Welcome to Gaia! ::

A soft sigh ghosted from Orah's lips as she scrubbed her hands in what passed for a sink, strands of dark hair sticking wetly to the sides of her face. Water ran red from her fingers, but at this point, blood was a fact of life and she seemed to spend the majority of her time with some of it on some part of her form.

That laceration was bad... and we're running out of thread for stitches. I need to add it to the supply list... Various items she needed to add to the request list ran through her head in neat order, distracting the young woman from the dullness that seemed to wait around the edges of her mind, waiting for when she finally ran out of things to do to descend on her and wrap her in comforting numbness.

The Oasis Hospital bustled around her, filled with voices and smells and rushing people. The large, military surplus tent was packed with as many cots as they could fit, separated by screens with enough room to move around without knocking something over. When the Order Headquarters had been set up, it had seemed a logical need to have something like this... with the Negaverse eye everywhere in the city, it just wasn't safe to go to the old hospitals for treatment. Unexplained or suspicious injuries were sure to call attention, the kind of attention that led to people disappearing... and while there weren't many of them, there were enough medically trained Order-side people to fill the staff to something that functioned, if barely.

Orah shook her hands free of droplets before she reached for the paper towels, scrubbing her skin dry as she turned to survey the busy room. The knight in the fourth bed needs to be looked in on... then after that, the senshi in number 30... The list was never ending, but at least it kept her busy, kept her mind off worrying about where Matthew was and if he was okay. Threadbare scrubs clung to her hips as she leaned back against the sink, taking a moment to gather herself before she leaped back into the war against disease and injury.

The scarred and matted cat darted through the flap of the tent, scurrying urgently toward the sound of running water in the makeshift sink area. Often enough he found the dark-haired woman working there, a tireless princess in disguise, and offered what meager scraps of medical supplies he could find on his endless Shadow missions. Tonight he suffered the heavy effects of fatigue, from pushing himself beyond limits on the desperate belief that just a margin more effort may yet turn another to their side.

Contrary, it ended in tragedy.

Having bumped the flap open, Faust grunted curtly while he half-limped toward the sinks. In his mouth hung an unopened package of thread, with flecks of cat spittle resting on the sealed surface. Grunting again, he dropped the package on the floor. Afterward he sat, licking a new wound acquired via darting through the brambles in an attempt to evade the growing number of officers prowling about. "s**t's gone south out there," he offered, though she already knew. Everyone knew. "It's goddamn hard gettin' around, even for a cat. Damn fools are out tryin' to catch every furry b*****d that moves. Pinched some thread, though." It was about all Faust could offer in terms of a status report.

When returning from missions, the Mauvian never mentioned the dead.

"Thraen did pretty damn good, managed to mangle one of 'em. Finished 'em off before they could escape." I damn near wandered into the patch of flowers like a dumbass. "Figured it's some progress. Can't really keep fightin' em head on, though. Lookin' for a decent plan." Huffing, the Mauvian laid against the cool ground to lower his body temperature from the day's endeavors.

"Yo, anyone you visitin' tonight? I'm goddamn bushed." Afterward he closed his eyes to accentuate his point.

The sudden opening of the flap that served as a door drew Orah's attention and she glanced over, surprised and confused for a moment by the lack of a person in the opening. For a split second, panic rushed in as the young woman pictured some sort of Nega device that allowed someone to walk around invisible and unsensed... but the low cat grunt quelled that before it got properly started and the young woman sighed as she pushed away from the sink and shuffled over to rest on her knees beside the large, fluffy guardian.

"Faust! You scared me there for a moment." She said as she ran her fingers lightly over the top of his head. She avoided the line of scar tissue and instead directed her eyes and her attention to the wound he was cleaning. Inspecting the scratches showed they were minor, most likely an environmental hazard, but they needed real cleaning and some disinfectant. His report, which is what it sounded like, flowed in one ear and more or less out the other. Same old... hard times, dangerous situations, valiant warriors fighting back evil. She didn't much like hearing about the killing of officers, but at this point it wasn't her call how the situation was handled. Her world had narrowed down to making sure the people they did have stayed alive as long as possible.

"s**t's gone south everywhere." She agreed as she reached out to lift the Mauvian up with a grunt of effort and sling him over her shoulder. She was going to need to wash her hands again, but whatever. "Thanks for the thread, sweetie, we're running low. Next on my rounds is #4, and I'll give you two guesses what Mars knight is in there needing de-tarred." Orah said as she pocketed the thread and headed for the main area, her long, braided hair brushing against her backside as she swept through and down the aisle with purposeful strides. The trip was thankfully short, though the nurse would never complain about carrying the weight of a guardian cat half way across the hospital.

The sight that greeted them in the number four cot was an all too familiar one and Orah settled Faust into an open chair before she went to wash her hands in the small basin set up for that purpose.

"We have to stop meeting like this, you know." She called back over her shoulder, trying to lighten the mood.

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Across the medical tent, the buzzer announcing a Mirror arrival called the attention of the stationed security guard. A peek around the curtain confirmed the identities of the occupants and the lack of others and the guard pulled the curtain asid with a smile and a greeting for the two women.

"Here, I'll take the supplies. If you're looking for Orah, I think I saw her down at the other end." The young man said as he took the cooler from them, waving the pair in. Chaiklo was familiar enough to all the guards that no ID was needed any more, and the supplies she brought went a long way towards smoothing the way for her.

"Aw you know you'd miss me." Kairatos flashed a tense smile as Ida and Faust entered, mostly to disguise the wince. "Besides, better me than someone else. Sticky b*****d..." He growled. He wanted to fidgit, play with his hair... do something, but if he did anything thoughtlessly he'd spread the damn tar, and he knew well enough that was a terrible idea.

"Faust." He added in greeting to the ragged black cat. "Cross any interesting paths?" his tendency to drop nick names may have been a little more hit or miss these days, but sometimes there were still jokes.

"I swear I had him on the ropes." He muttered, which was also a usual claim. The two had sparred so often that the day either of them actually won against the other would be earth shaking.

There was something of a sad smile on Orah's face when she came back to the bed, her braid now pinned in a bun at the back of her head in preparation for tar as she pulled on a new pair of latex gloves. Thankfully, someone had anticipated her and left the Specialty kit out. At this point, there were a few of them scattered around the hospital, their contents including things specific to treating the victims of a certain half-youma General-King. The small scratch drawing of a bull's head on the front proclaimed this one as particular to this knight and gave her a hint of who had been thoughtful enough to bring it so Orah didn't have to go hunt it down.

"Alois has a particular knack for not dying." She said soothingly as she sorted through the supplies, pulling out the tub of oil and gauze she'd need for clean up. The young woman smiled gently again as she soaked down a bit of gauze and set to clearing tar from Kairatos's face. "As do you, I think. After the first couple of times, you'd think your luck would run out, but it doesn't seem like it ever will. Rather a good thing, hmm?"

There was little need to lecture him on how stupid it was to continue to face off against the General-King, Faust did that well enough for her. Better to do what she was good at and let people make up their own minds about how best to fight this war. Brown eyes slid to the door when the guardian warned her of approaching signatures and she took a break from her growing pile of soiled gauze to peek around the edge of the partition. What she saw put her at ease and she lifted a sticky hand to wave at the two women who had arrived.

"I'm in here, doing some clean up!" She called, making sure they saw her before she slipped back into the 'room', going back to what she was doing. Hopefully the Royal Knight wouldn't mind a little company... she didn't want to put off the clean up while she attended to whatever it was the girls had brought her. She knew from painful first hand experience that the longer it stayed on the skin, the worse the burns it left behind.

"Yeah apparently I manage to be just attached enough to living not to end up dead..." Kairatos joked, or muttered anyway, since he was trying to hold a conversation while someone cleaned tar off his face.
He started to angrily protest calling that... thing Alois... but there had been a human in there once, a man who wanted to be saved, and to die if he couldn't be. It wasn't Alois who wouldn't die, it was the creature pulling the strings of his corpse.

"If we could get him pinned down and turn a couple crystals on him or something we'd have it over with, but we can't lay out a couple of our top people for a week to get rid of one goddamn GK. Too small a win for the price." He lamented, frustrated. His crystal Gladius might be able to purify, but they'd tried with Iris's crystal years ago... he was sure it would take much more than he could give to try that trick.

"Hey shitheads." He noted, semi affectionately. He didn't quite know what to think of DMC that turned traitor, and his nicknames for them were generally on the ruder side.

"How you doin?" He didn't trust them entirely because... well... Chaos... but he couldn't deny that they brought useful information and supplies, even if he couldn't help feel it was a matter of time before they brought something else down on them instead.

Most of the tar off Kairatos's face, Orah surveyed the damage with a critical eye, brown fingers seizing his chin to tilt him about a little for a better angle. Satisfied, she moved onto his neck and down his shoulder, wherever the tar had stuck. His armor helped, somewhat, and took the tar with it when he powered down.

"At this point, I don't think there anything that can be done for him. Maybe, back in the beginning... but not now, and the effort could be spent else where to better effect, maybe." She said softly. It had been something of a slip, to refer to him as Alois, but that was her own business, really. Only a precious few knew the reasons there and she was happy for it to stay that way. Linking a Princess to a General-King would, perhaps, not go over well with most people.

A smile moved over Orah's face as he greeted the women and she leaned back to survey her progress, waving a hand at the box of latex gloves when Cruithne offered to help. "If its okay with Kairatos, I don't mind if you help. Faster we get this done, the less damage and I have other patients to check on today before the healing at the end." She referred, of course, to calling up her princess power and setting it loose on the hospital, something she did at periodic intervals when the power had built up enough to allow it. The increased healing did wonders... the burns here could perhaps be mostly gone after that. Blinking slowly when Faust called for her attention, Orah pulled her attention away from the tar removal to tilt her head a little in thought.

"I trust Chariklo, or there wouldn't be mirror in the hospital. If you can use her help, then by all means, tell her your plans. Just keep in mind that sort of thing isn't really my expertise... your normal group might be better to put that question to." She agreed, for the most part, with Faust's assessment of their side, but at this point, their numbers were too few not to take advantage of any resource they could get their hands on. Mirrorwalking was too useful, and Chariklo's 'neutral' status with the Negaverse made things safer for her in most situations than it did for their own people.

Taking the insults in stride, Chariklo actually batted her eyelashes and blew a kiss in Kairatos' direction before settling into a smirk.

"Ah, you say the sweetest things, assbutt. You too, fuzzface. Truly, the love here is just overwhelming. But could we keep the slams on the down low in front of the kid here, jeez."

She would have continued in that vein had Cruithne not picked that moment to giggle and say with a perfectly innocent expression, "But Chariklo, you say a lot worse in front of me all the time. Though from an un-biased viewpoint, I think Faust rivals you in terms of insult originality."

Flushing slightly, Chariklo cleared her throat and instead turned her full focus to Faust and arched an eyebrow. If the furball had something she could help with, he'd tell her in his own time. No point in trying to force it out of him. Besides, those claws of his hurt... Though she couldn't help the smile that flickered across her face as the cat brushed against her leg.

"It is what it is, Faust baby. We just gotta make the best of what we got."

She would have continued to wax philosophical had it not been for the very abrupt entry of a female Knight. Bristling slightly, she moved just enough to put herself between this newcomer and Faust and Cruithne.

--------------

Still laughing quietly, Cruithne smiled with pure happiness as Faust rubbed briefly against her leg. Greatly daring, she reached down to gently stroke the top of his head.

"We love you too, Faust. We're just not as effusive as you in admitting it."

Clearly, she'd been exposed to Chariklo and her sass-talkin' for far too long. Still, she liked the guardian cat. And she liked and admired Ida. It was a pleasure to help them when she could. Reaching for the box of gloves, she raised her eyebrows inquiringly at Kairatos, wanting to make sure that he was all right with her lending a hand.

"My magic might help with the burns," she murmured. "Never tried it on tar burns."

She already had a pair of gloves out of the box and was pulling them on when the female knight appeared. Freezing like a deer in headlights, the senshi of lavender stared, wide-eyed at the agressive female. Eyes cutting between her, Ida and Kairatos, she wondered if this might not be the time to try and scoop Faust up and retreat.