The Aftermath

[scribblerrigby]

(a.k.a. Moonlight Rehearsal II: EVERYONE FREAKS OUT,
a.k.a. Not Exactly Trained to Fix a Fish-Person)


The brief drive to Laurie's apartment had been tense, but uneventful. Phil had cradled Hailey in the back seat of Laurie's car, talking softly and desperately to her the whole time, and they had wrapped old blankets and curtains around Hailey's legs to stem the flow of blood. When they arrived at the apartment, Laurie ran to her closet and dusted off an old, ratty cot she had kept for emergencies - though the emergencies she had visualized it for had more to do with cripplingly inebriated party-goers, and less to do with life-threatening situations. She unfolded it and set it in the middle of the floor.

Cujo, her German Shepherd puppy, had been fast asleep in his little kennel; when the motley group burst back in, he began yipping, desperate to be involved in the action and meet these new playmates. Laurie tossed him a treat, then grabbed handfuls of towels, threw them on the cot, and together with Phil, carried Hailey and set her down on top of them.

"Hey, Phil. I'm going to call someone. Keep her awake, and start cleaning." She tossed some soap and wet towels his way for emphasis. His glare wasn't helpful. "It's fine, he knows about Bridgeport's non-human people. I think he can help."

She whipped out her cell phone and dialed frantically as Cujo whined in the other room.

The voice that eventually picked up on the other end was groggy and petulant. "Dammit, Laurie, do you have any idea what TIME it is?"

"I do. Seven in the morning. You're still good."

"No, m'not..." She heard some blankets rustling, and tiny, muffled, annoyed squeaks. Probably the cats, unceremoniously kicked out of their morning napping spot. The man on the other line sighed heavily. "Okay, what's up?"

"So, um..." Laurie didn't know exactly how to begin. "You're learning the doctor stuff, right? How do you stop..uhhh...extremely profusive bleeding? On someone else?"

A pause.

"...the hell did you do, Laurie!?"

"I don't even know! It's a long story, but there's a teenage girl and most of her legs are torn up and she's bleeding all over and I ended up putting her on a cot with a lot of towels in the main room, and I don't know what to do-"

The voice exploded, cutting her off. "Holy sh!t. I'm not a doctor YET, Laurie! And even if I was, I'm not exactly experienced in fixing people THROUGH THE PHONE. Ask Yuichi's mom, or something!"

"I don't know her that well! I don't have her number! And this just looks like I need to patch her back up. I don't think anything major's been damaged. I don't LIKE blood. I was hoping you'd help me and walk me through something. Somehow?"

"I DON'T KNOW THINGS YET, Laurie! And why did you call me and not..say...THE HOSPITAL?!"

"Well, she's...she's not quite human. And we're all kind of scared, and none of us knows anything..."

There was a long pause and a heavy sigh - or maybe a yawn - and then the line spoke again.

"Laurie, is it too much to ask why a not-quite-human is bleeding to death on a cot in your living room?"

"Just go with it, Fin. She looks human now, if that helps. Though the kid she was with said that it might be hard for her to stay in that form."

"Pfff- Of course it'll be hard for her to stay in one form. Jesus. Know what her other form is, by any chance? ...I'd come over, if I could. I'd jack Ikiko's supplies and stitch her up myself. But you know...the sun thing. And...the bleeding to death thing."

There was a pause again, the silence only broken by irritated meowing on his end, and Cujo's plaintive whines on hers. Finally, Fin grumbled. "Get her to the hospital, Laurie. Unless she somehow heals magically or some crazy Bridgeport crap like that... I'll be your Web MD in the meantime. Seriously, though, it will probably work better if people that knew what they were doing fixed her up, instead of you doing this Civil War sh!t in your living room."

"Thanks for your HELP, Fin," she snapped, staring with open panic at the girl on the cot. Her whole apartment was beginning to smell like blood, and it was making her uncomfortable.

He sighed. "You're the queen of guilt-tripping, Laurie. How is she doing, right now?"

"She's barely awake, but the wounds don't look like they're tearing up any vitals or anything. Just lost a lot of blood."

There was a scuffle on the other end - it sounded like he'd set the phone down hastily - and a brief conversation in the background. Another burst of scratchy noise, and the voice was back.

"Okay. Jeff's going to go over and ask Yuichi if he could borrow his mom's stuff. And apparently you owe him big, because Ikiko scares him. But she has some anesthetic, hypodermic needles, and stuff to stitch your person up with."

"THANK YOU SO MUCH, Fin!"

"Don't do it again."

__________________________________

She continued talking on the phone as she scooped up various towels around her place.

"There's mold in her wounds. YES, mold. No, I'm not sure how that can happen. Yes, we're cleaning it. Stop cleaning it? I guess that makes sense."

She ran, checked under her sink, and grabbed the box of disposable gloves. She tossed a pair to Phil, and pulled on her own, cradling her cell phone between her cheek and her shoulder.

"Keep talking to her, Phil. -Yeah? From her legs, mostly. Elevate them? ...alright. Makes sense."

She pulled a couple pillows off of the couch and lifted Hailey's legs onto them, continuing to speak on the phone, and to Phil.

"We have to put direct pressure to the wounds to stop her bleeding before we do anything else. For how long? What does 'long enough' even mean? Okay. I'll call you back when it stops."

She hung up, grabbed two clean cloths, threw one to Phil and used her own to press hard on one of Hailey's bleeding legs.

"Phil, Hailey. I don't even know how this happened and I am SO SO sorry. But some sort of help is coming, I think...but I think we're going to have to get her to the hospital, eventually. We are in WAY over our heads here! And...what is she, really, if you don't mind me asking? What is the WORST THING that could possibly happen?"

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey gasped and grabed the blankets and shot forward" SHIITT!!!!" she screamed in pain at them pushing down on her wounds and she panted and fell back and her arms fell to her sides and where very limp.

Breathing slowed dangerously and she groaned and she sliped into sleep for a few seconds before she was forced awake again by pain shooting though her legs and she screamed and thrashed her legs in pain and she form pulsated slightly and she began to change again.

Gritting her teeth loudly she hissed and snarled as she began to change into her large serpintine form but doing this was slowling killing her.

She was very drozy and swayed slightly and she started to shivvere"i..im so cold" she whimpered.

Hissing in anger and pain she grabed phil and hugged his tightly" im sorry...im sorry i cant.....i cant ....." she couldnt finish before going into loud sobbs she could feel her self fading

[jollyjohanna]

It had been a long, long night. It felt as if had taken years getting Hailey into Laurie's car and decades driving to Laurie's apartment. Phil was barely aware of what he was saying anymore, it felt like he was a tape recorder stuck on repeat - hey, come on, stay with us, we're almost there - and the only thing that kept him from panicking was his crippling sense of guilt.

He didn't exactly have time to focus on their surroundings when they entered Laurie's place - they went through a hall into some kind of living room where they helped Hailey lay down on the floor.

Laurie was running around, fetching towels and whatnot, but Phil just sat down next to Hailey. He had no idea what to do, but when Laurie tossed some soap and wet towels to him he snapped back to attention. He couldn't help glaring at her, even though he knew it was unfair. It wasn't Laurie's fault, not entirely - and she was doing her best to help fix this mess. But it was hard not feeling angry and upset when his hands and clothes were stained with Hailey's blood, and Laurie was an easy target to aim his anger at. But she wasn't the person he blamed the most for this...

So he started to do as he was told - trying to clean Hailey's wounds as carefully as he could, while at the same time trying to stop the bleeding and talking to her in the same nonsensical way he had before.
"Hey, Hailey, you'll be okay. We just have to... stop the bleeding... yeah..."
She still reacted to his voice, but it was clear that she was weakening. Fast. He felt another stab of panic in his guts, but he kept talking - although with a bit more shakier voice than before.
"You've survived for so long, a c-couple of flesh wounds won't k-kill you. Come on, if anyone can pull through this, it's you."

He barely paid attention to the conversation Laurie was having over the phone, but she caught his attention with the word 'mold'. Stop cleaning? He immediatly put down the wet towels. Yeah, that was right. They could clean the wounds when the bleeding had stopped.
Something fluttered down and landed on his shoulders, and uptight as he was he flinched. But it was just a pair of plastic gloves that Laurie had thrown at him. He frowned as he put them on - what good would they do? His hands were already drenched in blood, and the mold probably made Hailey's wounds as unsanitory as could be already.

Laurie used couch pillows to elevate Hailey's legs, and when she talked on the phone it was clear that what she said also was directed to Phil. He took a clean towel and started to put pressure on Hailey's wounds - he could tell that she didn't like it, and he sure as h*ll didn't like to have to do it to her, but they didn't have a choice.
Splap. Laurie threw him a new towel, and this time he turned around and sneered at her.
"Stop tossing stuff at me!"
He immediatly regretted it - this wasn't exactly the time or place for bickering.
"Sorry... I just..."
He didn't care about evaluating it further. He kept pressing towards Hailey's wounds, and now Laurie had joined him.

"Phil, Hailey. I don't even know how this happened and I am SO SO sorry. But some sort of help is coming, I think...but I think we're going to have to get her to the hospital, eventually. We are in WAY over our heads here! And...what is she, really, if you don't mind me asking? What is the WORST THING that could possibly happen?"
He looked down. Laurie was right - they were not cut out to give first aid to anybody. Bringing her here seemed like a bigger and bigger mistake - they should have gone to the hospital first.
"...yeah," he agreed weakly before answering her question. "She's a ciren - kind of like a mermaid, I guess. But she can turn into a human on land."
He was silent for a moment, concentrating on putting pressure on a particularly nasty-looking wound.
"It's... it's my fault. I wanted to be some kind of monster-hunter... a hero, I guess. This would never had happened if I had just listened to her."
He tried to keep his voice from trembling, but it was hard. He didn't look up at Laurie as he was talking.
"This is like... the third time she's saved my life. And the mold is my fault too. I..."

He was abrupted by Hailey's sudden shriek of pain and lost the grip of the towel. Hailey had started to thrash around, which caused her to bleed even more. Phil's eyes turned round in horror when he realized what was happening - she had started to turn back into her ciren form. But this seemed to make her weaker than ever.
It felt like his heart stopped beating when she grabbed his arm.
"im sorry...im sorry i cant.....i cant ....."
She was slipping.
"Hailey? Hailey!! Come on, don't... just don't! You can!! Go back to human!"
He shaked her shoulders, trying to keep her awake, but when that didn't seem to work he panicked and tried to slap her in the face - just a quick, not very hard slap, just so that she would stay with them a little longer. He had never hit a girl and hadn't expected to ever hit Hailey, but this was an emergency.

[nightlightwolf]

her eyes dilolated slightly and she looked at phil after he had slaped her in silence and her head tilted away slightly and she closed her eyes"phil......you did good kid......this old girl cant live forever...".

She let out long shallow breaths and she swallowed and her eyes went blank and she smiled slightly and she feel back and hit the floor with a loud thud and was still , her wounds where so deep and had severed several arterys there was o hope it was either her life or her legs if she had gone to a hospital.

she had fallen into a deep dark sleep but it looked like she was dead but she was still breathing but just.

her legs moved and she shifted into her ciren form but that did not wake her it just made her wounds rip open making them bigger she had almost no more blood to bleed if there was a god , he didnt like her much.

[scribblerrigby]

"She's a ciren - kind of like a mermaid, I guess. But she can turn into a human on land."

“So she’s kind of like the mermaid from Splash, huh? That's pretty cool!”

The poor boy continued in a shaky voice. "It's... it's my fault. I wanted to be some kind of monster-hunter... a hero, I guess. This would never had happened if I had just listened to her. This is like... the third time she's saved my life. And the mold is my fault too. I -"

She dodged suddenly with Phil as a long tail uncurled, thrashing arbitrarily. The tail toppled some of the standing cymbals in her drum set in the corner. She yelled; Cujo howled in his tiny voice. Laurie winced and cursed as her neighbors pounded on the wall - their routine cue that generally meant for her and her visitors to take the volume down a notch or two. Phil started shouting in panic at Hailey just as Laurie heard someone at her door.

A click, the knob turned, and a dark, stocky young man stumbled in, breathless. In his arms were a bag, a bottle of super-glue, and a folder packed with hastily photocopied pictures and notes. He had barely pulled himself up on the door frame to catch his breath when a wide-eyed Laurie plowed into him with a frantic “JEFF!” and a grateful hug. “So you’re going to sew her up?”

“Or super-glue her up, I guess.” He stared at the bottle and shrugged. “Malcolm's online if you need him, though he says you’re all idiots and he feels like one of those grungy back-alley doctors. And he’d rather not feel like one of those grungy back-alley doctors...”

He trailed off as he stepped into the apartment and saw the entire pitiful scene.

“Oh, Christ on a bike…”

On the cot was a thrashing, morphing, screaming, bleeding…mermaid. Jeff couldn’t find any other words for it. A big, beautiful, gray mermaid with long, beautiful blue hair. That was always a nice color.

“Oooh, boy, I can see why you didn’t want to bring her to the hospital. Yeah…wow.”

Jeff took a deep breath. Laurie was holding back tears and on the edge of panic, and the surly kid didn’t seem too far behind. Someone had to take charge, even if that someone didn’t quite know what they were doing. Fine, Jeff decided - he wouldn’t let any of them know that last part, though. He hurried with a hint of bravado to the mermaid, knelt down, and looked straight into her eyes.

“Stop it. STOP. You’re NOT dying. Stay still and suck it up, okay? You’re going to have to stay one size if I’m going to give you this. Because if we end up sewing you up without this,” he held up a small bottle from the bag, “- it WILL hurt.”

But she had already passed out while he was talking. Her massive heart was pounding like a jackhammer. Damn it. Jeff started unpacking the suitcase, picking through the various bandages, bottles and needles, and occasionally glancing through Fin’s notes. Laurie knelt down to help, forcing herself not to be squeamish.

“So how did this happen?” he asked Laurie, as he flicked the bubbles out of a sanitized syringe.

“Well, I…uh…I think I attacked her.”

The small bottle of anesthetic clanged to the ground as Jeff whirled around to face her. All traces of calm, forced leadership was gone.

“You didn’t bite her too, did you?”

“No idea…” She looked plaintively at Phil for an answer. "Tell me what happened - did she hurt me? How exactly did I hurt her?” She looked back at Jeff. "I don't know...maybe it doesn't affect...mythical people like it affects humans? Maybe?"

“Yeah, that could be true. There was that time you escaped and bit Malcolm, and he’s still fine. Except for being dead.” Jeff started to super-glue the smaller gouges together, and fixing them with butterfly bandages, forcing his mind on the task at hand, and trying not to think of the implications. He was only there to fix her up, and they'd deal with the problems as they happened.

(OOC HOLY CRAP, what should we do?! And for the record, yeah, she did bite, as well as scratch. I smell an impending deux ex machina…)

[jollyjohanna]

The slap, which always worked in movies and series, didn't help at all. Once again television had failed him.
"phil......you did good kid......this old girl cant live forever..."
He wanted to answer that, wanted to say just anything, but he couldn't think of anything. Just... blank.

He suddenly became aware of the new guy - Jeff - when he sat down next to Hailey and looked her in the eyes.
“Stop it. STOP. You’re NOT dying. Stay still and suck it up, okay? You’re going to have to stay one size if I’m going to give you this. Because if we end up sewing you up without this it WILL hurt."
But Hailey had passed out. Or worse. Phil almost got his hopes up when Jeff started to rummage through his suitcase after medical supplies - perhaps this guy knew what he was doing - but it was to late. It had to be. No one could lose that much blood and be okay with it. But she was still breathing...

He was sitting on his knees by Hailey's side when Jeff suddenly dropped a bottle of anastethics and sharply asked Laurie if she had bitten her. Laurie seemed unsure of this and turned towards Phil for answers.
"Tell me what happened - did she hurt me? How exactly did I hurt her? I don't know...maybe it doesn't affect...mythical people like it affects humans? Maybe?"
"Yeah, you bit her," he said sharply. "You fought and she almost crushed you with her tail and does this matter? She's dying!!"
He looked down at Hailey and then quickly up at Jeff in an almost pleading way.
"Is there anything I can do? Anything?"

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey layed there motionless and pale even for her grey skin ,she lay like in a deep sleep beautiful but at the same time dangerouse.

[scribblerrigby]

“Help stick these on and hold them together, I guess,” he answered the kid, then scooted over to make way as both of them started patching up one of the nastier gashes.

Laurie was sticking several butterfly bandages another gouge, talking more to herself than the boys. “So…if I was almost crushed, I - oh, god, ew, this is weird - healed up when I changed back. But I’m already changed back, and now she probably has the werewolf curse, if that’s how it works with fish people…sh!t. Sorry, just thinking aloud.” She half-smiled, apologetically, and stood up. “Well, it looks like she’s all patched up. So. What do we do, now?”

Jeff lingered in his crouch for a little bit, staring over his handiwork, until Laurie socked him gently in the shoulder. He got to his feet quickly, still analyzing the mermaid-girl.

“So, um, she’s still breathing. That’s good. But she lost a lot of blood…” He trailed off, confused and conflicted. Laurie’s eyes widened as she guessed what could happen next.

“Hey, wait - I’M NOT DOING A TRANSFUSION IN MY LIVING ROOM, if that’s what you’re implying! Gluing and sewing, I can handle. Barely. But I’m not poking everyone else and sticking little tubes in them in the hope that one of us MIGHT match the blood of a fish person! I’m not even GOING there. I don’t know anything about this! What about Fin? Ask him, if he‘s still awake. Or Ikiko?”

Jeff grumbled. “Do we just let her sit, then?”

[jollyjohanna]

Phil was pale as he helped patching Hailey up. He listened to Laurie mutter to herself about the werewolf curse, and he didn't know what to think about that. Could she even get the curse? And what would she turn into if she had gotten it? But he realized that right now the most important thing was to keep her alive.

Then Jeff and Laurie started to argue about making a blood transfusion. Phil sat quietly next to Hailey. He was not a big fan of needles or the idea of his blood being outside of his body, but this was a special occasion.
"I'll do it."

Then he hesitated.
"I mean... I don't know if we have the same blood group, but maybe... I mean, she's not human and I don't know if I'm human either, I make stuff mold and so... do you think it would work?"
He looked at Jeff and Laurie in an almost pleading way.

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey rolled slightly on her side and slowly started to wake up again and she grunted and pushed her self off the floor and sat up".....". Looking at phil then at jeff than panted and reached for the sink and pulled her self up and grabed then sprayer and sprayed cold water on her and her wounds cleaning the blood off.
Staying this way for alittle bit she looked at them and started to shivver"..im cold....." Hailey was never cold because of her bluber like skin. Growing slimmy and hard to grab again she slid on the floor letting the water rain down it calmed her down very much, water only made her more beautiful and shiney.

[scribblerrigby]

"I'll do it."

Laurie wasn't surprised to hear Phil's offer. Their relationship seemed very sweet, and she felt another huge pang of guilt for messing things up.

"I mean... I don't know if we have the same blood group, but maybe... I mean, she's not human and I don't know if I'm human either, I make stuff mold and so... do you think it would work?"


She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If the boys were dead set on this transfusion thing....well, there really wasn't any other option at this point. Still, no use getting his hopes up.

"I suppose it could? I don't know much about this kind of stuff, especially when non-humans are involved, and I don't exactly want to put anybody -well, anybody else in danger. We'll see if we have to, first. I don't want to do anything weird if it's not necessary." Not that this night could get any weirder, she thought to herself. She turned to Jeff, resigned. "What's in the bag of tricks?"

"Um...syringes, tubey things, a syringe with tubey things on it, sharp things..." He dug through the bag and flipped through the photocopied pages, looking for anything that could help.

"Just call up your roommate, tell him what we're doing, and ask him if he knows some crazy battlefield medical transfusion techniques. Offhand, you know." It was hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Naw, he'd probably go apeshaz at 'transfusion.'"

"Jeff, this just got weird. We're WAY in over our heads! People take classes on this kind of stu-"

A slight groan interrupted their babbling. It came from the heap on the floor.

Laurie and Jeff stared, dumbfounded, as Hailey managed to pull herself up and stumble to the sink. The mermaid girl murmured and began spraying herself with water, transforming again, before pitching back to the floor.

Laurie opened her mouth to talk. Nothing came out. She sighed, tried again.

"So, ummm...now what?"

[StantonBros]

It was really really late, that one party with the after-party lasted too long. Cut shook his head as the little energy suplament five-and a half hour energy drink thing began to wear off, his foot tapping gingerly on the throttle to prevent the big block power from grabbing him a noise violation.

death

"What?" Cut mumbled to himself as he shook his head once more, "I must be really tired."

He continued on, but at a stop light everything seemed to blur, the area seemed too unfamiliar. Although Cut can admit he hasn't explored every road in Bridgeport, he knows his way around, but, even though he could swear that he's been here before, and yet, why cant he remember which direction to go? On a gut instinct, he took a right and stopped in a parking lot. Though, it didn't feel right, like someone else's gut feeling was leading him there.

Soul

"What the hell" Cut said to himself, mentally looking at Paste who was asleep in his own mind. Yet, why did he feel like he was being chased by a lion. His heart, it was pumping hard and fast, his drowsyness washed away. He got out of his car, don't know why, but he looked at the entrance of the building and saw blood on the ground.

Quickly

Cut followed the trail in a fast walk, not ignoring the new voice in his head. With the smell of blood now overwhelming his nose, Cut followed the trail, feeling an other worldy presence yanking at him, like a blind man being yanked at by the collar.

Then, at Laurie's room, he knocked, unknowing that this shadow was flickering like a campfire and his puples dilated. His black hair wavering slightly like seaweed in a slow current.

When the door opened, it wasn't Cut that met the person.

But something else.

And it was hungry for something that Hailey was just about to lose.

[jollyjohanna]

((Hey everybody, sorry for the extreme delay! I blame it on holidays, deadlines and everything but myself as usual.))

Suddenly Hailey sat up and then managed to stumble to the sink before anyone could stop her. Phil immediately stood up, but she had started to clean away the blood and he wasn't sure if he should stop her or not. He looked over at Laurie and Jeff, who seemed to be equally dumbfounded, he realized that they didn't know what to do either.
"...Hailey?" he asked carefully. But it seemed as if the ciren's newfound powers weren't lasting as she suddenly slipped down to the floor again. Phil hurried over to her side, trying to support her in a half-sitting position.
"..im cold....."
He could barely hear what she was saying.
"Yeah, don't worry, we'll take care of it."

"So, ummm...now what?"
Phil looked up at Laurie with a renewed determination in his face. Then he started to roll up his left sleeve.
"Now we do it."

Suddenly it knocked on the door. Phil looked up with an irritated frown.
"Don't open it," he said sternly. "It's probably a neighbor or something who wants to complain about the sound."

((Just to make things easier, let's just say that Phil has the blood type 0. Although it doesn't seem as if he'll be getting to donate blood just yet ))

[nightlightwolf]

Hailey snaped her head to the door and tensed up she was so tired but the feeling she was getting from the door sent her sinces into a frency"........!!!!!". Pushing the boy behind her and she stood up to her full height again and her hands where trembling not from fear but something else something different was there."phil...." She said hoarsly and looked at him" Hide...".

[scribblerrigby]

Someone knocked on the door.

“SERIOUSLY-!?” Jeff choked, halfway between a laugh and a shriek. “How’s that for timing?”

"Don't open it," Phil added. "It's probably a neighbor or something who wants to complain about the sound."

“It could be the landlord, or something, though,” she sighed, trudging to the door. Just what she needed, right now. Stress? Yeah, this was a little stressful.

She glanced through the peephole, recognized the familiar face, – “It’s one of my friends, guys,” - and opened the door slightly, bracing it with her foot to prevent it opening any further to reveal the strange scene within. An odd metallic taste wafted into the room.

“Heeeey, Cut…” His eyes were dilated, to the point where she couldn’t see any of the blue, and he seemed to stare right through her. She hadn’t pegged him as a drug user, but the hair on the back of her neck was standing on end. He was definitely the source of the metallic feeling.

Oh, yeah, this was approaching Bridgeport-levels of weird. She had to get him out of there.

“I’m sorry,” she said, glancing briefly back into the apartment. Hailey, with Phil loyally at her side, was standing and staring at the door in utter terror. Jeff met Laurie's eyes, silently wondering what to do next, and if it was anything to worry about. Even Cujo had stopped his complaining. Realizing her mistake, she turned back to the door, poised to slam it shut, and pulled together what she hoped was a calm, confident attitude.

“Sorry, but…now’s not a good time. Come back later.”