A little birdie told Jess. (coos) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2013-07-09 21:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, ! plot: this is the end, jessica peng, rashida mazibuko |
WHO: Rashida Mazibuko and Jessica Peng
WHAT: Rashida and Jess patch things up, literally and figuratively.
WHEN: After the solitary bombing and this placeholder that has not yet been filled...
WHERE: On campus, not far from the library
WARNINGS: Spoilers for that unfilled placeholder, oops. Also blood.
STATUS: Completed log!
Rashida really needed a wrap for her wrist if she was going to be any help whatsoever later on. It was getting swollen and painful, and if she was going to survive this madness she needed to be able to properly punch people. The med center had everything she needed, and she ran across the quad, her destination the only thing on her mind. At least until she saw a girl crumpled on the ground, more or less covered in blood. “Shit,” she swore, because this one didn’t wear an IVI uniform. This was one of them. “Um, are you –” okay was not a good word choice here, “– alive?” She crouched down, helping the girl to turn over onto her back. The sight of all the blood was making her slightly woozy, but she snapped out of it when she saw who it was. “Oh my God, Jessica??” --- "Who?" Jessica mumbled woozily. Everything was such a blur. In her right hand, she still clutched her left, one warm, living palm cupped against its detached mirror. The stump where it had once been connected to her body was no longer spurting blood at quite the same volume, but she kept it pulled protectively tight against her chest all the same. She thought the pain would diminish over time, but it only seemed to grow. She squinted up at the girl who had turned her over. If she hadn't lost so much blood, she might have been irritated, but all she could feel was grateful that someone had stopped to help. "Rashida?" --- It took Rashida another moment to realise what Jessica was holding. Possibly because people didn’t lay around clutching their severed hands all that often. “Fuck,” she said eloquently once she’d realised exactly what was going on. “Oh shit oh fuck oh my God are you – I’m going to get something to wrap you up with because – holy shit.” Rashida’s mother was a surgeon. It clearly hadn’t helped making her immune to freaking out when she saw blood, mostly unconscious people and detached limbs. “I’ll be back. I promise. Just – uh, I’ll be back, okay?” --- "Okay," Jessica parroted, and then she laid back and waited. Even a week ago, she wasn't sure if she would have believed that Rashida really would return for her, but so much had changed in the last day alone. Dark spots danced in her vision, and she wasn't sure if she fell unconscious, but it seemed like hardly any time at all before Rashida returned, with what looked like half the med center in her arms. "Took you long enough," Jess sputtered, an echo of her old deadpan humor. --- “Oh shut up,” Rashida said, but without any of the usual bite lacing anything and everything she said in Jessica’s general vincinity. Not knowing what the hell to bring back she had just packed a bag full of stuff that looked vaguely useful, including some pain pills that would probably do nothing in the great scheme of things. The blood had to be taken care of first though. Or maybe cleaning the wound. Should she clean it? Or just wrap it up and bring her inside? She decided on wrapping, putting as much gauze (bandage? dressing?) as she possibly could on the stump (how was this real life? seriously?), most of it being bled through in no time. Her hands and clothes were covered in it before she’d even gotten the bandage out, and she eyed Jessica warily, wondering if she was even going to survive this. “My mum’s a surgeon, you know,” she said as she wrapped Jessica’s arm up. “She would be fascinated to study this. Write a paper on it probably. You could be famous.” She was talking mostly to prompt Jessica into some sort of a response, something she’d never done before. She’d give a hell of a lot for one of those trademark sarcastic remarks right now, as much as she usually couldn’t stand them. “You’d have to survive though. Otherwise this story is just depressing.” --- Jess winced as Rashida pulled the fabric tight around her stump. It stung to the touch, and for some reason she remembered the time she'd sprained her wrist at volleyball practice. If only she'd known then. "Like this story isn't depressing enough already," she said, sucking air in through her teeth. She still felt weak and confused, and even though the bandage was quickly turning red, it gave her hope. The mere thought that she wouldn't bleed out alone on the ground made her feel stronger. Maybe she could handle it after all. She held up her detached hand. "Do you think you should wrap this one too? Or like, ice it?" --- It took everything Rashida had not to scream as Jessica held up her own hand. If the whole situation hadn’t been so absurd she might’ve laughed at the morbidity or been convinced that she was just messing with her but no. There was a stump and a hand and blood all over her shirt. This was most definitely real. “What the hell even happened?” she said, trying to figure out what to do with the hand. And Jessica. And everything else. “Did you run into someone with a machete or something?” --- Jessica let out a weak snort of laughter. If only that had been the case. Real life was so much stranger, and if she hadn't seen it firsthand -- if she wasn't holding the evidence -- she might not have believed it either. In a way, it still didn't feel quite real. "I got into a lightsaber duel with Chang," she said, pulling from her old reserves of sarcasm. "Turns out he's my father." --- “Nerd humour,” Rashida remarked. “You must be feeling better.” She poured the remains of her impromptu nurse station back into the bag, deciding against forcing some painkillers into Jessica – it wasn’t like they could sit around and wait for them to start working anyway – and carefully took the hand and put it in with the rest of the stuff. “I’m going to get you to the library,” she decided. “Lightsaber or no lightsaber.” --- "Okay," Jess said obediently, reaching out her good arm for Rashida to pull her up. The other, she still kept tucked close to her body, even wrapped up. It hurt less that way, though she did feel better, strangely enough. Even when she hadn't just lost a limb, Jessica only rarely smiled, but she did here, waveringly. "Thanks for lending me a hand." |