[PRP] Kentucky Fried Mink (Preacher & Mercer)

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah had to smother a chuckle, some part of him relieved that she was at least at that level of alright.

"It would probably take more than just a few bear traps to catch Ezra, Preacher." He leaned back in his chair. "Are you thirsty? I can get you water." Then he was quiet a moment before he finally answered the first thing she had said.

"I could sense it," Jeremiah's voice was low. "That something had happened to you and it lead me to you." It had been a different feeling all together, one that had been worse than when Algie had had a bad day or when America had been low-key wanting protection.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Water'd be good. Everythin' feels kinda both hot n' cold. Feels dumb." She really, really wanted to move. Preacher glanced down at her hands, only to see nothing but bandages. One leg was exposed, as well, and lifted up so it could be immbolized.

She sighed, feeling woozy. "Ya got some kinda ambulance sense? I dint know that... I was expectin' a fight, but..."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Something like that," the ambulance sense, "it is still a particular thing I am learning about." Jeremiah pushed himself up from his chair, moving to a side table where there was a cup and a straw waiting. Water was poured into it, room temperature, and carried back. He held it out for Preacher to take a drink, though mostly assuming she would have to sip the straw and not hold it given the state of her hands.

"It is Ezra," he said lowly, "nothing is ever quite as simple as a fight."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher took a drink, feeling weirdly sick that someone had to even hold the ******** cup for her. "Well, I mean I texted ya, right? I thought it was gonna be a proper throwdown, but he-" Her voice cut off, her throat tightened. She coughed. <********', h-" Again, her throat closed and with it came the sensation of burning. It started in her fingers, spreading upwards and circling around her throat like his hands. It was everywhere and it hurt so much she could only whimper between gasp of air and forced out syllables as she tried to speak. ******** him and his shitty side-show of a self.

"s**t!" She cursed loudly, failing out and hitting her hand on the railing. Immediately, she jerked back, trying to curl around her hand even though she couldn't. Preacher forgot about trying to talk about Ezra and breathed in great gasps of air, trying to remember anything but pain.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah was nodding, listening as Preacher started to talk and then wasn't. His eyes widened slightly in concern as she started to gasp, the explicative that escaped not surprising him but then the whimpers-

"Preacher, do I need to get someone?" Not that someone wouldn't be in with the way her heart was fluttering and surely she was in pain. He was standing, half-caught between turning to leave and call someone and not wanting to leave in case she needed something.

His brow was knit with worry, concern written all over his features.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I can't-" A gasp, then another. A nurse bustled in since her pulse had spiked dangerously, shooting him a quick glare. Slowly, she uncurled Preacher, speaking to her in low tones, and injected something into the I.V.

Preacher just lay there for a moment, the occasional twitch belying her desire still to curl into a ball. She swiped at her face with her arm, a slow, pained movement. "Boss," she said, finally, voice low and still shakey. "I don' think... he -" She choked up again and she stopped immediately. "It burns. I can't... I can't talk 'bout it." Preacher felt so stupid and dumb; tears were in her eyes. Everything... hurt.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah held his hands up at the nurse, the universal gesture for not at fault. Not that it mattered, between his eyes and is reputation he was still given the stink-eye.

It faltered, at least, when the nurse saw the expression that was on his face once his attention went back to Preacher. His brow was knit together in concern and worry, watching her. Once she was gone, he was closer again, fingers stretching out and then curling into a light first. It was when she spoke lightly that he couldn't help it.

His fingers rested, lightly, against the top of her head and brushed the hair from her face before he sighed and pulled his hand back. "I was worried you would say something like that. He did something similar," his voice was low, "to someone else. They had an encounter and afterward, they could not talk about it. It's a geas essentially and it will hurt you every time you attempt to speak of what he doesn't want you to talk about."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"That is stupid!" she burst out. "He, he -" A shudder racked her whole body and she closed her eyes tightly for a moment. Normally, she might have swatted his hand away, but not now. "It ain't somethin' what should be kept secret! It's important!"

But she didn't try to force the words out. Instead, she looked at her hands. The geas made her feel even more violated than she had before. It made her want to take fifteen showers. "How can I get rid o' it - it's important."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"You can't," Jeremiah said quietly, "not unless he revokes it." He looked to her hands and the rest of her, the injuries that she had sustained. It gnawed at him, the geas gnawed more so.

"Even then, I'm not certain. Regardless, it means he wants no one to know of what he's doing."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I'm gonna kill him," she hissed furiously.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Preacher," Jeremiah sighed, "he nearly killed you. If you're going to act against Ezra, you need to be ... fire proof.

"Or look for a method around the geas. There are counter methods for all types of magic, likely one exists for a geas."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Well, ********, if firelord ozai hisself figured out how ta be fire proof, I kin do it, too." She sighed noisily. Couldn't do much from a stupid hospital bed, she thought.

"Well, d'ya know how ta counter it?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I am as well but it is in part due to becoming part of the nobility and in part ..." Jeremiah's expression was blank. "I believe due to the nature of my tithing. I've been in this position, Preacher." Though it was worse and he could not still place all the time lost to being burnt and bedridden in other ashdown.

"I've no solid knowledge, only theories. I do know who I could ask to see if breaking it is possible however."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"So if ya immune to his fire s**t, stop him." She couldn't say how to stop him or what to stop him from doing, although she wanted to yell it from the rooftops. Normally, she'd have been a bit more tactful, but everything hurt and everything was stupid.

She sighed. "Whoall can I talk to, then?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I would, if I knew precisely what he was up to but then who is the say that I can even act against him? There is magic woven into the Charter that prevents the nobility from acting out against each other." A hand rubbed across his face before he sighed.

"Noeh, you could speak to Noeh." He did not always refer to her as Minerva. "She understands magical contract law and is, in truth, one of the people responsible for the creation of the original Charter."

The Semblance of Unity