[PRP - CHECK UP] Two For The Price Of One (COMPLETE)

[Ravina Loki]

Who: Cesc, Xiu, and Zeke
When: The day after Xiu has...an accident
Where: Lab 305
Weather: Sunny, hot, and humid; it's mid-summer after all!

Why didn't they call me sooner?! Zeke was bursting through the front doors of the Lab at a run, already feeling the creeping fingers of "you're late" tugging at the back of his mind. He wasn't in truth but an accident on the highway meant twenty minutes at a crawl and thus here he was now, pushing through the back door of the lobby to enter the hallway. Similar thoughts ran through his head as his sneakers squeaked against the linoleum. Cesc and Xiu both injured? Apparently the pair had already been bandaged up but a second set of eyes was required. Zeke was more than happy to fill the role but still! If this had happened yesterday, why was he only hearing about it today?

He stopped at the door of the room the pair were being seen in, telling himself to take a breath and calm himself rather than bursting in there with guns blazing. A panicked staff member wouldn't help matters much if they were as horribly off as he was thinking and he would also need a clear head to be a good doctor to them both.

Easy now... He counted to three, exhaled a held breath, and knocked on the door. No turning back now; after sounding off that he was here he let himself in and immediately set himself to seeking out the Sigels in the room.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late!  

[Atmadja]

The past twelve hours had not been particularly kind to Cesc. The blow to the nose that Igan had given him had not stopped hurting, and his right eye when he rose this morning was a deep purple. The many scrapes on his arms, face and torso had also flung themselves into the chorus of discomfort, and his head felt swimming and mucky. After he still felt nauseated this morning, Shepard had complimented him on his shiner and Vivi had cooed over him sufficiently, he was told to report to the lab to check for concussion symptoms and make sure his stitches were as they should be.

He sat in a chair beside where Xiu lay, his hand folded. He wore a ballcap to distract from his black eye and a navy, comfortable t-shirt. His exposed arms were a mess of scratches, the worst and deepest hidden by gauze. There was a band-aid over the hollow of his left elbow, where he'd given Xiu blood late the night before. He felt sleepy and disoriented, and reacted slowly when Zeke entered the room.

"Heya, Zeke," he said, lifting a hand. "Don't worry, we weren't going anywhere."  

[Rapidashtrainer]

Xiu lay quietly on the infirmary bed with his hair tied neatly in a ponytail. Lazarus had been over earlier to change the bandages across his back where his wings shattered and the left side of his abdomen where he had been stabbed with Estoc’s sword. According to Lazarus, it was a lucky break that Jeremy had been around to help treat his cauterized back and stitch the stab wound in his side. But painkillers would have to wait until a second opinion is obtained due to the nature of a Sigel’s internal workings.

Xiu’s rune and eyes had changed to red to reflect the blood he had been given and the Sigel was feeling sheepish about it.

When Zeke entered the Sigel offered a small smile in greeting, wincing slightly as he sat up. “Good to see you, Zeke,” said Xiu, his voice a little hoarse from all the screaming he had done the previous night.

Ravina Loki

 

[Ravina Loki]

He had been expecting cuts and bruises to be sure but along with them he had been planning on finding broken bones, missing parts, and - slash - or bits of shrapnel needing to be removed. When his gaze fell on Cesc, he found nothing really of the sort. The Stag was sporting a black eye that could make any pro boxer jealous and his nose looked more than a touch swollen. His arms were already gauzed in a few places but other than that? Nothing that particularly screamed 'emergency' at a glance. Cesc look like he tangoed with the wrong someone in an alley, nothing more.

Then his gaze turned and landed on Xiu and that's when the vet's brows shot up.

Oh... Well there it was.

"I would hope you two aren't going anywhere, after what I was told on the phone." He smiled as he said that even though there was concern in his eyes and the faint few lines on his face. He flicked his attention back to Cesc briefly but seemed rather...focused on the empty space that was behind Xiu. After a moment he cleared his throat and turned to pull the two charts out of the holder on the door. One was labeled 'Rhedefre' and the other 'Xiu'. He chanced a glance through one and then the other as he walked toward the pair of patients.

"Hoo boy guys...What on earth did you get yourselves into?" He set the medical charts down on the counter next to Cesc and put a hand to his cheek. "Cesc you look like you picked a fight with a bouncer with an anger management problem and Xiu...Christ, kid! This here says you have stab wounds!"

His bandages looked fresh however and Xiu's file provided photos of what lay beneath. No need to put the Sigel through the trauma of removing and then replacing them all over again right now. Zeke was certain he could glean what he needed just from those and some Q & A.  

[Atmadja]

Cesc watched Zeke with a faint sense of confusion--the man didn't seem to be too well briefed on their situation, but he also said he'd been told something about them on the phone. What information had been imparted? Cesc blinked slowly when Zeke addressed him: a bouncer with an anger management problem.

He groaned inwardly.

Well, it was something like that.

"Yeah, long and short of it is we got the s**t kicked out of us by a guy we thought was our fencing professor and his... watchman," said Cesc, hoping to spare Xiu the explanation. After giving his statement to the police hours earlier--and having told Xiu of the opened investigation mere minutes earlier--the stag felt like the less the subject was dwelled upon, the better. "We came in last night for treatment by Jeremy. Laz cauterized the wounds on Xiu's back, but Jeremy said it was inexpertly done, so there was some re-stitching involved. Laz gave him blood and so did I."

He touched his nose gingerly. The room still felt swimmy and uncomfortable, but Xiu's wounds were worse and he could wait. "My stuff's not as bad. We can get to me after Xiu."  

[Rapidashtrainer]

Ravina Loki

Xiu smiled. Zeke’s liveliness and easy going nature made him feel at ease. And that was good because up until about three minutes ago, the Sigel was quite sure that the world had gone mad. When Cesc briefed Zeke on last’s night’s events though, the Sigel nodded in affirmation. “That’s about right,” said Xiu grimly, his hands grasping the bedsheets a little tighter than was necessary. “We trusted him and he viewed us as nothing more than dogs to be trained and pitted against each other! And to be put down when convenient!”

Clearly agitated now the Sigel began twisting the blanket restlessly.

“Had Cesc and Lazarus not been there, Hazeline would surely have been killed,” said Xiu as his mind recounted the horrible incident. “I was not able t- ah!” exclaimed the Sigel suddenly as in his agitated state, Lazarus’s blood began to manifest itself and the blanket began to smoke.  

[Ravina Loki]

He listened to them both share the details of their story without interrupting either of them. A few comments passed quietly through his mind as he did so, however, but at most they culminated into a soft sigh that morphed into a little noise of alarm when the smoke began to rise from between Xiu's fingers. Zeke went to him and patted at the spots where fire was trying to catch, putting that out with only the barest heat against his palms.

"Easy there, Xiu. You're gonna sport a real hot temper if you're not careful." He gave the white Sigel a wink as he made the light joke, having noted the blood donation comment and the effect that Lazarus' would have upon him because of it. "Is your Guardian alright?"

Her lack of presence in the room despite being apparently involved was worrisome without knowing. There was always a chance that she was fine, but looking at the two of them over again? Until Xiu said one way or another he would have to believe what his eyes told him in regards to her.

"And as for you, Cesc," Zeke positioned himself between the pair of them to see and talk with the two without neglecting one or the other, gesturing at the Pi Yao's clean wraps, "injuries aside Xiu is bandaged up fine. You're the one who seems to need some new ones and if you got punched as hard as it looks we might have to worry about a concussion. Are you sure you don't want me to look you over first?"  

[Atmadja]

Cesc started when he noticed the smoke wisps from Xiu's blankets, and the sudden jarring motion back made him feel a little ill. He blinked hard a few times and gingerly touched his temple as Zeke patted out the fire, and by the time the question was posed, he was himself again.

"Hazeline is... she'll be fine," said Cesc, swallowing over a dry throat. He tried not to remember how he had found her, the state of the house, her head lolled back...

Again, he answered in Xiu's stead: the white Sigel had been getting his own treatment for his injuries and was resting up, so Rhedefre had taken it upon himself to make sure that Joshua had been informed, and gleaned whatever he could as updates for Xiu's benefit. "She's in the hospital now, but I've heard she should be alright to go home and rest there within a few days." He smiled weakly at Xiu. "I hope Joshua is good at keeping house, with the both of you laid up."

Cesc then quieted, listening to Zeke speak. "Are you sure?" He asked, cautious, his brow furrowed with concern. "I know the wounds on Xiu are deep. If you need to look at them and make sure nothing's getting infected or anything, I'm happy to wait. For me, I've--I've got this nose and shiner, yeah, and some stitches that got done last night if I need to replace the gauze on them. And... yeah, my head just feels... weird, like the lights are too bright and every time I move my head around I kind of feel like throwing up."  

[Rapidashtrainer]

Ravina Loki

Xiu nodded. Lazarus had warned him about that. Excitement might cause things to spontaneously combust. The Sigel wondered if that was the reason why the fiery Sigel often appeared reserved at times. Regardless, he had better rein his emotions in. This was the second time this morning he had unintentionally heated something up.

“Joshua will manage,” said Xiu with a small smile. “The house will still be there when we return,”

When Cesc suggested that his wounds be examined, Xiu was more than keen to take Zeke’s side. The Sigel was not keen on having his bandages removed so soon and … Xiu glanced at the clock. Lazarus would be back for a new change of wrappings in four hours.

“Did Igan...play dirty?” asked Xiu softly. He would not put it past Estoc’s attendant to mirror Estoc’s fighting style after all.  

[Ravina Loki]

"I'm glad to hear it," he said in response to what Cesc said about Hazeline. A stay in the hospital wasn't the best news but if she was going to be able to go home soon it was better than it could have been. Zeke made sure to smile.

The vet listened to the Stag's concern in regards to his fellow but when the other Sigel agreed with the human man it wasn't long after that Zeke was approaching the seated Cesc.

"I guess that decides it. Deep wounds are a concern but with a cauterization - rough as it appears by the photos in that file I have there - and demon blood in him, Xiu will be fine for a few minutes longer." He placed his hand over Cesc's and gave it a gentle squeeze. The Incubus' donation was fiery to be sure, but with it there should be some demonic healing helping the Pi Yao out along with it. "A physical wound I can see, I can treat pretty easily, especially with the help Xiu already had. If your brain was injured in that fight, well, that's a lot harder and more pressing to deal with, especially with a day already passed without knowing either way."

He let the hand go and moved away to dim the lights before going to the sink to wash his hands.

"How's that? I can't make it fully dark but with this and the curtains closed that should help a bit I think." He approached the Stag again and crouched down before him, looking the Sigel in the eyes. "With what you said about the lights and feeling like throwing up when you move that does sound like a possible concussion to me. I'm going to change your gauze and check your stitches while I talk, but you let me know if you suddenly feel worse or something, alright?"

Gauze and the other necessities had been left out for Zeke on the table behind him. The vet nabbed the tiny scissors to start snipping away at what was wrapped around the pink Raevan's arms.

"Now a concussion is what we call a 'mild traumatic brain injury'. It's easy to become concussed; you've probably heard it a bit in relation to sports but if you were in a car accident or even fell down the stairs, you can get one." Zeke pulled away the gauze and looked over the stitches that lay beneath. Jeremy did a great job to be sure, but Zeke was going to give them a fresh coat of antibiotic before re-bandaging. "Basically what happens is your brain hits the inside of your skull from the force of a blow and gets bruised. There's several symptoms that can identify it and for the most part it can go away on its own. However it does take time and it can be exacerbated which is one of the things I'm most concerned about."

Zeke turned around and nabbed a bottle of neosporin.

"This might sting a little..." He started to dab little white globs over each stitch. "But ah...You told me about feeling like you're gonna vomit and the light sensitivity, but have you experienced anything else? Maybe difficulty balancing when you float or blurry vision? How about ringing in your ears, lethargy, or any changes in your mood?"

He continued to dab, moving over to the other arm now and looking up at Cesc's face for any tells. Slowness to respond, confusion, a glassy look...more tells he could use to diagnose. After a moment he flicked his eyes to Xiu, giving the white Sigel a light smile.

"And Xiu, if you've experienced any of these symptoms let me know okay? If you hit your head you have a chance to be concussed as well."  

[Atmadja]

"Did he fight dirty..." Cesc repeated breathlessly, his eyebrows going up as he looked slowly over at Xiu."Oh yeah. Yeah, he fought dirty alright. A lot of cheap shots, and he had a hidden dagger, too." He gestured up to his eye. "Not that I was much of a match for him, anyway. Studying for a few months is no match for years and years."

He added, with some bitterness: "I take it our professor practiced what he preached, huh."

Cesc relaxed back on the chair when Zeke turned the lights down slightly, but any light felt like pinpricks on his eyelids and soreness in the back of his skull. He listened carefully to Zeke as he spoke, although some of the words seemed to drift like leaves on a breeze, never quite landing where the stag expected. He knew what a concussion was, knew how a person got one, but the more knowledge he could have on it, the better.

"Yeah, I've had some blurry vision, feeling like I can't tell if things are askew or not..." said Cesc after a few moments. "Some headaches, too. Just feels a little like there's mush in my head." He managed to laugh. "Or a bruise, yeah, that sounds like it's about right."  

[Rapidashtrainer]

Ravina Loki

Xiu gave a wry smile at Cesc's comment. “Yes, Professor Estoc certainly is a man of his word. Can’t fault him there,”

The conversation seemed to tire Xiu as the Sigel settled back against the sheets while Zeke tended to Cesc. The dimming of the lights actually felt calming, soporific in fact. Drowsily the Sigel tried to follow Zeke’s words but they sounded really technical to the Pi Yao. But Zeke seemed to know his stuff and the Sigel would leave it at that.

“No, I was not hit on the head,” said Xiu at Zeke’s question. “But ah…I can’t seem to use my innate abilities or I would have stopped my own bleeding. And probably lessen those of my friends,”

The Sigel was silent for a moment. “I did sneeze sparks though…and I could actually pick the sparkles up. They were…prickly and crumbled away really fast…,”  

[Ravina Loki]

Zeke listened to them talk without adding anything in turn; he was certain they had already gotten respective earfuls about the men they had so grievously tangoed with and didn't need him chiding them as an afterthought. Instead he focused on Cesc, moving away to change his gloves to clean ones before nabbing the gauze and beginning the re-bandaging process.

"Sounds to me like it is a concussion then, if you're experiencing all that." He snipped the gauze and put down some medical tape to hold it taut then moved to the Stag's other arm. "I'll give you some low dose acetaminophen for the headaches and I'm going to prescribe you a lot of rest."

He smiled up at the pink Frei and did the same thing with the arm he was working on as the one before.

"There, all done with that." He rose again and went to a cabinet this time to fish around for a small pill bottle. "In order to heal you're going to need to take it easy for awhile. A lot of sitting in the dark to avoid eyestrain from the light, I'm afraid, and that also means avoiding anything else that'll give your eyes and brain stress." He turned with the bottle curled against his palm in one hand and ticked off fingers with the other. "So no texting, video games, work...anything that requires you to have your attention or concentration. Basically, when it gets down to it, a lot of bed rest."

He got a glass of water for the Stag and passed him that and two tablets from the bottle.

"Once you stop experiencing symptoms we'll have you go through a short series of steps to make sure you're completely okay to go. And don't worry, I'll be writing all this down and sending you home with it to give to Vivi and-or Shep. I'm gonna have to have one of them keep a close eye on you in case your symptoms get worse, but since I understand they're both very busy with the shop...hm." He clucked his tongue and gave a gentle shrug. "Well if they can't, I'm sure all I'd need to do is say the name 'Cesc' and Anya would be at your doorstep in five minutes."

He winked and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Sound good? Just take those for now; they'll need some time to kick in, but I'll also be sure to send you home with some normal-strength medicine as well, just in case that low dose stuff isn't strong enough for you."

He could also see about getting Cesc some of those medically perscribed sunglasses, the ones with the protection along the sides of the face as well as the front. Since the Stag needed to see daylight to feed, the least he could do was make it a bit easier to do just that.

"And now on to Mr. Xiu!"

He approached the Pi Yao now and smiled as he did so, and it got a little brighter when it turned out the Sigel hadn't hit his head and in fact...sneezed sparkles?

"Sneezed sparkles huh?" The vet put his hand to his chin to make a little show of his consideration of that news before pulling and putting the shared file on the table next to Xiu. "Gotta admit I'm pretty curious about that but I'm not about to make you sneeze and potentially open up any of your wounds. I'll take your word for it."

Another wink and he opened the file to pull the Xiu-focused documents and photos to the forefront.

"When did you first notice that you couldn't use your powers? Was it before this fight? During it? After? ...Well after would be obvious wouldn't it?" He chuckled. "Ignore that last one."  

[Atmadja]

Cesc listened to Zeke with half-lidded eyes, the darkness in the room starting to make him feel sluggish. It was strangely relieving to know that a concussion was what he had, that he hadn't just been wholly tilted off his senses by the experience, and that--with time--he'd be back to normal.

"Alright, alright," he sighed at Zeke, although at Anya's name he couldn't help but smile. "I'll take care. I'm not soft, I'll be alright. I promise not to do anything that'll make this worse."

He took the pills and knocked them back in a quick movement--head back, a quick swallow--as Zeke turned his attention to Xiu. He could barely finish his swallow when he began to laugh a quiet laugh, leaning back and slouching in his chair.

"That's my bad," he piped up, holding up a hand. "How is that always what people get? Laz got it, too."

Realizing he was being a little incoherent, Cesc snapped his fingers, and from that friction, a small host of sparks rained into the air. They stayed suspended there and did not fall, and when Cesc waved his hand, they floated toward Zeke and Xiu. "Like that? Yeah. It happens to me when I sneeze, too. Must've transferred to you with the blood."  

[Rapidashtrainer]

Ravina Loki

Xiu smiled at Zeke’s quip. “I certainly hope not. Being sewn up once is bad enough,”

“But my powers… I mean, it isn’t something I would have a cause to use on a daily basis,” said Xiu. “It has always just…been around. But yeah, certainly after the fight. I-I remember feeling really drained after my wings…shattered. B-Back when my guardian’s life was in jeopardy…,” said Xiu, his voice faltering slightly. “I tried using if after I woke up in this infirmary but nada,”

Cesc’s interjection at that point was a welcomed one and Xiu’s laugh was a little louder than necessary at the sight of the floating sparkles but the sight of them was just so…incongruous to the situation at hand that it tickled the Pi Yao’s humour. Reaching out for one and watching it crumble upon contact with his fingers made the Sigel smile. “Yeah, exactly that,”

Then a thought occurred.

“I don’t know how but you should really sell them. People could do with a bit of sparkle in their life, don’t you think so, Zeke?” asked Xiu as the turned to face he human once more.