A Drink Alone

Posted on 26 Sep 2023 @ 6:05pm by Lieutenant Callisi Veera & Ensign Unknown 'Weirdo'

1,736 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Miranda
Location: Observation Lounge

In the observation lounge, things were quiet. The hum of the engines was ambient noise against the silence of the room. The room was empty, as most of the crew was dealing with the illness going around, but here there was a Daughter of Ts'usu. Stack of PaDDs on one side, three mugs of tea on the other. Adding to her wardrobe was a piece of cloth around her mouth and nose, which she only moved out of the way to sip her tea. Tap tap tap on a PaDD, move to the next one. A cough, a sip of tea, and then return to the motions.

Her seat was far from the doors, far from wherever anyone would enter. Isolated, as the rabbitess always felt, but now more so than ever.

The door opened to admit a tall man with a wild mane of curls and sea-coloured eyes. The eyes were not as radiant as usual, the hair was damp with sweat. He strolled over to the nearest replicator, muttered an order, grabbed the large mug which appeared and moved on towards the large viewport. He leaned against it and looked around, quietly observing Callisi for awhile.

She noticed him, impossible with that vibrance, but it was only by the grace of her prosthetic that she really could actually see him. "Keep your distance." She warned, hoarse voice through a cloth mask of sorts, "Whatever it is, I've got it." She cautioned before turning back to her paperwork, relying more on the eye that couldn't hurt, rather than the one that most certainly did.

"Oh, no worries then." He pushed away from the window and walked over. "I've been helping out in sickbay for the last… uh…" It was quite unusual for him to lose track of time, but the hours had seemed to flit by like seconds, and at the same time seemed to drag like days. He settled for "awhile. Anyway, I figured that since I didn't catch it by now I'm probably immune for it, but I couldn't be sure I would be a carrier. Anything I can do for you?"

The answer to that, he knew, was probably 'not much'. That had been the defining line in sickbay, too. Make people comfortable, put them on beds or cots or wherever they could put them, keep them warm, give them fluids and make sure they didn't hurt themselves if they became delirious. Hour after hour after hour.

His offer to help was met with a look, no massive but more consideration. Rather than shooing away aid, like she normally would, she recognized that this was something she couldn't afford to be sidelined by. "Yes." She started.

A good pause between her declaration and her next statement. "Honey, for the throat. They say it helps, whatever it is. Ice, for my eye. The real one. It, it hurts. More tea, please. And thank you."

He set his mug down on the table and walked back to the replicator with quick steps. A few moments later he came back with the requested items. "This is honey, you can either eat it as is or mix it with your tea. Herbal tea with chamomile and mint, both suitable for you and said to be soothing. Ice pack for your eye, and a bowl with some ice cream. If you pour some honey over that, that might also soothe your throat. And give you more sustenance than just tea." He pulled up a chair and dropped down in it.

She placed the bag of ice over her good eye with such fervor that there was a concern she would hurt herself doing it. Whatever relief it offered soothed her for the moment. Heavy breath after heavy breath, chest rising and falling. She held her head back for a moment to just let the ice pack sit there and do... whatever it was that soothed the rabbitess. Her prosthetic focused through the fabric of the eyepatch, looking, looking, looking... and then Callisi reached up and undid the strap holding the patch in place. The full glory of her artificial eye was on display.

"Easier to see." she explained. The prosthetic was, oddly enough, breathtaking. Anodized blue metal frame, an optic riding along circular rails set in a placeholder within the socket. A blue dot illuminated the point of focus, the pupil... if you would. It was so alien in design, and yet...

Before it could be admired, the eye focused on the honey, One hand on the ice pack, the other reached down and dabbed a small spoon into the honey so she could take a sample. That face. That was the face of someone who did not like honey. "Too sweet." she offered, before scooping up a spoonful to mix into the new batch of tea. Too sweet, but if it would give ANY relief, she'd stomach it.

IF she could stomach it.

He barely glanced at the prosthetic eye, partly because he knew that under normal circumstances she wouldn't have removed the patch, partly because even his own natural curiosity had taken some hits after running around in sickbay and seeing wave after wave of people he just couldn't help – more than half of the medical staff among them, the others keeping themselves going, for the most part, by sheer force of will.

"There are syrups which are less sweet and which should do the trick as well," he offered, leaning back in his chair and sipping from a dark brown fluid. "And there's chicken soup, which is also a traditional nourishment, or plomeek soup if you're more vegetarian-inclined."

Callisi sseemed to be the latter. Duty and demand seemed to be the fuel for this engine. She couldn't give up, she couldn't give in. Not again. They were counting on her. She moved the makeshift mask back down to sip at the tea. Sip, being a generous term. She took almost an entire gulp, seemingly disregarding the temperature, and winced again either at the burning, or the sweetness, of the honey infusion. "T.... that's terrible. Works though." and she returned to her tasks. Paperwork, PaDDs... she seemed to be alright now aside from the pain and the throat and...

She was leaving smudges on the PaDD where she touched it. Ts'usugi didn't sweat through their skin like people did. They sweat through the pads on their feet, and the pads of their hands and fingers. No wonder the paperwork was taking so long.

"No chicken. Nothing...." huff huff, ".... nothing solid. Too solid.... hurts coming back."

"Understood. Though both versions can be pureed, making it a creamy version… Hang on, one moment." And he was up again, even tired as he was he never seemed to be able to sit still for long. Off he went, to the replicator and back again, carrying a bowl of pale green soup in one hand and a pile of paper napkins in the other. "Here, try this," he said as he set the bowl in front of her. "What's so urgent about the paperwork then?" he asked when he sat down again.

She eyed the soup for a moment before putting the PaDD down and wiping her hands off with one of the paper napkins. "It has to be done. A ... a little thing like a cold can't stop it." little thing, indeed. "They're all counting on me." she hesitantly droped the mask enough for her to try a spoonful. Like or dislike, she gave a nod. "I'll have more later, not hungry right now."

She replaced her makeshift mask, holding one of the PaDDs carefully. The contents of the PaDD looked to be a personal log, rather than any official paperwork. Where she tapped, how she tapped, there was an issue.

"These are the worst, the letters home. Takeshi knew the risks. Fell in the line of duty. Died fighting the enemy."

"You can use the napkins to wipe your hands with, absorbs some of the sweat," he provided. He didn't frown at her last statement, but he did wonder… "Who is Takeshi, and which enemy would that be?"

"Natsu Takeshi. Ground troop third rank, just about to earn his first moon. Was." she muttered, "Almost through with his Three, he..." a coughing fit, five, maybe six good heavy coughs. Another big sip of tea, another wince. Another heavy breath. At his question, though, she gave him a look.

"Everyone knows that. It's in the commencement." she shook her head, "Greetings cadets. You have been chosen by the Empire to defend our frontiers against the enemy, the Koldaran armada." she recited, voice cracking at the end demanding more tea. "Everyone knows th.." and she paused, and while her prosthetic couldn't emote, it sure had a long stare to it... Wherever she was, it wasn't here.

Her optic blinked, a cycle of light off, light on... and she looked over at the madcap weirdo, Weirdo.

"I don't feel good." she said, weak. soft. Almost embarrassed.

"You and half your shipmates, love," he said gently. "Leave the paperwork for now. It can wait. Nothing there which can't wait a day or two. Here, why don't you take a rest? Let me help you up, now… I can take you to a place where we can look after you." He finished his drink and rose, reached out to take Veera's arm.

It would seem his break was over.

Pride and confidence demanded she try to stand. Common sense took over and his help was needed. She was burning with fever. "M... my patch." she hesitated, reaching for it like a security blanket. A deep breath, as though to summon the strength for each step to come.

"Of course." He picked it up with his free hand and gave it to Callisi. "Would you like me to help you put it back, or would you rather just take it with you?" He'd come back later to clean up the bowls, cups and PADDs. First things first, and getting her to sickbay, or wherever they wanted to put the overflow of patients now, was definitely 'first'.

"I... I can do it." she claimed the patch back and, with a little fumbling, secured it back into place. Her dignity restored, now she was ready to be lead to sickbay, or the overflow.

 

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