[PRP] Duststorm (Sascha + Cerpin)

[Yamashii]

Cerpin hadn't even bothered to check the hive for anything other than a place to crash. Sascha was probably right in that they should actually clean themselves up. Watching the other guy crawl around was honestly making him feel pretty crappy emotionally but slightly better about his own injuries. At least he'd had the helmet to protect against the initial impact. But that had come at the cost of beating up Sascha's head. He grunted and got off his a** to crouch next to the psionic.

"Hold on." Leaning down over Sascha, Cerpin wrapped an arm around his midsection and tugged him closer to drag him along. It was not a pleasant carry but he managed to hobble the both of them to the ablution block squashed in the corner of the place. Turning the knobs revealed that the water was still working at least. He pushed Sascha's head under the stream so that the water ran across his hairline. Unclasping his cape, he pressed it to Sascha's nose and moved the boy's hand to hold it there. A

"So... I'm not really much of a medic. This might suck." He confessed as he leaned over his companion, running his fingers through the yellowblood's hair to look for the worst of the wounds. It was oddly intimate and uncomfortable so he pointedly avoided eye contact. Grabbing at a towel resting by the counter, he hoped it was clean 'enough' and dabbed away at the gashes.

"Is it just your head? What else hurts the worst?" For Cerpin, it had to be his stomach where it'd gotten torn up after crashing halfway through a wall. Somehow, though, a potential thinkpan injury topped scrubbing at his abs.

seekingCylem

nurse cerpin, never thought this would ever happen

 

[seekingCylem]

For a moment Sascha thought gravity had completely inverted itself. It turned out it was just Cerpin helping him to his feet. Sascha bit back a groan at the awkward pulling and tugging. Together they shambled into the modest ablutionblock. Sascha leaned into the sink the best his horns would allow. The water was cold, but it helped shock his swimming brain back into wakefulness. It was an uncomfortable position, but he already felt cleaner.

Sascha sputtered at the sudden pressure of the cape, but caught on to Cerpin's intent. It took him a minute to realize exactly what he was holding to his bleeding face. An emotion pressed at Sascha that he couldn't place. In lieu of thinking about it, Sascha continued to wet and dab the blood and sand from his skin.

Cerpin's hands in his hair was an utterly foreign sensation. It stung, which Sascha almost appreciated for the distraction. No one but his lusus had ever touched his hair. For the longest time he didn't even have any. He was more protective of it than he cared to admit. It was a symbol. He hadn't just survived; he'd flourished.

"'Mm fine," Sascha muttered into the sink basin. "It's just overload from my powers. It'll go away."

Sascha pulled himself out from under the water and away from Cerpin's ministrations. He caught himself on the edge of the sink when he nearly reeled back into the wall. He steadied himself as his hair hung in limp, dripping tendrils across his face and down his shoulders.

"There's... probably bandages or something we can use for that around here somewhere," Sascha continued, swaying slightly. Without waiting for his balance to fully return, he began rummaging in the cabinets he could reach from his position gripping the counter.

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

"Yeah, sure, you're fine." Cerpin rolled his eyes at Sascha's posturing. Somehow though, the yellowblood seemed well enough to crash around looking for stuff so he opted to do the same. His lower body ached as they prodded through cabinets and cupboards. It was unbearably painful to stretch upright too much so he hunched over and leaned against a table, opening a drawer to find a bunch of blueprints... for the hive? Wait a minute, there was a signature on it. A crooked smile spread across his face.

"Mahmud? Really? Cool, so, help yourself to whatever." He let out a laugh and shut the drawer. "The owner of this place is a friend of mine." What were the odds of that? Mahmud was living with him back at Underworld currently. He would just pay the orangeblood back whatever they took or destroyed once they got back to Chittentown somehow. It was a little sad to be face with the reality of how crappy the lowbloods of Alternia lived though. This hive was depressingly empty.

"You can sit down now." Cerpin held up a roll of old flimsy gauze. It seemed the weird nest that took up a section of the room had a mixture of junk and useful items in it. This stuff didn't look fancy but it would hold them together okay. Grabbing Sascha by the arm, he moved to yank him back over to the chair he'd been sitting on earlier. However, before he could, the purpleblood let out a grunt followed by a gasp and crumpled over the side of the counter as well. Any sort of twist in his midsection was making the area hurt worse and he instinctively clutched a hand to it to apply pressure.

He pushed the roll at Sascha and just kind of stayed folded over like that for a few minutes. He hadn't meant to snarl at him but the combination of pain, exhaustion and stress was wearing on him. It could have been worse though, he guessed. At least Sascha wasn't the emotional type to b***h him out. Like her.

He just wanted to find a recuperacoon and collapse into it.

seekingCylem

 

[seekingCylem]

The makeshift medicine cabinet Sascha found was stocked sparsely enough as it was. The hiveowner was prepared for more standard ailments, rather than a great deal of blunt-force trauma. Reasonable, albeit inconvenient, Sascha lamented. He pawed through the assortment of adhesive bandages and icy-hot patches. He pocketed a bottle of generic brand painkillers. It wasn't a fraction as effective as the hospital-grade medication he was used to. Still, it wasn't like Sascha was expecting to stumble upon a pharmaceuticals stockpile in some nobody lowblood's hive.

"Wazzat?" Sascha mumbled. Cerpin had said something from the nutritionblock. It took Sascha a moment to parse. "Wait, are you ********' serious? Is there no one in this city you don't know?"

Cerpin held up the coveted roll of gauze. Sascha retrieved the painkillers and met Cerpin halfway. Together the pair stumbled against the counter. Sascha cast an uneasy glance at Cerpin, who continued to lie folded over the laminate. "Dude, sit down. Or better yet, lie down. I'm not gonna know what to do if you end up puncturing something. I'm not used to being on this side of the medical care."

Sascha fussed with the lusus-proof cap on the bottle of pills. Eventually he settled for tearing the lid off with his teeth. He grabbed Cerpin's hand and flipped it palm-up, where he shook out a small handful of painkillers.

Sascha emptied several pills directly into his own mouth. He choked them down before remembering. "Water. Right." He busied himself in the nutritionblock before producing a glass of water. Sascha immediately turned back to the sink in order to clean the blood that was starting to coagulate across his nose and chin.

"...Looks like someone did a s**t job of making a sandwich in here..." Sascha joked halfheartedly as he swiped a thumb through the yellow spatters left on the counter top. His bandaging job threatened to slouch into a blindfold, but it seemed to stem the flow of blood well enough.

"I hate to say it, but I don't think either of us are in any condition to be using a recuperacoon." Sascha grimaced. He'd slept without sopor only a handful of times in his life. The memories of the ensuing dreams were hazy in content, but striking in the pure terror they'd left him in the following evening. Still, REM sleep wasn't the only thing sopor slime slowed. Both boys were injured. Even if Cerpin knew the owner of the hive, the weather still left them in a precarious position. They didn't have time to waste slowing down their healing in the name of a good day's sleep. Sascha wouldn't admit it, but the indeterminate extent of Cerpin's injuries was only a further source of worry. What if he was bleeding internally? No. The sopor was out. Sascha would rather have a brightmare-rattled Cerpin than a dead one.

"With any luck, we'll be too tired to dream of much of anything." Sascha tried to shrug casually. Ow.

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

Cerpin glanced around the hive as Sascha spoke. The yellowblood was right, it was a big risk using a recuperacoon, but that wasn't exactly happy news to the spoiled highblood. While he tried to get by in less than stellar living conditions when he had to (that humid swampy outpost), the one thing he hated compromising the most was a good day's rest. Brightmare free. This was going to suck majorly after the night's traumatic ride.

"Yeah, you're right." He grumbled and got down on the floor to dig through the weird nest up against one of the walls. He'd like to find something to rest his head on at least. One wadded up hoodie later, Cerpin sprawled out on the hard floor with a groan. Every inch of his spine ached but he was in no mood to crawl around looking for more clothes to sleep on. He crooked two fingers at Sascha for him to join him.

"I can honestly say this is the worst floor I've ever slept on. You can rest your head on my chest. Your skull probably hurts enough already." Cerpin was no stranger to sleeping with company, he preferred it when possible. These circumstances were a little weirder than normal but it was Sascha. They were going to be alright. He didn't mind if Sascha bled all over him. They were friends.

"If I start talking or something, just nudge me til I shut up." The purpleblood yawned, stretched his arms out, and closed his eyes.

seekingCylem

 

[seekingCylem]

"Dude you were just keeled over the nutritionblock's commissary preparation surface. If I put anymore pressure on your entrails stockade I'm afraid I'll pop you like a balloon."

Regardless of Sascha's chastisement, the yellowblood assembled his own makeshift nest adjacent to Cerpin. He didn't search through the existing nest so much as he pulled out an armful of whatever tangled in his grip. His UFO catcher method yielded at least a towel and a couple stray shirts.

All Sascha's body wanted to do was collapse to the floor, but he laid down as carefully as he could. He knew once he was lying down, he wouldn't be keen on getting up again if his wounds reopened. He ended up shoulder to shoulder with Cerpin. His hands crossed across his stomach. "Lucky neither of us have eye-gougers," Sascha mumbled, tipping his head slightly so his horns tapped against the floor. "Here's hoping we're too tired and injured to thrash much. Just know if I hit you, it's totally an accident so you can't hold it against me." Sascha snickered despite himself.

"Really though, this has been a hell of an outing. It'll be a great story once we get back to civilization." With that, Sascha tossed his forearm over his eyes and everything went dark.

Yamashii