neverfeltbetter: (pic#7118126)
John Crichton ([personal profile] neverfeltbetter) wrote in [community profile] lastvoyageslogs2014-02-13 10:02 pm
18

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.”
versusnurture: (➵ & tackles her)

[personal profile] versusnurture 2014-02-14 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
Don't you dare let him die.

[This is a remarkably calm threat.]
versusnurture: (➵ it's a dream now)

[personal profile] versusnurture 2014-02-15 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Lots of unplanned things happen. Do everything in your power.
warisart: (Beaten)

[ First Responders - OPEN ]

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-14 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
warisart: (Road Turns Down)

[ Later - Infirmary Spam - OPEN ]

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-14 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
The first thing Ben is fully conscious of is that he’s tired; it’s remarkable not only for the fact that it happens to transgenics so rarely, but because there’s no real reason for it that he can remember. The flood hadn’t been all that traumatic, no crises, he hadn’t exerted himself during his morning run…

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.
with_my_teacup: (Vogue!)

[ Later - Infirmary Spam - OPEN ]

[personal profile] with_my_teacup 2014-02-14 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Ben? You up?

[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. ]
warisart: (At Every Occasion)

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-14 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
[The core of him still feels unsteady, echoes of the tremor from the hallway, but outwardly he's still and quiet now. He hears Riddick and feels the skin of his face flush hot: his memory is not as reliable as he would like it to be, but he remembers a conversation less than a week ago. One he'd mostly rejected, but that had touched on exactly this.

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.
with_my_teacup: (Chilling)

[personal profile] with_my_teacup 2014-02-14 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
Hey. [Riddick smiles. Doesn't say 'you scared me' or anything else that would put the blame on him, even as a joke.]

Glad you're awake. How ya feeling?
warisart: (A Predator)

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-14 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
[He's feeling a lot; blame is mixed in regardless. Ben lifts his head and looks over, uncertain what to do with the softer tone he can hear, see. Not much, but there.]

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.
]

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tolaywaste: ▶ x-kid is soooo hip (╳ but the movie kept moving)

[personal profile] tolaywaste 2014-02-14 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
It's almost funny, except for how it's completely not: Alex is usually the one in the bed, Ben the one hovering over him making sure he hasn't done something stupid. Not that Alex thinks Ben has done anything stupid. Ben isn't like that. But sometimes, things just happen.

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."
warisart: (Lost Puppy)

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-14 04:59 am (UTC)(link)
Ben isn't so sure he didn't do something stupid. It had to have been him, after all; he doesn't remember anyone doing anything to him, doesn't remember anything out of the ordinary.

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."
tolaywaste: ▶ x-kid learning how to society (╳ as planned)

[personal profile] tolaywaste 2014-02-14 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
Like bubblegum. It's a surprisingly sweet thing to say, which really is Ben all over, so Alex shouldn't be surprised. Even though he is, every time.

"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.
warisart: (At Every Occasion)

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-14 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
"It is not necessary," he replies, as if that weren't somehow self-evident. Ben isn't death tolling. He isn't injured. He isn't even technically sick, except for how he has always been sick, except it isn't a sickness at all. It's a flaw.

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."

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versusnurture: (➵ i don't think)

[personal profile] versusnurture 2014-02-14 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
"I made you a sandwich."

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."
warisart: (Uncertain)

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-14 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
Abigail's voice attracts his attention immediately, and he is at once relieved and not at all; his throat closes on whatever he might have said, looking down uncomprehending at the plate.

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?"
versusnurture: (➵ & tackles her)

[personal profile] versusnurture 2014-02-14 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
She smiles at him. It's a little watery, but it's real.

"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."
warisart: (Casting Around)

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-14 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Ben doesn't feel very hungry; he doesn't admit to the fact that he rarely really does, but it's true enough. He does know what that, at least, feels like. Furthermore she's giving him an order and he reaches automatically to obey, picking up the sandwich even as he scans the room again.

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.

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warisart: (Resignation)

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-18 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
It takes Ben a moment to realize he's being addressed; champ is a new one on him, and he still feels sluggish and out of sorts. He will for a while, he both knows and has been told, and he is not looking forward to it. If he doesn't have his mind (did he ever?) he has nothing.

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."
Edited 2014-02-18 04:49 (UTC)

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fridgetothefire: (ponder)

[ Late orz ]

[personal profile] fridgetothefire 2014-02-18 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
She brings cookies, because that's what she does, when she's worried, when she needs something to give. She knows, she absolutely knows, that the cookies aren't what's important to Ben, that they probably hold little inherent comfort for him. She wants to bring something anyway.

"Hey."

She sits next to him, puts a hand on the bedspread, a metonym of contact, touch without touch.

"I'm here."
warisart: (Lost)

[ Late orz ]

[personal profile] warisart 2014-02-18 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
Ben is capable of passing copious amounts of stationary time in a variety of ways; he tells himself stories, he detaches and becomes distant, he counts tangibles and intangibles, he arranges schedules. He's waiting, now, but there have been too many distractions and too many interruptions for him to accomplish anything like an effective method for this situation.

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."
fridgetothefire: (fond)

[personal profile] fridgetothefire 2014-02-18 06:38 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm really glad to hear you're okay." And she is, with answering visible relief in her shoulders, in her released breath. And not just glad to hear that, not concerned on behalf of his ability to work, but for him.

"Do we know what happened yet?"

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