(open) days go by and still i think of you

[whatsupcroc]

Date & Time: June 4th - 9th
Location: Initiative Hospital
Characters: Collette & Open!
Summary: Shenanigans while ill at the hospital.
Warnings: Hospital gowns, illness, trauma, silliness.

[ June 4th-7th ]

Her fever spikes the most during her first few days in the hospital. Collette hesitated to tell anyone; there was little to do but wait it out, and she was more preoccupied with the coughing when she was awake and aware of her surroundings than she liked.

She's even abstained from using the network that often, having difficulty concentrating on the bright screen.

What she didn't expect took her, and several nurses, and any potential visitors, by surprise. When the fever ran too hot, and her delusions started edging toward frightening territory, Collette reacted.

Once, where there'd been a sick girl, there appeared a crocodile. Mouth opened, it hissed and growled at everything that moved in the room, one lash of its tail taking out the IV pole. The privacy curtain is doomed to be half torn down while Collette isn't taking charge of the reptilian brain: it was one very frightened crocodile reigning over a disheveled hospital bed.

[ June 7th-8th ]

She had the crocodile under control when she found herself having episodes of coming to while morphed golden retriever or coyote, hiding under chairs, or wandering the hall with her hospital gown trailing awkwardly between her legs.

Twice she ended up in the cafeteria. Collette really didn't quite understand how she got there.

[ June 9th: after this ]

On the 9th, the fever broke, but it wasn't something she noticed. Not after everything else that happened after she escaped to the hospital roof.

Collette was shaking from something entirely unrelated to her illness, even if the shivering could have been attributed to it. She was scared to close her eyes, scared of coughing because it left her vulnerable, tired and sick and scared all around.

This, she decides, Takes the award for royal suckage.

Comments

June 7th

[recorden]

He has a fever and he's really not supposed to be out and about, but he can only sit still or sleep (as much as he loves sleeping) in a bed for so long until he goes stir-crazy. Obviously some adventurous escape was bound to happen sooner or later. Except so far the escape isn't really how Lavi had pictured it would go. In fact, he's rather lost. He has no idea how he'd managed to get to the cafeteria, but that's where he's suddenly standing.

At least the getting chased by a nurse part of the adventure he had down. He has to duck under the table to avoid her spotting him and luckily he manages just in time. So maybe being so little did have some advantages, he has to admit. Once she's passed by, he lets out a sigh of relief and turns to crawl out the other way.

Which had been the plan except he finds his exit blocked by— is that a dog or . . . ?

"Um, nice doggie."

[whatsupcroc]

Collette had stopped whining once she got back in control, huddled under the table as she was. She doesn't expect company. Finding herself with company she recognized after a blank moment of processing or two is almost pleasant, if certainly surprising.

< Lavi? What are you doing here? >

For him, the canine cocks its head to the side, expression translating some kind of curiosity and perplexion.

[recorden]

Meanwhile Lavi frantically tries to make sense of what he's seeing. Logically he knows it's not a dog, but a wild animal in a hospital seems even less likely than an actual dog so it has to be a dog, right? Unless he was hallucinating again which could be the case, but he thought he was pretty lucid today—

Until there's a familiar voice speaking in his head.

"I'm hallucinating, aren't I?"

It's a rhetorical question, but one he's testing anyway by reaching out to touch the canine in front of him.

pretty much all week, June 9th

[weapabilities]

For all intents and purposes, Drift is a robot. He doesn't need to sleep like humans do, at least not nearly as often, nor does he need to fuel as much, either. The best part about this whole ordeal is that he is completely immune to the illness that has taken the city. All of this had come in handy. When he'd found out she was sick, it had been a slow escalation of essentially moving in to the hospital. He leaves his body parked on the curb, and his holomatter stands like some kind of oddly good natured sentinel in her room. Unable to tire, and from what can be inferred, he never rests.

If he does, it isn't reflected in the solid holoform.

The incident of her attack only solidifies his resolve. When she's awake, he's there, probably being a pest with how much he asks if he can get her anything. Fortunately, he manages to stay out of the way of the doctors and nurses enough that he's not asked to leave. Either that or they've given up trying to deter him.

More recently he's expressed a measure of distrust with the staff, but reluctant acceptance.

Today, he sits down by her bed, placing a tray of food on the nightstand. He leans on the edge of her bed like some kind of worried dog.

"How are you feeling?" He knows that's a stupid question, but it fills that uncomfortable hospital quiet that tends to settle in if it's not shooed away every now and then.

[whatsupcroc]

Collette doesn't seem to hear him at first, glancing his way and startling at the pressure on her bed, then offering a sort of smile that was more reflex than intention. Her eyes stray inevitably toward the door, tensing at something that isn't there. Something that probably never will be.

But could be. The could was enough.

She swallows. "Not so bad," she says at last. "The fever's finally broke. The coughing still sucks, but I'm not getting chills like before." Scratchy and breathy as her voice is, she sounds better -- if better meant more coherent.

[weapabilities]

He knows. Dear Primus, he knows, he's seen mechs do it a thousand times. He's done it too. There's definitely a fear, when you come close and look death in the face. Something someone so young shouldn't have to know. Difference being is that he's had millions of years to deal with it.

A hand goes to her shoulder.

"That's good. Can't have you overheating..." He pauses, he's not good at this comforting thing, but he's going to try.

"I'm going to be right here, you know? I'm not leaving. I'm parked right outside, and I can stay awake for a long, long time." There's no way the staff could get rid of his holomatter, either.

okay first the 5th

[commentboxtroll]

Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, and that blanket...

Her text from only the day before had specified those few items as having been left behind and Caesar has finally stirred his butt out of bed long enough to find someone to let him into her place, throw them into a bag, and head on over to the hospital. He wasn't in a hurry, either, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that he stopped by in the market when he found a stall of fresh baked goods (amazing, that he woke up early enough to catch this). Cinnamon rolls for all was his decision, provided 'all' was only two people.

So, when he arrives at her room to nurses screaming and fleeing, he has to wonder if she'd been full of it when she said this wasn't a big deal. Caesar dares to poke his head in to look and... a giant lizard. Not just any giant lizard, but her combat form. No wonder everyone ran.

"Uh, Collette? Your scales are showing."

and so it begins

[whatsupcroc]

There's no response. The crocodile on the bed shifts, hissing and making its defensive posturing all the more apparent. Don't mess with me, it was projecting. You don't want to mess with me! Nothing made sense to its senses, the memories being activated by familiar scents pulling up images it doesn't know how to parse.

Collette has never been under instinctual drive before, her willpower always subverting the animal instinct. Now she was barely aware of having morphed, thinking this, too, might be nothing but part of her fever-ridden thoughts. Her first thought, and her only thought, is simple.

Cool. A statement on temperature, and her own dropping one.

She remains silent in regards to Caesar. He's unknown and unrecognized to the crocodile. The crocodile doesn't want him coming nearer, but it doesn't know where to go in order to be back in a safety zone.

[commentboxtroll]

That's not right. Collette's a joker, but she's never not been chatty about it. Even if the nurses had done something that she felt the need to defend herself against, this was Caesar now, here in the doorway. He expected a voice in his head by now.

"Collette?" He isn't sure how these creatures are meant to be approached. Not at all, he assumes, but he can't just leave. He takes a few steps further in, shaking the bag slightly at her. "Collette, it's me, Caesar. I brought you what you asked for."

He tries to get through a second time.

June 8th? :D

[breakin_ur_lore]

Med'an was feeling a little perplexed. When the illness had been revealed as a United Earth plot, he'd taken up a post at the clinic, ready to lend his powers to the cause. Yet those who came in seemed resistant to his magic, no matter what spell he tried. Also he was now crouched down on the floor trying to convince a dog-girl to come out from under the table.

"It's okay," he tried, in his best soothing voice. "We won't poke you with any more needles....probably..."

\o/

[whatsupcroc]

Collette's hackles were up. < It's not the needles! > she complains, whining with her canine vocal chords as well as with her Thought Speak tone of mental voice. < I'm used to needles. I just want to be cool! >

In another context, at another time, that complaint was more than enough to laugh over.

< The fevers are scaring me. >

[breakin_ur_lore]

Sympathy surged through him. (Partly because she was a cute dog.) He hadn't thought about that, but it made sense. It was also another thing that he couldn't completely solve.

"I could...put you in an iceblock," he suggested uncertainly. "It doesn't hurt."

June 7th!

[khajidont]

After the announcement that the illness going around was even more hostile than your regular, run-of-the-mill epidemic, Jaime wasted little time pondering what to do. The Initiative called for people who were good at shaking down spies, a mission better suited to people who could actually swing the intimidation schtick. With that ruled out - and with him in what amounted to a hazmat suit that could detect the illness - he headed straight for the clinic to lend a hand.

He had been expecting to be asked to cart some supplies around, scan a patient or two to see to the nature of their illness and to be put to work with simple busywork. What he wasn't expecting was to be taken aside by a stunned looking nurse to be told that there was a crocodile in one of the beds and could he take care of it please and thank you because she had important business to take care of that didn't involve so many teeth.

"Okay," he said, warily making his way into the room and approaching the crocodile slowly. "Crocodiles. Awesome. This'll be fun."

[whatsupcroc]

He had no idea.

Neither did Collette, having struggled toward consciousness in the middle of another raging fever to find she'd taken the faulty logic of going something cold blooded to escape. It hadn't worked yet. Sometimes an active imagination and wishful thinking was a liability instead of a benefit.

She was coming out of the fever haze while the crocodile operated on instinct. The scents, sights, and sounds of the hospital were so far outside its range of understanding that it could do nothing but react, frightened and defensive. Its growls were low and rumbling, the relative narrowness of the bed compared to its bulk keeping it from crashing over the side and making a stand on the floor.

Its gaping maw opened at Jaime, reptilian eyes watching with apparently cold impassion. It wanted sand, it wanted water, it wanted things that smelled like real things. All it had was antiseptics. It lashed it's tail, stomping forward to the end of the hospital bed, displaying at Jaime and trying to drive him off.

Collette was slowly coming to her senses, but she wasn't there yet.

[khajidont]

Jaime took a couple more steps forward, trying to rationalize exactly what was going on here. He'd faced down enemies ten times bigger and badder than a wild animal, but the part of his brain that still operated on instinct was telling him very insistently that wild animals with mouths as big as these ones were seriously bad news.

"Hi there," he said, raising his hands in front of him and slowly approaching the bed. "Just gonna walk over here. Good crocodile. Nice crocodile. Let's get you out of here and into a nice... swamp? Do crocodiles live in swamps?"

He exhaled shortly, then muttered with apparent exasperation, "Why am I talking to a crocodile?"

He already got accused of being crazy and talking to himself often enough as it was. Jaime glanced around the room, and upon not seeing any handy animal wrangling tools nearby, made the silent decision to clamp its mouth shut with his suit and fly the creature back into the wild where it belonged. He just had to get a little bit closer without it freaking out first.

June 9th

[lexiconning]

The epidemic has Syllona terrified. She's seen something as viciously infective as this destroy her life, and that was months ago. Granted, this is entirely different from then-- this time no one is going out of their minds. At least for now anyway.

That was why she'd forced herself to go to the hospital. It could be a risk to her health, but it's worth it if there's even one clue for getting to the bottom of this sickness. This only thing is she has idea where to start, and it's only after several flights of stairs does it become clear the whole thing involves an awful lot of talking that she's not very good at.

But this needs to be done, so when she walks by Collette's room, sees that she's at least someone around her age, she gulps and inches her way in through the door.

Standing stiff as a pole, she mumbles out quietly: "U-um. Hello. You're... awake?"

[whatsupcroc]

Collette rolled her head toward the door, taking a break from looking out the window. Caesar has just left for a vending machine run, she thinks; at first, she thought it was him returning. She doesn't recognize the girl in the doorway. For one, her hair's entirely the wrong color. Caesar stands out, even when slouching and lazing his way through life.

This girl stands out for being so clearly nervous.

Collette quirks her lips up in a smile, making the effort to sit up and look attentive in spite of the rever still coursing through her. She's in the better part, when everything is too warm and she's thankful she can't feel her feet, just to have them be as burning hot as the rest of her. "Yeah," she says, voice thick with congestions, "I'm awake. Who're you?" A reasonable question from someone with feverbright eyes.

She likes meeitng new people. Especially in hospitals. It helps pass the time.

[lexiconning]

There are little twitches of her hands and eyebrows as she takes in the sight of Collette, sees the signs of her sickness but it's also at her smile... She almost looks confused for a moment before she remembered herself, and speaks up again, the words coming out a little rushed as a result.

"S-syllona, a transport. Is it okay if I talk to you?" Her hand goes to touch the door frame, hopeful that she'll be let in but still so, so worried about catching sick herself.

June 11th-ish?

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

Nate knows he probably shouldn't be here. He's not sick himself, and the hospital is about the opposite place to be if he wants to stay that way. Plus the off-chance of someone trying to chase him down to investigate what psi-headaches look like on tech, though he knows that's probably mostly McCoy, and he hasn't felt the other man's presence in here yet.

But while he's gotten pretty good, he'd like to think, at not showing worry, he can't help but feel it. And there was no point in hiding in the middle of nowhere if he could do something in the city to help.

Collette's room is found easily enough - he knows the feel of her mind, even among the crowds here, and he follows it.

::Hey.:: The mind-touch is gentle - it's simpler this way, really.

[whatsupcroc]

She wasn't quite sleeping, nor was she entirely awake. Nathan's greeting causes a general stir. She opens her eyse with effort, yawning and rolling her head toward the chair where Caesar's camped out. No... he's either asleep or not there. He certainly wasn't saying hello. Her eyes go to Drift in his ceaseless watch, but he's likewise present, but not speaking. Even rolling her head toward Lavi doesn't provide a clear answer.

Confusion and the qusetion of who comes to mind, brow furrowing as she forces her eyes fully open. Who said that?

[oldsoldiersneverdie]

Nate finds her door right as the swell of confusion washes back at him. He opens it, stepping out of the bustle of the hallway, and gives her a small smile. *::Me. Sorry, didn't mean to surprise you.::

SOMETIME AFTER THE 9TH idk you decide

[pixieboots]

[ Twice already he's talked himself out it, come all the way here - within a half-step of her room - before he's had to steal away away like a thief, clutching the little packet to this chest while he slips back out the window he'd come in from.

Helping is what he should be doing. Catching the monsters, stopping the massacre before it can claim yet more lives like Collette's. He knows she's here, that she's getting the kind of help he's useless for anyway. He doesn't need to be here, be some dumb kid she barely knows intruding on the space that's private and hers.

And yet still, here he is again. Here and still not sure what to bring to a girl who's sick in bed and stuck there, only that Bruce would have come up with flowers somehow no matter who she was.

Flowers he doesn't have, so the packet will have to do for now. So he knocks as carefully as he can on the edge of the window. ]

Hey! Psst.

LETS DO THE uh 10th why not

[whatsupcroc]

( Collette's been drifting off again, but the knock produces a reaction that's almost electric. She pushes up and back, bracing herself on the hospital bed even as her elbow locks and she looks more like a startled mongoose than any sort of reasonable human being.

Her smile isn't there for a beat, wide-eyed look trying to find the origin of the sound. Where was Caesar? She looks for him immediately, doesn't see his familiar red hair; Drift must be there, she knows he is, ad it sinks in as she catches sight of Robin that it's really okay.

Robin isn't there to be scary, he's not a threat. He's Robin. Her smile comes on small at first, then larger and relieved. She nods her head rather than say hello. It's too close to feeling like a coughing fit to say anything at first.

Her shoulders relax, and she drops back down to her bed. One hand comes up to beckon Robin in, or closer, or at least off the goshdarn window edge. )

June 7th I'm so sorry for how late this is ;a;

[acemedium]

Well, Maya knew how she ended up at the cafeteria. In terms of food, she'd been trying to go for citrus more than burgers (for once), if only because her throat was getting dry and her head was feeling hot and she couldn't afford to get sick here. She had Nick to take care of - that big lug, he--

Wait a minute, was that a dog? With a hospital gown? Even as fries as her brain was, as Maya abandoned her search of food to try to approach it (her, that had to be), something clicked.

"Collette...?"

all is good!

[whatsupcroc]

Collette's ears flicked Maya's way, her head more slow to follow. She was ducked under a fountain, she thought, or perhaps just a counter, haunches sunk down to the ground until she was in danger of being flat on her belly watching people go by. What was going on?

When did she get here, away from bed?

< Maya...? > she responded, sounding confused. < Is that you? >