sirenspull_logs | My scars remind me that the past is real

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My scars remind me that the past is real

Who: Jake Marshall (

cowboycop) and YOU!
When: Any time Friday night (June 29th) to next Friday night (July 6th).
Where: Siren's Port General Hospital.
Summary: Jake survived the Newcomer Hunt - with many scars and bruises to prove it. Come visit him.
Warnings: Surly cowboy who doesn't like tapioca pudding but keeps getting some from the nurses anyway. Also flashbacks to violence and some gory descriptions. When Gant comes in, actual violence and mental torture, followed by a shaved cowboy.

Jake normally didn't like hospitals. Nothing good ever came out of them, in his experience. But as of this moment, Jake was feeling so relieved to just be in a bed and resting, he didn't care where it was.

After the events of last night, every portion of his body was injured somehow. It didn't help that the bandages wrapped around his torso like a mummy's dressing were starting to itch. But, he couldn't move them or get rid of them, because his entire front and back were bruised. On top of that, three of his middle ribs were cracked, and it hurt just to breathe. Thank god for the morphine running through his system, otherwise he'd be in a much grumpier mood. He just hoped that they wouldn't change the gauze for a few hours - it was still difficult to move around, even to put a clean bandage on the three long gashes on his side. He'd never liked getting stitches, even moreso than his distaste for hospitals.

He'd been dozing, off and on, since he'd been taken to Siren's Port General Hospital earlier that morning. He was relaxing as best as he could in the silence of his room, while sorting through the food they'd left him for when he felt up to eating. Most of it was discarded immediately because it was pudding, of the tapioca variety. He did manage to find a few jello cups that he was willing to eat, and so he started in on those. It was then that the nurse popped her head in, and informed mister Marshall that he had a visitor.

"Well, send 'em in, I reckon."

(( ooc: Action or prose, whichever is more comfortable for you. Feel free to find him whenever! Just put the date and approximate time in the subject line. ))

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[When she hears from the grapevine that Jake's still in the city, alive, and in the hospital, Re-l wastes no time. She leaves her work with a few of her associates and speeds off to see him, fearing the worst. She'd seen him fight monsters at night alongside her, so what the hell got a hold of him that he ended up in the hospital over it?

Re-l doesn't even stop to sign in at the front desk; she gets his room number and strides right past the secretary, purpose fueling her stride. Anyone who starts to stop her gets a badge flashed their way and, thankfully, no one asks twice.

She takes the elevator to his floor and goes down the hall to his room, finally stopping to pause at his door. She suddenly feels unprepared. Should she have brought him flowers or something? No, no, that's stupid. She doesn't even know how injured he is or if he'll want them. It's not something she'd do anyway and she remembers how much she hated people bringing them to her room when she'd been hurt.

Pushing doubt and debate away, Re-l knocks twice, stepping into the doorway to look at him.]

Jake?

[ He comes as soon as he hears the news.

Ever since Jake went missing, he's been worried, and knowing that others have disappeared hasn't helped matters. Newcomers, being targeted for whatever reason -- it's hard to stomach, especially knowing what a fight it'll be to have anything done about it.

Brushing past the hospital personnel, he comes up to the door and knocks softly. After a moment, he peers in. ]

Hey.

[Jake thinks it's a nurse coming to check up on him, so when he sees Livio, his mood changes drastically. He grins, sitting up - okay, probably a bit to fast, slight grimace - but after that he seems more than happy to see him.]

Boy howdy, am I sure glad t'see a familiar face 'round these parts! Come on in, sit a spell. You been holdin' up all right?

[ Livio closes the door behind him, concerned but at least slightly mollified by that smile. ]

I'm fine.

[ Worried sick about you and the others, but he doesn't say that. Pulling up a chair, he sits by the bed. ]

How are you doing?

[Even in a city like Siren's Port, the realization that people had been hunted like prey didn't fail to startle her. It's hard to know what to do, but rather than sit at home and feel helpless, she decides to try and at least help somehow, whether she knows all of the victims or not.

So, on Monday afternoon, there's a knock on Jake's hospital door before a small girl holding a bouquet of flowers turns the knob and enters.]

Um, mister, are you busy?

[Jake seems a bit surprised when he hears a young girl's voice, and turns his head to see a little redhead that's almost hidden by the bouquet she's holding. But, he smiles a little, trying to be polite.]

Naw, bambina, I ain't busy. You lost, young'un?

Um, bambina?

[She walks in, closing the door behind her gently.]

No, I'm not lost. I just wanted to make sure you were going to be alright. I mean, I know we don't know each other, but I heard about what happened at the hunting grounds a few days ago.

Bambina. It's a word fer a gal yer age.

[He seems just a bit surprised that she's here to see him, but he doesn't seem to mind - in fact, he's moving to sit up right now, so he can be better company.]

I reckon I'll be fine after a few days'a rest. Mighty kind a'ya t'be visitin' an ol' cowpoke ya don't know.

What's yer name, bambina?

Oh! What language is that?

[In response to him sitting up, she scoots her chair forward a few inches to return the politeness.]

I don't think it's such a big thing... I mean, you deserve company after what happened.

My name's Ahiru! It's nice to meet you, even if it had to be like this.

It wasn't customary for a man like Pegasus to be hanging about a dreary little place like a hospital, but like a good boy—by merit of Gant taking him here—he was getting to his check-up nice and early. A little before lunch really, so that was the explanation for the neatly tied gourmet pack in a bag under his arm, but, at least he was here at all. The injuries he'd received from the darkness monster incident a while back had needed treatment, and fortunately, this visit was one of the last ones. Nothing more than taking out the last of the stitches, and a little more healing up to do...

He'd never gotten an injury as grievous as this besides the loss of his eye, really. Maybe he'd even get a scar. His own personal little badge of courage, or something to that effect. It made him a little stiffer than usual but, the tall American was able to navigate his way down the hall fairly well with the bag in tow, pausing as he catches a glance of a long-haired, haggard-looking man all alone in a hospital room...

Normally he would have passed him by, but given it was a good thing to get acquainted with your neighbors and he can't deny his curiosity...He peeked his head in instead, holding the little parcel out in front of him.

"Hello...?~"

Jake was mostly entertaining himself nowadays by playing several variations of Solitaire - the TV really held no interesting programs, and ironically enough, his arms were one of the few things on his body that wasn't royally screwed up at the moment. His gauze had been recently changed, but that was mostly to keep his bruised skin under something so that brushing it wouldn't hurt so much. His bedside table included several discarded, empty jello cups, a spill-proof bottle with water in it, as well as several individual tapioca puddings that had not been touched since his arrival.

Currently, he was in the middle of playing a game of Freecell. He'd had no visitors that day, except for little Maya, but she was probably busy helping herself to continental breakfast in the cafeteria. Either way, he didn't feel like eating anything, so he was happy to simply keep playing. He had just shifted the Queen of Hearts onto the King of Clubs when he heard a voice at his door.

Jake looked up from his cards to see a man dressed in all red, with long gray hair, that looked far too posh to be in a place like this. He frowned, his mind instantly going to another particular older gentleman who enjoyed wearing gaudy one-color suits, but, he didn't make his sentiment known. Instead, he tried to be cordial, thinking that he'd been looking for someone else. "Howdy. You lookin' fer someone? Reckon you must have the wrong room..." There had been a few people who had stopped and almost gone into his room when looking for the bloke next door, so perhaps he was looking for that guy.

Upon closer inspection this man seemed vaguely familiar somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on it. It was like walking through a dream, that haze when you awake that leaves you without a means to remember in clear detail. Pegasus was sure though, that if he had met the other, he would've remembered indeed, given those long dark locks and that distinctly ruggedly handsome face were pretty distinctive.

"Not really, no. Aaah...Actually, I'm a patient too, but what they call an "outie" rather than an "inie", if you catch my drift..."

The explanation seems to end there as he approaches the foot of the man's bed like an all-too-inquisitive child, clutching the bag with both hands in front. Pegasus had never seen such terrible things like this. Visiting a common hospital without being directly transported to a private wing had been quite the shocker for him. True, he had orchestrated terrible mental and at times physical harm to come to others on his own, but to see it so gruesomely before him was a little too vivid for his tastes.

He's fortunate he'd escaped the Darkness with little more than a scratch. But this fellow..? He looked like he was in a downright bad condition, to be entirely honest—as if he was thrown through the wringer. It's a foreign feeling that he scarcely recognizes, when a selfless pity arises in him.

"What happened...? Are the doctors going to help, sir?"

A genuine worry lifts his brows as he looks him over, side-glancing at the way the bandages secure his ribs, and stretch over the span of his torso in a painful-looking manner.

"Do you have any family here coming to visit you?"

Jake gave a small nod at Pegasus' explanation. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk, it was just that the less words that he said, the better. Even with the morphine flowing in him, it still hurt a little to breathe, and especially to laugh. So instead, he signaled when he didn't need to elaborate, and only talked when it was necessary. That was how he'd been operating for the past day.

But seeing Pegasus look over him, with obvious pity in his eyes, and Jake can't help but tense up and try to pretend it's nothing. It's a trait he's had since he can remember and unfortunately it kicks in now. But, he does reply to this man's request for information. "Doctors've done all they can do. Mostly jus' bruises an' the like. Though I got me three cracked ribs they still can't do jack about." He motioned behind him with a small gesture of his thumb, to the x-rays, where his fractured ribs were circled.

"As far as what happened, well, that's another matter entirely, I reckon." He didn't want to go into too much detail - the memories were still fresh in his mind as is - but giving a general idea wasn't going to be a problem. "That guy Spencer? Wrecked me up awful bad. Nabbed me and twelve other Newcomers off the streets, just like that. Then him an' a few other folks with guns let us loose and hunted us. Luckily, I reckon we all made it alive through the hunt. But that meant we got t'stay out in the Darkness all night long." He motioned then to his bloody bandages, not quite fresh blood on them but certainly prominent dark-red marks that signified dried blood. "Got these from the Darkness. Bruisin' ain't from the Darkness, that was from a giant critter Spencer has. Smacked me clean into a rock wall twice in one day, stomped on me a few times too." He was trying not to be too graphic, but, bruises were something that would heal. Just like his ribs and just like his cuts.

At the mention of family, however, Jake fell silent for a moment. It made him think of Neil, instinctively, and it stung almost worse than the pain. He really could have used some assurance from Neil at that moment. But, that ship had sailed a long time ago, three years from his perspective, now, being in the Port for more than a year. "Ain't got blood relations here on the island," Jake spoke rather bluntly in his natural Texas drawl. But, after mulling it over a bit, he continued by mentioning, "but I got a little bambina an' a cool hombre worried 'bout me right now. They're like my family, I reckon." The thought drew the slightest smile to his lips - it was too bad Maya was gone at the moment, or else he'd introduce her to this man.

It was around the time most visitors had long gone home or were asked to leave in order to allow the ill to get their rest, not to mention that most non-night staff would be leaving before the call of Sirens. For Gant this was the perfect time to peek in on his old wily mustang, as it meant not many would be around to hear the desperado scream.

The spherical lenses of the hospital cameras flickered as a quick surge of electricity caused the recording to scramble for only the briefest of seconds. It was time enough for Gant to slip by untraced with but the sweet scent of English Just Joey Roses ghosting behind him.

With such a busy schedule that Gant had to deal with these days, he simply hadn't the time to personally butt heads with his neglected nosy naysayer. Sure he had been keeping tabs on him from afar, it was part of his job after all to snuff out wouldbe AGI whistle-blowers, but he had yet to really ruffle Jake's cocky little feathers.

When his injured roomie gave him an ear-full about the cowboy down the hall, Gant knew it was destiny that he go and pay his... Well, not respects, but definitely give the greenhorn a little something to remind him: I may be out of sight but never out of mind.

"Heavens to Betsy, what's all this then?"

There was that obnoxiously cheerful lilt from Jake's door. It was shut and locked without a sound, presumably as if the monolith of a man had either fazed through the wall or simply had always been there without the infirm knowing. For once, he was dressed down this evening, wearing a black suit with a deep red oxford, and a silvery tie. A rather dark and drab take on his usual sunshine attire, save for the ornate badge pinning the crucifix of his neckwear together. Where once was his pridefully worn chief's badge, was the symbol for eternity. The dragon oroboros, a regal creature of which also represented his birth year in the Chinese zodiac.

Though still true to his colorful nature, he did make sure to bring something blissfully bright with him. A bouquet of long-stem orange summer roses, dusted with babies-breath inside a glass vase was carefully set down near the cowboy's bedside table before Jake could utter a word of acidic rebuke.

"A silver lark told me you got yourself rather ruffed up, but I didn't expect you to be practically popping at the seams, hmhmhmhm!"

Edited 2012-07-08 09:12 (UTC)

He'd never kept Gant out of his mind for long. The longer the older man stayed here, the more he'd kept on his guard. Even if Gant was a good person now, an honest man - which Jake still doubted - that didn't mean Gant wasn't out to get him still. Especially with their first meeting, on that rainy day at the beach... he knew they had both declared war that day. But with all the snooping he was doing, all the surveillance, nothing had turned up. And Gant had not made a gambit yet.

That was, until he heard the man at his hospital door.

His eyes immediately shot up, narrowing in on Gant's cheery face. Just seeing that smile almost made him sick. He was thankful, at least, that the man's usual orange attire was nowhere to be seen. But those roses drew his attention, also. Jake wasn't sure what Gant was doing here, bringing roses, but he still didn't like it.

Jake's immediate reaction was to press the call button, still attached to his left finger. But he pressed once, twice, and the light never came on. Of all the times for it to not work! It had been working just fine before Gant came. His next was to quickly grab for his gun, which he did - but he could feel that as he grabbed it, it was too light to have a clip in it. And by the time he tried to get a clip in it, Gant would already be next to him. So instead, he switched his hand position just slightly, so that he could use it as a blunt weapon if Gant got too close. And as the older man walked toward him, Jake let out a snarl, fingers tightening around the handle of his pistol, despite how much it made his arm ache.

"Th' hell are you doin' here?" He asked, his eyes full of venomous rage for the man standing in front of him. His body was poised, tense. His arm was drawn back, ready to strike. And the seething anger on his face was all too clear. He was waiting for an answer, or for Gant to move, whichever came first. The instant he saw movement, he was ready to defend himself, even in his sorry state.

[Had it really been two days already? So much has happened so quickly, Mia can scarcely believe that it's been such a short space of time, and yet two days have passed since her arrival. It's July 5th.

She's kept a low profile, but after borrowing a little money she's finally gone out to explore and to buy herself some much needed new clothing, though after taking a detour past a particularly appetizing looking delicatessen, Mia decides that it's probably time to go and visit her missing housemate. She'd been told that Jake Marshall- now there was blast from the past- was currently in hospital, and it's the sight of pepper-steak sandwiches on offer at the deli that brings him to mind.

20 minutes later, she's being directed to his room in the hospital, a warm steak sandwich in her possession and an old western adventure novel she saw in a book shop. She knows it's probably going to come as a surprise- especially if no one had gotten around to telling him about her deceased status being a former affliction- and reasons that distracting him with food and a book might just take the edge off it.]

Knock knock?

Edited (...it would help if I finished writing my tag before I post it, derp derp.) 2012-07-05 14:59 (UTC)

[Hospitals always make Kaiji nervous and this one is no exception; white corridors, plastic seats, walls of closed doors and mumbling voices and coughing. He's been on the other side of those doors a few times and it wasn't pretty. He finds his hands tensing beneath their gloves, the stitches along his ear hidden by hair suddenly feeling horribly exposed.

He must have looked pretty rattled too because he's been standing around for barely a minute before a nurse comes to point him in the right direction. It's only as he's nearly at Jake's door that the nerves take a different direction.

Pretty goddamn self-absorbed of him to be nervous when Jake's the one in hospital.

It's that thought that propels him towards the door, more determined than ever. He knocks on the door firmly, then opens it a touch, peering in to check he has the right number.]

Marshall?

[Hopefully he won't be too startled by the black suit- he's dropping in on the way to work but rather than looking smart, it feels uncomfortably like funeral wear in a place like this.]

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My scars remind me that the past is real

Friday, June 29th

Saturday, June 20th - morning

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Afternoon of July 2nd

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Saturday, June 30th - Mid-morning.

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Saturday, June 30th - Early-evening..

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July 5th, near lunch time

July 5th, towards evening