Baskervilles and Tea

Posted on Sun Mar 11th, 2018 @ 11:43pm by Staff Warrant Officer Nexi & Lieutenant Commander Eneas Clio & Emergency Medical Hologram (Adam Power) Mk X

Mission: When Iconians Deserve to Die

All was quiet and still as Nexi made her way into the dimly lit Sickbay, her dogs conspicuously absent for the moment. Clio had been moved here once basic functions had been restored to the ship, and she was now resting on a biobed. Nexi wasn't sure why she was here, it was like some sort of obligation or something, but Nexi found her way to a neighboring biobed and simply watched Clio for a moment, waiting to see if she was awake or not.

Clio had always found it difficult to sleep in a sickbay, and today was no different. She could hear approaching footsteps and the sound of someone breathing but not speaking. Propping herself up on her elbow, she looked over to find Nexi lingering nearby. "Um... hi?"

"Oh, uh... hey," Nexi said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. "I, uh, just came to see how you were doing," she continued after a moment's hesitation. "This, uh, thing... I mean, the infection, I know what you're going through and I know it's- it's a lot and... just thought it might help to know that you're not alone." Nexi really wasn't the 'comforting' sort, but she was trying her best, despite how uneasy it was making her.

"I'd be better if she'd let me leave." Clio glanced toward the CMO office, where she knew Marci had retreated to do some work. "She's scared that something... dramatic might happen. I tried telling her how your 'puppies' didn't appear until later but she didn't believe me."

"Heh, yeah..." Nexi replied with a grin and a nod. "Well she's new to all this, just give her a chance to see that you're fine for now. And you are, you know, fine." Again, trying to be reassuring, but Nexi was fairly certain that she was failing. "I have a feeling I'm gonna have this talk with a lot of people in the coming days, but with you being the center of attention, I think you need it right now... At first, it weren't so bad, I was battling my own fear and anger more than this, but I was okay, I was still me. Then after I while I could feel it in me 'cause my anger was feeding it. I don't rightly know how to explain how it felt, but you'll know it when it's there; it's just... evil... And I don't just mean from a telepathic sense, I could physically feel it crawling in my skin. But you can't let it get in your head, you can't let fear or anger take hold or you're gonna end up like me," she cautioned. "I don't know if it'll be the same way for you being what you are, different species react differently to the same things... But for as long as I'm still here, I won't let you go through this alone."

"Great. It feeds on anger. I'm completely fucked." Clio sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Marci didn't know either. So far you're the only one to manifest any dogs or other exterior things. We don't even know what the standard symptoms of this virus are."

"Well, until now only me and Farenia have shown any signs of infection," Nexi said with a shrug. "Even I know there's only so much you can learn from two people. But what I've told you does seem to be consistent between me and her. And if you ever get to the point where you manifest the dogs too, don't fight it, isolate yourself so they don't hurt no one and just let it happen; hurts like nothing I've ever felt before, but tryna hold it back makes it so much worse."

"That's the last thing we need. Me, manifesting hellhounds." Clio had to laugh a little at that. She knew damn well if she manifested a dog, it wouldn't be as controllable as Mister Pickles and his sibling. "I just feel tired. And colder than normal, but that doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah, it is pretty cold in here, I think that Akira-girl is still getting things back online," Nexi remarked. Then she looked around and hopped off her biobed, then found an extra blanket. "I was really sleepy at first too, it should pass," she said as she spread the blanket over Clio.

"Thanks." Clio pulled the blanket a little tighter, appreciative of the extra warmth. "I'm not sure if it's the blood or just the fight. I'm completely drained, but I can't sleep."

"Well you are injured, so don't forget that," Nexi pointed out. "I don't usually do all this, but is there anything I can do to help you get to sleep?"

"Well I was anyway. Marci managed to fix that." Clio knew there were a few things that would help her sleep, but most of it involved being in her own cabin. Where her stash of herbal teas resided. "I have a chamomile and valerian tea I drink at night. The replicator doesn't have the recipe, and Marci won't let me go get it."

"I think I can get that for you," Nexi said with a nod. "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back."

Clio smiled a bit. "I appreciate it. Thank you."

The trip up to Clio's quarters took longer than it should have, the lifts were only working partially in some areas, which meant either waiting or getting creative, but she made it without any incidents, picking the door lock to let herself in with ease. She should have asked Clio where the tea was because Nexi had no idea where one even kept something like tea, but seeing as how the replicator would be needed for at least the water, she checked around the replicator and eventually found a canister filled with all kinds of things that smelled vaguely tea-like. Having no idea which tea was which, Nexi just grabbed the whole canister and made her way back to Sickbay. Along the way, her dogs found her and happily padded along beside her as she returned to Sickbay and set the canister of tea on the biobed beside Clio.

"Now water, you need that, right?" Nexi said, then went over to the replicator with the understanding that it could at least manage boiled water; after all, that's how she made her coffee!

"Yeah, I need water to make tea." Chuckling, Clio opened her canister and poked through it until she found the tea she wanted. "Oh, and a mug or a teacup. Well I guess you could have it replicate the water in the mug... that would work." She gave the oddly happy hellhounds a somewhat wary look, but she gingerly held her hand out and patted the nearest one on the head.

The very happy hound, now dubbed Sunny, seemed all too happy to receive pets, and his tail wagged so furiously that they could hear him thumping his brother with it. It was an odd feeling of this beast, he didn't feel quite solid; obviously, there was resistance against her hand, like a very viscous fluid, or more like an environmental force field, there but not quite.

Shortly, Nexi came back with a couple mugs of steaming water and pulled up a little tray table to set everything on. "Outta the way, dummie," she said to Sunny who seemed oblivious to how in the way he was, but he did move at her command, though he was disappointed that he was now out of petting distance.

"He's a strange one." The feeling of the dog's body had been odd, but his behavior was stranger still. Clio didn't quite know what to make of the strangely happy hellhound. He almost had a dopey look about him, whereas Mister Pickles look intelligent and fierce. "You'd think they'd be identical." Dropping a tea bag into one of the mugs, Clio gave the water a quick swirl and set the cup back down to steep.

"You think that's weird, check this out," Nexi said with a grin. She held up her hand like she was hold something, and made few gestures like she was going throw this something just to get Sunny riled up, then she drew her arm back and threw and Sunny took off like a shot to fetch this nothing that Nexi had thrown. "Dumbass... And it gets better, he'll bring something back too." Even Mister Pickles looked exasperated at the sight of his brother being a total dope, then he just yawned and calmly lay down on the floor beside Nexi while Nexi fished out a teabag from the canister and popped it into her mug, doing as Clio did by giving her mug a swirl.

Clio snorted at the hellhound racing off to find something to fetch, shaking her head. "It's almost like Pickles came from you and the other one came from Aewia. Only I saw you summon him."

"Yeah, he definitely came from me, and it hurt like hell," Nexi said with a nod. She stared off into nothingness, her gaze hollow and faraway for a moment. "I think Sunny is a part of myself I buried a long time ago..." she said softly. "Before everything that... made me what I am today, I vaguely remember that I was kinda goofy; you know, when I was a kid and all." Then she actually smiled slightly and some memories started flashing back to her. "Me an' Aewia, we really ain't that different, we just just had different things to shape us as we are now."

Clio nodded. It made sense in a semi-twisted kind of way. "He's your inner child, for lack of a better description. Pickles is who you are now." She didn't even want to think about how any hellhounds she might produce would act. "Maybe you can learn from Sunny. Let him show you how to love life again."

"Assuming I get to live long enough for that," Nexi said dryly. "Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be cheering you up, but I know I don't have much longer; Dedjoy has pretty much confirmed that I'm immortal now, but the blood is... it's chipping away at my mind, driving me mad, and I don't know how much longer I can..." Nexi trailed off with a sighed; she knew it was inevitable, but she wasn't ready for it, she wanted to live! "When it happens, you guys won't have any choice, you'll have to use Hephaestus' weapons against me to put me down. I know we're looking for a cure, but I don't think we'll find one in time to save me."

"You never know. We just might." Clio knew it wasn't very likely. After all, Nexi had been pretty crazy to start with. "I'm not prepared to use that sword against someone I consider a friend."

"I know, but if I can't control myself, I just don't want to hurt anyone," Nexi replied, staring down into her mug. "Is this stuff ready?" she asked, pointing to the cup.

Sunny had been gone a while, and to be perfectly honest Nexi had forgotten about him, but then he finally came back and her eyes went wide with what he came back with: there Sunny was, looking so proud as he dragged the EMH along the floor with the holographic man's leg in his mouth.

"What the-" Nexi started, utterly flabbergasted. "Get that out of your mouth, you don't know where he's been!" Nexi scolded the hellhound, whose only response was to wag his tail at the attention, smacking the EMH in the face.

The EMH was more dour than usual, not even moving out of the way of Sunshine's tail. "I don't even have a way of reacting to this situation... There's nothing like this in my program. I mean, I have the knowledge to treat animals should the need arise, but I'm not programmed to actually interact with them so this is... Highly unusual..."

Clio couldn't help snickering, even as she reached to pat Sunny and distract him long enough for the EMH to get away. "Yes, the tea is ready. You can leave the bag in and let it get stronger as you drink it or you can take it out. I usually leave it in for herbal teas... they don't get bitter."

"We were chilling out in my hangar when I started this game before, and he brought me an induction coil from Engineering; at least this time he stayed in the same general area," Nexi said, offering a hand to the EMH to help him up, even though he probably didn't need the help but it still seemed reasonable to offer it anyway. Then she returned to Clio and tried the tea, then looked into the mug as she smacked her lips. "Well that's definitely not coffee."

"Well, no." Clio took a few sips of the tea, letting its heat warm her up some more. "I like coffee just fine. But most of my teas are medicinal in nature. Some for calming, some for pain, a handful for other complaints." She shrugged slightly. "I mean, they don't replace traditional medical treatments, but they help."

Nexi nodded as she sipped at the tea; it wasn't what she normally drank, but it wasn't bad, she could maybe get used to it. "So, you gonna be okay tonight?" she asked.

Clio nodded at her. "I'll be fine. I'd be better if I had a dog, but I haven't had one in years so that's a moot point." Looking at the two hellhounds, she added quickly, "A fuzzy one, I mean."

"Well, if you find yourself that desperate, you can have Sunshine for the night," Nexi offered. Said goofball was laying on the floor on his back in the hopes of getting some belly rubs, and the sight of his goofy grin and wagging tail wrenched a reluctant chuckle from Nexi; he was a weird one, but he did remind her of Aewia, so he was kind of growing on her...

"Well, he is kind of cute. For a hellhound." Clio reached down and rubbed Sunshine's belly. "I don't think he'll stay though. He'll wander off looking for you eventually."

"Then let him, but he can keep you company for a while until then." Even Nexi found it odd that she was suggesting a monstrous beast born of black blood could be a good companion, but Sunshine was just so happy, how could he not make a good buddy to break the isolation!

"Thanks. He'll make this place more interesting at least." Sipping some more of her tea, Clio watched Sunshine flop around on the floor some more. "I should probably try to get some sleep. Before Marci comes out here to scold me for not resting."

"Then I'll let you rest," Nexi said. She picked up her mug and finished off her tea then took the mug back to the replicator. Then she pushed a chair closer to the bed, and whistled to get Sunny's attention. Nexi patted on the seat of the chair and Sunny seemed to get the idea and hopped up in the chair to be closer to Clio. "Alright, dummy, you keep her company for a while. Got it?" Sunshine's only response was try to lick Nexi's face. "I'll take that as confirmation," she said with a roll of her eyes, then grinned to Clio. "If they decide to keep you for much longer, I'll come around to make sure you don't get too lonely, or bored."