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

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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I swear to god if you get us caught-

He could move closer, he could speed closer. Eddie is struggling against him but he can't. That said. Venom resolves to be patient.

Think carefully. Look at her movements. You know she's dangerous. She moves like Drake.

all the more reason to ignore her because if she's getting a read on us we can call her crazy.

...Ah. Venom had not considered that. His animal posture doesn't relax, "...I have no idea what you're talking about."

That's what I'm talking about. Whoever this is? We have to make her look like a fool.

...Agreed.

Trust me buddy. I got us. You just keep driving and listen to what I tell you to do.

"No really. Okay so you're not blind but." His laugh is slightly dark, "I'm feeling fit as a fiddle princess."

"Do you not?" she echoes, and wonders if she would get in trouble for killing someone for calling her princess. She thinks of the man who had touched her and asked her to be young. The fire in her eyes is filled with memories of him, of David Elster, of every man who ever treated her as an object.

"I'm not your princess," is an icy warning, because she might not be armed right now, she might be here in a helper's capacity, but that doesn't mean she won't strike. "And you seem preoccupied with the concept of people dying. Does that mean you're here to help?"

She moves, putting her back to him as she begins to arrange the medicine she's been able to create. It's not trust. In fact, it's a dare.

Try something, it says. She'll hear him coming.

Feisty.

"I'm here to try and do whatever I can to help, yes." he gestures, "So point me in the direction you need."

There. Throw her off. Try nothing despite sounding condescending as hell. Eddie is known around the village. venom Eddie...not so much.

In that case, Niska holds up one of the makeshift catheters, turning to give him a smirk and a challenging look in her eye. This isn't all that she actually needs done, but it is on the list.

"You don't seem to be twitching so much anymore. Perhaps you can help with the insertion?" There are other things to be done, such as blood-taking and offering comfort. The latter is something Niska doesn't really enjoy, given that she lacks empathy in most situations, so she'd rather focus on the practical.

She eyes him speculatively. "Or do you want to sit there and shake more?"

Can you give me my hands back please?

...As you wish. We don't know what she wants us to do.

Eddie's eyes narrow and he moves over, offering his hands, "You're gonna have to walk me through this."

Camping? Awful. Dating? Awful. Dealing with blood and gore? With medical things? With fighting? - well. He was getting better at fighting but the rest of it.

She glances over her shoulder and gives him an amused look when he's willing to do the work. Well, that's impressive, then. She lifts up one of the bags and the insertion part of the needle, thinking that she'll put this forward and see if he's willing.

Really, they mostly just need to hydrate people. This is the opposite of that, for later. "We can leave the catheter to later. You can do what I don't want to," she says, and settles the sharp pointy thing down, handing him a bowl of water.

"Go be nice to people while I take their blood," Niska says, because she wants to focus on the actual medicine and not the hand-holding and sympathy.

This is another one of those things where I'm going to do it and you're going to sit on the sidelines.

...Nice.

"...Bad bedside manner?" He falls into step beside her, "...Gotta form a community and all that."

"I can be part of the community well enough by being good at what I do," she replies, not entirely sure she wants to become soft and cheerful and empathetic. "My sister is much better at that than I ever was."

Mia would probably thrive here, and so would Max. There's no room for people like Niska in community oriented places, but she's smart and she's clever. She has knowledge and strength and she can defend where she needs to.

"You be nice. I'll take blood," she says, holding up a needle.

He watches intently before taking a patient's hand, "...Hang in there man. This is gonna get better. Trust me."

His chattering is nonchalant, he's good at this. Good at talking to people. Always has been, always will be.

It's Venom who ruins it. The creature stirs within him and he looks away with a growl.

"...This is tough."

Niska has finished with her samples on two patients, tucking them into the pocket of her shirt when she eyes this man, who she doesn't even know a name to, and gives a wry, understanding look. "Sympathy?" she makes a guess.

"It's awful," she says bluntly. "Everyone lies to make other people feel better when they ought to just tell the truth."

"...People don't understand that to control the truth is to control power."

It's Eddie speaking at this point and Venom blinks. That's a rather cold thought Eddie.

"But this isn't one of those cases." His expression is sincere, "These people are going to be fine."

Niska is rather impressed, pausing in her collection to study the man and wonder if perhaps she'd written him off too quickly. "Governments lie, people hold the truth back. It's power, but only until the people discover something isn't right."

As to his opinion, she stares at him, unblinking. "Unfortunately, the truth in this situation is that unless someone discovers a root cause, these people will not be fine."

"You sound like you're speaking from personal experience." He pauses,then shrugs, "But that's my job and the job of the fourth estate. To tell people when the government is not acting in their best interests."

He can't joke about it. No Governments should be afraid of their people. None of that shit. He takes his job seriously and always have, "Then we can work together - should be able to work together to find a cause."

She narrows her eyes at him. "Reporter," she accuses, even though reporters have rarely harmed her in the past. If anything, they've been helpful to uncovering things that the government had done, but then, writing about it isn't the same as taking action.

She eyes him steadily and brings the blood over to the microscope, intent on seeing what it looks like up close. "I was a tutor," she says absently, eyeing him and settling into a chair, aware it goes against her current actions, but then, Niska can do anything she likes. "I wonder what you think a tutor and a reporter could do together."

"Well we both write." He points, "Or aim to teach and explain. S'what I do at least."

He looks a little distant, a little misty, "I love it. And a good reporter is never afraid to get their hands dirty."

Niska knows her hands are plenty dirty, but that's from defending her family, not what she teaches. "I had a single pupil," she says. "He's clever enough now, so I don't have much purpose there, and I've moved on from where I was after that."

After David, after the suicide, after she got put in a whorehouse. She grabs the table and reminds herself not to dent it with the steel under her skin, eyes wide and unblinking as she studies the blood.

"This is pointless without a cure to test," she says, of the blood.

"...Time to take it to the scientists?" He pauses, considering her, "Do they have any ideas?"

I could tell it to you if you drank it. Venom's voice is slow, I could. I know I could-

"No!"

Just random words. Bursting out. No big deal right?

Niska doesn't react with anything more than a lift of her brow. She's already gleaned that he must have some mental condition or a habit that makes him talk to herself. For a synth who's had other people hack into her head recently, she can sympathize.

"Do you not want to hear if they have any ideas, or are you just very emphatic about knowing they don't?" she asks, the sarcasm thick in her voice.

He slams his foot down hard, "What? sorry that was a roach."

His face remains totally frozen, nonplussed, "...We can totally see if they have ideas. Absolutely."

Should she point out to him that the level of bugs within the hospital is non-existent thanks to severe cleaning protocols? No. She rather likes the idea better of playing along, because he must have some sort of reason for it.

What it is, Niska has no idea, but she'll pretend. "Then, run along," she prompts, even as she watches him, wondering what other personality quirks this man has. "I have to be a medic. You can go shout at other people."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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

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