withtheoldbreed | d-day + 52 ✯ video

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d-day + 52 ✯ video

[It's relatively early in the morning when Sledge clicks on his video feed, and he looks tired, maybe even exhausted. It's also obvious he's not in his own cabin - the room behind him looks more like a shack, and although it might not be as clear, he's sitting on the floor, half leaning against the legs of a cot. One of Snafu's arms is visible, hanging limply off the side of the cot like he's just asleep.]

... Snafu's in a coma. [The word sits uncomfortably in his mouth, and it kind of shows in his face. He's read about barge comas obviously, thanks to Chromie's welcome packet, but it's one thing to read about it, another to try shaking your buddy awake and not be able to, no matter how hard you try.

He takes a breath and steels himself, trying to push it back and get what needs to get done, done.

(Except his eyes still look pretty dead, but that's not really anything new.)]

I'm gonna need a hand getting him to the infirmary.

[Private to Kieren]

I thought it'd be better than just leavin' him here. [It's what the pamphlet suggested, anyway, and he sort of feels more comfortable leaving his friend with people who can monitor him and make sure he doesn't get worse (if that's even possible?), but he still sounds uncertain. Like maybe this - making decisions about his friend's well being - is overstepping.

Which is weird to think about someone you've pretty much been physically stuck with for over a month, but here we are.]

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[Gene barks out a noise that sounds more or less like a soft laugh, and one corner of his mouth rises in a wry, playfully offended smile.] Thanks.

[He's vaguely tempted to say that he's not sure if he's supposed to be taking that as a compliment or not, coming from Kieren, considering how the other guy looks, but he doesn't know him well enough to tease like that, and he's not sure if the guy'd get upset about it or not. He's never had to seriously think about what might hurt a zombie's feelings before.

But yeah. He knows.]

Edited (Fusses!!) 2015-01-07 13:00 (UTC)

What's he like? Snafu.

[He's been meaning to ask. Really, he's been meaning to check up on the man in person, but obviously that won't do much good now. He's heard a bit from Kieren, and he knows -- now, if he didn't before -- that Gene is his friend, but not much else. He needs to know who it is Kieren's gotten himself wrapped up with; how good or bad it could potentially be.

Belatedly, he realizes this might not necessarily be the best time to get what he wants.]

If you don't mind my asking.

He's a good marine. [Which is pretty much the highest compliment you can give someone - from Gene's perspective - and he sounds very firm in this assessment.]

Can I ask why you're asking?

Because Kieren Walker is his warden.

[He doesn't bother to clarify that any further. He and Kieren are connected clearly enough by the way they look, by the white in their eyes and the black around their fingernails. Whatever else is between them -- and Simon is proud of and pleased by it, whatever it is -- that's not something he needs to flaunt here and now.]

He's not gonna hurt him, if that's what you're worried about.

[Not physically, anyway. Probably.]

[He smiles a little more, and even though it's little more than a lopsided smirk it's more than he usually does.]

Think the point was to get me outta your hair, but you seem plenty happy to see me, now.

[He wonders, silently, why he felt compelled to even do this. He'd settled into the work at the kitchens with some difficulty, honestly-- he really hadn't done much more than make coffee, and it's not easy to go from that to preparing massive amounts of food for others. But at the end of his shifts, now that he knows a little more, he feels strangely satisfied. Like he's done something good, something productive. He's not sure what it means yet.

But he gets that bringing Gene this is about more than doing his work right. He's glad for Gene's sense of humor, the banter familiar and comfortable; he realizes he's also glad that Gene seems to feel a little better.]

[What a glowing commendation for your friend, Gene.]

Anything else I should know?

[It's a little snide, and again, he makes himself soften.]

Anything that... someone should keep an eye out for?

[Hey look, he's a shitty friend, but he's Gene's shitty friend.]

Like what? [That comes out a little defensively, or at least like he's challenging him. Even if Simon corrected himself, the snide-ness doesn't sit well with him.]

[Gene shrugs easily, still smiling.] It's been a weird morning.

[Which is kind of an understatement, but he doesn't want to talk about it in detail. Not with Jimmy, not with anyone, really, because it's stupid and he's tired of feeling messed up. It was just a nightmare. No reason to feel so shaken up about it.

So it's easier to just leave it at that and go back to eating. You can't dwell on it.]

[Fair enough, really. He has no real interest in making friends with Gene, but for Kieren's sake, he adopts a rueful expression.]

Anything Kieren ought to know and wouldn't from the file.

[Anything that could hurt him, is what he really means. Snafu won't, Gene said, but Simon already knew that in the physical sense anyway, because there's not much hurting their kind to begin with. Emotionally, though, spiritually...

It's like he said -- he wants to know what he should be looking out for.]

No. [Not that Gene's read the file, but considering how thorough Jimmy's had been, he has a hard time believing you wouldn't get a very good idea of what you're dealing with from reading anyone's file.

Or, at least enough of one to know vaguely what to expect. There's a lot else that Gene honestly doesn't believe either Kieren or Simon is ever going to understand short of the Admiral dumping them all on Peleliu, the same way they'd probably assume Gene and Snafu don't know what it's like to be hated just for existing.]

There anything I should know about Kieren? Or you?

[The second part of the question might not have come out if he wasn't tired and cranky to begin with, but he's polite enough in how he phrases it. Still a little challenging, but not openly pissed off or frustrated.]

[He stays silent for a while, letting Gene eat his breakfast in quiet. He drapes an arm over the back of his chair, leans back and shoots some looks over at Snafu. It still creeps him out a little, considering this is the first time he's seen someone in a coma, but he's getting used to it. Tells himself it's just like being asleep, and it'll pass, anyway.

When Gene's done he nods at him, satisfied.]

I'll stay here if you need a smoke.

[That's more or less what's keeping Gene from being totally broken up about it. It'll pass. He's not hurt or anything, and it'll pass. There's no real reason to worry.

(Really, he'd be worried if things had been different, but he's more shaken up having discovered it on the heels of a nightmare. He has them a lot, about pretty much everything, but most often he's in the dark, with someone sneaking into his foxhole to stab him or Snafu or Burgie to death, and he's fallen asleep on watch and doesn't stop it in time. Waking up on the heels of one of those and then not being able to wake Snaf up was kind of terrifying, even if his rational brain has kicked back in.)

He sets the plate aside and gives Jimmy another sort of surprised, grateful look.]

You sure?

[He's not sure why he offered; maybe it's because Gene reminds him of himself, after his surgery in Verdun. He'd been in the trenches for months on end, and suddenly he'd been out. But he couldn't feel happiness about it, because he was alone, because he was alive when he hadn't expected to be, because he was alive when so many others weren't. He recognizes Gene's surprised look when he gets good food, recognizes his nightmares. It was a long time ago, but he'll always get that.

Or maybe it's just because Gene looks like shit, and hospitals only make the sick feel better. Either way, he jerks his head towards the door.]

You ain't gettin' one of mine, though.

[That gets a soft, brief laugh from Gene. The back and forth feels familiar, comfortable, and if he can have Sid or one of his other buddies here right now - excluding, of course, the one currently unconscious on the bed - this is a good temporary substitute.

(Or maybe not, considering he's already been here for two months, and that's a lot longer than he spent on Peleliu.)]

Got my own. [And to prove the point that Jimmy already knows, he slips his hand into his jacket pocket and produces a pack and a lighter. He pushes himself out of his chair, already feeling less off balance and weird.]

I'll be right back.

[He doesn't smile so much as twitch his mouth up, then nods. He's pleased that Gene actually takes the offer: it's not that they're equals all of a sudden, but Gene needs him a little, here. It makes him feel like maybe he's not just some sap Gene has to take under his wing so that he can get his deal.

When Gene comes back Jimmy's taken out his trench knife and he's idly spinning it around in his hands, twirling it a little before sliding his fingers through the handle.]

No.

[There are plenty of things Simon thinks people ought to know about Kieren, actually, but maybe not in this time and place. As for himself... He shakes his head, the corner of his lips curling slightly.]

I think it's enough that you know I came and asked you that question.

It says a lot. [About how he feels about Kieren, and how much he thinks of Snafu, how little he respects his privacy and how much he thinks of himself to expect being given more than what he has. Maybe even how little he actually knows.

(For some reason, it's this moment where he's the most resentful about the Admiral deciding his friend deserves to be an inmate. Gene knows why he is, but this guy hasn't been where they've been, hasn't seen what they've seen, and something in him is quietly furious about it.

It's a strange, unpleasant feeling, but it feels right, too.)

He takes a breath, pushes it back, forces himself to be calm and polite even if there's something sort of sharp in his eyes anyway.]

There a reason why you haven't talked to him yourself?

Why do you say I haven't? It's hard to paint a picture with just one color.

[Well, he hasn't, actually, but only as a matter of circumstance -- he's been watching him every so often when he spots him in the various public places on the Barge, and he'd been planning to go and talk to him before Gene, but--]

Looks like it'd be hard for me to go and have a chat with him right now, besides.

What? That's such bullshit.

[It just falls out of her mouth, thoughtless and sincere, but she doesn't believe for a moment what his words are telling her when she can clearly see that he's not. The bullshit is for the coma, for how it just happens.

Her follow up is for how alright he isn't.]

What happens next? I thought the hospital was free in this place. That's what they keep telling me.

[T'Pol is used to being surrounded with eyes that shine with ambition and eyes that practically absorb light from their surroundings, they're so bleak. She's not concerned with his appearance at all.

Instead, she turns it to her own needs, as she often does.]

A coma. You don't seem concerned for your friend.

[Which is the weirdest sentence she has ever tried to say without sarcasm, for the record.]

[He makes sure that Snaf's already in the infirmary, then just slips out to find Gene. It's not like he really expects him to stray from his friend's side.]

Hey.

It is, ma'am. And I don't know. [He doesn't. Hurry up and wait isn't exactly an unfamiliar concept - not by a long shot - but it's different when it's something like this. Something weird, and unexpected, and pretty shitty even if everyone seems pretty confident that there's not really much to worry about, here.]

Wait for him to wake up, I guess.

[Although it does take a couple minutes for him to come back, Gene doesn't really dawdle. He takes his time, tries to shake off the last fragments of discomfort and fear from the nightmare, but the food and people helping him out has soothed away a lot of it, leaving him mostly just feeling worn out and overwhelmed.

But that's nothing new, so it's easy enough to finish the cigarette and head back into the infirmary. Putting one foot in front of the other, breathing, blinking, continuing to exist, all of that's totally manageable despite the sense of weight on his shoulders.

Jimmy gets another small smile - and Gene doesn't seem overly concerned by him playing with the knife - before he sits down again.]

Thanks. [Again.] You don't have to stay. [The way he says it, it's absolutely obvious that this isn't a dismissal. Jimmy doesn't have to spend the next couple hours sitting in the infirmary with Gene if he doesn't want to, but Gene also wouldn't turn down the company if he felt like sticking around.

Not that Gene's certain he'll be anything even close to good company right now, but he still doesn't mind the idea of having someone around.]

Probably would've heard about it if you did. [Snaf had told him about Kieren, albeit without specifics, really, so Gene feels like he would have caught wind of Simon sniffing around.

Or maybe he wouldn't have, but here we are.]

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