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Niko comes flying down one of the steeper sets of stairs. Well, no. He bounces. Actually... no, he doesn't bounce. Not very well, at least. A few of his chess cronies come down the stairs as well, in a somewhat more sedate manner.
SECURITY> In the middle of a report he's finishing, Kaycen pauses, one hand
lifting to his ear. He swears, then inquires, "Kyara, could you do me a
favor? Comm medbay and have them get somebody to the Quarter? Kath said she
broke Junior. Gifted lady. Poor Shan."
SECURITY> Kyara glances up with a blink. "What? Um, yeah, sure, no problem,
Kayc." She shakes her head, reaching for the comm, muttering, "How the /heck/
did she do that?"
SECURITY> Kyara says "Security to Medical. Requesting a medical team to the
Java Quarter." into her communit.
SECURITY> Kaycen shakes his head. "She said she radioed him at the wrong
moment. I guess we'l find out."
MEDIC> Clara says "Medical here. We're on our way. Nature of emergency?" into
her communit.
SECURITY> Kyara says "No specifics, Doctor. Um... the XO's broken, that's all I
know." into her communit.
SECURITY> Kyara shakes her head, acknowledging Kaycen. "Timing really /is/
everything, I guess."
SECURITY> Briga perks her ears forward curousily as she listens.
MEDIC> Clara says "*strangled laugh* Again? I -told- him he was a breakable
duck. Well, I told him he was breakable. All right, I'm on my way. *snicker*"
into her communit.
SECURITY> Kyara says "*sounding amused* Thanks, Clara." into her communit.
SECURITY> Kaycen nods his agreement to that, dark brows furrowing in a worried
frown. "Yeah. Hope the kid's okay. Though it's been a while since he's broken
anything." He fumbles in one of the desk drawers, pulling out a few sheets of
paper.
MEDIC> Clara snatches up a medical bag, one of the large ones, and heads to a cabinet to stuff a few supplies in it before heading out. "Hold down the fort," she calls. "I'm bringing home broken Casymed, medium well."
SECURITY> Kyara shakes her head. "Not long enough. Should I comm Ela?"
MEDIC> Clara heads towards the Second Floor Elevator Lounge.
MEDIC> Clara has left.
SECURITY> Kaycen shakes his head. "Nah, that's his call. Once he gets patched
up, he can let her know what happened."
SECURITY> Kyara nods, returning to her almost-finished paperwork. "Poor guy."
Clara arrives from the Massive Open Air Pavilion.
Clara has arrived.
Bobby, the old guy from the chess group, looks decidedly relieved as Clara arrives. "You're the doc, right? The kid's really done a number on himself."
SECURITY> Briga asks curiously, 'Does he break often?"
SECURITY> Kyara sighs with a soft chuckle. "Depends on how you define 'often'."
SECURITY> Kaycen shakes his head as he turns back to his work. "Depends on your definition. It's been a couple months." (Okay, GOMH.)
SECURITY> Kyara glances up to flash a grin at Kaycen before going back to the
paperwork.
SECURITY> Tail lashes consideringly, "Do all your SecOffs break often?'
Niko doesn't say anything, though he's starting to open his eyes again, which is a good sign. Finally, he decides, following a grand tradition, "Ow."
Clara comes into the quarter at a run, eyes dancing as she surveys the area for
broken Niko a'la tobasco. Or butterscotch. Or maybe just dusty. She pulls up
short and nods affably, already making her way through to him. "I am, yes,"
she offers to Bobby, kneeling down. "Heya, friend. Done a number on yourself
this time, hmm?"
Niko peers rather hazily at Clara. "Chess," he says slowly.
Ryoshia steps out of the shadows, amber eyes gleeming.
Ryoshia has arrived.
Bobby shakes his head, shooing away the worst of the onlookers. "He was playing
speed with Jack, then said he had to go, took off. I guess he forgot about
the skates, 'cause he took a nosedive down the stairs." He gestures behind
him, to the stairs in question.
Ryoshia followed Clara here, really. She stands at the edge of the loose circle of onlookers, with what medical staff followed Clara and watches.
SECURITY> Kyara's mouth quirks. "Not at all."
"On wheels?" Clara shakes her head with sympathetic amusement, already pulling out a pair of hypos and administering to a few places. "Just try to stay awake, Niko." See, she also came without any medical staff since all she was told was that Niko was broken. Her scanner comes out to run over various limbs. "Thank you sir," she offers up to Bobby distractedly. "I assumed he wasn't wearing any protective padding and that it happened to fly off?"
Ryoshia would happen to be the only person that followed her then.
Bobby peers at Clara for a moment. "Protective gear?" He manages not to
snicker, but only because he's worried about the younger man. "Uh, no. Not
Niko."
Niko starts to nod, then cuts the gesture short. "Contact chess," he decides.
"No padding." He blinks a few times, apparently in an attempt to stay awake.
"Tired," he adds.
Clara shakes her head, utterly unsurprised. "Lovely. Okay, Niko, I can't carry
you, and you have a fractured patella, so you can't walk. I've got an
antigrav with me, but it's going to make you dizzy." She brushes back the
thwacked curls and nods. "I know you're tired, my friend, but you have to
stay awake. It's vital."
"More dizzy," Niko replies, eyes sagging shut for a moment, then opening slowly. He squints in an attempt to gain some sort of focus. "This is bad."
Bobby stays out of the way, of course, but he still sticks close enough to hear
what's happening. From his expression, he seems to agree with Niko's
assessment.
Clara pulls electrodes from the bag and starts wrapping them about Niko's arm, concentrating. A splint comes out of the bag and is added to support his broken arm, as well as a cervical collar to prevent head movement. "Bad, indeed. We'll get you patched up, though." She fiddles with something in the bag and stands. Oversized SecOffs are -lots- easier to lift this way.
Ryoshia moves over for the ready when needed. She glances quickly at the stairs then at Niko's feet. "Mighty fall," she agrees quietly.
Niko starts to recoil as he spots the electrodes. After all, he generally
associates them with regenerating, which is bad. He stops after a moment or
two, though, gaze shifting vaguely towards Ryoshia as he hears her. "Ow," he
repeats. It feels better when he says that, see.
Ryoshia nods her head. "Big ow. Too bad you still didn't have that armor on,
huh?" she offers in a subtle attempt to keep him awake. She glances back at
Clara.
Clara glances up at Ryoshia with a half smile, then back at the stairs. "Mm.
Quite the fall indeed," she agrees, then returns her attention to the unit
concealed by the bag, stepping in to steady the fallen man. "Okay, let's go,"
she murmurs. "Gotta get you to Medbay to fix this."
You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.
Niko's gaze moves back to Clara. "Fix it. Yeah. Good idea." He lets his eyes
close, though he mumbles, "M'awake."
Clara nudges Niko's arm lightly. "Eyes open, tiger. C'mon, stay awake," she
urges, glancing over at Ryoshia. "Talk to him, keep him awake? I need to
concentrate on the antigrav for this much distance." And with that, she
starts...-slowly-...back to the Complex.
[Travelspam deleted. Scene resumes in the Atrium.]
Ryoshia nods and snaps her fingers in front of Niko's face. "Come on, it's
harder to fall asleep with you eyes open."
Clara glances over with a grimace that fades into a smile as she puts her
fingertips out to halt further snapping. "Just talk," she requests gently.
"With the concussion he's likely got, that snapping's probably echoing
through his head like a shuttle engine."
Niko's eyes squeeze shut a little more tightly, then open. "Leave me alone," he
says, taking care to articulate.
Clara pushes the button.
[Scene resumes in Medbay, after travelspam.]
Ryoshia apologizes one last time for the snapping then moves off back the position she had earlier today, against the wall by the door.
Clara guides Niko to one of the bioscan units, Giani already there and setting
things up. "Niko? Hey, we're here," she notes, lowering said broken duck to
the unit. "No more moving for a bit, I promise," she adds, already starting
to disconnect electrodes.
Niko inquires, voice plaintive and rather fuzzy at the same time, "Can I sleep
yet? Tired, Clara..." He's keeping his eyes open, though, at least for the
moment.
"Niko, no!" Clara almost snaps, turning the suggestion into an order. "You
-will- stay awake." Indeed, she's already running the scanner over his head.
"Thought so. Concussion, Niko. You fall asleep, you may not wake up," she
explains matter of factly, already moving the instrument down his arms. "Dual
fracture of the radius, fractured patella, laceration beneath knee. You are
one seriously broken duck."
Niko would be confused by that even if he hadn't gotten hit on the head. He
blinks. "Quack?" He's quiet for a moment, then says, "Don't tell Ela." That
he's a duck? That he's been hurt? It isn't clear. He's keeping his eyes open
at least, though. "Awake. M'awake."
Ryoshia wanders back over to the bed, trying to stay out of the Doc's way but tries to talk with Niko. "Had you and Ms. Iakovu planned your costumes to work out like that or was it one of life's little coincidences?"
Niko blinks hazily at Ryoshia for a moment. "What?" Helpful, isn't he? "Ela?
Vanquished her. It was fun."
Clara is moving about quite a bit, in between removing splint and brace and
whatnot. "Tell Ela? That you quack? Won't breathe a word, m'dear. Now...while
you're still out of it, I need you t-...oh, my." She clears her throat and
turns away to find the regenerator...and regain her composure. No, she's not
snickering. Okay, maybe a little.
Ryoshia is infact snickering. "Oh really. Where'd you find the costume, at a
costume shop or at an antique store?"
Niko closes his eyes--but only for a moment. See? He's awake. Just resting his eyes. "Huh?" (Type "help" for help.) "Costume? No more armor."
Clara is already using a pair of sheers to snip up Niko's jacket arm. Laundry's
not fond of her either, evidently. More electrodes, too, except these indeed
are attached to the generator, and get covered with the dreaded felt. She
doesn't turn it on, though, but stops to think. "Niko...listen to me," she
says, leaning over him seriously. "You have a lot of breakage here, not to
mention the concussion. The only way I can safely knock you out is with
stasis. Have you ever been under before?"
Niko squints at Clara for a moment, taking a moment to let the question
register. "Yeah," he decides, though he doesn't sound altogether certain.
"The thing with the mountain."
"This is similar, yes," Clara replies, already heading for a cabinet locked to open only to hers, Jones', and Vryce's prints. She pulls a set of hypos from it and relocks said cabinet before returning. "Initiating system shutdown," she notes to the nearby nurse who is hooking Niko up to a few monitors, already pressing one hypo to Niko's temple. "Rest well, friend."
Ryoshia is just waiting for the, 'Will I dream?' question. You can almost feel
it coming...
Niko, caught in mid-blink by the hypo, doesn't really get a chance to respond
to Clara's words. Nick... doesn't quite sleep. But he'll avoid suspenders for
a while.
Clara sighs and adds the other hypo to his neck before rubbing at her forehead.
"Stasis complete, doctor," the nurse offers, watching the monitors. Clara
nods and reaches for the generator. Zzzap. Down to the knee. Zzzap. Up to the
ribs. Zzzap. By the time she's done snipping clothing and zapping, poor Niko
could probably pass for the Scarecrow.
Niko is, of course, blissfully unaware of any of this zzzapping, and a good thing, too. He'd be exceedingly unhappy by this point, were that the case. On the other hand, this would be a good time for him to break into a chorus of, "If I Only Had A Brain (I'd Have Worn A Helmet To Protect It)". Too bad.
Ryoshia winces at each zap. "So he can't feel a thing?" she asks unobtrusivly.
Clara finally stops zapping, perhaps in fear that Niko would burst into song.
No, that can't be it. Oh, it's because all the bones are fixed. Boy is this
gonna ache for a while. She leans back against the counter, quietly notating
in a chart before peering up at Ryo with a weary smile. "Not a thing. I have
him in stasis. Suspended animation, if you will. We'll bring him back up as
soon as I finish this."
Ryoshia shakes her head. "Preservation of life. Read Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein, Clara?"
Kaycen pops his head into the room. The rest of him follows, we're not talking
a headless thing, here. That would be bad. He peers towards Niko and Clara
and Ryoshia, though he doesn't approach the doctor. She's busy fixing his
friend, after all. Instead, he heads over to conver quietly with one of the
nurses.
Niko still doesn't sing. He's good at not singing. It's a gift. He just lays there, carrot-like. Or perhaps it's not quite carrot-like, but, hey, it makes an entertaining analogy. As long as nobody dyes him orange.
Clara chuckles vaguely, still writing in the chart. "Years and years ago. Back
in the O'Neill's in school. Don't tell his fiancee you've associated him with
Frankenstein's monster," she suggests, and turns away to sweep up a pair of
companion hypos. With a nod at the nurse, she administers one, then checks
vital signs. The second hypo follows, and the doctor holds the scanner over
Niko's heart almost tensely. "Heartrate 38...42. Up to 67...72. We have
normal circulation." Can we dye him purple?
Kaycen waits to hear Clara's verdict, then unobtrusively slips out of medbay
after a quiet thankyou to the nurse in question.
Ryoshia chuckles. "Not quite what I was reffering to, but what's left of those
clothes add to the effect quite well."
Niko's eyes open slowly, and he mumbles something vague about whether anybody got the number of that mountain. "Not fun," he adds. Brilliant guy.
You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.
Clara sets aside the scanner, although the nurse continues to watch the
monitors, and pulls a semi-flexible long black strip from a drawer in the bed
and threads it beneath Niko's head and back up like a headband. "Not fun at
all, no. But you missed all the zapping. Now, you've a small subdural
hemotoma at the back of your head. I'm going to fix that, then call Ela to
come get you and take you home. You're out on leave as of now. Seventy-two
hours."
Niko peers up at Clara, expression decidedly unthrilled. "D'you have to tell
her?" After a brief pause, he adds, careful of his articulation, "She'll
never ever go skating any more."
Clara rolls her eyes, although her fingers continue to work to set up the new
device which finally switches on. Lo and behold! A painless device! Actually,
this works more like a massage unit. "Niko, you are still cohabitating with
her, yes? Even if I don't say a word, she'll know. She'll worry less if she
knows the whole story, though."
Ryoshia's brows raises as she listens to Clara talk. Maybe she should have
tried for a MD instead.
Niko blinks as the switch is flicked. "Hey, I like that one. Very happy." After a brief pause, he dips his chin in a gesture that's almost a nod, except that he's not all that keen on moving his head too much. "Guess she should know, yeah." He still doesn't look overly pleased about it, though.
Clara pats Niko's shoulder gently, smiling down at him. "Excellent. You just stay there and let the unit work, and I'm going to make a few calls. You can fall asleep now, if you want." She turns to head for a desk, smiling briefly at Ryo as she passes, then settles into a chair and pulls on a headset.
Clara says "Hey, Chief? Got a minute? I've got your XO over here, and he's one
seriously broken duck. I'd like to toss him off duty for 72 hours. Can you
handle?" into her communit.
Niko closes his eyes, though he mumbles, "If you could maybe not use the word
'fall'?"
Clara's communit crackles to life and says "... gonna... Yeah, I..." in Riley's
voice.
Ryoshia raises an eyebrow. "You had a fight with gravity and lost," she offers.
Niko cracks an eyelid. "I had a fight with gravity and lost asleep?"
Clara says "Broken, yes, but he'll be fine. I've already regenerated all the
fractures and I've got him on a concussion-o-matic right now. I'm comming Ela
after this to warn her I'm taking him home. He just needs rest now." into her
communit.
Ryoshia shrugs. "All that matters is that you got beaten up by that mean ole'
gravity?"
Clara's communit crackles to life and blares "... Thanks... letting me know...
I... okay?" in Riley's voice.
Niko lets that cracked eyelid shut once more. "I'm not five. Y'don't have
t'personify gravity."
Clara says "*quieter* He'll be fine, Greg. Don't worry about a thing. I'll tell
you all about later tonight." into her communit.
Ryoshia can't help but to chuckle. "Gravity's always been personified, though."
Niko's eyes remain closed. "Must've used different physics books." He's starting to sound somewhat more out of it, as is understandable.
Ryoshia grins. "The Children's Book of Physics," she says then stops urging
him. He can sleep now afterall.
Clara sighs and reaches out to tab the channel on the comm unit. Now for the
fun call.
Clara says "Ela? Ela, it's Clara. Sorry to bother you..." into her communit.
Clara's communit crackles to life and says "... no... help you?" in Elasia's
voice.
Niko can't sleep -now-. Clara said the e-word. He opens first one eye and then the other, peering towards Clara and her headset--like that'll help him hear.
Clara says "*ruefully* Actually, I'm just calling in forwarning. I'm bringing
you up one previously broken SecOff and knight out of armor. He'll be fine,
don't worry, but I didn't want to surprise you by showing up on doorstep in a
few minutes." into her communit.
Clara's communit crackles to life and blares "Oh... all..." in Elasia's voice.
Clara says "He's fine, just fine. Or, he will be at least. I'll explain when we
get up there, if that's all right? I'm sure he'd far rather be curled up at
home right now." into her communit.
Clara's communit crackles to life and blares "... please, I'm..." in Elasia's
voice.
Niko mumbles, "Good idea. I like that. Home, yeah. Not here."
Clara says "Not a problem at all. We're on our way. Aleron out." into her
communit.
Clara pulls off the headset and returns to the bioscan, removing the unit from
Niko's head. "Okay, up we go," she explains, attempting to help him up.
"Since it's not far, you can walk, but lean on me, okay? I don't want that
patella snapping again like a dinner plate." She grins wistful at Ryo.
"Thanks for your help in keeping him awake."
Niko moves rather gingerly, understandably enough. "No snapping. Gotcha." He's
careful about the leaning, though. He doesn't want folks to think he's like
Jay, after all. -He- didn't ogle any lace.
Ryoshia shrugs. "I tried. Sorry again about that snapping thing," she says. She still has to do something about Jay's oogling though.
Clara is careful as well, although more out of care for the ribs than for the inhibitions of lace. Then again, she's not wearing any. Well, not that's visible. "Off we go, now. Your better half's expecting us." Ryo gets a final nod and grin before she leads Niko out and to the elevator.
[Travelspam deleted.]
You unlock the door and go into room E16.
Room E16
Contents:
Elasia
Obvious exits:
Out
You come in from the Elevator Lounge.
Clara enters from the Elevator Lounge.
Clara has arrived.
Elasia is waiting near the door, opening it wider to allow y'all in. She's still wearing work clothes, having apparently just scurried up here.
Niko's clothing is shredded, at least? He offers Ela a decidedly sheepish
smile. Or maybe it's a ducklike smile. "Hi, hon. Sorry, I didn't mean to do
it, just the stairs..."
Clara helps Niko in, offering Ela a wan smile. "He was reporting to a duty call
and lost a fight with some stairs," she explains. "Sleeping area?" she asks,
as if wondering if this is where to put him. "He's been regenerated, and
needs to rest for three full days."
Elasia looks altogether stricken at Niko's condition for a moment, but she's good in emergencies and clicks back into coherancy, nodding crisply, moving to lead the way and tug back quilts. "Three days, rest, thank you Clara, yes." She offers Niko a bemusedly worried but find smile, "Only you, love."
Niko is more than willing to take up residence in the bed. "Only me," he
agrees. "I'm the only person in the universe who can get that broken playing
-chess-." And he sounds rather wryly, tiredly amused at that. "Not even
full-contact chess, I swear."
Clara can't help but grin at that, letting Niko lower to the bed, and carefully
doesn't comment on the chess. "He'll be groggy for tonight, maybe most of
tomorrow. I had to put him in stasis to fix the fractures." She steps back
and folds her arms. "You can get up and do thing like shower, eat, the normal
puttering. Just rest as much as possible."
"You broke yourself playing chess?" Does Ela sound a little stunned and
confused? Yes, but then she was downstairs working and then had to haul tail
upstairs because Niko was hurt, her brain is understandably a bit behind. She
nods to Clara, taking mental note.
Niko nods cautiously to Clara, with a vague mumble about wanting to putter
-ab-normally. "Rest, yeah," he adds. "I can handle that. Tired, sleep, yeah,
good idea." Squinting at Ela, he offers another brief nod. "Kind of. I was
leaving playing chess, anyway."
Clara leans down for another kindly pat at Niko's shoulder, then offers Ela an apologetic look even as she fishes a trio of hypos from her coat pocket and offers them. "Analgesics. He's going to hurt for a while. He can have one of these every twelve hours. But don't hesitate at all to comm me for anything."
Okay, that at least seems to make things make a little more sense, although not a lot. Elasia offers Clara a grateful look, Clara makes sense, she accepts the hypos with a nod of thanks. "Twelve hours, check, thank you ma'am.
Clara wrinkles her nose at Ela with a vague comment about feeling old, then winks at both. "Take care of each other. Not that I'd think it'd be otherwise. If there's nothing else, I'll bid you both goodnight."
You faintly hear a chime mark the hour.
Niko's gaze tracks the hypos for a moment, then moves to each woman as she
speaks. "Thanks, Clara. G'night. Won't overdo it this time, promise. Only
three days, I can do that." Of course, he's rambling, but he's also obviously
well on his way to asleep by this point.
Elasia is bad, she's startled, she's worried, she's abusing ma'am. She shifts
the quilts up gently around Niko, nodding to Clara. "I appreciate you putting
him together again."
Clara touches at her brow in a lazy salute and inclines her head. "It's what
I'm here for," she offers in parting, and turns to head for the door, it
sliding shut quietly behind her.
Clara leaves the room.
Clara has left.
Elasia tucks the blankets in closer, smoothing them. "Poor breakable knight..."
Niko muffles a yawn. "Sorry, hon. I didn't -mean- to break, I was just late at all." Yeah, he's the white rabbit, he's late, he's late. "Tired. And it -hurt-. And Bobby was worried. Can I go t'sleep now?"
"Yes love, you can sleep now." Elasia's words are softly soothing, she reaches
up to dim the lights, not off, but almost so. "Get some rest, you could use
it, dear."
Niko finally lets his eyes close. "That Bonded lady is nuts," he mumbles drowsily. "Gravity's not a teakettle. Night, hon. Love you."
And of course now Ela thinks he's hit his head a lot harder than he did, but gently smoothing at the blankets she remains seated at your side for now. "Uh, no, it isn't. Good night dear, I love you as well. Sweet dreams."
Niko seems rather pleased by your response. "Knew you'd think so. G'night." He
mumbles something about sleep and dreams and teakettles and skates, drifting
off to sleep.
Elasia settles the bed to rights one last time, and then moves back to lean
back against the headboard and sit with you.