#medicusmorum

Caitlyn!

[ PADD msg > Baxter ] That’s a very good question—I’ve been wondering the same thing. 

[ PADD msg > Baxter ] He claims he didn’t touch the reactor, that it just malfunctioned and blew off. 

[ PADD msg from: Dr. McCoy.  RESPOND? Y/N ] — Maybe he was looking at it too hard.

Don't even get me started on you. 

The moment he'd rematerialized on the transporter pad, McCoy had known something was wrong; the startled looks on the operators' faces had been evidence enough of that. So, when he'd turned his head, he'd expected to find something horrific - perhaps only half of one of his colleagues - hopefully that Captain of theirs - or some alien beasty out for his head. What he had not expected to see was an exact copy of himself, as if he had somehow been beamed aboard across from a mirror. The reflection seemed to be looking at him with the same confusion he felt on his own face, though his own expression he knew was also colored with something akin to distrust. He was tense, his hackles up - though the place was physically identical, the uniforms were all wrong. Where was the Empire's symbol upon the officers? Why hadn't anyone drawn their phasers on the pair of them yet? Shouldn't they have reacted with immediate hostility?

It was only their lack of aggression that kept him from immediately meeting this turn of events with an act of it, himself - he kept his hands at his sides, carefully poised to reach for his phaser if the action became necessary, but as it currently was not, simply looked around the room, brows raised. No one quite seemed sure of what to do, what to make of the twin doctors - at least, he could only assume the other was, indeed, still a doctor. The initial shock of the situation was beginning to die down, leaving him with little to no choice but to start making assumptions and try to handle this as - much as he hated to even think it - logically as possible. Since the others had, as of yet, made no move to harm him, he had good reason to assume that they wouldn't ( right off, anyhow ) unless he gave them a damn good reason to do so. 

So, the trick was, not giving them a reason to do so.

"Well. Ain't this the turn up."

I've had a few people asking about my Mirror!McCoy, so here's me laying out all the headcanons I have for him, thus far. He's very much a work in progress, so bear with me.

-----

Much like his standard counterpart, the one we're all familiar with, McCoy was a rather kind man. He intended to stay on Earth and become a doctor in Georgia, which would have suited him better, because hospitals are places of healing. With the loss of Joanna, and Jocelyn's divorce quickly following, he was, in a familiar parallel, driven to join the Empire's fleet in order to get off-planet as quickly as possible, without a dime to his name. Much like the military, it was a set of stages, climbing the ranks - but that's not nearly so clean-cut with the Empire as it is in Starfleet.

McCoy has never had a desire to harm or kill, but he learned very early on that even as a medic he couldn't remain the soft-hearted man he had been on Earth, and so, as he climbed the ranks, he learned the hard way what he could do, and what he couldn't; he is not a big political player, he has no desire to Captain or to be First Officer. He is, as he always has been, simply a doctor.

However, one does not get aboard the ISS Enterprise, known for its vicious crew, without proving themselves. He is the steadiest hands in the fleet, but he's also known for his no-nonsense attitude, and just about regardless of who you are; his MedBay, his rules. He has a reputation for keeping that space safe for himself, and whatever officers are willing to behave themselves while in it, and punishing anyone who tries to make it anything but - he is a doctor, first and foremost, and Medical should always be a safe place, no matter what sort of screwed up universe they live in. This tenacity earned him his place on board the ISS Enterprise, with the thought that if anyone could tend to that pack of wolves, it would be him.

This plan went well enough; he didn't exactly befriend most of the crew, but he could tend to them without incident, and he could even have a civil conversation with the First Officer, whom he respected as intelligent, if often frustrating, and occasionally downright infuriating - he liked to deem him the only other sane person on board. Everything went rather smoothly until he caught the eye of the Captain.

The Captain, because James was too intimate, and Jim would get your throat slit. McCoy tried to avoid him, because he was volatile, and as far as the doctor was concerned, downright out of his damn mind. It's never that easy, though. 

TW: Rape/Abuse -- >

This began a long string of abuse from the Captain - every time he mouthed off, every time he didn't treat him quickly enough or well enough for his tastes, every time he so much as blinked the wrong way, the Captain would find him and make him regret it. The abuse took a lot of forms - shouting and screaming at him, throwing things at him, and eventually, it turned sexual, with him strapping him to his own biobed against his will. In time, he even carved his initials over the man's heart, a wound he was allowed to heal up enough to get back to work, but the scar had to remain, lest the Captain see and do it again. If McCoy had been particularly mouthy, he'd brand the inside of his wrists, as well, something visible to remind him of his place. This turned the MedBay from a place of safety for him to a ticking time bomb, where any and all of the instruments he used to care for people could be turned against him, and made him very bitter, and a little cracked.

While his first instinct is always to perform as a doctor, these days he has come to be known for his occasional cruelty, the way he lashes out seemingly without warning - he is known for a three strike rule, but that doesn't always hold true anymore, and these days if you misstep in MedBay you may find yourself having iodine poured on an open wound, and bandages shoved into your hands before you are simply thrown out. These days often coincide with the Captain's visits to his CMO. Nobody asks.

McCoy will not hesitate to pull rank on someone of a lower rank to remind them of their place - this, actually, is an act of kindness, often misconstrued. He wishes to remind them of their place before they get noticed by someone higher up, and crueler than him. It's an effort to keep them alive in a system that he knows will not hesitate to discard them.

Do not take his perceived kindness as weakness, though - he will protect himself. There are two people he will bow his head to and back off from; if you are not one of those two people, he will not hesitate to inject you with a disease you cannot even pronounce, that will leave you bedridden and in agony until he sees fit to fix you up again, if he thinks you've learned your lesson.