kingdomdressing | (no subject)

She looked pale, and when I asked she said she wasn't feeling that great-- Who are you?

[Because she has no idea he really is or why he seems so concerned. As for Riku, her pulse is much slower than it should be. She's coated in a thin layer of sweat and the injection site should be obvious. The crook of her left arm looks pretty nasty.]

Red.

[Thanks for clearing that up, Red. That explains so much about who you are. He grinds his teeth for a moment as he examines the injection site. At least if it had been something she'd taken orally, he could have tried making her vomit it back up or something.]

Then I guess you're a friend of Riku's.

[Whatever, man. Riku doesn't talk about her friends to Roxas basically ever, but Red's helping so he's on her good side already. It really is unfortunate that her attempted antidote had to be taken that way.]

What is that?

Yeah.

[He moves her arm a bit with one hand so the injection site is facing upward, then starts digging in his jacket pocket with his other hand.]

She tried another antidote.

Antidote? ...for the werewolf thing, right?

[She knows that much, at least.]

Can you help her?

Probably. If not, she'll come back.

[He sounds pretty angry about that. The possibility of her dying, that is. He finally seems to find what he was looking for in his pocket and pulls out a small plastic jar with holes in the lid. Inside is a pinkish-grey leech-like creature that thrashes for a moment at the change in lighting.]

Is she dying?!

[She sounds pretty alarmed! Roxas thought she might have been, at first, but she didn't want to accept that thought. When he pulls out that jar she's almost distracted by staring at it in disgust.]

[He stares at her like she's stupid for a moment, then works on opening the leech's jar and places it onto Riku's arm. It immediately wiggles toward the hole there and latches on, only to start becoming thinner of all things. Of course, that's simple because it's shoved some of itself into the wound.]

She could be. If it was bad enough to get her this bad so quickly, it's pretty likely.

[Don't look at her like that. She's never had to deal with someone she knows... dying. Disappearing, fading away... It's hard to think of those as deaths, even if they're essentially the same thing.]

You can't let her die. Is that going to help?

I'm not a fucking doctor. I'll do what I can, but shit like this isn't exactly my strong point.

[He doesn't answer her question though, just watching the leech carefully. After a minute, it expands again, past the shape it held before, and takes on a sickly green colour. Red groans and pulls a couple tissues from his pocket, handing them to Roxas.]

I'm going to pull it out. Press these against the hole, she doesn't need to bleed out on top of poison.

[That first comment gets something of a scowl, because if he can't help Roxas thinks they should be finding someone who can. She scrapes a hand through her hair, looking stressed, but immediately moves her hands so she'll be ready when he takes the leech away.]

Why did it change color?

It took a sample. It changes colour depending on what's wrong with the blood.

[He gets his fingers at its head and tugs lightly. Thankfully, these things have been bred to let go, so it doesn't put up any fight as he pulls it off and puts it back into the jar. Roxas will want to put those tissues down pretty quickly, as that hole will start leaking right away.]

[She does so immediately, putting them on the spot and pressing down firmly. She isn't really too big on the sight of her friends bleeding.]

What's wrong with it?

Poison, obviously. I didn't need this thing to tell me that. Plant-based, though. That's what the green's about. That shade's near the one that means it's familiar, but it can't get more specific.

[Roxas' temper is showing. She's almost glaring, all impatience over the worry.]

If she's poisoned can't we find an antidote for that?

[He glares right back, clearly thinking she's not terribly intelligent.]

This isn't like just grabbing a potion no matter what an injury is. If I don't know what she's poisoned with I could make it worse instead of clearing the toxins out. Which would kill her. That's why I used this fucking thing in the first place, so I could try and find out what it was before she dies.

[He does probably have something in his pockets that he can give her now that he knows it's something at least partially familiar. It won't cure her, but it could at least stabilize her. Possibly. It shouldn't make her worse, in any case.]

[This is a wonderful time to be arguing. Just wonderful. Her grip on Riku's arm just transferred into something a little more possessive.]

I'm not stupid. I know you can't fix it just like that, and that anything could make it worse. I'm asking if there's anything you can do, because if you can't then I'm going to find someone who can help her.

[He's going through his pockets now as he stands up. He knows he should have a vial of that stabilizer in here somewhere...]

Sure, there's shit I can do, if you give me time. But fine, go ahead and take her off to someone who can 'help.' Let me know how that goes once she's dead because you don't know what the poison is. I'll make sure she knows who decided not to let the guy who knows the most about her situation do his thing.

How am I supposed to know what you're planning? I don't know you. You're not telling me.

[She's frowning hard.]

Because there's not a whole lot of time for explanations, in case you haven't noticed.

[He finally finds what he's looking for and pulls out a small case, which he snaps open and removes a thin vial of purple liquid from.]

I know her better than you do.

[Roxas looks a little like she's been slapped when he says that. Then she's glaring again, gritting her teeth in anger.]

How can you say that? What do you know about her?

[He just smirks instead of responding, then tosses the vial at her. Better catch that, Roxas. ~~It actually wouldn't break if she didn't, but~~]

Give her this. After that, you've got two choices. Pick her up and go find someone who probably won't know how to deal with poison, or follow me.

[Roxas catches it with one hand but continues to glare for several more seconds, puffed up like she's going to say something before giving up. She practically deflates, dropping her gaze down to the vial, then to Riku. She moves her hand off the injection site finally to open the vial and holds it with one hand, the other cradling Riku's head under her chin to ease her mouth open. She'll manage to get it down, even if it's not easy. Riku's not putting up any fight being limp like this, but it's not helping any either.]

Where are we going?

To my apartment.

[Or more specifically, to the one next to his, where he's been slowly setting things up like the breeding area he'd had in his basement back in Halloween Town.]

Fine.

[Once she's managed to get Riku to swallow at least most of it, Roxas puts the empty vial in her pocket and slides her arms under Riku to lift her up. Easier said than done, considering Roxas doesn't make a habit of picking people up.]