Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Tweak owns me!"

J'aime Everleigh Cavanaugh | Meg Giry (ex_peepshows656) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-03-29 09:54:00

Entry tags:

beauty, cheshire cat, meg giry

Who: James & Rick; later Ella recuperating in 501.
What: Freakout.
Where: The sixth floor hallway, outside of #601.
When: Immediately after running from Shane's.
Warnings: None.

It was too much. James spilled into the hallway on the serrated edge of a frustrated cry, and the door to Shane's apartment swung mostly closed behind her. Of course, it had been all well and good in theory to go check on Shane.. but then..

She'd read about him being a wolf, but that was a very different thing than seeing the wolf, and the others talking to him and calling him Shane, and then the animated vines and- James had to take a deep, steadying breath. Her eyes were wet, and she rubbed the sleeve of her sweatshirt under sooty line of her damp lashes. She wished she was just losing her mind, it would be so much more comfortable to explain.

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takingsides
2010-03-30 03:22 am UTC (link)

Rick wasn't about to let a post like that hang without finding out what was going on. He knew how to move quietly and he certainly knew how to listen at doors and at the end of hallways. Now he could do it without being seen unless he chose. It was a skill he had put to good use recently. Any skill was nothing until it was practiced, and Rick knew how to practice a skill, too. This one was physical as any other, and when he used it too much, it tired him.

He wasn't tired now. He came back through a slight chill into visibility (he'd practiced with mirrors), and stepped around the corner just as she stepped on the stair. He didn't want to scare her unnecessarily. "James!"

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-30 03:49 am UTC (link)

The sound of her own name gave James a gentle start; her shoulders drew back in sudden defense as attention whipped to the source. Her empyrean eyes were wide and fringed with shock, but had thankfully gone dry since her original panic. Although her expression was cagey with unease, when she recognized him, it melted into a sweet relief. "Rick!"

She went to him in a rush, caught him in a hug for her own comfort and buried her face against his shoulder. "What the hell is going on?" Unaware of the murmured question, or just labeling it as rhetorical, James drew back and looked at him. "What are you doing up here?"

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takingsides
2010-03-30 04:24 am UTC (link)

Rick was not used to people rushing at him for protection. Rushing at him for more aggressive reasons, good and bad, yes. For protection? No. Yet he took it gracefully enough, reacting the way he reacted to everything, with just the right amount of reaction and deflection. After a pause in which he tilted his head in surprise to look down at her face (he couldn't see it just then), he put his arms around her waist and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Hugging wasn't foreign. It was the rushing part that threw him. He gained his composure pretty quickly, but now he had a smile instead of a frown. "I came to see what the ruckus was," he said in his typical New York drawl, glancing from her down the hallway with his eyebrows raised only slightly, as if presented with a small puzzle rather than a cluster of noise like what was coming out of 601.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-30 04:40 am UTC (link)

It had never been in James to explain things delicately, and when she stepped back from her embrace with Rick, it was on a note of bristling anxiety for the sounds coming from 601. "It's Shane, he's--" He's not himself. "He's a goddamn wolf!"

Under other circumstances, James would have been more than willing to let circumstances go and leave people to their animalistic secrets, but this was different. "Ella's in there, and some others.." Whose names she admittedly forgot the very second she'd seen the wolf with his angry hackles and shining teeth.

"They were trying to talk to him, but.." Her eyes lifted to Rick, clear and focused. "..there was nothing there to talk to." Nothing she was going to hang around and try to counsel, anyway. Maybe it had something to do with being from the city, but James wouldn't have even approached so much as a raccoon if it was giving her the kind of irritated look the wolf in 601 had been. No thank you.

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takingsides
2010-03-30 05:36 am UTC (link)

Rick's eyebrows went up even higher. A wolf. Well... that made sense, to an extent. He knew that the Boyd girl had to be Little Red (she was too annoying to be anything else), and whatever her relationship with Shane had been, Rick had suspected it wasn't well-adjusted. In fact, for a little while he'd thought it was abusive, but then she'd moved out and stayed out. If they had communicated since, it hadn't been physically in the building.

He had seen no need to inform her elders of any of this.

As she moved back, he took a few steps down the hall the way she had come. "I better go see if there's anything I can do." He said it like a cop, though he was unarmed and dressed down. He paused to look back at her, however. "Go back to your apartment and lock the door. I'll come and get you when it's safe."

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-30 05:56 am UTC (link)

James didn't have a hero complex. She was much more apt at knowing which situations to wisely bow out of, when to throw some mase or a broken bottle, and when to go for help. While Rick was a cop, James wasn't entirely certain that he was the exact brand of professional one needed to handle this kind of thing -- then again, James also wasn't sure if a werewolf linguist with advanced botany skills lived in the building.. so Rick would have to do.

Regardless, James wasn't going to jump back in 601 just to get in the way. She sure as hell wasn't about to tackle a wolf for anyone, so the amount of good she could do in this situation was pretty minimal. James hesitated by the stairwell and watched Rick start for the door. She'd feel useless waiting in her apartment, standing around in the quiet while a surge of worry crested in the pit of her stomach.

"Be safe," she called after him. Teeth set in her lip, and James took to pacing the stairs between the fifth and sixth floor.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-30 07:21 am UTC (link)

Of course, nerves hadn't allowed for James to wander very far. She lingered by the stairwell and watched as a couple new faces infiltrated the door of 601. She didn't ask who they were or warn them about what they potentially faced, as both men seemed intent enough in their destination that they obviously knew something. James uselessly ran her hands through her hair and chewed on the edges of her fingers while cursing herself for ever having led all of those people into Shane's apartment in the first place. But why hadn't they just followed her out? Why had they stuck around and tried to have a kumbaya circle with a goddamn wolf? What if somebody got hurt?

A couple of minutes ticked by, and when she heard Rick calling for her, James rushed for the door again on deft and bare toes. Upon seeing Ella, who looked pale and distinctly bloodied, she drew a breath that was a sharp hiss from between her teeth. "Fuck.."

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bookshelved
2010-03-30 07:54 am UTC (link)

Ella looked over her shoulder, even as she told them that she was fine, that she could walk. Still, she was pasty-shock white beneath the blood coating her face and arms, and she let herself be led away from the room. She had grown up hard, but she'd never been in the middle of something like that. She realized it was because she'd never trusted anyone else enough to follow their lead without thinking it through herself, and she sighed with anger at herself. She could have stopped Rosalie, she should have stopped Rosalie.

"It wasn't his fault," she said, though whether she was speaking to Rick or James was unclear. Then she remembered the forum post, Vaughn. She'd told her where they were. "Tell Daniel not to come," she said, shock starting to settle in. "Vaughn knows where we are. You'll tell him?"

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takingsides
2010-03-30 08:05 am UTC (link)

Rick had a vague idea what she was talking about, but it wasn't in the forefront of his mind. She could have asked him to be sure to turn the flapjacks over lest they burn on the griddle and he would have said, "Of course," in that same calm, soothing tone. Once James got near enough to support Ella, who seemed to be walking almost on auto-pilot, Rick started shrugging out of his light jacket. He looked Ella's body over for injuries, saw only the coating on her arms and no wounds. "Yours is nearer," he said to James, referring to her apartment and speaking in a mild conversational tone, rapidly enough that he hoped Ella would miss in her distraction. "We need to get her still and warm." He put his jacket around Ella's shoulders, still urging them all gently along. He was careful to get put it over her arms and clothing. You didn't want other people's blood on you, not ever. First aid was one thing, HIV was something else. Still, if she slowed he would be forced to pick her up; it was one flight down and it wouldn't be hard. He cast a glance back to make sure the hallway behind was quiet and clear, then focused on the task at hand. "We're going to James' apartment, Ella," he said. "It's just one flight down. Watch your step." He didn't need to look at James to ensure her abilities in this situation. For this, he knew she would be as steady as she needed to be.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-30 03:30 pm UTC (link)

"I'll tell him," James assured with a soft smile that didn't betray a splinter of her own worry. Only when her dark eyes wavered up to Rick did her brows knit in momentary distress. What had happened to the others? She wanted to ask Ella if she was hurt, but figured that was a question best saved for when the girl was at least off her feet. Ella looked half ready to melt into a pale puddle of shock enough as it was.

James led the way toward the stairs with a hand on the other woman's jacket cloaked shoulder, and then began a descent that slowed in accordance with Ella's steps. Although James had agreed mindlessly to Ella's anguished request, in a second's time she realized that she did know who Ella was referring. She'd spoken to Daniel through the forum once, and although she was unfamiliar with Vaughn, she could relay a simple message.

Upon reaching 501, James pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the door before motioning them inside.

"I'll get her something warm to wear," James explained before vanishing through the bedroom doorway to gather a blanket from the back of her closet. She pulled off her own hooded sweatshirt, as it was the only one it's kind that she owned, and resorted to a bare bones black tank top for herself. Lastly, she typed Daniel Webster a brief note using the laptop still wide open on her bed.

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bookshelved
2010-03-30 04:54 pm UTC (link)

James' words managed to filter through the shock, and she nodded gratefully, relaxing visibly at the promise from both of them. Rick's voice was a steadying force. He was the kind of man you listened to without asking questions, who you knew would make the important decisions in any crisis. Right now, she needed that.

Once they were inside the apartment, she didn't even register the change in locale, but she did look over her shoulder, as if 601 was right there, right behind her. She didn't even have the presence of mind to force herself to be rational, so she just looked toward James' comforting voice thankfully.

The camisole she was wearing was soaked through, and she was sticky from Cole's blood and her own, so she didn't want to sit down anywhere, didn't want to ruin anything in the apartment (at least that was the only thing her mind could really concentrate on in that moment), so she swayed on her feet where she was. "No one died," she told Rick as James left the living room. It was a question and a statement, and it defiantly told him to try to contradict her. It was good sign, the tilt of her chin, of security blankets slipping back into place.

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takingsides
2010-03-30 05:16 pm UTC (link)

Rick smiled at her, a very long, curving smile that was both knowing and reassuring. It said, I know exactly what you mean. We are in complete agreement. I'm also in total control, so you don't have to worry. "I'm glad to hear it. Are you hurt?" He did not expect her to be able to answer that question with presence of mind, but it served to distract her from whoever it was she was concerned about defending. Rick wanted Ella thinking about herself. He was grateful that James was present and he didn't have to do anything that might embarrass Ella later, but he was watching her very closely and if true shock set in he was going to call 911 and the extra ambulance (he assumed someone in the apartment had called emergency services) would do them all good.

He pulled a kitchen chair a from the table; it was more frame than fabric and if Ella ruined it, James would survive. "I think you should sit down, you look a bit tired," he observed genially, as they waited for James and her change of clothing.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-30 08:33 pm UTC (link)

James returned with the sweatshirt, blanket, and a pair of flannel drawstring pants folded up in her arms. Her eyes skirted to where Ella sat on the chair, and James rested the items neatly on the kitchen table beside her. "The bathroom is in the hall, if you'd like to change.." And rinse all that blood off, James thought, even if she had the presence of mind not to say it aloud.

"..Whenever you feel up to it," She offered, her tone went gentle with a keen awareness that said James didn't think it was a good idea for Ella to be on her feet for very long just yet. She remembered witnessing people pass out just while standing in line to donate blood, James knew what the shocked pallor of Ella's skin and the faint glaze over her eyes could mean. Not to mention that the idea of donating blood was probably a whole hell of a lot less traumatizing than whatever had transpired inside Shane's apartment minutes ago.

"Would anyone like some coffee?" Her attention strayed to Rick, smile smooth as ever with the offer. As if this was a perfectly normal evening get together.

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bookshelved
2010-03-30 08:43 pm UTC (link)

"Just scratches," was her answer to Rick's question about being hurt. Her hand moved up to her shoulders, where the vines had ripped at the newly-healing claw marks bloody, and then she held out her hands, which she knew were the most injured part of her body other than her shoulder, based just on the pain in them. They were gashed from the vines, some errant vine ends still embedded in the skin, but it wasn't anything cleaning and bandages wouldn't fix. "Most of the blood is Cole's," she said, taking a shaky breath. "His leg- you could see the bone, and there was blood everywhere..." she explained, voice trailing off as it became shakier.

She looked down at herself when James came out with the clean clothes, eyes going wide at just how much blood was on her. "Oh, God," she said, voice even shakier. She stood, and she reached for the clothing, but the room swayed, and she had to grab onto the table to steady herself.

"Get it together, Ella Claire," she whispered to herself.

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takingsides
2010-03-30 11:32 pm UTC (link)

Rick had used James arrival and casual conversation as an opportunity to put two fingers high on Ella's neck to take her pulse. He was satisfied she wasn't going into clinical shock, so at least there was that. "Okay," Rick said, when she faltered, moving in in one smooth, cat-like stride to catch Ella around the waist. "Don't look down, now. I'm going to help you over here and James is going to help you get cleaned up." Barring her resistance, he bent and picked her up, one arm behind her knee and the other high on her back. He took her into James bathroom, set her on the lip of the tub, and looked at James. They were all three of them a mess now. Rick had a profound dislike for other people's blood, but he did an impressive job of not showing it. "I'll get my med supplies, the doctor upstairs gave us something to wash her hands with once she changes," he said, in an undertone.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-31 12:02 am UTC (link)

"Ella!" With effort, James kept the worry out of her tone so that it bordered on reprimand alone when the woman staggered. Hadn't James just said not to move until Ella felt up to it?!

There was a hard, metallic glint in her bluebonnet eyes that said if Ella was going to be stubborn and go fainting on them, James wasn't beyond calling a cavalry of ambulances. Although, to be honest, James wasn't quite certain that a hospital trip would have been such a bad idea. If Ella's scratches were animal in origin, they had a high likelihood of getting infected. Oh, the things you learn from Animal Planet.

James planted herself against Ella's side, ignorant of the way Rick's arm caught the girl's waist. Even without cat-like reflexes, James was pretty sure she could have kept Ella upright through sheer will alone. When Rick moved to carry Ella, James peeled back and led the way to the bathroom with a stiff sound under her breath. If James noticed or was bothered by the blood that now dotted her hands and tank top, it didn't show. She blew some hair out of her face in order to avoid touching it with her hands, and leaned to run some warm water in the tub.

When Rick mentioned getting his ultra-stocked first aid kit of bandaging wonders, James nodded quietly. She'd get Ella cleaned up while he was gone.

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bookshelved
2010-03-31 12:10 am UTC (link)

All the movement and words between the living room and the bathroom were lost of pinpricks of light at the edge of her vision. The sound of the water running, however, brought her back to the moment, and she shot them bot a thankful (if embarrassed look). "I'll clean up," she said, stars fading from her vision. She would be fine if she could just be alone a minute, if she could just collect her thoughts. "Please, just bring me something to wear?" she asked James as Rick left the bathroom. "We need to go check on the others," she added to James, and she tried to smile serenely. See? I'm fine. Nothing to worry about.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-31 02:27 am UTC (link)

"Bullshit," she replied under the guise of cool amusement when Ella gave her that steady smile that said she was all better and doing just fine. James leaned against the bathroom door, easing it shut for the illusion of privacy although she knew that Rick had headed back to his apartment for the moment.

"I'll bring you something to wear after you're safely seated in the water. If I walk outta here, and you fall, and you break your pretty head on my pretty floor --" In vague illustration, she ran the edge of her bare foot across a line of those white, octagon tiles beneath her. "Well, Rick just won't forgive me.. and then I'll never get my nursing girlscout merit badge, so.." James drew an inward sigh that said this was the final word on the matter.

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bookshelved
2010-03-31 02:54 am UTC (link)

The entire speech reminded Ella of how completely competent James was, and even in this state it made her want to be equally strong. She stood, just to prove her footing was completely steady, and she slipped off the pajama pants she'd been wearing. "I'm fine, you see? Please, I promise not to put your badge in harm's way," she assured, hand on the wall staining it red with blood, even as it held her steady and upright.

Her eyes were pleading, and she dipped one toe in the water, then the next, and she waited for the door to close before removing the bloodied camisole.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-03-31 06:09 pm UTC (link)

In the end, it was the wordless pleading in Ella's eyes that had James slipping out the door with a discreet smile. It was a carefully crafted expression, seemingly soft and pleased with the other woman's almost steady footing.

With the door closed after her, James hesitated in the hallway for a brief moment. Her smile dissolved under a worry she only showed when there was no one to see it - or like in the night of the alley, a worry that was only shown because she was too separate from herself to even know it was there. She listened to the sounds of water from the other side before wandering off to the kitchen to rinse the blood from her own hands.

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bookshelved
2010-03-31 06:18 pm UTC (link)

It didn't occur to Ella to worry about the blood, about any illnesses it might carry; she wasn't that cognizant. She was, more-or-less, running on auto-pilot as she stepped into the tub completely and let the remainder of her bloodied clothes fall to the tub's tile floor. She switched the water stream from the tub and kicked the stopper free as the water at her feet turned a watery, sickly red.

The water spray was hot and strong, and she let herself get the remaining panic out of her system as she stood beneath it. She didn't sob or cry loudly enough for James to hear, but her breath was a series of shallow, slow, hitched things comprised of pent up fear. Vines locked themselves around the door handle, offering privacy she didn't even realize she needed, and she let the water run over her again and again. She needed to get it out of her system, to steadily rebuild her walls. She didn't usually fall apart like this; it was a new thing, new since Beauty and the change, and she didn't like the vulnerability.

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takingsides
2010-04-01 02:24 am UTC (link)

Rick came in through the door with enough noise to alert those in the house he was present, and to further precede his appearance, he was humming out loud under his breath. It sounded both Southern and seriously out of character, but at least it wasn't too loud. It trailed off as he came through the living room, and between kitchen and hallway he looked back at James and tipped his head toward the bathroom. "You sure she's alright in there? If she passes out and I have to break down the door, I'm not paying the bill."

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ex_peepshows656
2010-04-01 04:50 am UTC (link)

"She wanted to be alone, Rick," James replied coolly without looking up from the kitchen sink. She was still running soap over her hands and rinsing the last of the red from them. James leaned into the sink, to rinse a bit of soap and water over the freshly bloodied spots of her tank top. The shadowy depth of her blue eyes lifted to him, and the expression tilted.

"What did you want me to do, tell her no?"

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takingsides
2010-04-01 09:31 pm UTC (link)

Rick intended the smile to placate, judging from the size of it, but it grew until it was something obscure and teasing before he turned away and moved down the hall to listen at the door. After a moment he came back, pushed the first aid kit to one side on the counter, and leaned in to watch what James was doing. "She's moving around in there," he said, if or when she looked up. "Her pulse was good so I'm not too worried." He waited another moment of silence as she scrubbed, and then he said, "Maybe you should--" he was cut off by the sound of the door opening and Ella returning to the hallway. He stood upright again and frowned a little. "Did you want to do something about those hands?" he asked her, glancing down at her wounds and trying to avoid looking at James in silent apprehension.

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bookshelved
2010-04-01 10:33 pm UTC (link)

The calm she showed him was a forced thing, and she carefully kept from plucking at the borrowed flannel pants or hoodie as she smiled at him, then at James. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and her cheeks were flushed from the heat of the shower, her long hair clinging damply to her cheeks. The sleeves covered the damage on her arms and shoulders, and she kept her hands tucked into the ends. She could only feel the slightest trickle of blood between her fingers as she gave them both a very thankful look, keeping her expression as serene as she possibly could.

"I make tinctures and healing salves in my apartment," she explained, proud of how steady her voice sounded. "I will take care of it once I get upstairs," she said. "I just- I'd like to be alone," she explained honestly, with only the slightest tilt of her chin. "With a cup of tea and my thoughts." She didn't add that she was so very scared, because it was utterly ridiculous. The vines were gone, after all, and there was no wolf, and no one had died. Why was she still feeling completely vulnerable and bare?

She didn't give them a chance to protest as she turned for the door. "I'll bring your things back tomorrow, James?" she asked, but she immediately slipped into the hall without waiting for an answer. Once there, she leaned against the wall, and she closed her eyes, the soft scent of roses surrounding her.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-04-01 11:07 pm UTC (link)

James didn't buy any of Ella's serenity, it seemed about as borrowed as the clothes that now covered her. But still, James didn't say anything or move to stop the woman from leaving her apartment. Ella had survived other things than this, and maybe being alone was what it took to keep everything together. Even if Ella was unable to recognize it in this moment, James knew her to be nothing but a strong woman, one fully capable of handling the aftermath of wolves or vines or angry mobsters.

She nodded with the revival of her most believable smile when Ella mentioned bringing her things back tomorrow. "No rush, I--" But the words slipped into nothingness as Ella was already out the door before James could say any more.

Drawing a thin breath, she turned her attention to Rick. There was no longer a need for the bright, confident eyes or everything's okay smile, and both features dissolved slowly. They were not replaced with panic or worry, just a tense impatience.

"What happened? To the others, I mean?" She had not a single clue what had gone on inside 601 after she'd fled. James hadn't been about to ask Ella, either.

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takingsides
2010-04-02 12:17 am UTC (link)

Rick took his time filling the space the woman had left. He had doubts about Ella but also problems with the idea of calling excessive attention to himself in a professional way. If he thought she was seriously in danger, he would have called. Probably.

Rick stared across the counter with his strange blue eyes for a moment. Strange, they had a funny green to them they hadn't before. Unless there was something about the light here... yes, perhaps that was it. It was an assessing gaze as he tried to decide what to tell her and how. He said, "One man on the ground with a pretty serious legwound. Seemed like the doctor had it in hand." He was leaving out descriptions, male, white, early thirties, male, white, late twenties, approximately one-hundred-eighty pounds... "There was another man and woman assisting. The man came from the stairs with me, the woman seemed unhurt." He paused. "And Shane, of course. Unconscious, superficial wounds."

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ex_peepshows656
2010-04-02 12:28 am UTC (link)

Her eyes strayed to the front door in idle thought, although she was listening with a quiet severity to everything Rick said. James silently reaffirmed that Ella would be fine - she hadn't seemed like she'd needed stitches, and Rick or that doctor would have surely stopped her if they'd suspected anything serious.

"Shane was unconscious?" A frown fell into place as she glanced back to Rick. "He wasn't all..?" James lifted her hands with a brief tick of fingers on either side of her head in a demonstration of wolf ears.

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takingsides
2010-04-02 08:14 pm UTC (link)

Rick shook his head slowly. "More like a jaybird than a wolf. Not a stitch on him. I figure he changed back." He would have laughed, were it not for all the blood and the injuries, but there was still a glint of that strange humor in his eyes. He packed up the kit so it was easily portable again, and stepped back from the counter with it in his hand. He stopped and gave her a peculiar look. "I was going to say--you'd be better off just throwing that shirt away. Blood doesn't come out." He stepped around toward the door.

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	ex_peepshows656 2010-04-03 05:20 pm UTC (link)
	Rick earned a strange look from her. The humor that radiated from his eyes didn't seem out of place, but somehow different than the way she knew him. Her brows knit and attention followed him toward the door, but James couldn't place what felt off about it. When he mentioned her shirt, she glanced down reflexively. "I suppose you're right." (Reply to this) (Parent)