Missed Steps and Pitfalls

[Nayt]

"I guess we could."

Kei thought about it for a second, though. Was it really such a good idea? All this time they'd spent trying to find the clinic would be for nothing, as they'd never find their way back to this road again, probably. Or to the clinic again, if they strayed too far from it.

"I think we should just find the place first, at lea--" Kei stopped walking, talking, and breathing all at once in the midst of her sentence.

She stared ahead blankly. This was unreal. They must not have been paying attention, because they were about ready to walk head-on into this place when the road stopped. It was a fairly large place, descript in many ways; it had white exterior walls, red paint lining its doors, cross-like insignias on either sides of every door, the main batch of which was a set of double doors laid out right in front of them, and it was about two stories tall-- but the only thing that Kei paid any attention to was the sign overtop those double doors:

Antigahn City Clinic

She put her hands on her hips. "This place seriously makes no sense."

[adi]

"Pfffffffff--!" Hrothgar stifled a rancorous laugh before it could get too far out of his throat. It would be just his luck that the moment he gave up actively searching for the hospital, there it was. Right where he said it would be, right in front of them!

Composing himself enough to the point where he suffered minimal laughter spasm of the diaphragm, he shook his head in half-disbelief. This place did make very little sense-- and yet it made a lot of sense at the same time. So far it seemed like a city of storybook coincidences. Hrothgar just happened to stumble sleepily into a park when he was at his limit of exhaustion. Those homeless people just happened to be aware of the events of the previous nights. Hrothgar and Kei just happened to find the clinic just as they were giving up hope.

And it just so happened Hrothgar was quite welcome to these just so happenings. They were mighty convenient. He hoped they would still work in his favor as he pushed upon one large door and headed towards whatever receptionist counter there might be. Maybe it would just so happen that the receptionist that day was very kind towards people who looked homeless and let Hrothgar and Kei check on Aiden.

[Nayt]

Well . . . as tiring and disorienting as this all was, Hrothgar had a good point (that he inadvertently communicated, at least). This was pretty hilarious. She might not have laughed so openly, but she certainly smiled and felt the urge to; Kei just didn't give in, was all.

"Hey, Hroth, I just want you to know," Kei paused a second and folded her arms over her chest, "If someone in there just so happens to have Prophecies of the Lost-- I quit."

And rightly so. That would be beyond the point of coincidences and down the road of outright eeriness, like good and bad karma being distorted and turned into some utterly terrifying. Seeing how far that brand of rabbit hole went was guaranteed to end in death. Or worse. They could always been tricked into becoming citizens of Xexoria. There were few fates in the world worse than that.

Last night, Kei and Hrothgar weren't really cognitive enough to gather all the details of the ground floor-main room. They'd been led through here by that guard Jareth in a big fat hurry, and wound up coming out no less confused and tired than they were when they went in. Now, at least, they were awake enough to see some details. The main room was pretty small and seemed to only have a few chairs. This clinic was probably founded on getting people through quickly, as it clearly didn't have room in reception to carry a bunch of injured folk. Reception was also pretty unsanitary; it was dirty and dusty and hadn't been seriously cleaned in awhile. Its white walls and gray floor didn't make it look any better, either.

At the front desk, situated right between two doors into the main section of the large clinic, sat an old lady in a nurse's uniform. She wore a shade of lipstick absolutely taboo for a woman of her age to wear and dressed less like she was clearing 70 and more like she was encroaching on 60.

Absolutely scandalous.

The second she saw Hrothgar and Kei approaching, she suppressed a gasp, rummaged around for a clipboard as best as her fragile old hands could manage, and slid it down her desk to meet the two as they arrived.

"Please, just jot down your symptoms and preexisting conditions!" she exclaimed hastily, "And I'll get a doctor to come take care of you!"

[adi]

"I doubt that will happen, but I agree. It would be too easy," Hrothgar chuckled in response to what he assumed was some sort of joke. Any story worth reading doesn't have everything handed to the reader and every little bit explained, and doubly so for whatever protagonists were within the story itself. The magic was in the journey and interpretation. "It would make for a really convenient and boring story, anyway."

Hrothgar was a little surprised by the uncleanliness of a hospital of all places, but he supposed it made some bit of sense-- Antigahn was a large city, and it was more important for the actual rooms to be cleaner than the waiting area. Or it could be just a crappy hospital, and they chose it because Aiden was wanted alive or dead. Hrothgar doubted that, however, since Hollis had seemed very stern and confused over Aiden's bounty. Hrothgar paused at the end of the receptionist's table, catching the clipboard before it slid onto the ground.

"Uhm, I'm sorry miss," Hrothgar shook his head, holding the clipboard and idly scanning the forms provided. He figured a woman trying to desperately to look so young would balk at being called 'ma'am". "We aren't ill at the moment. We are looking to visit a patient."

[Nayt]

"Oh." The old woman looked confused at first. Then she looked disappointed. "You look like you might have a parasite or something! Especially your friend!"

Kei blinked a few times, taken aback. "Wait, what? Me?"

Well, she hadn't seen herself in the mirror recently, but she didn't imagine she looked too terrible. Not her best. Pretty bad, actually. But not diseased. She tapped Hroth on the shoulder to get his attention and motioned to herself, as if silently asking if she really looked that terrible.

"Well, no matter . . ." the old woman went on as if that mishap never happened.

She ruffled through a few forms in the front drawer, grabbed another clipboard, and slid this across the table to Kei and Hrothgar. Oddly enough, they looked exactly the same as the first forms Hroth was given. The only difference was that a separate part at the bottom of the form was printed on, requesting the name of the patient being visited-- or if a name couldn't be provided, a general description of the patient.

"Fill out these forms right here and we'll get you in for a visit right away," she said merrily.

[adi]

Hrothgar frowned, shaking his head in the insistent way that men had a tendency to when confronted by such a situation. He waved his hand, in a time-honored tradition of men everywhere to communicate to his companion was not at all fat in that dress, or in this case, that she did not look like she had a parasite, haha. The old lady was just... old and senile and stuff and Kei should not take her seriously.

In all actuality, Kei did look pretty bad. So did Hroth. Even though they both had the excuses of the past few days' stress and lack of food-- oh gods, Hrothgar grimaced and subconsciously placed a hand over his abdomen as he took up the clipboard. He couldn't even remember the last genuine meal he had. No wonder the nurse mistook them for patients.

He filled out the bottom section of the form first, though he could not accurately recall Aiden's last name. He left it blank after the "R". He wasn't exactly sure how to fill out the top, or to apply it to himself or Aiden. He opted to apply the questions to Aiden and simply filled the boxes with several polite variations of "cut the fuck up". He returned the clipboard with a smile, thanking the woman for her help.

[Nayt]

Regretfully, Kei had to fill one out, too. She left many blank spaces, such as past and current illnesses, but at least copied the information Hroth wrote in regards to Aiden's name and condition. She gave the old bat her paper shortly after Hrothgar did.

"Ah!" the old nurse exclaimed, "You're here to see Mister Aiden?"

She was suddenly all smiles.

"You're right in time. I heard he's finally awake."

The nurse got up from her desk without a second thought, and forgetting that she wasn't nearly as nimble as she was about fifty years ago, gallivanted on to the door right of the desk, swung it open, and held it for Kei and Hroth to pass through. Once they were through, she shut the door behind them and continued on.

The room in which their friend was kept was just down the hall and to the left. It was a massive room that could comfortably fit twenty to thirty patients, and overload to a hundred if need be. There were at least thirty people in this room, making it extremely difficult to spot their friend, but once they did . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

At first he was only staring catatonically straight ahead. It was impossible to tell what was going through his head--he had the same blank look he'd had before, as though his mind was far from the present.

When he spotted them, though, he couldn't hide his surprise. But neither could he fully articulate it. He couldn't say anything, just stare wide-eyed, as though he had not expected to see Hrothgar and Kei again...

[adi]

Hrothgar had a horrible recognition of names and faces, so searching through the patients was a bit of a struggle for him. Sure, he had been in Aiden's company for a few days, but not all of that time was spent staring him in the face and getting to know what it looked like behind his glasses. In fact, most of the time while Aiden was injured, he avoided looking the unfortunate boy in the face. What if he wasn't wearing his glasses? Then Hroth would have to actively search harder than he already was.

Lucky for Hroth, Kei discovered the boy first. Surprisingly Aiden was awake. Hrothgar had a small feeling of pride that maybe whatever amateur doctoring he and Kei had attempted on that hillside had helped-- or maybe the fact of the matter was that Aiden was not nearly as injured as they initially thought. He raised his hand in a wave as he and Kei approached the side of the bed.

"Heeeeyyy," Hroth hadn't been expecting him to be in much of a mood to talk if he conscious at all. His lack of prepared conversation was evident. "You're not dead! That's... that's pretty cool, right?"

[Nayt]

"Hey Aiden," Kei said as she approached. She issued a warm smile to Aiden, which might have been offset by how grungy she looked right now if she weren't so genuine.

Kei stopped and stood by Hrothgar's side once they reached Aiden's bed. She listened to him try to come up with something to say for a moment, and she ultimately had to cover her mouth with one of her hands to suppress a laugh-- which was slightly audible, anyways.

"I think what he means is," Kei cleared her throat and tried to be serious, but even still, when she glanced over at Hroth upon mentioning him, she couldn't fight back a wry smile, "How are you feeling?"

But seriously, it was great to see Aiden awake and alert. Maybe his wounds really weren't that bad. Honestly, it was impossible for Hroth and Kei to know for sure. When they found Aiden, it was dark and he was clothed. When they stripped him (for the most part) to bandage him up, it was even darker. They never actually saw the depth of his injuries in the light; they only saw that he was covered in blood. A hundred flesh wounds could drench a person in their own blood just as badly as two dozen lacerations to the bone.

[Zach Kaiser]

If I move at all, everything hurts. If Aiden were to respond honestly, physically he'd never been worse in his entire life. While intense bursts of pain were something he was familiar with, the constant aching he was in now was entirely new to him. Without anything to distract him, it was all he could do to not be constantly grimacing and groaning.

He really wished they'd let him have his books.

That was how he really felt. How he responded was with just a shrug. In truth he wasn't sure he could articulate how he felt right now even if he wanted to. Lest they press him on this fact, he asked a question of his own. "What happened?" The nurses had told him where he was, so that was the foremost question on his mind right now.

[adi]

"Uh, well. Kei and I got back to inn after helping this guy move. When we got up to the room, you were lying on the floor all bloody and cut up and not conscious." Hrothgar began to explain the situation. He was sick of telling the story at this point, having gone over it so many times for the details with Hollis the night before.

"The long and short of it, really, is that Kei and I panicked and ended up dragging you all the way here. Here, being Antigahn, that is." Hrothgar shrugged, but offered a smile to counteract whatever annoyance could be found in his clipped explanation. He didn't want to mention that Aiden had been wanted by the authorities, for fear that the hospital or other patients might give him a rougher time for being so.

"But you're alive! I just wanted to check and make sure you were alive, and I've done that. I'm in the process of doing this, and the answer is that you are! Which is fantastic because I would be worried if I was trying to hold a conversation with a comatose body-- but that isn't true because you are awake and---Kei, please say something to stop me before I go into a loop."

[Nayt]

At Hroth's behest, Kei patted Hrothgar on the shoulder as if to quietly tell him it was all right. That he could stop talking now. It was also a passive method of comforting him, though Kei probably wouldn't succeed at that. She'd have to be a miracle worker to de-stress Hrothgar right here and now.

"I'm just really glad to see you're alive and well, Aiden," Kei said with a smile, "I was worried."

About two things in particular. First, she was worried that she and Hroth did a horrible job as amateur doctors and completely ruined Aiden's chances of survival. And two, she was worried that Aiden's chances of survival were pretty low to begin with, with or without "help" from Kei and Hrothgar.

Nevertheless, though she didn't know this boy very well, Kei had put forth great effort to ensure his survival-- and though she didn't know Hrothgar that well, either, he was her partner in these great efforts. Kei already felt pretty comfortable and attached to these two young men, at least enough to wish no harm upon them. She'd probably go out of her way to help them out of a jam anytime, too.

"Any guesses on when you'll be let out?"

[Zach Kaiser]

If Aiden was at all put off by Hrothgar's ravings he didn't show it; in fact, he right now he was showing even less emotion than usual. Either he was committing some serious emotional repression or he was still in shock from his ordeal. Or perhaps both.

What he did show was confusion to Kei. He couldn't understand why she was worried about him, or why they went through so much trouble for him. They hardly knew him, and yet they'd probably saved his life. Did they want something from him? No, he doubted that was it--Kei might have known the value of books but the only one she was interested in wasn't in his possession, and Hrothgar hadn't seemed terribly interested in his collection when he'd gotten to see it.

"A few days. My injuries are...superficial." He grimaced; they didn't feel superficial, but the nurses assured him his life wasn't in danger.

[adi]

Hrothgar wasn't exactly sure what to say-- telling Aiden he was glad he was still alive would be redundant, but he couldn't help but deflate a bit. Had he and Kei really put themselves through all that trouble for something that probably could have been taken care of so much easier if they hadn't bothered in meddling?

He knew it was unreasonable to expect Aiden to be all gratefulness and happy to see them, but it did put a bit of a damper on his mood. Then again, this was not a storybook, and sometimes people who did good things did not always get rewarded for them-- and consequences must be faced. He had almost wished that he and Kei hadn't found the hospital as he was reminded that he didn't want to face the results of his panicked decision in the form of the scarred gentleman.

"Well, that means you'll be out soon, then, right?" he added lamely to the conversation. He was about to add that maybe he would still have time to catch the tail end of the book fair in Ceildh, but he caught himself before he did. It would be stupid and pretty insensitive to encourage Aiden back to a place he was stabbed, no matter how superficially.