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 Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:02 pm
Quote: Backdated to January 7th, immediately following x
His first thoughts were of how foreign the soil smelled, how the air felt far less stagnant. Life circled about him where Saturn knew only death and entombment. He felt he was nearly upon that very word himself, and Blaine would have finished him most certainly --
Ice struggled to sit upright but found his strength failed him in nearly every way. While he could still blink and draw breath, no other action felt available to him. Blaine drained the brunt of his strength in trying to poison him, and now he may as well expire beneath the trees of the Business District park. What story would there be for a man who died of thirst and exhaustion in the midst of a bustling metropolis? Were it not for clean clothing, he would have matched the descriptor of every bum who preyed upon the city streets. He felt the resemblance every time he tried to touch his itchy face and found rough stubble where smoothness once was.
The sun lulled him, assured him that he could sleep a while longer. Blistering cold urged him out of the root hollow where he remained curled, but his muscles protested the thought. Perhaps he might die by exposure out here, where many a Destiny City resident walked their dog or played with their kids. People grew too afraid now to help one another; what was it to them if a stranger perished beneath a tree? Responsibility for others often stretched thin and dissipated in public places like these. I have to keep moving.
With no one in his immediate vicinity, Isaiah focused on the power of his wonder once again and donned Scholomance's visage. The added strength offered some support; he managed to right himself. Getting to his feet was another matter entirely. At least my wonder had the good sense to push me out before I died on its soil. Wouldn't want that, would we.xxinfinities i hope this works, if not please lmk and i will edit!
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:10 am
Jada was lost. It was not a situation she encountered often, so it was somewhat a novelty. Going out to lunch to escape the waves of boring meetings was one thing, but not being able to find the place you were going was quite another. She probably could have turned on her car GPS, but hell, she was finding so many interesting new places in the city she had once known. When has that sweet shop left? What did that restaurant serve? Was that store custom, or rack? There were people walking by, and people who were still, staring up at the sky, and there were few cars, this time in the afternoon. Almost everyone was back to work, and her cell phone had rung twice regarding the meeting she was missing, but if she answered it, she would actually have to go back to that monolith of boring meetings, and that was not how she wanted to spend her afternoon. Still, responsibility kept calling, and she was about to answer, when she turned the corner, and something caught her eye. Something a little bit awful, actually, that made her gut twist with concern. Jada was never one to expect to see someone she knew covered in gore, but there someone was, Scholomance, pressed somewhat limply against a tree. If she hadn't been more intimately familiar with this particular uniform, or if it had been much busier, she may not have done anything about it. As a figure, she wasn't sure she wanted to risk getting wrapped up in all of this. As Scylla... He was an ally. Not that she usually made out with her allies. Not that she usually made out with antone, actually. He was a... drastic exception. He was to continue to be an exception, it seemed; Jada pulled over the car, brow furrowing in concern. She pushed open the door of the car after checking for traffic, and pushed out, wishing she wasn't dressed for a meeting. Her heels made her wobble as she click-clacked across the pavement, and then the extra inches sank slowly into the dirt of the grass. "Scholomance." she didn't try and beat around the bush that she knew him, voice ripe with concern. "What the <********> are you covered in?" it looked like blood and oil, and Jada sank to her knees next to him, reaching out to brush at his face. "What happened?" her voice was sharp. Her own henshin pen was in her handbag, but... "You look a mess." He looked like he had been tortured, and the thought made her blood run cold. After what the Negaverse had done to him last time... What had happened? Did he have new orders? What had she done?
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 5:03 pm
You slept a little. Or passed out. Whichever. The point is, you got some rest. No food, no water, no shave, but rest. Now get up, you ridiculous body - I'm tired of being constrained by you.
The self-talk advanced him little, however. Scholomance still struggled to pull himself up to standing with the help of the tree, and an anger simmered deep in his chest. It burned in a manner that tightened his jaw, that stole as much energy as it brought and rerouted all efficiencies to waste in derision of the outside world. No one had come and seen, even with a street nearby and paths behind him and the prime time of midmorning promising mothers on walks. No, Scholomance fought this personal battle alone, and not even the Negaverse had yet arrived to scold him for his absence. Perhaps they hadn't yet picked up on his location.
Someone broached him, and gold-green eyes searched for the source. He missed her not once in passing - Jada Chamberlyn, dressed to the nines and somehow aware of his knight name. There wasn't time to question how she knew, nor could he do much about it - if she wanted him corrupted as part of the Negaverse, then he was in no condition to resist. He knew but a handful of powered entities without civilian names to match, and much of those remained on the Negaverse side. His chances bade ill.
Four fingers slipped on cold, rotten wood, and a chunk came away like an ineffective shield.
What if she's Schörl? The thought paralyzed him, froze his tongue in his mouth, chilled his muscles into stasis. He dared not move to answer her initially.
'I want what's best and most useful for all of us.'
She matched Schörl's sharpness, he had to admit. But he swallowed the supposition, nigh insurmountable as it was. He found no budget for fear in his dearth of energy. "Can't say," he answered initially. He hoped his cracked lips belied some of the reason. "Need water." Again came the intimation in asking for some. Jada lived a pampered life, he knew - she may not fully understand the needs of the moment, or pull a Marie Antoinette and bring him the cake of all waters.
For now, he slowly relaxed against the ground. Chilled as it was, his head began to spin from remaining upright. And he felt exhausted, even with all the hours lost while collapsed on the Scholomance lakefront.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 7:05 pm
He stared at her, through her and Jada chewed into her lip, glancing behind her. No one was there, no one was paying any mind, and she shifted to press a hand to his face, checking his temperature. His fingers clung to the wood, and bile rose in her throat- that four fingered hand had no nails, and she swallowed back her fury and her fear. Neither of them would do the knight no good. "Can't say," she agreed. "But Scholomance, I need you to pay attention." The knight was relaxing into the dirt, and she cursed softly. "No, no, no. Scholomance. Look at me. I'll get you water, but I need your help. Look at me." she patted his gaunt cheeks gently. "My car is right over there. I need you to help me get you to my car, okay?" Jada had a doctor on speed dial- Doctor Anberlin's successor, after the older woman had died. As thoroughly vetted as Jada could manage, on all fronts. If Scholomance wasn't in a position to power down, it was fine- her house was far enough out that no one should be able to sense his energy, though driving through the city would be fun, if anyone powered was about. This was ******** dangerous, and the panic was slowly rising. "Please, Schol. I'll take you someplace a lot warmer than that laundromat you took me to." It was the only clue she could give him to who she was, to try and say he could trust her- and she didn't know if he was there enough to put that small piece together.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:53 pm
"Just get the ******** water," he snapped, anger bristling at her commands. He stared up at her fron his place on the ground. Normally his gaze traveled beyond the hem of her skirt and up the rare view, but the strange bloom of anger bade him to look her in the eyes with resentment. He remembered the cold fury he exercised on Gwen for limiting his autonomy. He knew she expressed so sternly out of urgency, but even such reminders failed to quell his irritation. The realization gave him pause.
Scholomance doubled his efforts in securing his tongue, in avoiding attempts to scathe the one person who knew him here and ostensibly wanted to help him. Even if she was Schörl, he imagined his chances better with her than when alone. She patted his stubble-laden cheek and his arm jerked with the want to slap her hand off his face, but careful logic intervened. Residual effects of Blaine's poison, he estimated. It had to be - violent reaction was unbecoming with him.
She loosed one clue, however, and Scholomance seized on it. Seldom had he visited laundromats lately as Isaiah, and he meandered into such a place but once as the Knight of Saturn. Only with Scylla, not with Jada. The resemblance soon clarified itself in the way her hair curled about her shoulders and collarbones in their unruliness, and the vivid violets of her eyes. He knew the shape of her body better than he thought - he knew how her tongue liked to move, how her lips capitulated to teeth, how her weight felt resting on his hips. He knew the world from whence her power came. The tentacled throne came to mind alongside her price points, her thousand-dollar boots, her sprawling mansion. With it came the irritation at himself for not making the connection sooner. Was this the veil of magic that guarded them? Potent it was, for obscuring such obvious facts from the astute.
Scholomance fought down his anger as best he could, but he wondered if rage was the one modicum of power he had left. He managed another attempt at sitting up and met with similar success as before; he wondered if he could push to stand with her assistance. Rationality barked at him that Jada should simply power up, don the extra strength and pull him up herself if she wanted to be helpful. Internally he countered that it wasn't that simple.
Finally he reached for her shoulder as a support in standing. "Fine, Jada." Blunt fingers dug into her shoulder without gentleness. Slowly he retracted one leg beneath himself and willed the other to make the first step in carrying his weight. His muscles complained; he felt so immensely drained by the whole affair. He did not dare glance down, as he knew blood and black painted portions of his uniform. He needed no further reminders of the Halloween night he spent covered in his own gore. "Hurry," he urged through parched lips, "I can't keep this up for long." His power would fade soon, and if the Negaverse saw, then that was that.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:52 pm
Just get the ******** water, he snarled, and Jada puffed out a sigh of frustration at him, her temper rising. Scholomance could be a ******** irritating man when he was disgruntled, but to be fair, he was covered in quite unpleasant fluids. And so she huffed out a breath, but she refrained from biting back at him, though she didn't hide her scowl. "I'll get the ******** water," she agreed cheerfully, "As soon as you're in the car and not at risk of powering down in plain sight." His hand dug into her shoulder after a weak attempt to get to his feet alone, and she inhaled sharply, but didn't complain. In fact, she lifted her clean hands to his, gripping it, and holding out the other to grip his coat firmly, helping to pull him to his feet as best she could. Jada slid in close to him, wrinkling her nose at the stink of blood and... a desperate need for a shower. "No need to keep it up long. Twenty steps, give or take. Then water." Well, she didn't have water in the car, but she had half a latte and a couple bites of shortcake. More importantly, she had a cell phone. She guided him firmly to the car, helping him as she could, steadying him with a body that felt terribly slight when it was not garbed as Scylla. She jerked open the door to the passenger seat of the car when they got there, protected his head as he was lowered onto the seat, leaned in to buckle his seatbelt- and realized that he had called her Jada. He hadn't called her Scylla. She hadn't introduced herself. Meaning that she knew the man behind the knight, and that she couldn't make the connection was infuriating. But she didn't have time for fury. She shoved into her car, buckling herself in and turning on the seat heaters. "Unless you want a hospital, I'm calling someone to meet us at my house. I figure whatever injuries you have you won't have a good excuse for, so someone who won't ask many questions would be better." Why did she always keep her car so clean? She didn't even have a half-empty bottle of water laying around. Turning the car back on, she speed-dialed the doctor, getting two answers: 20 minutes, she would meet them at Jada's house, and yes; a single sip of latte wouldn't kill someone dehydrated but please don't let them drink it all, Jada. Next, she opened up the GPS, looking for the fastest route out of here, and pulled away from the curb with nary a squeal of the tires. Thank god she had gotten lost today.
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 5:47 pm
"What would it matter?" He acquiesced nonetheless. Scholomance decided to remove choice from the equation, else he may resign to die there out of sheer contrariness.
Twenty steps. Fantastic. My hip feels ready to snap in half. Tightening his jaw, he bit back any sharp complaints that came to mind. Many turned out, unfortunately, and his stalwart attempts to stymie the flow of negativity proved incredibly taxing. But bitching her out begat no boons - he would sooner find himself left in the cold, if she was anything like him. Perhaps, more than his willpower, his parched mouth and deep pains prevented him from articulating such resentments. Saying so would give Blaine credit in his attempt, would it not?
The trail back to the car wore long, and at least one step left his ankle twisted to the side in a failure of the muscles. Jada weathered it well with him, however, and he was thankful to finally have another seat for himself. The timing was impeccable, too, for as soon as she claimed the driver's seat for herself, Scholomance lost his transformation to exhaustion. Bone and breeches gave way to leather and mesh, with the lanky man reclined so far into the seat that his head lay back against the headrest. The v-neck distressed tank top he wore beneath his leather jacket looked inappropriate for the weather they had, and when combined with the mesh undershirt and black zippered jeans, suggested indoor wear more than outdoor. If he could manage a way to fuse with the interior, he would have discovered it by now. Slipping off into sleep sounded every bit as enticing as a long sip of water —
Which, as he looked about, proved a ruse. The only items within Jada's impeccably clean and incredibly expensive car were a coffee and a half-eaten shortcake, and while he wanted both, he questioned his energy for either. The chat concerning the coffee gave him the idea that he could have it if he wanted.
Courtesy was an easy notion to give up. He spared Jada not a look as he took up her latte and started on it despite the lipstick stains around the opening. It didn't matter; as he knew now, they'd already done far more than share drinks. As the robust flavor of the coffee met his tongue, he allowed the liquid to marinate in his mouth and soak into the deep fissures where dehydration was at its worst. Afterward, he shotgunned most of it; he figured that expedience would prevent caffeine from working its diuretic magic.
Ice swallowed, breathed a sigh through his nose, and closed his eyes. The car engine sounded nigh imperceptible, and road noise similarly so - no constant drones remained to lull him. "My ancestor tried to kill me." Without energy, the words sounded flat and benign - they carried little more emphasis than directions to the next gas station.infinities seems like today was the day of writing infi a couple thousand words
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:58 am
He may wonder what it mattered, but Jada did not deign to reply, focusing her human strength on moving his powered form (damnable heavy coat, she much preferred it not on him) towards her car, and into the passenger seat. She noticed him de-power as she slid into the car, but focused on the importance of the phone call with the doctor before she looked at the man in the car with her. Oh. OH. All of a sudden the familiarity she had felt regarding Ice made much more sense. She licked red lips nervously, taking in the casual outfit that was nothing like what she had seen him wearing while promoting work, eyes trailing over the smears of blood and oily fluid still on visible skin, though somewhat evaporated with his uniform. He looked more knackered than anything else, however, and she shifted to turn up the heat on his seat as he snagged her latte and began to chug. At least he was aware enough to have been listening, and she kept a careful half-eye on him as he swallowed, watching his throat work, making sure he didn't choke on it. She drove in silence, maintaining casual speed until she reached the main road, where she opened the car up and let it roar down the road with comfortable ease behind the wheel. "Well," Jada said wryly, "That wasn't the thing I expected out of your mouth, to be honest." My ancestor tried to kill me. "They sound like a d**k." she had thought there wasn't supposed to be anything particularly dangerous left on the planets, thought that- "How did a ghost try and kill you?" Lane shift, smooth and easy, whipping past another car and then another; rushing towards the road that led to her gate, and then the quarter-mile driveway beyond. The gate opened before she made it there, and she roared up the drive, pushing a button to lift the garage and sliding into the spot closest to the door. He needed water, a shower, and the doctor would be here shortly if she wasn't already. Jada just needed to get him inside. Would he be too tired to sass? She turned off the car, looked at him. "You can fight your way to the elevator, or you can wait in the car for me to go get my pen and then come carry you." two choices. "And do you need a phone, to call anyone?" like maybe his boss?
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 7:43 am
Ice drew in a breath to respond, thought better of it, and exhaled. What point was there in explaining any of it to Jada? She knew nothing about ancestors, apparently, and could do nothing about the current situation between him and Blaine. Already he caught the troublesome ancestor into his phylactery and imprisoned him there; what more did he have to do beyond dispose of the starseed? Jada needed - or wanted - no involvement in that. So why give the hint of an invitation through response?
When Ice reached to scratch an itch on his face, his nailless fingers met with long stubble and he scoffed. "I'm turning into a man," he whined weakly. While he slouched further, he found no immediate relief for this most heinous condition. Even if someone saw them, Isaiah wondered how he could live with himself knowing that a living, breathing person saw him with stubble all over his face.
And so did Jada. Ice was uncertain whether he could ever see her again after this. She saw him at his worst.
Jada looked at him, and rather than ponder her question, she wondered how she could look upon him with a straight face. He wondered if his roots were showing; he knew he gambled with a long trip to Scholomance during his scheduled time to redye his hair, and knew not how long he had been gone. Plus he most certainly smelled, and he hadn't brushed his teeth in days, and ******** he could smell himself —
"I'll try to walk," he mumbled back, and fought the door handle. Never before had he found himself inside of such a luxury car - mostly he dreamed of ******** in one - and trying to climb out of it proved another embarrassing encounter. He wanted to tell her to stop looking at him, to leave him outside, to leave him a few bottles of water and some toiletries before he could be allowed in a place with other living humans. He felt like a walking biohazard. Plus Blaine tried to kill him, plus Jada was Scylla, plus his body wouldn't ******** move and Isaiah grew overwhelmed with the sheer volume of stimuli. He didn't even want to exist within his own body at the moment. Yet here he was, trying to escape a car, and failing.
Finally the door released when she asked her next question, and he answered into the air away from her to avoid the spread of bad breath. "I need a charger." He knew of no one who had more than their parents' numbers memorized, and really, he wanted to shave before he spoke to anyone on the phone.
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:30 am
Scholomance- no, Ice- did not answer her question, leaving her instead to consider her own stupidity. The protective magic was, clearly, strong; his piercings, haircut, and missing arm were clear identifiers and it had guided her to a commonality instead of the clear denominator. She had known the taste of a kiss from each of them, and had been unable to deduce what was so obvious now, it was painful. There was a c***k in her icy, self-imposed loneliness that he had found, and for two people so similar to have found it in so short a time- ugh. Jada felt the idiot. "I'm sorry to tell you," she informed him dryly, electing to distract herself from self-reproach via terrible humor, "You passed man years ago, and now you are heading towards bear, or at least lumberjack. Still, nothing that can't be salvaged." Not before the doctor got here though. Jada turned violet eyes in him with concern, attention not on imperfections in his hair, but on his shaking hand, the nailless fingers, the unavoidable rank stench and gore. Easily climbing out of the car, she came around to offer him her hand for getting out. "Once we get you inside, the elevator is almost straight ahead. You can use the wall for support, I will go and grab some things from the kitchen." she could dummy waiter them up, so she wouldn't have to come back downstairs. She had never used it before, herself, and this was certainly a reason she hadn't thought of to be her first experience using it. "And I will get you a charger." There was some soup in the cabinets. Jada could chuck some soup options, a bowl, water, and the whole microwave in the dummy waiter. Oh, but she could do that after the doctor got here- it would keep Jada busy and protect his privacy. So all she needed to get right now was water. Then, after the doctor left... Jada would not have to head back downstairs at all until Ice was settled into a room, hopefully sleeping off the effects of whatever this ancestor had done to him. And speaking of a room- she would have to find him some kind of a dressing gown. His clothes needed a wash almost as badly as he did. "Shower, Shave kit, Sustenance, Sleep. Change of clothes and a cell phone charger." Jada led Ice into the house, chewing on her lower lip. "Anything else you want on my list?" heart
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:26 am
Bear. Were his circumstances more normal, Ice would have clutched at his chest for the interpersonal wounding. He would not endure such a condition if his circumstances had not spiraled so far beyond his own control.
Ice took the offered hand to try and wrench himself to his feet. The attempt felt jerky, and dislodged flakes of black and mottled red from naked skin. He watched them drift to the ground beyond his own greasy hair during the fight to stand. Finally, when he reached his feet, he pushed weary legs to deliver himself forward toward the house. He knew he faced a long walk, even if Jada offered him an elevator for his use. Already had he exceeded the strength of his muscles while still at Scholomance, and such a feat left him collapsed just beyond the lake; he imagined that, if he did the same this time, he may end up ruining an expensive piece of furniture. Perhaps he might even collapse against something he sold to her shortly before Christmas. He expected irony to go no other way with it.
As Ice headed toward the doors, he offered her a thumbs up in response to the list. What she named covered the basics, and he needed little more than that.
Finding the elevator proved easy enough. The walls helped for another point of reference and support in his walk. As he made his limping shuffle down the halls, He questioned himself over what happened during his time on Scholomance. Obviously he missed his mark in finding a way to retaliate against the Negaverse. And he remembered what occurred with Blaine, so the question pertained not to that, but how had he shifted so mmuch into vitriol and anger? He lost his temper with Blaine several times before, and placed empty threats upon his starseed, but he never once actively tried to hunt it down and destroy it. Though, he never expected Blaine to seriously try to kill him. Perhaps there was nothing concerning about Scholomance's response after all.
But how could his wonder allow him to come so close to death? Or was he in no danger according to the piece of Code in its bowels?
When he reached the elevator, Isaiah slumped against its side with no intention to sit. He knew not which floor had closer showers, so he picked the next level up and waited for the lurch to trigger some dizziness. Surely, as more pressure applied to his legs, he felt his vision swim with a dozen stars in it. Like looking through a snowglobe, he saw only fractals of his environment dancing around and taunting him. Slowly he closed his eyes.
The elevator dinged, opened its doors, and he plodded only so far as to exit the room before he picked another wall to lean against. Jada would arrive soon enough, he figured. Wandering her house like this sounded like a terrible idea.
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:15 am
His grip on her hand wasn't as strong as she could have wished for, and the flakes which fell from him like red and black snow were not particularly a consolation either. Still, he pushed forward by his own volition, giving her a thumbs up and freeing her to go on her own way. Jada took off like a shot for the kitchen, skidding across marble flooring and kicking off her pumps as she went past the stairs- she could pick them up on the way up, but tripping and breaking her neck was an awful plan. Shower, Shave kit, Sustenance, Sleep. Change of clothes and a cell phone charger. Grabbing five cans of soup and her microwave, a bowl, some spoons, a cup, and some saltines, shebchucked then into the dumbwaiter and sending it up. Then up the stairs to the second floor, grabbing her shoes on the way. Instead of heading for the dumbwaiter, she went for Ice first, and was gratified to see him leaning against a wall. "Alright," she said with clearly falsified pep, "You are coming to my room with me, and I am going to dump you on the chaise until the doctor gets here. Then you can shower." her lovely, pristine white chaise. Oh well. It was for a cause, and it was better than dumping him in her bed before a shower. She slid under his arm, slipping back on her shoes and supporting him down the hall, settling him carefully on the chaise before unlocking her patio door, to let the doctor in when she arrived. Then down the hall, grabbing the items from the dumbwaiter, tearing through Lucas' left items for a pair of drawstring pants and a tank, grabbing a razor, shave cream, a toothbrush. She had a charger. What else did he need? Nothing? The doctor??? She burst back into her room, dumping items on the end of her bed, and validating Isaiah was alive. He was. It was extremely gratifying. He remained alive, actually, as she presented him a bottle of water and puttered around setting up the microwave in her suite. And when the doctor arrived five minutes later, Ice was still alive. Victories for Jada all around, honestly. It was between him and the doctor, now. Strickenized Doc is an NPC. You can glaze over as you want, have Jada leave/whatev, and then Jada is gonna dump him in the shower for a while. She would give him about 15 minutes before she came to make sure he didn't drown.
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 1:10 pm
Ice groaned with complaint, mostly because Jada postponed his shower and forced him to see another soul while in this wretched condition. He managed the slow, plodding process with Jada's assistance toward the aforementioned chaise. He hardly cared much what he would lay on, he would accept the floor, though he almost regretted her choice upon sight of the lounge. It looked white and perfect and all shades of untouchable that Jada forbade him to bring home, and yet here she instructed him to sit on it and wait.
After Jada parted from him, Isaiah leaned back against the wall with a soft sigh. His eyes closed soon afterward, and fleeting glimpses of the past several days replayed themselves in brittle flashes. He saw Blaine's face in its narrow scope of expressions, small flecks of the battered building in his many transitions, and catches of speech that he hardly believed came out of his mouth. He felt it far too easy to slip into tepid memories of Scholomance now, and fought to bring himself out of it to return to reality. So much of him reeled easily into that twilit pool of semi-consciousness where his past week remained. Was it some kind of an after-effect? Was he really about to die?
An unfamiliar voice roused him, and he focused on her speech midway. "… Name is Dr. Anberlin. Jada says you look a little worse for wear; will you let me examine you?" She sounded old, kind, practiced in her bedside manner. The familiarity of it alone caused him to bristle. He still remembered those days clearly - an accident happened, stitches required, and he smiled through the thick of it in hopes of scoring another prescription. Their tone never belied their cleverness.
"Go ahead," he managed, eyes still closed.
"Can you give me your name? Open your eyes, please." The doctor wasted little time in withdrawing her tools of the trade from her medical bag. She nearly had a doctor's office in there for all the tools for vitals and typical necessities carried alongside. A quick wave of a flashlight concluded the first test. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Isaiah remained vague for all the questions she shot to him, whether to keep his mind busy or to decide whether she needed to call the cops. "Isaiah Zähne. And I don't really remember." Pressure built in his arm from the sphygmomanometer. Next came the stethoscope, cold and unfeeling, on his back and chest. Tongue depression, nostril scoping, ear checks. Much of it felt routine. She inquired about the black crust still clinging to his face, but he declined answering. Much of it exceeded his ability to bullshit, though perhaps not if he were still the same person he was years ago.
When her examination concluded, she frowned. Her wispy white curls bounced with disapproval. "You have a mild concussion. You're dehydrated, malnourished and exhausted. There's a few bumps and bruises on you, but nothing broken. If someone did this to you, Mr. Zähne, you need to report it to the police. Heaven knows we have enough terrorists to last us a thousand years…" She scribbled onto a pad, and to his mixed delight, he saw the mention of a high dose ibuprofen. Nothing narcotic.
Couldn't have said it better. Swallowing, he nodded curtly. His eyes closed.
"He needs a good eye on him, Miss Jada," the doctor commented to the mistress of the house in passing. "I'll see myself out. Please, do call me if his condition worsens and I'll be right over." Professional-sounding heels clicked away on the hardwood floor as she retreated.
Isaiah breathed a sigh. He took the water in a few great gumps and willed himself to rise again. The latter failed to happen. "Jada," he mewled pitifully. "Carry me. My legs are broken."
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 6:03 pm
Ice- Scholomance- whined with complaint as she made him rely on some of his own motor functions, and Jada chose to take it as his reassurance that he was still alive. It was, she decided, a gesture she would disregard as a sign of her own appreciation. He lay against the stark white of her formerly clean chaise, almost blending into the fabric, if it weren't for the gross caked on him. Luckily, Joyce let herself in from the open balcony door, catching sight of the near-corpse and giving Jada a wide-eyed look. Jada's eloquent shrug did not much seem to please the woman anymore than it had ever pleased her predecessor, and Jada excused herself to her cavernous bathroom while the exam commenced. Doctor-Patient confidentiality, or what-not. She made herself busy tugging out a towel for her guest, and setting it near the built-in seat where he would be able to rest in lieu of standing for a shower. He might drown in her tub, so he'd have to make do with a little less comfort. She puttered around, moving shampoo and bodywash within reach, setting the toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter, the razor and shavecream by the double sink. And when she could putter no more, she made her way back to the bedroom, in time for the wrap-up. Concussed, dehydrated, malnourished, exhausted. Bumps, and bruises, no breaks. "I'll keep an eye on him, Joyce," she assured the older woman. "Thank you so much for coming by on such short notice." she closed the door behind the doctor, locking the balcony door. "I just heard the doctor say your legs aren't, in fact, broken." Jada strolled back across the floor to him, lips quirking as she peered down at him. "The last man who whined at me so pitifully was 6, and stuck his butt in the air and asked for 5 more minutes to nap." On the flip side, he hadn't been half-dead, and Jada leaned down, testing his weight. "Don't be dead weight," she told him, "Or you'll probably crush me. I'm not henshining up to take you to the shower." Sliding her arms under him, she lifted him, carrying him into the massive bathroom and into the shower; a slow progression, but they got there. Settling him down on the built-in shower seat, she knelt in front of him, reaching up to brush crud off his face. "Shampoo, body wash, washcloth. Do you need help with anything?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 6:29 pm
"I'm only a few years off from six," isaiah replied as convincingly as he could. "Should I ask for five more minutes to lay here?" He drew from more of the provided water, which seemingly evaporated within his mouth for how direly he needed it. Soon he finished one of the bottles, and knew he needed many more before he established an appropriate hydration level.
Jada did not force him to haul himself into the shower, however, and acquiesced quite nicely to his demands. Ice objected not once to his proximity to her chest when she lived him, and obeyed in wrapping his arm about her neck. He tried as best he could to transfer the brunt of his weight to her shoulders, where she could better leverage him. The walk itself proved short, however, and such efforts were seldom needed for a distance of twenty feet or so. He knew not whether to attribute this to her strength or his slightness. Perhaps both?
The shower itself offered significant space, upper-crust decorum as per her posh position, and every amenity he needed to rid himself of the black grime and blood. Ridding himself of his shirt was easy enough, but pants still remained an obstacle for the one-armed man. He considered prefacing the request with a disclaimer, determined the amount of hydration and energy he had for the action, then decided against it. "Help me get my pants off?" Leather clung tightly to his thighs, and with the recent endeavors at the wonder, Isaiah was almost certain the material stuck to his skin. Removing them proved a long process on his own, and he lacked the patience for it now.
In the interim, he stripped himself of his shirt, turning it inside-out in the process, and used his teeth to rid himself of the last sleeve. The article was then tossed over Jada's head and into the bathroom proper, where it would wait to either find the trash or a washing machine. Doing so revealed light marks where bruising threatened to form, though the patterns indicated major arteries more than actual blows to the body.
"Toothbrush too?" Isaiah imagined that brushing one's teeth in the shower must have seemed like an oddity to the debutante. Was it plebian of him to do so? Oh, what does it matter. I need to purge the filth.
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