[open]

[dancingmd]

who: Beverly Crusher and you!
what: Amnesia Event: Beverly is slowly going to be losing the memory of her native language - ie English Federation Standard
when: August 12-16
where: Most anywhere around Riverview you'd like to run into her, really
warnings: none



August 12-13
It starts innocently enough. A few words that dance on the tip of her tongue, just out of reach.

"Could you hand me the ah..." With a small frown, Beverly gestures at the scanner sitting on her work table across the room. Scanner's not right. What’s the term... Tricorder?, her nurse suggests. "Yes, the tricorder! Thank you!"

Not enough coffee, Beverly thinks, shrugging it off as overworking. Except when she stops by the cafe the next morning, coffee escapes her as well. "One…” She searches for the right word. “Raktajino, please." The barista stares. The word is too specific to Klingon for the translator to pick up and Beverly flushes. Her eyes dart up to the menu, zeroing in on what has to be the right word. With a nervous smile of apology, she tries again.

Shaken, she takes her cup of coffee - coffee, coffee, coffee she tries to remind herself - back to a small table by the window. She doesn’t drink. Something is very, very wrong here.

August 14-15
By now, she’s heard about the spores, run into other people suffering memory losses. It’s not… comforting exactly, but it is something. At least she knows it’s not just her. And maybe she can do something to help. If she doesn’t lose all her words first, that is. She’s found she can supplement some things with bits and pieces of other languages - the Klingon she’s picked up from Worf (Unfortunately, she mostly learned what she knows from martial arts classes with him. It’s not too often one needs to bring up kicks and punches when dissecting a plant. Fortunately, Klingons have an almost artistic appreciation for cursing, which she finds is coming in very useful) or Betazoid, even a few Vulcan. It’s a haphazard linguistic mish-mash, but whatever magic Riverview uses as a universal translator seems to be able to take on the job for the time being.

Having her on regular rotation at the hospital right now is out of the question, of course, so she can be found mostly in the research labs or even at Gramarye or the hydroponics garden to see what other people are working on.

August 16
Eventually, she’s opting to stay silent around people. More often than not, she babbles when she speaks, to her endless frustration. So she seeks solace in the library, sitting on one of the big comfy reading chairs with her legs tucked under her and a children’s picture book propped in her lap. Each page has an illustration from everyday life where big bold letters tell you what you’re seeing. Tree. Fireman. Cat. This she can still do, the alphabet and sounding things out, her forefinger underlining the syllables. Images of Wesley come to mind, of her guiding his tiny hands across the page, of him grinning up at her when he figured out a really hard word. Hydrant.

With a sigh, she turns the page. There's a map. Where, she doesn't know - the shapes are all wrong. "Is-land," she reads out loud. No, that's not right is it? "Eye-land." Better, but even though she remembers for the moment, no doubt it will slip away like the others.

Comments

august 14-16 :-)

[scholiast]

(She's talked with Beverly about Gramarye a lot, but they've never actually gone there before. Seeing her in the hallways as she's walking back to her office is, therefore, a nice surprise. Lucretia stops, and darts across a little steam of people heading towards a lecture to flag her down.)

Beverly! Hi. (She beams, hoisting her books up a little more securely in her arms. It's nice to see her again!) What brings you here?

[dancingmd]

Lucretia.

(At least her friend's name stuck. She is grateful for that. And Lucretia looks so happy to see her, so Beverly smiles softly in greeting.)

I... (Her brow furrows as she tries to concentrate on getting a coherent sentence out.) ghobe’ vokau words.

("I no to remember words." Hopefully it gets the point across well enough. She presses her wrists together and wiggles her fingers, trying to imitate a plant.)

The... plant babies. Kirk. Have you looked?

[scholiast]

(Lucretia blinks, and then her nose scrunches up in confusion, her smile lingering nervously. What? This is her first real experience with anybody suffering from the spores; hasn't even really read about them yet. There's been a couple things going on in her personal life that have kept her behind on everything else.)

Plant... babies? (She echoes, not understanding. Beverly is looking at her, and she seems a little frustrated now.)

I'm sorry. I– no, I haven't. What are you talking about?

[dancingmd]

(Beverly bites her lower lip, clearly upset, though not with Lucretia herself.)

Not seeds. Um. Mushrooms?

(God, what is the word!?)

Kirk brought them. They're... Making problems with vokau.

[She's using the verb form of "remember" again, she knows, but her Vulcan is not nearly good enough to fill in all the gaps.)

[scholiast]

(Problems with– oh. Remembering words. Okay, that makes sense. Lucretia nods slowly to show that she gets it, but she's still not sure how plants got into the mix.

Not seeds, mushrooms. That reminds her of the eighth cycle, and visiting the Mushroom Kingdom.)

Oh! (She's got it!) Spores?

Kirk brought mushrooms, and they're causing memory problems.

[dancingmd]

Spores!

(Beverly breathes out a sigh of relief.)

Thank you! Spores. (She says again, more firmly, hoping it will stick.) They are plants, but... spread like that. I thought maybe... ummm... magic could be an answer.

[scholiast]

(She smiles, happy to have helped. How irritating though, to have forgotten words.)

I haven't ever heard of a plant that causes people to forget things before... (If only Merle were here. That's probably the only time she'll ever have that thought sincerely. Or– if only she had the rest of her journals with her... Lucretia bites her lip, thinking hard.)

Magic could be an answer, certainly, but I don't know if I'd be able to do anything about it. Ideally you'd be looking for a cleric, not an abjuration specialist.

[dancingmd]

Abjuration?

(She shakes her head. Even without the spores, she's never heard the word before.)

[scholiast]

Oh– it's mostly defensive magic. Shields, wards. That kind of thing.

(Not super appropriate in this situation unfortunately.)

[dancingmd]

And... a cleric? What do they do?

[scholiast]

They mostly heal people, or deal with status ailments. You're a cleric, of sorts.

(A technological one!)

[dancingmd]

I feel like... a ghobe' maj ("no good") one right now. I can't... fix this.

[scholiast]

(Lucretia's expression softens; she drops her palm on Beverly's shoulder, gives it a little squeeze.)

It's okay. We'll figure out a way to fix it.

(And then, because she can't help herself, sorry Bev,) what language is that?

[dancingmd]

(Beverly brings her hand to rest on Lucretia's, grateful for the comfort. Some things don't have to be said out loud, at least.)

Ah... Klingon. And some Vulcan. Ghobe' maj is Klingon. Vokau is Vulcan. I know some... of both, but my...

(She hums, frustrated.)

First language is going.

[scholiast]

(It's not often that Lucretia comes across a language that she can't parse even a little bit. The Klingon sounds like Orc, but she can't make out any words.)

Huh.

And you're losing Common. I wonder why that above the others?

[dancingmd]

Different part of the (She gestures at her own head for a moment before she's able to drag the word out) brain, for second languages.

(Though calling either of them a second language for her is extremely generous. It's just that they are better than nothing at all.)

[scholiast]

Interesting.

Are you only losing the ability to speak? Could you still read, and write?

[dancingmd]

It's easier reading. Like...constant reminders. Gla-tor (To see) words is to remind.

[scholiast]

And this was all caused by a plant.

(How frustrating...) I wonder if anybody else is forgetting words, too.

[dancingmd]

(Beverly shrugs, falling back on bodily gestures when she can.)

Other things. Their childhood memories, where they are.

[scholiast]

Okay.

(Maybe she can try looking into this later. She wants to write that down and has an awkward moment where she looks down at the stack of books in her arms, then around for somewhere to put them down, because her journal is wedged into the middle of it.)

Uh, I don't know if I can help per-say, but I want to try.

[dancingmd]

(Despite her frustrations, Beverly can't help but grin a little at Lucretia's predicament. How very like her, to have too many books to handle. She helpfully holds out her arms for Lucretia to hand her the stack.)

It helps, just gla-tor you.

(Other than Leonard and Jim, Lucretia is far and away the person Beverly feels closest to in Riverview.)

A comfort.

[scholiast]

(She gratefully hands off the books, then gently tugs her journal out and flips it open so she can quickly jot down not only the information about the spores, but about Klingon, and Vulcan too. She'll come back to it later.)

Thank you. (She scoops the books back into her arms, leaving her journal balanced on top of the stack. Beverly's next words make her blink, and fluster, because she isn't used to being a particularly comforting presence for anybody.)

Um, good. Good, I– I'm glad.

[dancingmd]

(Oh no don't fluster, that'll just make it worse for you.)

I'm glad I'm not... the only one who's having a hard time with words.

(Wipe that infernal grin off your face.)

[scholiast]

(stop it's so much)

I don't usually, (Lucretia protests, embarrassed to be called out at all,) I– uh, I'm not good with compliments?

(It's worse when they're from people she admires too, ack.)