Getting a leg up...

Posted on Mon Apr 23rd, 2018 @ 7:29pm by Chief Warrant Officer Daytona Ral & Akira Zhuri & Lieutenant Marci Ulfred

Mission: Curing the Black Blood
Location: Physical Therapy/Medical Department
Timeline: Current

Daytona cursed as a corpsman helped him stretch his new leg. The new leg had been cloned from his old leg, so it had come complete with the same amount of muscle mass as the original. It wasn't weak, but these muscles hadn't ever been used before. The muscles were tight and moving his foot caused extreme pain as he and the corpsman slowly loosened them up. Some of the pain was also being caused as the new leg got used to his body's electrical impulses and blood flowing through it. It hurt and it felt very strange. Like it was his leg, but not really his leg. Because it was a cloned limb, there was no issue of rejection by his immune system, but his body was not 100% comfortable with the new leg yet.

"Sorry," Daytona said to the corpsman, Marci, and Akira. "This really hurts, and feels really strange."

"I've heard worse," Marci responded dryly, gently prodding those stiff muscles and signaling for the corpsman to ease up on the stretch slightly. "This will be easier on you if you take a muscle relaxant. It would help loosen the new muscles and let the blood flow easier."

Daytona frowned.

"Alright," he said. "If you insist, but go easy. I don't want to spend my whole recovery in a haze."

"A tiny, baby dose of norflex. You'll be fine." Marci didn't want Daytona drugged enough to get hazy, but she did have the proposed hypospray in her pocket. She fished it out and dialed it back to a half dose before gently injecting it near the stiff muscles but not directly into any painful areas. "We can also try heat therapy once you're done with these sessions each day."

"Can I try walking a bit?" Daytona said. "Using the...what do you call them? They look like parallel bars."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Akira asked in a worried tone, but stood close by to help support him.

"The first time is going to hurt or at least be really awkward no matter how long I wait," Daytona said. "Might as well get it out of the way as quickly as possible. Besides, the sooner I start, the sooner I'll get better. What do you say, Lieutenant?"

"If you feel like trying, there's no harm in it." Marci glanced to the side and saw that an orderly was already bringing the equipment over. "Just go slowly and be careful."

"Uhm..." Daytona said after he sat up and gingerly swung his legs off of the table. "I'm going to need a little help getting over there, and by little, I mean a lot, but I'm saying a little so I won't feel so helpless."

"I'm here," Akira offered as she stepped in to help support him. "I won't let you fall," she promised as the orderly set the walking support apparatus in front of Daytona.

"I won't either. Come on." Marci was almost a foot shorter than Daytona and most definitely not as strong as Akira. But she gave Daytona her hand and linked her other arm with his to give them some leverage. "Ready on three. One, two, three." As she finished her count, Marci applied gentle but firm pressure to help lift Daytona off the bed.

Daytona let the women help him up. They were both smaller than him, but they were also strong, particularly Akira in her new body. They lifted him relatively easily. However, while Akira could support his weight if he hopped on one leg over to the bars, Marci probably couldn't. Daytona was going to try to put some weight on the new leg even before he got to the bars. He gingerly tested his footing, slowly putting weight onto his left leg.

"OW!" he snarled, his grip on the women helping him tightening. "Gods damned miserable, mangy cur! I'll kill you for this! And that filthy bitch that spawned you!"

Daytona froze there a moment, murder in his eyes, breathing hard, before regaining control of himself.

"I'm sorry," he said, calmer now. "I've tried to be very careful about giving in to the black blood infection. I seem to have failed for a moment. Please excuse me. Shall we continue?"

Without waiting for an answer, Daytona forced himself to take a step. The strain he was under was evident in his face and he occasionally grunted in pain, but quickly moved on. He arrived at the parallel bars and transferred his weight from the women to the bars.

"Okay," he said. "Would either of you like to wager on whether or not I make it to the other side without falling? There's a bottle of cold distilled, spiced applejack from my family's distillery in it for you if you win the bet, Lieutenant. Akira hates alcohol, but I'm sure she'll think of something she'd like to win."

"Hate to say it, but if you fall you'd take me with you. So I'm afraid falling isn't allowed." Despite wanting dearly to snap back at Daytona after that outburst, she kept her tone as level and friendly as possible. Somehow, she kept that pesky inner wolf at bay, the only sign of such struggle a brief lightening of her eyes toward gold. And her hair getting a bit... fluffier as it attempted to bristle on her humanoid frame. Daytona was distracted and might not notice, but Akira likely did. "Try again."

Daytona looked at Marci a moment, realizing she might have misunderstood.

"I was talking about the Hellhound," he said as he took another step. "Before. When I yelled. Mister Cucumber or whatever the Hells his name is. And Nexi. Not you or your mother. I've never actually seen you all wolfed out, so I have no idea if you're mangy. I suppose that, technically, in her wolf form, you mother could be considered a bitch in the biological sense, I'd certainly never refer to her that way...OW! Okay...give me a second...alright, let's keep going."

"I'm aware of who you meant. She doesn't have control over when Pickles and Sunny manifest. This wasn't her fault." Marci paused, shifting to support Daytona's weight more fully. "I didn't think you knew about... that part of me."

"I may have mentioned it a time or two while he was recovering," Akira replied meekly, still somewhat stunned by Daytona's outburst. "I was quite surprised to see you when we came back to the ship after being on the Dyson Sphere, and then you became a person, it was quite shocking to say the least, yet utterly fascinating! But was I not supposed to tell anyone? If I had known it was meant to be something private, I wouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's all right. It's not a secret... I just hadn't told anyone." Marci shrugged slightly. "Cat's out of the bag now."

"Don't you mean wolf's out of the bag?" Daytona said. He grimaced as he took his first step. "Ow. Well, that was less of an 'ow' than the first several steps. I guess I really do just need to get used to using the new leg...damn it!"

Said new leg gave out and Daytona started to fall, but managed to keep himself upright.

"No!" he said, sharply, stopping the women from coming to his aid. "I can do this myself. It really is getting easier. I might even make it to the other side."

Akira remained at his side, more to keep him steady than to hold him upright as he seemed so keen to try to do this himself. "It's okay, there's no need to rush," she said to try to soothe him. "I believe in you, you can do this," she added as encouragement.

"Just know that if you fall after saying 'I can do this', I am going to laugh at you." There was amusement in Marci's tone, mixed with concern for her patient's well-being.

Akira's voice seemed to ease Daytona's mind and some of his pain, and to cool some of his anger, transforming it into determination. He took a deep cleansing breath and then got back to walking. With each step the Rigelian took, walking became easier, or at least less difficult, and produced less pain. As his leg learned to actually be a leg and support a person, it complained less about taking Daytona's weight.

"If I fall after saying I can do this," Daytona said. "I'll deserve your laughter at my expense."

Akira kissed Daytona's cheek proudly when she saw him taking another step, then another. "You only deserve laughter if you refuse to get up after falling down," she stated with great confidence in her words; even if he fell now, that would not diminish his progress in her eyes.

At the touch of Akira's lips, a sense of peace seemed to come over Daytona and the rough edges in his demeanor seemed to smooth over. He could still feel the black blood boiling in the back of his brain, but for the moment, it's siren's call had been muted. He smiled at Akira and nodded in thanks, then went back to walking. Soon he was closing in on the other end of the parallel bars and had become more confident in his steps. When he arrived at the end, he slowly sank to his knees to give his legs a rest.

"Thank you," he said. "Both of you. Lieutenant, if I take a moment to rest and drink some water, would you be alright with me trying to go back the other way?"

"Of course. Just take your time... you've already done more than I thought you'd be able to on the first day." Marci retrieved a glass of water from a nearby replicator and handed it to him.

Daytona drank his water and rested a moment. When he was done, he handed the empty cup back to Marci.

"Alright," he said rising. "As Hank number five said, 'once more unto the breach...'."

Daytona took a step, then another, a look of grim determination once more on his face. One foot in front of the other, he made his way back to where he started from.

"See, I told you you've got this," Akira said proudly. But then a look of confusion crossed her face. "What is a 'Hank number five'?" she asked.

Daytona chuckled.

"Henry the Fifth," he replied. "The fifth Henry to be the King of England on Earth. 'Hank' is a more modern nickname for 'Henry', though he was known at the time as 'Hal'. The Earth playwright William Shakespeare wrote a play about him. Prior to entering a major battle, Henry gives a speech to his troops that starts out 'once more into the breech'. It is very powerful."

"Oh," Akira said simply, and for a brief moment there was a blank gaze in her eyes as she directly access the computer to research both individuals for better context. "Oh, now I get it!" she said with a bit more excitement after a few more seconds had passed. "So you liken your therapy to battle? I can see that, I suppose, a constant struggle against apathy and the limitations of the body; can you overcome to become the victor? I think so," she chattered positively as they continued back to the biobed where Daytona had started. "In fact, you are working so hard, maybe I will make you a nice dinner to help you recover."

Daytona winced. Anyone looking at him would think it was because of pain from his leg. In fact, it was in anticipation of having to eat Akira's cooking. She had taken up the practice only recently and, while Daytona was sure she would figure it out eventually...at least he hoped she would figure it our eventually, she was still struggling. Daytona didn't want to discourage Akira from trying new things, so he'd been eating her cooking.

The things we do for love, he thought. Maybe I should invite Mister Pickles so I can feed the meal to him under the table while Akira isn't looking. She'll think it's cute that I'm getting along with the hellhound and I'll get to watch him die of food poisoning.

"I look forward to a fine meal, my love," Daytona said.

They were so cute that Marci couldn't help chuckling a bit. "Let's get you back to bed before we send Akira off to cook. She's stronger than me... I need her help."

"Alright," Daytona said. "As much as I don't want to admit it, I could use the rest."

"Then let's get you back to bed," Akira said as she supported Daytona and moved the walking support contraption out of the way. Then baring most of his weight, she assisted his climb onto the biobed. "When will he be allowed back to his quarters?" she asked Marci while Daytona settled in.

"Soon, I hope," Daytona said. "I promise I'll behave and that I'll do all of my exercises and come to all of my appointments and take all of my medicines, and not overdo it."

"And I will make doubly sure of this, he will do as he is supposed to," Akira added cheerfuly.

"When he's able to walk well enough to at least get himself to the bathroom and back to the bed or couch." Marci's tone was gentle but firm. "A few days, judging by our progress today."

"I'll be out of here in no more than two days," Daytona said. "I may need a cane to get around for a little while, but I'll be mobile enough to leave in no more than two days."

"We'll see." While Marci appreciated his enthusiasm, she didn't want to encourage him to leave too quickly. More than once, she'd seen patients leave sickbay before they were ready, and it almost always led to another stay in sickbay.

"Your requirements seem fair and reasonable, I won't let him escape before you clear him," Akira assured Marci, casting Daytona a playful grin. "Don't worry, Daytona, I will make the wait worth it."

Daytona shot Akira a smoldering look, one that made clear that he would be holding her to that promise.

"Yes," he said, his voice a little husky. "You will."

Daytona was not normally crass or so intense in public. The Black Blood could be blamed for some of his intensity. It was ramping up his aggression stirring up his turbulent Vuclanoid passions. Passion was a tricky thing. It wasn't really an emotion, more an emotional adjective. You could be passionately and aggressively angry, but also passionately and aggressively lustful, or just passionate about loving someone, passionate committed to a cause, etc. Several moments ago, Daytona had been feeling passionately angry. Now 'passionate' was serving as an adjective to a different emotion.

Daytona coughed.

"Excuse me," he said. "I'm not usually so...blatant in public, at least not in that manner."

"It's okay," Akira replied cheerfully. "Your system is flooded with drugs right now, including those for pain relief, which have documented effects on mood and behavior, not to mention the Black Blood has mood altering effects. Anyway, a promise is a promise, even if you are having a momentary lapse in decorum."

Marci couldn't help snickering, both at Daytona's crass outburst and Akira's cheerful reaction to it. She knew it shouldn't be funny, but her brain was tired. Everything was getting to be amusing at this point. "A bit inappropriate, perhaps, but given the circumstances... understandable. Now, Mister Ral, I want you to get some rest. Akira can stay, but let's try not to act on those impulses just yet."

"Now? Oh goodness no!" Akira said with a bashful blush as she worked Daytona's pant leg up to expose the new limb so she could begin to massage it to work out any soreness. "No no, he can wait until he's cleared to return to quarters. I will stay for a short while, but not for long; I believe I am fast approaching the limit of how long I can function without rest. The more I develop the more I emulate humanoid behavioral functions, but even with that disabled, my matrix is still immature and has limits, meaning I require occasional downtime, and I have been active non-stop since we started looking for the Iconian Dyson Sphere." Not to mention the transition to the Herald body was taking its toll on her.

"Hmmm," Daytona said. "That feels nice...but don't over exert yourself...oh, my...if you could that a moment or two longer, I'd really appreciate it...then go rest, by all means."

"Keep it rated PG, kids." Marci snickered some more and then went to check on other patients, letting them be alone together for a while.