E. B. Sledge (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
withtheoldbreed) wrote2015-01-05 07:52 pm
withtheoldbreed) wrote2015-01-05 07:52 pm
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.]
... 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.]
[Private]
[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.
[Private]
(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?
[Private]
[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.
[Private]
Or maybe he wouldn't have, but here we are.]
[Private]
Might've. I don't know your friend. It's not for lack of interest.
[Private]
Goin' after him like you're doin' with me isn't gonna do you any favors. You're not our CO, he won't take you seriously, and frankly, he shouldn't. You're not his warden, either.
Treat him like he's a person and not a wild animal who's gonna go after your friend, and you might actually get somewhere with him.
[Private]
[Private]
[Private]
Then I do need to get there with him.
[He needs to intervene, is what he means.]
[Private]