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

[consultmybooks]

I hope you're not planning to make that face if you ever meet him.

That would be quite impolite, Kennedy, and I don't think he'd understand why.

[simplestgift]

What...no, never mind. [He's going to lie back. This is all making his head spin. Oh wait--McCoy said there was an experiment. Maybe it's supposed to make everyone act crazy.]

[consultmybooks]

[Well, Giles is affected by said experiment, and it is indeed causing him to speak with much less regard for Kennedy's current state than he might otherwise show.

He's having fun with it, though.]

Need some more morphine?

[simplestgift]

God yes. [He reaches for the button.] And a glass of whiskey.

[consultmybooks]

[Giles beats Kennedy there, pressing it for him.] Unfortunately, I think McCoy would frown on that even more than he normally would, state he's in.

[simplestgift]

He said there's some sort of experiment. [Oh, sweet relief. After a while in bed, everything hurts, not just the wounds.]

[consultmybooks]

Oh, yes.

You've spoken with him, then? Buffy is under the impression that he's missing his "Bonesness". Not having spoken with him, I couldn't exactly comment.

It sounds as though she's right, though. Granted, it was Buffy that tipped me off in the first place.

[simplestgift]

"Bonesness" is an excellent way to put it. He's lost all soul and emotion whatever.

[consultmybooks]

Sounds as though she's hit the nail on the head, then.

...Buffy hasn't quite lost anything, not really. But she is rather less, um, sparky than she normally is.

Of course, she could just be bothered about McCoy...

[simplestgift]

Perhaps. You're a bit more loquacious than usual today, you know.

[consultmybooks]

Am I? Hadn't noticed.

Well...[Giles waves a hand uncertainly.]...no, I suppose I had.

Am I bothering you? No one else has minded, but no one else has been on serious pain medication.

[simplestgift]

No, I like the company. But don't mind me when I'm completely lost in the middle of one of your sentences.

[consultmybooks]

I'll speak slowly, then. Heavens know I've been in your shoes enough before. Or, um, lack thereof.

...would now be a good time to update you on current affairs, or would you rather I wait for a while? Or leave it to someone else? Not sure I'd recommend Buffy, being that she is affected.

[simplestgift]

[He covers his eyes with a copy of Phantastes, unsure he can take more awful news.] Oh God. Go on.

[consultmybooks]

Well, first and foremost, we are all unhurt. At least by Grell. You were the...only casualty, fortunately.

Buffy went to speak with Grell the same day.

[simplestgift]

[He uncovers his face and watches the ceiling instead, listening carefully. Two question pop up at once.] "At least by Gre--" What happened to Buffy?

[consultmybooks]

If Buffy was hurt, it was the sort of injury she could recover from in the span of two days.

But she managed to reach a...well, she calls it a "stalemate" with Grell.

[simplestgift]

[He glances away briefly.] A stalemate? Who-who was hurt?

[consultmybooks]

If you're asking about the ones connected to Jack who were occupying Grell's attention? No one that I know of.

It didn't come down to a fight.

[simplestgift]

You said no one was hurt by Grell. Has anything happened?

[consultmybooks]

I haven't been in touch with anyone besides Buffy or Jilly since you first got here.

I don't know.

[simplestgift]

[He lets out a breath.] All right. Tell me what happened with Buffy.

[consultmybooks]

She and Grell managed to reach a tenuous and, with any luck, temporary agreement.

Put very simply - Grell will leave us alone if we don't make a move against her, on top of not revealing to the village what she did to you and Jack.

[simplestgift]

Then she wins.

[consultmybooks]

For the moment.

Buffy is still hoping that the arrangement can be temporary.