Flu Season

Posted on Mon Apr 22nd, 2019 @ 9:29am by Captain Sebastian Deauvuex (*) & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers

Mission: Ishimura
Location: USS Ishimuru
Timeline: 2243
1213 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Eden made her way to Sebastian's quarters. In her hands, she held items that were probably making people give her strange looks, a PADD full of amusing children's stories she'd picked out to torture him with, a couple of board games, a pair of giant knitting needles and some very thick wool yarn. She stopped in front of the door, juggled what she was holding and pressed the chime.

The man looked up from the PaDD he was trying to concentrate on and sighed softly as another way of coughing hit him as he tried to allow the person into his quarters. He didn’t have a clue where he had picked up this flu but it had hit pretty much all the senior Officers luckily one after the others allowing someone to at the very least run the ship. “Come in!” He finally called as the coughing stopped.

"You sound terrible," Eden said as she ducked inside. "But, I have come to make you feel better. Give you some company while you recuperate." She cheerfully as she started setting her stuff down in various places. "It's what my friends did for me growing up, or they would have if I had stayed in place long enough to make any friends."

"I feel terrible." The man admitted relieved he was wearing a little more than he had when he had been woken by his yeoman at his bedside looking concerned. The man had been just about to call medical when he had finally roused enough to request medical before he had rushed into the bathroom to throw up. He would apologise to the man when he was feeling better.

"I'm sorry," Eden gave him a pouty face. "Well stay in bed, there's no reason you need to be up moving around. If you don't mind me sitting on the edge of your bed I brought stuff to entertain you." She showed him the giant ball of yarn, the needles, the games and the PADD. If you're not up to playing games I can knit and tell you stories."

"You can stay but I am not sure you should." He said moving to sit up a little better. "You might get ill. It's going through the ship." He reminded her softly trying to sound a little better than he felt. His voice was husky but he was at least talking.

"I never catch the flu." Eden shrugged. "I'm secretly an alien I think. I'm almost never sick with a cold either. So don't worry about me. You just rest." She sat down on the end of his bed, took out her knitting needles and let the ball of yarn roll across the bed. "So I can tell you stories like the original Brother's Grimm or I can tell you about my childhood?"

The man smiled a little dazed and confused but nodded. He hadn't had anyone look after him in years, Fransceca even when they had been on the same ship had never been that type and he found himself more and more endeared by her. "Tell me stories." He offered gently as he reached out and grabbed the drink his yeoman had left there earlier.

"Okay, well this is the original 1857 version of Cinderella which I've heard is actually kind of gruesome. So bear with me, I've not read it before. Maybe I'll just skim it for you and get the basics." She seemed to read it for a moment. "So it looks like there's a girl named Cinderella who loses her mother and her father remarries and she gets these two . . . sort of selfish horrid stepsisters. They want fancy dresses and jewels and all Cinderella wants is her father to get her the first stick that hits him on the head on his way to town. I guess that will be explained later in the story, seems very weird to me." She glanced up to make sure she wasn't boring Sebastian.

Sebastian blinked a few times confused before he made a face. "Qui it seems really weird." The man admitted not sure what to make of it at all. Why would she want the first stick? Maybe it was one of those stories you needed to read all the way through.

"Oh, I see. She plants the stick over her mother's grave and then waters it with her tears and it becomes a beautiful willow tree that she prays to. The woman must have a lot of tears to keep a tree growing." Eden looked really skeptical by this point. "And after it grows up then birds come and sit in the tree and when she wished for something they'd throw it down to her. I've heard of ravens or crows bringing people gifts." She shrugged and smiled at Sebastian who looked as if it was taking every brain cell to follow along with her. Men were so funny when they were sick.

"You are trying to see if you can make me confused while I am poorly?" The man said with a small smiled before collapsing into coughing. He hated feeling like this as he had no idea what was happening with his ship or crew, but the small mercy was the claxon hadn't gone off at any point yet.

"Aww, no. I'm honestly just curious about the story, and I was trying to cheer you up by . . . reading you strange things. I don't know." Eden had a bit of color to her cheeks. "I've never read these. My parents weren't exactly motherly. They were scientists and they expected me to learn by seeing and doing, not reading fairytales."

"I've met a lot of parents like yours." He said thinking of the Biologist he had just acquired and all the prestige that surrounded her but deep down she was just a lonely little girl thanks to neither of her parents willing to give up their careers. "It's okay. I meant it more as a..." He coughed a few times and took a sip of his water. "jest." The Captain finally got out.

"Ah," Eden replied. "Do you want me to come back later? It's okay if you don't want company right now." Her instinct was to touch him but she knew some people didn't like to be touched when they weren't feeling well. "I just didn't want you getting bored."

"Do you mind?" He wondered shifting a little to lie down. He didn't want to be rude but he was pretty sure he wanted to be ill again and he really didn't want her to see that. "You know this isn't how I expected you to see my bedroom." he mused as he snuggled up into the pillow.

"No," Eden said, putting all her things in the bag and setting it down on the floor against the wall as if she planned on returning soon. She got up from the bed, kissed him on the side of his forehead. As she walked away she heard what he said and snorted. "Yeah, I would imagine not. Rest well, Sebastian." Eden believed it was the first time she'd actually said his name.

OFF:

Captain Sebastian Deauvuex
Commanding Officer
USS Ishimura
(PNPC Gregnol)

Ensign Eden Bowers
Chief Helmsmen
USS Ishimura