Inbox: Pumpkin Hollow

[lovinglefthand]

An In-Character inbox for First Aid, chief clinician and surgeon at the Winterbottom clinic.

Comments

[theresalwaystheview]

Bart huffs a small laugh, not quite managing a smile at First Aid's apropos assessment. When he opens his mouth again, it's with a curled lip and a thick Scottish accent, recounting one of the logs that his fathrr had left behind:

"I turned 80 years old last week. I thought I had another 80 in me, but marooned on this planet there's nae swappin' out of my liver when the old one fails. Here, I'm mortal."

Then he lapses back into his own normal, gentle speech pattern . "I have been. As much as I want to be useful, I seem to be failing more than I'm accomplishing. If I focus on just this one thing for a bit, then...then it should be better."

[lovinglefthand]

First Aid sighs quietly. "I don't have the highest opinion of your father," Understatement, "But that's still a terrible way to go. He must have been so scared before the end, whether he admitted to it or not."

He probably didn't. Personalities like that think showing vulnerability is the worst thing ever. But that doesn't mean he wasn't feeling it.

[theresalwaystheview]

Bart's hand curls against First Aid's forearm, his shoulder against the other's side. "He'd never been truly vulnerable before. He tried to maintain this absolute death grip on control in spite of his rank meaning nothing at all and his orders making no sense. He was terrified, and bad at not showing it. I...I don't know if he ever really loved me, but it was hard, watching him spiral out. I want to hope that he didn't suffer when the leviathan attacked. Drowning is such a terrible way to die..."

[lovinglefthand]

First Aid gently strokes his back. "You feel that way because you're a better person than he was," he points out. "You cared, whether or not he did. That's a noble thing, Bart."

He sighs quietly. "I wish it hadn't happened that way, but I'm glad you got away from him. You deserve so much better."

[theresalwaystheview]

Bart laughs quietly, hollowly. "That may be so, but it feels bloody terrible."

The gentle gust of warmth from the sighed exhaust at least earns a small tilt of a smile. "I'm making better for myself here than I think I would have been able to back there. I would have made a lot of money, and almost certainly been deeply unhappy. I'm not a corporate sort of person."