Night 50: F31-F40 Hallway

[bodhiandspirit]

A ring. Like she did with the Exsphere earlier, Rita attempted to bring up the interface that would allow her to examine the gem's properties in better detail, but it was no use. All she had to go off of was the Head Doctor's explanation, and whether that could be trusted or not remained to be seen

Comments

f34

[vitale]

When Bella awoke in her bed, she realized one of two things

Re: f34

[vitale]

( to here. )

Re: f34

[vitale]

( ... )

Bella burst into the room, moving towards her bed to peek under the mattress for the blade. "Where is it ..." she muttered under her breath, peering around for a few moments before moving to her closet.

Shoving the clothes aside, she bent down low, looking for the shining shard - but a spasm of pain shot through her back, and she drew in a breath, biting on her bottom lip quickly to silence the pain. A few moments later she was back to her normal self, and seconds after that she found the shard of glass on the floor of the closet. Reaching out with careful hands, her free hand moved to grab onto a spare shirt, and she wrapped it around the part she normally held onto, giving herself a handle. "There."

[sanguinario]

She was not -

She was not.

He almost did grab her and drag her the other way, but he remembered her palms and at least if she took him to it he could break it. How idiotic - how ridiculous did she have to be, thinking she could use a shard of glass for a weapon? Even he wouldn't do it, and his hands could heal in a minimal amount of time from that sort of injury. Actually, he would have grabbed her either way if he hadn't noticed her shutter. Give him a few years to watch her, and he knew her motions, knew how her body moved. When it was normal, or when it was... not.

He was angry about the weapon, but that could wait.

"You're hurt somewhere else, aren't you? Not just your hands." So he couldn't really blame her for the dishonesty being a two way road, but he had promised he was going to stop hiding injuries from her - at this point, they were an inevitable outcome, anyway. But she was doing the same to him, and she didn't even have the excuse of being inhuman. "Where is it?"

[vitale]

At Edward's comment Bella frowned. "I told you I was this morning, but I guess you ... forgot," she said with a sigh, turning to look at him over her shoulder. He probably had other things to worry about. "And I didn't want to remind you because it's really not a big deal."

A lie, but still.

"I'd have to take off my shirt to show you," she said with a soft hint of amusement. She doubted he wanted her to take it off, though, so she had a feeling she wasn't going to have to show him, either way. "One's on my shoulder blade ... and the other is just a scratch on the front of my opposite shoulder. Really, it's no big deal. I've had worse."

Edward didn't need to know that one of them was caused by a shard of glass being thrown, but if he were to ask she would tell him. Bella didn't like keeping secrets from him, just as she hoped he didn't like keeping secrets from her.

[sanguinario]

Forgot? More like tried to force it out of his mind so he didn't have a panic attack.

Well. So much for that.

"If you turn around, may I lift the shirt up?" he asked, setting the pillowcase on top of her desk. He tried to keep his tone inflectionless; a doctor's inquiry, voiced only with disinterest. Of course, he very much was the opposite of disinterested, but he only wanted to examine the wound. Edward was very forcefully not thinking of their last kiss and how he metaphorically had his hands tied behind his back during the day. Even during the night, it seemed. He was almost afraid to touch her at all - funny, because now it would be so much harder to harm her.

"Let me... ah. Put those medical degrees to use. Unless it will make you uncomfortable." That was... embarrassing. Usually he was putting all his effort into making her keep her clothes on, not taking them off for him -

- despite what he wanted, he did have manners

[vitale]

Edward's little display of uninterest certainly had it's effect, and Bella couldn't help but let out a slightly defeated sigh at his words. "Of course it won't make me uncomfortable. Why would it? It's you, after all. I'd much rather you look at anything wrong with me than a stranger." True words, at the very least.

At the mention of a medical kit, the teenager perked up, remembering. "Oh, I have a health kit, remember?" Again, he probably didn't want to. "From ... well, you know, no need to ... dwell on things that make you want to lock me in closets and throw away the key."

Moving towards the desk that the vampire had just put his bag down on, Bella tried to remember where she had last seen the kit. Moving through the drawers quickly, by the time she found the hiding place of the kit, she knew.

However, it was ... jammed.

"Oh, come on," she grumbled under her voice, tugging at the handle rather forcefully. "It was fine before

[sanguinario]

"If there's bandages in it, that should be enough... wouldn't kill to have antibiotics, though." At least he'd just fed the previous night - not a lot, but any still tender or blood-clotted injuries weren't going to catch particularly much of his interest. Edward was rather sure he'd be okay that night, but it might be for the best to leave her here for a moment to lock himself in the women's bathroom. Just long enough to down the blood and... down the predator that would inevitably rise

[vitale]

Bella stared down at the ring for a few minutes until out of the corner of her eye she saw Edward move away almost as if he had been hurt. Instantly her head snapped up, and she looked at him in confusion as he suddenly ... shuddered. "Are you okay? I-"

However, seconds later the vampire was practically running around her room, and she moved quickly into the corner next to her dresser, trying to stay out of the way. Her eyes lingered back down to her ring, thinking. Why would it suddenly appear in her desk? Perhaps it had been better if she lied to Edward and said she had seen it there before but thought she had been dreaming. If was strange that it would appear now, if at all. When she entered Landel's, they told her the life she knew she had lived was a lie, but ... if so, then why would the ring be there?

... Unless she was married to someone else in her "real life", and the same ring had been used

[sanguinario]

He was rather surprised at her almost automatic acceptation of it - of course, that was certainly not the strangest thing that had occurred since their arrival to the institute, but it was still worth worrying about. This was a lot more unnerving than some unnatural, unfamiliar ring, magic powers or not. This was personal. Landel had already corrupted the immaculate perception he'd held of his human mother's image, and now her heirloom? It was only one of many, of course, but it was the only one that meant something to him. It was all he had left that reminded him that he was someone's son. Naturally created

[vitale]

Bella instantly relaxed once Edward admitted he didn't think it was Claire either, and she let out a relieved sigh. "I'm gla -," a pause, and a sudden realization hit. "Wait a minute. You aren't suspicious of her ... you met her, didn't you

[sanguinario]

"Yes," he admitted, though he instantly followed it up with, "though it was pure coincidence. She seems... nice. And shockingly normal for someone that is friends with you. I even think she might be human." Though that was all clearly speculation, of course. He'd at least like to talk to her a little more

[vitale]

So, a coincidence. Bella nodded her head, though she was still curious as to what they talked about. Did he like Claire? Could he read anything from her? At the mention of her being human, she let out a soft laugh, knowing how the girl had some kind of ... immortality of sorts. "Me? Friends with normal people? Like that'll ever happen. I'm still waiting to be friends with a witch, you know. Or a wizard. Harry Potter would suffice

[sanguinario]

"I thought about it, but decided against it," Edward admitted with a soft laugh, lowering her hand. The ring was warm against her skin, even after only a few moments of contact, but it was most definitely his mother's... or a perfect copy. Because of its age, he rather doubter the latter thought. "I don't think I'm all that smug, though... the moniker smugward is interesting. I think I like it." He gave her forehead a quick kiss and stepped past her, lifting the first aid kit from her drawer.

No, he hadn't forgotten. She wasn't about to be that lucky.

"If it survives tonight, I think it will be able to survive anything." He snapped the box open, rather surprised to see how well-stocked it was: gauze, bandages, elastic... even instructions on how to mend basic injuries. He supposed that would have been necessary to training nurses, but it seemed a rather small treasure in a den of garbage. "Now, if you'll turn around and remove your shirt, we can get this over with. I want to see the one on your shoulder blade first."

[vitale]

"I have others," Bella told him as she moved towards her bed, sitting down on it with her back to him, "But I think I'll save them for a rainy day. A few are pretty good, I admit. You name is pretty easy to add things to." She was completely joking, of course, and she knew he knew that.

So she could tease him too. Who knew?

However, at the mention of her injuries once again, the teenager admitted defeat in ever trying to get away from his cautious side. She honestly knew better than to doubt his memory, what with it being photographic and all, but sometimes she hoped. Oh, how she hoped.

That being said, Bella turned and gave Edward a solid glare, watching him. "Fine. But you turn around too. No peeking."

Not that she minded. At all.

Once she knew he had done as she had asked, the teenager carefully removed her shirt (he said take it off, after all.), wincing when she pulled the piece of clothing over her head, stretching her arm. She only hoped that Edward was still turned around and that he didn't see her flinch

[sanguinario]

He turned around as she'd requested, threading his fingers together in preparation. He could do this. As much as he'd been through, harming Bella was an action he instinctively flinched away from; that included how the smell of her blood had changed to him. But he himself had changed since the two of them had walked along the ridges of those mountains in July, and a lot of it had to do with survival.

Or so he was telling himself. He didn't have a choice - it was either human blood from an indirect source, or the living, breathing, beating actual source. His eyes were still red as a physical representation of the choice he'd made - the vial of blood in his bag even more so.

Deep breath. He smelled her immediately. Old blood and new, gauze, bandages. The fire in his throat roared up, angry and raw, but he ignored it. Now that he had become accustomed to human blood, all of it was particularly... strong.

"No internal torture. I may be able to do that," he said, then turned around, staring at the raw, red wound in her back. Maybe not.