The Testing Thing, Fever Stage Pt. 2 || Rhys & J.R.
[They were doing the testing thing.
Which wasn’t unusual or at least not unexpected given the changes they were going to.
Although Rhys seemed to be one of the only ones who was happy to oblige constantly running around in between the kids room and the lab, often with either Will, Fiona, Eva or Andrew around his arm - or in his arms because some of them were overly dramatic about losing their powers - although the whole matter allowed him to grow a little closer to Fiona, who considered this as much a blessing as he did.
Now he was alone, Andrew had gone in about four minutes before, he had Telepathy, emphasize on had, and was really tired from all the testing.
The greatest thing was that he couldn’t hear what they were saying on the next room.
It had been such a long time ago that he couldn’t listen in on everyone’s conversation.
It wasn’t peace and quiet, because he could still hear most of the things since they would grab his attention whether he wanted to or not. He couldn’t just switch that off.
But at least it was closer to peace and quiet.
He closed his eyes for a bit.
Then heard the door open.
He looked up and greeted the next person who would have to wait for the blood test or some other test or some talking or some frustrating looks from the lab people.
He hoped he would end up with Percy.
But so far he hadn’t seen her yet.
She must be very busy.]
The one before me went in only a few minutes ago.
So you might have to wait here a while.
[Which was basically an invitation for: COME AND SIT DOWN NEXT TO ME SO WE CAN TALK.
Or at least he hoped his eager smile was enough to translate that.]
[Seeing nothing when he touched Annie meant... something. But it’s too impossible to say what. Because his track record with other Deluded has been complicated at best—and though he’s only going off two experiences with exceptions (Roy and Marcel) and two is far too early to promise a pattern, it’d been enough to get him thinking about the possibility of a pattern, at least, and so he’d considered testing the theory with Annie...
But with everything that had happened over Christmas and the awards reception alone... he hadn’t gotten around to it. His head had already been full with preoccupied thoughts of the developments between he and Roy, not to mention the very slight changes he’s noticed in their relationship, but has been reluctant to put into words or question, for fear of letting his worry mess with a good thing. And what they have is a good thing—and not just because he’s the one friend he has he can actually hug.
And then there was the issue of getting up the courage to talk to Mitch about the idea of ‘training’ his infection... and he still wonders about what had ever happened with that thing he’d talked to Pax about, and if the Elite had ever found traces of footage from that night in interrogation...
And then there was Kip.
He feels sick every time he thinks about it: how they’ve hardly had a chance to reconnect since what had happened between them, aside from public, awkward hellos while in the company of others—which usually involved lingering looks and uncertain smiles and, at least on Orson’s part, a lot of longing for a moment alone to... to what? What could even be done, or said? Kip had made it clear he wasn’t going anywhere—but does that mean the same for any kind of relationship between them? It’s not like they have a lot of options in terms of forward motion, if any at all... and the last thing Orson wants to do is complicate Kip’s life or make him feel burdened by a guilt that wouldn’t allow him to look for something better. Something more reasonable. Orson doesn’t want Kip to wait around for him, when he can’t be sure there will even be anything to wait for. For all he knows, he’ll be like this forever. And he won’t put Kip through that. It wouldn’t be fair, and he couldn’t live with himself.
It takes every modicum of self control he has not to message Kip on Thursday, right after ‘testing’ with Annie. Call it vain, or insecure but... he hadn’t wanted to be too sick for testing the theory of his interrupted infection with Kip.
And he did want to test with Kip. Really, there was no one else he could feel safe with—and though Kip was probably the last person whose death he wanted to see, he was also the only person Orson would want to have witnessing it, should it fail—should he see something he didn’t want to see, and get stuck facing the consequences.
When he thinks about it, it’s probably selfish. Kip can feel what Orson feels, after all. So if this failed... if Orson touched Kip’s hand and had his heartbroken, Kip would be forced to feel it too. And though a huge part of him wishes he were strong enough to refuse, to pick someone else, anyone else—he knows he can’t. Because Kip is the one person he can’t touch, that he really, really wants to.
He makes it to mid Friday, before he can’t take waiting anymore. He’s feeling mostly better, hasn’t been sick since yesterday morning, and after getting out of another series of tests again just in time for lunch (which he has no plan on indulging in, because though he’s on the upswing, the idea of eating remains very unappealing), he slips out one of the back doors of the Colony and steps out onto the upper landing of exterior steps that overlook the training fields. From this vantage point, he can see a bit of the water crashing into the rocks below.
A little nervous, he raises his arm with a shaky exhale and taps into his PDD.
Hey, if you’re feeling okay, can you please meet me? It’s really important. I’m out back by the training rink. The North door off the second floor.
Another sigh as he hits send—apparently he’d been holding his breath as he’d written the message. Okay, so he’s really nervous.]
State of General Concern || Fever State pt. 2 || Mei Zhu & Quinn
[If it hadn’t been for the lingering feeling of sickness, Quinn might’ve blamed the headache completely on the stress that followed the strange illness and loss of infections washing over the Colony. Keeping up any form of communication with the other Colonies had become increasingly difficult, and none of the people across the Wastes were willing to offer detailed reports on their situation. Not to mention: anything clear regarding how the Colony was doing. Meanwhile Quinn was growing increasingly frustrated not knowing whether other NWRF colony governments were experiencing the same stop on infections as they were. He knew for certain that everywhere else, or at least in a good chunk of the Colonies in Britain, the illness had also struck, but if in those same Colonies the Infected had also lost their abilities, than they could connect the two situations. Now they might as well be unrelated.]
[He made his way out of his office once again that day, a huge bottle of lukewarm tea in one hand, and a huge file under his other arm. He was walking up straight, his flesh felt a little sweaty and the headache was reacting to his steadfast pace, but Quinn had ensured before he left that he looked as if little was bothering him. He wouldn’t even care if the citizens would think he had no illness to speak off, he wouldn’t show weakness.]
[The lab was chaos, understandable given every former-Infected and their grandma was stalking around the place, being tested, asked to preform simple tasks to see if the Infections were completely gone or if some trace of it could still be found. He placed the tea on a unused file cabernet and made his way through the place towards one of the doctors. He wasn’t sure which one he would find unoccupied, but any of them would do right now. Since he couldn’t ask them to come and find him, because there was too much work to do here, he figured checking up on them ensure the safest and quickest way to get some information.] Dr. Fitrei, I’m afraid I’m going to have to bother you for a little while, your patients can be redirected to the other researchers. [He said, finding Mei Zhu just done drawing some blood in her own office, he didn’t even bother to knock. There was no time for being civil, at least not if they both wanted to get back to their job as soon as possible. He also didn’t bother to look at the former-infected sitting in the chair, his mind was only on how to as efficiently as possible gain as much information as possible.]
By Sunday, January 9th, the worst of it appears to be over. Sickness is all but passed, states of the house dorms have mostly returned to normal, and classes, training and chores are scheduled to continue, starting Monday.
It’s a relief on many accounts.
Where the Infections are concerned, however—well, that issue is a little more complicated.
The ‘brown outs’ begin to make a come back on Monday the 10th, only this time, in reverse. Citizens slowly start to notice traces of their Infection abilities returning—but not until about 12 hours after the symptoms from the parasite have subsided, and not a moment before.
According to a relatively vague summary released to the Colony public by the techs and researchers working hard in the labs, it would appear that the parasite, for the duration of its survival in a host, attacked the central nervous system and brain of the Infected once the immune system was down. Not strong enough to withstand the inhospitable environment of the human body, its effects eventually dwindle after a minimum of 12-14 hours of the parasite’s collapse, regular (or irregular, depending on how one looks at it) functions gradually returning to normal. However, as long as traces of the parasite exist in the system, the Infection abilities will not function.
Though some of the Infected experience a slow return as early as Monday, most report having slightly interrupted use of their abilities by Tuesday. By Wednesday, January 12th, almost everyone has full function, exceptions being only those whose immune systems took longer to fight the parasite, and whose symptoms lasted longer.
Aside from the brief information released by Colony officials on Tuesday morning covering the updates above, the NWRF have remained tight lipped about research, and have not commented on any long term impact of this occurrence or potential scientific break through. As it stands, nothing has changed with regards to the New Wave Mandate, and though testing continues, it also returns to its regular schedule along with classes and chores come the beginning of the new week.
Despite the persistent relative silence of the NWRF and lab professionals, however, hushed chatter continues around the general population of the Colony. Now that the worst of the sickness has passed, and the Infections begin to return (to the relief of some, the disappointment of others) there is more energy to go around badmouthing the Reformists’ unchanged agenda. Regardless of the fact that the entire fiasco was apparently out of their control, and despite everyone being affected by the parasite, Uninfected and NWRF alike, people are angry and looking to lay blame. Besides, it feels cruel to have the unusual cases of the Deluded go so unrecognized, and the rights of the Infected in general, continuously ignored.
A/N: And there you have it, folks!
This post marks the end of the event portion of Fever State, Stage 2, “Compromised System!”
Because of the plot-drop style nature of this event, and that the effects of it are in a way, ongoing, it is important to pay close attention to the timeline of events even as we move the RP timeline forward. For clarity, they are summarized below.
What is currently available to start new threads about is found in bold:
FRIDAY, January 7th, through SATURDAY, January 8th, Inclusive - Testing continues. Standard symptoms of parasite have started to subside across the board. People are released from the Infirmary, classes and chores are slowly reintroduced. Uninfected slowly begin to feel normal again. The Infected, however, though they start to feel less sick, still have no traces of their infection abilities.
SUNDAY, January 9th - The worst is over. Symptoms of sickness have mostly passed, and things are returning to normal in dorms and common rooms. Any citizens still in the infirmary are gradually being released throughout the day, and it is announced that all class, training and chore schedules are set to return to normal starting Monday.
MONDAY, January 10th - Citizens who recovered from parasite symptoms a little faster, slowly start to notice their Infection abilities returning in similar ‘brown-out’ fashion, only in reverse. This only happens when they have stopped showing symptoms of illness for a period of a minimum of 12-14 hours.
All usual Colony schedules are back in effect - any citizens who are still too sick to return to their regular schedules, (including, training, classes, chores, therapy sessions and testing) will need to report to their Heads of House to be excused.
TUESDAY, January 11th - Almost all Infected are now seeing signs of the return of their abilities. Some experience more interruptions than others, but overall, abilities/delusions are making a come back.
Colony wide notice releases health update including a bit of information concerning the parasite’s effects on the Infections. Full summary found above.
WEDNESDAY, January 12th - Most Infected citizens now have full function of their abilities again. Exceptions only arise in cases of those whose immune systems took longer to fight off the parasite, and whose symptoms lasted a bit longer. However, if, for example, their symptoms lasted until Tuesday, ‘brown out’ signs of the return of their abilities should be arising sometime after the 12 hour period, though some individuals may experience longer delays.
THURSDAY, January 13th, through SATURDAY January 15th, inclusive - Remainder of the 2nd week of January RP timeline window. No significant plot related events.
Okay, so with the ‘event’ portion of this plot drop at a close, all standard event-closing guidelines apply:
You no longer have to title new threads with event/stage names — However, considering the overlap of lingering symptoms, slow return of Infections, etc, it’s highly encouraged you establish more specific days of your threads at least for the duration of this particular week in the RP timeline
All previously open starters that were posted during stage two of the event are now unavailable
You may now post new threads that occur during the second week of January, (Sunday the 9th, through Saturday the 15th)
You may continue all ongoing event threads as long as you need to see them through. There is no rush to wrap them as you will not be seeing a drop of stage three for some time
As always, if you have any questions concerning the finer details of the plot drop, event, or involving individual character situations, do not be afraid to ask! We’re here to help! If you have ideas or plots concerning your characters’ individual experiences or thoughts in all this, please do run them by us.
During this time, admin guided events with this plot line will slow down for a bit, and we’ll be opening things up to you, the community, for your character and plot contributions concerning the state of things. So keep that in mind as you continue to explore and be sure to come to us if you have anything in mind!
Okay, that’s all for now! Thank you so much to everyone for your participation and enthusiasm with this event and plot drop! We’re so proud of all of you and thrilled to see all the fun new developments on the dash!
[His head is reeling; his conversation with Annie has been on repeat since this morning, a dizzying, nauseating effect. There are... a lot of questions, all of them with answers he’s not sure he even wants to know. Too afraid to be unhappy with either result, too anxious about what they’ll mean long term—too terrified to hope for something and wind up being disappointed, or to have something, to taste something temporarily, only to have it taken away just as suddenly.
It’s too hard to trust the unknown. If this is true, if the infections are gone... what’s the reason for that? Could a little bit of a contaminated flour really do that? After all these years of research and science attempting to explain the unexplained? It feels way too easy, way too convenient. Trusting it feels impossible.
And yet.
And yet he can’t help that itching, anxious feeling in heart that feels like naive, foolish hope. He wishes he could drown it. Remind it that they don’t live in a world of hope, anymore. To not set himself up for disappointment. He’s had enough loss already, he’s not sure he can stand anymore.
But the first thing he does is seeks out Roy in the afternoon. He’d been forced into an array of tests nearly all morning, taken more or less captive by doctors and researchers and lab techs—meanwhile he’d still been sick to his stomach and migraine-y through all of it—but he finally manages to spring free of their invasive grasps, and he makes his way to Calyset, hoping to find Roy.
At the door, he manages to catch a nurse leaving the common room, and he slips in right after her, avoiding having to ask someone for entry—and he’d thought maybe he’d have to look for Roy in his dorm but is relieved to find him as one of the few, tired and sorry looking souls hunkered down on the sofas.
He steps over quietly—though he’s been in Calyset several times now, since becoming friends with Roy, he still feels somewhat hyper aware that it isn’t his space, and therefor not his place to interrupt.]
Roy? [he ventures quietly as he approaches. He’s not even sure how Roy is feeling or how sick he is—they haven’t had a chance to see each other since the onset of the parasite.] Hey.
[Rhys had been extremely happy when the Colony 22 ambience soundtrack stopped, and he was back to his usual volume level.
Even though he hadn’t been able to completely pinpoint when it had stopped, nor when the volume level started to go all twitchy.
He hadn’t really been paying attention either.
Rhys wasn’t in the infirmary anymore, because most of the kids had been released, and still needed to be supervised.
Now more than ever.
Not everyone was feeling energetic enough to presume business as usual, and in the classroom it wasn’t just Rhys sitting around and making sure the kids were already.
Him being the only Infected among the supervisors, Rhys was often the one walking with the kids to the lab. He had never expected he would have to go to and fro about twenty times a day.
But as soon as the infections had completely disappeared, he was almost constantly going to the lab and back again, either with a kid in his arms or around his ankles, or by himself as he went to pick up the next one.
Five of the thirteen were infected, but it was chaos nonetheless.
He was also expected to show up, and it wasn’t just blood tests and simple questions. A lot of their vitals were recorded in order to see if anything was changing.
And by the end of the first day of the dis-infected situation, Rhys was tired.
Which was rare by itself, but more even so given it was barely six, and he was swaying in his chair, looking at his food and wondering if he had the strength to put an other bite of it in his mouth.
His head ached from all the questions and the blood tests, and the other tests, and the questions the kids asked, and the questions the kids who weren’t infected asked.
And wow. So many questions.
He hadn’t even been able to fully appreciate not having to hear everything anymore.
He yawned, a sensation which usually came back to him as if a lion was roaring inside of his ear, now barely registered.
He was so silent, that people had sat down at the same table without him instantly saying something. One of those he recognized almost right away.
There weren’t a lot of Enhanced infected with the same sensory modification as him. Alois was among the few with Enhanced Hearing, and one of his fellow hunters - which given his track record, would be a good reason not to start talking. He fucked up on such a regular basis that he figured everyone who had ever been on hunting duty really wouldn’t like to have him around.]
I think we might be among the few to consider this an upgrade, right?
[He jumped right into conversation for the hell of it.
Okay, he did that always, so it wasn’t very much unlike him.
But he felt a little unlike himself.
Maybe some part of him did miss the hearing, did miss being constantly surrounded by sound.
Or maybe, and this was potentially more possible, for the first time in a long time, Rhys couldn’t always hear people. They could be talking too soft, and he would miss it.]
Especially after those last two days, with all the vomiting and the coughing and the groaning. I was so ready for that to be over with.
For a moment—a tortuously fleeting moment—things appeared to be looking up for Col22 citizens.
It actually mildly surprised medical staff when, by the afternoon of Wednesday, January 5th, the third day of sickness, some of the fevers were very slowly starting to subside earlier than expected, and for a handful of the Colony’s sickest, the worst of it seemed to be rounding the bend behind them. Sickness lingered, as it would and was expected to for at least another three days, but some citizens had seen the peak of what their illness would become, and could look forward to feeling progressively better as the days went on and they were finally able to keep down fluids and some less-solid foods. Finally not dry-heaving long enough to actually get a few hours’ much needed rest.
But much like the onset of the sickness, this new beast started slowly—picking off a couple individuals at a time, going unnoticed at first, and largely unreported—then rearing its head and taking over all at once.
Wednesday night was the first time someone put a voice to fears they’d juggled with since the morning: something was very, very wrong with their so-called ‘Infection’. In fact, by nightfall, they weren’t able to use their infected ability at all.
As it would turn out—they were not the only one. There were others who’d started to notice these symptoms as well, but hadn’t yet said it out loud, be it for fear it was not but their imaginations, or that it was not likely to get worse—or perhaps for fear of making it real. For fear of what it could mean.
By Thursday morning, however, the putting off of acknowledging it changed nothing: all Infected citizens were reportedly experiencing fluxes of control with their Infections—having to strain to use their ability in even the simplest form with a sputtering in and out of results; like an electric engine puttering in a desperate wheeze, well beyond time for a recharge, trying in vain to press forward—until it chugs to a pathetic, whining and whirring stop.
And so is how it went with the infections, as well. When Thursday night at Colony 22 falls, all evidence of any Infected citizen having any unnatural or ‘evolved’ power at all has been wiped away. No strength to move without touch, no speaking without tongues, no invasive tapping into the emotions of others. Even the Deluded cease to experience ‘symptoms’ of their delusions, though each case where they are concerned is a little different, due to the nature of their unique so-called ‘abilities’.
It would appear as though the Infected have been stripped of whatever it is that makes them different—and naturally, it sends everyone into a panic. Even the NWRF. Some might say especially the NWRF.
Thursday Jan 6th, through Saturday the 8th, Infected citizens of all subclasses are spending hours upon hours each day undergoing emergency testing—blood tests, scans, MRIs—absolutely any kind of data collection lab researchers (both NWRF aligned and otherwise) can get their hands on, because no one knows what this means, how exactly this could have been caused—or how long it will last.
Could this possibly be a permanent change? Was there something in the parasite that ate away at whatever it was the mysterious gasses of both Fallings changed in so many of the remaining human race? Were the ‘Evolved’ simply no more? Or is this a temporary side effect? Would the Infections return, and if so, when, and would they be just as they were before, or would they evolve again in some way? Grow stronger, even?
Was this sudden absence of Infection something that could be replicated? Bottled? Sold?
The questions were endless, as were the tests. Lab researchers, techs, medics and scientists would lose sleep over the next three days, up into all hours of the night pouring over results and data, trying to piece together meaning, uncover answers never before uncovered.
Meanwhile—the Infected and all their supporters try in vain not to panic. For the question remains: is this a beginning or an end?
A/N: There you have it darlings! Part 2 of this new, 2019 plot drop. And though you will see updates as this stage progresses and unfolds, plus a wrapping of sorts down the road when the timeline moves forward, etc, this will be the last of the time-constrained ‘event-style’ portion of this drop, at least for a while. But more on that later—for the time being:
Welcome to:
☭ FEVER STATE: COMPROMISED SYSTEM ☭ { stage ii } !!
This post marks the beginning of stage two, and shifts the timeline forward to January 5th through January 8th. This means that though you may continue all old threads, you may not start any new threads from stage one.
All NEW threads must be between Wednesday morning, January 5th, and Saturday night, January 8th. There will be no exceptions to this. But, as always, and to reiterate, you may continue all old threads as long as you need!
This time window will continue until you see a post here on the main with updates to this portion of the plot line and officially moving the timeline forward. Once this stage is ‘complete’, the RP timeline will open back up to the regular vague and approximate week-by-week approach, relatively open and flexible until such a time that the next plot drop is released, which might not be a for a while.
Here is a quick summary of events so far regarding the Fever State drop. In bold, is what is currently open to start new threads about.
MONDAY, January 3rd - All citizens start to get sick to varying degrees throughout the day, regardless of what was or wasn’t eaten. The sickest are kept in the infirmary for close monitoring and hooking up to IVs, and those whose fevers are not as high and who are able to keep down more fluids are confined to their houses instead, mostly tended to in their dorm rooms by rotating medical staff.
TUESDAY, January 4th, 11:00am - Colony Wide Recall Notice; informing citizens of flour recall, details regarding what can be expected of the parasite symptoms and that it should run its course within the space of roughly seven days.
WEDNESDAY, January 5th, morning - Some infected start to experience inconsistencies and strange ‘brown outs’ with their Infection abilities.
Wed, Jan 5th, night - The first official reports about fluctuating control of Infection abilities arise, word begins to spread.
THURSDAY, January 6th, morning - All Infected citizens (Deluded included) are experiencing a gradual and unpredictable ceasing of control/strength of their Infection abilities, to varying degrees. Some of them stopping completely.
Thurs, Jan 6th, all day - emergency lab testing for the Infected commences
Thurs, Jan 6th, night - By the end of the day, all Infected abilities are seemingly gone.
FRIDAY, January 7th through SATURDAY, January 8th, inclusive - Testing continues. Standard symptoms of parasite have started to subside across the board. People are released from the Infirmary, classes and chores are slowly reintroduced. Uninfected slowly begin to feel normal again. The Infected, however, though they start to feel less sick, still have no traces of their infection abilities.
Currently, you may not RP past Saturday night.
Additionally, as with previously, new threads must be TITLED somehow to reflect the current stage (Stage two). Again, that can be done in a variety of ways, including somehow indicating the “Fever State” plot drop and the stage number, or indicating the stage title itself, so in this case “Compromised System”. Remember you have the freedom to indicate this however you wish, so long as you DO indicate it somehow. For examples from the first stage, which would apply similarly to this stage, please check out this post.
On the main blog we will continue to us #col22feverstate for all posts regarding this plot drop, and we will also be using #col22FScomp for posts regarding this stage. You can use these tags for your personal posts and organization as well if you want, but you are not required to (just remember to keep titles of your threads clear!)
☭ INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER VARIATIONS: ☭
Like last time, it’s up to you to decide the details surrounding how/when your character is affected by these new developments, so long as they remain congruent with the canon narration and timeline provided above. For characters of any status, you can decide when they start to feel a bit better, though this is bound to fluctuate dramatically across the board, and some will still be pretty darn sick even as the weekend approaches.
For Infected characters, you can decide if they were one of the ones who noticed changes earlier on Wednesday, if they were one of the ones who reported it to an Official that night, or if they maybe heard about it that night but kept their mouths shut. Alternatively, maybe they didn’t notice anything with their own abilities until Thursday. However, by Thursday morning, all Infected are noticing these effects in some way.
If you have a deluded character, feel free to get creative with how their ‘delusion’ is affected, but remember it is about stripping the ‘symptoms’ of their delusion away, or their so-called ability. So, for Orson, it’s not that he suddenly believes his Delusion was untrue all along, but that he stops actively seeing visions of death when he touches someone. For Roy, perhaps he stops hearing Death’s voice in his head. For Annie, maybe she still believes she’s in a nightmare of sorts, but she doesn’t experience the ‘tells’ of her sleeping state anymore. But these are just examples—you can decide for yourselves how you want to play it out, and feel free to run stuff by the mods if you want guidance!
☭ STATE OF THE COMMUNITY: ☭
As already mentioned, the return of normal colony schedules will be very gradual. Lots of people are still sick, but the infirmary will slowly thin out as Saturday approaches, and though some group classes/therapy sessions etc may be reinstated, not all will be at this stage. Additionally, there will be a considerable amount more testing going on for Infected citizens, and the general environment of Colony 22 will be rather frenzied, chaotic and tense due to the new developments and panic, but also somewhat sluggish, do to lingering illnesses and lack of regular schedules. Lab techs and researchers will be working day and night, rumours will be spreading, Colony officials will be tight lipped and reluctant to release information before it is confirmed, or to speak out of turn. NWRF reps will be a bit manic, dealing with lots of back and forth between other local reps, other colonies who were subjected to this parasite, and Headquarters.
This time window will continue until you see further updates from the main blog. As always, please bring any and all event-related questions to the MAIN BLOG ASK. Additionally, if you have any ideas or things you want to contribute with regards to this plot and your character, feel free to come to us! We are more than happy to help and there is some room as this plot develops to incorporate member contribution of ideas!
