Worked All Day (open)

[Hayyel Crawford]

Hayyel had limped herself up to the infirmary after particularly nasty hunt. Her leg had been laid open by some mutated cat and it was bleeding heavily. Still she had brought back the creature for food and skinning. Her leg was on fire though, burning like someone had shoved a little blaze inside her skin and was now fanning it to life. She supposed it felt like that because of the bacteria cats always seemed to have in their claws. It made their claw marks always hurt horribly. Someone had pressed some unmade shirt against the wound to stem the bleeding, though it wasn't helping much. Blood was still trickling down her leg slowly, it was dark from the amount there.

She limped into the infirmary and took a seat on one of the beds, waiting. She had always hated the hospital-like atmosphere of the infirmary. It smelled of herbs and salves that were strange and tickled the nose. Though she supposed it probably smelled better than the actual hospitals they had had back when the adults were alive. Back before they had abandoned the town after it had been over run by the growing forest. She swallowed hard at the though and blinked quickly to keep tears from coming to her eyes. Instead a pounding came to her head and a burning lump to her throat. She hated fighting to cry, it always seemed to hurt.

She looked up as a younger healer came by and gasped at the look of the wound on her leg and shook her head. Hayyel smiled and said that it wasn't that bad. That she could barely feel the pain. But that was a complete lie. The burning had now spread slightly and turned into a stinging throb. Hayyel hated herself for being so stupid to let herself get clawed.

Words: 311
Muse: Rally Good
Song: She's Country- Jason Aldean

[Rook Blackwell]

"There," Rook said as he offered a smile to his tiny patient. A girl, no older than seven or eight, smiled back at him. "You should be more careful from now on." he said as he looked over her injury. It hadn't been too terrible to handle. She had fallen from a tree and broken her tibia. Nothing too serious, bet serious enough that most of the other healers had wanted Rook to take a look. All he had to do was realign the bone, reduce the swelling, and then apply a splint. "No more falling out of trees, okay?" he asked as he lightly ruffled the girl's hair. She laughed softly and nodded before taking up the wooden crutches that had been prepared for her. Rook turned her over to another healer to give her some medication for the pain before stretching. Pain shot through his right arm, but he ignored it. He was used to the terrible aches and pains that he had experienced for the last six years. Today, was a rather good day. He was well enough to walk with out the aide of his cane. Speaking of walking, he thought to himself as he saw a familiar figure hobble in.

Rook walked over to his new found patient and glanced over her, his expression forming into a frown. Rook had known Hayyel for a good portion of his life. She had been part of the Hunters back when he was still fit to hunt. Seeing her injured was somehow more disturbing. "What got to you?" he asked, his mouth slanting to the side as he inspected the gushing flow of dark red blood. A venous bleed, high chance of infection, most likely going to need stitches, Rook thought as he examined what he could see of the wound. He looked toward Hayyel, and something for the pain. He turned toward the younger healer and titled his head toward the closet where they kept their supplies.

"I'm gonna need bandages, anesthesia, antiseptic, suture and needle." The youth nodded and walked quickly to get the materials that Rook needed to treat his patient. While the other healer was away Rook turned his attention to Hayyel. How did she get injured? She was supposed to be the best hunter. Though, even the best can make a mistake. He scratched the scar on his left cheek at the thought. He hoped that she wouldn't end up like him. Hoped that she wouldn't be broken like he was. "How are you feeling?" he asked, it was his usual question when treating patients and, like always, there was sincere emotion behind it.

[Hayyel Crawford]

She looked up as Rook approached her. She smiled up at him but there was a wince hidden in that smile as a shooting pain arced through her calf. She noticed he was without his cane today. Good, he was probably feeling somewhat better then. She sighed as he looked her over and she tried to control her breath that was slightly elevated because of the stinging sensation in her muscle. What had got her? That was a good question. Once upon a time they would have so easily been able to identify these animals, but now they were becoming so ugly and mutated that they no longer looked anything like what they used to. Luckily they still had some of the behaviorisms of their old selves.

"I think it was a cat of some kind," she said in a calm voice. She was used to being hurt, it hadn't happened recently but in her youth she had gotten hurt a lot. She had learned it was something that came with the job of being a hunter. Those ugly monsters got to you every now and then. But this time it was just plain stupidity that had gotten her hurt. Her heroism had gotten in the way of her rationality.

As he asked how she was feeling she chuckled and answered, "I feel really stupid. I shouldn't have taken the risk." The cloth had been peeled off and as she looked back at the three nasty cat scratches it reminded of the three on her chest. Only these had gone deeper since they had more flesh to rip into and the muscle was open for the world to see, a purplish gleam seemed to shine underneath the glow from the sun that crept in through the window. It was disgusting and hurt like a sun of a gun but she could deal. She had to right?

Words: 318
Muse: Good
Song: Selena Gomez- A year without rain

[Rook Blackwell]

"Probably shouldn't have." Rook said, nodding in agreement as he inspected the wound. He ruffled his hair, causing several locks to fall over his left eye. If he was going to inspect it closely he couldn't go about it with his left eye making everything seem hazy. With it safely hidden behind his hair he closed it as he knelt down and grasped Hayyel's ankle. The attack had ripped through several layers of muscle. "But, if you hadn't done it someone else would have. They probably would have ended up worse off than you." he told her as he finished his inspection. It would take quite some time for the muscle to knit back together. Probably longer than Hayyel would be willing to sit still. Just as soon as he finished up the other healer came back carrying the things Rook had requested on a wooden tray. Rook straightened up, his joints popping in protest as he stood. He nodded for the boy to sit it down.

Rook glanced at the implements appraisingly. All of the Children's medical supplies were jury rigged from the materials they had available. Most of their medicines were salves of some sort refined from sap and other natural cures. Their thread was the same sort that they used to make clothes, though with a few variations. Luckily, their needles were left overs from when their families were still alive. Rook placed his hands in a small pan that had been brought along with hot water. He washed his hands throughly and dried them before touching any of his supplies. He reached down and picked up the first of the medications, a bottle of alcohol. "This won't hurt too much." he said, as he began his procedure.

Rook had told the truth. After Rook had applied the antiseptic and the local anesthesia the minor surgery had gone rather painlessly. It hadn't taken more than ten minutes for the anesthesia to completely numb the wound and another fifteen minutes for him to stitch up the wounds. "See, not so bad." he said as he began to bandage the wound with the gauze that he had been provided. Once they were properly in place he surrounded them with another layer of bandages to prevent the others from being fiddled with. As soon as he was finished the boy from earlier returned with a water basin. He sat it before Rook and then took the wooden tray with the used tools and medicines away to be sterilized and preserved. "It wasn't as deep as I worried it had been." he said, as he began to wash his hands again.

"It was still pretty bad. It'll probably leave a scar. Shouldn't be too bad though. " he added as he flicked the water away from his hands and dried them with a towel. "I want you to try and stay off of it for a few days. It'll be a few weeks before your one hundred percent again and if you keep over exerting yourself it might be a few months. I'll try and drop off some medicine for the pain for you later on." he said as he threw down the towel and shoved his hands into the deep pockets of his flowing black coat. He knew that his directions would be given little consideration. Hayyel lived for the hunt, telling her not to go out would be like telling the sun not to rise. Besides, she also had to deal with the Protectors as well. Being bedridden, as much as Rook hated it, was not an option for her. He would have to go out and gather something that was a little stronger than their usual pain killers for her if she insisted on going out and about.

[Hayyel Crawford]

Hayyel frowned as he went about his work and watched the dust in the sunlight out of boredom. It really was something she felt no pain with, all she felt was the tug and pull as the thread moved through her skin and pulled it closed. It was almost a weird, dissociated feeling. She didn't like it and she almost felt like pushing him away and saying that she would be fine, but she knew that he was merely doing his job. As he stood back she tested the leg by putting a little pressure on it. She still felt the pain but it was numbed mostly.

Then with the grace of a predator still showing in her movements, the hunter stood and winced but that was all the pain she showed. She looked over at Rook and said with a lowered voice, "You know I can't do that. Just give me some strong pain killers so I can go out tomorrow. Or something that will just make me not notice it. It'll be fine." She thought she knew everything about everything. But of course that was normal for most teenagers. For some reason Rook wasn't like that anymore.

She guessed it was because he had been hurt so badly in the fight with the bear but she didn't know. It could be because he was bitter at the fact that he couldn't move around so much and hunt anymore. But of course she shouldn't assume things about someone she no longer knew anything about. He had changed so much, he was a completely different person now. She wasn't even sure if he was the name he masqueraded as. Was he just someone who pretended to be rook and used some typed of magic to conceal his identity? No, that was just ridiculous.

"If you can't give me anything strong enough just give me something and I'll deal with it," she said, her voice firm and cold.

Words: 338
Muse: Awesome
Song: N/A

[Rook Blackwell]

Rook knew that she wouldn't listen, he didn't expect her to want to go out the next day. His brow knitted together at her comment. How irresponsible could she be? Had he been like this when he was a Hunter? So reckless and focused on getting the next kill that he didn't care what happened to his body. Whether he had or hadn't the attitude irritated him. Hunters could not appreciate just how often the escaped death or serious injury. A fire ignited within Rook, it raged in his belly, though he tried his best to hold it back."If you don't stay off of it for at least a few days you're gonna undo all the work I just did. The wound hasn't even healed all of the way. If you go out there you'll open up and start bleeding. Hell, you probably wouldn't have replaced all of the blood you lost today. Believe me, no matter how numb I make you it won't help if you start bleeding again."

Rook had changed since the hunt. He didn't think he knew everything like all of the other teenagers. In fact, he frequently told others that he was just a novice when it came to healing, despite his position. He sought out information, hungered it. Unlike so many that thought they knew Rook wanted to know. Things that were once so important to him barely meant anything him. Hunting had once been his life. It was everything to him. Many thought he was even more hunt crazy than Hayyel was. Now... It was just a nuisance. It was a way that people got hurt, how they got killed. Hayyel had been lucky. If she had been almost any other Hunter the cat probably would've torn them to shreds. Rook was completely unaware that the others thought it was strange for him to act the way he did.

The cold tone Hayyel used on him just caused him to snap. The temper he tried to suppress so often flared up, turning into a raging fire. He scowled as he straightened up, standing at his full height. Even though Rook didn't go on hunts anymore he was still one of the most intimidating of the Children. He topped the charts in both height and size. "Hayyel, if you don't stay in bed and let that leg heal I will make you stay in bed. Broken as I am I can still put you in the dirt if the mood strikes me." he said as he looked down to match her gaze. Rook was no leader but when he assumed his role as a caregiver and doctor his words carried the weight of mountains and despite his injuries he was able to back up much of what he said.

[Hayyel Crawford]

She raised an eyebrow at his first statement, the beginning where he told her what wold happen if she continued on her way. But that little speech wasn't what caused her brow to raise, no it was the slight flare of the Hunter in his eyes that caught her gaze. Perhaps he wasn't some scared old man. Perhaps he really still held the predator within him, perhaps he was just holding it at bay. She didn't understand it though. Why would he try to hold the beast inside, it just wasn't worth the grief.

Then he straightened and seemed to grow angry. The scent of danger whipped about her. Something told her she shouldn't be doing this but she didn't listen to that little voice. Instead she just focused her sea green eyes on his red ones and narrowed them in a glare. She felt no fear but she knew perhaps she should. She stood up to her full height that was easily over shadowed by his. And yet still she showed no signs of backing down. She fought bigger and nastier things than this every day and killed them almost every time.

"I do not fear you, Rook, and not because you are broken but because I fight things far worse than you and win. I am not afraid of whatever you will do to me. I will fight you just as strong as I fight them and perhaps give you a few more pretty scars," she said this all quite low and cold, deathly serious. She didn't even sneer when she said 'pretty scars' because unbeknown to him she found scars very pretty. They showed great strength in ones character. "So do your worst, doctor. But remember this I will win." She was practically begging to be taken on. Her eyes danced with the challenge. She wanted him to fight her on this. As always it was all about the battle.

Words: 330
Muse: Great!
Song: N/A

[Rook Blackwell]

Rook suppressed a smirk as she spoke to him. So she thought she could win just because she fought monsters. Had she forgotten that Rook himself had fought those same monsters just as she had every day of his life? She had probably forgotten that he had been one of the contenders to become the next Lead Hunter as well before his accident. As he looked down at her, their gazes locked in a battle of wills, he wondered how it would feel to take her down and show her that she was not the all powerful hunter that she thought she was. All it would take was a few moments for the anesthesia to wear off and a bit of his miasma. He shuddered at the concept. A fight, battle, it had been so long since he had drank in the thrill of combat. A shudder ran through him at the delightfully terrifying thought. A wisp of the black mist trailed from his lips, his emotions activating his corrosive abilities.

"Can you really call them worse than me?" he asked, almost crooning the words. "Remember, I killed them just as easily as you. That, poor girl, makes you and I alike in the sense that we are both more monstrous than you and the others would like to think." Rook tried to hold back what he used to be. Tried not to become the battle crazed boy who simply wanted to burn the word to the ground. Yet when other's challenged him he just couldn't help it. The world went black with rage and he just turned back into that boy. The mention of his scars didn't help his temper. Simply gawking at them for too long often upset him but now that he was walking the fine line it was simply another nudge towards the edge. The miasma within him bubbled to the top, it's acidic properties beginning to eat through the clothing.

It raised from his body like steam, small tendrils dancing in the air. Holes appeared in his jacket, slowly as he continued to match his gaze with Hayyel. This girl just pushed his buttons somehow. Maybe it was because he saw a lot of himself in her at times and feared for her safety. "Your only victory will be making me break my oath as I break you myself." His mind turned toward images of violence and blood as his eyes seemed to smile at the concept. He was ready to strike the girl right then and there, initiating their ensuing battle. He had lost track of the world around him, his senses focused on his quarry. That was until he heard the sound of coughing. Rook looked away from Hayyel and caught sight of the girl he had treated earlier. She coughed viciously and Rook raised a brow. He glanced around, noticing that the mist he had been releasing had spread through out the building.

The sight had been like a punch right to the gut. There was nothing Hayyel could have done to him that would hurt as much as the sight before him did. He sucked in a breath and placed his hand on his face, the miasma ceasing to leak from his body. Calm down, he told himself as he looked down. The miasma had eaten through his shirt and pants. Holes dotted his jeans and the buttons that held his shirt together were now scattered across the floor. "Stay in bed," he muttered halfheartedly, guilt overwhelming the feelings of anger.

[Hayyel Crawford]

She shivered as he seemed to go into that predatory mode. His eyes turned dangerous and his mouth creeping into a vicious smirk. She shivered at the thought of what he promised to do to her. The promise to hurt her, to 'break' her. And yet this shiver was not one of fear, it was one of delicious pleasure. One Hayyel had never felt. No man had challenged her before. She was a better fighter than any boy or budding man in the Village. Yet, here was a crippled nineteen year old causing her to desire to kill and rent and tear... there was something else there too, she just didn't recognize it. That unknown feeling made warmth pool in her stomach and an ache grow for something she needed. But she could not soothe the ache, for she had no idea what she needed.

All she knew was she wanted to fight this man, to see if he was good enough. Good enough for what though? To beat her surely, yes? Or was it good enough for something else? So much confusion and she hated it. But then the black mist rose from his body, creeping out toward her she inhaled clean air before the fog began to tickle her arm. She held her breath readying herself. Her sight sharpened to focus on him, to pin him down where he was in case he attacked, and a curved dagger slid from its arm sheath into her hand. But he didn't attack. The girl started coughing and then he almost seemed, sad and guilty?

Why would he feel so? The power was a part of Rook, it was who he was. He could not control it. She frowned almost as if in saddened by his reaction. As if she wanted him to attack. But then as the mist cleared and she could see better, she saw his ragged clothes and the flashes of bare skin shown to her by the open shirt. She couldn't stop herself, her gaze raked his form hungrily, lust easily seen in her eyes. But then as she realized what she was doing she was utterly lost. Why had she been doing that?

Hayyel quickly began to bring herself back to the earthly world and began to flip the dagger in her palm like it were a toy and not an eight inch instrument of death. "What the hell? Why do you feel so ashamed?" she practically sneered the words. He was showing weakness and the predators did not look for weakness in a... no that's not what she was thinking was it?

Words: 441
Muse: SUPER AMAZING! <3
Song: N/A

[Rook Blackwell]

Compassion, that was what had changed in Rook after he had been hurt. He had learned to care for others and had learned that the world could not always be saved with a weapon in hand. Rook had given up the way of the sword in favor of caring for others. He forsaken his prowess in combat and instead focused to save lives rather than destroy. Rook hated being weak but if his compassion had made him just that... he would accept it. Without compassion to temper strength people were little more than animals. He wondered if the Hunters knew that. They said they fought for the safety of their people but was that true? Rook had been one of them, had known the pleasure that battle brought. He also knew that most of them simply fought just to fight. Hayyel was a good example of it, she hunted simply for the sake of hunting, to sate some strange hunger.

When she spoke Rook glanced toward her, his eyes haggard. Many of the other Children considered him older that he should have been. His eyes, in that moment, reflected it. They were tired and worn down, but the defiance that he always carried with him flickered behind them. "So I should be proud then?" he asked as he raised his hand and pointed at the little girl. "I should take pleasure in the fact that my carelessness could have gotten her and everyone else here sick, could have brought the building down around me, could have killed them?" he stressed the last of the questions. He lowered his hand and then shook his head. "Hayyel, I gave up fighting long ago. It's not what I do anymore." he said as he glanced toward the window and allowed himself to think back.

His injuries had prompted him to take the path of a Healer but his new sense of self had confined him to the path. He could have become a hunter again. Not the sort that specifically hunted monsters like most of the more skilled ones did, but a hunter none the less. "I'm a healer now." he said, more to himself than to Hayyel. He had been so focused on his thoughts that he had completely missed Hayyel's gaze. Not that it would have mattered if he had. In his last state he probably would have summed it up to her measuring him up for the battle she had expected. He wondered what she thought now that his habit of thinking things through had robbed her of the battle she had wanted so much.

[Hayyel Crawford]

As he spoke she winced as the feeling was coming back into her calf. but she ignored it, though her body did tilt onto her uninjured leg more. But Hayyel refused to back down from this. She had to make him see. Had to show him that it wasn't who he was that he should fear. Instead he should fear the others around them and what they were doing and planning, after all, after what Hayyel had learned about someone screwing with the animals it wasn't paranoid to think that anymore. IT was in fact smart, trust only those you knew you could trust.

She practically growled, her throat narrowing and vibrating so lightly few would hear it, "Perhaps you should not be proud of the fact that you cannot control your powers with your emotions, but you should not be ashamed of it! It makes no fucking sense to be ashamed of something you can't change! Something that is a part of who you are, body and soul! It will never change no matter how much you want it to! People and powers don't change just because people want them to, only when they are truly forced to do they change... you have yet to be forced to your limits." She had pointed the dagger at him almost as if she were offering to force him to his physical and emotional limits herself, but she decided against it and angrily shoved the dagger back in its sheath and began to limp out of the building.

Every time she moved she winced and hissed in a breath but she did not look for help. She was not sorry she had done what she had done, she was not sorry she had cussed and said what she said. Hayyel was just like that, always speaking her mind no matter what. She reached the door and looked down and over her shoulder, almost as if to hurt him more she said with an exhausted sigh, "You may be a healer on the outside but the Hunter still lurks beneath."

Words: 252
Muse: Great
Song: N/A
OOC: Sorry about the curse word, just felt right.

[Rook Blackwell]

Rook sighed as Hayyel spoke. Her words opened up wounds that he had thought healed up long ago. In the past six years since becoming a Healer he had never thought about whether or no he was doing the right thing. He didn't give hunting much thought and was happy doing what he believe was right. But Hayyel... She just seemed to tug on his heartstrings in the right way. He found himself second guessing the decision he had made when he was younger. When she directed the knife at him he was tempted to take her up on her unspoken offer. He needed to see if fighting would give him the same pleasure it had used to. Part of him didn't want to. He didn't want to go back to being the person he had been before the injury. Why am I letting this girl get to me? he thought as watched her sheath her blade. He watched as she turned and walked away.

"You think that I'm ashamed of my powers?" he asked as she walked away. "I could care less about them. What I do care about are these people. What I am ashamed of is how I've hurt people and how I've treated them in the past. You can't honestly say I was better then... I was a terrible person." he said as he watched her walk away. He turned, still feeling the aftershocks of anger ripple through him and the weight of his own guilt weighting down on him. Damn that girl, he thought to himself as he went to attend to his next patient. Hayyel had just one more comment to shoot back at Rook though. He stopped as he her words pierced his skull and rattled about.

Still a Hunter...

Rook mulled the thought about as he stood there in his shredded clothing. The patrons of the infirmary looked at him and then towards the door. Seeing a fight between two Heads... It wasn't very reassuring. Rook didn't seem to notice their discomfort though. He was busy sorting through his feelings. He loved being a Healer. The feeling of helping someone, being bent over a broken body and working with all his might just to hear the sound of breathing and see a smile. Those things made his heart flutter and gave him a sense of purpose he hadn't felt when he was younger. But back then he had been so free. There were no restraints and the sense of power he felt after a kill was intoxicating. Rook sighed and he ran his hands through his hair, brushing away the locks that had covered his left eye earlier.

He hated this. Why did a conflict like this have to come up now. He had made a decision on who he was and just as he grew comfortable in it his past tried to draw him back. It didn't help that he had completely changed since then and his past wanted him to be as he used to. Rook brushed his fingers against the red feathers that were in his hair, a treasure from his first kill. "Damn bear," he muttered, blaming the bear for his current problems. Rook stepped forward and made his way towards a small room in the back of the infirmary where the Healers slept when they were on duty. Before he could even get halfway there a young boy ran up to him carrying a small bag with Hayyel's named scrawled across it.

"I brought you that medicine you promised Hayyel." the child said with a wide grin. Rook held back a sigh and faked a smile.

"Thanks," he said as he took up the bag. He figured he should bring it to her sooner rather than later, less she attack him randomly in her home. Rook performed an about face and followed after Hayyel to give her the pain killers she would desperately need the next day.

[Hayyel Crawford]

As she walked out into the light she squinted her sea green eyes and sighed. She then began to limp toward the bridge. But the pain was coming back full force and she felt even more now because of where the needle had punctured her skin. It was just too much, the pain, the loss of blood, the fight, and the annoying confusion. For some reason, whether it was just one of those reasons or all of them combined, they had thoroughly kicked Hayyel's butt. She was exhausted to the extreme and her head spinning around in dizzy circles as if she had been hyperventilating for hours.

Finally, her body decided it hated her and completely ruined her great exit by giving out on her. Her brain decided it was sleep time and she seemed to freeze, then swayed for two seconds, and then with still some amount of grace she collapsed. All she could remember thinking was how stupid it was that she didn't get to hunt the rest of the day. It was ridiculous that just because she had met Rook and he was in a foul mood she was fainting. Perhaps it should have been called passing out, it sounded more honorable.

As her eyes closed, a warm darkness encompassed her body. Not like the beautiful light that comforted her when she meditated, no this was the darkness of sleep and all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep in it for her entire life. Just sleep and relax, be happy and never feel the strain or stress of another fight or kill. Sure she loved the rush of a kill, but something about it had always hurt her. Especially when she knew the animals that she killed had once been the kind she had loved so deeply. A little voice spoke up saying it didn't matter anymore, they weren't like that anymore and she was putting them out of a world of hurt and pain when she took their life.

Words: 340
Muse: Good
Song: Haven't met you yet- Michael Buble

[Rook Blackwell]

Rook made his way through the infirmary, the other healers and patients looking at him as he did. It was rather rare for Rook to lose his temper and seeing him now in the aftermath of it made those that were old enough to remember think back to when he had been a hunter. They averted their gaze from him as he drew closer to them however, pretending to go about their business. The Lead Healer forced down a sigh as he pulled open the door. The light of day caused dots to dance in front of his eyes and he found himself blinking to banish the obstructions. One oddly colored dot wouldn't seem to fade though. "Damn eye," he muttered as he rubbed his left eye and walked forward. As he approached the bride he soon found that the red dot had not been a dot at all. Laying near the beginning of the bridge was the red headed woman who he had just gotten into an argument with. Rook dropped the bag of medicine he had been carrying around and ran toward the woman, his knees popping and screaming in protest.

The fight that had occurred was all but forgotten by Rook. Hayyel was no longer the girl who had just dug her way under his skin but his patient once more. He dropped to his knees and quickly checked her pulse, grabbing her wrist and placing his fingers upon her radial artery. He cursed under his breath at the weak and thready feeling. She's lost too much blood and getting into that argument probably didn't help, he thought as he placed her hand back on the ground. Rook slid his arms beneath Hayyel and shifted as he attempted to gain his footing. His tattered body seemed to protest for several moments before obeying Rook. He grunted as he lifted her off of the ground and stood up. With Hayyel now in tow he turned around and made his way back toward the infirmary, leaving the medicine behind.

Rook, surprisingly, made it back to the infirmary rather quickly. He shouldered his way into the door, sending it flying open. All eyes were on him as he carried in the unconscious Hayyel. He carefully picked his way through the beds that lined the Infirmary, returning Hayyel to the bed that she had been placed on earlier. He sat her down on the cot, his body offering up a protest that was dully noted but ignored. "Get me some blankets and prepare to treat for shock." he said as he looked toward the other healers. The ones that weren't going about treating patients obeyed and quickly did as he had ordered. With several blankets presented to him Rook placed one under Hayyel's ankles to elevate her legs, redirecting blood to her core, and then covered her in a blanket. He wished he could have done more but they didn't have the technology available to preemptively treat shock. All Rook could do was sit and wait and hope that she came to.

Rook took up a seat and waited by Hayyel. Even though he had put the argument out of his mind he found a single thought coming to him. "If I hadn't really changed I would've just left you there." he found himself saying to himself softly so the others wouldn't have been able to hear.

[Hayyel Crawford]

After she had laid there for a while she began to twitch. Her mind was no longer the place of warmth and comfort and darkness. It had turned cold and hard. There were images of her friends and loved ones crumbling away from her, dying horrible death and falling apart. Her eyes rolled back and forth underneath her eyelids and she whimpered. She couldn't help them, she wanted to help them so badly. Then suddenly a voice spoke, far away and muffled but she made out the voice the deep tones of a male. And with a vicious upward thrust she yanked herself out of the world of nightmares and found herself sitting up in a bed covered with blankets.

She glanced around, nervousness in her eyes. For a moment she wasn't the Lead Hunter. No, for a few seconds she looked like a lost little girl, the little girl that was forced to grow up far too quickly. But then as she realized where she was and who was around her, the nervousness faded and she once again became the warrior she had become. It wasn't a mask, it was just two sides of her. One she only showed to those she cared for, and there were few of those people anymore.

Hayyel, sighed and rubbed a growing ache between her brows. Then she glanced over to the side, noticing Rook for the first time and nearly fell off the bed. Righting herself she looked at him with wide eyes and said, "What kind of greeting is that? To Find someone hovering over you is not the nicest way to wake up! Geeze, why are you even here?" Her voice wasn't cold just confused and slightly hurt, not physically but emotionally. The images and the fight still lingered in her mind and she did not want either of them to start again. Though it was always interesting when Rook got angry.

Words: 329
Muse Great
Song: How I got to be this way- Justin Moore