Voodoo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
boston_bruiser) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
milliways_bar2012-01-09 05:42 pm
boston_bruiser) wrote in milliways_bar2012-01-09 05:42 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
[OOM: The search for Rabbit and Mother comes to an end. And AFO Neptune loses a man.]
Voodoo doesn’t even look up as he comes into Milliways. He shuffles toward the Bar, his head bowed, his face and gear caked with snow, dust, mud, and blood, his arms sagging under the weight of Rabbit’s carbine.
His shoulder’s still dislocated, but he doesn’t feel it anymore. It’s long since been replaced by another kind of pain.
He takes a seat at the Bar and sets the carbine next to him.
“Bar. A glass of water, please,” he rasps. It appears, and he slides it toward himself.
“Thank you.”
A napkin appears.
“I’m fine.”
Another napkin.
“Just…just leave me alone.”
Botherable, though he may not want to admit it.
Voodoo doesn’t even look up as he comes into Milliways. He shuffles toward the Bar, his head bowed, his face and gear caked with snow, dust, mud, and blood, his arms sagging under the weight of Rabbit’s carbine.
His shoulder’s still dislocated, but he doesn’t feel it anymore. It’s long since been replaced by another kind of pain.
He takes a seat at the Bar and sets the carbine next to him.
“Bar. A glass of water, please,” he rasps. It appears, and he slides it toward himself.
“Thank you.”
A napkin appears.
“I’m fine.”
Another napkin.
“Just…just leave me alone.”
Botherable, though he may not want to admit it.
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Ellen knows that look.
She'd been about to head for the door herself- she's got people to track down- but time doesn't pass back home. This... this is more important. She's just going to quietly pull up a stool next to Voodoo and gesture to Dogmeat to sit down nearby as well.
You have to start somewhere.
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"Hey," he rasps.
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She might scootch her stool a little closer, if she can manage it.
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He takes another sip of water.
"We lost a man today."
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She might- might- put a hand on his shoulder, if he'll let her. At the first sign of a flinch or a pulling away, the hand will drop without hesitation.
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"It was Rabbit," he rasps. "My swim buddy. Knew him since BUD/S. Known him for ten goddamn years."
He takes a sip of water.
"And some extremist fucks kill him in two hours."
His hand starts trembling ever-so-slightly.
If Ellen looks closely, she might be able to see the blood from the DShK graze on his neck, or the bullet holes in his vest.
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( "Run. Run!" )
"How'd it happen?" she says, trying not to think of the Memorial rotunda, or men in black power armor. "I mean- you don't have to say, if-"
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She gestures surreptitiously to Dogmeat, who gets up and leans his head against Voodoo's leg. There have been very few times since that dog came into her life when having him close at hand did not make a horrible situation more bearable for her. Perhaps it will help Voodoo, at least a little bit.
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It's not much, but it's something.
A thought occurs to him. "Bar."
A napkin appears.
"Gimmie today's paper."
Napkin.
"I don't know. The Times. Herald. Whatever."
The New York Times appears, and Voodoo leans over it, checking the date.
When he sees it, his face goes blank.
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"What is it?"
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"It's my birthday," he rasps, tapping the date.
He hangs his head. "I'm 29."
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Other than, after a moment, "I keep forgetting you're only about ten years older than me."
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"I had an instructor once. Master Chief John Jaeger. Chief instructor for the course, back in '91. He lined us up against the wall after the first day, had the bell right in front of him. Started talking."
( If you graduate, you will be our country's best and brightest )
"'If you graduate, you will be our country's best and brightest.'"
( you will be the first in and last out )
"'You will be the first in and last out.'"
( this comes with a drawback )
"'This comes with a drawback.'"
( three-quarters of you will be wounded in the course of your careers )
"'Three-quarters of you will be wounded in the course of your careers.'"
( a quarter of those injuries will require medical discharge )
"'A quarter of those injuries will require medical discharge.'"
( half of you won't live to see your thirtieth birthday )
"'Half of you won't live to see your thirtieth birthday.'"
( if the sound of that does not appeal to you, ring out now )
"'If the sound of that does not appeal to you, ring out now.'"
"I didn't ring out. I thought he was bluffing. Don't know why." He rubs at his eyes, scratches Dogmeat's ears.
"Rabbit was 29," he adds, almost as an afterthought.
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"Did he have any family? Or were you his family?"
(Not blood-kin. She's not asking that. But these days, the Brotherhood is all the family she has; for someone like Voodoo, like Rabbit, it might well be the same.)
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He clutches at the glass again, takes a sip. "'s how he got his callsign."
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Ellen vaguely recalls reading about rabbits as symbols of fertility in ancient times. Come to think of it, there's always rabbits outside, even if Dogmeat goes through as many of them as he can chase down.
"Um," she says, doing her best not to blush any harder than she absolutely has to. "I guess I- I didn't think of that."
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"'m going to my room. Haven't slept."
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If not, she'll understand, and leave to hunt down the people who took Dave. Either way, she's going to be doing a lot of praying tonight. It sounds like more than a few people could use it.