bakerstreet | Sensory deprivation meme

Sensory deprivation meme

the SENSORY DEPRIVATION meme:
You know those things you rely on to navigate you properly through life?
Senses? Yeah, well, kiss those goodbye.

(TRIGGER WARNING: This meme deals with the loss of senses:
blindness, inability to feel. If the concept of blindness, deafness
and/or the loss of any of your senses bothers you, please do NOT play this meme)

✖ Post with your character name/fandom/options for scenarios
(ie; het/slash fluff/smut) and your prompt.
✖ Use RNG to pick your numbers.
1-5 for regular senses, 6-10 for moral sense, 11-16 for cracky senses.

The Basic Five

1. Sense of Sight - Whether you woke up that way, had an accident, a brain tumor expanded or you had a bad reaction to something, you're now blind. Fully and completely. Watch out for that bu--*wince*

2. Sense of Smell - Did someone step in dog crap? It could be you, but you'd never know. You've lost your sense of smell. I guess there's no stopping by the roses for you, huh?

3. Sense of Hearing - "I'M NOT YELLING!!" Yes, yes you are. And no matter how loud you crank AC/DC, you're never hearing Highway to Hell again. Guess I shouldn't have gotten you the Stones compalition CD's, huh?

4. Sense of Taste - No, it doesn't taste like chicken. In fact, it doesn't taste like anything. Perfect time to get that friend that burns everything to cook for you - at least it'll make them happy and you can smile through the whole ordeal.

5. Sense of Touch - Where'd you get that bruise? Or that gaping knife wound? No clue. You have utterly lost the ability to feel anything, like your body is enveloped in fuzzy packing tape. Punch the wall all you want, you ain't gonna feel anything.

The Guiding Factors

6. Sense of Right and Wrong - Tripping people that get in your way? Taking candy from babies? Killing someone that hurt you and yours? All sound like pretty good ideas right about now. Your entire moral code has been thrown into the 'grey' area. There is no right or wrong, only what you want.

7. Sense of Decency - Things that just 'aren't done' are in play for you now. Evicting old ladies and orphans because they can't pay? Pff. Good. Lousy Mooching leeches. Hitting on that underage and naive little thing? Puh-leeze, they're an easy mark. Deflower, deport and debauch yourself to your heart's content.

8. Sense of Self - You don't even know who you are anymore. What are you doing with your life? What's it all mean? What the hell's it for? Why even bother to get up in the morning? Are you going to go try and 'find' yourself? Or just give up?

9. Sense of Preservation - Your life? Means about as much as a mouse fart. Why should you step out of the way of that speeding train? You were there first. Mouthing off to that huge, angry, overpumped steroid-faced goon sounds like a good idea too. He took your seat. And he smells.

10. Sense of Empathy - That ability that lets you put yourself in the shoes of others, to relate to them? Gone. No, you don't know what they're feeling, and quite frankly, you don't want to. You have your own things to deal with, and they're much more important. Why? Because they're yours.

The Quirky Ones

11. Sense of Humor - Wait, am I supposed to laugh now? You have to take your cue from those around you, laughing when they do, usually a little bit late and a little too long. Not even a fart joke will crack a smile.

12. Sense of Direction - You couldn't find your ass with both hands. Literally. You tried. And wound up getting thrown in the clink for inappropriate conduct with a nun. Don't drop the soa-- Too late.

13. Sense of Modesty - So what if you're using a belt as a skirt. It looks good, right? Bending over and showing off too much isn't an issue for you, neither is changing in the middle of the store if you just have to wear that cute little shirt now.

14. Sense of Fashion - Yes, you think a pink polka-dotted bikini top goes just smashingly with the neon green bellbottoms. Bubblewrap tops? Freakin' awesome. Put it on and flaunt it, and watch people's eyes bleed.

15. Sense of Timing - "What do you mean now's a bad time?" Yes, because you think trying to pick up a girl at her husband's funeral is a good thing. What? She's single. You're late to everything. A clock? Wassat? Strange, foreign words...

16. Mix and Match - You poor bastard, you've lost more than one sense. 2? 3? The whole lot? Who knows, that's up to you.

(reposted from memebells@lj, originally here)

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She nods and takes his hand, leading him away. In case the men are still around, she's careful to keep her steps as quiet as she can, speaking to him in an almost constant murmur to warn him about the terrain. She tries to find smooth ground that won't give him trouble, but as they move farther upriver, the ground turns steeper, and small rocks that can turn ankles and make noise pose more of a challenge. With the slow going, the sun will be setting soon, too, and she starts looking for shelter.

It's almost an hour before she heaves a sigh of relief at the sight of a cave. She sets James' hand on the wall of the cave entrance. "I'm going to go in and check that it's safe. Give me a couple minutes. Guard the fish." She tucks the sticks across the duffel, gives his right hand a soft, almost imperceptible squeeze, and disappears inside.

She returns a couple minutes later. "Some spiders and lizards, but if anything bigger lives it, it isn't home at the moment." She gently takes his hand and leads him inside, following around the wall. The cave is long and narrow, with a sharp downward slope toward the back. There are a couple of off-shoots, all too narrow for someone to fit into. Only one spot is flat enough for them to sit comfortably, though it'll be close.

"Should be able to risk a fire here if I can find wood that's dry enough. You okay with waiting again?"

James nods. He steps into the cave, following Sharon down. He's about ready to collapse, his legs weak under him. "Yeah, I'm okay with waiting." He sinks down onto the first rock his fingers touch and slips off the pack. He stretches out his legs in front of him, then reaches down to loosen the laces just a little. Not enough that he won't be able to run in them if need be, but enough to let his feet breathe.

Again, she checks to make sure he's all right before she heads out. It seems like a new pattern is developing between them, and she can't wait to get him home and checked out by doctors with access to real equipment who might be able to help. She feels weak and helpless. Even though the two of them had an excellent success rate working together, she was under no illusions - she is a good agent, but James is the stellar one between the two of them.

She returns almost an hour, arms loaded with sticks. Her feet ache, and the rest of her feels numb. She almost forgets to warn him that it's her, and she barely manages it at the last second, even though it comes out as more of a cough. She drops the sticks nearby and digs in the duffel until she finds a lighter. "You go ahead and sleep while I cook the fish. I'll wake you when it's done." Burnt fish is better than no fish at all.

By the time Sharon is back, James has taken off his boots completely and is sorting through their supplies by touch alone. He looks up when he hears her at the cave entrance. "I'm okay," he says, though he's exhausted too. He shouldn't be this tired. His serum should be helping him more than it apparently is. He really wants to know why. For the first time in his memory, his left arm aches. Not the metal arm, but the flesh and blood arm that used to be there. It's a nagging, bone-deep feeling, and it's seeping into his body.

He doesn't think he'll be able to sleep. It's not painful, but it could very easily turn out that way.

But he's not going to tell Sharon. She has enough to worry about and it's not like the phantom limb is going to be able to affect his ability to move and function any more than his blindness already has, so he's going to keep his mouth shut about it.

"When they told me in training I'd have to get used to roughing it, I should have told them they didn't know the damn concept," she gripes. She manages to build a fire and cook the fish. It isn't perfect, but it'll be enough for them to survive. Once it's cooked enough, she pulls a fish from the stick. "Left hand out. Fast. It's kind of hot."

It takes him a second to process Sharon's words then a second longer than it should to get his arm to move. Still, he offers his left hand for the fish. As soon as she gives it to him he starts to eat. The fish is bland and tasteless without spices or anything, but it's hot and it's a good size fish so he bites in eagerly.

She lets the fire burn as she sits beside him, pressed against him in the tight confines of the cave. She's too tired to try and give him space; she hasn't even finished her fish before her head falls onto his shoulder and she falls asleep.

James jumps when Sharon first leans against him, until he realizes she's asleep. Carefully he reaches out to shake her back awake. "Hey, Sharon. Did you finish your dinner?" She needs to eat just about as bad as she needs sleep, but if they're hungry it's going to be harder to keep on going.

She grumbles groggily and lifts her head. "Hm? Oh."

She starts eating again, finishing it before it occurs to her that they need something to drink, too. The light in the cave is fading fast, and she wonders how long they'd walked today.

Moving slowly, her body feeling stiff and achy, she pulls the duffel closer and almost presses the water bottle into his hand before she remembers he can't see it. It's almost too dark for her to see, too.

"I've got a bottle of water when you're ready. It's dark enough that I can barely see." She rolls the water between her hands, then wipes it off on her clothes, along with her hands. She doesn't care about smelling a little like fish right now.

"We're probably safe enough we can both sleep tonight. I don't think either one of us can stay up much, anyway."

He nods and tosses the remains of his fish to the side. Then he holds out his hand for the water. "Ready for the water." He opens it once she gives it to him and he opens it, drinking thirstily, but forcing himself to go slow and not guzzle it all down at once. "We're safe here. It's quiet outside." It wasn't too quiet, but it was quiet enough that he knew what the forest outside sounded like.

She nods and sets her head against his shoulder again. After a moment, she digs in the bag for another bottle of water. She forces herself to stop drinking after only having a quarter of it. She doesn't know how long it will be before they'll be able to refill the bottles.

"Super-hearing, too, huh?"

She knows she ought to check the gunshot wound, but she can't see anything anyway, and she's exhausted. She'll check on it in the morning.

"I've always had enhanced senses, but I think it's getting stronger, since I can't see..." He lets his arm move out to slide around her shoulders and pulls her closer. He's about ready to fall asleep too, but he wants to make sure she's going to be alright first.

She makes a sound as his hand unexpectedly shifts her injured arm, but it isn't enough to keep her up. She turns her face to his and is out like a light.

It's hours before she's woken by a loud crash of thunder, and she startles against him before she realizes that they're still safe.

And then she remembers they have water bottled to refill and groggily tres to find the bottles in the darkness.

James wakes at the thunder as well. He lifts his head, groggy, and tries to sit up a bit more. But when he tries to get his left arm under him, but it doesn't respond to him. "Sharon?" He asks. "Is it raining?" He could hear a rushing in his ears, but isn't entirely sure if it's actually raining or not.

She doesn't answer right away, too busy trying to navigate the cave. Her fingers find one bottle, then the bag, and finally, his bottle.

"Raining hard. I'm going to refill the bottles." And then she's gone. Her greatest fear right now is that the rain will end before she can replenish their supply. She's not going to let the opportunity pass her by.

"Sharon!" James tries to stand, but his legs aren't responding to him either. He falls forward and hits the ground, managing to turn so he hits the ground, his left shoulder impacting first.

He can't go after her. She shouldn't go alone, but he's not sure if he'll be able to even get up.

His body feels numb, like nothing is responding to him. Finally, he manages to force his left arm to start working again and pushes himself back into a sitting position.

His entire body is betraying him. First his sight, then his body... There's no way he'll be able to go anywhere like this. Sharon will have to leave him behind and come back for him.

She comes back minutes later, almost stepping on him in the darkness. "Damn it!" she exclaims. "I can't fucking see." But she has water for them now, at least. She sets them aside and then feels around for him, finally finding his knee, then his arm.

"I'm soaked. Here." She hands him a bottle of water. "Drink what you can and I'll refill it before the rain stops." She wipes some water out of her face. "It might be too dangerous to go first thing in the morning. We definitely won't be able to make it out there in the dark." One of them needs to be able to see, after all.

He obeys because he's not sure what else to do. He drains the bottle and offers it out again. "Here."

The water does seem to help, at least a little. When he tries to curl his fingers, they actually respond to him. "Yeah, we definitely don't want to go out there in the dark. Get some water, then we can sleep some more." they needed sleep pretty badly still.

She's gone again, then returns, once more stumbling in the darkness. She hits him in the head with the water bottle before she realizes where she's standing.

"Sorry! Sorry. Here." She reaches out with a hand, tracing his hair to his shoulder to his hand. "Damn. You need a haircut, James. Probably a shave, too. You were looking scruffy earlier."

James leans into Sharon's hand, eyelids fluttering. "I know," he says quietly, "Guess I'm going to learn how to shave blind now." He sighs, "Or I guess you can shave me every morning." He smiles at her, but he's sagging to the side, tired, his body still not responding to him. "Come on, sit down next to me."

Her hand stills as she feels him lean into it, and for a moment, her thumb strokes his cheek. After a moment, she moves to sit beside him, taking his weight. She'd drunk some water outside, enough to sate herself for now.

She rests her head on his shoulder. "I'll shave you. I don't want you cutting yourself by mistake." She pulls his arm around her, knowing by now that it makes him feel better. "I'd rather be the one cutting you by mistake."

James is glad for her pulling his arm around her and leans on her just a little. "You won't cut me," he says. "I trust you." And he does. "But I think we should try to get to safety before you shave my face."

"Mmm," she agrees. She's already half-asleep. His body is warm, and she curls up tightly under his arm. "Sorry I'm getting you wet," she murmurs. Even her hair is dripping, and she's glad she can't see what a bird's nest it must look like.

She'd be glad to tell him that she wouldn't cut him, maybe tease him about his hair, but she's already asleep.

"I don't care," he whispers back, curling around her in return.

He wakes a while later, his arms and legs back to being numb. He tries to move and nothing happens. At least this strange paralysis isn't taking away his ability to breathe or speak. Still, he hopes his ability to walk will come back if he sits here long enough. Sharon won't be able to carry him, no way, and he has the feeling she won't leave him here alone, even if there was a chance she would be able to get to safety and then get back to him.

By the time she wakes, the cave is filled with a faint gray light again. She rubs her eyes and squirms to scratch underneath her sling. She glances at Bucky. She studies his features for a moment, but his eyes are still unfocused. Whatever's happened to him, it hasn't passed yet.

"I'll go see if it's safe out."

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