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The walk from the gymnasium to the infirmary was probably the hardest walk of Yin's life. For one, he was limping, thanks to his dislocated knee that was back in place but ligaments had probably been torn in the process. Overall he was battered and bruised, and in a rather significant amount of pain. His FEAR shield had been giving out as the day progressed, to the point that it had barely been over 50% for his last spar. His last spar which had punctured his torso with several bullets, broken a bone in his lower arm, and finally convinced him to go to the nurse's office when when he was shot in the jaw.

The blood loss from that injury was making him dizzy and weak as he made it to the doorway, fighting through a pain-induced haze. But that was what he was good at, pushing himself too hard. Too far.

But his spars has served their purpose. He was no longer thinking about the Clan, his fight with Alexander, or his dream that had been worse than any nightmare could have hoped to be. He was busy concentrating on trying to staunch the bleeding of his jaw. He had removed the wrap around his waist to press against his face, but by the time he had made it to that doorway it was all he could do to just lean against the door frame, fighting to stay conscious.

It was not unusual for Yin to flinch away from touches, especially when they came from ghouls. But this time it was primarily wincing, those fingers brushing over bruises, scrapes, and even gunshot wounds. She was right though, the instant he had some crisis or something he struggled to deal with he, as Alexander has so eloquently put it the day before, ran away. In this case to the gymnasium, where he had literally challenged everyone he had come across, whether or not he was recovered from the previous spar.

But he could not really explain all of that. In fact, he could barely speak at all. He attempted to though, just as soon as he got over the fact that she was picking him up, completely mortified that she found it necessary and that he was probably going to get blood all over her. "I think...I went too far," he admitted. But simply trying to speak with his jaw in such condition meant that he was drooling just a bit. Not exactly how one wishes to appear in front of someone that they respect.

But what he hated most of all was how relieved he felt that he did not have to walk all the way over to the cot, because he really was not sure that he could have made it on his own.

Ginko might have been a deliciously smelling temptation to the mantodae...if he had been able to smell anything other than his own blood at that point. As it was it was somewhat comforting to have the small creature next to him, though he could not help but wish it was Princess Eva instead, or even Lady Terror or Dà Lì.

Yin was not the sort that was terribly concerned with "decency" when it came to clothing oddly enough. In front of a ghoul, yes, he was more aware of it. He would not have stripped down on his own for no reason, but for health reasons it was certainly necessary. If anything though he felt ashamed that she was the one doing it, and that he had no energy left to really assist her, though he made a few feeble attempts to help, or at least cooperate. He really felt like just removing the shirt and wrappings on his chest would have been enough clothing to remove though.

This healing was not one of tender and gentle FEAR caresses. He let out a hiss of pain when she worked to realign the bone, her FEAR almost feeling like an invader as it began to tend to his arm. His other fist clenched as he bit back a scream, his jaw starting to clench down as well which was almost as painful as what was happening to his arm. He was almost grateful for her question, anything to keep his mind off of the pain. Almost, because it was not really a question that he wanted to answer.

But bad things seemed to happen when he did not answer questions, so he tried to work out an answer that might be enough for her and that he could live with sharing. She probably did not want or need to know about his brief desire to return to the Clan, about the fight (really, what else could it be called?) that he had had with Alexander, or about the dream of going home and being welcomed back with open arms. And being so happy about it. So grateful. Basking in the security that the Clan had to offer.

So instead he offered the reasoning, if not the actual reasons. "I did not want to think. Sparring...helps."

The look on the nurse's face was one that Yin had never wished to cause. He faltered a bit, looking away. She had healed him once, and was doing so again. She had taken time to train him and he had now been instructed by her in class. He had not meant to let it go this far, not truly. He had not thought that she would bother to care about him enough to be disappointed. He was just a boil. She was probably more upset that he had wasted her precious time.

She made it clear that she thought his agenda had been wrong, bu she was moving on to his knee. He had done what he could with it but it ached, and judging from his limp something was most certainly wrong, ligaments more than likely torn. But if he had expected some soothing, healing touches he was sorely mistaken. He could not help himself as she began the healing, he whimpered at the pain it caused. His leg twitched and he tried not to writhe on the cot, doing his best to be a good patient.

"No one else was injured like this," he said a bit weakly. "As it was just me it is not bad to fight like I did?" he almost sounded a bit hopeful saying that. It was not really doing anyone else any harm. He had sparred, he had held his own against some...but he had not broken anything on anyone else. He was nothing in the grand scheme of things, so if he was injured? No one else would suffer.

Now she just looked angry. He did not know who she was talking about, but what he really wondered was why she said that she used to treat her. Why she did not still. Would she...had she simply stopped treating her? Had she left Amityville?

Some sense of self-preservation seemed to be indicating to him that perhaps it was best if he did not ask her about that. She had a point, there had been multiple points throughout the day that he could have stopped fighting, he could have left. When his knee had been punched out of socket he could have left immediately for the nurse's office. He could have ended his spar with his arm being broken until waiting for the shot that had broken his jaw as well. He could have stopped with just minor bruises and scrapes and never would have had a reason to even bother Nurse Cricket.

He thought about it as she began patching up the bullet wounds, finally able to feel some pain being alleviated, though there was enough pain still that he was not sighing in relief. Still, he closed his eyes, thankful for each wound that was soothed, fully confident that yes, she was probably the best healer in Halloween Town. Perhaps even all of Halloween. It was hard to think about her having limitations.

A Valkyrie? Was...was Lady Hel a Valkyrie? She did have wings but...he had just seen her not that long ago...surely she was not...there had to be other Valkyries. There had to be. His was staring at Nurse Cricket with a touch of horror, already deciding that in the next day or so he would check just to make sure it was not she. That she was still running and training and she was fine. "Never?" he murmured. He had seen weremantises who had lost their wings, or had had them mangled. In fact, those boils that committed serious crimes had occasionally lost part or all of their wings, stripped of the symbol of their adulthood. They never seemed quite...normal after they lost them.

It was then that he knew what he had to do. He had to ask about the other. About the one that she used to treat. It was bold to be certain, and she very well might not answer it coming from a drooling and partially broken boil, but he had to ask. "Were...were you able to help the other one? The one that sought out fights?"

He watched as she removed her arm, slightly in awe of such an ability. He was viewing her with new found respect and then gratitude as she began to heal that break, the pain fading away until he could finally fully focus again, pain a mere throb in the back of his mind. So he noticed the changed expression, though not really what it meant.

So Nurse Cricket was willing to help even those stupid enough to get themselves banged up repeatedly. He was not going to point out that he realized that, but it was certainly good to know. Her gaze flickered away toward her desk, but while he could certainly twist his neck far enough to see it he did not want to be obvious about it. Perhaps he would try to see what she was looking at later, when he got up to leave.

When he looked back to her as she finished speaking she seemed...sad. He was almost certain that she seemed sad. He had been right the first time, this was not someone that he should have asked about. "I am sorry that she went beyond your abilities Nurse Cricket." He looked as if he wanted to say more, and he was frantically searching his mind for something to say. He could not say much, he did not know who she was even talking about and he really did not know what to do is such a situation in the first place. But he just felt like there was something more that needed to be said, like he needed to offer something. "I shall try to do better. I shall try not to go beyond your abilities and I shall try to protect other students from that as well."

He knew that it was almost an empty promise, that he could try but there was very little he could do to actually act on it. But it was like what Lady Hel had said about training. If one never worked at it, one never tried, one was sure to fail. So perhaps if he tried to work on this it would give him just a bit of a chance to keep that promise. It probably would not cheer her up in the least, but maybe in the future he would not be the one to cause her to be upset. To have to remember things that made her so sad.

It appeared as though Nurse Cricket was slowing her healing, possibly stopping. And really, he could deal with the rest on his own. It was normal to need a bit of recovery time, and he certainly deserved some aches and pains for the decisions that he had made. He pushed himself up to his elbows, testing it. Yes, he hurt. His abdomen protested the movement, and even the areas that she had healed still had a bit of lingering pain. But it was manageable. And even though he was feeling a bit light-headed he was fairly certain that he could make it back to his dorm on his own.

What she said made sense, and he nodded. He was lucky he was at the school, and while he had absolutely no idea of what he would do when he left he knew that someday he would have to. And it simply made sense not to rely on anyone else. "I will continue to train then, but I shall try not to go this far again. And I shall continue to attend any course on health that is offered." He could learn to take care of himself, and hopefully never have to show up like this in the nurse's office again. Hopefully he would not have to cause that look of disappointment again.

He moved his jaw a bit from side to side, testing it a bit to make sure it was fully functioning, and then brought his knee up to test how it bent. Everything seemed to be in order. "I owe you that much," he pointed out. "You have provided much assistance for me Nurse Cricket, I should not have caused your this much trouble to begin with."

Well, the nurse certainly did seem to have a wide range of knowledge, from patching up boils who got in over their head to knowing all about protection charms. Which well...he was not so sure he had gotten his right, and he probably needed to submit his lammit for inspection soon now that the trials were over. Maybe he would ask her for another application demonstration if she was in her office when he dropped it off.

Considering he really did not know what sex was still, his thought really was completely innocent.

The oddest thing was that even with her tapping him on the forehead he was almost comfortable around her. Safe. She felt safe. And he was not really accustomed to that feeling around most ghouls. "I shall not hesitate to come here if it is necessary."

Careful not to bump into her he sat up fully, using the excuse of stretching and bending his body to check for anything that felt out of place to twist his head to see what she might have glance at. All he saw of possible importance was a photo of the nurse, secretary and...someone in a cloak. The garment seemed oddly familiar, and niggled at the back of his mind. Perhaps he would look into it later, though he was not sure if that verged on her personal boundaries or not.

He reached for his clothing to begin dressing. "If you do not require me to stay or have anything I can do for you I shall take my leave. There is someone probably waiting for me." He said it but he made no move to stand or leave, and he would not until she gave him permission to leave.