ArchivedLogs:Leashed

Leashed
Dramatis Personae Corey, Dusk, Hive, Kate, Joshua
In Absentia	2014-04-28 '
Location <NYC> Kings County Hospital - Brooklyn
One hospital is much like another. Kind of institutional. Kind of sterile. Often busy. Often full of people bored in places, harried in others. The same antiseptic smells and the same machine noises. Dusk's room could be any room anywhere, really, the same bland-neutral colours and same adjustable bed -- save for the heavy-duty /restraints/ that have been added to his. For all the good they've done, though; the restraints have been all snapped through and /broken/, hanging down off the sides of his bed where they've been left. There is an IV drip set up alongside his bed; this is, also, not actually currently hooked up to him. Perhaps at one point it was; at the moment it hangs unconnected down alongside. It is flashing an error message though the annoying /beeping/ that accompanies this has been mercifully silenced. Dusk himself is in bed, at least, sitting with one knee pulled up towards his chest and the other one (stiffer and unhappy ever since being /shot/ and healing again wrong) stretched out in front of him. He has on pale green scrub pants and no shirt, the uneven-mangled scarring of his back visible enough where he sits. Beside him, Joshua (in jeans, plain black tee, blue denim jacket) is slouched in a chair, eyes narrowed on the other man. A little wary. A little /irritated/. His forefinger taps restlessly against the arm of his chair. Dressed in a polo shirt in a navy blue, and a pair of khakis, Corey figures that a hospital would prefer the visitors to not look too scruffy, especially those visiting a cranky patient. A backpack hangs over a shoulder, closer to the accuracy of being a tad bit beat up and well used. Stopping to ask for directions a few times, he makes his way towards Dusk's room with his shorter companion, and stopping at the door, he knocks at the door frame once or twice, making sure to stay back a bit, though he does nod to Joshua. "Hey there. I presume we've got the right place," he says with a slight smile. Hospitals may be similar to each other, across the distancces, but each is organized just differently enough to throw Kate off as the diminuitive nurse follows Corey into Dusk's room. For the first time in a while, she is dressed down, no hint of her profession visible in the nondescript clothing she wears. A pair of boot cut jeans in a dark wash, paired with a light weight hoodie in a pale blue, the abstract swirling smoke design resolving into a koi fish over the pouch pocket on the front. Dark hair is pulled back from her round face, emphasizing youthful features; there are, however, dark cirles under her eyes that suggest little sleep. A large backpak, bright pink and covered in a small collection of pins and charms, hangs off one shoulder, rolled up charts and sketches sticking out of the zippered compartment. An everpresent cup of coffee is clutched protectively in her hand. "Hey," Kate says in greeting, her voice quiet, a bit hesitant, as she looks between Joshua and Dusk, "Um, I'm Kate." There's a nervous glance towards the nurses station down the way, as though judging something, looking back to the torn restraints and the cast off monitors. She keeps close to Corey's side. Corey and Kate are greeted, almost before Joshua can even manage to look up, with a sudden growl from the bed. Dusk's teeth bare, a sudden clench of very long, very /sharp/ fangs; his fingers have curled into fists, his muscles tensing into hard definition as his attention snaps up towards the new voices. He's jerked himself up and half off the bed in a heartbeat, a low harsh snarl coming from him. Just as quickly, he's sitting back down -- though the growling hasn't stopped. Neither has the baring of fangs, sharp and -- perhaps angry. Perhaps pained. His muscles are still clenched; it looks almost like he's struggling, though with his restraints clearly broken, it's not /quite/ clear against /what/. Joshua's knuckles dig into his eyes. "Evening." He sounds a little bit tired, though he manages a smile. "Unfortunately, yes. Though I guess I'd be a lot /more/ concerned if they had a /lot/ of patients like him." "Understandable. Is there anything we can do to help, well, calm him down a bit more? She's gotta touch him and all..." Corey trails off, looking concernedly between Dusk and Kate as he moves into the room, keeping himself in between the vampire and the healer. "Micah had said the situation was getting bad, but man, understatement." He winces as he gets a better look at Dusk, and shakes his head. Kate only barely flinches at the growl, but the bared fangs earn a quiet intake of breath and she steps back closer to Corey again, blinking several times as she examines Dusk from a hopefully safe distance, by the door. Near the wall of Corey, just in case. Taking a deep breath, and a long pull of her coffee, Kate carefully steps into the room, sliding her backpack off her shoulder and unzipping it to pull out the rolled up collection of diagrams and anatomy sketches, some incredibly clinical looking, others more artistic, but still quite accurate to Dusk's wings as they should be. She arranges them on the floor, where she will be able to see them, or reference them. She is muttering quietly under her breath as she organizes her reference material - the Lord's Prayer, followed by an invocation of St. Bernadette, for any close enough to hear, or listening closely. Eventually, she steps a little closer, eyeing Dusk's injuries with a visible wince. She stays quiet, frowning slightly, as she examines, not touching yet, perhaps in part due to the uncertainty of just how safe the situation is at this moment. "A lot of times my healing sort of soothes, or at the very least makes everyone involved a bit sleepy," Kate says, taking a steadying breath as she stops where she stands, a few feet away from Dusk, theoretically out of reach, "But I admit, I never /really/ know exactly how people will react, especially since I need to examine what is going on with him before I can start healing." "He's on a leash," Joshua says dryly, knuckles rubbing against his eyes again before falling back to the chair. "Just invisible. Drugs don't really work well. Mutant metabolisms -- kind of. Fucked." << I got him. >> It's a somewhat familiar voice, slightly cranky, slightly /tired/, though Hive sounds less sledgehammery today than he usually does, shivering out in a low squeeze of mental pressure towards the others. << He won't be /happy/. But he'll be safe. >> Dusk -- true enough, certainly doesn't look happy. Tense, still. Growling, his fingers clenched into fists where he's curled tight in bed. He isn't, at least, moving. He's a little bit quivery, shoulders shaking and his fangs gnashed hard together. "Soothes would be a blessing," Joshua admits, and here the faintly irritated edge has left his voice -- just sadder, and a little exhausted. "He's been in bad shape for -- a while. Had some heavy painkillers but they work through him quick." Feeling the voice in his head, Corey raises a brow then shakes his head << Are you everywhere? >> Figuring there wasn't much reason to not trust what is apparently working, he settles in to wait out the process, moving chairs closer to the bed so that it would be in reach. "Well, we're here now. And we'll do what we can. If there's some food that he'll eat, you'll probably want it close by anyway. If he's this weak right now, its going to be taxing even with us here." "Oh," Kate says quietly at the leash statement, grimacing and nodding at the confirmation from Hive, though she does look around curiously to see if she had missed the telepath's presence in the room, confusion in her mind and expression. << Thank you? >> she responds, still a bit confused and uncertain, but trusting none the less. "Okay, okay. We're here. I've studied, I know what to do," Kate breathes, mostly to herself, wringing her hands and glancing towards the door, then at the privacy curtains that an be pulled around the bed, "Should probably shut the door. Or at least pull the curtains. I can't say I really relish explaining this to the nurses or doctors." Running her hands along her head, tightening the ponytail with a quick tug, she is possibly stalling just a little bit, steeling her nerves before going and poking the angry vampire. After double checking her notes once again, she approaches the bed, taking another deep breath, glancing at Corey to make sure he was nearby. Just in case. "Okay. Hi Dusk. I'm Kate. I'm going to need to touch your back in order to get an understanding of what is going on. It may be uncomfortable, and you may feel a little bit disoriented in the process," she explains quietly, even if he can't fully comprehend or even doesn't care, "I apologize if this hurts. But we're gonna help you." There is a quiet undercurrent of 'don't bite me, please don't bite me' like some sort of mantra through her thoughts as she perches nervously on the edge of Dusk's bed so she can see his back. Gingerly reaching out a trembling hand to touch the exposed and scarred skin, Kate's eyes close as she finally starts to work through the more detailed diagnostics her powers allow her. Joshua sits up juuust a little straighter as the others approach the bed; there's a keen alertness to his eyes, a tension to his posture that suggests he /isn't/ quite as trusting of Hive's control. He gets up, though he keeps a very wary eye on Dusk as he moves to shut the door to th room, returning rather quickly to his post by the bed and not letting his gaze leave the vampire the whole while. Dusk doesn't move, though. It certainly seems like he wants to -- his fists are still clenched, his muscles still taut. Another harsh snarl rumbles up from his chest, and his sharp fangs clack once, biting down somewhat uselessly at the air. Beneath Kate's hand, his scarred shoulders tremble, shaking badly with a twitch-jerk of restrained motion. The snarl tapers off into a lower growling whine that sounds more pained than angry though admittedly no less threatening, a soft cornered-animal sound that shivers off into a low constant rumble. Kate's senses can find a wealth of injury there, though between Dusk's accelerated healing and Joshua's boosting it's less than it once was. The sockets of his eyes have had all their contents eviscerated, though the flesh has gone a long way towards nearly healing back up; the mangled ruin of his back has a gnarled mess of hacked-off bone fragments and torn-and-rehealing muscle where his wings should be. Corey keeps a close watch on Dusk, more so with Joshua's wariness. "Now for the being patient part." He rolls his neck, though no popping of the joints happen, but he keeps his hands free to...restrain if necessary. He just hopes that the healing he provides doesn't interfere with Kate's delicate work. "Oh my God," Kate says quietly as she learns the extent of the damage, swallowing hard to stem the sensation of nausea that rises in her chest, "O...okay. I can do this. It... it's not too late." The sense of almost surprised relief in her voice is notable, and she climbs onto the bed to sit cross legged behind Dusk, her warm, faintly calloused hand still gently in place between Dusk's shoulder blades. Apparently the young nurse either has a horrible sense of self preservation, or a great deal of trust in the invisible mind-voice she assumes to be Hive. Or God. Either way - she's trusting, and throwing herself into her work. Kate settles in where she is, one palm pressed gingerly to the scarred space between Dusk's shoulder blades, the other just below it, her head bowed forward as she starts to work. The sensation that spreads from the place where her hands touch Dusk's skin is initially cool, though warmth settles in around the damaged areas as contact continues. Perhaps a bit of a tingling, almost an itching sensation as tissues begin to regrow, stretch, and reform where. Kate's brow is furrowed in concentration, her eyes squeezed shut as she focuses, attempting to keep her breathing steady throughout. Dusk's growling starts to quiet, as the cool-then-warm sensation spreads through him. His breathing is still a little harsh, a little ragged, and beneath Kate's hand his muscles are still tense and shaking. His fingers unclench, then fist back up; for a moment he hisses, hand jerking upward -- but the motion is arrested and it falls back to the mattress almost immediately. Joshua's hands are folded together in front of him, eyes locked on Kate and Dusk. In constrast to the exhaustion written into his features, the odd feeling of energy from him is as strong as ever. "When this is all over," he murmurs, low, "should take the both of you to dinner. Somewhere -- /nice/." The feedback loop from Joshua to Corey and back again keeps him awake and alert despite the tiredness of those around him. "Appreciated. Though I think Kate deserves a bit of a vacation, or at least a nap." He looks concernedly towards her and the dark lines under her eyes and shakes his head. Glancing to the healing Dusk, he looks to Joshua again. "Does he have any dietary concerns? I would recommend proteins either way... and probably a bunch of calcium supplments too. " Kate's attention is entirely focused on Dusk, posture slumping forward as she works, directing, the collective healing in the room, shaping it as it effects Dusk's body. The tingling has likely become an itch, at least with the regrowth of his eyes, though if anything the knee is mostly recovered - possibly with a hint of a 'popping' sound as things reknit and heal back into place. "Please don't scratch, even if it feels itchy. Scratching is bad," Kate mumbles under her breath, mostly to Dusk, "Eyes are sort of complicated." The work with the wings seems to be going the slowest, as Kate first struggles through the pull and tug of already formed scar tissue, the reassembling of the fragments of bone, knitting them back together beneath her warm hands. A sheen of sweat starts to glisten on her brow, though she continues working, ignoring the conversation about food and meals. Dusk's head bows, his breathing straining through still-clenched teeth. His hands lift, slowly, cautiously, the motion gradual as though he's pulling against a heavy weight. He presses his palms against his eyes, dropping his hands again afterwards to -- again slowly, cautiously, /open/ his eyes for the first time in weeks. He shuts them again just as quickly, exhaling sharply and shuddering again. "Drinks blood," Joshua answers, gesturing towards Dusk's gritted fangs. He rubs his fingers against the inside of his own wrist. "I'll feed him. He heals up pretty fast when he's fed properly." Tilting his head at the blood drinking comment, Corey hrms. "Huh. Well, I guess that is a pretty interesting dietary restriction there." Scratching his head a bit, he glances to his arm. "I could probably donate, it's been awhile since I last gave blood, but I don't think the doctors will give us an iv to handle it. Ah well. We can figure out the details later." Nodding, he settles in to wait, keeping a watch on Kate to know when she reaches her limit. "Not done yet," Kate cautions as Dusk presses his palms to his eyes, her tone gentle, soothing, "Still going to be over sensitive, not all the parts are in place. Give it a few minutes. At least." She takes a deep breath, and bows her head again, turning her attention entirely to his eyes, focusing on the fine structures, the little complexities that ensure eyes are capable of functioning. She falls very quiet while she works, her mannerisms and posture starting to show more signs of exhaustion. "Feeding him should be 'kay," Kate says, her voice a little wobbling as she speaks, "Eyes need food. Wings need a lotta food." The little healer is starting to reach her limits, slumping forward more, her head resting against the back of her hand where it presses to Dusk's skin. The scarring and damage to Dusk's back has begun to seal itself back up, the muscles almost entirely back to where they should be in preparation for supporting the not yet restored appendages. There is a pulling and stretching there, an uncomfortable tightness to the healed skin that promises healing yet to come - including two likely tender swells that will ultimately become the base of his wings. "Okay. I... I think I need to... to stop for now. S'kinda," Kate pauses, taking a deep breath, her hands dropping away from Dusk's back, though the warmth and tingling sensation still lingers for several moments as she wobbles when she sits up, "Kinda more than I can normally do. Got... got started at least. Long as we're started, I can do more t'morrow." She keeps her eyes closed still, the process seeming to have taken a toll on her, the dark circles under her eyes more defined and darker. And rather unceremoniously, Kate sort of slumps backwards and falls quiet, apparently having passed out. There's another sharp growl that comes from Dusk, here. He twitches again, but doesn't move from where he sits, arrested by Hive's unseen influence. Joshua just gets up in quiet, exhaling a slow breath that seems almost /relieved/ -- more at Dusk's lack of biting than at Kate's unceremonious toppling. He leans in to scoop her up in a lean flex of muscle, moving her safely /away/ from Dusk into the empty second bed in the room. The hospital has unsurprisingly not been comfortable giving Dusk a roommate. The paramedic lays Kate's head comfortably on the pillow, settling her in gently before returning to the other bed. He has a somewhat cranky vampire to feed.