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 Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 11:46 pm
Dunnottar bid Carterhaugh goodbye and rushed to near Ziuhoi's apartment complex. He reached out with his aura sense, concentrating as hard as he dared. Upon feeling nobody near him, and not seeing anyone peeking out their windows at him, he powered down and staggered a little from the way things changed. Oh, he was more than just a little bit messed up. That was not a good sign. Grimacing, he made his way into the right building (at least, he thought it was the right building—he'd been here before, right? ********. He needed help). Everything just looked so much the same after just a little bit of looking around. Boring bricks and... Dumb thoughts. Leaving him chasing things he didn't need to focus on. Get to safety. Then have all the dumb thoughts you want, he scolded himself.
He was pretty sure the blood loss wasn't horrible yet, he wasn't very dizzy or cold, but he was pretty sure that he was fast-approaching that level. He definitely didn't feel like anything close to good or fine or safe.
He rang Ziuhoi's buzzer and leaned heavily on the door so that his friend (crush) could see him through the glass door of the foyer. Oh dear. Would he be able to stand back up if Ziuhoi opened the door too quickly? He hoped he would. He didn't exactly cherish the idea of the door opening and then himself just falling in, flat on his face, ruining the entry rug of his friend (crush)'s apartment building foyer as well as giving him some kind of heart attack.
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 11:59 pm
Zuihoi was not expecting to be buzzed, at this time of night. He was between rounds in Rivals, so it was easy to just drop queue and go to the front to see who it was--and when he saw, something twisted up in his chest.
He opened the door, already moving to catch Shulang if he needed it, because the man looked pale and drawn and distinctly in a bad way.
"Shulang? What the hell happened?" He demanded, guiding him inside. And if his heart was racing from a little bit of panic, well, that was probably normal. "Come on, let's get you to my apartment." He had never been so glad to have a place on the first floor, so close to the main foyer. They wouldn't have to walk far, at least.
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 12:07 am
Shulang blinked at him, trying to muster the strength to say that he probably shouldn't say until they were safely behind closed doors, but Ziuhoi began dragging him inside anyway, and he decided to save any braincells he might have for the actual explanation. The moment the door shut behind the both of them as Ziuhoi so carefully guided Shulang in, he gasped a ragged inhale, as if the weight of the night was finally crashing on him. "Bad fight. Got sliced by a sickle," he said, shivering. "Just a few minutes ago. Your place... safe. First place I thought of." He didn't even have the energy to feel embarrassed about that.
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 12:13 am
So some Chaos b*****d had gotten Shulang while he was powered up. There was basically no other way to fill in the gaps in his statement, which probably weren't even intentional because Shulang was losing blood and probably losing a lot of coherency too.
Also, Ziuhoi was not going to confront how he felt about Shulang thinking of his place as "safe." It was a good thing, it made sense, he knew Ziuhoi was a paramedic and probably had the skills to patch him up--which, Ziuhoi decided, he probably needed to make sure to pick up more first aid supplies if this was going to be a thing that happened more than once. He might as well make himself useful in the ways that he could.
"Okay. You're going to be fine," he said, guiding Shulang into his apartment and to the same table where they'd discussed magic just a few surreal days before. "Keep pressure on the wound while I grab what I need." Things to clean the wound. A box of wound closure strips, which Ziuhoi had only ever imagined using if he cut himself cooking or something like that. Bandages. "I am also taking you to the ******** hospital once you're stabilized. That is non-goddamn-negotiable."
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 12:17 am
Shulang nearly collapsed with relief into the chair, keeping his grip on his upper arm as firm as he could. He couldn't help a slightly hysterical sounding laugh at the insistence of a hospital. "Negotiable," he refuted, watching Ziuhoi get the supplies together. "Magic isn't just offensive. Not if you know the right people. Just.... get me stabilized. Please. I'll take you with me, and if my friend's stuff doesn't work, then you can bring me to a hospital with an "I told you so" and all."
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 12:23 am
Ziuhoi gritted his teeth. Unfortunately, if there really was magic that could help, Shulang might have a point that it was better than going to a hospital, since magic could probably clean the wound more effectively, prevent infection, et cetera in a more guaranteed way.
"Fine. But you're not leaving my sight until this is fixed or you're in the hands of someone who can actually give you stitches." The wound closure strips were absolutely not ideal for a wound like this--they were meant for small household cuts--but they would have to do, no matter how little Ziuhoi liked this situation.
He would have to get a suture kit, to keep at home. An insane prospect normally; trying to do that kind of thing outside a sterile environment risked plenty of problems. But he could do it, and if Shulang was going to be ******** stubborn about proper medical attention, Ziuhoi would just have to be prepared.
He worked efficiently to clean the wound and place the strips, holding the slash closed as he carefully laid them over.
"There. This will hold. As long as we get you to your friend quickly."
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 12:25 am
"He's not far," Shulang assured him. He watched Ziuhoi work, slowly feeling a little bit better just by having the wound mostly closed up and covered by something else keeping his blood in rather than his own hand. "Thank you."
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