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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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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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