[MINGLE] Worried/Sick 1: Symptoms Manifest & Reaction

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: Anywhere; multiple locations
WHEN: Apx. 13-18 November
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Serious illness and reactions to such

IMPORTANT NOTES: This is the first of two mingles. Please see the timing and general event details here.

Illness Presents and Putting Heads Together will have their own top-levels in this post, but you may make separate top-levels for whatever you like! Anything is welcome, as long as it tangentially relates to the Worried/Sick plot.

Please keep in mind the established plot details, but creative license is welcome and encouraged as long as it doesn't step on toes.

Comments

[to_defend]

She closes her eyes and sighs. "Only here."

So far, she wasn't a fan of being human. There was so much upkeep, something was already bruising or going wrong, and now this. She coughs, "Don't like it."

[imareporter]

I don't like it either, but we have to do what we have to do. Eddie can't tell if Venom is being contrite or mean or kind. It's so weird. He hesitates before tilting his head to the side, "...I'm going to go find you some cool water okay?"

This place.

He stands, "What were you before?"

[to_defend]

"I was small ... swift. Steel and canvas ..." Helpfully, they never really had a name for what they were. Her expression goes wistful as she thinks back. She missed that. She missed the hunt, she missed her friends. She hadn't been dragged here during the best of times, and she worried.

"They need me." She starts to slip off to sleep again.

[imareporter]

Swift and Steel and Canvas.

She might be ill in the head. Like Maria was. Like many humans are. Like you are when you think of your mother and father, when the darkness creeps in.

Eddie wants to scream at him to stop before he rises, "Cool water okay? Try to cool you down you are burning up."

...Why are you caring? Her resources could be used to fuel us.

"That's what people do."

[to_defend]

"What's what people do? They fight ... that's what people do. They make things to fight better then they fight those things and ... leave the rubble for everyone else."

Delirium begins to set in and the world around her - when she chances to glance at it through bleary eyes - is starting to look more and more like the broken stone and cracked wood of her own home. There was a familiarity and comfort to it. She drifted off to sleep in earnest as he went to grab the water.

[imareporter]

This was bad. This was very bad.

"Hey. Hey Seven? I need you to stay with me." Returning with cool water he gently touches her cheek, "Wake up. I'm gonna try and cool you down and take you to...somebody."

To where? This was bad.

"...c'mon." One delicate hand traces her face, her cheek with the water, "C'mon. Stay with me."

[to_defend]

It was so far away, though. She heard him, dimly in the background, and then the water on her cheek and it's cool and soothing. He sounded worried. She struggles against the pull of sleep, for a moment not sure if it was going to happen, but then her eyes slowly blink open and she looks at him.

He looked worried.

Don't look worried.

His one eye, the way his brow furrows and pulls at the stitches of his patch. She smiles at him, wan but sincere, and reaches to lay a hand on his arm. It's an easy, familiar connection. Dear friends, history, she gives him a light squeeze with what little strength she has.

"5 ... don't look so worried, I'll be fine."

[imareporter]

He doesn't know this 5.

"...It's Eddie 7. Stay with me kiddo." He frowns, "Listen. I'm not gonna leave you okay? I promise. I'm gonna stay by your side."

Eddie we can't

His features scrunch and he ignores him, "...But I may have to take you to somebody. To the Inn."

Stark or Banner might know what to do. Wanda too.

[to_defend]

"Hey - hey," she croaks, pausing to cough, "I've got you. You'll take care of me - you always do."

But the ease on her face washes away as she sees his expression shift, and she glances behind him at the broken rubble and looming cars. "Is it close? The Beast, is it here?"

If it was still a threat, she had to be ready. 5 wouldn't be up to it. She struggles to stand, her demeanor going cold immediately.

"Where's my spear."

[imareporter]

"You're not going anywhere." Spear? Not human and now spears?

...We can't help her if she assumes there is a beast. She might become dangerous.

"There's no beast. I can help you I promise." he frowned, holding her hand, "I'm keeping you safe."

[to_defend]

She wavers where she sits, watching him with concern. 5 had heart, but he wasn't the type to take on the fight on his own. She gives his hand a squeeze.

She coughs, this hurt. Why did this hurt?

"It'll be back. We've got to be ready." She squeezes his hand a little more tightly. "Don't listen to 1, okay? 5?" She coughs again, looks like she wants to continue, but has to give in to the overwhelming coughing fit.

[imareporter]

Eddie winces, "...Sure. I won't. He's a rotten egg." It's completely random. I can't let her stay here.

"Listen I don't think there's a beast here but I want to take you to someone I think could help."

[to_defend]

Random, yet true.

Everything in her is screaming to get up, to move to run, find her spear, find the Beast, and end it. She didn't want to keep living in fear. But, she's currently nearly double over coughing; her ribs ache. Something's wrong and she can't quite put a coherent thought to it.

She doesn't let go of 5-Eddie's hand, leaning into it as she finally quiets, the vigor spent. Her head swims. She has to fight, but she can't even sit upright, and she swears she can feel it just beyond the crumbling walls; stalking, scanning with its red eyes, picking apart the debris to find them.

Sagging against Eddie's chest, she grips a fistful of his shirt, speaking without looking up because she can't find the strength anymore to hold her head up.

"I'm not going back. I won't let him lock me up."

[imareporter]

"That's not happening." Who is she talking about? Eddie? What is she doing? Who is she talking about? His chest twitches, visibly twitches and Eddie puts a hand over it and swallows hard.

"I'm not going to let anyone lock you up kid. But we are gonna go to the hospital. You want food? Maybe we could-"

Yes Food!

"...Shut up. Food. For you Seven. You want some before we walk over?"

[to_defend]

The hospital? There was nothing in the hospital. There was the Cathedral and the Library.

"Food ... I don't ... no, I don't need it." But at the same time she felt like she did.

"We're not safe here ..."

[imareporter]

"That's why we're going to the hospital." He hesitates, "...Listen. I'm gonna ..." He paused, "I'm gonna wrap you in blankets and carry you over there okay?"

Hell with Venom augmenting his strength he could carry her easily couldn't he?

I can't do that.

"...we'll try."

Eddie we can't.

Fuck it.

"...Okay so we're gonna take all these blankets and wrap you up and uh...uh...help you out."

[to_defend]

"Okay ..." She takes a deep breath and tries to steel herself to attempt standing. Her legs felt loose and wobbly, but she does her best to get them under her to stand, still heavily leaning against Eddie.


There's a rush and her head swims, and as it settles the world bleeds away and she's back in the village. She shivers, looking around, disoriented. "No ...nonono, where'd they go? Where's 5? Eddie - where's 5?"

She's living between the two realities with no context, she still feels the Beast is close. The world isn't making sense!

[imareporter]

"He'll be back."

This is the tragedy of Eddie. He is a good liar. The best of the best. That isn't what this situation calls for and Venom is silently growling inside of him but...

"Listen, I have to take you to the hospital okay? I'm going to help you. You'll all right. You'll be all right."

[to_defend]

She pauses a moment,starting her breathing and trying to resist coughing. She nods. She was worried about 5, but Eddie was right; she was in a bad way.

"Alright ... okay, hospital." She looks up at him, face pale and slick with sweat, brow furrowed with concern. "Please find him. He can't do this on his own."

[imareporter]

"I'll bring him to you." He raised a hand to her face and stroked her cheek before moving to lift her into his arms and-

I can't. Our abilities have been hindered here.

Damn.

"Okay so. You're gonna have to help me. Walk a little bit but not far. Meantime...I'm gonna make you a jacket."

He wrapped her in blankets, one around her shoulders and then another, "My mom used to do this for me."

[to_defend]

That's encouraging, and it's not quite a smile but her expression eases somewhat. She braces for him to lift her but when that's not going to happen, she tries to stand steady for him. She's shivering now, between the chill and the exertion. The blankets that he wraps her in are some consolation, but the symptoms persist.

"Spear - grab my spear, if the Beast comes by we'll need it." She curls her arms in, pulling the blankets tight. "It's - it's in the bedroom, by the door."

[imareporter]

"Okay." He hesitates before squeezing her shoulders, "I'll be right back okay."

Why are you not leaving her behind? She's ill. you should leave her...We regret we cannot carry her.

"One hand on the spear." He moves to hand it to her, "...Other around my shoulders okay? We're gonna walk together."

[to_defend]

She takes the spear, wrapping her hand tightly around the shaft, and slides the other arm over his shoulders. She leans into him, but the other benefit of having the weapon with her was using it for stability as well, like a walking stick or cane.

Otherwise, this might have been an even more tricky trek.

Still, she's slow and unsteady on her feet, and that frustrates her. As they struggle on, she shifts to a hyper-focus on just trying to get one foot in front of the other, and huffs she stumbles, leading into another coughing fit.

If the Beast catches them now, they're both doomed.

[imareporter]

He wishes he could hold her tighter. As they slowly make their way to the door of her house he holds her closer. Adjusting his grip so he could get her under her arms, he nods.

"One step at a time sweetheart. I'm not gonna let you fall."

It was easier since Venom was...quiet? Malleable? Intrigued? Yes, that was it. Intrigued. Observing passively through his eyes.

[to_defend]

"Why am I like this?"

Her knuckles are white where she grips the spear, her other hand digging into his shoulder. How did she get sick in the first place? Did she forget to do an important human thing, or was there something in the air?

The next step her foot catches on the ground - either some rock or root or maybe she hasn't lifted it high enough, and she can feel that frustration bubbling into anger. She has to be better than this, she has to. People are counting on her. Eddie keeps her from falling, but she's the one that can't seem to get one foot in front of the other and it grates on her. She jams the spear into the ground and definitively plants her foot with the intention of taking more decisive steps, but her legs give way entirely and she stags in his grip. Her head swims, and she feels a pressure against her forehead and everything seems to flare up at once; she's coughing and she's too weak to stand and the world is starting to press in at the edges of her vision.

"Need to sit, just a moment," Her words come out breathy, but her head is too heavy to hold up and the world is moving enough on its own even when she's not. "How much, longer do I have to, be like this?"