Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rene grunted wordlessly in response, striding purposefully to a scuffed, eggplant purple Caravan that had seen better years. Unfortunately, the car was an older year and lacked electronic locks and windows, so it took longer than she would have liked to get the car started and unlocked.

Buckling up out of habit, she yelled, "Hey, let's go!"

Scotty stood around silently and looked around before putting the bottles he was holding down near the pizzas.

Elle stretched luxuriously. She hadn't been back in the flat she shared with her two friends in over 24 hours now, between classes, work-study, and writing up an overdue 15 page paper (double spaced) comparing the traditional medicine techniques of different societies that allowed women healers, and contrasting it with the treatment of female doctors in recent to modern times. This paper, as with most of her papers, had a strong feminist spin to it. Thankfully, the anthropology teacher of this course was someone who not only believed this stuff, but ate it up. That B+ seemed so close. Only thing left to do was to track down a friend of hers to give it a quick proofread for any glaring errors.

The library was quiet at the fourth floor, like a haunted area filled with the ghosts of students far past also laboring away at over due papers, cramming for exams, or napping on the dingy couch for a break. It gave most students the creeps. Elle felt at home here, alone surrounded by books, cut off completely from the hussle and bussle of modern life. She could spend days here if it weren’t for two bodily facts: 1) she stunk and 2) she was starving. Sighing in resignation, she left her desk, closed the laptop, and packed her bags.

The fact that there was no librarian behind the desk didn’t alarm Elle as she dropped off her books. After a second thought, she picked up the one on Native American medicine practices, recalling there was a certain article she had skimmed through and wanted to reread at her leisure. Double checking that she had her purse along with all of the other random stuff she tended to lug around when pulling library all nighters, Elle left the empty haven and stepped outside into the (comparatively) bright sun. She was ten steps away from the library when she twirled around and ran back to the library.

“I almost forgot this!”

After picking up her newly bought ridiculously large umbrella, she started to walk back home.

Liz shied back behind the door at first, not wanting him to see the extent of her damage. But his outstretched arm was so inviting, and she simply couldn't remain behind the door forever. That pizza smelled good.

She stepped out slowly, her legs still sore and bruised from the motorcycle accident. Her gait was wobbly at first, but she picked up speed till suddenly she felt herself in the crook he created for her, her right arm around his shoulder and her cheek against his bicep,
"I'm fine. Just fell down. Twice. You alright?"

Her gaze lifted, glancing over him to check for bruises or blood spots. Her eyes widened in alarm when she noted some blood on his shirt, but she relaxed when she realized it was merely from a simple nosebleed. She studied his face, her eyes darting back and forth as if she were a human scanner, but only found a concerned expression and dried crusts of blood around his nose that hadn't been wiped off yet.

"Oh thank God!"

Next her attention turned to the new comer, the silently shifting man behind her friend. She rested her chin on Marty's arm and quietly studied the man's form and behavior. She noted the coagulation around his torn ear lobe, and addressed this, her face paled and worried,
"What happened?"

Liz seemed to let Marty's word pass through her ears, watching Scotty's behavior intently, even though he was doing nothing more than standing there,
"...Have I seen you before? I recognize your face. A patient, maybe?"

Liz blinked a moment longer, judging he seemed trustworthy and normal enough, as the patient she was thinking of wasn't diagnosed,
"Well, if I did know you before, it's good to meet you again. I can't fix your ear, but, there's a box of bandaids with some antibiotic above the cupboard."

Unwinding herself from Marty's arm, she looked to David, glad to see him. She noted a quickly wrapped bandage for his head and grinned, amused by the seemingly useless gesture and the shoddy handiwork. Her right hand reached out to correct it for him, but stopped short of a loose end. She shook her head and got plates out for everyone, "you know I'm going to have to fix that, if you insist on bandaging it. You've been keeping ice on it, right?"

She shuffled to the counter and set plates out for everyone, ignoring her own shiner. Next she got out glasses which she filled with ice, for the drinks.

Liz rested a hand behind Scottys' shoulder and ushered him towards the small, circular breakfast table near the kitchen. She set the table with plates before taking a seat herself, nursing a water bottle she had taken out of the fridge,
"So..." she took a sip, "...did..did you happen to stop by the hospital?" she asked nervously.

He grabbed some pizza before responding.
"Yeah. Didn't stay long. Was too full." He hesitated, unsure if he should add on. He decided to just briefly mention it since people were eating. "And it stunk... Badly."