spacejail | The Master Chief

[ It is amazing the things that slip through the cracks in the aftermath of a near civilization destroying war and the re-awakening and then death of a god like entity. It's not like the necessity for ships to be out in space for a really really long time has gone away and it's not like the UNSC doesn't still need as many able bodies as they can get their hands on trying to sort out this whole kind of post war maybe except when it's not mess.

So. No one of any note has actually gotten around to hearing about and addressing the 16 year old girl dressed sparingly in bright primary colors who somehow crash landed in the middle of a fire fight between a SPARTAN IV squad and Covenant holdouts. In the chaos that ensued, the only thing that really mattered was the Covies got whipped out with no casualties, including the teenager.

Who is very pointedly laying low and making herself as helpful as possible. The most she's heard about herself is how they're too damn far out with too many squads en route to break off and figure out what to do with one stray civilian. So she gets assigned basic duties that'll keep her out of the way and the mystery of how exactly a normal teenager survives falling out of the sky into the middle of a battle field fades into the background of the everyday chaos aboard the Infinity. It's not like all these Spartans haven't seen weirder shit.

Kara kinda feels like she deserves a prize for keeping up this Totally Normal Civilian thing for as long as she had. It helps that she doesn't have to pretend to be a normal teenagers in high school around other normal teenagers. It isn't in Kara's nature to be unobtrusive, but most everybody has other shit to do than pay a lot of attention to the cute new janitor.

Post War life on a space ship is actually pretty boring aside from the low throbbing fear that someone is going to figure out what she is and toss her in a vat or something. So Kara makes her own fun.

Today (Tonight? Whatever time is fake), fun is waiting for the hanger to clear out and sneaking down there with the smuggled music player she got after flirting with a Lieutenant that is poooossibly contraband. She picks an out of the way spot where she can get out fast in case shit starts to go down, slides on her shades (flirting with low rank officers is lucrative and rewarding) and turns up some nice classic tunes to get her skinny girl groove on. Someone's gotta exploit the acoustics around here while ignoring the cold expanse of space and the slow degradation of the stability within one's self and those around us. ]

[ It's like something out of a bad novel. Aesthetically pleasing college undergrad on the assignment of a lifetime, accosted by older handsome man. Courtship ensues. Except Doctor Mann is desperately overestimating his attractiveness if he thinks lines like You remind me of my daughter... are attractive. Yup, it's time to break out.

Amanda only gives an affirmative hum to whatever he's saying about Brute's social grooming as someone in formal blues moves down the hallway running intersection to theirs at a fast clip. ]

Oh hey, I think that's my liason! Gotta snap some cool Marine pics! Later, Doctor Mann. [ She gives him the finger guns, ducks under the hand that was reaching out to touch her hair (WHO DOES THIS) and moonwalks away. As soon as she's around the corner, she hears the soft tread of boots following her, so she does the perfectly reasonable and thought out thing: she vaults over the guard rail down to the lower level below. She can faintly hear Doctor Mann calling her name.

Okay. Next reasonable and thought out course of action: diving behind the big posed Spartan armor. Man, they really went all out for this on ship tour.

...Wait. ]

If there's a person in there, please please please do not move.

[ There are civilians aboard the Infinity, and that means it's a good day to make oneself scarce. She's a big ship, so at least that's not hard to do. The closest he's going to be is maybe a deck away for a little while, and that should be enough to avoid any awkward conversations. Or pseudo-conversations. Or staring.

It's just his luck then when someone hops down from the level above and ducks behind him.

Despite her request, he does move a little. The Spartan's head turns to peer down at her. Some things in life just demand to be stared at, because where the fuck did they come from? Wayward undergrads are one of those things.]

[ A large part of her was still holding out hope that the huge and kind of scary armor was just a display, so she's not even a little bit prepared for when they turns their head and looks at her.

They stare at each other for a very long moment, while Amanda considers the pros and cons of bolting again. She was expecting to deal with some guys maybe a little older than her, maybe observes some ODSTs or the new class of Spartans from a distance, but this is. A Lot.

The moment is, of course, broken by Dr. Mann calling down:] Excuse me! Did you see a young girl run by here?

[ No way is she getting stuck with Doctor Daughter Complex and she's trying very VERY hard to convey this to the big green guy standing between her and getting her cover blown. ]

cont'd from here

That manly heroic stoicism isn't nearly as charming as you seem to think it is.

[ It is actually, but Dorian is just grumpy enough at the moment to be immune. ]

Let me rephrase that: did you feel any pain.

[ The Chief lets the comment about his stoicism pass unanswered, but maybe it's a little funny. As for pain... ]

Yes.

[ He'd say it's fine, because it's totally fine, but that's just going to draw this out longer isn't it? ]

[Truthfully there's no answer he could have given that would have made Dorian stop looking for him, but now he speeds up a little. ]

I'd ask for you to rate it, but something tells me your understanding of pain is a little skewed from the norm. Where are you?

It's fine.

[ Okay, he had to try. ]

It's faster if you tell me where you are.

[ Because otherwise he's losing his place to ~~sulk~~ ~~hide~~ sit that isn't medical. ]

Does that line ever work.

Observation deck C.

[Because he had absolutely been running thru various places a Spartan might sulk.]

Used to.

[ Cortana understood It's Fine. Spartan Blue understood It's Fine. ]

Got it.

[ And soon enough, the Chief rounds a corner. He's snuck back to his quarters and clothed up, apparently. Despite what Dorian knows about the shape he's in, the Chief's gait is steady and his posture mostly straight.

He doesn't say anything, he just tips his head and arches an eyebrow. Well? ]

[ There's not a great deal he can say to that, not with the knowledge of what little of the Spartan program has been made available to lowly doctors like him and what all of them have lost these long years.

He's relieved that at the very least, the Master Chief hadn't seen fit to slip back into his armor. Dorian still frowns up at him. ]

I'm going to check the tape on your ribs and your stitches. Would you be more comfortable here or somewhere you can sit?

[ Because even if he is INCREDIBLY ANNOYED with him at the moment, there's no need to make this more painful than it need be. ]

Lead me.

[ Alright. He'll be good, he'll come back. For now. Because it's important. Then he admits: ]

...They wouldn't let me suit up.

[ And because of that. ]

[ Dorian nods and leads him down the hall back to the elevator that has an express route to the medbay. ]

I should hope not. I specifically put in orders that you were not to be deployed without medical clearance.

[ A little extra incentive for the Chief to behave just a little bit longer. Dorian knows he has a narrow window to work with before some officer decides to override those orders. ]

I know it kept you alive through some rather terrifying encounters, but at this point, wearing the armor will just aggravate your injuries.

[ The war is over and he can afford the time to recuperate, for once. But that doesn't make him want to wait. Work feels... not exactly good, but it's normal and it's the only thing that does feel normal anymore. Anything else just leaves him to climb the walls and chew over the same list of problems he can't solve. ]

It was worth a try.

[ They really have him this time. Blue Team's already out on another assignment without him, no doubt deliberately. People are concerned about the Chief and he doesn't know what to do with it. ]

It compensates for me. I don't have to be at a hundred percent to be effective.

[ Things he's said before, and he expects no better response this time. ]

[ That makes Dorian pause all over and he can't help feeling a little stricken by that. This is why he started his career specializing in theory and cadavers, emotional distance is not his strong suit.

He turns sharply to frown up at Chief. ]

My dear Master Chief, the idea that something could ever possibly compensate for you is so far beyond the pale, it's offensive and I'll thank you not to say such things.

[ And that's not the least of what he has to say, but a good deal of it involves yelling at people who could make Dorian just disappear. He might yell anyway, but after he bosses the Master Chief into the medbay and points imperiously at a chair. ]

Effective, he says. Oh yes, do thank you for saving our entire species and the whole of the universe, but you might have been a smidge more effective about it.

[ The Chief tips his head a little in what, but lets himself be shooed along with a practiced sort of resignation. He wishes he could say something decisive to get this to stop. This is why this is so important. He's the Master Chief, he means something to people. John can be hurt, but the Master Chief is invincible. He has to live up to that, as much as he can.

...That, and he could also totally fight a Covenant platoon off like this. He's been worse. This isn't even bad, jeeze. ]

I think I could shave a few seconds off, next time.

[ It's empty talk, the best he can do, and it doesn't quite cover the hitch in the motion as he pulls off his shirt and sits down. The bruising is still spectacular. ]

[ Dorian is still on his ranting tear, though at a lower grumbling pace and far from being directed at Chief. The comment does pull a poorly repressed laugh out of him, though he absolutely didn't miss that little twinge. What's under the shirt isn't especially surprising. The Chief was dramatically worse when Dorian first saw him,
after all, this is an improvement. ]

Do try, won't you. These ongoing near apocalypses are so tiring, I'm enjoying the novelty of not being woken by the sounds of shouting and artillery fire.

[ And not having soldiers dying under his hands even as he tries to work a little more life into them. That's been nice too. His voice is light and airy for all that he's being a doctor now. Examining for remnants of a concussion, checking over and cataloging the progress of bruises and fractures and kneeling to check and re-cover stitches. Spartan physiology is a modern marvel and it soothes a bit of Dorian's bad temper to see someone who is healing for once, at least physically, instead of simply being kept alive. ]

You're getting along very well. Time and rest and you'll be back to whatever it is you do in no time. Emphasis on time and rest, mind.

[ The Chief is a well-practiced patient, once you get him to sit the fuck down. He knows the drill and doesn't fuss. ]

I'm starting to get used to it. Can't let anyone ruin that.

[ The war was a couple of years more recent for the Chief, and he was preparing to fight before it even began. This (relative) calm is alien, even threatening, because the only thing he can expect is something terrible is about to happen to break it. It's how his life has always worked. ]

How much?

[ He may be behaving himself, but he's still absolutely on top of getting back out there as soon as he can. He wants hard numbers, and he wants to push them once he has them. ]

You're a wretched liar, do you know that.

[ He's almost gentle when he says it, patting the Chief lightly on the shoulder as he packs away his instruments and disposes of the old bandages. And don't think he hasn't figured out your evil plan either. He frowns at him, eyes narrowed and mustache twitching. ]

That depends. How much rest are you actually planning on getting.

The Master Chief

In Which We Pretend 5 Never Happened And Party Like It's 2013

Post War Photo Ops

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TFLN

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gestures vaguely @ medical shit

lol same

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