Raven loves waffles more than life itself (ofevilsfire) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-02-05 19:21:00 |
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Raven officially did not like hospitals. Lots of emotions, mostly high and they gave her a migraine. But with Ed there (a voice always reminding her because she wasn’t strong enough even if it was because of his dreams), she’d been there a lot in the past five days. Well. After getting read the riot act by Zatanna because she had left when she shouldn’t have since she had nearly died from emotions thanks to her empathy. Not that her barriers were doing much good here, not that she cared. They were up enough that she wasn’t in danger, that was all that mattered.
Most of the time in the hospital was a blur. If she showed up and someone else was there? She stuck to the shadows because she didn’t know how to handle people normally, let alone…. Sometimes Riza seemed to notice her and would get her out, usually with prompts of tea, but even then she felt uncomfortable. People said that people in comas could hear you if you spoke to them, but Raven didn’t talk. Sometimes she would read quotes if she felt exceptionally out of place, but otherwise…
She also made sure to get his notes and assignments from the classes he had… which a lot more difficult on a university level than high school but whatever. By then it was… Wednesday? Azar, how was it already Wednesday? She hadn’t paid much attention to her phone or the network. It was simply go to her classes and then head to the hospital.
Making her way through the now far too familiar halls, she was first relieved to notice that she wouldn’t have to be dealing with people but that was quickly replaced as she got to the door and just stood rooted in her spot, eyes wide.
“You’re awake.” Way to state the obvious, Raven.
Ed was a little more awake than he had been with the blur of earlier visitors now but he still felt like hell. Probably looked it too. It wasn’t like he’d combed his hair in days. One arm was still attached to an I.V., he couldn’t eat and lets be honest-For Edward that was one of the more frustrating parts That, and they wouldn’t let him do anything. He was being handled with kid gloves. If he could move more he’d be ripping out that stupid I.V. and getting out. He yawned, well-okay maybe not yet.
All he could do really was rest there. At least they let him push the button to make the bed move without freaking out. “Lotsa people been sayin that today. How long was I out?” To Ed it had felt like eternity, but he’d lost any real sense of time. He was wiped out and it showed. “Heh, I just woke up and I’m tired. The hell is this?” He grumbled as he pushed himself up with his I.V. attached arm and flinched.
The words weren’t really registering for Raven at the moment. She just sort of… stood there for a moment before just walking forward and hugging him, face pressed against his shoulder. There were certain truths when it came to dealing with Raven. She was blunt and usually didn’t have much to say. She carried too much guilt. And she really did not like physical contact.
She was making an exception. Because there was too much going on and she was just relieved because even when logically knowing that something would come through, she’d been terrified. People kept leaving.
Right. That was awkward. Stepping back, she absently rubbed her arm.
“Five days. And hospitals apparently make you tired. I can try healing you again.” Maybe this time it would work since whatever it was that had kept him locked in a coma would let her heal him this time.
He could remember barely a few times when Raven had ever touched him, and those had been out of necessity. He didn’t quite know how to react when she huggd him except to close his eyes for a moment and not move. Ed wasn’t exactly a touchy feely sort either on a typical basis, but in this case he wasn’t fighting it. People were apparently shocked or scared, Al had barely left the room from what he was told. Apparently he’d been made to today though, the only ones there were Raven and himself, and honestly that was fine for him.
Ed was going to attempt to return her hug but found himself incapable of moving his automail. “Something’s wrong.” He could barely move the fingers of his own accord. He hadn’t specified what, but he had never not been able to move that arm, it was a startling thing. He hadn’t even heard her ask about the healing. The words went right over him as he fidgeted with the automail, the only thing he could do was move it with his fleshy hand.
Shocked or scared would be an understatement. There had been a lot of going into Nevermore to try and sort through emotions when she wasn’t at the hospital or hiding in shadows or school the past few days. Disappearing to try and make sense of things because she kept her emotions so guarded for the safety of others. So hugging just… happened.
But then Ed was saying something was wrong and Raven’s eyes narrowed critically as she observed him trying to move his automail. If it were a dream related issue and he needed to dream it’s conclusion or solution, there wouldn’t be much she could do. A temporary salve, if that. If it wasn’t, there was a better chance of her being able to heal the arm. Either way, she had her answer on whether or not she should try to heal him.
Stepping closer to the bed again, the teen placed one hand on his shoulder where flesh and automail met, the other on his arm, closed her eyes and focused, soul self forming and working to fix the damage to whatever extent she would be able to. Something which took more effort and energy than it should on a normal day, but that was because she still was recovering from the fact she nearly died a week before and had stopped breathing at times. Plus the guilt and self loathing that had kept her from healing faster, which were on a level she hadn’t realised or acknowledged.
The good thing of having her hand on Ed’s shoulder and arm was that when she finished, despite feeling weakened and swaying, she at least had something to hold onto as she regained her balance.
“See if that helped.” Azar she hoped so. Raven already felt guilty enough for being unable to heal him when she’d found him even while knowing that her magic was being blocked because it was tied to his dreams.
While she touched him he could feel her sway. It wasn’t that hard, and he frowned. She wasn’t healing or something. Something wasn’t right. He wasn’t quite sure what it was but he didn’t like that feeling of her being unsteady. He chewed at his lip a she seemed to be able to remove the last of the red water from his system. Of course it wasn’t just water, it was dead people and several other ingredients he didn’t really want to remember-but he was going to call it that for the sake of his sanity. It was unnerving to think of all the dead people in his bloodstream.
It gave him at least half movement back for the time being, he was able to move-albeit slowly. It was just frustrating for someone so use to being able to move said limbs with little to no effort at all to suddenly be so restricted. He made a fist, but it was a weak one at first. “Guess that happens when you’re out for a few days.” He gave her a strained smile as he looked her over again a little more calculatingly.
“Why haven’t you been healing?”
Taking in people’s pain or injuries was a strain but she was able to push past it. She had no idea what she had removed from Ed, but it felt… she wasn’t sure and maybe she didn’t want to know. Raven had enough issues on her own. Besides, what mattered was helping and healing Ed, specifics on what it was in his system she’d removed? Not as important.
Watching as Ed tested his mobility (slow but something), Raven felt herself stabilize and she removed her hands and once again wrapped her arm around herself. Even if she was comfortable around Ed, it was a familiar pose when she wasn’t pushing against people or away. She wasn’t at ease after everything but it wasn’t like she was hiding anything either.
“Yeah…”
Or he could notice that she wasn’t healing. Well, no. That wasn’t exactly accurate.
“It’s just taking longer than usual. Reconstructing barriers. I guess I was more bad off than I thought.” It was her theory at any rate. She’d been in a healing coma for nearly two days and that had just healed the damage to her heart and lungs. Empathy barriers were taking longer to reconstruct but given they’d been shattered it made sense.
Mostly.
There was a subconscious element to it that Raven hadn’t exactly named. She’d gone to Nevermore but hadn’t gotten answers there either.
The frown on his face darkened as he slid over a bit in the bed. “Sit.” He knew she didn’t like being touched, but the hell if he was going to let her stand there and wobble until she fell over in a mess of cape or something. He was a little more awake with the healing at last, far less groggy than he had been a few moments ago.
Ed looked at all the wires and things attached to his arm and cables to his chest. “I feel like some kind of lab rat.” He made a face as he tugged on the i.v. drip a bit. He’d been out four or five days or something and hadn’t had a thing to eat-but he wasn’t hungry. Science really could be a weird thing sometimes.
Well she wasn’t going to protest or anything, and it wasn’t like either of them took up all that much room so both sitting on the bed wouldn’t be cramped or anything like that. Instead she just nodded and sat down, pulling her knees to her chest.
“They have to keep you hydrated and nutritions. Especially if you’re unconscious.” There were a bunch of reasons for the wires, even if Raven didn’t study medicine so couldn’t tell one from the other. She just knew the general purpose.
“I know the logic behind it but still.” He’d initially been afraid to come to hospitals due to his arm and leg, but none of the doctors seemed to care. There were more pressing matters like the fact they couldn’t wake him up no matter what was tried. Ed made a face as he shifted and long unbraided hair got in his face. He had to use the arm attached to the I.V. to move it, and it made him wince.
As Raven sat with him, he smiled a little at her. “You’re not going to break me if you lay down you know.” She didn’t have to sit so awkwardly. Besides that, Ed really couldn’t find the energy to sit up anymore, he let himself lay back in the mess of pillows Neal had made sure he had.
“...Oh. Right.” Rhetorical questions, those were a thing. Usually ones Raven was familiar with. Okay, so maybe she was more tired than she realised. Just how she had yet to figure out why she was healing slower than usual or that it could mean more than just the extent of damage that had been done from the fog.
Slight eye roll in response, but she did crack a slight smile at the comment. Even if sitting awkwardly was a specialty. Or just being awkward in general. But it was the way the two of them were so Raven just shifted so that she was laying down as well, blinking at the brightness of the hospital light. “Someone went crazy with pillows.” Which wasn’t a bad thing. Hospital pillows were flat and annoying.
“I was pretty sure I was going to wake up somebodies science experiment. Ironic way to go.” Ed commented as he let his eyes close for a moment against the hot overhead lights. “How do they expect anyone to rest like this awake?” Ed asked with a grumpy scowl as his eyes blinked open again. He could feel that light even under his lids it was so bright.
“Think between Al and Neal there probably isn’t any pillows left on this floor.” He smirked, he probably should have felt bad but it made lying there a bit easier. He let the arm with the I.V attachment hang down by her side, it hurt keeping it all bent up.
“Mm. Well if they tried that here, I wouldn’t let them.” Not like any of Ed’s friends or family would have. But Raven could be…. persuasive. And determined when it came to protecting those she cared about. Ed was one of her people. Which meant that if doctors or scientists tried anything, they’d have a very pissed off half-demon to contend with. “No idea. Something in the saline is my guess.”
She also wasn’t surprised that there would be pillow thieving with Al and Neal involved.
“Now I’m picturing some sort of tag team effort of sneaking into rooms with bandanas over their faces.”
Not really. But it was an amusing image.
“I know. I feel safe around you.” Who knew if it was the drugs or not. “Don’t have to worry as much.” But he was able to say things that would have normally remained unsaid between them for various reasons. His cheek rested on the pillow near by.”Maybe I can get some of this saline to go.” He mused as he felt the medicine begin to work again, they were making sure he had a scheduled dose of the drugs to keep any discomfort at bay. “Doggie bag I.V.” He grinned cheekily as he snuggled a little closer to Raven. “It doesn’t work at all.” His eyes were half closed though, so obviously it was.
“Al would be a bad bandit. He’d just take everything cute.” He said with a yawn as he rested his cheek on her shoulder.
“You’re pretty when you smile you know..Hell you’re pretty when you don’t.”
“Good. I feel the same.” Because why else would she have ended up at Ed’s after dealing with her demons when she should have remained lost in the fog. She didn’t question it, it had simply been a matter of fact. But on some level, her feeling safe around Ed would explain why she’d head that way when she’d been dying. Turning her head to look at Ed, Raven just quirked a brow, “I doubt it. But it would be nice.”
Sleep in general would be nice. Without repeats. Or the worst ones that seemed to feed on who she was in the dreams, Trigon, but replace the team with her friends here.
“Or he’d use it to his advantage. Get away with what he went for and more because he disarmed everyone by being adorable at them…. God, him and Star would be a terrible team up. No one would know what hit them.”
Or… Ed could say that she was pretty when she smiled, which caused Raven to flush to the point that it came through the glamour. She… really had no idea how to respond to that beyond being flustered.
Saline courage was an amazing thing. He just wished he wasn’t so damn tired because of it to stay up with her a little more. He liked hearing her talk, it wasn’t something she did a lot of but it brought him a sense of comfort actually being able to connect voices with people. He was pretty sure he could hear what they were saying while he was out-but it also might have been a hallucination. He’d had a lot of those when he was under. Most he didn’t really remember, they were all jumbled and medicine induced.
Ed didn’t interrupt, he just listened to the sound of her voice contently. He didn’t know Star but he’d heard the name mentioned a lot of the time. Ed liked the weird stories of the Titans, it was almost as weird as the ones he had-just no costumes
He gave her hand a squeeze, though it was a bit of a pathetic one considering just how drugged out he was. He took the silenced opportunity to awkwardly kiss her.
Weird stories of the Titans were always amusing. True she missed her team, and most of the dreams she wouldn’t wish on them just because they were painful. But not all of them. Not the random team doing things together. Even if she kept to herself or quiet, they were still her friends.
Then Ed kissed her and she just blinked before shyly returning it. It was unexpected, though not nearly as unexpected as it might have been a few months before. And there wouldn’t be a need to give a random definition of a word like she did at Peter because she didn’t know how to do awkward or emotions.
“....so we should probably stop nearly dying.”
But it was also Raven, so of course it would be a random comment. It was also true, they needed to stop nearly dying. Even if it put some things into light that otherwise would probably remain under the umbrella of confusing.
It was an odd sensation, not bad. Just different. Kinda warm and he wouldn’t mind doing it again, there was a slight tingly sensation-but he wasn’t sure if it was the I.V. or the kiss, but he was going to say it was both. She didn’t jerk away from him or push him off-all good things. It brought a sense of calm to his otherwise chaotic mindplace that might not have been there before.
“If I don’t remember that later..remind me.” He was genuinely concerned when the moment passed, he didn’t want to forget. He hoped the drugs wouldn’t make him. But then she made that comment and he laughed genuinely for the first time in a long while that he could actually remember. “Probably advised yeah.” He nudged her back down a bit with his good arm-well, better arm? flesh arm? He wasn’t sure which the better arm was anymore if he was honest. Either way he was too damn tired to figure it out. Where the flesh connected with the metal there were horrific scars that looked like his arm had been torn off, which it basically had. Normally he wore so many bits of clothing that things like that didn’t show though. Damn revealing hospital gowns.
Ed found his mind going a little foggy as he rested on his mountain of pillows.
Definitely odd, but not bad. Especially in the fact that this time she returned the kiss and hadn’t just completely shut down. So at least things on that front were no longer confusing. Emotions were still stupid and confusing but not as badly, so she was good with that.
“Okay.” It wasn’t like Raven really knew how to reply, but given he’d been in a coma for five days, saline drips and the like, she could see why he’d wonder if it were real. Hell, part of Raven worried it was a trick of Trigon’s to let her think she might have something deemed normal only to pull it away and tell her to join him if she wanted to have that normal life.
But then, Ed laughed at the nearly dying comment, which was something she hadn’t heard in awhile. So she would take it as it wasn’t even a planned thing. But really, they both had nearly died in the same week, they needed to not do that anymore. It was too much stress. She let herself be pushed back down so that they were both lying down again, staring at the ceiling as she worked on processing everything that had just happened.