thisavrou_log | (no subject)

[ For his own part, Adrien had actually left the MedBay at a reasonable hour so he could get back to the Halfway and shower. He'd dithered over what to wear, before settling on his civilian clothes beneath the black cape, rimmed with blue. A cape might have looked more than a little ridiculous, particularly with the pins on it, but it came along all the same.

Courser, however, had been convinced to stay back in their Unit. It was odd being out and about without the bahari close at heel but Adrien couldn't help feeling like he was inviting a chaperone if he brought the tracker. And that was just weird.

He'd arrived promptly and let her take the lead. The bars weren't the tastiest things, it was true, but they were nutrition and he'd certainly eaten worse over the years. The suggestion that they go to Observation had been met with complete agreement, the doctor appearing particularly at ease in the space.

Allowing her to choose her seat first, he took his own, sitting with perhaps surprising properness; not stiff exactly, but it would have fit in at a formal dinner. When she lead with an apology, he looked over and blinked owlishly a couple of times, before giving his head a shake. ]

Please, there is no apology necessary. [ Adrien said, his tone level as ever. He didn't smile or even grin but he did look over towards her and quirked a good natured eyebrow. ] I'm just that badly out of practice at this sort of thing and I'm afraid I was always pretty rubbish at it.

[She could tell that he didn't really mind, so that made her relax a little. Her own posture was prim and proper enough, but she ended up leaning back a little in her chair. ]

This should be good practice for the both of us, then.

[It had been a while since she had anything close to a date. Danny was the last man she had been with, and things with him had ended terribly. There weren't any expectations here, at least. It was just dinner, and who knew what would happen beyond that.

She wished that she had any belongings here, any change of clothes that meant she would've been able to make herself look as nice as he currently did. But he didn't seem bothered by her wearing the same thing she had been earlier, so she tried to keep her annoyance at not being a little more fashionable to a minimum.]

Do you mind my asking when you last went on a date?

[ The truth was -though he knew better than to admit it- he didn't even give her outfit a second thought. For Adrien it had always been about who a person was on the inside. Clothes, gender, species ... not so much a concern.

He'd torn off a bite of his block, the way you would bread at a fancy table, though he didn't put it in his mouth quite yet. He didn't outwardly wince at her calling it practice, though inwardly he berated himself.

What was he doing here?

Dinner, it's just dinner.

At the question he looked over, appeared to give it some thought, but then his brow furrowed and he asked for clarification. ]

Are we counting time shenanigans?

Time shenanigans should always count.

[She seriously answered, giving a curt little nod of her head. Her own bar still hadn't really been broken into, but she copied him and tore a piece off so she could give it a try. It wasn't the worst thing she had ever had, but it was far from being called good. Still, nutrition is nutrition, and she needs to at least make sure she stays functioning.]

Unless you'd rather stick to non-shenanigan dates. I'm just trying to learn more about you.

[That was what people did when they had meals together, right? Considered a date or not, you spoke and learned about one another. You formed connections.]

[ 'I'm just trying to learn more about you.'

Adrien almost broke and ran at those words. They stuck in his throat like bile and he had to look down at his bit of block to hide his eyes. He wanted to break off another chunk of block and then another after that and to just keep going until it was torn down to shreds, his own appetite fleeing.

He didn't want her to ever know more about him. Yet even as the thought flashed across his mind's eye, he felt the weight of the realization that eventually she would learn and that would be that. Out of the corner of his eye the pins on his cape caught the low lights in the observation.

Yeah, it would come sooner rather than later. But it didn't have to come tonight. He could still try to be the support she seemed to need, the support he wanted to offer, based on the memory of a night of dancing long ago.

Another breath and he boxed it all up, looking up with a pensive expression on his face as he counted years. He still didn't smile or laugh, but he went with what he knew would be the amusing answer. ]

Rounding up? About three hundred and twenty years.

You look good for your age.

[She quickly retorted, not missing a beat. Her own age was up in the air, what with all the time travel hijinks of her own, but she didn't comment on that. She could be self-centered, especially in how she compared her own issues and faults to those around her, but she didn't want to make this entirely about her. ]

Do you want to count this as a date?

[It seemed right to leave the ball in his court on deciding that. A cautious and curious question that had the appearance of seeming easy on the surface. She could tell that he was uneasy about something, and she tried to discreetly look his face over while she waited on an answer.
Studying him was key to figuring him out, especially if he wouldn't be particularly forthcoming with information about himself. As someone who had once been a puzzle meant for someone else to figure out, she understood what it was like to be intentionally mysterious. To wear masks and put on appearances. It was hard to tell if that was what he was doing, but she could pick up on the fact he was guarded.]

[ The question caught him a little by surprise and Adrien found himself caught on how to respond. Caught between how he knew he should respond and how he wanted to respond.

He wasn't caught long. Should won out, as it always did but he found himself being more gentle with his wording than he might have usually been. ]

I think right now, it serves both of us best if we call it dinner.

[ Because it genuinely wasn't just about him. It was also about her and where she currently found herself, trying to settle her mind and stabilize her memories. Neither of them were in a position to navigate what the term date implied.

But after a moment, like an old cloak being shaken out of mothballs, he tried some teasing of his own. ]

I'd say that sex would still be on the table, but I'm a guy and we're notoriously bad about making good decisions when it comes to that topic. [ Once more, he didn't smile, but this time there was a more sustained twinkle in his tired eyes. ]

[She felt her cheeks turning red at his response, but then he continued speaking and it made her breathe out a huff of laughter. She was utterly foolish, and potentially manic by this point, but at least he was able to get her to laugh.

Another chunk of the bar was put into her mouth and she glanced over at him, and took notice of how worn he looked.]

Dinner it is, then. With the possibility of dessert.

[Her eyes looked away from him and back toward the stars. Saying what she was about to was hard for her, and so she made sure to keep it brief.]

And just so we're on the same page, it's technically been two years for me.

[ Though she hadn't spoken to him about the decreased appetite, he was pleased to see her eat more of the bar and actually took a moment to pop his own bite into his mouth and choke it down. He'd also eaten worse in his career but ... he missed his apples. However, it gave him cover to enjoy her huff of laughter; that seemed a good thing.

Her phrasing, dinner with the possibility of dessert, he didn't immediately refute. Though he was still of the opinion that she needed at least a couple nights' sleep before making a decision like that. But of course "dessert" could take a number of routes, that didn't include sex.

It could be more dancing.

He'd been about to say something about dancing, when she looked out at the stars and then rushed through her next words. There was a breathiness to the way she pushed them out that reminded him of when she spoke of the Doctor and hinted at the distance between them. There was something more there, even he could pick that up, but experience told him she wouldn't be pushed.

After a moment's consideration, he kept it light. She didn't seem to need more weight on her slim shoulders. ]

Well. What a pair we are. [ He offered, lifting up a small block of nutrient bar in a token toast? ]

Edited 2017-11-09 04:49 (UTC)

[Smiling sadly, she looked back to him and held the remainder of her own bar up in the air as a toast. In the past few years, so much had happened. Loving and losing someone had taught her a lot, but mainly that she was ready for dinner with people who weren't Danny. ]

To the first hurrah.

[Forgetting manners, the rest of her nutrition bar was quickly eaten. The taste was awful enough that her nose wrinkled up and she kept a disgusted look on her face as she ate, but eventually it was all gone and she was left feeling full and content. Knowing he'd be finished soon enough too, she slipped out of her chair and held her hand out to him.]

Want to pop off for a walk?

[ In that regard she was doing better than he was in terms of coping and navigating such circumstances. Of course he'd always been something of a trainwreck when it came to interpersonal relationships.

He watched as she tucked into her bar, not surprised to see her appetite return once she got over the initial emotional hurdle of eating. It often went like this, with the body eventually exerting it's need for food, if given the opportunity.

Oddly enough a fully belly might help with the sleep issue as well.

Taking his last bite, he looked down along the length of the Observation and then back, appearing a little bemused. It certainly was not the pretty, flower and foliage lined route they had walked over two years ago. Still, he brushed off his fingers, and stood; cape swishing as he extended his elbow to her. ]

Would be wise to walk off all that rich and delicious food. [ Wry tone was wry. ]

I feel it only fair to warn you that we're entering into the small talk section of the evening and I have always been particularly bad at that, so if you have a topic of conversation, I suggest offering it up.

Otherwise I'm liable to ramble about the stars or something equally scientific and dull.

[Her arm curled around his, right near the elbow. His cape brushed against her as they start to walk, and she almost thought to ask about what it meant to him. But he had to go and mention stars and science, which had her looking up at him like he had just said magic words.]

Don't be stupid, I love the stars! They're just about my favorite thing in the entire universe.

[Which is why the actual location of Avagi didn't bother her. She was used to being out among them, traveling from place to place. The only real issue she took with being here was the confinement. That was easy to ignore for now, at least, as they walked and she just enjoyed the moment. ]

Do you know if there are constellation maps of the stars here? Actual, paper maps. Not just projections. I was considering mapping them out myself, but it doesn't serve much of a purpose if we can't leave the station. It still seems like a good use of time, just to compare the map here next to the ones from other galaxies I remember.

[She had to bite her lip and stop there. Otherwise, she could ramble about stars until she was blue in the face and he had long since zoned out.]

[ Once again she was witness to the fact that despite his prickly exterior and sharp rudeness, at some point in his life someone had put manners on him. When she took his elbow, he lightly anchored the limb to his side to provide her a steady support as they walked.

Adrien tilted his head towards her, letting Clara talk as much or as little as she wished and waiting until she appeared to be looking for a verbal response from him. ]

I think it would be a very good idea to have a chart of the stars around us. It may not seem to provide much in terms of our immediate needs, but if this experience has taught me nothing else, it is to anticipate that we won't be as trapped and isolated as we feel right now.

[ He ducked his head to catch her eyes. ] It would be too lawful for the universe, and I think we can both agree that a universal constant is at least a little bit of chaos, hmm?

It almost leaves you wondering when chaos will hit next.

[Her being brought into this place wasn't exactly chaotic. The supply situation here is worrisome, but overall things are pretty calm. It didn't seem to her that anything was total chaos. But just floating around right near the storms that are out there? It was only a matter of time before something big happened.]

We were all on a spaceship before. We went to other planets on the Moira, didn't we? So we'll be able to here at some point too.

[She said that with every ounce of hope that she possessed. She had to believe that they would get to use the Ingress to see other places eventually. Besides, she could use a job to focus her attention on.

Her eyes met his again and she gave him a dimpled smile, one that became a little more amused as she added on, ] 'Sides, if I don't map the stars, that just means I'll have to bother you in the medbay 'til you give me a job.

I tend to use that time to prepare for when chaos hits next. [ Adrien admitted with in a wry tone. ] Of course I am also a paranoid ass, so take my words with a grain of salt.

[ So far that paranoia had kept himself and various crews alive, but Adrien did acknowledge that he could take it to extremes. ]

This is a station, not a ship. It's designed to be in a solitary location, not traveling the way the Moira did. I'm not sure how exactly we'll gain the mobility we need, but that concern belongs to others.

MedBay is my concern and careful what you promise, Ms. Clara because I can always find a way to put another set of hands to work.

Is that a promise? Because if I don't have enough things to fill my time, I tend to get a little...

[Manic? Neurotic? She just needed something to do, a way to feel she was useful. She didn't do well with idle hands, and generally preferred to always be doing something that was considered important. Of course, that had a lot to do with the fact her egomania dictated that she needed to do things to feel important but that was an issue best focused on at another time.]

Impossible.

[She chose her word there very wisely.]

I was a teacher back home, but I can be useful somehow.

[ For a moment he paused, thinking back to the first way they'd met. They had walked a good distance from the chairs, so he stopped and turned them both to look out through the shield at the stars beyond. ]

I have no doubt in Medical's ability to keep someone busy, but the truth is I think your talents would be better suited to some of our other needs. Such as logistics, possibly first contact if that becomes necessary.

[ When he suspects may be sooner rather than later. ]

And while it may not be in any conventional sense, you might find that your skills of education could serve yourself and people here surprisingly well.

I had a job before, on the Moira.

[She fell quiet as she really thought hard about what it was. Images of spending a lot of time with two men came to her, one pale with dark circles beneath his eyes and the other tall and infuriating. Both men had been close to her once, though she couldn't remember their names or what they meant to her at the moment.]

I was an intelligence operative.

[The words came out a whisper, almost as if she was in disbelief that she could recall that detail. Her hand on his arm gripped a little tighter, and she stared out at the stars with a renewed sense of motivation.]

Suppose it would make sense to keep that going. That, and find the children here and force them to attend school.

[Her head very briefly touched against his shoulder, just long enough for her to realize she was actually starting to feel tired. It turned out Adrien was right after all. Talking had been a big help with both of her problems.]

[ Though he could have said more to that first part, Adrien carefully bit his tongue. She needed to come to her memories on her own. No matter how much he would have enjoyed speaking with her about the past.

Glancing down, he didn't say anything but kept them in place rather than pushing more physical activity on her. That could be counter intuitive and though he was focused on their conversation and his words were genuine; he was also pursuing a course of treatment.

So to speak. ]

Not just the children, and you might have a fight on your hands there. But there is a great deal of history now, to what's come before and what's brought us here. People arriving for the first time, usually have questions.

Might not be the worst thing for interested parties to compile a history to help educate them?

[ Something that might touch on both her education experience, but also her experience at gathering intelligence. ]

Edited 2017-11-11 01:02 (UTC)

Are you trying to counsel me?

[Her eyes narrowed as she lifted her head, turning it so she could glance up at him properly. It probably didn't matter whether or not he was, because she genuinely was feeling more content.]

You should feel special, I never let anyone do that.

[But since she wasn't protesting, it was obvious that she planned on taking his advice. She had a hint of a smile on her face and a glint of energy in her eyes that she hadn't since arriving here. Her hand slips down his arm until her fingers brush against his palm.]

Thank you. For being here with me and talking.

[Because despite her initial teasing, she did appreciate him doing it.]

[ Ducking his head, when she called him out, he peeped at her from under his eyelashes as he admitted. ]

Perhaps a little meddling. [ The word little was accompanied by his index finger and thumb pinched together. ] We're all heels and noses at the moment, Clara. Having a job to do can only help each and everyone of us as we try to define our new normal.

Consider the suggestion. I think it would provide value, both to us now and to those yet to come.

[ Feeling her hand move, he let his own relax so that they fingers rested between them, rather than making her stretch across the front of his body. His own fingers curled, not really a hold but rather a welcoming cup if she wished it.

At the gratitude, he still didn't smile but he gave a small duck of his head in acknowledgement and his hand briefly squeezed her own. ]

Did you want to head back?

[ Adrien suspected that once she started to spiral downwards, she could potentially crash quite hard indeed. ]

[She didn't answer right away. Instead, she stared out at the stars and just enjoyed the light contact her hand was making with his. Eventually her hand slipped away, and she looked back to him.]

Probably best we head back, yeah. Dessert will have to wait til next time.

[With a parting glance out past the shield, she turned and started heading back toward their end of the residences. There wasn't any reason why they couldn't talk while they walked though,
so she waited until the companionable silence between them felt like it had gone on for too long before speaking again.]

Have you always been a doctor? Back home, I mean. Is that what you did there too?

Nice thing about dessert, it usually keeps. [ He agreed in a gentle tone, letting her hand escape his own.

As they turned and began to walk, he folded his hands behind his back at the small of it. The question threw him for a moment and he blinked, turning his head slightly to look out of the force field as he considered his answer.

There was a time, a time that now felt like a very long time ago indeed, when a question like that would have sent him into a temper. He would have snapped, snarled and been singularly unpleasant in his response. A defensive mechanism cranked up to eleven.

Now, however, he walked along calmly and collected his words. ]

Not originally. I was a part of my Earth's military, as was the expectation of a third born child. But circumstances changed and I was consigned to become a doctor.

[He had been a soldier once. Instantly she was reminded of Danny, and all the stories he had told her about being in the military. He wouldn't tell her very much, so she knew not to pry into Adrien's past too much. But since she was curious about him she couldn't help but want to dive in deeper.]

Is that where you got your cape?

[Barely a second had passed before she blurted out a second question.]

And which did you enjoy the most?

[Her teeth pressed against her lip as a reminder to shut the hell up. She could be a chatterbox and often talked quickly, but this didn't seem the right time to do that.]

[ ~~Danger, danger, danger Will Robinson~~.

It was discreet, mostly because he did genuinely enjoy her company, but there was a subtle tension that grew through his limbs. It probably would have been more notable if they had still be holding hands, or had she still had her hand on his arm but given how observant she could be, she probably still saw it across the set of his shoulders.

His expression remained set in it's neutral cast, though he shook his head in the negative. ]

I have no officially been in the military or back to the world of my birth for a very long time. This garment, is from the uniform I wear as a member of the crew of the ship I serve in what you could call my new home.

[ Not that his life choice had lead him to what most people would call home, but the Neheda, his captain and his crew were home enough for him. For the life he'd chosen.

As for her second question, he winced inwardly and tamped down on the initial response that jumped to mind; I'm much better at killing than healing. The last thing he wanted was to ruin her chances of sleep by sharing the nightmare of life with HQ.

Instead, he once again carefully arranged his words. ]

Being a doctor does not come naturally to me, and I don't consider myself a particularly good one. I have the skills, determination and the ability to keep my crew alive. [ There was a shade of arrogance there, he was proud of his skills. ] But I've never had the right temperament for it.

I don't coddle, I'm not particularly comforting, warm or welcoming. I don't tolerate much foolishness and I don't have a nurturing bone in my body. About the only thing my bedside manner is good for is inspiring people to heal up and get the fuuuudge out of my medbay as quickly as possible.

[Oh, Clara noticed. She did right away, mostly due to the fact that when someone says something she doesn't want to talk about her shoulders do the same thing as his. As he spoke, she tried watching his face closely, but didn't want to be outright obvious about it.

Something about his answer made her frown, and as he finished and kept walking she reached out to grab at his hand. It was obvious he preferred one over the other, and discounted himself and his abilities. That just wouldn't do.]

Adrien.

[She used her hold on his hand to pull herself back in close, and she gave him a little bump of her hip against his.]

You may not know this, but I'm an expert on doctors. You don't need to coddle, and you've been nothing but comforting and warm with me. You've been nurturing without even realizing it. And this might be incredibly forward of me, but you've inspired me to want to see your bedside manner for myself. Point is, you're probably better at being a doctor than you think. You don't have to like people to save them. You just have to want to make a difference.

[And she really believed that he did. ]

You're a leader here. That's what matters.

[ Having her grasp his hand so readily was taking some getting used too. She had probably had more physical contact with him during this evening of dinner, walking and talking, than anyone since when he hugged J.

But he dutifully stopped, his head tilted downwards slightly as he listened, his expression guarded up until she said her last words, at which point he shook his head in a firm negative. ]

I am nothing of the sort here. [ He said, his tone firm but calm. It was on the tip of his tongue to talk about the events leading up to the crash of the Moira</> and then later, the trojan in the Savrii systems that had given them much needed information, but he quickly weighed those instances and saw speaking to them as counterproductive to his original statement.

He was no leader here.

There was a pin on his cape that spoke to what his role would be, back home, in the future but that definitely was not a good bit of conversation just before bed.

You're a leader here. Oh yes, those were loaded words. Tonight it was best he sidestep. So he reached for her hand, taking it in both of his, studying it before he looked to her eyes. ]

According to one of our new arrivals I just 'decided' to work in Medbay, no one asked me too. [ He didn't smile, but he might have seemed darkly amused as he recounted this encounter. ]

[She glanced down at their hands before looking up to meet him in the eyes. It was easy to see the hint of amusement he had there, but she still had to scoff at it anyway.]

How do you think I get all my jobs? I decide to work there and won't hear anyone tell me otherwise.

[It was easier to make light out of this than to push him to discuss it. She was exhausted, and not in the mood to push buttons. That could come some other time, when there was potentially more trust and time on their hands.]

It doesn't matter how you got there. Just know you're doing more good than you realize.

[Standing this way, it was easy to lean in and place a kiss to his cheek. She didn't even have to really rise up on her tiptoes to do it, either.]

Promise.

[ For a moment, Adrien was still.

doing more good than you realize

Those words, when he had only to look down at the pins on his cape to know that there could never be a balance. Not until the end of the war he was involved in back home and even then, perhaps his scales would never be equal. He wouldn't know until he drew is final breath.

But now was neither the time, nor the place to get into any of that. The kiss to his cheek caught him flat footed, which also made it easier to reach him, and he blinked a couple of times, before going pink again and clearing his throat in a pensive manner. ]

Yes, uh well. In that spirit, I should probably escort you back to your unit; hopefully you can get some sleep, hmm?

[She worried she might've crossed a line, despite the fact it was just a chaste kiss to the cheek. She was so tactile that she often invaded someone's space without really thinking it through. But with Adrien, she realized she'd either have to get him used to it or learn to keep her space.]

Well, since you're so keen on getting rid of me -

[At just the right moment, a yawn made its way out of her and she ended up laughing through it.]

I think that's for the best. I'm barely standing as it is.

[She made a little motion with her head, a nod for him to keep going. Falling right in line beside him, she walked a little slower as she started to quickly wear down.]

[ He wasn't going to dignify that first remark with a response, though she did get a wry eyebrow raised in her general direction.

He continued to walk with her, silently offering his elbow once again, should she wish to take it. ]

That is usually the result of my attempts at small talk. Instant cure for any and all insomnia issues.

[ His tone was dry and level but there was a thread of teasing in there; for those who knew to look for it. ]

Edited 2017-11-13 16:46 (UTC)

[Her hand takes his elbow again, and she glances up at him with thinly veiled amusement.]

So you're saying I can expect the same treatment any other night I might need it?

[Without giving him time to answer, she breathes out a puff of laughter. If he's going to tease, then she'll tease right back.]

Looks like I'm in good hands, Dr. Arbuckal.

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html is the troll that trolls us all

it can be so evil to us

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