damned_institute | Nightshift 24: Second M-Block bathroom

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Nightshift 24: Second M-Block bathroom

(from here)

Renji kept them moving until they reached the bathroom. He never thought he'd be relieved to get into that dank, nasty room, but it was still better than the smell in the hall outside. All he could guess was that someone had killed at least one of those damn nasty cats. He could have lived his life happily without ever having to smell that again, and it was a nightly occurence here.

As soon as the girls were in the bathroom and the door was shut, he took out his own flashlight, so rarely used, and turned it on. He aimed it at the floor so no one would get blinded.

"Okay," he said. "You girls put your lights on too. If we put 'em on the floor in a couple places, we'll be able to see a lot better." He set his own light done where it could illuminate (if dimly) a good portion of the room. "The shower heads and knob things and the sink fixtures can be unscrewed. I'll... try something on the pipes."

He unwound the sheet from around his waist, laying it out on the floor as he'd done the previous night, ready for the metal they'd collect.

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Hikaru stumbled in soon after, holding the makeshift bandage to his side. It was already completely bloodsoaked. He didn't look much better than Tamaki--white and shaking and utterly terrified.

"N-no. It's over. They're dead."

It was slowly starting to register that he was the only one in their little group of four who had done absolutely nothing. He had just frozen and been useless for the rest of the fight.

And that hurt almost as much as the deep gashes in his side.

Tamaki just nodded when Hikaru responded for him, gesturing weakly to his sword - still stained with blood and gore from the battle. He was very, very glad to be held up. He didn't think he could stand on his own two feet.

Renji nodded. "Okay," he said. He manhandled Tamaki over toward where there was some clear space against the wall so he could lean. "See to your weapon, then sit," he said. That was something that had been drilled in to him from day one; take care of the sword first.

His eyes narrowed as he took in Hikaru's condition. He grabbed the boy's arms next, half-dragging him over to the same area as Tamaki. "Sit," he ordered. He kept his hands in place to help Hikaru if the boy needed it.

He didn't know if he'd have enough energy to heal them both, and that was the priority if there was nothing to fight. He frowned, deciding he'd work on Hikaru first. A wound on the limb would be easier to patch up to hold until morning, if it came to that, so Tamaki became second priority.

Hikaru limply allowed himself to be moved to the wall next to Tamaki. A sort of...pulling feeling in his side somehow managed to break through the general haze of pain, and he realized, dimly, that sitting must've reopened what little of his wound that had managed to clot.

Oh well.

It was just so...nice to rest. He really couldn't trust himself to be upright any longer.

Sheska was already looking pretty horrified from Vice Captain's offer to teach her to fight. He may have said he couldn't do much...but still. nobody had ever even thought of asking her. And she'd never thought of learning. She just... wasn't that sort of person. She was weak and jumpy and clumsy. It was probably safer for everyone if she just stood back and let others do the fighting. But she felt her head slowly nod at his offer. Maybe out of politeness. Maybe out of some deep desire to prove to everyone that she COULD fight.

And what kind of world was this when only fighting could prove your worth?

Anyhow, there was no chance for her to lose the look of horror, as some boys came stumbling in, bloody and pale.

"Oh my! Are you alright?" She dropped what she was doing and rushed over. As she got closer, she felt her head go heavy and light at the same time. Everything was going sparkly.
"Oooh dear," she laughed weakly, turning away and standing beside Kairi. Almost behind, in fact.
She hadn't quite prepared herself for the blood. She'd be fine in a moment.

Robin walked into the bathroom. At first he'd been on guard, just in case, but then he smiled the moment he caught sight of what was going on.
"Well now, from the looks of it, you're my sort of people."
This was what he'd like to think of as peaceful protest. Whatever they were taking the place apart for, it was going to really get on some people's nerves. And without a single punch thrown. Wonderful!
"What's all this in aid of?" he asked the man as he walked over to help with the boys.

He crouched down beside Hikaru, all humour lost from his eyes.
"Let's get this sorted, shall we?"
He looked over his shoulder at the new people, smiling once more. "So. Who here's good with... well, this? The boys are all pretty beat up."
He was going to ask about sewing, but he didn't want to frighten the boys. Their day and age might have some fantastical potion or device that healed wounds.

He sat down properly, legs crossed.
"Sorry for intruding, of course. I wanted to get the wounds washed."
He was going to need cloth for that and he was running out of clothes already. He pulled the dressing gown off and began to tear at it, hands and a teeth.
"Any of those wells still in working order?" he asked, collecting the rags he was tearing. He wanted to save the upper part to pull out the thicker threads. If nobody could heal the boys, he was going to have to inspect the cat claws and see if he could work something out.

Then again...
He looked at his torch. It was always warm when left on for a time. But not hot. Above them, however, were larger lights (currently off). Maybe they got hot enough to close the wounds... He looked up at them, thoughtfully.

Tamaki reached out a shaking hand for Hikaru's, his head leaning back against the dirty tile as he tried to take in a few deep breaths. He'd never, ever felt any pain like this before, or dizziness, or quite so sick to his stomach. His leg and arm burned, and the blood made the tattered remains of his pants cling to his skin. It almost felt like it was stuck. The two sets of slashes seemed to criss-cross over one another - how deep had they gone? He was afraid to look. They felt like they'd gone all the way through muscle and skin. And he felt more light headed and woozy than when... well, when that thing in the Courtyard he didn't talk about anymore had happened.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing to his sword, or how he could possibly manage it with the state he was in. He could barely even hold on to the weapon - whic became clear when his fingers went limp on their own and the weapon clattered to the floor.

Renji glanced at Robin. "The sinks we haven't taken the knobs off should still work." He frowned. "I'll take care of this one." He pointed at Hikaru. "If I've got anything left, I'll get Suou as well."

He made a sound suspiciously like a growl as Tamaki dropped his sword; he snatched it quickly up from the floor. Heedless of the mess that it made of his shirt, he cleaned the blade, his motions practiced and efficient. When he was done, he crouched, laying the blade across Tamaki's lap. He grabbed Tamaki's free hand and wrapped his fingers around the hilt. "Care for your blade and it'll care for you," he said. "Don't forget this, ever. Your sword is your soul and your honor."

He let go and looked at Robin; he doubted that his words would make an impact on either of the two boys, since they seemed to be in shock. "When everyone's wounds are taken care of, I need you to help the girls finish dismantling this place for its metal. If I'm not back up, it goes to Ed in M28 and Colonel Mustang in M1. This is important. We need it for weapons."

And finally, back to Hikaru. "Be quiet and don't move. I need to concentrate." He put one knee firmly on the ground, hoping that he had the energy to take care of both of the boys. He hadn't been doing anything else during the night; it might work, just maybe. He bowed his head, his hands in the air just over Hikaru's wound. He hated using the words, and he hated making all the gestures for the kidou; it always made him feel kind of dumb. But if he wanted it to work at all, that was exactly what he needed to do.

He started reciting the words for the healing spell. It was a little sad, how easily they came to him now.

Hikaru took Tamaki's hand and squeezed it so tight that it probably hurt the other boy, but he needed the contact right now. His head still felt like someone had stuffed it full of cotton. He could hear sounds, knew that he was being spoken to, but none of it registered.

When Renji crouched next to him and started to mutter something, he opened one eye. "What're you...doing? Where's...Kaoru...? I n-need to find Kaoru."

Robin nodded and went off to wash some rags under the taps. He wasn't one to really wash and scrub and try and make the cloth as clean as possible. In his books, they were already clean now, since they'd come in contact with water. And the fact that this water was really, really clean only meant that the cloth was practically as pure as an Angel's pants now.

He gave Light a small smile and nod, just to let him know he'd be seen to soon, and headed back to the others. The man seemed to care deeply about swords. That wasn't really unusual when it was your own sword, where he was from, but why care about another mans? Then again, all Robin's swords had been stolen until the King came back. He'd given Robin a special one, since he was now Robin of Loxley, a title he wasn't sure he'd get used to. Anyhow, what did it matter and why was he thinking of it so much? Sword care was practical, and so he had a lot of respect for this guy.

"Down?" he asked. "Where do you plan on going?"
But, sure, he'd do as he'd been asked. Collect the metal and run it off someplace. It kind of sounded fun, actually. He needed a target to aim for and this one seemed good enough.

He sat with Tamaki and took his arm, gently wiping the cut with a damp cloth while he watched the man start...muttering words. Like a prayer or maybe spell or something. He smiled, bemused. Was he really casting a spell...? A prayer wouldn't do much for the boy. But either way, he didn't seem a bad man at all, so it hopefully wasn't a curse.

His eyes widened, a little worried when Hikaru started to panic. The guy had said not to move! What if the magic went wrong?
Robin almost wanted to joke about fetching a mirror to make Hikaru feel better, but it probably wasn't appropriate.
"I'm sure he's fine. We'll find him once you're better."

Tamaki's free hand was the one that was wounded - his other hand was gripping Hikaru's like a lifeline. He yelped in pain as his fingers were moved, the wound along the soft part of his arm screaming in pain. The tendons protested and fresh blood began leaking from the wound.

"I can't," he protested, tears welling in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can't."

And then Robin was seeing to his wounded arm, and Tamaki winced again. He felt so sick and so weak. Everything was blurry. Was he going to be alright? People died here, and Tamaki didn't know that much about wounds. Weren't there important veins in arms and legs? He remembered reading that somewhere. And what about Hikaru?

"We'll...we'll find him," Tamaki promised, his voice weak and trembling and threatening to break.

Renji finished the spell, ending with its name and number. He had some energy to devote to it, at least; he hadn't done anything so far this night, and two good meals had helped him out a lot. He strained to put as much energy as he could into healing the boy's wounds before his concentration broke; the spirit energy made a dull glow in the dim light of the bathroom. It was enough to knit wounds; he'd never been that good at 'feeling' the spells, so he didn't know to what extent it worked, though he thought it would at least be enough to get the boy back on his feet, keep him in one piece until the morning.

Pain lanced through his head and his concentration shatted. He slammed one hand against the wall near Hikaru's head; it kept him from falling over. For a long moment, he stayed there, breathing harshly while he fought to stay upright. All that gave him the strength to do so was knowing that there was someone else that he needed to help. He ground his teeth, pulling on every ounce of willpower he had to turn the little bit required to face Suou. His hands were trembling slightly as he held them over Suou's wounds.

"Be quiet," he said, his voice thick. "Hold still. I need to... concentrate."

Unnoticed by him, a steady flow of blood from his nose pattered down onto one of the few clean areas of the boy's pantleg. He glanced at the red-headed man whose name he still didn't know. "Remember. M1 and M28. 's important."

Renji cleared his throat. Just a bit longer. He had to hold on a little bit longer. But he knew that this was going to hurt, a lot.

His voice was steady, even if the rest of him wasnt, as he started reciting the words again.

Hikaru felt warm. That in of itself was pretty amazing, because he'd just felt kind of cold and numb before.

The room was coming back into sharper focus too. And with that, he realized that the guy standing over him muttering stuff was DOING something.

Magic. He was actually doing magic.

Hikaru's side still hurt like a bitch--hurt even more, actually, now that his brain could register the pain--but it had stopped bleeding. Because the guy he'd met with V'kass-san a few nights ago was healing him. With magic.

Leaning against the wall, the Host watched in wonder as he repeated the process with the panicking Tamaki. And it didn't look like it was fun. What was he doing? Was it like an anime, and he was actually forcing his energy into them?

...Christ.

When the guy's nose started to bleed, he held out a shaking hand. "Jesus, are you okay?"

Tamaki had seemed so bright and vibrant when Robin had first met him. A true lord. Extravagant, but caring. Right now, however, he looked like a little cub. Robin didn't know much about humans, but he was sure that their young looked helpless, fragile and scared too, sometimes.

Which was fine, really. But Tamaki was either a real Lord, or he just wanted to be one. And he was here. So Robin was going to whip the boy into shape, give him something that would not only distract him, but educate him!

All thoughts of the future vanished as present events began to amaze Robin. They were glowing. The man and boy were glowing. And healing. And... Robin jumped when the man slammed his hand against the wall.

"Well now," he laughed softly, "I've never seen anything like that before." Coming to this place had taught him that anything was possible, but everything new was still amazing to him. Still unexpected.

He shifted out of the way and held a rag ready for the man's nose when he was done concentrating. If he could learn some of this....take it home... Just think how famous he'd be then!

"M's 1 and 28. Metal to be taken to Elric and Mustang. Got it," he grinned.

Sheska edged up to the second group, pillow hugged to her chest.
"Umm... I have this. If anyone needs it?" she said very, very quietly. She didn't want to disturb anything important."

Two of the boys seemed worse for wear, but the man they were with seemed quite happy... Vice Captain on the other hand... he didn't look so good.
"Are you ok, sir? You're bleeding!"

"It's fine," Tamaki muttered, seeing the blood and the tired look on Renji's face. "I'll be fine." He didn't want the man hurting himself over him. That he was doing magic didn't surprise him. He'd seen plenty of magic so far.

But... oh, it would be nice to not feel that horrible pain anymore. And he felt warmer, not so freezing and like he was going to lose consciousness. A sudden thought occured to him.

"Please... don't tell Ed about this..." he said, voice wavering and quiet. He didn't want the other teenager to know about this.

Renji ignored Suou; he ignored everyone as he just concentrated on getting the spell right, on gathering up as much of his energy as he could for one last push.

He completed the spell with its name and number.

And again, he managed to force that soft, tired glow as energy flowed from him to the wounded boy. Not as much as he'd been able to give the other, but enough. Renji gritted his teeth, a hoarse growl slipping out as he strained for just a little more healing.

It felt like something inside him snapped, starting in his head and rippling down to deep in his guts. He coughed, then gagged, a few droplets of blood dotting his lips. Then pain screamed down his nerves, and he was only too happy to relinquish consciousness.

His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed onto his side, just missing landing on Suou's legs. One arm draped heavily across the boy's feet.

[OOC: Renji is down for the count. Just skip him for however long you want to backthread.]

The wounds in Hikaru's side had stopped bleeding, but only just. They hadn't closed very well, and any sudden movements would probably open them right back up again. Still, he was grateful that he was no longer bleeding to death. He could see how much energy that healing them was taking out of Mr. Yakuza Tattoos...

...Maybe even more than he originally thought. Renji collapsed as soon as he had seen to Tamaki, and it suddenly seemed like they had a use for the glasses girl's pillow after all.

"P-prop him up with that," he said gesturing Renji and then to the pillow. His voice was pinched and tight with pain. "Get him on his side." Hikaru had read somewhere that you always put an unconscious person on their side so that they wouldn't pull a Jimi Hendrix and choke on their own vomit.

But then a familiar voice came on over the intercom, and he had to amend his orders.

"...Or not."

Smirking, he boy settled into the wall at his back and surveyed the chaotic scene before him through half-closed eyes, waiting for the darkness to overtake them.

[end thread.]

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Nightshift 24: Second M-Block bathroom

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