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

[simplestgift]

Yes, precisely. Quite a distance from my ears.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Most people suffer confusion and poor memory skills after coming out of a coma. [ a pause. ] Since your memory skills seem satisfactory, I came to the conclusion you were experiencing some other, seldom known symptoms.

[simplestgift]

[He stretches a little, as much as the bed and the things attached to him will afford him.] You're terribly dreary today, Doctor.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

So I have been told.

[simplestgift]

Oh, so it isn't only your favorite patient suffering from your utter lack of...[Wait.] Is there an experiment going on?

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[simplestgift]

I see. [The "troll" part of his brain turns on, and he tries to think of how amuse himself with this. When he speaks, he's mostly thinking aloud.]

You're very unfeeling, Doctor.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

[ ... ]

Thank you.

[simplestgift]

Yes. One might even say you've no heart at all. Utterly inhuman.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"I can assure you that I have a heart, Lieutenant."

[simplestgift]

"Of regular size?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"Ten to twelve ounces."

[simplestgift]

"Have you a soul, then?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

His comment seems to strike a chord in the doctor and McCoy blinks.

"... An old soul, Archie."

[simplestgift]

...Interesting. And just touching enough that the attempts at trolling still temporarily.

"Have the kittens been born?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"... Cupcake's litter were born fourteen days ago."

McCoy lifts his hand to show Archie the red, faded cat-like lines running up and down the back of his hand, with his face set in stone once more.

"The cat does not appreciate my presence at this moment in time."

[simplestgift]

Good thing you've turned into a Vulcan, McCoy, because Archie is laughing at you.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Not impressed. "I fail to see the humour."

[simplestgift]

"Of course you do." Still grinning. "When am I bringing one of the little rascals home, then?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"I am not certain yet." McCoy ignores his grinning. "You will be remaining here for the next seven days under observation."

[simplestgift]

"What--" Archie's smile vanishes. "Seven days?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

A beat, while he tries to re-phrase it. "A week."

[simplestgift]

"I heard." He can't keep the irritation out of his voice. "I haven't even been awake a day and I'm already being driven mad. Why must I stay? I can lie in bed as easily at home."

Except, come to think of it, he's not that eager to go back to the apartment. Just being out of here, though...

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

McCoy cocks an eyebrow up at the fluctuation in his voice. It seems... familiar to him somehow and he casts his eyes back down to his chart again, before issuing a firm last word on the issue. "My mind will not be swayed, Lieutenant. You will remain here for seven days."

[simplestgift]

His mouth and jaw tighten, and he stares resolutely at the ceiling, already plotting how to convince Jack to help him escape from this hole. Jack might actually help. Horatio will defer to the doctor, and Jilly...sort of a wild card, maybe. Dawn might help for the adventure. Jack might need incentive.

"Of course. Seven days."

In a yeah right tone.