i wear my heart on my shirt

[ethnobotany]

WHO: Beverly Crusher
WHERE: The Inn, her house, fountain square, the spring
WHEN: August 15-20
OPEN TO: every section is OTA
WARNINGS: Mentions of: death, terrorist attacks, being held hostage. She'll be having delirious flashbacks and I'll update warnings as needed based on threads.

---

August 15th is mostly a normal day for Beverly. The luncheon is nice, the only difference to her day. Otherwise, she spends the day at the hospital doing her duty or at her house, working in the garden or inside. It's while she's in the garden that she begins to notice how... off she feels. It isn't much at first, though she wobbles a bit when she tries to move and can often be found leaning over with her hands on her thighs and her eyes closed. Sometimes she's even very obviously leaning against the fence itself for support, and she isn't entirely sure she can manage to make it through.

Eventually, she manages to get back into the house. Just inside the door, she calls out, "Jean-Luc―" and falls to her knees on the floor.

The 16th hits her hard. Visitors may be welcome to stop by while she's sick, but she may or may not be lucid. During those lucid moments, she's chilled and feverish and very obviously ill, but she can at least hold a decent conversation. When she isn't lucid... less than pleasant may not accurately describe her condition. She paces when she can pull herself out of bed, and when Jean-Luc will allow her to. While stuck in bed, she rolls and tosses, not entirely aware of her surroundings, and can be heard mentioning something called the "Ansata" or "Cardassians" with a tone of distate mixed with fear. Someone lucky might even hear "Q" in a tone of quiet loathing. The unlucky may hear something else in a tone of cold and very real fear: "It's the Borg."

Early on the 17th, she starts escaping. It's never for long, but any time Jean-Luc needs to use the bathroom or make tea or food or check on her garden or even closes his eyes for half a second she takes the opportunity to flee. She's fast for someone who's as ill as she is. Clearly there's a lot of built-up energy inside her. Either that or she's literally running on empty and will drop to the ground in the next instant. Either way, she ends up in places like the Inn or fountain square. One time, she even makes it to the spring, where she ends up cooling herself off by swallowing a bit of it at some point. By the end of the day, she's back in bed.

For the 18th and 19th, she stays in bed for any visitors who might want to come by again, but this time Jean-Luc is stricter about her confinement. It's just as well, though she isn't in any frame of mind and hasn't the strength to escape again. By the 20th she has miraculously recovered and after lunch, she heads back to the Inn to see if she can find anyone who visited or might have heard that she was ill so she can reassure them that she's fine.

Comments

16th

[the_scandal_of_italy]

The lessons with Beverly had readied her for the eventuality that someone would become ill and feverish. After collecting several of the herbs that she knew would reduce fever and ease her head pains, she prepared them into a potion that Beverly could ingest without difficulty. It would be bitter, but it was better than something solid that she would have to chew. Even in her less than lucid moments, it would be easy for her to consume.

Sleep was best for her and while she rested, Lucrezia continually wet a cloth and pressed it to her head and chest, trying to reduce the heat from her forehead. There were others that came to check on and visit Beverly, but as much as she was able, Lucrezia remained at her side.

When finally she woke, she smiled. There was soup and tea already prepared for her, reheated as the hours passed. It was at least warm now for her. "You are awake. How is your head?"

[ethnobotany]

For the moment, when she finally wakes, Beverly is fairly lucid, though how long that will last is anyone's guess. She'll take it, though, given what other memories she has so far, and she winces as she tries to push herself just a little further up on the pillows.

"Terrible," she admits wryly. "I haven't been sick like this in a long time. Have you heard of anything going around?"

She can smell something in the room with them, though she's not quite coherent enough yet to figure out exactly what it is that she's smelling. Whatever it is, it does smell good and her stomach rumbles softly. She might be a bit hungry.

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"It seems that a number of people are becoming ill, but no one knows what it is." Her first instinct is to call it a 'plague', but was unclear whether or not it was the same thing. The symptoms were different from what she knew of the great plague and this didn't seem as contagious.

"I think so long as you rest, you will recover quickly."

Gently, she helped ease Beverly up and propped pillows up for her. "I brought you soup. Do you feel well enough to eat?"

[ethnobotany]

Plague, epidemic. Something. Beverly's in no fit state to really work through that one just yet. Maybe when she's feeling better, though by now that seems a long time off.

Resting seems about right, but how much of that she gets seems to depend on how lucid she is at any one given moment. Not a very comforting thought, all told.

"I'm not sure, but I do know that I shouldn't turn down any offers right now," she jokes very, very lightly as she settles a little more upright. "Eating would probably be a good idea. Thank you. Your bedside manner is quite good."

17 August

[thenewways]

Despite getting along fine with Beverly, something in Nerys' gut is still nervous as hell at having a conversation with goddamn Jean-Luc Picard in any way that wasn't In A Professional Capacity. She's...not been avoiding him, per se, but subconsciously, there's part of her that feels like him being here would be ditching the last shred of plausible deniability. Someone like Picard ending up somewhere like this, as helpless to act as the rest of them, is an irreparable indicator that they are all in deep shit.

Besides, while Nerys knows (thanks, Bareil) that even famous people are still just people, how the hell do you have a chat about the pea crop or something with someone eminent? And, okay, because of that, she's slightly wary of visiting Beverly, but when she hears that the other woman isn't well, she makes up a package of mint tea, then heads for their home, cutting past the fountain--

Nerys does a double-take. "Beverly?" she asks, and jogs over towards the sprinting woman, adjusting her trajectory and trying to intercept her. The doctor's face is drawn taut, she's as pale as an Andorian, and she's moving far too quickly for someone who's got influenza or a cold.

[ethnobotany]

If Beverly were lucid and knew about Nerys' feelings on the matter, she would be quick to help the Bajoran better understand Jean-Luc. One day she needs to get them started talking about Bajoran archaeology, but that will likely not be today. Today, she visibly snaps out of whatever thought she's in the middle of and she stops short at the sight of Nerys.

Unfortunately this causes her sick-addled mind and body to lose the ability to keep herself upright and she tumbles to the ground. Gazing upwards at Nerys, she squints, as though she's not sure who it is she's looking at. The delusional side of the illness has clearly set in and it's not likely to let her go any time soon.

"Q," she says, rather than anything logical or expected.

[thenewways]

"No," Nerys says gently, shaking her head, though it's becoming very obvious that Beverly is incredibly unwell, even before she gets a good look at her. "It's Nerys. Kira Nerys, from DS9, remember? Definitely not Q." She adds, with a faintly wry smile, "I'm much better-looking, after all," though the humor is pretty much certain to be lost on Beverly in her current state.

She offers a concerned, hopeful smile, brow furrowing, and crouches down next to the other woman in the grass, reaching out to offer a hand. "Dr. Crusher...Beverly...you need to be in bed. You're not well, and...yeah, I'm not a doctor like you, but even I can tell you probably need some sleep."

Mentally, Nerys is praying that Beverly's delusions don't get worse. The fact that she was moving so quickly before she completely collapsed does not bode well for a fight.

17th – 18th

[scepterschild]

It had taken a full day for the news of Beverly’s sickness to reach Wanda. She had stopped by Beverly’s late on the 17th to discover Beverly’s bed empty of its occupant. Unsure what else to do, Wanda went on the search for her friend. For the rest of the day she was out looking for Beverly, retrieving her, bringing her back, turning around, and then having to find her again. She hadn’t wanted to leave Beverly’s side and by late on the 17th Wanda was asleep next to Beverly’s bed.

She was leaning forward, using the end corner of the bed as a pillow. Her head cradled in her arms as she breathed in a soft heavy rhythm. Wanda hadn’t had that much exercise since her baby chickens had arrived in an unassuming brown box.

Soon enough the sharp sting of nightmares roused her from her sleep. Wanda never slept for long stretches of time, something that she had confessed to Beverly when they started gardening. Her eyes blinked as she pushed her long brown hair over her shoulder. To her relief, Beverly was in bed.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, stifling a yawn of her own.

[ethnobotany]

This time when Beverly wakes, she's a bit more lucid than some of the other times. Some of the things she's said haven't been the easiest topics and she's sure that at some point someone, Wanda or anyone else who's been around for those times, will have questions for her about them. She's prepared to answer what she can.

She shifts only enough so she can see Wanda and offer an apologetic sort of smile. "I've been giving you the runaround, haven't I?" she says regretfully. "I'm sorry if I'm keeping you awake."

She does remember their conversations about Wanda's lack of sleep, which makes her feel even more guilty that she's interrupting what little sleep Wanda can get.

[scepterschild]

Wanda shook her head, brushing away Beverly's concern. "I'm fine." She felt bad for falling asleep at the end of Beverly's bed. "How are you feeling?" It was more important for Wanda to know that Beverly was feeling better. She didn't want someone else she cared about being sick.

Her fingers continued to comb through her hair as she sat herself up straight. Her muscles were stiff and she began to methodically stretch them out. "Do you need anything? Tea or water?" Wanda never felt like she did enough.

15th

[enterprisingheart]

Despite the fact that he's still getting the hang of life in the settlement - and not being entirely certain that he likes the idea of the place in the least - the last few days have at least given him an idea of what life is like here. It's certainly not a sort of life that is anything he'd be terribly interested in, long-term, but it could at least be worse. Even if only on account of the fact that no one appears to be terribly interested in torturing them just at the moment. (And he can't entirely deny that it's nice to have at least one familiar face present as well.)

That said, for all that he's well aware of the fact that things tend towards the eventful here (and not always in a good way), he hasn't quite got the hang of how often things happen, nor what to expect when they do. Which is to say that he goes to the lunch without so much as a care in the world - or at least, not any more so than would be usual in a situation like this. Admittedly, he had noticed that a few people at the lunch seemed to be a little unwell, but surely that's nothing worse than a common cold. An irritation, more than anything else, and something that's certainly understandable besides, given the level of technology he's seen present thus far.

(Which is to say: hardly any, but he does his best to not grumble about that too much.)

And then Beverly all but collapses on their doorstep, and between the fact that it comes without any sort of warning and the sound of her voice as she calls his name, he's at her side very nearly in the blink of an eye.

"Beverly?"

Both his voice and his expression are all over worry and concern as he bends to offer her a hand up, and while he doesn't quite ask if she's alright, it's very clearly lurking in the spaces between them, for all that it remains unspoken.

[ethnobotany]

The sight of Jean-Luc is something of a relief to Beverly and she manages a small smile before a wave of fever crashes over her, making her wince. She takes his hand, but it's clear that she'll need a bit more help than that if they want to get her upright.

"I think I need to be lying down," she admits, as though to punctuate that thought. "Can you help me get into bed?"

She might only need to lie down and sleep it off, but at this point she wouldn't put it past the Observers to make this like the last time people fell ill.

[enterprisingheart]

Even despite the fact that they're currently trapped in a settlement of unknown origin there are some things that are so far from anything Jean-Luc would consider to be normal as to be deeply and desperately wrong. Beverly being not just ill, but so badly so that she can't even stand on her own is one of those things, and it only deepens the concern he'd already been feeling. Which likely shows on his face, as he bends down further still in order to help her up.

"Of course. But... are you sure you'll be alright?"

Without even so much as a basic medkit, there's not much he can do if she isn't. But he can't help but ask all the same, largely because it gives them something to talk about while they make their way to her bed. And because it gives him at least something else to focus on besides.

16th

[womanofvalue]

There's a rather worrisome sickness spreading, Peggy fears, given the number of people who seem to be taken down and out. She's made a few stops around to deliver whatever nutrients and food she can, making sure to bring tea when possible. It's during these visits that she hears about Beverly being sick and given that the woman had been so kind to Peggy when she'd been hurt she makes it a point to stop what she's doing in order to pay a visit to her.

Cautiously, she knocks on the door, adjusting her hold on the soup that she's stacked on top of the tea, not waiting for a response before she hears inside, hearing something that sounds quite like "Borg". "Beverly?" Peggy calls out. "It's just me, Peggy," she calls, closing the door behind her. "Are you well enough to see me?"

[ethnobotany]

Beverly doesn't get sick often, mostly because they've managed to completely erase all of the known diseases on Earth by her time. With the vaccines and medical advancements they have available in Starfleet and as a member of the Federation, they've even done away with the common cold. So falling sick like this initially had her grumbling about how she could cure it if she had her medicine from home.

Unfortunately, Peggy has come across her while she's a bit more delirious than normal. She's been pacing until she collapsed on the sofa and when Peggy makes her way in, Beverly frowns up at her like she's not sure who just walked in. Her face is pale and she looks like she may have been crying, something she rarely does.

"I thought I saw a drone," she says, rather than anything that makes sense to non-Starfleet personnel. "You didn't see any Borg out there, did you?"

[womanofvalue]

Peggy comes inside and begins to set the things she's brought on a side table to keep them well out of the way. Beverly looks far worse than Peggy had been expecting, really, and it alarms her a little. She hides that well enough, she thinks, and settles near, dragging a chair over so that she's close enough to offer support without getting so close that she might catch something.

"I don't know what you're saying," she tells her apologetically, though a touch blunt. "I'm not sure what the context is for this Borg you're talking about. Beverly, I think you may have caught something," she says.

17th

[pretendtoneedme]

Clint's heading home after dropping the bow and arrow he'd borrowed at the inn, gutted and skinned rabbits in a makeshift bag over his shoulder, when he spots someone sitting on the edge of the fountain and leaning over it as though they're trying to peer in. It doesn't look like it- she, definitely a she, is a new arrival since she's not soaking wet, but it looks unmistakably like a mourning pose. Did someone else vanish? That's not been uncommon lately, sad to say, and god knows he wouldn't blame anyone for missing someone they cared about, but that's not going to bring anyone back and-

-and she's falling. The bag drops to the ground as Clint breaks into a run, because that's still water there; fortunately, she seems to be falling onto the rim, maybe having just enough consciousness to slump herself down rather than fall face first into that water. As he gets closer, it's easy enough to tell who it is, and it's not one of the people he thought would be doing something like this. "Bev! Bev, hey, wake up, what's going on?" he asks as he skids to a stop next to her, trying to lift her back into a sitting position so he can see her face.

[ethnobotany]

In all honesty, Beverly isn't entirely sure what she was doing. She'd had a panicked moment when she couldn't find Jean-Luc and the illness had turned it into certainty that he'd been taken, plucked away by the Borg for the third time. Now she's seeing drones everywhere. In the sky, in the water, walking behind houses. She's pretty sure one even fell into the fountain, but she can't find it. She can't see it, she can't hear it―

And then she loses her balance. Luckily, before she can topple into the water, she manages to force herself down onto the rim, still watching the water just in case Locutus turns up again.

Except it's not that familiar voice she hears and instead she finds herself frowning up at a face that looks familiar but can't possibly be. "You don't look cybernetic," she tells him accusingly, as though it's his fault she can't find the Borg drone she's looking for.

[pretendtoneedme]

"Uhh, no, just flesh and bone here." Some of which is pseudo-synthetic, but he's not going to mention that. He's also not going to mention the bits in his ears that could be termed "cybernetics" by the loosest definition; she can't see them and he's pretty sure no one in the village even knows he has them save Nat and possibly Steve and Wanda. And right now the priority is Beverly, who is acting in a way that is magnificently un-Beverly-like, and he's got no doubt she's sick. The last couple of days have been lousy with people dropping like flies, showing all the classic signs of a fever delirium with an added alarming rash. It doesn't match anything he can remember from S.H.I.E.L.D., and even with kids in elementary school he's never seen this specific combination.

Clearly, Bev can't stay out here, not even supervised. At least both her house and the hospital are relatively close, but he's not sure which would be the better place to take her. "You're in the village - you almost went into the fountain. Come on, we've gotta get you inside and lying down, you're delirious."

17th | near the fountain

[ex_assertiveness90]

This is the third round of illness they've had in the last few months: first the illness from the stinging fireflies, then the handful of people that had been ill after the most recent feast, and now this. The other two instances had had rhyme or reason, a pattern Stella could follow: the fireflies had been the obvious vector the first time round, and only the people with black scrubs had shown symptoms in the second. This time, there's no pattern. It's probably airborne, and seems intensely contagious, but that doesn't explain why some people are profoundly ill while others, like Peggy or Stella herself, seem to be just fine.

She's not a doctor in any sense of the word, though, and trying to sort it out just results in going in metaphorical circles. Eventually, she has to leave her house to get some air — she really can't stay indoors all day long, and if she does catch whatever disease is floating around, there's really not much she can do about that. Stella's taken sensible precautions, but at this stage she suspects that if she was going to be ill, she'd be ill already. On the other hand, after having just got back the use of her left arm, it really would be her luck to catch something — but she's not going to cower in her house all day out of fear. A walk will be good for her.

She's walking past the fountain in the direction of the inn when she sees a familiar figure with long red hair, moving like she's trying to get away from someone or something. It's Beverly. A frown creases Stella's brows, and she's on the verge of calling out to her when she sees the other woman stumble. Stella's there in a second to catch her, holding her up by her upper arms — but even without touching her, she can feel the heat radiating off her, and she can see Beverly's pale and obviously feverish, possibly delirious. She doesn't quite look all there.

"Beverly? Here, look at me. Look at me." She makes sure she's got the other woman's attention before continuing. "It's Stella. Are you all right?"

She's obviously not all right in any real sense, but Stella recalls when she herself had been ill after the fireflies, and she'd been seeing things, hearing things. It seems like a good idea to make sure Beverly's actually hearing and seeing her and not someone or something else. Stella's already considering where to take her so she can lay down and rest for a bit; her own house is just on the other side of the inn, and that seems the best idea right at the moment. Beverly had helped her after the earthquake; it's only fair she ought to return the favor.

[ethnobotany]

Stella is lucky to catch Beverly when she stumbles and when she's more lucid, Beverly will recognize that she's been extremely lucky herself. But she's not at all lucid right now. Confusion etches itself across her face as she stares up at the woman whose face and name are not at all familiar to her in her current state.

"I'm fine, Ensign―" Whether or not she really believes Stella is an ensign is up for debate, but the more she says, the more Stella will likely see that she is military. "―but the Enterprise is lost. Our casualty list is small, though. We're very lucky. I'll need help examining everyone once we've all been picked up. I don't know who's in this region with us, but we'll find out."

Realizing that she hasn't looked Ensign Stella over for injuries, the confusion is replaced with a frown of concern as Beverly fixes that. "Are you hurt? Do I need to tend to you first?"

[ex_assertiveness90]

Very little that Beverly says makes any sense, although Stella knows ensign is a naval rank in some countries. She's got to be military, then, of some sort, proving Stella's original guess correct.

"No, I'm not hurt. Beverly — I'm not an ensign, and there's no one coming to get us." As much as she wishes that were true. "We've been trapped in this village for months. You're very ill right now, and you need to rest."

Her tone is calm, matter-of-fact, but there's concern in her face as she watches Beverly, worried she might be more badly off than Stella can see.

the 20th

[learntthehardway]

A month. Diana had been there for a month now and she still hadn't figured much of anything out other than she was without any of her powers. She wasn't sure how that had happened and at first she had been mad because her powers were part of who she was. But then, she figured that maybe she just didn't need them.

Everything about the village threw her off a bit. The biggest being that people just seemed to be from all over time and space. And despite that the village seemed stuck in a time before things like electricity was invented. She could survive without it, she had long before she'd left Themyscira. She'd just grown use to it and now she was having to get use to being without it.

She was currently sitting near the fireplace in the inn when she heard the door opening. Looking up from the bowstring she'd been making sure was secure. She smiled slightly seeing the redheaded woman stepping in and nodded her head in greeting. "Good day."

fff i know my own prompts |Db

[ethnobotany]

Well, she's feeling better by now. That's a plus. In a few days, she won't be thinking that, but at least for now life in the village is, somewhat, back to normal.

The first face she sees when she pushes open the door is a new one. Maybe they just haven't crossed paths since Beverly arrived months ago or maybe this woman really is new, but either way Beverly offers a warm smile, tired though she is.

"Hi," she replies. "I'm sorry if I've interrupted you. I was mostly looking in to make sure I didn't see any faces I recognized from my fever-addled escapades a few days ago."

Luckily, this woman seems to have missed that from her.

lmao it's okay

[learntthehardway]

"Oh please, you have nothing at all to apologize for," Diana said with a friendly smile before setting the bow down on the table. Truthfully, she'd only been working on the the bow so she had something to fill her time. She'd already explored as much as she could and with Steve sick, she tried not to venture too far from the village.

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise as she looked the woman over. "You seem to be feeling better," she observed as she rose to her feet. And seeing that gave her hope that Steve would pull through the illness he had. It had truly begun to worry her.

"Would like to sit? I can get us something to drink. Some tea or maybe something stronger?"