Nevix

The Depths

Ruby has the hots. >///<

@datadogie

It's a smart move, at any rate, to have that guy in your corner when the aliens come for your innards. Ruby's just thinking proactively.

The Depths

@Nevix That's quite alright XD I love it!

@Raptor

Just in case there was confusion, I was referring to my latest IC post. Not the Character Status Chart. Your praise is gratefully accepted, though.

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@Raptor

Forgot to mention you in my post, sorry.

The Depths

Thomas Dunn

---

"Five card draw? I look like an amateur to you?" He said, cocking an eyebrow as he sat down in his chair, immediately tipping it back on two legs. He thought about the mechanic's earlier question. "Excited, eh? To be on a new planet? Maybe a little bit. Hostile? That's got me intrigued. If we're being frank, I miss the military, I miss danger." He smirked. "Or, at least, I'll miss it right up until some alien-thing is eating my kidneys." He got his cards and smiled. Pocket Jacks. There were, of course, three cards on the table, at the moment. A king, a four, and a six. The fourth card was another king. The corner of his mouth twitched into something resembling a smile. He didn't fold. He glared at the deck.

Come on, you rat bastard! He mentally shouted at the cards. Give me a Jack. I need a Jack, or a king. Come on, come on, c'mon, comeoncomecomeon!

It was a five. Thomas groaned, laying down his cards.

"Two pair. Jacks and Kings." He said, dejectedly. "I was this close. Could have had a full house."

The Depths

Character Status Chart

Kari

Thomas

Alden

Aubrey

Ruby

James

The Depths

Thomas Dunn

---

Mentioned: Lucia- @Raptor

---

"Kids?" He said, cocking an eyebrow. It had never occurred to him to think of his nurses as kids, but he supposed they were seven years younger than him. "Huh. Damn. We're old, aren't we?" He let out a quick laugh. "That's a troubling thought." He looked at the crates that contained the exam-beds. He smiled. "Oh, wonderful." He turned to the mechanic, clapping his hands together. "You are a saint, Lucia." He tried to pick up one of the crates, and struggled. He rolled up the sleeves of his white button-up shirt. He whistled. "Oi! Daveth, I need a hand with this. Alicia, clear out some space."

"On it, Doc!" They chorused, giggling. Thomas sighed. Moving the crates around was a righteous pain in the ass, but luckily, the bed themselves were easy to set up. When they'd finished up, he wiped some sweat off his brow. He was tired, and so were Daveth and Alicia. He sighed.

"You two, take a break. Long as you need, but try to be back in an hour. Anyone gives you shit about it, tell them to talk to me. Unless it's Carson. If Carson gives you shit about it, you tell him you're sorry, and you come right back here." He said, in a semi-joking manner. There wasn't a lot that scared him, but that machine-in-men's-clothing was somewhere far beyond intimidating. He limped over to Lucia. "I've got the 'kids' off my back for an hour or so. You need help with anything?"

The Depths

Thomas Dunn

---

Thomas was decidedly conflicted. On one hand, he was, by now, more comfortable on starships than he was on solid ground. The Coalition Army spent a lot of time in orbit, for being wholly dedicated to ground-based warfare. Not that he minded. The alternative was Hephaestus, after all. Besides, he actually enjoyed spaceships. He didn't get cabin fever like some people did. The idea that he was traveling at near-or-above lightspeed in a massive metal tube, hurtling through surprisingly un-empty Space, was more than enough to interest him.

On the other hand, there was little that Thomas liked more than a change of scenery, and he'd be damned if this wasn't the ultimate change of scenery. He'd been on every colonized planet. The great jungle-cities of Rhea, the great wilds of Kepler, the...dust of Hephaestus. No, Thomas hadn't seen it all, but he was making good progress, he liked to think. This planet, this Volturnus, was something entirely new, though. He had seen nothing like it. Something entirely new.

Thomas and his two subordinates, the nurses Alicia and Daveth, sat around a folding table in the temporary ER Tent. Crates of machinery, textbooks, and medicine were stacked to the ceiling, waiting to be unpacked. Thomas blew out a sigh.

"I presume we're going to start unpacking soon?" He said, in question. His legs were kicked up at the table, and his chair was tilted on its back two legs. It was an obnoxious way to sit, he supposed, but it had a purpose. His leg hurt less when he stretched it out.

"Didn't we just finish moving the boxes in here?" Alicia asked. She was a tiny thing, barely up to his chest. She had a page-boy haircut, dyed a loud shade of orange. Thomas had learned that she was more than competent when dealing with patients, but getting to do things like paperwork, or unpacking crates, was a chore.

"Twenty minutes ago." Said Daveth. Daveth was a thick-necked former Coalition Marine. His face was chiseled and square, and Thomas was fairly sure his biceps were bigger than his head. He was, undoubtedly, the most intimidating man that Thomas had ever met. Which made it all the more amusing that Daveth was the sweetest, most mild person he'd ever known.

"Let's get it over with, eh? Faster we do this, the faster we can get to all the exciting shit." Thomas said, rising with a grimace. He limped over to one of the crates and opened it. In it were about a dozen cases of clinical-strength ibuprofen. It was less than a twentieth of their total medicine store. He groaned. "This might be an all-nighter."

"'So, Alicia, what did you do the first day you stepped foot on the surface of Volturnus?'" Alicia said. "'Oh, me? I unpacked some boxes.'" Daveth laughed, harder than necessary. Alicia smiled, blushing. Daveth blushed back. Thomas wanted to scream. They were so obviously crazy about each other, but neither had the courage to admit it. Every time something like this happened (and it had happened a lot, over the year they'd all known each other), Thomas wanted to shove their faces together and be done with it. He didn't know how much more "will-they-won't-they" he could stand.

"Oi! Awkward flirting later, unpacking crates now." He said, turning back to the ibuprofen. He smiled, though. Sure, his subordinates' love lives were driving him insane, and sure, he was stuck unloading boxes on the first day he arrived on a brand new planet, but things could be worse. After all, they were on a brand new planet.

What do I have to be sad about? He thought, surprisingly content.

The Depths

@Metadude

Just wondering, are we allowed to have NPC's? As a specific example, I was going to have Thomas converse with his two nurses.

The Depths

My post will be up within two hours or so. I was busier than I thought today.

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I'll have a post up when I get off. No more than four or five hours.