Sickbay

[treadswater]

The last time Annie Cresta had been in sickbay, she'd been high as a kite. The doctor - Bashir, Julian Bashir - had been...kind, she thinks. Certainly competent. But she'd been high as a kite and, well, herself when stressed and throwing one of her fits, and Finnick had been himself and if Dr Bashir had had to deal with Finnick just out of the arena...

It's not the best impression. Of either of them.

So Annie has made herself look neat (pale blue ankle-length skirt belted around her waist, loose blouse, a tan jacket, her hair in a fishtail braid) and gone to the sickbay on Deck 12 to apologize. And, perhaps, to see if there is anything else that could maybe help Finnick.

Maybe. If there is. And if she feels like she can ask anyone.

Annie keeps her footfalls loud enough to be heard as she walks out of the elevator, but as she walks, she also scans the room with a sharp, trained gaze. She's not high now, nor hysterical, and hospitals are always places where it's a good idea to know what's going on.

"Um," she starts. "Hello? Anyone in?"

[ooc: still on slowatus, but tossing this up anyway because I can. locked to asklepian and sizeofyourbaggage]

Comments

[asklepian]

"Annie, hello." Julian peeks around the door into sickbay proper from where he's catching up with paperwork in the office. (Though it's odd that they still call it paperwork, when paper hasn't been used in decades.) He comes out, in his crisp uniform, smiling kindly.

"How are you settling in? Can I help you with anything?"

[treadswater]

"Dr Bashir, hi," she says, turning to face him properly. Which does mean he can see her hands twist in on themselves nervously before she breathes, forces her fingers still. Unlike when she came in, there's a brown ring on her left ring finger; not metal, but fine rope.

"Um. I'm settling in fine. Thank you. Kind of bored- um! Not that I'm not grateful, for-for everything, I am. Um. That's not, uh. Not what I came here to say."

Annie makes a small, frustrated face and briefly stares at the join of ceiling and wall.

"What, I meant to say was, thank you," she says then, looking back at him. "For helpin'. When I came in. And for when Finnick came in, I know neither of us would have given the best impression. I just wanted to say thank you."

[sizeofyourbaggage]

Sam'd been reading when he heard her footsteps coming, but he'd set the book down as soon as he had.

He stands when he spots her, heading over with a friendly smile. "Hey," he greets. "I'm Sam, I'm one of the medics here. How can I help you?"

[treadswater]

Movement at the corner of her vision makes her turn around (shifting her feet under her skirt to keep her balance rather than turning at the ankle), and she smiles at him, the expression polite. She gives him a once-over, quickly, but her eyes settle more at his shoulders, how he walks, rather than the prettiness of his face. An assessing once-over, rather than appreciative.

(Although, he is very pretty.)

"Hi," she says. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Annie. Annie Cresta. Um. I was just seein' if Dr Bashir was in?"

There's a pause as she goes over what any of the doctors in Four would do if she came with them with such a request, and then gestures a little awkwardly. Unlike with a metallic band, the dark brown of her woven engagement ring stands out against her pale skin.

"It's nothing medical," Annie adds. "So, if he's busy, don't have to worry him."

[sizeofyourbaggage]

The way she looks him over is definitely surprising, but not unfamiliar. He's gotten that assessing lookover a lot in his line of work. He doesn't try to change anything about himself, though. Letting someone come to whatever conclusion they're going to tends to be a lot better than trying to alter it, in Sam's experience.

"No, he's not," he says apologetically. "But I can tell him you were looking for him, if you want."

There's a pause, then he ventures, "You happen to know a Finnick Odair, by any chance?" He's never heard an accent quite like hers before, except for when he'd been talking to Finnick.

[treadswater]

So far, Annie's conclusions on Sam aren't really conclusions, more tentative connections. Fit, strong in ways that someone has to think about maintaining, his walk balanced. But she's not sure what else, and she's not sure why. Not yet, anyway.

"It's okay, I'll come back later," Annie says, her weight starting to shift as she starts to move back before his question catches her.

It's not a question she's ever been asked, and for a moment she's confused. Of course she does-

But this isn't Panem. This isn't District Four. This is a strange ship that sails through stars she's never heard of.

"Yes," Annie says, "he's, um," she glances down at the dark, woven ring on her left hand, her smile briefly lighting up her face, "my fiancé." It's just a glance down at her ring: her gaze is back up and on him soon enough, and it's lost none of its sharpness. "You met him here?"

A stupid question, she thinks, where else would Sam have met him? But she bites her tongue and tries not to offer an apology. Those tend to make everything worse.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

Sam’s smile changes just a little when she confirms that she knows Finnick - brightens just the slightest bit, eyes lighting a little in recognition. This must be who Finnick meant when he was talking about ‘her,’ though he’d never been specific.

“Yeah. I met him in the lounge the other day, we talked for a little while.”

By which Sam means that he mostly talked, and occasionally coaxed a few responses out of Finnick, once the guy was grounded enough in now to give them, but close enough.

“I’m guessing that means you’re from the same place as him?”

[treadswater]

Finnick had mentioned the people he'd met before she'd arrived, although the detail on some had been vague enough to make her concerned. She's seen his bad days, and seen more than once when his bad days stretch into weeks and weeks. His description of Sam had been one of the vaguer ones, which doesn't speak to Annie well of Finnick's mental state.

But Sam smiles, and she smiles back.

Maybe Finnick hadn't seemed that bad, and it was just his memory.

"Yep. Same fishery, actually, we've known each other since we were kids. Uh. So, yeah. Same district, same country, same world. Or moment in time or... However it works."

[sizeofyourbaggage]

Finnick hadn't seemed that bad. Though then again, Sam's perception on "bad" might be a little skewed, considering his own past and the vets he usually works with.

"I still haven't really figured how it works out, either," he replies, giving her a wry smile. "It's nice to meet you, though. It's obvious Finnick cares a lot about you."

Or at least, Sam's assuming it is. But he's still betting Annie is the one Finnick'd been talking about in his vague mutterings.

[treadswater]

Annie's reaction isn't precisely what one might expect: there's that happy, delighted little smile again, but then it flickers out of view as she looks at Sam again, this time with her dark, sea-green eyes sharp.

Suspicious.

"He, uh, mentioned me?" she asks. Her voice is still fairly cheerful, but it's laced with caution.

Nearly four years being a secret, a dangerous secret, does that. Particularly once she factors in the timing of everything, that Finnick was talking to Sam before he knew that she was okay.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

With what Sam's pieced together about the way things were for them back home, that's not too surprising of a reaction.

"Nah, not really. But he wasn't thinking all that clearly when we started talking." He'll let her take what she wants from that. He's okay being honest, but he's not okay with blabbing about just how rough shape Finnick'd been in when they talked, even if she does know him well.

Finnick isn't one of his vets back home, but it's hard not to treat him in a similar way.

"You have the same accent, though. I've never heard it before, so I took a guess."

[treadswater]

She watches him for a moment, maybe a beat or two too long, and then nods a little. She wants to know everything about how Finnick was - she can imagine, but what if he was worse? But Sam's answer is oddly reassuring. She can deal with clever people reading between the lines: it's better than someone knowing too much, or making Finnick talk.

His second comment gets a quick, entertained little smile.

"Yeah, it's... It's a weird accent in our country, too. We're from um. Mexico? Where Mexico used to be, if you're from a world that had Canada and United States of America."

She sounds the names out slowly, unfamiliar with how they are actually said.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

Sam gives her a little smile when she keeps staring at him, but he doesn’t call attention to it. If she actually asks him anything, he'll do his best to answer it, but for the moment he'll just let her keep assessing him.

“Yeah, we got those back home.” He nods his head in agreement, and files away ‘used to be,’ for later. He won’t ask what happened to Mexico, not yet, but it does change his opinion on where they’re from. Sam’d considered it completely different from his own world, but now he wonders if maybe it isn’t just an alternate option.

“What do they call it where you’re from?”

[treadswater]

"District Four," she says. "In the country of Panem. I guess our districts are like states? There's twelve of them, plus the Capitol."

Then Annie looks amused, albeit wryly.

"I think they're like states, anyway. It's not like I've ever had to explain it, 'fore coming here."

[sizeofyourbaggage]

Sam nods along at her explanation, considering, but her last comment makes him chuckle a little.

“Tell me about it. I’m used to having to explain more about pararescue and the VA, but I never had to talk about what they are before.” There’s a pause, then he adds, “I don’t mind it, though. It’s kind of nice talking about what I did back home.”

Since she’s from the same place as Finnick, Sam’s guessing she won’t know what either of those are anymore than he did, and he doesn’t want to make her feel like she can’t ask if she wants to.

[treadswater]

The only word he said about what he does, or did, that she understands is rescue, but there's an invitation in his manner. It could be useful, to learn more. Confirm the snatches Finnick remembered to tell her.

Sam seems nice. She's not sure what lies underneath it, and she knows she's not that good at people enough to really work it out. Unless he's obvious. But, conversation? She can...

Well.

Manage.

"Pararescue sounds more interesting than making glass, which is what I do. Did, not like there's a workshop here. Unless, um. Pararescue's actually not that exciting. I wouldn't know."

[sizeofyourbaggage]

She's managing conversation pretty well, as far as Sam's concerned. Especially given the subject.

"I don't know, making glass sounds pretty damn cool. I bet there's some way you could keep doing it here, if you wanted." He can't be positive, but this ship seems to have just about everything else, who knows? And he's a big fan of people getting to do what they like.

"Not to brag, but yeah, it is pretty exciting. It's basically search and rescue - we were the first responders to a lot of natural disasters, giving people medical attention and getting them to safety. And when our soldiers were stuck down behind enemy lines, we did the same thing."

[treadswater]

"Maybe the holodeck. I might...have to read the manual again, though." This time with a better dictionary beside her. But whatever else she was going to say - about glass, about how it is 'cool' even if frivolous the way she does it - is paused as he explains.

"Oh. Like, Peacekeepers?"

Then, belatedly realizing that she might have to explain, "Um. They...work for the government. Normally, they, uh. Uphold the law and keep the peace, it's, it's in the name."

Even if this peace involves fines, floggings, executions.

(Bombings.)

"But when there's a bad storm, they'll look for people, in my District. And in hurricane season. They help."

She's not warm as she explains, but neither is she afraid. Cool, a little neutral. Peacekeepers are an aspect of life.

But the way the corner of her mouth tilts around 'keep the peace', there's no love lost here.