John Crichton (
neverfeltbetter) wrote in
lastvoyageslogs2014-02-13 10:02 pm
Entry tags:
If I Fall Along the Way
Who: Ben/X5-493, John Crichton and OPEN
What: Ben has accidentally skipped enough doses of his supplement to induce a seizure
When: February 14, the morning after the I've Got You, Babe flood ends
Where: In the halls on level one near the Dining Hall, then later infirmary spam
Warnings: TW: seizures, dangerous medical emergencies.
Notes: Slightly forward-dated, and slightly non-standard to allow for all aspects of the emergency without clogging up reading pages. Spam and prose both acceptable, network threadstarter should be treated exactly like a network post.
Crichton was meandering towards the Dining Hall, having finally regained his appetite after all that had gone down with the flood. Ugh, he’s lucky his liver was still functioning after all that, or his brain for that matter.
Ahead of him in the hall he saw someone on the ground out in the hall, huddled against the wall. And they were shaking all over...no, they were having a seizure! The adrenaline hit his system instantly. He tore down the hall and slid to a stop next to the prone figure of none other than Ben.
“Ben! Can you hear me?!”
He knelt at Ben’s side, looking him over but not trying to touch him. So far the seizing man was still breathing, and not yet heaving. But his head was bouncing violently off the wall, and Crichton still wasn’t getting a response.
“Son of a bitch.”
Crichton ripped off his leather vest and wedged it under Bens head. It was all he could do, that and call for someone to get their ass down here from the infirmary.
“Hang in there buddy,” he said, more to soothe himself than for Ben to hear.
He pulled out his communicator and prepared to call.
“Hang in there.”
What: Ben has accidentally skipped enough doses of his supplement to induce a seizure
When: February 14, the morning after the I've Got You, Babe flood ends
Where: In the halls on level one near the Dining Hall, then later infirmary spam
Warnings: TW: seizures, dangerous medical emergencies.
Notes: Slightly forward-dated, and slightly non-standard to allow for all aspects of the emergency without clogging up reading pages. Spam and prose both acceptable, network threadstarter should be treated exactly like a network post.
Crichton was meandering towards the Dining Hall, having finally regained his appetite after all that had gone down with the flood. Ugh, he’s lucky his liver was still functioning after all that, or his brain for that matter.
Ahead of him in the hall he saw someone on the ground out in the hall, huddled against the wall. And they were shaking all over...no, they were having a seizure! The adrenaline hit his system instantly. He tore down the hall and slid to a stop next to the prone figure of none other than Ben.
“Ben! Can you hear me?!”
He knelt at Ben’s side, looking him over but not trying to touch him. So far the seizing man was still breathing, and not yet heaving. But his head was bouncing violently off the wall, and Crichton still wasn’t getting a response.
“Son of a bitch.”
Crichton ripped off his leather vest and wedged it under Bens head. It was all he could do, that and call for someone to get their ass down here from the infirmary.
“Hang in there buddy,” he said, more to soothe himself than for Ben to hear.
He pulled out his communicator and prepared to call.
“Hang in there.”

[Network]
no subject
[This is a remarkably calm threat.]
no subject
[He can forgive the threat given the circumstances.]
no subject
no subject
[ First Responders - OPEN ]
[ Later - Infirmary Spam - OPEN ]
That’s about when his memories collide with the fact that when his eyes focus, he recognizes the infirmary; in and of itself he’s become more or less ambivalent to the medical ward, but with what he’s now able to identify as the familiar blur and clumsiness - mental and physical alike - that he associates with the seizure flaw. It all makes a terrible sense now, except for how it’s impossible.
Ben doesn’t try to leave the infirmary for several hours; it’s safer here while he steadies himself and tries to figure out what went wrong, where, and why. He’s quiet and withdrawn, but alert.
[ Later - Infirmary Spam - OPEN ]
[Riddick knows that he is. But it's a buffer, a chance for Ben not to respond. His voice is a hair gentler than the last time he and Ben had a heart to heart. Not much. ]
no subject
It's embarrassing, which is a refreshing change from terrifying, but still not something he feels comfortable exhibiting so he doesn't beyond the flush of his cheeks.
Ben has his knees drawn up in the bed, still tired, still unsteady, and just plain still. His chin rests on them, and his eyes tick over without moving otherwise.]
Hello, Riddick.
no subject
Glad you're awake. How ya feeling?
no subject
Tired. I... clearer. Than I have been. Except, of course... [He motions towards Riddick with one hand as he straightens up, indicating the past few days when, for a chance, he felt sure of himself. Clear headed and powerful and in control of himself.
Not at all like himself.]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
He wishes they never happened to Ben, though. So he gets the urge to hover.
He doesn't bring anything when he comes to visit but a little grin that's more or less negated by the frown line between his eyes. Unsurprised to see Ben awake, he sits down at his bedside with a little sigh.
"I would've brought flowers, but I don't remember what your favorite color is right now."
no subject
And he has been trying. He's been trying so hard.
Ben sees the frown line and the grin both, hears the sigh; he's not certain which one to believe, and the joke - though he recognizes it as a joke even as we don't exchange flowers rises to the back of his tongue - doesn't help him decide. He's sitting upright, picking at the edge of the sheet on his temporary bed, still dressed for his morning run; his eyes drop to his fingertips.
"Pink," he replies, quietly, his voice an uncharacteristically mealy-mouthed murmur. "Like bubblegum."
no subject
"Bubblegum," he echoes, and nods. "Maybe later, then."
Leaning slightly forward in his seat, not in Ben's face but in his, as it were, bubble, Alex looks him over. The fidgeting. That's - something. Probably not a good something.
"How're you feeling?" He considers saying I was worried, but it's not necessary; Ben will know.
no subject
Ben tilts his head slightly so he can keep Alex in his peripheral vision when his friend leans forward, though he doesn't otherwise acknowledge the move, doesn't look up. The new question - it isn't really a new question, just new for Alex, for this conversation - has more answers than he could possibly explain, so he doesn't try.
He addresses, instead, what has gone unsaid but not unknown: "I don't know what happened."
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
Her voice pipes up quiet from the end of the bed when Ben opens his eyes fully. There is, in fact, a plate balancing on his feet. There are also crackers. And grapes.
Abigail herself is fiddling with the hem of her shirt. The bear is tucked under her arm, apparently forgotten.
"It's ham," she adds. "You should eat. Probably. I don't actually know anything about seizures, but you should eat anyway."
no subject
Then the rest of his training kicks in: nothing will stabilize him but tryptophan, but seizures are made worse by lowered blood sugar, or deplete it, he can't remember. Either way it needs replaced and stabilized.
He doesn't feel very stable. "Abigail," he says instead, voice tight. She belongs to an exact place and time, and he focuses on that knowledge, forcing his muscles to relax one group at a time. "...Thank you. It's. The flaw is..."
One place. One time. He focuses on her. "Are you okay?"
no subject
"I'm not afraid."
She knows this isn't an answer. That's mostly why she says it. That, and it's true.
Tapping the edge of the plate with her nail, she tips her chin up at him, a little insolent. Also deliberate.
"Eat."
no subject
Clockwise, begin at the visible entrance, mark the hostiles as he goes...
"What happened?" Seizure, he knows. Impossibly, but that much is certain, whatever else is not.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject
"Hey champ? How're you feeling."
no subject
Then he registers Crichton, someone he is familiar with and that he remembers cut in amongst the juxtaposition of losing control of his motor functions and chronoloigcal progression, and he sits up somewhat straighter in the bed. He's sitting on top of the covers, still dressed for his morning run, and his normally bright brown eyes are somewhat glassy and difficult to focus.
"Hello, sir," he replies, quiet. "Much better now, thank you. For the inquiry, and your assistance. I... apologize for the inconvenience."
no subject
"You can just call me John."
The inconvenience? Ben was on the floor having a full blow seizure; inconvenience was that last thing Crichton was concerned with. He'd have come to his aid in a heart beat no matter what he was doing.
"Don't apologize for that, man. I'm just glad I came along when I did. You were in bad shape; is this something that's happened before?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
[ Late orz ]
"Hey."
She sits next to him, puts a hand on the bedspread, a metonym of contact, touch without touch.
"I'm here."
[ Late orz ]
He feels slow and dumb and lethargic, though his eyes clear somewhat when he sees Anya. She's right: he doesn't even register the cookies.
"Anya," he breathes out in unabashed relief for her and her promise; he sits up, leans forward where his legs are crossed atop the covers of the bed in anticipation of being released with permission. He doesn't touch her, either, but the point of his knee hovers over where her hand is with something like unconscious response. "I will be able to leave soon. This is merely precaution."
no subject
"Do we know what happened yet?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)