(no subject)

[mr_gaeta]

[Not-quite-OOM, just prior: Physical therapy.]


"One more" turns into three more exercises by the time Gaeta departs the infirmary. Awful as he felt, it didn't feel right to leave off after so few; at least this way, he isn't wasting his or Dr. Tam's time with such a brief session.

Whether he'll be able to move from the couch he just collapsed on is another story. After requesting a glass of water from a waitrat, he gulps down three painkillers (the usual dose is two, but frak it, he hurts so much right now) before stretching along the couch's full length. Some minutes later, the same waitrat returns with a silver tray.

Gaeta eyes the tray's contents. "Um."

The rat chitters.

"Sorry for the language, but...what the frak is that?"

Squeak.

In lieu of pointing out that he doesn't speak rat, Gaeta just sighs, scoops up the small -- very colorful -- magazine, and opens it to take a look.

Apparently there's a tie-in comic book series for that famous squopera, Tentacles of Our Waves. Who knew.



[ooc: in and out for a bit, but back for good at 10 PM eastern!]

Comments

[electro_kinetic]

"...Okay, that looks weird," comes the (somewhat concerned) remark from Noriko, who is for right now standing with her head cocked to look at the comic cover. Her bright blue hair is braided up into a mohawk with yellow and black ribbons in the cornrows, and the loose strip of hair is itself divided into tiny braids with a yellow or black bead at the ends.

"Are those...squids?"

[mr_gaeta]

"Looks like," says Gaeta, very dryly, as he glances over the top of the comic. Her hair gets a brief, curious glance, but no comment.

"I think one of them's, um..." He flips back a couple of pages. "Pretty pissed off because its kid wants to date a clownfish. What the frak's a clownfish?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Little orange-and-white fish. They're tropical. Like Finding Nemo."

How she knows about that movie, the mun doesn't want to know. "Why would a squid want to date a clownfish?"

[mr_gaeta]

"Finding what? -- never mind," he decides, paging back to his earlier spot.

There's only so much confusion and culture clash he can handle at the moment.

Considerably more deadpan: "Apparently love knows no boundaries. Or, ah. So the younger squid claims."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

...did somebody say 'comic book'?

Steve, looking for a place to work on some of his latest drawings, sees the comic--and a familiar face.

And forgets that they met when he was a foot shorter and many pounds lighter.

"Hey, Lt. Gaeta! What's the book you're reading?"

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta instantly raises his head at his name. He frowns; for a beat, he looks past Steve, searching for whoever called him.




Slowly, his gaze winches back around in Steve's direction.

Just as slowly, his eyebrows lift almost all the way to his hairline.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

And people had stopped giving him that look.

Mostly.

"Oh," Steve says, "yeah. It's Steve Rogers. We met a few months ago?

"I, uh, joined the army."

[mr_gaeta]

"No frakking kidding," he says, a bit weakly.

(He has to admit: now that Steve doesn't look like he'd snap in half in a strong breeze, he's...well. Gaeta loves Louis wholeheartedly, but there's no harm in looking for a second.)

"A few months?" He tents the comic book on his stomach. "What the hell kind of rations are they feeding you?"

[fireinthehole]

Meanwhile, Boyd Crowder is in an armchair, with something less colorful. (Steinbeck.)

"Don't look like anything I read when I was a kid," he remarks, absent.

[mr_gaeta]

"It's not anything I read as a kid, either," says Gaeta, glancing up. Dryly, "I'd remember."

[fireinthehole]

"Least it's new."

As usual, Boyd has something brown in a glass. He drinks from it now.

[mr_gaeta]

"And it's certainly showing a side of marine life I didn't ever think of contemplating." Still dry.

A brief glance at the page, and then he splays the comic book on his stomach to mark his place. "How've you been, ah..."

He pauses, searching his memory, and winces silently when it comes up blank.

"I'm sorry, sir, I can't remember you name."

[wheatencrown]

Demeter hasn't been looking for Milliways or avoiding it but its complicated.

She feels like she used to feel of Olympus after well, after that Winter and she frowns when Milliways appears in her potting shed, she says, "I don't appreciate this but I do have responsibilities here."

When she spots Felix, she smiles, its slow and quiet and moves to find a place near him.

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta doesn't notice her approach right away; the comic book's drawing most of his attention. (And confusion. Right now, his whole forehead has wrinkled up in a perfect expression of what the frak.)

When his focus diverts during a page turn, though, he catches sight of a familiar figure. He raises his head -- and soon, he's returning the smile, small and exhausted but still genuine.

"Lady Demeter," he greets her.

[wheatencrown]

She also looks tired, Milliways has lately been reminding her of her family,

"Felix, reading anything interesting?"

[mr_gaeta]

"Interesting's one word for it." Despite himself, his mouth quirks with amusement. Folding the comic book closed, he holds it up for Demeter to take a look. "It's...apparently based off a television show."

[cbucsrule]

If there's one person who's been on his mind even more than Kara Thrace, it's Felix Gaeta. Since that time they met, he's been wracking his brain trying to imagine a scenario where the shit Felix told him could possibly come true and he can't do it. For the life of him, he can't imagine shooting the guy in the leg. Frak, he doesn't even think he's gonna survive going back out that front door, never mind surviving three years to pull a trigger on someone who's definitely not a toaster.

Since casual's the only way he knows how to be about it, he rests a hand on Felix's shoulder on the way by.

"Hey, man. How are you doing?"

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta does not startle, but it's a very near thing. The pages of the comic rustle as he snaps his attention up to Sam.

Part of him had hoped, dimly, that he'd hallucinated Anders showing up in the infirmary. Well...hope's scarce enough to come by anyway. It fits.

"Anders." There's no malice, but there's not much else in his voice, either. It's not the Anders you know. "I'm, ah. I'm making do."

[cbucsrule]

Man. He's seen people blank and shell-shocked. He's seen them concussed and injured and on all sorts of pain meds. The symptoms are unmistakable. With a thing like this, it's gotta be allowed. Losing a limb, it's one of the last things he'd wish on anyone.

He guesses it's better than dying, although in his own case it'd probably kill him not to be able to move around. But whatever, he's got all the empathy in the world for the situation but doesn't want to be overflowing with sympathy or pandering or anything.

"Hey, you okay if I join you?" A hand goes up, instantly and defensively. "If you'd rather I didn't, no problem. I understand."

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta shrugs, mustering up a wan and unfelt smile. "Sure, if you want."

It's a free bar, after all.

[ellectrical]

For, well, a while now, Elle's been sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring at the fire with her now-usual vacant expression. She didn't look up when Gaeta collapsed on the couch, nor when his order was delivered, but then again, she also hasn't looked up for anything in a while.

But then, as though with the flip of a switch, she moves - closing her eyes and standing almost entirely in place. She opens her eyes as she turns from the fireplace, and then, it seems, notices Gaeta for the first time.

Her expression doesn't change. But she does take a step toward him.

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta isn't as fully aware of his surroundings as he might ordinarily be. There's the comic; there's the exhaustion; there's also the meds, which, while not nearly as strong as a shot of morpha, are doing their damndest to blur his concentration.

When he finally catches movement from the corner of his eye, he looks up.

It's been some time since he last saw Elle; he can't place her right away, and blinks, uncertain.

[ellectrical]

Either she doesn't know how to read his expression, or she just doesn't respond to it.

But after a couple more steps she does ask, in a flat tone, "What are you reading?"

[awesome_lilly]

A tequila shot pops up on the bar. So does a napkin.

Compliments of Lilly Kane, for being interesting.

Aka, for reading the Tentacles of Our Waves comic book in public. There are well-drawn scenes where the characters are even more entangled than the plot, which may not mean much unless you're well versed in squanatomy, but still!

[mr_gaeta]

Luckily, Gaeta has not yet figured out exactly how two squids behave when they love each other very, very much.

(Or just want to make that asshole Squephen jealous, anyway.)

When the waitrat returns five minutes later with the shot and note, Gaeta blinks as he looks it over. Lilly Kane isn't a name he recognizes, and for a moment, he's afraid it's because he met her and forgot. Reassurances from the rat prove otherwise; rats, it turns out, can do a very good job of miming them she's giving out shots to lots of people.

He sighs, heavy and reluctant. "I can't drink it," he says. "I'm sorry. I just took my meds. Could you send her my thanks and apologies?"