InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You're 1-liners are not worthy"

Erik (i_haunt) wrote in we_coexist,
@ 2015-01-22 19:24:00

Entry tags:

arya stark, erik, hannibal lecter, zz:status complete

Delicacy (Hannibal, Arya)
The girl he left in his kitchen was in pain. She suffered. She waited for him. The girl left in his kitchen was in pain. He was responsible for her. Erik drew his scattering thoughts back to Arie again and again. Above it all, she was a singular thread, iron and brutal and ugly, but nothing like the horrors left in the vacuum of Christine's absence.

His servants had relocated to basement storage the wheelchair that Hannibal once sent to his manor. On his way down to the storage room, Erik remembered to grab the phone. The doctor's number was still on speed dial - a courtesy and convenience built in for his servants (and his wife, his wife) when Erik was too ill to dial the number himself. When Hannibal's voice answered, Erik opened his mouth and said something - less than a handful of words. As soon as he dropped the handset on the last bit of furniture he passed, he forgot whatever it was he'd said. The door to the basement stairs closed behind him.

There were a few minutes lost to his memory. He could remember only the presence of old friends - the hand of rage on his shoulder, the breath of helplessness against the back of his neck, the claws of pain raking his chest. What had drawn him back? He looked at the handles of the wheelchair in both blood-speckled hands, knuckles stinging, then checked behind him. The basement door was destroyed, and the blood must have been his own.

A sound came to him, the siren bell, ringing. He walked with the wheelchair (the girl is hurting) to the door of his manor, straightening last night's rumpled shirt with one flattened hand. Hannibal. Yes, of course. Erik pressed the button that would allow the doctor entrance through the otherwise-inpenetrable security around his manor, then turned back toward the kitchen. Arie was waiting. She needed him.

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i_consume
2015-01-24 10:45 pm UTC (link)

He had no idea about a place with dinosaurs, but Hannibal suspected that by 'somewhere that was destroyed', Arie might mean the strange world that many from the City had been stolen too. From which many had visited. He didn't dig into her travels, guessing that she didn't want to talk about that right now.

"It seems to me that much of it will be new for you. The automobiles are just the beginning." He left it at that.

They could all have taken a swim through the girl's unsurety. He would not give it any heed, though. She had given her permission and he would treat her to his fullest extent. Her fear, though. Arie could use a sword, and she was afraid that she would never be able to again. This, this intrigued him.

Before he would tell her one way or the other, he needed to see a few things. "Stand." Hannibal instructed. "It's going to be more than uncomfortable to do as I ask now, but it's the only way to give you the truth of it. Stand, raise your arms to your sides, to your front, and then over your head. Tell me not of whatever pain rises in your trunk, just what you feel in your shoulders, elbows, and wrists."

He held his hands out, showing her his palms. "Then you'll flex your hands so, and tell me what you feel there, and in your fingers." A movement was produced that she could mimic.

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i_haunt
2015-01-25 11:11 pm UTC (link)

Erik frowned at the girl's explanation of her travels. If he was understanding her, she'd been pulled from more than one reality - unlike Erik himself. It must be frightening, especially for one so young as this. But again, she showed no fear at all; if anything, she seemed angry enough to be annoyed by the reality shifting. This Arie was something special. He could see that clearly, even now. Even... now.

When Hannibal suggested Arie stand, Erik clamped his teeth down over his objection. Like hell she will, his eyes seemed to say as they flashed over at Hannibal. He moved forward quickly, planting himself beside Arie.

"I worked hard on that splint," he gritted through his teeth. "You will not destroy that work by putting weight on it. Slide off." He opened his hands at her waist level. "I will catch you."

And everything Hannibal had asked her to do, she could do without putting her weight on that broken leg. His irritation with Hannibal for even suggesting it - and this on the heels of demanding her obedience and Erik vouching for him - was difficult to batten down. But that was what he did. Because Arie needed him to. Because Arie needed to trust Hannibal.

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fear_cuts
2015-01-26 12:43 am UTC (link)

"I can do it," she snapped at Erik, but as she slid off something did hurt and so she allowed him to help her. "I could," she muttered mutinously despite allowing him to assist her. She couldn't show weakness. She was already showing enough just by being here.

She did as Hannibal had directed, biting her lip to keep from crying out as she lifted her arms. Her left was almost fine, though it hurt. Her right, though--she fought back a whimper when she tried to raise it more than shoulder-height. "This is stupid," she said, lowering her arms and holding them out, palms up. She flexed her fingers and wiggled them for good measure.

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i_consume
2015-01-26 12:52 am UTC (link)

Hannibal caught Erik's reaction, and the flash of his eyes. Not one to back down on anything, his face kept calm. "If the splint is made correctly, there should be no issue with her putting weight on it. It should not shift or come undone with her weight. A proper splint is constructed to support."

Erik was his friend, but not even a friend was allowed to question Hannibal's medical abilities, nor his decisions in such matters. He had told Arie to do what he'd told her so that he could test certain aspects of her pain.

The doctor watched the girl as she moved, cataloging every twinge and reflexive flinch she made. He was not quite happy with what he saw, though he was not disheartened by her state of being.

"Contrary to that claim, this is not stupid. I have just assessed the level of your bodily damage. Or most of it." He eyed Erik again. He would have gotten more if she'd been made to stand on her own. More still, if she would allow him to take her to the hospital. He'd have to bring a portable x-ray with him the next time he visited. If her bones healed wrong, she would lose more than just mobility.

"You've either dislocated your shoulder, or torn the rotator cuff in your right arm. Were I you, I would hope for the former, as it's quite a simple fix. The latter will take much time, physical therapy, and perhaps even surgery." Hannibal stepped forward, resting a hand above the girl's shoulder. "May I?"

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i_haunt
2015-01-26 01:11 am UTC (link)

With her sullen I can do it, Arie showed that she'd seen through Erik's attempt to preserve her dignity while he shielded her from undo pain. But fortunately, she wasn't too proud as to allow him to hold her weight while she did what Hannibal described.

Erik didn't say another word while Arie worked through her movements, or as Hannibal tended his patient. His lips thinned when the doctor gave Erik that particular look. Now was not the time to explain that the splint was designed to prevent further damage while Erik moved Arie to a bed -- where she was supposed to have stayed -- and nothing more. But there was no way to tell him that without interrupting the badly needed diagnosis. Erik would not interrupt a maestro at his place before his orchestra, and so he waited in silence, keeping his hands firmly on Arya's waist.

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fear_cuts
2015-01-26 02:31 am UTC (link)

"I've--what?" Again, Hannibal used words that Arya didn't understand. Or at the least, he used them in ways and combinations that made no sense to her. She understood that he'd figured out what was wrong with her, or at least he thought that he had. For a moment, she felt relief that it was her right arm. She'd never been very good with that arm. She used Needle with her left.

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i_consume
2015-01-26 02:43 am UTC (link)

Hannibal was glad that Erik didn't speak up at the moment. They could talk about splints later. Right now was for Arie, the mysterious little girl who acted older than her age, tried to hide her pain and fear, and could use a sword. She intrigued the doctor a good deal. He wished to speak to her alone, when Erik was not present. There were some things that the older man might not take kindly to.

There was no use explaining again, even in layman's terms the girl wouldn't know what had happened to her. Action was the only option, quick, decisive. If he told her about what he was going to do, she would tense up and the task would be more difficult to complete. It was better that she not know what was coming. He placed his left hand with its extra finger on Arie's right shoulder. With is right, he grasped her above the elbow. Erik might know what he intended to do, but Hannibal did not give the other man room to but in.

"This is going to hurt." He told her, using the most simple terms possible, wanting to give her a warning but not the time to contemplate it. He did not wait a single heartbeat to do what he needed to. Bracing Arie with his left hand, he pulled and twisted with his right, bringing the arm forward first, then with a second twist, to the side. He could feel the pop when it reset itself into the socket. He did not let go of Arie, lest she collapse with the pain of it.

She might be mad at him for that, but hopefully she would also realize that the pain was fading fast, and she would be fully mobile again. The soreness would only linger for a day or so, and they could focus on other things.

"

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