III. (open-ish) i said i've been through a lot of noise

[oorah]

featuring: hotdog & his (close) cr
what's happening? frank is suffering from vaccine side-effects and has been ordered to go to the clinic to take care of it; meanttime max has arrived! and just undergone debarking surgery.
day: march 1 (night) & march 2 all day
content warnings: sick man, sick dog, the whine (not)heard round the world.
notes: if it's feasible that frank or micro would have told your character where he is, then feel free to show up. or if you are sick maybe you are unlucky enough to encounter this jerkbutt. hit me up if you want something specific!

march 1

[ after frank gifted jessica a lovely murder basket, she suspects he isn't feeling himself (joke's on her tbh.) since only just injecting him with the experimental drug that would (with any luck at all) make him immune to kilgrave's powers, she assumes frank's weird behavior is a side effect and sends him to the clinic to get checked out. after akira puts him on bedrest, he's open to visitors, and of course the first person he wants to see isn't a person at all. he texts hawkeye and micro furiously: ] bring me my fucking dog, you assholes.

[ okay, so he might be a little testy. once a sleepy max just out of surgery is brought to the clinic, too, the dog will lay at the foot of his bed, alternating between lazily guarding and even lazier dozing. frank hates being stationary. he hates feeling useless. the aches and pains are taking a toll on him, but not as much as the rising tide of frustration and irritability. even if he's usually not a chill guy by a landslide, today he's especially twitchy. he'll likely be up long into the night fantasizing different and creative ways to make kilgrave hurt. oh, hi kids. didn't see you there. ]

march 2

[ frank hasn't slept much. between the fever and refusing to take anything stronger than aspirin, he's sweating and out of it, an angry red rash climbing steadily up the back of his neck to peek out of his black jumpsuit collar. the blankets are on his feet, but he keeps kicking them off. he hates being sick, and he knows he's a terrible patient besides. maria always used to scold him for acting like a child; or worse than their actual children since they took being sick like a champ, just happy for the day away from school. he could endure torture and pain aplenty, max the dog had witnessed both first-hand. he lived in bunkers buried in the sand and traveled to countries that were just holes in the ground, but a little fever and nausea and he's ready to die. every time a cold shiver wracks his spine, he wishes for it even; picturing the bullet in his skull. the doctors telling him a shift in millimeter increment would have killed him. should have, even the way it is.

max is on the floor now, his big block head peeking out from underneath the cot. he watches the door, alerting frank to any new arrival with a tiny growl before shutting his eyes again. the noise little more than a rattly rumble from the dog's barrel chest. the message is clear: you take this one, dad. i'll get the next. ]

Comments

march 2

[nishizono]

[ it takes a bit of asking around to find out that, a) hotdog castle (if that really is his name) is at the clinic, and b) there's a dog. an eeriely quiet dog, the thought of which gives tetora no small amount of nausea, but all the same: a dog. tetora likes dogs, so this makes up his mind to come down for a visit.

and lo and behold, what he sees makes that bit of nausea rise up and churn into something pale and sour at the back of his mouth. it takes a handful of swift but silent steps for tetora to be at hotdog's bedside, hand hovering over his face. the man has a pallor to him - sweat-sheened, lips chalky, veins bright red against his eyelids. it's not a pretty picture; hell, it's not a flattering picture at all. what remains of hotdog's bruises stand out even more starkly now than they did before.

tetora's face folds into a crumpled mess. he gives the dog at the foot of the bed a quick hug and a shake, before flitting to hotdog's bedside, lingering over him. who did this to you, he wants to demand, but understands he shouldn't. who needs a knife to the heart?

in the end, tetora settles for a quick tapping on the man's cloth-covered arm. he repeats the tapping in morse, until he gets a reply: ]

r u ok

[oorah]

[ he looks up, his gaze shaky but lucid. tetora. he sees miwa's crumpled body, he sees a smoking gun. he swallows, trying to shake the imagery away. this kid came to visit him even after knowing-- after seeing his story. yes, it's only one yellowed corner of it, but that still means something to frank.

smiling softly as max takes to tetora, smiling and panting happily, he waits his turn patiently. the morse code gets a nod even as the smile slips from his face. even with his penchant for the dramatic, frank knows he'll be fine. and if this makes him immune to that purple-suit-wearing son-of-a-donkey's-asshole then this will all be worth it. gently, he turns his hand to grip tetora's wrist. ]

I'm okay. I promise. [ he focuses on just passing the words over, trying not to let anything else bleed into the link between them. ]

March 2nd

[gotyourselfapilot]

[ Poe liked making visits to Akira's clinic. It was a nice set routine since he could always say there needed to be cleaning done. Everyone could use a cleaner, right? Especially in a place that's supposed to house sick people. Akira probably needs all the help he could get for these things. Poe likes being on the move, however, he did have a reason to be here today.

Also he appears way more relaxed being in a familiar flightsuit with boots. Poe would mostly wear it for duties that required something a bit more durable than the regular jumpsuit. The navy one would be worn when he was at home or making trips that didn't require work. Poe finds the room that Frank is in and stops coming in at first upon hearing the dog. He slowly makes his way over to the bedside but crouches down to get on Max's level. Poe isn't afraid as he reaches a hand out, palm facing upwards for the dog to sniff.

He'll wave with his free hand at Frank for now. And signs a quick 'hello'. ]

[oorah]

[ he's starting to feel slightly more level by the time poe makes his way in. the flight suit has his nose crinkling in bemusement, and now that's 3/3 of his friends that have greeted max before him. he had chosen well, clearly. the dog seems to agree, licking poe's hand before putting his head back down on nthe floor. ]

Hey. [ he signs, sitting up now with a slightly listless smile. he'll wait for poe to move on from the dog to say anything else. he knows he hadn't left things in the best place between them, but it means something that poe is here. ]

march 1

[353]

[ Mike had no idea the handwoven basket Frank had been teaching him how to make was going to end up being used for a get well soon basket for his VP, but thankfully it's finished in time. There's some fruit inside, Eleven's teddybear she was gifted with which got left behind in Mike's room, one of the blankets from his blanket fort in case he wasn't warm enough and maybe that's how he got sick in the first place?? He also has a container of soup from work at his food prep job. He wishes he could have brought Frank candy, since that usually cheered Mike up, but he has none. He signed a card drawn by Will earlier, but Mike figures his friend will bring it himself later once he's handed it around the rest of the kids for them to sign.

When Mike arrives at the clinic, he definitely doesn't expect to a see a dog there at the foot of Frank's bed. A dog could easily distract any child but Mike is more focused on Frank as he comes into the room, sits the basket on the floor and climbs up onto the bed to hug him. ]

[oorah]

[ max picks up his head at the approach of the child, but quickly rules him out as a threat. frank signs good boy to the dog one-handed even as he accepts the gift with the other. he doesn't have time to pick through the items before mike is climbing up to wrap his slim arms around frank's bulky frame. as ever, he melts instantly, setting the basket aside to get both hands around mike's back, holding him as tightly as his weak limbs will allow. ]

march 2

[steal]

[When Rey arrives, she isn't expecting to find a dog. Her eyes go to Frank first, but immediately onto the animal. In her experience, she always likes animals more than people. Artoo and the other droids are like dogs, in the sense that she'll always go to them first. This case is no different, her barely giving Frank the time of day so she can move in closer and crouch down and offer the dog her hand to sniff.

There's a growl as she approaches, but she takes it slow, trying to show she means neither of them any harm. ]

[oorah]

[ max was a guard for the kitchen irish, but that isn't his job anymore. guarding frank's bedside takes an easy backseat to sniffing rey. deeming her to be a person of interest, he butts his heavy head into her palm and pants happily. the people here were nice to max so far, even the weird man full of fear who had cut him open. no one wants him on chains and everyone approaches him softly with no violence. a dog could get used to this. he nuzzles more boldly into her hands before flopping over onto her with his head pillowed on her thighs so she can scratch his bright white belly.

frank isn't upset at being ignored -- quite the contrast. he would do the same so he just watches quietly, glad she's here. and glad for the millionth time that rey is safe. ]

march 1st

[deadboywalking]

[Will doesn't like hospitals.

Realistically no child does -- sterile, quiet, strict places where you're most likely gonna end up with needles sticking into every bit of you and/or some kinda nasty gross medicine you have to take -- but Will's been to far too many in the last year or so. There's a distinct smell, of disinfectant and clean sheets, that has him shivering all over the second he steps through the door. He doesn't want to be here. He so painfully, desperately doesn't want to be here. He can't stop remembering the last lucid moments in the lab clinic, the oxygen mask, the wires and tubes snaking in and out of his body, the chafe of stiff hospital gown fabric, the sensation of looking at people he knows, people he loves -- Mike, Bob, his mom, Hopper -- and seeing nothing but meat to devour and destroy.

But he stays. He's not in the bed this time, he's sitting cross-legged in a chair beside it, one foot jiggling up and down in a nervous, frenetic way. He's got his new(ish) sketch pad from Eddie open across his lap and there are colored pencils sticking out of every one of the jumpsuit's pockets, and he's drawing quietly to try and distract himself from how scared and sick being here makes him.

Because Frank is here. So Will isn't leaving.]

[oorah]

[ frank hates hospitals too, somehow always causing trouble when he's in one -- go figure. but he's also used to them, their impersonal white walls reminding him of all that he'd lost. of what he'd never get back. will is like a mirage for his fever-addled mind, a tan blur who waves in and out of focus with smaller points of colored light moving between his fingers. it lulls him into somewhere between sleeping and consciousness, laying his head on the pillow for the first time since he arrived. max pillows his chin on frank's ankle, his boots still strapped tight around his feet, and heaves out the tiniest dog-sigh. ]

march 2

[gaits]

[ max was brought over the first night frank decided to finally succumb to bed rest, and aside from checking in on him periodically, david left him to rest for most of the next day. there's still things they need to do and he's still lurking in the network like the spook he is, but he eventually shows up late afternoon with his own basket, this time for akira instead. there's coffee and whatever food he could dig up; he feels responsible for always imposing on akira whenever something happens, so this was the least he could do.

he's already met max earlier but he gets on one knee to greet him anyway, hands coming up to gently cup his face and smooth fingers down his neck and back. hey, buddy, he whispers. ]

[oorah]

[ whatever akira gave him earlier made frank feel good. and he's drifting in and out of a nap when david comes by. he swallows past the dryness in his throat and tries to sit up, rubbing silt out of his eyes. it's convenient having a greeter, he doesn't have to worry about anyone paying him unwanted attention with max here now.

the dog recognizes david instantly as one of the men who helped him when he got here and he puts a paw up on his knee while accepting the pats with a wide smile. frank signs to the dog absentmindedly, speaking the word softly at the same time so he might understand. ] Off. [ max immediately listens, putting all four feet back on the floor and sitting pretty. frank nods his approval, signing Good boy before his tired gaze slides over to david at last. ]

march 1st pm/march 2nd am, im gonna make this extra dumb.

[underachievement]

[ When Frank doesn't follow up within a few hours of his last message, indicating some kind of all clear from the clinic, she assumes he must have been delayed there. Otherwise he must have gotten so eager to test his injection against Kilgrave that he went off to do it without her, and if that were the case, he already would have attempted to lure her into am ambush. Or worse, another negotiation. If that were the case, the locals she wrangled into monitoring his house arrest would have told her. (Yeah, because she trusts them so much.) Also, Micro would be freaking out.

She doesn't intend to visit but she has nothing better to do when she isn't sleeping. Between midnight and morning, everyone should be in bed except patrol and the community guards, so she runs no risk of crossing paths with any of his friends. Once at the clinic, she steps inside far enough to confirm he's there. She can't ascertain his condition from afar and the growl (which she mistakes for his because dog what dog) warns her into leaving before she gets any closer. There are sentimental items all around him -- if he was in the process of dying, concern would have made it to the network. So if the sickness going through him is something he can sweat out, they still stand a chance. If not, he'll reset, they'll start from scratch, and he probably won't blame her for it.

On her way home, she shoves her hands in her pockets and remembers about the rabbits' feet she was going to give back to him. Crap. Oh well. Time to get really really drunk and see where they end up instead. The superstition is squandered on her. ]

3 way dog delivery, march 1

[gaits]

[ the summons is sent and david finds himself staring down at max on the table post surgery, meeting his big brown eyes. he still feels a little nauseated despite his hands already clean and dried of blood, but he swallows it down, smoothing gentle fingers over max's ears and neck. ]

You think it's alright to move him now?

[ he's no animal expert but he'll defer to hawkeye here; he's just a pair of extra hands anyway. ]

[swill]

[There's a guilt in knowing he's used perfectly good thread for those sutures, but it's easily buried under the embarrassing idea of being demoted to pet doctor. The tools are all drowning in alcohol and Hawkeye wishes he could join them for a cleansing, of sorts. He ambles back to the other guy in time to see the gadet is out so of course he takes out his own and, (to Frank:) he shoots off say please. Asshole.

He keeps his distance from the table, from the groggy dog and shaggy man, but he blows air into the pocket of one cheek as he thinks this over.]

If it isn't I guess we'll learn our lesson

you take the pointy end

[To lift the animal and set him on the floor. And then... it should be able to walk, the anaesthesia wearing off. Might be slow going, but it's preferable to Hotdog's wrath. ]

march 2

[clussy]

(Eddie had heard word of this through one means or another. Assembling a little care package didn't take too much time at all, and he was off to go to his first day of actually really helping someone. A part of him was excited, but a bigger part of him was anxious. Not out of nerves of fucking up, but because Frank had been nothing but kind and generous to him and now he was sick.

A part of Eddie felt guilty that he had been so flighty with the bigger man, though he suspects Frank doesn't quite take it that way. Or if he did, he wasn't insulted by it.

Finding Frank's room is a piece of cake. Eddie isn't surprised to see the man laying in bed with a rash crawling up out of his collar. What he is surprised by, however, is the presence of a dog that is not Teddy. Eddie comes to an immediate halt and his eyes zone in on said dog. A baby boy. A good boy, Eddie thinks, and he instantly signs at Frank:

Who's this puppy?

Yes. Eddie learned the word for 'puppy'. It was essential, okay.)

[oorah]

[ max gets up and goes to eddie, sensing that he might be the best one yet if he intends to get some attention around here!!! he licks eddie's knee through his pants and wags his tail a mile a minute. you would never guess this dog had surgery the day before. while this is going on, frank meekly rolls over and starts trying to sit up, surprised to see eddie here honestly. that is, until he recalls that the boy wanted to be a doctor. he wants to help people. the signed question has one side of his mouth tugging up, a kid after his own heart. dog was like, the first word he learned after all. and puppy wasn't long after. ]

My friend M-A-X, [ frank signs back, after some effort he manages to sit up against his headboard to receive his company better. ]

march 2nd

[morphogenia]

[She might have come sooner if the hype of having her things back didn't get to her head. She spends a day pouring over her laptop contents gleefully. Once the initial happiness fades, she knows what's missing. She wishes she could share this with Frank. The fact that he's still not back from the hospital even with his change in living arrangements bothers her. Kamala resolves to pack up her stuffed animal, laptop, and puts on a cute outfit to head over there.

The growling at the door makes her hesitant once she does make it. Kamala pushes her luck by continuing to walk, offering Frank a cheerful wave until she sees how truly miserable he is. She makes a beeline over to his bed, completely forgetting the dog, and offers a giant stuffed sloth like he's a little kid with a cold. It'll make him feel better, she promises.]

[oorah]

[ max doesn't appreciate being ignored, but thankfully frank is up enough that he sees her from the beginning and puts a hand out to tell him to stand down. he sits and stares up at her with deep, curious eyes while frank takes the full brunt of her affection as ever. he pulls his little teddy bear out from behind his back to show her, though his gaze is bemused. look, he already has a buddy, he's good. he makes the teddy wave at her just because. ]

march 2

[rockypath]

[She's been avoiding Frank. It's not fair, she knows it. But all the same, she's been doing it. Everything that's happened is weighing heavy. But she'd heard he was here. But Faith doesn't come immediately after hearing about it. She has to be sure it's safe this time. Has to be sure it's not a trap again. That... he's not there. Waiting.

It's late at night when she finally comes. Maybe midnight? She's scoped out the entire hospital before she gets outside his room, every inch to be sure. She's heard Kilgrave's on lock down, but she can't quite bring herself to believe it. She doesn't go inside the room Frank's in, not sure what she's going to say. Faith knows she should see him though. Right?

Maybe she'll just going to peak around the edge of the doorway to have a look. See if he's okay, then she's gonna take off. But the dog blows her cover and she's caught red handed, her eyes wide with panic. Fuck.]

[oorah]

[ he's wide awake and so, so miserable. the fever isn't budging and frank tosses and turns so much that max relegates himself to the floor. at first he thinks the shift in light is an illusion set up by the subtle swelling in his brain, seeing the shadow of the door move across the floor. but then max gives his tiny little not-bark at whoever it is, and frank knows it isn't in his head at all.

frank picks his head up off the pillow, a tiny teddy chilling on the pillow with his massive boulder of a cranium. it's just that heavy to move, too as his eyes loll up to see who it is. faith, oh. that's nice. he smiles softly. hi, faith. ]

March 2nd

[beyourzoomer]

[She hears about it through Eddie. She doesn't take a care package, though, just a couple of the most boring books that she managed to find at the library: Catcher in the Rye, and The Grapes of Wrath. She pauses at the door for the briefest of moments, thrown by the sight of dog under the cot he's on. Then she steps inside as quietly as she can - because that's how things are here - intending to set the books down and go because he appears to be asleep and she doesn't want to wake him.]

[oorah]

[ max's soft rattle of a growl drags him out of his light slumber and his eyes roll back before he's able to pry them open, glancing around in confusion. he sees the books before the girl attached, but slowly his fever-addled mind is catching him up; and patching in the details. the girl with the same namesake as his dog brought him books. he catches her eye and mouths Thank you, attempting to sit up in case she wants to hang out for a bit. ]

march 2

[tornadoed]

[ dorothy loves the fact that he has a dog now, even if it makes her miss toto even more, knowing that it would be possible to have him here without losing him to the soundeaters immediately. but she's not here for the dog. she's here for frank, now. ]

how are you feeling?

[ her movements as she bustles around him are efficient and businesslike. this is something she knows. ]

[oorah]

[ dorothy milling about his bedside already feels familiar after only a few moments and frank finds himself settling into the routine of it. he's never been one to so readily trust, but there's something about her that he has since the moment they met anyhow. it takes him almost a full minute to catch onto the fact that she's asking him a question and he digs his device out from under his pillow to reply. there's a teddy bear on the pillowtop and a picture of his dog that one of the kids drew taped above. ]

like reheated garbage [ am i gonna make it doc??? ]

march 2

[scarecrowed]

[ Lucas goes to fight club - he likes the routine of it, likes being a part of something, important for a man who remembers nothing about himself. What isn't part of the routine is Frank's absence. So Lucas asks around.

Apparently Frank is sick. Instantly he thinks of Dorothy since she's the best healer he knows - she saved his life more than once - but apparently he's in a "clinic" being taken care of. Lucas is a little worried, having been to fight club enough times to notice his impact and influence on others, particularly the children in the community. He feels he ought to visit to check how he's doing.

He stops in the doorway when Max makes a noise at him - he knows better than to piss off a dog - but when it's clear the dog doesn't have any fight in him (not today) Lucas comes to stand by Frank's bedside. While he thought his mind would be put at ease seeing him, Lucas just looks more concerned by his appearance. ]

what's happening to you? [ This clearly isn't a minor sickness. It's as though he's battling something. ]

[oorah]

[ the kids are expected, as are faith poe and rey. they've all seen him through so much. frank's ears are stuffed and his mind is abuzz with his illness, enough so that he doesn't even note lucas' entrance. it's only once the other man is standing over his bed that he really sees him for the first time, though his eyes are glassy and it takes him a full moment to place him. it's like working backwards: fight club, red juice, dorothy and the sound eaters. he smiles though it's unwieldy and brief, only registering that he's getting a message late.

he's propped up somewhat by pillows and he doesn't bother sitting up properly, grabbing his phone and holding it over his head to squint at the text. it takes him a while to respond, almost dropping the device on his face a few times before success. ] nothings happening i'm just sick. i'll be better soon.