wasn’t a definite answer she could give him for either, but she got most of his questions fairly often by newcomers to the island. She hadn’t greeted too many people to Albion to begin with, when she did though the questions seemed quite similar.

“Every new student I’ve met has told me the same about the island, that it gives off a strange pull, I’ve even felt it before. I can only assume that most can feel it.” She wasn’t necessarily a gifted person herself, but she had felt the pull back when she was still roaming around the outside world. Tem was around before the island’s community had even existed so she hadn’t felt it all her life. It was a strange sensation though when she did feel it within whatever it was that substituted her brain.

“As of right now… I don’t think there would be a permanent way. There are a few people around the island though that can negate powers. Most of them you’d have to be near them in order for it to take effect.” Tem might not have been good at remembering faces, she knew the people with the power negation abilities however. The reason for that being that she was reduced to a pile of sand whenever she went near them and thus was rendered useless until they left. “The headmistress of the school has an ability like that I believe.”

    So, the pull leads the students here for the school. Since she felt it, she must be Gifted, right? If she expected me to know there was a school here, there must be communities of people like us out there.

    He found a strange comfort in that idea. The clinic had recognized his power, but had kept him locked away. The school could be the same way, taking in Gifted and keeping them here, isolated from the rest of the world. But if there were whole communities that would refer their own here, it may be more of a haven than he'd hoped.

    "Really? I wish there had been someone like that back in the labs..." Tucker mused, responding first to Tem before trailing off in his own thoughts. He might have been able to have much more fulfilling conversations with Solace if someone could have shut off her power for her. Still, that gave him a mild, blindly optimistic hope, "Maybe she can keep me from getting others sick, at least." His power had never been something he knew how to shut off, and even since learning of it as a power, he still thought of it as a constantly radiating part of himself. He imagined that being near the Headmistress would be a simple fix, having no clue how much effort on her part that would likely require. His optimism died as he realized it was unlikely he would be allowed to tag along with some stranger, even if she did turn out to be phenomenally kind.

    "I need a better solution." He sighed, tilting his head to vacantly stare at Tem's silhouette against the light coming in from the window.

Tem attention went back to the boy in the bed, as much as she enjoyed to admire the view she needed to seem somewhat focused. She was supposed to represent Albion’s police force as well as she could, or at least that’s what her boss tells her to on many occasions. ‘Stop nearly drowning people in sand’ and ‘stop scaring old people at the beach’, the chief was such a downer.

She cringed a bit when she heard the boy mention a lab. Of course, the unstable ones were always from some sort of testing facility, whether it be mentally, physically, or both. Which was exactly why she would never trust humans with testing her, no matter how trustworthy they would seem to be.

Tucker seemed to have thought up a way to solve his power issue and then immediately discarded the idea with his next statement. It wasn’t a very sound and stable plan anyway, so at least he recognised that. “Yeah, I think there’s a bit too much on the Headmistress’s plate for her to focus her attention on a single student out of hundreds” she explained quite basically.

The boy still was looking for suggestions though. Tem was never in the realm of wanting to give up her powers since if she did that she would be reduced to ordinary sand. She didn’t have too many references toward how to purposefully lose an ability. Though she could give a couple of suggestions. “Hrm, you could try to befriend a spell caster of some sort, I don’t know any on the top of my head, but there’s probably one or two around the island. If there are any they might be in a cult” she spoke with a sense of slackness in her tone, obviously displaying that she was more so speaking without thinking too much in advance.

A spell caster? Tucker only had a vague idea of what that could mean, and all his experience was from story books. He had always thought, maybe, there was truth to them, but everyone around him always said it was nonsense. He never pushed the issue. Now here he was. In three short months he had learned so much, and yet there was still so much left that was beyond his imagination.

A cult? Is that a place or a group? He supposed it was a group, and he may have been correct in assuming it had to do with the Gifted on the island. He wasn't entirely sure how different that would be from the school or even the clique of high school kids at the clinic. The memory of them didn't sit well with him and he couldn't gauge Tem's opinion of a cult from her tone of voice. The remaining choice should have been an obvious one. 


"So, the school, Foresta, is for teaching us specifically, right? Maybe I can learn how to control it." He nodded to himself, somewhat distantly, as he thought it over. Controlling his power had not occurred to him at all, but Solace and his assassins could manage their powers. To an extent. His brow creased at the realization that the Infinity Clinical Labs had always known that his condition was not natural. Or at least, not human. But they had never taught him how to control it. All they had ever done was pump him with more pathogens to see how virulent each strain could become.

He moved to get up from the bed, but his injuries kept him from getting very far. Pausing with a wince of pain, Tucker eased back into the pillows, reluctantly resigning to stay there. "Once I'm ready."

Tem grumbled slightly when she heard Tucker insinuate that she was a gifted like him. She didn’t like being mistaken as one, but then again given what she had said so far in the conversation she hadn’t really defined what she was exactly. As much as she would like to educate every being she met that she wasn’t even a sub-species of the human race, the explanations behind it took far too long for her to want to go into every detail of it.

“The school is meant to teach your kind specifically, I’ve never seen any of my kind on the island as of yet, but they’re probably busy somewhere else…” she rebutted as she tried to think of the last time she’d seen another golem. It was definitely a long time ago, if at all any time. Her race was a fairly scarce one that wouldn’t be walking around as publicly as she could, probably because she was one that could hide in a crowd much better than a walking mountain that had a vaguely humanoid form. “Most likely doing something of more importance than the police force of some puny island” she continued blandly.

Tem wandered over to the bedside of the boy after he attempted to get up. From what she was told, he had some broken bones, which made sense of why he failed to get onto his own two feet. She couldn’t relate to the feeling though since she had no bones to break and in fact could barely even feel pain at all. She sometimes wondered how a race so fragile could have dominated the Earth as the humans had. “You probably won’t be going anyway for quite some time because apparently bones take quite a while to heal. Seems a bit inefficient.”

    Tem's initial statement obviously prodded Tucker in the right direction, as indirect as it had been. She isn't 'one of us'. So the Gifted vs Humans thing isn't correct at all. Granted, the only collective 'we' or 'us' Tucker could identify with was himself and Solace. Apart from Infinity's goons, he had not met other Gifted, and especially none like himself.

    Ultimately, he had to wonder why she would stay here, doing this job, if she had that sort of attitude about it. Was she, like his past, trapped in a place with nowhere to go? What kind of person would hold that leash? For some reason, the brief thought of a spy passed through his mind, but as far as he could tell she had all but sung her difference through the street. He doubted any nefariousness at this point.


    Now she was near him, and he was settled in. He had to agree with her assessment. He wasn't likely to be going anywhere soon like this. Bones seem inefficient? He was afraid to ask what she had. She could probably see it on his face, trying to work out what she could be composed of if a skeletal structure wasn't part of her anatomy.
    He decided not to pry.

    "Then I'm not learning anything for a while." He decided he didn't have any particular questions remaining, and he grasped that she would not be able to guide him on what he suspected would be a long journey of self-discovery or something to reign in his power. If it was possible to begin with. He could only hope.