revivalproject | Lady Healer in the Emergency

Entry tags:

Lady Healer in the Emergency

WHO: Tae Takemi, Anyone
WHERE: Hospital, Whale Comb Sent Her
WHAT: Siege on the Hospital, Emergency care
WHEN: October 11th, Rest of the event.
WARNINGS: mouth related body horror creatures, blood

I. A Hospital Under Siege CW: potential for mouth related body horror creatures, blood

Storms here were continuing to be, at best, annoying. There's no heart monitors, there's no lights, and there sure as hell are little fake images of her guinea pig or other people she knew from home. There had been enough forewarning to know not to trust people when the power went out, especially if they wouldn't come close enough to be touched.

So she focused on something else entirely, which was the whole weird noises in the distance. A threat, probably. And threats meant people could get hurt. Tae absolutely starts packing. The hospital was not centralized enough for this sort of bad effect.

Really, it was a mistake to be here. The screaming noises in the distance. And then the noise of something scratching against a distant door.

"That can't be good."

II. Here To Heal You CW: Potential for blood and injuries

Getting to the Center had been a whole process. Now here she was, moving around quickly as she went through the steps that would make this place better. Using some replicated chafing dish fuels she's got a kettle on to keep water warm for tea, another one to keep a pot of miso soup warm for people who need fluids, and she's already setting up blankets and other supplies to stretch people out.

And when she hears the door open she straightens and looks to it.

"Come in, please."

III. Wildcard
[OOC: Once comms are back up, Tae's happy to travel to help with emergency care. So if you want someone to deal with injuries and you can't get to the Whale Comb Sent Her, wildcard it!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

His foot still bounces. The thing is still out there, still in the gate waiting for him. Waiting to drag him back in with the vines to kill him. The one that broke free and rebelled and got away.

The cloth gets held against the claw marks and he hisses as he puts pressure against it. No, Billy doesn’t know if it’s helping or not.

The candy gets unwrapped and he quickly puts it in his mouth. His foot slows in the bouncing.

And even quicker he takes it back out with a disgusted look. "Oh that’s nasty. Lime?!" There’s a motion like he’s gonna throw it, but then he just clenches the stick in hand.

And his foot bounces.

Okay, that's clearly a problem. Tae sighs and reaches into her pocket, pulling out a few more.

"Does grape work as a replacement?"

Billy didn't walk in here expecting to be difficult. But he's anxious and irritated and in pain and doing everything he can to keep himself in check. No point in pissing off the people that work to save others from the creatures from the gates.

God, his foot won't stop bouncing.

He looks over the selection and nods silently before taking the grape one, unwrapping it, sticking it in his mouth, and using the wrapper to cover the nasty lime one. It gets dropped to the ground as he works it over in his mouth before just chewing on the stick. But it does as intended and his foot slows to a stop.

"One of those stupid dog things got me," he explains with another hiss as he tries to wipe the shoulder area clean. Definitely a deep scratch from three claws, on the topside of it. There's a rumble from his foot but it doesn't start the bounce again. Chew, chew, chew. "I killed it with my axe," he points to it like it's not obvious, "and figured I'd better come here before I try to fight anymore."

The rest of the lollipops go into his pocket. But she glowers at the dropped lollipop. Idiot child. But she steels herself and moves to start cleaning the arm wound to see how deep it is. Of course she has to move his hand aside to do it, but this is really her job.

"Who gave you an axe?"

At least it's wrapped. Billy might get it after she's done. He does shift like he's about to get away as she gets the rest of the lollipops into his pocket - his jeans, of course. It's the only set of pockets he's got. "Watch it! Ah, shit."

Both moving like that and her starting to clean it gets a bigger flinch because it's painful. The stick grinds under his teeth until it bends, but Billy doesn't let up until he answers her question. "Gladio. Been training me on it. Figured... figured I could use it out of fights. Chopping wood for winter n' shit. Winter's probably no joke here and I'm not used to cold."

Be good. Be good, be good, be good. Don't flinch, don't move, don't bounce your leg. Don't think about the gates or monsters or anything.

"Of course he did," she says with a sigh. She continues focusing on the cleaning because she has to get this done.

"I remember the winter being quite unpleasant until I set things up in my space. It won't be much better this year I expect. Almost have this clean. These are deep enough for stitches unfortunately."

"There a problem with that, bi—" But Billy cuts himself off before he can finish that insult. Both because she’s going to have a needle to his skin soon, and also because he does want to be better. You can’t just say shit to people and expect their best from them. And a lot of people had helped him out here before Billy got his ass in gear.

More chewing on the candy stick before actually working at the sugary part.

"Been living at the beach. Gotta get it ready for winter, or at least enough wood to keep warm. And of course that cunt fucking monster would make me get stitches. Fucking bitch." Now Billy gets to swear since it’s about a monster. Here’s hoping the good behavior stays. "From southern California so I’m not used to the fucking cold, especially not God damn snow."

Oh good choice not to call her that. He still earns a dark look. She reaches for a box at her side, opening it up and pulling out a curved needle.

"Why would you do that when you can be in the city where we have electrical heating?"

IT seems unreasonable by any measure.

"God not you, too," Billy groans, leaning his weight back on the chair. He looks annoyed. First Harrington, now Tae. The blond doesn't need this bullshit. Doesn't want it. "I'm fine. I'm at the ocean where I want to fucking be. No tip-toeing around people in the hotel, not staying where people watch me like I'm about to try and kill them. I'm fine."

The hand not attached to the injured shoulder reaches up to pull his hair out of the way to give her no obstacles.

"Also fires are kinda nice. It's not electricity, but it's still cozy."

"I'm likely the one that has to nurse you when you get pneumonia, so yes, I feel like I should weigh in," she answers as she threads the needle. "Why would they think that you'd try and kill them?"

In her books he's all bark and absolutely no bite.

"Fires don't heat as efficiently and are their own risk."

"I'll be fine! Jesus, you sound like Harrington before the volcano!" Before tempers had boiled over and Billy had cracked the rift open instead of mending it like he had intended.

Blue eyes watch the thread work through the eye on the needle, then he looks away from her. The lollipop stick is getting torn by his teeth as he chews at it again. At least his leg isn't bouncing. "Because I did try. Or, it wasn't me. I was possessed, but no one noticed or any shit like that. Like they figured I wasn't above killing people so no one noticed that anything was wrong until its too late."

His good hand runs over his chest for a moment, feeling the scars underneath. "I'm not going back to living in the city. Fuck that and fuck this place."

Harrington? Who was that? He, unlike the others, had never been one of her patience. Time to start the stitches.

"Possession, huh? Well, that's hardly your fault then. In fact, it's their fault they didn't notice."

She has firm opinions on that, especially when she lacks context. And she doesn't believe any young person could do such a thing without far more evidence than she sees from him. Or far far less. He doesn't even seem to be part of a gang.

"Well, at least you're getting in your steps regularly I suppose."

Billy tense at the first sting of the needle and by now, the candy stick is just torn into wet mush. So another lollipop gets unwrapped to have the same fate started on it.

"Went out to the abandoned Steelworks building," he keeps going, even though he knows he's talking about shit she doesn't know anything about. "Was... was meeting someone out there. Vines snagged my ankles. There were rats. So many fucking rats. Dragged me into the building. No one knew I was out there. And then I just went to sleep. I'd wake up here and there, like in the cold shower at the pool, or where the kids trapped me in the sauna room. They figured it out. But it was too fucking late."

Talking about it helps keep his ire and mind off of her working at the stitches. Even if he is tense under her hands.

What the fuck? That's a mess.

"That's how you ended up how I first met you? Torn up? The rats?"

The poor kid.

"Kinda? Maybe?" He sounds so unsure. This isn't the same biting and seething teenager that she had been introduced to. "I made something. It was big. Huge. It's the thing inside those gates. Too many legs, no eyes."

He lets out a shaky breath. Then another. And another. Billy's tensing up again, feeling like he wants to run and scream until all he can do is hide again. Why did he start talking about this again?

Shit.

Fuck.

Um, what? How do you MAKE something like these monsters?

"Relax your arms a little. I'm trying to minimize scarring. You've had enough of those, clearly."

And she wishes, in this one instance, she had cigarettes to give him. Or weed.

Relax. He's gotta relax again. Fuck. God damn it. He's safe in here. Billy has an axe and knows how to use it against the monsters. He's okay. He's safe. Billy breathes in and out, trying to time them. In for three seconds, out for three.

In and out for five.

Then six.

Billy finally starts relaxing a little, bit by bit.

"How you found me when I arrived..." His voice sounds like he's trying to choke out the words as panic threatens him. "I don't survive it when I get back."

"I'm sorry," she says softly as she continues her work. The poor kid was living on a timer of no real length, and it's probably maddening. How do you move on?

Billy's starting to lose against the panic. His foot is starting to slow bounce again with his breathing picking up. The whale comb center in his perspective is dimming into that mall, flashes of light and the creature before him. Hands flex and the stick in his mouth snaps in half entirely before he has to spit it out. Choking is not the way he wants to go.

"Fuck, no—" The Californian starts shifting, trying to get up so he can run because it's out there. The free hand grabs the handle of his axe because he has to go out there, get back to the diner so he can get safe—

Alright then. With her hands full of needle and surgical clamp for the stitches process, she can't touch him to center him. The next best thing she can do is talk.

"Hey, kid. You and I? We need to have a serious conversation about your smoking habit," she says, putting annoyance into her voice. Not because she's particularly annoyed or wanting to have this conversation now. No, this kid just seems to be one who will immediately latch on to a criticizing female voice without hesitation.

"Have you even considered what you're doing to your teeth? There's a yellowing effect. How are you going to get the girls if your teeth are yellowed?"

The panic starts gnawing at him like one of those damn rats, vines tugging at his thoughts like that night where everything changed.

Then Tae's voice breaks through it, criticizing and sharp. It cuts through like a knife, slicing the metaphorical rats and vines. He's still bouncing his foot and breathing hard, but congratulations, Tae. You have his attention.

"What? Why?!" He frowns and focuses on this, the conversation. "I get girls all the time and my teeth are not fucking yellow. You wanna bring that shit up now? Right fucking now?!" That foot starts to slow in its bouncing, too.

There you are she thinks to herself when he frowns.

"Nicotine, whether inhaled or chewed, leads to a yellowing of the teeth. You can't avoid it," she says as she resumes the stitches. "I'm not a dentist but I am your physician so I do have to worry. And if the only way to get you to care about your lungs is to argue for white teeth and the importance of lungs in stamina in the bedroom, I'll use it."

Stick with her here, kid. She moves to speed up the stitches. It won't be as pretty or as perfect, but she needs him patched up before she loses him again.

"Who the fuck chews nicotine? People should just smoke it, don't be freaks and chew it," though that last part is muttered under his breath. "What else am I supposed to fucking do? I get fucking irritated unless I have one, or I chew at my fingers." Or if he gets anxious and wants a smoke, he'll scratch at his skin like it's burning to ash.

Her method is working.

"My teeth are fucking fine and they're white! Don't be a bitch and try to take this one thing from me!" There might've been a c-word muttered just as he presses his lips closed, too. Billy had backed off of how many he smoked because of the rations from the replicator. He used one to make a new tape, though that was all the way in the beach cabin right now. Useless.

"OW! What the hell where you're stabbing! I'm not even being a fucking dick, knock it off!"

"Chewing tobacco is less common but it's not uncommon," she rolls her eyes. But there he is. He's really focusing on her now.

"I'm giving you stitches," she says, her voice softer now. "You were panicking, and if you'd run like you looked like you were going to, we could have done more harm to you. So I am sorry. It was the quickest way to get you paying attention to me."

"I don't use chewing tobacco, stupid." He'd feel bad about this later because Billy came in intending to be civil at least. Doesn't know why Tae went out of her way to poke his buttons until she explains it.

That foot has stopped bouncing and Billy - with some difficulty - gets another lollipop unwrapped to pop in his mouth. Cherry flavored. The best. He relaxes back in the chair and tries to keep still.

"I was trying to say 'watch where you're stabbing'. I think. I was... I was gonna run. I did earlier. The moment I saw that thing in the gate. I didn't come here intending to be mean this time." Billy turns his head to look at her. He's still there, less panicked now as she works at the injury. "Trying to be better."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

that was supposedt o be her pocket but whatever, enjoy them bitch

I suppose he’s a sucker now

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject