text | un: m.cabrera

[naloxone]

[ turns out? space doesn't give a single fuck about your circadian rhythm. or maybe insomnia is just that attached to her that even the absence of a sun dictating her internal clock doesn't faze it, like an old friend you wish would just forget you already.

one night (?) late into the early hours (???) marta finds herself drifting out of the room she's come to assume will be hers for the indefinite future, passing through stark white walls with all the sterility of a hospital, but none of its familiar chaos.

she's still getting used to the earpiece. still getting used to hearing other people's voices in her head. she doesn't mean to add another in the void, but one of her own thoughts blares out too vividly as she stares out into an actual void: ]

—but where are the stars?

Comments

[naloxone]

[ it's a couple of minutes before she responds. ]

I found a candle.

[naloxone]

That's what I'm hearing... Do those rooms get used very often?

[oiorpata]

Traveling or Cuba?

It's a surprisingly collaborative bunch. [ she's not used to this much altruism with a large group?? ]

[scarcastically]

[ okay so right now was the answer ]

Congrats?

[naloxone]

Do you have a match?

[scarcastically]

Don't need one. I have magic spells.

Also we're really doing this? Really?

[naloxone]

[ of course he has magic spells... ]

Only if you want.
You can always say no.

[lateness]

Oh! Brilliant! Hah — [ He sounds delighted. ] — yes, you're good. Yes, you're very good. It was something like that. Only it wasn't so much reliving those memories, but I think the sleeping sickness would have consumed us all if it could. Taken everything it could for as long as it could. Didn't even get to use my antidote, really.

[ Well, if one can consider the complete disassembling of a control box in order to take some of the wiry bits out, and replace them with other better, more colourful wiry bits — then yes. He is absolutely in the middle of operating right now. ]

Well, all right then, let's see what you've got, eh? Do you know your way around the station yet?

[blackfire]

（ look he respects that taijutsu hustle, truly, but that fashion sense is where he really has to draw the line........ ）

[scarcastically]

I just don't get why it's a big deal.

[bossily]

Five or six months now? Definitely for three missions, with downtime between each one.

[She has to take a minute to think about it. Fiveish months sound about right, so she shrugs her shoulders.]

Long enough that I've decided to take up mapping the stars during our downtime.

[That's a joke. But really, there's not a ton of things to do here. Sometimes she goes a little stir crazy. She's got to find ways to keep busy.]

[groupiedrifter]

... Some people did get hurt, yeah.

[He scratches the back of his head as he considers it, especially that last bid to get the orb with Drift's sword and everyone's power. It had taken a lot out of them... and then there were people who'd gotten hurt just by being in the dream. How he didn't end up with more than a few little scrapes and bruises is beyond him, knowing his track record.]

I'm fine, though! I got lucky.

[Read: I'm gonna have a medical crisis in a couple days from this conversation.

But it's fine, that's something to worry about later.

... When he's on the floor, half-conscious.

Anyway!]

Good to see a nurse focusing in on if people are hurt or alright. That just means you're super good at your job, you know? Totally one of those bleeding heart types, I just know it.

he's a doctor not a barista

[homeostatic]

No harm done. ( It's a curious reaction he files away, like a child cringing from an expected scolding. Not that she looks childish herself, it's just a fleeting impression, gone like a ghost.

He gives her a look of sympathy. )

Wish I could say that gets any easier. Helps a little to, ah– ( Bones lifts his coffee mug toward the side of his head briefly, indicating the earpiece, ) –Disconnect when you feel like it. The crew'll talk your ear off if you're not careful.

( Tucking the PADD back under his arm, swapping his coffee from right to left, he offers her his hand. )

Leonard McCoy. I'm a Doctor here– MD, ( He clarifies, because he has to, they've collected PhDs and "Doctor"s like they're going out of style, ) If there's anything you need, just holler.

[naloxone]

Cuba. I spent most of my life there.

[ is it really altruism, though? when they are all here for some kind of personal gain... ]

What makes it so surprising?

[naloxone]

[ marta could sympathize with that. one day in, and she's already feeling so aimless she's striking up random conversation with other sleepless people for the sake of it. normally, she would just keep to herself. ]

It must be helpful for you, if you're taking so much care with it.

[naloxone]

[ because this is audio, newt doesn't see it, the way marta's expression crumbles slightly. what was it detective blanc had initially asked her? does having a kind heart make you a good nurse? she never did get to answer him.

she never did figure it out for herself.

so. moving on. ]

...You mentioned having trouble with sleep usually. Have you tried warm milk?

[naloxone]

Maybe it isn't a big deal.
Maybe it could just be something nice.

goddangit (jim)

[naloxone]

[ her lips quirk into a faint, wry smile when he mentions the crew. she's appreciative enough of his sympathy that she doesn't bother to correct him, that for marta, right now she actually doesn't mind the distraction. that she would take a dozen of them gabbing at her at once and newt's live guitar playing, if only it would keep her from spiralling in her own thoughts.

however, when he offers her his hand and introduces himself, her expression snaps into recognition at his name. ]

Oh— you're McCoy. [ she reaches up — first to remove the earpiece as he'd earlier suggested, because she doesn't want to be distracted from this, then takes up that hand with her other. ] Doctor McCoy, [ she corrects, smiling sheepishly. ]

I'm Marta. Cabrera. I was... told to look for you, actually. I was a nurse back home. [ nevermind that he had just offered her his own services, that's not what this is about— ] If there's anything I can do to help you, please let me know.

[naloxone]

[ the more she hears about these missions, the more she wonders if she's signed on for more than she's capable of. ]

I'm sorry that happened to you.

[ maybe it's the hour, maybe it's the accent, but the chipper quality to his voice feels so at odds with the melancholy marta had been carrying around since waking that she's a little stumped by it. enough, at least, not to find an immediate answer. ]

I know where the common areas are, [ she eventually offers. ] Should I head to the... infirmary?

[naloxone]

[ k but. does itachi really have any room to talk here........... ]

[groupiedrifter]

[He snort-laughs on his end.]

The only time I ever even touch milk is if it's chocolate or in Lucky Charms.

... That really works, huh?

[naloxone]

It can. But not everyone has the taste or stomach for it, so some herbal tea is also good.

I can make some for you, if you like.

[groupiedrifter]

... Actually, I'm kind of having the opposite problem now.

I can't seem to stop sleeping. I feel like a big fat walrus snoozing on a dock half the time.

['Voice' helps mask the fact that he looks kind of janky right now. No amount of rest seems enough; he's just doing the very smart thing and not actually addressing it with anyone who might be able to say if something's wrong. This can't blow up in his face, not at all.]

Go figure, the time I finally start sleeping more, I'm overdoing it.

[homeostatic]

A nurse? ( McCoy shakes her hand warmly, and really, he looks at her like she's the best thing he's ever seen his whole life. )

Well, thank God. Yes, please, Ms. Cabrera.

( And because it's Early-Ass o'clock, he does wait a sec before breathlessly plunging forward: )

You busy now? I can, at least, get you up to speed. Where are you from?

[naloxone]

[ it's a little difficult for marta's nurse side not to switch on when he explains his issue, too enabled by her inherent nurturing side to ever be completely turned off anyway. ]

Is that all you're having problems with? No dizziness, change in vision..?