Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Scientist) in Side sim: Milling about

Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim: Milling about

Posted by Lieutenant Achilleas Petrakos (Scientist) in Side sim: Milling about
Posted by… suppressed (17) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Being startled out of his reverie Achilleas shook his head and gave a strained smile. “No, not really wrong. I’m just realizing that so much has happened in my absence and getting caught up fully on what is going on with your health is a bit of a shock like this.” His words weren’t an outright lie but definitely omitted the full extent of how he was feeling. His last year had been more or less him thinking solely of himself and his problems, at least in his mind, and that mindset led him to endangering his friend. This had to change. He had to be better for Solal’s sake and help him get better too. He made a resolution that may be a bit extreme and misguided but for once something other than his anxiety was foremost in his thoughts.

Sci Petrakos

Solal shrugged. “It was a recent and unexpected turn of events. Don’t worry about it.” He was feeling better in terms of his breathing, but the whole episode had exhausted him of energy he simply didn’t have. He let out a long, deep breath and looked up at Achilleas, “I hope I have not disturbed your plans for the day.” Any normal time, Solal might have caught that Achilleas was hiding something. Today though, with his head feeling foggy and scrambled, he missed it entirely.

~ Solal

Bonner checked the canister and set the mask for oxygen support. “I will leave this here incase you need the extra oxygen. Rest and if you need help getting up call me.” She packed up her kit and stood. “I will let you know if the lab tests show anything new.” Then she left.

Bonner, AMO

Achilleas was a little surprised but grateful at Alexis’ departure. Not that he didn’t like her or the help she gave Solal, but because it was an indicator that he wasn’t in danger any longer. The crisis had passed and now it was time for recovery. With that thought in mind he turned back to Solal after the doors slid shut. “You look much better. How are you feeling?”

Sci Petrakos

Solal seemed unsurprised by the departure. “Just tired,” he responded, his words still muffled by the mask. Now that it was just there for O2 support, he could remove it any time. But as a doctor, given the minimal risk of O2 administration, he’d rather give it a little extra time. “Thank you. For helping.” Solal glanced up at Achilleas without moving. “I would guess that isn’t how you thought you’d be spending your time.”

~ Solal

Achilleas reached out and ruffled Solal’s hair while smiling. “You are most welcome. But of course I’d help. I’m glad that Dr Bonner would have been here regardless of me contacting her but I’m glad I was here.” He was still in guilt over not calling her sooner, and her words proved as such, but he was going to do better. “I would of course prefer that your wellbeing isn’t in danger like that again but it wasn’t time wasted for me. I’m glad that I know more fully about what is going on with you and can keep an eye on you in the future.” Thoughts and plans were spinning around in his head. Could he request a quarters closer to Solal’s?

Sci Petrakos

Solal nodded. “There was logic in her decision to make me wear a monitor.” It hadn’t been Solal’s choice. But better that than be a continuous patient in the sickbay where he worked. “There is no need for you to ‘keep an eye’ on me. I am still a doctor. I am capable of watching myself.” He took one more deep breath and then turned off the oxygen and took off the mask, sitting up, if a little slowly. “What would you like to spend the rest of the afternoon doing?”

~ Solal

Achilleas looked like he wanted to help Solal sit up but just barely restrained himself from doing so. He did look at Solal with a disapproving expression though. “I think clearly that these sequence of events does have need for me to keep an eye on you. You may not die while wearing the monitoring bracelet but I shudder to think what would have happened if I wasn’t here for you. You could’ve collapsed, alone, and struggled for breath until Alexis showed up. So no, you’re not brushing me off like that. I will be keeping up on how you’re doing.” He did completely gloss over the fact that Solal spent so much time looking for him that he got exhausted, but that was something he could prevent by always being at hand. At least on his off time while he wasn’t working. His expression softened as he thought about what they could do next. “Are you hungry? I could replicate us some food.”

Sci Petrakos

Solal considered pointing out that they were on a medical ship, and if one were to collapse, not only would a number of doctors be likely to notice within a few minutes, but the ship’s computer system was also rather robust. Instead he settled on, “That was Doctor Bonner’s reasoning for the monitor. That if I were unable to call for help she would still be alerted. This was the first time it’s been needed.” And technically, it wasn’t needed, Solal had just been too stubborn to want help. Next time he wanted to spend some time with another person, he’d have to remember to just ask the computer for Achilleas’ location. That would’ve been much easier. “I am a little hungry.” He said, after a short moment’s consideration. “Why don’t we replicate some plomeek soup?” It was a Vulcan meal Solal had tried and decided he liked some time ago. Solal stood, slowly, and then waited a moment to be sure the lightheadedness would not return. He was intent on acting as normally as possible, disease or no.

~ Solal

Achilleas watched as Solal stood and steadied himself. He was ready to reach out and catch him or hold him up if he faltered but it looked like he had his balance. With a quick nod he moved to the replicator and had some plomeek soup made for the both of them. He brought them to the dining table but noticed that it was still cluttered with leftover dishes and other dining items, so he had to hurriedly clear everything off. He deposited it all into the replicator to be disposed of and returned to the table with a sheepish smile.

Sci Petrakos

Solal picked a chair at the dining table and sat down. “I don’t mind the clutter.” He commented when he saw Achilleas’ sheepish grin. “It was a surprise visit.” Not to mention his quarters were no cleaner. He lacked the energy for any sort of regular cleaning. He took a serving of the soup and ate a little of it, sipping at the broth.

~ Solal

Achilleas likewise sat and tried the soup. This was honestly his first time trying it and he found that it had an interesting taste that he couldn’t quite place. “I could’ve left the plates and bowls but as a good host I wanted to make sure things were at least sanitary to eat here. What would be an Earth equivalent of the ingredients in this soup? It’s not quite identifiable to me.”

Sci Petrakos

Solal thought a long moment and then sighed and shrugged. “I can’t remember right now.” He ate a little bit more and then set his spoon down and pushed his bowl away a little, feeling nauseous. He didn’t mention it to Achilleas though. Nausea was an expected symptom of kidney problems. It would pass. “What do you do in your free time besides play cello?”

~ Solal

Achilleas nodded slowly in response though his concern for Solal grew. He knew that his memory was far better than this. He prided himself on having abstruse knowledge and the ingredients to a food he enjoyed being forgotten was more shocking to Achilleas than Solal’s breathing problems. It was something he would keep in mind going forward but he wasn’t going to mention it now. Instead he thought about the question posed to him. “Well… I tend to do a lot of reading in my off time. Science journals and other such publications. I did a lot of medical and psychology reading back during my ‘stay’ at Starfleet Medical though that’s because it was the only writings I had access too.” His tone got a little more subdued at the end of his answer.

Sci Petrakos

Solal nodded. “I hope you found them interesting, despite your lack of choice in the matter.” He sat back in his chair. “I can’t say I do much different, save for medical journals over scientific ones.”

~ Solal

“Ehhh… I wouldn’t say interesting really.” Achilleas responded with a small chuckle. “I mean it was alright but it’s not really my area of expertise. They were concerned though that if I kept current with science stuff that it would potentially undermine my progress. The mind is a mysterious thing and we still don’t fully know all of the inner workings of it.”

Sci Petrakos

Solal raised a brow. “Current science would keep you insane?” He asked. It was another good reason to never, ever go to psych. Not that he was a raving lunatic. But still. He’d become one if he was forced to sit around and do nothing with no medical studies to read. “What were you supposed to do there?”

~ Solal

Achilleas shook his head. “No, it was more about the idea that the job, and by extension everything related to it, would be involved with my mental condition. So they attempted to isolate the stressors and triggers that interacted with the contagion still in my system. As for what I was supposed to do, well honestly not much. They had to purge my system three separate times of the fungal infection and a long process of therapy. I could read eventually but the early days was mostly being restrained until the hallucinations.”

Sci Petrakos

Solal frowned. “That sounds… stimulating.” At least he was well enough for some Vulcan sass. “Remind me never to end up in a psych ward.” That was more of a human thing to say. Solal’s bowl of soup was still near full. He’d eaten maybe a quarter of it and he didn’t seem interested in any more. He was quietly glad he’d been unaffected by that spore, though considering Achilleas was the only one of the entire crew who had that effect, it was exceedingly unlikely he would have gotten it.

~ Solal

“I did not enjoy the experience at all but it was something that I needed to go through. If you fell into insanity you wouldn’t want to be there but you would need to.” Achilleas said with a serious expression that then softened. “I wish I didn’t have to go through that at all but the professionals at Starfleet Medical did a fantastic job putting me back together. Mostly anyway.”

Sci Petrakos

Solal nodded. “It’s good you are well enough to return.” He had missed Achilleas, something he would never verbally admit, but something Achilleas might be able to glean from the way Solal was looking at him. He yawned a long yawn, looking exhausted. “I may need to try to rest.”

~ Solal