Night 65: F11-20 Hallway

[fourstonewalls]

To die for...

Was that idle chitchat? A red herring? The nausea making a convincing case for the chicken's immediate release and acquittal on all charges? Her stomach did a little flip as the gavel came down, pronouncing it not guilty. But wouldn't that mean it wasn't poisoned? Objection, your honor. This case makes no sense. She fell back onto her pillow for a second, head spinning. She was lightheaded, and giddy, and in no shape to be gathering her things in the dark -- she'd landed on the flashlight -- and heading out into it.

Nevertheless, she eased the flashlight out from under the small of her back and switched it on. A circle of light flickered into life on the ceiling, as the Head Doctor's voice came back on the intercom.

Five. How many were sick? She held the gun up into the light, probably thoroughly freaking out Ilia, even as she kept it pointed only at the near wall. What made a human? Guilt. Or innocence. A lawyer's answer, to pick both, but it was true. Animals didn't know what they did. Humans did. Temporary insanity, turned into a monster. It was a defense on legal grounds, but not on ethical ones. She wouldn't let it come to that.

Harrington's little interjection cut into the path her thoughts had wandered down. Another clue. This time, she was going to see it for herself. As long as she was still herself to do so. A good reason to hurry.

[to here]

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar was snapped out of his thoughts as Tsubaki spoke again. They had traveled quite a distance without him even realizing. He blamed it on the sickness. It was easier that way.

He glanced up at the young girl Rapunzel, giving a nod of acknowledgement. And there Tsubaki went with that word, again. He had hardly known her twenty-four hours and he was apparently already her friend. Despite Scar's cynical disbelief that there was truth in that statement, it was still warming to be cared about.

"Tsubaki tells me that you can heal people." He watched Rapunzel, hoping he wasn't being overly intimidating. (Though, no one looked intimidating from a damn wheelchair.)

[hairraising]

Rapunzel tensed slightly when the door finally opened, but recovered quickly. In came Tsubaki, wheeling a man she could only assume to be— Yep, the other girl confirmed it to be the friend she had described on the bulletin board. She and Scar were introduced, and Rapunzel waved them over closer to her bed. She would have gotten up, but she had to do whatever small things she could to conserve her energy tonight.

"It's good to meet you, Scar. And I can, though not as well as I could back home," she admitted, looking Scar over with no small amount of dismay. If he was to the point of having to be wheeled around, she wasn't sure just how much she could help. "I can do a little bit to help whatever's been hurt the most right now, though?"

Rapunzel tried to gauge what that might be. Probably the legs, she was guessing, but other things could put a person out of commission like this too. The wound on his wrist looked pretty serious, so if he was cut like that anywhere else...

[thecamellia]

She didn't need to be told twice. With a nod at Scar, Tsubaki got behind the wheelchair again and brought it to rest beside Rapunzel's bed where the other girl would have no problems laying out her long hair.

The man was better able to answer Rapunzel's question than she was, but there was obviously a personal element to how and why Scar had obtained his wounds in the first place. As merely an observer, Tsubaki thought maybe her clinical detachment might help to smooth things over, so she moved back to Scar's other side and used her finger to start measuring out the general lengths and positions of Scar's gashes. Getting to the root of the medical problem would hopefully keep everyone focused.

"I think there are knife wounds to the muscles here and here that are causing the worst problems," she started to explain, pointing toward the affected areas on Scar's back and the backs of his thighs. "Is that not right?"

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar frowned slightly when Rapunzel mentioned that she couldn't heal as well as she could back home. What sort of power did she have? This place cut the abilities of everyone, then? Its physical effects on people hadn't been something Scar had considered, until now. Lust had had problems with her claws that time, but he had filed it away as some kind of homunculus issue he knew nothing about, and he was unaware of any supernatural abilities among his other acquaintances.

It didn't affect him, though, so he didn't bother thinking on it too long.

"Yes," he said stiffly, "There are slashes on the backs of my legs and on my back." Scar did not know what kind of limitations Rapunzel was talking about. Did the power sap her own energy? Or was it limited in its healing effects? There were others more deserving of the limited power. This much, he knew. "If you could fix my legs enough to make me walk, I would be grateful." It hurt too much to move efficiently, right now, and although the wound in his back made many movements difficult, he wasn't spending another moment in this chair.

[hairraising]

That was more than enough information. Rapunzel didn't want to know how Scar had ended up with knife wounds, and in such vital places, too. She didn't want to think about how something that could think had done this to him, something that knew enough about the human body to take one out of commission like this. Had it been one of the patients under Landel's control? The Ram Man, Lingormr? Or did Landel have more than just shambling, vomit-inducing monstrosities on his side?

For now, Rapunzel nodded, gesturing toward Scar's legs. "Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. Tsubaki, can you roll up his pant legs?" she asked, already getting her hair prepared.

Once the wounds were exposed, she would be able to wrap sections of hair around them and begin the incantation song. Thinking about what else she would be doing tonight, she figured she could close the wounds and fix the inner workings of things just enough to let Scar get up. It would be a delicate fix, a splint of twigs and leaves on a bird's wing, but it would be better than nothing.

[thecamellia]

"Thanks for your help, Rapunzel," Tsubaki piped up with a smile, "and for trying your best on this."

Rapunzel had such a strong heart, but she knew that the other girl was also terribly new to… situations like the Institute. The struggle and the confusion. The badly hurt people who might depend on her healing gifts. She wanted her friend to know her efforts weren’t in vain.

After what had happened to him, it was clear enough that Rapunzel’s power would find a good home in Scar. With a look at the man, Tsubaki followed up on Rapunzel’s request by saying, "If that’s all right with you. Her power is in her hair so she’ll have it touch the wounded areas directly." Granted, it was a little strange, but Tsubaki had seen stranger. In a logistical sense, the most difficult thing to contend with was the awkward placement of Scar’s injuries, which almost required them to remove the clothes entirely, but she sincerely doubted Scar would want to do that.

[envy_the_sinners]

"I'll do it," he grumbled, shifting painfully in his chair and attempted to roll the legs of his pants up past the bandages, but the fabric caught and pulled on the wrapping. Scowling, he slipped the waistband of his trousers down below his bandaged thighs. Scar was in boxers, which were loose and decently long, but he still felt terribly wrong pulling his clothes off in front of these young women.

"I apologize." But the wounds were too tender to get the legs of his pants rolled so high and over the bandages. Scar stood slowly, teeth grit and eyes narrow as he moved to lean against the wall by the bed.

Still, though. Magic hair? He half believed that this was some kind of joke as he unwound the white strips of cloth, revealing the ugly stitched gashes. The Ishbalan sneered, not wanting to look at them.

[hairraising]

"Wait, no, let Tsubaki—" A scowl from Scar as his pants caught on his bandages, forcing him to go for the waistband of his pants instead. Rapunzel's face flushed deep, deep pink. "...do that."

Really, she shouldn't have been so flustered, especially not when there were more important things that needed doing tonight, but... Well, it was her first time seeing a man even partly naked. Mother Gothel had never said much about what lay below the belts of those "brutish, violent men", and the one anatomy book that had ever graced the tower's presence only really told her about certain... "parts" that were different between men and women. And pictures in a book were always nothing compared to seeing something in real life.

At least he still had his underpants on?

"A-apology accepted," said Rapunzel, hoping the darkness of the room would hide the redness of her cheeks. It was doing a decent job of helping her to not focus on Scar's bare legs, at least. That was something she needed after getting up to wrap the sections of hair around the wounded calves. Once a loose wrap was done (she did her best not to agitate the injuries), she shuffled back maybe a little faster than intended, sitting back on the bed.

Rapunzel took a few moments to breathe, closing her eyes. When she was ready, she began the incantation, and soon, the room filled with a familiar warmth and glow.

[thecamellia]

As seemed to be his way, Scar was quick to take on the task himself. To Rapunzel's embarrassment, the uniform pants had to be pulled down to get at the injuries, and Tsubaki glanced at her for a moment before hurrying to Scar's side when he started to stand by himself.

"There's nothing to apologize for," she assured him, shadowing him closely. "Put your weight on me if you need."

Between yesterday and that night, the wounds were in much better condition, mostly because they were no longer raw and bleeding freely. The Institute's treatment, despite its sinister underbelly, was at least efficient when done right. Tsubaki held her breath, waiting as Rapunzel twined the coils of her hair about Scar's legs and settled back to work her magic.

She'd seen it in action a few times already, but it was always the visceral memory of Rapunzel using it on her that struck her first and foremost. Golden light carried on song notes that seemed to sink into the hurt spots, soothing, warming, strengthening... Magic, beyond a doubt.

[envy_the_sinners]

Maybe there was no need to apologize to Tsubaki, but he had certainly succeeded at making Rapunzel extremely uncomfortable. He was decently covered, he had thought... And Scar had stricter measures of 'decent' than most people!

Scar shook his head silently at Tsubaki's offer to help him stand. He was sick of using her as a crutch. He watched, eyes narrowed, as Rapunzel wrapped her hair about his legs, unsure of the exact moment his mouth fell open. It was unlike anything that existed in Amestris, and could really only be described as magic. That girl's hair was definitely glowing, and Scar could feel the muscles knitting themselves back together. It was becoming easier to stand with every passing second.

[hairraising]

It became easier to focus the longer she worked (and the longer her eyes remained closed). After running through the incantation, she kept the glow going, carefully trying to pinpoint the exact moment when too much energy had been used. She had never tried to be this precise with her healing times before, but it would be necessary tonight.

It took about five minutes before Rapunzel gave out and let the light fade. She knew if she went on much longer, she was going to get seriously woozy. At this point, in combination with what the Institute had already done for him, the man's wounds were just under half healed — closed, but with angry red scars still in place. He would be able to walk without much trouble, but running and jumping and other kinds of intense activity were going to be tricky.

"How do you feel?" asked Rapunzel, a slight faintness in her voice that wasn't there before. She hadn't realized yet that her eyes were still closed, either.

[thecamellia]

Tsubaki hovered close to Scar, gaze traveling back and forth between him and Rapunzel. She didn't know how badly Rapunzel's power had been repressed or how many people she was planning on trying to help with what energy she did have, but it undoubtedly had to be taxing. Sharing power with someone else had a cost.

As the glow began to dim, she exhaled, absently mimicking the slow departure of energy from the room. Her first instinct was to ask Scar the same thing, and she cocked her head questioningly. His body language definitely seemed less tense.

"I'll undo Rapunzel's hair if you want to try walking," she offered before starting to bend down.

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar nodded to Tsubaki, waiting curiously as she pulled Rapunzel's hair away. He immediately pulled his pants back into place, testing his legs. They still hurt, but not so much that he could no longer walk.

"That's..." He looked up to Rapunzel, mouth slightly agape. "You have my thanks." He wasn't going to ask for anything else. The girl seemed tired from that, and there were more people who would want to be healed, he was certain.

Scar gave a nod to both girls, thanked Tsubaki for bringing him here, and left the room.

[To here]

[hairraising]

"Thanks," she said to Tsubaki, glad to not have to bend down to grab her own hair. She would need a few minutes to recover, and then hopefully she would be fine enough to continue with the night.

To Scar she said: "Don't worry about it. Come to me anytime, don't be a stranger." She gave the man a faint grin and a thumbs up as he left.

Once they were alone, she turned back to her roommate. "Thanks for bringing him here. Sorry if I'm holding you up from being anywhere."

[thecamellia]

“Of course,” was her response to Scar. There was more she would have liked to say, and she had her mouth open to do so, but he was so quick to leave that the words were left hanging. Was he going to be all right? Did he want extra company for the night?

Tsubaki was sorely tempted to go after him and ask him what his plans were, but there was still Rapunzel to think of.

She looked away from the door to give the other girl a smile. “No, no, thank you for helping. I know he’s grateful even if that was a bit abrupt.” Rapunzel was another person who was going to need all the help she could get. Crossing to her own side of the room, Tsubaki picked up the cup sitting on her desk and brought it over to Rapunzel. “I’m sorry, you must be tired from doing that under these conditions. Here’s some water. I didn’t drink any.

In answer to the girl’s question, she smiled a little brighter and added, “It’s okay, I’d rather see you settled first before I go. Do you want me to wait with you?”