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 Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 4:43 pm
Julian bit back a protest. It was too much, too hot. His skin burned and the miserable cold made him shiver harder to counter the warmth.
"Th-thanks," he said, unthinkingly shifting so he closed any space between them. He didn't care if it felt like it hurt, he felt like he was freezing to death. "I'm...not really that much use for company right now, I'm afraid. Though I bet you were looking for Ethan or something..."
He turned his head to cough. UGH.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 4:48 pm
Hellis shook his head and heaved a sigh. Poor sick little immortals. So sad. And then...aha!
He reached into intangibility and removed a rather large, fabric-coated rectangle of...well...who knew? It was a Vavvian form of a heating pad, activated like a glowstick over and over and over...
He'd leave it with poor, sick Julian.
He stood, bent the pad with a sharp crack, and slid it beneath the blanket on Julian's chest.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 4:52 pm
Breath leaving him in a huff and unable to keep the wince from flickering over his face, Julian sagged against the couch and shivered under the heat. It lessened bit by bit as the muscles relaxed, and he finally managed to lift his head and look around.
"Jeez, you're a life-saver," he said, clearing his throat when an oncoming cough made his voice coarse. He touched the pad, feeling the numbness leaving his fingers. "Coulda used it this morning....for the past couple weeks, actually. I don't know what the hell's up with me lately."
He paused and cringed at the slip, looking up at Hellis.
"Don't tell Rabid," he said sharply. "It's nothing. I don't want her worrying over me."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 4:54 pm
Hellis blinked.
And then he flipped Julian off.
And then he was gone, run back home.
It certainly looked like he was going to tell Rabid.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 4:55 pm
Julian sighed, head falling back onto the couch.
"Damn."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:14 pm
__Part 9
When Julian went to work the next day, pretty much only to avoid his family and Rabid, he knew he was in no shape to dare be near patients. It was irresponsible. It was dangerous.
And he was scrubbing in, damn it all.
Gods. I hate myself. I suck, he thought grumpily, washing his hands under water so hot it skirted being scalding. The chatter around him was white noise, and he ignored it until he got a very hard poke to his arm.
"Ow! Hey..." he said, turning. He had to look down as well. "Sedra, don't do that."
Doctor U'maaki, a very short, very intimidating woman, twisted her lips and glared up at him as she slipped into her scrubs.
"You look terrible," she said shortly. "I have to question why you think being around people who are being cut wide open is a good idea if you're contagious."
Julian snorted, tying his surgical mask with fingers made clumsy with cold.
"Just because I'm...for god's sake, Sedra, butt out, would you?" he snapped, pushing the door open with his back and stepping into the operating room. U'Maaki muttered something about ill-mannered juveniles and followed after.
"Alright, let's get 'im open," she said, tracing a scalpel down the patient's chest and watching the bright line of red that followed. Julian watched, almost grateful he'd been stuck with suction duty. He doubted he could handle a scalpel, it would be so simple for his numbed hands to slip...
The surgery ticked by so slowly, he was sure time was going in reverse. He was so tired, still. He had no right to be here, in this room. What if U'maaki was right, and he was contagious? He was making an idiotic mistake. He didn't belong in there.
Should've stayed home...
He forced himself to ignore an encroaching dizziness, taking deep breaths to focus himself.
The surgery was nearly finished, the last sutures being made, when he felt a sudden heat splatter down his face.
"Uhn!"
The other surgeons turned to look, and Julian heard U'maaki gasp.
"Adyamaur!"
Julian staggered away from the table, choking as he got coppery liquid in his mouth. Blood. He spit it out, struggling to wrench the surgical mask off. Blood stained the whole of it and more flowed from his nose, splattering down his front.
"Huh...hnnn..." he managed, doubling over. So cold. So. Cold. Hurt hurt hurt it was too cold, the blood there was too much he couldn't breathe there were too many others around all watching watching he had to get OUT.
Wrenching his arm away from some anonymous grip, he staggered from the OR and coughed, gagging on blood.
"Hh! HHN! Stop, stop, STOP," he choked, the blood flowing so thickly he was sure his body was emptying itself. "Hhhk!"
He coughed again, spitting out blood that had leaked into his mouth. People were suddenly around him and he slid to the floor, cringing away from them.
"I'm fine," he said, striking out, catching someone in the chest. "It's just a nosebleed, leave me alone!"
He got up, staggered, and leaned against the wall. Steady. Steady. He couldn't feel the flow of blood anymore, it had stopped. Good. He snorted, having to spit again. He looked around, shamed.
"I'm fine," he said, trying to wipe the blood from his face.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:40 pm
__Part 10
After three minutes of fruitless knocking before she remembered the house-behind-the-door thing again, Crow was half in the mindset that she was being avoided because she bore some kind of plague. Hopping up onto the porch, she knocked again, hoping the others hadn't marked her as leprous.
"Anyone there?"
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:41 pm
Rabid suddenly threw the door open, looking half-asleep.
"Why, yes. Yes someone is."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:45 pm
Crow grinned, hands stowed deep in her jacket's pockets to warm them.
"Well! I've certainly stumbled upon the wrong house. Could've sworn the map I stole from the peg-leg guy said this was a secret entrance to a doomsday laboratory. Alas. Lemme come in and bother you."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:47 pm
"Of course, dear," Rabid laughed slightly and made a sweeping arm gesture, "I'm the only one home. Kinda. Dezzy's asleep upstairs."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:51 pm
"I'll keep my maniacal laughter at a minimum then," Crow said, slipping inside. She shed her jacket regretfully, and zipped up the hoodie underneath it all the way under her chin. She stood on tip-toe as usual and gave Rabid a quick hug. "Heya, darlin'."
Peering around the house she'd never really gotten a chance to explore, she ambled uninvited into the kitchen.
"You wouldn't have any tea, would you? I wrecked all mine the other day and I keep forgetting to mercilessly bully Ethan into getting groceries."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:53 pm
"I do, I do," Rabid nodded, deciding to not beat the significantly smaller woman into the ground for not telling her she was sick.
"Whaddya want? Normal? Green? Peach?"
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:58 pm
"Gr-ooooh wait, peach, peach! I've never had that before," Crow said, by far too excited by the notion of new tea. Following Rabid around like a shadow and turning away for a moment to cough, she sniffed. Ugh ugh ugh.
"So!" she said. "What've you been doing in the past few days while I haven't been checking my deviously hidden spy cameras?"
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 6:03 pm
"Meh," Rabid shrugged as she readied a microwaved cup of scalding hot water and applied proper tea-baggage, "We had to fish a cat out of a tree yesterday. And by 'cat' I mean Hellis."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 6:05 pm
Crow made a sound halfway between a laugh and 'aww'.
"Should I dare ask why he was up the tree in the first place?" she asked wryly. "Oh, gods. Shivali didn't chase him up it, did she?"
For some reason, the mental image was hysterical, though she felt bad for finding it so funny. She bit her lip, trying not to laugh out loud.
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