OOM: Room #100 - drinking aftermath

[ikissdhimbck]

[from here:]

With Doc carrying her, and Esfir holding the key, it's not so hard getting Kate to her room. She doesn't open her eyes or move, though she does continue to groan drunkenly, seemingly desperate to impart all of the important thoughts buzzing around her head.

Whether her two companions can make any sense of her mutterings, however, is another thing entirely.

The room is clean and organized. There's a chaise by the door where shoes can be removed and placed, and a desk to the right where they can set the room key. The chest of drawers in front of them has various clean clothes, including a few chemises and pajama sets.

Before anything else, however, a trip to the bathroom wouldn't go amiss.

.

Comments

[aimedforthemoon]

"...Neither are you, and you are person I am more worried about."

[ikissdhimbck]

"I'm still in. He's out. Was s'posed t'be out. But he ain't, he's still, still..."

She lurches for the bucket and gets sick again, leaving her arms and shoulders slumped over the edge of the tub long after she's finished.

Sniffling, she murmurs:

"I'm bad. Bad. I hurt people."

[aimedforthemoon]

Esfir pauses in her sponging for a moment, looking at the slumped figure of her friend.

"If you were bad, you wouldn't feel so bad."

[ikissdhimbck]

"I killed him."

[aimedforthemoon]

Eyes narrowing, Esfir takes the bucket over to the toilet and then sink to empty and rinse out.

"Why do you say that?"

[ikissdhimbck]

"'Cuz I kissed 'im."

Whether she's talking about Doc or Sam (or both) at this point is anyone's guess.

[aimedforthemoon]

Esfir moves back and starts to clean Kate up again. Finally, "My mother was killed, you know. She shoved Antosha and me, made us run ahead before the bomb landed. She could have dropped us, run into the shelter and live, but she didn't. She loved us, and it was her choice, and it was the Germans who killed her.

Same with Sam. He loved you, and kissed you, and that was his choice. It was the men with guns who killed him.

Not you."

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate doesn't speak again for a long time.

In fact, given how she's so quiet and motionless, one might begin to think she's passed out right there.

But, eventually, she murmurs:



"Goddamn Germans."

[aimedforthemoon]

"That's the spirit."

Esfir's fingers are gentle in Kate's hair - she had long, semi-curly herself less than a year ago - and then she wraps a small towel around it, squeezing it dry before finding a brush and getting to work.

[ikissdhimbck]

It's extremely soothing.

Now that Kate's tears have dried, she only occasionally mutters the off, absent remark, mostly about Doc and Boo and Sam and what happened this morning; but every sentence is convoluted and abrupt -- and generally lacking in proper nouns.

It takes effort to climb out of the bathtub without falling once Esfir is done, but she manages, letting her friend take care of toweling her off. It makes her feel young and stupid -- both of which she is -- but she knows she needs the help.

[aimedforthemoon]

Mostly, Esfir keeps Kate seat while she dries her off - given how unsteady her friend is, it's only sensible. Thankfully, the chemise isn't hard to put on.

"Think you can walk to bed?"

[ikissdhimbck]

"I c'n walk," she says immediately, trying to hold on to what's left of her pride.

In practice, of course, it's not that simple. Her whole equilibrium is off, and it takes the strong support of her trained cosmonaut companion to get her to the bed and under at least some of the covers.

Kate is instructed to drink a glass of water before she lays down, which she manages.

"Fira?" she mumbles before settling back against the pillows. "Do you hate me?"

[aimedforthemoon]

(For the moment, Esfir ignores Doc sitting on the armchair)

"Lie on your side," she tells Kate, pulling over a little stand on which to put the bucket. Gently but securely (with a pang of grief; she used to tuck in her little cousins when visiting) she tucks the blankets around her, and then stops at the question.

Oh, for-

"No," Esfir says, tone almost...scornful. "Otherwise, why would I be here?" She shakes her head. "Just...sleep, oke, Katyushka? I'll just be here."

[ikissdhimbck]

"Sorry."

Even halfway unconscious, she catches the tone of Esfir's voice. She lets out a deep, sighing breath, letting her heavy eyelids fall shut.

"Jus' dun wanna be 'lone. Messed up so much. Not... not good 'nough... t'keep..."




She doesn't get to finish her thought.

[scurlock]

He's been sitting in that armchair for the last few minutes, silently letting his mind work over the words she spoke earlier.

At his side, on the floor, is the book, notebook, and pen that Esfir requested - as well as a box of very bland crackers and a small bottle of something that Bar gave him.

To help the hangover.

(It might be glowing, ever-so-slightly.)

He stays quiet until Kate has made her way into bed, and keeps quiet until she's fallen asleep.

[aimedforthemoon]

Once Kate is asleep, Esfir steps over to Doc, picks up the things Doc got her, and sits at the round corner table. The other chair is kicked out for him.

"So, Bar's fucking around with times again, I take it."

[scurlock]

"Given that I ducked out t'git my horse some work in the heat and didn't find another door for ten years..."

Doc quietly crosses the room and sits on the 'offered' seat.

"...but it's only been a few weeks, here? I'd reckon it was just Bar fuckin' with time."

[aimedforthemoon]

"I haven't been here. Busy with the fleet." Her smile is crooked, barely a smile at all.

"You really know how to mess her up, don't you."

[scurlock]

"...I really hope you ain't tryin' to suggest I did this on purpose."

[aimedforthemoon]

Almost cheerful, "No."

[scurlock]

Not cheerful at all, really: "Good."

Doc glances over towards Kate's sleeping form on the bed (and inside, his heart is aching because he's not lying beside her) before looking back to Esfir.

"I have spent the last ten years lookin' for a door t'this place, prayin' t'git back to her."

[aimedforthemoon]

"That's nice. Why?"

[scurlock]

"Excuse me?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"Why?"

Esfir can be patient. It's one of her flaws.

[scurlock]

And that flaw is something Doc is about to discover. Repeatedly.

"Because makin' things right with her s'the one thing I've always wanted. More'n anything."