Tenzing Tharkay (tenzingtharkay) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2018-09-08 14:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, *jeanna, *kate, *lea, oliver queen, tenzing tharkay |
Challenge Log: Tenzing Tharkay and Noah Blake (Oliver Queen)
Our Words: notice, slip, examination, unaware, accumulation, fibre, straighten, seed, relationship, fitness Of all the stupid, stupid, stupid things to do. Tenzing Tharkay was an experienced outdoorsman. He’d been hiking steadily more difficult trails since he was a child. He still remembered the very first lesson of back-country hiking, learned from his Nepalese grandfather before he’d even moved to America: plant foot, then shift weight.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been thinking about that very important lesson as he walked down the well-traveled, easy-as-pie, even-a-tourist-from-New-York-couldn’t-sc A stream of mixed Khas and English curse words later, Tenzing made himself sit up and look at his ankle, which he knew hurt too much to be a “walk it off” situation. Sure enough, it was swelling already. It didn’t take much of an examination to tell that it was either broken or sprained. “Well, this should make getting back down the trail fun.” Noah had been doing his best to give Dellie all the space she needed. He knew that she was conflicted, he was too, but he loved her enough to let her make a decision that would be best not only for her but also for Ivan. He’d come to love the little boy as if he were his own but Ivan needed to know his birth father too. Noah had been a constant presence in the boy’s life for the last two years and he hoped that if Dellie did decide to rebuild her marriage, that she would let him spend some time with Ivan now and then. He sighed as he continued up the trail on his way to the clearing he often used for target practice. There were never any animals there, probably because the trail was fairly easy and therefore popular with the tourists. So lost in thought was he that he didn’t notice there was someone on the trail ahead of him. It was only when he rounded a corner and he heard someone’s voice that he realized it and he started off to see what had happened. It didn’t take long for him to assess the situation and he stopped and knelt beside the man. “I’m not going to ask you if it hurts,” he said by way of introduction. “I can tell it does. Did it just happen? I was behind you on the trail and I heard you calling out.” “Yeah, I slipped like an idiot,” Tenzing sighed. He was frustrated with himself, and yes, his ankle hurt a great deal, but being angry about it wasn’t going to help. The newcomer to the trail might, though. “Would you mind giving me a hand up? I either broke it or sprained it, and I could use the help with balance.” “Oh sure. Here put your arm around my neck and we’ll see. I’m Noah by the way,” he said as he helped the other man get his balance. The foot was swelling fast and Noah was afraid it might be broken but they wouldn’t know until he tried to put weight on it. “See if you can put some weight on it and if you can’t, yell as loud as you want, I’ve broken my foot before and it hurts like a bitch.” Tenzing kept his arm over Noah’s shoulder as he attempted to straighten his leg out and put some weight on his foot. As soon as he touched the ground, pain shot from his ankle through his whole body and, he was fairly sure, deep into the very fibre of his soul. Tenzing drew in a sharp, hissing breath and promptly snatched his foot back up. “Right, so that's probably broken,’ he said through gritted teeth. He still felt a little dizzy from the intensity of the pain. Helping Tenzing down onto a nearby log, Noah nodded. “Yeah I would say so. I have some first aid stuff with me but nothing to splint a bone. I also might teach physical fitness along with archery but I don’t think I can get you down the trail alone.” Pulling out his phone, he dialed the rangers, reported their location and what had happened so that they could bring a stretcher. Noah sat down on the ground next to him. “Guess this wasn’t quite the day you had in mind.” Tenzing snorted at the understatement. No, it wasn't, of course. He’d gone for a nice easy hike to clear his head, and instead he got what was almost definitely a broken ankle. He knew better than to be stomping around unaware of his surroundings, but here he was nonetheless. Somewhere in the midst of the pain, he was already thinking about how much he was going to hate telling this story. “Thanks for the help,” he said, because as much as he hated small talk, Tenzing needed a distraction from how badly his ankle hurt. “Left to my own devices, I probably would have decided I could hobble my way down the trail.” “You would have ended up in worse shape if you’d tried that,” he said, stretching her legs out in front of him. “Hopefully it won’t take them long to get up here, they’re usually pretty good. I’ve ended up on the stretcher a few times. We have a love/hate relationship, the medics and I, they love to give me a hard time about things like shooting myself in the foot with an arrow and I hate having to listen to it.” He laughed. Tenzing chuckled, too, though it was a little weak. He was a reserved sort anyway, and the accumulation of pain didn't leave much room for proper laughter. “I just spent too long without health insurance,” he said with a wry smile. “You get in the habit of avoiding health care that way. The seed of 'can’t afford it’ gets planted, and then even when you can afford it, it doesn't occur to you to do things in a way other than the poor people way. Especially when you're reasoning with whatever sliver of your brain isn't taken up by thinking about how bad your ankle hurts.” “I know the feeling. When I was in school and then grad school, I just tried really hard not to get sick. Or I did whatever I needed to do and tried not to breathe one people.” He shrugged. “I forget sometimes that I can actually go to the doctor when I’m sick now too.” Noah looked up as he heard someone coming up the trail. “Well what’d you know, I was right. They’re right on time. Is there anyone I can call for you, tell them what happened or do you have your phone on you?” While he always carried his phone with him when he was out and about, you never knew although this guy seemed like a habitual outdoorsman and was probably prepared.
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