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pathologise) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2023-12-06 08:35 pm
pathologise) wrote in abraxaslogs2023-12-06 08:35 pm
pathologise) wrote in abraxaslogs2023-12-06 08:35 pm
no subject
I'll drink to that.
[She's got a cyborg liver and a deathwish; Shepard will drink to anything.]
So, you're new. [Even if she hadn't said so, her clothes are too clean, the hems still neatly stitched and folded-over, not yet ruined by the constant grit that you only eventually stop noticing. She looks fresh. New meat.] Got a name? I'm Shepard.
no subject
( new was... when did you stop being new? though compared to some people she'd met the definition probably still counted )
I got pulled here a couple of months ago but it took me that long to kind of get my footing. ( maybe this woman had done it better. or understood ) I kind of jumped straight into trying to keep busy. And distracted.
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[you stop being new when people stop having to think about it before knowing your name. Or maybe, you never do; two months? That'll teach Shepard to pretend she's any kind of detective. At least she really was a Summoned, and not some confused local. Probably.]
At least there's work. Better than starving; what do you do?
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( they let her volunteer at the barracks to help their injured soldiers but are less certain about letting her get a job or near the academies. it's a weird barrier )
But I'll do what I can. What about you?
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[Free Cities is a significant downgrade, in her estimation. Come to think of it... had she seen Adrienne before? Shepard puts her drink down and turns to face her more fully.]
Waitβ I'm sorry, but an actual medical doctor? [Please say yes.] You went to school?
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( she smiles at the absolutely terrible humour that is )
Why? Who have you met?
( she would ask who's saying they're a doctor without going to school but there is one guy that springs to mind )
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[It's not that the magic doesn't work, it's that "It works but we don't know why" has always got such fun timing for when it backfires.]
Call me crazy, but, if there's somebody on offer who actually knows where all the organs go, I'm taking that option. [She considers Adrienne, and her drink, then motions to the barkeep another one of these, for her. Never let it be said Shepard doesn't know how to pick her targets.] Where you from, Doctor?
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The liver's here, right?
( she points to absolutely the wrong place but the smile on her is a clear indicator that she's joking )
I'm from New York. ( not originally but she'd been based there twenty years. it was the nearest thing she had to home nowadays.
there's a nod and smile at the drink, finishing her first ) What about you?
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Honestly? I couldn't tell you. [It's embarrassing; Shepard sips at her own drink to mask it.] I was just a kid when I got in, and back home the megacities just kinda... all mush together, where I grew up. Always figured if I wanted to go back, it'd be in my records.
[She does not want to go back. Ever.]
I'm earth-born at least, that's close enough for most people.
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( it's weird wording to her, for someone that knows nothing of space and other planets, who wouldn't dream about anything like it )
Does space also mean future? Or is this just a weird thing?
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[a cocked head, half a shrug. What is 'future' under these circumstances?]
In my history lessons, first human colony was on Mars in 2103. [Made in mars on 2103/ the first space town it's Lowell City. She still thinks of that rhyme every time, despite the time and distance. You can't beat a committed kindergarten teacher.] Hell, we've only had FTL for about fifty years. I know people who've been active-duty marines for longer than that.
[Anderson...Hope he's alright, somehow. Even now. Well, this is why we drink.]
What's the calendar say on your homeworld?
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give her a moment to cough. and breathe )
Earth. I'm-- Earth. And it was 2019. So yeah, you're from the future.
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[And Shepard, grinning, tries for graciousness. And fails, because she's not gracious, or kind, or really even polite enough not to laugh. Plus, that was pretty funny]
Or maybe in your Earth's future they never leave home, never find out what's out there. Or maybe I ought to be telling you about the next six big wars or something, spare your grandkids the trouble.
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( and this was why she hated having to think of anything not 'normal'. it hurt her head or confused her far too easily )
And I'd definitely never want to know about wars. Or... ifs.
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[Shepard knows better than most that knowing the future, and being right about things all the damn time, isn't as pleasant as it might seem. Ignorance is bliss, wasn't that the saying?]
Two months, huh? What do you think of it all. Abraxas. Singularity. The whole bag.
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( and she pulls a slight face to accompany her words before having more of her drink )
There are a lot of things here that I've never thought of before. ( she might have known that magic actually existed but being exposed like this was different. and too much. she'd always stayed dar away from it ) Like meeting people from the future. Or other worlds.
( etc )
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[She says it quietly, and it's a bit of a hard twist to try in put herself in that perspective. She's always known she wanted to go to space, or at least known space was out there to go to. Aliens, other planets, new horizons, new worlds... What would it be like to live in a world where you not only never even thought about catching a shuttle off-world, but where it wasn't even within the realm of possibility?
Aside from being much like the last year or two of her life, trapped here, that is.]
So, it might take you a while to acclimatize. You want my advice? Focus on what's the same. People. And people always need medical help, even if they don't realize it.
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( her sanity, really. she'd heard about something that was possible for her, soldiers who needed medical care and had thrown herself into helping them. and that was something that she'd keep trying to find )
Maybe that's why I'm in a bar. Alcohol's at least familiar, and there's people.
( and a simple social thing was much easier )
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[Shepard's never been a good example of sobriety, but she's especially not-so since showing up here, and for not-dissimilar reasons.]
You mentioned something about this place being picky? What's the problem?
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( cue a slightly frustrated look before she drinks a little more )
They've got a lot of hoops they want me to jump through which... some of that I get but there feels like an easier way to do it.
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[She thinks a minute; sure, there were a lot of reasonable ways to interpret that. It's not like trust me I'm a doctor was good enough to fly for most people, but...]
They want you to learn healing magic too?
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( at least nothing had been said to her about magic and for being in a supposedly magical place she hadn't seen as much of it in the cities as she had on other islands )
More like proving myself within the community? Being useful before they'll let me look at their academies.
( and whilst adrienne didnβt need full training she did want to know about things related to diseases from this world )
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[Oh she'll give you a use, alright.]
Look, how about when I've got something that needs a medic. [Which is frequently] I come to you first. Maybe you can do something about it, maybe you can't. But I never liked trusting the glow first ask questions never procedures around here.
If they see that summoned recruits trust you more than native healers, might help your standing. Sound good?
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( she'll tip her drink to her in a you've got a deal type of thing )
Though now you're making me worried you're going to have a lot of things.
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[She returns the gesture with the kind of smirk that is probably worth worrying about. This is why we drink.]
You're a professional, you can handle it.