this needs to stop happening

[retraced]

Who: Gilbert Nightray & whoever wants to visit
When: afternoon of the 17th
Where: Skye Medical
Summary: Xigbar's creepy monster dog-thing messed him up good for his part in the newcomer hunt raid. He never saw it coming.
Warnings: slight spoilers for PH, mentions of blood and injury

Gil has been overcome by the darkness a few times in the last few years. For the most part, every time he's gotten out of the situation with scratches and bruises, a couple larger wounds, a bullet wound once. But this time had been different. This time the monster seemed far more interested in hurting him; in killing him. And it was quick enough to do damage while he floundered through attempting to use Raven and failing, miserably. The familiar pain in his left hand told him that he was putting too much strain on the Hatter and B Rabbit's seals, and he'd hesitated as he'd been struck.

Again. And again.

If he'd been conscious, he would have told whoever transported him to take him home. If the Core reacted the same way that it did last time, he'd be healed in no time. A day or two, and he wouldn't have to waste time away from his master in the meanwhile. But he stays asleep during the pick up, transport, and the initial check-in to the hospital. He doesn't wake until halfway through the day, several ribs shattered, a wrist and ankle broken, a concussion, bruises and cuts and gashes up his neck and across his chest and legs.

And every single one of those injuries is healing, slowly but surely, without anyone needing to lift a finger to help him.

Crap.

His eyes snap open at the sound of familiar, rhythmic beeping. That's all it takes for him to realize where he's ended up, the memory of this morning rushing back all at once. Crap, crap, crap! Not good!

He doesn't bother to check if anyone else is in the room first before throwing back the blanket and attempting to run as fast as his healing feet will take him, no matter how many wires and tubes are currently attached to him. Stop him, egg him on, catch the aftermath upon failure. He'll be here for a couple of days.


[ooc - have at it, visitors. also I'm still sick, so tags will probably continue to be slow, but I promise I'll get to them all! thank you for putting up with me!]

Comments

[inthejunk]

"Aw, jeez. I know you just woke up, but this is the hospital, okay? You're hurt. You have to...you know. Don't touch that stuff. Let the doctors help."

The wrapping job is surprisingly not as clumsy as most of Yosuke's attempts at things. He even ties it off properly at the end.

"I know it sucks, okay? This happened to me once too. And I couldn't really move then but if I could have I probably would have tried to leave too. But, it's a bad idea. You know?"

[retraced]

He frowns down at his lap as Yosuke bandages him back up, and for once holds his tongue. It's his fault that he's made everyone worry like this. If only he'd just paid better attention, been quicker to get away...

"...How did you know I was here?" he finally asks.

[inthejunk]

"They put your name on my chart."

Yosuke sheepishly gives his scrub top a tug. Apparently he's been candy striping again under the radar. Which he looks pretty embarrassed about, actually.

[retraced]

Dude, how many jobs do you have.

He blinks, takes a second to realize what Yosuke is talking about. But as soon as he figures it out, he leans back in his bed and fights to relax his muscles. There's no sense in trying to escape now; he won't be able to make it, and he'll probably get Yosuke in trouble. He'll have to wait a while longer.

"I'm fine, there are probably other people who need you to look in on them more..."

[inthejunk]

Actually, none of them pay besides the one you don't know about. But that's a problem for later.

"Look in on? Dude, I just change the linens and bring the jello. I'm not even allowed to empty bedpans...not that I'm complaining about that."

Sigh.

"Besides, I've been to see the others, too."

[retraced]

He has no need for a bedpan, thank you very much! He's pretty sure he'd rather hop on his one good foot to the bathroom than go through that type of embarrassment, especially if Yosuke is going to be checking in on him tonight. They've already had too many bad experiences centering around bodily fluids.

So he decides to settle on a better topic.

"Jello?" Nope, that's not a familiar name, even after two years here.

...shut up I'm awesome.

[inthejunk]

"You know."

Yosuke grabs a cup of it from the cart and jiggles it around helpfully in front of Gilbert's nose.

"The stuff they feed to people who aren't allowed to eat real food. I had to eat this stuff for like two weeks after...uh. Once. When my throat was really sore."

[retraced]

The hesitation doesn't go unnoticed; he's pretty sure he knows exactly what Yosuke is talking about, but he's not going to bring it up if his friend doesn't look like he wants to talk about it.

He squints down at the stuff in the cup, head tilting slightly to the side. He's pretty sure he's never had this particular thing, but looking at it he's not sure he even wants to try.

"What's it made of...?" It looks like colorful square pudding or something.

[inthejunk]

Yosuke laughs, and shrugs unhelpfully. "When they make it, it looks like that colored sand people fill jars with for some reason. And it tastes like...bitter sugar."

He frowns a little at his own explanation, aware that it doesn't make much sense. "Anyway, it's more fun to play with than to eat. But if you don't eat it they'll never sign the forms to let you out. They want people to be able to keep down solid food before they leave, you know? This is the middle step."

[retraced]

Bitter sugar? That doesn't sound like it tastes good at all. Nope, he's definitely not injured enough to want to deal with eating that crap.

"Keeping food down isn't a problem," he promises. Don't worry Yosuke, you don't have to clean up any of his bodily fluids today.

"But seeing that, I suddenly feel terrible for everyone in worse shape than me..."

[inthejunk]

He's not worried. He isn't cleared for fluid cleaning duties anyway. But he does take a glance at the food chart to see if Gilbert is cleared for the good stuff. Hmm...

"Remind me to bring you some pudding later. You're not a surgery patient and you aren't diabetic, so it's no big deal if you cheat a little."

[retraced]

"Don't worry about it."

He sits up a little more, his neck popping loudly as he twists it. Ouch. Well, at least it's healing; he'll take 'sore' over 'broken'.

"I don't think I'll be here long enough to eat anything."

[inthejunk]

"You're not going anywhere until after my shift ends and people see me leave without you. Font make me call someone in here to strap you to your bed, dude. 'Cause I will."

He's had enough of getting arrested with you this year, alright? It's nothing personal.

[retraced]

Ugh, Yosuke, why did you have to remind him of That Day. He'd rather forget that whole thing altogether, thank you very much!

"Don't worry, I won't need to break out. Not this time."

He groans and rubs at his face with his good hand.

"Thank goodness."

[inthejunk]

That gets a skeptical glance, but Yosuke nods and relaxes a bit.

"Dude, what happened? It looks rough."

[retraced]

"A monster in the darkness, one that I hadn't seen before."

He coughs dryly and sits up so that he can reach out for the cup of water on the rolling bedside table. Though at the same time he's wondering when he can sneak out of the hospital for a cigarette, because that's a far more important thing to worry about at the moment.

"It was a shadow...bullets just passed through it."

[inthejunk]

[Yosuke inexplicably freezes up at the word "shadow." He frowns a little, and gives Gilbert a more thorough once over than before.]

You met something that bullets can't kill and you survived?

[Woah. Aren't find the only weapons Gil has? Yosuke's seen him in the darkness before, and the guy wasn't throwing any magic around that night.]

...How?

[retraced]

[He takes a long sip of water before answering, deliberating on what he should even say. But finally, he decides to go with the easy answer. The vague one.]

I used Raven to get away before it could kill me.

[inthejunk]

[By the baffled look on Yosuke's face, it's obvious he doesn't understand. What, like, a bird? How would that even help?]

...Maybe you should lie back down, dude.

[retraced]

[And he matches that baffled look with one of his own.]

Huh? Why? I feel fine.

[inthejunk]

In that case maybe you should explain, instead.

[retraced]

...I'm not sure how to explain.

[He shakes his head.]

Except that the Core helps me heal a little faster than...than I used to.

[inthejunk]

That's your power? Huh. You never said.

[retraced]

I never noticed it until recently.

[Not until he got shot in the chest...which doesn't happen every day!]

[inthejunk]

I can heal too!

[It's not a secret now anyway, thanks to that broadcast he made when he was seeking a trainer. And anyway, Filbert has earned that amount of trust. So there isn't any hesitation about it, not even the next part, which he'd never admit in public:]

I kind of suck, though. Maybe you can teach me some things when you're feeling better? At least it won't give me black eyes like the firearms lessons do.