Los Angeles, Tuesday

[spin_kick_snap]

After a week of pollen and then finding out that Minako was Sailor V and Mara Jade was some kind of...knife-wielding badass, Kathy had decided that spending a week with her classmates on a ship was not in the cards. She needed a little time and space to put her confused thoughts into order, to figure out how she felt about who and what, if anything, she wanted to do about it.

Rather than hang around an empty (and frigid) island while everyone else was enjoying Mexico (so much that no one had returned any of her handwavy texts!), Kathy had decided to head back to LA. Rather than going back to her parents' apartment for the week, Kathy'd rented a tiny motel room where she wouldn't have to worry about rules, curfew, or her family finding out about her late night hobbies. During the day, she could work on her homework and brood be pensive and at night she could be Banzai, too busy leaping over rooftops and chasing down criminals to live inside her own head.

You relax your way, she'd relax hers, all right?

Not that tonight was anything like relaxing. LA was so much bigger than Baltimore, with more crime and, specifically, more violent crime. She'd just finished taking down a mugger when she'd heard gunshots coming from the north. Giving the mugger's collar one last shake, she let him go and ran off as fast as she could towards the guns.

It might be kinda sick, but she loved this.

[And the link to the thread that begins after LJ breaks the page]

Comments

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

"Pretty sure I couldn't get Professor Lyman to do this," Kathy countered. "Or any of the teachers at my last high school."

She grabbed for another clean towel, one of the last, and poured warm water on it. "Hey," she murmured to Gorgon, gently wiping at his face with the towel. She'd ignored anything that wasn't his shoulder before and his face was absolutely filthy, covered in blood and sweat and if those were tear tracks, Kathy would never tell a soul. "It's over now. C'mon back to consciousness so I can get some pills into you, okay?"

And plenty of fluids to go along with it.

"I should touch base with the Mighty Dragon," she realized, though part of her didn't want to let Eliot hang up. He was a lifeline she could cling to. But it was late and he'd probably like to go to sleep and it wasn't fair to keep him on the phone just for her comfort.

Not to mention how much more comfortable Gorgon would be if he didn't have to worry about a stranger, no matter how instrumental that stranger might have been. "I should probably let you go..."

Re: Back at the motel

[vdistinctive]

"If you think you're set," Eliot said. He was a bit loathe to hang up himself. The first bullet wound was, like the first explosion, always the hardest. "If you got any other issues, you can call back. I'm kind of a night owl."

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

"If I'm even in the slightest bit worried about something, I'll call," Kathy promised. "Maybe even make good on that portal you have on standby."

Again, she hated to be a bother, but...this was so much bigger than her or what she was comfortable with.

Re: Back at the motel

[vdistinctive]

"Good," Eliot said. "I'll see you in class, Kathy."

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'll be there, sir," she said, giving him her best smile and a V-for-victory. She was already planning on bringing something extra as a thank you. "You're the best, Mr. Spencer."

Re: Back at the motel

[vdistinctive]

Eliot grinned, "Bye, Kathy," and hung up.

What did you know? Teaching was totally fun.

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

Whereas Kathy was looking at Gorgon's prone form and not thinking the same thing about superheroing.

"Please, Gorgon, I'd feel a lot better if you'd wake up," she said, hoping that words and a wet towel on his face would be enough. She wasn't about to resort to jostling him for a reaction. "I know you probably wouldn't and I'm sorry, but if I can rob a drugstore and perform minor motel surgery, you can wake up a little. Please?"

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

That was not a whimper in reply to that wet towel and continued talking, really. Gorgon was absolutely not the whimpering sort. Ever. Even with a bullet in his shoulder and far too much of the blood that should have been on his inside smeared liberally all over the outside instead. So, if Kathy thought for a moment that the reply he had for that was a whimper, she'd be sorely mistaken.

The "hnn-nnnn" of protest that he incoherently gave a few moments later, on the other hand, he'd admit to. If he had to.

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

Whimper? What whimper? Kathy had most certainly not heard any whimpers. That was her story and she was sticking to it. Gorgon had been the hallmark of masculine stoicism the entire time, trufax.

"I'm here, I'm here, I'm sorry," she said, reaching for his hand as soon as he made that noise. "I know, I know, this is the last thing you want to do. But if you wake up for me now, it'll make waking up later so much less of a pain. I promise."

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

"Tired," Gorgon complained. "Too fucking tired, can't... don't wanna..."

He wasn't sure where he was going with this, exactly.

"Fuck... everything."

That about summed it up.

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

"I know, I know," she murmured, brushing his hair away from his face. "You need to take a hit, Nick. Another hit, a small one. That'll give you enough energy to drink some Gatorade, eat some granola, take a shower."

She followed that up with the washcloth, wiping the sweat and blood from his forehead. "I got you some mirrored shades, too. Take your goggles off, they've got to be heavy. Probably not helping the pounding headache you have, right?"

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

"Really not," he agreed, taking a moment to process the rest. Shit. She kept giving him hits like this, he was going to get hooked.

That sounded like bad news all on its own.

"Let's have those shades first. Can't think with these damn things on."

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy nodded, snagging the sunglasses from the bag and handing them over. "I grabbed a couple of things for you at the store. A clean t-shirt, pair of sweats. Let's get you clean and comfortable, huh? I'll get those while you swap out your goggles, okay?"

She licked her lips and asked, "You want a hand with that?"

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

Question of the year award went to...

"I think I can handle a pair of sunglasses, Kathy," Nick protested, lifting his good arm, and managing to drum up the energy to move his hand toward his head before just sort of giving up and letting his hand fall limp to his face. "Yeah. Yeah I got this."

No. No he did not.

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

"I know you do," Kathy said, fingers already working to loosen the straps of his goggles. "You got this. It's okay, Nick. We're just gonna get your goggles off and some pills into you and we'll be okay."

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

"Okay. Okay..."

To say that Nick was squeezing his eyes shut tightly would be something of an exaggeration. It was more accurate to say that he didn't have the energy left to open them again, that what he wanted more than anything else in the world right then was a full month of sleep and maybe some of those drugs that Hannibal had given him back when the worst grief his shoulder had to deal with was having been dislocated.

Either way, the result was about the same, wasn't it?

"S'all dizzy, Kathy. Wanna humor me and tell me that blood's not all mine, I'd appresh'ate it."

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

"Of course it's not all yours," she said, trying very hard not to be as bad at lying as she normally was. "It's also...because...well and then Painkiller...Don't be silly, Nick, it's not all yours."

Nailed it.

"Here," she said, sliding the mirrored glasses over his face. So much less pressure on his face which would hopefully help. Then her hands went up to start rubbing lightly as his temples, trying to soothe the headache away enough for him to be be a little more coherent. "I've got good drugs..." she wheedled. "All you have to do is open your eyes and take a tiny hit and you'll be strong enough to take them."

And drink. And eat. And shower. And maybe walk to her room, where it did not look like they had butchered a pig in there.

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

"Be hard, taking a small hit... rather you be conscious than me right now..." He swallowed, brow furrowing. Yeah. Yeah, that was coherent. He made all those words happen like a champ. "Heh, if Mana was here she'd... I dunno. Crush the pills into honey, s'hard to choke on honey, and..."

He kind of wanted to ball himself up and bury his face in somebody's lap or something. Other things Nikolai would never admit to in a million years.

"Gatorade's prolly not the same."

And he didn't trust himself not to puke it up.

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

"I can crush the pills but you need to drink something," Kathy said, voice still soft as she stroked his hair. "You need to replace all that blood you lost and for that you need to eat and drink."

She wished she had honey. If she could, she'd run right out and buy some, just to mix the pills with. Or she'd run and find his Mana! Something, anything to make him feel better.

There wasn't a lot of room on the bed next to Nick, but Kathy found a small sliver of mattress and sat down, trying to weigh her options. Crushing pills she could do no problem, but how to get him to take them? If she had a straw, she could make him drink that way...but she didn't. No spoons or anything, either.

All she really had was--

"Nick, can you open your mouth for me? Just a little, okay? I want to get some fluids in you and then some pain pills."

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

Ha. If Nick's Mana found out about this, she'd kill him herself.

And then contemplate putting the pills in honey for him.

Nick frowned a little, but opening his mouth, at least, seemed easy enough. Fluids sounded good. He'd drink fucking antifreeze at this point, he felt so parched. So... that was what he did. Mouth? Open. Achievement unlocked.

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

And Kathy held her hand above his mouth, fingertips just brushing his lips when her hand moved, and she dribbled water down her fingers. Drip drip drip. The water pattered down on his parched tongue and slid towards the back of his throat in a slow rivulet.

"Pills in a moment," she said. "I just want to make sure your mouth's not so dry you choke."

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

Nick would have replied to that, but he was a little busy drinking. And swallowing took energy, and at least water was pretty easy, compared to that 'food' thing she kept talking about. So he sort of... there was a thumbs-up happening there. With that hand that was still next to his head. That was about as 'sure thing, good to go,' as he was going to get at the moment.

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

Hopefully the water would soothe his throat, too. Kathy could only imagine how raw and irritated it must be at this point.

She shifted a few times to find a position as comfortable as possible to keep pouring water down his throat and if he did end up curled up with his head in her lap, well, she wasn't gonna tell anyone.

When they'd gotten through most of the bottle, Kathy reached for the pills, grabbed two, and crushed them together as much as she could before dropping them into what little water was left to dissolve. He was gonna get his pain meds, dammit, and they were still several steps away from her just prying open an eyelid and giving him a hit willy-nilly.

Re: Back at the motel

[gunslingerpose]

Oh, that'd end great. Nick was too out of it to come to his senses and close his eyes right now. It would be like putting a starving man at a buffet and then expecting him to know when to stop gorging himself.

Only, in this case, the buffet could die. So maybe it wasn't the most sound of metaphors.

He didn't even protest when the last mouthful was less water, more nasty-tasting drugs. They went down as easily as the water did, at least, and he barely made a face.

"Thanks."

He actually meant that.

Re: Back at the motel

[spin_kick_snap]

Look at Nick, being all polite. Apparently getting shot did wonders for his manners.

"You're welcome," Kathy said, going back to carding her hands through his hair while they waited for the drugs to kick in. "Hopefully those will help bring you back a little closer to being able to move around a bit."

Because she was serious about the eating and drinking. And pretty certain on the shower. And willing to give the old college try to getting him to move rooms. The thick smell of blood was starting to make her nauseous, she could only imagine what it was doing to him.

"The bullet's still in there, by the way. Mr. Spencer told me I could do more damage trying to get it out. But hopefully the Mighty Dragon's friend can help with that, too."