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Max Castle ☾ Máni ([info]manen) wrote in [info]paxletalelogs,
@ 2011-08-03 18:15:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:isis, mani

20 Dollar Nose Bleed
Who: Audrey & Max
What: Max takes a beating and Audrey patches him up.
Where: [ where ever Audrey works ]
When: 10:36 pm
Warnings: TBA


The day had slowly gone from bad to worse, and as Max waited in the lobby of the hospital center where the police had dropped him off, he reflected on the events that had brought him to this point.

He'd had an evening class at five that went until seven, the latest in the day he could get for that particular computer programming class that was so damned essential to his degree and graduation. As was usual, he had difficulty keeping his eyes open throughout all of the class, finally succumbing to sleep when there were only forty five minutes left on the clock. Apparently neither his fellow students nor his professor had seen fit to attempt to wake him once the lesson was over (perhaps they found his strange brand of narcolepsy offending, or maybe he'd started snoring) and instead a janitor who barely spoke three words of English had been kind enough to shake him awake when turning on the lights didn't do it. It was already three hours past the end of his class at that point, and his bus' scheduled route was well past gone, so he opted to try walking back to the apartment building.

That right there was probably his mistake - instead of calling his sister for a ride that she would have certainly given him, instead of splurging on a cab or figuring out another bus route, he decided to save a little money and earn a little exercise by walking the few miles back to where he lived. Of course, it was already well dark out, but Max had never had any fear of the dark or the imaginary things that might lurk within it. He'd always been awake during those hours, and never was he given any special reason to adopt a sudden dislike of the night. So after popping his earbuds into his ears and letting some music lend him the energy to start walking, Max was focused on the GPS in his phone that was directing him back to Pax Letale. The soft glow of the screen probably alerted the muggers to his presence, or if not that, certainly drew their attention.

He didn't hear them coming, his ears instead full of Pendulum's Hold Your Color; they must have been shouting at him for some time, because the first thing Max noticed about them at all was the fist that came flying toward his face. Another one grabbed his cell phone out of his hand, wrenching it and the earbuds away from his possession; then his backpack was gone, and he was on the ground, being kicked. The blows stopped only when the wail of a siren broke through the sound of scuffling shoes and his grunts of pain.

Police Officer Bruce was polite enough. He took Max's statement and list of belongings that was in his backpack (his 3DS, a MacBook Air for note taking, as well as his wallet and cell phone), and then had kindly given him a ride to the nearest hospital. Max took no note of where he was, instead pinching his nose and keeping his head knocked back to stop the blood that had been slowly pouring down his face after the first punch. He was pretty sure it was broken, and his chest felt like it had run up against a brick wall, but he was able to make it to a seat amidst the hustle and bustle of the hospital lobby. Then he realized that he ought to check in, tell them that he needed to be seen, and maybe use their phone so he could call Lily. She was probably worried sick that he hadn't come home and that she couldn't reach him on his cell phone. And she had been - first there had been promises of reprimand, comments and questions of "what were you thinking, how could you be so stupid", and finally quiet words of relief that he was in one piece and that she'd be there soon to pick him up.

That taken care of, he was told to take a seat after all; despite the late hour, there were more than enough injuries to go around, and it seemed that the staff were stretched a little thin. Leaning back in his chair with a wad of tissues pressed to his face, Max was more than content to just sit and wait, either for a nurse or for his frantic sister.



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[info]caholiday
2011-08-10 12:55 am UTC (link)
Audrey was finishing up her work and preparing to leave when a nurse poked her head into her office. It had been a busy evening and Audrey was anxious to get home. She'd already had to ask a friend to stay with Alexis, and she wanted to let her get home. So it wasn't exactly the best timing when the young nurse said, in a sort of squeaky, scared voice, "Er, I'm sorry, Audrey, but do you think you could see a patient really quick?"

Inwardly Audrey groaned. The thought of leaving her daughter alone any more than she had to really bothered her. But generally Alexis understood that her mom had to help people, so she pulled her white jacket off the wall. "Sure," she said, following the nurse.

"Thanks so much," said the younger woman, breathing an audible sigh of relief.

"I think I'm going to hire a few more nurses. Put the word out for me, okay?" Audrey offered the young nurse a smile. "Who's the patient?"

"Here's the chart. He just got mugged. I'll have a tech bring him back and take his vitals for you. It looked like he got smacked around pretty bad. I don't want to leave him out there for long."

"Good call," said Audrey. "Let me know when he's ready." She flipped open the chart, hoping it would help her make the visit as painless as possible.

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[info]manen
2011-08-10 04:04 am UTC (link)
Keeping his head tilted back, Max had to follow the nurse rather in the same manner that Frankenstein's monster walked - one hand outstretched for depth perception, and then slow, lumbering steps that moved him from his comfortable seat into a small room where he assumed the doctor would see him. The nurse instructed him to sit on a raised seat/table that was covered with a thin sheet of paper (which, upon crumpling, he could not resist from crinkling further, his five year old mind insanely pleased by the noise) while another person entered and took his blood pressure as well as a few other things. Then he was left alone, waiting for the doctor.

She looked like a nice enough woman, and Max tilted his head down, waiting to hear whatever she might have to say. For a moment he wondered vaguely if she'd reprimand him like his sister had - silly idea, walking out so late, especially on your own or even wow, you're an idiot - but at that moment Max just wanted something to make his chest stop hurting and then to go home. He was already going to be missing a lot of homework since the thugs made off with his laptop, a good few month's of work concerning programming a simplistic game for one of his classes, but surely his professors would find some way to help him out upon hearing of the crisis that had occurred. His fingers itched for a controller or some other comforting thing, maybe even just his bed.

"How's it look, doc?" Even his voice sounded strange after this incident, far too nasal and annoying even to his own ears. He tried a smile, which hopefully wasn't too gruesome, but at least all of his teeth felt intact.

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[info]caholiday
2011-08-10 04:23 am UTC (link)
The exam was simple as could be. The kid's face was a mess, even cleaned up some he looked pretty beaten up. The blood was starting to clot, but she still had to dab his face with fresh gauze several times. After she was finished examining him, she handed him his own gauze to hold and held up his x-rays to the light.

"Congratulations," she said. "Your nose is broken." She held up another view. "But everything else looks okay in terms of structure. The only break is in your nose and it's minor enough. You're going to have some pretty bad bruises, though. Definitely keep ice on your face as much as you can." She offered him a smile. "But you still might want to invest in some makeup to cover it up. You're going to have a colorful face for awhile."

She held up another x-ray film and clicked her tongue. "I can't believe someone around here would mug a young guy like you. Don't they have something better to do?"

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[info]manen
2011-08-11 02:57 am UTC (link)
"I guess not," he replied, still annoyed with the strange tone his voice had adopted. Adjusting himself on the table/chair, the paper crinkled again and the grin subsided into and amused smile. "I was walking home from classes - usually I take the bus, but, ah, I got held up and missed the one that goes directly to my apartment. Never gonna let that happen again, hah."

He was definitely bummed about the state of his face, but all in all it would probably end up a good thing since Lily would baby the hell out of him. Maybe he could even convince her to buy the kind of ice cream he was so fond of - Cherry Garcia - and he could stuff his face, metaphorically speaking. Ice cream could work in place of ice, right? Plus he'd be eating, so Max couldn't see a downside to that.

"I, uh, think my sister could help out with the make-up; I was pretty bad at doing it myself just for Halloween," he continued, holding the wad of blood-soaked tissues in his right hand before spying a nearby trash can. Posing like a basketball star about to sink the winning basket, he tossed the tissue and scored. Making a soft cheering sound with his voice, he turned back to the doctor and really tried to pay attention this time. "So a broken nose and some bruises - is that all?"

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[info]caholiday
2011-08-12 01:30 am UTC (link)
"I don't think your ribs are broken, unless it's tiny fractures," Audrey said. She pointed out the rib x-ray, drawing little ovals with her finger around the bones. "See? Nothing too bad. But based on the exam it looks like someone kicked you pretty badly, so those will probably be bruised up too. You have to be extra careful for the next couple of months while they heal." She smiled to see him pitch the gauze like a basketball player. He was a cute kid and clearly didn't deserve getting the shit kicked out of him by some thug.

"It's not your fault," Audrey said. This guy seemed pretty shaken up by what had happened. Unfortunately, it was common for victims of crimes to blame themselves. "I see this happen a lot. Young people, college students...they're easy targets because of everything they carry with them. Plus, they're so stressed they don't always pay attention to their surroundings. It happens more often than you'd think."

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[info]manen
2011-08-13 05:32 am UTC (link)
"That's...not really reassuring. And if you talk with my sister, please don't tell her that, because she'll flip out," Max replied, slowly at first as the description went through his mind. First the weird sightings of their father, and now him getting mugged? Just when they were trying to settle back into a normal life, what with Max doing his best in school in order to make up for flunking out of the previous one, and Lily doing everything she could to support him - something told him that she would not respond well to the idea that her brother was a virtual target for bullies on the metaphorical playground of life.

"But thanks for saying that it's not my fault," he added, not wanting to offend the nice lady. "I mean, I know it isn't, but at the same time, I should've just called my sister. Or taken a cab. It's just that Pax is so close, or at least it seemed to be, and I don't get out of my room enough, or so my sister says..."

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[info]caholiday
2011-08-14 02:29 am UTC (link)
"Don't worry," Audrey said with a smile. "I won't tell anybody. Besides, we have confidentiality here. It's our secret. Older sisters can be like that." Like she really knew, having been an only child...but she'd always been so protective of her young nieces, it was like being a big sister.

"Pax, the apartment complex?" That was an odd coincidence, to say the least. Audrey licked her lips, which suddenly felt dry, and wondered if she should mention she lived there. But this was just a kid, he seemed trustworthy enough. "I actually live there myself. I'll give you my number and if you ever need a ride, you can call me."

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[info]manen
2011-08-14 11:13 pm UTC (link)
"Uh, yeah. That...would be really cool, actually. Do you live there?" He was a little surprised by the coincidence that she was familiar with the building; he was still in the Newport Beach area, but how random was it for him to land at a hospital and happen to be treated by a doctor who potentially lived in the same building as him? For a moment, his mind ran through the strange ways fate worked sometimes - like Link receiving the Master Sword from the hermit in the cave. Max, it's dangerous to go alone, take my business card!

Then he shook his head, clearing it of any nostalgic feelings he had for the video games of yore, and instead focusing on the present, because just about then his face really, really started to hurt, adding to the ache already present in his chest and stomach. "I mean, I don't wanna be a creep or anything. Just, uh, curious. My sister and I live there. Sixth floor. It's a really nice building!"

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[info]caholiday
2011-08-16 05:48 am UTC (link)
"Nah, it's not creepy at all." And she really didn't get a weird vibe off of him. He seemed like a genuine, nice young man. She liked him, and was hit by a sudden wistful feeling: Sure wish I'd have had a younger brother or sister. It seemed like the older she got, the more she longed for a sibling.

"I do live there. On the fourth floor." She smiled. "It's a nice place, I really like it. Kinda old, but it has a lot of character, don't you think?" She considered for a moment. "You wouldn't happen to know if it has any historical significance? Maybe it'd get my daughter insterested in history if it did." It wouldn't surprise her; the building was definitely unlike anything she'd seen before.

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[info]manen
2011-08-18 03:13 am UTC (link)
"Historical?" He lamely repeated the word, as though doing so would allow his memory to be jogged. He had no idea what the building's history might be, if it was a new complex or something refurbished, but for a moment his mind alighted on the short adventure he'd taken with Fiona regarding the strange room in the lobby. Though that really didn't support whether the place was necessarily old old, just that it and its staff were weird people who potentially kept souvenirs of old tenants, kind of like that creepy old cat lady that always had five socks, none of them matching, each from a neighbor's trash bin. Why that particular description had jumped into his head he didn't know, and he gave it a little shake as though to dispel it.

"Uh, I have no idea. Sorry. There's gotta be someone in the building who might know, I mean, someone who'd be interested in that kinda thing. I honestly haven't met too many people, though then again I haven't asked the people I do know if they're into that kind of thing. Probably play too many video games, but that's what my sister would have you think. Not that I do," he quickly added, accidentally moving away from Audrey's original question. "Anyway, I mean, it seems old enough too. At least all the pipes still work properly! I hope I didn't just jinx myself."

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