MM: Why the Jonny Gossamer books skip the long-term aftermath. (Hint: it's boring.)

[invented_dice]

Guess what?

Even the infirmary in Milliways is boring when you're not quite up to leaving the room on your own power yet.

(Actually, Harry kinda thinks he is. He's just not in any shape to deal with the kinds of things that can go on in Milliways. It can get a little rockier than, say, your average hospital cafeteria.)

Comments

[finaldiscussion]

Knock, knock.

[invented_dice]

Oh, god, please let that be someone interesting - yes! Harry brightens.

"Hey," he says. "Come on in."

Harry looks . . . like a hospital patient on the mend, pretty much. Not well enough to be out on his own, but a thousand percent better than he looked when he came in. His left arm is in a sling, cradled close to his chest to minimize movement while something that is making a subtle mechanical hum works away on repairing the bone and tissue in his shoulder.

[finaldiscussion]

"I am here to alleviate your boredom."

He saunters in, leaving the door half-open just as it was when he arrived, and pulls up a chair beside Harry's hospital bed.

"You're looking much healthier than the last time I saw you," he remarks.

[invented_dice]

"Doc says healthy enough to be bored is a good sign."

Harry doesn't look convinced.

"I'm just trying to remember that it beats being shot at." Or doing the shooting.

[finaldiscussion]

"I used to find being shot at pleasantly invigorating, but I must say, I am rethinking that philosophy now that I have actually been shot."

[invented_dice]

Harry laughs a little at that.

"Sucks, doesn't it? I could've told you that. This" - he gestures to his shoulder with his right hand - "was not the first time.

". . . it wasn't even the first time on this fucking side. I'm glad I'm right-handed."

[finaldiscussion]

"Well, I hope that contraption sees you through it without permanent harm."

Which is weird, by the way. The only permanent harm a Downsider has to worry about is psychological.

[invented_dice]

Oh, there'll be some of that, too.

Harry grins, touching said contraption lightly. "I love this fucking thing. I won't even have to do physical therapy when it's done, which by the way is the best news I've had all week, PT's a bitch."

He didn't have it half as bad as Perry did last time, but he still had to do his share. And the placement of this shot would have made it much worse this time around.

[finaldiscussion]

"Pleased to hear it."

Talking to livelings about injuries is bizarre. Harry is adorable. Strat feels bad about flirting with his boss.

[invented_dice]

Harry would be . . . highly conflicted . . . if he knew about that.

"It doesn't look like it'll be a problem for you, either. Uh, speaking of which -" Harry turns more serious.

"Thanks. For coming along. Perry and I both would've been fucked without you."

[finaldiscussion]

"As I said to him-any time." He quirks a small smile. "What are friends for, after all?"

[invented_dice]

"Drawing fire, apparently." Harry smirks a bit.

"You're better at it than Perry too, last time he tried, the bullet went right through him and hit me anyway. Worst fucking human shield ever."

And it led directly into a couple of the worst minutes of Harry's life, but since Perry's okay, he can joke about it now.

[finaldiscussion]

"Good heavens. That won't do at all." Strat grins.

"I am sorry about your jacket, by the way-it is quite thoroughly destroyed."

[invented_dice]

"Damn, I like that jacket." He lost the last one, too.

He shrugs (one-shouldered), though, because - whatever. It's a jacket.

"Perry fucking hated it, he's been dying for an excuse to make me get a new one."

Which just might be part of why Harry liked the old one.

". . . I don't know where yours is right now."

[finaldiscussion]

"If you find it, keep it. Perhaps Perry will hate it too," he jokes.

[invented_dice]

It won't be too hard - Devon had it cleaned and now it's among the personal effects Harry will get back when he leaves. Not much mystery there.

"I bet he will, he's gonna be kicking himself for falling for the switch thing for like a month. He won't even wanna look at it."

Harry can't really blame him there.