circle7 | 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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"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."

the mysterious case of space boils

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