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Cath Delaney (dian_cecht) wrote in inpoormerit,
@ 2010-04-17 21:27:00

Entry tags:

cath, coop

Collateral Damage
Who: Cathair and Cooper
Where: Uniform-1
When: Early morning

A crash in the next room woke Cathair from his sleep, which hadn't been that restful anyways. Eden had locked herself in her closet in an attempt to muffle the sounds that were getting progressively worse. If he and Jamie's mad conclusion, which was looking more and more likely true, was right, it would only get worse.

He'd taken up in a chair by her door, not wanting to make it any worse for her by crowding her. If they were right, it wasn't wise to be here, but he couldn't very well leave her alone if something else was going on.

Cath went for the kitchen knife near him, which was poor defense if what he and Jamie had surmised was true. "Eden?" he called out as he started to rise. Only to be taken down far too easily by a black form. He could hear the snarling and feel the beast's breath on him, see the bright slitted eyes. He had no chance to cushion his fall at all, his head smacking hard into the floor as he connected with it. The room swam for a moment as he tried to struggle to his feet, then it began to fade to black. Then, nothing.

The morning light shone brightly on Cathair's form crumpled against one of the cottage walls. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't dead. He was likely badly concussed and bruised from getting in Eden's way as she made her exit. He let out a soft groan and shifted as he started to wake up.

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ocrikey
2010-04-18 05:59 am UTC (link)

Uh-huh.

Coop's first thought was that the man had hit his head -- and hard. His eyes went to the closet, and he frowned to see the long claw marks in the wooden door. Too bad that story wasn't a symptom of the head injury as well...

Shifting a little, Coop decided to change tactics. It was less important to focus on what had happened and more important to discuss the injury itself.

Scraping together his first aid training, Coop asked, "How's your head feel?"

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dian_cecht
2010-04-18 06:05 am UTC (link)

Which he had. Cathair hadn't ever had his bell rung quite this hard before. And considering he'd boxed on a team whilst he was in university and lived the life he had, that was saying something.

But that didn't make his words any less true.

"Like it's aflame," he mumbled, raising his head as far as he could tolerate to look at the other man. "Except the parts that are numb and floaty." His stomach was finally settling itself. He'd not had much to eat the night before, so it wasn't as if there was much to come up anyways.

"She's gone, isn't she?" While his head injury was more pressing, he was certain, his concern was with Eden and what had happened to her.

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ocrikey
2010-04-18 06:19 am UTC (link)

"I'll check," Coop answered immediately, deciding to humor the man. He thought the answer was probably 'Yes,' but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have a look around. "But I think we should get some ice on that first."

Finding a dish towel near the sink, Coop gathered some ice cubes from the tiny freezer and gingerly approached the man. His movements were slow and careful, and he set the bundle down on the floor between them like an offering. He could not force the man to use it, but he hoped he would take the suggestion.

Once the package had been delivered, Coop momentarily disappeared to search the rest of the house.

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dian_cecht
2010-04-18 08:10 am UTC (link)

Ice was likely a good idea. Cathair didn't nod, because moving his head at all was not wise. But he didn't disagree.

"Thanks," he said as Cooper brought him an ice pack. He picked it up and tucked it behind his head, leaning back against the wall.

He knew Cooper wouldn't find Eden. She'd been the beast that attacked him. It was insane, but there was no other explanation.

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ocrikey
2010-04-18 04:21 pm UTC (link)

Coop took his time exploring the house, a task which amounted to all of five minutes. Naturally, he had found nothing -- but it was obvious that this scene differed greatly from Drina's house. With the exception of Cath and a few marks on the doors, the cat had not damaged the property at all.

That was very lucky for Cath.

"Sorry, there's no sign of anyone else," he announced upon his return. What they should do was get the man to a hospital -- trouble was, there didn't seem to be one. "We should get you up and into bed," he began hesitantly. "I'm not sure what else to do with you."

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dian_cecht
2010-04-18 04:39 pm UTC (link)

Well, he was Irish. He always had his luck. Which was often bad as it was good. But he wasn't dead or injured that badly, which he was silently thanking God for.

That made him suspect even more something had gone terribly badly for Drina. As for there not being anyone here, that was what he expected. He knew the beast that attacked him had been Eden. As impossible as it had seemed, it was the only thing that made sense in the circumstances.

They didn't even have a doctor amongst them, as far as Cathair knew. Drina likely had first aid training, as this man seemed to. He could take care of himself, given the circumstances. All right so he couldn't, but finding Eden and the Scots girl (if she'd been affected as well) was more important. "You need to find them," he told Coop. "Eden. The Scots girl...Gwyn." Oh good, he remembered her name finally.

Cathair wasn't going anywhere, even if he wanted to. He'd likely need someone to watch over him, make certain he didn't get worse and wake him up every once and awhile, but to him, that wasn't as important as finding the women and making certain they were all right.

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ocrikey
2010-04-18 10:08 pm UTC (link)

"Gwyn?" Coop echoed, sounding both surprised and concerned. He had met Gwyn, and although he scarcely knew her, he had found her to be good company. She had seemed very young to him, but she seemed to share his adventuring spirit.

He didn't think she had given her address, but he would do a little investigation of his own.

"I'll see what I can do," he agreed at last, although, frankly, he didn't plan on doing anything of the sort. Belle would have his head if he chased a large cat into the woods... And even if he did find the cat, what then? "But let's get you into bed first."

Moving dead weight was something Coop had experience with, fortunately; Cath was in better shape than most of the drunks Coop pulled out and deposited onto the curb.

Moving beside him, Coop instructed, "Put your arm around my shoulders and try to keep your neck straight. Once we get you to your feet, you can walk a little, but keep leaning on me. We'll move nice and easy. Got it?"

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dian_cecht
2010-04-18 10:53 pm UTC (link)

That was going to have to be good enough, since Cathair couldn't even stand on his own. He was going to protest to being put to bed like a sick child. "I'll be all right in a bit," he protested, even though he knew that wasn't true.

Unfortunately, he was in no position physically to resist. He might be in better shape than most of the drunks Cooper threw out in the street, but was also unable to see straight. All right, at this distance he couldn't see straight anyways. Bloody stupid far sightedness.

He leaned heavily on the stocky Australian, wavering a bit as the room spun. "They're not playing about anymore," he told Cooper. "First Drina, now Eden." Cath shook his head. "We need to band together. Should have before." That he blamed entirely on himself. He'd let himself be distracted. Now people were being harmed left and right.

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ocrikey
2010-04-18 11:41 pm UTC (link)

"Careful, let's just get to the bed first," Coop answered warningly, squaring his posture to keep them on their feet as Cath sought to regain his balance. Fortunately, Cath was lean muscle. Only once Cath seemed to be steady enough to lead did Coop begin forward. "One step at a time," he instructed with endless patience, moving them slowly towards the bedroom and the bed.

Finally, much thanks to Cath's cooperation, Coop was able to settle the other man down onto the bed. Gently releasing him, Coop kept one arm around him to keep him steady as he moved the pillows aside. "Sorry. No pillows right now," he informed Cath. At least not until they knew whether or not his skull had been fractured...although he had no idea how they were going to go about doing that.

Once the other man was comfortable -- as comfortable as he could get, anyway -- he said, "Why don't you try to get some rest? I'll ask my wife to bring you some broth in a little while." He had a feeling it was going to take every skill she had learned caring for him in their decade of marriage to keep this guy in bed.

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dian_cecht
2010-04-19 01:13 am UTC (link)

All right, the last place Cathair wanted to go was Eden's bed. Not when he had no idea where she was or if she was all right. Changing the sheets hadn't really been a priority yesterday and the bed still reeked of her. Worse still, of them together.

He didn't want the pillow anyway. He didn't want to lay down anyway. Not with everything running through his mind. He shook his head painfully as Cooper insisted on setting his wife on him. "I'll be all right," he insisted again. "You need to find them. And anyone else who's been affected. They might have hurt themselves. Or someone else."

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ocrikey
2010-04-19 02:22 am UTC (link)

"And you need to rest," Cooper answered, stern voice allowing for no arguments. "If I have to worry about what trouble you're making here, I can't do what I need to do." Coop folded his arms and squared his shoulders, a state that many of his patrons were familiar with. It had intimidated many of them into backing out of a fight -- but any who knew Cooper knew the man was more of a gentle giant.

Nevertheless, it was a physical show of force -- Cath could be as stubborn as he liked, but Coop was not backing down until he got his way.

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dian_cecht
2010-04-19 02:50 am UTC (link)

Cathair was Irish. He was stubborn as the day was long. But he also knew he wasn't getting out of bed any time in the near future, especially now that he was there.

"Go find them," he countered stubbornly. "Sic your missus on me if that'll make you feel better, but God only knows what they've done to them. Get moving before it's too late."

All right, so if Cooper didn't send him a babysitter, he was likely to try and get up and look for Eden himself. But Cathair didn't have to tell him that.

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ocrikey
2010-04-19 03:09 am UTC (link)

Coop sort of already thought it was too late, but there was no point in telling him that. He was already worked up enough.

"Rest," Coop answered shortly. "I'm going to go talk to Belle, but I'll stop back. And if even a toe is out of bed, I'm going to tie you to the mattress."

Of course, Belle would handle that for him. With one last stubborn glance, Coop turned to depart in search of his wife.

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