CH7: Back For More (Gabe + Sean)
Jun 19, 2019 19:51:35 GMT -6
Post by Charredgp on Jun 19, 2019 19:51:35 GMT -6
Visiting Sean had become a ritual of sorts to Gabe. Eat, visit, make small talk mostly in his head, deal with dumb questions, go to bed. Dumb questions like “Have you slept today?” or “Please take a shower you’ve been here for almost a day.”. The latter was especially dumb since it wasn’t even a question.
Thus, it was hard not to notice that night that something was different. Something, or perhaps more importantly, someone was gone. Namely the whole damn reason he’d been visiting these past few nights. The nearest doctor had nearly been bowled over by his panicked impact, with the hastily-given information that he’d been released some time ago. The specifics weren’t able to be heard, as Gabe had already started sprinting off to find his newly ambulatory friend.
The first few places to check would be obvious. His room remained empty. The hangars bustling with activity, but no sign of Sean’s head towering over the crowd. Simply running around, shockingly, wasn’t seeming to give him much in terms of results. Sitting down outside the hangar hall, Gabe tried to collect his thoughts and think about this rationally. And then abandon rationality in favor of what Sean would do.
A rumble in his stomach from his own neglect answered the question before his brain caught up. A smile tugged at his lips. Of course. Why not?
---
“I know the hospital food ain’t great, guess it must be worse when ya don’t even get to taste it, huh?” Gabe asked as he pushed his way past what few stragglers remained this time of night.
A burrito tumbled from the pile and fell onto the cafeteria table, its liquefied bean-and-cheese mixture spilling out hot from a small cut in the plastic. Sean sunk his teeth deeper into the one in his hands. His eyes brightened and a grin spread across his face as he shoved the remainder of the burrito down his throat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, crumbs finding their home among the fuzzy red hair on his chin.
“Woke up feeling like I hadn’t eaten in a week,” he answered as he swallowed down his food. “Turns out that I hadn’t. And do ye know what they offered me when I awoke? A pack of crackers and a juicebox. Now I’m not one to deny a meal, but that just wasn’t going to cut it.”
Sean reached into the mountain of microwavable burritos and offered one to Gabe. “Burrito?”
“Really? Of all the nerve. And with all the time we spent there, you’d think we’d start gettin’ a frequent flyer’s bonus or somethin’. Or one of them stamp cards some restaurants get.”
He’d deliver a powerful pat to the shoulder as he sat down beside Sean, grabbing the burrito as it’s offered.
“So didja actually get discharged, or am I gonna have to hide ya and explain the mountain of burritos in 10 minutes?”
“If I wanted to hide I would’ve already thrown these into a knapsack and hauled my arse out of here,” Sean answered, licking the burrito goop off his synthetic fingers. “Nae, the doc said I’m free to do as I please until the next operation. Just have to poke back in for a check-up every few hours or so.”
He stretched out his robotic arm and wiggled his robotic toes. They starkly contrasted the stained white-and-baby-blue hospital gown that hung loosely over his frame. Bundled fibrously like muscles, they stretched and contracted as he moved them.
“Apparently I napped through the worst of it,” he continued, unwrapping a generically-branded ‘Steak & Cheese Burrito’. “Though it’s hard to say that it was all that restful. Feels like I’ve been slipping in and out of consciousness for months, not days. Honestly I’m just happy to know what time it is.”
“Sure he won’t be mad ‘bout all the beans and cheese on your new hand?”
His eyes would naturally be drawn to his new appendages as Sean stretched, eyeing them with both the concern of a friend and the interest of a techie. “How’s that workin’ out, by the way? Didn’t get to hear much ‘bout how your new bits were gonna work other than, yknow, they’d let ya pilot.”
“Wouldn’t be much use in a brand spanking new hand that can’t get a little greasy,” Sean answered as he chomped into his burrito. “The manual boasted about its advanced tactile feedback, but as far as I can tell it hasn’t got any hidden plasma blasters or machine guns or anything like that.”
He curled his fingers into a fist and a brief streak of red light flashed across his bicep.
“But I heard that it’s got one hell of a punch. ‘Strong enough to crush a cue ball’ if I overclock it, a whopping ten tons of force… I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“Really? And here I thought they’d slap somethin’ cheap on ya to start off with. I mean, military grade and all but…”
Gabe’s voice trailed off, watching in rapt fascination as the mechanical arm lit up and ideas almost visibly sparked in his mind. “Ten tons…”
Instantly, he was back at attention. This was what they needed to make up for with over a week of downtime. And they’d been practically gift wrapped the chance to do what they did best. Ruin everything.
“We gotta find somethin’ to smash. And see if we can’t up that estimate a bit. We’ve got the mechanical knowhow, dammit.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about lad!”
Sean stood from his seat, the shit-eating grin on his face widening in excitement. He forced the rest of his burrito into his mouth, scraping the rest off the table and carrying them under his arms. The time for questioning the life decisions that led him to this point had long past.
“Go find some shit for me to break, now will ye? Meet me back at the hangar in ten minutes and we’ll see what this baby can do.”
Thus, it was hard not to notice that night that something was different. Something, or perhaps more importantly, someone was gone. Namely the whole damn reason he’d been visiting these past few nights. The nearest doctor had nearly been bowled over by his panicked impact, with the hastily-given information that he’d been released some time ago. The specifics weren’t able to be heard, as Gabe had already started sprinting off to find his newly ambulatory friend.
The first few places to check would be obvious. His room remained empty. The hangars bustling with activity, but no sign of Sean’s head towering over the crowd. Simply running around, shockingly, wasn’t seeming to give him much in terms of results. Sitting down outside the hangar hall, Gabe tried to collect his thoughts and think about this rationally. And then abandon rationality in favor of what Sean would do.
A rumble in his stomach from his own neglect answered the question before his brain caught up. A smile tugged at his lips. Of course. Why not?
---
“I know the hospital food ain’t great, guess it must be worse when ya don’t even get to taste it, huh?” Gabe asked as he pushed his way past what few stragglers remained this time of night.
A burrito tumbled from the pile and fell onto the cafeteria table, its liquefied bean-and-cheese mixture spilling out hot from a small cut in the plastic. Sean sunk his teeth deeper into the one in his hands. His eyes brightened and a grin spread across his face as he shoved the remainder of the burrito down his throat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, crumbs finding their home among the fuzzy red hair on his chin.
“Woke up feeling like I hadn’t eaten in a week,” he answered as he swallowed down his food. “Turns out that I hadn’t. And do ye know what they offered me when I awoke? A pack of crackers and a juicebox. Now I’m not one to deny a meal, but that just wasn’t going to cut it.”
Sean reached into the mountain of microwavable burritos and offered one to Gabe. “Burrito?”
“Really? Of all the nerve. And with all the time we spent there, you’d think we’d start gettin’ a frequent flyer’s bonus or somethin’. Or one of them stamp cards some restaurants get.”
He’d deliver a powerful pat to the shoulder as he sat down beside Sean, grabbing the burrito as it’s offered.
“So didja actually get discharged, or am I gonna have to hide ya and explain the mountain of burritos in 10 minutes?”
“If I wanted to hide I would’ve already thrown these into a knapsack and hauled my arse out of here,” Sean answered, licking the burrito goop off his synthetic fingers. “Nae, the doc said I’m free to do as I please until the next operation. Just have to poke back in for a check-up every few hours or so.”
He stretched out his robotic arm and wiggled his robotic toes. They starkly contrasted the stained white-and-baby-blue hospital gown that hung loosely over his frame. Bundled fibrously like muscles, they stretched and contracted as he moved them.
“Apparently I napped through the worst of it,” he continued, unwrapping a generically-branded ‘Steak & Cheese Burrito’. “Though it’s hard to say that it was all that restful. Feels like I’ve been slipping in and out of consciousness for months, not days. Honestly I’m just happy to know what time it is.”
“Sure he won’t be mad ‘bout all the beans and cheese on your new hand?”
His eyes would naturally be drawn to his new appendages as Sean stretched, eyeing them with both the concern of a friend and the interest of a techie. “How’s that workin’ out, by the way? Didn’t get to hear much ‘bout how your new bits were gonna work other than, yknow, they’d let ya pilot.”
“Wouldn’t be much use in a brand spanking new hand that can’t get a little greasy,” Sean answered as he chomped into his burrito. “The manual boasted about its advanced tactile feedback, but as far as I can tell it hasn’t got any hidden plasma blasters or machine guns or anything like that.”
He curled his fingers into a fist and a brief streak of red light flashed across his bicep.
“But I heard that it’s got one hell of a punch. ‘Strong enough to crush a cue ball’ if I overclock it, a whopping ten tons of force… I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“Really? And here I thought they’d slap somethin’ cheap on ya to start off with. I mean, military grade and all but…”
Gabe’s voice trailed off, watching in rapt fascination as the mechanical arm lit up and ideas almost visibly sparked in his mind. “Ten tons…”
Instantly, he was back at attention. This was what they needed to make up for with over a week of downtime. And they’d been practically gift wrapped the chance to do what they did best. Ruin everything.
“We gotta find somethin’ to smash. And see if we can’t up that estimate a bit. We’ve got the mechanical knowhow, dammit.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about lad!”
Sean stood from his seat, the shit-eating grin on his face widening in excitement. He forced the rest of his burrito into his mouth, scraping the rest off the table and carrying them under his arms. The time for questioning the life decisions that led him to this point had long past.
“Go find some shit for me to break, now will ye? Meet me back at the hangar in ten minutes and we’ll see what this baby can do.”