(no subject)

[runningred]

{From here}

Jay leads them into his room. It's comfortably large and mostly taken up by benches and a decadent looking bed.

He pulls a fold out massage table out from under a bench and starts wiping things down to create a clean space to work. "Ragnar, I think it's best you go first. Have you decided where you want the receiver?"

Comments

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar unceremoniously takes off his belt and shirt. "Here, on the inside of my upper arm, nestling between those two big muscles," Ragnar says. "If that isn't too close to any pulse?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"And mine in the same place", Athelstan says, then adds with a faint smile, "though my muscles aren't so big."

[runningred]

Jay chuckles and nods, pulling on gloves. He loads the transmitter into a large syringe. Bobbing in a saline solution, it looks like some little sea creature. It's slightly unnerving really.

"Alright. Lay down. There's a mouth guard in the top drawer if you need something to bite down on."

"Athelstan, you might want to take his hand."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar sits on the massage table, then smoothly lies down on his back. He takes the mouth guard -- that much sensibility is necessary. It's not as if he were undergoing the Blood Eagle and had to bear the pain for his passage to Valhalla, or anything.

He holds out his hand to Athelstan.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan takes Ragnar's hand in both of his.

"The pain will be very brief, you said?" he asks Jay.

[runningred]

"Six, seven seconds at the moment. But they're going to feel like a very long seven second. Count it out if it helps."

He runs his fingers over Ragnar's chest, finding the right spot and cleaning it with a swab. "Nod when you're ready."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar's fingers entwine closely with Athelstan's.

HE closes his eyes, and nods.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan holds his hand firmly, and waits.

[runningred]

"Alright. Here goes. Breathe deep."

He aligns the needle with the hollow between two ribs and presses down. There's a pop as it breaks though into the chest cavity and Jay angles the needle with his heart. He releases the plunger and the little receiver squirts towards his left ventricular.

There's a moment of cold and then pain starts as the wires dig in and a brief pulse triggers what for the next seven seconds will feel like a heart attack.

Jay grabs his shoulder and holds him down.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar keeps his eyes tightly shut, breathes deep, clutches Athelstan's hand, thinks of love and Blood Eagles, and otherwise doesn't move at all while a wave of indescribably pain goes through him, and he feels as if his life was ending and the world momentarily darkens completely.

[athelstanthescribe]

"You're all right", Athelstan whispers, and counts the seconds for him.

[runningred]

And then there is light. The receiver sends a jolt to restart Ragnar's cardiovascular rhythms and the pain ends.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar opens his eyes and looks up at Athelstan, eyes still unfocused, and murmurs something.

[athelstanthescribe]

"I know." He can guess at what Ragnar said. "And I'm here."

[runningred]

"Just breathe deep. Take your time." Jay cleans up and set the needle down, not prepping the second until they're ready.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar lifts his other hand to wrap it around Athelstan's as they are holding on to his hand, and breathes silently for a little.

"I am here."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And not going anywhere."

He's dreading his turn, but all the more determined to go through with it now.

[runningred]

Which is more or less why he chose to do them in that order. That and if Ragnar had to watch Athelstan go through it without knowing it was going to be okay, he might have... well, broken Jay's arm at least.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Slowly, still not letting go of Athelstan, Ragnar sits up and moves his head and shoulders, as if letting out tensions he didn't even realise he had held in.

[athelstanthescribe]

"How do you feel?" Athelstan asks.

[runningred]

Jay hands him a glass of water and follows it with a glass of something fizzy and sweet. Sugar is never a bad thing after a shock like that.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar gulps down the water, and then slowly sips the sweet and fizzy drink.

"Okay now," he says, squeezing Athelstan's hand again. "That was a bit odd. But it only took a short moment."

He turns his head to smile into Athelstan's eyes.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan smiles back.

"Only you could call that 'a bit odd'."

[runningred]

Jay chuckles, giving them both time and space till Athelstan's ready.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"And now, you can feel my heart beat," Ragnar says. "Do we put the receiver in place now, or only after the thing on Athelstan's heart has gone in?"