Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei (Chief Medical Officer) in Nightmares Tell Us What to Pray Against

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief of Security) in Nightmares Tell Us What to Pray Against

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aasrel Izei (Chief Medical Officer) in Nightmares Tell Us What to Pray Against
Posted by… suppressed (22) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Aasrel sighed softly, looking very worried for her. “At least you haven’t had any more.” He shifted in his bed, as if he wanted to get up but thought better of it. “I want to be able to help you.”

~ Aasrel

“Then you had both help yourselves so that you get better. You are neither useful if you make yourselves more ill. Cmdr Gadi, Pyzhka is waiting for you. Dr. Izei would you like to get up before we start your tests?”

Bethany squeezed Aasrel’s hand and got up. The sooner they got this done the sooner she could tell him she was fine.

Bethany

“Yes.” Aasrel wanted to try getting up, then maybe he could accompany Bethany to her tests later. After his own. He smiled at Bethany, “See you in a little bit.”

~ Aasrel

Bethany smirked and waved, “See ya, Doc.”

Th’rethiss summoned Jonan and the two helped him sit up and then stand after Harkins administered his pain medication. Moving and making his nervous system react and respond was good for Izei as long as it was done safely.

Th’rethiss

It didn’t go too well. Aasrel’s balance and coordination were still so poor he couldn’t keep himself standing without help. He felt dizzy and nauseous. He kept trying to push himself, wanting to be able to help Bethany.

~ Aasrel

They let him try for a little while longer, and then Th’rethiss insisted he return to bed. “We need to run tests. Then we will get you something more substantial to eat. Then we will see about getting up again.”

Meanwhile Bethany was having her EEG conducted. For awhile she laid in the bed and then they had her walking about and doing different things as they monitored her brain waves and the patterns.

Bethany

“Okay, fine.” They had to help Aasrel back to bed, then he settled in with a sigh. “What tests?” He had to wonder how Bethany’s tests were going. He assumed he’d have to wait until she was back to find out.

~ Aasrel

“Brain scans. I need to see how your brain is healing and how much swelling there is. I will also check on your paracortex and psilo-gland.” Th’rethiss slid an imaging apparatus over the head of the biobed and placed his eyes to the microscope like viewer and got to work.

Th’rethiss

Aasrel lay as still as he could so the scans would come out well. There was still a lot of swelling, but less than directly after the surgery. His brain was healing, first repairing the damage from the removal of the implant and the damage from the bleed and second surgery. But his psilosynine levels were beginning to rise, and there were sparks of activity in his paracortex, not enough for his telepathy to start working, but the donation had definitely taken.

~ Aasrel

Th’rethiss was pleased by what he was seeing in the scans. His antenna waved leisurely about. When he was done he slid the imager out of the way. “I am going to go review these and then I will return.”

Harkins came over and helped him sit up and asked what he wanted to eat. Bethany came in, brush in hand and sat down. In a few minutes she had her hair braided and coiled up out of the way. She smiled at him, happy to finally get to sit with him. “How are you feeling?”

Bethany

“Dizzy and sick.” Aasrel replied. Laying down during his scans had helped, but the feelings hadn’t completely faded. “How did your test go?”

~ Aasrel

Bethany shrugged. “No idea. Pyzhka hooked me up and they had me lay down for awhile, flashed lights and strobes at me. Made me walk around and tested my reflexes and such. Said Th’rethiss would review it and come talk to me.”

Aasrel nodded slowly. “I hope the results are good.”

She pulled the bed tray over and pulled out a deck of odd heptagon shaped cards. “I used to play Dreams vs Gods at school.” It was a Betazoid game and on stormy days, of which there were many, their teacher would let them play when they couldn’t go outside. “It has been a long time since I played, but I thought maybe you could help me remember.”

Bethany

Aasrel eyed the cards. He was familiar with them, they were Betazoid cards. The game was very popular in Betazoid schools. He nodded slowly again. “Of course I can help you remember.” He picked up one of the cards and frowned at it. He could help her remember… once he remembered. He kept staring at the card, trying to think of the game’s rules.

~ Aasrel

“Let’s see how much I remember.” She shuffles the cards. Aasrel wouldn’t know, but she felt a bit clumsy trying to shuffle and deal them. Was it the odd shape of the cards, her general lethargy, or a result of the seizure? “So we each get 8 cards, right?” She delt them and then flipped 3 over placing them equidistant apart. “Then we have to match edges of our cards with the ones on the table. The one on the right is mine and the other is yours and the first to the center wins?”

Bethany

When she started explaining the rules, Aasrel’s memories flooded back to him. His brother had taught him how to play.

“Come on, Aasrel. I’ll show you. Everyone playing gets eight cards.” Masas had counted slowly as he dealt the cards out. Then he placed three face side up, about equidistant apart. “Match the edges of your cards,” Masas pointed for emphasis, “with this card, this one is yours.” He pointed at the left card. “And that one is mine. First to the middle wins, okay?”

Aasrel smiled sadly at the memory. They had been really young then, and Masas had learned the game from another kid at school. He still felt like he couldn’t go home. He looked at Bethany, “You go first.”

~ Aasrel

Perhaps it would sound cruel that Bethany was happy to see the slightly sad smile. She knew that look, though. Anytime he was thinking about his family. The game was helping him recall his memories. That was a good thing. Th’rethiss said he needed to work on memory recall.

She started to lay a card down and paused. “Am I supposed to draw a card at the beginning or end of my turn?”

Bethany

“At the end of your turn.” Aasrel replied, looking at his cards, and then the ones on the table, thinking about his move when it was his turn.

~ Aasrel

Bethany looked at her cards. She laid one down but it wasn’t in a straight line for the middle. It was the best option though. “Your turn.”

Bethany

Aasrel set a card down, then drew a card. He made a face when he saw the card he drew. Then looked at Bethany, “Your turn.”

~ Aasrel

Bethany stared at her cards. Then selected, laid it down and drew a card. They went back and forth a few times.

She selected a card but kept staring at it in her hand. Something niggled her memory, but wasn’t sure what. She set it down unaware it was not allowed.

Bethany

Aasrel eyed her selection and smiled. “Can’t do that. The colours have to match, see?” He pointed to his own. Yellow to yellow and red to red so far. The different sides of the card didn’t always have the same colours. So far Bethany had done it correctly by sheer random chance. The numbers she needed happened to also be the right colour.

~ Aasrel

Bethany picked up the card and looked at her hand. “What do I do if I can’t play anything? I remember I thought it wasn’t fair. Of course I was four when I first learned…” Her voice trailed off as the image of a slightly older girl with brown hair and blonde highlights sat next to her and very patiently explained what to do. “Hurry up, Kovra! I don’t want to be here all day playing this kids game.” Another girl sat across from them, sharp features, hawk nose and her eyes seemed hard. “Oh leave her be. She’s learning. Besides I saw you playing at school today. So you are still a kid. And it’s Bethany.” Tiviya had always stood up for when Jeede picked on her. “Not that card Bethany it doesn’t match, see.” Bethany looked again, “But I don’t have another card.” Jeede shrugged, “Then you have to get rid of a card and draw one and your turn is over.” Bethany looked at Tiviya thinking Jeede was tricking her. “That’s not fair!”

Bethany sat back with a slightly startled expression. They were her cousins. She had cousins. Did they survive? Were they still alive? If she had cousins that meant she had aunts and uncles. Why hadn’t she ever seen them again? She discarded a card and then drew one.

Bethany

This game was good for Aasrel. It had made him recall memories and it was making him think. His head was starting to hurt though. Aasrel was about to answer when Bethany came up with the answer herself. He was almost going to keep playing, but there was something about her expression, even to his blind-to-body-language self. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

~ Aasrel

Bethany looked up at him, bringing herself back to focus. “oh, um… I had cousins.” She sounded shocked by that. “Tiviya and Jeede. They taught me how to play.” She sounded curious and confused by the revelation.

Bethany

Aasrel took a moment to process that information. “Do you want to find them?” He asked. “They’d have your name, Gadi.” He smiled at her. “I’m glad you remembered that.

~ Aasrel

Would they? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t really understand how that worked. She only knew that her mother had taken her father’s name in human tradition rather than Betazoid.

“Find them?” She feigned mild interest. “No. I doubt, if they survived, they want anything to do with me. I mean we never heard from any of them after we returned to Earth.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

Bethany

Aasrel gave her a look. He was no counselor, but even he recognized how her father’s treatment seemed to have affected her: she always thought people wouldn’t care about her or want her around. “There’s no harm in trying. If they don’t, they’ll tell you and you can respect that. But I think they’d be happy to hear from you, if they’re alive.”

~ Aasrel

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it.” She wasn’t convinced, but was saved from discussing it by Th’rethiss’ arrival.

“I’ve reviewed both your tests.” On the screen he pulled up the data from Bethany’s EEG. “The Kepra is working. The activity we saw before has decreased significantly, but I am not prepared to take you off of it yet. You can see here,” he switched scans, “Your paracortex is still showing as dormant. The psilo-gland however is still very active. The paracortex is still not receiving the psilosynine which means it will end up in your blood stream again. I am afraid that your reaction will be much faster and more severe as your body is already hyper sensitive to it.”

Bethany