Going the Distance [for Verity, Jim]

[onemorebounty]

*The Nexus has some amazing beaches. Places where sea and shore alike meet wonder. Today, she meets her usual running companion in the shade of a cluster of irregular, iridescent, stones with an oil-on-water rainbow sheen. As the sun and wind dance off of them, they echo with faint, otherworldly tones. Finishing her stretches, the Hunter takes a moment to check the time.*

If he's coming, he'll be here soon. We're almost at the time I gave him.

((Edited with regard to Ver's art issues.))

Comments

[onemorebounty]

*Verity's quip about Samus' relentlessness earns a wry smile.*

Life never stops, I just get you ready for it.

*Samus nods satisfaction at Jim's answer.*

Sensible. The moment someone relaxes in triumph is the perfect time to strike--better to be ready for that blow, when it's your turn. But don't worry about pride, when you've healed a little more we can find your breaking point properly.

*She's so cheerful when she says things like that, her sadistic streak must have its own gravitational pull.*

If you're interested in more like this, that is.

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity listens to the back and forth while settling into her resting routine. Walking, breathing, hydrating. An involuntary sigh at how cheerful Samus is about the idea of breaking another volunteer. Watching, always watching.

"She'll make me cry too, if it makes you feel better?" Misery loves company.

[boldygoing]

Jim's had a few failures and missteps today, but he's not letting that drag him down into a bad mood. "What, and miss out on all this? This is way more interesting than any of the PT I got at Starfleet Medical. Just gotta get my shots first."

Whether that makes him a glutton for punishment, well, maybe that's one reason he spent a good few years getting into bar fights every weekend. Either way, the sneak preview he's gotten today of What to Expect When Samus is Chasing You Down hasn't scared him off the idea, even if it's not what he expected from today's outing when he'd first arrived. Though really, he should've, by now.

Misery loves company indeed. Jim glances over at Verity, taking her comment in the spirit in which it was meant. "You know, it does, a bit."

[onemorebounty]

Nothing builds bonds like shared trauma and a common enemy. You'll be collaborating against me in no time.

*She's still so relentlessly cheerful about it. Jim's remark about his shots gets a nod.*

So you've come to a decision about that vaccine?

[brave_heart_verity]

Ver meets Jim's look and flashes him a smile. It's small and brief, but it's genuine. She'll be grateful to have the company too. Sometimes.

"We would never." She's been saving up that sarcasm. She'd have to have been, nobody could possibly produce that much on demand. Because they will, of course, be doing just that. Jim will find her a good soldier, but a rather mouthy one. Another new challenge for him.

[boldygoing]

"Yeah." Much as he's not looking forward to not being able to drown his birthday blues in alcohol in the years to come, the trade-off is just too good to pass up. And for someone who's planning to make a career out of making first contact with all sorts of alien lifeforms and their many assorted microorganisms, it's a small price to pay to not end up dying of some unknown alien flu sometime down the line. "Bones was pretty wary about the whole thing when I told him about it, but he's given me the go-ahead to get it done. My immune system's built back up enough to handle it." In theory, anyway.

"Sooner's probably better than later. I've still got a window to pass off the whole... getting sick aftereffects thing... as some kinda temporary setback." And man oh man, he is not looking forward to spending more time in bed feeling miserable, but hey, better to just bite the bullet and get it over with.

[onemorebounty]

((Urgh, I am so sorry. I had a crazy week at work, and it's taken me another week to get into the kind of headspace where I could come back to this thread. On the up side, my work situation should be more stable now.))

*Samus gives a low chuckle at Verity's sarcasm. She knows what's coming. She's looking forward to it. The two of them together will be a welcome challenge.*

Sooner is certainly better. Give me a moment to take a sample, and we can put your doctor's mind at ease.

*A few quick taps to her PINpoint open a portal, and she's gone. As soon as the portal closes, though, another opens--she tends to liberally abuse the little device's temporal coordinate, and has enough practice to do so with finesse. She returns with the things they left on the beach at the start of their run, as well as a small device that looks like an empty hypospray.*

Verity can give you a first-hand account of what you can look forward to while the vaccine and the gut flora settle in. Arm?