Roleplaying
2004 Archive
2005 Archive
Seminars
| When: | 24 April 2005 |
| Who: | Daevon, Ellen, Kacela, Inarin, Nicodemus, Soludarius, Uzal |
| What: | Deaths from disease are rarely a thing to celebrate. Victory for Kacela and Nicodemus is cut short, however, as Inarin responds to a Kyriotate-controlled man's accusations about the nature of their West Nile Virus initiative. |
Brackenridge Hospital
First opening its doors in 1884, Brackenridge Hospital is the oldest public hospital in Texas. Under the management of a non-profit Catholic healthcare network and newly renovated, it stands as a testament to modern medicine at its finest. The building itself is tiered beige concrete structure with blue-glass windows standing some fifteen stories tall. It hosts all of the standard services one might expect from a hospital and is the region's only major trauma center.
The hospital lobby is laid out in a very orderly fashion. Across the room from the double-glass door entrance is a long sleek wooden reception desk. Hospital staff hand out forms to patients, prioritize patient care and answer questions. To the right, behind a set of blue double metal doors, is the entrance to the emergency room and trauma care units. To the left of the reception desk is a hallway leading to the elevators and the other departments on the floor.
The hospital is decorated in the simplest of styles. The walls are two-tone white and pastel blue, split in the middle of the wall by a divider that can serve as a handrail for those in need of such assistance. The floor is a tile checkerboard of white and gray squares. The reception area though is carpeted in a functional dark gray carpet with plastic chairs for visitors to sit upon.
What makes the hospital stand out as something other than a cold antiseptic facility is the staff. The nurses and receptionists joke and laugh together as they go about their work, employees sit with patients in the reception area and assist them with their paperwork or assuage their fears and hospital clergy comfort the friends and family of the sick and dying. The walls of this place house souls of great compassion and sacrifice caring for those who are need of healing and rest.
Those in the city just might detect not one, but two level 10 disturbances in the Midtown region within a 10 minute span. A decent perception roll will show that it happened at Brackenridge.
The halls of Brackenridge have seen their fare share of patients the past few days. Aside from the trauma patients, the families of those contained in these sanitized walls are waiting anxiously for word of improvement of their loved one's conditions. The words 'virus' and 'mosquitoes' are mumbled more than once by the waiting parties. A few others lie in seats restlessly, their complexion flushed, more openly muttering about the wait times on admission, nurse and doctor referral, or even test results from the pathology department.
One of the doors opens, and walking through with a clenched jaw is a doctor in his early 50's, judging by the creases around his eyes. He hesitates in front of one group, and announces the passing of their kindred, trying to pad the blow by stating, "The surgery from earlier this year made it hard on his defenses..." But it's no consolation as the older woman, presumably the deceased's wife, begins to shake her head and wail.
Murmuring the last rights to some poor soul not that far from the wailing woman, Father Dave blesses the young man with cancer in his bed. He holds the man's head for a moment, before he steps away, and says a final few words. Daevon turns around and exits the room. He exhales finally, and hangs his head for just a brief moment. It was hopeless things like this that make Dae's job ten times harder.
Daevon pauses as he hears the woman, and he does something to console the woman. He steps over to her and extends his hand helpfully, "He is now with God, the Father almighty. His soul is in peace, and no longer in torment. Rejoice, for now he sleeps with Him," Father Dae smiles genuinely and tries to reassure the woman.
Following the sound of the Disturbance, Ellen steps in the door warily, peering around at the scene. Her hair is prickled a little, her nerves on alert. Viruses + Disturbance + Dead Humans = Not Good. Especially when /she's/ a human...
Uzal steps in nonchalantly, casting his violet gaze about curiosity. He can't help turn his eyes over the nurses, interns, and orderlies, also, looking for signs of stress and overwork. Hospital workers have /such/ a tough life...
Frowning to herself, Kacela continues to prowl the halls of the hospital. Aside from her recent, month and a half fascination with death and disease, she was here on business. Or just betterment. "Man, where is he? I need those suturing lessons." Dressed in her favorite present, she squares shoulders slightly as she walks up to a desk. "Excuse me, have you seen Noah Kingsley on duty? I was supposed to meet with him for some instructional methods..." and then it strikes, the sound of a human soul leaving the mortal plane by celestial intervention. Kacela blinks, tensing some, and then shakes her head, "I'll find him later." Schooling her expression, she looks over her shoulder towards the lobby, and the sounds of crying. The woman steps closer, listening with eyes narrowed until she catches the word 'encephalitis' from the attending physician as he tries to comfort the family. She turns on her heel, and then rests against a doorframe. Raising a knuckle to her mouth, she bites down, closing eyes briefly to resist the urge to break out into any tell-tale grins or laughs.
Amidst the back up of patients, Nicholas Lyman is seated quite comfortably, his hands neatly folded in his lap. With no visible ailments of any kind and completely silent, the Austin industrialist is an odd sight, seated between two families in crisis. On his right hand, he has an anxious mother applying pressure to her sons playground injury. On the other side, middle aged siblings arguing over who was not providing enough care for their ailing father. In spite of the chaos that surrounds him, Lyman is eerily calm, his blue eyes centered on the widow.
As the doctor makes his way back towards his rounds, he turns and heads thru the doors to emergency care. A nurse follows closely behind and as the doors close she lifts a hand to touch the doctors shoulder, "Doctor, can I have a moment.".
Scanning the room, Ellen's blue-green eyes rivet to the one person most out of place there -- Nicodemus Lyman. Uh oh. Not wanting to be noticed herself, she ambles about quietly, pretending to be looking or waiting for someone. Her gaze next falls on Kacela, and her eyes narrow with a frown. What is she doing -- laughing? Quickly, Ellen turns away, finding a place to sit down and picking up a magazine, while continuing to observe covertly.
Disease hardly counts as real conflict, but 'Rin walks down the hallways all the same. He glances towards Ellen and smiles at her. It's nice to have somene to smile at. He leans against the wall and smiles at her. Smiling is nice.
As the first sounds of grief escape the elderly woman, Lyman is able to delay his reaction. But, when the tears and the choking sobs follow, he cannot help but smile. It is an expression that quickly broadens when Lyman takes note of the giddy woman in the hallway. Rising out of his seat, he waves Kacela over, as if he were getting together with an old friend for dinner and waving her over from his booth. No, Lyman is not here to see a doctor. He is not here to check up on a loved one. He is here to check up on his investment and to watch his stock rise.
The new widow is racked with sobs, which prompts another group across the waiting room into another round of sniffles as they await their head of household to return from the room where the first death had occured. The woman eventually raises her gaze to the priest, and clutches tightly at his hand. "Please tell me about his reward?" She truly seeks to believe that he is there, although she worries, "I might have to move back in with my daughter and husband, though, I don't want to be a burden!"
Meanwhile, the doctor shifts weight, and then excuses himself, "I must get back to work. We really are doing our best." As the nurse bustles up to him, he turns toward her, and says, "Of course. Please tell me it's not another one, we've already lost two..." He looks a bit tired, and gazes at the woman in front of him.
Uzal also spots Nicodemus. His eyes narrow, and a slight hiss rises from his throat. He steps in defiantly, pretending not to notice the businessman. Then he sees Kacela leaning against the doorframe, and he pauses to just.... admire, a little smirk on his face. The sorrowing human is neglected by him for now.
The priest holds the woman's hand firmly, and he reassures her, "His reward is too great for words, dear child. He rests in Heaven, with the angels and the saints. Just know that he is happy with them," Daevon quietly looks around the room, and he levels his eyes on the doctor. However, rather than waste time on the doctor, Daevon turns his attention back to the woman.
"My dear, would you care to tell me the supposed cause of your husband's death?" Daevon squeezes the woman's hand to let her know that he is there.
Kacela mmphs, and finally manages the grace to say "Ow" to the redness gathering under the already dark skin of her knuckle. Shaking out her hand, she scowls towards Ellen, but she manages to chalk it up to her own admittedly callous behavior. The motion from Lyman catches her attention, and she cruises over meet him. Inarin's presence is noted with a short nod, before she comes to a sharp halt midway across the carpet, head snapping around with a click of beads about her shoulders to toss a glare of challenge at the easy smirk of Uzal. However, it melts into congeniality as she raises a hand to one hip and says to him, "We should be so lucky." She then continues over to Lyman, and says, "Can you believe some men? I was stood up by that darling little thing in surgical scrubs, we were going to get together so he could teach me how to stitch nasty wounds up. I suppose he's too busy for me, the nerve of some people, neglecting me by tending to the needs of the dying." The last is delivered with some amount of jest, but it's a poor audience to be saying in which to say that kind of thing.
The doctor and the nurse head off talking about cases and thru the emergency care doors. It isnt much time before a 4 point sound occurs 10ish yards away. The doctor nods to the nurse and says, "Let me have a moment to catch my breath and we'll run the rounds over the other patients". Moving to the nurses station he begins thumbing thru the records dealing with other west nile victims.
Frowning to herself, Kacela continues to prowl the halls of the hospital. Aside from her recent, month and a half fascination with death and disease, she was here on business. Or just betterment. "Man, where is he? I need those suturing lessons." Dressed in her favorite present, she squares shoulders slightly as she walks up to a desk. "Excuse me, have you seen Noah Kingsley on duty? I was supposed to meet with him for some instructional methods..." and then it strikes, the sound of a human soul leaving the mortal plane by celestial intervention. Kacela blinks, tensing some, and then shakes her head, "I'll find him later." Schooling her expression, she looks over her shoulder towards the lobby, and the sounds of crying. The woman steps closer, listening with eyes narrowed until she catches the word 'encephalitis' from the attending physician as he tries to comfort the family. She turns on her heel, and then rests against a doorframe. Raising a knuckle to her mouth, she bites down, closing eyes briefly to resist the urge to break out into any tell-tale grins or laughs.
Amidst the back up of patients, Nicholas Lyman is seated quite comfortably, his hands neatly folded in his lap. With no visible ailments of any kind and completely silent, the Austin industrialist is an odd sight, seated between two families in crisis. On his right hand, he has an anxious mother applying pressure to her sons playground injury. On the other side, middle aged siblings arguing over who was not providing enough care for their ailing father. In spite of the chaos that surrounds him, Lyman is eerily calm, his blue eyes centred on the window.
As the doctor makes his way back towards his rounds, he turns and heads thru the doors to emergency care. A nurse follows closely behind and as the doors close she lifts a hand to touch the doctors shoulder, "Doctor, can I have a moment.".
Roll by Soludarius: (1) (5) (1)
Scanning the room, Ellen's blue-green eyes rivet to the one person most out of place there -- Nicodemus Lyman. Uh oh. Not wanting to be noticed herself, she ambles about quietly, pretending to be looking or waiting for someone. Her gaze next falls on Kacela, and her eyes narrow with a frown. What is she doing -- laughing? Quickly, Ellen turns away, finding a place to sit down and picking up a magazine, while continuing to observe covertly.
Disease hardly counts as real conflict, but 'Rin walks down the hallways all the same. He glances towards Ellen and smiles at her. It's nice to have somene to smile at. He leans against the wall and smiles at her. Smiling is nice.
As the first sounds of grief escape the elderly woman, Lyman is able to delay his reaction. But, when the tears and the choking sobs follow, he cannot help but smile. It is an expression that quickly broadens when Lyman takes note of the giddy woman in the hallway. Rising out of his seat, he waves Kacela over, as if he were getting together with an old friend for dinner and waving her over from his booth. No, Lyman is not here to see a doctor. He is not here to check up on a loved one. He is here to check up on his investment and to watch his stock rise.
The new widow is racked with sobs, which prompts another group across the waiting room into another round of sniffles as they await their head of household to return from the room where the first death had occured. The woman eventually raises her gaze to the priest, and clutches tightly at his hand. "Please tell me about his reward?" She truly seeks to believe that he is there, although she worries, "I might have to move back in with my daughter and husband, though, I don't want to be a burden!"
Meanwhile, the doctor shifts weight, and then excuses himself, "I must get back to work. We really are doing our best." As the nurse bustles up to him, he turns toward her, and says, "Of course. Please tell me it's not another one, we've already lost two..." He looks a bit tired, and gazes at the woman in front of him.
Uzal also spots Nicodemus. His eyes narrow, and a slight hiss rises from his throat. He steps in defiantly, pretending not to notice the businessman. Then he sees Kacela leaning against the doorframe, and he pauses to just.... admire, a little smirk on his face. The sorrowing human is neglected by him for now.
Roll by Daevon: (3) (6) (6)
The priest holds the woman's hand firmly, and he reassures her, "His reward is too great for words, dear child. He rests in Heaven, with the angels and the saints. Just know that he is happy with them," Daevon quietly looks around the room, and he levels his eyes on the doctor. However, rather than waste time on the doctor, Daevon turns his attention back to the woman.
"My dear, would you care to tell me the supposed cause of your husband's death?" Daevon squeezes the woman's hand to let her know that he is there.
Kacela mmphs, and finally manages the grace to say "Ow" to the redness gathering under the already dark skin of her knuckle. Shaking out her hand, she scowls towards Ellen, but she manages to chalk it up to her own admittedly callous behavior. The motion from Lyman catches her attention, and she cruises over meet him. Inarin's presence is noted with a short nod, before she comes to a sharp halt midway across the carpet, head snapping around with a click of beads about her shoulders to toss a glare of challenge at the easy smirk of Uzal. However, it melts into congeniality as she raises a hand to one hip and says to him, "We should be so lucky." She then continues over to Lyman, and says, "Can you believe some men? I was stood up by that darling little thing in surgical scrubs, we were going to get together so he could teach me how to stitch nasty wounds up. I suppose he's too busy for me, the nerve of some people, neglecting me by tending to the needs of the dying." The last is delivered with some amount of jest, but it's a poor audience to be saying in which to say that kind of thing.
The doctor and the nurse head off talking about cases and thru the emergency care doors. It isnt much time before a 4 point sound occurs 10ish yards away. The doctor nods to the nurse and says, "Let me have a moment to catch my breath and we'll run the rounds over the other patients". Moving to the nurses station he begins thumbing thru the records dealing with other west nile victims.
Peering over her magazine, Ellen observes Lyman and Kacela acting chummy and cheerful. A bit /too/ happy, she thinks. She turns to look at the priest and widow, dipping her head sympathetically to the woman. If she notices anything unusual about the doctor, she shows no sign of it.
'Rin bobs his head to Kacela before returning his eyes to Ellen. He goes back to staring at her and smiling. He can be very patient if he wants to be. :).
When Kacela is within reach, Lymans hand starts out to her shoulder, aiming to congratulate her on a job well done, "I think our product will be in high demand...when we finally have some results. I suppose, it is too early for a cure just yet...you only just got your team together." However, it stops short as her eyes lead his away to Uzal. There, his gaze remains, fixing a weighty stare to the nuisance. Still, Lyman remains quite calm, actually smiling back at Kacela, "His presence here might actually enhance my work here...I need merely to channel his...rebelliousness." Lyman does not clarify this, something, back toward the operating rooms, catching his interest...as if he heard something.
With hands quaking, the elderly woman tries to collect herself, "They said it was swelling of the brain, from the virus that's been going around the city, from all the skeeters." Her daughter, with eyes swollen, interjects, "It was the West Nile." Her shoulders shake as she breaks into fresh sobs.
As for the doctor, well, the records read like a nightmare. The first patient was admitted six days ago with symptoms, with several new cases popping up later in the week, gradually increasing as the week passed. The first dozen cases or so seem to center around the Western and 360 regions of Austin. Currently, the hospital's carrying more than its fair share of the 23, now 21, cases of West Nile Virus, eight of which are showing varying degrees of encephalitis.
Ellen's hair starts to prickle again as she realizes she's being stared at. Lifting her eyes, she looks up at Inarin. Uh oh, not /him/. Suddenly this room is just /filled/ with Ellen's very favorite people, isn't it? Then, she catches some of Lyman's words, and her eyes narrow still more. She smooths her magazine, trying hard to look nonchalant -- and sneaks a glance at the door, gauging the distance if she has to make a bolt for it.
Uzal smiles back sweetly to Kacela. "Lucky? Who could be more lucky than I?" he murmurs, quite sincerely. To Nicodemus, he returns a defiant scowl. He observes the tired-looking doctor thoughtfully, quirking his eyebrow slightly at the Disturbance.
'Rin takes a step towards Ellen like a tiger surveying prey. He moves to interpose himself halfway between her and the exit. He smiles a little more widely and leans against his cane, watching her.
The doctor begins his rounds checking on various patients. Stepping into a room with a patient in a minor coma he goes about some basic checks due to the severity of the situation. Placing a hand on the patient he sighs. Looking around the room the doctor checks the time and leaves for other patients.
From the nurses station nearby one of the nurses stands up and heads down the hall towards a patient with quick step.. A monitor started buzzing.
Lyman stares quite critically at the operating room doors, as if trying to see through them. Eventually, he gives up, suspicion leaving his eyes as he shakes his head dismissively. "Yes, some men. They just dont know where their priorities are," Lyman says sarcastically, finally responding to Kacelas mention of the male nurse that tended to his wounds after that...unfortunate exchange at Fados. However, he quickly returns to his musings on Uzal as he shrugs, "Tonight, we may actually serve each others ends." These words are emphasized...loud enough that they may, in fact, be directed to Uzal. As if to demonstrate this, Lyman turns, his gaze catching Inarin and his pursuit of Ellen. Eventually, he finds prey of his own, the worried mother who is growing more and more irritated with the apparent apathy of the nurses. Lyman is about to rest a consoling hand on the womans shoulder when Daevon approaches... "Can I help you father?"
Kacela practically glows under the attention from Lyman, graciously accepting the clap on the shoudler, or the resting hand, or caress, as the case may be. She nods, and says, "It's a lot of work, but I think it could be worth it." She crosses arms over her chest, and seats herself relatively near Lyman, looking thoughtful, although a disbelieving shake of her head is sent towards Uzal's affirmation. "Takes all kinds," she reminds herself in a soulful enough sounding alto voice. She tenses as Inarin moves into position, as if vicariously stalking. The approach of the priest catches her attention, and she ohs quietly to herself, perhaps recognizing the man's face from his earlier jogging. "Oh, look. This is convenient. You know, Nicholas, that political consultant did say that you would do well to start going to church, perhaps we could go to /his/ congregation. I do love a good song service."
Ellen's face turns pale as Inarin gets between her and the door. She stares at his cane. "What do you want?" she murmurs. Her eyes dart for a moment to Kacela, Lyman and Uzal, then back to Inarin. Surrounded.
A patient in a wheel chair, escorted by a nurse and a police officer come out of the emergency care facilities. The patient looks sick but awake. He coughs and looks a bit hunched over. The policeman is carrying a folded sheet of paper. As they arrive at the waiting room a wife to the man looks up and cries, "Honey!". The man holds his hands up to his wife, "I love you dear.. more than anything". He points at the well dressed Lyman. "You lying piece of SCUM.. You swore the drugs would protect us from that mosquito experiment. NOW we are all DYING of your GREED." He coughs, "I have given the officer my written testimony and as god is my witness Lyman.. your going down for killing us all!"
'Rin closes in on Ellen, raising his cane slowly towards her chest. ...and then stops as he hears the conversation. He bobs his head to her and says, "I apologize. Another time, perhaps." And with that he turns and walks towards the policeman, wheelchair man, and wife. He is a little delayed because he's not sure who to shoot first, though he does give a small glance towards Nicodemus.
Daevon frowns for just a brief moment, as the man starts his proclamation. He raises his right hand briefly, and gives the sign of the cross toward Lyman, and murmurs it in Latin. Then, he says, "May the Lord have mercy on your soul," Then, with that, the priest is called off to anoint another sick person.
The man's wife looks in shock at the well dressed man her husband has just pointed out. Grief written all over her face.
As the man in the wheelchair makes his accusation, Uzal resists the urge to roar with laughter... just barely. He holds his hand to his face, choking and chuckling, violet eyes glittering with glee. Finally, as befits a hospital, he manages to make himself sound like he's coughing. He really hams it up, looking sick. "Excuse me," he gasps out, then nods his head seriously at the man in the wheelchair. "A very serious accusation. What a terrible thing, for a human to be used as a lab rat, and lied to. And supposedly by someone acting for the good of the city." He gives Nicodemus a disapproving gaze.
Ellen whirls about, face pale, as Inarin turns his attention away from her. "Watch out -- his cane! It's poisoned!" she says. "If - if it touches you, you'll get infected too." She must be crazy, isn't she?
"Ah, he-ell naw," Kacela growls out as the man makes his accusation. "You have got to be kidding me." Like a thoroughbred out the starting gate, she trounces toward the group, finger raised, wrist rotating back and forth as she speaks. "THAT is completely out of line! We haven't even gotten everything together yet TO do any kind of research! We sure as hell wouldn't be using humans! We haven't even gotten to the bird model stage yet, so you can take that piece of paper and shove it up yo' ass with a bedpan, you leech! You're just making this up so you can sue the company for money, go out and earn money the REAL way!" She looks to the wife, "It's not my fault he decided to go rollin' around out in the bushes butt naked out in the middle of nowhere with some ho 'cause you weren't good enough in bed, they shouldn't have been outside. S'not like the newpapers HAVEN'T been talkin' about it anyway." Uzal earns a blistering sneer, "Stay out of this." Out of those gathered in the waiting room, Lyman is likely the only one to understand the true, pride-driven motivation behind her indignation.
"I am waiting for results," Lyman responds, confirming this with a nod. "My company has recently moved into the medicine and pharmaceuticals industry," he says forthright, "My hope is that the hospital will sign over data taken from the West Nile cases so a cure might be found." Lyman does open his mouth to more fully explain the good his company is doing, yet he is cut short by the infuriated patient. As the accusations fly, the Austin industrialist is quite calm, tapping a foot on the floor impatiently until the man is done. Before Lyman offers his defense, another curious look is afforded to the operating room. This pause offers Kacela the chance to jump ahead. After she is finished, his hand returns to her shoulder, consoling her... if not outright restraining her. "You think my company infected you? That is absurd. Considering how quickly it is spreading through North America I wouldn't waste the money on such trials." With those words, Lyman's eyes seek out Inarin's, for a moment as the industrialist offers a subtle shrug. His facial features also contort, a brow rising as if to say...whatever. Shoot who you will. Lyman sighs, looking whimsically back to the once irate mother who now stares at him in shock along with the rest of the crowded waiting room. He quickly snaps back to the unruly patient, "Yes, please listen to Ms. Howard. She has only just started her work and put together her team at the university."
Gordan coughs and asks the Officer, "Its not the company.. it was YOU Lyman....Ask yourself officer, why would Lyman and his associates be here if they dont have a cure? You got to tell the Feds...", he coughs again, "They released those mosquittos on me and
The Officer follows the man who has relapsed into a coma and makes a call on his radio, about the situation.
'Rin notices the Officer is making a call on the radio. As such, 'Rin follows him out, "Please Miss Lane. I would hardly coat my cane in poison. Far too clever." He strides right up to the police officer, reaches into his coat pocket, pulls out a revolver, aims briefly, and then shoots for the back of the officer's head. He'll step back reflexively to avoid the blood but otherwise he shows no repulsive thought at the act. He doesn't even seem to mind the cameras. He's already been shooting at people publicly, after all, and a good atrocity draws attention away from other problems. Besides, it might make Ellen Lane faint.
A nurse comes toward Inarin, and touches his back... a force of will pressing in upon him.
Kacela seems to calm some at the touch, but as soon as fingers start to dig in, she snaps her mouth shut, still bristling. There's a definite dynamic between the pair, with Lyman appearing to be the steadying, guiding force. Popping her mouth open as the shot rings out, as if completely innocent of any outrageous behavior of her own. She splits from Lyman, and wraps hands around the edge of the hallway where the echo of weapons fire, and the disturbance, rings out. She simpers briefly while shuddering at the sight, before turning on her heel and crossing back the length of the waiting room, seeking to separate herself from events. Chit-chat about Inarin's activities, and their (refreshing) lack of subtlety, could come later.
'Rin then ducks down, picks the note up, and walks away without another word. He frowns. He thought for sure a kyriotate was at work in that officer. Maybe it was in the man instead.
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