The Return of Time

[meat_mooks]

As the Clock was destroyed, all of the stolen time rushed back to it's original owners, causing them to rapidly age back to normal. But as the crew would soon notice, it seemed that the stolen time didn't always go back to exactly the right place...

[[ooc: Time to get back to normal guys! This is basically a case of very rapid ageing - they'll

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Location: The Medbay

[teethofneedles]

One of the many, many kids who's popped up throughout this whole affair, has been hanging out in the medbay for most of it. A young girl with black hair is hunched over slightly, pointedly scratching out shaky letters onto a stylus - and then there's a brief moment where her back arches and her mouth opens in a silent scream, fingers convulsing as she grows larger, body aging rapidly. She becomes a teenager, a young woman on the cusp of adulthood and then for a very brief horrible moment, her body goes limp and pale, eyes sightless, expressionless - and then she decomposes. Not as rapidly as you'd expect. Bits of her are missing, parts of her are gone, but she's still very much identifiable. Her hair turns a strange blackish-purple and her eyes rot away, replaced with gleaming yellow lights, her fingers with bony claws.

Then Karis slumps back into the bed, eyes wide and staring up at the ceiling of the medical bay. Her mouth works and no sound comes out for a very long time.

/if this is okay?

[haruno]

Sakura was breathing a sigh of relief that so far nothing else catastrophic had happened on the minute ago heels of the total power-down that had happened for those throat-catching minutes. Working on finding Cassie clothing appropriate to her regained state had kept her busy as Howard had left Medical, while the rest of those down here while the dragons had taken to destroying the damnable clock that had gotten them into this situation were around

do eet

[teethofneedles]

A clawed hand snapped out at Sakura and then Karis caught herself, the hand withdrawn, curled into a fist as she looked away. She didn't want to look at the young woman, so full of life, so reminiscent of herself years ago - weeks ago - that it almost made her sick. Well, she imagined she felt sick more than anything. Zombies usually didn't throw up or get nauseous.

"No. Just leave me alone."

She was a bit surprised to find herself in a hospital gown, but she remembered coming her - of her own free will. She dangled her legs over the edge of the bed and flexed her fingers open and shut.

"...just get me my damn armor back."

She felt naked, out of armor. The protective shell that kept blades, bullets and spells away from her fragile flesh, hid her body from everyone, was gone.

and we're back

[haruno]

Sakura didn't respond to Karis's first statement, since it was honestly one she'd heard before. And to different extents and degrees, she wouldn't blame her for it. "I'll have it for you in a moment," she said, nodding her head. She'd caught site of herself retrieving clothing for Cassie, earlier, and headed in the same general direction

[teethofneedles]

"Give me those," Karis snapped again and stood from the bed to virtually tank the pile of armor away from Sakura. She shot a glare at her - although really, she'd be helpful when she'd come in, but Karis didn't want to think about that. She'd been alive and whole and herself again, even if only for a few days

[haruno]

For a moment, Sakura did. Beyond even the part of her morbidly fascinated with the impossibility of Karis, there's the analytically part wondering what kept her together, and what would work if anything in putting her back together should she actually fall apart. Or receive serious injury. Records said magic would be necessary, if evidence to maintenance being a more direct, older means of keeping her going were self-evident

[teethofneedles]

Karis grumbled, but finally answered as she absent-mindedly did one more check of the straps and buckles that kept all of her armor on. "...I'm twenty-nine now. Why?"

She'd 'died' about ten years ago. She kept track out of habit more than any real desire to track the passage of the years. Not like aging really mattered to her any more. The magic that held her together tended to slow down decay as well.

[haruno]

A mental check against what her records said had Sakura nodding again, pleased. "Good," wasn't usually the response one gave to an age confession, but in this case, it made sense to her. "That's as old as you had said you were during your initial medical examination. Your time's come back. Having the dragons destroy the clock worked."

And damn if she wasn't actually sounding happy about that fact.

[teethofneedles]

"Hooray," Karis ground out between gritted teeth, "Do we get punch and pie now? Or maybe we can throw a party?"

[haruno]

"We can always swing by the Drunken Dragon," she said conversationally, shrugging. "Might not be punch and pie, but it is something!"