milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Felix is due to be released from sickbay and back to light duty in the next couple of days.

Hoshi would be lying if he didn't admit, at least to himself, that he's worried. He'd rather bite off his own tongue than do anything to make Felix feel worse in any way, but he doesn't know what to do, and he's never felt so helpless in his life.

The doses Cottle's been giving Felix don't seem to be doing the job. It's not Cottle's fault, he's sure of it -- but it's still not enough. It's coming to the point where it takes an effort for him not to wince at the first whisper of song, pure and beautiful though it might be.

It'd taken him some time to make the right connections, but Hoshi's always known more about the workings of the black market than most. It's not the sort of thing anyone talks about, of course -- he'd not even mentioned it to Lee Adama after that whole mess went down -- but the fact remains that the tendency toward barter that was once a way of life for Aquaria's people has served him well now in a different kind of trade.

When Hoshi walks into Milliways tonight, his usually-cheerful face lined with weariness and strain and with a dose of morpha concealed inside his uniform jacket, the sheer chance to be at the bar and away from the strain of life on Galactica for an hour or two is more of a relief than he wants to admit.

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Simon Tam is at a table not far from the door, reading a report on his datapad and drinking some of the multiverse's best coffee.

A peripheral glimpse of the uniform catches his attention, and he glances up to see Hoshi walk in.

It's the movement that catches his eye, and he immediately turns away from the bar to make his way toward Tam instead.

"Doctor Tam," Hoshi greets him.

"Lieutenant Hoshi." He sets down his mug and gets to his feet, offering his hand to the other man. "How have you been?"

His handshake is firm, his fingers a little cool.

"Fine, thanks. A little tired, but that's nothing new."

Especially when covering as many extra shifts as he's been doing for the last while.

"And you, sir?"

"You don't have to call me sir," he protests mildly. "Dr. Tam is fine."

"Force of habit," he admits. "I'll try to remember."

Despite the way his expression hints at strain, his gaze is clear and direct.

"I was wondering if I could take you up on your offer from before."

A pause.

"I'm sure I'll be glad to oblige you, but which offer?"

He unfastens the collar of his uniform jacket and reaches inside, then holds out his hand to Tam.

A capped and sealed injectable dose of morpha lies gleaming in his fingers.

"For the testing," Hoshi explains.

"-- of course. That's, ah, morpha?"

He holds out a hand for the vial.

"Right."

He turns it over without hesitation.

"Thank you."

"Running a full-spectrum test could take a couple of hours," he says, taking the vial. "Do you want to wait, or come back for it later...?"

"I'll wait," Hoshi replies, without even the slightest hesitation. "If that's all right."

"That's fine." He nods. "You're welcome to come to the infirmary with me, or wait out here if you'd prefer that."

He's strongly tempted to follow, but the fact of the matter is that he doesn't want Tam to feel as though he's looking over his shoulder.

"It's okay," he says, quietly. "I'll be here."

Half a beat.

"Thank you, Doctor Tam. I appreciate it, and I know Felix will too."

"You're welcome," he says quietly. "I'll be as quick as I can."

That as quick as I can takes less time than he'd expected. Slightly more time than it has to, but only because he insists on running several of the tests again to be certain. False positives are always possible.

There's no change in the results. THC and morpha are dangerously incompatible.

Simon emerges from the infirmary and heads toward where Lieutenant Hoshi is patiently waiting, the words I'm very sorry already forming on his lips.

"You look like you could use a drink."

Her voice is low and sympathetic, and it comes from close by.

Despite everything, the sound of her voice calls a small smile to his face.

"Lady Aphrodite," he murmurs, with respect and a hint of the bright-eyed wonder that had been such a part of him before.

"You're likely right about that."

For that matter, he feels like he could probably use several of them, but since he'll have to go back on duty as soon as he's done here --

"Would you let me buy you one as well?"

Edited 2012-05-22 03:41 (UTC)

She giggles.

"Like a trade? I'll surprise you if you surprise me."

"I'll do my best," Hoshi promises, and turns to Bar.

"Bar, ma'am, might I have a glass of ambrosia for Lady Aphrodite?"

The glass that appears is long-stemmed, not unlike a cordial glass, and filled with what appears to be green wine or liqueur of some sort.

Edited 2012-05-22 04:04 (UTC)

Aphrodite covers her mouth with one hand, which doesn't at all disguise her delighted laughter.

"Did you call this ambrosia?"

"-- yes, Lady," he confirms, a little surprised at her reaction.

"Is -- that's okay, isn't it?"

"Oh-- of course," she says, shaking her head.

"It's just ... well. The mortals where I'm from made a drink out of it too, I guess. You did promise me a surprise."

She takes the glass in slender fingers and holds it carefully, admiring the way the liquid catches the light.

"Let's see ..."

A smile.

"This reminds me of absinthe. Bar? Could I try a very traditional absinthe, for the gentleman?"

Two glasses appear: one filled with green liquid and one with iced water. There is also a small bowl of sugar cubes and a spoon.

"We - they did?" He looks delighted by the similarity, a pleasure which quickly turns to mild confusion as he stares at the array of things laid out on Bar's top.

"I'm sorry, Lady, I'm not sure what the, er, tradition is," Hoshi admits, sheepishly.

"I'll be happy to show you," she says demurely.

Aphrodite places a cube of sugar on the spoon, which is curiously slotted, and balances it over the absinthe.

"You pour the water over verrrry slowly. Until it melts the sugar away."

She raises the water glass and tips it, gentle.

He pays very close attention, clearly taking in every detail.

"Why?"

Aphrodite grins.

In her head is a half-formed line of myth: sing, o muse, of absinthe green and bright--

"Because," she answers authoritatively.

"It makes it taste good."

"That's fair," Hoshi agrees, with an answering smile.

"Want to try?"

"Uh, sure--"

"Here."

She sets the water glass down next to him and nudges the one with the absinthe, sugar and spoon in his direction.

This will give her plenty of time to drink her ambrosia!

William's reading as Horus sits on the table when Hoshi enters, he looks up at the sound of the door and gets up, picking up Horus.

The look on his face reminds William of Mark being sick and his father limping home, "Sir, what's wrong?"

"It's Mr. Evans - William - isn't it?" he asks, finding a smile from somewhere.

"And Horus. Hello again, both of you."

Hoshi shakes his head.

"Nothing for you to worry --"

We had a war in my home too, only ended a few years ago. My Pa fought and lost his leg in it..."

"--about," he manages, with only the slightest break at the memory.

There's no way he can pour out his worry on a teenager; it's not fair.

"We've had some trouble recently, is all. How are you?"

"Just William, yeah, Lieutenant. What sort of trouble?"

Horus meows and tries to crawl out of William's arms, making him slightly wince as his elbow's almost healed but still a bit tender.

"Lost some people on a mission," Hoshi tells him. "And some were ... injured."

To put it mildly.

Catching the boy's wince, concern flickers across his face.

"Are you all right?"

"Just hurt my elbow, it ain't too bad. I'm sorry to hear that, but you got good doctors?"

The Lieutenant's from a future so there must be far better medicine than in William's time.

Edited 2012-05-24 04:35 (UTC)

"We do."

There's absolute certainty in his tone: Tam seems to have known what he was doing, and Hoshi's sure that Cottle does.

"How about you? Have you been to sickbay - er, to see a doctor for your elbow?"

"It's been cleaned and bandaged by two folks here, it really ain't that bad. I just got tangled in some scrub,"

There's no need to bother Hoshi about it.

"Okay."

He's not even aware that he relaxes a little at that.

"Glad to hear it. And they do have good doctors here."

"Yeah, they do. Good doctors can help a lot, not everythin' but a lot,"

They couldn't make Mark better or get it so his father's leg never hurt but they did some good.

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