Annabelle Keely (nottinkerbell) wrote in st_margarets, @ 2014-04-14 23:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: annabelle keely, character: tj reed, character: trent kane, location: the infirmary |
Log: A Long Healing Process
WHO: Trent Kane, TJ Reed & Annabelle Keely
WHEN: Monday 7th {Waaaay backdated} immediately after classes/into Monday evening
WHERE: The Infirmary
TJ had been keening to get into the Infirmary since Saturday when he’d found out about Trent being in there. He was upset beyond measure that something had happened to his friend that had put him in this position and his usual channels of comfort were pretty much a no go, besides, Mickey was upset too – or at least TJ hoped he was – and TJ was still trying to not lose his shit with Felix for the fact that the guy still smelt like that Lily girl and he hated it. It made his hackles raise in all the wrong ways considering she was just a girl. And there had been other girls – there would always be other girls – but TJ could normally deal with it. He wondered if it wasn’t just the intensity and how she had seemingly permeated every corner of Felix’s room.
He was finally allowed into the room though and as he did, he felt a surge of anger ripple through him at the sight of his friend who wasn’t really even conscious enough to wake up. He was sleeping, and TJ didn’t want to wake him. Didn’t think that was very good considering the guy needed all the rest he could to make himself feel better and get up and about, cause trouble as he was wont to do. He sat with Trent for a little while, talking to his friend’s unconscious form before he got disgruntled and strangely panicked and unsettled. The shift in his mood caused his skin to prickle with the impending change and he ducked behind a curtain to quickly shed what he could before he was padding back through in his wolf form, clothes carefully held in his mouth and deposited on a nearby chair in a heap. His underwear was ruined, unfortunately, and he’d had to kick it off his hind legs after he had shifted.
The Infirmary smelt horrible to a werewolf, antiseptic and clean in a way that stung the nose and burned the eyes but Trent was worth the discomfort, there were a few people at the school that TJ considered would be worth the discomfort of spending a vast amount of time in there. Having assessed Trent’s injuries with his human eyes, TJ’s werewolf eyes began their own assessment, working out where the injuries were and which ones needed licking in order to heal them.
Carefully, TJ stood up against the bed, front paws against the crisp white sheets, barely touching Trent’s arm. His cold nose pressed against the outer curve of Trent’s elbow before his eyes narrowed in on an angry looking bruise. A second later, there was the rough brush of tongue against the injury. Licking always made things better, that was how it worked. When he got hurt, he licked his wounds and they felt better straight away.
He whined a little and nudged Trent’s wrist with his nose again like he was hoping if he did it enough, Trent’s hand would just lift and push his fingers through the fur at the top of TJ’s head. He scooted a little closer, tail wagging as he tried to calculate how much room he would need on the bed to lie comfortably to protect Trent and also so that he didn’t hurt his friend by lying on his broken ankle. He hopped up a little higher, licking Trent’s upper arm affectionately before he moved back down the bed returning to gently mouthing at the outside edge of Trent’s hand, careful with his teeth not to hurt but his intention was clear enough.
As a human, TJ understood that peace and quiet and silence and sleep were good signs, but the wolf in him needed some kind of reaction, something that just told him that Trent was okay, and still Trent underneath all of those bruises and cuts and the smell of dried blood.
Being awake felt like trudging through thick molasses and Trent had slipped in and out of consciousness more times than he cared to count in the last few days, but apparently his body needed to rest. Not that it was a great surprise all things considered, but when awake Trent felt a distinct surge of frustration at himself, for not just bouncing back like he always did. And the throwing up, that was becoming something of an issue and he hated the look the nurse had on her face when she stood beside his bed with her hands in his hair as he retched and lost what little stomach contents he had.
A grumble formed in the back of his throat as Trent stirred at TJ’s persistent demands for attention and then his brow knitted together when he felt the warm wet sensation of being licked. In any other situation Trent would have put two and two together but as it was his brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders and he just ignored it, figuring whatever it was would go away on its own.
Only it didn’t.
There were teeth, on his hand, and Trent’s eyes opened very slowly until sure enough he focused in on a very wolfy form of his close friend TJ who had apparently made himself quite comfortable on the bed.
“...TJ?” He managed, voice weak.
At the acknowledgement of his presence, TJ came up onto the bed properly, mindful of the broken ankle and settled, curled next to Trent’s leg, somehow managing to get himself comfortable and taking up relatively little room on the infirmary bed. He let out a happy sound when Trent said his name knowing that this meant that at least he was mostly in once piece as far as his head went.
He nudged those fingers with his nose again, whining impatiently like a pet dog rather than a fearsome werewolf. His tail wagged against the bottom of the bed, a rhythmic brushing sound as fur moved against the fabric of the sheets.
Trent lifted his head but regretted it a second later when an explosion of pain ripped through his skull and he groaned, the weight of holding his head up proving too much and it wasn’t long until his head met with the pillow again. The world was swimming again, dipping in and out of focus and Trent was utterly convinced that at any given second he was going to hurl.
Breathe, Trent, breathe.
The southerner closed his eyes and forced himself to inhale then exhale slowly as he focused on bringing himself back to some sort of solid ground just to find his footing and not feel so… lost at sea, struggling to stay afloat and running the risk of being pulled under.
Finally he pushed his fingers into TJ’s scruff and in that familiar sensation he felt the world settle around him.
TJ let out a happy sound low in his throat when fingers curled in his scruff and his tail thumped against the bed. He was sure that he’d get kicked out or at least chastised for being on the bed but he was comfortable with one of his humans and he didn’t want to move. They could try and make him but he wouldn’t. He’d just growl at them until they went away. Trent needed his protection; he hadn’t been around when Trent had been hurt, he wasn’t about to leave him now until he absolutely had to.
He pushed himself up a little higher so that Trent didn’t have to reach down so far, chin resting against Trent’s thigh as his tail gently wagged on the bed. For the first time since Saturday morning, he felt relaxed.
His ears pricked up though, and then pressed flat against his head, when he heard the sound of footsteps and a low growl started in the back of his throat, protective and a warning to whoever it was that was coming closer. He didn’t move, but his tail went deadly still, whole body tense as if he were getting ready to spring into action should he need to, that snarl on the edges of his mouth, teeth half bared.
“Relax,” Annabelle’s voice said almost warily as she approached. God, Trent looked awful. Her lips turned down in the corner a fraction before she just smiled at him. She came up to stand beside the bed, carefully pushing her fingers into Trent’s hair, mindful of the growling wolf on the bed but knowing that if he was here, he wouldn’t hurt her. She was no threat. “Hey handsome,” she murmured softly, thumb brushing his unbruised cheekbone before her touch returned to smoothing over and through his hair.
Trent snorted quietly. “Why do I get the distinct feelin’ you’re just bein’ generous?” He turned his head into the touch before hissing in quietly when her fingers got a little too close to where his skull had connected with the wall.
His hands clutched at the sheets as Trent all but willed his stomach back down from his throat to the place it should be, he was stubbornly not throwing up in front of two of his friends. Not now and not ever if it could be avoided.
“Give me a sec,” he finally managed.
“Now now,” Anna chastised, “I’m always honest, you know that.” She frowned when he hissed and his fingers clenched where they were. One of those hands was still buried in the TJ’s fur and the wolf gave a warning growl at Anna because it was clearly her fault that Trent was in distress. She did pull her hand back, to be fair to her, the instant she saw him hiss his breath inwards, looking distressed that she might have caused him pain.
She was annoyed - in some respects - that TJ was there (at least, she assumed it was TJ, since she didn’t think it was Matt) because she wanted to talk to Trent about what had happened, about what Ashton had done. Why he had done it. To find out how Trent was feeling aside from the physical injuries.
“You need a bucket?” she asked, eyeing the cardboard trays that were piled up beside Trent’s bed presumably for the reason of him throwing up. “Hang on-” she moved around the other side of the bed and grabbed a tray for him, holding it out so he could position it wherever it needed to be, her fingers smoothing over his hair again but stay away from the back of his head. “It’s okay.”
Well this was humiliating, especially as for all his stubbornness Trent was unable to fight his body’s compulsion to vomit and he did so, right into the cardboard tray Anna placed beneath him. Fuck, this was ridiculous. Trent really hated anyone seeing him hurt and now he’d gone and thrown up in front of them both, how much worse could it get?
By the time he was finished his entire body was shaking and Trent could have sworn he felt the sting of tears pressing against the corner of his eyes, but that he refuse to do and he just slumped back into the bed, eyes pressed shut and shaking hand passing over his mouth.
“S’not,” he grumbled. “Humiliating.”
Anna let out a soft sigh, glancing at TJ who whined in sympathy and then covered his nose and eyes with his paw to show his understanding of Trent’s plight, almost like he was giving his friend a moment of privacy, ears twitching and tail still. He was feeling a little sleepy, settled as he was. But he couldn’t go to sleep until he was sure that no more visitors would be coming in.
“It’s not,” Anna reassured, holding the tray for a couple of seconds before she saw a lidded bin. She just sort of… dropped the tray into it, taking her foot off the pedal to close the lid with a quiet ‘flump’-ing sound. Returning to the bed, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Trent’s forehead, brushing her thumb underneath his eyes pre-emptively even though the tears she could see hadn’t yet fallen.
She hummed under her breath, “Considering what happened,” she murmured, indicating that she knew exactly what had gone down, “You’re lucky to even be okay to throw up.”
Trent’s brow knitted together for a whole different reason when Anna’s voice took on that tone and she spoke in such a way that flagged to him that she knew what had gone down and how it had gone down. He eased the grip he had on TJ and smoothed his fingers over the fur again before he just willed himself to focus on Anna even as her face blurred before him and he saw duplicate.
“Hard head,” he managed with a smirk.
It was easier to joke about it than really think about what had happened and how utterly powerless he’d felt when Ashton’s hands had closed around his neck and he couldn’t breathe, his feet kicking at the air and his vision darkening.
Trent recalled the event in flashing images, sharp and electric, ripping through his subconscious when he least expected them to.
Anna frowned as she saw the edges of panic start at the edge of Trent’s eyes and she instinctively reached out to him, her fingers cool against his cheek, turning his head a little as she sat on the edge of the bed, willing him to look at her. The bruising around his neck in the shape of hands was purple and vivid and raw and it made that anger burn in Anna’s chest again, that fire of fury that had been ignited and led to her banning Ashton from seeing either of them. He’d looked so sad, though, and she half wondered if she hadn’t been rash in what she’d said. Maybe she should go back to him.
Or not, though. Because Trent- Trent wasn’t okay. And that was Ashton’s fault. TJ whined, licking the underside of Trent’s wrist at the sound of his friend’s elevated heartbeat.
“Hey- hey look at me,” she ordered, voice soft yet commanding, “You’re safe here. It’s alright- you’re safe. You’re with me.”
Trent panted past the sudden clenching of his chest that pretty much felt like there was a weight there pressing down and making it really hard to breathe. Panic, was this what it felt like? Trent didn’t want to ever feel it again, not if he could help it. He hated it. Of course it wasn’t until he felt Anna’s hands on his face and heard the commanding tone in her voice that he finally broke out of the suffocating panic which had seemed set to drag him under.
“Safe,” he repeated. “Right, of course.”
He gave a nod and affected a small smile, trying to desperately cover up everything he’d literally just been feeling. Should have known better really than to go towards the gold, even if he’d had no interest in it, that was like getting between an addict and their next shot.
Trent felt weak and he hated that feeling, especially as he laid in this bed and had people look at him with all the concern in the world. He didn’t want people to look at him that way, he didn’t want to need that concern, especially when he was Trent Malcolm Kane, he was supposed to bounce back.
“I won’t let it happen again,” Annabelle promised softly, both hands on Trent’s face to keep his attention on her and not on what had happened, on what was going through his mind. “It’s okay- hold on.” She released him for one moment to just pull the curtain around them, giving the trio some privacy, giving Trent some privacy because she knew that he wasn’t comfortable and she wanted to help in whatever way she could.
She returned her touch to his face just as TJ licked the underside of Trent’s wrist reassuringly, a half grunt of agreement with Anna’s words; he wouldn’t let anyone hurt Trent again either. They’d have to get through him. He didn’t think Anna’s words were of much use, since she was thin and looked like she might break if he bit her and she smelt like spring and moss. But she seemed nice and TJ didn’t feel threatened by her.
“I- I’m- I promise you it won’t happen again. He won’t lay a hand on you again.” She kissed his forehead, returned to her position on the bed. “I wish I could do something more for you,” she murmured, lips against his skin.
Privacy was appreciated, especially as Trent was starting to feel like some sort of spectacle, something for people to gawk at and he hated that feeling, especially when he was not accustomed to appearing weak in front of others. Normally he had his humour, but that seemed to have fled him. “S’okay,” he reassured Anna even as his hand came up to lightly rub at TJ’s scruff. “I’m a big boy after all. Should be able to take care of myself.”
He focused on breathing in and then letting it out nice and slowly as it helped control the nausea and the panic which accompanied it.
“An’ I’m alive,” he offered with a small smirk. “Also? Awake. More than what I’ve been lately.”
Anna looked at him as if she wasn’t at all amused by his words. Her fingers just brushed over his forehead and through his fringe. “I know, but that doesn’t make it any better,” she pointed out softly. TJ huffed out a breath in agreement, pressing his hand up into the touch from Trent, inherently relieved by it. His tail was softly thumping against the bottom of the bed, head quite comfortably pillowed on Trent’s thigh.
She reached out and curled her fingers above Trent’s in TJ’s fur before she let go, not wanting to tread on toes, as it were, not wanting to get bitten by a grumpy wolf.
“I’m not saying that you can’t look after yourself, I’m just saying that it won’t happen again. I can’t do much to protect you but I can promise you that.”
Trent could tell Anna was not amused not one little bit and he just made an agreeing sound in the back of his throat as talking took way too much effort and sometimes all you had to do was make the right noise or so Trent had found.
“Gotta be smarter,” he affirmed quietly. “Think ‘fore I act or whatever it is that people keep tellin’ me.”
He squeezed Anna’s wrist. “M’gonna be okay, Anna.”
“Or not be left alone with him for too long,” she added darkly, that ever present anger an undercurrent. It had her skin glowing slightly pink. Her eyes shifted down to where Trent’s hand was curled around her wrist and she just nodded, ducking her head to press a kiss to his fingers. “I know- It just- don’t scare me like that again.”
TJ huffed again in agreement, wriggling slightly on the bed. If he’d been on the floor, it was pretty obvious that he’d be rolling onto his back and waiting for someone to rub his belly. As it was, he was on a bed and he couldn’t, but the wolf wanted a little more attention than he was getting and huffed again at Trent, tongue licking the inside of his wrist again.
“And yeah… maybe time to re-evaluate that philosophy of yours, mm?”
Trent had he been his normally sharp self would have picked up on the thread of anger in Anna’s voice and the way in which her skin glowed, but as it was he was still too lost at sea and as such the finer details passed him by. “Not intending on it,” he murmured with a smirk or as much of one as he could manage.
He felt TJ’s demand for a bit more attention and lifted his hand, pushing his fingers into the wolf’s scruff and scratching there with his blunt nails, the attention was slow and reminiscent of how difficult Trent was finding it to stay afloat.
“I dunno,” he shared as he looked up at Anna, frowning as her face swam in front of him. “Done me well until now.”
“Until now. Maybe just be a bit more selective with whom you practise that philosophy?” She suggested, figuring it was a little better than maybe just telling him to change everything. As that wouldn’t work and he wouldn’t be Trent if he did. And she loved him just as he was, even if his desire to put himself in danger for not thinking things through frustrated her.
Not that she was much better and not like she could talk. After all, she was sort of part of a pack and sort of part of something else and she hadn’t much thought through the potential consequences.
“I just- I’m so glad you’re alright,” she breathed, her voice finally shaking with tears she thought she’d run out of. She ran her fingers across his forehead again. “Sleep, Trent,” she murmured, bending to kiss his forehead again. As she did, a teardrop fell and landed against his skin. “It’s okay. I’ll stay with you for as long as I can.”
TJ’s eyes were already closed, he was half-way asleep anyway, so he just pushed up into Trent’s hand again and settled where he was, curled over one leg and up Trent’s thigh, relaxed and warm. If he was a cat, he would have been purring.
Trent had he been able would have murmured something reassuring as he did as a matter of course but as it was the pull of unconsciousness was on him, its claws latched deeply into what remained of his conscious mind and it didn’t take long for him to slip under. This time it was a sleep of his own rather than a sleep induced by having his skull knocked against a stone wall.
He’d heal, it would just take time.