Trekkies United: Going Boldly

Well... I suppose not... Matrix mumbled inwardly, wincing as his own thumb began to ache again, steadily growing worse. He did his best to ignore it, but, being quite sensitive to any sort of pain, that was rather difficult for him.

As the nurse made her judgment, he gave a soft sigh. Sorry, he apologized again, not necessarily for what he'd done, just out of sympathy.

there was a wordless growl in response, and a bit of frustration at herself, not at him. "how long does a bone normally take to heal?" she asked the nurse, and nodded at the first number. "but given how badly you're hurt, it will probably take at least three times as long--"

"three TIMES?"

"at least, yes. this is the sort of injury that would take extensive surgery just a century or two ago. and before that, you'd certainly be facing amputation..." Brianna went pale at the thought and looked down at her purple thumb again. *gulp* "um...anything I can do to help it along?"

"well, I would say wearing your safety equipment is the first step," she chastised her again

Matrix continued to work in silence, wincing a little at the prognosis and Brianna's reaction to it. The thought of amputation was certainly alarming, and he was glad they lived in a time where medicine was so technologically advanced. In any case, it was no wonder his own thumb was hurting - in fact, he was surprised it wasn't hurting even worse than it was. She must've been in agony... He just hoped she would be careful with it, and wouldn't re-injure it by being foolish and impatient...

the nurse got finished bandaging and treating the injury, then made sure to give brianna a hypospray for the pain, seeing her relax. "you'll come back twice a day, every day, for more medicine and to verify it's healing properly. until then..." she got a thick, solid mitten with a hard outer covering. "you're going to wear this to make sure you can't injure it further." brianna groaned out loud this time. it looked ridiculous!

Matrix, too, relaxed as the nurse gave Brianna the hypospray, feeling the pain finally ebb away. He glanced over as she fetched the mitten, feeling a little amused despite himself; it did look ridiculous. He tried to quash the feeling, not wanting Brianna to sense it.

Brianna shot him a narrow-eyed glare at his quickly squashed feeling of amusement, strapping on the mitten. "you really should be more careful, you engineering students are in here all the time, and you especially, I swear."

"...sir, I'm the class rep, I have to escort anyone else who gets injured. and I have several unrelated health issues that need weekly treatment." 

"oh, good, so it's not my imagination you're always in here, then." Brianna sighed a little in exasperation and shook her head. "in any case, you're free to go now. I'll let your instructor know you have the rest of today off and you'll start on light duty tomorrow." the nurse turned a little. "matrix, I know you're good friends with her. can you  try to instill a bit more self-preservation in this cadet?" she sounded a bit teasing

Matrix gave her the best innocent look he could, which was fairly effective at making him look like a big-eyed puppy. He kept working as the other two continued to talk, though lifted his head and turned as he heard his name spoken, his head tilting. "Oh, uh, well..." He glanced to Brianna, feeling awkward and amused at the same time. "I'll do my best, sir."

brianna left in a huff and the nurse stifled a soft laugh afterward. "right...Matrix?" she turned to him again, seeing him working dutifully. "after yesterday's ordeal and today's statement, would you rather keep working as you are? I don't mind you taking a day off. I know I would certainly be stressed to the extreme if I were dealing with everything you've had to."

Brianna had meandered her way back to her room to pick up her tablet and returned to the lounge to read, but between the craziness of last night and the potent painkillers for her thumb, she had soon fallen asleep, the tablet forgotten on her chest and her mouth wide open, snoring rather unattractively

(Brianna no XD)

Matrix watched her go with another spike of amusement, looking back to the nurse as she turned to him once more. "If you are certain, sir, then I am grateful for your offer," he told her appreciatively. "Perhaps I should take the day off. Cadet Dhaki could use some company - I would imagine she will quickly become rather... impatient... without any work to do."

(imagination: cute sleeping beauty curled in chair. reality: scruffy sleep deprived swamp monster XD)

she nodded quickly. "anything to prevent her coming back with further injuries will be very highly appreciated, for certain." she gestured out the door. "I can tidy things up, just go and relax a bit."

(Lol xD)

Matrix gave her a smile. "Thank you, sir," he murmured, before making his way out.

He wasn't quite sure where Brianna was, considering he couldn't quite sense her at that point in time, but he headed down to the lounge first. He certainly hadn't expected to find the snoring beast sprawled in one of the chairs. He regarded her sleeping form with surprise and another generous helping of amusement, his eyes dancing with laughter. Well, he wasn't going to wake her if she was that tired, so instead, he grabbed a couple of books and settled into another nearby chair to wait.

it was only maybe another 20 minutes before she stirred, flopping over into what was probably a much more comfortable position on the chair, head on the arm and legs now curled partly into chest. she finally stopped snoring and smacked her lips once or twice, falling more deeply asleep, though she wouldn't be for long if the now precariously balanced tablet fell to the floor...

Matrix looked over as Brianna stirred, giving a soft huff of laughter, though he was glad she'd stopped snoring at the least. He noticed the precarious position of the tablet on her chest a moment later and tilted his head slightly, sitting forward and reaching for it, setting it on a small table between them so it wouldn't fall and wake her. Last night had likely been very stressful for her as well as him, and, combined with her injury, she likely needed the rest.

a few minutes after that, she did finally start to dream, and once again to mumble as she had done last night. this time it was quieter and much less intelligible. at one point it did sound very distinctly like she said "fffrench fries??" in a very perplexed tone, like she was questioning their existence. she squirmed a little to get more comfortable. 

"Mat." her voice was suddenly so clear it seemed she had woken up, but no, she was still out cold. "...like me?" she asked in a sudden shy mumble.

(*Bomb drops* xD)

Matrix gave another soft huff of amusement as she started to mumble, apparently questioning the existence of French fries. As she said his name, however, he looked up, confused to find she was still asleep. Her voice had been so clear. Her next words puzzled him even more. Like her? Well, of course he liked her, but... ...He was suddenly getting an uncomfortable feeling... like there was something he should be aware of, but wasn't... Oh, but he was probably overthinking things. She was just dreaming, after all...

after a few more moments of silence, she let out a very soft whine and squirmed again. "...no?" she questioned, her face falling to a frown. her dream was quickly becoming a nightmare, and starting to grow stronger...soon Matrix would probably be able to see what it was she was dreaming about, assuming she didn't scare herself awake first.

Matrix frowned as she started to fidget, her dream apparently turning for the worse. He hesitated, wondering if he should wake her up or not, before finally reaching forward and touching her on the shoulder. "Bri..." he murmured. "Bri, wake up. It's just a dream."

*SNORK* "bwuh what where huh?" she snapped half awake and sat partway up, looking confused. she then started to pat herself and look around frantically, realizing her tablet wasn't where she'd left it when she fell asleep. "where is it?" she muttered to herself, ignoring Mat for the moment

Matrix jumped slightly as she abruptly woke, retracting his hand and regarding her with a bemused look as she began to search for... something. "Oh, your tablet?" he finally said after a couple of seconds, reaching for it on the small table. "It's right here."

she suddenly stopped at his voice, slowly looking up in a way that made it clear she had just realized he was actually there physically, and not just through their mental bond. she blushed, realizing she probably looked like quite a fool in front of him. "oh...thanks." she sat up and straightened her uniform, fidgeting with her lozenges again as they had once again gone crooked.

Matrix stared back with a half-amused, half confused look and tilt of his head. "Of course." He went silent, wondering if he should ask what she'd been dreaming about, but something held him back. No, he decided after a moment. He didn't want to pry, first off, and second, part of him was hesitant to even know what she'd meant by her mumbles. Best not.

she sighed after a moment with a short huff. "who knew french fries could be so scary when they chase you?" she mused, smirking up at him, already feeling a bit better. "food really can be a nightmare, and so can other things..."

(Tell me about it. Food is evil. Bad, bad food. )

Amusement finally won out at that, and Matrix gave a huff of laughter. "You were dreaming about evil French fries?" he giggled. "I heard you mumbling about them. Sounded like you were questioning their very existence."

"well, I was probably just surprised that french fries saw fit to try to chase and eat me, for once!" she giggled in response. "I was trying to run and find you, I know that much, but I called for you and couldn't find you...I thought maybe you'd gotten chased by evil food, like me, and that you'd been devoured..." she frowned. that had made her pretty upset. she'd been desperate to find him...

"I would expect so, yes," Matrix agreed, his eyes shining with humor.  "Ah, that explains why you said my name, as well.  I shudder to think that I could go down to a simple bunch of sentient food!  I'm far too skilled for that!" he joked with a laugh.  It didn't exactly explain why she'd shyly murmured "Like me?", but he pushed that to the back of his mind. He gave her a smile as she frowned, reaching forward to pat her on the shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, it was just a dream," he reassured her softly, his eyes glimmering again as he added, "No evil sentient food here."