networkinthenight | [text] @doctorsin [open]

Fair.

... If you don't mind my askin', son, just how old are you exactly?

( beacon ain't so large as all that, an' he thinks he's seen this fella around an' that he's... also exactly the age of gene's youngest brother, an' that he doesn't want him anywhere near anything hard an' bloody. )

[ God, the inevitable question. There's a minute between responses before he finally says; ]

I'm fifteen.

( lordy. )

We'll be in touch if we've a need of you.

[ something tells him they definitely won't so in that case; ]

Great, then I'll be checking in at your clinic everyday.

After all, we all need to work together.

[ meaning, try and stop him. ]

( he'd been shorter than he'd meant to be, but it weren't as if he were lyin'. he rubs the bridge of his nose, hatin' all the more this awful text-to-voice app that puts the soul outta things. )

I didn't say otherwise, son. ( he says that like he ain't all of six years older. but it's a lifetime, when your baby brother's of a like age. ) I ain't too proud to accept or ask for help when it's due, and I wouldn't stand to let anyone die when there's something else could be done beyond my means. I said we'd ask if we needed it an' I stand by that.

[ He sighs on his end, well, at least it wasn't an outright rejection of his help. Getting context from the written word definitely wasn't easy. Maybe he had been a bit rude himself, so he'll switch to voice for this so his tone won't be mistaken. ]

No, it's fine. I shouldn't have been short with you or pushy. So, I'm sorry. [ He replies calmly. ]

But, I meant what I said about checking in every day, even if it's just drop off some supplies for you or give you fresh water for cleaning wounds. I won't get in the way of treatment unless you want me to help. [ It's the best he can do for the time being if they would be reluctant for his help. At the very least he figures he can show them he's willing to be cooperative. ]

[ wade glances over at the screen from where he's sitting next to the other, reading the kid's latest reply over gene's shoulder (even though the text-to-speech function is reading the reply out loud to both of them, the words faintly echoing in the high ceilings of the chapel). he presses his lips together in something like a grimace, doing his best to think of a way to reinforce what his fellow medic's just said without escalating the situation.

when gene opens his mouth to dictate his reply to the tablet, wade pauses, lightly touches his arm to get his attention. ]

Don't want him to get more hostile. We can make him feel needed without him being underfoot.

[ healing abilities or no, fifteen is too young, as far as wade's concerned. ]

( the only sign of his displeasure is a slight tick to his jaw. he weren't even all that keen to reply to it, since he knows how kids can be. he too was stubborn as a mule at that age, an' twice as hard-headed besides. an' he knows full well he probably went an' made it worse, but. robbie's fixin' to join the war just the same an' gene would rather die than see it through. has died, come to think of it. )

Christ o'Lordy.

( it's a soft exhalation. he reaches for a cigarette on instinct alone, tappin' one up outta its box. )

Well, I'm open to suggestion.

[ and now irwin's doing the same, because it's a vaguely stressful situation and now that gene's brought that option to mind it's hard to think about anything else but the small relief of a smoke. he really should pace himself better than he has been, but it's a thin balance between cutting back too swiftly and not tapering off steeply enough.

it takes a few moments of thought and several re-reads of the conversation's latest message for wade to come up with anything. ]

Well, tell him he's right about needing to work together. Guys like that generally enjoy feeling like they're in the right. [ god knows he'd learned that much during his time dwelling with an excess of 18-year-olds in the military. ] Maybe tell him that he's welcome to come by in case something comes up. That we appreciate the offer, I guess.

( gene shakes his head when irwin goes to light up one of his own, holding his breath against the exhalation as he simply holds his own cigarette out to share. better they're down one than two, an' it'll help with the rationing besides.

wryly, )

You know, it's been a long time since I ain't been the level head in a room.

( he's silent a spell. been a longer time, too, since he had need of anyone else pullin' him back from the edge of some manner of anger. it ain't about the kid at all, except in the most tangential way. that there's kids here, that they're dead, that they've apparently seen enough of war to know healin'. lord, he hates it. )

Thanks.

[ wade gives a small but genuine smile in response to that, handing the cigarette back - gene's turn to smoke, his to talk. there's something comforting to having an almost formulaic give and take. ] Consider it a favor from a colleague.

[ we're in it together now, after all. ]

Better get back to him, though.

Edited 2019-07-06 21:20 (UTC)

( cigarette roulette. gene sighs, offering it back like the changin' of the guard. )

All right. C'mon, let's get back to work.

( gene will... say something to placate the child, an' wade can go back to sortin' all the medicine they've got between 'em, an' that'll be that. )

[ a small noise of agreement on wade's behalf, punctuated by a long drag. as much of a task as dealing with a young man like elden is, it's a lesser concern in the grander scheme of things, especially given that their situation here in beacon doesn't seem to be an entirely safe one - the question of self-identity rosinante had raised when they first met has been answered for him. he is a medic, present tense, as is gene. ]

[ wade hands the cigarette back, then: ] You first. [ a rarity: an actual joke. it's probably telling that most of them tend to take the form of commiseration. ]

Ha.

( gene shakes his head as he stands up, but he waves off that final mouthful of smoke. )

You go on. I'm tryin' to quit.

( also a joke. they're hilarious. )

Don't waste it. I am too, you know. [ he delivers the retort with a straight face, but there's a trace of dark humor behind it. the looming specter of withdrawal is a relatively minor inconvenience in light of the fact that they're both dead, so he might as well joke about it - eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. or go into nicotine withdrawal. whichever. ]

( wade gets the faintest roll of his eyes, an' rather than let the cigarette burn down to ash in wade's fingers he takes it back. )

Fine. ( a wag of his finger. ) But only on account'a you askin' nice.

( he takes that last drag, and then snuffs out the tiny remainder with his bare fingers so's not to dirty up the church floor. )

I've got this nice gal Kara makin' us bandages, too.

[ the somewhat theatrical display is met with a small chuckle on irwin's part, but he just as quickly returns to business. there's a lot they need to get done before explorations start to head out into the unknown. ]

Kara. Don't think I've met her. What's she look like? [ and a pause before he adds: ] We've got ourselves a pretty good collection of staff members, seems like.

[ meaning: job well done. ]

I don't rightly know. Only met her on the... tablet things.

( which isn't any sort of proper meeting at all, but. you know. he waves his hand vaguely.

it's then that the messages from vanitas starts comin' through. gene skims them with the text-to-speech app, an' then glances up at wade. it doesn't bear sayin' that the fellow seems mighty hostile. )

How do we wanna handle this?

[ wade frowns down at the words, again defaulting to reading instead of listening to the synthesized voice.

the boy's standoffishness is overtly apparent even without any way to communicate the tone he would probably use if saying these things out loud, underscoring the reality his reasons for wanting to come to his room and not the clinic - well, his reasons for announcing that he was coming there regardless of what the residents had to say about it - could just as easily be malicious as they could be rooted in issues of a sensitive nature. ]

Could be that he wants to be seen privately for VD, something like that. [ wade's patients have historically been much less shy about such things, but he has to periodically remind himself that he's not in a war zone any more, and that the people around him--with the exception of the man sitting next to him in the pew--aren't coming from one, either, or at least not any war zone the two of them would recognize.

but the fact remains - the instincts necessary to his survival when he was still alive aren't likely to just vanish, and god knows irwin's seen people younger than this fellow rack up kill counts in the double digits. gene, presumably, is thinking the same thing. ] Might also be something more dangerous. You have any thoughts?

( ghosts aplenty america and europe over that've done killin' before they were even the age of majority. he met one little french girl who died at twelve if she was a day who was hell'n'gone proud of slittin' an s.s officer's throat.

you learn to read danger in the air. the tone. the pitch an' yaw of an unsettled soul. this fella an' his veiled what-if leaves him cold. )

Well, I'm the one what's made contact, so. May as well keep on that.

( there ain't much hesitation to him, he just drops his hand down against the holster of his colt, thumbs off the leather strap an' clears it, then holds it out butt-first for wade to take. he ain't had much cause to use it, but he's kept it in fine workin' order just the same. )

Any violence I can't de-escalate by my lonesome, reckon a warning shot couldn't harm none.

( he don't like the idea of causing harm, but if it comes right down to it he'd sooner kill someone else than die. there's folks here what'll be depending on them to do their jobs, an' he won't jeopardize that on account'a someone else havin' a fit. he doesn't want to put it to wade to defend him, neither, which is why he shifts his trench knife in his webbing so it's more easily to hand.

he don't like thinkin' ill of anyone, much less someone comin' for treatment. but it's a cold reality of war an' he ain't one for livin' in fairytales. sometimes folks are violent. an' that violence can result in death. he ain't about to take any chances here, not with wade's life or his own. )

[ wade almost brings up the point that this vanitas seemed pretty intent on seeing him, not gene - that doc hicks doesn't need to potentially endanger himself on his behalf - then realizes that in light of his previous conversation with alexios of sparta, saying as much could quite possibly create the distinct impression that the previous confrontation was rooted in a perception of gene as unable to take care of himself, not out of any sort of mutualistic camaraderie.

but there's also the issue of appearing to someone as though he is hiding, as though he is able to be threatened - although perhaps it could be written off as the interchangeability he's tried to convey.

wade gives a tight-lipped smile that doesn't reach his eyes. ]

Sure you don't want the weapon?

[ he knows that it's more useful for a party at a distance from the possible target to be the one with the gun, but still. ]

( the conflict's writ plain in him. wade ain't so inscrutable as all that, an' gene can guess at the source of it. here they are, worlds away from war an' still tryin' to have each other's backs. it's such a soldierin' thing that it makes him ache for all the fellas they've both left behind. lord, he hopes the boys of charlie company are lookin' favorably on him for irwin's sake. he'd hate to have to explain to one of his boys that he let their medic die on his watch. )

I was barely an average rifleman, fella, you'll be fine.

[ wade doesn't verbalize any of his own somewhat hesitant agreement, just takes the gun from his fellow medic and tucks the barrel into his waistband without a word, then loosely covers the butt with the hem of his shirt before glancing back up at him. ]

Can't promise I'm any better. Hopefully we won't find out.

[ but god, he's willing to find out if it becomes necessary - both because they're valuable resources and because he knows gene would do the same in his position--and, for that matter, because as of right now he's the only other person here with any real ability to understand what he's coming from without having to be told about the uncountable horrors staining his memory. ]

Edited 2019-07-11 04:28 (UTC)

( gene gives wade a bracing nod, drops a hand down against his shoulder an' squeezes, an' then goes to take up position nearer the door. may as well wait it out. )

[text] @doctorsin [open]

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don't do this at home kids

shoot your balls off, why not