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[As much of an ORP as it can be. If your kiddy can fit in, feel free, but it'll be difficult if they don't already know Echo. Also, we can assume their knowledge of one-another if they currently have a playdate - which I will reply to soon. Also, for reference: Kidnappage of Echo. Warning: Unspeakable acts of violence against toddlers. You've been warned.]

Peony and Matthew hadn't said a word to each other in the hours that they'd spent sitting outside of their boy's hospital room. Both sat in identical poses of tense worry, arms and legs crossed and one foot jiggling; a sure sign they'd worked together for far too long. Although Peony had no way of knowing what was going on within his junior partner's mind, he knew that the argument that they had had wasn't a factor; that dispute had been abolished the moment they'd heard Echo had been taken. If he had to guess, the Eilian would have said that to speak would have unleashed the torrent of sobs and tears that Matthew was likely holding back. After all, that's why he wasn't speaking. Every few minutes, both men would glance up and look inside of the toddler's hospital room, where a nurse was taking his vitals and doing other unknown nursing tasks. Each time, Matthew would bite at his lip and Peony would hold his breath as they looked back to the floor, as neither of them had seen what they so desperately wished: Echo awake.

After an amount of time, a bespectacled doctor approached the two and, being understandably intimidated, hovered out of direct eyesight for a few moments before clearing his throat nervously. Two pairs of eyes immediately grabbed onto him, and it was no surprise that the doctor took half a step back. However, when Peony rose, his expression was more agitation than anger, and so the doctor was slightly calmed as the (in)famous lawyer addressed him with a hoarse voice. "So? How is he? Is he going to be okay?"

The doctor sighed heavily, and adjusted his glasses as he referenced Echo Marlox's file. "At this point, Mr. Marlox, it's... it's hard to say. We've gotten him as stable as we can, but-" The young man allowed himself to be cut off by a despairing groan from Matthew, the tan detective sinking lower into his uncomfortable plastic chair and kneading his fists into his eyes. Once it was apparent that he wasn't going to say anything, the doctor adjusted his glasses and continued. "But I must be frank. The trauma your son sustained was... astounding. The blood loss alone was enough to put him into critical condition, not to mention the amounts of drugs that were put into his system. You... I'm sorry, Mr. Marlox, but there is a very realistic possibility that-"

"Dr. Hanson! Mr. Marlox, Mr. Jove, come quick!" The nurse that had previously been attending Echo bolted out of the room, her expression a mixture of astonishment and joy. "The patient- I mean, your son- I mean- He- He's awake, look!"

As one, the four adults rushed into the room, and all stood in unified relief as they saw the small boy, who looked only smaller framed by the hospital bed, blink his turquoise eyes open gently. "Echo!" the two detectives cried in unison, and they rushed to the sides of his bed, each claiming a hand. Their overlapping questions filled the room with parental worry, which the two hospital staff took as the sign to leave, after the nurse informed Peony that, as long as exertion was kept to a minimum, Echo was fine to receive visitors.

Echo, who was simply surprised to have awakened at all, blinked those same eyes sleepily. He had a vague idea of being slowly raised up in the hospital bed, now in a sitting position as his eyes slowly crossed the room from Peony to Matthew and he smiled crookedly, confused by the torrent of questions he was attacked with, and caring only for the answer to one of his own. "Nums...?"

[Aaaand cue Peony and Matthew running off to get candy and tell absolutely everyone alive that Echo was okay - on top of that, it would probably be on the news. As such, cue him getting visitors and gifties!! :D]

It was to be a routine check-up at the hospital, and nothing more. That is what Layton was readily assured of as he nervously sat in the back-seat of Darnell's car as it sped towards the large, looming building. Layton was understandably agitated about the whole thing. This was to be his very first doctor's appointment, and there was no telling what would happen to him. He had nothing to go on save for what his guardian had told him. As he watched the world speed by in the safety of the car, Layton whimpered softly to Darnell, who smiled reassuringly at her son.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, you'll be all right. The doctors will take good care of you, I promise." As she comforted her son, Darnell herself felt slight worry for what was to come. It was only a routine check-up... nothing more. A little tap here and there, a listening of some organs, maybe a shot or two, the basics. She hoped. Darnell was never too fond of hospitals. They made her feel squeamish.Finally, she took a turn off of the freeway and came onto a side road that lead to the white-colored building that was the hospital. Once she had parked the car and retrieved her precious bundle, the two made their way into the facility.

The doors and Layton's drowsy eyes slid open in unison. This world was very unfamiliar to the young boy. All was white and clean and sanitized, making the environment outside seem one of an alien nature. Layton looked all about him. There were many strangers bustling about in white jackets and robes, and they all seemed... strange. Layton could feel his guardian take a deep breath while he was in her arms, and they began to move once again.

Darnell walked up to the front desk, signed Layton in, then walked down the hall to see if she could find the pediatrician's office to which she and her son were supposed to go to. When she found no one to greet her yet, she sat herself down in one of the hallway chairs with Layton in arms to wait.

Without turning his head away from the nook of his mother's shoulder, Layton took this time to take in his surroundings. The hall was rather large and brightly lit, but still had a sort of ominous sense about it. Noise could be heard all around him and it made his want to cover his ears. Before he had a chance to, he laid his eyes on the entryway to the hospital room opposite him. Inside, he could see a lot of tall people standing around someone on a tall bed. Curious, Layton wriggled out of Darnell's grasp and walked over to the room to see if he could discover the identity of the person on the bed. When he saw the older kid, Layton didn't recognize him at first. As he took a closer look, however, he saw a glimpse of the child's eyes.

They were a bright teal blue. Layton could never forget those eyes.

He pushed his way into the crowded room and looked up at the bed, his countenance filled with worry. "Eh-Echo!"

If there was one thing that Echo hadn't quite been expecting, it was a sudden influx in guests. Not that he honestly minded in the least. After his question, both of the excited adults practically tripped over themselves in running out the door and down the hall, presumably going to get the large bag of Halloween candy that had been withheld from the small nix for quite a while. After all, if there was anything that would have gotten his candy back, it would be something bad happening to him, right? He giggled, a weak and sad little sound as any, to himself. He wasn't quite strong enough at this point to laugh very hard, or to really bother discerning what was really funny and what was kind of a masochistic and bad thing to think.

It was somewhere in his quiet musings that a girl suddenly appeared at the door to his room. Coincidentally, her appearance and his seemed similar in a way that he hadn't expected, and he tipped his head gently to the side, dark satin hair flowing off of his shoulder and out from behind his ear, hiding the bloody and bandaged right half of his face. Wincing only slightly with the effort, he lifted one of his wrapped arms and wiggled his fingers at the girl in greeting, doing his best to smile at her. "Hello. I've neber seen you 'fore. Umm..." he started, but his eyes were drawn to the chocolate bar in her hand, and his belly gurgled unhappily. With hope in his dark turquoise eyes, he lifted them to meet the girl's once again, looking curious. "...is that chocolate for me?"

It was only after he had asked this that a much smaller boy wiggled his way into the room, surprising Echo and making him giggle. Apparently people just really wanted to come see him after everything that had happened!! Well... with everything that it was, he wasn't surprised that people wanted to see him, but he was definitely happy that they did. It was nice to have company even after his dad and his mom had both left to get him more of his sugary sustenance.

"Hallo, Layton," he replied to the worried-sounding shout of his name, wiggling his fingers at the sleepy little shadow manipulator as well. He was proud of himself for remembering the boy's name, but it wasn't a big surprise, really. After all, he had met Layton the same day that he had discovered what his magic was able to do to other people, even just on a tiny toy xylophone.

It was after greeting the infant that there was another person that he needed to greet, this one of a certain kind of importance that he couldn't quite explain to himself. But at the simplest idea, the girl had claimed him as a pet, and was therefore very obviously worried about him when she made her way into the room. He smiled at her as well, though he couldn't help wincing slightly at the way it pulled at his face and the wounds that lay beneath those layers of bandages.

"Hi, Aesica," he said, wiggling slightly and smiling as best as he was able to despite the present situation. Wounds regardless, he was certainly happy to see the girl. "Umm... 'M okay. Hurts lots'a, though. But Daddy 'n' Mommy went to get me some candies, so 'least I get those," he replied, smiling at the small child and doing what he could to slip his hair back behind his ear. "You okay, too, 'Sca?"

The small dark-haired fae offered the younger boy a small, strained smile. She wanted to hurt someone for hurting him like this. Sadly, they'd already shot the sorry son of a- The child shook the thought from her head, lifting her bag up. "I'm fine. You needn't worry about me, Echo." she said, nodding once as she did her best to remain calm. "I've brought you some get well presents,." she continued, slowly unzipping the bag with meticulous care, careful not to spill the contents all over the boy.

For someone who wasn't concerned, she'd brought the boy a lot of things. From the seemingly bottomless bag came gummi worms, cream drops, caramels, lollipops, and a couple of children's books to keep the lad entertained during his stay. After all that was taken out and arranged carefully by the boy, Aesica proceeded to bring out her final gift; a violin and a book of music sheets.

"Here." she said, setting it on the boys lap gently. "It's no Stradivari, and it needs a case, but I thought you'd like it." she said, smiling. Did she know what she was doing, giving a nix a violin? Absolutely. Did she let that stop her? Obviously not. She was about to say something else when a loud shriek rang through the room and a little black thing ducked under the bed. Face forming a slightly-interested frown, the toddler-sized child knelt, peering under the bed at the shadow in curiosity.

At the response from the girl with the pretty silvery hair, Echo smiled sweetly, wiggling just a bit in his bed only to wince at the way the movement hurt his... well, everything. When she brought the chocolate bar to him, he made sure to move his arms beneath it, catching it before it managed to fall onto his cut up legs. He smiled up at her, fumbling with the wrapper of the candy for a moment before he was able to tear it away, gnawing off the corner of the delicious treat.

"Mmmm... tankoo vurry mush," he replied as best he could with all of the chocolate in his mouth. Swallowing thickly, he cleared his hoarse throat before continuing. "It's very tasty. Thanks for givin' it to me."

Aesica, predictably, pulled his attention back without even needing to speak, his sparkling turquoise eyes drifting back to her with a candied smile. When she said that she had things for him, the smile only grew, earning a slight wince at the pain that it caused his cut and swollen face. But, oh, the things that she brought forth seemed to make the pain a trivial matter, the sunlit smile on his face an absolute necessity.

"Oh my goo'ness, 'Sca, thank you so--" It was then that she pulled violin from the depths of her backpack, and Echo could swear that his heart had stopped [in the good way, this time, though the heart rate monitor only bleeped faster in response]. The entire room faded in colour, nothing left but black and white, shades of grey framing the beautiful, shimmering brown instrument held between the pale fingers of the girl who had claimed him as her pet. It was something he knew he shouldn't have, knew he wasn't allowed in the way that it made his heart hammer in his chest. Something in the back of his mind warned him in his father's voice not to take hold of the beautiful device, cradle it in his arms and by those means chime every last person in the room out of their own existence.

For the first time in his young life, he betrayed that warning voice of his own conscience and took the instrument into his hands, a tremble running down his spine as tingles overtook the rest of him, crawling up his arms as though they were coming from the violin itself. Tears crept into his eyes as he looked from Aesica to the violin, shaking his head as she talked the gift down.

"I-it's... it's 'mazing, Aes'ca," he murmured, clearly still in awe of the device. That is, until the shrieking broke through his euphoric haze. Similarly surprised, he shrieked, himself, grabbing hold of the violin tightly in his arms as his teal eyes widened, looking all around for the source of the noise, pain seeming to have been forgotten in a mixture of surprise and joy; what a strange combination.

Tipping his head when both his friends looked under the small, sad excuse for a bed he was tucked into, he knitted his eyebrows, trying to look beneath the metal creation himself. "Whut's a Luka?"