(Untitled)

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens. A muzzle pokes briefly through it somewhere around shin level, then withdraws with a whine. A moment later the door opens a little farther, and this time the muzzle (and attendant dog) are nowhere to be seen; however, there's a walker, and a human in baggy grey t-shirt and shorts leaning heavily on it instead. A pale and harrowed-

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[a_mere_child]

!!!

Alyx didn't think she could rise to her feet that fast.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Eep!" says Ellen, or something like it, although that may be more because Dogmeat just dashed past her leg a little too closely. Or, given that she's gone from pale to flushed, possibly because she's realized that she's wandered into a public area in her underwear. Hard to say for sure. It's just one of those days.

[a_mere_child]

Alyx is shuffling over as fast as she can manage. "Ellen?? What--what happened?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"A rad-pulse," says Ellen, doing her best to ... well, okay, there's nothing to hide behind on the walker, and Dogmeat doesn't offer much cover for much of anything, let alone the fact that she's not wearing trousers. "The- the purifier. It was malfunctioning..."

Dogmeat leans against one of her legs and whimpers again; she swallows and attempts a smile at the dog before looking back to Alyx.

"Um. I thought this was going to be the lavatory."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"My- the purifier," Ellen says, leaning heavily on the walker for a moment as she draws a deep breath. "It was .... it was overloading. Badly. Fast." She shivers, although that might be more to do with the t-shirt and shorts she's got on than anything else. "Had to get in close. Can I sit down?"

She's not trying to be rude, honestly, but she really wasn't supposed to be walking just yet.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Something to drink," says Ellen. "I don't- don't know if food'll stay down. But I'm thirsty."

Dogmeat is not quite a grey and black furry limpet, but he's certainly sticking very close to Ellen's side as the two humans make their way over to the fireplace.

"Don't... dunno where my suit is. God this is embarrassing."

[notabricklayer]

McCoy has gotten into the habit of looking every time he hears the door open. For one thing, people seem to love coming in hurt, here. Considering he's done it himself he can hardly complain, but still. If you know what's coming, you can better prepare. For another thing, Olya is still nervous about Others who evidently think they can rule her life... though she doesn't seem to mind the one that managed to come in already. He doesn't ask.

So yes, Ellen, there is a StarFleet surgeon heading in your direction. And yes. He realizes you look like crap. He even has a running list of why you might look like crap.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

If one of the things on the list is 'sudden radiation exposure on par with the fractionated dose absorbed by the survivors of the Goiânia accident or the one-time doses absorbed by Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin, followed by unknown on-site medical treatment for an unspecified amount of time', then he's golden. Otherwise he's probably in the right general area anyway. Ellen's just going to hold very still for a moment, because she's really not supposed to be walking but there are things she finds difficult to do in front of the robot who announced himself to her as the Citadel autodoc.

"Um. Hi?"

[notabricklayer]

"You aren't supposed to be up, are you?" There's a few things that tip him off that he isn't the first medical professional to be after her - the walker looks like something taken out of a hospital situation, she's not in normal civilian wear (though his definition might be severely different than hers), and there's that sheepish, 'yeah I shouldn't be doing this' look she's got that he's seen entirely too many times before on board ship.

"Come on, let's get you to the infirmary. What did you fall afoul of?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

No, he's entirely right, that's not normal civilian wear. That's Brotherhood of Steel-issued skivvies, such as they are- admittedly more protective of modesty than a grade school gym uniform, but still.

"No sir. Needed to-" She glances towards the ladies' room door. "I was trying to reach the restroom. Not... shouldn't be walking."

She'll follow, though, and so will the dog, because Dogmeat will personally rip the legs off anyone who gets between him and his human. Even if they are made of metal, in which case he will attempt to rip off their legs and then attempt to gum off their legs after the dental damage is over. He's like that.

"Hundreds of rads. Maybe more." Well, it would have to be, considering... everything really. "All at once."