Blood Splattered Moments

Posted on Tue Feb 27th, 2024 @ 9:43am by Leiddem Kea (*) & Delaney O'Callaghan

Mission: Fractures
Location: The Grotto
Timeline: Present
1947 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

"Are you sure Betazed though?"

Though Delaney normally had no objection to her boyfriend's proximity, there was something decidedly awkward about trying to get around whilst only maintaining the use of one hand to carry everything she needed. Clipping things to her belt had helped, and there was certainly no way she was risking being separated by letting him go even for a second, but an idea was forming in regards to a fresh new way to make games night particularly rewarding for anyone not forced to participate. Being suspended in time was eerie enough on its own, the ship was silent in a way that ought not have been possible and, though they seemed to be able to activate things and interact with the environment, there was something unproductive about all the data they kept getting back. For on thing, it was only ever about 30 seconds worth before it started looping again.

And, since there wasn't anything their tricorders could tell them that wasn't just a repeat of what they'd already analysed, the discussion had turned decidedly personal again. Delaney wasn't surprised, Leiddem's stubbornness nearly equalled her own and he was infinitely better at brooding over it in silence in such a way that made it impossible to argue against. They had spoken about visiting his home, she had already expressed a fierce desire to see the places he'd shown her on the holodeck in person, but there was zero chance that she had anticipated her first introduction to his family being a plea for medical aid. She watched the turbolift doors as they waited for it to come to a stop and screwed up her nose in discomfort at his current plan. Current future plan. Once the future knew how to stay in its corner again.

"If it's not supposed to be a complicated procedure, one of the facilities on Freecloud can probably handle it. Or we have a surgeon now, couldn't Jaxx do it?"

Leiddem stopped in his stomping and looked at the woman carefully trying to see if she was teasing him or not. “Jaxx has no faith in anything onboard despite the fact he stays. And I trust Betazed more than Freecloud.” He said simply. He could go over and over why he trusted there if Jaxx was not going to do it. “I am sure one of my sisters are a cardiologist and if they aren’t mother will know the best.”

"I guess." There was a notable pause in the argument, which was usually a good sign that Delaney had run out of steam. Leiddem, more than anyone else, had the capacity to shut her down with sound logic, but that was probably because he'd learned not to try and negotiate with her. He spoke his mind, laid down his opinion and let her deal with it however she wanted. In this instance, he had the better stance. "I just didn't really want the first time I meet your family to involve one of them having to cut into me." It was the crux of the issue, a deviation of the slight nervousness that came from hoping she'd make a decent impression. Showing up with a dodgy heart and expecting them to do something about it just seemed...presumptuous.

“Worst ways to meet my family. And they will know just how serious I am about you by asking them to do it but…” he glanced back around taking in the look that she was giving him and faltered in his determination to get the best for her. “If you do not want one of them I understand but I am serious about you and I want the best.” He said quietly hoping his soft words would convey just how serious he felt.

It wasn't fair, Delaney decided quietly, that he'd already figured out that being ridiculously heartfelt and sweet was basically a get-out-of-argument-free card. In all her years, she would have sworn she was not the melty, mushy-minded type and yet there was something about Leiddem's declarations, which came frequently enough but not so much as to be over-saturated, that hit differently to any endearing sentiment she'd ever been offered in the past. Time would likely teach her that the psionic connection made the difference, the innate and subtle ability to sense the sincerity behind his words, but for now, she settled for the more mundane explanation that she was stupidly in love with the goof and unlikely to be able to push back against his efforts to open-heartedly reciprocate.

A huffed sigh was the first sign that he'd won.

"I'm not saying it doesn't make sense to use connections you already trust. It's not like I know any reputable surgeons off the top of my head. I just..." She hunched her shoulders before allowing them to drop. "I don't want your family to think the only reason I'm visiting is because I need their help."

"They will be happy that I need their help." He said shifting the blame from her to him without a second thought. "I do not visit and have not in a long time they will just be shocked I am there and for asking for help. I am not the type if you did not know to ask for help and to ask it from my family other than Jea is unheard of." He assured as he tugged on her hand leading them down the corridor. It suddenly felt like shifting through treacle which was strange when there was nothing in the corridor that could cause it.

The sensation, coupled with an impending dizziness that was becoming altogether too familiar, was enough to close down the conversation for the time being. To distract herself, Delaney hefted her tricorder in her one available hand and, with the help of her chin, set it to scan. "We're getting close to something at least, do you feel that?"

“Yeah.” He agreed pausing for a moment to try and centre himself. The waves and sensation were not at all what he had experienced before when shifting through time. “It is a lot heavier than the previous feelings of time travel but I do not think we have shifted?” The location had not changed they were just there.

"Gets inside your head," Delaney agreed, weaving hers back and forward gently to test her balance. To her surprise, she realised that her light-headedness was not accompanied by the tightening of her chest, or the palpitations, or shallowing breathing that had dogged her earlier. Rather than outright dizziness, this felt more like an external pressure, squeezing against her temples as if attempting to pop her head like a pimple. It wasn't comfortable but it also wasn't strictly painful, at least not yet. She held her tricorder up again and squinted at it, unsure if the garbled readings were legitimate or just the result of her eyes' refusal to focus properly. "You getting anything?"

He shook his head and squinted his eyes. "Apart from a headache no." The man sighed as he looked confused at her. "I do not know if that is good or not." He admitted touching his nose noticing the blood that was leaking from his nose.

"We should go back." It took effort to get the words out, struggling against what felt like an excess of gravity mingled with a sluggish lack of coordination. Once, years ago, Delaney would play stupid games like this with her brothers and cousins, attempts at slow motion battles that stretched on forever because if you were the one to break the effect and speed up, you were stuck doing whatever chore everyone had decided to put up as the stakes. She'd almost always been the one to fail first, having no capacity to tolerate remaining slowed down for too long. Now it didn't feel like she had a choice.

The man did not argue and took several stepped back and instantly felt better tugging her back. “That…” he held his nose and leaned his head back to stem flow as he tried to understand what had happened. “Was… strange.” He summed up.

"I don't like how quickly 'strange' is becoming the new normal." Despite her own queasiness, Delaney squinted to focus on Leiddem's face and cracked open the first aid kit she'd dragged with them to rummage for a length of bandage. "Here," she offered gently, pushing the portion she'd cut off against his nostrils to stem the flow of blood. "You okay?" It was her turn to be concerned.

Leiddem pressed it to his nose before stuffing it up it. He did not care that he would now look daft as long as he did not continue bleeding. He had suffered from nose bleeds as a teenager so it was not unknown for him to bleed but he hated the sensation of it all. “Yeah, I think so. It’s… that was a lot of strange.” He said having felt like his head was being torn apart.

"So are these readings." Leaning on the wall beside him, Delaney tried to make sense of her tricorder readouts. Glancing in the direction they'd been intending to go, she lingered in deep thought for a moment before exhaling in partial defeat. "I don't think we're going to get anywhere near the Grotto. It's definitely the cause of whatever's going on but it's not worth the health risk." Squinting, she peered up at him, her expression almost impish despite their predicament. "You know that idea we had after the systems failure, to put scanning equipment and a security camera on wheels that could be controlled remotely so we didn't have to send personnel into hazardous areas?" She hitched an eyebrow. "You think Jeassaho ever took us seriously?"

Leiddem looked at her confused before he shrugged. "She likes to think I am thick but she most likely took you seriously." He admitted thinking his sister whilst she liked to treat him like he was a child still knew that he was a smart man and knew that his girlfriend was even smarter so it was likely that she did listen and put something in the grotto.

"If she did work on something, it'd be in Engineering, right?" Burnie had his strange mechanic dog, after all, and the concept of automated service drones was hardly a new one, they were just an expensive system to set up and maintain. Gesturing with her arm back towards the Grotto, Delaney grimaced through a bout of nausea and slipped her other hand back into Leiddem's, tugging him back down the corridor to rethink their strategy. "We need to find something we can send in there anyway, because it's not going to be us."

"Yeah. Gregnol has not quite let her set up something in their quarters just yet." Jeassaho would eventually have a work space close to her bed but now the Captain was firmly keeping it several decks away. "No way I would survive it at the very least." He said whipping the last of the blood away as he started to feel better. "Might be the death of me." he said not at all saying it lightly, he had felt it.

"Well, lucky for you, I'll kick your ass before that's a possibility." Eloquent as always, Delaney levelled a look at him that did its best to provide a moment of levity amidst the slowly dawning realisation that they were running out of options, and then tugged on his hand to move them both back down the corridor, a diversion that would lead them away from the Grotto and eventually towards Engineering.