The Inquisitor wasn’t a woman who didn’t take warnings seriously - she was just a woman who didn’t let a warning stop her from doing what she planned to do, it just meant she went extra prepared. She’d wanted to go out to the beach - like she’d been doing for months on mornings where she felt the need - but she knew it was dangerous to go as early as she normally did. That being said, Ellana wasn’t going to give up on her habits - it just meant Evanura came with her. Call her a cynic, call he pessimistic if you wished - but she figured she should get used to having to use the smaller sword eventually anyway, given her most likely slightly-limb-lacking-future. No time like the present to get more used to it. The Inquisitor may have been burdened with the problem of being overly independent and generally of the mind that it wasn’t like her life could get much more fucked up. Which was the opposite of true, her life could become so much more screwed up in Atlantis if she allowed. However, she was deadset on not letting it become so.
That’s why she’d started these little walks out to the shore. She got to feel the cold on her face from the water’s edge. She got in a little practice with Evanura. She was safe to use the mark a little, it didn’t hurt as much when she used it - not like before Solas had stabilized it before he left - but it still left her sore. A reminded that he’d given her time, not a cure.
But this particular walk, she hadn’t even gotten out of the city yet before something just made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The Dalish woman spun around, sword in her hand as bright teeth bared at her and started to move it, “Well, shit.” She said - a certain level of exasperation to her voice as she took a step backwards, planting her foot and firming up her stance. The creature just seemed to laugh at her. Ellana was, generally, lucky - as it lunged, she managed to get herself out of the way but she did lose her footing slightly and half toppled off of the sidewalk, slamming her knee down roughly onto the ground as she hurried to get back up and brace for a second engagement.
As the Strigoi came at her again it managed to slam her backwards, sending The Inquisitor to the ground once more - her thigh and right palm baring similar slices through them. The glow that emanated from her left hand seemed to startle the Strigoi as Ellana regained her bearings for a third time (she really was too damn out of practice, thankfully, it took a little more than that to keep the Inquisitor down). The sight of the bright light and the slowly creeping in dawn was enough to send the creature running and Ellana was in no mood to chase after them right now.
The fight over, The Inquisitor gently sat herself down on the concrete to try and catch her breathe before she’d have to groan her way over to medical for a few stitches.
While not officially on any of the teams hunting the creatures, Peter was given to the occasional patrol in the late night or predawn hours, particularly when he couldn’t sleep. Excitement for the day’s quidditch match had him up before the sun this morning and he’d decided that a walk would serve him well. He’d taken his sword with him hoping he wouldn’t have a need for it, but had not been lucky or unlucky enough to happen across Ellana until the monster was already running off, faster than he could easily follow. Peter thought about trying to pursue the vampire, anyway, but he saw the woman sitting there, obviously injured, even if not mortally so, and decided her need was greater.
“Are you all right?” It was a stupid question, he knew that even while he asked it. Any fool could see that she had been hurt in the attack. He expected the question to be met with look and a smart remark, but even if it was a foolish question to ask, his intention to come to her aid was sincere.
Ellana’s eyes darted up once she heard Peter’s voice, she’d been content to just sit for a minute and then wander off to medical - as if she needed two screwed up hands, brilliant - but for now she had just wanted to catch her breath. Either way, something about the way he approach her made her laugh, “I’ve seen way worse.” The elven woman said - lifting her right hand up to inspect the gash on her hand. It was nothing like the trouble the mark gave her, nothing like she’d experienced back in Thedas. Some rowdy vampire who hadn’t managed much more than to catch her off guard and push her around a little? That was basically child’s play compared to the shit The Inquisitor had seen.
Attempting to wipe some of the blood off on her pants, it was to no avail and she grumbled softly as she moved to begin standing up, “Probably need a little bit of a patch up.” She admitted, not like it wasn’t obvious in either case. “Those assholes are fast.” She huffed out.
Peter nodded, both to the comment that she’d seen worse and to the statement that she could use a patch up. From what he knew about the creatures roaming around Atlantis right now, he suspected she was lucky to have survived an encounter with little more than a deep gash, but he knew enough about wound care to suspect she was going to need to be stitched up.
He held a hand out, ready to help the woman to her feet. Somehow, he suspected she might not need the help, but that didn’t stop him from offering it. Ellana might be capable - he was actually certain that she was - but she was already injured. “I’ll walk with you, if it’s alright,” he suggested, hoping she’d accept the help. It was light enough they weren’t likely to run into more of the creatures, but he thought it wise not to travel alone all the same, even for someone who could have evidently handle herself.
The Dalish woman half took Peter’s hand when offered, she was pretty sure she could do it on her own but - whatever, that was a pretty damn deep gash and this wasn’t a time to be stubborn. She was well aware how bad a fight could go when you had the disadvantage, she’d seen enough of those. Been on the delivering end of them too. Right now wasn’t a time to collapse back down to the ground and injure herself some more because she was too damn stubborn to take a kindly, politely offered help up off of the ground. The offer to walk with her almost made the Inquisitor roll her eyes, but she managed to keep it in check.
Peter was being polite, which seemed to be his steadfast default, and nothing more.
“Yeah, sure.” Ellana said, pulling her hand back and brushing off her pants as she started off in the direction of medical. Ellana had plenty of experience with the supernatural - at least supernatural in a sense, if you could call psuedo-gods and very real demons ‘super’natural (in the spirit of the word meaning not necessarily real at least). Vampires were a whole new territory, though they reminded her creepily of the old werewolf curses. The ones most people ignored, the ones that were scary Dalish stories that they told to kids to keep them in camp at night. “Normally I’d fight it, but - well, shit - I figure this is actually a bleeder so I better not go ruining my office’s carpets.” If there was one thing Ellana could be counted on for, it was making any situation into sarcasm.
Peter was glad she accepted his offer of help without an argument. He kept a firm grip on her hand long enough to help her up, but relaxed his grip and let go when she pulled her hand away once she was standing again. He kept a respectful distance once she was standing as they started to walk, but close enough that it would be easy enough to lend any support she might need. She didn’t look badly injured enough to need help walking, but sometimes it was hard to judge.
“It probably is better to bleed on Medical’s floors if you’re going to bleed somewhere,” Peter quipped back, offered a small grin. He suspected she was using humor to deflect from the injury or the fact that she’d accepted his help whether she thought she needed it or not, but he was happy enough to play along if it meant she allowed the escort.
Unlike Peter - who had, of course, spent time in a world very much without even a fraction of the medical advances Atlantis has - Ellana had never really known this sort of technology before coming here. Okay, she hadn’t ever known was more accurate. Sure, there were bits and bobs of magic that could do this or that. Sure, there was basic field medicine - but it wasn’t like they had lasers or x-rays or anything like that. She’d gotten worse injuries just wandering around the Hinterlands trying to find those first few rifts after she’d put Redcliff right. Her mind twitched - causing Ellana to grimace quietly as the remnants of the whole Fear thing ran through her mind.
Redcliff had looked no different empty, but it didn’t make the ‘memory’ less painful.
“Ah, yes.” She said - forcing out a laugh as she playfully rolled her eyes, “Concrete has a bad habit of getting stained.” The red head glanced over to him, “I’m a little more used to bleeding on a field.” It was a joke, but true nonetheless.
Peter nodded. Joke or not, it was something he could relate to, even if it had been some time since he’d been in Narnia. Despite the passed time, he could remember those days vividly; the battles, the meetings, every aspect of serving as the high king of Narnia for years. She may have been joking, but he suspected there was truth to it.
“Better a field than the floor of the palace,” he quipped back. Grass, he’d found, would grown as green as ever much more quickly than Susan would ever let him forget about staining the floors of Cair Paravel.
“The technology here is [...]” he grasped for the words, but couldn’t find any adequate to describe it. “I’d never seen anything like it. It’s like something out of science fiction.”
There was a little twitch that seemed to course through Ellana’s features - better a field than the floor of the palace; she’d recognized some level of kinship in understanding some less than modern ways in Peter fairly early on. It wasn’t hard to miss in any of the Pevensies, really. But the thought just made her mind float back to Redcliffe, back to Haven. It wasn’t his fault, if anything it was the opposite of a problem that her mind went there. Ellana had never dealt with the emotional fallout of what she saw in the Fear realm and now all of her friends were gone. Reinhardt, who had been there with her, he was gone too. And maybe getting injured like that, reminded of her mortality - maybe it was enough of a hint that she really needed to start actually working through things or whatever.
She’d get to it eventually. Maybe.
Ellana tilted her head at the mention of science fiction, she had no idea what it was - she’d have to look that up later. She suspected it was some sort of writing that involved… well science and fantastical tales. She’d probably enjoy it. Just another thing on her list “Hopefully they leave me a cool scar to show off to all the boys.” The redhead joked with a laugh as she looked down at her hand, smirking.