milliways_bar | (no subject)

"I'll be fine," she mutters, because it doesn't hurt yet, save in a vague sort of way. Shock and adrenaline can do wonders, really.

The hole in her torso sort of puts the lie to the protest, of course.

"Just put me down."

He rolls his eyes.

"Maybe you will, maybe not. Nonethless, you need someone to look at that and I know enough to know if I let you go, you will hare off... whereever it is you go when you want to be alone. You are bleeding and you need help."

His words are half accusatory and half pleading.

"Will not."

...Provided she can't walk.

"Riiight."

he glances around and sees a large table, and moves towards it.

"Healer! Is ther a healer or a Doctor around?"

he sighs.

"Of all the times for everyone to be out..."

"That's gonna get all bloody," she comments. Wisely. Because somehow, this matters.

"No one's ever there when you need them."

...The truth is in the rapid blood loss?

He swears.

"I dont care if it gets messy. And I am here and you are going to be alright. Even if I have to hold you together with my bare hands."

His words are fierce but his hands are gentle as he sets her on her back, a pillow suimmonned with a wave flying to his hand and placed under her head.

he glances around and growls the bends to look closer at her wound.

There is a masked man, shouldering Magius out of the way.

"I'm here."

One hand is placed on her forhead, feeling her tempature, and checking to make sure her self is still strongly tied to her body. As long as her soul stays near, he can do wonders. If it leaves, she's dead.

His other hand touches the wound, palm flat aginst it, forcing the blood not to leave. A simple shilding spell to keep her whole for the instant, so he can take a better look at her injuries.

She makes a small sound of protest. That does hurt.

She's still there, her self as strong as ever. She's too damned stubborn to die without a fight. The only troubling wound is high on her abdomen, and there isn't as much blood as one might expect, some of it pooling internally. It is almost certain that the bullet had nicked one of the main blood vessels.
There is no exit wound.

Her temperature has not yet dropped appreciably from human average, though her normal core temperature is several degrees higher, lending something of a buffer.

"I'm fine," she mutters. Stubborn.

"Can you help her?"

Magius has stepped back, but he wacthes what the other does. She is his friend and he feels... he wasnt fast enough. And now she is hurt and...

He sighs.

"Max... you wwere shot. You need help. Relax. Please..."

"Shh."

He's not wasting time on words at the moment. He needs to do this precisely. First, suction the wound, get that blood out from her pooling in her internals. It does no good there. Nor does the hunk of metal, if he can retrieve it.

He bites his lip then, and carefully, ever so carefully, allows himself to enter her. No, nothings quite that vulgar. He breathes out his spirit, allows it to seep into her wound, to take her pain and make it his own, to join again the flesh that was once torn. 'See' his spirit speaks to her body 'see, this is as you should be, be that way, it is right'

She hisses sharply as the bullet and displaced blood are removed, the sensation straddling the line between strange and truly painful. She grits her teeth, and reminds herself that whichever side of the line it lands on, she's felt worse.

Her body is a little slow to respond, somewhat alien in its composition, for all that she appears perfectly human. There might be, perhaps, slightly more resistance than there should be, though after the sluggish start, the tissues can be coaxed to reknit themselves.

He watches and worries and waits.

He botes his tongue. He doesnt like feelign helpless.

But he waits.

It's going to hurt, like a fire burning through the veins. The body doesn't like healing this way. And she's going to be rather hungry, to replace what's being used so quickly here.

Hellspawn stays there until he can feel the hole is sealed tight, that her inner wounds are tended to then. Only then does he remove his hands, swaying on his feet.

"Better?"

Her spine arches, fists clenching tightly enough that her nails would have punched holes in her palms were it not for the black leather gloves she almost always wears. She's pale enough already that there isn't an appreciable change in that respect.

She doesn't scream. It takes more effort than she'd care to admit, but she doesn't scream.

Still, it takes a moment or two after the pain stops before she replies, voice slightly strained. "Yeah. Uh...thanks."

Magius sags a bit where he stands.

"Thank you."

He turns to Max, a glas of water in his hands suddenly.

"Would you like some water to drink?"

Silly perhaps, but... when feeling useless, offer what you can.

Hellspawn forces a smile past drained lips.

"Welcome."

Pale, as if having been fed from by a hungry leech, he turns away. One hand drifts to his utility belt, pulling forth the expandable rapier. A flick, and it is open, and he use it like a cane to limp over to one of the big couches and collapse.

She takes the water with a brief, weary smile. Her gaze follows Hellspawn for a moment, worried. She makes a mental note to check on him later.

Her gaze drifts back to Magius, and she laughs shortly.

"Some saviour I turn out to be. Can't even save myself."

"Everyone needs an ally sometimes... And everyone can get caught out. I have been beaten prettyn soundely a few times myself... trust me. I have been there."

he sounds rueful.

"You just find a way to go on. Accept that you arent always going to be able to win alone, and you might find a strength even more powerful than you knew."

then he sighs and shakes his head, rubbing his face.

"And you dont need a sermon, sorry. How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, but when there's no other option, you have to win alone."

She grimaces slightly. "A little like I was just shitkicked by a god. Thanks for the rescue..."

"You're welcome. Just wish I could have been there to help faster. I forgot a basic spell that could have gotten me there faster."

He drops to a chair beside the table.

"I feel like a novice... you could have died..."

"I could have. And one day, I will." She smiles faintly. "Wouldn't be your fault, if I had. I could have forced a confrontation here, if I'd really wanted to."

he sighs.

"I cant and wont try to stop you from doing what yo think is right... but, consider that you have friends who care? And that if you ever need help, you have but to call."

"Friends that man and his ilk would not hesitate to use against me given the chance," she replies. "He's done it before. My allies, his allies, random bystanders...he considers them all expendable. Worthless."

"I am not easily used against my will."

He smiles barely.

"But as I said. it is not an ultimatum, just an offer."

he draws a long breath.

"Are you well enough to walk to your room for resting? Or... I could take you there."

"I can walk." She's too proud not to. It's both a strength and a fault.

"At the moment, we can't fight him. Not without there being far too many unnecessary casualties."

He nods.

"Tactical advantage on his side. Still, such things dont last. Someday it will swing, and if you move fast enough... you will do it."

"He'd have the advantage no matter where it swings," she replies blandly, sliding slowly off the table. She keeps one hand on it until she's certain her legs will hold her weight.

"How so?"

He manages to steand ready without hovering visibly. Good reflexes and all.

"Want a drink before crashing?"

No need for her to have to walk all the way to the stairs at once.

"Orange juice," she says after a moment. "And something sweet to eat. I need to replenish the blood I've lost."

He nods an accompanies her to the bar, not moving faster, bit not trailing either. he wont baby her, but it is obvious he is there ot help. She can growl or not as is her wont.

At the Bar, he orders what she asked for as a drink and eyes her then the bar.

"You ever had hot beef stew? It has a lot of good protein and nutrients... or so Hank tells me every time I overdo it."

"I need carbohydrates first," she replies. "I suppose, if it had a lot of potato..."

The incidents in which she's lost a great deal of blood add up to a truly terrifying number.

She doesn't growl. She will if he's still doing the same in a day or two, but not now. She's grateful for the help.

He spreads his hands helplessly.

"I do not know what those are."

He smiles.

"I am sure Bar can provide you with something suitable. She seems to be good at that."

he orders a Palanthian red wine for himself.

She murmers an order to the bar. She gets heavy soup and bread.

By her look of resigned irritation, this isn't what she'd ordered.

She does point to a chunk of white vegetable(ish thing) in the soup and comment, "This is potato."

"Ahh. Okay. "

He sips his wine and grins faintly.

"OTher than tonight's rather sudden occurrance, how have things been? I had been coming to say hello, when things went off.."

"Oh, that's been about par for the course, only it's been other people getting shot." She takes a sip of her juice. "My world's at war."

He winces.

"Seems as if a lot of worlds are catching the habit. Mine always was at war. Hank's has gone to heck, yours... Billy Batson's."

He shakes his head.

"It's human nature. We exist to murder one another."

On some level, she believes this is true. On another, she is trying her damndest to change it.

He raises an eyebrow.

"I think, rather, that it is easier to go downhill than up. Mankind's nature is neither, but simpoly to be. But there is the hill called life. And Going downhill is far easier..."

"Humans are predators. At the very core of their being, they are territorial hunters. No matter how much civilization they hide behind, that core is still there."

"Maybe. There are many theories, and I highly doubt we will agree on one. So it is best to agree to let it be."

He grins and nods to her as he sips his wine.

"Probably."

And with that, she falls silent, and eats her meal.

Afterwards, he nods to her and simply rises, silently there to walk her to the stairs. He helps as he can, just a support of spirit, maybe. A smile and a nod, a friend at her side.

She doesn't stumble, though some of her usual casual grace is missing. And likely will be for several days as she recuperates.