#I head cannon that Australia at the time had advanced medical knollage ontop of advanced technology

[averagebioweaponslover]

Cmedic on one hand felt bad for engineer. It seemed he didn’t have that great of a relationship with his father. On the other that is just how families worked out sometimes. Quinn couldn’t say he was close to his own father but that was due to an early grave. However engineers question snapped him out of that line of thought. “What got me to sighn up?”

The doctor remained quiet for a long while. He sighed straightening his face trying to mask himself. “War. I got a taste for it. I was a medical officer right near the front lines. when I got back home I couldn’t return to normal, I was changed. Shell shocked, I barely could hold a job despite my education. It didn’t feel right I was disconnected from everyone around me. The world lacked the structure that came from an army postion. I was aggravated all the time and I felt lost, I would cry a lot too. Mental health wasn’t something people understood, hell people saw a man snapping at everyone around him and simply took that as relatively normal. I was simply hot tempered nothing else. My older brother saw the difference though, he knew me before, he hated seeing me suffer. He tried putting me in institution after institution. Nothing worked. I still couldn’t keep a job. He wanted to get me lobotomized. Said it would calm me down…” cmedic took a deep breath his hands moved to his pants and gripped the fabric with clenched fists.

“however by then I found TF industries. I was told I’d be a medical officer again, that I would keep track of what other mercenaries there were, that I’d be working with the best of the best. I didn’t get too many details but I left home soon after. I didn’t even say goodbye, didn’t tell my brother what I was up to. I just one day disappeared. It- it was an easier transition for me. Instead of civilian work where there were there were less rules I could have a Sargent again.., well not a Sargent.” He paused a moment, “Our teams heavy just went by boss- but it felt nice to be back in that framilliar power structure. It helped that heavy was also a war vet. We understood each other in the way the others just didn’t get… well our soilder, Ross, was a war vet but I hardly consider him at all… I was very happy to work in the battle feild again. I was quite giddy. I work best when I hear gunshots ringing in my ears.”

Cmedic dose a sad laugh. He hoped to lighten the mood a bit realizing he was over sharing a lot. Cmedic tended to ramble for a long time. He hardly got to speak to anyone especially not so openly “The problem was is that I was retraumatizing myself. Sure I felt more comfortable but battle was what caused my issues in the first place… at least that’s what my therapist says. There was a silver lining”

Medics voice lightens a bit and he tries to smile despite still feeling some sting. “it wasn’t all bad. Respawn meant I hardly had to worry about my team passing. I was given creative freedom and a budget to experiment with. All the benefits of being a professor without the lectures that made me get fired last time. I won’t say I’m a genius but I got really invested in microbiology, chemistry and I learned so much about the human body. It helped that I had access to Australian medical journals. I was probably THE leading expert on diseases in America at that time. Hell I made quite a few of my own. I became a bioengineer. Your father and I bonded when making the med kit, I was venting to him how limited I felt. So we worked together on something that could fulfill my needs on battle….”

Sending my condolences

" Thanks, Mister. " Dell’s voice held a note of surprise, his eyes studying his dad's old colleague. He hadn’t expected the man to track him down in the workshop, let alone to send his condolences for his late father — a subject he had barely touched on since he got the news.

He hesitated a moment before asking, " So, er— what was workin’ with my dad like? " The question felt odd on his tongue. Growing up, his dad was often a distant figure, always busy with mercenary work, rarely home for more than a few days at a time. Yet, Dell had been happy every time he returned, excited as any kid to see his father walk through the door, even if the moments were brief. They'd have spent time tinkering with junk they found by the side and went camping together. He'd considered himself luckier than a lot of kids, he'd considered himself lucky for having a 'father figure'. He looked up to him, and wanted to be like him.

Yet as the years passed, his dad’s absences became longer, and their once-easy closeness turned to a comfortable silence, then to something else — distance, he supposed, though he’d never labeled it. But it felt comfortable. Mr. Conagher had been a presence Dell didn’t question, the kind of man who stepped in and out of his life but who left a big enough shadow for Dell to feel like he still had a father. But thinking back now, Dell realized just how little he’d known about him. That was something he’d never thought too deeply about. It had been easier not to.

Their time together had been enough.

" Ahem, wanna come inside and have a drink? "