( Though the sun is barely up this morning, the air is already hot, shimmering like a mirage across the sands. It isn't the thick, sultry heat of Georgia summers, but dry and scorching like a branding iron, inches from the skin.
McCoy squints in the shade of his hood, surveying the random assortment of people on the grounds. He isn't keen to join in the sparring, not yet, more interested in picking out the signs of weakness among the combatants: a soldier's unsteady gait that tells of an old knee injury; stiff shoulders and aching wrists as opponents swing their wooden swords.
And then there's James among them, tall and pale, and McCoy nearly forgets to breathe. How and why and what the fuck are his first thoughts, then the calculation of his own advantage, soon discarded. Reflexive like muscle memory, but he has no interest in killing his captain at home, much less here in this dusty, foreign world.
James's challenge to a potential partner drifts back to McCoy, where he's since moved to select from a rack of wooden short swords. He makes his choice and goes to meet him, dramatic fucking bastard that the doctor is, ignoring the other person. )
no subject
McCoy squints in the shade of his hood, surveying the random assortment of people on the grounds. He isn't keen to join in the sparring, not yet, more interested in picking out the signs of weakness among the combatants: a soldier's unsteady gait that tells of an old knee injury; stiff shoulders and aching wrists as opponents swing their wooden swords.
And then there's James among them, tall and pale, and McCoy nearly forgets to breathe. How and why and what the fuck are his first thoughts, then the calculation of his own advantage, soon discarded. Reflexive like muscle memory, but he has no interest in killing his captain at home, much less here in this dusty, foreign world.
James's challenge to a potential partner drifts back to McCoy, where he's since moved to select from a rack of wooden short swords. He makes his choice and goes to meet him, dramatic fucking bastard that the doctor is, ignoring the other person. )
When do you ever 'play nice'?