[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena is alone when she wakes again.  Her chrono tells her it is 2300 on Wednesday.  She can hear gentle beeping from some sort of machine just off to her right and stretches, noting that the restraints have been removed.  Apparently she is no longer in danger of accidentally pulling her tubes and IVs out.  The door to the private room is slightly ajar and light filters in from the hallway beyond.  She settles back in the hospital bed, feeling safe and warm.  She does not know the future for sure, but the present is not too bad; except for the dull ache from the bruising she has as a result of the beating.  But she is alive.  And she wants to be alive.  There had been a rough patch at the party when she considered just giving it all up and letting go.  But the shadow had shown her the error of her ways and she was back.  The shadow would always be her true home.  Even in this hospital, this place of light, she feels the shadow calling to her.  And that feels a bit........odd.  She is unused to feeling the presence of the shadow in places like this.  Its touch is weaker here, true, but she now realizes that is her weakness.  The shadow exists everywhere if one knows where to look and how to call it.  She can feel bits and pieces and knows there is more.

Even more, she also now knows there is something better, something more drawing, something darker.  She has been given a glimpse of what is beyond the shadow and wants more of it.  She wants to live there, drawing on the power of the dark.  She wants to cross over and make the dark her companion and her tool; no, her weapon.  She had felt a small sample of the power of the dark in just that one glimpse and knows there is more power there.  She summons what shadow she can from the room around her and forces it to wrap around her, to protect her, then slides into it to go looking for the dark.

[SgtBoomCloud]

[Tuesday, Dec. 14th, 2075]

When Arc awoke in the morning, it was, thankfully, not to the feeling of her hair getting yanked by force followed by a handcuffing to the wall.  No, when she awoke it was to the male arm that wrapped around her, signaling that her Vrukart was very much with her…and oversleeping by the look of it.  ”Babe…hey..Jaime!”  The grumblings that greeted the mechanic made her chuckle as she bumped against him, jostling him awake.  ”We have to get up for work…no, today can’t be a lazy day, it seems..I know, you didn’t call in, and I gotta get up too”  The man blinked and grumbled, waking up with a furrowed brow.  ”I though you said the job was done?  You don’t mean..”  A pillow greeted him as she sat up, feeling a bit reinvigorated after the rest, some of her hurts gone.  ”Nah, I wasn’t lying to you. This is legit work, Tarana’ka.  Got a lady with a bike needs restorin’.  Total custom job too, gon’ be tight.  Been puttin’ it off with this job, so will be nice to have a wrench in mah hands…an ACTUAL wrench, Jaime”

Holding up a finger, she laughed as she dressed herself, taking it a bit easy as she fought off her hurts..and her Vruk, it seemed.  Getting ready, she ate breakfast with him before they parted ways with a warm embrace, the mechanic promising to be back that evening to spend with his fam.  Getting into her Scorpion, the newly-labeled redhead sped off back to her garage.  She didn’t know who would be there, but she had a full day to do work, and the time she spent she had already set aside…

When she arrived, it was quiet…Tuskaloosa knew that the human would be at the garage today, but maybe she was getting a later start..Arc admits that she was rather early in the morning for her to be arriving.  Still, a quick Matrix ping allowed the mechanic to check in with the troll, letting her know where she was.  A quick check of the living room showed a note left by Firefly as well… Seems like she needs to take care of a couple things, but will be in touch.  Especially to deal with the Yak.  Okay.  I’ll give her some space and check up on her soon.  What surprised Arc was the lack of signs that Yelena was there…perhaps her party ran late, or she found someone to spend the day with…the elf was no fool, and Arc reminded herself that and that she would know if something was up. For now, she needed to focus…

She knew that in two weeks from now, she would be joining her elven sister Yelena on a trip to Poland…a revenge trip, and coming along are the only people she knew capable of pulling off a job like that.  Arc set her jaw as she knew she was nowhere near at the level of runner that would be any good…the last extraction job was proof.  No.  Improvements were needed.  Thinking to the drone sitting in her garage, Arc resolved to pick up one or two more along with a new ride, and she would spend time training on how to use those guns.

And no better way to train in virtual remote mounted gun firing than Matrix Trid games.

Centauri Starfighter 20XX.  That was the game that little Melanie had recommended Arc give a try…the configuration was simple: two players (or one VI to assist) occupy a fighter..one pilots, the other operates the gun.  Arriving fairly early in the morning, Arc plotted out her day to split her time between playing this game..and working on the bike.  Her focus was not wavering as she realized she had a long way to go before she was a good gunner…thankfully for her, the bike was a great way to work out her frustrations from the former onto the latter in a productive manner.

The bike itself was proving to be quite a feat.  Half her time was spent machining the parts into the specifications she needed, and the other half was spent building the fragging thing.  She took it one step at a time, using the parts she had picked up…for the most part, all of the guts were here, they just needed to be made to fit.  Welds, solder joints, metalworking…with the trained expertise of a number of years of training experience, Arc guided and led the pieces as the time passed on..and when the evening sun filtered in through the garage did she decide that she had worked sufficiently for the day.  Cleaning up, she dressed herself back in her normal clothes and threw her coveralls in the laundry to be cleaned when she remembered to.  Locking up, she rolled out on the Scorpion, texting Jaime that she was on her way to Henry’s home.

When she arrived, Tessa was happily greeted by the familiar faces of the two ork girls at the door, now very much accepted by the family.  Jaime beat her there and was already knocking back a cold one with the ork engineer by the time she was ushered into the living room.  Saying her hellos, the short human allowed a moment for the girls to marvel over her new hair, assuring her that yes, it was real and not some cybernetic replacement.  Retreating to the kitchen, she found Bettina working on dinner with lil J babbling in his high chair.  Volunteering herself to help, she found herself chatting with the older woman, the conversation turning from work to a crash course in cooking…something that Tessa knew she sorely needed.

Dinner was served, and as always whenever Tessa has visited, it was plentiful and a hearty occasion.  The banter and chatter was almost overwhelming.  The talk shifted to Arc’s cybernetics, and Henry’s ideas for how to improve upon them…Tessa listened intently, lifting up her cyberarm as she studied it with a curious eye.  When it came to actually doing anything about it, she simply said she would have to check her funding and then get back to him about it.  Which was perfectly fine.  And Melanie was super-stoked Arc started playing Centauri Starfighter 20XX, and promised to play with her to help her level up and train.

As the evening wound down, Tessa would depart with her Vrukart, bearing a light heart and a full belly as she rode with Jaime back to his place, the bike tagging along via a closely monitored autopilot the whole while.  She felt at ease…no illicit operations to undergo, no full night ops of life-threatening caliber, and no stressing…Blake would be getting in touch with them soon with their payments and that would be that.  She made sure to hand Blake the commcode she has for Merlin…to pass along info of the missing Feathers should he be discovered in the bust.  But, none of that now, as that night was just about her and Jaime…

…and a good thing too, as the text she received from a Shadowsong in the morning shattered that illusion of normality.  ”…Frag, Srui…Jaime, I’m gon’ ride with you to the hospital.  Yelena is there, ICU.  It’s bad…”

<<@Marco, Firefly, Tuskaloosa:  Arc here.  Yelena’s in Redmond General’s ICU.  I’m going there now.  Frag all>>

[gilga]

Marco finished the job, left Blake and headed home he had a lot to study and not much time. A new SIN was incredible, a secret SIN that the church knows nothing about. "Finally I am not eating out of their hands... After all Gabriel provided me with Marco Black when I am actually Marco Bianchi - I did not even have to change the initials it was an easy SIN swap. My name is so common in Italy that keeping it was no problem really. Dead mages kill no heretics - faking my death was the way to go but right now was too soon. "

Marco texted DB - ">> Remember that I asked you to teach me about spirits I need you to come to me. I do not feel myself in the village."
DB texted ">> I will come tonight be ready for me with a place to bind." Ofcourse DB planned to project, visit with his mind only. A capability that modern science claims that Marco can never have as physical magic somehow binds the spirit to the body or some other pseudo scientific reason.

Marco did not believe in this limitation, after all he was a mystical adept and is own existence challenged a lot of the conventional understanding and classification of magical talents. Many scholars simply ignored mystical adepts for being statistical insignificant.

For Marco it meant that he had another difficulty that was deeper than magical traditions, Marco channeled magic in a different way, and imitating other mages always proved very difficult for him. The bit of skills Marco knew he learned from spirits. There was no lore on how mystical adepts work or how to explain magical knowlege to them. To science it was a miricale that they could actually learn magical skills and the arrogance of mages made Marco feel like a monkey being taught to use knife and fork. Adorable, but nobody expect him to actually be good at it.

Marco felt frustrated when he got reminded how easy it was for DB to visit him. He could do without leaving his bed while Marco had to strip, change into a bird and fly for over an hour. When the weather was bad the flight was difficult and it was always a big deal physically to fly tens of kilometers as a bird. It was hard for a bird and for a man that wears bird skin it was twice as hard.

Marco was learning disguise with his new virtual mentor when he received Arc's message. He cleaned his face from cosmetics and left for the hospital. Packing just a basic concealer and a comb with him. It was easy to find the ICU but seeing Yelena laying there either sleeping or unconscious was not a pretty sight. Marco felt weakness and he knew that he just allowed his face to turn super pale. Marco was aware of any single muscle in his face, but seeing Yelena like that etiquette and cool resolve were the last things he wanted to express.

Arc was already there "Is she okay?" Asked Marco.  He was releaved when Arc nodded-  "How did it happen? I thoguht she was going on a date. ".

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena roams a vast plain, flat and desolate and without any sort of ground cover that is not dead.  She wanders without a path, her feet crushing the lifeless vegetation into the arid soil.  The air is leaden and hot and even the slight breeze does nothing to lessen the effect.  There are no features rising from the flat plain to guide against and no sun to chart a course, so she might have been traveling in great circles, except for the trail of footprints she is leaving behind her.  The only noise she can hear is a sort of breathing from the slight breeze and her feet as they touch the ground; even her own breath is surprisingly silent.  Then there is a noise from beside her.  Looking down she sees a young Keeb girl walking next to her.  The child has large wounds in her chest and horrific exit wounds out her back.  She looks up at the assassin who had killed her and smiles, holding out a hand for Yelena to take. 

The old Elf and the young Elf walk together in a silence broken only by the sound of their steps and the breeze.  But the horizon has changed and Yelena can see The Tree.  The Tree has been a part of her life for over fifty years and she can still remember the first skulls that decorated the only object she has ever seen on this plain except for the shades she knows will be waiting for her arrival.  The grip of the girl beside her gets noticeably tighter in some form of support, but Yelena has no intent of swerving from her course to The Tree.  Soon, she can make out the skulls hanging on chains from dead branches.  Many skulls.  Each one represents an individual slain by Yelena.  Through a long and successful career, Yelena has added several hundred skulls.  Not all are hanging from The Tree; some are piled on the ground below it in heaps that stand taller than a man and others lay where they rolled from the piles, scattered about the ground.

Yelena sees a wall of grey surrounding The Tree and knows that the shade and ghosts of her dead are waiting for her.  the wall parts and the two Elves pass through to the center to stand at the trunk of The Tree.  Yelena turns to find another young girl standing before her, nearly at arm's length.  Her forehead is marred by a single bullet hole, but the shade is missing the back half of its head where the bullet had exited.  This was the first Human that Yelena had killed after escaping from Camp 14.  The skulls of the camp guards she had killed on the day she escaped hung on lower branches, but the shades were too weak to matter.  This one mattered.  Her hatred for Yelena had made her the principal in the campaign to terrorize the killer.  She is the leader of the shades here, and their voice.  But this time she is silent, as if waiting. 

Yelena pauses, afraid to speak.  It was usual for the shades to already be calling to her in hundreds of voices, all discordant in their universal condemnation of Yelena.  The Keeb girl that had been the slave of the Smiley Face Monster looks up at Yelena and squeezes her hand again.  Taking what strength she can from that, Yelena speaks.  "I, Yelena Petrovna, killed all of you, damning you to this place through my tie to the shadow.  As shades you have sought to torture my waking and sleeping hours, with differing measures of success.  And I thought I understood the shadow and stood against your power, drawing strength from what I thought I knew.  And in my naiveté I thought you to be strong one instant and weak the next.  But I was wrong about all of that.  All of it.  I am Yelena Petrovna and I have been shown more of the true shadow.  I knew nothing before and I know a bare sliver more than nothing now.  But I have seen the dark and I want more.  I demand more.  I have found more truth in an instant's glance than I had gathered in many years.  I am now beyond what you can terrorize.  I am ready to learn more and now realize that you are to be my guides on this journey.  Defy me at your peril, because I have a bit of the secret of the dark at my touch.  She stops talking and the shades begin talking at once, a gloriously horrible bedlam in the desolation.  Then the girl in front of her steps forward to her side and takes her free hand.  The sounds from the shades cease and the grey wall dissipates to nothing, leaving only Yelena and the two girls at the base of the tree.  Both look up at her and smile before leading her off onto the plain and away from The Tree.

[SgtBoomCloud]

A brief embrace of support and a kiss later, Jaime left Arc to find her Sri at the hospital, needing to start his shift.  The human scratched her head as she found the ICU ward, though had some difficulty with the reception on getting to see the elf.  "Listen, I am the closest thing to family she has in this world.  I ain't accepting no, if she's gonna be with sone one when she wakes, it's gonna be me"  The honest passion and urgency behind her voice must have cut through, as seen was pointed towards the room where Yelena lay.

Seeing the sight of her, strapped up to monitors, IVs, and tubes, Arc quietly cursed as she felt her hands ball into fists.  Relaxing herself, she fished for her pack of smokes in her jacket...but stopped.  No, that won't help anything.  Instead, she looked over the ARO chart at her Srui's bed and paced about, the pale Visage of Marco showing up before long.

"Yeah, I thought she be on a date too.  Problem is, she weren't anywhere near the club...must have been hell of a date too..."  she referenced the notes as she approached the bed.  "Seven broken bones, a punctured lung, bruised liver, and a drekton of internal bleeding.  Frag.  Last time she was this bad, I was in the bed next to her losing an arm...ah?"  she caught the movement of Yelena stirring, and upon her waking said her piece to the elf...at least until thy were ushered out into the hall.

There, Arc resumed her pacing again, feeling helpless to the situation as she gripped a hand through her new red hairstyle.  "Grr...I shouldn't have let her go.  This is my fault she's like this, she didn't even need to go party anymore.  I'm assuming your job went well so we done.  Frag...I ain't gonna forgive my self for this..."  she turned on her heels to face Marco, seeing the look in his eyes.  "...Sorry.  didn't realize you might be shaken by this too...you care about her don't you "

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena and the two girls have been walking for..................Yelena does not know for how long.  But long enough that The Tree has long disappeared behind them.  She knows where it is and knows that she can always find it, but it is a bit disconcerting to be walking the dead plain with two of her victims.  No one speaks as there does not seem to be anything to talk about.  The girls seem to know where they are going and Yelena can feel a gentle pull from somewhere off ahead.  The walking and the silence give the Keeb assassin time to think of her life and where it is going.  Without warning the girls stop and the Elf looks up at her, saying, "You need to go.  We will be waiting for your return.  Your path is long yet and you must still make other decisions."

The girls let go of her hands and sit on the prairie.  Yelena nods and wills herself back, opening her eyes to Arc's face.  She smiles the best she can with some fragging tube down her throat and squeezes the hand that is holding hers.  Marco's face comes into view as well.  Dear, patient Marco.  Yelena wonders if he will still love her or if that will dry up as it had the last time.  She listens to them talk but can do nothing more than nod or shake her head, and even that hurt a bit.  Eventually the nurse comes in to chase them away.  Yelena wonders what she has done to know such people.

[gilga]

Doctors nurses, mysterious beeping from monitor so much pain and so much suffering how can they feel some calm, some of these people are clearly struggling. From the lack of medical attention Yelena was receiving right now she probably was stable. The ER room was a place of hope, it was the place where angels and Daemons.

As Arc was talking Marco zoned off, he could hear the emotion in her words, the passion.
“she saves people, Arc does not only fix bikes, she fix problems - she almost died twice, spent the night in prison and yet she is here blaming herself and could not be more alive and kicking despite still being in pain herself. ”

"...Sorry.  didn't realize you might be shaken by this too...you care about her don't you“

Arc's acknowledgement of Marco's present ended his deep thought. Marco felt as if he returned to reality as he spoke to Arc.  “We were about to move in together, I even made her a key. I told her I love her and she told me that she love me back. I thought we were going somewhere good.
I do not know why she went to that date - it was an orgy I am sure of it. I managed to snatch her out of there before. She excused it as part of the job but tonight she was off the clock. This is what she did to have fun... I did not stop her- I could not, with my own day job I have no right to play the jealous boyfriend. Still, it is difficult for me to imagine her in an orgy, drugged to the point where she is completely out of control.

In retrospective, I think she tried to kill herself. Look at the text message she sent me. I thought she was just high on Bliss, but I had no context.  It was sent around 4:30 am  so I think she was already wounded. This is what she wrote for me - instead of asking for help“

>>Marco.  Is Yelena.  I love you......just in case.  Be you always.<<

"She did call for help in the past, there was a gunfight and she was hurt and  I sent a Daemon from the other side of town to find and heal her. Yelena knew that although it is dangerous I could reach for her no matter where she is. If she wanted to be saved I could have at least tried. But she did not ask for help - just said her goodbye, knowing that I'll understand the message when we find her. "

Marco's voice was broken at the end and he could not stop the tears from falling, that escalated to crying. He let himself go and there was no point in trying to pull it together or to be strong.  He did not feel like a shadowrunner, like a criminal or a hero. He was terrified of these things and was back to being an emotional keeb.

As Arc leaned in to comfort him he said:  “It is over, Shadow dancer did all the hard work. I just casually talked to people. “  He sighed “How do you feel Arc? You almost died twice and spent a night in prison - and yet you comfort me. ”

[SgtBoomCloud]

The information that the keeb laid upon her was almost overwhelming in its quantity and magnitude, the human looking as if she was taking physical blows with each new revelation.  Moving in...orgy...suicide...Frag it, Srui, what went through your head...  She shook her head, seeing him break down before her.  Leaning forward, she reached out to grab at his shoulder, a firm grip reaching up to steady him as the shorter girl stared up at him.  "Just let it out, omae.  Won't do you good to keep that drek down, trust me.  Lemme see that message.."  As she was supporting him, Arc's cybereyes were glancing through the message contents and details, and noted a unique aspect to the message.  "Huh...this was time delayed...she sent this hours before...weird.  And those wounds were not self-inflicted."  She looked back towards the door leading to Yelena's room, her expression a firm frown.  "Only she can tell us what's up..but I can't believe that my Srui would end things like that.  Just...frag..."   Her hands going up to her head, she growled a little in her own frustration.

The conversation turned to her, and she paused, looking at him.  Shrugging, she felt at her ribs a little.  "I'm recovering just fine.  I've dealt with worse drek, don't worry about me.  Even some thugs what found me in prison couldn't keep me down, heh."  She flashed a little grin, averting her gaze, her new hair glinting in the hospital light.  "I learned a lot..woulda handled that op a lot different with the stuff I know now.  Marco.."  She looked back up at him, cybernetic greens unblinking.  "If we're going to go with Srui to Poland, we need to be a team...practice together, work together, know each other...like a family of professionals or some drek like that.  I'm going to do what I can to get better, you have my word on that..uhrm..."

Arc was interrupted as the nurse that shooed them out approached them, her clipboard clacking a little against her as she cleared her throat.  "I'm just letting you know that your friend will be going into some minor surgery and will be out the rest of the day..the doctors are very optimistic, and if all is well, she should be awake and out of intensive care by tomorrow...I won't make you leave, but there's little sense staying around now.  It's up to you.."

The mechanic silently nodded her thanks, still a little shaken as the nurse exchanged a look with Marco and then departed, leaving the pair alone again.  "...I think that's a sign we shouldn't put us on hold...which means I should not cut my dentist appointment...nyeegh..."  The cringe was palpable as she scratched her head.  "Jaime said if I had to go he'll keep an eye on her when he can and let me know the changes...are you sticking here?"

[gilga]

@ Marco said with surprised "Delayed message ? This is even stranger but there is no reason to overthink it. It is out of our hands and she is recieving top notch medical care. What I do in situations like that is pray, I'll try to get other people to pray with me. After all if Yelena is moving in she is joining a large community like it or not."

He sighs so many emotions, so much metaphysical noise the place gave Marco a headache.
"I think it is better if we return in a few hours, if you are not in a hurry we can grab some overpriced soykaf at the cafeteria. I'll be back when she finishes her surgery."

He then said with surprise
"Dentist appointment? Are you in pain?...  By all means go health comes first.

When she spoke about training together Marco felt a sting... "If they can ever trust me again. That is." He said  " Look Arc, after how badly a simple healing spell turned out to be I feel volatile, dangerous and not in a good way. I plan to get some help Jed and two other mages. I am a slow learner, but perhaps this time I can figure it out. I have to, otherwise how can you possibly trust me?

He then offered.
If you want to train together, perhaps I can teach you how to lie better. Who knows, it might save your life. I need to learn how to not kill myself on the road.  I had an incident a couple of days ago, the driver fell asleep in the middle of the road and I had to take over the car. I managed to bring it to halt but I felt so helpless. I looked at the car, it looked at me back and I had no idea how to get the autopilot active again... took me an hour or so.  "

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc shook her head slowly at the moment he asked if she was in pain, shrugging a little as she averted her gaze.  "Tch, nothin' like that.  It's prep for a procedure or two I'm doing...something to help keep me useful.  I got a few others things I'm looking into as well...a couple new bots, and I'm gonna needa new set of wheels to get around..something to fit everyone I'm thinkin'.."  She trailed off, lifting her arms up as she paced about for a few moments, but Marco could tell that she was still listening to him.

She waited for him to finish, her eyes glancing toward him as she narrowed her gaze.  When she spoke, she spoke evenly.  "Marco, you're aware of that and you recognize it.  That's good, that's the first step to solving a problem.  There's more to it.  Not all of us are used to mojo, and I think you saw proof of that too.  Frag, I'll admit even I'm uneasy about it when it's doing with this hoop directly.  Hnn, that's why I say you needa spend time with the rest of us.  Let us know of each other...get used to your mojo so that when we are in the field, we don't have to worry.  You going out to figure you out is all good, but if y'all isolate your hoop from us, how can we build up the respect, hm?"  She gave a pause, pinching her brow.  "I wanna trust you Marco.  Let's work together to make it happen, aye?"

She turned away, cracking her neck as she thought over his offer.  "Driving lessons I can give you.  Tuska can give them as well, maybe we can work together on that.  Heh.  As for lying, I'm not sure if that's me...maybe if we find the time with drek I ain't learning already we can figure it out...but yeah, you know where I work and live, I'll help you."  She smiled, her mental DNI calling on the Scorpion to have it drive over to pick her up at the hospital.  Holding out her cyberhand, she offered to shake his hand.  "Thank you for all the help that y'all did do.  We gon' figure this out, aight?"

[gilga]

Marco said "Wait Arc - I got an R6 tutor soft for pilot aircrafts... the salesman said they are the best that money can buy. I do not plan to become a pilot but I want to understand roughly how they work. I feel silly being so clueless about things.  Perhaps you'd like to share?"
If Arc approves, Marco extends her a mark of his tutorsoft.

"Arc you are too kind with me - you should not hang around me to 'get used to mojo'. I was an arrogant and overconfident jerk and I need to apologize. I will never again force my talent on you. Talk to me as the way you feel comfortable.  We do not have to think at each other. I will also not use spirits when they are unnecessary - they are more dangerous than I realized.  There is no essence in taking risks for nothing. "
Without pausing, Marco touched her hand and said:
"If you really want to hang around me it is to relax and have fun. You do not have to fix me Arc.  I made a mess and I should clean it up by apologizing for my behavior. I felt omnipotent after what I did at that bridge, I did not knew that I could get such an intense effect. I was overwhelmed by the experience and it made me weak, arrogant and over confident, that is all there is to it.

I actually need what little time we have to seek advice from more experience mages and I plan to meet with mages of three different traditions to figure things up.I need to find my inner peace again, otherwise I am not worthy of your respect and trust, I cannot just ignore my problems. Most of my time will be dedicated to Jed,  DB and Melenia.


Then Marco thinks "Perhaps the Daemon violated Firefly because I was so sexually charged from the passion spell? Perhaps it was me who wanted to get some action?"

He then say "We can still hang around, if you like I know many of the good restaurants in town and we should all be able to afford them. We can enjoy good food, good music and dancing. Then again we might need to lock Yelena in a room and watch her detox all the drek she put in her body. We make plans and god laughs. "

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc stood with hands on her hips, her side facing Marco as she tilted her head, looking at him with a curious expression at the offer.  "Tch, y'all always fulla surprises there.  Hell yeah I'll make use of it, throw it here.  Thanks omae"  She accepted the mark and resumed her pacing at Marco's words, listening and stopping to face him fully before she would respond.

"I respect ya respecting me and us, but you gotta understand that I do see the use of yo skills, omae.  It ain't much of a risk if we know what we get into.  That's why I want to have us all working together sometime these next coupla weeks.  I want...no, need...to have everyone on solid terms to depend on each other.  If that means going out, eating, dancing, then so be it."

She clapped Marco on the shoulder with her cyberarm with a smirk.  "Apology is accepted.  Just don't repeat it and we got no problems, aight?  I'll get in touch with Tuska, see if she would like to teach ya how to drive..I'm going in for a coupla surgeries in Friday to make me more useful, so we hang, then okay?"  Checking the time, she gave an understanding nod before looking up at the elf, then back at Yelena, her expression going serious.

"Maybe we needa do a bit of both..but you know I'll be there for her.  Count on it.  We'll figure that out when she wakes and is outta here.  You keep me updated, aight?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena sinks back into the shadows in her mind and returns to the bleak landscape of the barren plain.  She knows that she is where she has never been before because she can see her foot prints behind her heading back in a line to The Tree.  She is alone but can feel a faint pulsing that she ascribes to the darkness calling to her.  Facing back around, she continues on her journey to find...................something.  She does not know what it is, but will know when she gets there.  Slight noises at her sides herald the arrival of her guides and she lets them take her by the hands.  She smiles and continues her march into the unknown, led by the shades of two of her victims.  The terrain seems to never vary, always dead grass on lifeless soil.  There is no sun; just a dim light that suffuses everything with an eerie sort of glow.  No words are exchanged and none need to be.  The seeker and her guides have a purpose that is not dependent on or helped by conversation.  It is enough to know that she is going somewhere important and necessary to her.  A next stage of her life.

There is still nothing on the horizon when she feels a tug back the other way.  Apparently the guides feel it as well and stop.  The small Keeb looks at her and says, "You must leave again.  We will wait."    Both guide let go of Yelena's hands and sit on the plain.  Yelena nods and forces the shadow to take her back to her other life.

Yelena wakes to fins two nurses and a doctor hovering about her.  She feels much better and realizes that the tube is gone from her throat.  The doctor notices that she is awake and turns to her, holding up a cautioning hand.  "Well, you are waking.  Right on time, too.  I have removed the tube from your throat, but be cautious; you will be sore there for a bit and should talk as little as possible for a while.  You have had visitors off and on through the night, but I sent them home to get some rest.  I expect they will be back in a while.  One especially anxious young man seemed particularly worried.  I told him that you would be well and recovered.  If all goes well, you can be discharged this afternoon, it you like.  I would recommend at least staying the night to make sure, but that is your call.  Any questions?"

Yelena opens her mouth to speak and realizes that the doctor has indeed spoken the truth about how sore her throat is and decides to simply shake her head.  The doctor and two of the nurses leave and the third one stays only a few minutes longer.  She shows Yelena where the water and ice are and how to ring the buzzer for help.  Yelena waits for her to leave then sets about sending some messages out.

>>Arc.  Srui.  Is Yelena.  Am healing.  Doctor man says might leave today.  Might stay one night.  Yelena thank for coming visit.  Srui take care decker mage until Yelena home.<<

>>Marco.  Is Yelena.  Am healing.  Come see.  Yelena need talk Marco.<<

>>Blake.  Is Yelena.  Can tell about club?  Yelena think Bella husband involved.  Man tried kill Yelena.  Yelena think man kill Bella or slave with club drugs.  Can find Bella?  She not deserve what happened.  Yelena need Blake help.  Still look Sam.  Yelena need things for body.  Make Yelena tougher, faster.  Harder to kill again.  Yelena have money.  Blake help?<<

[gilga]

I'll get in touch with Tuska, see if she would like to teach ya how to drive..I'm going in for a coupla surgeries in Friday to make me more useful, so we hang, then okay?"

"Never mind then, good luck with surgery. I'll pray that it all goes well. Yelena is not up yet, I want to see what is up with her. If it remains relevant I'll ask her myself."
After all, despite Arc's words Marco would not burden Tuska with favors. He barely knows her and is not in the position to start asking for things.  When Marco feels open to ask a favor he'll do so himself without mediators. It is a matter of honor for him, you need to look people in the eyes when you ask for their help.

With That Marco waited for Yelena to pass her surgery and then wake up. It was a long wait and her text caught him when he walked out to get a sandwich. He return to see her barely awake, sign of beatings on her face, so much torment such brutality - Marco finds it difficult to hide his concern. "She woke up...  it is a good sign."

He asks Yelena:
"Yelena... that is some magical comlink in your head, can you talk regularly or should we use the link?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Yelena smiles to see Marco.  He must have just stepped out because he has some sort of sandwich in his hands.  He looks beat.  She points to her throat and shakes her head.  >>Throat sore from tube.  Mindlink good for thoughts.  Yelena not talk well unless in Russian.<<