[Active/Closed]

[valetudochamp]

Characters: Tatsuki, Russel, Fletcher if he wants in
Content: A newcomer in need of winter clothing settles down at a new friend's and tries to make sense of things.
Location: New York Public Library
Time of day: Mid-Afternoon. Retroactive prior to run-in with Axel.
Warnings: None yet, I don't think.

Comments

[just_like_daddy]

Russel happened to be seeking out a couple crackers to sate his hunger when he heard the sound at the door. He limped over to it. "Hey there. You're Tatsuki, then?" he asked her, his hands in his pockets rather than making the gentlemanly gesture of helping her up. "You okay?" He noted all the blood on her.

[valetudochamp]

"Heh," she chuckled. Not that anything about this was funny, but she couldn't really help it. "I've seen better days. You alright there yourself?" The limp hadn't escaped her notice, either.

She didn't really register that he didn't offer to help her up. She was tough enough to get up herself, anyway. She had to be. She also had to use the door behind her for leverage, because with the adrenaline gone, at least two- no, three of her fingers were too broken to move on their own.

[just_like_daddy]

His eyes landed on the bruised and swelling fingers. "Run into some of our friends?" he pointed at the front desk, still emblazoned with the transmutation circle in blood. "You need a weapon other than your fists. And some ice. Follow me."

He led her through the lobby, through the large reading room, and in through a door marked "Employees Only", into what looked to be an employee break room. He opened the freezer, something a bit redundant in the current conditions, and got a plastic baggie out of a drawer. He certainly seemed to have made himself at home. He put the cubes in the bag, sealed it, wrapped a towel around it, and handed it over. "You should get someone to look at that pretty soon," he told her.

He seemed tired, generally, like something about his injury had a deeper effect than a limp. "I got a room ready for you, I'll show you when you catch your breath." He leaned casually on the counter, feet crossed at the ankles.

[valetudochamp]

"Well, I did tell you how that went." Ugh, and the taste was still in her mouth, too. "I work with what I'm good with. But yeah, thanks." The circle didn't elude her notice, but she didn't really register it as important, though she might have if she knew what it was made with. Following him to the freezer, she took the icepack with her good, or rather, better hand, and applied it to the knuckles on the other. She'd done this plenty of times before, but not this bad. Those suckers were tough.

"I'll be sure to, if I can actually find a doctor around here." She could tell he was having a rough time of his own. He was as bad at hiding it as her friends from Karakura. "You look like you could use one too. You sure you're alright?" This guy was offering her a much-needed helping hand, so she wasn't about to hide her concern. She had to return the favor somehow.