Severe Conditions

Posted on Tue Jan 7th, 2020 @ 12:31am by Consul Briya Valriya & Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason

3,883 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Canary
Location: Diplomatic Offices - Valriya's Quarters
Timeline: MD 05-06

[OOC: It's a long post, so remember to take plenty of breaks and stay hydrated.]

Briya jolted awake as her forehead slipped from the pedestal of her palm. She was momentarily disoriented, overcome by an indistinct feeling that she’d been swept away in her sleep to some strange setting. But it was a fleeting sensation, for as soon as her mind recognized that she’d nodded off, she knew precisely where she was. Of course she was in her office; at her desk, on Haumea Colony. It felt as if she spent her waking moments huddled up in this office. A quick glance out the windows and it was abundantly clear why.

Snow.

Everywhere.

She ran her fingers through her hair roughly and sighed, disappointed in herself. No matter how tedious or boring the task, it was not like Briya to fall asleep while at her work. She looked down, considering the multiple PADDs resting between her elbows on the desk. The Haumea Colony Charter…it was not exactly a riveting read, but even so…to have fallen asleep in the middle of the afternoon? She stood from the desk, adjusted the thick framed glasses she wore, messed up her face; and sneezed, a powerful emission of air and secretions that racked her slender body.

***

Over the course of the next twelve hours, her symptoms became more pronounced. She’d returned to her quarters directly and promptly went to bed despite the early hour. What she’d easily dismissed at first, she’d soon accepted to be a cold. But lying in bed, covered in three blankets with the environmental controls in her accomodations cranked up to 30° celsius, she’d begun to suspect it was something other than the common cold. Briya had received all the standard inoculations and prescribed vaccinations prior to arrival on the colony, but that didn't make her invulnerable to the freezing temperatures outside. She was almost ashamed to admit it even to herself, but persisting in her choice of clothing wasn’t doing her any favors with her welfare. The cold weather conditions required appropriate cold weather attire and what she’d been wearing was just not enough to keep warm. It was thoughts of this vein, bent towards her wardrobe and heels, that drifted sluggishly through her infirmed mind. That is, when her head wasn’t splitting from the constant coughing and sneezing.

Outside, Gunnar checked the address before activating the door signal. According to the diplomatic office the new Advisor hadn't come in as expected, and though cases of the illness that hit nearly everyone a couple months ago seemed to have tapered off, newcomers could still be susceptible. He hoped it wasn't that, but it was sort of nice to make a house call again. He'd made a practice of checking on people back when he was one of the few who knew how to deal with traveling in deep snow and subzero temperatures, but now that the temperatures were just barely enough to keep snow on the ground, there hadn't been so much of need for that.

From within the cocoon of weighty blankets and fuzzy thinking, Briya vaguely heard - something. Or was it a dream? It couldn’t possibly be the comm system, that was muted during the overnight hours. She wasn’t sure of the exact time, but it must have been late. That the night had passed and morning nearly with it had escaped her notice. Probably because she’d been in bed for nearly eighteen hours, lapsing in and out of lucid thought.

~But what if it is an emergency? The Federation Councilwoman might need my help.~

Briya was not thinking clearly, confusing her where and when to the years she was in the employ of another back on Earth. But even so, she labored to sit up and was instantly rewarded with a fresh wave of rippling pain across her skull. She clutched her head in both hands and bit her lip to distract from that singular agony. “Is that you, Emelyse?” Briya called out to the door. “Come in. I’ll just put something on.”

As the door to the Diplomat’s ‘cabin’ opened, the delicate stick of a woman was struggling to climb from the bed - and was swiftly tangled in the blankets to trip to the floor.

Gunnar had hesitated at the door, having heard 'I'll just put something on' directed at an assumed known visitor. While as a nurse he was not bothered by anyone's state of undress, he was well aware that most people would be quite uncomfortable with a stranger, particularly one of the opposite gender, walking in on them in such a state. However, on hearing a 'whump', he entered, heading toward the sound of someone falling down.

"Hello, I'm from the hospital," he called as he approached the bedroom door. Within, he saw a thin woman entangled in blankets struggling to get up. He could tell even with her half obscured by the mound of bedding that she was feverish. "Here," he said gently, offering a hand as he came over. "Let me help."

“Ah, you are too kind, Councilwoman.” Briya’s voice was strained, her sinuses thick with congestion when they weren’t pouring out. She grabbed hold of Gunnar and allowed herself to be pulled up from the floor. She weighed next to nothing, but her head felt like a million kilograms. She raised her eyes to look at… “You aren’t Emelyse; too tall and manly.” Briya was a Risian and being a native of the pleasure planet, she’d shed most of those pesky sensibilities that some of the less enlightened races still held onto. So her nudity, or in this case, just about, was not something that would normally give her much pause among those with whom she were familiar. A proper ensemble was essential to any job, but in her own quarters it was not so absolute. But she was quickly realizing that she did not know this man before her and felt strangely about such things in his presence. “I..erm...sorry,” and she reached down to pull one of the blankets up around herself.

"It's all right," he assured her, suspecting a Risian was more concerned about her nudity making him uncomfortable, and offered a smile as he helped her gather the blanket around her shoulders. "I am considerably taller than the councilwoman, and do have one more Y chromosome than she does," he joked lightly to help put her at ease. "I'm Lt. Arnason, and I was asked to check in on you. How long have you been ill?"

“Ill? No, it’s not as bad as that. Just a winter cold.” But something inside her immune system took great offense to that understatement and unable to free her hands from the blanket in time, Briya proceeded to sneeze all over Gunnar. When her head stopped throbbing and she was relatively sure her eyes hadn’t burst out of her face, she offered a sheepish smile. “My apologies, Lieutenant.” She dabbed at his shirt/uniform with an edge of her blanket. “I started feeling tired a few hours ago at my office so I retired for a quick afternoon nap. I can’t have been in slumber for long; it’s still light outside.” Briya shivered and sat down on the edge of the bed, staring forward in that blank manner that the sick often take when trying to stay awake or think. “Why did you say you are here, Lieutenant?”

"Because I was asked to check on you," he replied, removing the uniform jacket now smeared with mucus. The fact didn't particularly bother him - it was a common occupational hazard, in fact - but if she had the illness that had been going around when he arrived on the colony there was a chance she might faint, and the clean turtleneck underneath would be preferable if he had to catch her. "You've been gone more than a few hours, you see. It's mid-morning and your aide was concerned when you didn't show up and weren't answering your comm. A good precaution, I'd say, since you're running a high fever." He loaded a hypo. "I'm going to give you something to bring that down, and then get you a glass of water. By this point, you're likely as weak from dehydration as from the fever."

Briya nodded and loosened her deathgrip on the blanket enough to expose her neck to the hypospray. “I vaguely recall ordering some soup from the replicator, but - it’s confusing, dealing with the missing time. Morning...” She glanced over towards a window then quickly shielded her eyes and looked away. “Your antidote will sort me right out, I’m sure. There is much work to be done, and I shouldn’t want to take up any more of your time, Doctor.” Briya’s face contorted moments before she let loose another explosive sneeze followed by a long groan. Briya’s narrow shoulders slumped. “I’ll need to clean myself up just a trace before returning to the office - soon as the room…” Her grip on the blanket let go and she started to sway. “...spinning…”

Gunnar applied the hypo and was about to advise that she should rest when he noticed her sway and bent to catch her. "I'm not a doctor, ma'am," he said, steadying her and with a well-practiced move shifting his hold to wrap an arm around her front while cupping the nape of her neck in the other hand and guiding her to lay back down on the bed. "But I can tell you that you should skip the office for a few days. Believe me, trying to work through this illness isn't worth it."

“I don’t understand…not a doctor?” Briya sounded confused, but gave no struggle against the man’s guidance. With her head back on the pillow, the room around her grew still and lazy once more. And one discomfort was promptly traded for another. She was cold again and her toes felt like they were swollen; too large for her feet. The pounding behind her eyes settled into a rhythmic pulse tied directly to the ache in her knees and armpits.

He picked a blanket from the jumble on the bed and shook it open to spread over her. Having been in a similar position not all so long ago, he knew she must be cold and aching. Given that she was likely far less inured to cold than he was, he added another as he explained. "I'm an NP; a nurse practitioner. The medicine should start to bring your fever down and ease the pain soon. But half the headache is dehydration so you should drink something. I'll get you some water, or tea if that's more appealing?"

“Ahhh….” The noise coming from Briya was either the affirmation of the absorption of Gunnar’s words or a sigh. She clutched the blankets under her chin with one hand while the spindly fingers of her other remained clasped to Gunnar’s arm. She was not a solitary creature by nature and was uncomfortable being left alone. Even more so in her ailing state, she was involuntarily holding onto anyone. “Maybe just the small glass of Altair water, if it’s not too much trouble. And if I could only slip on my glasses, I could work from bed. They were on the…” But as soon as she’d turned her head towards the small night table, her world began to whirl again. “Oh….” That one was definitely a groan.

Gunnar smiled sympathetically. He'd been there - and had nearly wound up restrained in bed because of that impulse to work, though in his case lying ill in his place of work had been made staying down more difficult.

"What you need is rest. And fetching water is no trouble at all. I'll be right back," he assured her, patting the hand on his arm gently before slipping away. He kept talking as he went to the replicator - people had different preferences for company when ill, some wanting to be alone and others wanting, or even needing, company. Ultimately that was individual, but heavily influenced by species and culture. He'd dated a Risian once, and had some idea of which category she probably fell into. "I know this is hard to believe right now, but in a sense you're lucky. With the drug cocktail we've worked out, the worst should pass in 2 days. A month ago, it was a over a week to be back on your feet," he explained as he returned with the water in bottle with a straw so she could sip easily. "Still, if you want I can stay until you feel little more steady."

The liquid was cold in her throat and she drank greedily until the bottle was pulled away. “I cannot imagine feeling equal to this for a week. I’d fancy a transporter accident over this.” She laid her head back and readjusted her neck and shoulders, finding what comfort she could in the bed. Her eyes kept returning to Gunnar’s which she could pretend was merely the polite thing to do while he was tending to her, but she knew herself well enough to know it had more to do with her appetite for men which even in her current state could not be tuned out entirely. She shifted and patted the bed with her hand “Will you sit with me for a while? Did you play a pivotal role in the development of your drug cocktail?”

He paused a moment at the invitation - a certain sense of propriety was second nature when alone with a female patient - but judged that she simply needed company. In her condition anything else was unthinkable, so he sat on the edge of the bed, just close enough to be a comforting presence without encroaching on personal space. "I can stay awhile if you like,” Gunnar said, and only half in jest, he added, "I can confirm that by the fourth day stepping in front of a speeding vehicle began to have some appeal… In answer to your question, I only kept track of the relative effectiveness of treatments we tried. The real credit goes to the civilian doctors who'd been working on it before I arrived, and to the medical lab that was working around the clock analyzing blood and fluid samples."

“I will assume you are attempting to be modest,” Briya teased, though any attempt to affect a coquettish bearing in her current affection would surely be ineffective. She felt like she was breathing through a wet sheet and probably sounded like it as well. And the tired muscles in her face had the corners of her upper eyelid twitching which completely ruined her playful wink. So she hastily seized the edge of her blankets and unburdened herself of a chain of noisy coughs.

Gunnar shook his head. "Not being modest, just honest. I'm an NP; I'm not an epidemiologist. My main focus is patient care." Out of reflex, but as if in illustration, he put a hand behind her back to support her through a racking cough.

“Do you often make house calls, Lieutenant?” Briya was definitely speaking through blankets on that one.

"It depends. More than some might expect," he said, thinking of of one of the civilian doctors who'd been practically scandalized that made any. "But with so many people here who didn't know how to travel in freezing weather, I started making rounds outside the hospital to be sure no one was shut in and seriously ill. I've done it in other situations too though, when needed."

Briya closed her eyes and nodded. “I neglected to adequately brace myself for the temperatures here. I’m referring to my mental fortitude - I am no fan of this weather. Give me warm sunshine and hot sand any day. But I may have set myself up for failing by not outfitting myself with suitable cold weather wear. Well, by not wearing it properly I should say. Of course I feel foolish now for such a choice, but really Lieutenant, such attire makes a woman look so... frumpy.”

Gunnar chuckled, then ducked his head apologetically. "Sorry. You just sounded so much like someone I know. She kept her quarters at what felt like sauna temperatures and thought even the miniskirt version of uniforms were 'frumpy'. Which was funny to me since I grew up near earth's arctic circle, so layers of clothes are just...normal." He shrugged slightly, then smiled. "But I can understand the appeal of sand and sun, at least with a beach nearby to cool off."

“Ah, then that explains it. You are right at home in this climate.” Briya opened her eyes and smiled. “This friend of yours; was she Risian by chance or design?”

He glanced away at the particular emphasis on friend - it was a little too accurate. "Not Risian; Dr. Divash was Orion, though from what I've learned from other Risians, the cultures are similar in that respect." Even as he said it, an observation struck him. It seemed unlikely, but then again, Divash had flirted even when she was so tired she could barely stand... "Is there a reason you ask?"

Briya feigned an indifferent expression with her eyes, but the corners of her mouth dipped ever so slightly. “No reason, Lieutenant. You should know by now that a woman never has a reason for asking such questions.” Her hand snaked out from beneath the blankets and waved vaguely to the right of her bed. “Would you mind checking the floor? I can’t seem to find my glasses.”

"Of course," he said, somewhat relieved, and bent down to fish among the discarded bedding. "Ah. Here you are." He freed the glasses, noting briefly that they weren't prescription but the kind he'd seen some diplomats wear at the embassy. "But I don't recommend engaging the interface for these yet, at least not for very long."

She took the glasses in hand and slid them onto her face. “Now I know you’re making a fuss over me, Lieutenant. But what harm could come of it?” Her eye winked expertly by way of activating the focal device and information was instantly scrolling through. She’d become quite efficient at garnering those pieces of information she wanted quickly, but it was much more difficult just now to direct the flow. “Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason; a sterling name, Gunnar. May I call you this, rather than Lieutenant?

Gunnar chuckled quietly. "If you wanted my name, you only had to ask. It's hardly worth risking a worse headache from using those in your current state," he advised, though more amused than scolding. "Gunnar was my grandfather's name and I've taken some teasing from my Dosadi friends over the fact that it means 'warrior' when I am anything but. However, you're welcome to use it if that makes you feel more comfortable."

“I have found that when meeting new peoples, the designations we choose to adopt or present to one another are critical for establishing the nature of any relationship that is to follow. As they say, the naming is at the heart of the matter. So, discounting for a moment that you first happened upon me in my chemise,” and she gave him an administering look down the length of her nose before asking, “Which would you prefer? Gunnar? Lieutenant? Or Nurse?”

Not expecting that reply, he paused a moment to consider. It was a good question, and doubly good in that it was insightful and clear-headed, which showed the medicine was working. On the other hand, it left the ball in his court with respect to choosing the designation that would be most comfortable. Normally he left that to the person he was there to provide with care and comfort, but it seemed she wanted him to choose so that it would be comfortable for both of them.

"I think, given that you are lying in bed in your chemise, 'Nurse' might be best in this context," he replied, explaining -he hoped- diplomatically. "On duty I tend to be more formal. But if we meet later when you aren't my patient, I'm perfectly happy with Gunnar."

“I see. And would you like that, Nurse Gunnar, that we should meet later? Although I must say, given your expert care, I do not think I would wish to be patient under any other.” It was difficult to determine from her tone just whether she knew how pert her question could be if perceived as such.

"Thank you," he said, suppressing a chuckle at 'Nurse Gunnar' since that was what children usually called him and he suspected that wasn't the association she intended. However it wasn't quite clear enough that he felt he should mention T'Ango, especially since the parameters of that relationship were a bit ...complicated. Fortunately there was a suitable and honest way to answer. "I certainly wouldn't mind meeting when you are feeling better. I took a minor in xenosociology and always find discussions with people from the diplomatic corps quite interesting."

Briya smiled, dimples and all, and shook her head in amusement. "You're cute when you're being intentionally obtuse. We could call it a rudimentary form of diplomacy, though it does drag out harmless flirtatious interludes. Very well, my Nurse Gunnar. I will assume you are entirely uninterested in that way or otherwise committed. I'm sure the relevant information will present itself upon inquiry." She gave him a wink which deactivated the glasses before she removed them. "So you are off the hook - for now. Lucky for you my legendary Risian stamina is at an all-time low. Otherwise this may have become awkward and exciting." Briya yawned and her eyes suddenly grew tired. She shifted in the bed to get comfortable on her side and handed the glasses to her nurse. "No more work for me today, Gunnar's orders. I think I'll sleep now, but promise you'll check in on me before the end of your shift?"

He ducked his head, hiding a smile at the comment about being 'cute' when he was intentionally obtuse. It reminded him entirely too much of Divash. Which admittedly wasn't an entirely bad thing... just not something he'd feel right about at present. He might have tried to explain so as not to compound her physical discomfort with rejection, but she seemed to brush it off easily enough and letting her sleep was the best thing for recovery. "Certainly. I'll leave water by your bed and check in later this afternoon. If you need anything before then, you can comm me at the hospital."

Briya snuggled into the blankets as he approached the exit to her quarters. When the door opened, she called out to him with a croaky voice, any previous charm or appeal gone; drowned in phlegm. "I promise to survive until your return, Nurse Gunnar. You won't get off the hook so easily twice in one day.”

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