Respite (Open)

[hrothgar]

It did him some good to see her taking an interest in the books, but now he was beginning to wonder if the anatomical books were such a good idea. It was when she reached for the volume by Victor Hugo... The Hunchback of Notre Dame that he felt a sudden swell of pride in his chest. "Ahh passion and dignity, the human struggle through the plight of the outcast and reviled." He said as she picked up the book. "In these pages are the reminders that that even the outcast, downtrodden and pitiful must not give up hope, for there must be someone to watch out for all of them."

His eyes drifted now to the Diary entry. He ran his finger across the text, scanning it. His eyes narrowed at the words:

The scientists never told me for what other reason they needed me for, but I knew it couldn't just be the fact that I had no mouth. They were looking for something inside of me, Trying to find something and use it.

[/blockquote]

He scowled. Something else? So her mouth was not the only anamoly they were interested in. It was puzzling... in this case Occahm's razor didn't apply to her. The Simplest explaination apparently wasn't the most accurate. He finished reading... setting the book down. He there, chin on his hand, thinking. What were they looking for? What had been so interesting about her that needed such extensive and painful exploratory surgery? Had these people never considered the ethics? Probably not... still he was intrigued. As much as it sickened him he knew that it was imperative to find out what they were working on and why she was such an integral part of the study.

If they're out there we'll find them Luther, don't worry. If we have to beat the information out of them we'll find out... but first we will have to find that lab. We will hunt down her records and find out what she is.

He took a deep breath, yes, that was the answer. Find the ones who hurt her, use their knowledge to save her. Let the damage be undone.

[experiment24601]

--Back at the charred ruins of the Laboratory--

A scientist crossed his arms at the wrecked sight of his Lab. His eyes narrowed at the soot, the foot prints that led out of them were his companions, partners, and fellow workers. All Experiments were locked in their cells, and not let out as the fire broke loose, all Experiments were left for dead. It was standard procedure, they could not be transported in time, and why waste time by doing that when such far more important beings are in need of escape? But as he knelt down before one particular Foot print, his eyes narrowed. It was not a shoe, or a boot, but a bare foot. He looked at the size and the deformity of the pinky toe. "Experiment 24601 has escaped...looks like we need a hunter..." he straightened and looked over at his partner whom had just walked up to join them.

"Mirical she is alive though, this means when we get her back we can continue where we left off..."
"Not likely...all our records were in that building." It was not all ash inside though the doctors did not know. One file cabnet still standing, along with a couple of cells, one of them being 24601's. But it wasn't safe to go inside and look at the risk of the unstable building coming down while they remain inside. "First, we need our property back. Find me a damn good hunter.." he told his partner.

--back at Luther's Hospital--

Gabriella read each page with passion in her eyes. She knew this pain, she knew it so well...she turned the picture and an illustration of Quazie Moto's saddened face could be seen. She traced her finger down the tear as it slid down the character's face. Her deep black eyes stared at the drawing as if she were looking into a mirror. The mysteries of Gabriella Wood are hard ones indeed, the unknown virus that the scientists wanted so desperately to get a hold of, remains unknown to the public eye. That Experiment 24601 could be used as a potential nuclear weapon. Harnessing this virus and making it stronger, and releasing it on the unsuspecting public, that was the plan of the doctors. The plan they never told Gabriella, but the very reason as to why she was tortured every minute of every day of her life, but the worse part was....the doctors have never even tried...to look for a cure.

[hrothgar]

Hrothgar sat for a long time watching her flip through the book. It was such a calming, wonderful thing to see her focused on something new. Twenty four hours ago she'd been scavenging for food outside of Kenny Wood. In less than 24 hours it was like she'd undergone a transformation, from animal to woman. She was living proof of the miracles possible with a little care and attention... and at the same time a grim reminder of what humanity was only two meals away from.

The doctor's mind tried now to recall the story, it was so complex, many had tried to make it a simple story but there were so many plots, intrigues. Of gypsies, minstrels, guard captains and cardinals. One truth remained however, as it was a tale of the gratitude returned to those who help the outcast in this world. He remembered the ending well... for even in death Esmerelda could not escape the final loving embrace of Quasimodo, his last goodbye to her for the kindness she had bestowed on him by treating him, not as an animal, but as a human being. The thoughts raced heatedly through his mind. He had tried to divert the subject before when she asked what troubled him... He let his head hang.

"Gabriella... I wasnt entirely honest when you asked early what was wrong. When you asked why I looked... distraught." He said, looking out the window. "The truth of the matter is I'm old... not physically. I havent aged a day in over a millenia and a half. I'm old in the real sense that I've seen so many things come to pass. Centuries I've gone and made friends and watched them die, growing old before my eyes. I've never had any company.. not in the real lasting sense. I never took a wife... and I never had children." He murmured. "I never had a daughter of my own..."

[experiment24601]

[i'"Gabriella... I wasnt entirely honest when you asked early what was wrong. When you asked why I looked... distraught." He said, looking out the window. "The truth of the matter is I'm old... not physically. I havent aged a day in over a millenia and a half. I'm old in the real sense that I've seen so many things come to pass. Centuries I've gone and made friends and watched them die, growing old before my eyes. I've never had any company.. not in the real lasting sense. I never took a wife... and I never had children." He murmured. "I never had a daughter of my own..." [/i]

Gabriella looked up from the book and looked right at Luther. Slowly shutting the book she placed it on her pillow, and scooted over to him and sat close. She picked up her journal opening it to the page she had just written on. She stared at her writing for a minute or so, remembering what she could about her own life. What she had seen...she had no friends, never did. She had no family..her parents gave her up as an infant. She had never seen death, but constantly dreamed of her own. In Gabriella's eyes, Luther was lucky to have seen and had friends. TO have felt the loss when they were gone...Gabriella would have given anything to replace the empty black hole of loneliness that cursed her very heart since she was born.

Her cell always isolated from the rest, she whom had never seen others except for the scientists who treated her so poorly. She closed the journal and took the white board and pen that was behind her. "Even if your friends had grown old and died, it is well in your heart that you had friends to begin with. I have never had such a blessing. I never had a family, or a single friend. The only kindness I ever had, was a man by the name of marc whom had granted me the journal, and of course you dear Luther. My mother and father left me with the Doctors at birth, I was isolated from the other Experiments...I don't know what it is like to have a companion, or a family..a father." She wrote small so she could fit everything on the board and turned it so he could see it. Laying it in his lap she placed a gentle hand into his and looked up and watched him read her words.

[hrothgar]

It was a warm happy feeling that suddenly rose in him as his eyes scanned the words before him. He smiled at her, it was a warm smile as he rested his hand on hers and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He closed his eyes leaning his head against hers. "If its what you want... then I'll be your father." He said softly. "We both seem to be victims of our circumstances, although I'll admit your circumstances were a bit more dire than mine. I could have had friends and family to hole close but it was simply not convenient... I really have no other excuse. And I feel now I've missed out a lot by standing back from the world and letting others live their lives independent of mine. I'm a servant, nothing more, nothing less. For once in my life Gabriella I'd like to be something more."

Now it was the dragon's turn to shed tears. They were mixed tears, one in mourning for the life he never had, one in mourning for the lives he never bestowed onto his potential children, and one for having waited too damn long to think about himself for once. Thousands of medals were given out for bravery but how many for kindness? Intermixed with these were tears of joy, for a life saved from pain, for a life now waiting to begin, and for the words he would not hear but would certainly know were said louder than any voice.

"I've waited too long for someone to call me father..."

[experiment24601]

The arm that wrapped around her shoulders she forced herself to embrace. She wasn't used to being touched so gently. But it was so soft and warm. She felt as all pain and worry left her body at the simplest of touches. His head leaned against hers and she heard his voice speak softly. The first sentence he said to her, was like pulling a blanket out of the dryer and placing it over a freezing victim. Instant relief. "We both seem to be victims of our circumstances, although I'll admit your circumstances were a bit more dire than mine. I could have had friends and family to hole close but it was simply not convenient... I really have no other excuse. And I feel now I've missed out a lot by standing back from the world and letting others live their lives independent of mine. I'm a servant, nothing more, nothing less. For once in my life Gabriella I'd like to be something more."

Gabriella lifted her eyes to meet his, his eyes were glistening with sadness, but also joy. "I've waited too long for someone to call me father..." Gabriella didn't know what to write on that comment. She hadn't known what it was like to be someone's daughter. She had never been called by a name, never had a pet name like sweetie, or honey...always Experiment 24601. But Luther had shown her such kindness, showed her such love and care. And here they were, sitting together, and Luther offers to be her family. She wrote on her little board.

"I have never had a family before, but I must admit, the parents I never knew, I shall never see as parents. But in the past day, you have been more a father to me than anyone I have known. You are one of very few whom have ever shown me kindness...I would be honored, and privileged if I had the right to call you my father." She handed him the board and looked him straight in the eyes. She watched him read the words all the while she kept hold of his hand. Yet her other hand reached up to his face, to lightly wipe away his falling tears.

[hrothgar]

They were elegantly phrased but he knew before he had finished that it was a yes. His hands found the board and he set it aside, wrapping both arms around her now. It was a tight embrace now, a trembling gesture of gratitude and acceptance. Resting his chin on her shoulder he clutched her as though afraid she might slip away. There was a fear behind it, the fear of uncertainty, a fear he hadn't felt in years as so much of his life had all been witnessed before. Through every moment he had some reference point from before to go by, but now.. now was not so sure. It was new to him, and he had no idea what came next. In a strange way he was happy to be scared like this. For Hrothgar, uncertainty was always an adventure.

The tears came fast... streaming down his cheeks, crying no longer for the past but overjoyed for the future. It was as though he'd been bestowed a new purpose in life. He was Hrothgar, Doctor, Knight, Father.

"Wilkommen nach Haus Gabriella.." He whispered. "Ausruhen... macht pause meine Tochter." Too weary with emotion to think through the words in English, his tongue reverted naturally to the more familiar German. With it his voice changed, a low rumbling quality was more evident to it, trembling along the back of his tongue like the roar of a far off train muffled by the peaceful twilight.

[experiment24601]

Gabriella was grabbed into a tight embrace. Her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. For a moment she stiffened, not knowing what to do or how to react. But soon her eyes closed and she returned the gesture. Wrapping her arms around his torso, resting her head on his chest to breathe deeply. She didn't know how long they sat there, but she could hear the uneven breaths Luther took that showed he must have been crying. The sound of his voice confirmed it, a slight rasp, weary with such emotion, deep voice almost rumbling.

But he spoke in a way she did not understand. The syllables rising and falling in an unfamiliar rhythm. She kept her arms around him welcoming the warm safe feeling he granted her. The idea of having a family was still completely new to her. It was hard to believe at first. But she knew in time that her life could only go better from here. Even if she did live in a never ending nightmare, she can find places where the nightmare can just be a dream. Luther could offer her a true reality that was peace, and family. There had to be more in this world other than loneliness and suffering. There had to be more than just pain, blood, war, and death. Somewhere in the darkness of the abyss that is left of the world, there can be a light. A glimmer of hope. As Gabriella lifted her eyes to his, to her it looked like his eyes were shining stars. Hope. He was giving her hope.

[hrothgar]

TIme passed, how much was unknown. It all passed in eternity as Hrothgar held tight to what humanity he had. She was precious to him because in her lay so many hopes and wishes and in a powerful way she was parts of himself. His fingers gripping into her new clothes. With eyes closed his mind felt empty for once. Blissfully empty because there were no longer any questions he could think of that were more pressing than the feeling of purpose that Gabriella brought him.

By and by his hold on her released and he pulled away. The silence that followed felt somewhat awkward for him. He wished for a moment that he had something to say... something to follow up with but he just sat there with eyes damp from tears for reasons he could hardly put words for. One deep breath cleared his nostrils, waking his mind up slowly as his hand found hers, holding onto it in the silence. "Its been one hell of a week..." He murmured, more trying to rationalize it all in his head. Even to think of it all made his brain reel with all of the information before him.

Tommorow we appear before them Luther. Tomorrow we stop hiding from the world. Luther I'm trusting you to protect our humanity, take her with you. Take the girl and let them see... they will not believe until they see. Remember the hospital and remember the needs of the many but just this once, advocate the needs of the few.

He looked into Gabriella's eyes and smiled, a tired weary smile. It already felt late, he already felt tired and weary. Too much worrying, too much joy. For the lonely dragon the experience had worn him thoroughly. "You have your books.. I will give you time to read now Gabriella... I need to prepare my statement and requests for the King tomorrow."

[experiment24601]

Gabriella felt him move away from their embrace, and she sat in silence as well. When she finally felt his hand take hers and hold on she listened to his deep voice say it had been one hell of a week. She didn't react to that, not knowing how. She looked into his watery eyes as he seemed to be deciding something with in them. Deep in his emotions it seemed he was making a choice. When he looked at her again she savored his smile, though it was tired it was still a kind gesture. She wouldn't blame him for being so exhausted. He told her he would leave her to her books now. He needed to prepare some kind of statement to see the king.

She tilted her head to the side, they were going to meet the King so soon? It was strange to think about. But she nodded and let him go. Though alone in her room she started to feel claustrophobic...she had always been alone in a room. Well, it was more like a cell, she remembered the screams and moans of other experiments, the pleas to be set free, she remembered the pain she was forced to endure, and the horrors she had seen. It was not comforting to think, that after all that had happened to her, compared to the other experiments...she was the lucky one. She looked back at the stack of books and found that she had no desire to read them...not now anyway.

She picked up her journal and scooted back onto the bed. Picking up her pen the scrawl of her writing began once again. Though it was of her experiences she had in the lab. Memories of other Experiments she had met, the mangled mutant like bodies she was forced to be with. The horrors of disfigured and grotesque appearances that stained her mind for the rest of her life. The time when her name was not Gabriella, when she was only addressed as..Experiment 24601

There was no question, no matter what torture or nightmare anyone else had gone through. None could be compared to what Gabriella had witnessed all her life. The blood, the screams, the sadistic and disgusting doctors. When she had finished describing some of the other experiments she had encountered, she took the liberty of sketching their appearance, and it was a perfect representation. One, was a woman, her face was hardly a face at all, twisted around to where there was not only no mouth...but no eyes, no nose, no ears...just stretched skin..and blood. Another she had drawn was a man, his body had almost no bones at all, no legs, and his skin was like glue to a wheel chair. It was close to living in a horror movie.

She started a new entry, talking of one particular attack, that had nothing to do with medical or scientific research....

It was October third...I was fourteen years old. And recuperating from a surgery in my cell. A doctor had come in, yet he had no staff with him, no instruments for more tests in his hands, just a certain look in his dark eyes that made me want to cringe away in fright. Greed. A particular hunger that had nothing to do with food. He told me I was one of the ones less disgusting to look at...he told me I was good enough for the job. I didn't know what job that was...until he closed and locked the door behind him. Flipping on the small light that flickered and buzzed in protest of even being on. He crept forward to me, and I backed away to the corner of the wall, I was trapped...and I couldn't scream.

His hands were rough, though I had never been touched gently before, so I wouldn't know what a loving touch would be. I was violated and invaded in ways that made me want to weep for a great loss I didn't understand. I was taken. I was robbed, and his harsh breathing, and grunting haunted my memory as well as made my ears want to bleed of the retched sound. I knew of no other pain, even being cut open, or beaten...there was no other suffering greater than this. Something was taken from me...something I thought could never be taken...my pride as a woman. My purity. My innocence. When he pulled away, I heard the zip of his pants, leaving me on the ground and with nothing to clean myself. He walked out my door and locked it behind him. I remember curling into a ball and hiding my face from the world. As if the stars themselves could see my ever growing shame. It was a day, that I knew that there was no salvation from this hell. I was forever tainted....and the nightmare would never end...

Gabriella shivered and closed the book, curling her knees into herself as she stared at the wall. Looking over at the pile of books she just simply stared at the spines that read the titles of the stories. There were so many...she didn't know where to start...yet for now..she didn't feel up to reading. She took a deep breath and let it out slow. All that she endured, she was going to have to tell to this king. She didn't know of her heart could take such shame. The agony of being so weak...what impression would that give him? Would he think her to be pathetic? Most likely. She rested her chin on her knees. She wasn't ready. She couldn't tell her story...not to the king at least....she didn't know...if she would be judged. If she were to be rendered useless and sent away....

She couldn't bare the thought of being on her own again, especially now that she had found...what did she find? Luther said he was to be her father now...but...would that truly make him her father? What was a father anyway? Or a mother...what did they do? What was their job? And a family...what was the significance? She glanced at the window, wondering if she could make climbing through and making another run for it. She sank deeper into the bed, her black eyes focused on the glass. She didn't even deserve such kindness from Luther, she didn't deserve it from Marc either. She didn't know why they were this way. All she knew was she felt...unworthy. She was...tainted...and their souls seemed so pure. She was robbed of her innocence, she was robbed of a voice...robbed of strength...she told Luther she would tell her story to the world...but...could she really? Could she do such a thing?

She slowly stood from the bed and walked to the window. Flattening her palm on the glass, her nose breathing hot air onto it, making a little fogged circle. The circle got bigger, and bigger, until the circle almost covered her face. She took her index finger, and wrote six words. "There is wisdom in the silence." That was her answer. It was a phrase that came to her many years ago...and it stayed with her all this time. Giving her hope, granting her strength when she felt she had none. She walked over to the dresser and picked up little Ian. Cradling him to her she sat upon the bed again. With one last deep breath a decision came to her mind.

She would meet the king.

[hrothgar]

He shut the door quietly letting her to herself for a few moments. He let out a soft sigh and began his march down the hallway. The world had taken so much out of him today. She was alive with thought, she had a taste for Victor Hugo and among other things she seemed to have acquired a feel for human affection. He felt a pang of happiness for the girl who he now called daughter. He slipped away to let her have the privacy that needed to be afforded to all girls her age for whatever reasons. He wasn't about to try and guess what sort of things this might mean for Gabriella so he simply let her be. The door was unlocked and he was sure that she knew to come find him down the hall if there was anything she needed.

He flicked the light on in his office and took a look around the area. He sat down at his desk and stared for a moment at the diplomas and certificates on the wall above his desk. He smiled... certified to treat almost condition of the human body and psyche... every one except fatherhood. He chuckled at the thought, shaking his head and sliding papers aside on the desk. shuffling his affairs and notes together and stashing them away in his drawer and looking at his desk, clean surface that it was. He slid his notebook out of his medicine satchel and flipped to the first fresh page he could find.

Here are things I must remember He began to write. These are things I must be sure to recall so that I may have record of them and not loose them to time. As far as I can think these things are important now, I write this so that I may have some recollection of what influenced me the most at this point in my life. These are also things that must be made known to the King of Pennsylvania, Xenophon. On this page I hope to have some extension of my memory. In addition to the things I'll list as necessary to the operation of Allegheny General Hospital as she still exists in the year of our lord 2100, I'd like to tell you all a story...

Its the story of a little girl named Gabriella, she was born as a number, and she is now my daughter by adoption. We met by chance, and circumstances have brought us both a new start at life... but let me start from the beginning.

Hrothgar began to write, in his own careful handwriting he listed all the things that the King had told him to write down and as well began to record everything he knew of Gabriella. Everything that he could think of that made up this woman with whom he now shared his life. He wrote steadily, unstopping, sentence after sentence sprawling from the tip of his pen as he gave life to the story. He knew it was a story she'd tell better, and in far more detail but it only seemed fair to let someone know how he felt about his new ward.

Before he knew it the sky outside had become dark. He set his pen down and began to rub his wrist, so unused to writing so copiously. He sat back in his chair, quiet now, tired, hungry. The Doctor had done his job well enough for one day, and it seemed right to allow himself a break for pity's sake. He stood slowly and sat down on his own little bed tucked against the corner between the window and the bookshelf. He laid back on the old blankets and stared at the ceiling. He knew Gabriella might be getting hungry again soon, he would eat when she would he assured himself, until then he could spare to rest his eyes for a bit. Bit by bit Hrothgar's eyes drifted shut. A nap now... for soon enough he'd be called upon to play the good father once again and he would need all his strength for he intended to lend it generously to that girl. He knew bravery would require strength, and she'd need all the bravery she could to face the world tomorrow.

[experiment24601]

Before Gabriella knew it, she was writing once again. She wrote about the poor cells she and other experiments were kept in, the stain and rust of blood splattered upon the walls. Chalk marks she had made with left over sticks the doctors had left behind. She remembered phrases she had written upon those dirty walls. As she wrote she did her best to be as informal as possible. Giving the information as if giving a blue print of the cell. She sketched out the dark room, with a spot in the corner where her ratty blanket was kept. The steel door with a little slide opening at the bottom, the bars in the far back, facing the outside world. Where she often gazed at the moon, and prayed. the cell I was kept in was labeled with my number (24601). I was given no bed, or toilet. Just an empty room with one single ratty blanket. My living environment soon grew more and more difficult to reside in. A corner constantly filling with mine own feces. The doctors came in once a week to clean it out, and even then they did not a good job. It was surprising I had not gotten sick from such poor living conditions...but that is because I spent most my days outside my cell..being operated or tested upon...

She wrote about how she had to eat before Luther had delivered her a solution. The activity of eating which most take for granted, was a time that I hated most. I would rather starve then have to feed myself...simply because of the way I had to eat...Having long stitches from my throat to sternum, the doctors had to make in incision, cutting the stitches and forcing the skin to separate, and shove the food down my throat. All I had ever eaten was bread and water.

It got to the point where she felt her eyes grow heavy, but she felt she couldn't stop, there was one more thing she felt she needed to write about...one last thing. She turned the page, and wrote of a miracle. Finally one day my prayers were finally answered...I was headed to the OR, when an explosion resounded in the hospital, rattling the walls. It had happened three floors up...a chemical gone wild. The fire alarms broke off, and the doctors and guards were distracted, that is when I ran. I ran down the stairs to the first floor, and burst out the door just as another explosion hit. Dumb founded Doctors not using their science right.

I ran as fast and hard as I could...until I was lead to a broken bridge, and it is there I met my first companion, whom granted me this journal. His name, was Marc. However, do to his company I found myself unworthy of his kindness...I ran away while they slept and found myself in a small environment, where I met...my father. He may not have been my real father, but he might as well been. I had come across bread and water, and found myself to be starving, so I ate, as I normally did, cutting my throat open, and pulling the skin apart, exposing my esophagus wetting the bread and shoving it down my throat, sewing myself back up before I could bleed to death. My shifting abilities making my healing process much more rapid.

That is when he came to my aid, taking my broken ruined spirit to a place where I started a new. It was on that day, that Experiment 24601...became Gabriella Wood. It was then that the kindness of this man had become something I had never expected. In less than 24 hours, he had granted her a safer way to eat, granted her a home, a bed, books, a way of communication with out wasting the pages of my beloved Journal, and granted me a small companion I now call Ian. This man named Luther, had become my father.

She picked her pen from the paper and glanced at the door, then back down at her page. If this was to be presented to the king, she will need to give more information...didn't she....it was then she wrote down the address of the Hospital, and a note of the fire, and the possibility of things being burnt and ruined...and hopefully abandoned. She closed the journal and layed it next to the books Luther had given her. Looking towards the door she felt her stomach rumble, she wasn't used to the idea that she had the ability to get up on her own and open the door wanting something for herself. She was used to waiting...long hours for food, sometimes days. She slowly rose from the bed. She had that choice now didn't she..?

She approached the door and slowly turned the knob. Opening the door to the hallways of the hospital, she remembered the directions Luther had given her to his room. She quietly walked to the door, and raised her fist, and gently rapped on the door...

[hrothgar]

Luther looked up from his writing... glancing out the window and then at his watch. The rap at the door seemed almost surreal. He'd never really had any serious visitors, none enough that would want to come see him at his office anyways. Sure he'd dealt with his fair share of no-good nicks and intruders but they generally stopped being a problem when they found out this place was guarded by a dragon made out of concrete. He chuckled, the soft tapping on the door could only mean that it was dinner time. To be honest he was a little surprised she had the initiative to go looking for him at all... at least not this soon after being recovered back into what could be considered as normal a life as one could find these days.

He sighed, pushing his chair away and standing up slowly and moving towards the door. It would be good to see her moving up and around. Carefully, and with no sudden movements he opened the door with a smile on his face. "Up and About are we?" He asked, arms relaxed, leaning against the frame of the doorway. "Well I'd say we should go out for a bit to stretch your legs but its getting late, the Ghouls and Ferals are probably up and about in the streets right now... and this close to the River Junction well... lets say we'd better lock down for the night." He checked his watch, then looked out the window, showing nothing but darkness outside. After the sun went down there were really only two sorts of people out on the streets away from the colonies and the mini settlement: the vampires and those strong enough to defend themselves from vampires. He stretched, shaking his head. "How you survived out there is nothing short of a marvel to be sure, but stories for later. C'mon, bet you want something to eat.. I'll see what I can throw together."

With that Hrothgar stepped out of the office, shutting the door behind him and moving to the lab/workroom that sat between his Office and Gabriella's room. Unlocking the door he made his way in towards the cabinet, pulling out some vegetables... bland pathetic looking little things but at least it was good to see society producing food again even if it was a step back from where they'd been. With the water he'd prepared from that afternoon he poured out enough to fill a small pot and began to boil the vegetables adding a little salt, a little dash of this and that and a package of something that read "DEHYDRATED TVP: CUBE STYLE" Whatever it was it came out in little minced cubes and soaked up the boiling water like sponges, growing nearly ten times their size until they floated like little square marshmallows in the broth. He stirred it, letting the aroma of cooking vegetables waft through the working area, humming to himself as he cooked.

[experiment24601]

Gabriella blushed a little when Hrothgar opened the door. She knew he wouldn't strike her for wanting food. He was not like the doctors she lived with. Yet still it was instinct to feel a little cautious when asking for something as vital as food, when during her life she had no right to do such a thing. When he mentioned he would take her outside, yet it was dark she was relieved. She feared going back outside, she had met her first vampire, and her words had made her heart bleed. The world 'abomination' forever haunted her mind. No matter what Marc's words said to calm her...she knew Keira's words to be true. She was an abomination...and no doubt she must be being searched for at this very moment.

Her thoughts disturbed as food was mentioned, and she followed Luther over to a room between her room and his office. She observed him prepare boiling water, and take out vegetables. They looked...so colorful. The word delicious never came to her mind for two reasons.

1. Gabriella never had a tongue, so she was never exposed to the wonders of taste.
2. she had only been exposed to bread and water, even if there were so many varieties of food she could eat, she would never taste them. This meaning it would be incredibly easy for Luther to cook for her. She wasn't picky.

She could however, smell the food. It entered her nose and wafted through the room, leaving her in awe. Her eyes widened slightly as she took a deep long inhale. She was used to dark smelling nightmares, the stink of blood, and rust, the smell of rotting skin and dirty hair, rancid breath and horrid living conditions. But lately she had noticed the wonders...of good fragrances. For instance, the smell of her sheets at her bed, they smelled fresh and clean...the smell of the outside air, though polluted, it was...new. Luther's scent, weather he wore perfume or not, she always detected a certain spice on his skin. Now...now the food. She was at complete utter awe...it smelled..wonderful.

She couldn't help herself as she heard Luther hum softly as the food cooked, she snuck up behind him and rose to the tips of her toes, craning her neck over his shoulder and inhaling deeply taking the scent in even more into her system. Her eyes closed as if she were dreaming of something truly wonderful. To the point where she was so relaxed she rested her chin on the top of his shoulder, leaning her head to the side so it was at the crook of his neck. It was astonishing on how she was able to be so comfortable around Luther. She felt safe around him, which was good if he wanted to be her father. She had a sense that she knew what ever happened to her now, Luther would always be there. Even now living in nightmare, he had the small shred of hope, the small flame of a candle in the dark cave. The one thing to hold onto in the dark abyss of terror. Such an odd feeling...but Gabby really liked it. The feeling of being safe...for once she was not afraid or huddling for warmth in a cold cell. She was fully clothed, and Luther's intentions were strictly fatherly...she would never have to worry about being violated.

Peace. So this is what it felt like...to be at peace.