Hello darkness my old friend....

[doomedtheworld]

Characters: Vin and Elaine. Open to people coming to find her.
Time: Evening of February 15th. Immediately after she, Thomas and Kitten find Thomas.
Location: Between the Blackstone and Millenium Park
Content: Finding evidence of Elaine's presence in Thomas' apartment, Vin sets off in hot pursuit.
Warning: Some disturbing content.
Format: Prose.

Comments

[thisoneis]

Granny hadn't seen the video. She wouldn't have know what to make of it if she had. She was, however, out wondering the streets of this 'Shikago' - and that was a damned funny name for a city, if you asked her. As for the storm? It didn't bother her one bit, much less the cat that rested across her shoulders like a queen on her throne. A careful observer, however, would notice the fact that even with the blowing wind and rain she seemed to be quite perfectly dry

[legallygreen]

"Vin!"

Not long after Granny had bent down to look at the girl, a woman came running, obviously having just thrown on a coat and shoes over her dark sweater and long skirt, the rain pelting down on her and plastering her auburn hair to the back of her neck. Her glasses were wet, not that it mattered, as she came to a stop near the woman and instantly sloughed off her coat, dropping it over the writhing figure.

"What happened?" Jennifer breathed softly, looking up at the strange woman. She had not been there when Vin's transmission came through, sending her flying down through the hotel into the streets, so she doubted the elderly woman had anything to do with it.

Jennifer leaned down, touching the injured girl's cheek. "Vin...Vin look at me. Come on..."

Glancing back up to the elderly woman, her face was pale with concern. "Ma'am, do you have a phone on you?"

[doomedtheworld]

Breathe.

Breathe.

The word repeated itself in Vin's mind over and over again as she laid there on the street, curled into a ball, shivering hard as water soaked through her clothing, chilling her despite the magic burning her alive from the inside out. Rainwater choked her with each gasp, sending her body into spasms as her lungs rejected it. It almost felt like she was drowning and Vin had to struggle to hold back waves of sheer, mindless panic, had to struggle to keep her mind working through the agony but it was so hard. It hurt so much. Dimly the thought entered her mind that she was dying, alone and in agony, in this storm.

Panic flared again, threating to steal what little breath she could draw in.

Breathe!It took a long time to register in the tortured girl's mind when Granny spoke to her and she managed to open her eyes, squinting past a blur of tears at her. Then something fell across her, something heavy and warm and relatively dry and Jenn was there. The reality of a world outside the pain suddenly spun back to her and

[thisoneis]

Granny nodded to herself at Vin's words. Pain was good. It meant that she was at least still alive. Alive for how much longer, well, that was the question and Granny knew she wasn't going to be able to convince Death to leave this one well enough alone. But she had not and would not accept failure. Not here and certainly not now. The day a Weatherwax accepted failure would be the day you could put her in the ground

Timeskip - Blackstone Hotel

[legallygreen]

The trip back to the Blackstone had been short enough with She-Hulk's strong legs propelling her. She got Vin up to her room, and got the girl stripped of her wet clothing and into the bed. She then returned to Jennifer's form, and got towels out of the bathroom, putting one over her own shoulders before gently drying Vin's hair while the other woman slept

[doomedtheworld]

Vin lay silent as time ticked by, only occasionally making a small sound and shifting under the covers. Even now nightmares kept haunting her, images of the woods, the mirror and a dark shadowy version of herself. Only occasionally broken up by dreams of being alone in the rain with that... image she'd seen when she looked into the woman's face looming over her.

Still, even exhausted and hurt habits died hard ad only a few hours later, Vin awoke with a start. Her eyes snapped open and she blinked. She was in her room, and carefully tucked under her blankets which was strange. She was also undessed, which was slightly more strange... Vin always went to bed dressed. Finally, neither of her knives were in her hands which more than anything confirmed that she hadn't made it to her room herself.

Slowly, she scanned the room until her eyes fell on the woman seated next to her bed.

"Jenn?" She asked quietly, blinking at her.

[legallygreen]

"Hello." Jennifer replied softly.

She was more than a little relieved to have Vin wake up so soon, though it probably was not good for the younger woman. She set her book to the side and leaned forward, putting a hand on Vin's forehead. No fever, but she was nice and warm. Smiling, she leaned back.

"How are you feeling? Up to something warm to eat and drink?"

[doomedtheworld]

Vin glanced up at Jenn's hand when she touched her forehead, blinking, and shook her head. Slowly she forced herself to sit up. Her movements were slowl as the bits of the curse that clung to her made themselves known. It was nothing though, she had woken up hurting worse before.

"I'm not hungry." She said and glanced toward the window. Still dark out, she couldn't have been out longunless she'd somehow managed to sleep through the entire day. "How long was I asleep?"