towerofanimus | 009 | Boy, it's hot in here

Entry tags:

009 | Boy, it's hot in here

Characters: Sephiroth & OPEN
Setting: 13th December. Dormitory 03-02, Hallways & Infirmary
Format: Wordy [Action], but will match
Summary: Other people are shivering. They must have just turned the temperature up just for him. Or rather this had developed from yesterdays sniffles.
Warnings: Partial nudity in Part One. General bodily fluids that come with having a runny nose/sneezing at intervals. Lots of sweat, warm would be an understatement.

Morning: Dormitory 03-02

[If any of his dorm mates peered over at Sephiroth's section of the dormitory this morning they might catch a fright. It had been his roughest night since he'd arrived here. There was a bunch of scrunched up napkins in varying states of sogginess on the bed stand on top of the forgotten books (One of which he still has to return to Tohko at some point!) - he'd gone through the entire packet of napkins during the night.

The bottle of Tylenol had been emptied and knocked onto the floor nearby; damn his constitution and being resistant to such drugs but he'd had to take more and more thinking that in the right dosage it might relieve some of these symptoms. Which now consisted of a sore throat which made it hard to talk, the occasional but not-too unmanageable bout of coughing and a running nose which simply shouldn't have that much mucus left in it to drip out. This whole thing was maddening! How his cells allowing this contagion to develop was a mystery, he was definitely made of hardier stuff than this!

Sephiroth's top blanket was crumpled on the floor along with all of his clothing. The thin under sheet had been pushed back away from his body in his sleep and then twisted
between his legs as he'd rolled over in the constant quest to get comfortable; a glistening sheen of sweat graced every square inch of his skin. Sephiroth himself had probably passed out eventually from exhaustion, snoring congestedly through his mouth; unaware and in his rest completely uncaring that he was near baring his backside to everyone else in their room.]

Later: Floor 3 to Floor 1 Dormitory Hallways, on route to the lift.

[Wearing his big leather coat and armor in this heat just wasn't happening in this heat. It was bad enough how wet and sticky it felt inside his leather pants, but he had nothing cooler to wear - he'd even left the gloves and boots in his chest. The floor felt refreshingly cool on his bare feet.

Watching others that he passed, Sephiroth wandered why they all looked so cold but couldn't say anything offhand. He'd sweated buckets last night in the change of temperature the admins had inflicted on them; maybe Jason had finally gotten tired of freezing them all to death. He seemed the type to get bored easily after all.

In fact, Sephiroth stopped by the bathrooms on the way to the lift to splash his face and bare chest with cold water and to run some through his hair. It felt good on the back of his head, at his hairline above where the collar sat. His hair had never looked so limp and the weight of it was adding to how hot he felt; it was a simple matter to pull his hair over one shoulder and arrange a loose braid of it. Then he headed back out into the corridor, heading for the stairwell and the lift downstairs. Point of the day - to try to find something stronger than small jar of Tylenol that he'd been given by Tohko before - the whole jar now gone in a whole night for no relief. His lack of patience just made the sleeplessness worse.]

Afternoon: Infirmary - Floor 2

[The infirmary was where Tohko had gotten the pills before, so the plan was easy. Go there and ~~pin a drone to the wall~~ ask, calmly and in control, if they had anything stronger in stock. The tylenol he'd consumed last night just wasn't either strong enough in general, or in a single dosage high enough to penetrate his own natural defenses which had specifically been generated that way.

After eyeing a few of the drones milling around Sephiroth decided against asking them, he felt just about as hot as his frustration and he was trying to remain calm. There was no reason for him to allow this flu to get the better of him, in fact despite the soreness of his nose from the blowing and rubbing every so often Sephiroth kept at it - he was above human.

As Sephiroth was ferreting around in drawers and cabinets after medication he meticulously compared whatever he found with the empty bottle of tylenol he brought with him from his room in the attempt to find something stronger, that might at least take the edge off the symptoms and make it easier to live with. His mind occasionally drifted to the idea of Hojo's 'clinic' that he'd seen announced on the network. If anyone knew how to diagnose what exactly was wrong with him - No! Not going there.]

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[Tohko was just getting worse and worse. First her taste was gone, and now she was blind. Thankfully, she could still hear and feel things, but they were getting worse by the day as well. She wasn't sure if she needed bandages for her eyes, but she thought the infirmary might have some canes or something for the blind, so she had managed-with much tripping, sneezing, and feeling around-to wander into the infirmary. She heard someone making noise somewhere, so she spoke out.]

Pardon me..I don't know who you are, thanks to this terrible cold, but if it's not too much trouble, could you tell me if there's a cane in this room? Or a good long piece of metal?

[Sephiroth stopped at the sound of a voice and looked up from his searching. Creasing eyebrows together as he - slower than he would usually - pieced this together. Tohko was much like him with the sneezing; but whilst inconvenient it wasn't really that much of a hindrance until he tried to sleep last night.]

"Haven't seen one." [Did he really sound that hoarse? It was rough compared to his usual smooth tones that was a fact. Sephiroth slowly forced himself to swallow past the spike of dull pain that speaking caused. Had this had all started with that guy in the gym? The Tower was a closed-in enough place for sure, but Tohko was a library girl. But if others had it... he wasn't much surprised that she had contracted it - she did go out of her way to help people. He was more concerned how he had managed to catch it as well.]

"I'll let you know."

[He turned back to his searching. Was he going to go blind as well? Mucus turned in Sephiroth's throat and he coughed heartily, a thick sniff following as he steadied himself on the side and continued to look.]

[Sephiroth?! He was sick? But..how could that be? He was able to regenerate a mangled hand easily. Perhaps the Administrators were messing with them. If so, Tohko was going to slap Jason if she ever saw him. How dare he take away her eyes and what few taste buds she had. How dare he cut her away from her beloved books. Even though she wasn't sure if she considered Sephiroth a friend anymore, thanks to recent events, she wasn't going to turn down his help. She gave a small smile.]

Ah, thank you! I'd really appreciate that..and if your throat is bothering you, some cough syrup might help.

[Even though her ears were terrible, Tohko tried to follow the sound of his voice so that she could get a bit closer to him.]

[It was near impossible to hear Sephiroth walk around, bare feet and all. He couldn't stop occasionally looking over at Tohko, hoping she didn't stumble over or into some of the equipment in here. He wasn't sure that with his current sluggishness he would be able to steady her if that happened.

When did he start caring? Maybe the realization that the virus could be a bigger deal than he originally surmised stirred some sort of 'we're in this together' vibe, who knows, he was way too exhausted to figure it out really. He paused to consider that a moment before spotting a series of crutches all lined up along the side of one of the cabinets. Though chunky and hardly a walking cane, one of them might at least help her from stumbling around.]

"The cough isn't the worst of it." [Sniff, sniff... it was annoying how he had to stop what he was doing to wipe at his nose with an overused napkin. Mental note: try to find some more napkins in the kitchen later. Sephiroth drew closer; but not far enough that physical contact could happen, guiding the arm brace part of the crutch towards Tohko's hands]

"I went through all those pills you gave me before. Do you know of anything that is stronger?"

Oh, well, if you need some tissues or stuff for your nose, those should be to the left..if no one has moved them, and if my memory is correct.

[Tohko, not realizing where the crutch was, tried to gesture with her hand, but ended up smacking her hand on the brace.]

Ow! Is that..a crutch? Thank you so much! This should be helpful. [Tohko grabbed the arm brace and started using it as a makeshift walking cane.] I hope my eyesight returns soon..I don't know what I'll do if I can't read.

[She sighed before answering Sephiroth's question.]

Let's see..Advil is a bit stronger, but that's usually for muscle cramps and pains. However, it can help with headaches, so you can use it for that.

"Don't mention it."

[Sephiroth follows Tohko's direction, but there are no tissues there. He made no sound or sigh about it - Tohko didn't need to know that he couldn't find them, he'd just head downstairs in a little while]

Sniff

Sniff

"Should all be over soon-" [His sentence cut short. Sound just wouldn't pass across that soreness. Trying not to pay it much mind, Sephiroth continued looking for medication.

Advil. Advil. He was sure he'd seen a small jar of them in one of the drawers he'd already been through; he'd considered it but the label hadn't said anything specifically matching his symptoms so it had been discarded.

Sniff

The temperature was still creeping up though. Sephiroth wiped at his forehead with the back of his arm but it didn't do much more than slide sweat against sweat. A wave of significantly even hotter air swirled around him and made him pause for a moment in case of nausea, before forcing himself to focus on the task at hand - he would find these Advil again.]

[Thankfully, while Tohko could still hear, her hearing was bad enough so that she couldn't quite make out how sore he sounded.]

Hopefully it will be. That way, I can actually see where I'm going, and you don't have to worry about runny noses, sore throats, or headaches.

[However, he was taking longer than she had thought to find the tissues and the Advil. Maybe her memory was wrong. Carefully, using her crutch to feel out obstacles, she moved over to the right of the room. If she remembered correctly, there was a table here and a medicine cabinet. It took her awhile to find the cabinet with her hands, but she eventually got it open, and found, on the top shelf, a box of tissues. She could feel quite a few pill bottles in there, but she couldn't see if they were Advil ones or not.

So, she grabbed the tissue box and turned back to Sephiroth.]

Ah, here you are! I'm sorry about the mix-up. Someone must have moved them since I last came here.

[Between trying to keep on top of his symptoms and finding what he was looking for, Sephiroth couldn't handle holding a conversation at the same time.

But when Tohko had apparently found something, he was across the room as quickly as if there wasn't much wrong with him. Wiping sweat through the bangs at the front of his hair once more so that it wouldn't drip in his eyes it took all the willpower he had not to snatch the tissue box from Tohko. After which he tore the first three out of the top straight away just to rub at his nose with.]

Sniiiiiiiiifff

[Then with the dry remains of those tissues he wiped across his forehead. Taking a steadying breath as the heat kept creeping up, Sephiroth focused on the cabinet Tohko had found the tissues in - going through the bottles one by one.]

[When Sephiroth took the tissue box, Tohko let her arm fall back to her side. She could hear him using the tissues, and smiled and tried to move out of the way so that he could see the cabinet better.]

That should help a little bit. Hopefully there'll be some Advil in there..

"Got it." [To himself, rather than Tohko]

[After taking longer than it should of to go through the cabinet Sephiroth finally fished out the small bottle and headed directly for the small sink on the other side; eagerly ripping the top off the bottle on route.

He intended to just use the water to take a dose of the Advil but the feeling of the cold water slipping down his throat was too refreshing. Sephiroth spent the next few minutes cupping water in his hands and running it over his face again and again. Anything to stop the temperature rising anymore.]

Well, that's good!

[Tohko heard the water running, and heard some splashes, as if he was washing his face or something along with taking his pills. Of course, she could have been wrong, but maybe his cold was making his temperature rise as well.]

If you're really hot, you could go to the swimming pool and try to cool down there. That might help.

[He was certain it wasn't this bad back when he was in the bathroom earlier on in the day. No sooner had he finished submerging his face in his handfuls of water, that it just felt like it was evaporating from him as if he hadn't done it at all. After a few more repetitions Sephiroth made himself stop, face dripping over the sink - considering how desperate he was looking - hell how he was feeling.

Rather than enjoying the warmth, at some point in the last few minutes it had turned into an undeniable urge to get cool. He took one more hands-full of water over his face and traced it around under his hairline before taking another dose of Advil and turning the tap off.]

It'll pass, it has to pass. This- [Sephiroth paused and dry swallowed past his sore throat again before trying to continue. The heat was now starting to really irritate him.]

It's just my body fighting it, I'll be fine.

[Tohko sighed as she heard the tap turn off and Sephiroth speak.]

If my suspicions are correct, this is not going to pass anytime soon. Your body is fighting it, but it might not. It's best to help it along any way you can, and if jumping in the pool with help make you feel better, then please, do that.

However..[she sighed again.]..this will not pass. I'm a good example of that. At first, for me, I had just a simple cold. Now I'm reduced to this. [She tapped the crutch on the floor.] I'll be lucky if my hearing doesn't go. So, take any precaution you can. Try to get well.

[With that, and a nod of her head, Tohko started to walk out of the room, using the crutch to feel her way about. Now that she had a good stick, it was time to see whether or not she could find some audiobooks.]

[Was she right? Could it be that this was only the first tickle of suffering to come? Sephiroth didn't bear thinking about that - he'd already irritated the administration this month...

He watched Tohko leave the Infirmary before pocketing the remains of the Advil and a good handful of dry tissues. Never mind that after five minutes in his sweaty pants they'd end up damp anyway!

Maybe he would check out the pool after all. He had nothing to wear swimwear-wise but who else would be up there in the dead of winter? The thought of water to cool off in was sorely tempting.]

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009 | Boy, it's hot in here

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