night 18

[maege]

[hahaha yeah so about all that murdering

the deed is done though and Mae kind of—half-staggers at the gymnasium, clutching her side, thinking maybe she ought to do something about that wound there but the nurse's office is so far away? and she could just go to bed? and bleed out there??? it would be nice.

surely, she figures, it's safe to take her time in the halls. what would anyone else be doing around here this time of night am i right???? (spoilers)]

Comments

[maege]

Yeah, all we've gotta worry about over here is sharks, clever us.

[REAL CONCERNS

but yeah, okay, off to the nurse's office they go, and Mae definitely makes Kaiba press the elevator buttons because she doesn't understand the elevator, and she sets to quick work tearing apart cabinets and drawers of q-tips.]

—Gotta be something in here somewhere... You're tall, help me out.

[sometimes cabinets are rude enough to have high shelves]

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[well, hopefully some people didn't use up all the gauze, or at least there's those little medical fake staple things, or a bunch of Dragon Tales bandaids or something?? He's pulling down anything that seems at least somewhat useful]

[maege]

[being a mod means i get to make the call that there are definitely dragon tales band aids but like, bad knockoff ones, to avoid copyright infringement. but there's also gauze and disinfectant and all that good stuff among q-tips hell, and Mae is setting aside some bandages that she picks out of the drawers]

Bad news. No camouflage print.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

Or good news. The Mandage^TM market is wide open.

[he grabs some knockoff fairy princess ones and some paper towels to add to the pile. luckily, Kaiba knows at least basic first aid, or at least he read some Web MD articles, so they've probably got this]

[maege]

[wheezy laughter]

Mandage.

[unfuckingbelievable

meanwhile Mae fights in a literal actual war, so she knows pretty much exactly what she's doing here, except for the fact that she's also from the year negative two thousand and doesn't know how to disinfect anything more thoroughly than with water?? she is doing a solid and steady job getting that far anyway, even if wrapping her own torso while holding her shirt half-up is going to be a pain, but conditions have been worse]

You good?

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[webmd says water is fine for this, and if nothing else infection's not gonna be what kills them before they get home

also, it would make 100 percent more sense to wrap each other's torsos while holding their shirts up, just saying, either way they can check each other's work and then add some fashionable off-brand band-aids]

...Questioning the wisdom of a lot of my decisions this evening, but other than that.

[maege]

[that makes way more sense actually and if they DO get caught everyone else gets to look at the bandaid handiwork, but Mae is going to give herself a couple moments to stubborn through it because she hasn't made a single good decision tonight, better not start now???]

Yeah, well— [sssiiiigh] You and me both, pal, but it's already done with.

...Aaaactually I don't have enough hands for this, help me out?

[if she ever actually admitted she needed assistance to Boey he would develop and start bleeding from a stress ulcer on the spot]

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[Note that Kaiba has said fuck and all about attempting to wrap himself up, just struggled and scowled through the cleaning process before taking a break]

[but yeah, he will go take a look]

Just hold this--

[he indicates her put pressure on the matted gauze, then has her stand straight so he can tape it into place and wrap bandages around it just in case. he's efficient, given the circumstances, but he pulls pretty tight]

[maege]

Got it, thanks—Oof. Watch iiit, I'm already bleeding, do I need to start suffocating too?

[but yeah, this is close to standard fare at home so she knows the drill, acquiesces to all the necessary standing and holding, despite the incredible effort involved in standing both straight and still while both dying-ish and drunk-ish. how could anyone ask this of her.]

Need a hand with yours?

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

Maybe a little. You should've watched who you were running into earlier.

[that said, while he doesn't pull any less tightly, he does at least attempt to not pull MORE tightly]

And...

[look, the answer is quite obviously "yes", and while he's light-headed enough to consider answering, it's tough to get past the scowling phase]

[maege]

Seriously? Look, I am sorry for overestimating how good of a swordswoman I am and being kinda panicky, come on.

[but she kind of raises an eyebrow at him while that wraps up (heh), then makes a big show of rolling her eyes.]

Take a seat, I got it.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

--You know how you can magically get a touchdown from the other end of the pitch or whatever that basketball thing is? Part of me is mentally programming how to ruin you through the internet for what you've done. It's--distracting, to say the least.

[he continues frowning as he sits, pulling up his shredded shirt so she can work]

...I'd add you to a ton of mailing lists, find your home address and give it to some anonymous tip lines for some government agencies, maybe claim you're a meth lab or an underground dog fighting ring so the police will bust your house, or your parents' home. File taxes with your ID or open a million credit cards under your name. ...It's stupid, because I am very rich and could use any number of more efficient ways to ruin someone. But all I can think about is using one of those services to mail bags of glitter, or gummy phalluses.

[maege]

What. Wait, what does that have to do wi—

[oh my god no he's not ending at the touchdown thing, he's still going, she was in the middle of unraveling some gauze but he keeps talking and she just stops, and stares at him, and keeps staring, and she is a greedy sinner unfit to ask the Earth Mother to bless her with patience but she is doing so anyway because he just keeps going what the fuck. she does not come from a time in need of a proper mail system, the extent of her government-related understanding is "the princess is my bff," there is a lot of specific terminology here that is just well beyond her and she cannot piece any of this together for the life of her. who are the police, what's the internet!!! please send help.]

...Kaiba? Kaiba. Kaiba. Kaiba.

[crouching down some so she can meet him at eye level exactly hurts, but by god is the effect necessary]

Tsumugi had to explain running water to me on, like, our third day here.

[...]

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[he opens his mouth]

[he closes his mouth]

...

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[he doesn't cross his arms but only because is difficult to do at present]

My title. It will have to come into play at some point. Just so you know.

[god, hopefully no one expects any emotions from him, they are the worst]

[maege]

...

The...dragon fanboy thing?

[she doesn't understand the situation any better but at least he's quit monologuing long enough for her to actually start bandaging him up, ultra careful because usually there's more blood and less booze in her when she has to do this and she doesn't wanna fuck it up]

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

Yes. Usually I don't have such--enthusiasm.

[says the guy who made a dragon theme park with a dragon-themed outfit and a dragon-shaped jet]

[maege]

...Oh. Oh! Ohhhhhhhhh.

[gods fuck shit she forgot about the dragon thing]

Okay, well, you've already somehow managed to put up with me this long. [a sigh, though, because she can't even be sassy about this] Look, I just—I couldn't not do something after the stupid stick I got and I was kind of hoping I'd find more or less anyone else, but, you know, sometimes that doesn't happen, and that was one of those times.

[huffs, then sighs again]

...Not...Gods, not that any of it's an excuse. This too tight?

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[#dragons #neverforget]

...It's fine.

[which--apparently is the only response he has to any of it, and honestly isn't all that bad of one as kaiba responses go; better than monologuing, anyway]

[maege]

[is it better than monologuing, though? is it?]

It better be—I mean, the last part better be, 'cause suffocating you becomes more of a problem what with all that rib cage in the way. Seriously, take a big breath and tell me if that feels okay.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[it is faster to type, at least]

[he does take a big breath and it hurts and it sucks but nothing like falls out or anything, so shruggo]

...Maybe I'll just take small breaths. The bandages are fine.

[maege]

Okay, well—As long as you're sure it's wound hurt and not compression hurt. They're your lungs.

[buuut with that all taken care of she's gonna half-collapse into a chair again, running her hand down her face now that she's all clean]

...If dragon killing is a deal breaker on the cover story front, honestly, that's cool. [buuut she sounds kind of reluctant saying it] If it makes your inner Ultimate Dragon Fanboy feel any better, though, whatever...internet meth dog thing you've got planned isn't gonna compare to how deep the dung I've dug myself into at home over this is, so, whatever.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[he sits back, hand drifting to his card locket]

I... None of this matters anyway. So-- I appreciate that you were honest with me. I don't want-- It's not a deal-breaker, I mean. ...I wasn't going to tell anyone at home about this part.

[maege]

[she just kind of half buries her face in her hands at the way he says none of this matters and makes some pathetic whimper-laugh noise, thinking that that could at all be the case for her; cool okay that was a good short while of everyone here pretending to be vaguely put-together]

Yeah, well—I mean, I wasn't gonna not tell you, geez, you've put up with me for this long.

[...]

Would be cool if that's how it worked, but— [and she is just drunk enough to follow up with,] What, you're just gonna go back and deal with it on your own?

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

That seems to be a pretty rare philosophy.

[and maybe he is still salty about the last trial, but hey, it was just a couple days ago, so. plus, he's just drunk enough to give an incredulous look and an honest reply to her other statement as well]

What, you're gonna go back and blab all about how you dreamt you were in this crazy facility where you all voted to kill each other and you think anyone's ever going to trust you to do anything again? I can't tell anyone about this. It's...this is too much.