| Sugar High |
| Summary: | Somber conversation turns into dares. Dares that nobody wants to see. |
| Date: | 7 July 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | The CO2 Mess |
| Players: |
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| Sickbay |
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| Being able to accommodate combat casualties requires room, and the Sickbay has it. Beds line each side of the room with privacy curtains strung up and readily available. Large vaulted lockers hold access to the supplies at the far end of the area. Nearer the front, a Petty Officer sits ready to dispense simple items like ibuprofen and aspirin. Further to the rear is an area prepped twenty-four hours a day for emergency surgery. To the side are a set of double doors that lead to the Recovery Ward where patients can recuperate. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #131 |
The fun of the mental evaluation has been over for a while which has left Allie to her own devices for the most part, the recovering one still hooked up to oxygen via those annoying prongs up her nose and hooked up to an IV which means she's back to being trapped in bed. A book sits open in her lap which gets a half-hearted reading now and again, the page she's currently on one that has been 'read' at least eight different times without ever being turned.
Visiting Hours may be over, but watching the ship's XO and the fleet's 4th ranking officer give a shit. He just nods to the woman at the desk as he passes by with a black plastic bag in his hand. Dressed in his greens, the man must have done a tour in Engineering today because there's dark smudges on his blouse. Approaching Allie, he spreads a grin. "Look at this lazy-ass piece of work. Shit. How come I don't get vacations like this?" Stopping at her bedside, he dips his head. "All this time on your back, kiddo, we might have to look at changing your callsign. Or not." Leave it to Clive to try and lighten the mood.
Alessandra smiles as she looks up, peering through her lashes instead of lifting and turning her head to do so when the Major makes his presence known. "Yeah, well, I feel like a lazy-ass piece of work, sir. Would rather be out of here and doing my job." Even if her job is anything but fun it can be reasoned that it's more fun that being sick and laid up is. "I shouldn't be in here much longer, though. Going to get released sometime today, barring any surprise complications or unsatisfactory rest results." The bag Clive has with him has been noticed but she doesn't say anything about it, letting him bring it up if it's something needed to be discussed. As to the XO's joke about her callsign Allie grins crookedly; it's been joshed over by others in the past when her luck took a turn for the worse but now? Hell, she can't help but to feel a bit of trepidation. Just what would Clive suggest?
Tillman lifts a hand and taps hers sympathetically. "You feel that way because you -are- lazy, Lieutenant." Way to be patronizing. Clive must be a playful mood - a nice rarity. "I bet you get laid up here in Sickbay just so you can get other people to by and visit. Eschew your paperwork and sleep for a few days? Psh. Makes me wish I could fly a Viper." He see's that look and grins. "Well let's see. You spend more time on your back than a Caprican hooker.. You complain about your chest being all shot up.. Oh, and as we found out yesterday, you're gay. Man - the possibilities? They's endless." He waggles his brow a few times before letting it go. The man looks her over once and gives her hand a squeeze. "Glad to see you're okay, Allie. Even happier to hear you'll be out soon. Bored yet?" He glances to the book pointedly.
"Oh thanks, Major. I'll keep this in mind the next time you want me to do you a favor. Will make you have to work for it extra hard before I even start to think about agreeing to help your sorry ass out." The playful jab is given with a smile, Clive's mood contagious. The hooker joke gets a chuckle from her as well as one of her infamous shrugs, it coupled with a wrinkle of her nose. "Oh man. Now that was low." Not that she's offended but a low blow's a low blow even if it was said to tease. When asked if she's bored Allie see-saws her left hand side to side while the right is used to close the book she has long grown tired of. "I was bored. Then I got to attend the Colonel's party. Came back and…yeah. Bored as frak, Major. Boooooored."
"Yeah. The Colonel plays cards? The Major pays visits." He glances down to his dirty uniform and grins. "Well, luckily for me, I brought something totally bribe the hell out of my fellow mutineer." The man winks, lifting the bag and bouncing it a bit. Whatever is in there looks like it weighs a few pounds. "No XO ever travels lightly and these gifts? They cannot be refused. And its not because I'm the most kick-ass guy you know.." He shakes his head emphatically. "Nope, its because these? May very well be the last of the edible ones left in the whole universe. And I am here to share a few with you." Uh oh. The XO glances behind him and pulls up a chair to plop his butt down in. "Miss Sophronia, how do you feel about jellybeans?" Apparently Clive is pretty comfortable about his sexuality.
Alessandra sage-nods. "Yup. Pewter plays cards. And when one is invited by him to join him to do so, one walks through fire to be able to attend." Which is what she just about had to to get permission to go while still technically in need of medical observation. "Wa…wait. Jelly beans, sir?" Well, this is a huge jump from being compared to a streetwalker but it's a pleasant one, the surprise registering in the form of one and then both brows arching up. "I like them quite a bit. Not fond of licorice but other than that? I can get into eating some of them." The bag is looked at longingly and then she turns puppy-dog eyes onto Clive, begging him to share if that is what's going to happen. And the Lords help the XO if he's teasing her.
Tillman sets the bag down on the bed and rolls the top back to reveal what must be something close to three pounds of the blessed treats. "My dearest Allie? Nobody likes the licorice. That is why the beautiful young lady who packed these was kind enough to omit them." He smirks and takes one up to pop in his mouth. "Its full of coffee, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, grape, and butterscotch." He scoots the chair closer so he can kick his feet out under her bed and still face her - providing a little easier access to said deliciousness. "Just don't tell the Doctors. I don't think they would approve of the sugar high. Might spurn things like feelings of euphoria and faster recovery times."
The ample supply of sweets has Alessandra staring, it being rather surprising indeed, not only because of the vast amount of the little bean-shaped candies but the fact that Tillman's willing to share with her. "Thanks, Major. Appreciate it. And don't worry. It's just between you and me." One quick look to make sure none of the doctors or other medical personnel are around and then Allie dips her hand in to snatch some before Clive can change his mind. "How are things with you?" A handful of the yummies are extracted and then eaten slowly, each one relished as she smiles, already blissing out. Clive just might lose Lucky to a sugar high.
Tillman nods carefully. "No thanks necessary. You guys have had a rough go of things lately. Morale starts at the top, aye?" He grins, taking up one more. He's not in any hurry. "Things with me are okay. Still trying to finish the off-loading of munitions. Fixing all the damage from Leonis - which is what I was doing down in Engineering and gettin dirty." Occasionally the XO gets to have some fun. Once in a while. "Stubbed my toe this morning getting out of bed. Hit my head on a steam pipe. Broke a coffee mug in the galley. I figured I needed to sit down and enjoy a few of these to even things out." He takes a moment to take up another, chewing slowly. "How's things in the Knights? Whipping ass into shape?"
Morale? With how things have been going Alessandra is beginning to think that word shouldn't be allowed to exist anymore, it being so rare that it should be erased from every dictionary and every brain. She doesn't say as such though but doesn't say anything else, her head nodding being the only thing he gets for his line of reason in that regards. When she finally does say anything it's on the much easier subject for her to be conversational over, that being him and his well-being. "Ah. I am glad that you're getting to do something enjoyable at least even if it is in the wake of the chaos." His run of bad luck with the toe and the mug is sympathized over with a frown, those perhaps things she has suffered through herself at one point in her life or another. "Bad luck there, sir. Shame to hear that's how your day started." A red bean is picked from the candies she still holds in her hand, the sweet nibbled on as she ponders. "I am trying. Held my first meeting with the squadron a few days ago. Went surprisingly well, I have to say. Am still expecting some problems with several of our more…spirited pilots but thanks to a friend who gave me some good advice I'm ready to handle it."
"Yeah. My youngest packed these for me. She would do it before every cruise. It started with my oldest and the torch was passed down the ranks of the daughters." Tillman smiles as he takes up another bean. "My first? Abigail? Packed them for me when she was five and I was leaving for OCS. She said 'When things are icky, eat one of these.' because her mother told her that they were magic. It turned into tradition. Started with a small bag. When I left for this cruise Natalie packed me five pounds." He must have had a lot of bad days in the last four months. "My wife would always pack me a bottle of her perfume to spray whenever I missed her." He gives a bittersweet smile to Allie and eats a few at once. "Glad to hear you're getting a wrangle on those pilots. Unruly like a kid's hair. Just be careful who you take advice from, aye? Some people like to think they know what they are talking about. They tend to dispense advice at a million miles an hour. The good ones don't need to unless they are asked. They just..are."
Alessandra looks down when Clive tells the story behind the jelly beans and the traditions he shared with his family, her eyes darkening a shade or two due to the wave after wave of emotion pokes little fires into her soul. "My mother and I would do something like that for Father before he'd go out but with me…I'd draw him pictures upon pictures. Swear there were times I'd use an entire ream's worth of paper doing that. And mom would bake him cookies. Not sure how long they'd last but knowing him, he probably shared them with everyone he could." Oh yes, this is going to be one of those conversations. "I trust the person who gave it to me," she says on the subject of advice, then, her voice wavering. "She's a good person. Good head on her shoulders."
Tillman smirks at Allie's telling. "I hear that, Allie. They all used to draw me pictures my oldest hadn't in probably six years, but the middle and youngest always picked up the slack. I have one that Abby drew when she was 14? I think it was her last. Right before I left on my first cruise on the Aegeon. Remember I told you my wife and I used to like watching sunsets from the porch? Well there was a window behind the benchswing. She drew us from behind. Sweetest damned thing.." Tillman forces another smile and takes up a few more jelly beans. "You said your Dad was Navy, right?" To her last, he clears his throat. "Yeah, you've got a good head, Allie. If you trust this officer, she can't be all bad."
"I remember you telling me that, yes sir." Taking a breath in, Allie lets the ache ebb before saying anything else, not wanting to add anymore sadness to whatever he might be feeling. "My father? Yeah, he was a communications officer. Loved his job. Always talked about the different places he got to see. He would have been retired by now." The monitor she is hooked up to beeps a bit faster than it was before but Allie ignores it, it being nothing but white noise by now. "My friend? Oh…uh, she's not an officer but she's still a good person. She sees things from a different angle than I do which helps."
"Heh. Comms is pretty great. I always thought they had it so damned easy until I had to sub for one once. Yikes." He takes up a coffee flavored one and chews on it. "CIC is a pretty neat place to be sometimes. But the vast majority? Truth be told, its tedium and paperwork. All those exciting TV shows and movies about the Navy and the excitement up there?" Tillman shakes his head slowly. "Lies. All of it. They never show the excitement of signing off a transfer order for sixty tons of toilet paper. Becky, my middle, asked me once if it was as exciting as it was in the movies. This was right after I had planned the Marine landing operation after the Kildare Quake. I told her 'Only if you take snapshots of time. Most of it? Its like watching the same cartoon for the fiftieth time.' and she made a hilarious face." Ahh the memories. "Well if you truth your friend to give you advice like that, then good. I just hope she has some actual leadership experience. Enlisted are good but often only know how to lead enlisted. A CAG told me once that leading pilots are like herding cats that are being distracted by a lasershow on the wall. Easy to find and identify. Getting them to listen?"
Alessandra chuckles. "It's all just smoke and mirrors, sir. If they told the truth of it all then the military'd be frakked as no one would want to enlist out of fear of dying out of boredom." She has her own boredom to deal with although perhaps not quite as much as those who do not fly or engage in combat, what she is able to be inflicted with a welcomed change more often than not. "Your family sounds precious, sir. Thank you for telling me about them." She doesn't divulge any information about Coll but she does not, understanding what he is saying even if it isn't exactly the case in this situation. "Cats. Or hyperactive children. Makes me wonder how the CAG does it. It's such a frakking pain in the ass."
"Heh. Yeah. Well the medical and dental is pretty good. Retirement benefits? College tuition? Its a pretty sweet deal. Well, it was. Be nice if we still got paid." Clive smirks, taking up another jelly bean, motioning for her to take a few more. "Family is everything to me. It always has been. My wife and I started young so its all I've ever known. Now? I've just adopted a few more. Couple more daughters. A son or two." He looks to her pointedly with the remark about daughters, even if she isn't much more than nine years his junior. "You couldn't pay or bribe me to lead a wing. Nooo thank you. I've got all the respect in the world for people that can lead airbangers. You all are, like, the breed set apart from the different breed."
A few jelly beans had been left in her hand so when it's opened she can't help but to smile when she sees the mottled coloring stain her palm. The sticky candy's popped in her mouth and another small handful is gathered, the sweet smell helping to put Lucky at ease just like Clive's gentle nature is. When he gives her that look after mentioning having adopted more family she blushes and nods, understanding and appreciation mirrored in that gesture. "Thanks, Major. I appreciate that. I've gotten to feel that way about you, too. Er, except not as a daughter." Well, that was embarrassing. Thankfully it wasn't so much of a faux pas that she is afraid of dying as a result of it. The notion that she's different from the other pilots has her shaking her head and waving the hand that isn't full, this bordering on territory that is best described as discomforting. "No, I'm not Major. Not really. I'm just a person who stepped into a very bad set of situations and got put in a position of leadership as a result." Yet another compliment that she doesn't handle well.
Tillman chuckles gently. "If I feel like a daughter to you then we may have to re-evaluate our friendship, Allie. Cuz I must be doing something wrong. Besides, for a spawn of Sophronia? I'm not nearly adorable enough." The Major reaches our to pinch her cheek like an old Aunt Flo. Luckily he's refraining from the sloppy cheek kisses. For now. "Well, maybe you did just step into a set of bad circumstances. But the CAG selected you. As far as I can tell, nobody has tried to throw a grenade in your bunk. You don't have to take the compliment, kiddo, but you should probably give yourself a little more credit. You aren't there for a window dressing. From what I hear you got selected of some guy that's got years of experience on you. I'd hold that as a pretty high compliment in itself."
"The only way I'll allow you to be adopted as my daughter is if you start shaving those legs of yours, Major. Either that or promise me you'll never wear a skirt." Everyone knows that a girl, real or not, is a scary as hell sight if they don't shave. "Sir," she then says with a slight smile, "I try to do give myself credit but it's kind of hard to sometimes. Especially in light of the situation. You're right though. I'm not just here to look pretty. The Major did pick me for a reason and I'm going to do more than try to live up to her expectations. I'm going to blow them out of the frakking water." Shoulders pulled back and chin lifted, Allie seems to really believe that she can and will do just as she said.
"You'll never get me in a skirt," Tillman says simply. "I don't have the calves. Even in heels. I'm a mess." He gives a reassuring nod. "Though you get me in something like a full-length dress? Maybe low-cut across the top? Mmm. I'll show you what's up. We'll see whose milkshake brings all the boys to the yard." Clive even manages to say all of it with a straight face, eyes lidded as if informing her that there is a challenge afoot. No, Allie, you aren't the only one in this Ward who can run a catwalk up and down. "Well look, Allie. You don't have to be the best leader. You just have to be -their- leader. I've got a lot of respect for the guts and fortitude you've shown me. I don't think anyone has missed it. Just remember that when the shit gets really tough?" Tillman reaches for another jellybean. "The tough eat jellybeans."
Alessandra's mind has been in a fragile place since she was brought in the other night; no, she's not mentally unable to do her duty, don't worry, but she is prone to moments where something someone says impacts her a little bit harder than it would normally. This…THIS is one of the times it does. Staring, she just gawks as all sorts of wrong images run rampant through her head like so many fornicating hamsters, each one breeding to make more which in turn breed to make more until her mind is all cluttered with the thoughts of Tillman wearing dresses and vamping it up. "…gods…" Blinking owlishly, she nods to what he says after the comments about milkshakes and legs and low necklines are made, Lucky skipping over saying something about leadership and fortitude and going right for the jelly beans. Maybe they'll make the bad images go away.
"You know?" Tillman takes the opportunity to toss a jellybean at Allie's cheek. "You keep making that face? Its going to stick that way. Same kinda look I saw when Bubbles, whilst making sure to state that she is in point of fact a member of Team Penis, that she would hook up with you were it not the case." Another jellybean is eaten. Mmm. Butterscotch. "So what? You look at me like a just crushed your childhood dreams. Well if you don't think I have the bust to fill out a diving v-neck, my dear Alessandra Sophronia, you are sadly mistaken. I happen to have been excellent friends with an upstanding gentleman from Picon who did drag shows and he enlightened me to many secrets. So.. be wary. I still might make a formidable daughter to you just yet."
The sting of being pelted by the bean has Alessandra snapping out of it and she semi-glares, the narrowing of eyes done in part out of annoyance at having had something thrown at her and in partial annoyance over having her brain invaded by Tillman who has seen fit to trounce all over what mental peace she's been able to keep about herself currently. "Frakker, that hurt," she whines while rubbing a finger over her cheek, trying to see if the XO has managed to cause a welt or bruise. "Okay. Fine, sir," she grumbles then once she's sure she hasn't been horribly injured bodily. "Put your cleavage where your mouth is. I dare you to do it. Get yourself a dress and a pair of heels and show me what you can do." Not a normal dare by any means of the word but he's taunted her into this and she will not be happy until either he agrees to it or she gets the same kind of deer-in-headlight look she gave him a minute ago. "And don't bring up that thing in the hallway..gods, that was bad too," she is quick to follow everything up with.
Tillman laughs. "Sadly, I don't think anyone in this fleet has a dress my size." Its true. The guy is over six feet. "Anything available would probably be too short and then? Then you risk running afoul of Captain Quinn. Not to mention decency regs. Oh, and bare in mind that you didn't say I had to shave my legs." Oooohello headlights! Look at that deer out ahead! "Oh c'mon! That shit in the hallway was hilarious. Don't sweat it. It's all good. If the XO can pander on about sporting a bit of evening wear I'm pretty sure you can suffer a little hilarity about Bubbles having a slight crush. I mean really, can you blame her?"
"Captin Quinn does not scare me so that's not really a threat," Allie points out as Quinn's just too nice of a person to be even remotely frightening. "Alright. So the dress might be an issue but frak, I bet one of the more 'feminine' female Marines might have something." Because those women who are closer to Clive's height would be the kind to wear dresses. Pshaw, yeah riiiiiiiiight. And cylons will come flying out of orifices. "As for Psyche and her 'crush'? Yeah, she should crush on me because I'm frakking wonderful. The Lords' gift to all men and women so don't you forget that, sir."
"Obviously you've never seen a redhead get thoroughly pissed. It's like watching a fire engine start to boil," he says cautiously. Be Wary of Tillman and His Warnings. "I really think you might be screwed on a dress, Allie. Sorry. Though if I'm going to wear it, I require compensation of something equally awesome and embarrassing from you. Maybe the Gods' gift to men and women should put her crush where her mouth is." Oh snap. The Major just went there. Again.
Alessandra zings a jelly bean towards Clive, now, smiling cutely as she does. "Uh-huh. See, you fail to realize that women get madder at men than they do other women unless they frak their man or something. And seeing how I doubt you and I will ever wind up in bed together, I think I'm safe." A little clue into how women are. "What would you want for compensation," she ventures foolhardily, then. She seems to be entertaining the notion. All she needs to know is what the XO has in mind.
"Yeah I think that might break about thirty different regulations, Allie. Besides, sleeping with your daughter?" Tillman tsk tsks. "I've been married the majority of my life. I've seen my wife get more ragingly pissed at other women than you would believe. I don't buy that logic for one moment. Blanket assessments? I'd call that bluff." The man grins. "But hell if I know. I'm sure I could find something sufficiently entertaining for the ship. The difference is, Allie, that I am shameless. You?" That grin turns wolfish. He slowly rises from the chair and scoops out a few jellybeans for her to munch on after he's gone. "I need to rack out. I'll see you again soon, I'm sure." He runs a hand over her forehead to float some hair away.
The last few jelly beans she's given is hidden under a fold in the blanket she's been provided and leans her head into the touch, sighing happily at the small show of…dare she call it affection?…from the man. "Hmmm. yeah," she murmurs with a grin, leaving it up in the air as to just what she's agreeing to. "Thanks for coming by and visiting me, sir. Was a pleasure, as always."
Clive rubs a thumb over her forehead he smiles back. "Always a pleasure to see you coming back home, Allie. Get some rest, Milkshake." He winks with that smile and moves off for the door with the Bag of Win.