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“It’s not that hard,” Jett said; it wasn’t hard to tell that Marley was uncomfortable, but so was he. You could never really be ready—you expected the pain, and it always hurt far more than you imagined it was going to. “You won’t screw up,” he added, though it was more for his own comfort than hers. “…I’ve done this before. But it was with a doctor, and I don’t expect you have that much medical training. Look, this is all you have to do.”

He sucked in a breath and relaxed his arm as best he could before he closed his eyes and bent it slowly. When it was almost at ninety degree angle, he folded it across his chest. “Grip my arm. I think. Just—just hold my arm still, here,” he said, pointing to his upper arm right above his elbow. “Whatever you do, don’t let go, all right? Just hold it still for me. I just have to wiggle it back into place. Keep your other hand where it is. I’ve never done this before, I’m just going by memory. Tell me if it starts looking worse, all right? I can’t see it. Are you ready?” he asked; he only hoped he remembered how to do this and wasn’t going to ******** his shoulder up even more. Imagining there were others that needed her help, he wasn’t going to waste her time any more than he had to—he just really didn’t want to ******** this up.

Marley knew that she had to focus on the task at hand, getting his shoulder back in place. She nodded to Jett, her hand gripping his arm above the elbow to hold it still. "Ready when you are." Her expression was one of determination and she didn't let her attention waver. She tuned out what was going on around them, the slight ringing in her ears helped, so she could do this right. It wouldn't do good to get him even more injured. Then she forced a smile and nodded to Jett.

Jett nodded and sucked in a breath before he started to slowly rotate his arm. It took two rotations before there was another pop and Jett took on a greenish tint. It hurt—like hell, and more than a few choice expletives fell from his lips, but there was an undeniable sense of relief. His arm went limp and he let out a little groan—of pain and pleasure. He was able to open his a moment later and he looked up at her. “…That feels about right,” he said, and though it was sore, it felt like it was where it should be. “…So. Thanks. Marley, was it? …I won’t forget that. I’m Jett,” he said; he hadn’t really intended to introduce himself but now that his arm was feeling so much better, he was feeling a little more social—but he was completely content to just lay here for a while. He was vaguely aware of Darwin but was fully intent to lay here. He wasn’t even sure if he should go speak to the boy or just ignore him; right now it looked like Darwin was in pain, and for as much as Jett liked to humiliate or taunt someone, a part of him still felt like he owed the male for helping him out of the hole so he kept his lips sealed as he tried to even out his breathing and relax the knots in his stomach.

Torn between following Natalia and fleeing for her life, Aya had still been halfway down the whale when it forcefully expelled everyone. She was one of the last to land. Somehow she managed to roll with it, leaving herself winded and gasping for breath but without anything broken. It was a minor victory, but one she was willing to savour... as soon as she got her breath back.

She could hear others talking around her as she lay on her back, just trying to breathe. Above her the twinkling stars seemed to mock them all, but at least there was no space whale looming over them any more. Aya felt absolutely no urge to cry, which added to her relief.

Eventually Aya felt well enough to roll onto her side, then gather her feet beneath her. Raising an arm for inspection, she sighed happily to see her normal pale skin - no longer a Smurf. It was only now that she realised she wasn't completely uninjured - a fairly steady flow of blood was running down one arm. "Oh crap."

Poking at it just left her wincing. A few curses may have flown into the air - hopefully the kids had heard it before, since Aya didn't want to be responsible for teaching them bad habits or anything.

She ripped at the bottom of the singlet top she slept in. It was only a cheap old thing, so it tore without too much effort. A few strips later, she had makeshift bandages and a shirt now exposing her midriff. Of course, this was where the fail came in - how to tie a bandage around her bicep one-handed?

"Uh, don't suppose anyone's any good at tying bandages? Even just two working hands will do," she asked, looking around at the others. Some of them seemed to be in worse shape than Aya was. But it looked like some had fared better. Maybe one of those people would be willing to help a young woman out. Much as she hated to, she'd owe them one.

Marley's breath hitched and she held it for a bit as she helped Jett put his shoulder back in place. He turned such a sickly color that she was sure he'd pass out from pain or something. Her hands hovered for a bit around his shoulder to make sure he really was fine after popping it back in place. A sigh of relief escaped her when he began to speak. She offered him a soft smile, "Your welcome Jett. I'm gonna go help the other girl now that you're fine." He seemed content to just lie where he was, so she quickly made her way to Layton.

Marley knelt next to the young teenage girl. "Where are you hurt?" She offered Layton a warm smile, wanting to reassure her. She was clearly shaken by all the events. Marley didn't fault her for that because deep down inside, she was also shaken and the worrisome thoughts kept piling up. She glanced over to the older woman that had also asked for help. "I can help you after I've checked over her." Her being the teen before her. Marley was glad though to see that Aya was older than her, she didn't want to be the oldest in the group. She once again frowned at the Sailor with them, he was clearly no help here.

Aya shot a bright smile at Marley, the kind normally reserved for her editor or a good-but-reluctant source. It wouldn't hurt to turn the charm on, at least for someone who was promising help. Aya might be a grumpy b***h at times (most times), but she wasn't ungrateful.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate it," she said. It wasn't even a faked relief. Some of these kids weren't so useless. They might need each other to get out of this alive, so Aya thought she might as well get used to the idea of not being able to snub everyone. "No rush. It's not showing any time of stopping, but I don't think it's life-threatening."

While waiting for Marley, Aya put pressure on the long cut on her other arm. That's what the movies all said to do, right? It made Aya wish she'd ever bothered to take a first aid course or something. Well, it wasn't like she'd known she was going to end up in outer space with whales trying to kill her, but it never hurt to be prepared. "If I make it out of this," she told herself.

She looked around to see who else had wound up here. The useless senshi three: beach bum, drunken idiots A and B. Why couldn't they have gotten the cat? Or even the prissy Virgo - Aya disliked the girl intensely (and the feeling seemed to be mutual) but at least she seemed competent.

Her eyes fell on a male just lying on his back, doing nothing. "Are you alright?" she asked Jett.

Aya's lips quirked up at Jett's comment on her appearance. He was lucky she wasn't one of those females obsessed with her appearance, or a comment like that would be asking for trouble.

"Yeah, I've definitely had better nights out," she agreed. "Or in, considering the only place I was going was bed." Hands still occupied with trying to keep her blood within her body, Aya jerked her head down to indicate her sleepwear. Long soft pants, a singlet top now torn up to above her stomach, and slippers that had miraculously managed to stay on even while being blown around by the giant whale.

Aya tilted her head at Jett. There wasn't much else to do but make idle conversation until her arm was bound with her makeshift bandages, or until their useless guides decided to move them elsewhere - maybe to that castle in the distance. "So where were you when our lives went to hell in a handbasket?"

That startled a chortle from Aya. "Same," she said with a quick grin. All ready for bed and brushing her teeth, Aya knew there hadn't been anyone in her apartment, despite Virgo's theories, as Aya would have seen them in the mirror. "And here I am now, in need of another shower. So much for that."

Maybe in need of a doctor, too, depending on how bad the cut on her arm actually was. She was hoping bandages would be enough to stop the flow, that it wasn't deep enough to require stitches. Good luck getting that kind of treatment here.

"I'm Aya," she told Jett. Expecting mispronunciation, she added the same guide that had resulted in odd nicknames at the paper. "No 'eye' sound. Yaya, without the first 'y'."

Not that any of her colleagues had listened. Instead, they'd just switched from EYE-yah to y-EYE-yah. She almost regretted her dad's insistence on giving his daughter a traditional name, even though Aya had been born in America, not Japan.