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Post by Coraline on Sept 20, 2010 20:26:01 GMT -6
Hermes was shivering, coiled up against the serpent's tail. His teeth were chattering, and his fingers were still coated in blood from ripping someone's eyes out. He forced himself to stay awake. He had to.
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Post by Bryce Langley on Sept 20, 2010 23:29:07 GMT -6
It didn't take long, the team had already been searching for Aiden, trying to track down the chip that had been installed into that cheap little phone by the weak idle signal. By the time Don burst in through the door, Jo and Lana fanning out behind him, the naga had shrugged on his coat and wrapped the bird in a blanket, trying to keep the boy from passing out. The massive African-American glanced around, frowning when he noticed the two bodies and the open window, gesturing silently to young blonde punk and the tiny Asian woman before striding up to the hybrid, going down on one knee to come eye to eye with the former marksman. "This is why we're here." "I know." Aiden shifted anxiously, biting at his lower lip as he tightened his grip on the trembling wing-child. "Can we help 'im?" One quick gesture, and Lana came darting up, sunglasses tilted back to hold her short black hair out of her face. She carefully examined the bird's condition, the broken wing Aiden had torn up a sheet to bandage, and looked to Don, giving a short nod before darting back to the door. "We can care for him. Come along." The hybrid did not hesitate, rising smoothly and following after his bodyguards as swiftly as he was able, never once loosening his grip on Hermes, even when he almost fell down the stairs (thank goodness for Don). He curled up in the corner of the pick up, cushioning the less than smooth ride with his own body, and prayed to a God he wasn't sure existed for the safety of his fragile friend.
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Post by Coraline on Sept 20, 2010 23:41:07 GMT -6
Hermes clung to the hybrid, his teeth chattering as he tried to stay at least conscious. He was cold, his senses were flooded with nothing but pain and confusion and a little psychosis. He wanted to at least try to stay awake. If he had been more careful, maybe he would still be curled up in bed with Aiden...
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Post by Bryce Langley on Sept 21, 2010 9:54:41 GMT -6
Thankfully, it wasn't a long drive, though the appearance of the local children's hospital in the window did nothing to help Aiden's nerves. He didn't know how to treat shock, didn't know what he could do to help, but he knew he didn't want to leave the bird that had treated him so kindly and saved his life. So when the back of the pickup was opened, revealing Don and a young orderly with a stretcher, the naga was already waiting, Hermes cradled close. "M goin' with 'im." "Aiden-" "No, Don. I am going with him." The massive African-American scowled, but he had learned early on that when the former marksman purposefully dropped his accent, there was pretty much nothing he could do to change the hybrid's mind. "I'll have Lana keep an eye on you." "Fine with me." Mere moments later, Aiden lay coiled underneath a hospital bed, Lana guarding the door as a doctor and two orderlies set up an IV.
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Post by Coraline on Sept 21, 2010 11:52:43 GMT -6
Hospital.
White ceiling. Sterile smell.
Hermes was trying to keep calm, vaguely listening to the instructions to stay awake as he was given a local so his wing could get patched up. He could almost feel Aiden, which was enough to keep him alive.
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Post by Bryce Langley on Sept 21, 2010 19:18:02 GMT -6
It was as they were setting the boy's broken wing that the naga sensed something... Off. It wasn't really much of anything, the faintest shift in one orderly's scent. It was then that he noticed the single pair of dark brown boots, half-hidden under the mint-green scrub pants that near dragged on the floor, so totally out of place beside two pairs of white uniform sneakers. He didn't think. Already high-strung from the unpleasant evening and sterile atmosphere, he caught the discrepancy and went into immediate defense mode. And he'd always been taught that the best defense was a good offense. With a sharp snarl and his rattle buzzing, the former marksman launched out from under the gurney, tackling the boot-wearing orderly to the ground. The man gave a startled yelp, head slamming down hard on the tile as a scalpel that had been hidden up his sleeve skittered out into the open. Aiden hissed, furious, flicking the scalpel out of the dazed man's reach as he bound the stranger in his coils, rattle buzzing dangerously as he glared, pupils ebon slits.
{"Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame". Someone knows the rhyme.}
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Post by Coraline on Sept 21, 2010 20:52:05 GMT -6
Hermes didn't even realize it, slipping into unconsciousness just as Aiden launched himself out from under his gurney, toppling it and sending the boy crashing to the floor.
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Post by Bryce Langley on Sept 22, 2010 0:28:06 GMT -6
Lana launched forward as the gurney keeled over like a sailing sloop caught in a hurricane, catching the fragile winged boy in her own slender arms as the doctor and remaining orderly struggled to keep the metal and padding from toppling over completely while making sure the IV didn't get tangled. The tiny woman hooked a leather-shod toe under the near edge of the metal frame, neatly tipping the gurney into the orderly's hands as the doctor held the thin scarlet tube out of harm's way, steadying the frame with one gloved hand before lifting it to silently ask the black-clad Asian to set the wing-child back down. "Damn it, he's unconscious. Someone get me an oxygen mask!" The naga heard the distress in the doctor's voice, and lurched up, giving a soft whine of worry upon seeing the bird's limp form lying so still upon the thin white mattress. He turned to the stranger, the man's dark eyes narrowed in anger but silenced by a loop of scaled muscle over the lower half of his face. A feral hiss, and Aiden loosened his coils just enough to slam the intruder's head on the tiles, hard enough to knock him out. Threat neutralized, the hybrid swiftly dumped the limp body and fled to the wing-child's side, rattle buzzing worriedly as he rose up to hover at the boy's shoulder, leaning down to better look for any signs of life in those lax features as the remaining medical personnel properly tended to the bird's broken wing.
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Post by Coraline on Sept 22, 2010 9:51:37 GMT -6
His pulse was faint, his breathing shallow. Being a bird, Hermes was undoubtedly fragile, and yet being immortal, would only hang in the limbo between life and death without being able to go between.
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Post by Bryce Langley on Sept 22, 2010 16:57:14 GMT -6
As Lana stepped back to properly restrain the stranger the naga had knocked out, Aiden lingered, moving only to get out of the doctor's way as the man affixed an oxygen mask to the bird's face. He coiled his tail under the gurney, head lying on his arms atop the thin mattress as he rested at the top of the bed, his nose just about buried in the wing-child's hair as he silently prayed for the boy's well-being. The doctor carefully monitored the winged messenger's progress, grimacing upon realizing how close the young man was to dying, and called for help. Another doctor came in through the door, an older woman with thin rectangular spectacles who was not allowed near the dying bird, the naga looming protectively over the unconscious boy. She scowled, but otherwise made no comment as she was filled in on the situation, sending off the orderly to retrieve medication.
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Post by Coraline on Sept 22, 2010 23:31:14 GMT -6
Hermes felt like he was...
...floating.
He hadn't come this close to limbo in a long time. He had forgotten how strange it felt. He could hear the sounds of doctors and orderlies talking and mumbling around him. If he could speak... he wasn't sure what he would really say.
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Post by Bryce Langley on Sept 23, 2010 1:29:55 GMT -6
Aiden kept a close eye on the two doctors, nostrils flared and forked tongue flicking to catch anything untoward in their actions. The orderly came back in, the same one (the naga made sure), and handed over a thin syringe to the male doctor at the hybrid's insistence. A few minor preparations, and the drug was administered. The former marksman waited in silence, focused entirely on the unconscious bird. He heard that fluttering heart beat thump, quicker, stronger, and couldn't help a sigh of relief when the wing-child inhaled a hearty breath of oxygen, smiling as dove-gray eyes flickered open.
{His eyes are gray, right?}
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Post by Coraline on Sept 23, 2010 11:00:26 GMT -6
(yes, his eyes are gray)
Hermes opened his eyes, slowly waiting for the world to focus. The pain was still there in his leg, but it had lessened. He slowly stared around the room until he saw Aiden, and he tried to smile behind his oxygen mask.
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Post by Bryce Langley on Sept 23, 2010 19:39:55 GMT -6
The naga didn't know whether to cry or laugh, the raw worry draining away so quickly he couldn't help but feel utterly overwhelmed as color started to return to the bird's ghost-pale skin. He slumped down on the thin mattress, head falling rest on the limp pillow beside the boy as he lifted a hand, gently running his clawed fingers through the wing-child's hair. "Welcome b-back..."
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Post by Coraline on Sept 23, 2010 23:34:50 GMT -6
If Hermes could speak, he would. But this... he could just smile.
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