good morning, miss corpse! [open]

[Hannah]

SWEET LITTLE ZOMBIE GIRL !

They had insisted on running one last test before they sent her off. ‘They’, of course, being the team of doctors and scientists who had closely monitored Hannah day in and day out for the last twelve years, and ‘her’ being the one and only Hannah Thompson, the Keller Institute's very own immortality project. They claimed to be curious as to what distance the nineteen year-old could fall before her body refused to revive itself; over the years, they’d dabbled in the act of pushing Hannah off buildings of differing heights, however they had yet to find the absolute maximum height that the fragile brunette could resurrect from.

So, in the name of science, they pushed the girl off a four storey roof.

It took slightly longer than usual for her heart to begin pumping again and her brain to once more resume sending out messages to the body, almost three hours, in fact. Thankfully, she arose before rigor mortis had a chance to set in, albeit looking much worse for wear; when her body had hit the pavement below, she’d managed to fracture her left eye socket, as well as severely damage the cornea of the same eye (her doctors feared she may have required a transplant, but reassured themselves and the higher-ups it wouldn’t be necessary), as well as completely shatter her left arm, not to mention the absolutely explosion of cuts and bruises that littered her flesh.

Battered and bandaged was certainly not a look any normal person would wear to school, although Hannah didn’t have much of a choice, thanks to the events of, what she supposed was, her going away party.

The Institute had been kind enough to spare two doctors brief Hannah’s new school on the vast number of painkillers and prescription drugs she was supposed to be on, carefully detailing everything from the places Hannah’s Fentanyl patches were to be placed, to the occasions when it was appropriate to pump her full of morphine. Through the thick fog that clouded her mind, Hannah felt somewhat bad for the nurse who could do little more and nod dumbly as the Institute staff lectured her on the dos and don’ts of their pet project.

But any tiny amount of pity Hannah felt was easily overcome by the feeling of utter exhaustion that plagued her. While her doctors - Dr. Ross and Dr. Adams, if she remembered correctly - continued to ramble away about the importance of keeping Hannah in a clouded state of mind (to help with the pain, they claimed, and Hannah had no reason to not believe that to be true, although the nurse scrunched up her nose suspiciously) she tottered over towards one of the beds in the back of the office. Glancing blankly at the nurse, she gave a slow, lazy blink when the flustered woman returned her gesture with a quick nod, pulling her attention away from the heavily drugged brunette to continue listening to the long list of orders.

Initially struggling slightly with her broken arm, Hannah managed to lift herself into the bed furthest from the door, rolling onto her right side to stare at the off-white coloured wall. She remained still until she heard the doctors call out their farewells, reminding Hannah they would be back every fortnight to give her a full check-up, blood work and all. Only when the sound of the door clicking shut did Hannah glance back over her shoulder staring at the nurse with those uncomfortably empty eyes.

“Morning.”

The older woman paused, glanced away and pretended to busy herself with a roll of bandages.

“Good morning, Miss Thomas.”

MADE BY MINNIE OF GANGNAM STYLE

[Chase]

Sometimes you just make mistakes.

Chase was thinking that as he was escorted to the infirmary. Each step sent a bit of a jolt into the sore flesh of his chest. Undoubtedly, it was bruised, but he had no interest in observing the skin in public. Sometimes when you couldn't see it, you didn't have to admit it was painful.

And sometimes, without that affirmation of the pain, it was hard to insist it was a mistake. Sometimes, the regret just wouldn't form.

The unmistakable ache of the rest of his body should have been enough. Except, it wasn't.

The day had started well. Chase had made it to the cafeteria for a quick breakfast of toast covered in Nutella, then ducked into the grassy area beside the school for an impromptu game of soccer with some guys. He wouldn't call them friends. He didn't dislike them, but they weren't people he'd ever send a casual text to. When the game was over the victory was dull and the group dispersed rather quickly. Chase's eyes roamed the area for anything that might spark his interest. There were a few other students, a man eating a sandwich, and...

That's when Chase saw it. The ladder, propped beside the school. Without his ability the ladder's owner would have noticed him as he munched on his lunch nearby. With his ability, he scaled the ladder unseen before fearlessly turning, gazing out over the school from approximately ten feet up. Not an ambitious height. It meant his feet were only five feet from the ground, since his frame was five feet.

But who was there to impress? No one could see him. It was the equivalent of being invisible, though his ability was inferior to invisibility. In spite of this, every few seconds he'd glance at the worker. Apparently the task of repairing an air conditioner atop the school took enough time that he felt he should stop for a snack. Chase couldn't blame him. There was something peaceful about Basilius grounds. Something about the way the atmosphere of the elegant building and the beautiful landscape could settle into you. And well, he was getting paid to eat his sandwich. That, more than anything, seemed like an ideal way to spend a morning to Chase. Second to this of course.

Everything would have been fine. Had the worker approached, Chase would have scurried up the ladder, hiding on the roof. But fate interfered first. A simple, unsuspecting bird perched itself beside him, overlooking the school with the same interest. There was the possibility the bird sensed him in some small way and was sitting there because of him. Either way, Chase's hand snaked out, grasping the creature in a loose hold.

No one warned him that the bird would panic. The immediate expansion of wings against his palm scared him more than it should have.

"Shhhh-!" Whether that would have been a curse, or simply hushing, the sound cut off as Chase accidentally let go of the ladder with his other hand and found himself falling through the air. The bird zipped away from him as he gained acquaintance with the ground.

Those who hadn't noticed him before were suddenly stunned to see a teen laying on the grass, groaning.

The next actions were a blur. Chase was hoisted up, unwillingly, and guided into the building to be tended to. Then he was mumbling, "I got it," once they were at the doorway. He didn't need a babysitter, and he didn't want to get upset around someone in his peer group.

Hannah was the last person he expected to see. Blinking, the teen felt his cheeks flush a light pink. Part of him even wondered if he would have climbed the ladder had he not known about her recent 'fall'. Had he wanted to prove he was more capable than his, seemingly, clumsy fellow test subject? To redeem them, or just to see what she must have seen from the high vantage point? Chase wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't like he was inclined to climb random ladders any other time. Then again, Chase knew precious little about Hannah, aside from the fact that she was the one who was always injured but couldn't die. He'd tried asking Leland a few times, but the Institute seemed to have enough scientists that his elder brother didn't spend much time on the deathless girl. Funny, now that he thought about it, that he'd grown up at the Institute as she had, but he'd never taken much of an interest. Then again, she wasn't exactly the ideal playmate even with limited options.

"Hey," Chase greeted with a casual nod as he unceremoniously sat on the edge of the bed nearest to where Hannah was. He seemed to be intentionally avoiding eye contact with the nurse: if he didn't have to talk about what happened around Hannah, he wouldn't.

[Hannah]

SWEET LITTLE ZOMBIE GIRL !

Hannah did not know much about interaction outside of a professional setting, but even she had the faintest inkling that ignoring someone in the same room as yourself was not at all polite. However, since the nurse seemed more than content fiddling with bandages and delicate vials of morphine, she decided that everything must have been fine between the duo, so was not worth mentioning to either of them, even if it was to question when it was and wasn’t polite to outright ignore someone.

Her one good eye slowly trailed up, watching the young red headed boy’s face with obvious disinterest. Deep down, in the scattered pieces of her conscious that had yet to be buried by painkillers, Hannah could vaguely remember his bright hair and eyes, as well as they way they contrasted so awkwardly she often wondered if it was some kind of side effect from experimentation. Luckily the doctors had taught her that queries about the more unusual aspects of a person’s appearance were not appropriate in the majority of social situations. Who knows who uncomfortable it could have been for the two had Hannah’s guardians neglected to brief her on the ins and outs of interaction.

“Hi.”She drawled, voice soft from hours of disuse. From what she could recall, Chase had never sought her out, nor had she even done the same for him, and she was nearly certain they had never maintained a conversation of more than a few passing words in the corridors. For the briefest moment, she wondered if he was, for whatever reason, in the nurse’s office with the intent of befriending her - perhaps his case workers had given him a gentle nudge towards helping out with another project? Or maybe he was hoping to score some of the prescription drugs Hannah was assigned. No matter what his intent, be it pure or not, Hannah decided that it was in her best interest to at least attempt mimicking friendliness.

First step, maintain eye contact on the same level.

The brunette pushed herself up on her good arm and rested her legs over the edge of the bed to face Chase. She met his gaze with one stormy grey eye, lips set in a faint frown while she focused in on the younger student’s expression. Her positioning was somewhat awkward, what with being noticeably taller than Chase (reaching a five foot six compared to his minuscule five foot nothing) forcing her to hunch herself more than she would have liked - from what she recalled, being on the same eye level was important when socializing.

“Chase.” Hannah paused, blinking slowly while her head put her words together. “Are you hurt?”

To many, this would have come off as a sisterly gesture of concern, although with the monotone of Hannah’s voice and the sheer apathy in her stare, it was more clinical than affectionate or genuine. However Chase took her words was regardless, as the question caught the attention of the nurse, who trotted over with what appeared to be an honestly worried look on her face.

“Oh? Mr. Ritter, you’re not here to see Miss Thomas?” The woman sighed, tutting under her breath as she reached out of the young man’s arm. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place? Come and let me take a look at you.”

MADE BY MINNIE OF GANGNAM STYLE