Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

PEYDRAN

"We can do our first therapy session with your arm covered, if you prefer," said Jeanin, my physical therapist.

"No, I'm going to look at it." The thought made me want to violently puke smoothie all over the place, but I had a reason. I would not back down. And there it was. No hand, no forearm. My elbow was half human and half machine. Oh sands, oh sands.

I swallowed everything back down. I breathed. I was the breath. The breath moved me. I felt my breath. "I will be back in the dojo," I thought. "If I just get through this, I will train again. I have a reason."

"See if you can raise your left pinky. You can practice with your right pinky first to remind your brain of the sensation of lifting," the therapist continued.

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I looked at the finger. It wasn't a finger. I couldn't tell it was there. How could I move something I couldn't feel? I had a reason. I had a reason to move that metal finger. Focus. I could do it. It was basically a computer, right? My brain would tell the computer to move. Focus. It moved! Sands, yes! I did it. I had a reason. I would do everything Jeanin told me.

Peydran: Requisition for an animation.

Alen: Peydran! We are sooooo sorry about your surgery. How are you?

Peydran: Better than everyone expected.

Alen: Are you seriously working?

Peydran: Trust me, working is good.

Alen: Yeah, can't argue with that. Who's the client?

Peydran: Me.

Alen: Gonna dress up in a sexy nurse outfit and hit on strangers in the hospital?

Peydran: Hysterical. You can do that one too just for the giggles.

Alen: Ha. What do you need?

Peydran: For purely entertainment purposes only: me waking up armless, augmented, and needing a reason to do physical therapy. To get back to the dojo. To work myself into a blade. So I can murder someone. I'm having murderous fantasies so I can get out of the hospital. Don't tell Ryst. It's a surprise.

Alen: Criminy! That's bizarrely funny, and concerning. Good drugs, eh?

Peydran: The best. Keep me laughing.

Alen: Always. Miss you and give Ryst a kiss from her favorite animator.

Peydran: Yeah, I'll tell her it's from Jasen.

Alen: Ass.