Nearly Eaten by Cosmic Salad

Posted on Fri Jun 7th, 2024 @ 10:54am by Staff Sergeant Nathanial "Nate" Cusack & Warrant Officer Iryna Voznyuk
Edited on on Fri Jun 7th, 2024 @ 10:57am

Mission: Contagion
Location: Deck D - Starboard Side
Timeline: Day 377
1951 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Iryna shifted as she heard the faint groan of the door opening and closing and the soft footsteps entering her quarters. Blinking a couple of times to adjust her eyes to the dim light and to get herself to respond, she recognized the familiar silhouette. It was Nate, and a grin spread across her face. He had been freed from the decontamination chamber at last. Her thoughts were still groggy from sleep, Iryna mumbled something incoherent to herself and rolled over to sit up. As she did, she nearly yelped in surprise; Nate was already seated at the end of her bed. The realization that she must have drifted back to sleep for a few moments after first noticing his presence made her chuckle softly.

“Hey you…” she finally managed to say, her voice clearer now. It was a simple greeting, but the warmth in her tone conveyed her relief that he was there.

In many respects, Nate wasn't wholly in the right frame of mind for a reunion. Having been irritable for the entire mission, not even having his suspicions confirmed had made him smug enough to enjoy the subsequent elongated period of nothing that had followed. Standing around waiting to see if he got sick had swiftly translated to standing around waiting to see if he got consumed, and though extraction had been swift enough, quarantine protocols had replaced one set of walls for another. Given his mood, it had been Nate's intent to retreat to his own space for a bit, shower and find food, catch a nap, maybe spend some time in the gym... It seemed the most responsible thing to do and might actually have proven best had the heating in his quarters been working at all. Trying to relax in the midst of Siberia was an ordeal he'd already been through recently and it was a surprise to no one that he was in no mood to welcome a second round.

He had meant to sneak in, if he was honest. It seemed likely, given the time, that Iryna would be asleep and Nate was nearly confident enough that she'd expect him to check in that it didn't feel like too much of an imposition to just show up. He hadn't meant to wake her though, had an entire plan based around just falling asleep on her couch and hopefully waking up less annoyed at the universe. Now, faced with the inevitability of a conversation he was nervous he wasn't fit to have, he did his best to curb his agitation as he quietly called out, "Hey. Didn't mean to wake you."

“It is okay.” She assured still sounding half asleep. She watched his silhouette in the darkness for a moment, her eyes slowly adjusting to the low light. After a few seconds, she shifted a little closer, seeking his warmth and presence. Wrapping an arm around his waist, she rested her hand gently on his stomach and laid her head on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I am glad you are back," she murmured with genuine relief and affection.

A ripple of tension fluttered against her hand and it took intent that was almost beyond his current capacity for Nate to relax the shoulder beneath her cheek so that he could at least attempt a charade of composure. In the darkness, his brow puckered, not so much because of residual frustration but because of the encroaching confusion of conflicting sentiment. If he'd been asked to guess, Nate would have sworn that having anyone in his personal space right now would have been tantamount to dousing a flame with kerosene. As it turned out, the familiarity of her shampoo, and the lack of complication in her willingness to just seek physical comfort without a barrage of questions, went some way to calming him in a way Nate didn't profess to understand.

He slipped an arm around her shoulders and toyed with a strand of hair.

"Never thought I'd be this glad to back in the sardine tin."

"I bet." She whispered without pushing as she realised that there was a lot of tension in the way he sat but she did not comment on it yet. She had seen him like this before but then she had been his superior but now she was whatever she was now and there was more that she could do for him. Her fingers traced small, soothing circles on his stomach. "I'm just glad you're here now."

"Yeah, well, part of that is because my quarters have been turned into a refrigeration unit." As with most things that came out of Nate's mouth, it sounded a lot less considerate than he meant, even if it was technically true that his first intent had been to delay disturbing her. None of the reasons for that had anything to do specifically with not wanting to see her, and quite a deal more with wanting to spare her. "Figured I'd crash on the couch but I guess I need to brush up on my stealth entries."

Iryna was not sure what his tone conveyed in her sleepy state but it did not put her off just trying to soothe whatever it was for now for them to face it in the morning. "Completely need to work on it but that can be done in the morning. Are you still just wanting that sofa or are you wanting to come and sleep in the bed with me?" She wondered pulling her hand back from his stomach with a squeeze around his middle.

A final exhale actually seemed to act as a release and Nate realised, to his eventual surprise when he had the headspace to analyse it, that he felt more wrung out and tired now than irritable. It wasn't an unusual descent, quite often his agitation could be traced back to poor lifestyle choices and an extreme lack of sleep and decent nutrition. "I should probably shower first," he conceded, his voice rumbling in his chest as he succumbed to partial placation. From a cleanliness point of view, the shower was hardly necessary since decontamination had involved scrubbing hard enough to remove at least a full layer of skin it seemed, but his muscles could use the heat and the tiny voice of paranoia in the back of his head suggesting that he might still pose a threat to her would appreciate an attempt to further remove any possible alien spores.

Iryna nodded and untangled herself from his shoulder. "Okay." She said softly. "Enjoy and then come to bed and we can just sleep away all of this." She promised. She was not willing to venture any more into what he had been through or anything just yet. Sometimes you just needed to know when and where to pick your battles and this seemed like not one she wanted to in the middle of the night.

As a man who'd built a career on being thankful for having enough water in his canteen to last the day, Nate didn't usually linger in the shower beyond what was necessary to scrub up properly. It was difficult to resist the urge, however, to brace himself against the wall of the cubicle and allow the warmth to saturate him from head to toe. When there had been nothing much else to do than sit around and stare at each other, Diaz had accused him of sulking despite being proven right, and whilst that was a reasonably astute interpretation of his mood, having it pointed out so bluntly hadn't helped curb it. By now, he ought to have been used to not being listened to by the decision-makers but Nate wasn't just annoyed that his concerns had been brushed aside, he was angry that he'd been the only one to call out the obvious gaping holes in the Luminari's recount of events. It didn't matter now that the devolution into apathy had a justifiable explanation, he had allowed his better judgement to be overridden and it was now thanks to a stranger and his band of alien misfits that they hadn't all been lulled into the blissful oblivion of becoming some giant plant's fresh fertilizer. Sure, Cusack was pissed with command, that much was a given.

He was mostly annoyed at himself, however.

Was that the cost of trying to improve himself then? A complete loss of balls and a newfound talent for curtsying as everyone else used him as a doormat? Scrubbing his hands over his face, Nate felt the grate of several day's worth of stubble and couldn't muster the energy to do anything about it. He'd decided to give medicine another crack because it had felt like a skillset that would be more useful over time than ranged proficiency with a rifle but how the hell were any of them going to survive out here for very long if they tossed aside the mentality that came with a soldier's uniform? It bothered him more than he cared to admit that he'd come so close to just sitting down and accepting death, seduced by a space cabbage into believing it to be a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Nate Cusack had no intention of being taken out by a cosmic salad.

Turned out, he was no closer to figuring out what his future looked like than he'd ever been.

By the time he dried off and crawled into bed, his head was clouded by indecisive frustration. Iryna would likely called it a setback and perhaps she was right, but he'd be damned if he was going to become a victim of his own bleeding heart. Pulling the covers up, he tried to find a position that wouldn't lead to fidgeting and exhaled a final sigh in an effort to relax.

Iryna had used the time he was in the shower to change into an oversized T-shirt, one of her most comfortable pieces of clothing, which hung loosely around her thighs. She then grabbed a couple of extra pillows from where she stashed them under her desk, fluffing them up before arranging them neatly on his side of the bed. She wanted to make sure he felt welcome and comfortable when he returned. The sight of the pillows was a small, silent invitation, letting him know he belonged there beside her.

Iryna lay back down and stared at the ceiling trying to fight off the tiredness. Her mind wandered, thoughts drifting between the relief of having him back and the concern for what he might have endured. She wondered if she should go and check on him, perhaps even coax him out if he was taking too long. Just as she was debating her choice, she heard the sound of the bathroom door opening and then he eventually joined her. “Feel better? Cleaner?” She ventured sleepily.

"Cleaner, sure." The implication was clear enough without need for further explanation, which was probably for the best given how disinterested Nate was in talking about his feelings right now. "Got rid of the last of the ranch dressing, I'd say." Hefting himself onto his side to face her, he squinted through the gloom and reached across to guide a strand of hair away from her eyes before expending the last of his energy to add, "Talk tomorrow, get some sleep."

"Okay. I'm glad you're here," she murmured, her voice barely audible as sleep began to overtake her once more. She was reluctant to but she gathered it might be for the best. They could talk more in the morning before her shift started.