A hand is held out to her. Unlike the one she knows, it's clear of the tracery of black scars that his real hands would bear, since this body - if it really is a body - has never been infected with merzost. Today marks the first time Nikolai has seen himself as he should be since before the war ended. His feelings about that are complicated, especially in light of where they are.
But he wouldn't say he's upset about it. ]
The limits of what can and cannot be have gone beyond what you'd expect, Nazyalensky. Let's get you up.
[ He steps forward. The arm not extended to her is clothed in a lurid orange jumpsuit, which manages to sit neatly across his shoulders without the hint of a wrinkle. A hospital gown is draped over it, since he thought she'd prefer that in the short term. Her motor function won't be perfect. In truth, his own is not yet perfect, but in recent weeks, Nikolai has grown unfortunately used to the sensation of waking himself from drowning. Not to mention, waking while he's bound and chained. Today's experience in whatever these tanks are had been somewhat more extreme than even he has grown accustomed to, but at the least, he hadn't panicked.
Not that he isn't considering panic. There are times when that's an appropriate response, and being kidnapped and taken to space might just count. He might get there later, once he's finished taking stock. ]
Careful now. Finding your space legs takes some time. We have a problem.
[ He says all of that with a reasonable note of cheer. He does enjoy solving problems, after all. ]
(a)
A hand is held out to her. Unlike the one she knows, it's clear of the tracery of black scars that his real hands would bear, since this body - if it really is a body - has never been infected with merzost. Today marks the first time Nikolai has seen himself as he should be since before the war ended. His feelings about that are complicated, especially in light of where they are.
But he wouldn't say he's upset about it. ]
The limits of what can and cannot be have gone beyond what you'd expect, Nazyalensky. Let's get you up.
[ He steps forward. The arm not extended to her is clothed in a lurid orange jumpsuit, which manages to sit neatly across his shoulders without the hint of a wrinkle. A hospital gown is draped over it, since he thought she'd prefer that in the short term. Her motor function won't be perfect. In truth, his own is not yet perfect, but in recent weeks, Nikolai has grown unfortunately used to the sensation of waking himself from drowning. Not to mention, waking while he's bound and chained. Today's experience in whatever these tanks are had been somewhat more extreme than even he has grown accustomed to, but at the least, he hadn't panicked.
Not that he isn't considering panic. There are times when that's an appropriate response, and being kidnapped and taken to space might just count. He might get there later, once he's finished taking stock. ]
Careful now. Finding your space legs takes some time. We have a problem.
[ He says all of that with a reasonable note of cheer. He does enjoy solving problems, after all. ]