|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:22 pm
Owle let out a funny little sound in delight as Kalis joined in the game. She nudged Jack again, much gentler than Kalis did, but still it couldn't have felt real good for the injured man.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:26 pm
May your soul be set free as your body burns. May your soul find peace as the embers drift to the sky. May you rest among the stars for all of your days, as your body rests in dust and ashes.
The demoness's red eyes reflected the fire, as the nameless trucker was burned. Flare had taken, for now, an empty box from the Firebrand in which to store his ashes. She would buy him a nicer urn once she got to the marketplace again, then look up his family.
She felt no remorse for his death; she had not killed him and would not have blanched if she did. But the dead would have respect, if only because they got so little in life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:29 pm
The mans's left hand rose to grip the staff as it came towards his ribs. A rather remarkable grip for someone that was beaten to s**t and back. Steel blue orbs opened and looked out at Owle.
"Help... inside..."
He now knew where the injury was that, his body just could not adapt too. It was a shrapnel piece that had punctured a lung.
Pain, sure, there was a lot of it. A normal human couldn't have moved under his conditions, and even the meta-human found it difficult after so much time to adapt with a punctured lung.
"Breathing..."
He gritted his teeth, throwing the staff away and ignoring Owle's nudge altogether as he attempted to stand up. b***h of it was, the lack of good nerve endings made being coordinated nearly impossible. It was like he was moving around on ice, with friction.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:34 pm
"Up, and down, and up, and down," Owle chanted in a sing song voice, her hand mimicking the rise and fall of his chest. Breathing, he had said. So she was telling him about it.
"Don't get up, you're hurt. Hurt people lie down."
And to remedy this situation, she placed a palm in the center of his chest and pushed down on him.
Jack would find that, for whatever reason, he couldn't remove his right hand from the big ole hole in the wall. He might be able to yank it away if he really tried, but currently his proximity to that hole and the power that occupied it was the thing keeping him from dying outright, keeping his injuries from getting much worse.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:37 pm
"Hold on. An ambulance will be here for you in about a minute and a half, if you can hold up." what he was supposed to do for a guy who had blown the s**t out of himself and couldn't breath, he didn't know, but the prospect of CPR did not amuse him. He had some sympathy because the man was injured, but less because he'd done it to himself. In many ways, Kalis had a fairly traditional sort of soldier's view on things such as this, and this guy had broken a few of the rules he had in his head.
He'd been going to just usher him back to the ground before he irritated unhelped hurts and opened the adressed ones, but Owle did it for him.
In anycase, he'd only over estimated the efficiency of the local medical emergency teams for today by about 43 seconds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:41 pm
Flare gathered up the ashes from her fire, scooped them into the box, then walked back into the Firebrand with the ornate little box that had once held tea bags under her arm.
"How is he?" she asked Kalis, seeing that Owle was alright. "Is he dead yet?" There was a hopeful tone in her voice, and she smiled not kindly at Jack.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:43 pm
"Damn..."
Jack said resigned, knowing that Owle was probably right. Now his injuries mattered little, but people around him probably wouldn't know that. And with the anti-magic stuff gone, his meta-human traits would be in full swing. It was all innate magic, and after being held back so long, it was glad to be allowed to fully interact.
Just that one puncture.
Chances are if Jack moved, it'd cut his lungs even more and speed up the time he bled to death inside. Jack wasn't a soldier though, he was a naked 19 year old that had no memories of much other than making a mistake and almost killing his friend.
"Owle..."
Jack looked to her, tears now beginning to flow in the blue orbs and spilling down his cheeks.
"I'm sorry Owle... I..." -Cough- "Was supposed to protect you.. I... don't..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:53 pm
"Oh?" Owle stared down at him, her eyes widening at this news.
"Say, you haven't got any clothes, have you?" She thought about this for a while, then said, "I don't think my clothes fit you. And you'd look silly anyway. Not that you don't already. Look silly, I mean."
She looked down at him, her eyes keeping largely to his face. "Why're you upset? Boys shouldn't cry. Have a tissue."
And she dropped the napkin she'd picked up from the floor and wiped his blood away with onto him.
...but he still looked upset. She folded her arms across her chest and stared at him, puzzling over what she was supposed to do with him. He'd said he was sorry, but she didn't really get why. Wasn't she supposed to say something back.
"Apology accepted! If it means that much to you. I guess you must think you did something bad. Flare's a meanie."
The last seemed to be a disjointed fragment, but Owle had just then registered Flare's question. "Flare! Why didn't you roast any marshmellows for me? Is mean...not inviting anyone for marshmellows..."
Pouty face.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:54 pm
"In better mental health than before, apparantly. I think something must have hit him on the head during the fight, and somewhere between all the explosives going off in his face and my lil' love tap, he must have been set right again." he said in an offhand way to Flare. He turned his head her way, still set to dead-serious, but showing hints of amusement.
"I-" and a pause.
"There they are."
Sirens would grow louder, and within the next minute, Jack, and anyone else unconcious, badly injured, or injured and wishing help, would be loaded in order of seriousness into ambulances, medical personal swarming around them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:00 pm
"I'm sorry..."
If the medical personal found difficult in moving Jack from the hole where his right hand was stuck, the man would simply rip it out. He knew well enough that these men were going to take care of him.
Not how he knew that though.
Jack was in a state of permenant dissociative fugue, and all memories from now on would be new and starting from the point of his failure.
"Bye..."
Jack would be loaded into an ambulance, a blue medical robe wrapped around him and tears strolling down his cheeks.
Jack was a tough... kid.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:05 pm
"Ah, good. Well, they'll take care of him, I suppose," Flare said, not bothering to disguise that note in her voice that hinted she'd like him to be dead on arrival.
She put the box of ashes down on one of the tables that was still upright. "Well. Looks like we've got our work cut out for us, here."
Crimson eyes surveyed the Firebrand, noting the broken furniture, the big hole in the wall, and the bullet holes that were sure to be around. Clean up was going to be messy.
"Owle. Are you well enough to help us clean this mess?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:11 pm
"Byebye!" Owle stood up and waved as they carted Jack away. The empty air that made up the hole in the wall would relinquish him at last, and there would be a tiny little sound of air rushing in as it did so.
"Come back and visit again sometime!"
And she would stand there, waving and smiling like nothing was wrong. Till Flare asked a question.
"There is a big mess..." Owle said, her eyes looking across the Firebrand. "But I didn't make it." She folded her arms across her chest and sat down in a chair, stubbornly. "I'm not going to clean it."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:13 pm
"Alright, Owle," Flare answered, in no mood to argue with Owle's insanity. "Then it's bed time. Go to sleep."
Tiredly, she moved about to grab a broom. Getting all the splinters and shrapnel off the floor would be a start to a long night's work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:14 pm
"Bed time? Already?" Owle exclaimed. "Mm..."
Her light brown eyes glanced up towards the stairs, then back at Flare hopefully. "Do I get a story?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:15 pm
"No, Owle," Flare explained patiently, those crimson eyes boring into Owle's. "Flare and Kalis have work to do. You get no story. Go to bed."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
