4. (LUCID DREAMING) (VIDEO)

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Chilton wears an unusually grim expression, when he tunes into the Network. He closes his office door behind him, which angled the communicator down to his door-closing hand -- one of his fingers sports a particularly ancient looking ring. There's a sharp glint in that glimpse, before the camera angle soon directs back to the doctor's face.]

Desirable difficulty. Are you familiar with the concept? [Rhetorical, of course.] The theory that the presence of an inconvenience or obstacle, and the act of overcoming that roadblock, will better synthesize cerebral information. The concept could be expanded upon how the brain identifies and encodes patterns, themes, what have you, in the midst of a crisis.

[Chilton flips the communicator camera back around to showcase his environment. The bright ceiling luminescence and mint green hallways of Heropa Downtown Hospital provide a sterilized, if normalized, depiction of a stereotypical medical center.

It's the collapsed, unconscious doctors with their noose-like stethoscopes and limp, unmoving patients lining the walls, floor, the rooms that juxtapose something unsettling.]

Would you consider this difficulty desirable?

[This is all in reference to the Pestilence of the Horseman Plot. If you need an excuse for a point of infection, you can consider this to be it!]

Comments

Voice;

[angelfire]

[ Just pretend he's not the first person to reply to this because suspicious with a capital s. Not that he isn't suspicious anyway.. ]

How terrible. What do you suppose happened to them?

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Lucifer. He can't help that his skin prickles a little -- it's only natural, when a middling predator (a jackal, if anything) comes across an apex hunter.]

I've detected a common variable.

voice;

[sassguard]

[ By this point, it's not the first time Shepard's seen a limp, collapsed form. He hasn't succumbed to whatever malaise has taken the dreamers, and his voice is sharp and on edge when he responds. ]

I don't see anything desirable about it.

What the hell is going on?

voice;

[slightlyoffchilt]

There appears to be some sort of epidemic. These people are alive, but not conscious... And inconveniently, they're the local medical aid. [A beat.] Have you seen this happening, then?

Voice

[abduxel]

What did you do? Was there a game of last doctor standing?

permavoice

[slightlyoffchilt]

If it was, then I won without knowingly engaging.

[inmyothertights]

Oh my god.

[slightlyoffchilt]

-- Billy? [Is that a touch of nervous tone in his voice? Yes, it is.]

Video

[redplainsrider]

[She gets over the initial dread before coming on to reply, looking as calm and unaffected as possible. She asks, to the point:]

Another plague?

Video

[slightlyoffchilt]

I can't say. I'm not that kind of doctor. But I wouldn't be surprised if most people would prefer to avoid this hospital right now.

Just in case.

video

[hsalf]

If the "desire" is not to have medical care on call. [His tone is dry, but his voice is grave and serious. An epidemic of people falling unconscious, almost comatose.] Are those people alright? Apart from mysteriously being out cold.

[May as well examine things from a "it could be worse" angle in the moment.]

video

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Oh, this fellow is new. Chilton hesitates, ready to size up this man -- he appears logical, perhaps a bit wry, aware.

Useful.]

No observable injuries sustained, unless one counts the more unfortunate souls who had fallen badly when the symptom manifested. A little bruising and a few potential concussions aside, the victims appear otherwise unharmed. Just stuck in slumber.

Voice

[restingstitchface]

Aww. That is a headscratcher, isn't it?

But it's no use screaming at a time like this. It looks like nobody will hear you, for a start.

[A vocal reply that thematically puts him at Chilton's side in the chaos. Desirable? He finds it fascinating. He keeps an ear on Chilton's public conversation with Lucifer.

... Which just turned private. Darn it all.]

permavoice

[slightlyoffchilt]

[Oh. It's Crane.]

Why don't you come to the hospital? I'm sure we could use all the doctors on hand.

[Which is exactly the opposite advice he had been issuing to everyone else, and it's meant to be fanged with a little aggression. Chilton is sure Crane would appreciate that.]

text;

[dragony]

It likely depends on the nature of the obstacle, doesn't it?

Are they dead?

permavoice

[slightlyoffchilt]

This is the nature of the obstacle.

[A beat.]

I've checked a few of their pulses, before my own survivalist instinct kicked in. They do not appear to be dead. Or even in dire pain.

voice; private

[kingpawn]

How. How did you do it? Keep yourself awake? I have to -- Jesse's--

[ Distressed Walt is distressed. ]

voice; private

[slightlyoffchilt]

Pinkman? How long as he been out?

[Avoids your question, Walt.]

text; comm tag is "Hiro"

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro's message comes some time after the rest, after it's had time to spread. ]

waht did you DO
my borhters aslepe too

[ And he's following soon if the typing's any indication. ]

permatext

[slightlyoffchilt]

[And Chilton satisfies with probably his ONLY text conversation, hoping he won't draw too much attention to this particular plight.]

This could not have been me. [But Hiro was right. It was.] Where is your brother? Are you with him now?

( video )

[chancetoatone]

[There's nothing in Thane's voice or expression to suggest he's upset or anything like it. His voice is soft, quiet.]

What happened to them?

( video )

[slightlyoffchilt]

A sudden onset of impenetrable sleep. They appear to be as if sedated into unconsciousness -- there are no other outwardly signs of damage.

[Thane's vocal intonation is noted -- was this composure before a crisis, or something else?]

But it isn't as if I've been able to do an MRI on any of the victims, mind.

Voice; Private

[dontforgetpie]

Where did you get that ring?

[He sounds suspicious and just a touch aggressive because, buddy, that ring is not yours and you better have a damn good explanation for wearing it.]

Voice; Private

[slightlyoffchilt]

[A beat.]

I typically favor the aesthetic. Is this really the time for a fashion critique?

Voice;

[takethestairs]

Just what on earth is going on here, Doctor?

[The shock, and fear, in his voice is obvious. He's assuming that Chilton knows something. Hoping that he knows something.]

permavoice

[slightlyoffchilt]

Ah -- Mr. Edgeworth. It appears that an epidemic has been unleashed, perhaps by imPorted powers. Likely, in fact, by imPorted powers. [He knows who's the cause, too, though that won't be so forthcoming.]

Are you in a safe place? Quarantined away from anyone infected? I ask because. A cure might be within. Prospect.

permavoice;

[fridgeflower]

I don't... Is it the time for a psychology lecture?

I can't wake anybody up. I think I can, usually, but it's not working now.

[slightlyoffchilt]

I understand how that may have come across as disjointed, but it relates. [Mostly for Chilton's own benefit, for his own anchor against panic.] But the cure relates to psychiatric technique. If you... If you'll humor me.

permvoice

[hubris]

[There's precedent for magical artifacts, for Nysrog, but before she can think on that more deeply she becomes ensnared by his words—which for once, seem to be for her. She speaks carefully.]

It depends what you're trying to synthesize, doesn't it? Is it helping you?

[slightlyoffchilt]

I prefer to feel like I'm achieving something, at least while coming out of a travesty. I call that sufficient help.

[A beat. He noted that careful tone.]

Are you surviving it -- this -- well? Not inconvenienced?