[CLOSED] I've fallen and I can't get up

[pickedpocket]

Who: Garrett (pickedpocket), The Knight (voidbug), Tobias (hawkwardness), and Ekkehardt (spelleton)!
What: Garrett gets dragged to the doctor, hilarity ensues
When: After the Complicity/Independence fight
Warnings: Injury, Violence, and a distinct lack of Gratitude



Though he would like to be sharing in the triumph of Jonathan's decisive blow against the many-limbed Aspect, Garrett instead finds himself in a position as equally compromising as when he first got here - weakly dragging himself across the ground with one hand, and clutching at his ribcage with the other. At least half of his ribs are broken, potentially fractured, and his leg looks like someone twisted it into the most creative position they could think of before jamming it into a meatgrinder for a laugh. It takes far more effort than he likes, but he's able to lean himself up against a large chunk of nearby rubble, wincing when he catches a glimpse of the bloody trail his broken leg has left behind.

Any medical support he could possibly call upon is too far down the mountain for him to crawl there in time, and crying for help would hurt his pride ten times more than what the rest of him is going through right now, plus it's unlikely anybody else has stuck around the battlefield this long. He could roll down the mountain on his side, maybe? The thought manages to get a chuckle out of him, rapidly devolving into pained coughing as his ribcage protests against his recklessness.

"...how the hell am I going to get out of this one..."

Comments

[voidbug]

[This giant lizard was their new bestest friend and they loved riding on top of it through the mountain. Probably the most fun they had all day actually.]

[Too bad it was cut short by something up ahead. They sat up straighter to get a better look at it. The trail of blood was already a bad enough sign but it seemed whatever was making it was still alive, based on movement. ...And then they finally realized who it was. Well, then.]

[They leaned forward and tapped the alligator on the snout to get its attention. They're not sure how to steer this thing but they should make a stop other here. ...Assuming the gator wasn't going to do that already.]

[hawkwardness]

[He can smell the blood, of course. It's a blessing and a curse, to be a predator that actually has a sense of smell and taste. Now he knows far too much about human blood. He has an irritatingly large blind spot though--that's one big ol' nose. Something... someone is there, he's just not sure where. He turns a little to the left, trying to spot whoever it is.]

< Where are they, little guy? Am I warm or cold? >

[pickedpocket]

No. No! Why here, why now?! And the alligator that was fighting the mound of writhing flesh, too...it was just a mount for The Thing?!

"...damn it-!"

Garrett attempts to push himself further away from his imminent reptilian demise, using whatever subtlety he has left in him to unsheathe his dagger and use his positioning to properly conceal it. There's nothing he can do to escape either The Thing or their mount...but they'll need to get closer to truly finish him off, straight into stabbing distance.
If he's going to get out of this alive, his first move is going to have to be dealing with these two imminent threats...!

[voidbug]

[Well they can't really say what the direction was, and pointing is not really going to help either. They can sort of tug, but the gator was so big. All they could do was their best in this situation.]

[But sooner or later when they get on track and much closer they will hop off and take a few steps more. Garrett was attempting to get away because of course he was, they hadn't put two and two together that the reason was because of them or the alligator yet.]

[But other than closing the distance no other advancements had been made, yet. And staying conveniently away from stabbing range. If they really wanted to cause harm they would have done so by now.]

[hawkwardness]

[Movement attracts the gator mind's attention, naturally, and he wants to both roll his eyes and smack himself in the face. Of course the dude thinks he's about to be eaten alive.]

< It's okay! It's okay. I'm a Daybreak student who can, you know, turn into an alligator. We're here to help, don't move! >

[How to pick him up though... That's going to be a problem.]

[pickedpocket]

...of course they can talk. After everything that's happened in the past few weeks, a talking and supposedly-shapeshifting alligator is quite possibly the least outlandish thing he's been exposed to against his will.

"Name...and dorm room. Now."

Of course, he trusts this individual as far as he can throw them - they're clearly in league with 'Ghost', so at this point all he can hope for is buying more time to enable some kind of miraculous escape. Perhaps rolling down the mountain isn't such a silly idea after all...?

[voidbug]

[........Honestly they don't remember what their dorm number is. They know where it was, but...]

[And already been over the lack of name too.]

[They just tilt their head at these questions. Sir do you want their help or not?]

[hawkwardness]

[Do they really have time for this?! He can smell blood, he assumed the guy was already dead, and he still doesn't know how to carry a person down the mountain... questions will only distract him.]

< Tobias. Aube, room 302. Do you have a phone on you...? >

[pickedpocket]

As expected, the answer that this 'Tobias' gives does little to assuage the young thief's fears. They could have been Jailbreak in an elaborate costume, and he'd still be far from willing to trust them due to their blatant allegiance with The Thing. Maybe it's not the perfect proof of hostility, but Garrett's made far too many mistakes in his youth to second-guess his judgement now.

"...y-yeah, it's...in my left pocket-!"

It takes almost no effort to force out another painful round of coughing, flecks of blood spattering the stone beneath him to sell the wounded gazelle gambit. The grip on his blade tightens, hidden from view - he doesn't have enough strength left in him to lunge, so his only shot is to be patient and let them take the bait...

[voidbug]

[They jerked away from the cough. It startling, and a bit gross. They weren't completely familiar with how 'phones' worked yet but they did understood it somewhat. ...And they were the only one that could actually pick it up, so after a lot of waiting and hesitation, they finally went in to get it. A bit nervously.]

[hawkwardness]

[Tobias the hawk might have been able to see it coming. Tobias the alligator doesn't have nearly enough detail vision to tell. All he knows is that he can smell fresh blood.]

< Okay. Take it easy, dude. Try and hang on. We'll call for help. >

[pickedpocket]

Garrett grits his teeth as he hears the approaching pitter-patter of The Thing's footfalls, years worth of instinct screaming at the young thief, demanding that he make as much distance between him and It as possible. He wrestles his subconscious into submission with what little willpower he has remaining in him, holding his ground until the absolute last possible second before 'Ghost' manages to lay their appendage on him...!

"...gh-!"

As far as desperation attacks go, it's highly sloppy and uncoordinated, nothing but pure adrenaline and grit propelling the dagger forward into The Thing's centre of mass...but it'll do. It'll have to, right now.

[voidbug]

[Sloppy as it may be, it was left field enough that it still landed a hit and caused a plume of black smoke, and they dropped the phone. Hopefully not actually breaking it]

[It was not fatal, but the amount of darkness leaking out was extreme enough for one so small. The particles might even look familiar enough to those who saw the dream. They were trembling, not unlike a frightened and wounded animal might be. Not quite unlike their time dealing with everything wanting to tear them limb from limb.]

[They were no longer thinking so clearly, only doing whatever was necessary to stay alive. In this case, wrap tendrils around Garrett to pin him down and hopefully unable attack again. Although depending what happens next, those tendrils may tighten even more in attempt to crush him.]

[hawkwardness]

[A gobsmacked expression on an alligator looks a lot like someone's about to be eaten alive, mouth opening a few inches and dozens of teeth showing...

What. The. Hell.]

< What are you doing?! Knock it off, both of you! Let go of him, he's already hurt! You're on the same side, geniuses! >

[He's just too damn big to separate them without crushing one or both of them, and that's terrible. So... he's already shrinking.]

[pickedpocket]

Whatever sense of victory he gets out of the clean hit on 'Ghost' is ultimately short-lived, their choking tendrils wringing out what little life is left in him. The still-clean blade clatters to the floor with his phone, and it's a monumental task for Garrett to even get a choked noise out, let alone actually put up resistance.

Damn it all, he's come this far, he can't go out like this...he can't...!

[voidbug]

[They were afraid of letting go, least they got stabbed again; even though the knife was no longer a threat. But something was also just telling them instinctively to run as well, thus they were currently stuck in a conundrum.]

[It was only because of Tobias' voice ringing in their head that they came back to their senses, indicated by them raising their head higher. The tendrils loosen and snapped back to them as they leapt backwards to create some distance again, either still expecting some sort of retaliation and danger or perhaps they were finally aware of the damage they caused. Landing in a sort of fighter pose with both feet and hand on the ground, just in case they really did have to run or fight.]

[Of course, the pose starts to falter before long. They went a bit more limp and leaned forward, and tried to reach for the stab wound to alleviate some of the aching.]

[At any rate, Garrett made it pretty damn clear he did not actually want any help, and they would need a whole lot more coaxing to even get near him again.]

[hawkwardness]

[That's probably for the best. For about ten seconds, the gatorbird almost looks like a real live dinosaur--a big reptile with feathers sprouting out of his scales, as he shrinks and his front legs elongate into wings. Alligator to bird is one of his cooler looking morphs... not that anyone can appreciate it right now.]

< God, I hope he didn't just do himself in. Are you okay, little guy? > [He wills the morph to go faster... what he needs are eyes with good enough vision to read and text... hands are not necessary, he has magic. He mutters something to himself and behold, there are ethereal hands, which he uses to scoop the phone up.]

[pickedpocket]

Garrett hits the ground like a sack of rocks, triggering another violent coughing fit as his damaged ribs cry out in agony. He makes a valiant attempt to bite out some sort of curse towards The Thing's general existence, but the most discernible thing to come out of his mouth just ends up staining the stone beneath him further.
As far as he looks, the most harmful thing the young thief is capable of at this point is spitting blood in somebody's eye - his dagger is just out of arms reach, easily confiscated should the need arises.

As for the phone, Tobias will quickly find that it isn't locked...and that it is seemingly unused, the home screen completely barren outside of the device's standard applications. Fortunately, a quick check into the Contacts will reveal three options: 'Professor Jailbreak', 'Herald Fortifications', and 'Herald Emergency'.

[voidbug]

[The gash from the knife wound did still hurt a lot, although they would probably be in far worse shape if their anatomy was more closer resembling a human's.]

[More of that black substance leaked around them, but as they started charged up some magic (they had magic?), a white flash appeared and they seemed to stopped 'bleeding'. It is likely that the wound had mostly closed up too.]

[It's still not perfect but they were well enough now to come closer and watch what was happening on the screen too. ...It looked no different from the other phones they've seen.]