"'sposed to be watching over someone. I promised."
Who: Domino and Blink What: Hospital stuff. Clarice finally collapses out of exhaustion and illness When: Sometimes recently, squeezed in between the Illyana stuff XD Where: Hospital Status: complete Rating: PG-13
Neena was really tired of being in the hospital. For one thing, she lost her roommate twice, so she was pretty depressed. At first the hospital food had been a problem, but now she didn’t feel like eating, so that was dubious bonus. She barely felt like doing anything, which was a strange sensation on its own.
She watched with limited interest as another roommate was wheeled in before the sheets had even had a chance to settle from being changed. “Shit’s getting real, huh?” She noted, but was mostly ignored. Which was fine with her. She was more interested in her new roommate. For one thing, the woman was pink. That was pretty interesting.
Clarice had been taking a rare break from Illyana's room, to try to get some air (really, there wasn't much air to get), and to give the blonde girl a break from her hovering. Because she was hovering, nigh constantly, afraid if she turned her back for a second she really wouldn't be alive. She'd thus far ignored her condition, until it was really rather too late, and she'd collapsed.
She woke groggily as she was wheeled in. "Yana..?"
Neena perked up considerably. Oh, the pink one could still talk! That was exciting. Of course, she might not speak English, which was kind of sad, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and Neena wanted to have someone to talk to. Even if it was variations of ‘I wish I spoke your language’. “Hey, welcome to the room.” She didn’t even have enough energy to care that her introduction was stupid.
"Crap." Clarice clearly spoke English. She tried to sit up, her breathing ragged. She hadn't remembered collapsing. "Damn it, this can't be....damn it.." No offense to her room mate, but she absolutely needed to switch rooms. She looked over at the woman. "I was doing so good, too."
Neena blinked, because she didn’t have enough energy for a more obvious reaction. “Yeah, but you were pretty out of it when they brought you in. You should probably just relax.” None of her other roommates had been so energetic. Neena was a little jealous, for a second.
The porter closed her eyes, flopping back onto her pillow and resting there. For a long moment it looked like she'd passed out, but she eventually said, "I'm Clarice. Or Blink. Just call me Blink." It was better, she'd realized, to just embrace that part of herself, terrible childhood and constant danger adulthood and all. "'sposed to be watching over someone. I promised."
“Oh. Well, you’d be doing a crappy job, anyway. I’ve been here for a little bit now, and I can barely keep watch on the tv.” All the tv did was tell her depressing things and show her How I Met Your Mother, which wasn’t incredibly brain intensive. “I’m Neena. So who were you watching?”
"Doesn't matter if I do a good job. Just...need to be there," Clarice rolled her head and stared at the ceiling. "Her name's Illyana. She was..is..my girlfriend. We thought she was dead, but apparently she wasn't."
Oh, well, that did make a small amount of sense. Neena sat up, eying her variety of wires. “Has she got the plague? It probably won’t make her feel better to get it too.” She could just switch rooms. No problem. It wasn’t like the doctors were doing anything worthwhile, anyway. She was just laying there not getting better. Someone ought to be happy.
"Yes, but she has something else on top of it, too." Clarice chewed her lip. She blamed herself for it. She'd wished for Illyana to come back, to talk.
“Well, people are already dying from this, so whatever else she’s got shouldn’t be so bad.” Neena slid out of bed and to her feet, surveying the equipment that was attached to her. Heart monitor, blood oxygen level, and an IV. None of which were on wheels. She thought about this for a minute. “If the alarms go off, the nurses will just put me back in bed.” Well, that killed this plan. She huffed and go back in bed. “Just send her some flowers afterward. Obviously this is something you couldn’t control.” Neena’s words came between gasps for air. Just standing had made her tired. Fuck being sick.
Clarice snorted, groaning as her lungs felt like a mountain lion had moved in. All the things she'd faced, and this might kill her? It didn't seem fair. "Maybe..can ask...Not that you're bad company."
“I don’t know, the nurses are pretty busy. Hold on a second.” Neena sat up again, examining Clarice’s wires. “I wonder if the battery back up to my computer would be powerful enough to keep you stuff running while you move? I’m not going anywhere, but if you were just put in here, you must have some kind of energy.” She could get that no problem. Alex was more than happy to do stuff for her, or at least really good at pretending he was.
"Worry about it..a bit ..." The bed was comfy and she wasn't particularly ready to move yet. And she felt like that would be rude for her to just...show up and leave. Even if she was sick. “M’Clarice....wait, I think I said that.”
Neena nodded. “Yeah.” Well, that answered that. She shrugged, and settled back down. Fuck it, they’d worry about it later. What’s her name would just have to wait a while. Neena couldn’t blame Clarice for being anxious. She’d be the same way if Milo were still alive. “Hey, I’ll make sure you get back where you were.”
“Thanks...” Clarice rolled onto her side, careful of the ivs, to better look at the woman, and because it lessened the pressure. She had a better idea of what Illyana was going through now. “This whole thing sucks.”
“A-fucking-men.” Neena said with a nod. She was getting tired from all this talking. Stupid sickness. “I’ve been here for a while. You get used to being tired and ignored, but the boredom is the worst part.”
"We could play a game," Clarice said. She pushed herself up onto her pillow more. "Do...do you have enough strength..to throw something?"
Neena looked around. The box of tissues would probably be safe enough. “For a little bit.” She wiggled upright, then shook her head and raised the back of the bed. Why hadn’t she thought of that earlier? “Do you have anything better to throw than tissues?”
"Just wad one up and throw it into the air," she suggested, smiling mysteriously. She wondered if it would work.
It didn’t seem like a tissue would be heavy enough, but Neena shrugged and grabbed a couple. “Alright, catch.” She tossed the tissues, waiting for them to come down sadly onto her bed.
There were twin flashes of bright pink light, and the tissues were gone. Somewhere, elsewhere, Lorna had two crumbled up tissues landing on top of her head.
Lorna looked up from the plants she was watering, examining the tissues for a minute. “Hey, Mac? Did you throw stuff at me?”
Neena blinked, then laughed. “Hey, nice trick.” She grabbed a couple more tissues, and threw them separately, in different directions.
Blink blink! Away went the tissues, where they went, only the destination knows! Clarice laughed, then coughed again, and squeezed her eyes shut. “Okay that’s too much work..!”
Neena chuckled, then coughed. “You can do some more later. Get some rest.” She leaned back, taking as deep a breath as she could. Now she just had to put together a clever plan to sneak her back to her girlfriend. No problem. Neena settled and was soon asleep herself.