Author's Note: I'm still alive! Unfortunately, more updates will be slow coming after this batch of new chapters to Off Camera. A new chapter for Processes of Revision is still in the works, though.
Also, please be aware that the next chapter of Off Camera has spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Episode 5.
Boasting
The Doctor was rarely silent.
After boasting about his superior medical knowledge as soon as she walked in the door, he launched into a detailed description of the development of opera for a full twenty minutes. To illustrate the finer points of his argument, he sang five different arias, one right after the other. After singing, he immediately launched into commentary on 20th century old-Hollywood musicals and how they differed from the arias he had just sung, noting the larger cultural trends of each. This lasted for forty-five minutes. Inevitably, the pestering came after his singing and commentary. It didn't take much of that for her to choose to comply: they sang a total of eight musical numbers spanning old-Hollywood and into the mid 21st century.
A crewman came in with a minor burn. This prompted another five minutes of boasting about his medical skill, followed by boasting about his and Seven's superior musical abilities, and ended, somehow, with a (comparatively) brief commentary on the Bolian digestive system.
The crewman quickly left.
As she watched him go, Seven couldn't help but understand his reason for making a quick exit. She wondered why she didn't feel the same urge to flee as she looked at the Doctor messing with a hypospray. Why do I love him so much?
The Doctor blinked suddenly. "Twenty-one-hundred hours already?" He turned a sheepish smile on her. "I, ah… I hope I wasn't boring you."
"…You were not."