milliways_bar | (no subject)

[ timed to the day after this entrance ]

This bug gore is nasty.

A scraped and bruised deputy U.S. marshal has been scrubbing at his borrowed armor for the past hour, to little avail, in a booth along one wall.

He's determined to restore the suit to its previous condition before he turns it back over to Ellen, so he approaches the counter with grimy hands and a half-hopeful heart.

"Bar," he says, "there has got to be something that can get this stuff off."

A bottle, a fresh rag, and a clean bowl of water appear.

He lifts an eyebrow.

"Goo Gone?" He shifts his weight, still obviously favoring one side, thanks to yesterday's battle. "No shit?"

A napkin appears next to the bottle.

"I'm sorry. That was unbecoming."

A jar appears next, partially filled with an assortment of coins and bills from all ends of the multiverse.

"A swear jar," Raylan says, his voice flat. "Nice."

He doesn't push his luck too much, though, lest the Goo Gone disappear; he digs into his pocket, wincing at the pull of scraped skin along the back of his hand.

He deposits a smattering of loose change, and the jar winks out of existence, soon replaced by a steaming cup of coffee.

Raylan smiles, despite his split lower lip.

"Thank you."

[ ooc: open forever! or, y'know, till his next ep. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Me too," Ellen says. "I saw how she was wobbling afterwards. That looked way too familiar. I'll do what I can for her while I'm here- I remember being in the infirmary for weeks, last year. If there's anything you think she needs... I mean, the doctors can take care of the medical stuff, but people brought me comic books and a ball to throw against the wall and stuff like that, you know?"

He glances up from the chest plate he's working on, his hand stilling altogether.

"Weeks? You mind telling me what happened? Not that you have to, of course."

"It's okay," Ellen says. "It was a case of radiation poisoning. Back... back home, there was trouble- my father's water purifier for the Potomac tidal basin, the one he'd died protecting? It started malfunctioning, badly, and the only way to prevent it from exploding and destroying twenty years of work and making a lot of people very sick was for someone to go into the control room and switch it on directly. It was so irradiated in there that I don't think they make a Geiger counter with a big enough scale, and I only got out of there because I have a friend who's a mutant who was able to drag me out for decontamination. But I spent two weeks at home unconscious, and then I wandered in here by mistake, and one of the doctors here confined me to the infirmary until I'd had a very thorough course of treatment."

By the bar calendar it was around a year ago. On her side of the door it was a few months. Either way, she's a little surprised she can talk about it without stammering, but time will do that sooner or later.

Raylan appears to absorb this in remarkable stride.

For a given value of "remarkable," anyway.

He tilts his head slightly, eyes never leaving Ellen's as she speaks.

"Holy shit," he says, so low it's almost under his breath.

A beat, and the swear jar reappears.

He pulls a slight face, but ponies up, nonetheless.

"Sorry," Ellen says a little sheepishly. "It's just- it's something that happened, back home. It's not even the worst thing that ever happened, it just put me in the infirmary for a long time."

"Oh, that's nothing you have to apologize for," he says, glancing at the jar with a dismissive shake of his head. "Bar's been having some fun with my choice of words today, is all."

He returns his full attention to Ellen.

"Even if it wasn't the worst, that sounds ... "

A pause.

"Well, I'd say 'rough,' but that doesn't do it justice."

"It's not something I'd want to repeat," Ellen admits. "I was unbelievably lucky to have survived it at all, and if it weren't for this place, I'd probably still be recovering at the Citadel. Or at least assigned to duty in one place instead of out in the field."

He nods.

"Glad you had this infirmary on your side," he says, in what's one of the biggest understatements at the end of the universe.

"How's the purifier now? Still holding up?"

Ellen nods. "The Brotherhood of Steel is running it these days," she says, "and working with Rivet City security to get water caravans safely around the Wasteland. People are really turning to our water supply in earnest now. It's going to be a while before the difference is visible, but I think you can get some hints of it already..."

"Sounds like those are some serious delivery drivers," he says, with a ghost of a wry smile.

"Is depletion going to be a problem pretty soon?"

"I don't think so," Ellen says. "We've got the whole Tidal Basin to work with, and any water that comes in from upriver. And it's the rainy season, which is painful to get caught out in but at least tends to fill up the river itself from what people tell me. So we should be okay there, I think."