someone to patch you up

who: pandect and kayos
where: his clinic
when: another time, another place

"Come on ma caille, just a quick second," Pandect said, keeping the smile in his voice. It helped if he kept the smile in his voice. He tied a quick knot and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead to keep the sweat out of his one good eye, leaving a streak of blood across his face. He didn't notice, he had too much work to do. This last raid had been bad. Everything was bad now, but he had given up trying to run away, there was no where left to run away to. Sometimes he thought people might have an idea there was something funny going on with him, but only the good ones. The smart ones. He kept himself tight up, like a clam, hadn't had his wings out in years. "Someone get her a blanket!" He yelled over his shoulder before squeezing the young girl's hand once, tightly (she was a beautifully thing, all regal angles and dark skin, even under the dirt and blood from the attack) and moving on to the next hunter, soldier really. It was like the trenches all over again. The hunt had gone bad and all the soldiers had come tumbling back into their holes to get patched up again.

His rapidly graying hair glinted in the bare bulb hanging from above the make shift medical bay. Garniers aged well, but his life was hard now, and he worried, every day. His scarred body, his clawed out eye, could attest to that. But at least he still had his sense of humor. Pandect needed it. He could be out fighting, it would almost be a relief to... he wasn't going to think like that, no time for pity. But he could only see out of one eye and his left arm hardly worked anymore, and besides, hardly anyone knew how to do decent surgery nowadays. So he was a medic. He cleaned his needle with a practiced move and stepped up to the next bed, pulling out his pen light. Merde another kid, why did they always send him the kids? "Hello mon lapin, follow the light real fast and I'll get you sewn up and good as new," he grinned, cheerful and teasing like this was hardly more than a scrape, like the sight of a kid bleeding didn't make him want to throw up.

Kayos was hurt. Again. And after Maleigha went down, it was a lot less easy a fix. Having healers around was awesome when you were taking bullets to the shoulder. But that just wasn't the case anymore, and so when little things like bleeding out became an issue, you found someone else. Which meant finding the clinic, which meant talking to D.

The guy's name was Pandect, which she'd never gotten over being a weird name. So, she'd started calling him Dect, and then eventually, over time, it had just dropped down to D. She zapped herself into the building, the coordinates she always used. It was a closet, someplace people didn't generally go, so she had less possibility of teleporting into a bed or something which really, was going to ruin everyone's day. This time she got there well enough, and then wandered the halls, looking for the guy. She had her arm held in close to her frame, and she'd had a towel wrapped around her wound so she wasn't dripping everywhere, but she definitely needed medical attention.

She found him downstairs, and didn't interrupt his work on the kid. In fact, she just sort of silently stood by, and handed over anything he needed with her good hand and arm, not drawing attention to herself in the slightest. Kids she was happy to have take priority. She wasn't lightheaded yet.

Pandect had gotten good at working quickly, it was necessary now that thing had... taken a turn for the worse. "Need more iodine," he yelled over his shoulder after tucking the kid in, and sneaking him some pain killers when he wasn't looking. What was it about hunters? They acted like a little low grade pain medication would demean them. He turned to thank whoever had been handing him the tweezers. And surgical thread. And the pills he had snuck in and nearly jumped. He took Kayos' chin in his hand and held up a finger for her to follow, "Mon fifille, what have you been doing standing there while you bleed?" He liked the girl, and she had a talent for ferreting out whatever cellar or warehouse he was able to set a clinic up in. "That towel isn't even clean!"

His hands were callused from nearly three hundred years of hard work (one of these days he was going to have a midlife crisis, he just knew it) but gentle, as gentle as he could make them. Once he was confident she didn't have a concussion he moved to her shoulder, applying pressure just above her armpit to slow the bleeding and have carrying her to a bed that had just been cleared of its occupant. "How many times do I have to tell you to be careful? You give me gray hairs, this one right here," he pointed with the hand not stemming the blood flow to demonstrate before pulling out guaze and switching it out for the towel. "Darling," he said gently and half kissed the air above her forehead as he reached for the needle and thread. (he had learned better than to waste time removing a bullet during the war). "Any other wounds I should know about?"

"Nice to see you too, D, nope, no need to thank me for helping out with kidling there." Kayos said drily, though there wasn't any actual bite to her statement. He kind of always went mother hen on her, and she somewhere deep down appreciated it. She glanced up at his hair when he accused her of greying that one, and quirked a half smile. "D, I have it on good authority that that was totally gray way before I got here today. It's been gray for minutes now.

At the question about any other wounds, she shook her head. "Nothing life-threatening." she told him. "I mean, I've got a wicked case of carpal tunnel, but I think that's just not so vital as the whole bullet wound and all, so..." she trailed off. "You're not going out yank the bullet?" she asked, noticing he was going for the stitches thing first. "I really don't want that in my shoulder...I mean, I can try and dig it out myself if you don't have time, but that's gonna be really awkward."

Pandect sighed and reached for was was essentially a modified pair of needle nosed pliers. He had stopped complaining, there was a apocalypse going on, although he would have felt better with real forseps. "I'm more concerned about you bleeding out than a bullet left inside, I still have six still in me and I'm fine," he winked at her. "You want any pain meds? Someone sent in a crate of celebrex that hadn't gone bad yet, its not really strong," he took her hand in his left one so she'd have something to squeeze down on while he started in after the bullet and kept talking to distract her, this would be harder to do if she was tense.

"And of course I have some of the homemade stuff that Tom drops by every once and a while, but you know I have to test that first, because, of course, I worry," he pulled the wound open gently and used a clamp to keep it that way. She was starting to squeeze on his hand. Not that he had much feeling there most days anyway. Oh, how he hated this part, he wished he could just magically make her better, safer, somewhere else. "But the celebrex is still pretty decent it'll take the edge off, and if I ever hear that you have preformed any sort of makeshift surgery on yourself..." he gave her a severe look that was ruined somewhat, by his mothering (he'd never have a chance to have a family now, he had to make due with what he could) and the worry he wasn't doing a good job hiding.

She squeezed his hand hard, gritting her teeth as she tried to think of oh...anything that wasn't metal being shoved in a wound to dig out more metal. Too bad it didn't work out that terribly well. "Fuck..." she ground out, tears sliding down her cheeks in response to the pain, even if she wasn't openly sobbing. She drew in a deep if shakey breath, and tried to talk, to keep her focus away from the pain. "No painkillers, I never shoot as well when I'm on them and fuck---" she broke off, her grip on his hand trembling and as tight as she possibly could hold on. "Fuckfuckfuck---I....I never shoot as well and I need my focus and jesus christ are you removing a tank?"

Pandect bit his lip and pulled the bullet out with a quick jerk, "I could've just left it in, I hope that was an experience you couldn't lived without. What is it with you hunters?" he nearly growled, well as close as he ever got to growling. "Do you want to keep the bullet?" he asked, releasing the clamp and brushing her hair out of her face quickly with his free hand before gauzing away the blood. "Some people do," he painted on the iodine someone had put on one of the tables beside him quickly and got the needle and thread back in his hand. He could feel Kayos squeezing his hand hard, but he was used to it by now, he'd had hunters come in full of debris and had insisted on going through surgery awake. And he didn't really mind the pain so much, anything to help her feel better. "This won't hurt near as bad, I promise," Pandect said gently, bending over the girl protectively (since he had no right, and honestly wouldn't be listened to if he asked Kayos, begged, that she would take a rest, a little rest, just stay here where it was safe) as he sewed her up with neat little strokes. "When's the last time you ate?" Pandect said. He was a little loathe to break into his secret muffin stash, sometimes it was all he'd have to eat for days. But Kayos was looking peeked from a little more than the pain.

She didn't answer him for a few moments, basically just dealing with the pain. Or, in her case, sniffling and trying not to burst into hysterical tears over the pain, which was easier said than done. She did want the bullet--she kind of had a collection. 'The ones that didn't kill me' collection. They really mostly looked like shapeless little lumps of metal, but she did in fact have them. Maybe she figured one day she'd re-mold them into the angriest bullets known to man and only shoot people who she really really wanted dead with them. Or maybe they'd just sit in a little box in her backpack and never do anything but be reminders of what didn't kill her. "Yeah, I'll take the bullet, D." she said after far too long a pause, reaching up to wipe at her eyes. "And I don't know." she admitted. "It's been just a liiiittle hectic. Don't worry 'bout it, I promise I'll get something soon, kay?" she offered, wishing her voice didn't have that tremor to it.

"Ah, mon fifille," he said gently, with that little smile he seemed to wear everywhere, like an extra piece of clothing. He held her face gently in his callused hands, wiping away her tears with his thumbs and kissed her on the center of her forehead. A quick tender kiss, that couldn't be construed as anything other than brotherly affection. He had the strongest urge to bring his wings out and wrap her in them, but of course he couldn't. "Little darling, you are not so old yet that you must rush about without taking care of yourself. You push so hard, you will kill yourself this way, and break my heart. Please, humor an old man and take care. Stay here, where I can keep an eye on you a little while." He slung his medical bag around and dug through until he found a muffin, his last one and cupped her hands around it. It would just be black coffee then for the next couple of hours. Maybe days. Pandect wasn't quite always sure how long he would be staying up. Probably the same with Kayos, she had pushing herself hard since Doc had died. Had gone crazy the two days afterward, killing every demon she could get her hands on while Pandect had tried to stay at a safe distance and patch whatever scrapes she incurred. He had liked Doc, even if he was a little too much like Mache. For one thing the man fought with Purpose with a capital p. Pandect recognized the same look in both of them, Doc and Mache, it was the look that said 'what I'm doing is The Right Thing.'

And just like Mache, Pandect was left over to pick up the pieces so to speak.

"If I make you a sling for that arm with you wear it?" he said, stepping back and washing the bullet for Kayos before holding it out to her. "I can whip one up in a couple seconds," the lights flickered over head and he made a face at them. "I'll tell you what though, I'm looking forward to moving the clinic. There's an old hotel at the edge of town that might work. Probably infested by hobos though." Quick conversation to try and distract her from the pain.

"Yes, D." Kayos answered him, taking the muffin, but she tore it in half, and set the other one out for him. "I'll wear it." Right now she'd need it, she didn't feel like that arm was going to be useful for a while. When the lights flickered, she looked up as well, not looking overwhelmingly pleased. "....you might have to move house again soon." she said. "The hotel might be good. Hobos need love too. Or...who knows maybe they'll help if they can. Or maybe they'll rob you blind. Be firm with'm, D. You can get authoritative when you want to." she said. Then she looked back over at him. "I could go shoo people before you head there."

The sappy moment was over, for which Pandect was glad, people didn't heal in the midst of drama, not well. He ate his half too quickly for his taste buds to say anything other than 'Hey that's a muffin, I think we like those.' He was used to people hollering for him. "Thanks darling, give me a second and I'll get you something."

He ducked over to the supply closet, only stopping once to set someone's broken nose (it only takes a second to do, just kind grab hold, straighten and dodge the fist) and rifled through the bin of extra cloth. They were old ruined clothes and pieces of ruined sheets and whatever else they could find, Pandect's clinic was all about using what's available and settled on a square of grayish cloth, something that wouldn't give Kayos away if she found herself hunting. On the way back he also snagged a marker they used when things were really bad and they needed to mark the people coming in and one of the old notes lying around with the list of supplies he had needed. Maybe it was his sometimes 34 hour day, but the old scribbled on pieces of paper seemed to be breeding like rabbits. He drew up a quick map for Kayos, just a set of lines that wouldn't help anyone it hadn't been explained to, that was the best way to draw maps nowadays, you never knew in whose hands they'd end up.

Kayos looked a little better now she had time to compose herself, and Pandect smiled at her his usually little grin before handing her the quick map with one hand and moving in on her shoulder with the other. The sling was quick and sturdy work, his specialty, with the knot shifted so it wouldn't wear over her wound. "How does that feel?"

She shifted to move her arm a little, and nodded. "Fine." she said. "...thanks, D." she added, voice a little softer. She took the map he offered her and looked it over, thinking it'd just be easier to get coordinates and teleport in rather than walk it. But either way, she was committing it to memory, just in case. Teleporting anywhere blind wasn't a good thing to do. It could kill her really damn fast if she fucked up. Pocketing the map, she looked back at him again. "Need anything before I head?" Even if she'd thought about resting for a little while before she went back out, she now had the business of trying to make it safe for the clinic to move, so...back to work.

Pandect ruffled her hair a little and grinned at her, "Just take care of yourself, and make sure you eat something before you bed down tonight."

"I'll try to." She said, not promising anything, though that was mostly because she wasn't sure where she'd be sleeping or when. So who knew if there'd be food around. "When's the latest you can move camp?" she asked. Just so she would have time. Really, she planned on clearing the place out as soon as she left here, but just in case there was real trouble with that, she might as well figure out what her timeframe was.

"Not sure how long it'll take to clear these folks out, I'm sure they'll be just as anxious as you are to go out and get themselves mauled again," Pandect joked, only half serious. He had accepted the fact that apparently everyone over the age of three was apparently trying to kill themselves at his expense. "Even with the more serious wounds, it should only take a couple of days at the most. The worse we have right now will be able to be moved in a couple of days. And the truck's a pretty smooth ride."

His old (used to be orange) truck was the only car in the fleet right now after the Chevy had been blown up. But it was a smooth ride, nursed to near silence, and a whole lot less obvious than a refurbished ambulance. "I'll want to check your wound in a couple days anyway, and by a couple I mean two," he gave her a look. "We can move then, I don't know if this location can last that much longer anyway."

Kayos nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get it done, and stick around so you can poke at my shoulder and give me stern looks and mild language." she said, offering a half smile. It was tired. She was tired, but then again, she always was. "Guess I better get re-locating." she said, standing straight and she tested the range of movement of her arm again, biting on the inside of her lip to kill a yelp that she wanted to give. "I'll see you soon, D." she said. And she hoped that was true. Too often there were sentiments given of seeing someone at a future time and they didn't make it there.

"You know I'll be here," he took a second to roll his one good eye at himself. "Well, I'll be where ever the clinic may be. At least until people stop trying to kill themselves in horribly violent ways."

"Medic!" someone screamed from the doorway and Pandect was three steps over before he could think about it.

"See there they go now. Take care mon fifille," he said, patting her gently on the head as he passed before going to sew someone else up.

Kayos watched him go, quietly thankful that he was there at all. That there was someone to go to when she was shot. So yes. She was glad D was sticking around, and still had a smile to give. That was getting rarer. There wasn't a whole lot in the world to smile about anymore, but he always had one for her. She even appreciated his mothering. "Later, D." she said quietly under her breath, and then she blinked out again, onto her next impromptu mission.