Nightshift 42: Kitchin' Fixins' Rooftop

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

[from here]

As quickly as he could, Kvothe shoved the wrapped knife he'd scavanged in his belt, and started climbing. It was difficult with his right hand still barely usable, but he'd had years worth of practice and plenty of inspiration to get up there before he was noticed by any of the creatures. One did try to grab him, wrenching his ankle painfully and causing him to nearly lose his grip before he managed to pull away and kick it in the face, but he made it up.

There was no one else on top of the building, though he could see figures moving around on other roofs farther down the street, barely visible in the dark. He pulled his knife back out and hunkered down near the middle of the roof, alert for any sound or movement that could be someone or something following him up. He didn't know if the creatures could climb, but he didn't want to be caught by surprise.

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[shallweplay.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/673360.html?view=56140368#t56140368)]

Ophelia's bitten leg hurt when she kicked at the corpse, but she managed to connect with its head and sending it crashing to the ground. This gave her enough time to make a relatively smooth pull up onto the roof of the store. Only one other thing moved on the roof, and it looked like another patient, though not one she had met before.

"Impressive. I guess not all the institute's residents are panicking like headless chickens. You've kept your wits about you enough to do the smart thing and get to higher ground," she said to the man as she got to her feet, adjusting the knives in her belt loops.

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

Kvothe moved toward the edge of the roof when he heard a fight break out below him, knife in hand, but when he saw that it was another patient climbing he backed off as he lowered the weapon and tucked it back into the oven mit in his belt, under his coat. He didn't recognize her when she made it up, but she appeared to have handled herself well in the fight. "Well, panicking never did anyone any good, and roofs have always served me well in the past." He gave her a bit of a strained smile as he walked over, quietly looking her over. "My name's Kvothe, by the way. Are you all right?" Her leg didn't look so good to him.

[shallweplay.livejournal.com]

Ophelia surveyed the street below, not looking Kvothe in the eye immediately. "Ophelia. And it's nothing that won't heal shortly," she answered. To her disappointment, she couldn't see quite as far from the roof as she had hoped, but she could see enough that she could start planning out an initial route. "Not exactly the night I had expected, but I can't complain too much. Escaping this town should be a spectacular challenge," she added, looking over her shoulder with a confident grin. "Don't you agree?"

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

"Escaping the building would be a spectacular challenge at the moment," he pointed out dryly. And not one he'd particularly care to take on in his current sore, weary and previously injured state. "I'd been planning on waiting for dawn before trying anything, visibility would be better and the...creatures, should be gone. There would be more chance of getting caught, but I think less chance of being overwhelmed by that." He gestured expansively toward the masses of creatures below them, and squinted toward where he knew the edge of town lay in the dark, more comfortable mulling over mundane problems like escape (even escape seemed mundane at the moment compared to fighting for his life with dead men). "Plus the staff probably know the land around here better than any of the patients, it's easier to find a way through unfamiliar territory in the light. Less chance of a broken ankle or worse."

[shallweplay.livejournal.com]

Ophelia laughed out loud at Kvothe's statements. "And what makes you think you won't just wake up in your nice warm bed at the institute if you wait until morning? This all stinks of one of that evil man's plans. He's not the type to let his staff get sloppy, leaving us out until nightfall," she told him, running her fingertip along the blade of her butcher's knife, close enough to caress the edge of the edge without cutting herself. "No, the only way there's even a chance of not waking up back there is getting far enough away from this dead land. It may not work, but it's much more fun, and it's better than hunkering down like a coward. Maybe I misjudged your intelligence."

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

"What makes you think you won't wake up in bed at the institute even if you do try to escape? We don't know how far their influence extends, or what else might be out there." He shifted his ankle where he'd been grabbed, he could tell in a distant sort of way that it would hurt once he took the time to really notice it. "You're right, he's not sloppy enough to have left us out here accidentally, so what makes you think that there's even a chance that we could get far enough away not to be transported back at the end of the night?"

[shallweplay.livejournal.com]

Ophelia shrugged, eyes still on her knife. "The chance of success is slightly better, so I'm going to take it, but you're right: I don't know. For all I know, the same thing is going to happen regardless of what we do, so in the end, it doesn't really matter. If that's the case, though, why shouldn't we indulge in a little fun? Put some of those blades from below to good use and send limbs flying from their torsos. Oh it's too bad they don't bleed much. Soaking the streets in shades of red would have been the best part. But even so, I still just can't say no to the chance for mass slaughter. It's been far too long," she explained. Her silver eyes glinted with excitement in the moonlight as she watched the hordes below, still searching for an optimal route.

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

...Great, he was stuck on a roof surrounded by rotting walking dead things, with a killing obsessed crazy person.

Two weeks ago, she would have worried him a lot more. Now though, it was almost reassuring to have someone up there who was actully trained to fight. "Where would you go if you did manage to get far enough from town?" More thoughtfuly now.

[shallweplay.livejournal.com]

It was almost refreshing to find a patient who neither balked at nor mocked her statements, but merely went with them as though they were normal things to say. She would have preferred the former so that she could play off of the man's fear and disgust, but the novelty of the reaction was interesting in and of itself. "It makes the most sense to strike out south, as the institute is north of town. There's also a lot of forest cover that way from the looks of things, and I've lived most of my life in and around forests," she explained. The grin was still on her face, but her response was surprisingly level for what she had just said previously.

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

Kvothe may not share a love of killing, but the ability is a practical one to have around the Institute. And there was that one time he set another kid on fire...but he wasn't entirely in his right mind then. And the kid had it coming.

"But your leg might slow you down, and blood might give you away. If you have anything that can be used as a bandage, I can dress it for you."

[shallweplay.livejournal.com]

Ophelia had to admit, Kvothe had made a good point. She still retained some accelerated healing, which she was grateful for, but she knew that it wouldn't work fast enough to take care of her wound completely before she needed to get down. She was so eager to get moving that she had simply tried not to think about it. It seemed just wrong to have to stoop to accepting help from a human she did not even know, but the opportunity was there. We are the only two up here. No one would know, she told herself grudgingly.

"Perhaps you have a point," she admitted, turning back to face him more fully again. She tried to keep a superior look on her face, though it was coloured slightly by a dip in her dignity. "I will regenerate the tissue soon enough, but perhaps I ought to stop and tend to this in the meantime." Taking one of the chef's knives from her side, she grabbed the bottom of her undamaged pantleg and quickly cut up enough fabric to serve as adequate bandaging.

"I've been in a military-like organization for most of my life, so I know a thing or two about field dressing," she said, sitting down near Kvothe. She cut off excess torn and bloody fabric from around the bitten area and rolled up the rest, then beckoned him to crouch down next to her. "Though I do admit that it if I want this done quickly, it would be easier with another's assistance," she added reluctantly, handing him the black fabric.

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, taking care of your own wounds can be awkward," he says with the knowing tone of someone who's tried it as he kneels beside her and begins cleaning the wound as well as he can without any real supplies. Then he begins wrapping it, tightly enough to keep it from bleeding but not so tight that it would cut off circulation or impede movement.

[shallweplay.livejournal.com]

Ophelia turned her head away, grimacing as she let the man help her. She reminded herself again that no one else would know, and that it was for the sake of speed only. "In my own world, I would not even have to bother. I'd heightened my healing abilities to the point where it didn't matter." She grit her teeth tightly and clenched a fist. "Goddamn Landel, stealing all that power like he does and then hiding away behind his 'intercom' like a coward. Once I find him, I will tear his spinal column right out of his own asshole, and that's just the beginning."

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

Kvothe blinked at her for a moment, not all of that made sense to him and he didn't really want to address the pulling out of spines, and finished wrapping the bandages. He sat back on his heels. "There, that should hold until you have a chance to do...whatever it is you're talking about to take care of it."