Progress

Takes place outdoors in RED territory, after-mission downtime. Harvey and Zach's timewasting turns to serious discussion, but the end result might just be a step towards progress.
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O'hannigan stares into the middle distance, not much to do on break but enjoy the barely-warmer weather. And try hard not to dwell on darker times. Those were behind now that winter was fleeing. And..... whatever doctor Tailor appeared to be up to on /his/ break. "Zach, what?"
Tailor stares into the distant distance, having come to a sudden revelation whilst sporting a red-orange knit scarf over his face. "these aren't my glasses." He cocks his head about like a baffled bird before settling the thing back around his neck.
O'hannigan laughs through his nose, "Hhhh I guess that doesn't help with the near-sightedness much, huh?" He was never going to understand his friend, was he.
Tailor shrugs, content to wear more layers than seemed necessary. "Near-sightedness would be an improvement, considering I'm farsighted." correcting Harv on arbitrary things wasn't meant to be annoying - though Harvey seemed to be one of the few who actually remained un-annoyed.
O`hannigan, naturally, just lets his thoughts lead someplace new. "I'mmmm... what am I Zach? Visually speaking. I can't remember." He knows he can see pretty far. "Something's off about it what's it called?"
Tailor speaks from memory, he'd gone over medical profiles so frequently. "Your vision's twenty-twenty; it's just your blown pupil's got photosensitivity issues."
O`hannigan still likes his goofy eye in spite of this. "Because of over exposure right?" medical problems seemed easier to make sense of when the function failing involved stuff he understood. He got how light behaved.
Tailor nods once, "Yea." He leans and picks up the small eyewear case beside the scout. "Damnit harvey put your aviators back on." the request isn't without a well-meaning smirk.
O'hannigan looks like he'd genuinely forgotten to, and opens up the case to put his silvered shades on. "'Kay. Hmm. ...I should get eclipse shades." he ponders aloud.
Tailor burbles, "uhpardon?" he was reaching for his cigarettes before reminding himself not to smoke around Harvey.
O`hannigan continues his thought, "...I think a welding mask would probably be suitable. Not sure when we're due another solar eclipse though." he wondered if one of his brothers was going to send him a subscription to popular science again. That'd probably have information.
Tailor scoffs intentionally, "Why would you want to stare at the sun? It's just a bright disc." He knows he's treading on the harvey version of thin ice, but he's doing it anyway. "Too simple for me." It was fun razzing the guy occasionally.
O'hannigan's expression is hidden beneath the large sunglasses. "Because eclipses are fascinating and it's not a disc?" OR SIMPLE.
Tailor knows what a star issssss, and his face is an exaggeration of 'duuuh'. Though truth be told he doesn't see the fascination in STARING DIRECTLY AT AN IMPLOSION. "Wait stars /are/ implosions, right? I'm not sure staring at those are ever reccommended." well, except maybe at certain facilities that never even see the sun.
O`hannigan finds it weird how somebody who's a qualified surgeon doesn't know how the sun works. Different fields; it's not like he know how lungs worked in any detail. "It's a fusion reaction Zach."
Tailor seems unphased. "Well it's going inward."
O`hannigan okay, Zach is leading him in little circles intentionally with all the incorrect but he still had fun explaining things. "It goes outward too, that's... where do you think the light's coming from?? That's photon particles radiating."
Tailor falls silent. He then straightens his back up as if his trust in the sun was just restored. "I am glad I am wearing long sleeves then." he tugs one to further the point.
O'hannigan sighs into a smile. "Zach c'mon stop playing dumb." Sometimes the doctor was a stubborn butthead about being social. There was only one cure for this. He shoves him.
Tailor knew Harv was just trying to get a reaction out of him. He didn't blame the scout - why else would he reply? He shoves back with his whole shoulder, roughhousing with somebody smaller than himself was really no contest.
O'hannigan topples and seats himself back up. He freezes for a second. Stare. Instead of shoving though, he steals Tailor's glasses right off his face.
Tailor flaps his hands trying to bat Harvey away, laughter and swearing getting too mixed up to decipher. Lense theft was inevitable with Harvey around, but the joke had yet to become annoying.
O'hannigan announces blatantly, switching his aviators for the wayfarers. "IM GONNA STARE AT THE SUN." this was obviously a threat, ...somehow. "IT'LL SEEM REALLY CLOSE WITH THESE ON I'LL GET A FRONT ROW SEAT." YEAH ZACH TAKE THAT.
Tailor's face cracks into hapless cackling, "HAHAHA shut up! AAahhaha I'm not /that/ blind." Harvey where do you even hide that sense of humour? You were all quiet five minutes ago.
O'hannigan retorts, "Yesyouare." he shuts his eyes knowingly, lips curled giving him the appearance of buckteeth. He'd been around Zach too long if he was pulling faces like this.
Tailor can't see harvey's face clear enough to glasses snatch without poking an eye out. Or to really appreciate the not-at-all-flattering expression mockery. He accepts his fate and stares off in the distance, no focus whatsoever. ".......if you go blind wearing those, I am going to laugh and then cry a little."
O`hannigan keeps trying to adjust his eyes to these glasses but wow he can't. "Everything's so giant." he brings his hand close to his face. "And I did not know my hand had that many grooves in it that's..." abort mission these were making him dizzy. "okay you can take these back this is the opposite of a telescope."
Tailor "Well. Yea." He squints, puckering his lips like this face totally aided his thinking."Harvey do you actually make fun of other people, or just me?" He slips his glasses back in place and HOLLE SCHEISS HE CAN SEE AGAIN IT'S A MIRACLE.
O'hannigan looks apologetic, realizing maybe he's coming off as rude. "Uhh.... mostly you? Sorry? I don't mean it it's just you can actually take a joke...." he didn't voice that he'd kind of missed a lot of similar goofing around he'd do with his brothers years ago. It felt far away now.
Tailor AWWWW. This man still has no idea how to be an arse does he. "Hahaha nono, I'm not offended I was just beginning to wonder." He just nods for a moment and enjoys the break. "...Hey, you doing anything for your birthday?"
O'hannigan oh yeah... "Uhhhmb- I don't really know! Make up a cake, I guess. My folks will probably send me something. I should write again, I'm behind on one for this week."
Tailor hums thoughtfully. "Can I make a request? How anti-birthday is that?" asking for things on other people's birthdays? People got more upsed when you declined things on your own it seemed. Couldn't be that bad.
O'hannigan scratches his chin in vaguely preoccupied thought. "I dunno, request what?"
Tailor "Can you make that lemon cake again, ...I liked that one." he takes his time in replies.
O`hannigan is thinking about his family again. "Yeah, I thought it turned out nice last year. I'll do that. Make the icing better maybe. ...Yeah!" He sounds unconvinced, as much as he's trying. He never was good at wearing his emotions anywhere but his sleeve.
Tailor sits quietly, but, nope. Harvey's bummed himself out again. "What's wrong?" He already knew, but you don't jump the gun on topics with Harvey if you want to encourage him to speak freely.
O`hannigan stares up at the sky and powerlines overhead, it's about as helpful as looking anywhere else. "I want to go home."
Tailor isn't sure how to best verbally support his friend, but he's happy to hear Harvey's at least considering getting out of this 'war' again. "Yea?"
O`hannigan sighs. Same old. Want to go home, medically prevented from going there. Maybe he should... "I /can't/. I know I've said it like a million and a half times-"
Tailor cuts in softly, "It'sfine. ...You know where I stand on all this. I'll try to help if you want it." please. He just wanted to see this poor wreck someplace safe.
O'hannigan liked the earlier silliness better. "...do you..." wow his heart was pounding. This wasn't what he wanted to start talking about at all, aw god... "Think, that - we could get ... get the headset off."
Tailor's eyes go just a little wider at the request, he recognized this was not a chance he should let dwindle away - Harvey looked about ready to change his mind in a blink. "Ahm." He chooses his tone carefully. "I think... and it won't be perfect, but - we can." He was not a neurosurgeon. He was, however, equipped with two pieces of tech most doctors don't get.
O'hannigan's reply is instant. "Not perfect?"
Tailor squints to himself, ahhr well fuck there goes that. "I don't know if we could remove all of the scarring -" he pauses, a new thought. Mediguns regenerate lost tissue, not scars. But... remove the scar tissue... "Actually, maybe we could." He decides yet again that he is insane, and will need a hell of a lot of medical backup on this.
O'hannigan can never tell what his friend is thinking, but he's not smiling. Just thinking. So he knew he was being honest. That always struck him as a little weird, but - haah wow oh god what am I asking, I have brain damage, you can't just undo that.
Tailor decides there's little sugar-coating the next detail, "Surgery isn't done by just one person, Harvey. I need to make that clear. If we went through with this I'd be working with other medics. We might need to get people referred from another base, or offbase, who have surgical training." this was going to quash the request he knew it.
O'hannigan looks kind of hopeful that maybe this means it will be too hard to accomplish, so he can just give up. But... "....what about the medigun?" he has no idea what he's committing himself to anymore.
Tailor isn't either. This was a lot more terrifying than he'd expected, even though he'd told himself he would go through with whatever 'getting Harvey home' meant two years ago. There is an awful lot of vacant silence between them. "It wouldn't be ethical, or legal." He does not like having to use those words in regards to fixing people. "But it would probably be the best way."
O`hannigan can't help but feel a little numb to everything. "I-I don't. Want other medics involved." it was stupid. He knew it wasn't fair to shoulder this on Tailor. He seems to almost fold in on himself, shoulders up to his ears. "I'msorry."
Tailor holds his gaze level, his concerned expression a convenient lie while he inwardly panicked to sort through a whole myriad of responsibilities he just got handed. He'd truly believed the man would let others do the surgical work if he was willing to let work be done at all. "...you're.... sure?" This left him doing slow, dangerous, unsupervised work. With an 'undo' option and a death failsafe.
O'hannigan keeps his head low. "Nnno. I just want, for. HHHhh, for this to be over with. Fuck. I'm sorry." he couldn't think anymore. Do it. or don't. Whatever. It mattered but it wasn't even his decision to make.
Tailor the more he thought about it, the less he liked having to bite his own stubborn standards, but the more he realized this was disturbingly very feasible. "Shhh. I think I can make this work." And completely insane andhewouldneverforgivehimselfifanythinghappened. "I'll make it work."
O'hannigan somehow this made it final. It was Zach's choice now. Out of his hands. He'd asked for help and he'd gotten a yes on his terms, it was up to Zach. He wanted to ask how they would explain this to his family, amongst... well... he couldn't tell them the truth, it was freakish. His throat dries up on him and he stays quiet. He didn't have to think about decision making anymore.
Tailor waits, and reflects, but Harvey remains mute. He's at a loss on how anyone can find anything he says remotely comforting anymore, but he gives the thinner man a one-armed hug and opens his mouth anyway. "Let's just think about that birthday first."
Category:RP log
Category:O'hannigan
Category:Dr. Tailor