Posted by Ensign Dradvia (Medical Officer) in So… This Is It

Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in So… This Is It

Posted by Ensign Dradvia (Medical Officer) in So… This Is It
Posted by… suppressed (13) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“I don’t know, Dee, I don’t know,” he said softly. “We just have to wait, right?”

~ Zoi

“Wait and handle the symptoms as best we can. And I have to be very precise in dosing and timing.” Dradvia leaned closer, gently rubbing his hand. It’s okay if it’s too much, if you want to escape the pain. It’s okay if you need to share it. She wouldn’t say those things aloud and have others hear, but she thought them anyway.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

He took a shaky breath. “It would hurt, Dee. You’d feel what I do, all of it.”

~ Zoi

“I know. I have no idea how much, but if it gives you relief… I just worry what will happen to you when you stop.” Would the shock kill him? Would the relief help? Or would that damage his telepathy, giving the poison room to do more damage?

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“I don’t know what will happen,” Sisnil said. “Just that the pain is so intense, I can barely think.”

~ Zoi

“Then you need to go back to sleep. That way you aren’t aware of any of it.” Dradvia shook her head before he could protest. “There is no legitimate reason you need to choose to suffer.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“I just woke up.” Sisnil said. “Going back to sleep is giving up, going backwards. I won’t do that.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia gave him a look like she was trying to explain something to a stubborn child. “It is not going backwards to do what is making you better. It will move you forward through your recovery. Straining your body and pushing beyond what it can handle will move you backwards.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded, a small movement of his head. “I just don’t want to sleep.” He said. But his voice was tight with pain.

~ Zoi

“I know.” She rubbed his arm, again being more openly affectionate than normal. “I miss talking to you. I just want you to get better.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Her unusual affection almost worried him, but he really liked it. “I do too.” He said softly. “I have to be there for you. To protect you.”

~ Zoi

It wasn’t a conscious thing. Dradvia wasn’t aware of it. It was a subconscious instinct to make sure he knew how she felt. To ignore her own discomforts, trauma, and fears for him.

Dradvia wanted more than anything for Sisnil to be around to protect her… it was a strange sensation for Sisnil when her thoughts and emotions just locked up. There was love, affection, the need for him to be around to protect her. Her thoughts had been swirling somewhere but they just stopped. Like an old digital video disk paused on a single picture of a scene. There was something underneath it she wasn’t ready to face.

Both her hands slipped around his, holding it. “I thought that was my job. When you’re sick or injured, I worry about staying safe, not you.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil was aware of those kinds of thought-walls, the minds defense against things it could not yet face. He didn’t push. He smiled up at her. “What about when I’m both?” He asked, with a pained, stressed, weak version of his playful grin.

~ Zoi

It drew her in, that grin of his. She wished he could hold her. She was scared, though her mind couldn’t admit that. “Then you get me all to yourself for the duration. I keep us safe and I get to take care of you.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil desperately wished he could hold her. But he suspected that would be a bad idea on many fronts. “You do an excellent job of that, taking care of me.”

~ Zoi

“I try. Even though you hate it most of the time.” Dradvia grinned and her eyes danced at the last part. He hated it, but she thought some of it was for her benefit. To tease her. At least she let herself believe that.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

It absolutely was. He didn’t know what he’d do without her. “Well, maybe hate is a strong word…” He said, smiling again. It seemed like his pain had decreased a little.

~ Zoi

Dradvia laughed but it was so quiet he would only know because he sensed her amusement. “Irritating, grating, annoying? Are those better?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Maybe sometimes but I prefer endearing, adorable, caring,” he said gently. He took a deep breath, and then, “I just don’t like to look weak, and if you need care, you’re weak.” He shrugged, wincing a little, “I guess I’m saying this because I feel like death.”

~ Zoi