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That did NOT just happen.

Kaosu stumbled through the streets of Vargash, clutching his left shoulder. Crimson leaked from between his fingers. His head swam from loss of blood. No way. He had gone and gotten himself shot. And for what? That stupid spark? Exhausted, he sunk down against the wall of an alley, confident that he would be able to hide out for a while. If he remained conscious. Frankly, after that embarrassing scene, he was not sure he WANTED to remain conscious.

He had been careless. He had been stupid. He had made the mistake of trying to navigate a massive shopping center in the middle of holiday season. Kao always had trouble with large groups of people, and this crowd proved to be particularly… rabid. A woman hunting sales for her children bumped into him, knocking that infernal spark of his out of its bag. It landed among the presents of a “Meet Santa” display. Naturally, he went over to retrieve his property. An “elf” spotted him and thought he was trying to take one of the paper gifts. The fool insisted that the redhead allow him to search his things. Like he REALLY would bother stealing some empty cardboard boxes! Kao refused flatly.

To make a long story short, an argument started, children cried, and Saint Nicholas himself came over to investigate the situation. Mr. Claus tried to end the ordeal once and for all by making a grab for Kao’s spark. Kao dodged. By some horrible twist of fate, the man instead managed to seize Robert Lynd’s concealed pistol. AND its trigger.

BANG.

Thankfully, the gunshot startled the Christmas crew. They backed away. Swearing colorfully (yes, in front of the kids) as red splattered his clothes, Kao managed to slip off despite his fresh wound before mall security arrived. Now he was alone, injured and frustrated. What an absolutely unbelievable pain-in-the-a**-and-the-arm fiasco.

Sighing heavily, Kao tensed when the sound of footsteps caught his attention. Warily he sat up, reaching for his weapon. He relaxed as a kid drew into view. With his mind clouded it took him a moment to recognize the other, ”If it isn’t Shade. Fancy running into you again.”

ooc| Sorry for the lameness. XD I'm so lazy. OTL I hope that Christmas in some form exists in EBI.
I know its far fetched. Let me have my strange fun. [/shot]

Today really was unbelievable.

First he had somehow been gravely injured by a fat man with a fake beard in a red suit, and now he needed help from some random kid. Kao had fallen to an all-time low, hadn’t he? Thank god he never had much in the way of pride, or it would have been smoldering. ”What happened? You don’t really want to know…” More like I am not going to tell you. No way am I ever telling ANYONE. The red head for the most part wanted to be left alone to sulk in his shame, but Shade was right. Maybe he ought to deal with that bullet in his shoulder. Otherwise he would not make it to Christmas.

”No doctors,” Kao stated flatly. Absolutely not. He had no money and no name. Public health care would be more of a pain than his bleeding wound. ”I… I can treat it myself. But not out here in the cold. Do you know somewhere I could go?”

Kaosu remained silent for a long moment, debating what he wanted to do. Should he follow this kid home? It was cold. He was badly injured. Shade could hardly be considered a threat, so it was probably safe. No matter how he looked at it, accepting the offer seemed like a good idea. "I would appreciate that," he replied evenly. Gingerly taking the boy's hand, he struggled to his feet. His stomach lurched and his mind turned cartwheels, but he managed to maintain his balance. Okay, so maybe he had lost more blood than he had thought. Maybe a bit too much for safety.

"Yes, hurrying would be nice. Lead the way?" He could not bear the thought of passing out outside, and his body readily threatened to collapse. The worst possible end to the worst possible day.

Help him walk? Kaosu's pride balked at the mere thought of it. It was already shameful enough that he was allowing some random teenager to help him out. His dignity had endured enough damage for one day. "I'm fine. I've lived through worse on my own," he pointed with his good hand to his left eye and smiled wryly. "This is nothing. So don't get scared, okay, kid?" The redhead followed the imp mindlessly, paying to attention to his surroundings. He was completely focused on keeping his balance, keeping steady, and keeping his exhaustion hidden. Hoo boy, he had not lost this much blood in a long time. It felt almost nostalgic.

"I'm injured, not drunk. I won't fall, I promise. <3"

Absently, between worrying about remaining conscious and watching where he stepped, Kaosu wondered what was running through Shade’s mind right now. His encounters with the kid had not been exactly normal, had they? First he had scared the boy thoroughly with his teasing. Then they had run into his father. And now, here they were, attempting to deal with a gunshot wound. Not the most typical of relationships.

”By all means, take your time,” the Hunter purred sarcastically, sinking onto the nearest couch. He resisted the urge to let his exhaustion take hold of his system. He needed to deal with his injury. THEN he could pass out. Just hold on a bit longer, eh?

A mew drew him out of his thoughts. Blinking, he finally noticed Gidget standing next to him. A cat? How… absolutely cute! Almost amused, he allowed her to sniff at him. Gently, with his healthy arm he reached over and scratched behind her ear. He completely forgot his tough guy act, entranced by those adorable green eyes.

So engrossed was he with the kitty that he almost forgot about Shade. When the impling spoke, he started despite himself. ”Ahh, thanks. I should be good, but stick around in case I need some help, yeah?” With that he finally turned his attention to his bleeding shoulder.

So. Flipping. Cute.

Something cold in Kaosu melted every time he encountered a cat. Gidget was no exception. Her purring… her rubbing… her curiosity… For a few precious moments, stroking her seemed almost more important than fixing the potentially fatal gaping hole in his arm. Almost. The redhead could feel himself fading. Fast. If he did not deal with the bleeding soon, he would not exactly be able to play with this kitty much longer, would he? Sighing, he dug through the first aid pack for some kind of antiseptic and bandaging. Luckily the bullet seemed to have gone in one end of his shoulder and out the other, so he did not have to worry about digging it out. All he had to worry about was infection and his quickly dropping hemoglobin levels.

Acting as though he had gone through this process a thousand times before, he cleaned out his wound and wrapped it tightly, applying pressure to hopefully stop the leaking. He would have preferred stitches, but he did not exactly have access to a suture kit at the moment. Ehh, it would be fine. Gunpowder cauterized wounds, didn’t it? ”Thanks… Are you sure it’s okay for me to stay here, kid?”