[Sickbay]: Round Five Scans and Vaccines

[ten_fwd_npcs]

Sickbay is fairly ordinary for a ship's hospital. There are no terrifying devices or humming machines you might see in a sci-fi thriller. The biobeds along the walls are equipped with biofunction monitors, but look fairly standard. Instead of silver trays filled with metal tools and sawblades, there are an array of small devices that look as harmless as cell phones. As for the staff, they're all well-groomed and friendly. As a matter of fact, all personnel look harmless. Well, perhaps excluding the sun avatar, but Trance Gemini is as skilled as the Starfleet officers.

If you're new to the ship, no doubt you've been escorted here by the security team. Nothing to worry about, the doctors just want to make sure you aren't carrying any viruses or are vulnerable to terrible space disease. Once you've been checked over — a quick scan from a tricorder and any necessary vaccines — you'll be free to go! Lollipops are optional.

"All right, come in," one of them calls out as you enter. "Don't be shy. It's just a scan and a hypospray, nothing to worry about."


[ooc: Sickbay is as always OTA! For new characters, tagging isn't mandatory but going to sickbay ICly is. So if you'd prefer to skip threading with one of our doctors, you can handwave that your character got a clean bill of health and a shot and were sent on their merry way. For those who are tagging, we have Trance Gemini, Beverly Crusher, and Rory Williams, with Julian Bashir by request only (and possible appearances by Simon Tam). If you have a preference, please specify in the subject line of your tag who you would like. If you would like more details about sickbay, here's the wiki page. If you haven't made your intro yet, you can assume the doctors will want to see your character shortly after they arrive, and backtagging is love!]

Comments

[asklepian]

"Why in the world would you feel guilty? You couldn't have done anything. He was satisfied with how he'd lived--he'd wished it'd been longer, of course, but well. He can't be blamed for that, given the circumstances." Julian remembered well Torias' feelings--his pride, his joy in life. He didn't have the burden of remembering how he'd died, that was all. He felt he knew Torias about as well as anyone could that didn't have the Dax symbiont inside of them.

"It's not too late to turn around and get an antiemetic."

[pronounsarehard]

" I should have realized that it wasn't ready for a test. I should have stopped and thought about it and realized I was being incredibly reckless and the result of that is Nilani was left alone. " Ezri paused to look at her friend. " I can remember what it felt like, Julian. The explosions, the way my lungs seared. You never do get used to it. Dying."

She did feel better, talking with it to her friend. "You're probably the best person of all to talk about this." Besides Jadzia. "We could make you an honorary counselor."

[asklepian]

"Life is unpredictable. Even if you had noticed something wrong, fixed it, that doesn't mean everything would have gone off without a hitch. You've been in space long enough to know. Things go wrong. If not then, it could have been the next time, or the time after that."

Julian wasn't sure how comforting that was, but he knew probably about as much about death as he could for someone who'd never experienced it first hand.

He is so not drunk enough for this conversation. It's so far been nothing but reminders of an inevitable future that he really doesn't want to come to pass.

"My going rate at the moment is a bottle of scotch. Surely with the Chief aboard, there must be one around here somewhere that isn't synthetic." Feel free to chastise him, he knows how bad it is for him, but he doesn't care.

[pronounsarehard]

And chastise she will, but the time isn't right. And the turbolift wasn't the right place for this conversation. Thankfully, the doors slid open and Ezri stepped into the hallway.

"I know you're right. I guess all these memories have me a bit confused. I'm working on it, but it's not an overnight process. I think we both need a drink for this though. Come on." Then Ezri stopped and looked at Julian. "What if Jadzia's there? I can't avoid her forever."

She knew she was confusing Julian, and she was sorry. But it was so confusing and she was in such a weird place and the time line was going to be so screwed up. Was it any wonder Dax was overwhelmed. Hell, she was overwhelmed before she got taken by Q.

"I'm really sorry Julian. "

[asklepian]

He has...okay, not no family history of alcoholism, but surely that had been taken out of his genetics. What point was there to stripping out whatever else had been wrong with him and leaving that behind?

"No, you can't. Especially not on a starship."

The Enterprise was large, but not so large as to avoid each other. Especially since he knew Jadzia--she would be curious, and want to speak with Ezri, surely. Not solely because they were both Trill, but that would have some relation, obviously. And if Jadzia saw him talking with her, that would only make her even more inclined to seek her out and speak with her.

"You should figure out what you're going to say when you meet her sooner rather than later." Take it from him, he knows how to hide things.

[pronounsarehard]

Ezri hung her head, shoulders slumping downward until she realized that was probably a bad position and was making her a tiny bit more nauseous.

"I know, I know. What can I say? Sooner or later I'll do something and she's going to figure it out! Can I really just say 'Hi, I'm Ezri. I kind of got the Dax symbiont after you by mistake and oh by the way you completely intimidate me.'" Ezri gave Julian a look. "Cause that sounds just great. I'm a real gift to the Dax line you see." It was true. Everyone else had brought something new and exciting to Dax. But Ezri? She wasn't as brazen as Curzon or full of life as Jadzia, as smart as Tobin or nimble as Emony. She was just Ezri. She wasn't even chosen. She didn't even want to be chosen.

"Think maybe Q will accept that this is all a horrible mistake and just send me back?"

[asklepian]

"Don't you start," Julian says, voice quiet, but full of anger. He knew that she wasn't Jadzia. Not truly--even if she had the memories of Dax, Ezri was a completely separate person. But still--he couldn't stand the thought of her saying she wasn't good enough.

She should know why that is.

[pronounsarehard]

Ezri cocked her head and looked up at Julian, both sadness and a bit of anger and frustration creeping into her voice.

"You don't even know me Julian. You know how I got the symbiont? I was never trained. I never even wanted to be joined. Dax never even made it back to Trill. It took a turn for the worst and I was the only Trill on board. I hadn't even finished all my training yet." She hadn't accomplished anything, unlike Jazia and Emony and the rest who were brilliant on their own--had to be if they were to be accepted as hosts.

[asklepian]

It was, perhaps, the frustration and anger and grief that he still hadn't been able to deal with talking--it wasn't fair to dump this on Ezri, because it's not her fault, but hearing her say in not so many words that she wasn't good enough hit all of his anger points.

"So what you're saying is that you're not good enough," he says, voice twisting as the mask drops further, if only for a moment, his anger at the concept blatantly obvious. If she knows him half as well as she thinks she does, she should know exactly how significant those words are to him. Significant and hated. "Which is a load of shite, otherwise you wouldn't be here at all."

[pronounsarehard]

"And just what is that supposed to mean? You don't even know me as Ezri Dax yet. You may know Jadzia, you may have heard of Curzon and the other hosts, but you don't know me Julian." Ezri let out all of her pent up anger, frustration and confusion out on the poor doctor.

"Dax should have gone back to Trill, where the Symbiosis Commission would have chosen someone to be joined. Someone who had gone through and passed the years of training! Instead, Dax got me. I don't even know who I am anymore, Julian! There are days when I don't know my name, or my gender or what year it is!"

[asklepian]

Julian lets out a shaky breath, this is not helping--not in the least--he needs to get his emotions under control. He thinks he can be pardoned the reaction, though, considering the situation.

He runs his fingers through his hair, tugging lightly, and lets his back thump against the turbolift wall, taking a few minutes before responding to just breathe, compartmentalize his anger and his grief, lock it away in a corner of his mind. When he responds, it's prefaced by a breathy laugh.

"So you got a transformation you didn't ask for, and it's causing you an identity crisis. You think I don't know what that's like?" He'd had an extended one for over half his damn life.

[pronounsarehard]

Ezri took a deep breath. This wasn't working. He was worked up, she was worked up and it wasn't helping.

"I'm sorry. I'm confused and scared and I'm taking it out on you and that's not right. But," She continued, "You're not exactly a bastion of mental health yourself right now. You need time to process what happened to Jadzia. What will happen. Maybe I'm getting in the way of that."

[asklepian]

"Is that your professional medical opinion?" Julian quips. Is he going crazy, Ezri?

"It's not going to help if you walk out unprepared." He can keep it together for 20 minutes, 'bastion of mental health' or no. He never really has been, so it's no different than normal. It wasn't like there were many people he could talk to about this, and he was horrible at dealing on his own.

[pronounsarehard]

"Yup. My professional medical option. We're all crazy here. This is the turbolift for crazy people." Ezri stopped talking. She was trying to hard. Just be yourself, Ezri. But which self am I being?

"I think those drinks are sounding better and better. Just as long as you talk to me too. And you let me know if you need to back out. Deal?" Ezri held out her hand as the lift stopped and opened.

[asklepian]

"Wonderful." We're all mad here, apparently.

He looks at her hand, a small, lopsided smile on his face. She may not be the Dax he's used to, but she is Dax. And different, too. Captain Sisko had gotten used to it with the change from Curzon to Jadzia, he could too.

"You know it's harder to get me to stop talking," he quips, reaching out to take her hand. "Deal."

[pronounsarehard]

"Yes, I do know!" Ezri grinned, remembering all those times Julian would talk and just wouldn't shut up. It was adorable.

"I know this is weird for you. It's weird for me too. From my perspective, we've already done this song and dance. But, you havent had a chance to get used to me, or the entire situation already. So let me know if I'm forgetting and charging full speed ahead. Okay?"

She couldn't expect him to react like Benjamin. Benjamin had known Dax through 3 lifetimes now. Julian was just starting to get to know Jadzia.

[asklepian]

Excuse you, he is not 'adorable'. Handsome, he'll accept.

"Temporal Investigations is going to have a field day with all this," Julian mutters as he steps out of the turbolift, letting his hand drop back to his side. He's adapted to some fairly shocking things before--this is no different. At least, that's what he's telling himself.

[pronounsarehard]

"Temporal Investigations doesn't have to find out." There are more than a little Jadzia and Curzon in Ezri, and she had a bit of a pension for breaking the rules. Or, just forgetting the rules exist and doing whatever she wanted.

"What they don't know, wont hurt them."