i wonder what went wrong so that she had to roam the streets

[sweetling]

Date & Time: July 13th, evening
Location: Near the native hospital
Characters: Halfpipe (sweetling) and Law (100hearts)
Summary: Halfpipe has a run-in with an Exile that leaves her bleeding. Luckily there is a certain doctor around to save the day.
Warnings: Violence/gore, discussion of gore, possible discussion of sexual content because Halfpipe, foul language... with these two you may as well put down every one in the book.

She got restless at night.

She knew better, of course, than to go a-wandering round the city without protection. She'd found a crowbar to thrust through her belt and a jacket long enough to hide it and thick enough to keep the rain off of her skin, still bare from lack of clothing to fit her tastes. She was a scrappy little thing, knew how to hold her own on a street. And she wasn't even out to solicit--she would be fine.

Halfpipe had gotten plenty of weird looks, sure. People didn't look quite so colorful in Exsilium as they had in Outer City. Whatever, she'd figured; if she was strange-looking to them, maybe they'd leave well enough alone.

She was wrong.

A sleazy fatso in an old hoodie whistled at her walking by in her thigh-high boots; Halfpipe snorted, flipped him the bird. Never had that been enough provocation to set a two hundred and fifty pound man on her with a knife. Yet that was what happened.

She left him with a concussion, a broken collarbone, and a K.O., in return for taking his shank and a couple teeth--quite generous, for her standards--but she still found herself bleeding quite a bit. Nothing I can't handle, she'd thought, scowling. Not after Beezal had wrecked her face, at least. And so she coughed blood into her fingers and pulled her jacket tight around the stab wounds in her bare stomach, and started to head for temp housing, where she'd stashed a sewing kit that would do the trick well enough.

Halfpipe thought about going to the native hospital when she passed it--but no. They wouldn't help her. So she kept walking, breathing heavily, blood dripping down her legs.

Comments

[100hearts]

Sticking the IV's line into Halfpipe's arm, Law nodded.

At that, Law seemed to look a little distracted. Almost as if his brain shut down for a moment, his eyes wandered before he finally made eye contact again. Blood began to flow from Law's arm into the IV bag, filling it up before it moved into the tube leading into Halfpipe's arm.2

"Let me know if you're feeling chills."

[sweetling]

"'This is weird as shit' chills or another kind?" she asked, only half-joking. "Also I would appreciate it if you paid attention while you've got a needle in me."

[100hearts]

He ignored the last half of that. It was because he was focusing that he seemed to zone out. Focusing on only giving a little blood instead of spraying it all over the place and dying on the spot, at least.

"No, I could understand those chills. Just let me know if you're having a reaction to the blood," Once again, other than one of total shock and surprise.

[sweetling]

"Alright, will do." She didn't forsee any issues with that at the moment, at least if Law was giving the right blood type. She definitely hadn't been wrong when informing him of hers; with the way Outer City functioned there was almost no way she wouldn't know it.

But Law could change his blood into all kinds of things, couldn't he? Halfpipe eyed the IV bag curiously and wondered, more out of curiosity than anything else, what it would taste like.

"What was your weapon before?"

[100hearts]

"My sword, Demon's Cry," Law responded easily, gesturing to his sword. He reached up with his other hand, titrating the flow of blood to Halfpipe with a little less focus than before. He wasn't losing the same amount of blood he was giving to Halfpipe, but the rate of loss was still something to be concerned about. It was distracting, feeling it leaving the body.

"It doesn't have the additional effect the city gave it initially. I had them take it away and give me something else."

[sweetling]

"Oh."

She glanced at his movement, noticing--perhaps realizing fully for the first time that it was coming straight from him.

"You can quit that, you know. I'll be alright."

[100hearts]

"When I'm done," Law ignored Halfpipe, titrating the blood by turning a little dial right by the line itself. He was pushing the blood, but that wasn't the full end of the treatment. It was said a bit forcefully, too.

"Do you remember which one of us is the doctor?"

[sweetling]

"Well... yeah..."

Alright, probably better not to argue. At least until he looked like he was gonna pass out.

"Where you're from, do they usually hand out medical licenses to dudes who cut up guys when they kick dogs? Not really fatally, of course, but still. Interesting hobbies."

that icon makes me think she's looking at law and drooling

[100hearts]

"I don't have a medical license," Law responded, plucking the blood's catheter from Halfpipe's arm. The blood still in the line returned to his body, revitalizing him. Given the fact that it created more blood than it drew, Law got a heavy return for what he lost. His skin gained color again and he breathed out irritably, regarding the IV bag he kept, watching it turn to dust and crumble, leaving his skin bare.

"This is all didactic training," He mentioned it as he ran his free hand's index finger around Halfpipe's stitches. In the same gesture, he created an antiseptic gel and coated the stitches with it, his finger also creating a 'boundary' field that eventually turned into gauze and a bandage.

"Things you learn from countless experiences."

she is actually telling a teenage boy to "not go schizo on her," but close enough

[sweetling]

"Oh, good. Being treated by a licensed physician would break my streak of self-medication and back-alley appointments." She snorted softly with amusement, but watched as her stitches were almost magically treated and gauzed-over.

"Still, you got more talent than any actual doctor I've met. Possibly also more crazy, though that might be debatable."

i still think i'm 101% right

[100hearts]

"The problem with licensed physicians tends to be limited training without a need for further updates. Once they get their licenses, they don't bother educating themselves anymore," He opened his mouth wide to yawn, clearly tired over it, though it wasn't the only blood transfusion he did that day. Law had plenty of other stab-victims come in, unironically.

"Though, don't compliment my abilities until you've recovered. At the very least, the only thing you should be doing now is rewarding me."

yes ok

[sweetling]

"Right," she noted. "Food, for you and the puppy?"

[100hearts]

"I didn't say that," He replied easily, knowing she was attempting to infer that he was looking out for the dog. While he was, Law just didn't want to say so.

"When you're ready to move."

[sweetling]

"You may as well have," she laughed. Halfpipe sucked in a deep breath and slid off the table, rising to full height on her ridiculous heels and sweeping her coat up to wrap it around herself; even if it wasn't actually cold in the room, the atmosphere was chill-inducing. She was still feeling a little light-headed, but she knew that food would help, and she had worked with worse.

Despite that, she decided that she'd better make use of Law's arm again as she began to exit. "Come on."

[100hearts]

Disposing of the rest of the waste, Law shut off the room's light as he left, rubbing at the sore spots where his medical equipment had been ripped out of his body. It was all interesting for him to put it to good use, but at the same time the level of exhaustion that struck him when he skipped meals made things all the more difficult.

The dog tailed after them with excitement in its pants, circling around as if wanting to be the center of attention.

"You can rest on me if you want," Law offered as they got into the hall. "Even giving you a transfusion doesn't imply your exhaustion will settle."

[sweetling]

"Yes, permission," she joked, but nonetheless leaned a little more heavily on him. She would've leaned down to pet the dog, sweet as it was, but she was half-afraid she'd lose her balance and topple over. "Any idea what places are still open this time of night?"

[100hearts]

Permission. Law nearly rolled his eyes at the idea, given Halfpipe's clear stance. She clearly wasn't the type to care at all for comeuppance and even less so, other peoples' permissions. Anyone who could provide reparte in the middle of getting stitches and even be prepped for more soon after while observing the madness of his powers clearly had a strong constitution.

"No clue," He responded slowly, walking with Halfpipe as her support. "Whatever has a light on."

[sweetling]

When you lived in Outer City, you had to have a 'strong constitution.' Its main exports were flesh and blood and there was not a soul who dwelt there who was able to, or wanted to, say that they were without their scars and that they hadn't all been through some tough shit. It was the one thing about the place that Halfpipe could almost admire--the morbid solidarity that came from mutual suffering.

Halfpipe sighed and kept her eyes peeled, though she was likely not at her most observant. They had walked a few minutes before she saw the blood spatters on the ground and realized they were passing the spot she'd been stabbed. "Ooh. Is fatso still in there?" She asked, gesturing to the dimness of the alley.

[100hearts]

"Why?"

It was an easy enough question. If Halfpipe was still angry about being stabbed, he wouldn't have minded making a detour to accommodate her anger. If anything, it would help break out of the otherwise peaceful monotony of his days, which he happened to hate with a passion. Law passed up on delving too far into it, though. At the very least, he just had to test the waters as they walked.

He said this, all while holding her while she was injured.

"If you want to finish him, a few minutes wouldn't bug me."

[sweetling]

She sighed. "Nah, jus' curious. He's pretty fucked as is and I'd rather go find a burger. Provided ketchup won't start leaking out of my stomach." She glanced down at the treated wounds--mostly joking, but still. "C'mon."

[100hearts]

That sounded fine, sans the bread aspect of it. Law rolled his eyes a moment, shifting his weight and helping Halfpipe along. After carrying many other people in that posture, Law knew how to support someone's weight without putting pressure on any abdominal wounds--the most popular ones for pirates, he found.

"You wouldn't have died, you know," He added, intending to dissuade Halfpipe from thanking him too avidly. "Stomach wounds are usually just painful instead of immediately deadly."

[sweetling]

She'd have shrugged if she was in a more convenient position to. "Probably," she agreed. "I've survived worse. But I also enjoy not being in excruciating pain, so."

[100hearts]

"Well, it helps that the chemicals I've bonded into your bloodstream are likely causing accelerated mending of tissue," Law added with an even more bored tone than anything he repeated that night. Talking science made him feel even more dead inside, even if it could be considered a passion of his. It just felt like--indulging himself was painfully bad.

"On top of the fact that they're pretty strong pain-killers."

[sweetling]

"My favorite kind of drug," she noted.

Luckily Law didn't have to bore himself with more science because there was a little food joint with the lights still on coming up--a diner, it seemed. "Bingo."

[100hearts]

Law helped Halfpipe in, ignoring the somewhat surprised and judgmental stares of the waiting staff and the late night visits frequenting the front seats by the counter. Gesturing with the handle of his sword, Law tapped on the table of a booth before leaning forward so Halfpipe could take a seat.

As the happy little dog that had been accompanying them trotted in the door, one of the waitresses voiced her disgust. To which Law gave her a look and tapped his sword on the ground once, effectively silencing her.

"Is your vision blurring, yet?" He asked Halfpipe, beginning to sit down, himself.