butterfly in a bell jar : [closed]

[girl_unlocking]

Who: Riza Hawkeye firebornfidelis and Dawn Summers girl_unlocking
When: Backdated - evening of Aug. 18th.
Where: The clinic
Format: Paragraph
What: Riza was hurt. Dawn brings her something belatedly.
Warnings: Injuries?

Comments

[firebornfidelis]

Riza blinked and looked up at the sound of a voice. She was a little tired and the medicine wasn't helping her stay alert - though it did keep her thoughts slow for which she was at least partially grateful - but she hadn't managed to fall asleep yet.

"Hello, Dawn," she said softly, putting on a little smile for the girl. She hoped she didn't look too terrible. The deep cuts across her chest had been healed and the burn on the side of her face was mostly gone, too, though her right arm was still broken.

With a small motion of her left hand, she waved at Dawn to come closer.

"You didn't wake me. Come in."

/cry

[girl_unlocking]

Slipping past the curtain, she stopped just shy of the small (Somehow old looking? Well, everything here's old looking, mostly.) bed and looked down at Riza. Part of her hadn't wanted to look at all.

She sucked in a breath, a sick sense of worry and fear and something else she didn't quite want to own rising up and making it hard for her to swallow without wincing.

It had sounded worse on the Forge. God, she'd probably (Maybe?) seen worse before, but it had cut straight through every bit of what had held things together --- what had told her this place was safe. Even if it had been a dream, even if--

(It isn't, Dawnie.)---it had let her know in no uncertain terms that she wasn't dreaming. And that nothing and no one were ever safe. Ever. No matter where she was. And it sucked. Big time

/pets

[firebornfidelis]

With a bit of effort, Riza was able to shift herself up on the bed into a better sitting position. She managed not to wince at all at the lingering pain in her chest from the broken ribs she'd sustained in that fight.

That creature that Naruto had become. She had shot it, fired everything she had, first into non-vital areas, and then into heart and head and none of it had done a thing. Why don't guns work on anything any more? It made her feel helpless. Useless.

She couldn't save anyone.

Like circling sharks, her slow thoughts closed in on her when she was alone, the same fear being fed by every failure. But with something else to focus on - this poor, lost girl who had come in to see her - she could forget about it for a few moments.

"You didn't have to get me anything. I was glad to help you." She shifted her legs - which had remained largely uninjured except for a few scary bruises and little cuts - and smiling, patted the space on the bed beside her. "Sit."

/curls up

[girl_unlocking]

Eyes lowered, lip bitten, Dawn took great care as she slowly sat, unaware that she'd been holding her breath until a relieved rushing sigh escaped her lips.

She held a small jar in her lap, her fingers absently tracing patterns over its gilt lid.

"I know. That I didn't have to. I...got it because you did help, and you didn't have to. I got it 'cause you ...wanted to."

She smiled a little, she couldn't help it, really - it was sad and it was sweet, and she tried to stop herself because this wasn't the place for being babbly, or acting like such a ...little kid.

"I got it in Dismas, at the fair. I thought you might..."

I thought you might like it. You seem so haunted. It's weird. I mean...I've seen that look a hundred times. It was all over my sister in those last few weeks. And I couldn't do anything. I just can't ...not do anything.

Her words trailed off as she extended the jar, and the flickerflutter of red inside it toward Riza.