Chapter 3-A: Calm before the Storm

Anog wrote:

Me: I need you to hold down the flesh while I stitch it together

=I criss-cross the sting and stitches, going to and from the slice=

Me: Ok.. The only thing left to do is get Jay some more blood and hopefully wake up. Do you happen to have any IV plasma or B- blood around?

(I look at my shoulder) Damn it, left my armor under my bunk.

(shugs) Not on me, no. I'll look around though.

(I look around the medbay and spot some thing)

(I head over and spot a bag of blood plasma) Perfect

(I take it off the shelf and head over to Snow)

(Handing the bag to Snow) Will this do?

Me: Perfect.

=I clean the arm near the vein for entry=
=I slide the needle into the arm and release the IV=

Me: Ok, now we need to see how this plays out. But first, I need to sleep. If you can, make sure they get enough blood and plasma, here is some Blood pouches for Dormii.

=I write Dormii's name on the bag=

Me: And Plasma for Jay only.. unless you have B- blood around, Which is highly doubted there is no universal donor for that blood type.

=I get on a bench=

Me: Don't mistake me for a patient

=I fall asleep=

Anog wrote:

Me: Perfect.

=I clean the arm near the vein for entry=
=I slide the needle into the arm and release the IV=

Me: Ok, now we need to see how this plays out. But first, I need to sleep. If you can, make sure they get enough blood and plasma, here is some Blood pouches for Dormii.

=I write Dormii's name on the bag=

Me: And Plasma for Jay only.. unless you have B- blood around, Which is highly doubted there is no universal donor for that blood type.

=I get on a bench=

Me: Don't mistake me for a patient

=I fall asleep=

(I get a stand) *Ok, this blood bag goes to Dormii*

(I find a vien and clean it, then insert the needle)*This should work nicely*

(I get the plasma for Jay set up)*Ok, that should just about do it.*

(I get a chair and sit down)*Alright, now its all just getting it done right.*

Man, this is the last time I ever give a Corpsman a hard time. This is hard work, making sure it goes right.

(I keep alert for any change in the state of Dormii or Jay)

Now comes the waiting game...

=I slowly come to my senses= Hey! Who took my blood this time? Oh, wait, hallway. Ow.

bullhorn wrote:

=I slowly come to my senses= Hey! Who took my blood this time? Oh, wait, hallway. Ow.

(I look and see Dormii start to wake up) Woah there, man. Take it easy. You lost a lot of blood, by the looks of it.

(I get up out of the chair and walk over) Just relax and stay calm. You don't really want to move while this is going on.

(I point my thumb over at Jay) Now, if you excuse me, I got to check up on Jay's status.

(I walk over to Jay)

It's not the first time I lost a lot of blood. I usually don't get anything worse than a hangover. Speaking of which... =I throw up, almost falling off the bed onto the newly created puddle=...There it goes.

I usually get a new blood bag and I'm as good as new, plus a scar or seven.

=i see Jay stand up= You may not want to do that, Jay. You have a massive abdominal injury, a bullet hole a little over that, and some possible blood loss. You try to go anywhere and you may end up killing yourself.

I told you. I'm leaving.

I walk out of the room

Fine, kill yourself. ONI won't care, the UNSC won't care, hell, most of the population won't care. Only I will, cause I know who you are.

Oh, and we're in SlipSpace, so......you really are stuck at the moment.

I sit back down

Fine i'll stay. Until we get out of Slipspace anyway.

=I throw up again= Beh, that's new. Twice in one hour.

So, where would you go, after you've escaped the evil Rebels?

I glance over at him

I said i'd stay. Not talk.

Well then I'll talk for you.

Do you remember about 7months back, when we last met on the Quantum of Solace? Do you remember what happened?

=i ingore the glare, but i still look at her= What about when we met again on Inflammen? What happened then?

What about the lounge? Not long after we came aboard the Trophaeum, we met up in the lounge. What happened then?

Are you honestly saying that none of that made any difference? How about what almost happened in your quaters, after you woke up from the corridor impaling you? You not feeling anything from that? Because I need to tell you, I did. I don't care what you say or what you do, you are Jay, the woman I love.

=i get up and try to follow= Let's not forget when I first woke up in the Medbay. Or the sparring match on the QoS. Definitely not the incident in your room on the QoS after I was nearly killed by those bounty hunters.

=i stand in the hallway, facing the door, medkit in hand= =i start singing= I've been roaming around, always looking down at all I see. Painted faces, build the places I can't reach...

Go away Dormii.

=i call back= And if you manage to injure yourself further, do you really want to die?

=i resume singing=

Injure myself? I've never injured myself. It's you and your friends that do that.

And yet you have a bullet wound, an impaling wound, and blood loss. You keep moving around, you could injure yourself more.

I won't.

So you can also lose massive amounts of blood and come off with nothing more than a hangover? In that case...

No. I can lose huge amounts of blood and be fine. You weren't around for 7 months. You don't know how much blood i lost.

=still leaning on the wall with a medkit= And so when I found you after all those months, you weren't emotionally drained and tried to attack me when I entered the tunnels?

Yea, you seemed fine back then. Oh, this will set her off, but I gotta try. How's MacGraw?

Perfectly dead. Hopefully not buried. Left rotting out there.

And why did he die?

Wasn't it a knife to the eye? Do you remember who put that knife there?

Me.

Do you remember why? I could tell you what you told me, if it helps.

I open the door

What do you want Dormii. GO back to the med-bay.

What I want, is for you to be happy and to live the life you wanted.

I am perfectly fine, it's you who should be worried. =i throw the medkit to her= Take care of the bullet hole, i see some blood coming out.

=i walk to the training room's firing range=

=i take out my shotgun and fiddle around with the Razors I keep on hand at the range=

I mutter to myself while pacing my room

Idiot. Just get the message already. Im not me anymore. Im not part of this.

=i test fire some of the Razors. The razor fires with a small "thump" and embeds itself in the target dummy. I press the trigger again and my armor locks as all the power is diverted down the wire into the razor. I could picture the razor glowing, getting hotter and hotter, until finally melting, burning the wire to ash as it does so=

=i load another Razor, but i quickly mark the letter "J" on it before I fire. I end up melting a hole through the target dummy. I load another, and another, and another, melting away my feelings on the target dummy.

I mark an "E", a "T", I mark ASH on one, "D" on another. I keep going, losing myself in the midless process of loading and firing=

bullhorn wrote:

=i load another Razor, but i quickly mark the letter "J" on it before I fire. I end up melting a hole through the target dummy. I load another, and another, and another, melting away my feelings on the target dummy.

I mark an "E", a "T", I mark ASH on one, "D" on another. I keep going, losing myself in the midless process of loading and firing=

(I look at Snow)*See, Jay doesn't give a damn anymore. She's a creature of ONI and the UNSC now.

(I go back to my room and get my BR and my pistol) Been a while since I got some range time in.

(I grab a bag full of pistol and BR ammo and head to the firing range)

(I go in and find a spot at the range)*Ah, the sweet smell of cordite. Man I missed that smell*

(I look and spot Dormii at the other end of the range) Don't mind him, Marcus. Dormii has his own issues to deal with.

(I load the pistol and BR magazines)Remember, its all about heart rate and breathing. The rest is just trivial

(I look at Dormii once more)*Poor guy, he's gone through so much. Much more than I have*

(I load a clip into my pistol and start firing, one bullet at a time) I forgot how cathartic this was. Damn my age, I went senile. Home sweet home this is.

(I continue the process with my BR)

=i fire again, i melt the stand of the dummy. I load and fire again. I hit the head, melting a hole through where the brain would be. I fire my last few shots, reducing the dummy to a pile of goo. I walk out of the range and head to the Dram of Luck to test the maneuvering thrusters=