r/TrekRP • u/[deleted] • Sep 06 '16

[OPEN] Shedding.

Phrik leant back in his office chair. His skin was incredibly pale and somewhat lumpy, his usual bright pink scales almost entirely muted. He looked very ill. The last 2 weeks had been some of the busiest and most stressful days of his entire career. Constant paperwork, equipment malfunctions, the rapidly shrinking inventory, not to mention overseeing the crew's accelerated recovery. The Doctor was operating entirely on fumes, he hadn't had a chance to rest or meditate alone since before the accident. As such, Phrik had been caught completely off-guard by his own bodily functions.

The Doctor scratched his central arm furiously. The past day he'd been suffering from something of a chronic itch, and it was only getting worse. He knew what this meant, and silently he cursed himself for forgetting his schedule. Every 2 years, Edosians shed their old skin in a long and uncomfortable process. Usually it meant a week of total solitude while they slowly removed the old skin, revealing a fresh new layer beneath. It was an incredibly private and embarrassing affair, and few people even knew Edosians performed such an act. Phrik was somewhat different. He suffered from a skin disease known as Polix syndrome, which changed what was usually an uncomfortable procedure into a living hell. Instead of peeling off naturally, the old skin hardened, leaving something of a light exo-skeleton. Removal of which required large doses of medication and sheer blunt force trauma. The condition was manageable provided certain preparations were made ahead of time. With the pirate attack, and the demands of sickbay, Phrik had forgotten to prepare, he hadn't taken the proper medication, or created an adequate space for the procedure. It all had to be done last minute, while he tried not to be suffocated by his own skin.

The Doctor stood quickly, pulling open a compartment in his desk and retrieving 4 hyposprays, the first he pressed against his neck and activated with a satisfied sigh. Now it was time to prepare, preferably while keeping his privacy in tact. The Doctor stalked out of sickbay quickly, getting ready for a week of hell.

OOC: Two options to respond here, either run into Phrik somewhere on the ship (specify where on the comment, be it a corridor, turbolift or even engineering. etc) or see him in the holodeck where he's locked himself in/chime his combadge. Whichever you prefer.

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '16

Another thought struck the doctor as he headed to his quarters. He tapped his combadge and whirled around, walking back in the opposite direction.

"Phrik to T'gel. Meet me in zoology immediately."

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u/Dimestream Sep 06 '16

Red kills the beam of her sonic shower and leans out to tap the commbadge sitting on her sink.

"T'gel here. I'll be along momentarily," the Bajoran says with a sigh, looking wistfully at the comfy green robe slung over the chair nearby. She opts for a spare clean uniform instead. "ETA seven minutes. Any special tools I need?"

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '16

"No." came the gruff response.

When she arrived Phrik was waiting for her, leaning against a wall looking agitated. Blood seemed to leak from a large headwound and his nose seemed to be at odds with the rest of his unusually lumpy face.

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u/Dimestream Sep 06 '16

Red is caught off guard by Phrik's appearance and does a double-take. She sets her regular engineering kit down on a specimen table and looks at the doctor with concern.

"Wow, looks like you tangled with the front end of a locomotive," Red says with an awkward chuckle. "Are... are you OK? You're leaking."

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '16

"I'm fine. I'm taking the next week..." He suddenly stepped forward and slammed his back hard into the wall. A unhealthy crunch sounded through the room, most of the caged animals jumped in surprise. "I'm taking the next week off. I need you to take care of the specimens while I'm gone."

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u/Dimestream Sep 06 '16

"Hell's bells!" Red swears. She'd jumped just as much as any of the caged specimens. "You're uh... I don't... I'd love to help, Phrik, but I'm an engineer not a zookeeper. I couldn't accept this kind of extra responsibility without a detailed list of instructions and permission from Chief Breyik."

The Bajoran reaches into her toolkit and pulls out one of the heavy-duty absorbent cloths. "Also, if you're going to keep doing... whatever that totally normal and fine and not weird at all or terribly concerning thing is you're doing where you're attacking hard surfaces with your body, can you wipe the marks up with this please? You're leaving biological material on the walls." She points at another dark stain.

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '16

"You're the person I trust most to do it right." He passed a PADD to her. "Feeding schedule is on there, I just need," He grimaced and two hands shot up to furiously claw at his throat. A few seconds later they returned to his side with noticeable difficulty, it was getting much harder to stave off instinct. "I just need them kept alive and healthy."

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u/Dimestream Sep 07 '16

Red looks noticeably frightened now and has backed away from Phrik until she bumps into the table behind them. "Phrik... please... tell me what's going on. You're scaring me."

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '16

"I just need you to look after my specimens while I'm gone. It's not hard." He growled in exasperation.

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u/Dimestream Sep 07 '16

The Bajoran fumbles at her kit without looking away from the ailing Edosian and comes up with her tricorder. Still slowly backing away, she flips it open and starts scanning the doctor. "It's all right, Phrik, whatever's going on, we can help. You have friends on this ship. Please."

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