Who: Nobu & Ronnie When: December 30th; sometime after this Where: Searchlight What: The aftermath Rating: Low - description of a wound
Ronnie was jamming.
He revisited old playlists on his Spotify account trying to avoid the notifications popping up like wildfire on his phone. Lately he’d been filtering through the more modern rap artists finding a good reason to bob his head at Megan Thee Stallion. She was super confident, real hot girl shit, and he dug that. Falling in step to the rhythm of the music he mouthed lyrics on the Savage Remix with the Queen Bee.
It was rare he left the house these days but a walk sounded like the perfect thing. He felt better knowing that Tal was keeping an eye on him, that Mikey knew where he was, and the promise of not straying far from the house was also there. Driving was preferable but he wanted to walk.
An animal laying around was not an uncommon sight; roadkill, dumped pets, or crazy zombie creatures which were looked at like ordinary circumstances, didn’t really phase Ronnie. Though the look of the thing laying there struck him as oddly different.
A hand lifted to the earbud dangling out of the shell, a gentle squeeze with fingers and the music stopped. He approached the little animal. It was alive, breathing, and didn’t seem like it was dangerous. Most people would’ve avoided it - rabies and whatnot - but Ronnie wasn’t that type of a dude. It wasn’t in him, either, just to let the thing lay there and get eaten by an animal.
“Hey little dude,” Ronnie cooed, kneeling down to check the raccoon-like creature. Fingers brushed fur, tickling gently across stomach, then sliding over back and up to the ears. “You okay?”
Not sure if the thing was even conscious, carefully he scooped the animal up, tucked it into the inside of his coat to keep it warm and then moved to stand up slowly.
Am I dead? It was first thought to cross Nobu's mind when consciousness returned. He was floating, moving. Is this what the afterlife was? Warmth and motion? It wasn't bad, the afterife, but he wished he'd lived a bit longer. He tried to move but searing pain halted his attempt. He let out a pained whine and his eyes fluttered open to see... the inside of a coat.
Maybe he wasn't dead after all. Though the pain that radiated from the wound inflicted by the burning claw of that beast suddenly made him wish he was. "What is happening?" He mumbled in his native Japanese tongue.
It didn’t take long to get back to the trailer. He ascended the couple of steps, pushed through the door and toted the little thing inside the warm house. Gently, he slipped the raccoon-like creature from within the folded fluff of his jacket and set it on the couch. The little blanket that usually draped over the back would be pulled and lain over the creature.
“If you’re hungry, little dude, just shout or something? Man, I wish I could talk to animals. Makes things way easier when they’re in trouble. Ah well.”
After shedding his coat and hanging it up, Ronnie moseyed into the kitchen to look for something edible for the newest addition to the Marks/Milam household. He didn’t intend on keeping the thing on the couch, only planned to assess the damage and see what he could do to get the creature back in functioning shape.
He swore he heard a little voice. Brow furrowed. He stopped and pivoted slowly around to look at the back of the couch. “Say what?”
His head lifted slowly, eyes hazy as he attempted to take in his surroundings. He was on a couch now with a blanket on top of him and... there was a voice. It was familiar however he couldn't place how. It was speaking English though. He turned his head toward the voice, barely seeing the man that stood there staring.
"What is happening?" He repeated a little louder, this time in English. He attempted to stand. Not a good idea. He immediately fell back down with a pained yelp, the sudden movement aggravating the wound he had yet to actually see, squeezing his eyes shut. A soft whine reverberated in his throat.
Ronnie made for the couch, and fast. Part of it was the actual speech he knew he was not making up, and the rest of it was that little whine. “Hey woah,” he murmured, moving around the couch to the little animal.
Maybe he should’ve been more shocked that a raccoon type creature was speaking English but he’d seen a lot of odd stuff and he wasn’t super fazed or concerned by it. Why couldn’t all animals make conversation that easy?
“Relax, take it easy. You need a sandwich? A bandaid? I didn’t get a good look at you, little one. How can I help? I found you all passed out and stuff.”
Nobu slowly opened his eyes to see Ronnie's worried face hovering above him. Ah. So that was why the voice seemed familiar. The memory of what occurred came back to him, causing a shudder. How long had he been out? Where did that dog thing go? What would have happened if Ronnie didn't pick him up?
"Something for the pain," he answered. Tilting his head, Nobu attempted to see the wound though the shadow of the blanket made it difficult. "How does it look? Can I see?"
“Hold up,” Ronnie replied.
A few paces and he went around the couch, scooping the animal up carefully and gently. He didn’t realize that the wounds weren’t exactly superficial or that there was blood on the blanket and also his shirt from carrying the tanuki.
On went there bathroom light and Ronnie set the creature down in the bowl of the sink where it would be able to see itself in the mirror if it wanted to.
It was then he noticed the blood. Well that wasn’t good at all.
“I have a first aid kit, and can you take medicine?” People medicine?
The reflection before him revealed a horrid sight. Blood caked his fur, making it difficult to see the full extent of the damage the beast had caused. What he could see were claw marks - 3? No, 4 - that ran from just under his torso to his back in a vertical motion. He couldn’t tell how deep they were or even the exact size but fresh blood seeping from it after who knows how long he had been unconscious made it obvious they weren’t superficial.
“I can take medicine,” he confirmed, his voice trembling. Seeing the wound rattled his nerves. He knew it was bad, the pain indicated such, but he didn’t realize just how bad until he saw his reflection. His body quivered as he stared at the mirror. “This is bad. Really bad. Ronnie, I’m scared.”
How the fuck did this thing know who he was?
Calm. Be calm, Ron. Your boyfriend is a cougar, you can handle a raccoon thing knowing who you are and talking to you like you’re chill. “Yeah, cool. Cool. I’ll get you some of the good stuff.” Collected, like having an animal talk to him like it was no big deal at all, Ronnie fumbled around in one of the bathroom drawers for a second. A bit of gauze rolled into a hand.
“You need a doctor, man. Or...a vet?” Probably a doctor. He knew a guy who knew a guy if it came to that.
What was a good thing to do when someone was scared? Without taking another second to think, he started singing old church hymns to the animal. The one who oddly sounded like a new friend he’d made at Thanksgiving.
“Hang on, I need to clean this up before I can do anything about it. It’s going to hurt like hell, but you’ll thank me later.”
His head bobbed up and down in a series of small nods. Nobu was only half listening to Ronnie, finding himself distracted by his reflection and the fear it caused. The soothing melodies helped ease his nerves somewhat but he was immediately back on edge when he was warned of added pain. He didn’t want to hurt more. He needed to get cleaned up though; he couldn’t deny that. “O-okay,” he whimpered.
There was a lot of trust here. The little animal sounded like Nobu - if that was the case, which his gut was telling him it was - then he needed to be gentle. He would’ve been regardless, even with a stranger, but a friend deserved only the best.
Ronnie began to clean the wound as proficiently and clinically as possible, both taking his time and getting it over with. He talked gently and calmly to Nobu as he worked, singing those old church melodies as well. Anything he could think of to distract or calm.
It was diligent work with only a bit of whimpering from Nobu; the wounds were cleaned, medicine applied, and Ronnie wrapped them.
“Hang tight, man,” he murmured, picking Nobu up off of the counter carefully. Being mindful of the freshly wrapped injuries he took Nobu to the couch again. Once Nobu was secured he cleaned up the mess from before and gave Nobu fresh linens, and then pain medication. “You hungry? Need to rest? I probably have some extra stuff you can change into for now if you wanna do that.” They had a bit of difference in height but it could be worked through.
Nobu mumbled an incomprehensible reply, his snout buried deep into the fresh linens. As a creature of impulse, he had experienced his fair share of scrapes and bruises but this had to be the worst. And the clean up! Ronnie worked as gently as he could - bless him - but it had hurt like hell just as he had warned. The amount of pain that radiated from his side was near unbearable. So much so it made him grow nauseous at the very idea of eating.
A little head tiredly popped out of the blanket. "No food," he was quick to say. Nobu didn't even want to see a morsel. He rolled his head to the side, resting it on the bunched up pile of fabric. "Can you sit with me? I don't want to be alone."
“Of course I can!” You helped your friends; Ronnie had always been an advocate for the little things. He was a giving person. If Nobu needed cash to get by for the rent, Ronnie would give it to him. He couldn’t turn away a person in need cause he’d been there and he knew what it was like. It was a good trait to have and also a negative one, but then his friendship with Derek would’ve been different had he not offered to help the vampire out a decade ago.
If Ron had to bet, he’d say Derek still had that debit card in his wallet regardless of whether or not he used it anymore.
When he was satisfied the little creature was okay, Ronnie sat down next to him. “I’ve got you, dude. Just rest. I’m not going anywhere.”
Ronnie’s enthusiastic assurance he would stay made Nobu smile some. Rest would definitely come easier knowing he had someone beside him to make sure he was comfortable and safe. He looked up at the man with tired eyes. “Thank you. For helping me.” Nobu knew he had been extremely lucky Ronnie stumbled upon him. Not many humans would have stopped to even check on a wounded animal, let alone take them into their home and care for them like he had. “I owe you one.”
“It’s what friends do for friends, man,” he assured the tanuki. “You don’t owe me anything.” That wasn’t how his version of friendship worked. And while he had known Nobu for a short while, the smaller man was already in his ring of friends.
“I’ll keep an eye on your bandages if you need to rest. If you need more medicine let me know, I’ll get it.”
A hand dropped, Ronnie patted gently over Nobu’s furry ears in an effort to calm the creature.
“But I do,” he insisted, his words slurred a bit from sheer exhaustion. His eyes fluttered closed as Ronnie petted his ears. The calming motion made the already tired creature even more so. A yawn. “Thank you. I will do something for you,” he mumbled, his breathing beginning to slow as sleep crept up to take him. “It will be great. Really great.”