Declan's actually been spared giving the welcome speech before now and seeing the man land on the sand in front of him, he sort of wishes he'd missed out on this round too. But the way he's guarding that shoulder, Declan knows that pain, and he keeps a healthy distance.
"Bloody hell, mate. Good way to show up. Got a friend that's a doctor if you want her to patch it, otherwise, I'm good to put it back in myself. My left's always getting dislocated."
He thought, at first, that it was the ref standing over him, talking at him, a jumble of words he didn't quite understand. Yeah, his shoulder was in a bad way, he knew that, but he hadn't tapped out and he was conscious, which meant there was no damn reason for them to pull the plug on him yet.
"No," he muttered, waving the guy off without actually looking up, "Just... Fuck off, I ain't done." Clumsily, he pushed to his feet, his injured arm still held close at his side, and then finally, his vision swam into focus and he got a good look at the guy.
"Declan. If you've just showed, you probably don't realize you've ended up somewhere else entirely instead of where you were before."
Christ, it's confusing to his own ears and Declan wonders if there is a quick and easy way to explain the island to someone who's just shown up. He decides there probably isn't, not really, and shakes his head.
"I can explain later. The shoulder's more important."
"I wasn't on the goddamn beach before. Think I noticed that," Tommy said, unsteady on his feet, his tongue heavy and slurring, but a lot of that was the adrenaline. Adrenaline that was quickly fading, replaced with pain and a kind of bone-deep weariness that had little to do with the fight.
"No. No, you get the fuck back. Forget the goddamn shoulder. You tell me now."
"All right," Declan says, taking the tone for what it's worth and stepping back.
"You ended up on a magical island that's some kind of pocket universe that pulls people from all walks of life. Might be purgatory, might just be involuntary vacation, nobody knows. All I do know is that I can't leave, at least not by choice, and people randomly appear - like you - and disappear."
It's a quick and dirty explanation and Declan's not sure if it covers everything...but the highlights are there.
"Suit yourself, mate," Declan says, shrugging. It's weird, yeah, and he knows that his own threshold for weird's probably higher than most but he can't force anyone to listen, even if he really wants to be sure he'll get sorted.
There's a such thing as free will, after all, and Declan's not the sort to interfere.
"Bloody hell, mate. Good way to show up. Got a friend that's a doctor if you want her to patch it, otherwise, I'm good to put it back in myself. My left's always getting dislocated."
Reply
"No," he muttered, waving the guy off without actually looking up, "Just... Fuck off, I ain't done." Clumsily, he pushed to his feet, his injured arm still held close at his side, and then finally, his vision swam into focus and he got a good look at the guy.
"Who the fuck're you?"
Reply
Christ, it's confusing to his own ears and Declan wonders if there is a quick and easy way to explain the island to someone who's just shown up. He decides there probably isn't, not really, and shakes his head.
"I can explain later. The shoulder's more important."
Reply
"No. No, you get the fuck back. Forget the goddamn shoulder. You tell me now."
Reply
"You ended up on a magical island that's some kind of pocket universe that pulls people from all walks of life. Might be purgatory, might just be involuntary vacation, nobody knows. All I do know is that I can't leave, at least not by choice, and people randomly appear - like you - and disappear."
It's a quick and dirty explanation and Declan's not sure if it covers everything...but the highlights are there.
Reply
With a dismissive wave, he turned on his heel, and even though he knew nothing about what he'd find in that direction, he started to walk.
Reply
There's a such thing as free will, after all, and Declan's not the sort to interfere.
Reply
Leave a comment