Take a load off... [ Attn: Howl ]

[Joey]

And you put the load right on me...

The Band's “The Weight”

Jim has seen junkies broken down and detoxing. See that chilly and sweat slick rock bottom and slid around in its slime himself. But there's something very different about seeing Sid in the kind of pain that is all too similar. Nails on her arms. Hallucinations. Horrid nightmares and waking pain, both physical and psychological, that seems and sometimes is even worse. Her body cramped in on itself and refusing to work. And not out of some personal decision.

Someone else did this. That fact alone seems to confuse him. He's no cynic. But this is making him question many things about himself and his way of dealing with problems. His forgiving nature. And perhaps it is lucky that it seems the ones who did this are out of his reach. Who could guess what he might do otherwise? Certainly Jim couldn't.

It's more than he can bear.

At least at first.

But he can try to bear some of her burden. And he can think of a way how. There are chemicals and meditations involved, yes, but all that is secondary. It serves to lubricate the connection, like grease on a circuit's fitting, but the true working of his will is in a more abstract religion.

A religion of love.

Jim is with her through the pain. He can see where she grimaces, breath and imagine his own self heaving out his insides. The smell of her blood might as well be his. It pains him well enough. Her desperation outweighs all else and he feels even that.

And he digs a hole.

Not to bury something dead, but to plant something alive. To feel the future and life and what will grow from the furrow with that rot instead of letting it fester inside him. And his mind reaches out to shoulder that burden. To share what he can. Like grape vines flourishing in the space between two homes. And there he builds a trellis. It is something he has done before. Connecting the two of them. But this time it is stronger and what he shares is more vital.

And he gives. Gives until it hurts. Until he can feel his mind and body drained. Is trembling as she is. And when he is almost at his weakest he accepts her weakness. And more. Opens his wellspring up to her and...

These are abstractions. It can't really be described. Or even imagined. It happens and that is enough. He to rends his pattern to feed that psychedelic vine he imagines, sprouting lotus blossoms and little baubles of energy and radiating piece of him to her and pieces of her to him. And he hopes it will be enough.

Yeah, all your sickness, I can suck it up
Throw it all at me, I can shrug it off

The Rolling Stones' “Beast of Burden”

Except Jim will be her beast of burden. If the Universe will allow it.

[ This is a coincidental Mind 3 and Prime 1 effect.

The intended Mind results of the effect are to (1) allow Jim to take on the hallucinations and wound penalties due to psychic and physical pain of the disease effecting Sid, (2) share WP with Sid for the duration of the effect, and (3) either allow Sid access to Jim's Medicine and Science knowledge or a targeted Empower Self type of effect in order to hopefully lower the difficulty of her Mental stat rolls, Intelligence in particular, by sharing brain power.

The Prime 1 effect is similar to Consecration in that it is meant to help forge and empower this bond between them.

That seems like it would add up to five total successes necessary. I will be rolling until Jim gets to the maximum allowable successes, which is 10 for Jim (Willpower + Arete). Base difficulty is 6 which is brought down the the maximum difficulty modifier of -3 with taking his time, using his specialty focus (the narcotic MDMA in this case), and either for his direct contact with Sid (object of resonance), researching what she is going through by witnessing her pain, or by having a coorperative target.

Starting off with an Intelligence + Meditation roll because that's... How Jim rolls. Specialty is transcendental meditation. Hopefully this will help him deal with her pain and execute the effect. ]
Roll: 8 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 4 ) VALID

Jim @ 2:22PM
[ Arete. ]
Roll: 3 d10 TN3 (2, 4, 6) ( success x 2 ) VALID

Jim @ 2:22PM
[ Extending. Blowing a Quintessence to maintain the difficulty. And a WP. ]
Roll: 3 d10 TN3 (2, 9, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP] VALID

Jim @ 2:23PM
[ Extending. Blowing another Quintessence. ]
Roll: 3 d10 TN3 (2, 4, 8) ( success x 2 ) VALID

Jim @ 2:23PM
[ Extending again. For umph factor. ]
Roll: 3 d10 TN3 (3, 3, 9) ( success x 3 ) VALID

Jim @ 2:24PM
[ That's 10 successes. Jim is down to 1 Quintessence, which may be used to maintain the effect if necessary, and 6 WP, which hopefully he'll be able to share with his boo. ]

Sid @ 2:25PM
[witnessed!]

[errin]

Thursday morning Sid wakes up in her truck. The sky is still dark and she is warm and uncomfortable stretched across the bench seat, covered in a blanket that isn't hers. For a moment she lays there, uncomprehending. It all comes back in a rush. Eric. Pain in her neck. The relief in her stomach (and in her spirit, her heart, a relieving of her anger). The hooded figure. If she were well Sid woul bolt upright, but she's not, so it takes her a bit to sit up, and she looks around to see

blood. Everywhere. Covering the dash, soaking the blanket, melting out of the dashb-

She blinks and it's gone, and she frowns. Ah, the hallucinations. She's come to this point as well, and just when she's in the final stretch of her research. At least everything else is there, including the bag, including it's oh so precious cargo. A breath escapes her on a sigh, misting faintly in the pre-dawn cold, then tightens, constricts around an oncoming spasm of coughing. Quickly quickly, Sid finds the tissues stuffed in the pocket of her hoody so she can cover her mouth. The other hand seeks out and finds her phone, sends out messages.

To Luke she politely requests: Please come get me. Parked on south side of sci bldg Auraria.

To Jim she tells: Meet at Luke's practice. Want you. She does not say need, even though she does.

He can't see her start to cry as the weight she's been fighting all this time finally starts to bear down on her. That she's hurt, she's sick, the sickest she's been since ever, and the person she wants more than anything to come find her isn't even in this state, thinks she's dead, probably wouldn't come even if she knew Sid was alive.

When Luke finds her she's curled up in her car, back against the passenger seat, the blanket wrapped tight around her. He has to help her out, has to give her his shoulder so she can make it the few steps over to his own vehicle, has to help ease her down into a seat. Just before he closes the door she clutches at his sleeve, tells him to go inside, here are the keys, she threw up...everywhere and it needs to be cleaned up because oh god if this spreads any more...Luke will find nothing inside, though, the place where she tangled with the man who infected her (who she infected right back, that asshole, that fucker, that monster) has been cleaned up as though nothing ever happened.

Must have been the girl, she says, murmering, her forehead pressed to the window of the vehicle, her eyes squeezed tight to ward off the tide of red that threatens to cover everything she sees.

Jim is waiting for them at the office in Auraria, and Sid shifts from Luke to lean against the Ecstatic instead. She needs to lay down, she says, she needs to rest even though she just woken from the most complete and solid sleep she's had in over about a week.

"This," she says, looking down as she unwraps herself from the strange blanket. "It was," she starts thoughtfully before looking up at the Disciples. "Maybe if you use this you can find her. And if you find her, you might find Eric, and if you find Eric you might find..." but she stops, because she's so tired and she's so sick and she's so scared to hope that her friends might be found at last. Besides, she' can't scry herself so she doesn't know precisely what components might be needed, what might help. What she does know is that in movies when the pack of law enforcement sends the hounds they give them the scent of their quarry first. So maybe...

Sid leaves it in their hands and she lays down, curling up on her side with her face away from the wall and toward something left for her in case she wakes up with a sudden and intense need to relieve the contents of her stomach. And while she rests, Jim works. Even if she knew what he planned she would not resist it, reluctant as she may be for him to take on this burden. They are running out of time.

She wakes up a little later and she feels lighter for some reason. Her body still aches and shakes a little, but her mind feels sharper, clearer than it has for days. Clearer than it has ever. She feels better, but she doesn't smile because she sees him. Jim. Sitting somewhere suffering for her. She goes to him and if she could she would kiss him. Instead she wraps her arms around his shoulders and holds him close, grateful and loving and comforting.

They can't stay like that, though. Jim's relieved her of the psychological burden of this sickness but it still ravages her system. It's still breaking down Grace. Sid gets up.

She has work to do.

=====
niko @ 1:55PM
[Wednesday: int+science, no wound penalty (Jim), diff -2 (Jim)]
Roll: 8 d10 TN8 (2, 3, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1 [WP] VALID

niko @ 1:55PM
[And another because let's do this]
Roll: 8 d10 TN8 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 10, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 4 [WP] VALID

niko @ 1:56PM
[uh, Thursday just in case?]
Roll: 8 d10 TN8 (3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 2 ) VALID

Samael @ 1:56PM
GO SID GO! Cure the shit out of that thing!

niko @ 1:57PM
No wait, those days are wrong, the first is Thursday, the second is Friday.

niko @ 1:57PM
[And Saturday because why not]
Roll: 8 d10 TN8 (3, 5, 5, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 4 ) [WP] VALID

niko @ 1:57PM
I hope that is enough to cure this thang

Samael @ 1:59PM
Witnessed!

niko @ 1:59PM
Thanks!

niko @ 1:59PM
And thanks, Jim!