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 Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 12:29 am
He sounded kind of dazed, or tired. "Okay..." He drew the phone away from himself and glanced up. Robert was miraculously loud, echoing from both the hallway and the cell receiver. He pressed it close again to respond in a slow voice. "... Yes, yes, I hear. You must be in the same hall. Is very unstable floor here. Something fell... I think... I do not see. I cannot move from here." He picked up the sawblade at his side weakly and held it aloft. The glow of her runes was so faint now, it hardly qualified as light. But in the total pitch black, even that was better than nothing. "I vill use veapon to signal. Please hurry..."
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Nio Love rolled 1 12-sided dice:
8
Total: 8 (1-12)
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 12:51 am
That was reassuring. He kept the phone at his ear but continued to tap along, making sure the ground in front of him was solid. Every time Jezebel's tip hit the floor, her screams intensified. She was deafening him, by the time he finally saw the glow of Lucky's runes. "Lucky!" He cried out, stiffening with worry. "What the hell-" There was no time to ask questions. He snapped the phone shut and skid down onto his knees, returned Jezebel and pocketed her, then he fished for the band-aids he always kept safely tucked away in his pocket. "Put your weapon away. Jesus, you're a mess. Give me a second." He ripped the packaging open with his teeth, and gently smoothed the band-aid across his friends neck. "You're gonna feel better in a minute. This is the good s**t." He took the time while Lucky recovered, to assess the situation around him, and the place he was in. What the hell was Lucky doing down here, anyway? This place looked old, and dangerous. And Lucky was alone. "You shoulda called me sooner." The man grumbled sourly. AstaraeI Healed for 8 by the power of love
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:25 am
"Is not that bad, is it?" he asked, confused. But Lucky obliged, contorting the metal blade down into a small lucky 'rabbit' foot that he gripped tightly in his right hand. He had replaced his cell phone back in his pocket, somehow. The runic bandages were clearing up some of the dizziness and he felt a little less bad overall. But only just a little. With his free hand he dragged himself up into more of a sitting position than a 'lying prone on the ground' one. His head lolled forward a bit, tossing loose hair in front of his face. "I am just... glad you answered." Lucky gave Robert a small, stupid half-smile. He slowly made as if to get up, swaying dangerously. His health may have been restored, but his lost blood wasn't, and neither was his balance. But he seemed pretty determined not to let gravity get him down again. "Okay. I think ve can keep going now." HP: 5/50
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Nio Love rolled 1 20-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:41 am
"Are you ********'-" Robert spent a moment enraged that Lucky was actually considering an attempt to get up on his own, and his hand clamped down on the man's shoulder, stopping him from any more movement. "You're hurt. You don't even know how much you're hurt, you could be bleedin' on the inside, Jesus Christ Lucky! Stop movin'!"
But the fact that he'd sat up, without any death or passing out occurring, made Robert think he was at least safe to move. So he put away his own phone, and bent down onto his knees.
"Quit it." He smacked Lucky's hands until they were on his sides, and his arms slid around to wrap around the waist and under the knees of his hurt friend. With a very gentle, very slow movement, he stood back up straight.
"You're smart and s**t, so you know how important it is for you to like, stay the ******** still right now." Robert squinted his eyes, trying to see the path ahead. It was pitch dark, but he remembered what he'd walked past. "I'll get you out of here."
27/80
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Nio Love rolled 1 20-sided dice:
19
Total: 19 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:55 am
Robert heard something crumbling behind him. No time to chat, it seemed. His long legs took each stride as quickly as they could without jarring Lucky, though the fact he was holding the man like one would a baby or a bride did help keep jostling to a minimum.
Distance: 46/80
HP: 49/50
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Nio Love rolled 1 20-sided dice:
14
Total: 14 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:56 am
He remembered there was something here, something - his foot jutted out to try and feel it, and there, rubble just waiting to trip him.
He leapt over it. A brief moment to make sure he hadn't just hurt Lucky doing so, and he was back to jogging in long, steady, graceful strides.
Distance: 60/80
HP: 49/50
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Nio Love rolled 1 20-sided dice:
16
Total: 16 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:57 am
Light was starting to peek through the cracks where he knew he'd come from. Bolstered by this sign of hope, he leaned in and checked Lucky's pulse to make sure he was still there. "We're almost there, Lucky. I can see the exit from here." He whispered carefully. "Then we'll get you all patched up, and you're never comin' down to a place like this alone again."
Distance: 76/80
HP: 49/50
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Nio Love rolled 1 20-sided dice:
17
Total: 17 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:59 am
The greatest challenge faced him yet. How was he going to successfully climb out to the graveyard, with a man in his arms? He had to find a slope that wasn't steep, and he searched until he found a pile of rubble that was going to have to do. Instead of holding him in both arms, Robert shirted Lucky, flopping both of the man's arms around his shoulders and hiking him up to hold him with one arm. This left his other arm free to help him climb out of there when things got slippery.
And they did get slippery.
Several slips, and near miss tumbles later, Robert was sitting in a cornfield with Lucky carefully tucked in his arm, as he tried to catch his breath.
"See?" He huffed out. "Piece of cake."
93LOL/80
HP: 48/50
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:12 am
Robert made it look so easy. After a few initial protests at being picked up and carried around like a newlywed, he'd quickly learned that he may as well have addressed his complaints to a brick wall. He soon lapsed into a stubborn silence, breaking it only to mumble 'still alive' when he felt fingers pressing against his wrist. Lucky had eventually just hung on for dear life, staring apprehensively down the slope. The last thing he wanted right now was another near-death nightmare to add to his growing collection - after the first near-miss he shut his eyes and buried his bloody face in the shoulder of Robert's jacket. And he stayed that way until a few seconds after Robert had collapsed to the ground surrounded by wilting cornstalks. They were alive. They were alive and he could see the moon and the stars and the trees again. Lucky slowly unhooked his grip around Robert's shoulders. He sounded surprised, or impressed, or maybe even just disbelieving. " Ve made it..."
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:27 am
"Of course we made it." Robert sighed out. "And now we're going to continue to make it, all the way to the infirmary, where I'm gonna strap you down to a gurney, and you ain't gonna move until the docs give you a clean bill of health." The implication, unsaid, in his voice, was something along the lines of dumbass. He stood up and stretched the kinks out of his arms, then leaned back down and tilted Lucky's head up. He squinted to get a good look at his pupils, moving his head from side to side to see if Lucky followed. Then he rubbed the blood off of his face where he could. "Yeah. You're a mess. Let's go." Before Lucky could protest, Robert had him up in his arms a second time. At least now he wasn't running, so the trip back to the infirmary was going to be significantly less bumpy. "Are you uh, gonna tell me what you were doing alone down there, or are you gonna make some lie about it? Because if you're just gonna lie, save it, I don't really need to know."
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:52 am
Even Lucky could get the gist of what Robert was trying to say. Just imagining that situation had him laughing until his head hurt. He spoke quietly, but firmly, trying to sound as sincere as he could. "Thank you." "You know a lot about first aid," he observed somewhat bluntly as Robert moved in and out of his routine. Prior to the Tear, Lucky had been very absorbed in his work. He had probably walked by the infirmary nearly every day and never once noticed that Robert was training there. The only answer Robert got to his last question was Lucky averting his gaze entirely.
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 4:08 am
It was the kind of answer he'd expected. So he focused on the compliment (if that's what it even was, he certainly took it as one) and grinned proudly. "You bet! I've been working with Sunny and the crew down at the infirmary for months now. They don't ******** play down there.. seven days a week, twelve hour shifts, sometimes sixteen when there's actually people to work with. I needed all the time and help they could give me." Never once, had Robert asked Sunny to give him less hours, or some kind of break. He took every job, every sleepless night, every aching back, and kept his complaints to what little private time he had with his friends, or Petra. But never Sunny. He never wanted her to give up or lay off on him. He needed the push. "It's not really the kind of s**t that comes naturally to me. But then again, nothing about this job is natural." He hefted Lucky carefully, as he broke through the cornfields. "I guess I don't need to tell you that." He bellowed out a laugh that echoed into the night air.
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 5:39 pm
"Heh. Preach to choir." The headache had returned again, as did the exhaustion that came of painfully discovering every unstable floor and ceiling in the old lab. He didn't know how much blood he lost from his apparent head wound, but it felt like every drop counted and that he had misplaced way too much. His focus was fading rapidly as adrenalin deserted him; Robert's words distorted into a meaningless background noise every time Lucky lost track of Song's undercurrent of translation. He could get just the gist of it - Robert worked in the infirmary now. Lucky looked for distraction in the form of Robert's enthusiasm for filling the silence. If he was talking, Lucky didn't have to keep struggling to find words. "Any good story?" But somewhere in the middle of Robert's response he had closed his eyes. It only felt like a moment - but time skipped forward. "Robert..." Lucky had half-opened his eyes again. He reached up and weakly grasped at one of Robert's overhanging lapels as if to pull him closer. But Lucky didn't seem to have the awareness to follow through, nor was he even whispering. His fingers eventually slipped away and he rested the arm over his forehead instead. "Can you make a promise?" " Proszę... not to tell anyone... about tonight..." He sounded embarrassed, maybe even nervous. Also a little bit incoherent. " Proszę..."
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Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 6:51 pm
Good stories? Robert thought about all the times he'd had to change certain key members of Deus' bedpans, and decided that Lucky did not need to lose what little he had in his stomach, after losing so much blood. "This woulda been a good story, right here." He chuckled quietly. "But yeah. I promise. If that's what you need, buddy."
He fell silent, brooding about how suspicious it felt to have to hide Lucky's situation and whereabouts of the evening, even as he carried the man into the infirmary. He couldn't guess who would even be asking, unless Lucky had done something very, very wrong.
And if so, then he guessed exactly who would be asking.
He hefted Lucky softly and opened the door into the building, eventually getting him into the infirmary and in the care of people far better trained to help him than he was. But he stayed. And watched.
Because it was his job to learn. And because Lucky was probably in a lot more s**t than his injuries might have indicated.
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