Private The Other Side

[Eloise Dinn]

Jedi Transport
Somewhere in the Core Worlds

Eloise lay on a stretcher in the medbay, gritting her teeth. Meditation was supposed to help manage the pain, but it wasn't working very well for her so far. Probably because she wasn't in a good mood.

Her injury had occurred during what what was supposed to have been a routine mission. Go in, free the hostages, escort them out. They hadn't even reached the objective before Sith forces ambushed them. One of the Knights on their team was killed in the onslaught, and several more were wounded. The Jedi Master leading the raid called the whole thing off. On her way to the extraction point, carrying one of her teammates on her back, there was an explosion behind them. She had been hit in the right thigh by a piece of molten shrapnel. The metal burned through flesh and shattered bone. Her legs buckled and she went down. Ironically, the fellow Jedi she had been carrying ended up saving her life - by taking the brunt of the damage as his body fell on top of her.

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind. How long had she been lying here? Not so much as a medical droid had stopped by to check on her since she was wheeled into this room. Her bandages were soaked through with blood. Fumbling around on the side of the bed with one hand, she pressed the call button. Then pressed it again for good measure. She knew from experience working as a healer that any hospital was bound to be busy, even one staffed by Jedi, but they couldn't be too busy to at least give her something for the pain.

Lumiya Dara​

 

[Lumiya Dara]

Just breathe.

That was what I told myself the moment that the first buzz came. And then the second. I clutched the patient's medical chart to my chest during those few precious seconds between each buzz.

That is until I garnered the courage to open the door. "You rang?" I kept my focus to the patient's face instead of her injury. There was blood there. I could see the dark hue out of the corner of my eye. As I passed the medical droid, I whispered a request to it; "Carefully redress the wound." At the very least it had saved me from doing it. My stomache was already feeling queasy at the very thought of the blood, but I pushed all of that aside as I tried to make some mental notes on the patient's posture; the way that her head rested on the pillow. Was there tension in her muscles created by pain as well?

"What can I help you with? Are you hungry?" My voice is said to be calming and soothing as it is soft spoken. And so I am sure to utilize it whenever I could.

Anything helps.

Tag: Eloise Dinn

 

[Eloise Dinn]

Finally, a girl dressed in the uniform of a Jedi Healer arrived in her room, accompanied by a medical droid. The droid immediately began seeing to Eloise's wound, mechanical fingers peeling away the soaked bandages.

"What can I help you with? Are you hungry?"

I'm laying here bleeding and she asks if I'm hungry?

Eloise's expression contorted in a pained scowl. The girl was young and probably inexperienced, but she was in no mood to be nice. "I need a painkiller," she replied sharply. "I don't care what it is, just get something in me fast."

Lumiya Dara​

 

[Lumiya Dara]

The stiffness of her posture indicated what the patient had now voiced. Albeit in a rather sharp way. But people do handle their pain in different ways, so I did not hold that against her.

"Yes of course. Right away." I walked over to the cupboard on the wall and readied a syringe with the right amount of a strong pain killer. Not too much and not too little. I then returned to the patient and proceeded to insert the syringe into her IV to administer the drug. "There you are." With the pain killer kicking in, she probably would not be able to stomach any food, so for now I held off on the topic.

"Was it scary? Putting yourself out in danger like that, I mean."

Tag: Eloise Dinn

 

[Eloise Dinn]

The girl at least did as she was told, putting a painkiller in Eloise's IV. Eloise would've preferred a jab in her arm. Gets the drug to the bloodstream faster. But she was in too much pain to complain.

"Was it scary? Putting yourself out in danger like that, I mean."

Eloise, who had almost forgotten about the girl's presence while she waited impatiently for the medicine to take effect, frowned at her. It wasn't a question she had ever been asked, nor thought to ask herself. Part of her was tempted to snap back, but she was too weak to put in the effort.

"Yeah, it's scary. But you get used to it, and then it doesn't matter anymore." She leaned back against the pillow. "I take it you've never seen combat. What's your name, Padawan?"

Lumiya Dara​

 

[Lumiya Dara]

I must have asked the wrong thing. For she had frowned at me so. That brought me to advert my eyes to the medical droid that had just finished redressing the wound, this time adding some bacta gel underneath the bandage.

My focus was redirected back to my patient as she spoke. Her guess was correct. I had never seen battle in person. I mainly deal with the aftermath. Which is all fine by me in all honesty. But not everybody liked that about me.

"My name is Lumiya, or Lumi for short. I'm fine either way. Everyone has their own preference. What's your name?"

Tag: Eloise Dinn

 

[Eloise Dinn]

"Lumiya?" Eloise laughed until it jostled her wounded leg and the pain forced her to stop. "What, were you named after the Sith?"

That would be like naming your kid Vader or Sidious. Then again, Lumiya was fairly innocent-sounding for a Darth title. It sounded more like luminous than insidious. Eloise still thought it was weird, albeit amusingly so.

"Eloise Dinn," she gave her name, watching the droid salve bacta onto her wound. "I don't know what you mean by preference, kid. Where I come from, we have a saying: 'Those without spears can still die on them.' Just because you're a healer, doesn't mean you'll never have to fight."

Lumiya Dara​

 

[Lumiya Dara]

"A Sith? No, I don't believe so...." I never did keep track of any of their names. In truth I hardly studied about them at all. I haven't even met any in person that I'm aware of. It made me wonder slightly if she could be making fun of me.

The medication might be messing with her slightly. For when I mentioned that she eas free to use her own preference in what to call me; she went straight into some old saying. And one that I think had very little to do with me.

"Perhaps you're right. And that could very well be my fate some day. But just not today." I highly suspected any battle to take place in a medical wing. Especially at this moment in time. And I had no plans to go out into the battlefield, myself.

For me the only battle that I faced was with myself and whether or not I'd faint on any given day.

Tag: Eloise Dinn

 

[Eloise Dinn]

Darth Lumiya. Now there was a name that brought back memories. Eloise's mother had insisted that her daughters learn about all the famous female Sith of old. They were trailblazers, you see. Rare, beautiful, deadly ladies of the Dark Side. If you're good and listen to Mommy, one day you can be just like them...

Eloise shoved the memories back down into her subconscious, her eyes studying the girl Lumiya before her. No, she couldn't imagine this waif donning a black jumpsuit and wielding a barbed lightwhip against Luke Skywalker. She looked like she would fall down if you blew on her.

That said, Eloise realized she had misunderstood her. "When you said everyone has their own preference, I thought you were talking about preferring to be a healer rather than a... Ugh, forget it." There was no point arguing.

The droid had finished its work and now hovered in the corner of the room, awaiting further orders. Eloise sighed. "How long until I can get the shrapnel removed?" she asked. The surgeons were limited and they always had a lot of people in need of operations, including those whose conditions were more critical than hers. Sometimes the wait was just a few hours, other times it was days. But it was never quick and easy.

Lumiya Dara​

 

[Lumiya Dara]

And now she had come to realize her confusion. To which I hope that she's not embarrassed. Afterall it's not my job. My job is to be sure that the patients are comfortable and to help where I can.

She then requested a timeline for her injury to be dealt with, to which I didn't really have an answer for currently. "Soon. First they needed you stabilized, and then we'll need to do some scans to be sure that removing the shrapnel will not cause you any further harm." If she were to bleed out after removing a piece of it; then I would never forgive myself. Even after I would regain consciousness after fainting.

"You seem to be getting a little bit better, now that your pain is a little more managed. Do you have any family that you wish to notify of your circumstance?"

Tag: Eloise Dinn

 

[Eloise Dinn]

"... And the scans can't be done now because there are fifty other people waiting ahead of me in line to use the scanner," Eloise muttered, chuckling through a clenched jaw. "At this rate I might as well take the shrapnel out myself. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I'm the apprentice of the Chief Healer. Er, former Chief Healer, anyway."

Amani Serys had all but retired from Jedi life ever since her husband, the King of Alderaan, had gone missing. She had dutifully stepped into the role of Queen, but it was clearly a difficult decision. Eloise didn't blame her, although it did dampen her street cred somewhat. Apprentice of the former Chief Healer just didn't have the same ring to it.

"Do you have any family that you wish to notify of your circumstance?"

"Ha!" She barked a laugh. "No. My family are dyed-in-the-dogshit Sith. I plan on killing them someday, and I definitely don't talk to them anymore."

But even after saying that, she stopped to think about who she would actually notify. Typically she would've listed Amani as her emergency contact; she was the closest thing she had to a guardian at this point. But the poor woman had enough to worry about as it is. Eloise didn't have many friends, and even fewer who hadn't ghosted her or grown apart.

"... You can tell Resh about this. He's a Padawan. He'd probably have a laugh about it."

Or he'd be extremely worried about her wellbeing, in which case he might come and visit her. That would be nice, she supposed.

Lumiya Dara​

 

[Lumiya Dara]

It was true that there were people in line ahead of her to recieve some scans. But the line wasn't that long. Still, I didn't try to correct her on it. I'm not so sure that she'd believe me anyways.

And then she suggested removing the shrapnel herself. I couldn't agree with her there. "I don't recommend you removing it yourself. Healer's apprentice or no, it's dangerous. You are medicated." Meaning that she's under the influence. Her judgements might not be sound.

I gave her a slight frown as she spoke of her family in such a way. Not for what they were, but because she seemed joyful in the idea of killing them. I have never come across any Sith myself, but the idea of killing anyone is the opposite of what a healer should do.

"Resh? I will pass the message along. Did you want him to visit? Or no?" Some people prefered to recover by themselves. It was difficult for me to guess which category that she fell into.

Tag: Eloise Dinn

 

[Eloise Dinn]

"I don't recommend you removing it yourself. Healer's apprentice or no, it's dangerous. You are medicated."

"It was a joke." She'd done similar operations on herself, under more extreme circumstances. But extracting shrapnel from her thigh wasn't something she wanted to do, and unless she was under duress, she wouldn't.

"Resh? I will pass the message along. Did you want him to visit? Or no?"

"Sure, if he can pull himself away from his animal friends." Eloise paused, then shyly added, "That is, if he wants to visit me."

Lumiya Dara​

 

[Lumiya Dara]

Oh. Her tone didn't sound like it was said in a jokingly manner. But I could just have too many things on my mind. I probably just heard her wrong.

The topic switched back to that and contacting one of her friends. "I will send the request. Not to worry. Is there anything else that I can get y-"

"The patient is required for her scans," a medical droid chimed in as it entered through the door, which cut me off from my sentence. I dipped my head and stepped back to allow it space as it wheeled her out of the room.

"I'll see you soon," I quipped as she passed me by. The scans surely wouldn't take that long. In the meantime I prepared and sent the message off to her friend, relating her injuries, whereabouts, and to visit her if he could.

Tags: Eloise Dinn Resh