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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2008 17:02:19 GMT -5
The conversation that was going on between Gambit and Kate had something completely absurd - starting from the fact that even a kid would be able to tell that this was not just a harmless "conversation" that had been going on here down to the irony in his respond to her complain that right now made her raise an eyebrow, the closest she right now could get to the sarcasm she felt coming on at those words.
Once more her eyes strayed towards the kitchen door. Connie looked completely scared and made her want to tell her things were fine or something meaningless of that sort, but of course Shade knew that after what the kid had seen and of course counting in that all the three adults in the corridor were smeared with blood would not exactly establish a basis of trust or whatever.
Connie, however, seemed transfixed where she was standing, not retreating and Shade walked towards the door slowly, not leaving her eyes off Kate and reached for the handle of the door to close it. There was no need of ushering Connie back or telling her to do so. The girl shrank away before even reached the door. Swallowing once more, Shade shut the kitchen door silently, limping slightly when she stepped away from it since the kick against her hip made her intuitively try to walk against the pain.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2008 17:35:07 GMT -5
Gambit was grateful to Shade for taking care of the problem of Connie standing there and staring at the unpleasant scene. He wondered if the girl got exposed to such scenes often, what with her mother being a vampire and all; he also asked himself briefly whether a thief of a father who cared very little about his offspring was a poorer choice of a parent than a mother that killed people for foor and avoided daylight, but decided not to go any further with this thought than just asking.
He made a point of not talking to Shade the entire time. It would hint at the kind of a relationship he and Shade had, and the less affection he showed, the better it was, because his affection was his weakness and it also put Shade into danger, and he didn't want Kate to abuse any kind of such knowledge. Now or later. It would be better if, to her, Shade remained a nameless nobody who simply happened to be in Gambit's apartment at the same time.
Kate made a clumsy attempt to stand up; Gambit stepped aside, himself not standing too surely on his two feet. He made no attempt to help. "You live in the same building, chere," he remarked. "It's not that difficult to make it back home quickly and unnoticed, now, is it?"
"I hate you," Kate replied, staring at a wall as she tried to arrange her legs and one arm in such a way as to stand up, finally.
"I know," Gambit said. "So you've told me enough times."
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2008 17:44:44 GMT -5
´Awesome...´Shade thought ironically. She had not gotten enough details of the earlier conversation on the phone and therefore for the first time heard where this woman and Connie were living. It explained a lot. The kid showing up unattended, the mother being so quick to arrive at the apartment - and it left open the question whether this had been mere chance. Things that started ordinary could turn out so weird at times...
Listening further, she didn´t waste any effort of trying to think about what sort of a relationship Gambit had had with the other woman. That was past stuff and did not affect her but still, the whole evening had not gone without effect and she couldn´t help to feel sorry for the girl who was probably now hiding somewhere in the kitchen or whatever, no idea what had been going on.
She fought the urge of leaning against the wall. There was blood on her, it would ruin the wallpaper. A weird thought, considering the state of the corridor in general...
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Post by Gambit on Nov 2, 2008 17:52:23 GMT -5
Gambit, however, wasn't bothered about the wallpaper at all. He leaned against the wall, his head in constant dull pain and his breathing labored from the lack of blood to carry enough oxygen through his body. He was watching Kate, who, in the meantime, got up and also leaned against another wall. They stared at one another with anger and hatred.
"Ya should be grateful to Constance," Gambit said after a few long moments of silence. "I woulda killed ya but figured she could use a mother."
"I'm SO touched," Kate said, with enough bile to burn a hole through the floor. She was starting to feel better, gradually.
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Post by Shade on Nov 2, 2008 17:59:19 GMT -5
The air seemed to be dense with hatred and this affected Shade as well. She was getting more wary again, especially since she could only explain the fact that Gambit was leaning against the wall with him trying to keep standing upright. Part of her just wanted to walk towards that woman, drag her off the wall and push her towards the kitchen so se could collect Connie and be gone, but of course she didn´t do that.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 3, 2008 2:29:59 GMT -5
"Just leave already, eh?" Gambit said in a tired voice. "I'm sho ya can walk."
Collecting the remains of her dignity, Kate did just that. She wiped her mouth, walked to the kitchen door, opened it and beckoned Connie. Taking her by the hand and managing to keep her back straight, she went to the door, and they both left. Connie was afraid to look around, she just stared at the floor ahead of her.
Gambit closed his eyes when the door shut, and slid down along the wall.
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Post by Shade on Nov 3, 2008 4:07:10 GMT -5
Shade felt as if a huge weight dropped off her shoulders when the door finally shut behind the two of them and for a moment her legs felt shaky. The place looked like a mess as did both of them, but that didn´t matter now. Her head spinning slightly, she walked over to Gambit and let herself drop next to him.
"How much blood did you lose?" she asked, trying to assess whether he needed a new cloth or an ambulance.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 3, 2008 12:22:55 GMT -5
Gambit kept staring at one point on the opposite wall. "Ya want a number?" he asked, wondering what Shade meant.
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Post by Shade on Nov 3, 2008 13:02:03 GMT -5
"No." Shade said. "I want to know if I should get help. And I´m asking cause..." She broke off for a moment, swallowing. She was feeling immense relief now that Kate was gone, but the realisation that things could have turned out far worse and they had probably gotten away with their lives by mere luck was still there, sinking in only now that she didn´t have to worry about fighting with all she had. There would be a bruise on her shoulder, visible now already since she had used her shirt to stop the blood flow earlier, but what did that matter? The amount of blood around was more worrying and she wasn´t sure how much of it was Gambit´s.
"We shoud get you an ambulance." she said, her voice betraying her confused and exhausted state, not finishing her earlier sentence because it didn´t make sense any more and she was kind of at a loss of what to do. Turning her head, she looked around, searching for the cell phone.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 3, 2008 13:29:00 GMT -5
Gambit said nothing, just shrugged in response. It didn't matter much to him if it was an ambulance, or just a week or two of lying flat in his bed and only eating beetroot and beef to restore his blood. He'd done it before, and worse; he saw no reason to be jumping to extreme measures, but he was too weak and sleepy to bother and be objecting to Shade's attempts to take care of him. Besides, she so rarely got to do it, he could just give in and let her get on with it.
Closing his eyes, he leaned his head against the wall, wanting nothing else but drift away right there.
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Post by Shade on Nov 3, 2008 13:41:25 GMT -5
Right now, Shade was unable to judge whether an ambulace was really necessary. She knew that he was a tough guy, heck he had broken his neck an been back on his feet after about two weeks, but the evening had shaken her. She had been fighting for her life and had been extremely on edge and she knew that the fact he was not objecting was not a good sign. Gambit looked worn out and pale and even though she thought that he might be able to deal with his on his own, her current state did not allow her to test it.
She finally found the cell phone and dialled 911, then told the person on the other end the adress. She had no idea how any of them would be able to explain any of this to the medics. Best to make up some weird stor about a robbery - which of course wouldn´t explain that both of them had bite mark on their necks.
She ended the phone call and looked over at Gambit for two or three seconds. The shirt she had given to him was soaked already and she got up wordlessly making her way to the bathroom, still feeling kind of sick, but guessing this was not just due to the pain. This time she had a little more time. She wet a towel and took another dry one, taking both outside into the corridor again. Wordlessly, she knelt next to Gambit again and carefully started to wipe away some of the blood before she folded the clean one and pressed it against the side of his neck. The bleeding had gotten less but as weak as he looked she saw no reason to have him bothering with straining things like tending to stopping the remaining blood flow himself.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 3, 2008 15:01:10 GMT -5
Gambit noticed very little of Shade's manipulations with his wound. He was just sort of swimming in his own dizzy and foggy world barely under the surface of consciousness. Sounds and flashes of obscure images from the earlier fight kept passing through his mind in a faint, ghost-like manner. He wasn't bleeding any longer, though.
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Post by Shade on Nov 3, 2008 15:28:41 GMT -5
Shade could tell Gambit was in a state where he was barely conscious and so she just continued with what she was doing. Keeping the cloth in place and carefully wiping away blood. It was maybe an unnecessary thing to do but it was something she could do right now, a task that made her feel she was of use and that helped her kind of to keep her edgyness at bay. Bizarre as it was it wasn´t the first time she saw him in a bad state of course, but that didn´t mean she´d get used to it.
The ambulance arrived about ten minutes later, even though Shade had the feeling it had taken a lot longer. The paramedics worked quickly. There were not many questions asked, which didn´t mean there wouldn´t be questions asked later, apart from things like if she knew how much blood she had lost, whether she herself was fine and what else she knew. While the paramedics tended to Gambit, Shade left the corridor for a moment to change her clothes. The wound on her neck didn´t look too bad so she just cleaned it and luckily wasn´t looking as badly messed up any more when they left for the hospital.
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Post by Gambit on Nov 3, 2008 15:46:22 GMT -5
They returned back home in the morning, after Gambit had received a blood transfusion and had gotten some decent sleep to recover. Whether he did actually recover, after all, or not, remained a mystery, as he chose not to wait for the doctors to check up on him and just left when he felt he had had enough of lying there.
That also meant he avoided the police who could be asking him some questions; didn't mean they wouldn't come looking for him, but then he would be prepared, at least.
What was more on his mind was the question of whether Shade would be asking her questions...
As soon as they returned to the apartment, he went into the bathroom to wash his face.
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Post by Shade on Nov 3, 2008 15:57:13 GMT -5
Only when they returned, Shade was able to fully take in what the place looked like. She had been in somewhat of a haze the evening before where she had noticed the blood and mess of course but been too occupied with more important matters to pay attention to it in detail. Looked like they were in for some rennovating - if Gambit chose to stay at this apartment that was. With the police probably having some questions and the vampire living next door basically, one couldn´t say for sure.
Shade had spent the night at the hospital as well where some random nurse had looked to her neck and given her some band aid to cover it. It was stinging a little, but it wasn´t anthing she wouldn´t be able to cope with.
Following Gambit, she leant against the frame of the bathroom door, watching him. There hadn´t really been an oportunity for decent talking about what had happened, not with doctors around and only now did she feel more at ease, now that there were no extra ears and now that Gambit looked a lot less pale.
There were many things going through her mind and it was difficult to sort them all through but she knew she eventually would. "Well,..." she said, scowling slightly an fixing some random point near the bath tub "that was one messed up Halloween."
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