✈ day one hundred and eighty six, video & spam

[diealone]

[Just before setting off into port, you're being treated to another public service announcement, courtesy of the angry inmate doctor.

For the first time in what's probably a couple weeks, Jack isn't wearing scrubs or a lab coat when he turns on the video feed, but he's still in the infirmary. He's just in the process of slinging a backpack over his shoulder and apparently getting ready to leave.]

I know I'm not the first person to say it, but trust me - pack before you go running off into the woods by yourself. Bandages, plenty of water, food, something to build a fire, all of it. We have no idea how long we're going to be here, and you run out of things faster than you think you will.

If you get hurt and don't have any first aid experience, get in touch with me or one of the other doctors. Don't try to pull anything out of a puncture wound unless it's basically a sliver, I don't care what you saw in a movie about needing to dig a bullet out, and don't eat anything you don't recognize. [Which he feels like should go without saying, but considering some of the stuff he's seen people do here... yeah, going to say it anyway.]

Stay smart and stay safe. See you guys back here in a couple days.

[Spam for Scott]

[Jack hadn't asked too many questions about why Scott had seemed relatively insistent on hanging out with him versus doing... anything else. The doctor might not like being an inmate - and probably never will - but he's definitely become fond of his warden, and there are definitely worse ways to spend the next couple days than hiking around in the woods with him.

Really, he probably could have been saddled with just about anyone, and he'd probably still be having a nice couple days ahead of him. He's missed this. Missed it a lot, actually, so even if this planet isn't anything close to the Island, it's still nice to off the Barge and away from his old apartment and the infirmary and everything else, and part of him almost wishes he didn't have to go back.

Almost, but being here forever isn't where he needs to be, so here we are.

They've been walking for a while in silence, and while that's fine, Scott definitely seems a little... off. Not quite sullen, not quite unspeakably upset, but off, and after a while, it's not something he feels like he can get away totally ignoring.]

If you're getting tired, we can stop and have lunch. [Or you can talk about what's bugging you? Either way.]

Comments

[diealone]

[Jack shrugs, a small grin forming on his face.] I'm not going to stop you. I'm a doctor, not a high school guidance counselor.

[americasdirtiest]

[Pfffft. He snickers.] Hey, you could be. Don't think I ever met mine.

[Jack may or may not have met Mickey, but he probably knows his face: the kid's been on board two weeks and he's already been to the infirmary twice with telltale signs of a fistfight.]

[diealone]

[In that case, yes, he's definitely probably noticed. u_u]

You might have to wait a while. Some people go without for months, others wind up stuck with one the same week they get here.

[americasdirtiest]

...guidance counselors?

[diealone]

That's basically what wardens are, aren't they?

[americasdirtiest]

...I'm a fucking warden.

[diealone]

[Jack laughs, and it's not unkind? But it's definitely not embarrassed, either.]

Sorry. Usually when people are picking fights and winding up in the infirmary within the first couple weeks of being here? It's not because they asked to come along for the ride.

[americasdirtiest]

[It's not like it's the first time he's been mistaken for an inmate. Dudes with knuckle tattoos are not usually in positions of authority. He sighs irritably, running a hand through his hair.]

I made a fucking deal, okay. I'm working for my payday just like anybody else. Story, end of.

[diealone]

That's fine. [He likes to think he's learned his lesson about first impressions, and judging people.

(He hasn't, really. But he doesn't know Mickey yet, and maybe when he does, things will either be fine, or fall apart, because Jack Shephard is a sanctimonious asshole.)]

Some of the best people I know have done a lot stupider stuff than picking a fight with someone they shouldn't.

[americasdirtiest]

Hey, for the record, I totally did not start the first one.

[Not that it really matters, because he would have under the right circumstances. Fists are a language he finds much easier than English.]

Actually-- [He hesitates, probes a tooth with his tongue, winces slightly.] You're the doctor, right?

[diealone]

Yeah.

[Note: he does not clarify that he's one of the doctors, or how technically he has no authority here at all.

gj jack way 2 b a team player]

cw: abuse

[americasdirtiest]

Some asshole-- [His dad.] Some asshole cracked a tooth a couple of days before I came around. It hurts like a motherfucker sometimes and I wanna eat ice cream again, like, ever. You do shit like that?

[diealone]

I'm not a dentist, but I can take a look, sure.

[americasdirtiest]

After the port, though, 'cause I'm supposed to go camping.

[diealone]

I'll see you after port, then. Try to stay out of trouble.