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 Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:47 pm
This is a Private RP between Ripley + maybe!Rong Wei ( Rown ) & Rivener ( Aphismet )
Where: Durem Regional Medical Hospital
When: Late Evening ( around 9 or 10 PM )
Weather: Evening Cool; Cloudless and starry skies are welcomed after the strange storm
- - ---- - -
There was only so much that bandages and tape from home could do, or so Ripley surmised when he woke the next day to find himself in a great deal of pain from one of his arms. His torso hurt too, as well as all the places where he'd been bitten by Basil, and it didn't surprise him to find that sometime during the night he'd managed to bleed through the bandages Rong Wei had half-a** slapped onto him after they sent their guest out and away. The Sphinx Frei found that he couldn't move two of his fingers on his right hand, something he'd been able to do the previous night (Rong Wei said adrenaline was an amazing thing), and simply trying to move much of his body caused him enough pain that he refused to move.
Of course Rong Wei had taken it upon herself to exploit his inability to move with her usual sarcastic comments and whatever else she felt like tossing his way since he couldn't even get a decent slap or word in edgewise (his jaw hurt too, he would kill that damned Cobra if it were cracked or broken). The novelty of her verbal battering had worn off as the day moved into the afternoon and Ripely was showing no signs of recovery, even though Rong Wei had gone out of her way and given him a cord to chew on that was plugged into the wall. While it was certainly giving him back the energy he'd torn Basil apart with it did nothing for his bodily wounds, leaving the Chinese woman no option but to grab her credit card and somehow man-handle an unhappy Frei into her brother's car (he was not pleased - her brother, that is). The ride to the hospital had been quick and irritating, what with Rong Wei joking she should take Ripley to a vet instead of have him put down in case he became rabid, though it ended on a fairly good note when Ripley discovered one of his arms could still move quite well and Rong Wei ended up with a busted lip and a bloody nose. The pair arrived at the hospital in complete opposite moods than when they'd left the salon - Ripley now grinning ear to ear and Rong Wei ready to kill someone.
"Yeah, I've got a -"
" . . . another one? Hmmm."
The nurse at the ER nurse's station didn't seem all that surprised to see Ripley, something that piqued the Frei's interest while several nurses and a man he hoped was a doctor (and not a curious janitor, ugh he hated cleaning people) poked and prodded him to assess the extent of his injuries. An announcement of a cracked wrist was given, as well as several broken fingers, a broken radius, and whatever portion of his ribs he'd managed to develop had severe bruising. The bites, the pair were told, would need extreme disinfectant and sewn back up, possibly leaving a scar, though Ripley swore up and down that he would not allow his skin to bare wounds from a coward's fight. It would just be unKingly, or so he felt.
"What do you mean by another one?"
Ripely was halfway into getting his arm set (god it hurt, stupid human was lucky he didn't want to zap her into a bad hairstyle) when he decided to bring up the question, only now recalling that they may or may not have mentioned someone else staying inside the hospital walls. While there was a very good possibility that the other Raevan could have been Basil something inside Ripely's rune-gut told him it was someone else. He wasn't worried about their condition though, just very curious. An injured Raevan was a chance to learn weaknesses, right? His own injuries could easily be dismissed if he were questioned about them, not that he would allow such a train of thought to happen in his presence. It didn't take much longer for him to demand to be shown to this other's room, and to his surprise the nurse was more than willing. Something or another about 'keeping like kinds together for observation'. He wasn't sure if he should have been offended or not by the comment, but seeing as Rong Wei wasn't there for him to hit and vent his frustrations out on he would have to smile and be polite.
He was only allowed to go into the room once his stitches were completed and he was pumped full of something called 'morphine' to help ease the pain, and as he stood at the entrance he gave a knock with his good hand to announce his presence. No point in running in looking stupid, right? He could barely see into the room as it was anyway, the difference in lightning and the medicine doing way too much to his body. It was amusing and irritating at the same time, all to say the least.
"Evening."
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:07 pm
Holding a book open with one hand was highly obnoxious. Especially when it came time to turn the page. Rivener would always need to put the book down, hold the page with a thumb and pull the page over... Each time he did it, he sighed in annoyance. The inconvenience was better than the mind-numbing boredom, though, so Rivener bore with it...
Until the door opened. It was late, past visiting hours, so this was definitely out of the ordinary. Out of the Ordinary was synonymous with GOOD and FUN, so Riv happily closed the book and glanced up. Perhaps someone for the other bed in the room? Someone he could talk to from time to time?
Holy hell, someone like him! A Raevan! And out of everyone Riv might have expected, Ripley was certainly one of the last! "Ripley!" the Scorpion exclaimed, clearly startled. "What the hell happened to you?! You look a mess!"
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:17 pm
"The nurse said there was another Raevan being treated here. I never imagined it would be you."
There was a clearly audible snort of either surprise or disgust that followed Rivener's cry to the Sphinx Frei, Ripley moving more into the room to get a view of the Sigel he had recently christened his 'meat shield'. Part of him was very disappointed that this wasn't someone new for him to meet, and another part of him was even more disappointed at how fragile something as strong as a Sigel seemed to be. Of course there was still that sliver of his mind that was actually glad to see Rivener, barring the circumstances, and he propped his poker smile up on his lips as he came into full view of his 'friend'. With Rivener now able to see all of him, Ripley could now see all of the Scorpion as well.
"Had a bit of a run in with a snake, but nothing I couldn't handle. I could say the same to you though. Work-related injury, I suppose?"
It would taste a lie to say that Ripely had not gone home that very night after their last meeting and read up all he could on organized crime. The man in the car had seemed far too important to just be a normal human - why else would Rivener serve him like a puppy - so several hours turned into several days of research over the mafia, the yakuza, and pretty much any other gangs in general. The way a mafia was run sounded fairly useful to the Frei for his long run ambitions, so he'd made a note to try and drop by Rivener at his job again - on accident, of course. Meeting Rivener in the hospital completely cut away the need for that walk-upon, though Ripley wished they had come together under better circumstances.
Why was it that Rivener always got to see the weak side of him? He really wished he could have shown Basil's torn up torso as proof the wounds weren't a one-sided fight.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:29 pm
Rivener was highly aware that he seemed to meet Ripley whenever he was wrapped up in bandages. First his broken wings, then getting beaned in the head with a bat, now this. But this time at least, his wound wasn't a little thing, so he could feel less like a pansy. He hated that he wore that stupid nightgown though. Riv suppressed a groan of embarrassment. Damn, he hated this gown.
Ripley had a run-in with a snake? The Sigel raised an eyebrow. What the hell kind of snake-... Delia? She wasn't so violent, was she? Well, Riv would ask. But first: "Yeah, work-related. I got shot." He shrugged sheepishly with his hale shoulder, a corner of his lips curling up. With his good hand, Riv pointed to the bed on the other side of the room from his own. "They probably want to keep you overnight, right? You should make yourself comfortable. The beds are comfortable enough, but you better thank all the stars in heaven they didn't make you wear this lame green thing. ...So, about this snake you ran into. What exactly did you mean by that?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:22 pm
Lame green thing? What was it exactly that Rivener was wearing? Was it because his body was more developed than Ripely's that he needed such a garment or was it because his wounds were more severe? The Sigel had said he'd been shot, something Ripley didn't quite understand in actuality (theory was always different), so perhaps his body was more damaged and they were hiding most of the scars. If that was the case, however, why did Ripley not have one? His body was covered in many bandages and wraps and he smelled strongly of antiseptic, a smell he was not fond of. If the gown made Rivener unhappy did it smell like antiseptic? If that was the case Ripley would pass on it as well.
"I'd rather not be kept in this place overnight but it looks like that is what will be happening to me shortly. It seems as though my injuries were worse than I'd originally thought them to be."
Ripley floated over towards the second bed, assuming this would be where he was staying whether a nurse or doctor wanted him to or not, and he settled himself down so that he was 'sitting' with his ribbon before him. With the aid of morphine or whatever it was his body didn't ache so badly to move, a feeling he hoped would continue through most of his stay at the hospital.
"I'm sorry to hear you got shot, must have been painful. Is that what you were worried about the time we were out together, a gun? I've only read about them in books, never seen one in action before."
Ripley directly avoided the question about the snake. Pushing him about it may actually get him to answer, but for now he kept the focus on Rivener.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:35 pm
It was painfully obvious that Ripley wasn't keen on answering about the snake thing, so Rivener would let it drop for now. Maybe later he'd ask again, but as long as this wasn't Rong Wei's doing, Rivener didn't need to pry.
The Frei moved to the bed and sat on it, then proceeded to ask Rivener about guns. The Sigel blinked, surprised that the other didn't know about the weapons. Ripley had such developed speech and manners that Riv often forgot he was a young one, without much actual knowledge of things. With a smirk he nodded, amused at himself for falling into Ripley's "I'm an adult" behavior-trap. "Yeah, it was a gun I'd been scared of that time. Let's see if I can remember how to explain a gunshot..." Riv wracked his brain for all the information he picked up from the discovery channel, csi, and movies. There was never any actual scientific explanation of how a gunshot worked, but the Sigel tried to piece together the bits and pieces he could think up.
"A bullet is filled with explosives. The gun only sparks it, and when the bullet explodes it propels the tip of the bullet, which is usually metal and pointed, out of the gun at like, ridiculous, impossible-for-the-eye-to-follow speeds. I think the bullet's also super-heated or something. Anyway, whatever that thing comes into contact with will usually get destroyed. If you're lucky the bullet goes through you. If you're not lucky, it shatters inside you and leaves metal shrapnel in your body. Or it tears a hole the size of a baseball out of you when it exits. It's never good, anyway, and it hurts like a b***h. One shot can kill you if it hits something vital." Rivener realized he was talking a lot, but he blamed the all-consuming boredom of before. Having someone to talk to was too much fun to pass up. "Thankfully I didn't get shot anywhere particularly life-threatening. Right here." He pointed to his right shoulder, just below the collarbone. "Shattered some bones inside, that's why my arm is held in place like this. Bullet went through so there was no complication from that, just needed to sew me shut and reattach some tendons, set some bone... All that damage from something no bigger than the tip of my pinky." He raised the finger in question to show how big the bullet had been.
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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 1:57 pm
Ripley did his best to look interested while Rivener explained what a gun did, his face a bit pensive as though he were absorbing what the other Raevan was saying to him; in actuality he'd long since turned him out and was doing his best to refrain from saying that he knew what a gun did and how it did it - he just didn't know how it felt to be shot. Finally when Rivener explained that it hurt he accepted that answer, vague as it was and as common sense as it was, and he nodded his head to show he understood.
"So that old saying big things in small packages certainly came true in your case. For me, he was my size - maybe a bit smaller. Certainly not stronger, I ended up winning, but he gave me a bit of trouble before I took him down. I think I cracked one of my teeth, can't really be too sure. Do we gain extra teeth like humans or are we stuck with the ones we have?"
Ripley had read about losing teeth shortly after Rong Wei's neice lost one during a rather fun game of 'slap the child if she talks during the movie', something that Ripley didn't panic over but the little girl certainly did. Rong Wei had be furious yet had done nothing to him, resulting in the Raevan looking into extra teeth. Humans, or so he'd learned, could lose teeth because they had an extra set that came in as an adult. Perhaps the same thing could and would happen from Frei to Sigel; Ripley did not want to be down a tooth for the rest of his life.
"But come now, let's not talk about me. It's been too long since we've last seen one another, surely there is much we can catch up on."
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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 6:24 pm
Rivener snickered and nodded at the comment about big things in small packages. Ripley went on to detail his own encounter vaguely, asking if Raevans grew new teeth... Riv's lips quirked at this, wondering. He wasn't sure of the answer, since he'd never met any Raevan with lacking teeth. For some reason he hated not knowing, not being able to provide the answer to Ripley. It felt like Riv lost a point in a constant game between them or something. "You know, I'm not sure if teeth come back," he admitted begrudgingly, lifting a shoulder. "I suppose it must be different for each Raevan. And maybe when you grow to Sigel you get a kind of reset, all your bits returned whole? I don't know. Knock someone's teeth in right before they turn Sigel, and we'll find out." Thankfully, that placed Riv well out of the range of possible teeth-knocking.
Personally, Rivener didn't mind talking about Ripley. He'd have much preferred it in fact, since Riv wasn't in a mood to talk much about his recent past. Thankfully that whole depression thing was over now, but it was still highly embarrassing to think about. At the very least Riv could give the bigger facts about his life so far since he'd last seen the other.
"Much to catch up on... Yeah you could say that. Since the Beach party, and that big storm, our house got flooded and destroyed. We live in a new house closer to Durem now. Also, Alex and Zul moved out of our house, and Isikoro and Eiry are stressed. It was a reeaaaally stressful time since that party. But things should be getting better from here on, so it's okay! What about yo, anything new I should know about?" Rivener was hoping this would be a two-way street.
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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 6:40 pm
"I'm sorry to hear they moved out and there's stress...but at least things can't get any worse, right? I mean for all of it you've been shot and are still alive. You could be paralyzed."
Ripely nodded his head, impressed with how eventful everything was sounding. His own life must have been rather tame in comparison considering nothing like a flooding house had occurred though there were some things here and there that he could talk about. Eventually he would talk about ripping Basil apart but for now. . . he still wasn't sure how Rivener felt about Raevan attacking Raevan. It may have been too sore a subject.
"I met someone new, a Sigel; her name is Lucia. We've gone on a date together, though I can assure you it was not of my choice. Rong Wei sort of bribed her into going to the museum with me, though I will admit I had a good time. It turns out I can read hieroglyphics without even trying. Must be the Egyptian Sphinx in me."
That little adventure had been most fortuitous for the Frei. He'd made two friends, not to mention . . .
"I ended up getting a job there helping the curator out. Turns out many of their translations were wrong and there seems to be work for someone who can correctly read and write what they need done."
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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 6:49 pm
Lots of things Ripley said should have surprised Rivener: that RongWei needed to bribe someone to go on a date with Ripley, that Ripley could ready hieroglyphics, that Ripley had gotten himself a job at the museum... But what came as the biggest shock was the knowledge that Lucia was a Sigel. Riv blinked blankly for a while and had to shake himself free of that surprise, clearing his throat and pushing it aside for now.
"Ah, a job there? That's great! It's important to have work that interests you. I'm sure it's a great excuse to be out of the house most days, too." Lord knew Rivener was grateful to his own job for that very reason.
"Pretty cool that you can read that stuff, though. I bet it's going to be quite the revolution in the museums and archeological circles. Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get to travel to dig sites and help out there! You should look into education about archeology, if this type of thing interests you." Hell, Ripley might turn out to be a modern-day Indiana Jones!
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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:13 pm
"I don't like the unknown, so traveling to places I've never been before doesn't sound that appealing. I wouldn't mind having the work brought to me, but that makes me sound like I have to be in command of it all. Perhaps when I grow I'll get more of a backbone."
Aside from making a massive pun, Ripley assumed that Rivener would get what he was saying. The Frei had noticed the look on the Sigel's face when he mentioned Lucia's name and part of his brain wanted to know what was going on there but another part told him that asking might put him into a position not akin to stepping on a landmine. There was likely bad blood between those two but he couldn't understand why - he found both equally pleasant which wasn't really saying much. Even Basil, whom Ripley found stupid, had his uses. Ripley just hadn't figured out what they were just yet.
"Oh, I did find something new yesterday. The rain does not weaken me like I thought it did - it makes me stronger. An interesting thing to find out when one is in a brawl, yes?"
Finding that bit of information out totally made the fact that he couldn't think straight during lightning storms all the more worthwhile. If there was a way for him to overcome his inability to think then everything would work out well and chances are he'd become unstoppable.
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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:33 pm
The pun didn't escape Riv, who snickered dryly in response. "Clever," he said sarcastically. "I can see what you mean though. New things can be scary." Riv himself loved nothing more than to hurtle head-first into something new, but it was easy to understand how someone wouldn't want to do that.
Ripley went on to reveal a new discovery, one that had Rivener raising both eyebrows. Ripley didn't get weaker in rain? Hm. Riv made a clear mental note: Ripley + Rain = Dumb Berserker. Very Hulk-like. But with more lightning thrown in. Great. The Scorpion hid his conclusion behind an impressed smile, nodding at Ripley's words. "That was pretty much the best time to find that out, yeah. Thank goodness! You might be in worse shape had it not been raining, then?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:38 am
"I would have been alright if it wasn't for the thunder and lightning making everything foggy and hazy. I do appreciate the rain though because it did turn the battle into my favor. That other Frei didn't know what hit him once I was able to fight back. One-sided battles are much more fun when you're the side that's winning."
Ripley didn't realize it, or perhaps he did know what he was doing, when he dropped the word 'Frei' into the conversation. Tha clearly meant his wounds were obtained from another Raevan, one at the same level as he, and if he was looking so horrible as the victor then where was the loser and how badly did he look? Ripley wasn't going to think too hard on it because Basil wasn't much of his concern. Neither was Rong Wei or Rivener for that matter but towards them he had to at least show some form of interest.
Also, Ripley was unaware of the events of the Fel Virus. He'd been frozen during that whole epidemic, despite being fully formed and able, and therefore missed all of it and the aftermath that followed. He'd never even heard the rumours mostly because Rong Wei didn't know. If his source of information wasn't certain then he couldn't be certain.
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Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:23 pm
Rivener's smile dropped when that word slipped out. Red eyes widened under a deepening frown, and the Sigel shifted up in his seat. Vaguely he filed away the rest of the conversation (Thunder and lightning served to make Ripley drunk, not rain), focusing on the most important bit now.
"Wait, wait wait. A Frei?! You were fighting a Raevan? What the hell for, Ripley? What happened? Tell me. Right now, details please." If this was another Virus outbreak, Rivener wanted to be aware. Though it might already be too late, trapped in the room with Ripley as he was... Last time it seemed to be touch-transferred, so maybe Riv wouldn't catch it if he didn't touch the Egyptian?
...But if it WASN'T the Virus, Rivener thought it might be worse. To have two Raevans fighting to this extent was unheard of. Even Prajna only ever pulled hair and slapped people! But Ripley and whoever his opponent was, they had gone for blood. For what reasons?
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