Parts: 1. Jamie: 0. [Open]

[bonnypiperlad]

By all rights, Jamie should be asleep. Ever since his trip to the City earlier, he's been running hot and cold, like he's got a fever. But rather than wanting to rest, he feels strangely jittery - so he's in Engineering, looking down at a box of parts that need to be sorted. However, now that he's actually here, he's not sure he wants to go through with it. If he doesn't, though, he'll just have to do it later. With a sigh, he rather carelessly dumps everything out onto a work table. He starts rummaging through the pile, although there's not much actual sorting going on. It seems more like he's simply picking something up, frowning at it for a moment and then setting it aside.

In the mess of bits and pieces, there's one part made up of two smaller ones that have been shoved together. It's the same thing he had been playing with while waiting for Billy during their failed goop gun experiment, and there's an almost wistful look on his face for a moment as he picks it up. He'll never be able to think of that without thinking of Cassie, now. Still, the parts would be of more use if they were separate, so he sets to trying to pull them back apart.

It seems he's done a fantastic job of wedging them together permanently, for try as he might he cannot get them to budge. As he tries, the expression on his face gets more and more irritated, until finally he gets frustrated enough that he throws it at the table. It bounces and goes sailing through the air towards the open doorway. Normally he'd go chasing after it, but why bother? It's not like it's going to hit anyone coming in this late, anyway. Is it?

Comments

(I hope the shadow is okay. It just fits the description to the tee)

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex was starting to like sleeping in Engineering when he was suffering from nightmares. He enjoyed the soft whizzing noise some of the devices' mechanical parts made even as they were on a low power mode. He had to reconsider this though, as it seemed Engineering wasn't as fond of him, since it was throwing spare parts at him.

He jumped back and slipped a curse, "Scheisse!" He shifted his laptop so that it was in a more secure grip as he went to pick up the two parts jammed together. He looked into the department to find Jamie with a tier 1 shadow. He furrowed his brow and walked in, holding the piece in his hand, "What's w-wrong, Jamie?"

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie sighs. Maybe he should go and get the stupid thing after all so he doesn't get yelled at. It'd probably be easier to just put it back and let someone else deal with trying to get it apart, anyway.

Stepping out from behind the work table, he sees Alex waltzing in with the part already in his hand. For some reason, he finds that really irritating. The fact that he's gotten the chills again doesn't help, and he scowls while trying not to shiver.

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong," he says - although there's a slight edge to the words. "I was going to go get that, ye know."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

It wasn't hard to tell that Jamie was lying. Alex clenched his teeth and reminded himself that this wasn't the best time to start an argument over lying. "I c-can tell something's w-wrong, Jamie. P-please don' lie ta me. If he couldn't get a straight answer out of Jamie soon, then he would have to try eating that shadow to calm him down.

[bonnypiperlad]

"Aye, and maybe I don't want to talk about it," Jamie snaps. Can't the lad just leave well enough alone? One look at Alex's expression, however, makes it pretty clear to Jamie that no, he isn't going to be so nice as to do that. His mouth pulls off to the side briefly, then he takes a breath, trying to push the irritation aside. "Och, fine. I can't get those pieces apart, and we need the p..."

There's a tickle in the back of his throat, and he breaks off to cough. Once he's finished, he repeats, "We need the parts. There, are ye satisfied now?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex flinches at the sharp remark, but quickly puts down both the parts and his laptop when Jamie begins coughing. He goes over to him, putting his hand on his back and rubbing, just to find that he was really hot. Was he sick? That might explain the irritation, though it was a bit extreme. He went to check his forehead for fever, though he had a feeling that he'd be pushed away pretty soon, with all this invasion of personal space.

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie normally isn't one to complain about invasion of personal space - half the time he's the one doing the invading. However, he's irritable enough at the moment that Alex's cosseting gets on his nerves quickly. He turns his head, intending on giving Alex a frown for the back rubbing, only to find a hand on his forehead. He bats at it, trying to get it away from his face.

"Would ye...hey! Get off!"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

He only touched Jamie's forehead for a second, but he could tell from just that how bad of a fever Jamie had. He backed away, cowering from Jamie for a moment, though his concerned look quickly returned. "Y-you're burnin' up. M-maybe you should go ta med-bay. I c-can try an' get these parts apart." Fat chance of that happening. It was a shock the boy could carry his laptop.

[bonnypiperlad]

His jaw tightens almost imperceptibly when Alex cowers away - and if the other lad is close enough he might be able to hear the small, annoyed sound Jamie makes in the back of his throat. "Och, I won't hit ye," he says, trying to keep his temper in check. For a heartbeat, he thinks that maybe hitting something might be nice, though.

Shoving that thought aside, he eyes the stuck parts in Alex's hand, and holds his own out to take it back. Jamie's fairly small and wiry himself, but relatively strong, considering. If he can't get it apart, Alex certainly isn't. Maybe he can take a blowtorch to it or something.

"Look, it's just a wee fever. I've had them before, and I was fine." After thinking that the Cyberman that was there was the Phantom Piper and he was going to die, mind you, but he's not going to bring that up out loud. "I'm a Highlander. We're a sturdy lot, aye?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Whether or not Jamie intended on hitting Alex was of no importance. He had a shadow of anger, and Alex had far too much experience with that. You lose control, you hit someone. That someone was likely to be him in his mind. His heart was racing. He knew he shouldn't let Jamie keep working, but his self-preservation instinct kicked in.

"I-i-it's not a 'wee fever'," he said, even as he handed back the parts reluctantly, still shying away from Jamie a bit. "Y-you sh-should at least l-lay down..."

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

Tenaya was not having a good day. Her systems kept flashing warnings about her temperature being too high, but she was feeling unusually cold. And she didn't have much of an appetite--which wasn't too unusual, given how little she needed to eat, but just the thought of eating made her...well, it made her feel sick, to be honest.

And that was not a comforting thought.

Agitated and feeling like she couldn't sit still, she'd gone to Engineering to try to find something that might help her regulate her temperature. But when she got there, she saw Jamie acting careless about the equipment.

"Hey," she sniped. "Some of us might need that stuff."

It was rude and angry. But she wasn't exactly in the mood to be polite.

[bonnypiperlad]

He's picked up another piece of equipment - this one looks like some sort of flange - and is frowning again, although not quite as deeply as before. It felt kind of good to throw the piece, and some of his irritation has burnt off. Not for long, though. Apparently he's not so alone as he thought, and he shoots a narrow-eyed look at Tenaya, not really pleased at being sniped at.

"Oh, aye?" he replies, not quite able to keep a bit of sarcasm from creeping into his tone. "Well, then ye can just go and fetch it, then. Good luck trying to get it so ye can use it."

Jamie turns slightly away then, figuring maybe she'll just go away and leave him alone if he ignores her. He sets the flange down in an empty space - more carefully this time - and picks up a bit of tangled wire instead.

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

"I'm not the one who threw it," Tenaya argued. She shook her head and muttered, "Stupid Scotsman." Between Flynn back home and Jamie now, she was beginning to think that all the Scottish had hair triggers.

She began searching through the equipment, looking for something to help calibrate her temperature settings.

[bonnypiperlad]

"I'll have ye know it bounced," Jamie says, turning his head back to fix her with a frown. The frown deepens at the mutter. Normally he'd be pleased to realize that she actually knows where he's from - that seems to be a rare thing on Stacy - but he's feeling somewhat insulted at being called stupid.

Perversely, he goes to grab an item he thinks she's about to look at, fixing her with a scowl as he does so. "Hey. I'm sorting these, ye know."

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

"And I need to look for something," Tenaya retorted. "Or is this your personal castle?"

What was with this guy? She hadn't had anyone get on her nerves this quickly and thoroughly since...well, since Kilobyte back home. But he'd been actively scheming against her.

[bonnypiperlad]

There was something about this woman that was really starting to get annoying. Okay, maybe he shouldn't have thrown the part on the table, but what right did she have rummaging through his project with so much as by-your-leave? It may not be much of a project, but it's his project.

"Aye, and what if it was? There's plenty of things all in their proper place elsewhere." Jamie gestures at the other work tables. "Why don't ye be a good lass and look over there?" There's a bit of emphasis on the word 'lass' that slips out before he can stop it. He realizes, though, he just doesn't care that much right now about whether or not she's going to take offense to it.

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

[Gah, did not realize this got eaten when my connection died]

"Excuse me?" Tenaya asked, suddenly furious. "What does my gender have to do with anything? I am a Generation 15 Venjix hybrid, built to be the perfect blend of human and machine. So I think I can clearly say anything any guy can dish, I can take."

It was odd. She hadn't bragged like that since before she'd learned she was human in the first place. But she really felt like she had to prove herself...by any means necessary.

[bonnypiperlad]

"A Generation 15 what?" For a moment, Jamie reacts like he would normally. He has absolutely no idea what a Venjix hybrid is, and he gives her a rather baffled look. Then the rest of what she said sinks in.

"Oh, so you're a robot, then," he says with same emphasis as he used with 'lass' - but it's deliberate, this time. He knows perfectly well the correct term for it is 'cyborg', but really doesn't care right about now. He's just about fed up with the whole thing.

"Well, robot or no, no lassie's a better fighter than a man." Jamie's not about to let some girl get better of him, even if she's got metal bits in her head.

[voiceofserenity.livejournal.com]

Kaylee is frowning. She's watching a frustrated Jamie from the doorway, and can't do anything more than chew on her lip and try to figure out if she should interrupt him or not. They haven't spoken since before GLaDOS, and even with Stacy's skewed concept of time Kaylee knows it's been a good few weeks since they've spoken, at least.

It's when he starts pulling bits and pieces apart that she steps back outside into the hallway. Probably not the best time to bug him with a hello, if he's concentrated. She's halfway back down the hallway, headed back toward lonely Serenity and no crew, when the sound of something being thrown causes her to stop in her tracks. There's a moment of hesitation as she looks back toward the door before she sighs at herself for changing her mind, and heads back to Jamie. It won't be any good to leave him alone in there while he's chucking things around. He could break something, or get hurt himself, and she can't exactly leave that to chance.

So it's back to the doorway, back to debating whether or not to break him out of his concentration. She settles for clearing her throat, and hoping that she doesn't get anything thrown at her head for it.

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie's head whips up at the throat clearing, hand tightening slightly around the nearest available object as he turns to see who made the noise. He looks at Kaylee for a moment almost as if he's looking at a stranger - but that might be the fever. Even from a distance, he looks flushed. He blinks a few times at her, then recognition kicks in. Kaylee. That's Kaylee. Not a threat. His grip relaxes, and he manages to give her a small almost-smile. It's a far cry short from his usual expression when he sees her, though.

"Kaylee." His voice is off, too, just a little. Gruffer than normal. "GLaDOS finally let ye go, I see."

[voiceofserenity.livejournal.com]

There's a small jump out over her as his hand tightens on the part, more in preparation to hop back behind the door if necessary than an actual start. When he doesn't throw it, she relaxes. When he just stares at her like he doesn't know who she is, she tenses back up. There's really no winning.

The almost-smile doesn't help. This is Jamie. Jamie always greets her with a grin, or a joke, or at least some chauvinistic tease. There isn't much in the way of life behind this one.

Even so, she tries to offer him up a smile in return. "Finally, yeah. Took her long enough, you think?" It doesn't take her much more than a few steps for her to get up to him, and she almost goes to hug him when she really looks at him. From there, Kaylee's brow furrows, and her hand is on his forehead before he has time to object. "Shàngdì gāisǐ! Shénme shì dìyù--have you seen anybody about this??"


[[ Translation: 'God dammit! What the hell--' ]]

[bonnypiperlad]

It says something that Jamie actually lets Kaylee get away with the hand on his forehead, as he doesn't particularly want to be touched right now. Anyone else would likely have their hand batted away, at least. He gives her a somewhat vexed look all the same, and a rather cranky sounding "Hey!"

Even though he's putting up with it, he's still distinctly fidgety under her touch, as if he's having a hard time standing still. At her comment, there's a distinct frown - although that's because he doesn't understand those particular phrases - and he says, "Och, don't start with that. I'm perfectly fine."

Apart from that annoying tickle in the back of his throat, which is threatening to erupt into a cough. Stubbornly, he clamps his lips shut, trying to force it to subside without giving into the urge to do so.

[voiceofserenity.livejournal.com]

Even if he had tried batting her hand away, the result would have been the same. Concern is written, nice and clear, on the mechanic's face. "Oh, don't gimme that," she replies. It's hard to get anywhere, with him fidgeting as he is, but she doesn't have to have her hand on his forehead long to register the difference in temperature.

"'Perfectly fine' ain't exactly how I'd put it, bao bei." Not that she can blame him for not wanting anyone to know he's sick, mind. She's done the same herself on more than one occasion. The less fuss, the better. "You could at least be tryin' to help it, though. Bed or relaxin' or something. Workin' in here ain't gonna help any."

He won't listen to that, and she already knows it. With a resigned sigh, before he's even had a chance to argue against rest, "You at least got a decent amount of liquids runnin' through your system? Might help fight it off better." Whatever it was.

[bonnypiperlad]

It's hard to relax when your skin feels like it's three times too small, and Jamie continues to fidget even after the hand's taken away. "Can't sleep," he says brusquely, moving back to the table and picking up a small, crooked piece of thin metal, then looking at it for a long moment before setting it down again.

At least she's not trying to actively get him to rest, which is good. He doesn't want to rest - the very thought of it irritates him enough that he scowls at the part he had just set back down. He glances over at the question.

"Aye, I suppose so. I've not been stuck with any needles recently." So obviously he must not be dehydrated, or so he thinks. A chill causes him to visibly shudder for a moment, and he wraps his arms around himself to try and ward it off. "It's just some wee germ or something," he insists, inadvertently drawing out the 'r' sound more than normal, as he's still shivering a little. "If I start talking about the Phantom Piper, then ye can worry."

[voiceofserenity.livejournal.com]

"Can't blame you for that." It's getting harder and harder to sleep on Stacy at times, it seems. There are plenty of people on Stacy, more than enough to keep company, but at the end of the day when Kaylee gets back to Serenity, she misses having that familial interaction. She's invited Dean to stay on the ship more than once, to break up some of the silence, but he's been so worked up about Sam that she's not sure he'll ever take her up on the offer.

Different reason entirely than Jamie's. Back on track. She could always trick him into resting. Get him toward his bunk, keep him occupied until he falls asleep. Jamie's smart, though, and she's pretty positive he would see right through that plan.

Kaylee rolls her eyes, heading to a nearby cabinet to fetch a blanket for the poor guy. Blame it on years of people-watching, but Kaylee's pretty observant. "Wee germ or no, it wouldn't hurt to drink somethin', get some simple food in your stomach. Gotta make sure your body's got what it needs or it ain't--Phantom Piper?"

[bonnypiperlad]

The very thought of food causes his stomach to churn, and he swallows heavily, forcing down the feeling of nausea. "No. No food," he says, rather more sharply than he intended to. He does take the blanket, but only after forcing himself not to just snatch it out of her hand, and wraps himself up in it. It does seem to help some with the chill, at least.

"Aye, the Phantom Piper. Whenever a McCrimmon is about to die, the Phantom Piper appears. It's how ye know that it is your time." Pulling the blanket a little bit tighter around himself, he adds, "When the Doctor took us to the moon, I came down with a fever, and I thought I saw the Piper then."

Obviously he hadn't, as he is standing here now. Although, since Stacy does seem to have a habit of picking up dead people, he adds, "It was actually a Cyberman, mind ye." he adds, with a hint of wryness in his tone. "But I thought it was the Piper all the same. I've not seen anything even close to the Piper yet, Kaylee. I'm fine."