i'm half-awake in paisley print -- i can see the world clearly but i have to squint

[herotypical]

Who: [Bad username or site: slaying title= @ livejournal.com], [Bad username or site: hippocraticly title= @ livejournal.com] & [Bad username or site: lists_to_port title= @ livejournal.com]
What: Somehow, Jack has talked his way into helping look after the under-the-weather Doctor McCoy
When: Backdated to Wednesday morning
Where: House Seven
Summary: A lot of awkward silences are predicted.
Rating: PG13? Perhaps higher for implications or language. We'll see.

It was mid-morning on a Wednesday and Buffy was still in her pajamas. After her post-waking-up shower, she decided to slip right back into something comfy and casual. It made the day seem that much more inviting. And her evening had gone latter than expected, tending to the delirium-tinged sickness of Doctor McCoy. She probably doesn't even remember inviting Jack Sparrow over to "help" -- which is all well and good, because if she remembered she would probably rescind the invitation.

She began her day in the kitchen. Coffee had to be made -- for her. Bones was getting lemon in hot water or maybe some NeoCitran knock-off. Plus orange slices, because she has made it her own personal mission to get as much vitamin C into the doctor as she can manage. She took great satisfaction in crisply slicing the fruit, releasing deliciously orangeish smells into the air.

Once the coffee was successfully brewed, Buffy took a tray of everything into the lounge. She gently attempted to rouse Bones from his stupor on the couch.

(ooc; posting order -- bones, jack, buffy? sound good?)

Comments

[herotypical]

She popped another orange slice past her lips, liberating the fruit from its peel. Then, she left the still-full plate behind while collecting empty ones. She could smell booze, but figured it was off of the pirate. She shot him a dubious look.

"Be careful--he'll end up telling you about how flying can make your blood boil."

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"It's horrible; you put your life into the hands of some Goddamn fly boy and sit tight while your body is subjected to changing altitudes, the threat of radiation from UV rays, you get abrasions from the harness if you are wearing the wrong kind of shirt that morning."

Jack would be very fortunate if any of that was coherent enough to understand; his words just kept tumbling over each other and he sounded far too congested, his chest aching as he became more and more heated about this subject, but the alcohol was having a good effect on the surly doctor. Somehow.

"A cracks in the hull can make your blood boil, a solar flare can incinerate you to ashes, it might fall apart in mid air –- oh and there is always the possibility of coming under enemy fire. And that's just swell, you know."

[all7seas]

"Astonishing. Tell me more, lad, about this horrid enterprise of space travel." Jack shot Buffy a quick glance, then loosened his scarf and pulled off the coat. It looked like they were going to allow him to stay.

[herotypical]

Buffy looked queasy. Bones' rant on space travel only puts her in mind of the horrible parts of Kirk being back home. The dangers he could be facing as they spoke--the things that usually rational Bones seemed to be so very frightened of. That meant they had to be somewhat likely, right?

She stepped out of the room quickly to deposit the empty plates in the kitchen.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

McCoy should have just told him to suck it and leave him alone, but talking was a lot better than sitting alone and reflecting on everything. As Buffy excused herself without her usual quip, he did wonder if he was drawing the line ranting about this and he became quieter.

"You know, I thought it would be normal despite all those statistics on shuttle related deaths or the what happened with the Kelvin... travel through space on a big pretty ship, make first contact with a few new civilizations, learn more about the universe out there and write some medical memoirs about the whole thing..."

Not even that sits right with him and he laughed, bitterly. "Actually, I just wanted to get as far away from Jocelyn as I could, even if it killed me to leave Joanna behind..." He lifted his hand to look at the recently reclaimed Starfleet academy ring instead.

[all7seas]

"Joanna?" Jack took a nip from the flask and tucked it into his back pocket, settling himself on the floor beside the couch.

[herotypical]

Buffy, having heard the name of Bones' daughter form the kitchen, decided to stay out there a little longer.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," A low rumble in his throat of confirmation, "My Joanna..."

[all7seas]

"Your little girl, eh?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

McCoy nodded and let his hand fall back onto the couch. It wasn't long before he groped for the drink that he had slammed onto the table in his tantrum earlier.

[all7seas]

A drink that Jack obligingly tops off with whiskey, before taking more himself. Comfortable now, he settles back on his elbows and looks up at the doctor understandingly. "What if you hadn't gone to space, then? What if you'd just have stayed home, tried to work things out with the wife?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"Things wouldn't have worked out." He shrugged, being surprisingly candid with the man who was indirectly responsible for his current predicament, although there was a possibility he would regret all of this later. "Things were in trouble for a long time, but I was too obsessed with work to see it."

The drink was lukewarm now thanks to Jack's top-off, but it still felt cold in his stomach. "They'll be fine.. both of them. They're strong girls, after all."

Verb Tense? What do pirates care for proper verb tense!

[all7seas]

"Strong women, aye. They have to be, to survive." Of course, from Jack's perspective, this was only true because pretty much everyone had to be strong to survive in the early eighteenth century. "They your only family, McCoy?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I didn't have any brothers or sisters growing up... but I did have a lot of extended family members; aunts, uncles and more cousins than I could count," The comment did not illicit any good feelings from McCoy and his voice remained flat and impassive.

"We used to meet up at the Chattahoochee River in the summer. Us kids could run around doing whatever the hell we wanted and our folks would drink and catch up."

[all7seas]

River? Had this Chattawoonchi anything to do with Bones's current fear predicament?

Best not talk about that now, perhaps.

"You ran quite wild as a boy, eh?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"I grew up in one of those southern colonies you hate so much," He retorted sardonically and finally turned his head to look at Jack, "What do you think?"

[all7seas]

"Explains why you can be a bit wild as a man as well, eh? I were under command at the age of eight, Bonesy. Running along a river would have been preferable. Or, better yet, running my own boat."

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

He raised an eyebrow? Wild? That would not be one of the words he would describe himself with.

"I was never that interested.. I just wanted to throw frogs at the girls with the cousins around my age. The older ones had more ambitious things in mind; guess they were like you, in that sense."

[all7seas]

"Oh? Weren't pirates, were they?"

Jack's tone was distracted; he was too hung up on the thing about the frogs.

"Wenches---they liked that sort of thing?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"I'm from the future, remember?" He reminded the pirate sourly and puffed in frustration, although it wasn't clear what. It was easy for him to raise his hand and bonk Jack on the head due to his position on the floor next to that dried out lizard. "They played by the river and ganged together to make a raft."

[all7seas]

Sparrow absentmindedly picked up the salamander and twirled it between his fingers before giving in and sticking the thing in his mouth like a lollipop.

"Aye---sounds like something I'd have done. Did they have any luck with her?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

He tried to ignore the rising nausea; whether it was due to the pirate sticking the shriveled reptile into his mouth or the subject matter? It was difficult to say.

"No."

[all7seas]

Amphibian, Bones: survives on land and water, much like the pirate himself, who has no taste for reptiles, because they remind him of Beckett. The salamander actually had a rather unsuspected nice flavor---the way you savor something ugly like a truffle, or a Portobello mushroom, or a lobster tail.

"The raft, she weren't well-constructed?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

McCoy is a doctor, and not a studier of amphibians or reptiles or any kind of pets, really. In fact, he was unaware of a small mass of orange fur that had entered the room much like Sparrow had earlier, a creature which had snaked itself around the couch sneakily before pouncing up during this conversation and meowing at him softly, pawing at the blanket with its claws.

It amused the doctor. If this animal was capable of speech, it was doing a spectacular job of subjecting him to the silent treatment despite the affection it obviously had. McCoy put his energy into patting at it; better than watching Jack Sparrow suck on a something which had been dead for a very long time.

"No. They were just kids, after all and it.. broke apart in the middle of the river."

[all7seas]

"Bad luck, that." Suddenly something dawned on Sparrow. "No one got hurt, I trust."

He absently observed the doctor coddling the small furry animal; an unexpected side of Bones, certainly.