9282/Roy Harper Got Hurt And Everyone Thinks He's Using Again

Roy Harper Got Hurt And Everyone Thinks He's Using Again
Date of Scene:	25 December 2021
Location:	Arsenal's Room - The Robin's Roost
Synopsis:	Phoebe, with the very capable assistance of Cassandra and Jonathan, averts a medical crisis with Roy. Apparently playing with space bugs is a bad idea.
Cast of Characters:	Roy Harper, Phoebe Beacon, Cassandra Cain, Jonathan Sims

---

Roy Harper has posed:
Anyone who checks the logs would see that Roy got in late last night. Real late. 4:22 a.m. to be precise. But that's not at all unusual around here, and definitely not unusual for Roy. Where things went off the rails is when he missed lunch because Human Stomach Boi does not skip a chance to eat. And then he missed dinner. People started wondering at that point. Then a few minutes ago, Roy's communicator fired up and he was slurred and stuporous and nonsensical. "I beat the...the last dude who ate my peanut brittle. Fu-fuck that dude dammit." This might be an easy explanation because if poor Roy has started using again, this would not be the first time he got on the communicator drunk or high.

If anyone knocks, there is no response from his room. But the door is not locked. If anyone enters, the room is dark and very humid. Roy is shirtless under a sheet and his body and the sheet are soaked with perspiration. His lips are bone dry and his respirations are labored. There is also a stench in the air. It's not body odor but something worse. It's the smell of decay and infection.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The lateness wasn't unusual for anyone. Phoebe herself only got in a little bit before from a late-night patrol, and then was up again to accompany two of her favorite people to volunteer at a soup kitchen.

    She checked the logs and found Roy missed having a meal. That was bad.

    And then as she was settling in the pile of occult books with the weird writing and a large cup of tea, she heard the peanut brittle comment. And though it might be the first thing that comes to mind... people only use if they're hurting, in her experience. So Phoebe, clad in an 'Ugly Christmas Sweater' with a skull wearing bunny ears and 'HOPPY YULE YOU ANIMALS' on it and a pair of soft pajama pants, she arrives at the door with her bag.

    "Roy? Roy, it's Phoebe. I'm coming in." she speaks up, and pushes open the door, ready to use the rare medical override -- but when she comes in, it's the smell that gets to her. She brings her hands up to her face, covering her nose to try and mitigate the smell.

    Her voice rings out clear over the comms. "Code Red to Arsenal's room! I need four bottles of gatorade and the blue crash bag from the med lab! /Anyone/!" she barks the order, and rushes to Roy's side. She grabs her penlight first.

    "Computer, bring the lights up, full power. Roy. /Roy/. It's Phoebe. Can you hear me?"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
More of those weird words over the comm. Code Red. Gatorade. Nobody LIKES Gatorade. Cassandra yawns, not really getting the importance of what Phoebe's voice is saying, her auditory processing not being what it should be.

However, she's in the area. So, wandering by the door that Pheebs just dashed into, she peeks in.

Two things: One, Cassandra is apparently in a ballet outfit, including a tutu, and is wearing reindeer antlers on a headband around her head. She also looks no less dangerous for the tutu, though the antlers are a bit iffy. Two, she instantly stiffens as she sees Phoebe's body language, and looks around the room for the threat!

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon was bringing presents over. He doesn't /really/ celebrate Christmas, but it's a weird sort of day--people who celebrate will appreciate the sentiment, and people who don't will appreciate food because everything's closed. So the 'presents' consist of a large order of Chinese food from the place he goes every year, which of course isn't going to feed /too/ many people in this group that eats as much as they do, but it's the thought that counts, right? And who can say no to pot stickers?

    Thus it is that he's coming into the Roost when he hears Phoebe's Code Red, and stacks the food containers in the kitchens before heading to the med lab to grab said crash bag. /He/ understands what the terminology means, if not the reason for it. He'll rush back with the bottles, though it'll take a moment.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy may be lanky, but he is a lean, strong, fit person. But when he reaches up one hand to touch Phoebe's face, it's like he's as weak as a kitten. And so warm. Phoebe would surely be instantly alarmed at just how hot his skin is. "I think yer so hawt," he says. "I wa...wanted to kiss you last night but we only just met and pro...prolly woulda thought I was...I dunno." Only just met? Whoever he /thinks/ he's talking to, it isn't Phoebe.

Holding his arm up even for those few moments proves too much for Roy, so his arm falls limply back onto the soaking wet sheets. He is severely febrile, has an altered level of consciousness, and is profoundly pale and diaphoretic. He's in a legit medical emergency.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Pupils aren't responding quickly. Temperature is elevated high above normal even at the touch and --" Phoebe blinks a moment as Roy reaches up and touches her face. She balks a moment as Roy calls her 'hawt' -- and realizes that he's not talking to her. She gives a sort of petulant look "And he's halucinating. Fever might be affecting his Brain. Cass?" she calls out, turning to the tutu'd reindeer. She motions her over, points to her, and mimes holding Roy's hand. "I need you to hold him in case he startles." she explains. She knows the words aren't going to mean much to Cass -- but they explain what Cass might be doing to Jon as he comes in.

    "Jon --have you ever set up an IV line?" she asks, and she begins to strip away Roy's blankets and sheets.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass is rather good at figuring out what folks want out of her. She settles in, the outfit being a non-event, and ...rather surprisingly gently takes Roy's hands. She looks up, she nods. She looks at Jon as he's entering. Cass Cain is best bedside manner. Listener.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Basic training for any med student," Jon says, the wry tone he'd normally have at the question moderated by his concern. He wrinkles his nose as he steps in with the Gatorade and the crash bag from the med lab. "It's been a few years but I know what to do. Just tell me where you need me."

    He sets down the bottles and the bag on a nearby table and turns toward Phoebe, scanning the man's aura quickly to be sure whatever's going on is physical and doesn't have some kind of mystical component. Just in case--the last feverish patient he was dealing with turned out to be attacked by blood magic, after all.

Roy Harper has posed:
The barely conscious Roy doesn't fight against Cass at all. He couldn't even if he wanted to. Your average middle school student could hold the weakened man's arms without breaking a sweat. As he adjusts position, his left leg comes out from under the sopped sheet. There's ground zero right there! From the knee down, Roy's left leg is purplish black. From the knee on up to -- oh my god, he's not wearing anything under that sheet -- well, up to his hip let's call it, shows black veiny patterns.

At this point, his breathing is rapid and shallow and his pulse is rapid and thready.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gives a wry smile as she's investigating, her own hands drawing across Roy's body. Jon would know Phoebe has issues with people touching her. She doesn't seem peturbed by the fact that Roy is sleeping in the buff -- it's something she's seen before. She's seen everyone's medical scans.

    "Run an IV line. In the blue kit there should be prepared lines. Break the tab in the upper lefthand corner and they will fill with saline. I need to have him hydrating as I heal him." she states, and then she mutters, looking at the leg "oh my god, I need to start packing plastic gowns."

    She tugs the sheet over Roy's midsection in order to preserve his modesty, and then she brings her hands up. She places one on his hip, beneath the sheet, and the other below his knee.

    "Exolvo mi, da mihi lumen, foci aura mea ad sanandum eum." she calls out in that Liverpuddlian-accented Latin.

    "I can halt the infection, but we need to hydrate him, or removing the infection may destroy his leg."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cassandra has never seen Phoebe do magic. She lifts her gaze from the patient, watching, and her mouth kind of...hangs open. She looks at Jon, then at Phoebe again. Mind, blown. Someone just used words, and it had some kind of real effect! On the world! Words! Words are dumb!

Cass' eyes flick around a bit, trying to see what Phoebe just did. She can't ask, because she lacks the Words! Then she looks down, to see what the Words actually did! This might be ...useful?

Seriously, WTF.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Anything you don't have I can conjure, it'll just take up some concentration. Not sure a gown's worth the effort." Jon says this in a terse, professional tone while he goes into the bag to dig out the prepared lines and then moves to get the IV line started. He /does/ conjure a quick sanitizing solution for his hands--magic is awfully handy sometimes. (Pun intended.) Then pulls on gloves.

    It takes him a little while to find a good vein, given how dehydrated Roy is, long enough for Phoebe to wrap the sheet around him and start chanting in Latin. He's seen worse than the infection on Roy's leg, to be sure, but it still gets a brief, concerned frown--and then that concern is compartmentalized down so he can focus on what Phoebe asked of him. He's searching on the arm Cass isn't holding, and once he finds a spot, wraps a tourniquet above it on his arm, swabs with alcohol, inserts the cannula and needle. Standard stuff. Then he breaks the blue tab as Phoebe instructed, to get the saline flowing.

Roy Harper has posed:
As Outsiders Fam works on him, Roy starts to get fidgety in the bed. A minute or so into Phoebe's spell, he lets out a pained yell. To the untrained, that might seem worrisome but this team of experts surely recognizes that him having a pain response is so much better than him being the jellied, semi-conscious person he was minutes earlier.

Here's where the weakness caused by the infection is a blessing in disguise. Only a small percentage of people in the world can fight like Roy. He's coming out of the haze and base brain fight-or-flight is kicking him. He struggles against Cassandra, but luckily he has no strength to back it up. He's as weak as a little kid.

Jon's IV slides in smoothly and the saline starts flowing freely. And it's none too soon. Roy's lips are cracked and bone dry, and his tongue is white and pasty.

"I DIDN'T KNOW THE BUGS WERE SUMMONED BY ACCIDENT! I SHOULDN'T HAVE YELLED AT YOU!" he screams. "I'M SO SORRY!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe's eyes are glowing. She's trying to scan out the source of the infection, its nature, its revesal. She SLOWLY begins to try and pull it back, the condition of his leg worsening.

    "Cass, arm, keep still." she states as gently as she can. "Jon, watch his hook. He'll fight you. Roy, take a breath. You are in your room. You are at the Roost. You are safe." she states, her hands glowing, fingers turning rose-gold as she works. Ordinarily she'd be all about the quick fixes -- advanced alien bugs though? Those might take a little while.

    When the blue tab is cracked, it's not just flowing, the blue tab was some sort of condensed solution. The bag fills, and the pressure and gravity pushes the saline through the tube, into Roy's body.

    "As soon as he comes back more and calms down, we can try the gatorade."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Roy Harper is amazing. But right now he's weak, and fighting against someone like Cassandra Bloody Cain. Seriously? Even when he was at his best he'd be hard put. She raises an eyebrow, and puts two fingers into a nerve bundle at Roy's shoulder. The arm effing STILLS. There is no argument here.

She doesn't hold it, she knows how to avoid doing damage. But when you need a nurse to keep an arm still, you got that DONE. She nods, she leans down and touches Roy's cheek gently. She is there for him, right now.

And will show him that nerve bundle later.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon /could/ immobilize the arm with some kind of magically conjured shackles, and then it would be Roy's strength against his will--but there's no real need for that, and he's always hated doing that kind of thing. But he's dealt with uncooperative patients before, so when Roy starts to yell and struggle, he just gently braces to be sure the IV's in place, undoes the tourniquet, then holds the bag up so the solution will drip down. Gravity's a wonderful thing.

    "Bugs?" His gaze flicks down toward the man's leg, the infection there. "Do you recognize this, Phoebe?" Weird bug infections, not really his specialty.

Roy Harper has posed:
For sure Roy is beginning to come out of the fever haze. One of his arms lies limply on the mattress, having been Cassandra'ed. The other is being restrained by Jon. But the young archer isn't really struggling much any more. And his eyes are open! He's staring at the ceiling. His voice drops to a low murmur. "What does it mean when someone can carry around a device like that in a briefcase?" he asks nobody in particular.

Some color is beginning to return to Roy's skin and his respirations are deeper than they were. But that leg, it still looks like a bowl of stirred shit. The toes and foot are badly swollen, calling into question the integrity of the peripheral circulation.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I have to learn how to do that." Phoebe states quietly from Roy's leg. She takes a deep breath, and with Roy coming back, she begins to heal his leg in earnest. She closes her eyes, ehr ambient healing helping Roy's body, and her focused energy drawing the infection. Her eyes close, and Roy may feel the rushing feeling of warm tingling, like water running backwards through his veins and arteries, drawing with it the infection, Phoebe's healing power pulled hard to repair the tissue damage. She doesn't need to chant, here -- she doesn't need that Liverpuddlian-stained Latin. This was her instinct, this was her Purpose.

    And Jon and Cass, who are touching Roy, may feel residual tingling.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass lets things go back to normal in the arm. It's a temporary pressure point. She didn't want to hurt him after all. She can't get past how this words thing is actually doing things. She can even feel it. She needs to tell Scout about it next time she sees him. Which will be soon.

Of course Cass isn't the healer here. She seems to be watching carefully, but this is beyond what a person watching can learn! It's a whole other field of activity from her body-limited form of life.

Maybe there's something beyond? She should maybe look into things. Oh, wait. Pay attention.

Cass lifts her gaze, smiling confidence at Jon, at Phoebs..and at Roy. It's gonna be okay!

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon breathes out and then, carefully, lets down a /bit/ of his internal walls. Enough to let out an aura of peace, of calm, of confidence. He believes that Phoebe can do this, and healing people is a thing he knows how to do, so that's what he's feeling on the surface at least. And Cass' smiling confidence helps, too. Hopefully between them they can keep Roy calm long enough for Phoebe's healing to work.

Roy Harper has posed:
From the knee up, Roy's left leg appears completely normal. From the knee down, there is obvious discoloration but it's a dramatic improvement already. The swelling has largely subsided and the nasty stink of infection is draining from the air. Phoebe is a master of her craft and she is literally saving Roy's life.

"Back at the Roost," Roy says. "IV in my arm. Left leg feels like fire and tingling at the same time." He swallows heavily. He makes a sort of pathetic attempt to sit up, but he's still not even close to orthostatically stable so his head makes it two...maaaaaaybe three inches off the pillow and flops back down. He's becoming aware of his environment and taking stock, like a warrior would. He hears Phoebe's voice. He knows she's down there. He can feel her mystical healing energy.

"Pheee.. Phoebe," he starts. He can't sit up, he doesn't have the energy to look down at his leg but he knows she needs information. "It was some... some kind of large insect... that was summoned from another dim...dimension. The claw broke the...the skin. Injected me with some kind of venom." He swallows. This talking is taxing what little strength he has. "Went to Fan...Fantastic Four HQ. Got some kind of med gel. The leg seemed fine after."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Stay down, Roy." Phoebe says gently. She can feel the muscles at work. The swelling coming down. The fever breaking and dropping. "Cass is at your side, and Jon Sims is at your other. He's holding a saline bag. You're very, very dehydrated. We had to get some fluids in you to make sure the healing would have something to pull on to get your cells corrected." she breathes out. Her hands drawing a little further down below his knee.

    "Keep breathing, Roy. Relax. I'm going to make sure that it's cleared out. Not my first rodeo with weird interdimensional bugs." she offers a small smile to Roy, looking up at the other Outsider with a small smile.

    "So the med gel resolved it at the time, and then it got worse?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon gently touches Roy's shoulder. "Breathe slowly," he says, softly. His voice isn't familiar to Roy, a baritone with a posh English accent, but he's making his tone as soothing as possible. "And like Phoebe said, don't try to get up. We've got this."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper turns his head to one side and he sees Cass. He gives her a warm smile as best as he can given how weak he is. It comes across as more of a friendly grimace, but hey he's working with what he's got at the moment. Then he turns his head the other way and he sees Jonathan. "Thank you," he rasps to the man.

"Yeah, Phoebe." His ability to form cogent sentences is yet another step improved from the healer's touch. "It was some kind of...I don't even know. You know I don't know medical shit. Some kind of futuristic gel. It stopped the pain immediately and within 10 or 15 minutes there was no trace of the wound and I was walking normally. So I came back here this morning and went to bed feeling fine. The next thing I know it's pig pile on Roy's bed." There he is, the sarcasm is a sure indicator that he's getting better. "Wait a sec. Am I...am I naked?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "You are." Phoebe confirms. "You had a fever." she states as she moves her fingers a little lower, easing off his hip and drawing down to his kneecap.

    "I have your... ah... arrow covered with your sheet."

    And then she moves on from the very uncomfortable topic of 'am I naked'.

    "You were hallucinating. You managed something abotu peanut brittle over the comm system, so I came to check, luckily before bioscans went off and alerted me." she explains. The tingling remains warm, getting stronger. Infection ebbing, proper color returning. "And then you addressed me as 'hawt'," she imitates his pronunciation, "so I knew you were hallucinating pretty hard." the braided healer gives a slight smile. "How are you feeling now?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "So there was, what, a bit of lingering infection left...? The Richards have absolutely bleeding-edge technology. Hunh." Jon's tone is musing, thoughtful, more like he's voicing his internal monologue than anything else. "Or is it some kind of dimensional resonance...?"

    He shakes his head, probably to clear the thought, and says, "We can get you a gown if you're concerned about modesty." He doesn't sound the least uncomfortable with the topic, more addressing that Roy might be.

Roy Harper has posed:
Respiratory rate: 12 breaths per minute. Heart rate: 48 beats per minute (hey, his cardiovascular health is off the frickin charts). Skin: warm, pink, dry. Blood pressure: 114/70. Another win for the Outsiders Fam! Go team!

"Well, I feel really weak. And hungry! What time is it?" Then to Jonathan, "It's all good, man. This isn't even /close/ to the weirdest place I've been naked. Doesn't even make the list. Nice t'meet you, by the way." Sarcasm boi is back in action, it seems.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "It's dinner time." Phoebe comments, and she works her magic through, clearing the infection.

    "I'll grab you some soup, something easy for you. I'm going to attach another round of saline and I want you to drink all of the gatorades that have been up for you." Phoebe comments, and she draws her hands up and off of Roy. "You're probably going to have to use the restroom in a pretty bad way in about forty minutes, but your strength should start coming back to you." Phoebe offers a smile from the foot of Roy's bed as she stands up. "Let me know immediately if you start feeling weak or dizzy again."

    And then Jon gets to see Phoebe in pro mode. From the blue kit she withdraws a little monitor, and this she sticks to Roy's hip.

    "That's going to send me your biometrics every five minutes for the next twelve hours." she states, "It'll monitor your tempoerature, respiratory stats, and pretty much any time you eliminate waste product to make sure you don't pass out. It'll alert me if your heartrate drops hard -- or increases. So if you're partaking in any vigorous activities -- like sparring -- please let me know so I don't come running in on you." she explains, her eyebrows rising up.

    "Also, Dr. Jonathan Sims, this is Roy. I'll let Roy choose how he wants to introduce himself further beyond 'hey am I naked'."

    She goes to stand up fully, stretching out her left shoulder a little bit. "Roy, this is Jon Sims. He's a friend of Tim's and has the unfortunate luck of being our 'responsible adult'." she jokes. "He has an excellent memory."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon chuckles. "Perfect recall, in fact. I'm the Archivist, which I doubt means anything to you, but I know Tim has files on me in your computers somewhere." If Roy's already looked at that file he'll know what Jon's abilities are generally, that he's an agent of SHIELD, a psychiatrist, and so on. If he hasn't bothered... well. Then he doesn't.

    "There's Chinese out in the kitchen, plenty of vegetarian options." This partly for Phoebe. "And I brought egg drop soup if you don't think that'd be too heavy for him."

    He regards Roy steadily, then. "Don't listen to anyone who claims I'm a 'responsible' adult. There's no such thing, we're all pretending, except maybe Batman. He's pretty impressive, I have to say. But. I /am/ here to help with advice and mental health issues and life skills, if you like." He shrugs. He's not pushing. Just offering.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy leans on Jon as he hauls himself into a sitting position. He gathers some sheets around him to make sure his...how did Phoebe put it?...arrow remains covered. "Well, I dunno about the life skills shit," he says with a small, weak grin. "But I could seriously fuck up some Chinese food right about now." He grabs one of the Gatorades, cracks it open, and drinks the entire bottle down in one extended draw. He tosses the bottle toward the trash can AAAAAAAAND...it misses! He frowns. "Phoebe, you didn't fix me right," he says in his warm, sarcastic manner. "I'm still broken. I missed the trash can. You gotta fix me right."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Or you know, he could just need rest still. Cassandra has been watching this whole time, and is standing there with her arms crossed. She's using her eyes, those searching eyes, to watch him. To see if he's got twitches he shouldn't. Seeing how his muscles move compared to how they have done. She also has this adorable little pout on her face when she's concentrating like that. So, brows furrowed, she studies the patient.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe's a bit quiet at the mention of Batman. She shrugs her right shoulder up. "Batman is probably the scariest thing in Gotham. And I'm glad I tend to be on his good side whenever we cross paths." she murmurs quietly, rubbing her left shoulder, curling her fingers around it a moment to stop from touching at her sternum again. She goes to take a couple steps towards the door to grab the food, and she stops, and turns, crossing her arms over the bunny-ear wearing skull.

    She walks back over. She leeaaans over Roy's head, she crosses her arms, her wrists touching, her fingertips glowing that rosy gold again before she reaches down -- and just flicks his ear.

    "Caput tuum in ano est!" she states.

    Jon would probably be able to translate 'you have your head up your ass'.

    Wonder where she learned that one from.