It starts one morning with a headache, which Bobbie notes but ignores. She's had worse, and this barely even rates. Later, in the gym, when she goes to lift a set of weights she's lifted a million times before, she realizes that she just... can't. Her arms tremble and she barely gets them six inches off of the floor before she's forced to drop them.
By midafternoon, she can't brush it off anymore. Her usual long, easy strides have become shorter, shuffling. She's exhausted—it's like just walking down one long hallway winds her, but when she looks in the mirror is when her stomach finally drops. It isn't just that she feels weak, it's that she is. She's thinned out, like some pampered Earther that's never worked a day in their lives. She isn't emaciated, but she's softer and slimmer than she's ever been, than she thinks she's even physically capable of being, and it unsettles her so badly that she covers the mirror in her room with a jumpsuit. Even that leaves her out of breath.
All she can think of is the video of Alex, withering away to nothing, locked in his room alone. For a second, she considers messaging him, but then she remembers the look on his face after he showed her the footage, and she doesn't. She doesn't contact anyone else, either. She goes to the mess hall instead, but when she goes to grab her food from one of the replicators, she can't even lift the plate. She can't even shift it. Panic rises in her throat, and she freezes up, trembling.
terrible action stuff - ota
By midafternoon, she can't brush it off anymore. Her usual long, easy strides have become shorter, shuffling. She's exhausted—it's like just walking down one long hallway winds her, but when she looks in the mirror is when her stomach finally drops. It isn't just that she feels weak, it's that she is. She's thinned out, like some pampered Earther that's never worked a day in their lives. She isn't emaciated, but she's softer and slimmer than she's ever been, than she thinks she's even physically capable of being, and it unsettles her so badly that she covers the mirror in her room with a jumpsuit. Even that leaves her out of breath.
All she can think of is the video of Alex, withering away to nothing, locked in his room alone. For a second, she considers messaging him, but then she remembers the look on his face after he showed her the footage, and she doesn't. She doesn't contact anyone else, either. She goes to the mess hall instead, but when she goes to grab her food from one of the replicators, she can't even lift the plate. She can't even shift it. Panic rises in her throat, and she freezes up, trembling.