ext_250022 ([identity profile] leucemic-god.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] neutral_omens2006-11-26 09:18 am
Entry tags:

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Time: October 20, 2000
Place: The Stairs
Status: Public (Complete)
Summary: Maybe stopping to take those pills wasn't such a good idea after all...



Loki was feeling dizzy and weak. In fact he hadn't felt like getting out of bed at all this morning, but then he'd been spending too much time in bed lately and maybe a cold shower was just what he needed to get the blood circulating and give him some energy.

It hadn't worked, though, so he'd decided that he needed something to do. Maybe a few more books would help and walking up the stairs to the library would provide some much needed exercise.

That had been the theory anyway. After only a few steps however he had to stop to catch his breath. His knees felt weak and wobbly and he was considering sitting down for a while when suddenly he heard steps from above. He looked up and saw the very person he'd been trying to avoid most.

He forced himself to stand up straight and pretend that everything was fine. "John."

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-11-26 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"Loki." John nodded perfunctorily as he came down the staircase. He'd mostly got over his mad, as it seemed the lie Loki had told hadn't so much caused Crowley's troubles with Aziraphale as brought matters to a head, but he hadn't felt inclined to go looking for the god since returning from New York; their last conversation still irked him whenever he thought about it. "Been a while. Caused any good breakups lately?"

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-11-26 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, a whole three weeks. And if you didn't want to get caught you should have just flat-out lied when I asked you about it." John paused, frowning. He really didn't want to, but it was impossible not to notice how much weight Loki had dropped in that three weeks. "...wait. You didn't know?"

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-11-27 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
His frown deepening, John took a somewhat reluctant step closer. Loki's behavior seemed a little off, like he wasn't quite all there. "Aziraphale left Crowley. I thought you'd heard. Thought that was why you made up the Uriel story. ...Oi, am I getting through here?" Was it his imagination or was Loki propping himself up against the wall? "You don't look so hot."

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-11-27 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"Shit! Loki?" John hesitated briefly, then swore vehemently under his breath and knelt next to the fallen god, checking for a pulse at his throat. It was weak and thready, and Loki's skin felt clammy. "Damn, damn, damn. What the fuck are you doing wandering the Manor in this condition? Sodding idiot," he muttered, trying to think what to do.

It would be Uriel's shift at the front desk, he remembered. Good job they were right next to the stairs. Scanning the area briefly to be sure nobody was coming their way, he left Loki where he was for a moment and ran down to the ground-floor staircase, leaning over the rail to call out to the archangel, speaking calmly and firmly and hoping the volatile angel would follow suit and not panic.

"Uriel! Listen, I need you to ring up the hospital wing. If Gabriel's not there, call his room and tell him I'm bringing Loki in. He's just collapsed."

He didn't wait for an answer, but immediately turned and went back up the stairs, hoisted Loki up--Christ, he hardly weighed anything!--and made for the hospital wing at the fastest clip he could manage.

[identity profile] bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com 2006-11-28 08:30 am (UTC)(link)
Uriel paled as she heard John's words. Loki had collapsed? She'd thought he hadn't been looking so good lately, he'd got thinner and all, but... She had thought, well, hoped, that he would get better. His hair had even grown back.

What had gone wrong with him?

It took all her willpower not to indeed panic, like John had feared she would. Somehow she managed to stay somewhat calm as she made the requested calls, her voice only trembling a little.

As soon as she was done, though, she hid her face in her hands, crying silently in shock and fear. Was she going to lose her last remaining brother, too?

[identity profile] dontcallmegabby.livejournal.com 2006-11-29 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
As it happened, Gabriel had been in neither the hospital nor his room; but had he known, he would have been happy to note that Constantine had not gone yelling through the halls to check for him in the bedroom of the Crown of Seductions. But no matter: his call stemmed from something more complex than telephone wiring, something he vaguely suspected might have to do with Adam.

He hadn't even had time to find Anathema - hadn't he just heard her talking to someone? - before there were footsteps entering the hospital behind him. Constantine, supporting a frail figure in his arms. Gabriel nodded wordlessly towards the first open room, following him inside and shutting the door behind them.

"Constantine," he said in clipped greeting after the man gingerly deposited the unconscious form on the exam table, though the majority of the angel's attention was already focused on the patient as he silently sought out any obvious issues to be addressed. He recognized the being as another pagan deity, and privately hoped this would not be quite as messy as the last time (http://community.livejournal.com/neutral_omens/89993.html) he and Adam had dealt with one. He wasn't seeing anything obvious signs of injury, though, no swelling or bleeding, internal or no.

"And what have you done this time?"

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-11-29 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"Wasn't me," John said shortly, easing Loki down on the table and stepping back, folding his arms reflexively across his chest. At least, he sincerely trusted that the news of Aziraphale and Crowley's breakup couldn't have been a serious enough blow to bring on this sudden collapse. His concern was betrayed only by an uncharacteristic lack of sarcasm or irritation. "Dunno what happened exactly."

He hesitated; although he hadn't actually promised not to tell anyone, he'd considered his knowledge of Loki's condition something to be kept in confidence. But this had to count as a need-to-know situation, didn't it?

"He's got cancer," he added. "Never said what kind. He was being treated for it, last I knew. But he's getting his hair back, so I reckon he's off chemo." He wished now that he'd been just a little more nosy and tried to find out more of the pertinent details before he and Loki had had their falling-out.

[identity profile] anathema-witch.livejournal.com 2006-11-30 12:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"He's got cancer?" Anathema asked going over to join the others. And to say the day had started off rather regularly, reading a few books. She really would have to get a computer up here at some stage, if Gabriel didn't mind...she would have to remember to ask him about it sometime.

And to say that she had only just got off the phone from when Uriel had called here. The angel had seemed a bit distressed on the other line, but had hidden it rather well she thought.

"Wow..." she finished off lamely, not knowing exactly what to say or do in this kind of situation. It wasn't like Loki was a complete stranger to her. They had met twice before after all.

She turned back to Gabriel. "Can you cure cancer like you can mend bones?"

[identity profile] dontcallmegabby.livejournal.com 2006-12-01 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Cancer..." the angel repeated, and even as he spoke it, the word gained more solid form: darkness, wrongness, in the god's blood and marrow. No wonder he had not noticed it upon first glance; it was like no injury or illness Gabriel had come in contact before - at the very level of cells.

He found himself wishing once again that Raphael were here, for the sake of the patients even more than himself. Someone who was, while not actually more powerful, at least well-versed in these matters and the sequence of events that should follow. Every case felt new to Gabriel, forcing him to dig for information gathered in bits and pieces over six thousand years; none of it fresh in his mind, nor had he ever been called upon to apply what he knew in these sort of situations. If Adam was looking to challenge those beings around him, he'd certainly succeeded with this appointment.

"I don't know," he said honestly, after a moment. "Injuries, things caused by external damage, are just a matter of returning the body to its equilibrium. But this... this his body is doing to itself. It's different, and much more complex..."

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-12-01 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Loki didn't seem to think it could be miracled away. He's under some kind of curse," John said. "He was depending on human treatments. Can you tell if he's quit the meds completely?" That would be a totally bone-headed move, but, he thought grimly, not atypical of a cancer patient who'd lost hope.

And Loki isn't exactly swimming in good reasons to want to live, now is he? came the unwilling thought with an accompanying stab of irrational guilt. John crushed it perfunctorily. Yeah, he'd turned his back, but it wasn't like he hadn't had a reason, and it wasn't his fault the old gods were on their way to extinction or that Odin had flown the coop, or that Loki had chosen to play the wrong prank on the wrong immortal. Nor did he have any idea whether his sticking around could have made any difference. This sudden turn for the worse could be happening for some other reason.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, John my boy, maybe you'll get to believing it...

[identity profile] anathema-witch.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 12:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Anathema's eyes widened. "He might have quit his meds? Well, that would explain why he has hair. First time I met him he didn't. But why would he do that? "

All she could do was ask questions really. This was definitely not her field of expertise.

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-12-03 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't know," John said tiredly, seating himself on a table well out of the way and wishing hospitals weren't such sticklers about that no-smoking rule. "I'm only guessing. I haven't talked to him much lately."

[identity profile] anathema-witch.livejournal.com 2006-12-04 12:08 am (UTC)(link)
"You are friends with him?" she asked. It sounded like John and Loki had talked a bit more than twice to her. Plus, he knew that Loki had cancer, just not what kind, which would mean that in a way Loki must have liked him back.

Well, hopefully Loki would wake up soon and tell them all so that they could try treating him. If Gabriel couldn't do anything they would have to rely on human treatments like John had been told.

Some curse, really...ouch.

[identity profile] dontcallmegabby.livejournal.com 2006-12-07 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Gabriel listened, only half-attending to what was being spoken as he attempted to ascertain what he could from simply observing the unconscious patient, but some of their conversation did stand out: a curse.

The angel was not overly familiar with curses. Those he had dealt with were directly from Below, and this particular illness had no obvious infernal signature.

"There's no medication in his system now," he said after a few moments' time, in response to Constantine's initial question. "It's leukemia, gone completely unchecked."

He glanced up, respectful now in light of the man's sobriety. "Did he say anything about this curse, Constantine? Who cast it, or what might be done to reverse it?" If it had already responded to mortal methods, there was at least some option open to them.

[identity profile] first-catwoman.livejournal.com 2006-12-07 08:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Bast ran into the hospital wing, panting. If she'd still had ears that were mobile enough, they would've been flat against her head.

"Feeds-with-snake told me he'd collasped." There was no time to explain. She saw Loki's state, and went a shade paler. "Oh no. Am I too late?"

[identity profile] anathema-witch.livejournal.com 2006-12-09 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Anathema looked at the new comer, thinking that the voice was familiar but she had never seen...who the heck was Feeds-with-snake?

Whoever it was, she seemed concerned over their new patient. And then she talked again and an image of a cat's head crept into her vision, and she raised an eyebrow. "Bast? Wow, looks like you ended up changing completly back."

She then looked back to Loki looking pale and very vulnerable on the bed and she shook her head. "No you're not too late. He's still alive."

[identity profile] first-catwoman.livejournal.com 2006-12-10 11:18 am (UTC)(link)
The cat-goddess bit her lip, still staring at Loki. "Good. Thanks. Ugh, he's such an idiot."

She looked up at the witch, and tried a small smile which failed miserably. "Is there anything I can do? I'm no healer, but if he's upset or afraid I could probably help with that."

To illustrate her point, she changed into a small brown cat, with little difficulty, leapt onto loki's chest, and mrrped softly.

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-12-11 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Idiot?" John echoed. "So you knew he'd gone off his medication? Any idea why?"

[identity profile] first-catwoman.livejournal.com 2006-12-11 08:43 am (UTC)(link)
Bast looked up in surprise. She'd been so focussed on Loki she hadn't even noticed John. At his question, though, she shrugged - as best as a cat could - and waved her tail from side to side. //Pride, I suppose. Pride and depression. He was really upset that no-one seemed to like him because of what he said to Crowley. That and sheer dog-headedness.//

[identity profile] dangeroushabits.livejournal.com 2006-12-11 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
John looked away at that, at a loss for words, crossing his arms defensively. So it is because of me, at least partly. Did it get round to somebody else, too? I never did tell Aziraphale.

Damn, damn, damn...why the hell did he have to get a paranoid fixation on Crowley, of all people?


"How bad is it, Gabriel?" he finally asked.

[identity profile] dontcallmegabby.livejournal.com 2006-12-12 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Gabriel, who was watching the cat - another deity, obviously - in a way that perhaps betrayed how little he was used to working with animals, shifted his attention to John.

"It's advancing fairly quickly now that he's forgone treatment," he said, trying to be somewhat tactful in light of the waves of worry filling the room. "I hesitate to simply siphon the cancerous cells out of his body, because they cover such an extensive network now I'm not sure what damage that would do to the rest of him. Not to mention this curse you spoke of.

"But I don't think it's incurable, I just think it will take some caution." He glanced at Anathema as he spoke, hoping that she wouldn't mind having her hands full with this treatment; he suspected it would take some effort on both their parts, as well as perhaps Adam.

If this god had really wanted to end his existence, he'd chosen quite an effective - if rather melodramatic - way of going about it.

"But the least we can do is get him started on his medication again," he continued. "Do either of you remember what he was taking?"

[identity profile] anathema-witch.livejournal.com 2006-12-13 07:29 am (UTC)(link)
Anathema shook her head. "I'm sorry, I had no idea that he was sick. I mean last I saw him, he seemed to be rather...cheerful. He looked a little pale but I thought that was normal for him. But perhaps there is a bottle which contained the medication in his room?"

She looked down at the unmoving Loki and sighed. "I could help with getting him to take the medication, but I would need to know what it was, whether it was working well or not, and it might not be a bad idea to get him in for having chemotherapy. Since he was bald before, I am guessing he had already been on that too. Which means, when he is well enough it might be better for him to take a little trip to his hospital."
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