(Untitled)

[with_diamonds]

This wasn't in the slightest what Lucy had been expecting when she'd ventured out into the storm. Retrospectively, she supposed it was her own damn fault for not expecting the worst, for once, but acknowledging that didn't change anything now, and sure as hell didn't make her feel any better about being stuck in the clinic. The actual turn of

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[with_diamonds]

Too caught up in her own thoughts, it wasn't until Ishiah had taken a seat that Lucy noticed his presence at all, but in spite of the look on his face, she smiled immediately, a small, weak thing, but warm and noticeable all the same. She hadn't had much time to worry, with the blur of the events that had brought her here in the first place, but knowing he had been stuck on the second island during the worst of the hurricane had still been a point of concern. Now, doing decidedly better than she had been a day or so before, it would've been hard not to be a little relieved. Maybe she was the worse for wear, but that was no reason to act too much like it. It was bad enough that she was stuck in bed, and would be for a while yet

[with_diamonds]

It was something Lucy had been thinking about a lot as of late, though apparently not enough. Somehow, all at once, after a period of relative calm, there had been so much going on because other people were so fucking stupid, in ways she'd found that she could relate to. While it may not have stopped her from venturing out into the storm, her reasons for that were ones she thought both valid and inexplicable; otherwise, what she'd seen happening to those around her was enough to inspire a person to start making changes. She didn't want to end up like them; she didn't want to end up like her brother. She was restless, though, and with that, to tame a reckless streak was difficult, and took more energy than she could recall having had before the tree had taken what was left of it. To hear Ishiah then talking like this wasn't exactly easy, but it might have been just what she needed

[anewwaive]

It'd been a long fucking weekend. A really long fucking weekend. And even as the storm subsided, here Gideon was, still dealing with the after effects of it. There were only a few people he'd ever willingly sit around the fucking clinic for, and Lucy was one of them. After he heard how bad off she was, shit - he didn't know. It was as fucking bad as Eden getting hurt, to say the least.

He thought about bringing something, but what the fuck was he supposed to bring? Flowers? They were all over the place here. So he just brought himself the first (of what would surely be many) visit, figuring she'd eventually tell him if she needed him to grab her something or sneak something in.

Not even bothering to consider she might not even want company, he plopped down unceremoniously in the chair next to her, scooting it over so he could be facing her. She looked worse for wear, that was for fucking sure, but he tried not to look at her like she was a fucking walking corpse or something. That didn't stop him from at least making a comment,

[with_diamonds]

It was exactly the sort of entrance Lucy would have expected from Gideon, prompting a slight, crooked smile from her when she realized she had company, turning her head without otherwise moving so she could face him. She'd been mostly propped up already, feeling way too ridiculous just lying flat, so it wasn't anything particularly difficult; as long as she didn't twist too much (meaning at all), it wouldn't pull any stitches and she would be fine. That didn't stop it from hurting like hell, but she was keeping that to herself where she could, wanting neither pity nor for anyone to insist she take something for the pain.

"Yeah, rub it in, why don't you?" she quipped, it being apparent enough that she didn't actually mind the comment. It was true, after all; she was pretty sure she had never in her life been hurt quite this badly. "The tree fucked me up, there's a difference. I just happened to not see it."

[anewwaive]

"You might want to rethink telling people you were taken out by a fucking tree. Just saying, it sounds a little lame," he snorted, hiding a grin. If he were in her position - and shit, he had been once, a long time ago - he doubted she wanted him acting like he felt sorry for her. "How they treating you in here? Is this place as boring as I fucking remember?"

[with_diamonds]

"And then some," Lucy said with a sigh, though she supposed it was something of an exaggeration. In the wake of the hurricane, the clinic had been busier than usual; she didn't think she had ever seen so many people on overnight stays here. Even so, the fact that she could go nowhere else, could hardly even move, made it seem that much more dull. "They are treating me fine. It's just, you know, a lot of concerned doctors, most of them ones I don't know. What the hell else would I tell people took me out, a dinosaur?"

[findherwayback]

Hurricanes were storms, but they weren't the right kind. Sure, she loved the smell of lightning and the lashing of the wind and rain. No fluke weather pattern can change what she was. But hurricanes were the domain of her uncle, Percy's dad and thus she always treated them with a measure of resentment and respect.

Which didn't mean that she shied away from going out in it. Not for long, but enough to check on a few things and get a bit of food before holing up in her trailer. The Airstream definitely knew how to hold its own.

Sliding into a chair next to the bed, she dropped her bag and the bow she had fought to keep with her next to her feet. Propping her shoes up on the edge of the bed, she picked up one of the books and flipped through it. "So. I heard there was a tree involved."

[with_diamonds]

Despite herself and the amount of pain she was in, Lucy let out a laugh at Thalia's introduction, biting down on her lower lip after to hold back a wince. Admittedly, she found it refreshing for someone to be acting so casual and not treating her like an invalid. She was one, but that didn't mean she wanted all the attention and concern that would typically come with the state she was left in.

"Two trees, actually," she replied wryly, eyebrows raising just a little. She couldn't say she was particularly surprised when they were the biggest concern, out in the jungle, but there was some sense of irony in it all the same. "Tripped on the first, got hit by the second, which did most of the damage. How've you been holding up?"

[findherwayback]

"Never underestimate a tree. We're dangerous."

Trees could be dangerous, a lot like a most things that were underestimated. Though the trees that Thalia had known back home had harbored nymphs which made them an entirely different story.

Pausing mid-flip, she shrugged. "Better than you, apparently. I love storms, even wild ones. This was just a little different. Why were you walking around in the first place?"

[with_diamonds]

"It's stupid," Lucy said, nose wrinkling as she winced. It wasn't an answer, but it was true all the same. If given a second chance, she wasn't sure that she would have done anything differently, but as far as causes for almost being killed by a tree went, this was a pretty ridiculous one. "I was - a friend of mine, Chase, he lives in this treehouse, but he hasn't been out there in a long time because he got hurt, so I went to see if it was still standing. I lived there for a while, too, so I... wanted to see if it was still standing. Mostly so he'd know, for when he's better. I was most of the way back when this tree branch fell, and... bam."

She sighed after speaking, only processing what Thalia had said after a few seconds. Brows drawing together in confusion, she turned her head to look at her, not bothering to try to hide how puzzled she was. "Wait, 'we'?"

[neptune_sleuth]

Veronica didn't take much to the kitchen anymore. There were too many bakers, too few supplies, and she had far too much else she needed to be doing. Still she'd wound up down there the night before, mixing and rolling, working her aggravation out on the dough. The house was damaged, though not too terribly; she'd got off light for once, running around and making sure everyone else was okay, refusing to let Sam stray from her side so long as she was indoors herself. She was tired, but she didn't care. There were things that came before rest.

She'd had to keep some of the cookies for herself for Sam's sake, but she brought most with her when she turned up that afternoon to see Lucy, setting them on the table beside the bed as she took a seat. "Girl walks into a tree," she said. "That is either the worst headline or the lamest opening for a joke ever."

[with_diamonds]

"Or both," Lucy offered, brightening as much as she could at the sight of Veronica and what she'd brought with her. Being here in the clinic made it impossible to check on the people about whom she was concerned, and not only was she grateful for the company and the cookies, but to see that she was faring alright, too. Veronica was her oldest friend here; having experienced firsthand how much damage the hurricane could do, the last thing she wanted was anyone else she knew getting hurt, too. That she'd opened with something of a joke instead of showering her with too much concern only helped. In bad shape though she may have been, she had never liked pity, and she didn't want to be hovered over now. "I'm thinking both. There has to be a joke when there's a ruptured spleen involved. Do you have any idea how amazing those cookies look?"

[neptune_sleuth]

"Do you know how many of them I've already had?" Veronica quipped in return. "Personally, I think the word spleen is its own joke, but gimme a couple minutes, I'll come up with something good. Although I don't know how well that goes with cookies."

Even as she cracked jokes, she looked Lucy over carefully, trying to assess for herself the extent of the damage. That she was awake, alert, joking was good enough. However bad it was, however much pain Lucy was in, she would be fine. For her own part, she'd always despised pity and cosseting, and she wouldn't have subjected Lucy to that for the world.

[with_diamonds]

"The word is a joke," Lucy agreed, holding up a hand with one finger lifted, as if to make a point, "the organ itself is not." It wasn't even the sort of thing she would typically have thought of, her spleen, which made the whole situation seem a little more surreal than her vague memories already did. If ever there were a thing not to take for granted, though, she was sure that the spleen was it. The damage it had caused, or almost caused, or whatever, was proof enough of that.

Careful, she reached to the plate at her side for a cookie, taking a bite and grinning. Nothing would have been enough to keep her mind entirely off the pain, but she didn't think she could have asked for better than this, where both food and company were concerned. "You're right, though. These are way too good for spleen jokes. Better than any medication they could be giving me, too, I think I feel better already."

[headofaccounts]

As far as loss went, Pete's experience was very little. Almost everyone he knew, conversely, had lost someone during their time here. Despite this, he'd never really thought of things ever hitting him quite so close. He'd known that he cared more for Lucy than he did the majority of the island populace, but he hadn't expected the thrill of shock that had run through him when he'd found out what had happened to her in the hurricane.

He looked almost worse than she did when he entered the room, looking about for a chair before blurting out, "Are you alright?" It was a null question, he knew, but he needed to say something. He needed some reassurance. Maybe it was selfish of him, but Pete Campbell had never exactly been selfless.

[with_diamonds]

"I'm -" Lucy started, the beginning of a response instinctive, though she faltered after a moment, unsure how she was even meant to finish the sentence. Seeing the look on Pete's face, she couldn't help feeling inexplicably guilty, like she might have had some control over this. Of course, she had, but preferred not to think of this as a product of her own recklessness if she could help it. She hadn't put that damn tree in the middle of the path, after all, and hadn't been able to help what it did to her. She had merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time

[headofaccounts]

"Just got rattled up a bit," he said. Dragging over a small chair, he sat down, immediately clasping his hands together, leaning over to rest his elbows on his knees, head cocked slightly as he kept his eyes on Lucy. "It's the worst weather I've ever seen, but I made it." And that was all that he figured he could really ask for, given the mess he'd seen around the island.

The fact that she'd been out on her own initiative wasn't one that even crossed his mind. (It said something, perhaps, about how he still saw people. A little too simplistically for his own good.) "How long have you been in here?" he asked. He hadn't really bothered to find out the details of her coming into the clinic before barging in.

[with_diamonds]

"Since the worst of the storm," Lucy answered, the safest response she could think of, given that she wasn't entirely sure how long it had been. Waking up from surgery was a haze, and beyond that, time had a way of blending together here, when there was nothing she could do and little in the way of company. All she knew was that there was what felt like a good long while left to do, and she was honestly beginning to suspect that she might go crazy before they let her out of here. "I'd never seen anything like it, either. But I'm glad you're okay."