hadriel_logs | Event Log: Flu Season

Entry tags:

Event Log: Flu Season

Who: All characters
What: The event log for the Flu Season event
Where: All over the city
When: March 20th-March 30th
Warnings: Gross sneezing, sick people, and paranoia

It starts with a cough, a sneeze, a sore throat - something small and simple, easily ignored. But then your symptoms get worse. It's probably been awhile since you've been sick, that sort of thing doesn't usually happen here. You might be able to raid the shops for some tissues and tea before it gets too bad, and hopefully you've got a friend to help out until you get better. Surely it'll be over soon, right?

Until the fever sets in, and you start to understand why your friend is really there. They don't want to take care of you. They want to make sure this is the last anyone will ever see of you. They want to learn all your secrets. They want to steal your most precious possession. You know they're plotting against you, you know they're keeping something from you. What will you do to find out what it is?

Then, as the sickness fades, you realize it was all in your mind. Let's hope you didn't do or say anything too awful. But that friend of yours... they seem to have picked up your cough. Maybe you should help them out?

► This log covers March 20th-March 30th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If your paranoia ends in murder, please let us know here.

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[Second day of this illness, now, and Caedra has just about had it. She's convinced this must be a curse from the gods, or someone, because she should not be sick. Period. Does not happen. And yet here she is, clammy and pale and coughing.

This is a place she would normally never think of going, and yet here she is, grinding her teeth, barely able to contain her rage at these beings who dare call themselves gods - and anyone else, for that matter.]

You there - this is some sort of place of medicine, isn't it? Are you a healer?

[the surgical mask hides most of his expression, but Law's eyes usually say a lot regardless, they more than make up for it]

Of sorts. I'm a doctor. Have a seat - let me guess, you're feeling pretty shitty right now.

[the symptoms are all more or less the same but he must do his due diligence and ask.]

[Doctors might be the worst patients but demons are probably pretty up there near the top of the do-not-want list. This one tries to take a breath, remind herself that despite her mind going about a thousand miles per hour right now for some reason, ramping up every fight response she has, she needs to stay patient or this doctor won't be intact enough to do anything to help.

Taking a breath results in a good round of hoarse coughing, instead, as she buries her mouth against her sleeve and then winces in reflex at the pain in her throat.]

Yes. To say the least. I don't know if it's illness or- or what. I haven't been sick in a very long time.

[She sits, though, and watches him carefully, eyeing his every move. Something she would probably have done anyway, but maybe not so intensely. What's with the mask? A doctor - does that mean a nonmagical healer? Is that good or bad? A cleric might be able to discover what she is and use that information against her, but can a person without healing magic do anything at all?]

[just you wait and see, Caedra. It may not be obviously near at hand but Law also has his sword close by, just in case. He washes his hands first, before anything else, and then joins her, carefully observing.]

I know that feeling. What are your symptoms, exactly? Tell me in as much detail as you can.

[the only touch he makes is to seek a pulse at her wrist.]

[She's hesitant, as he reaches for her wrist, but she does allow it. And yes, there is a pulse. The beat is probably quicker than an average human's, but not too far off. The veins in her wrist are black through her skin, rather than the expected blue-purple. Her gaze flickers between his face and his hand, though the motion is hard to distinguish, what with the lack of visible structures of any sort in her eyes.]

Well, yesterday I had a sore throat, coughing, runny nose, and my eyes were sort of itchy. Now, it's all of that but worse. Sometimes chills. A headache that goes in and out.

[She pulls her hand back quickly away from him once he seems satisfied with what he found there, and suddenly becomes conscious of the fact that she's staring him down like some sort of threat and again tries to contain herself. What is this? She knows better than this, knows how to stay calm and act normally around these people when she wants to, so why is she so on edge?]

[he notices the surface differences, but by now he's been exposed to so many different types of non-humans that it doesn't even faze him. Law lets her have her hand back, chalking it up to a common distrust in doctors, or strangers, or both.]

Feverish? Room.

[it's second nature to him to use his ability for diagnosis, but he gives no warning that it's happening. The bubble of aura around them would startle anybody on a good day; during an outbreak of Fear, it might not be so easy to brush off. He just wants to gauge her temperature without getting germs all over a thermometer, gosh!]

[Her eyes widen in a split second of alarm, and almost immediately she spits out her own phrase, an odd word full of consonants that sounds more like a growl than language, and teleports herself just short of the wall of the clinic, behind that strange bubble he had tried to imprison her in. No longer sitting, she stands half-crouched and ready to spring at any moment as she summons her sword to her right palm.]

How dare you. I came here for help, not to be trapped in some... wall of force!

[WHOOPS.

Law whirls around, still inside his own Room and not bringing it down, but completely thrown by the reaction. He's had enemies scream about trying to escape the circle before but no one's ever been all that successful. Or fast.]

It's not a...! It's my operating room, I need it to be able to perform my medical work. Relax.

[the fuck, even. But it's not doing him any good so he removes it with a flick of the wrist.]

The alternative is to put my hands all over you, which, while they're clean, if this illness is spreading is not a good idea.

[Never mind illness, that's not a good idea ever as far as she's concerned right now, in her increasingly paranoid state.

More coughing. Ugh. She had been expecting maybe some sort of restorative spellcasting, not creepy wall of force bubble world. This guy must have realized what she is, was trying to trap her, knowing death is only temporary in this world but imprisonment might be eternal. Well, too bad for him. She's fast, and clever, and far more powerful than most people tend to assume at a glance.

But she's also sick and wants to know why.]

What do you mean by 'operating room'? What were you planning to do?

[Caedra still hasn't budged an inch, aside from the coughing, and continues to hold her sword at the ready. If this guy comes any closer then he had better hope he can hold his own against her. But she's willing to talk, at least.]

[Law's eyes narrow in frustration]

See whether you have a fever without having to touch you.

[he raises both hands in the universal gesture of 'I am not armed']

If you'd rather I used my hands, fine. I'm not here to harm you. In fact, my sword is out of reach. [nodding toward the nodachi leaning against the wall, equidistant from both of them but very much not an arm's length from either. He'd risk losing a limb if he lunged for it.]

[Caedra can feel the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears, the black ichor within her full of the endless Abyss she was made from, urging her to dismember this idiot and decorate the walls with his organs.

But interior decoration and fever don't mix and she focuses instead on his words. He seems honest. He could be as talented a liar as she is, but she follows his gaze to his sword, looks back to him, and decides that he probably does actually mean to help her. Maybe he's one of those naive fools who sees so much good in helping people in need that he will tolerate her existence if he discovers its nature.

She nods, licks her lips, then relaxes her stance slightly, letting her sword arm fall slightly at her side. Still ready, if things go wrong.]

Just tell me what exactly you mean to do. Don't spring some trap on me. I want to know what's wrong and whatever will tell you that most efficiently is fine, but - tell me, first. What is that room thing? What does it do?

[it takes him a moment, picking through his words, because if he doesn't explain well then they're back at square one.]

It's my ability. Inside the Room, I can manipulate objects - move them, look inside them, put them back together. I was only going to scan you for body temperature, and if there's something inside you causing the illness - a virus, for example - I would take it out so your body can heal itself.

You have my word that I won't intrude further than that.

["You have my word" is such a laughably poor reason to trust someone with something so invasive - but it does sound very thorough. If she wants understanding and not just a cure, this may be a way to go about it.

How much does she care about understanding? In this strange place where she's alone, as far as she can tell, perhaps she is better off if she cares more than she might have otherwise. And if she doesn't like whatever he's doing, she can teleport out again.

Caedra doesn't dismiss her sword entirely, instead re-forming it into a black knife the length of her hand. She probably can't strike him through that odd 'room' of his but she doesn't want to be entirely unarmed.]

Fine. I accept. If you do anything other than what you've said though, expect to suffer for it.

[his eyes follow the morphing blade with interest; not that he hasn't seen a similar ability before but there's a lot about this patient that he finds fascinating. Maybe after they're both feeling better...

Nodding once, Law doesn't ask her to come back or anything, he goes to her, reforming the Room and making sure he's inside it as well, so that anything that happens is under his control. If she attacks him, he'll just go straight for the heart, but it's important that he keeps his composure even and nonthreatening.]

See? The Room itself is harmless. It can't even counter your own abilities.

[and the Scan is hands-free, all he does is gesture, tattooed fingers waving in the air]

[It's harmless, yes, and very, very strange. She's more concerned about what it allows him to do than any inherent properties of the bubble itself, but she remains calm. Patient. Allows him to work, as she nods at his comment.]

I've never seen magic like this. How did you learn it?

It's not magic. [like he's told Harlan a billion times...only nicer] I ate a Devil Fruit to give me this ability.

[there, see? No harm done. He's trying not to be annoyed; fortunately, verifying with the Scan that she's not human has him more interested than annoyed.]

Confirmed that, like me, you don't have anything in your system that would be causing the infection. That leaves me with few choices. You're not human [BLUNTLY thanks Law] so I have to ask, have you taken any medicines used by humans before, and if so, are they usually effective?

[you can have all the anti-inflammatory you can stand, Caedra, if it works]

[She would ask what a Devil Fruit is but it hardly seems like the most important question at this point - besides, no matter what he claims, if you eat a fruit and gain magic powers you have magic, buddy.

But no she's gonna frown at Law for his commentary. Though it's true, she's not human, and she doesn't try too hard to hide it here since there's little point in bothering. Too much effort to change her eyes on the hour every hour.]

The last time I was sick like this was a very long time ago, and I was human then. I don't think they would do any harm, though, if you have something. But - so you don't know what's causing this, then?

Not yet. [he'd be a fool to give up so easily] I'll have to do more tests. On myself, I'm not taking volunteers yet.

[he's in his element here in the clinic, moving to all the new shelves and cabinets to find everything he needs and collecting a few vials]

In that case, I'll give you some painkillers. It should knock the aches and fever down enough to make life not completely shitty. But if the fever lasts more than two days or you have trouble breathing, come back immediately.

Mm. I'll do that - but if you find out what the cause of this is, then I'd like to find out as soon as possible, myself.

[She looks him over once more.]

You're human, right? This isn't just something that affects - well. Those who aren't.

When I find it, I'll report it.

[not that he's going to but...details]

Yeah, one boring human here. One who keeps himself as healthy as possible, so for it to affect me...I'm a little stumped at the moment.

[here, have some pills. Nothing but the finest hand-mixed concoctions for his patients]

[With a wave of her hand she dismisses the knife she has still been holding onto this whole time, and accepts the pills instead.

Something in her mind rears up and insists these pills are poison he wants to kill you but she smiles anyway. She's immune to poison of any sort, she knows that. If they don't help her recover, then she'll know - they were never meant to.

And then she can feed them to someone else and see how long they suffer.]

I see. Yes, it's troubling. But... thank you. And good luck.

[And so she vanishes, teleporting home. Walking while feeling like this is the worst.]

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Event Log: Flu Season

Clinic

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