closed | some black ink on some blue lines

[vaccination]

Date & Time: August 1st
Location: Transport clinic
Characters: Ellie, Joel, and their hot nurse Kaneis
Summary: Joel pops some stitches, Ellie brings him to a magical redhead
Warnings: Descriptions of blood/gore are likely!

Getting anywhere in the rain always seemed to take longer than anything else. Thankfully, they don't get lost on their way to their destination, and Ellie heaves a sigh of relief once she sees the clinic doors. Good. They made it. Her footsteps already feel lighter, any injuries of her own forgotten.

"Almost there. I got the door," she says to Joel, running ahead and holding it open for him. She leans inside. Sure looked like a clinic, or what remains she'd seen of labs and research facilities. Except this definitely felt alive. It felt hopeful.

"Hello? Need some help over here!"

Comments

[beardedflannel]

Uh huh.

[Joel finishes up his water and reaches out to put the empty cup on the table next to the bed. Been a while since he's had clean and fresh water. It went down smooth, feels like it's been twenty years since he's last felt that with water.]

Ain't as bad as it was before.

What about you? How're you doin'?

[wilder]

[He gives a soft "heh" and grins a little as he works.]

I could get used to hearing that...but I'm just doing my job. A lot of the other healers probably have a lot more amazing skills.

[vaccination]

Good. I'm fine. Just... glad you're alright.

[He wasn't grimacing in pain anymore. He wasn't bleeding. He was okay. Ellie keeps repeating it to herself.]

[vaccination]

[There's more like him. Ellie's finding it hard to comprehend, but as she shifts in her seat, she's reminded of something else.]

Does that take a lot out of you?

[She's dropped her voice, so that sleeping Joels can't hear.]

[beardedflannel]

You get yourself patched up?

[Don't think he hadn't seen the blood on her face, the bruises and scrapes beneath her tears. His attention is focused all on her right now, eyes taking in her face to just be sure.]

[wilder]

The magic?

[He gives a light shrug]

Only if I do too much of it at once, it's not anything to worry about.

[vaccination]

Oh. Well... I could use some magic myself. If it's not too much.

[wilder]

It's not too much.

Where are you hurt?

[vaccination]

[Busted. Ellie nods. She looks like she wants to say something--thank you, or something like that. Thank you for coming for her. Thank you for not dying. Thank you for not abandoning her. Thank you for everything.

The moment passes, though, and she just reaches for his hand with both of hers, to fiddle with his fingers for a moment. She doesn't know why she does it, but the contact is nice, even if she feels a little embarrassed for it.]

I'm okay, Joel. Everything's okay.

[vaccination]

My ribs are pretty fucked up. Hit my head kinda hard, too.

[She has a number of bumps and bruises and aches all over her body, but those are the two that keep pestering her. She can feel a swollen bump hidden under her hair, though she can't remember when exactly that happened. Her ribs are the worst--bruised and swollen under her shirt, they're not broken but if he'd kicked her tiny frame just a little harder...]

[wilder]

[he glances up as he's reapplying new bandages onto Joel]

Fucked up? They're not broken, are they?

[vaccination]

[Ellie glances at Joel. Still asleep. Good. He didn't need to know about how badly she was hurt.]

No clue. I've never broken anything before.

[wilder]

Hm...

Take a deep breath for me and tell me if you feel a very sharp pain.

[vaccination]

Do I have to?

[She groans... quietly.]

More like a dull ache.

[wilder]

Heh, sorry. I haven't been given clearance to the X-Ray machines yet.

[He nods] But hey, good news. Your ribs probably aren't broken.

[vaccination]

So, you can magic me all back to normal?

[wilder]

Should be able to, yeah!

[vaccination]

Okay.

[She sits there. That's all she needs to do, right?]

[wilder]

[He'll finish up the bandage, taking a step away from joel so he doesn't accidentally...cast on him. More concentrating, more white glowing, and what not]

Heal!

[And yep, sure enough her injuries are getting fixed up by white sparkly magic. It's like a bedazzle image without Snoop Dogg ]

[beardedflannel]

[Down his eyes drop to where her fingers play with his. He watches the movement for a few moments in silence, taking the long forgotten gesture in. Never before would he have expected her to do that; it kind of tugs on his heartstrings, strings that have only been recently restrung after being broken and left to rust for so long.

Joel needs a moment to find his voice again, his words quiet and somewhat gruff when he does.]

You scared me, you know that? I woke up and you were gone, I didn't know where you'd gone and run off to.

[And then when he had found her... Joel might need some time still to wipe that memory from his mind, the image of her straddling a corpse, blade in her hands hacking away brutally at what was once a human skull and was left mangled, chopped up in a sickening and bloodied pile of brains, bone and tissue.

Christ.]

[vaccination]

[Ellie shrugs, focused on their fingers. She's never done anything like this with someone before, silly and simple as it is. She never had people in her life whose contact she found comforting and safe. She hugged Rylie, once. Huddled up with her when they thought they were going to die together. Joel held her and she felt grounded and secure, and dumb things like this were oddly nice.]

I had to draw them away. They were gonna kill you, if they found you.

[He probably wasn't fit for eating, with that wound and fever.]

I didn't have a choice.

[vaccination]

Whoa.

[And just like that, the aches and pains dim. Ellie stares down at herself, awestruck.

It's kind of cooler when it's being used on you.]

Fuck, that is so cool.

[beardedflannel]

[Joel pulls his hand free only to then grasp hers, his single hand large enough to cover both of hers, shielding them. His fingers wrap and squeeze lightly.]

You did good. Real good. [He's not talking about how she took care of David either.]

We're both here, we're gonna be just fine now.

[No clickers and runners and fucking hunters. There's no risk of infection of being bitten, or at least for him seeing as she's immune.]

[vaccination]

Yeah. We will.

[She smiles at the squeeze before pulling away entirely. The look on her face as almost apologetic as she reaches down for her pack at her feet.]

I... uh, I have something for you. I've never found a good time to give it to you, 'cause... there's not. So.

[beardedflannel]

What's that?

[He waits, settling back into the pillows when he starts to feel a bit of strain from sitting up on an elbow. While Joel waits he pulls up the bottom of his shirt to check out his healed injury, noticing that it was redressed with fresh wrappings.

He doesn't want to think about the weird magic mumbo-jumbo the redhead had done, simply content to not have to deal with the sickening sensation of there being nothing but bloating and pressure on that one side of his stomach for so long.]