Who would trade his karma for my kingdom?

[theguidinghand]

CHARACTERS: "Nick" and everyone who signed on here
LOCATION: Medbay, shortly after jumping.
WARNINGS: Blood. Trauma. Wraith feedings.
SUMMARY: The Wraith is due to feed again, and this time, he has plans.

The trouble with pain is that you have to rely on both the sharer and the bearer to be entirely honest with each other. Guide, by nature, was not an entirely honest man, but he was honest enough to appear in Medbay shortly after jump the seventh. Had the circumstances been less grave, his stay would have almost seemed comical; he was a man in Wraith leathers, coat swishing against the floor as he prepared a mild sedative, stark against the humans with their cropped hair and dull clothing. He was dressed to hold an audience with another lord of his alliance, and yet he was serving beasts instead. If his followers had ever learned of this arrangement between man and kine, they would almost have certainly deemed him mad on the spot.

It was its own sort of madness. He could not cull, so he compromised. He did not hunt, lest he be hunted. He could have the med staff administer a mild and - as soon as he began to feed - ineffective sedative to his prey, giving them that faith, that last bit of delicious defiance, that they might meet a monster and survive thanks to the supposed superiority of their medicine. It was a calculated madness, unorthodox but useful - the more that witnessed the feeding firsthand, the more that were defiant in the face of their monster, the less reluctant future volunteers might be.

Eight volunteers. They would suffice for now.

Comments

JAMES T. KIRK

[theguidinghand]

[goldshirt]

For Jim, this was almost becoming routine, and he wasn't sure what that said about him that being fed on regularly by an alien parasite (because that's what he was and Bones commonly gave him an earful about it) had become routine. But when he'd signed up for Starfleet they'd said expect the unexpected, and he was fairly certain this took the cake.

By the time he arrives, though, he's looking rushed. He made a point to stop by his locker after his shower, before arriving here, and as such has already seen what happened on the Network. What happened to Southey. There's stress in his face, tension around his mouth.

"Lets get this over with," He announces loudly, dropping his shirt on the edge of the bed (he'd long since learned his lesson about that) and hopping up, gaze raking the room for Bones before it settles on Nick.

[theguidinghand]

Kirk's mind was an absolute mess. Guide felt his thoughts chasing each other in circles, twisting around particular points, tying themselves into knots. Anxiety, death, and bewilderment rose up again and again, though so little of that was focused on the matter at hand. Most curious.

He unfolded himself from a chair and walked up to the bedside, joints creaking a bit more audibly than he'd care for. Closer now, he could untie some of the contorting thoughts in the human's mind. A death, a human death, one that was not intentional but deeply disturbing. Not the nature of the death, exactly, but that it had happened at all. He grimaced involuntarily; ten thousand years ago, he'd been in the same position, trying to shake his first true loss as a dart captain. But it was not sympathy that he felt - rather he looked down at the human as a dog owner might, when the dog cannot seem to grasp the point of housebreaking. Kirk was a neophyte, still so damp behind the ears.

"Yes, let's," he said dryly, but without much inflection. He bade Kirk to sit down on the bed with his left hand while he flexed his feeding hand. He could look into this accident when he wasn't half-starved.

[goldshirt]

He knows the wraith is watching him, just as well as Jim knows that he can't pinpoint what the man might be thinking. He's not delusional enough to think it might be sympathy, and for that reason alone Jim's gaze remains unwavering, like he could reach out and touch the wraith's mind on his own. Get in his head and figure out what it was (and maybe, if some part of him wasn't too proud, didn't shy from what he had a feeling the alien's race stood for, his advice).

Amidst every circling thought, though, there is no fear. There's no real apprehension at what he knows will happen; or at least, not to the pain. While others might have viewed this as a sacrifice, it was almost as though to Jim, this was simply another part of what needed to be done.

He faces the wraith with sharp blue eyes, dragging himself into the present and out of running mental damage control on what needs to be done.

"So what is it today? French toast? Hors d'oeuvres?" He says, because despite the situation he can still spin smart ass commentary in the face of stress. Regardless of what happened, Jim would be up and out as soon as he possibly could. "I've got shit to do so don't knock me out."

KITTEN

[theguidinghand]

[saint_kitten]

Ta-ra, then, sweetums.

[ Kitten hasn't seen an alien before. Nor one as nearly intimidating as the creature lurking around, the one she's barely heard of. But she signs up because it's not like she was doing anything in the first place.

He's not attractive by convential standards but Kitten should be the last person on earth who's conventional from her time period and that's why she figures the guy--troll?--alien--before her should have the exact same treatment as she'd want. ]

I'm Kitten, of course. Saint Kitten, darling.

[theguidinghand]

[Humans, as least as far as Pegasus is concerned, are not usually so friendly with Wraith - and the Lanteans, however much they are unafraid of anything, are usually twitchy about the trigger finger. But Kitten is showing an entirely different breed of friendly altogether. It's almost flirtatious, unconcerned. Just as she had very little idea of what to expect this session, so did he.]

[While not exactly friendly himself, he keeps his rusty voice at a tolerable volume and his sarcasm to a minimum.]

If Her Holiness would please sit down on the bed, we might get this over with quickly.

[saint_kitten]

[ Her Holiness? Kitten allows herself a soft, musical giggle as she edges closer to the other, blue eyes big. ]

Can't say I know exactly what's involved, though, sweet thing. I'm no stranger to being bed but I'd just rather know beforehand.

[ Ah, yes. Covering everything up with humour--a good and bad trait, and one that's gotten her in trouble more than once. ]

LEONARD MCCOY

[theguidinghand]

OCTOBER BANTUM

[theguidinghand]

[gothchicklit]

[ To say that October's not exactly thrilled to be walking into the medbay, hair still damp from her shower, would be putting it mildly. She, like everyone else on board, saw Hotspur's post and now she's feeling even sicker than before.

Instead of going to find someone to get started, October moves to stand against one of the walls, arms crossed tightly over her chest. With the way she's staring and frowning at the floor, it's pretty safe to say that she's pretty wrapped up in her own thoughts instead of paying attention to her surroundings. ]

[theguidinghand]

[Having already sampled a few other humans, Guide is feeling more like himself. He's still been too busy to look into this mysterious transmission just yet, but as his ability to think straightens itself, it's an item that he's gradually moving to the top of his list of priorities. His herd is too precious to let it go to such waste.]

[Finding the next human is a bit of a task, as she's folded herself up and out of the way. He takes care in approaching her; which is to say that instead of sneaking up upon her and startling her while every available gun has since been leveled at his head, he approaches her casually and from the front.]

If you have taken ill, it would be better if you left.

[gothchicklit]

[ Though he's pretty obviously in her line of sight, October still tenses when she hears his voice; evidently not sneaking up on her didn't work out so well. She manages to keep the surprise of her face as she lifts her gaze to his but irritation knits her brow pretty quickly. ]

I'm fine. [ She says it a little too quickly for it to be true, so she drops her arms to her sides and straightens slightly. ] The only sickness I'm feeling is leftover nausea from the jump.

PETER PETRELLI

[theguidinghand]

[askedtobe]

[ After finally shaking off Sylar, Peter's quick to head back around from the lockers, knowing what he signed up for without really knowing what to expect. Which is, admittedly, a bad habit of Peter's but he's clean and showered and admittedly tense from everything that's happened on the ship as of late. But this at least gives him something else to focus on instead of thinking about his brother and Isaac being on the list now, or smiley or what happened to Hotspur during the jump.

Looking wide-eyed and vaguely intrigued when he shows up, he's not even thinking about whether this could be dangerous or concerning or different -- that Nathan would call him an idiot for this. Peter's instead more focused on helping a fellow passenger. Even if said passenger is an alien. ]

RAVEN DARKHOLME

[theguidinghand]

[darkholme]

[ Walking into this immediately after a jump wasn't exactly ideal, not when she was still trying to get her bearings and seek out her friends, but she made a promise and she intended to keep it. So she heads to the medbay, eyes peeled for Jim because like hell is she going through with this without him right there with her. Her eyes are wide as she looks around the medbay, never really have a reason to look since her time on the ship, and now here she is, doing something a little bit scary and a little bit dangerous, but necessary for another passenger's survival. So, she kept her mouth shut and her nerves in check, and okay maybe she would just sit right here until she saw someone she recognized. Yes, right. Excellent idea. ]

[theguidinghand]

[He recalls the blue alien from her network post - human, but one bearing extreme (though oddly stable) genetic mutation. Were this ship his, the humans on it part of his stock, he might have had this one killed and examined by his scientists before she had a chance to breed. Humans in Pegasus had already taken advantage of a genetic mutation, weaponized it, used it to slaughter Wraith by the hundreds. But it is an if; here, he cannot afford to be too choosy.]

[Still stiff with pain and hunger, he approaches her with hardened eyes. Untested like this, she could easily be his undoing.]

Come with me. [He beckons her toward an empty bed, one of the eight prepared for the volunteers.]

[darkholme]

[ She swallows hard when he approaches her, nerves hitting her in waves, but she gets up and follows, sits down on the bed he indicated. Now that she's really looking, she can't seem to find anyone she's familiar with. And maybe it's just frantic nerves making her panic, because she's certainly not alone right now what with everyone rushing around the medbay, but still.

Still.

She could do this. ]

My name's Raven. [ blurted out, because no she has no idea what you say to someone that's about to consume your life force. ] I don't think we've actually met yet.

RUSSIA

[theguidinghand]

[za_rodina]

[Sacrifice is not unknown to Russia. It could be said a nation is made up of the sacrifices of it's people and though he no longer can feel the ties binding him to his land and his people, Russia has never been able to settle into a mortal mentality.

Perhaps that's why he's here, offering himself up to feed someone who could turn on the ship as easily as he wished, or maybe it's something less noble and he's giving in to the urge to just chase reckless thing after reckless thing. Whatever the case is, he's here now with his fingers drumming along his leg, nerves and the urge to turn warring with his will. Oh, Rossiya, what have you gotten yourself into this time?]

STATSRAADEN

[theguidinghand]

Re: STATSRAADEN

[statsraaden]

Stats looked exhausted. Hotspur's death because of either the ship or the official crew, the jump, the whole "welcoming everybody in spite of what happened" thing. And now he would have to feed the Wraith. Not that he didn't like helping, or that he would leave someone to starve, but he wasn't in the best shape and it wouldn't get any better. He didn't know if he would be able to do much ater that.

He came into the medbay and got ready to be fed on.

MED STAFF (Hi John)

[theguidinghand]

H-Hullo Todd u_u;;

[theblogger]

The issues John had with this arrangement were numerous, and the consequences which would take place today were not only physical.

John was a man of morals, and this challenged many of them. On one front, he was obligated as a physician to provide the necessary treatment to a patient, and the Wraith was starving. At the same time, however, feeding it diminished the health of other people (human people). While the donators came of their own accord (surely the only reason that John agreed to be a part of it ), they did suffer at the hands of the alien, and it made John wonder after their personal reasons. Were they sacrificial lambs for the Wraith's sake... or for the rest of Tranquility?

He didn't like it. The most objectionable thing about all of it, however, wasn't the price of the give and take. It was the fact that the Wraith seemed to think it deserved this service from all the rest. It seemed to prey upon the kindness of humans as much as it had when it had assaulted them the first time in the halls. The worst part about it all, to John, is just how very thankless the Wraith seems to be.

There will be eight donators today. Three of them are people John knows on an amiable level, and one of those people is considered a friend. Of course, once people start making their reactions to whatever agony the Wraith inflicts upon them, his concern will be for all of them.

John is here for the donators, just like Todd is here for itself. When feeding starts, he remains close in order to help settle (and possibly sedate) people for the aftermath. Between donators, John steps away. He seems to have plenty to do, from drinking another cup of coffee to checking his comm device. It's not like the Wraith is exactly friendly, after all, especially when it's first brought in, weak and irritable from the starvation.

SECURITY

[theguidinghand]