Mess hall-Day 42 (morning)-Open

[im_a_donnie]

The hiccups started 20 minutes ago. His hands started trembling soon after that. When his eyes moved too fast over the equation he was looking at he felt a wave of vertigo. He rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. He hiccuped again, silently, his head jerking a little. The diaphragm rebellion was cause for concern because that meant his

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[notacactus]

Making her way through the mess hall with tray in hand, Jay slowed at the sight of a familiar face. "Dr. Beck," she said, inclining her head politely; "Do you mind if I join you?"

[im_a_donnie]

Donnie was startled out of his lazy reverie and looked up with her, mouth open slightly, trying to recall where he'd seen her.

hic! "Right, cards..." he mumbled to himself. He wasn't used to anyone but Christy actively sitting with him during lunch so he shrugged, not really having the energy to dredge up the proper verbal response to the request. He pushed the chair in front of him out and gestured to it giving her an expectant look before going back to his meal.

He waited for the next hiccup and swallowed down another bite with a sip of juice. The blasted things would stop as soon as his stomach was deemed full enough.

[notacactus]

"Thank you." She set her tray down and sat. The replicator had produced a sort of thin soup containing rice, fish, and assorted vegetables. She cast an odd look at Beck...what were those strange little noises he was making?

[im_a_donnie]

Donnie was used to being given odd looks. He'd been given confused expressions when he'd enthusiastically described a formula to someone who didn't really have the capacity to understand it. He'd even been given strange looks when he'd said something socially odd, even Christy had given looks for that.

But never before had he been scrutinized in such a way during the simple act of eating a sandwich. And so he reflected her look back. He put a fist over his mouth, feeling another hiccup, and suppressed it, his body bounced but he saved himself the embarrassment of the sound.

"What?" he asked. He drank some more of his juice and wiped off his mouth with his sleeve. Both were blue, after all.