circle7 | the mysterious case of space boils

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the mysterious case of space boils

It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, by any means. Calibri had a reputation that exceeded him within the organization, and the part of that reputation that didn't include liberal uses of extremely unhealthy substances in the body involved an equally unhealthy amount of workaholism. It didn't surprise him when he woke up with his glasses jammed into his nose before he had forgotten to slip them off before his head fell onto his arms.

Blearily, Calibri glanced at the clock. The night was still in the early hours of the morning - odd. Usually, when he fell asleep, he slept straight through morning. Perhaps he had breathed in the residue of some hyper-attentive powder on his desk while dozing off (it had happened before). Perhaps it was the lingering side effect of one of those earlier experiments he had done during the day and-

What was that?

He straightened in his seat, pushing his chair back against the floor. Was that someone knocking? The door rattled against its hinges and lock. Ah, no, that was definitely someone banging against the door. Calibri stood up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with one sleeve. "Who is it?"

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“From what he says it’s some kind of bug,” Garamond explained with a sigh. “He got bit and now he’s breaking out all over.”

Calibri's eyes might have lit up. Just a little.

"A poisonous insect," he said with interest, pulling a rubber glove out of his pocket and snapping it on, before plucking Danny's wrist up with two fingers, like he was examining a particularly captivating bug. "Oh," he said, nudging his glasses up with the back of his other wrist. "Hmm."

Edited 2010-05-21 15:24 (UTC)

"It's like... all purple and stuff where the bite is..." Danny seemed to have calmed down now that Calibri was actually taking a look at him. His face had paled a little, though who knew whether it was from the poison or from his nerves.

Garamond crossed his arms, standing by as he watched Calibri’s examination of his son. A frown twitched along his features. While it was likely Danny was overreacting, he was still a little bit concerned, with such a plainly visible reaction. His son's face had taken on the texture of a toad. “Do you have any idea what it is? The kid seems convinced it’s deadly, but so far there’s no signs of any kind of fever or anything. He’s just as energetic as he was back when he got bit 10 minutes ago."

"It's a simple allergic reaction," Calibri said, straightening back up. He pulled Danny into the lab by the same wrist, and nudged him towards a high stool in the center of the room, moving towards his table. The clink of glass echoed through the room as he pulled out a few drawers and began mixing some sort of concoction into a small test tube, clear in color, odorless and almost like water. "Most reactions to insect bugs are just your body's allergic reaction to the saliva they leave behind in the wound."

"You," he said, looking past his mixture at Danny, "Just react very severely. But you're not experiencing any high fevers? Dryness in the mouth? Coughing out blood? Bulging of eyeballs and the popping of your fingernails right off the tips of your fingers?"

Wait a minute. That...that could happen?

Danny frantically looked at his fingertips and felt the shape of his eyeballs to make sure everything was normal. Luckily, he seemed to be alright in that respect. He felt a little relieved that Calibri didn't seem worried about his symptoms, though. (If he'd been a little smarter maybe he would have realized that Calibri never seemed much of anything at all.) "Um, my mouth is kind of dry.."

Edited 2010-05-21 15:55 (UTC)

"Oh," Calibri said gravely, brow furrowing. "That's not good at all."

...And all his fears were back again about 20 fold. "W-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! HOLY SHIT I'M REALLY GOING TO DIE."

“Don’t tease him so much, Calibri.” Garamond interjected, pulling up a chair so that he could join the two in the laboratory. "You're not gonna die, Danny." He added flatly as he sat, turning his attention to his son.

"It's a serious health concern, sir," Calibri protested, as much as a flat tone like his could protest, at least. He pulled the liquid into a syringe and tested it, splashing some into the air. "It means that you are, on average, dehydrated and should probably drink more water."

"Wh--" Danny was caught so off-guard by this statement that he had to pause a few seconds before anything would even come out of his mouth. "WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING!?"

Garamond’s shoulders sagged heavily, his hand running over his face in an impatient gesture. “Serious or not, it’s not the issue here.” He sighed out. “But if the bug wasn’t poisonous, there's not much you can do for him, is there? Guess in hindsight it would've been better to go to Bentley.”

Predictably, Calibri bristled. "Don't underestimate me," he said curtly, swiftly moving to Danny's side and pulling out an arm, turning it over so that the inside of the elbow as facing up. Danny's skin was indeed mottled with less-than-attractive white-yellowish bumps, but the sight hardly disturbed him. (Di-minium Lactroflourine could do worse than this.) Cursorily, he brushed over the area above the crease in the arm with an cleaning pad and without warning, stuck the needle (the tip was the thinnest he could find; somehow, Calibri figured Danny to be the type to whine about shots) through the skin.

"That tin-can doctor may very well be able to mend bones and sew up gashes, but as for foreign substances in the body, I am sure my expertise matches up just as well," he said stiffly.

Calibri was definitely right about Danny and needles. (And Danny and anything involving even the tiniest bit of pain for that matter.) As soon as the needle pierced his skin he let out a groan that sounded like a mix between a cat coughing up a hairball and a dog that'd just been kicked. Surprisingly enough, he didn't complain otherwise. He just wanted Calibri to hurry up and fix whatever was wrong as soon as possible.

“There’s no need to get defensive, Calibri.” The older man couldn’t help but laugh somewhat at the nuance of irritation in Calibri’s expression. “It’s not like he’s replacing you.”

Lips pressed into a thin, straight, and unwavering line, Calibri simply stared down at where the metal entered skin, until every last drop of the liquid was expelled from the tip. He pulled out the tiny needle as fast as he had inserted it. The wound it left behind was too small to even warrant a bandaid, and besides, he had none. They could go to the doctor for that.

Almost as an afterthought, he slapped something down on Danny's knee - a cherry red lollipop, still in its plastic wrapper. "It will take a few hours, but that anti-histamine should help counteract the allergic reaction. You might experience some nausea in the next few hours, but you will be fine in a few days." That was right, Danny. A couple of days. With purple, white-headed oozing boils all over your face.

Enjoy it.

Edited 2010-05-24 14:41 (UTC)

"W-What?! DAYS?!" Danny's expression twisted into one of mortification, something that probably looked like the cover of a horror movie given the condition of his face. How was he supposed to survive that long with all these boils?! Not only were they itchy and uncomfortable, but they were hideous! It wasn't like he could actually leave his room going anywhere like that. And even worse... "T-They're going to be all gone after that, right? It won't scar or anything will it?"

“Calm down, Danny.” Garamond smiled, and took a stand at his son’s side. He dropped a hand on Danny’s head, ruffling up the boy’s hair a bit. “You should be thankful it’s nothing more serious than that, hmm? Your looks’ll be back to normal before you know it. Who knows, might be better by morning. Why don’t you get to bed?”

At this point in time, Calibri let a very deliberate yawn, but at least he was polite enough to half-cover his mouth with his hand. "Bed. That's a good idea. I recommend rest. The more you get, the quicker you will recover."

"Y-Yeah. You're right, I guess." Danny said this in response to his father, not to Calibri. Maybe he could just sleep the whole thing off! With a newfound sense of hope, Danny's spirits seemed to lift considerably. Now as long as he could actually manage to get to sleep despite all the itching and swelling and oozing, things would be right as rain.

He stood up from the stool and wasted no time heading towards the door. Without even the slightest bit of thanks towards Calibri he said, "I'm going to bed," and dashed out of the room.

“That was fast.” Garamond comments, his glance lingering where his son had stampeded out the door briefly before his attention returned to Calibri. “You should be heading to bed too, shouldn’t you? It isn’t good for you to fall asleep in this musky lab, you know.”

Calibri turns his nose up a little. "It's not musky," he sniffs, but nonetheless, he closes his books and turns off the back lights, making a generous motion to Garamond to leave first. "After you, boss."

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the mysterious case of space boils

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