[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

[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?"

[imareporter]

"How to be...what? Sick?" He pauses, "Cause you feel and sound sick. It'll pass. I mean, you just have to sit and let people take care of you. Maybe see a Doctor, which is why we are heading there. So we can't just sit okay?"

Fussing, like a mother for a moment (and that gets a snort from venom) he tightens the blanket around her shoulders, tucking her in while holding her up.

"...You'll be all right."

[to_defend]

She leans against him and shivers, maybe not sitting but at least taking a moment to breathe. After a few calculated moments, she carefully nods her head (can't be too vigorous - has to be gentle with it), and reaches up to push her hair back from her face.

"Alright - alright, let's go get a doctor then. I don't want to be like this."

She can't fight like this, she can't protect anyone like this, and she hates it. She'll try to let Eddie lead, instead of stubbornly trying to blaze the trail herself, but she's definitely feeling defeated.

[imareporter]

He squeezes her shoulders, "...You have to do what they say okay? When they ask you to do things. Sit, lie down, otherwise...you'll be stuck like this."

Cruel. But appropriate. You recall when she said "Not human" yes? She is not like us but perhaps...she is something like us.

[to_defend]

She takes a careful breath and lets it out, leaning into Eddie. "Okay. I will." Easier to say that when she's at such a low, it would be harder to follow instructions the moment she's starting to feel rested.

For now, she leans against him as they make their way to the hospital.

[imareporter]

Eddie hates not being able to help people.

He always has because when he does he feels needed and not like a waste of space. Helping her to the hospital makes him feel like he's accomplishing something, that he's not just some sort of secret pet project.

You are not a waste of space.

It's so sincere he stops walking halfway there, the hospital closer as he shakes his head.

"...It'll be okay."

Focus on her.

"I've got you."

[to_defend]

"Thank you, Eddie."

They're almost there, she grips Eddie and focuses on one step after the next. She didn't know what kind of rules or instructions they'd give her when she got in, but she remembered 5 taking care of her when she'd needed repairs, how much different could this be?

Timeskip

Safely deposited at the hospital, 7 does her best to follow Eddie's suggestion in order to get better faster. It's a struggle, though, she doesn't always know the people who are helping her. It's stressful taking advice from strangers and letting them poke and prod; sometimes enough that that little blue light shows up again, the one that told her to swim to the top of the fountain.

Right now, it's telling her to lie down, to let the doctors do their thing. She tries to relent.

Finally, she's given a length of time to rest. It's fitful, punctuated with fits of coughing and moments where she's not sure just what reality she's in. She's not alone, she's never alone, and she never really feels at ease.