There was a trick to drinking Vodka. At least as far as Russians were concerned. Susan had stashed juuuuuust a little at the bottom of the bottle to be had first thing in the morning. That's the way to staving off hangovers-- odd, and it was probably a great deal more psychological than physical. Stephen would have a field day poking holes in THAT theory, and take delight in it.
No.. Susan didn't wake with a hangover, not with the small supply left to her. It was pretty common knowledge that she just didn't do mornings well-- Not on the space station in the middle of virtually constant darkness, and certainly not now with the sun's damnable rays of light.
Looking pretty much as she did every morning (should people have actually caught her in her quarters!), Susan's hair was pulled back away from her face in a quick braid.. the soft curses in Russian regarding the knots caused by the sea air were offered with each swipe of the brush. Finally, gathering herself together, she checked briefly around before trying not to stagger out of her shelter. Her eyes narrowed against the bright light of a tropical sun, and she really couldn't help but.. well.. stagger.
Getting herself together yet a second time, keying on coffee.. the smell of coffee, Susan walked slowly and deliberately through the maze of random bits left behind from the night before. If her head was pounding, she refused to acknowledge it when she saw who was already up.. and.. wet? Brows rose briefly in askance as she looked at the gathered (or at least two of them!) before, "Out of practice?"
Never let there be something like a pesky war get in the way of a good drinking binge. Still.. Susan wasn't feeling her best either but she'd be damned if she asked Stephen if he was -sure- he was out of oxypills. Though, granted, the pair of them wouldn't look as if they'd been hit by one the Centauri planet killers if he did. Marcus would be chirping like a bird, as would Stephen.
That would be cause for murder, and no jury would convict her.
Marcus pulled the wet shirt away from his chest, ignoring the sucking sound it made as it moved. He proffered a grin to both Susan and Stephen, then took a sip from his coffee.
"Would you believe I fell asleep too close to the water's edge?"
While he tried to pay full attention to them both, it was a sad admission that Marcus made to himself that his focus was a little much on Susan... how she looked and how, more importantly, she seemed unaffected by the whole drinking affair from last night.
Stephen would be more then a little disturbed if Marcus' attention was mostly on him. He'd start to wonder if he sprouted a second head, or if they were keeping from him the fact that he was dying or something.
There isn't a single word that passed between Stephen and Susan at her approach but still the Chief Medico silently grabbed a cup, poured it full with coffee, and handed silently over to Susan at her approach.
Stephen just shook his head at Marcus' comment before he looked to Susan, "Before you ask I didn't push him in. Tempting as it might have been to do so he came to the fire like that. I thought Rangers were more coordinated then that but we all know Marcus has always been... special." Well if he can't pick on his friends then who can he pick on?
Susan nodded her silent thanks as she took the coffee, and cradling it briefly, she took a sip, only to stop at Marcus' quip regarding his sleeping arrangement. Her brows rose sharply as she stared at him briefly, that silent.. 'Um... no...' in response, even if the answer hadn't been given to her, but rather, from an earlier comment from Stephen.
Taking a deep breath, she found a spot on one of the many logs and crossed her legs at the ankles, nursing the coffee as if it was the world. Pretty typical, for her.. no real sign of being hungover.
After a couple of sips, Susan's brows rose again, and glanced between Marcus and Stephen. "What? When did I become his guardian? I'm pretty sure that if you pushed him in, you had damned good reason to do it.. even if was because he said 'Really?' one too many times." Just because she loved the guy.. now there was a word... it didn't mean that she'd immediately jump to his defense. Isn't that what they said, 'All's fair in love and war'?
Marie had gotten a basketful of fruit from Breakfast Central and had taken to walking around making sure people had breakfast. Of some kind, at least. She herself had had breakfast and didn't have a hangover of some kind, because she'd been smart enough to remain sober.
She congratulated herself with a brief grin, which faded as she walked up to the latest group. "Fruit?"
Marcus gratefully helped himself to an apple, smiling in gratitude to Marie.
He turned back to Stephen with a forced grin "Shame you can't synthsize oxy-pills. I think there's a lot of people who could use them right now..." (Me among them) he thought uncharitably.
Then turned back to the pristine-looking Russian. "Don't suppose you could share from your hidden stash of oxy-pills?" He grinned boyishly, hoping that his coquettish charm might persuade her of his need.
[Stephen]cbeckett_mdFebruary 13 2008, 03:14:33 UTC
Stephen gave Marie a smile and took one of the offered pieces of fruit, "Thank you. I appreciate it."
He then turned and looked at Susan, giving her a grin, "Yes, I know there is great temptation, but I actually didn't do it. I would have if I had the opportunity, but I was busy making coffee and breakfast for you stragglers."
Stephen gave a nod to Marcus, "Yes it is a shame. I probably could if I had a lab and some supplies, but since we don't we will just have to get over the hangover the old fashioned way... tough it out and wish someone would blot out the sun." Well the man did manage to synthesize sleepers, so why not oxy-pills.
Stephen paused a moment and then looked to Marie, figuring an explanation was in order, "Oxy-pills are a pill one can take in our time to basically help clear the effects of alcohol from the system. So say it is your day off and you decide that you should go out and have a little fun and have a few drinks with friends, you can easily get pulled into work with no excuses when some idiot decides to try and blow something up by just popping a few oxy-pills. It largely takes away the excuse that you can't come in to work because you had a few."
"Ah," Marie said. "Instant cure." Not a bad thing to have. Clearing alcohol? That's one way to stop drunken driving. Or, in her case, drunken fireballs.
"Personally, I just skipped the alcohol entirely. Medical and personal reasons."
Susan waved off the offrance of some fruit with a quick hand, following it up with a slower headshake. "No, no thank you." The coffee was enough for the moment, and about all that she could handle; not that she'd let the others know. It'd been some time since the mad Russian had cause or reason (or opportunity!) to crack a bottle of vodka. And, like a samurai's sword that required blooding before it was resheathed, the bottle needed to be finished.
Her brows rose in amused askance at Marcus' attempt at getting at her non-existant stash of oxy-pills. It was charming, it was cute... and Susan could resist, though it did bring a smile to her face in response. "If I shared with you, I'd have to give him some," she gestured lightly towards Stephen, "and he'd commandeer them, claiming some rubbish about doctors and drugs." There. Shift Marcus' blame of her 'not sharing' to Stephen...
Susan cradled her coffee, keeping her face away from direct sunlight, and took slow, small sips-- ostensibly because it was hot. Well, that and a few other very good reasons that had nothing to do with temperature. She quirked a somewhat lopsided smile, glanced at the Ranger again, and nodded. He was learning. And they had been celebrating.
"When in Moscow, do as the Russians do."
"But, yes. Oxy-pills are one of those things that also allows you to get immediately sober in order to face whatever firing squad is set up just for you." How many times has one or more of her fellows needed a couple in order to 'face the music'? She, herself, could count more than a few...
[Stephen]cbeckett_mdFebruary 13 2008, 16:38:31 UTC
Stephen snorted at Susan, "If you had oxy pills then you wouldn't have given the big bright thing in the sky that baleful look earlier. You are just as hungover as the both of us, you just hide it well. You have the same band beating a rhythm in your head. I think mine's a rumba. Knowing Marcus his is likely beating out Gilbert and Sullivan." And before the Ranger could do something that would probably get him killed Stephen holds up a hand towards Marcus, "That was not an invitation by the way. No singing."
Stephen then turned and looked to Marie, "Trust me, you don't want to hear him sing. You think he's annoying when he talks he's 10 times worse when he sings." Look, two friends... one stone.
Stephen paused a moment, considering his own words before looking between his two friends, "And do remember, I did make the coffee." That has to count for something, doesn't it?
"Doesn't seem like one would be in the mood to sing when one has a hangover. Or a hangunder." Marie smiled. Personally, she was glad that they were caught up in their own problems to inquire about hers.
"Personally, too many problems with my brain chemistry to even think about drinking." She might be a mage, but her gift was definitely mentally-based, and she didn't want to have problems.
"I've heard hair of the dog works wonders, though," she teased.
Casting a grin at Marie's commentary, Marcus couldn't help but follow it with a laugh. "You know, I never undersood that phrase. What does a hairy dog have to do with alcohol?"
"Mind you, at least there IS a phrase for it. Where I was trained, we're expected to abstain from alcohol all together. It's quite miserable, unfortunately. Except it can get more miserable when they CATCH you drinking alcohol.."
He broke off the ramblings, seeing the firey look in Susan's face, and the grin on Stephen's.
Really, it was amazing, the ranger could still be annoying when he wanted to, drunk or sober...
But it wasn't that which had left him addled, it wasn't the hangover that had left him befuddled.
It was the sheer feeling of contentment that he hadn't known for so many years that it felt like an alien concept to him.
He was HAPPY.
So happy that even with a hangover, he could sing.
Except for the threat of bodily harm.
He. Was. HAPPY.
And it was a happiness that made his eyes burn with pleasure.
Susan glared at the medico, her eyes narrowing dangerously; didn't matter that he was one of her friends. She wasn't about to give him the pleasure of knowing there was a swing band going off, and they weren't really in tune. Of course he knew, she knew that he knew, and he knew that she knew that he knew...
Oh god. She's become Garibaldi.
With a groan in response to her thoughts rather than anything Stephen could possibly have said (some things are just... distressing), she turned away from the man, mumbling something about -more- coffee. Island coffee was... remarkably invigorating.
"Oh no..." Susan shook her head slowly (deliberately), in the beginning of a response to Marie. "I have a feeling he could be lying half dead, and he'd -still- try to do something that would just.. annoy us." It was tacitly obvious, however, that there was no hostility there. If anything, there could be no question that the Russian was rather fond of the Ranger.
"Too many problems with--" Not her area of expertise, but she fully expected Stephen to grab hold, hangover or not.
"No.. and you won't find too many dogs in space. Best cure for a hangover is more vodka in the morning." Susan offered that with a deadpanned seriousness. Blue eyes gleamed, however, though that didn't mean that she didn't believe it completely anyway. "Always worked for me."
Susan glanced over at Marcus for a long moment and ended up... staring at the man. There was just... something, and she simply can't take her eyes off him. There came a moment when she stopped breathing, the harsh-appeared lines soften, and a creeping smile appeared.
She caught herself quickly and forced herself to look away, clearing her throat as she made a concerted effort to compose herself. She could still feel him, hear the thoughts, regardless of how much she wanted to keep those walls in place. It made part of her angry that he could get so deep, even if they were engaged; that place was for her mother only.. but wasn't this how it was supposed to be? How she'd dreamed it would be when she was a little girl? How her mother promised her it would be?
"Considering how miserable -they'd- get if they drank, I can understand that. And now, I've seen you drunk, Marcus. I have to agree with them." Was she letting him off the hook for drinking with her?
[Stephen]cbeckett_mdFebruary 26 2008, 15:50:24 UTC
Stephen would love to know where Susan's thoughts had led her, since he would never let her live down that Garibaldi moment.... Never. Sadly, he's not a telepath, so he will likely never know that Susan had that moment since Susan is unlikely to admit to it. Thankfully for Susan he has enough to respond to that he can't even take the time to try and intuit it by the look that crosses her face.
Stephen's brow arched as he looked to Marie, "Brain chemistry? That isn't something that I usually hear in regards to an inability to drink. What is it about your brain chemistry that doesn't work well with alcohol?" Well she looks human, but Stephen has learned that not everyone on this island is exactly what they appear to be.
Give Stephen a medical puzzle and his mind immediately goes to that, leaving his friends to get away with sappy looks with no comment from the medico. Marcus' happy thoughts won't get one Peter Pan comment. The Ranger is saved by Marie.
Of course Stephen does have to comment on one thing, "Susan is right, the man has been half dead and taken time to be annoying. He's just too damn good at it to let near death get in his way."
No.. Susan didn't wake with a hangover, not with the small supply left to her. It was pretty common knowledge that she just didn't do mornings well-- Not on the space station in the middle of virtually constant darkness, and certainly not now with the sun's damnable rays of light.
Looking pretty much as she did every morning (should people have actually caught her in her quarters!), Susan's hair was pulled back away from her face in a quick braid.. the soft curses in Russian regarding the knots caused by the sea air were offered with each swipe of the brush. Finally, gathering herself together, she checked briefly around before trying not to stagger out of her shelter. Her eyes narrowed against the bright light of a tropical sun, and she really couldn't help but.. well.. stagger.
Getting herself together yet a second time, keying on coffee.. the smell of coffee, Susan walked slowly and deliberately through the maze of random bits left behind from the night before. If her head was pounding, she refused to acknowledge it when she saw who was already up.. and.. wet? Brows rose briefly in askance as she looked at the gathered (or at least two of them!) before, "Out of practice?"
Never let there be something like a pesky war get in the way of a good drinking binge. Still.. Susan wasn't feeling her best either but she'd be damned if she asked Stephen if he was -sure- he was out of oxypills. Though, granted, the pair of them wouldn't look as if they'd been hit by one the Centauri planet killers if he did. Marcus would be chirping like a bird, as would Stephen.
That would be cause for murder, and no jury would convict her.
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"Would you believe I fell asleep too close to the water's edge?"
While he tried to pay full attention to them both, it was a sad admission that Marcus made to himself that his focus was a little much on Susan... how she looked and how, more importantly, she seemed unaffected by the whole drinking affair from last night.
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There isn't a single word that passed between Stephen and Susan at her approach but still the Chief Medico silently grabbed a cup, poured it full with coffee, and handed silently over to Susan at her approach.
Stephen just shook his head at Marcus' comment before he looked to Susan, "Before you ask I didn't push him in. Tempting as it might have been to do so he came to the fire like that. I thought Rangers were more coordinated then that but we all know Marcus has always been... special." Well if he can't pick on his friends then who can he pick on?
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Taking a deep breath, she found a spot on one of the many logs and crossed her legs at the ankles, nursing the coffee as if it was the world. Pretty typical, for her.. no real sign of being hungover.
After a couple of sips, Susan's brows rose again, and glanced between Marcus and Stephen. "What? When did I become his guardian? I'm pretty sure that if you pushed him in, you had damned good reason to do it.. even if was because he said 'Really?' one too many times." Just because she loved the guy.. now there was a word... it didn't mean that she'd immediately jump to his defense. Isn't that what they said, 'All's fair in love and war'?
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She congratulated herself with a brief grin, which faded as she walked up to the latest group. "Fruit?"
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He turned back to Stephen with a forced grin "Shame you can't synthsize oxy-pills. I think there's a lot of people who could use them right now..." (Me among them) he thought uncharitably.
Then turned back to the pristine-looking Russian. "Don't suppose you could share from your hidden stash of oxy-pills?" He grinned boyishly, hoping that his coquettish charm might persuade her of his need.
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He then turned and looked at Susan, giving her a grin, "Yes, I know there is great temptation, but I actually didn't do it. I would have if I had the opportunity, but I was busy making coffee and breakfast for you stragglers."
Stephen gave a nod to Marcus, "Yes it is a shame. I probably could if I had a lab and some supplies, but since we don't we will just have to get over the hangover the old fashioned way... tough it out and wish someone would blot out the sun." Well the man did manage to synthesize sleepers, so why not oxy-pills.
Stephen paused a moment and then looked to Marie, figuring an explanation was in order, "Oxy-pills are a pill one can take in our time to basically help clear the effects of alcohol from the system. So say it is your day off and you decide that you should go out and have a little fun and have a few drinks with friends, you can easily get pulled into work with no excuses when some idiot decides to try and blow something up by just popping a few oxy-pills. It largely takes away the excuse that you can't come in to work because you had a few."
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"Personally, I just skipped the alcohol entirely. Medical and personal reasons."
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"I think I should have, but we were celebrating."
With a grin towards Susan, then a look back at Marie "and one doesn't stay sober, when celebrating with a Russian."
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Her brows rose in amused askance at Marcus' attempt at getting at her non-existant stash of oxy-pills. It was charming, it was cute... and Susan could resist, though it did bring a smile to her face in response. "If I shared with you, I'd have to give him some," she gestured lightly towards Stephen, "and he'd commandeer them, claiming some rubbish about doctors and drugs." There. Shift Marcus' blame of her 'not sharing' to Stephen...
Susan cradled her coffee, keeping her face away from direct sunlight, and took slow, small sips-- ostensibly because it was hot. Well, that and a few other very good reasons that had nothing to do with temperature. She quirked a somewhat lopsided smile, glanced at the Ranger again, and nodded. He was learning. And they had been celebrating.
"When in Moscow, do as the Russians do."
"But, yes. Oxy-pills are one of those things that also allows you to get immediately sober in order to face whatever firing squad is set up just for you." How many times has one or more of her fellows needed a couple in order to 'face the music'? She, herself, could count more than a few...
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Stephen then turned and looked to Marie, "Trust me, you don't want to hear him sing. You think he's annoying when he talks he's 10 times worse when he sings." Look, two friends... one stone.
Stephen paused a moment, considering his own words before looking between his two friends, "And do remember, I did make the coffee." That has to count for something, doesn't it?
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"Personally, too many problems with my brain chemistry to even think about drinking." She might be a mage, but her gift was definitely mentally-based, and she didn't want to have problems.
"I've heard hair of the dog works wonders, though," she teased.
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"Mind you, at least there IS a phrase for it. Where I was trained, we're expected to abstain from alcohol all together. It's quite miserable, unfortunately. Except it can get more miserable when they CATCH you drinking alcohol.."
He broke off the ramblings, seeing the firey look in Susan's face, and the grin on Stephen's.
Really, it was amazing, the ranger could still be annoying when he wanted to, drunk or sober...
But it wasn't that which had left him addled, it wasn't the hangover that had left him befuddled.
It was the sheer feeling of contentment that he hadn't known for so many years that it felt like an alien concept to him.
He was HAPPY.
So happy that even with a hangover, he could sing.
Except for the threat of bodily harm.
He. Was. HAPPY.
And it was a happiness that made his eyes burn with pleasure.
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Oh god. She's become Garibaldi.
With a groan in response to her thoughts rather than anything Stephen could possibly have said (some things are just... distressing), she turned away from the man, mumbling something about -more- coffee. Island coffee was... remarkably invigorating.
"Oh no..." Susan shook her head slowly (deliberately), in the beginning of a response to Marie. "I have a feeling he could be lying half dead, and he'd -still- try to do something that would just.. annoy us." It was tacitly obvious, however, that there was no hostility there. If anything, there could be no question that the Russian was rather fond of the Ranger.
"Too many problems with--" Not her area of expertise, but she fully expected Stephen to grab hold, hangover or not.
"No.. and you won't find too many dogs in space. Best cure for a hangover is more vodka in the morning." Susan offered that with a deadpanned seriousness. Blue eyes gleamed, however, though that didn't mean that she didn't believe it completely anyway. "Always worked for me."
Susan glanced over at Marcus for a long moment and ended up... staring at the man. There was just... something, and she simply can't take her eyes off him. There came a moment when she stopped breathing, the harsh-appeared lines soften, and a creeping smile appeared.
She caught herself quickly and forced herself to look away, clearing her throat as she made a concerted effort to compose herself. She could still feel him, hear the thoughts, regardless of how much she wanted to keep those walls in place. It made part of her angry that he could get so deep, even if they were engaged; that place was for her mother only.. but wasn't this how it was supposed to be? How she'd dreamed it would be when she was a little girl? How her mother promised her it would be?
"Considering how miserable -they'd- get if they drank, I can understand that. And now, I've seen you drunk, Marcus. I have to agree with them." Was she letting him off the hook for drinking with her?
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Stephen's brow arched as he looked to Marie, "Brain chemistry? That isn't something that I usually hear in regards to an inability to drink. What is it about your brain chemistry that doesn't work well with alcohol?" Well she looks human, but Stephen has learned that not everyone on this island is exactly what they appear to be.
Give Stephen a medical puzzle and his mind immediately goes to that, leaving his friends to get away with sappy looks with no comment from the medico. Marcus' happy thoughts won't get one Peter Pan comment. The Ranger is saved by Marie.
Of course Stephen does have to comment on one thing, "Susan is right, the man has been half dead and taken time to be annoying. He's just too damn good at it to let near death get in his way."
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