My scars remind me that the past is real

[cowboycop]

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. ))

Comments

Friday, June 29th

[awakenings]

[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?

Saturday, June 20th - morning

[cognidis]

[ 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.

Afternoon of July 2nd

[motioned]

[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?

Saturday, June 30th - Mid-morning.

[mister_foppish]

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...?~"

Saturday, June 30th - Early-evening..

[demon_gent]

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!"

July 5th, near lunch time

[chiefdefense]

[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?

July 5th, towards evening

[underdogged]

[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.]