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Finn was right, of course. He should have ported out with Chance immediately, because he knew what Shaheen was capable of. But he hadn't. He couldn't have. Something about the Horseman kept him there, whether it was his stubborn need to face his fears (at least the ones that weren't fire), or that the Horseman had obliterated his flight response by grounding him in that room with fear. Either way, leaving hadn't been an option - until he was pinned to the floor, and he wanted Chance out.

Though, Finn's comment on being haunted drew a rasping, gasp of a noise that was likely meant to be a laugh. Yeah, he probably would have haunted Finn...and it would be considered payback for all the times Finn haunted him while alive.

Like that one time where he insisted on serenading him from outside his window.

"Horseman." Ripley corrected Chance; there wasn't much of a difference, but there was one. He had been about to say more when Finn squeezed his hand, and he opened his eyes slowly to look at the familiar shape of the man who was totally not his boyfriend.

"Numb." He explained, as close to the feeling as he could get in as few of words as possible. His body was heavy, his shoulder and throat ached, but they must have put him on something. He was numb...but at least his mind was working. Mostly.

The word horseman was unfamiliar. Chance blinked slowly, trying to place it, trying to figure out if he'd heard the word before, other than bandied about by crazy religious fanatics talking about the apocalypse. "Horseman?" he repeated, with a slight frown. "Like...like the four horsemen? Or something?"

If that was how all horsemen were, if there were more, then Chance was pretty damn sure that he had better be much more prepared the next time he ran into one (though a part of him hoped that he never would, the chances of that were probably pretty slim, considering the occupation of the three men currently in the infirmary).

"A really giant lion," murmured Chance with a small sigh.

There was a small scuffle as Finn stood up, the chair he'd been sitting in scraping over the linoleum floor. Chance glanced over at the two of them, and Finn was looking irritated and Ripley...well, he was Ripley, from what Chance knew of him (not much), he didn't show much of anything at all.

Still...

What a strange...whatever it is... Chance thought idly. He turned his head away from them and let his gaze rest on some vacant point on the wall instead, slipping into thoughts he didn't want to be in, easing out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Chance confirmed that he had no idea what horsemen were, and Finn mentally cursed the retardiculous way the island functioned with it's ******** up system of not telling anybody anything of great importance upon awakening...or at least, if not then, sometime within the first week would have sufficed. But no. They threw rookies into the Haunted House with white haired idiots who thought they should be some kind of ******** hero and----

This was why it was a terrible idea to make friends, become involved, or otherwise attach himself in any way to anybody on the island. He knew that. And yet, here he was, holding his definitely not-boyfriend's hand while worrying over him, and a man he had only just met a month..maybe even only a couple of weeks...before. He wanted to punch something, or throw something, or yell, but he kept himself remarkably cold, and calm, as he so often was able to do.

When he stood up, outwardly nothing appeared to have changed with him. His somewhat abrasive words to Ripley, combined with his typical smirk, seemed normal.

"I'll fill you in as much as I can." This was directed at Chance. "I think there are at least a couple of half decent books on them in the library though, if you ever feel the need to learn more." Transformed into a lion. She transformed into a ******** lion. That was just the icing on the cake, wasn't it?

He stared at the dark haired man for a time, his face unreadable. "Excuse me for just a moment."

He closed the curtain, separating from view himself and Ripley both, before he turned back towards the death intermediate, looking down at him, eye narrowing in scrutiny.

And then he leaned down, a hand going to the edge of the bed to keep himself balanced, and he placed a kiss on the other mans lips, which were colder than he wanted them to be, almost alarmingly so.

But still, he kissed him, and when he was finished he whispered. "No." against his lips and then straightened.

"I'll.." His voice sounded off, lower than it should have been, maybe even slightly hoarse. He cleared it with a cough into his fist. "I'll go get that tech."

The curtain opened again. "Keep an eye on him for a minute, please." He muttered to Chance as he wandered off towards the desk, blinking eyes that were heavy and desperate for some sleep, all while ignoring a strange, gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Ripley had stopped paying attention to the world around him. Anything outside of his own head grew distant, far enough away for him to not stop worrying about them. He was far from the bed he was on, his eyes fluttering as he began to black out again. Being awake was too much for him right now...all he wanted to do was...

He hadn't noticed the way the weight of the bed shifted, but the lips on his own simply couldn't be ignored. They burned pleasantly hot against his own, and the shock of the heat brought him back. He focused on the person leaning above him, taking a moment to realize who it was - and who else would it be, really? It wasn't like people lined up to kiss him, after all - before he tried tilting his head up, seeking to extend the kiss as best as he could. The heat was addicting, and he curse the overwhelming numbness that prevented him from doing more, like, say, raising his hand to touch him. Suddenly, he had to know if the rest of Finn was just as warm as his lips...

And then it was over, with a single word of a whisper in parting.

"b*****d." He rasped out, for a plethora of reasons, and licked his lips in an attempt to preserve the warmth that had once been laid there. Finn left, but Chance's parting words to him made him cough in amusement, a small smile twisting onto his mouth. A jab about his eyes was always funny, deep deep down.

"You can stay." He managed to get out, though it took a few tries to start the words, and finish them properly. He liked Chance. Chance was good people.

Ripley's gravely voice drew Chance out of his inner musings, which was a nice relief, since his mind was currently a mess of things he didn't really want to be a part of. He turned his head a little, flashing the other man what he hoped was a reassuring smile, though it might have been a little wan and didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Thanks," he said, and then added lightly, teasingly, "I think I'll do a tap number later, you know. Put all my good company skills to use, do a little dance, sing a little song. Keep us both entertained for a while, don't you think? We don't need that Finn guy, we can have our own party."

A small laugh escaped his throat, short-lived, since that Finn guy came back a moment later, along with another tech. Chance flicked his gaze away again, almost automatically by now; but then the edge of his bed sank down a few inches and he found Finn sitting there and the curtain around Ripley's bed shut. Low, murmuring voices and vague shadows emanated from behind it.

"I know, I'm a regular ole comedian," Chance grunted out, as he tried to readjust himself to a more comfortable position (which wasn't that easy, all things considered). He sank back against the pillows and flashed Finn a vague smile. "I'm going to go with the hopefully less option, I really don't want to be stuck here for too long."

His eyes strayed sideways to Ripley's side and then briefly back to Finn, the smile on his face flickering a little. Chance eased out a pained breath that was almost a laugh but not quite, that made his bandaged torso throb unpleasantly. For a moment there seemed to be something that he was going to say, a comment on the tip of his tongue; but then he swallowed it back, pushed it away.

"Nah," he said, flashing Finn the same sort of tired reassuring smile he'd given Ripley. "I'm okay. Just feeling a bit like a cat toy, but I'm not as bad as Ripley is."

"Well, I would say have fun with that but I've already condemned myself to staying here for the duration of the time Ripley does." Because very threatening promises were not something that Finn was about to back out on. "Which will, likely, be longer than the time it takes for you to heal. Unfortunately." The last was said with a near growl, and Finn reached up to rub at his face, at his eye, and then scratched an area beneath his eyepatch.

"Okay, well, in that case, I'm going to get some sleep." He slid himself off of the edge of the bed, and back to his feet. "You should too....or at least try." He frowned for a moment. "If you need anything to help put you under..." Finn looked over as the infirmary tech came back out of Ripley's "room".

"Michael here can hook you up, I'm sure." A vague smile, and a glance back to Chance.

"Good night and." he paused, blinked, frowned again. His brain was beginning to feel like it was shrouded behind a thick fog. "Thanks. Again."