d-day + 148 ✯ voice + spam

[withtheoldbreed]

There anything that still needs cleanin' up, after all that? [A beat.] Or just a department or somethin' that's a little understaffed?

[Not that he's qualified to do most of the things here, besides work in the library, but...]

I'm still not used to havin' this much free time on my hands. Never thought I'd miss the idea of havin' KP duty. [And he's going stir crazy.

Maybe he should ask Jimmy if he's learned anything worth sharing cooking wise.]

[Open Spam]

[It's strange how quickly things go back to normal, here. A couple days ago, everyone was worried about a murderer being on the loose, and now things are calm again. Gene sits out on deck smoking at all hours, mostly at ease, even if he still has his sidearm and KA-BAR on him at all times, and startles whenever someone sneaks up on him.

At reasonable hours when he's feeling kind of bored and restless, he pops in the infirmary to check on anyone who's still stuck in there, specifically keeping an eye out for friends or just saying hi to Merlin.

He still looks tired more often than he doesn't, but eating regular meals in the mess hall has definitely helped him gain the weight he'd lost on Peleliu back, so overall he looks healthier, less starved. He's taken to running in the Enclosure - still in his uniform, still with his weapons, including his carbine slung over his shoulders from time to time - to try and keep in shape, and if you happen to come in when he's picked the setting, you're likely to be transported to some thick, mostly deciduous forest that's either hot and humid or cool and damp.

(Honestly, it's usually more cool. Even the familiar heat from back home feels too suffocating most of the time, now.)

And of course there's the library and common rooms, where he's either got his nose deep in a book about birds or the (American) Civil War, or scribbling away in the notebook Steve got him for Christmas, brow furrowed in concentration.

(One old haunt he avoids entirely is the chapel. He's not sure if anyone's cleaned up after what happened, but he doesn't want to spend time around a place where a friend got killed. Especially since he hasn't come back yet.)]

[Spam for Snafu]

[One of the first things he winds up doing, though, isn't hitting the library or poking his head in the infirmary. He's in the mess getting breakfast (he's been up since four, but had at least tried to sleep in until six or so), loading his tray with coffee and fresh fruit and water, and spots Snafu sitting by himself, working his way through his own plate of food. They've been kind of avoiding each other since Dillon ripped whatever it was out of the other marine, which is just getting ridiculous at this point. It's been a couple days, so Snaf's had more than enough time to lick his wounds in private, and Gene's pretty certain all that stuff he'd said had been the spirit, not Snafu.

(Pretty certain, even if he still wonders what kernels of truth might have been in his behavior and their last actual conversation.)

So Gene finishes gathering his breakfast and doesn't waste any time debating where he's going to sit: he just walks over and puts down his tray across from Snafu, sitting down before he has a chance to protest. He stabs his fork into a piece of cantaloupe and looks up at his friend like nothing weird had happened before.]

How's your shoulder?

Comments

[thelastbullet]

You miss KP duty so much, you can come over here and slice these goddamn tomatoes. [It's kinda hard when you can only use the one arm. He can still flip eggs and make toast, but cutting and peeling is practically impossible.]

[withtheoldbreed]

All you hadta do was ask. [He says it teasingly, but might already be leaving his room.]

You down there now?

voice btw!!!

[thelastbullet]

Don't you need your beauty rest, Sledge? [That's a yes: there's the noise of people working in the background, and it's early enough that breakfast hasn't started yet and they're just preparing.]

voice!!

[withtheoldbreed]

Still expecting to hear reveille. [It's a joke - Jimmy knows Gene's a bad sleeper, and it only has a little to do with routine.] I'll be down in a minute. How's your arm?

voice!!

[thelastbullet]

Still in this fucking sling. [Isn't it so annoying how slowly bones heal when you're a baseline human.]

voice!!

[withtheoldbreed]

[Not that Gene knows from personal experience, but yes, yes it is.]

At least you've still got it.

voice!!

[thelastbullet]

Gee, thanks for the sympathy, pal. [He's kind of amused, but his voice is mostly blank, like always.]

spam!!

[withtheoldbreed]

[Look, Gene will accept anything that makes you sound a little less dead inside, buddy.

He's down in the kitchen shortly thereafter, doing his best to stay out of everyone else's way as he comes over to find Jimmy.]

What're we making?

omg spam!!

[thelastbullet]

[He's making toast and baking eggs when Gene walks in. He's multitasking, since it's been chaotic, what with them being a member short, and Jimmy being an arm short. At least he's mastered the art of cracking eggs with one hand-- something he demonstrates the moment Gene walks in.]

Breakfast. [He deadpans, but he twitches a sardonic little smile and nods at a pile of fruit in the corner.] Cutting, slicing. Think you can handle that?

SPAM

[badgerms]

[There may have been a few grains of truth to the bile he'd spat at the other marine, but most of it was the parasite twisting his feelings up into a huge knot of bluster and fury. The one Gene's smart-ass twin - his new warden, currently AWOL, a fact which Snafu has been dedicatedly ignoring - had forced out of him. He hasn't been actively avoiding Sledge, but he also hasn't been exactly going out of his way to talk to him or trying to convince him to come back to the Pavuvu cabin or anything either.

He's still been watching him though, mostly when Gene won't see. (It probably shouldn't be this hard to keep his eyes off his buddy, and yet this is an ongoing trend.) So when the other man doesn't pick a different place to sit, when he starts walking purposefully over, Snafu isn't taken by surprise when he sits. He had plenty of time to get up and move if he wanted to avoid him.

Picking bacon off his plate to eat with his fingers, he's silent until Gene talks, eyes flicking over the other man. His shoulder is healing, barely more than a gash now, and it's not like it's the worst wound he's ever recieved. Better an arrow to the shoulder than a bullet through the face.]

Be gone in a couple'a days, most likely. Ain't serious.

SPAM

[withtheoldbreed]

That's good. [Gene says it mildly, but it's still genuine. It's a little strange sometimes to realize that this place can be just as dangerous as any combat zone when shit hits the fan, considering in the mean time they have plenty of food and running water, and a soft bed to sleep in.

Or military issued cots, but regardless. That's better than a coral hole in the ground.

Gene takes a couple more bites of food before saying anything else, still testing the water a little. Part of him just wants to come out and say he's sorry if Snaf thought he was lording his being a warden over him, or thought of the other marine as some helpless dependent who needed to be looked after, because he doesn't and hasn't and won't, but he's not sure how his buddy would react to that. Not that he's sure he knows how he'll react to what he does say.]

How'd it happen?

SPAM

[badgerms]

[Snafu's reaction is... mostly a non-reaction. Maybe a little raise of his brows but it's not like he's going to bring up the things he'd said if Gene doesn't, not yet anyway. The question isn't exactly unexpected, either. He continues eating, talking through a mouthful when he answers.]

Some bitch camped out up a tree shot me with a fuckin' bow and arrow. Least it was easier to avoid than a Jap bullet, or I would'a been laid up death tollin'.

SPAM

[withtheoldbreed]

[It's far from the most disgusting thing he's ever seen Snafu do, so Gene doesn't flinch or make a face when he gets a close look at his squadmate's half chewed food. He looks serious and maybe a little concerned - like something's eating at him, too, but that could easily just be the weird anxiety he's been dealing with since he got here, that sense that the war's over and he doesn't know what to do with himself now that he's not getting shot at - as the other marine explains, and finds himself wondering what happened to who he assumes is Katniss. He's not sure if he wants to know.]

Guess it's good all that's over. [There's no guess about it, really, but he's finding it more difficult to make conversation than he thought it would be.]

SPAM

[badgerms]

[Snaf finishes his mouthful and - possibly unexpectedly, considering he still has half a plate of food sitting there in front of him - puts down his fork casually and turns his attention more fully on the other marine. He doesn't speak for one of his familiar too-long stretched-out moments, taking in the other man, the set of his shoulders and the expression on his face. It's clear there's something more going on with Gene than just asking about Snaf's health.

Loose-limbed and staring, he's silent for a beat or two more, then finally he asks, voice low and maybe curled at the edges with something dark that might be grim amusement or might just be anticipation. It's not mean, though.]

Nips nippin' you, Hammer?

SPAM

[withtheoldbreed]

[Gene stops eating too to stare back at Snafu, less uncomfortable and more anticipatory, not sure what to make of it or where this is going, even if there's a lot of stuff he wants to say. He thinks. Maybe.]

Usually are, [He says when the other man breaks the silence, complete with a twisted grimace that might have intended on being a wry smile. He's not sure if he's just teasing him or asking how he's been sleeping, but it's enough of an invitation that he lets out a short, annoyed breath and starts talking, not really angry but not really casually, either.] I'm tired of this bullshit, Shelton. We're buddies, you don't hafta kick me out and act like I'm some boot whinin' about the weather every time you get ticked off.

SPAM

[badgerms]

[Oh. The words ring through him and reverberate. He's not sure what to say. He hadn't really been sure what to expect but this probably should have been high on his list of guesses. He doesn't really think before he speaks, tipping his head a little, still staring fixedly at the warden.]

That bug that got in me- he hurt your feelings, Eugene?

[It's definitely the wrong thing to say. Snafu's never been much good at saying the right thing. But it wasn't him that said all that stuff Sledge must've been dwelling on. Not really.

(He's trying not to think about that other time, waking up and knowing Gene lived through Snafu's memories, seeing dog tags that didn't belong to either of them in Gene's fist.)]

Re: SPAM

[withtheoldbreed]

No, [He says, knowing it sounds a little too defensive and thus signaling yeah, it did.

He's quiet for a moment, trying to pick what he says carefully, not wanting to look like an idiot or give Snaf even more ammunition to mock him with.] I just didn't know how much of it you meant.

[So he can drop it, if it was mostly the thing. Whatever it was.

And then, a little wryly:]

But if you're tired of listenin' to me scream in my sleep, I've got my own room I can sleep in.

Voice

[punched_hitler]

Oh, you must have truly hit a low to miss KP.

[He is so, so joking.

But he knows how you feel.]

Maintenance might be able to use some people.

Or - have you ever played lacrosse?

Voice

[withtheoldbreed]

Didn't get much of a chance to play a lot of sports.

[Which Steve probably knows, or can guess, thanks to that flood where they'd been turned into children.]

Voice

[punched_hitler]

Probably not, huh?

[Yeah, he can guess - and he knows, firsthand, what that's like.] It means you should make up for it now.

[Clearly.]

Voice

[withtheoldbreed]

Might as well keep in shape. [Fortunately, that comes out more casually than grimly, but. Yeah.] How do you play?

Voice

[punched_hitler]

Might as well. [Come on, you could use the break, pal.] It's a little like hockey, but without the ice. You carry and pass the ball with a little mesh net at the end of a stick, instead of hitting it.

I can show you how, when you've got the time. Or you can ask Stiles or Scott - they're the experts.

Voice

[withtheoldbreed]

I've got plenty of time.

Voice

[punched_hitler]

I guess we all do.

Then how about I show you the basics?

Voice

[withtheoldbreed]

I can meet you in the Enclosure whenever you want.