[PRP] Call Me, Beep Me (Chester & Preacher)

[Smerdle]

He headed back to their rarely used downstairs bathroom with a nod, his tendency toward being overly prepared carrying on as he grabbed most of the bottles present. Chester returned with Tylenol, Advil, Aleve, and a glass of water, lining them up near the baggie. "I think we've got tea too, if you want."

He sat next to her, leaning in to get a closer look at her back. "You'll be excited to learn that that sting you're experiencing is directly related to this glass. You're pretty bruised up too." He kept his tone unremarkable enough, but his anger prickled at the sight of her injuries. This time he pushed it down, finding it far easier to do so without a car ride to simmer through. "I should probably get a towel and some water and... band-aids at the very least. Those big ones. I think there are a few around here somewhere."

The Semblance of Un!ty

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She cursed. "I dunno if excitin' is the word." She twisted, letting out an involuntary groan at the movement. Her good arm reached up around her back, smacking Chester accidentally. "Can't reach it ta get it all out. Like I need more ********' scars." Preacher's voice was raspy.

"Think if I get patched up I'll be okay. I ain't lost this many ********' fights since I was eleven." Preacher grimaced and massaged her temple. A headache was coming on, too. "Sorry ta keep on usin' you."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He jumped a little at being hit, shaking his head at his skittishness soon after. Or maybe it was at her.

"You're not using me. If you hadn't texted, my evening would have been entirely too ordinary. I need regular reminders that the world is ending or I'm liable to forget." Chester sat straight again after his cursory examination, sighing through his nose. He was being entirely too cynical, considering the circumstances. "Sorry. I'd honestly prefer to come and find you when things go wrong than to hear you've been burned alive and not know why." There had been a short stretch of time after she'd been taken to the hospital when he had been a bit more concerned than he deemed appropriate. This was better.

"I can take the glass out if you'd like. I'm just not sure we should do it here."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Am totally usin' you." But she let it drop. "Yeah, like... I... can't talk about the bonfire thing. Magic bullshittery - believe me, I tried." Even now it made her skin tingle. Preacher felt kind of bad - she didn't want to keep Chester in the dark. Despite being, in general, a fairly private person, she would have told him if she could. It had probably been a shock for him to discover he'd been listed as her emergency contact. Oops, Preacher probably should have asked.

She sighed loudly. "Yeah, we can do it on m'bed. I ain't care about tha sheets n' it's prob easier to do it when I'm layin down." Her throat was feeling marginally better with the water, but it was bruised to hell and back. Preacher creakily began to get up. "You comin'?"

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He nodded and rose to follow, his anger dulling some with no real target to focus it on. Later he would think on this exchange with an exasperated shake of his head as the twelve-year-old portion of his brain giggled at everything she'd said from beds to sheets to laying down, but in that moment he remained the adult he kind of was. Chester grabbed all of the bottles he'd brought, as well as her water, and followed Preacher upstairs.

"It's all right. Jeremiah told me a bit about the geas. Or at least one that he's under. I'm assuming there are a few. I'm actually assuming more than that because I don't want people injuring themselves just to tell me things I could probably guess. So... long story short, don't worry about it." He stepped away for a second to grab Neosporin, towels, and bandages, then he made his way into her room.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"There's prolly eleven hunnerd geas in play at tha moment." She snorted. "I dint injure myself-" Preacher paused. "'kay, maybe that depends on ya point o' view. But you know what I mean." He probably didn't, but she always did have a habit of throwing the first punch.

When Chester entered her room, she was already face down on the bed. There was a new mark on her back where a piece of glass in her sports had sliced through her as she dragged it over her head. All in all, it wasn't pretty, but if she was lucky, none of them would scar terribly. "Feelin' crunchy with all tha glass in me. I gotta bother m'boss later on, since this ******** was like Kuroda. So he's either got a ********' split personality or this is damn magic. He can rot though, so it can wait 'til tomorrow." She yawned, feeling both more awake than she'd been in the cab, and sleepier.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Chester approached almost cautiously, like Preacher was a wild animal rather than a topless girl he was expected to touch. He supposed in some ways, she was both. He kneeled near the bed rather than trying to find a spot to sit on it, laying out a towel to hold the bits of glass and keeping the one he'd ran under the sink in hand to wipe up the blood.

"Okay. I'm starting," he said, picking at the first piece of glass several seconds after his warning. He proceeded slowly and carefully after that, and when he spoke it was in a monotone of concentration.

"I feel like all of the options are equally as likely around here. After he was done, he just left? Did he say what he wanted?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher sucked in a sharp breath as the first bit of glass was pulled out, but after that made no noise, preferring to bite her lip viciously instead. It was really just that fact that it was pain on top of other pain that made it worse. Don't move, she told herself, don't think about it. She was going to owe Chester big time, again, and boy did that sure feel shitty.

"He wanted me ta be afraid of him. Called me a 'prey animal' n' s**t. Like I ain't been called worse." She snorted. That sort of thing was positively tame compared to her fosters. "I dunno tha ******** is goin' on - sounded like he was tryna absorb m'fear. ******** for him, since I ain't got fear of anythin'." The only indication that she was in pain was the way her bare feet flexed as he pulled out glass and the way, sometimes, her muscles jumped under his hand.

"Guess I should be glad I ain't got glass in m'front."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Even if she wasn't glad, he certainly was. This was difficult enough without actual nudity thrown into the mix. Not that he wouldn't have tried to help anyway, but... well... he didn't want to think about that right now.

Chester laughed to himself, a huff of breath across her skin. "He definitely chose the wrong person if he wanted fear," he muttered. He worked in unintentional silence for a few minutes after, pausing when he thought he might have hurt her, but not for long. The sooner he got this over with, the better. When he was finally done, he sat back and examined his work.

"That's the best I can do for now. You should get some rest." He was planning on staying up and making sure Detective Kuroda didn't get inside if he got it into his head to show up at their front door.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She groaned. "Nope, don' wanna." Preacher sat up awkwardly, the movement made even more graceless by the fact that she had immediately crossed her arms over her chest. The movement made the cuts on her back pull and she grimaced.

"Want ice cream n' kool-aid. Can ya hand me that shirt?" She pointed at a green pile of clothing on the floor. It was a shirt she didn't really like so blood wouldn't be an issue. Plus, she knew how to get blood out of clothing. "Yeah, I dunno why 'e picked me. That whole flight or fight thing? I ain't got much flight in me."

smerdle

sorry chester

 

[Smerdle]

With how quickly he turned away at her surprise near-flashing, Chester already happened to have his eyes on the pile of clothing when she indicated it. He reached for the shirt at ridiculous speed, holding it out for Preacher to take, all without looking at her. He was still his normal color, maybe even a bit paler than that.

"You don't. You're not one for backing down." Or resting, apparently. He sighed, though it took so long that it almost sounded like a normal exhale. "I guess it's time for ice cream and kool-aid then? I'll get it?" Any excuse to step away long enough for his statements to stop coming out as questions.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Whoosh, whoosh," she commented dryly. But still, she awkwardly wrestled the shirt on, only whimpering once in pain.

"I dunno, is it time? I dunno, can ya get it?" She watched his back. "I ain't a baby, I can-" She stood up from the bed and her vision whited out for a moment as every muscle in her back and arm protested. Preacher stumbled and managed to sit back down on the bed heavily.

She sat there for a few moments, eyes closed and breathing heavily. "Gimme minute."

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He was almost through Preacher's door when he heard her fall back onto her bed, her pained breaths audible even from where he stood. Chester stopped, swallowed, and mentally scolded himself, shaking his head faintly. He might have been terrified of angering her with his inappropriate interest, but nothing should have dissuaded him from helping her get some stupid ice cream a mere two hours after she had been strangled in an alley.

He crossed back to her bed, crouching at her side. "You're not a baby. If you'd like some help, I won't tell anyone." Chester smiled ever so slightly, tilting his head in a silent question.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

She cracked open an eye to stare at Chester. He was just trying to be helpful. Preacher shifted her leg, knocking it into him. "Gimme a ice cream, valet boy. I'll get ya back sometime." It was easier to pretend to be high and mighty than say 'help me'.

smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"All right. Wait here."

He was only gone for a little under a minute, setting off another patented baby elephant rampage as he assaulted the stairs. When he returned, Chester held a pint of birthday cake ice cream and a spoon.

"Unless you want the other kind."

The Semblance of Unity