Night 43: F1-10 Hall

[number1smiley]

Breaking down the bed frame after she'd eaten some of her meal had given Teresa something to do while she waited for the night time phenomena to arrive. Having not been conscious when it occurred the previous night, she was curious. She was not disappointed. The overhead words were certainly something different

Comments

F8

[ninelivesonce]

After Captain Thorne had left, Taura had asked to return to her room; there was nothing she could do on crutches and under close supervision to aid her escape except to sleep, and sleep she had. She was naturally a light sleeper; under normal circumstances any one of a number of things should have woken her up -- the dinner intercom, the arrival of a second person in the room, even the faint click as the doors unlocked. Instead, she came to tangled in the sheets in an empty room. Two trays on two tables were the only addition to the room, but they told her enough.

How much have I missed? What wasn't she seeing. She couldn't blame it on the painkillers; her request for nothing stronger than a mild analgesic had been the exception that proved the rule -- faithfully honored.

She could only hope she hadn't slept through the healer's arrival as well; she hadn't slept through a successful treatment, as leaning over to snag her dinner sent muscles twanging like overstretched shock cords. All she could do was wait. And eat, which helped make the former more bearable.

[waiting for Hanatarou]

F8

[mitase]

[from here]

By the time Hanatarou arrived at the correct door (the note had said F8, right?) he was more than a little bit out of breath, but at least he'd managed to keep from getting eaten by a monster. Or, by some miracle, tripping and impaling himself on his own sword.

He paused a moment there, nervously brushing off his uniform before lifting a hand to give a hesitant rap against the door. He didn't even know who this person was that he was supposed to be helping - hopefully they weren't scary or anything.

[ninelivesonce]

"Door's unlocked, come on in," Taura called, loud enough to be heard through the door. She didn't get up, but she did move the now-empty tray off her lap and back onto the desk.

[mitase]

All right, so she was expecting someone, so hopefully it was the right place. Hanatarou cautiously opened the door and pushed it open, hovering uncertainly in the doorway as he peeked into the room. "Ah, are you...Taura-san?" he asked, ready to back out with an apology quickly if she wasn't. "I'm Yamada Hanatarou, the healer...?"

[ninelivesonce]

The young man at the door was small, even by normal standards, and looked spooked, despite the curving sword slung comfortably across his back. Taura waved him over.

"Yeah, I'm Taura. And I don't bite, unless you ask very nicely." She shot him a grin that verged on a leer -- sometimes that was all it took to defuse the tension. Though it usually wasn't medics she was trying to reassure; they tended to treat her as a puzzle, rather than a person or a monster. She wasn't sure what to expect from a magic doctor, though, except that Homura trusted him. "I guess I'm your patient for the evening."

[mitase]

"Um." Hanatarou blinked several times, then finally decided that was supposed to be some kind of a joke. He gave a weak, uncertain smile, then bobbed a kind of half-bow and moved closer, frowning slightly as he looked her over. He'd just been told that she needed a healer, but no details on exactly what needed to be healed.

Crutches weren't a good sign, though. Hopefully Kenren would be here soon; remembering when he'd healed Nataku, he might need help walking for a bit after this, if there was a broken bone involved. "So, ah, what exactly needs to be healed, Taura-san?"

[ninelivesonce]

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think there's a hairline fracture in here somewhere." One wide hand spread out over her right hip. "Or just a bad bruise, but I think it's worse than that. Not sure -- I'm still getting used to this body."

When had she become comfortable enough with it to describe it that way? Just this body, like this uniform or this mirror-shield. Could a healer see brain-transplant scars that might or might not even be there? And what would she gain from the knowledge; either way there were innocent deaths to avenge, now.

"Should I lie down?"

[mitase]

....still getting used to this body?

All right, not something he was about to question. Hanatarou was, after all, stuck in a rather faulty gigai at the moment, so he supposed it was possible that other beings were in a similar situation. What really mattered was that what she was in was injured, and he needed to fix that.

He absently removed his sword from its makeshift sheath, glancing around for a second before setting it on the bed on the other side of the room, then turned back toward his patient. "Oh, um. Whatever is more comfortable for you," he suggested. "I just need to sit down." So that he wouldn't hurt himself if -- or when -- he passed out from the effort of healing.

[ninelivesonce]

"I have an extremely high pain tolerance. Don't worry about me." She wasn't sure why he would need to sit down, but she scooted over to one end of the bed and patted the space beside her.

"Um, what happens next?" Magic had no reference point aside from stories so old they had worn themselves to smooth stones. An explosion of light? Strange chanting? Nothing at all? She watched him rabbit around the room; were all magicians jumpy? Did he even know how to handle that sword, or was it just for show? Most medics at least professed non-violence, even the ones running mercenary sickbays. And it took too long to learn both skillsets, unless Hanatarou was much older than he looked.

[mitase]

Hanatarou carefully settled down on the bed beside her, still looking somewhat uncertain of her. Most people he met who were so, ah, large, weren't the friendliest people. She wasn't acting at all threatening, though, and he had other things to worry about.

"Just hold still," he said, forcing a smile that attempted to be reassuring but likely fell rather flat. He reached out toward her, eyes losing their focus as a faint green glow outlined his hands. By now the swell of pain in his head was expected, and he determinedly ignored it as he concentrated on healing.

[ninelivesonce]

The paper-thin smile was the first normal medical thing she'd seen him do; it was more reassuring than a genuine smile. Then his hands lit up and all she could do was stare as they reached for her aching hip.

Which wasn't aching so much as feeling warm and stretched, like he had spread a heating pack across her hip. No, not across -- through. Like UV radiation -- there were still planets where people did that for fun, and she'd tried it on several of them, but going deeper than just the top layer of skin.

She was tempted to close her eyes, but she'd promised to report back, and I took a nap wasn't any sort of mission round-up. Instead, she just took a few deep breaths and watched Hanatarou's hands glow.

[mitase]

There was a break - thin, but there, along the pelvic bone and surrounded by damaged tissue. Hanatarou forced himself to not be distracted by thoughts of how that could've been easily healed back home; he wasn't at home, and he didn't need to fret about what couldn't be changed at the moment. Right now he just needed to mend what he could.

And as he concentrated, eyes slowly closing against the pain that only increased every second he drew upon his reiatsu, the fracture slowly disappeared, the bruising around it fading away as well. It seemed that the same limitations were in place again this time, though; no matter how he tried he couldn't quite erase all sign that the bone had ever been damaged.

He still tried his best, however, pushing himself until he couldn't do anymore or risk fainting, as he had when mending Nataku's arm the other night. Just before that point he stopped, the glow winking out as he slumped forward; his weight rested heavily against the bed on one hand as the other lifted to his nose to stem the inevitable trickle of blood.

"Should be better now," he observed, eyes still closed against the throbbing in his skull and breath coming in short gasps, as though he'd just run a marathon. "Be careful with it, though."

[ninelivesonce]

Several things happened all at once; the warmth switched off like the power had been cut, and Hanatarou half-collapsed on the bed. Taura reached out a hand and set it on his shoulder, just in case he tried to pitch himself right off the bed -- was he bleeding?

"Are you all right?" He didn't seem to be falling any further, so she dropped her hand and stood up. The bedsprings squawked as she pushed herself to her feet. "Oh. It's better. She bounced on the balls of her feet a few times, and then swung her hands to either side of her feet, bouncing them against the floor as well, and stretching muscles in her arms and back that had been tense all day from navigating around with manual crutches. "You really can heal things."

That was perhaps not the most polite of things to have said, and she realized it even before she'd finished. "Er, sorry." She glanced away, and feigned interested in the skin just under the waistband of her sweatpants -- skin that had shown the top edge of the bruising, but now was indistinguishable from any other spot. "Is there anything you need?"

[mitase]

"'m fine," Hanatarou mumbled around his hand, cautiously opening one eye a bit as the woman rose to her feet again. Even if he hadn't been able to properly finish the job, she seemed pleased enough with what he'd done - or at least was polite enough not to complain. Either one of those options was good enough with him.

She might have been embarrassed by the observation she'd made, but it elicited the most genuine smile he'd shown since entering the room, even if it was still quite shy. "Oh. Um. I just...need to sit for a minute," he replied, cautiously releasing his hold on his nose to see if the bleeding had stopped yet.

Kenren hadn't arrived yet, but hopefully it wouldn't be soon enough for him to earn another chiding about overstraining himself. At least he'd stayed awake this time.

[ninelivesonce]

She stopped bouncing and testing the healed joint long enough to really look at Hanatarou. "You're not fine. You're beat." Had he come all this way while ill or injured himself? That didn't seem wise at all. Were they that short on healers? Had Hanatarou not mentioned an injury to Homura?

Oh. The conservation of energy. Whatever had healed her had come from somewhere, and it looked like that somewhere was, inexplicably, a direct transfer from Hanatarou's ability to keep his eyes open.

"You can lie down if you want; I'll wake you up when," she ran through the bulletin post in her head, looking for the name, "when Kenren gets here."

[opposingheaven]

[From here]

He knocked softly on the door, giving Tenpou a backwards glance before pushing it open a crack and peering inside. "Hanatarou?" he called out, catching sight of the woman who was in the room too. Must be who he'd been sent to heal, Homura's newest recruit. "It's Kenren," he added, just in case they couldn't guess.