Who: Multiple Man!Cael, Hobbit!Chay, Angel!Chloe,with appearances by Jamie Madrox, Frodo Baggins and Castiel Where: Hallway of Passages, and LoTR door When: After Castiel is found in the hallway, during the switch Rating/Warning: None Status: Complete!
Cael headed for the door with bags in hand and two duplicates at his side. He had gathered as many tools as he could that might help Chetan in his door. He could definitely use them for whatever the Hobbit village needed. He laughed as he opened his own door - Hobbits. He was going to see the hobbits.
Jamie Madrox stepped out of the Marvel door. He did have all the bags Cael had brought but the dupes were gone. The whole passages hotel issue was something to get used to. He nearly stumbled over the man lying in the hall against the wall. He immediately dropped the bags on the floor, not really caring what was inside. He didn't think the man was dead at first glance. Dropping to his knees, he quickly checked for a pulse to be sure. "Hey brother, can you hear me?"
He reached for a bag, searching for a first aid kit. “Come on, talk to me, man.” He came up empty on his first try, and reached for the second bag. He came up with a kit in that one, amid the array of tools. “At least the kid thinks once in awhile,” he mumbled to himself, taking out some bandages. He shook the man in the hallway again. It would definitely help if he was conscious. He could pack him over his shoulder and into the door if he had to, but he could do some triage before it came to that.
If it looked as though the 30-something year old man had been chewed up and spit out by something much larger than him, that was because he had. In Chloe’s effort to get out of that door before the beast tracked her down and finished whatever it had started, she had not thought about what her injuries might do to the now-human Castiel. Upon stepping through the door, he had managed to stay on his feet for less than a minute before simply crumpling where he stood, ignorant to the rest of the world even when his key was taken some time later. Blood-stained clothes, blood-stained skin, he was a mess to look at even as Jamie gave him a shake. It took several more moments before the once-angel to open his eyes, even longer before he could focus on anything in front of him. “Why are you touching me?” were the first words out of his mouth, and if he had had the strength to push the other away, he might have. As it was, he could barely move around without pain jostling through him, temporarily stealing his breath with its fierceness. “Where is Dean?” Castiel asked next, because Dean was always around, or so it seemed, asking questions, doing this, doing that. And in this vulnerable state, bleeding and weak, he didn’t want strangers. He wanted those he was familiar with.
Jamie was relieved that the man was talking. At least that was something. He grimaced as he looked at the wounds. “I don’t know what the hell attacked you, brother, but you are bleeding all over the hallway.” Jamie’s pulse was pounding but he had been through many fights, more than he cared to count. This was a pretty brutal attack, that looked like some sort of animal, or a very large vehicle.
He searched the bag for bandages, pulling out a roll of gauze wrap. “This will do nicely,” he said, more to himself. He cracked open the first aid kit in search of scissors. “I’m going to have to get these cleaned up. They might get infected.” He found some rubbing alcohol, which would be good for cleaning. In general, this was not his job, but he had learned how to apply a decent field dressing on Muir Island.
He looked down the hall, not really sure who was supposed to be meeting him outside the door he was delivering Cael to. “I could use another hand over here,” he called. It would possibly be Frodo, considering that they were the ones on this side now. “I could use a ring of power too, or some shit like that, or how about the elves. They would work,” he muttered under his breath.
It was over an hour. Since they had been 'together' Cael had seldom been late, no matter what he and Chay had planned on doing. The more time that clicked off the mantle clock, the more Chay checked and rechecked the hallway. After shoving a chair into the door to keep it from closing Frodo stepped out into the hall at the inn. At least this time, he didn’t have trouble with his clothes falling off. Which way? Choosing however was easy.our direction is west Frodo turned and headed as near west as he could down the hall. It proved to be a pretty good decision when he heard Jamie's familiar voice calling for help. His bared feet were loud where they slapped against the wooden floor boards as he picked up his pace into an almost run. Near as you could in a hallway.
"It looks like he has been through a sausage grinder."
He only faltered for a moment when he saw the mangled mess of a man laying on the floor and Jamie trying to clean and cut and wrapped bandages all at the same time. "You clean Mister Jamie, I'll open up the clothing and come behind and wrap." He took up the scissors, and even though he had never used a pair before the shape of the handle and sharpness of the blades made the concept was simple enough, he started cutting off some of the blood stained clothing to give Jamie better access to the damaged skin. I do have a couple of poplar leaf buds in my pouch, that you are wearing, that might help with the pain, he’ll have to chew them.. if he can. Frodo pulled the pouch off his head and fumbled through Chay’s fetishes to find the buds. “Chew on these, it will help with the pain.” Either the aspirin contained in the plants would help, or the bitterness of the taste would help take his mind off of it.
Jamie did what he could to wrap the worst of the wounds. They had to get the man through the door. Out here, he had nothing, no power, very few resources. There wasn’t much to work with. At least in Middle Earth, from what he remembered, there were elves. Frodo also seemed to know what was going on. He didn’t know how much better Cael would do, but the kid did put together a pretty decent pack of tools. “Alright, let’s take him to this door of yours and we can figure it out, or let Cael and Chetan figure it out.” He looked up at Frodo, a little worried about giving him to the boys who didn’t know that much about Middle Earth.
“If he is one of us, locked out of the door, and we take him to a hospital,” he shook his head from side to side, “that won’t work.” He began putting things back into the pack. “Help me get cleaned up and we are going in.” When it came to business, Jamie jumped right in. He made decisions and stuck with them.
Once the packs were ready, he stood and stretched. “Sorry in advance, my friend,” he said, picking up the large man in a fireman’s carry over his shoulder. “Grab a couple bags and let’s move.”
Frodo made sure that the man had chewed the leaves and was no danger of swallowing them in too large of pieces. “I sure hope the bandages stay in place when we go through the door, if it turns out to be another hobbit, they are going to fall right off. Mister Malcolm told Chetan and I that unless we had somebody sharing our head that we would not have been able to come inside the Inn at all, so he has to be one of us, and being trapped here and having someone else trapped behind the door in their place, you are right, not so good.” He wiped blood stained fingers on his breeks before picking up the bags.
“Follow me, it is not to far between our doors. I think Aragorn, well Mister Jack on this side, is staying in the hobbit hole. If he shares Aragorn’s skills then he should have some healing abilities that will help.” The best thing about not being only 3 ½ ft tall... The fact that he can move faster with the longer strides. Tossing the bags into the Inn room, Frodo kicked the chair out of the doorway and with a face turning bright red Chay pushed it open wider for Jamie to enter with his load.
“Thanks for looking out for Frodo for me, Jamie, and for not letting him trade off all my clothes.”
Jamie hadn’t entered the door yet with the large man over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Frodo and Sam are good guys.” He snickered when he noticed the height of the man. He could feel the rattle and hum in his head, Cael fighting to get across. “Cael’s lucky I didn’t sell one of his guitars to dress myself. I did borrow your credit card for that. Cael can pay you back. You’re good for him.”
He stepped through and the door shut behind him. The shift was quick, from two dark haired men to a very familiar blond, now carrying a girl. “I didn’t see that coming,” he said about the girl before turning to Chay, his boyfriend turned hobbit. For a minute, he was looking forward, but Chay wasn’t in front of him the way he was used to. He was much shorter. Cael had been aware of this, but the visual reality was still a shock.
“You are a little shorter than I remember,” he teased lightly, but the smile said he was really glad to see him. In the short time they had been together, he had found himself committing to this relationship, and missing Chay during this separation.
His eyes finally broke to see the woman over his shoulder. “This was not the person that I came in with,” he said, shrugging. It was hard to be too surprised at Passages. Everyone had a different voice in their head. He didn’t know this girl, or the man Jamie had been talking to. “What are we going to do with her?”
“Damn, I missed you, Cael. I’d give ya a kiss, except I would miss.” Chay waggled his eyebrows before turning his attention to the girl Cael was carrying over his shoulder. “This place doesn’t have any furniture in it, but it is quiet. Never seen anyone come to it since I emerged from it a few days ago. Do you think that she can handle being moved again? The place that Middle Earth picked out for me is closer to the East Road, but there is food and a bed that she can lay down in until she heals. And Jack Roman is there, he has some medical training, at least he knows how to stitch a clawed arm. My place would be a more protective spot from the mountain lions.. I mean mountain cats... then here.” he shook his head.
“Frodo kinda went crazy on cutting off the clothes didn’t he? But at least the bandages seem to be staying in place, and she doesn’t look as pale as what he did in the hallway.” as he was talking he headed down the hall and cracked open the door to look around. Hobbit’s were notoriously curious and he didn’t want to call too much attention to the house where the gateway was to Passages. “I have some sheets that could be wrapped around her if she gets feeling a bit drafty. - Okay no one is about right now, it’s not that far of a distance quarter of a mile tops. But if she starts getting too heavy let me know, I can carry her for a bit..”
Cael had to admit, seeing a much smaller version of Chay was hilarious, but he took it in stride. “I missed you too.” That sounded serious, and it was. His time in New York had been interesting, but he was missing his other half, the one who shoved coins in his pockets, shared peyote, and indulged him when he played the same rhythm over and over.
“Watch this,” he grinned, setting the girl down gently. He walked over to a tree and hit it hard with his palm. Standing next to him was a dupe, looking the same as Cael, pretty and blond. He hit the tree again and another popped out. Prime decided that was enough to assist in getting them to their destination.
“Hey,” one of the dupes said, looking around, functioning quite independently of the leader. “This place is pretty sweet. Where is it?”
“It sure isn’t New York. I don’t think they have the deli around the corner either and I’m starving,” the other said.
Cael just laughed at the both of them and shrugged. “We have work to do. Stop complaining. Grab the girl, be gentle, and you grab the bags.” He was giving directions with confidence, something he had learned quickly. Lack of confidence caused the dupes to give push back, and he didn’t need that right now. Cael, for his part as prime, was a responsible leader. He wasn’t sure he would have been if Chay was not in his life, settling him, and indulging him at the same time.
“I have food for several hundred duplicates, but hope I don’t have to share you, Cael, with your twins and triplets. Maybe since you can knock out three and four people we can have someone stay with her all the time.” Chay let the dupes pick up one of the bags and pulled shut the door behind them and locked the door “Follow me, it isn’t that far.. I hope we can do something to help her most cures around here using plant life, so I will have to look at what I have in storage. It’s too early in the spring for fresh herbs. There is alcohol that we can use to better clean her skin, but that is going to burn like crazy, they brew it pretty strong here.”
Now that Cael was free and clear of the bags he was carrying, he approached, stooping low to kiss his boyfriend. His. It was a bit tentative, not wanting too much pressure creating yet another dupe of himself. That would be too awkward, but he couldn’t resist. The payoff was the familiar adrenalin rush, causing him to smile when he pulled back. He was in the right place.
“I’m way too greedy to share.” He looked back at the others, who were talking amongst themselves. “No funny business or back in the box with the both of you.” The dupes did seem to understand what he meant. They enjoyed the freedom, as most of Jamie’s did previously. Reabsorption was strange for all of them, giving Cael the memories of the dupes, creating thoughts and feelings that he wasn’t used to. Although not painful, comfort wasn’t the correct word either.
“I really did miss you,” he admitted. It was another one of those firsts for him, and he liked it.
“Next time. I bring a chair, so you won’t have to stoop.”