Collie Craster
The Long Watch
NO-36 was about the most boring spot you could ever find on this planet. There was nothing within a fifty mile radius of this tiny little bunker and everything was grey. The bunker, the mountains, and even the snow, while usually pretty elsewhere, seemed to be dragged down by the saturation of grey here to look dull. Overall this place wasn't the greatest for the romantic at heart, might even border the absolute last place someone like that would want to be. There wasn't anything attractive or redeeming here... but the people here came close, at least that's how Columbine looked at it.
Everyone station here were so vastly different, yet they could all bond over a strange underlying truth. They were all outcasts in one way or another. Sure, some might deny it but Collie always believed that they were just putting on mask. Just like her in a way. This bonding could just be the natural squad camaraderie that a person would feel, but these people seemed oddly more real than that. Best example was the changing of the guard between PVT. Webley, Cal as he preferred to go by, and PFC. Rose.
Collie had been lost in her book, letting herself get whisked away in the romantic western of the
Mysterious Rider, before the chilly voice of Cal interrupted the earlier quaint silence of the bunker. Collie peeled her eyes from her book and watched in covert as she saw the exchange happen. For a man who had just spent hours outside in the cold, he certainly found that smile easy... Collie smirked as she watched Cal step away from Esther. Her peaking gaze adjusted and settled over to the seemingly perplexed Esther as that woman watched the man wander off before she too did the same. Perhaps it was the book or maybe she wanted to get a rise out of the poor PVT, but Collie couldn't let that go.
Collie leaned slightly in her chair and listened carefully to make sure Esther was out of her shot before turned back to the PVT. and announced her prognosis.
"Awww... Cal, I didn't know you fancied Esther like that." Collie leaned back and stared dreamily up at the ceiling for a second before turning back the the PVT.
"You should take a chance on her. I'll even let you two wander off for a little R&R. Doctor's orders." Collie said with a wink before she got up and left before the man had time to protest. Besides, she had other, more important, things to do than pander bunker romance, but she'll make a note of that for later.
--
Lieutenant Mika Delouse was the best living example of a caricature that Collie had ever known, a CO with the nerves of a fresh-faced greenhorn. That was probably his reason for being ousted from everywhere else, but that was probably for the best. Collie had seen combat and while she experienced a different kind of stress than her COs, she knew they bore a heavy weight. LT. Delouse is probably the worst person for that kind of responsibility. Not to bag on the man or anything as Mika is a sweetheart once you get to know him, but the military was one of the worst places for people like that. They get chewed up and spat out by friend or foe, so you either have to tough up or get ran over. Collie was a sweetheart, at least she believed she was, before she got trampled by the horrors of war. Thankfully, she managed to find her father's strength, but at the cost of her innocence. Maybe that's why she saw to Mika's care as she believed she could preserve the man's innocence, or maybe she was just trying to make sure she could survive till the end of her draft requirement. It was complicated.
Collie headed straight to the storage room as that was probably the most isolated you could get in this bunker. She had only just entered the center atrium of the bunker before she could hear the hushed stutterings of a mad man. Collie hastened her pace and slipped into the storage room to counsel the stammering CO before anyone could hear him.
"Hey, hey! Shh-shh-shh!" Collie said under her breath as she approached the LT and placed her hands on the man's arms, gently running her hands up and down the man's upper arms as she guided him to sit down on a stack of wooden crates.
"I'm here. I'm here. Deep breaths." Collie instructed as she stepped away and pulled a half filled water barrel closer to the LT before taking a sit on it.
In all honesty, Collie wasn't sure how to handle the man's situation as she watched the man. Medication helped but there was no way he'd ever be ready for a live combat scenario especially considering the reality where one of his rebellious subordinates can give him enough trouble to stammer like that.
"Relax. Focus on my voice. Let yourself be carried away from whatever is you were thinking." Collie spoke softly trying to reenact something her mother did for her when she was just a kid. It always helped her when she was angry or sad so why not use it here.
"Remember deep breaths. In and out. In and out." Collie began taking noisy deep breaths too trying to set a rhythm for the man to follow. After a few cycles she stopped and delicately asked,
"Alright. Stay relaxed, deep breaths if you have to, but tell me what's wrong?"