Sakura hadn't known when Ren awoke, busying herself with other tasks both in and out of Medical. When she returned now, she found herself coming back toward his bed as a matter of habit. Checking up on one of the patients who was genuinely here for care.
And what she found wasn't what she expected. "Ren-san?" she found herself asking, data pad being tucked away under her arm. "How're you feeling?" She found herself torn between smiling and letting the concern (and relief-that-almost-wasn't) and unease that sat in her stomach show as much as it was prone to when she wasn't distracted by something else.
It's not that far from where he'd been, a box of clothing that's been nicely folded back into it, more or less sorted into size. Shoes were on the bottom, which may have explained why Sakura reached in and pulled the pile of shirts out and set them on the nearby flat surface for Ren to look through, followed by the assortment of shorts and pants. Mixed bag all around, but hey, it was something.
"Here you go! I don't know if there's anything in shoes for you. If there isn't, I'll ask around."
Sakura was already starting to refold some of the clothing when he found a pair of shoes that would work. She glanced over to Ren, eying the sneakers when he spoke up. "Good," she said brightly, trying not to grimace at the shoes lying all over.
She set a refolded shirt down, bending over to snag his shoe out of the jumble of the rest. "Let's make sure not to accidentally lose anything of yours you'll want back when you're back to normal." Foregone conclusion. If she said it enough, it'd be reality -- and not magically, but through determination. "There's no real changing area around here, but we can draw curtains around one of the beds if that sounds okay to you."
A coincidence that left Sakura continuing to fold things and put them neatly away. She wasn't quite done by the time he was, if it wasn't as important as she might unintentionally make it seem.
She glanced at his necklace, curious. "Feeling hungry?"
"We've always got the mess hall, if you feel like eating goop." She grinned, if she'd done just that for a long time. "We've got some variety back at the teahouse. Lots of canned things," she admitted, smiling. "Rice, different spices, something called freezedried. Ramen, if I'm afraid that's instant."
Who knew if ramen even was appealing. It was a general overview of what Sakura had decided to stock up on while on planet, if she'd gotten a decent number of things with the intention of them being supplies for everyone at the house. "Or we can head home and decide things from there. It'll feel nice to get away from this atmosphere for a while."
She was tempted to laugh. She figured one of these days she'd find someone who actually enjoyed the slop in the mess hall. Not today. "I think we can avoid the slop for now."
Sakura pulled the box of refolded clothing up, moving it back to where it had been before shed pulled everything out for Ren. "Home sounds like a good idea to me," she said amiably, picking up his former shoes. "I've got your old shoes. Did you want me to carry your old clothes, too, or have you got them yourself?"
"Looks like we're ready." She looked up, waving to one of the other staff members. It's a semi-official nod toward protocol, and they all are contactable by ring or comm device should they be needed back in MedBay. "Do you remember the gravity tubes?"
Sakura nodded, internalizing that along with everything else. "At least you won't be surprised at how we change levels," she said with a grin, winking. "Unless gravity tubes and director tentacles are part of things for you back home."
Sakura wasn't sure she wanted to answer that question, if her bias toward younger audiences had her answering anyway. "We're not sure," she confessed, "If we expect it has something to do with the ship itself. It's not a perfect theory. Some people have been losing memories of events on sip, if part of that looks more like a coping mechanism than total memory and time loss. It's possible the clock can only function in a way that affects physical time and memory from our original worlds. Outside of that kind of linear context, its effects break down."
In short, they had no idea. Theories, but nothing concrete. Expecting the ship to help hold memories together begged a kind of ongoing connection and memory back-up that was distinctly disturbing. (Not that the ship was anything less, even on great days.)
And what she found wasn't what she expected. "Ren-san?" she found herself asking, data pad being tucked away under her arm. "How're you feeling?" She found herself torn between smiling and letting the concern (and relief-that-almost-wasn't) and unease that sat in her stomach show as much as it was prone to when she wasn't distracted by something else.
Reply
"Here you go! I don't know if there's anything in shoes for you. If there isn't, I'll ask around."
Reply
( ... )
Reply
She set a refolded shirt down, bending over to snag his shoe out of the jumble of the rest. "Let's make sure not to accidentally lose anything of yours you'll want back when you're back to normal." Foregone conclusion. If she said it enough, it'd be reality -- and not magically, but through determination. "There's no real changing area around here, but we can draw curtains around one of the beds if that sounds okay to you."
Reply
( ... )
Reply
She glanced at his necklace, curious. "Feeling hungry?"
Reply
( ... )
Reply
Who knew if ramen even was appealing. It was a general overview of what Sakura had decided to stock up on while on planet, if she'd gotten a decent number of things with the intention of them being supplies for everyone at the house. "Or we can head home and decide things from there. It'll feel nice to get away from this atmosphere for a while."
Reply
( ... )
Reply
Sakura pulled the box of refolded clothing up, moving it back to where it had been before shed pulled everything out for Ren. "Home sounds like a good idea to me," she said amiably, picking up his former shoes. "I've got your old shoes. Did you want me to carry your old clothes, too, or have you got them yourself?"
Reply
( ... )
Reply
Reply
( ... )
Reply
Reply
( ... )
Reply
In short, they had no idea. Theories, but nothing concrete. Expecting the ship to help hold memories together begged a kind of ongoing connection and memory back-up that was distinctly disturbing. (Not that the ship was anything less, even on great days.)
Reply
Leave a comment