ss_noanga | Pickin' Up Bad Vibrations [OTA]

Who: Friendly CR/Concerned Others
What: This humming sucks, okay?
When: Day 79 (Slightly backdated)
Where: The lounge

While he hadn't been able to help with fixing up the lounge immediately after the invasion, focusing instead on people, Æn'kae had not missed the state of it. So once he had time again, he targeted it much the same way he had the medbay, dragging broken items to an unused room and pulling in good replacements. And this time he knew where quarters with a large variety of replacement furniture were, which certainly helped!

He'd been in the middle of arranging a a couch he'd just gotten help moving in when the ship first entered range of the humming. At first they were subtle enough he didn't notice the source, just dizziness that made him stumble, first a little, but more as the hum grew. He stumbled and then held up his hand for a pause, swaying and then falling to a seat on the couch as the hum continued to mount. He tried putting his hands to his ears more by reflex than effort, but it did no good, since it wasn't really what he heard that was such a problem. Ah fvadt, what was that?

As the hum reached full strength, Hwoinch jumped into his lap, yowling and bristling, no better off. Roj for her part snorted in irritation but was otherwise unfazed by the hum, and very worried for her person and her tiny companion. She snuffled at Æn'kae's leg and Hwoinch's torso and then trotted over to headbutt whoever she spotted with a loud series of grunts and squeals. Because someone, anyone needed to fix this!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day had been focusing his efforts on gardening, on taming a little patch of the jungle – not because he didn’t care about the lounge, but because he just had to stay away from reminders of the fighting for a little while longer. Which of course didn’t mean he wasn’t checking in on Aen’kae ever once in a while and be it just a quick glance from the hallway.

Roj alerting him to a problem meant he followed immediately, sitting by his friend with great concern. “What’s wrong?” he asked, softly – this looked so much like when he had one of his worse headache attacks. But it couldn’t be that, right? The hum itself didn’t really bother him, went largely unnoticed between being much like the feel of his own magic, knowing similar from Republic and his forest keeping his thoughts free.

It took Æn'kae a long moment to process the words, to figure out Day had joined him. He'd started petting Hwoinch absently as the feline curled into a ball on his lap. Not like covering his ears had done any good at all. Processing words felt like crawling through mud, and he had no idea how he'd manage to formulate a response. But not responding at all would only worry Day more. Squinting his eyes open he gave a tight lipped smile that was far from reassuring and then gave a short low hum, nowhere near the pitch of the hum that they felt more than heard, but hopefully it was enough to get the point across.

Day watched very carefully, trying to see if Aen'kae was bleeding anywhere, had a bump indicating a fall, a flush from fever - anything. That he could still open his eyes and react was a reassurance, since it meant Aen'kae was still there enough to understand him. And it only took a moment to catch on what he meant. "Ah. Sensory overload?" He could relate to that, knew that as much as it sucked, there was little to do but wait it out. With the way he looked Day wasn't about to move him, simply fetched a pillow and gently pushed him to lie down. He'd stay around, at least. Lightly hold his hand, in case projecting would be easier (as much as Aen'kae normally avoided it). "It's ok Roj. Just the ship upsetting their senses."

Æn'kae didn't fight the push to lie down, but when he felt the pillow, he pulled it up and put it over his head. Maybe it didn't stop the hum, but it certainly did more than just his hands. When Day took his hand the broadcast was a steady stream that Æn'kae couldn't exactly control. The hum carried over, mixed in with pain, dizziness, and a sort of mental static. But somewhere in this was was a need he couldn't act on himself to... What? Find the source? Help? Æn'kae hadn't seen the ship itself to know about it. The hum itself seemed to the origin of that need.

Roj let a distressed sound and shoved at Æn'kae's leg again. She didn't understand what was wrong, she picked up Day's reassuring voice, but she wasn't reassured!

He made a mental note to apologize later for using this without asking first. Pain he had a hard time judging after his own experiences, but he had some tea to make that might help. The hum and the static he could let the forest filter out, leaving him with... get help. Which was reasonable enough, there's little he could do here.

Instead of leaving him alone, he typed out a network message, hoping someone would have more of a clue. And then held out his other hand for Roj - could he channel that thoughtstream through to her? Maybe. Could try, at least. "I know, it looks very worrisome. But I'm here. I'll help in any way I can."

Whether it made it or not, wasn't clear, Roj wasn't calming down. The fact that Æn'kae always broadcast to her a little was part of the issue. She wouldn't be calm because the broadcast itself was part of the problem. But while she was worried, she wasn't nearing the dangerous panic, instead pacing and snuffling at him periodically.

Somewhere in this a strand of comfort entered the broadcast as he released the grip on the pillow to reach out to Roj. No words included, because frankly Æn'kae couldn't handle them right now. But an impression that it would be okay, that he just needed to sleep this off. Given that Hwoinch was somehow already asleep certainly gave that idea promise. Unfortunately he had a feeling it would be a lot harder for him to manage. He couldn't even manage meditating to try and help.

Roj accepted this, but also decided she should help him sleep. Her solution, lie across his legs. Nothing could go wrong with this! And she started clambering up onto the couch, feet tearing at the fabric as she tried to get up.

It’d been worth a try, something to do when there was very little else he could do to help. He couldn’t blame Roj for the reactions either, he wasn’t her person, he couldn’t communicate with her the same way, he was just as worried. When she tried to clamber up to be closer to Aen’kae, Day simple helped her.

“You just make sure he won’t fall off the couch, alright? I’ll be right back, with something that might help.” The tea he’d gotten from Ferlarys wasn’t as good as Aen’kaes little magic box was, but it had helped him sleep on nights where the nightmares got bad and it had some of the same herbs as those he used at the gas station with his headaches. Maybe it would help with this too.

Roj grunted with seriousness as she lay down along Æn'kae's legs once helped up. She took guard duty very seriously, especially with her person incapacitated. She didn't know the specifics of what Day asked, but the tone said guard, and guard she would.

The weight on his legs startled Æn'kae, but he recognized Roj and didn't try to fight to respond. Instead of becoming more bearable due to acclimation, since the humming wasn't increasing anymore, it only seemed to be mounting, very slowly, sure, but mounting nonetheless. If he were in any state to think about it he might have suggested one of his hyposprays by this point, unfortunately, well...

Sometimes he wondered how much Roj understood, since at home there'd only been Luna and the dragon moth had seemed much more like a person. But now wasn't the time to ask.

He still hurried, coming back with a cup of tea. Refilled into a bottle, to make it easier. Day gently touched Aen'kaes shoulder. "Can you drink?" The little device had occurred to him, but he simply didn't knew enough about how to use it or what it would do. And the other boy didn't look to be in any state to explain.

Pickin' Up Bad Vibrations [OTA]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject