Fortunate Son - Creedance Clearwater Revival

[playingtough]

WHO: Billy Hargrove; Open
WHERE: Fountain
WHAT: Showing up in this city beats being dead
WHEN: May 8th
WARNINGS: S3 finale spoilers for Stranger Things?


This doesn't feel anything like Starcourt's floor. The glossy and tiled smoothness of it against his back is missing. It's rough and jagged, like Billy's laying on a gravel road. Or maybe it feels like that as blood seeps out from his sides. It stains up into his white tank top, into the waistband of his jeans. There's faint lines lining his arms and temples where he had been controlled.

Then he feels the pull. Towards a glowing orb and it hurts - fuck does it hurt like hell - to move, but he manages to touch it. And immediately goes down with a yell, brain trying to process all of that and still reeling from being back in the driver's seat of his head again.

Onto his back he goes, blue eyes at the sky again. There's a lot of blood lost from the two wounds, and Billy realizes that's probably why he feels weak. He's not supposed to feel like this, he's Billy Hargrove. King of Hawkins, pretty boy and playboy.

God he's killed so many people in the span of a month, even though it wasn't his fault.

He coughs and finds the strength to wipe away the wetness. Saliva, good, it wasn't blood. He knew coughing up blood was a bad sign at least. He heard about it from-

No, don't think about her right now.

Billy lays there, turning his head to look around. Was there anyone around? He needs to call for help. And he does, a choked out "...help," that has an edge to it because he's not going to be heard as weak as long as he can help it.

Comments

[butterfly_kiss]

Lucky. The kid is damn lucky. Because it's lunch time and Tae was getting her exercise. Granted she was doing it in her new stilettos, but it was something. And hearing a weak voice calling for help? Doctor mode of course comes into play.

She moves quickly toward the sound of the voice and once she sees a flash of red near the fountain, that tell-tale sort of red, she's running.

"Damn Agrii," she curses as she gets in sight. "Stay still."

[playingtough]

Agrii? Right, those alien things. Blue eyes look up at the woman that orders him to stay still and he frowns. "Why are you telling me that? I don't want to move anymore, this hurts," he points out, but doing at least as told. Or as he said. Whatever, he's staying still.

His tongue peeks out to lick his lips. "...Not in Hawkins? The kids... that one chick with the powers..." Billy thinks of Max in Starcourt, but the way the Mindflayer had been hellbent on getting to El or whatever her name was. She was the one the creature wanted. But he had started to hold it back then...

Now he's here. "...Fourth of July here?"

[butterfly_kiss]

She doesn't know where Hawkins is, or any particular girl with powers, so she ignores those points.

"No. And we're not in America either," she says, reaching into her pockets to pull out one of the bespelled bandages she had found in a supply closet. Enchanted with extra healing and strength to help staunch bleeding faster.

"Need you to focus, kid. How were you hurt?"

She needs to keep him talking.

[playingtough]

Right. Not in America. Some city named Temba. It wasn't Starcourt at least, and he wasn't dead. Somehow he wasn't dead?

Billy hisses at the pain from the open wounds on both sides. How was he hurt? What happened with it? His eyes roll, but not in the sarcastic way, but in the way of trying to stay awake.

"Mall," he finally hisses out, locking eyes with her for th emoment. "Starcourt. Had help breaking... out of being flayed. Mind controlled. Tried to stop the creature and ended up here before-"

The Californian stops short. The Mind Flayer was going to kill him. The multiple wounds he had, the way that last tendril had been poised, God. When he gets back to Hawkins, he's going to die.

"...'m going to die."

[butterfly_kiss]

"And none of those words make sense, but it's fine." She moves to start working his shirt up. Sorry kid, no time to ask for consent to treat. Going to have to yell at her later.

"I'm not letting you die. That's not how it works. I'd be laughed out of the medical community if I lost to something as simple as this."

[playingtough]

How did they not make sense? Billy glares as best he can (which isn't much so it's not threatening), and groans loudly in pain as she shifts him so his shirt can come up. Just a white tank top that's bloody and dirty.

The injuries are raw and shiny, looking like something with teeth chewed into him hard. Somehow he manages the strength to grab her wrist.

"Not... what I meant," he grits out with a hard gaze. The hand on hers loosening and dropping back down to the ground. "...when I go bac'." His words are getting a slur to them. There's a lot of pain he's struggling to stay awake through.

[butterfly_kiss]

Tae chalks it up to 'animal attack' and pulls a canister out of one pocket. It's a strange sort of thing, one she had determined was a good general emergency foam. Though there sure wasn't much of a label on it, she'd done some trial and error and that was better than nothing.

Still, she gets his point, and she doesn't look impressed.

"I can't help you with that. But I can keep you from dying now. Which you're just going to have to live with."

He can be bitter later. She sprays the foam onto the wounds for a cursory seal and then moves to start wrapping it all up in bandages.

[playingtough]

There's a look on her face that makes him think of how Max looked at him. Shit. Was she okay from the mall? Were any of them? There was no way of knowing.

No, he can be bitter now, Billy will just be quieter about it. He's losing that focus again, which snaps right back in place as he hears the sound of something... foaming? Like a mousse can. The initial touch of something against the sensitive open wound has him jerking, yelling out in pain from the action. "Fuck, what're you doing?!"

[butterfly_kiss]

"We've already been over that. And if you are going to open that big mouth of yours, I can give you something to bite down on."

No one ever said that Tae's bedside manner was the absolute best. Except with children. And he's too old for that.

"I'll have this wrapped in a moment and then I'll ask someone to help me get you to the hospital. Seems you'll be a guest for a bit."

[playingtough]

God how he wants to bite back at her, insult her for being a bitch, but the pain knocks those thoughts out. It really does hurt. The Mind Flayer was undoubtedly going to kill him whenever he goes home.

If he goes home.

Hell, maybe he'll die here.

That's the thought that gets him to soften again, the anger melting a little into... scared. A brief look at vulnerability before his face goes more neutral. "Really won't let me die...right?"

[butterfly_kiss]

Yes, call your doctor a bitch. That's a wise idea. She can make this more painful, even if that would not be ethical.

"Of course not," she says as she wraps the wounds snuggly. "Even if it takes surgery I'm keeping you here. If for no other reason than you've gotten blood on my lab coat and you're going to use one of your replicator rations to get the soaps I need to clean it."

[playingtough]

Now it almost sounds like she's going to make him live out of spite. Could she do that? Was that ethical? What sort of fucked up hospital was in this place? "Remind me when I did that intentionally, you fucking cunt--"

Which he barely gets out as he hisses at the pain that comes with the pressure from the bandages. He turns his head to the side away from her to cough, sucking in air to do something other than think of the pain.

[butterfly_kiss]

Oh, someone has just volunteered to try out her new sedative she sees. Lovely of him to do that for her. So kind for him to volunteer for science.

"Clearly American," she grumbles under her breath. "Would you rather I let you die? Honestly, it would save supplies and probably headaches."

[wearingthestars]

Shit.

Why do people keep arriving like this??
Billy rushes over once he notices the new arrival, not sure how long he's been here, but he seems to be conscious still, so that's something.

"Hey- uh-wow that's um- I'm here to help, okay? I've got you," he assures, (and where did he get that cloth he's trying to press to his side?) reaching for Billy's hands and guiding him to press firmly. "I need you to hold that for me, okay? Can you tell me your name?" He tries to distract the newcomer and keep him there with him as he presses down on the other side.

[playingtough]

It could've really been so much worse for Hargrove, but at least someone's nearby to help him out. He sees a young face come over to him, and turns his own blond curls framed face to watch him. He tries to scowl at the other, but there's not as much heat in it as usual.

"...Mind flayer got me," he grunts out. It doesn't answer Billy's question. Why is his hand pressing at the cloth? Whatever. It hurts a little, but it's staunching the flow of blood from his injuries at least. "Hargrove," he finally answers.

"Billy Hargrove. This place...looks like shit."

[wearingthestars]

"Mind Flayer?" That sounds...terrifying. Billy looks into the other's eyes to try and test his focus. It's not looking great. "You're doing great, just like that."

His lip quirks a little. "Billy Kaplan," he replies and he nods, glancing around. "Preeetty much. Yeah. It's pretty run down. Sorry you got pulled into all this. You look like you were in the middle of uh...something pretty serious all ready."

"So um...Billy, I'm going to need to take you to the hospital, okay? Can uh...can you close your eyes for me, just for a second?"

[playingtough]

Nope, not looking great at all. Hargrove's gaze is unfocused, though he does follow the other Billy's movements. There's a shift and - oh, bad idea. There's a muffled yell as he bites into his lower lip. It all hurts.

"...trying to stop the Mind Flayer but...I don't think I was going to succeed." And he knows he wouldn't. There wasn't a normal human alive that could've done it. Hargrove knows he's strong, but that was beyond his limits.

There's a scowl. "...if I close my eyes, might not open them back up." He feels tired, but he also feels stubborn as fuck and isn't about to just go to sleep so easily.

[wearingthestars]

"Right, okay, well uh- I've been trying to be better about easing people into this, but we don't really have time for that, so... if you're from a place without magic, it's real, I have it, and I'm going to move us now."

Billy murmurs a spell under his breath, and the pair of them are enveloped in a blue light, which fades away to reveal they've been transported to the hospital.

He uses his magic to float Billy to one of the beds as gently as he can, moving to gather more supplies.

"Try and keep talking. Once I get you patched up I can help with the pain, but I need to deal with it first."

[playingtough]

Magic? What the hell.

If this Kaplan kid mentioned magic at all before Hargrove's experiences in Hawkins under the control of a creature, he would've written the guy off as another freak. Hawkins wasn't a stranger to those - they had Eddie after all.

His eyelids flutter at the bright light that shines and fades. Ah. Hospital ceiling. Even with the gentle treatment, Hargrove still groans out through his pain. "Fucking... hurts." Hurts worse than anything Neil ever did to him, and that was saying something. Hargrove took pride in knowing he could take some hits.

[wearingthestars]

Billy spent much of his early years very much the outcast weird kid that Hargrove might be picturing, though a good deal quieter.

He winces, returning to Billy's side "I know- I'm sorry. You're going to be okay- It'll be over soon-" he assures, getting to work. He murmurs a quick pain relief spell once he can spare some focus, eyes flicking to search his face and see if it was working.

"How's that?"

[playingtough]

The bed is soft under him, so much better than the ground he had been playing on. The white tank he's still wearing is covered in blood and dirt, torn a little here and there (excluding the massive rips from the attack). He just looks a wreck like this.

Then pain is receding, feeling less like a ten and more like six or seven. "Hurts less... does that mean I'm dying?" His body stiffens a little at the thought. That doesn't last long ans he relaxes once more.

[wearingthestars]

"Nope, not dying," Billy swears, "I'm getting a lot of practice with people coming like this lately, you're going to be fine," he tries to offer a smile, knowing this has to be a hell of a lot to process right now between whatever he's just escaped and being brought to some alien world.

"I used a spell to dampen the pain a bit. I'm gonna numb the area a bit, okay? Try and stitch this up? It's going to feel weird once, but it shouldn't hurt."

[playingtough]

It doesn't feel like he's going to be fine. Hargrove even knows that a cigarette and a beer won't help this at all. He's never known pain like this before and it's all he can think about. Even with some magical bullshit spell to make it less. It's still there, angry and festering like his anger is.

"Just...fucking get on with it!" he finally manages to grit out. The guy was taking more time talking him through it than he was actually doing it (or so it felt. And there's a lot being felt right now).

[wearingthestars]

His cheeks flinch involuntarily at the snap, but he nods. It's hard to fault someone in the amount of pain he must be in. And so Billy quiets and begins administering the numbing agent. The needle pricks sting, but before too long it takes effect, and he murmurs another pain relief spell as he gets ready to do the stiches, magicking the torn shirt away and getting to work.

[playingtough]

Hargrove misses the snap, but he probably wouldn't care if he hadn't. Each prick of the needles sting, but it's nothing compared to what they were numbing. He breathes out in little gasps as the pain really lessens from it and the magic pain reliever.

The blond lays there, eyes fixated on the ceiling over him. "I hite that glowing point... but -ah, shit- I don't get why I was fucking brought here."