Carry your tombstone like a backpack

Emy · Oct 2, 2015

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

There was something odd in Aiden's voice now, which made Ekaterina pause and let the matter of the kitten stray from her attention. "You're feeling symptoms already? It's common enough if you caught something directly from me but I don't have much experience with people catching my illnesses secondhand."

Since she couldn't catch normal illnesses herself, she felt safe in going over to Aiden to see what the issue was. He looked normal enough for now and although there was a sickly glint in his eyes, she didn't see any boils or rashes yet. Tapping his forehead with the back of a gloved hand, she found that he really was unusually warm.

Frowning, Ekaterina said, "You've definitely caught something but right now, I'm having trouble figuring out what it is. If it's a secondhand cold, I'm not sure that your temperature should have risen so much in such a small span of time." At his question, she shook her head and answered, "I've never had somebody catch powers from me before." And even if this was the flu from the summer, the fact that he didn't have fire related powers was puzzling.

ReD · Oct 2, 2015

"It is unusual," Aiden agreed. "I was expecting several hours, if not a few days, before the beginning of symptoms."

Aiden was the best kind of patient in that he never looked disgusting when he was sick. His immaculate apperance extended to slightly flushed skin, a glassy sheen to his eyes, and just enough deweyness on his skin to tell that he was sweating but never enough to make him look like he'd been running laps in a sauna.

That's what he felt like.

"Forgive me for this," Aiden said. "But I think...I think I am going to take my coat off now."

He did, because Aiden was burning up.

"So you're telling me you have no idea why these symptoms are progressing so quickly?" Aiden asked for clarification. This was indeed alarming news. He bent forward in his chair, lowering his head and closing his eyes.

"I think, perhaps, that we should consider calling someone to let them know about this breach but...." Aiden didn't want to. He did not want to let news of this get out. He sighed. "If you wouldn't mind, would you be up for drawing blood? Since we're in the lab we might as well see what I'm dealing with."

Emy · Oct 5, 2015

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

Ekaterina nodded briskly at the suggestion. "Right, I think I still have things set up from last summer. Hopefully, nobody's messed around with it too much."

Personally, she wasn't particularly concerned about the situation at this moment. Disease and illness, after all, was something that she dealt with on a regular basis. They were, quite literally, a part of her. Though she knew theoretically that Aiden could have contracted something fatal, she rather doubted it. Based off of previous experience, that was simply illogical given his symptoms. This was simply strange. An anomaly.

This was the sort of thing that Ekaterina was trained to deal with, in other words.

Luckily, it seemed like nobody had so much as sneezed on the equipment since she last used them. Dusting it all off quickly, she sterilized the needle before returning to Aiden's side. "All right, let's see if we can get some answers."

ReD · Oct 5, 2015

Aiden rolled up the sleeve on his left arm. Even though it was his dominant arm and he hated doing anything to it, the veins on it were much easier to access.

He sat perfectly still and held it out, though he did not watch the process. It might give the impression that Aiden was afraid of needles when, really, he had just seen blood drawn too many times to have an interest in watching it happen anymore.

"Some answers would be good," Aiden said. "I'd like to know how long I can expect to be under the weather. There is much I need to get done, and if I'm quarantined here, I am not sure who will feed my cats."

Now, this was a truly troubling thought. He clenched and unclenched his right hand and took a slow, deep breath.

"Thank you for your assistance," he said. "I am sorry to have troubled you."

Emy · Oct 9, 2015

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

Drawing blood was so routine and fundamental that Ekaterina thought of it as little more than changing her gloves, though she did notice Aiden looking away. Considering their line of work, he probably just found it boring. Sometimes, actually, it was a bit creepy when people watched her do it.

"It could be a while before I figure out what this is," she answered him. "I would say that you're probably going to down for at least three days or so, judging by how quickly you've been showing symptoms. If it's serious, of course it'll be longer."

As she took the needle away, the woman simply said, "I'm just doing my job. And I think that really, it's the other way around. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be sick right now. In any case, you could probably call up somebody to feed your cats for you. There should be a phone somewhere in here, I think."

ReD · Oct 10, 2015

“Three days,” Aiden said. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He loosened his tie further, and then removed it completely. There was something vaguely significant about being incapacitated for three days.

It struck him, however, that Aiden did not know a single person he could call to take care of his cats. For the first time since contracting this damn thing, Aiden felt a glimmer of worry.

“Yes,” he said, agreeing but to what he wasn’t sure. He should call someone, but who?

“I am hoping best case scenario that we find out this is just….ah…” Aiden couldn’t finish his sentence. He was too hot. He looked around for the phone, saw it on the wall, but pretended that he didn’t. “I hope this goes away.”

Why was it so hard to think?

Truthfully, Aiden was suffering from the worst ailment of all:

A man cold.

Emy · Oct 13, 2015

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

She hummed in agreement but otherwise, Ekaterina was almost completely occupied by the task at hand. Quickly washing down the tools she needed in a nearby sink, the woman glanced around the room contemplatively. It always bothered her whenever her powers did something and she had no idea what it was. It was positively embarrassing and frustrating to be a grown adult and still manage to spread around the common cold through adolescent lapses of judgement.

"The phone is right on the wall over there, if you'd like," the woman said, after she had began moving the equipment back to the table. She had caught sight of it herself just now. "You can take your time with it. I imagine that this might take a little while."

ReD · Oct 26, 2015

Aiden leaned forward in his chair and held his face in his hands. He tried to gather his thoughts together. He could probably call someone from church. yes, that's what he'd do. He'd call the parish.

Aiden stood up and took a step...only to find that his legs wouldn't work.

"Oh," he said, and then Aiden crashed into the table next to Ekaterina and knocked over a full tray of beakers and other lab supplies.

he felt funny, as though something was leaking out of his very soul, and Aiden realized he had to sneeze.

Emy · Oct 30, 2015

Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kalinina

Ekaterina jumped back as Aiden crashed down next to her. Hurriedly, she rushed over to his side, sweeping aside the shards of glass with the side of her boot.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked worriedly as she got to her knees, even though the answer was very clearly a negative. She didn't try and sit him up, because if he was having vertigo, that probably wouldn't have been the best idea. What she did do, however, was roll him onto his side and brush away any glass that was around them.

"Should I go and call for help?" If he didn't respond fast enough, though, she was going to go ahead and do that anyways.

ReD · Nov 16, 2015

Call for help?

Aiden realized that there was a lot of darkness happening in between each blink. It felt like too much. Aiden was reminded of the time he'd spilled a large quantity of ink into the water and watched it slowly turn everything black, first with tendrils and then with a sudden mass.

He worried this was what was happening to him.

"No!" he said.

He reached out to grab her arm and Aiden felt something.

It was hard to tell what he was feeling.

It was a familiar, old feeling, like a half-remembered lullaby.

And then, Aiden sneezed.

He didn't meant to take her life.

He wasn't even sure how it happened.

He was holding her arm and when he felt the sneeze coming over him, her jerked up his other hand to cover his mouth.

But

he felt her life starting to ebb towards him

and Aiden realized

he'd really screwed up.

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Carry your tombstone like a backpack

Emy

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

Emy

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

Emy

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

Emy

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere

Emy

Well-Known Member

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere