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]

[Blink.] I thought you only had to have two at a time.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[Also blink. She holds his gaze for a moment, and then bursts out laughing.]

I'm sorry, I just can't believe I'm really his bad- at playing- Go Fish!

[simplestgift]

[He'll pause, then a grin spreads over his face and he chuckles.] I can't attest to my knowledge of the rules, mind you. [He draws a card. Oh, there's the other ace. He lays both cards down.] Do you have to remain here just in case you fall ill?

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

More like... to keep me from falling ill.

[Hesitantly she lays down her two aces and asks,] Do you have any eights?

[simplestgift]

Go fish. [He peers at her over his hand.] How can it keep you from falling ill?

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[She draws an eight! And lays down a pair.]

There's a... bubble, in the back. It keeps any germs or bacteria from getting inside, since I wouldn't be able to fight them off. This suit does the same thing, essentially.

[simplestgift]

[Okay, excuse him while he forgets about the game and stares in horror.]

Then you...have to stay inside this...this bubble, every hour of every day if you don't have the suit?

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[She nods, looking at her hand, feeling like a six year old girl again, realizing for the first time exactly why those camera crews were always around.]

It's not so bad, [she says softly, but mainly out of habit.]

[simplestgift]

How-- [His voice breaks, and he starts over.] How small is it?

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[No, not pity, don't you dare pity me.]

Not very. About the size of a room. [A broom closet is a room. (Actually, it's about 6 by 8 feet.)]

[simplestgift]

[Oh, not pity. More like unsettling familiarity.]

And you can see out?

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[Surprised:] Of course. The walls are clear. [Oh dear, is that what he thought?] It really isn't so bad. The one back home had gloves attached to the walls so that people could reach in or I could reach out. It was always... [Shrug.] Just the way things were.

[simplestgift]

[Okay, he feels like he can breathe again. The entire reaction was as stifled as possible, mostly a lot of blinking and a little stammering, but he's visibly relieved. And a little embarrassed.] I see. Good. Beg your pardon.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

Not a problem. [But she's a little more withdrawn now.]

Is it your turn?

[simplestgift]

[A blink.] I've no idea.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[Nervous laughter.] We could just move on to checkers now if you like. I promise I do know how to play that.

[simplestgift]

[He tosses down his cards as if they're yesterday's news.] Very well. What sort of game is checkers?

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

Let me go get the box and I'll explain it to you.

[She leaves, and returns shortly after with said box, and begins to set up the board.]

You only play on the red squares, unlike in chess, and all the pieces move diagonally.

[simplestgift]

Oh, well, I do know this one! We call it draughts, where I come from.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[That brings her up short.] Draughts.

Well, that makes this easier. [She smiles with good humor and offers him his choice of color.]

[simplestgift]

Draughts. [He picks red.] Does your world have a name?

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

Earth, [she says easily, turning the board so the red is facing him.] What about yours?

[simplestgift]

Earth. Eighteen hundred and two. [He carefully sorts the checkers with his middle finger, which is not hampered by the clip attaching him to the heart monitor.] What year are you?

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

1995. [Wow you're old. But that explains... well, a few things. She sorts her checkers as well, wondering how he'll react to the news that she's from 200 years into his future.]

[simplestgift]

[One of the first people he met in Luceti was from the twenty-third century, so he doesn't even blink. Instead, he starts placing the red pieces on their spaces.] American?