EVENT ★ (ABOUT) 28 DAYS LATER

[futurologists]

GENERAL HOSPITAL All signs point to the hospital having something to do with the virus, though further investigation is required in order to find exactly what is going on. The hospital is average sized, with contemporary facilities and equipment, and is usually considerably cleaner than it is now. The constant flow of injuries coming in -- from riots, attacks, and accidents that are happening from just sheer panic -- have filled the hospital to the brim. Many staff are too over-exhausted to show up to work, and those that remain are nearly to the breaking point. Due to the overall confusion and chaos, now might be an opportune time to quietly sneak behind the scenes . . . ON THE INSIDE The waiting room is crowded and there aren't enough staff people to go around. If you snag yourself a lab coat or some scrubs, you should be able to just waltz right in if you look harried enough to go unnoticed. Or, if you're not the doctor-looking type, fake an injury and get one of your scrubs-wearing teammates to usher you inside. Inside the hospital, it's just as busy -- gurneys line the halls, filled with moaning, scared patients. How many of them have the Bristol Virus? How many of them have just been injured in the unrest? It's impossible to tell, so be careful as you move through the halls. One of those grasping hands just might belong to someone who is very hungry. Be careful while you look through the hospital -- the staff are busy and preoccupied, but they’re not blind. If you are caught somewhere you shouldn’t be, you’ll find yourself escorted from the premises, or worse -- thrown in jail. PLACES TO SEARCH: MATERNITY. There are no pregnant women to be found here, and for good reason: the maternity wing has been converted to a treatment center for known Bristol Virus carriers. Biohazard suits hang near the entrance, and the doors are sealed by makeshift plastic shielding to prevent the virus from spreading airborne. Patients are strapped to their beds for their safety as well as for the safety of the staff, and seem to be heavily sedated. But be careful -- you never know when it’ll wear off. MORGUE. In the basement of the hospital is the morgue. Temperature controlled to 3º C (37º F), you may need a sweater if you choose to investigate here. The bodies kept in here have primarily died of natural causes -- that is, if you count being chewed on by cannibals as natural. The few bodies that are known to be infected by the Bristol virus are marked as such: the morgue drawers containing their remains have been sealed by biohazard tape. NURSE’S STATION. The most dangerous place to investigate, but perhaps the most lucrative. The nurse’s station is located in the center of the inpatient ward and is in the middle of all hospital activity. It will be very easy to get caught if you’re looking here. However -- this is where most paperwork is kept, as well as computers connected to the hospital intranet, where patient records can be found. OFFICES. Doctors’ offices are an obvious choice to look for paperwork clues, but be cautious and have an excuse ready: you never know when someone will come in. TOXICOLOGY. Because most of the patients being treated right now are in the hospital for injuries, toxicology is not as busy as one might expect during a viral epidemic. The toxicology department is filled with test tubes, beakers, and the like. This is one of the more dangerous areas to investigate, as you never know when a lab tech or doctor may walk in and catch you snooping. Other hospital areas include: cafeteria, doctors’ mess, inpatient ward, pharmacy, surgery, supply warehouse (entrance outside), etc. If you're not the investigative type, it might be a good idea to cause a scene and distract the staff from your teammates' snooping. While you're here, it might be a good idea to gather fluid samples from patients known to be infected. Their sedated state will make it easy (until, of course, the sedatives wear off -- hopefully not while you're in the middle of collecting a sample!) and not only will it help the efforts in finding a vaccine, it may also help your fellow recruits find a cure. Especially now that some of your number are starting to feel the effects of the virus themselves. FINDING CLUES This post, we will be holding an RNG to decide who receives clues. We have a maximum of five clues to go around, one per hospital area, so you'll have better chances if you team up! Please see this comment to sign up. We will be closing clue sign-ups after 48 hours, after which we will notify the RNG winners of their results. Those who do not hear back may assume they have not found anything of interest. OOC NOTES Because this log is being posted late in the month, threads are eligible for February or March AC, but not both. Beginning this month, we are also allowing AC threads to be eligible for AC Bonus Bank. Please remember that participation in the HMD is mandatory to pass AC this month! Please fill out your HMD comment by 28 February 23:59 UTC. REMINDER: activity and hiatus changes go into effect beginning this AC. Please review the changes thoroughly! Questions about Woodhurst can be submitted to this thread. Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ. You may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time, and don't forget the Bounty Board!

Comments

( Oliver )

[heelies]

[The pandemonium of the waiting room, into which cram dozens of people bearing bloody wounds and broken limbs, provides Achilles the opportunity to easily slip into the hospital proper undetected. Stealth is not his modus operandi, but he is gifted with nimble feet that make scarcely a sound and movement as fluid as the wine-dark sea in whose bosom his deathless mother lives. In this manner he glides through the busy corridors of the hospital, seeking either Sieglinde or Urahara that he may pass onto them the latest samples he has gathered.

Turning the corner, however, he catches sight of a familiar face he did not expect to see under these harsh lights: that of Oliver, whom he had oft seen at the gymnasium, and not at all by mere chance, in the time before so many buildings closed their doors against the fast-spreading fear. In all this time, he still believes that the man belongs to the local population. Thus, Achilles cannot be seen by him here.

If he were to think for a moment, however, he would realize that not once had Oliver mentioned employ at the hospital, as is signified by his present state of dress.

Nevertheless, he purposes to retreat around the corner whence he came-- But from behind him comes a nurse with a cart of food, all of which is neatly arranged in plastic trays and covered by a film, and into which swift-footed Achilles now collides. Down fall the plastic trays, clattering to the tiled floor. The nurse looses her tongue against him, wishing to know if he is blind or just stupid.]

[catphishing]

[Oliver startles at the crash and the yelling that follows it. It's a huge relief to see him, and his immediate response is to break out in a grin, forgetting the stress of the mission to hurry over.]

Achilles! [He hesitates once he actually reaches him, not quite sure what the appropriate response is. He likes him a lot, and Achilles has made it very clear to him he's interested too, but they aren't actually close. Any kind of physical greeting would be weird, even if Oliver had been worried something bad might have happened. He ducks down after a few seconds of obvious uncertainty, picking up some of the trays and place them haphazardly back on the trolley to try and placate the angry nurse.] It's okay. It was only an accident. The food's still wrapped, so...

[heelies]

[Against her ire Achilles holds his tongue, lest he lash out for such rude treatment and draw more eyes to himself. It is to their good fortune that the harried nurse has not the time to castigate Achilles further: away she hastens, griping about how already she was behind schedule, and leaving Achilles and Oliver alone. Or as alone as two can be in the hallway of an overflowing hospital. His gaze falls uncertainly upon the man, but his hesitation comes from a different place than Oliver's.]

I did not expect to see you here, Oliver. Although certainly it gladdens me to see you safe in these times of hardship.

[For once he is not clad in the neon shorts and tank top he sports for work: these are replaced with black jeans and a windbreaker, but the purple scrunchie persists. A brief appraisal makes plain, however, that he bears no injury - and thus has little business in a hospital so busy.]

[catphishing]

[Oliver nods, not seeming to hold much uncertainty outside of how he's supposed to communicate with him outside the gym. There's no pretense of being trainer and gym member here, and if anything it would be even weirder to show an interest in him now when things are looking so rough.]

It's good you're okay. Are you here to see someone, or...?

[That's when it hits Oliver that maybe their encounter isn't such a positive thing. He's dressed as someone who works here. He doesn't think he mentioned his actual cover jobs to him, but maybe he'd done so absently. Even if he hadn't, what if he wants him to answer questions he has no way of knowing? Talking to him now was probably a bad move.]

[heelies]

[He is no great craftsman of lies like Laertes' son Odysseus, the man of many twists and turns, and so what he speaks is the truth.]

I am here to see my daughter, my dear Sieglinde.

[Yet where usually he elaborates, he stays succinct. Perhaps Oliver will take this as a reflection of his somber mood, a father wracked with worry for his frail daughter who in the hospital must stay. All the while, the vials in his jacket pocket seem to grow heavy as does fruit waiting to be plucked from the branch.]

[catphishing]

Your daughter?

[He has so many questions about that, but the explanation does the trick. Between feeling sorry for him (not to mention a little for himself) and not wanting to be asked anything he can't answer he doesn't feel like he can intrude.]

I'm sorry. I'm sure we're doing everything we can for her.

[heelies]

[Were Oliver to look, as he may have furtively done so during their evenings passed at the gym, he would see that no ring binds Achilles' finger: thus his status and the state of his family remain shrouded in a fog of mystery.]

Indeed I am grateful to the doctors here. She is no stranger to this hospital - from a young age she has suffered from a condition that cripples her step, although lately she has gained strength anew in her legs.

[So continue the half-truths, loath as he is to lie outright. And so continues the commotion around them, as doctors and nurses hurry to and fro. It is then that Achilles casts a curious look upon Oliver.]

Have you no patients waiting?

[catphishing]

[Oliver's eyes widen. He looks around uncertainly. He'd kind of started to work out where he was going when he'd got distracted, but now he needs to orientate himself again.]

Uh. Yeah, I was just... [No. It's better not to be specific.] I was just relieved to see you. I hope your daughter gets better.

[heelies]

For your well wishes I thank you.

[He catches the uncertainty that suddenly clouds Oliver's countenance like a shadow passing over the plains, and this reveals more than the vague speech behind which he hides. Achilles is learned in medicine, the art of mending men's ills and wounds, and he knows well the urgency with which he flies when there are grave cases to tend to - but none of this does he glean from the other man.

Then does he wonder, absurd though the thought may be. He looks at him plainly but gives cryptic words.]

Very well - then may fortune favor the bold, Oliver

[Such is the phrase from which the name Audentes comes, or so he is told. It is a hint subtle enough that an outsider could brush it off as a mere oddity, but one of their ranks might snag upon it.]

[catphishing]

[Oliver's Latin does not extend outside of well known phrases, but given the team name this is one that he's been reminded of lately. He'd been about to hurry off, not caring much what direction he took, but that stops him in his tracks.

He stares at him with furrowed brows. It's a weird thing to say, and Achilles doesn't exactly fit in, but...]

Are you from here...?

[Yeah. That was subtle. He cringes visibly.]

[heelies]

[Whether Oliver would soon flee from sight or be arrested by his words seems just as likely to Achilles - and so, he is at once surprised and yet not so surprised when the man goes nowhere. There then appears a wistful curl to his lip, in answer to the question posed.]

No, my fatherland waits far away - but those dear shores I know I shall never again see. You too are far from your home, are you not?

[He grows ever more certain that he can risk shedding his vague speech by careful degrees. As busy as the hospital is, none would have the time to eavesdrop on this peculiar exchange in the corner.]

[catphishing]

[Oliver nods. The idea passes through his mind that this might actually be the Achilles, but that's ridiculous. It's a story. He quickly dismisses it.]

This is probably the closest I've been to home in a while. But yeah. It's still pretty far away.

[heelies]

[For Achilles, this feels like the farthest he has been from home, so strange this land is to him, and so exhausting it is to don its customs as if his own. If not for the piece of home fortune has granted that he may take with him even to this far-flung land - gentle-hearted Patroclus, to whom he returns at the close of each day - he knows that his proud heart would howl with restlessness for this false life.]

At the very least, there is now one fewer person for whom I must bear a lie, and so too for you.

[He softly claps a hand to Oliver's shoulder and finds a shadow of a smile. He feels foolish now for not recognizing that this man served among the same crew - if he had overlooked him, it must have been for scorn he held in the wake of his second doomed duel against Koltira, after which episode he had withdrawn from all but those whom he cherished.]

[catphishing]

[This feels like good news, for so many reasons. His daughter is probably part of his cover, which means he doesn't have to worry about who the child's other parent is. If there is one, they must only be pretending to be Achilles' partner. He's a little jealous of that, but in the end it's Oliver the other man keeps flirting with.

His heart flutters at the touch to his shoulder, and he smiles nervously.]

I'm glad. I really wanted to keep seeing you-- not that I think this is a big deal or anything, but... I like you. So I'm glad we get to be on the same team.

[heelies]

[What connotations Oliver's words may hold, Achilles catches not. His is a culture in which male friendships flourish unabashedly and none shy from touch such that comrades share, as Achilles shares now. More than once, however, he has caught the way that Oliver sways and bends beneath his attention, as do stalks of grass beneath the will of the breeze. Long has he grown used to how he holds the attention of others thus. He is a prince among princes, the son of a goddess, the best of the Achaeans: even when donning this disguise, his true nature cannot be eclipsed.]

Glad am I too to have found another friend among these ranks.

[He has kept his voice low, lest they draw attention from one among the hospital staff, harried though all may be. But lingering here while everyone else has somewhere they must go only illuminates how out of place they truly are.]

I will not ask what business you have here, nor will I speak of that to which I must tend. But let us each be on our way presently. There shall be time enough later to meet again.

[catphishing]

["Friend."

It stings to be dismissed as just that, after how forward he'd been with him in the time they'd spent together at the gym. Maybe now he knows he's going to see him again Achilles is less open to romance. He wouldn't be the first man Oliver's met who prefers something casual, and being part of the same team would make it hard to keep things like that.

He nods, trying not to look too hurt by Achilles' rejection. This isn't the place or the time to be upset over it.]

Yeah. Okay. I guess I'll see you around.

[heelies]

[Friend is a word cut with manifold facets. Achilles bestows it upon the likes of Odysseus, for whom he holds respect, but of whom he is ever wary, and the likes of Patroclus, whose life is dearest to him above all other men, and in whose embrace he never tires. How can it ever be taken for a slight?

He sees the change in Oliver's countenance as when a cloud passes before the sun to blot the light that once fell to the fields below. Yet he knows not which of his words could have brought about such sobriety, and therefore he can only guess that the man's thoughts have returned to the mission at hand.]

Then may the gods of this land guide your course. Fare you well, Oliver.

[So speaks the son of Peleus, and soon he is gliding down the hall once more.]