alaspooryork | IC CONTACT POST

"I will be well," he said, managing to put a decent amount of confidence into the statement since he didn't have to conceal his worried facial expression from York.

He was cautious as he led York through the hallway, though. The last thing they needed was for another one of the demons to come and do even worse damage.

It took some time and a few detours to finally reach their floor. He'd made a couple of conscious efforts to relax his grip on Delta, but it didn't last long when he did. He didn't like being out of control of his own navigation. Delta was the only one he truly trusted to be there for him in a situation like this. "Almost there?" he muttered, somehow sensing they were drawing nearer.

His shoulders were getting a bit sore from York's grip, but Delta wasn't about to complain. Luckily, despite his months of conditioning to human body language, he was still very accustomed to giving verbal responses rather than relying on visual cues.

"We are seven rooms away. When we arrive, I will treat you with our first aid supplies but it is likely you will need further medical assistance."

"I doubt they have a handy antidote," he muttered. "You sure you want to do that?" It would be up to Delta to defend them should they run into any more creatures, in addition to assisting York himself.

"If it is necessary, I will be certain about it." Of course, if they didn't have any way to improve the situation, there would be no need--but if it could help at all, he'd gladly risk it.

"Here. This is our room."

There was the familiar swoosh of a door opening.

He felt for the edge of the doorway and then guided himself in, trying to cross by memory the distance to one of the desks. This was harder than he expected and he found himself swashing his hands at thin air to try to locate the chair.

Gently, Delta guided his hand to the chair and then let go for the first time.

"I am getting the first aid kit."

He figured narration would help reassure York.

He gripped the chair for dear life, feeling out what position it was in before sitting in it. He hated feeling helpless and reliant, even if the person he was relying on was D. He started to rub his face again but there was some sort of residue on his face from being spat on and he removed his hand with an 'ick' sound uttered from his throat.

There were several sounds from elsewhere in the room as Delta moved around and gathered the necessary implements. Once he had gathered everything, he brought the materials over to the desk and took one of York's hands carefully.

"I will clean it. One moment while I bring the additional chair over."

He patted the hand one more time and grabbed the other chair.

"Please turn toward my voice so I may begin cleaning the injury."

"Come on, D," he protested, not caring for the way Delta was fussing over him and patting his hand. Nevertheless, he followed Delta's instruction, gripping the edge of his chair with one hand.

"It is necessary, York." The cleaning was, at any rate, and Delta began to dab carefully at the...venom? Demon spittle? Disgusting mess, at the very least.

"Is there any pain?"

"It sort of stings." That was all he'd admit to. He winced a little as Delta began dabbing, but quickly was able to force himself to sit still. Once the job was done he tried to blink away the darkness, the nothingness. "I still can't see, Delta."

Correctly interpreting this as it hurts a lot and I'm not going to admit it, Delta paused a moment and rummaged through the medkit for an analgesic that shouldn't interfere with sight. His tone is one of disapproval, as if he were frowning.

"There may have been a numbing agent or other nerve-affecting agent involved. Is there any difference at all? If not, we may need to flush your eyes."

Frankly, he'd want to do that anyway, but he knew York could get a bit panicky about his eyes.

"Aw hell." He knew that step was necessary anyway. He rolled his neck, then stood. "You think you can get me to one of the bathrooms without running into any of those things?" Because though Delta had gained the ability to fight at least somewhat, he felt protective of his former AI and he knew there would be little he could do to help.

"Hmm." There were some noises as Delta moved around, including the sound of the door opening and closing.

"Yes, it appears to be clear at the moment. You are well to walk?"

Perhaps they could bunker down in the bathroom for a while after washing out York's eyes in case there were any complications.

He scoffed a little. "I can walk, D." He was blind, not utterly disabled. He got up and started to head in the direction he remembered coming from when they'd entered the door, just to prove his point.

It was good York couldn't see his small smile at that. If York could be brash, he wasn't completely disheartened.

Still, he took York by hand to lead him down the hallway quickly. There were some odd skittering noises...but that was probably only the Tranquility being the Tranquility. Right?

He has no problem allowing that, and really isn't that surprised when he has to be redirected to find the entrance. Those noises were disconcerting but he doesn't question D about them. Delta would speak up if something bad was going down. He knew once they reached the lavatory because of the differing sounds there; things echoed differently, their footfalls and the sound of the occasional drip of water. "Where's the sink?"

Delta closed the restroom's door as securely as he could, knowing it wouldn't withstand a dedicated monster attack. Still, they hadn't yet been attacked in their own residential hall, so maybe the luck would hold.

"To your right and two meters ahead. Please adjust the water temperature to a comfortable level."

He unslung the small pack he'd been carrying and took out the pitcher he'd picked up in the room. The running water would be best, but a larger reservoir with a lower pressure might work as well.

Normally he'd sort of chuckle at that but he was a little too out of sorts dealing with his current situation to feel like poking fun at Delta's analytical way of going about this. He got the faucet going and started splashing water into his eyes. Once he'd done that for some time he shut the water off and held onto the taps, supporting his weight there as he leaned into the sink. "D..." he muttered. He wasn't panicking but it was something along the same spectrum. "Still can't see, D."

Delta wordlessly handed him a dry towel and took one of York's hands as soon as it was free, trying to transmit a sense of calm reassurance.

"We can visit the medical bays, York. We can contact them about treatment options as well - I do not believe that you can be the only one to have encountered this variety of creature."

What he wouldn't say was you will see again, even though that was the elephant in the room. There was no guarantee about it.

Delta would do anything to ensure York would see again.

The visit to med bay turned out to be a bust—sure, they'd seen some of this stuff going on, but they had no idea of the cause of the blindness, so no way of treating it effectively. They were given the 'prescription' of rinsing his eyes out periodically and sent away with a bottle of what amounted to placebos at this point.

Once he'd been led all the way back to his room, back to his own bed, he found the pillows and punched them up with some frustration before lying back on them. "What do I do, Delta?" he asked, sounding wounded.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Delta sat down on York's bed next to him. He placed as much confidence into his voice as he could manage, which was actually a lot given that York couldn't see his expression. In a way it was like his hologram days when he didn't have to worry about having a glass face.

"You will cope with this temporary ailment for a short time until a cure is found. If necessary, I will use the ship's equipment to synthesize artificial eyes for you; as you already have circuitry inside your mind, this should prove to be simple."

Only Delta would think a solution like that was simple. "Let's hope it really is temporary, because I don't know about you, but the idea of surgery for an eye replacement isn't very appealing to me."

"Understood." Well, it was simple compared to normal eye surgery. There were even several types of experimental helmets that used a single ocular camera to gather all sorts of data and synched with neural ports, so surely he could develop something similar.

...Admittedly, if it wore off after a few days of eye washing, that would be ideal. Many toxins were only temporary, after all.

"Until a solution is found, however, I will be glad to assist you in whatever way you should desire."

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