Newt Geiszler | Pacific Rim (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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ximilialog2021-12-02 01:29 pm
groupiedrifter) wrote in ximilialog2021-12-02 01:29 pm
[MOSTLY OPEN] December Catch-All
CHARACTERS: Newton and You!
LOCATION: See Each Prompt
DATE: Dec 1st onward
CONTENT: Newton faces the consequences of his own secrecy - and gets help for it! Alt title: A dumb bitch in action.
WARNINGS: Medical issues, including an alien-induced seizure in one prompt.
I. Back to the Station | [OPEN] | Locations: Kitchen, Infirmary, and Others!
[Returning back to the station doesn't quite... feel as victorious as usual for him. For one thing, he's got a friend who is for some reason still under some weird effect of the dream — and on top of friends also getting hurt, there's that unspoken elephant in the room for a lot of them: the dreams that were shared, those vulnerable moments that leaves a lot of the orbers feeling too seen. But it's more than that. It's... like something's missing. He's got this awful itch he can't mentally scratch, this feeling that he's missing something important, carelessly lost track of an important thing he should be addressing.
But when he thinks about the dreams, he sees the people he'd visited, and he sees himself as a child, himself at a concert and being attacked by kaiju... Nah, man. It's stupid. It's a stupid feeling, and he's just tired.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes and making himself a huge, unwieldy cup of coffee in a pot in the kitchen, he makes enough to offer those around him. Anyone familiar he's quick to wander over to, smiling a bit more genuinely; after all, he's relieved to see people awake and alert. And of course, don't think for a second he's not gonna check up on his crew in the medical wing. You'd better be resting in that damn infirmary, so help him...!
He still feels off... exhausted.
But it'll probably go away, so whatever.]
II. Morning After Meme (But Not a Meme) | [OPEN] | All Over the Station
[It does not go away.
Some part of him thinks 'I need to plan a post-mission party or sleepover or usual thing, something we can all relax to', but most parts of him just thinks about how nice it would be to sleep some more. Coffee doesn't really cut it, and as the days tick by, he finds himself more and more unable to focus on his projects, or get himself to perk up with caffeine. What the hell, right? Spend a month stuck in and out of dreaming, and now his stupid insomniac brain has decided insomnia is out of style.
So he sorta starts having weird sleeping patterns.
It starts mostly with falling asleep at the desk he's got set up in the lab; slumped over his papers, he snores softly, but it's mostly drowned out by the loud rock music on his phone that can't seem to keep him alert. On occasion he ends up asleep at the mess hall cafeteria table, his spoon still in his hand and a soggy bowl of overly sugary cereal to his left. The sunlight room also leaves the opportunity to find Newton, sleeping on his back with a comic book called The Space Warriors of Zar draped over his face (what a generic-looking manga, looks like one of those big robo shows with the combining mechas...).
It becomes a real problem when he gets so sleepy and ready to hit the bed that he stumbles into the wrong room and crawls under some other poor sap's sheets. So very sorry if you either walk in to find a snoozing, snoring lump under your blankets or open your eyes to Newton sleeping a foot away from you.
Typical Ximilia nights, am I right?]
INTERLUDE PART 1 | What Happens When He Sleeps | [CLOSED]
[In Newton's waking hours, he has no memory of the aliens in his head. But when he's dreaming, he remembers everything — every. little. thing. The precursors that linger in his sad eroding brain tinker and tanker with his free will, but Newt remembers here. He remembers Clara and Peter, Hermann and Yzak, Sabriel and Elthree, Raleigh and the Doctor... They had been in this dream world for a moment. They may not remember, but he saw what they tried to do for him.
It fills him with determination.
And, more importantly: bitchy pettiness.]
NEWTON GEISZLER, YOU ARE TESTING OUR PATIENCE—!
[The precursors all squirm in outrage, but their crescendoed voices are just barely audible over the sound of the music blaring from the speaker Newton has put between them; he sits with his chin on the top of the machine, biting his lip as it nearly trembles into a manic, victorious smile.]
♪ I get knocked down, but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down ♪
TURN IT OFF THIS INSTANT-!
♪ I get knocked down, but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down ♪
DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THIS FOREVER-
♪ Pissin' the night away, pissin' the night away ♪
III. i'm gonna writhe & shake my body | [CLOSED to Daisy, Blue, and maybe Bones?]
[The mental war wages and rages on in the coming days, but it all kind of goes tits up on December 10th. Not that he'd know he was pissing off aliens in his head. He wakes up from his memoryless nightmares this day as he does any time sleep abandons him, but it's something worse. It's something wrong. His head hurts worse than he thinks it ever has, so much so that he can't think straight; the colors that dance in front of his eyes scream medical science at him: symptoms can include temporary visual or other disturbances, ones that strike before other migraine symptoms: intense head pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and —
Nausea!
Ah, yes, that's the one that makes him stumble into his bathroom.
He's pale and sweaty but a little more put together as he steps out of his room; don't ask him how he's managed to button his shirt or put on his shoes. He couldn't tell you. He mumbles to himself:]
... Migraine aura usually occurs within an hour before head pain begins... and generally lasts less than 60 minutes... Scotomas, shimmering spots, check and check... numbness, check... muscle weakness, yessir... Speech, er, mmmyeah, yeah...
[He looks down at the drops of blood on the floor, blinks. Looks back at the drops of blood that lead from his bedroom door to where he's standing. Then looks at the red spots on his dress shirt.
... Huh.]
... Nosebleed, check.
[Oh no, he finally thinks, Maybe I should've just admitted something's wrong. There in the hall, his eyes roll up in their sockets before they snap shut, and he falls backward like his strings were unceremoniously snipped. The occiput of his skull bounces uncomfortably against the hard ground as his arms and legs begin to twitch and seize, muscles spasming, chest heaving, all while he's caught up in the flashing images of long teeth and serpentine eyes and bio sludge stewing monsters in its depths-
It's an unpleasant thing to run into, the convulsing figure on the floor, but someone's got to, right?
Sorry, Daisy and Blue.]
IV. Whoops? | Location: Infirmary (December 10th) | [OPEN]
[Ah, if it isn't the consequences of my actions.
In a very short, very unpleasant dream, he's lying on the floor of the endless white expanse, crumpled into a very still pile with his arms and legs splayed out. He breathes in deep. Holds it. Breathes out. He doesn't open his eyes here, but he can hear the precursors chattering. We pushed too hard. But he was getting on our last nerve, what else were we supposed to do to shut him up? Great, we've broken him; how are we going to use him if we break him? Humans are so frail. How were we supposed to know just how frail? Like bugs! Like fleas and ticks!
Newton slurs, ... Fleas and ticks are hard to kill...
And in reality, as he lays in an infirmary bed, he wakes up grumbling:]
Fleas and ticks are hard to kill.
[Oh. Oh, shit, right. He's resting in the infirmary. He remembers waking up from it at some point, getting looked over — bedrest, his mind supplies. He's only been here for a couple of hours, but he feels like it's been days for how little of it he's actually spent awake. Concern and guilt and panic hit him like a hammer; is he gonna have to actually admit it all now? That something's horribly wrong?
Duh, of course you are.
He's not allowed to leave for the next few days, just until tests are done and he's certifiably safe to walk out on his own and be left to his own devices, but it doesn't mean he's gonna like being stationary. Like... yes, he did absolutely have a medical crisis happen recently, but he's supposed to go on his routine jog! And work on his stuff in the lab! And plan dumb movie nights!
You deserve this, you lied all this time.
Sure, but it doesn't mean he has to accept his punishment like a good person should.
By now, Daisy might've already let people know. Or maybe they felt Blue's sudden burst of despairing energy when he'd tried to enter Newt's head during the seizure (spoilers: it sucked for Blue, not that Newton even remembers him being there; too busy seizing and all).
Or, y'know, they would've just poked their heads in and saw that he was in here.
This ship is too damn nosy for it's own good.
It's because they care, stupid.
When did his inner monologue get so mean?
Uncalled for.
............
Said to the wall ahead of him, he mumbles wearily:]
Fuck, I'm craving chips and salsa like crazy.
V. WILDCARD?
[This is a catch-all for December, so feel free to throw me a prompt or do a starter here!]
LOCATION: See Each Prompt
DATE: Dec 1st onward
CONTENT: Newton faces the consequences of his own secrecy - and gets help for it! Alt title: A dumb bitch in action.
WARNINGS: Medical issues, including an alien-induced seizure in one prompt.
I. Back to the Station | [OPEN] | Locations: Kitchen, Infirmary, and Others!
[Returning back to the station doesn't quite... feel as victorious as usual for him. For one thing, he's got a friend who is for some reason still under some weird effect of the dream — and on top of friends also getting hurt, there's that unspoken elephant in the room for a lot of them: the dreams that were shared, those vulnerable moments that leaves a lot of the orbers feeling too seen. But it's more than that. It's... like something's missing. He's got this awful itch he can't mentally scratch, this feeling that he's missing something important, carelessly lost track of an important thing he should be addressing.
But when he thinks about the dreams, he sees the people he'd visited, and he sees himself as a child, himself at a concert and being attacked by kaiju... Nah, man. It's stupid. It's a stupid feeling, and he's just tired.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes and making himself a huge, unwieldy cup of coffee in a pot in the kitchen, he makes enough to offer those around him. Anyone familiar he's quick to wander over to, smiling a bit more genuinely; after all, he's relieved to see people awake and alert. And of course, don't think for a second he's not gonna check up on his crew in the medical wing. You'd better be resting in that damn infirmary, so help him...!
He still feels off... exhausted.
But it'll probably go away, so whatever.]
II. Morning After Meme (But Not a Meme) | [OPEN] | All Over the Station
[It does not go away.
Some part of him thinks 'I need to plan a post-mission party or sleepover or usual thing, something we can all relax to', but most parts of him just thinks about how nice it would be to sleep some more. Coffee doesn't really cut it, and as the days tick by, he finds himself more and more unable to focus on his projects, or get himself to perk up with caffeine. What the hell, right? Spend a month stuck in and out of dreaming, and now his stupid insomniac brain has decided insomnia is out of style.
So he sorta starts having weird sleeping patterns.
It starts mostly with falling asleep at the desk he's got set up in the lab; slumped over his papers, he snores softly, but it's mostly drowned out by the loud rock music on his phone that can't seem to keep him alert. On occasion he ends up asleep at the mess hall cafeteria table, his spoon still in his hand and a soggy bowl of overly sugary cereal to his left. The sunlight room also leaves the opportunity to find Newton, sleeping on his back with a comic book called The Space Warriors of Zar draped over his face (what a generic-looking manga, looks like one of those big robo shows with the combining mechas...).
It becomes a real problem when he gets so sleepy and ready to hit the bed that he stumbles into the wrong room and crawls under some other poor sap's sheets. So very sorry if you either walk in to find a snoozing, snoring lump under your blankets or open your eyes to Newton sleeping a foot away from you.
Typical Ximilia nights, am I right?]
INTERLUDE PART 1 | What Happens When He Sleeps | [CLOSED]
[In Newton's waking hours, he has no memory of the aliens in his head. But when he's dreaming, he remembers everything — every. little. thing. The precursors that linger in his sad eroding brain tinker and tanker with his free will, but Newt remembers here. He remembers Clara and Peter, Hermann and Yzak, Sabriel and Elthree, Raleigh and the Doctor... They had been in this dream world for a moment. They may not remember, but he saw what they tried to do for him.
It fills him with determination.
And, more importantly: bitchy pettiness.]
NEWTON GEISZLER, YOU ARE TESTING OUR PATIENCE—!
[The precursors all squirm in outrage, but their crescendoed voices are just barely audible over the sound of the music blaring from the speaker Newton has put between them; he sits with his chin on the top of the machine, biting his lip as it nearly trembles into a manic, victorious smile.]
♪ I get knocked down, but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down ♪
TURN IT OFF THIS INSTANT-!
♪ I get knocked down, but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down ♪
DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THIS FOREVER-
♪ Pissin' the night away, pissin' the night away ♪
III. i'm gonna writhe & shake my body | [CLOSED to Daisy, Blue, and maybe Bones?]
[The mental war wages and rages on in the coming days, but it all kind of goes tits up on December 10th. Not that he'd know he was pissing off aliens in his head. He wakes up from his memoryless nightmares this day as he does any time sleep abandons him, but it's something worse. It's something wrong. His head hurts worse than he thinks it ever has, so much so that he can't think straight; the colors that dance in front of his eyes scream medical science at him: symptoms can include temporary visual or other disturbances, ones that strike before other migraine symptoms: intense head pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and —
Nausea!
Ah, yes, that's the one that makes him stumble into his bathroom.
He's pale and sweaty but a little more put together as he steps out of his room; don't ask him how he's managed to button his shirt or put on his shoes. He couldn't tell you. He mumbles to himself:]
... Migraine aura usually occurs within an hour before head pain begins... and generally lasts less than 60 minutes... Scotomas, shimmering spots, check and check... numbness, check... muscle weakness, yessir... Speech, er, mmmyeah, yeah...
[He looks down at the drops of blood on the floor, blinks. Looks back at the drops of blood that lead from his bedroom door to where he's standing. Then looks at the red spots on his dress shirt.
... Huh.]
... Nosebleed, check.
[Oh no, he finally thinks, Maybe I should've just admitted something's wrong. There in the hall, his eyes roll up in their sockets before they snap shut, and he falls backward like his strings were unceremoniously snipped. The occiput of his skull bounces uncomfortably against the hard ground as his arms and legs begin to twitch and seize, muscles spasming, chest heaving, all while he's caught up in the flashing images of long teeth and serpentine eyes and bio sludge stewing monsters in its depths-
It's an unpleasant thing to run into, the convulsing figure on the floor, but someone's got to, right?
Sorry, Daisy and Blue.]
IV. Whoops? | Location: Infirmary (December 10th) | [OPEN]
[Ah, if it isn't the consequences of my actions.
In a very short, very unpleasant dream, he's lying on the floor of the endless white expanse, crumpled into a very still pile with his arms and legs splayed out. He breathes in deep. Holds it. Breathes out. He doesn't open his eyes here, but he can hear the precursors chattering. We pushed too hard. But he was getting on our last nerve, what else were we supposed to do to shut him up? Great, we've broken him; how are we going to use him if we break him? Humans are so frail. How were we supposed to know just how frail? Like bugs! Like fleas and ticks!
Newton slurs, ... Fleas and ticks are hard to kill...
And in reality, as he lays in an infirmary bed, he wakes up grumbling:]
Fleas and ticks are hard to kill.
[Oh. Oh, shit, right. He's resting in the infirmary. He remembers waking up from it at some point, getting looked over — bedrest, his mind supplies. He's only been here for a couple of hours, but he feels like it's been days for how little of it he's actually spent awake. Concern and guilt and panic hit him like a hammer; is he gonna have to actually admit it all now? That something's horribly wrong?
Duh, of course you are.
He's not allowed to leave for the next few days, just until tests are done and he's certifiably safe to walk out on his own and be left to his own devices, but it doesn't mean he's gonna like being stationary. Like... yes, he did absolutely have a medical crisis happen recently, but he's supposed to go on his routine jog! And work on his stuff in the lab! And plan dumb movie nights!
You deserve this, you lied all this time.
Sure, but it doesn't mean he has to accept his punishment like a good person should.
By now, Daisy might've already let people know. Or maybe they felt Blue's sudden burst of despairing energy when he'd tried to enter Newt's head during the seizure (spoilers: it sucked for Blue, not that Newton even remembers him being there; too busy seizing and all).
Or, y'know, they would've just poked their heads in and saw that he was in here.
This ship is too damn nosy for it's own good.
It's because they care, stupid.
When did his inner monologue get so mean?
Uncalled for.
............
Said to the wall ahead of him, he mumbles wearily:]
Fuck, I'm craving chips and salsa like crazy.
V. WILDCARD?
[This is a catch-all for December, so feel free to throw me a prompt or do a starter here!]
IV
You're up. Finally.
[ He greets when he drops by (has he dropped by before to check? don't worry about it and don't ask). ]
no subject
After all, Yzak believed in him. And he blew it. Big time.
So he's ready for the lashings.]
Uh, yeah. Didja' miss me?
no subject
[ Obviously, he means, as his retort doesn't have any negative bite to it. Emotional? Sure, because he's been worried.
He drops himself into the seat next to Newton's bedside. ]
How are you feeling?
no subject
Tired? Freaked out? Embarrassed?
[His face burns a little as he talks, freckles going pink.]
Like someone who had a seizure in a hallway?
... What a joke I am. Go ahead, dude, give it to me. Let's hear the scathing review on Newton Geiszler's life choices.
no subject
[ He starts out, with that same sort of tone. Upset, frustrated, as he leans forward in his chair. ] Because you endanger yourself enough as it is when we're out on missions! But you also have, [ A wave of his hand. ] this kind of shit happening too! And all the while you just pretend that it's not any sort of deal!
[ But even his voice deflates a little as he continues. Maybe he's still mentally recovering from the last few weeks in his own way and this doesn't do much to help that. (or, maybe, the last few weeks have done a few things to change him just a little bit and adjusting to that is hard) Yzak lets out a sigh and leans back again. ]
... At least you're not trying to say you're just fine, this time. I can't scathely review something positive.
no subject
[But then he stops, thinks about the missions, and finds himself sinking defeatedly into his pillows. Because yeah, okay, fair. He has nothing he can say to that. He takes his lecture with all of the grace of a guilt-ridden child, wincing down and pulling his blanket up his shoulders, like that'll help him.]
... I'm not fine. Yeah, I'm not. I'm — I don't know.
[He laughs weakly, expression pinched, like he's trying not to get emotional.]
At least if it's brain damage, I'm already a massive idiot, so...
I'm sorry, man. I don't know why I didn't say anything.
no subject
[ Ugh, that thing's happening again. Where Yzak is self reflecting on what he's about to say. But, he's had plenty of these moments too, with the soldiers on his own team back home. ]
My guess is because you're stubborn, and like you said, an idiot. [ Idiot (affectionate) ] And nobody likes to look like what they perceive as weak. Even if that perception tends to be wrong!
It doesn't sound like you have any sort of brain damage, though.
... but, what the hell is going on, exactly? Blue, he felt something strange happen to you, something that ... affected him.
He's fine. [ Yzak quickly adds. ] I was there with him when it happened.
no subject
... I think... In my experience, I imagine — he might have gotten hit by the same thing that hit me. When I first drifted with the kaiju, it felt... like getting physically attacked, in a way. Literally knocked me off my feet, and I was trapped in this big tidal wave of information... of memories: images of these monsters, of where they were created and how they were pitted against each other to create only the best killers... I could feel... um.
[He hesitates, fidgeting with the bracelets the doctor had allowed to stay on his wrist.]
I could feel the kaiju tearing into each other. I shared those memories of them. Some of them dying, some of them getting sent to Earth to do what they were made for...
And then, when they realized I was drifting with them, they turned on my presence, too. They lashed out, wanted me out of their minds. So... Maybe — I mean, in theory... maybe there's a lingering imprint of that drift that hasn't let me go.
[One that is adhered to his mind. Maybe as long as he's alive. He's not... sure.]
no subject
I remember what you told me about drifting, how you shared everything about yourself, your memories, things you know. And how drifting with something like them could be dangerous.
[ Yzak's speech is calm, but the way his eyebrows are knitted together, he looks mad - like he doesn't realize he's making that face. Like something should be making him angry. But there's ... nothing there. ]
And, I did also consider, that we just arrived back from a mission where we were thrown into dreams and our own memories. Maybe because of that experience, something was more ... prominent, when it happened.
no subject
I did have run-ins with the kaiju in the dreamscape. Got sent back to that moment I'd been on ground level when Otachi hit Hong Kong. Maybe the dreamscape picked some of that loose. Like picking at a scab, right?
[He runs a hand down his tired, stubbled face.]
I mean. I dream about that night a lot. It makes sense.
no subject
But hopefully that won't happen again.
[ Sending Newton a look, tone shifting to expectant. ]
Hopefully nothing like this will happen again! Because you're actually going to make sure you take care of yourself, now, right?
no subject
... Right. I'll take care of myself now. [He lifts the hand not currently tethered to an oxygen reader and blood pressure monitor, stretching out one lone little finger that wavers weakly in the air.] Pinky promise. Won't let it happen again.
Next time you see me on my feet, I'll be properly medicated.
No more trouble from yours truly.
no subject
Before grumbling, sighing, and very quickly obliging. But when Yzak hooks his own pinky around Newton's in that brief moment, he puts a little bit of power into it. ]
You realize with this promise I have full permission to kick your ass if you break it! Because I take this sort of thing seriously!
no subject
Aw... You're so cute when you care.
Full permission, granted... Just don't be mad if I get startled an' use my moves on you again.
no subject
[ PUFFING UP! ]
You're clearly delirious if you're saying such a thing!! [ That, or, you know, Yzak notices how tired he looks. ] So get some rest and fix that brain of yours!
no subject
Even despite everything.]
Rest sounds good, yeah. Super good.
[But he looks a little nervous, his fingers nervously kneading the blankets at his sides.]
... Uh. Could you — sit with me? Just for a few minutes, 'til I'm totally out?
So I'm not alone for a little while.
no subject
At that request, Yzak goes quiet for a couple of moments. So I'm not alone. He gets it, the difference between being by yourself and feeling alone. He's been there - he's been there more than once and once was more than enough to never want to feel that way again. ]
Fine.
[ He says simply. And if not for the softness in his voice something like that might have sounded reluctant.
He sits back in his chair, crossing his legs and settling a little to get comfortable. ]
no subject
... Thanks, man.
[Maybe he just has a hard time sleeping these days. You know? Sometimes it feels like he'll go to sleep and just never wake up. Or worse — be stuck in the dark forever.
But for now, feeling less alone, he finds his eyes sliding shut as his breath evens.
Newt falls asleep, where unkind figures are waiting for him.]