HAPPY FUN CAVE TIMES!

[moonbrain_girl]

Who: River, Ed, Spike, L (Worst Quartet Ever)
When: Wednesday night, after the brawl
Where: A cave somewhere
Summary: The aftermath of River dragging everyone to safety.
Rating: TBA
Warnings: Spike sulking. L wishing he had marshmallows. River and Ed being River and Ed.

Comments

[radical_edward0]

Ed was lying on her back staring at the ceiling. Her mind was, for the moment, distracted from Cloud although who knew how long that would last. Her right leg was thrown out at an angle but the other was resting in Spike's lap as he began to care for her injury.

"Sta-lac-tites! Up-to-down. Sta-lag-mites! Down-to-up! Tites and Mites make a crown of rock and brown!" She sang offhandedly staring at the cave roof. Ed attempted to roll out of Spike's grip and let out a loud "Oooooow!!" When she failed.

[bestgaujo_ever]

He was TRYING to, anyway, a little difficult when Ed had limbs flailing around every which way. At least the weird guy in the corner had sat still enough. White as a sheet, Spike was pretty sure he was in shock, but he wasn't so big on the whole Playing Therapist thing, especially right now. His shirt was some kind of polyester blend, thankfully. Sturdy. Meant it was a pretty good stand-in for the bandages that weren't exactly available in a tiny cave in the middle of nowhere.

River had a head injury, she'd been out for a little while. The boot-shaped bruise on Spike's forehead was nagging him to not bother with her. But the small flailing child in front of him was convincing him otherwise. Conundrum.

"Yeah, they're like the same thing except one's got an 'M' in it. Ed. Leg. STILL." He was holding a substantially thick bit of a tree branch that he was hoping to use as a makeshift splint, but she was making this a bit difficult.

[moonbrain_girl]

River's head snapped to the side, taking in Ed and Spike as if for the first time. They'd seemed to have moved to that position while she wasn't seeing or hearing them. Beyond them she noticed L crouching in a corner, staring at his bandaged fingers. His flip-flops were pink and adorned with cartoon dinosaurs.

She blinked slowly, wondering if they would disappear. But they just reflected the flickering firelight off their bodies and River looked skyward, contemplating the constellations that made no sense to her.

[radical_edward0]

"Ed doesn't wanna be still!! Ed was still now she wants to do things!" She flailed wildly again but winced and kicked her unhurt foot into the air. "Owie owie oooooooooooow!!!" She writhed, forgetting her previous intentions of escape. "Ed's foot huuuuuuuurts!" She twitched. "Ed's--" but she stopped. She saw now that River was awake. "River! River! Is River's head feeling better?!"

[bestgaujo_ever]

"Yeah, see, that's the not-being-still talking," was all Spike returned, at the wails, holding her leg still and peering up at her. "I'm gonna fix it, but you gotta stay still. Hold your breath and count to ten or something."

And River was up, he knew that, he'd seen her wake. But he was suddenly very interested in the sight in front of him, Ed's leg, starting to carefully bind Ed's ankle - tight enough to be effective, but he sure as hell didn't give other people the benefit of this kind of care.

[moonbrain_girl]

River winced as Ed's attention turned to her and the volume of her voice shot up, causing the throbbing in her head to intensify.

"Concutera, to shake violently. Or concussus, act of striking together. Both from the Latin." She often found tracing root words preferable to saying how she was feeling, especially when she was certain no one would understand or care.

[radical_edward0]

Ed clapped her hands over her mouth, "Ed is being too loud?" she asked a little more quietly, which, in all honesty, was barely an improvement. But she was still for a little while longer than she had been.

"Are Spike and River going to be friends?" she asked nervously.

[bestgaujo_ever]

Yeah, Spike knew the whole staying-still thing wasn't going to last too long; this was a service that Ed didn't offer too often. He was kind of pushing his lucky as it was, and making quick work of wrapping her ankle, tying it off at the end.

Friends, honestly. They were way past any kind of FRIEND point. Spike had to force himself not to roll his eyes at whatever weird babbling she was doing back there, concussions and all that jazz, watching the junkie guy in the corner wiggling his fingers and marvel at the makeshift splint that Spike had set his hand with. "I gotta check her head," was all he offered in return to Ed's question, a little flatly. It wasn't a 'yes', by any means, but it wasn't a 'no', at least not outright.

[moonbrain_girl]

River winced again, although it was in response to Spike's statement this time, which hadn't been particularly loud. But she knew he wasn't going to be as gentle with her as he had been with Ed. She was tempted not to even let him near her, but she knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Not with Ed so close by.

Besides, he kind of owed her his life.

[radical_edward0]

Ed nodded, this in her eyes seemed to cement their friendship. Grinning, she pulled herself into a sitting position and tried to jump to her feet. This hurt more than she imagined it would and she crashed backwards, towards L.

[notorious_ell]

L's observation skills were not on par with their usual level. He nearly missed Ed stumbling towards him entirely. With a few bruised ribs, as well as the damaged fingers on his right hand, he had certainly seen better days. But at least he had suffered no head injuries. He held out a one hand to hold Ed back from tumbling onto him entirely, eyes a bit wide in response.

"It's advisable not to walk on that leg," he replied, quietly, the first words he had spoken since the attack on the Visitor's Center. His voice was very small and very foreign, almost like he had temporarily forgotten how to use it.

[bestgaujo_ever]

Yeah, yeah, what the weird guy said. Spike had been fully expecting Ed to start trying to bound away on that ankle right off, figured warning her was going to go unheeded. Kid had to make her own mistakes anyway, right? He clambered to his feet and over to River, looking at her a bit warily, almost like he was daring her to say anything against what he was doing. "C'mon. Lemme see."

[moonbrain_girl]

River looked up at him, just as wary. After a moment of staring him down, she scooted out from the wall and turned around, so he could kneel and get a good look at her head.

[bestgaujo_ever]

There was a good girl. Spike clambered down to one knee, with a bit of a grunt of exertion on his own part. He was a heavy guy, and she'd pulled him all the way from that explosion site. That was a long haul. It had reopened a couple of his wounds; he was getting around to there. First came first, the rest of everyone else. And she had saved his life. Sort of. Wouldn't have needed saving if she hadn't kicked him in the face.

A line of caked blood ran through her hair, pretty impressive wound, but it had stopped bleeding for the most part. Wasn't much he could do about a head injury. Couldn't stitch it up with her hair in the way, and it wasn't like he had a scanner to check for any kind of concussion. "Pretty good job, kid. You want a bandage at all?" he asked, a bit bluntly, raising his eyebrows and leaning around her.

[moonbrain_girl]

"Would likely be benficial, to lessen chance of infection," River said softly, not meeting his gaze. She stared instead into the fire.

[bestgaujo_ever]

...Right. Spike stopped, just kind of staring at the back of her head, keeping himself from rolling his eyes. "Y'know, normal people just say 'yes'," he did offer as a pointer, though, starting to tear the remnants of his shirt into long, substantial strips. "Can't tell if you've got a concussion or not, obviously, but you haven't barfed yet. That's a good sign." Might've even knocked a few screws back in.