He's still carrying the ring in his pocket. Even when he's running, bare-chest, boardshorts, head down, it's in his pocket, just sitting there, weighing him down a little. Because he's a pussy and he ought to remember that. Which is all thrown into stark relief when he looks up and he seems someone with his fucking face. And a chest wound. Spectacular.
It crosses his mind to just turn on his heel and run the other way. But he's a Marine. And they don't do that. Semper fucking Fi.
"I'm not overly fond of doctors." That had been mostly because of being on the run from the Auphe and Cal's dubious genetics but Niko had no great love of the modern healthcare system. Still, in a rough outpost like this one, there was a good chance that records keeping wasn't first priority.
"I guess cost-benefit analysis says I need one," he mused, looking at the wound. It was deep, too deep to butterfly bandage and go on.
Sarah stares at the wound when she comes across the man, searching for traces of metal within all the blood and all the human flesh. She sees nothing glinting and she doesn't think that they've come this far in improvement. "Swords are fairly outdated these days," she says mildly, after she's walked past him. It's almost an afterthought, stopping and getting herself involved. "What were you fighting that you needed a sword?"
"Swords and knives pick up germs and can take a good amount of cleaning," she says in return, not mentioning how therapeutic it can be to dismantle and clean a gun -- not to mention to sleep on the whole armory, as Derek had once put it. "But I actually don't know how it is. I don't exactly get in many brawls, especially with swords."
"Trust that you never have to," Niko said, flashing her a smile that was part grimace. "You wouldn't happen to be in possession of a first aid kit, would you?"
Annabeth had been on a trip to the forge when the man had landed. After all, she couldn't exactly keep practicing against Percy with only a knife - and besides, she needed to see what could be done about perfecting her arrows. But she stopped right in her tracks upon seeing Niko lying there - having seen far too many injured people in her life to not make out the severity of the wound.
"Di immortales", she muttered under her breath, along with a steady stream of mixed Greek and Latin curses, before moving closer with an air of caution. "Can you stand?"
At first, hearing the Latin and Greek from the girl's mouth, Niko half-wondered if Goodfellow had a cousin. Of course, given pucks reproduced asexually and had no females, it was impossible, but the thought had crossed his mind all the same.
Injury could do that to a man.
"I think I can probably manage," Niko said, pressing his lips together in a thin line to mask the pain; no need in showing weakness to an unknown quantity. What might just be a little girl could also be something infinitely more dangerous and in his current condition, it wasn't a chance Niko was willing to take.
Susan had taken the children down to the beach for a little while, though they were in the shade at the tree line rather than out in the bright sunshine. Helen was sound asleep despite Rickon's running about in circles and jabbering loudly, for which Susan was grateful. She did not know how someone nearly two could be so loud.
So loud, in fact, that Susan nearly did not notice the way that Shadow gave a soft bark, tail twitching, to announce that someone unfamiliar was approaching. The direwolf, expecting a litter of pups soon, was even more watchful than usual. Susan looked up to see a man a few yards away, moving as though he were either drunk or injured; he was still a little too far away for her to be sure.
Niko wasn't enamored of approaching a strange woman without anything to defend himself and as much as he'd like to trust that a woman with a dog and two small children was nothing resembling a threat, that which the eye could see could be misleading.
Still, he didn't have much of an option considering the blood loss he'd already sustained made him slightly light-headed and he stumbled toward her, trying his best to keep upright.
When he came closer, Susan could see that he was injured, not drunk, and badly, at that. She got to her feet, with Helen held carefully against her shoulder, and went to see if she could help him. "Not really, but we can improvise," she said. He had the look of someone who had lost a lot of blood, and while Susan had been here for years and thought she knew nearly everyone by sight if not by name, she had never seen him before. He must be a recent arrival.
Helen hadn't stirred from her sleep, and Rickon was still a yard or so away, 'building' a sandcastle under Shadow's protective eye. "Sit down," she said, nodding to the blanket she'd just been sitting on. "I'll try to patch you up enough to get you to the clinic; it's something of a walk." She didn't really have a first aid kit, although being the mother of two small children meant that she carried all sorts of useful things around in a bag whereever they went.
"I don't need a doctor," Niko said quietly, glancing down at the wound and pressing at the edges after he sat down. Large, but not overly deep; he and Cal had both been on the receiving end of worse.
There were few things I liked in the world more than seeing half-naked men walking towards me. A half naked woman, for example, ranks at about the same place. Half naked people are decidedly wonderful things in my life, and to see one walking towards me, a gloriously tanned blond man, well built and tall, great facial features (though the nose was somewhat prominent, it could be overlooked for the sake of the full effect), was something that made my day.
Of course, until I saw the wound on his chest and the dripping blood. This was not quite such an idyllic view but it was certainly one I could still work with. Did I mention the hot Adonis-like body? I was not going to pass on a chance like this.
I hurried to his side, the very image of concern and worry. "Oh, sir!" I said as I reached him. "Are you quite alright?"
"Better, if I didn't have this wound," Niko said lowly, trying to keep from wincing. It was painful, but the pain was bearable enough. He'd had worse. He'd delivered worse.
"I need sutures and gauze, if you know where I can get them."
Well, I was no doctor, and the kinds of doctors that I know weren't, apparently, the same kind as everyone else's. Still, he needed basic medical supplies, which I was sure I could find somewhere. The safest bet was the clinic, of course. There was probably a doctor there as well.
"This way," I said, and gestured down the path. "There's a clinic a short walk away. Are you up to it?"
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It crosses his mind to just turn on his heel and run the other way. But he's a Marine. And they don't do that.
Semper fucking Fi.
"Need a hand, man?"
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All that said and done, he'd never seen a man with his face staring back at him before.
"If you have a half-decent first aid kit, I wouldn't say no."
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"I guess cost-benefit analysis says I need one," he mused, looking at the wound. It was deep, too deep to butterfly bandage and go on.
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"Di immortales", she muttered under her breath, along with a steady stream of mixed Greek and Latin curses, before moving closer with an air of caution. "Can you stand?"
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Injury could do that to a man.
"I think I can probably manage," Niko said, pressing his lips together in a thin line to mask the pain; no need in showing weakness to an unknown quantity. What might just be a little girl could also be something infinitely more dangerous and in his current condition, it wasn't a chance Niko was willing to take.
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So loud, in fact, that Susan nearly did not notice the way that Shadow gave a soft bark, tail twitching, to announce that someone unfamiliar was approaching. The direwolf, expecting a litter of pups soon, was even more watchful than usual. Susan looked up to see a man a few yards away, moving as though he were either drunk or injured; he was still a little too far away for her to be sure.
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Still, he didn't have much of an option considering the blood loss he'd already sustained made him slightly light-headed and he stumbled toward her, trying his best to keep upright.
"First aid kit?"
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Helen hadn't stirred from her sleep, and Rickon was still a yard or so away, 'building' a sandcastle under Shadow's protective eye. "Sit down," she said, nodding to the blanket she'd just been sitting on. "I'll try to patch you up enough to get you to the clinic; it's something of a walk." She didn't really have a first aid kit, although being the mother of two small children meant that she carried all sorts of useful things around in a bag whereever they went.
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"If we can stop the bleeding, I can handle it."
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Of course, until I saw the wound on his chest and the dripping blood. This was not quite such an idyllic view but it was certainly one I could still work with. Did I mention the hot Adonis-like body? I was not going to pass on a chance like this.
I hurried to his side, the very image of concern and worry. "Oh, sir!" I said as I reached him. "Are you quite alright?"
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"I need sutures and gauze, if you know where I can get them."
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"This way," I said, and gestured down the path. "There's a clinic a short walk away. Are you up to it?"
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