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 Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 1:56 pm
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Oliver having a really bad day. Any outside observer might say most of his days were not so great, with the way he spent near endless hours in the lab working, rarely seeing friends, rarely sleeping in, or even sleeping in his own bed... It was a lifestyle many people would find little joy in, but the kid was under the impression it was just fine.
However, today was legitimately a bad day. By anyone's accounts.
When Oliver walked into the infirmary it was shortly after dinner time. He looked even more nervous and shaky than usual, a bit pale, and definitely in some pain. At a quick glance it looked like he was simply carrying his coat in his arms, but his posture disguised the way his right arm was cradled close against his body. As usual, he was trying his best to act like nothing was really wrong and failing horribly.
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 4:39 pm
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Zeke was on an evening rotation that night, had only just started his shift when he noticed Oliver making his way into the infirmary. It meant he was a bit more alert than he might otherwise have been if it had been the end of a long shift, which meant the other intermediate's posture rather quickly caught the Mist's attention.
Now, if Zeke wasn't familiar with Oliver he probably would have simply let the other man go on his merry way without so much as a word, but since he did know him, and since he had no reason to dislike the mild-mannered doorstop of a kid, he was actually motivated to do something. So, leaving his coffee mug at the front desk, the Mist hurried to catch up with the small Life, falling into step beside him.
"You're hurt." It wasn't a question, and as the passed a door to an examination room Zeke was reaching across Oliver to open it, blocking the other man's way, and making it obvious he was to head inside for doctoring. "What happened?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 6:47 pm
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Oliver startled at being approached so abruptly. "Ah, y-yeah... I... um... It usually isn't a big deal, but I was on a mission earlier, a-and my shield hadn't recovered enough... I-it's not the minipet's fault... The new trainee was handling it roughly, i-it was getting scared... ow..."
The kid let himself be herded into a room without any protest, and took a seat on the examination table without any coercion required. Usually he insisted on doing things himself so as to not be a bother, compliance was definitely a sign he was not well. When he dropped his coat on the table next to him, it no longer hid the swollen, discoloured mess that was his right arm. Large sections of skin were mottled with deep purple flesh and dark blisters, centered around what looked like a single dark puncture on his forearm.
"The antivenom... um... didn't get moved back to the labs when the minipets were moved..." Oliver let out a ragged breath. "I was sent here... Copperhead manticat, c-can you find it for me?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2016 3:20 pm
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Antivenom in hand, Zeke wasted little time in fetching a needle and plugging it into the soft cap of the bottle to draw out the desired amount. He was meticulous as he did so, a mark to why they had him here in the infirmary, despite his less than stellar bedside manner. The syringe was given a small tap of his nail, shaking free any bubbles, and the plunger given the smallest of presses until a single drop rolled down from the tip of the needle.
Prepped, he set it on a sterile tray, then helped himself to a pair of gloves, a few gauze pads, an antiseptic packet, and a half used roll of medical tape. The tray itself was then carried over to where Oliver was sitting.
"Probably going to want to avoid handling poisonous minis when you're shields low, in the future." As if that wasn't obvious. The smile, condescending as it was, still managed to turn the advice into an ironic joke, softening them.
He tore the antiseptic open, then pushed up the sleeve of Oliver's shirt so he could swab the cold little towelette over the other trainee's shoulder. When it was clean, he reached for the needle.
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Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 7:10 am
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Whatever Oliver might have been hoping for in an answer, he wasn't likely to find it in Zeke. The Mist looked down at him with brows arched, expression curious. "Not really, only if I'm really familiar with the person receiving care." It was both what made him good at what he did, and ill suited. There was very little chance of Zeke getting overly emotional on the job, or letting deaths drag him down. On the flip side, he had some utterly lousy bed side manner.
"People die here everyday," he went on, talking about the organization as a whole now, and not the infirmary itself. "It's one of the hazards of being here, doing what we do."
There had been four other hunters that had gone with Zeke and the others into the Sahara, and all four of them had died. It wasn't something Zeke ever lost any sleep over, he hadn't known them. What did bother him was Ever's disappearance over the holidays, or Harley getting in over her head. They mattered to him, the rest of the island, save a few exceptions, did not.
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Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 7:42 pm
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It was quite a dramatic difference between the two, Oliver's empathy was the source of his own success and troubles in the infirmary. He felt too much, for strangers and friends alike, and while it pushed him to do well and make use of his bright mind, it took far too much of a toll on his delicate nerves. He sometimes wished he could draw such clean lines between what he should care about and what he should let go of.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to it..." Oliver muttered, almost like another apology. "Even i-if I don't know them, there's so much pain, all the time..."
He shifted restlessly, but it had no effect on the pain from the sting. The anti-venom had already begun to neutralize the poison, keeping the patches of dark, mottled skin and swollen tissue from creeping farther up his arm, but it didn't feel like it was making any difference at all.
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