Fifteen Bells: [ACTION/WRITTEN]

[simplestgift]

[Archie woke up yesterday.  How is this new?  Well, after getting some fairly critical stab wounds from Grell, he was put on a ventilator and kept under sedation for a few days.  The ventilator was exchanged for a less impressive-looking concentrator yesterday and he was taken off sedation.  He spent yesterday sleeping anyway, since anesthesia doesn't generally leave you bright-eyed immediately afterward.

This morning, he is talking and eating Jell-o, which is a new experience. The most important bit comes written on the journal network in wobbly handwriting courtesy of the heart monitor clipped on his finger.]

I have been informed that I may have visitors. I'd like to know everyone is all right.

Kennedy

[Anyone who comes in will find him looking predictably weak and pale but lucid and in good spirits, or possibly catnapping after a dose of painkillers.

OOC: Purely for the sake of mercy, Archie is unaffected by the event.]

Comments

[action]

[wise_maiden]

... ah, I see. I know a few people here who are capable of doing so, though it's not possible with my abilities.

[action]

[simplestgift]

But it's like what you do, in that it isn't demonic.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

It's just a different form of magic.

[action]

[simplestgift]

I think I understand, a little. [But it's a lot to take in, and he's not sure how much of it he accepts. So he'll blink sleepily.]

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[And Ingrid, who is used to that sort of reaction, sits down again and makes a double jump, putting her piece dangerously close to getting kinged.]

It's your turn, I believe.

[She is not above using your shock to win at checkers.]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Well, my friend Sophie used to dream about this bookshop when she was a kid. She'd go inside and find all of these books that had never been published. Never found works by William Shakespeare and masterpieces from unheard of authors. And she'd just read. For hours.

[simplestgift]

[You have his rapt attention, Jilly.]

[simplestgift]

[Okay, that was dirty, and now he's thinking it was a trick.]

How did you do that?

[herotypical]

...We're worriers by nature, Archie. We just -- we show it, differently.

[ for example -- although buffy doesn't know this -- dawn's reaction had been to demand shooting lessons from jack. ]

[action]

[wise_maiden]

When you're feeling better, maybe it'll make more sense. For now, it looks like you should probably get some more rest...

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

She eventually stopped dreaming about it. She even forgot that the store had ever existed. And then a couple of years ago, she had this dream where she had to rescue the moon from where it was captured by an evil witch. Except, it wasn't just a dream. Ever since then, she doesn't really sleep. She closes her eyes and she wakes up in this city...where that old bookshop still is, along with all kinds of other places.

Joe's been there. He says the dreamworld is made up of a quilt of people's hearthomes....little places that reflect their hearts, and Mabon is Sophie's.

He said he'd teach me how to visit, eventually. Actually, that's where I had hoped I'd ended up when I woke up here.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[In a lighter mood she'd say something about a magician never revealing her tricks, but Archie is from a long time ago, and she figures it's best to be candid.] This suit- the way it keeps me healthy is to make me intangible, allowing germs and other pathogens to simply pass through me. These [she rubs the pads of her fingers together again, making more sparks] allow me to touch things if I wish. But I can turn them off if I need to.

[simplestgift]

[Give him a second.

Okay, a few seconds.]

You can touch things, but they can't touch you.

[action]

[simplestgift]

...Perhaps. Thank you for coming to see me.

[simplestgift]

[He listens, enraptured.]

Yours would be beautiful.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[Ingrid opens her mouth to correct him, hesitates, and then does so anyway. This is probably taking his mind off the pain, right?] Not exactly. Ah- here. Just- [She holds out her hand.] You won't be able to touch anywhere there isn't a bit of metal. [It will just go right through. If he does touch the bits of metal, though, he'll feel a sensation somewhere between a slight tingle and a static shock; slightly unpleasant, but not painful.]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Maybe.

I'd like to see it, someday.

[simplestgift]

[He tries skin first, and immediately pulls away. His skin crawls, and he won't even touch the metal.]

[simplestgift]

If you ever do, you'll have to tell me what it was like.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

It takes some getting used to, [she says, dropping her hand and looking back down at the board.]

[simplestgift]

...I imagine she'll say something, in time.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

It was no trouble. Do you need anything before I go?

[action]

[simplestgift]

[He shakes his head.] Well. A new kidney, I suppose, might make the doctor let me out sooner, but if that's beyond your means, I'll try to understand.

[simplestgift]

[Weird. He blows out his breath and moves a piece to jump her nearly-kinged piece.] That'll unnerve a man, it will.

[action]

[wise_maiden]

I can't get you a new one, I'm afraid. The most I can do is accelerate the healing process... though with internal injuries, it's not quite as effective without proper rest to go along with it.