Poem: "Cards"
Oct. 26th, 2015 08:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shiori_makibaPoem: Cards
By shiori_makiba / Ashley Weyer
Part of the Berettaflies story line in Polychrome Heroics.
WARNING: Deals with the aftermath of attack of super-bugs whose effects ranged from death to permanent damage to injury to superpowers.
Cards
Tsubasa was making cards.
Cards for the others caught up in this mess.
She often found mass market cards to be not quite right.
So she made them herself.
For those who hadn't made it.
The total was up to five so far.
It couldn't be too personal.
After all, she had not known
any of the deceased or their families.
It had to be sympathetic
but she didn't want to use the standard phrases.
Most of them were pretty useless platitudes
that the families had no doubt been hearing all week.
For those who were badly hurt.
They had survived thus far
but it was a hard-won survival.
None of the medical staff had said
just how bad the critical patients were.
But their voices and faces told the story all too well.
For those who were stable
but had suffered severe damage.
Again, she did not know the details.
But she had looked up just what that damage might entail.
And winced.
Going from healthy and fit to
even the mildest of those outcomes had to suck.
For those who had survived
with largely invisible wounds.
The ones who seemed to have
escaped death, bad reactions, or superpowers.
But had lost classmates and friends
or seen them suffer severe harm.
And that could hurt just as much as
being stung and it lasted longer.
For those like her.
The ones who were developing superpowers.
She with her butterfly wings.
The other with many colors.
A third who was venomous to the touch.
It was a big change
and big changes are always hard.
Particularly ones that you couldn't hide if you wanted to.
For those who had worked to save lives.
The ones who risked being stung
to save those who had been.
The first responders who kept them alive
to reach the hospital.
The doctors and nurses who took that baton
and continued the race.
The people from SPOON who were helping make
being a new soup just a little easier.
Particularly Facet who had been hurt too.
The police and others who were trying
to keep more people from getting hurt.
Cards could not make the pain go away.
Could not take away the damage.
But she hoped that for at least one person,
it helped things hurt just a little bit less.
EDIT: Typo.
EDIT: Further Typos.
By shiori_makiba / Ashley Weyer
Part of the Berettaflies story line in Polychrome Heroics.
WARNING: Deals with the aftermath of attack of super-bugs whose effects ranged from death to permanent damage to injury to superpowers.
Cards
Tsubasa was making cards.
Cards for the others caught up in this mess.
She often found mass market cards to be not quite right.
So she made them herself.
For those who hadn't made it.
The total was up to five so far.
It couldn't be too personal.
After all, she had not known
any of the deceased or their families.
It had to be sympathetic
but she didn't want to use the standard phrases.
Most of them were pretty useless platitudes
that the families had no doubt been hearing all week.
For those who were badly hurt.
They had survived thus far
but it was a hard-won survival.
None of the medical staff had said
just how bad the critical patients were.
But their voices and faces told the story all too well.
For those who were stable
but had suffered severe damage.
Again, she did not know the details.
But she had looked up just what that damage might entail.
And winced.
Going from healthy and fit to
even the mildest of those outcomes had to suck.
For those who had survived
with largely invisible wounds.
The ones who seemed to have
escaped death, bad reactions, or superpowers.
But had lost classmates and friends
or seen them suffer severe harm.
And that could hurt just as much as
being stung and it lasted longer.
For those like her.
The ones who were developing superpowers.
She with her butterfly wings.
The other with many colors.
A third who was venomous to the touch.
It was a big change
and big changes are always hard.
Particularly ones that you couldn't hide if you wanted to.
For those who had worked to save lives.
The ones who risked being stung
to save those who had been.
The first responders who kept them alive
to reach the hospital.
The doctors and nurses who took that baton
and continued the race.
The people from SPOON who were helping make
being a new soup just a little easier.
Particularly Facet who had been hurt too.
The police and others who were trying
to keep more people from getting hurt.
Cards could not make the pain go away.
Could not take away the damage.
But she hoped that for at least one person,
it helped things hurt just a little bit less.
EDIT: Typo.
EDIT: Further Typos.
OH!
Date: 2015-10-26 02:54 pm (UTC)Re: OH!
Date: 2015-10-26 03:54 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2015-10-27 10:21 am (UTC)Cards for the others caught up in this mess.
She often found mass market cards to be not quite right.
So she made them herself.<<
LOL yes because it's hard to find cards for "I'm sorry you got attacked by supervillains."
>>For those who were badly hurt.
They had survived thus far
but it was a hard-won survival.
None of the medical staff had said
just how bad the critical patients were.
But their voices and faces told the story all too well.<<
Yeah, some of them are struggling just to survive. :(
>>For those who were stable
but had suffered severe damage.
Again, she did not know the details.
But she had looked up just what that damage might entail.
And winced.
Going from healthy and fit to
even the mildest of those outcomes had to suck.<<
It is sucking mightily indeed.
>>For those who had survived
with largely invisible wounds.
The ones who seem to have
escaped death, bad reactions, or superpowers.
But had lost classmates and friends
or seen them suffer severe harm.
And that could hurt just as much as
being stung and it lasted longer.<<
That should say "seemed" above.
Yeah, the support is good, but some people are still going to come down with PTSD. It's just likely to be 5-10% instead of the 20-40% that it would probably be here.
>>For those like her.
The ones who were developing superpowers.
She with her butterfly wings.
The other with many colors.
A third who was venomous to the touch.
It was a big change
and big changes are always hard.
Particularly ones that you couldn't hide if you wanted to.
<<
Interestingly the ones visible now are all big physical changes that can't be hidden. Other folks may have germline damage though.
>>For those who had worked to save lives.
The ones who risked being stung
to save those who had been.
The first responders who keep them alive
to reach the hospital.
The doctors and nurses who took that baton
and continued the race.
The people from SPOON who were helping make
being a new soup just a little easier.
Particularly Facet who had been hurt too.
The police and others who were trying
to keep more people from getting hurt.<<
That should say "who kept" above.
It's a hard job. I love the baton image, though!
>>Cards could not make the pain go away.
Could not take away the damage.
But she hoped that for at least one person,
it helped things hurt just a little bit less.<<
Aww! I hope so too. I think it will make Facet smile, at least. This is so sweet. <3
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2015-10-27 10:41 am (UTC)And I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's a real confidence booster to know that someone besides you* can enjoy your work.
*Not saying it's not important to like your own work. It is. And there's nothing wrong with doing creativity purely for your own enjoyment. But it is NICE when someone else enjoys it too.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2015-10-28 03:00 am (UTC)I'm excited to see how much people are enjoying this storyweb and how they are connecting different strands of it.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-07 04:14 am (UTC)ETA...
(sudden gasp) OMG, that icon!
Thanks
Date: 2015-11-07 11:22 am (UTC)This is my way of saying that someone doesn't have to mean or rude to be interesting.
RE: ICON
Thanks a bunch. ^_^
Virtual hug if you accept them.
It took several tries to get it right.
That Heart Icon of yours is really nifty too.
Re: Thanks
Date: 2015-11-07 02:54 pm (UTC)I've had that heart icon so long, I don't remember where I got it.