heyfreemagic | Cabin Fever [Open to Wash's friends]

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Cabin Fever [Open to Wash's friends]

[Wash sat on his bed, legs crossed at the ankle, arms folded, staring at the wall. There was exactly one book in the room, and he'd finished it yesterday. No point in rereading it - not when he could remember the whole thing down to the goddamn word if he wanted to. The network was fairly quiet. There was no TV or radio in here. He was bored out of his goddamn mind and had been for - he checked the clock - the past two hours, at least.]

[Bed rest was bullshit.]

[Bones had insisted, and when Wash had insisted he was well enough to at least walk around the damn apartment, Bones had lifted him straight off the floor with his magic and hauled him back down the hall. There was no arguing with that.]

[Well, no, there was plenty of arguing with that. There was just no winning.]

[So he was stuck in his room, rapidly running out of distractions and reduced to staring at the wall. Great. Just great.]

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[He was really starting to hate that scanner.]

[He closed his eyes, trying to rein in the temper that flared up at those words. He'd run out of patience a good long while ago, and trying to scrounge any up now wasn't working very well.]

Did you ever think that maybe I know how my body works? I have a pretty good idea of what helps me recover, and staring at the walls isn't part of it.

Wash you got more scars than good sense, a heap'n help'n of PTSD and triggers that range from combat to medical and more grey hairs than anyone your age really ought to have. You're a man in his prime with stress levels of a grad student in finals week.

[ He flips the tricorder closed and sets it aside, leaning forward to level with him. ]

This ain't just the most recent exhaustion catch'n up to you that I'm try'n to treat, Wash. This is an extended cycle of hyperactivity, injury, and stress I'd expect from a man that's spent the past two decades in a warzone that I'm try'n to level out. And sure, the war ain't over, we got a whole new set of things to keep us up at night and leave us twitchy, but if you don't recover from the past however the hell long you've been liv'n like this? You are gonna burn out before we get to anything here.

Yeah, it's almost like I spent half my life fighting a war against aliens and trying to prevent genocide.

[Okay, so the sarcasm wasn't gone for long.]

[His expression went carefully blank as Bones laid out what had essentially been his life cycle since he joined Freelancer - the physical side of it, at least. Evidently that scanner couldn't read his mind, which was where most of his problems were. As for burnout, he should have been getting frequent flyer miles or a punch card or something for how often he did that.]

[When he spoke again, the sarcasm was once again gone.]

Do you always spend this much energy on lost causes, or am I special?

And that kinda life takes a toll. One you got time and space now here t'do somth'n about.

[ He doesn't have a whole crew to worry over here. Just Casey, Wash, and Greg. The others that the Lux pulled in. The strangeness of this place hasn't settled him at all, his magic isn't useful enough to be trusted in a fight consistently (acts of valor performed under extreme fucking terror do not count in his book), and he's still not sure what happened to him for a whole goddamn MONTH underground. But this is something he can do. Something he can lay hands on and treat.

The question catches him only half off guard, causing him to blink. ]

...Wash the last great medical breakthrough I took part in and can never publish is reviv'n someone that died from crawling around a heavily radiated warp core and suffered massive organ failure as a result of radiation poisoning.

[ This is not a story he would tell Greg. It is not a story he will ever tell Casey or- well. Anyone else. Wash is a soldier. It makes what is and what isn't acceptable to discuss with him different. It also explains- more than a little of how vehement he is on keeping everyone patched up. On keeping them healthy, on keeping them alive.

He is nowhere near certain he can do anything like that here. He doesn't have the equipment or the means. ]

T'me? No cause is lost. A long shot, sure. But not lost. You need time t'rest. And maybe someone you're will'n to discuss what in the hell is in your brain, there is circuitry there, Wash, and that ain't normal, and why you had a goddamn panic attack over a routine medical procedure- albiet one you weren't informed of ahead of time.

[What. The fuck.]

You cured death.

[What. The fuck.]

[By the time Wash has wrapped his head around that revelation, Bones has moved on. He listened, expression carefully neutral again when Bones finished.]

I already have someone who knows the whole story, and no, it isn't Greg. The neural implants are UNSC standard issue - you don't have to worry about those.

Look. I have my own way of dealing with things, and it works. Keeping me in here after I've recovered is fucking it up.

[He's going to skate on past needing time to rest, because he's had it already - he's been stuck in this room for days, and he can't sleep for pent-up energy and fear of memories that aren't his. More important is convincing his doctor-slash-gatekeeper to let him out.]

Under highly specific circumstances with incredibly specialized equipment us'n shit that I'm pretty sure breaks five to ten kinds of intergalactic law and ethics. Yes. Damn near killed me t'do it, but yes.

[ Because he bleeds for his people. He cuts out every piece of him that he can if it will help find a cure. ]

The hell do you mean that- THAT ain't standard! The hell kinda army puts PORTS in the back of a man's skull and rewires his brain?

[Oh for fuck's sake they've talked about this.]

Eventually you're going to remember that we're from different dimensions, and maybe then you'll get off your high horse.

[You can afford to be a pacifist when you don't have a war to fight.]

No, idjit, I come from a reality where that kind of augmentation? Ended in a genuine world war, genocide, and a lot of genetic tampering that damn near wiped us out after the fact. Maybe hav'n antagonistic aliens t'fight against kept it from happening where you're from so far, but it don't take that much for someone to look at mak'n man better and end'n with gett'n rid of everyone else.

[ His hands are actually shaking, the visceral, violent reminder of Khan never all that far away. The war that created him. The new war Marcus wanted to kick up- for what? Glory? To get a head start?

Leonard takes a moment to scrub at his eyes and breathe through it. Lets it pass. ]

Know'n the end of a story makes hear'n the same beginn'n, no matter the variation, disturb'n, Wash. Tricorder reports the wir'n as benign. It's standard issue mean'n it's been done often enough that it's been tested, right? I'll make a note to ignore 'em aside from trauma induced deviations.

[That...was not an outburst he expected. For once, Wash stays quiet, not pointing out the differences or trying to defend decisions or anything. If it's fucked Bones up to this extent, then it's not something he should be poking holes in.]

They wouldn't be standard issue if they hadn't been tested extensively. They're fine.

[The scarring around them definitely isn't standard issue; that's his own doing, and he is not about to share the story behind that.]

You would be surprised the deviances medical trials will allow when a war's on. [ He's seen the historybooks. Buried himself in them while working on Jim. The Augmented soldiers were meant to be better, yes, but also stable. They were not. ] Scar tissue doesn't seem t'be impairing your quality of life and I don't have a neural regenerator on hand and no means t'build it, so if that changes we're gonna haveta find Aaron. Or someone else with heal'n magic.

[ He hates admitting he can't do anything, but it is what it is. Realistic expectations, realistic results. ]

You can tell me t'get out or go to hell if you like but- what set you off about the hypo? I haven't seen an attack like that since med school.

[For a moment, Wash just stares. Boy is there a lot to unpack there.]

Okay, one: neural regenerator? Two: You don't want to find Aaron. Trust me on that one. And three... [He hesitates. He doesn't want to tell Bones anything, but...but he needs to know enough to prevent it from happening again.] I've...been forcibly sedated before. It was always a shot to the neck. [He can draw his own conclusions from there.]

Suppose if I got the right tolls I could build one see'n as I invented the damn thing but with this place that's kinda unlikely. [ A beat, his eyes narrow but- Wash has been steady and honest with him, with everyone, no reason to doubt him. ] We'll get someone else then.

[ The last, though.

That makes his jaw clench. ]

...Anything else I oughta avoid when treat'n you?

[He invented it. Bones invented a way to fix brains. Wash files that away - that's a conversation that's going to need to happen later, once this whole bed rest thing is no longer an issue.]

Is there anyone else here with healing magic?

[He sees that reaction, and...well, that's a very loaded question. No way is he going over the horrors of Freelancer - not now, and not ever if he can help it. He'd be scraping Bones off the ceiling for a week.]

[There's also the fact that he doesn't want to talk about it, but that's a constant.]

I'm kind of a minefield. Your best bet is to check with me before you do anything.

Not that I know of. Not like anyone's put word out and gone 'Hey new people register your magic powers here, please and thank you'. Cuz that'd end well.

[ He massages the bridge of his nose and sighs, reaching into his medkit to pull out a hypo. ]

This is another round of immunoboosters, nutrients, and a mild painkiller. If I show you how to use it, would you be more comfortable administering it yourself?

[Time for round two, evidently.]

What part of "I'm fine" did you not get?

Your mouth is tell'n me one thing and your biometric scans are tell'n me another. T'ween the two of you? I'm go'n with my equipment. Past month or so of liv'n here has leveled out your nutrient intake but that blast of magic did a number on you.

Are you gonna self administer or am I gonna do it?

[Look at that frustrated expression. Look at it. Medical science has betrayed him yet again.]

[He knows when he's beaten, but that doesn't mean he has to like it.]

Does it have to be the neck?

It's your neck or your ass and we're friends, Wash, but we ain't that kinda friend.

[WHAT.]

I meant a shot in the arm! Why is that not an option?!

Why would I use your arm?

Because it's a normal place to get a shot!

If I was us'n a needle, like a savage.

[He makes a frustrated noise low in his throat. One of these days, he'd like to win an argument. Just one.]

Fine. Just get it over with.

Deep breaths, yeah? S'just me. [ He approaches slow, not wanting to startle Wash into another fit. ]

I know.

[He keeps his voice steady and folds his hands in his lap. It's Bones, and he knows what's in the shot. He just has to focus on staying calm.]

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