MEDIC

Chapter 8. Snakes & Ladders

Edited 22/05/23 - spelling and grammar changes. Minor additions to dialogue.

The next few days you were kept busy filling out copious amounts of paperwork. Sadly, the young soldier you'd tried desperately to keep stable had passed away in the night. His injuries were simply beyond healing.

Runner and Bolt. You'd had little dealings with either of the young men who had died as a result of the last mission, but your heart still felt extremely heavy for them and their families. Despite your attempts at not doing so, you took every loss as a personal failure of your skills as a medic.

You'd just finished writing up the last soldiers collection papers when you noticed an unmistakeable figure skulk past your door.
You pushed yourself along the smooth flooring on your chairs wheels, coming to a halt just after the entrance to your infirmary.

"König?"
He briefly paused then turned to face you, his posture slumped and tired, certainly not in keeping with his usual stance.

"Ja, doctor? I-is there something I can help you with?" The soldiers voice cracked a little from lack of use, it was evident that König only really spoke when he actually had something worth while saying and wasted very little time with small talk.

You gave a warm smile, beckoning him over as you pushed off from the floor to glide back into your infirmary on your desk chair. A moment later the mountain of a man stepped through the open doorway, giving the back of his neck a brief nervous rub, he regarded you for a few seconds before tilting his head slightly in confusion.

"Do..you need something, doctor?"

You smiled and shrugged lightly.
"Please, call me Dove, there's really no need to be formal around me. And truthfully? No, I don't really need anything from you."

You studied what little you could see of Königs expression and noticed him raise an eyebrow from behind his hood in confusion. Evidently he had expected you to actually have a reason for grabbing his attention, though the fact you didn't hadn't seemed to annoy him like your previous encounters.

"I've not seen you since I initially patched you up a few days back, I just wondered how you're finding your recovery so far?" You propped your head up in your hands, elbows resting on your knees as you smiled warmly at your colossal patient.

The Austrian didn't seem to need much time to think on his reply, "es ist langweilig...uh, what I mean to say is, it's...rather dull. Boring."

"Boring?" You replied in amusement.

The huge soldier huffed slightly and gave a nod.
"Ja-Y-yes. I'm to do no training while I recover, correct?"

You smiled and hummed in confirmation.
"Mhm. Yep, that's correct."

"Then that is why it is boring."

König leaned on the doorframe, not quite committed enough to sit down with you but not really showing any signs of leaving either. You couldn't help but feel a little bad for the big guy, he had every right to feel bored. In between missions the entire base entertained itself by daily drills and fitness routines, with König's proverbial wings clipped that left the huge Austrian with shockingly little to do to actually entertain himself. Thankfully you knew just the thing to occupy his mind, atleast for now.

"Hey, feel free to say no, but if you're that bored d'you fancy playing a game with me?"

Königs head perked up slightly,
"A...game?"
You nodded your head quickly, "Mhm! Come take a looksy"

You opened a filling cabinet by the wall and pulled out a few different board games which you'd brought over on your transfer. They'd always come in handy on your past bases to keep your longer term in-patients occupied while they were bed bound and figured the logic on this base would be in different.