text @riku; URGENT; (cw: mention of blood) [open]

[equinoctials]

(Backdated to when this happened during Lights Out.)

If anyone is able to help, we have somebody at cabin grand portal 5 who has lost a lot of blood.
His injuries are closed. I can't do anything about what he's lost.
Is that artificial blood stuff ready to use for something like this?


He was injured because someone experienced hallucinations that started when his lantern started to glow green.
The lighthouse is showing the same light. It's possible Robin might also be experiencing the same thing.


[ Those who know what the Lighthouse Keeper can do if the situation appears to be dire enough might realize the implications. The last thing they need is a powerful hallucination of, say, the arrival of the World Eaters, or the impression there's total chaos going on down here. Just a thought. ]


--------

(added later...)

Thanks. We've got a doctor coming to look at him and someone is checking up on Robin. I'll update this if anything new comes up.

Comments

@shigeru: text

[mysophobic]

My powers might help. I can replenish their blood if there's not enough of the artificial one in stock.

[ But mixing of blood types is a tricky thing indeed. Who knows what blood is available right now either. ]

[equinoctials]

Your powers?
Wish I could say where we're at on the stock or even what type he needs but I don't know.
I'll take whatever help I can get for him. We can work out your payment after.
I don't have much. But I can work.

[mysophobic]

I can breakdown and rebuild inorganic and organic things on a subatomic level. So replenishing and remaking your blood cells is no problem!

And tell him he doesn't have to repay me!! I'm a doctor...it's kind of my job to help people who need it.

[equinoctials]

[ Thank the light, it's an actual medical doctor. ]

I
no i wasnt making him pay you
whatever! we'll work it out later, thanks!

text to action!!

[mysophobic]

[ Did Shigeru misread it then?! He hadn't meant to. ]

I'll be over right away, just tell them to hang on!

[ It's after a half an hour that Shigeru finally makes it to Riku's location. He'll give a few knocks on the cabin door, waiting for the other to answer for him to go inside. ]

[equinoctials]

[ It's habit that has Riku attempting to grasp the door knob with the wrong hand, and after the bone-chilling scrape of claws gouging out fresh marks in the door, Riku buries that monstrous arm in the blanket over his shoulders and reaches to open it with the opposing - and much more human - hand.

He isn't expecting anyone else at the moment, so it means this stranger can be here for only one reason. ]

...Thanks for coming. He's on the couch.

[ Indeed - Skyler, Sora, Langit, he goes by a few names around here, but he's lying on the couch in Shigeru's immediate view, as the cabin is small. His sweatshirt has a significant bloodstain and a tear, but his injury is more or less closed. Link, too, is present. Perhaps, like Riku, he intends on standing by while a professional gets to work. ]

[arsarcanum]

[ Sora's on the couch, pale and covered with towels crusted with his blood, muttering about random things to himself or anyone who'll listen with his eyes still closed, depending on sheer stubbornness and curiosity to stay awake. Say what you will about his ability to filter himself, but at the very least his inability to keep his opinions to himself is keeping him conscious at the moment. ]

- Anyway, I think like in '79? '80? John Madden left the Raiders to go into TV or something? Which I guess was fine, there were a bunch of really good video games named after him - uh, I can probably show you what a video game is later, maybe, I'll ask Hana - but after that the Raiders lost their streak, which was a bummer. Flores was a good coach but he had a lot on his plate and I think everyone was pretty disappointed when Madden left, so when he didn't get them to the Superbowl the next year -

[ Link is either not listening or trapped by the fact that Sora hasn't exactly explained what the Oakland Raiders or even the NFL are, but now seems to be a good time to interrupt his extremely blood-deprived rambling. The knock at the door appears to be enough to stop him, thankfully. ]

Someone at the door? [ He is still prone, still has his eyes closed, and is frankly a little sad that he won't be able to cover the story of the Raiders post-Madden era, but if this is a doctor, he figures he should probably behave. ]

[sublimebeast]

[Link is sitting on the couch at this point, worriedly watching Sora and listening to what he can only assume is the mad rambling of a dangerously fevered mind.

His brow is creased in concern when a stranger walks in, causing him to rise back to his boots.

Riku's greeting tells him this must be the healer and he bobs his head; a gesture that is more than a nod but less than a bow, then backs away from the couch, positioning himself near the door.]

(Shigeru and Sora can do their thing... Link and Riku branch off to talk outside)

[equinoctials]

[ Here's where they split apart; while Shigeru handles the matter of the injured and his blood loss, Riku, like Link, has little else to do than make sure he isn't underfoot. He tries to catch Link's gaze, cocks his head towards the door silently in an unspoken invitation.

And he then heads out into the cold, wintery night, ruddy-lighted lantern in one monstrous paw, trying to clutch the blanket covering it with the other, much more human hand. ]

He'll be okay. So...

[ Is he trying to reassure himself, or the stranger who came here with that boy who both is, and isn't, a reflection of his best friend. His sigh plumes in the cold air and Riku cuts his eyes away. ]

Quit beating yourself up. I don't believe it was your fault.

[sublimebeast]

[Once they are outside Link leans against the cabin, hugging himself against the cold.

The lantern hanging from his belt casts a pale, emerald glow over the snow.]

I should be better than this.

[It's all he can say, really. He can't stop beating himself up over it. It is his fault. His arm and his sword struck the blow. As the Hero of Hyrule his will should be more formidable than this. A cursed lantern, if indeed that's what the cause is, shouldn't corrupt him so easily...

Maybe he isn't there yet. Maybe he needs more strength, more power...

More....something...

He tugs at one long, upswept ear in quiet frustration then, without lifting his gaze, asks a question that's been on his mind.]

Do you guys know each other? You and Sora, I mean...

[It was hard to tell but he'd felt that resistance from Sora before they'd stepped through the door. Sora had been urgently trying to communicate something, but Link had ignored it in the interest of finding him a place to rest.]

[equinoctials]

By whose standards?

[ The truth is, they're strangers - everyone - Riku doesn't personally know any of the people visiting the cabin tonight. Even Sora, a different boy from another world who happens to be hanging on to a lingering part of his best friend, many years and lives removed. He knows someone holding themselves to a perhaps cruel standard when he sees it, he can smell the Darkness that sits heavily on a statement like that.

It's familiar. ]

You know these lanterns are tied to our very life force, right? Something that happens to them has the ability to change us. If you die and something goes wrong while your lantern is repaired... you come back different.

[ Link's question prompts a gesture he's repeated many times in that scene inside the cabin, his hand curls into a fist around the blanket covering his shoulder. He cuts his gaze away from him. ]

... He's...

[ Is that his story to tell? Maybe it isn't. Maybe he's too wrung out to feel like it matters anymore, trying to keep a secret that only means something to him, personally. ]

I don't know him. I know... a part of someone else that was left inside him. Another boy who lived a long time before that boy was born, from another world.

[sublimebeast]

[Link nods along to the information about his lantern. He'd known that much about this place, at least, even if he's been frequently careless about his lantern. He'd once even intentionally left it behind to allow the pull of darkness on him to turn him into a wolf.

He says nothing in response to that, only speaking after Riku talks about the boy within Sora.]

Oh...

You know the person he was reincarnated from... He told me about that.

[A solemn look crosses his features, twisting his lips into a grimace. That would certainly explain the tension he'd felt from Sora... ]

That's gotta be rough.

We don't need to talk about it if you don't want to.

[equinoctials]

'Rough'?

[ Riku doesn't just cut his gaze away this time, he turns completely with a soft exhale that's just shy of a snort. That's as far as he goes, just saying the little he did is more than he usually gives a stranger, and already he has regrets.

We don't need to talk about it if you don't want to, he says. ]

Good. I'll say this: I'm glad you two are friends. But..

So long as he's holding onto a piece of my best friend's heart, he'll never get the rest he deserves. That's what... hurts the most.

[sublimebeast]

Maybe...

[Link looks down at his left hand and briefly the Triforce of Courage glows, reminding him of its presence. It doesn't cast any light upon the wall behind him.

Is it true, he wonders, that this man's friend will never rest because of the current Sora's existence?

Can that happen?

...Does that mean the previous Hero is restless? Does his own life prevent the savior of Hyrule from sleeping?

...The very idea of it makes his stomach ache.

He'd never asked to carry the power of the Hero but here he is, wearing clothes and a title and even, judging from the Princess's response, a name that had been worn before.

Now he's the Hero. He'd abandoned what few plans he'd had to walk the path the Gods had mandated for him. ]

I don't wanna pretend to know anything about your friend but maybe that piece of him is carrying on 'cause there is still work to do.

[He looks up at the black sky.]

I like to believe that people who come back do so because they're needed. They want to come back, to protect their friends and a world they love...

[Who were you? Were you named Link too? I'm wearing your clothes and I have your sword and the Triforce. Are you out there somewhere still? Is Riku right? Are you unable to rest because part of you is within me now?

Out of the corner of his eye he sees his shadow standing under a tree, seemingly waiting for him to wander off into the forest and peacefully lose what's left of his mind.

Link stoops over, hands on his knees and huffs.]

Sorry, I said we didn't have to talk about it and here I am talking about it! Just ignore me.

[equinoctials]

[ That entirely depends on one's perspective. Where Riku is from, there's a place they say that hearts go when they expire along with their bodies. So long as a part of Sora's heart, as long as some of his memories are locked away in the heart of another person, he can never be whole. If his heart can't be whole, then his heart will never go to join everyone else's when they pass away.

One could chalk it up to simple superstition, but they wouldn't know what lengths to which Riku has gone to ensure that Sora could be whole again, what existences that suffered losses because he wouldn't let anything get in the way of his goal.

It is, consequently, why Riku will never hold it against Roxas if he never forgave him for what he did. He doesn't regret it, which is why he doesn't deserve absolution. ]

...

[ It's a nice thought. Pleasant, even. But it leaves something that tastes bitter in Riku's mouth, and that's the thing about grief that lasts and lasts without fading, it turns into something ugly and angry. He's getting a little better, but then things like this happen and he scrapes the wounds open again.

if he wanted to come back-
-protect his friends? we couldn't even protect kairi-
-save our world, our home? we couldn't go back if we wanted to, we can't even save this world or ourselves-
that's right. we needed him. I needed him. i waited and waited and waited-

He doesn't say anything; Riku's fist is so tight around the handful of blanket it leaves deep creases. He lets the anger run its course. He knows he isn't angry at Sora. The one he's angry with is himself. If he protected Kairi, then Sora never would have been lost. If he could have only stopped Sora somehow--

But he wasn't enough.

Link stoops and apologizes. Riku rolls a shoulder. ]

Don't know what you're apologizing for. [ That's not a question. ]

Guess I want to know what you're looking for. What your angle is.

[ Put more simply, why tell Riku this? These are the kinds of statements that typically have some kind of aim in mind, something to accomplish on the other side. ]

[sublimebeast]

Huh? I don't have an angle.

I'm just offering another perspective, I guess.

[Which is only partially true, of course he'd had an angle. He'd wanted Riku to accept his words as a possible truth, then maybe he could accept them himself.

Worrying about the Hero isn't something that had occurred to him before, after all, and he's not sure how to feel about it...

He'd always figured he was given this divine identity because the Hero needed to return, needed to fight. The world needed the Hero's strength once more and had chosen to manifest that strength within him....

Thinking about it makes his head hurt so he decides to stop.

He'd shared his story with Sora, to make him feel better about his apparent reincarnation, but there isn't really a need to tell anyone else, is there? His job is not sharing his sob story. His job is to take the pain and suffering of others off their shoulders and bear them upon his own. That's the sort of task that's best done with stoic silence.]

....

[Stoic silence is hard.]

How's your arm?

[equinoctials]

[ To be fair, Riku has tried to seek validation from others in a similar way. It can be a dead end, or worse, a vulnerability that the more powerful and manipulative will exploit.

At Link's answer, Riku sighs, removing his hand from his opposite shoulder to plant it on his hip in a fairly universal gesture of understated exasperation.

No one "just" offers another perspective like that without an angle. It doesn't take being manipulated by the likes of the Seeker of Darkness or Maleficent herself to see that, but Riku doesn't see how arguing would gain either of them a thing. So he lets it go.

If he's looking for someone to give him their woes to shoulder, Link could pick less stubbornly uncooperative marks.

Dryly: ]

Great.

[ Of course it's not. What is he supposed to say? ]

About how this all started.

Another guy on the network with the same affliction as you said distractions can help you stop from succumbing to your symptoms. I recommend storing your weapon until this blows over.

[sublimebeast]

I'll stash my sword if I feel my "affliction" getting worse.

[He hooks a thumb over his shoulder towards the hilt of the blade.]

And myself along with it.

1/2

[equinoctials]

[ Riku blinks a few times. Usually, with so little light, it might go unnoticed, except for the fact that his eyes are super reflective like this. ]

[equinoctials]

You're gonna kill yourself?!

[ FINALLY, a less subtle reaction! ]

cw: mentions of suicide

[sublimebeast]

[Link flinches at this response.]

H-huh!?

No!

I'm gonna hide out somewhere and keep my head down!

I don't live anywhere, I just wander so I have a few spots in mind where I should be safely outta the way.

[He folds his arms over his chest.]

I can't just store the blade somewhere, that's all. It's not a normal sword, you know? It's the Blade of Evil's Bane. If anything happened to it while I wasn't looking I'd never be able to forgive myself.

[mysophobic]

[ Shigeru nods silently as he proceeds inside. His anxiety spikes a little upon entering a total strangers home but...he's doing his best to keep himself under control. He might go off towards Sora there and then, eying the young man silently before he gives his a small smile. ]

Hello. I'm going to help you out, okay? It's not going to hurt and you'll be good as new in a few minutes.

[ It's an easy fix and one doesn't require the full extent of his powers at least. So he'll get to work by holding out gloved hands over Sora, his eyes shifting to a black sclera and purple irised look ad they glow with his powers activating. Sora will instantly feel the effects of his blood cells being remade. No longer tired, pale, or rambling and all it took was a few minutes. ]

Tell me how you feel. [ He should be good to go, but Shigeru always makes sure. ]

[arsarcanum]

[ Sora will open his eyes at the new face, and...? Hi. He'll turn his head to look at the text, reading them carefully, and then nod, somber. He understands and trusts you completely, strange doctor (who may be Dr. Miyata from the network? He isn't sure! He thinks there might be a couple of doctors here, but Dr. Miyata's the only one he's ever spoken to.)

Sora will wait patiently then, watching the good doctor's eyes as they - well, that's a strange color. It is weird how he feels warmer from the inside as, uh, his veins fill up, he supposes? He might squeeze his eyes shut so he doesn't freak out or anything, but the process is fairly quick, at least.

He opens his eyes at the end to find the next message waiting for him. He actually... isn't sure. ] Uh, hang on.

[ He'll get up on an elbow, then shift onto his butt, letting the dried towels cascade to the floor (watch your feet Shigeru, Sora doesn't know about the mysophobia!) No dizziness, no nauseousness whenever he moves. He'll peel back the layers of ruined sweatshirt to see if the cure spells took - they did, but that's probably going to scar. However, there sure is no more bleeding, and all the new blood seems to be safely inside. Good as new. ]

I think I'm gonna be okay. [ Sora looks up at the doctor, gives him a smile and a thumbs up. ] That was amazing! Thank you. How'd you do that? And how do I pay you back?

[mysophobic]

[ Wah! Sora please?! Shigeru moves out of the way with a jerky sort of reaction, face paling slightly before he gives a thin smile. He also nods and shakes his head. ]

You don't have to pay me back! It's my job as a doctor to help people, right? I'm just glad you're okay.

[ And honestly he's just glad he could do something to help. If it had been some sort of magical thing, Sora might've been out of luck. But as for his question...well Shigeru will answer that with a smile. ]

My powers allow me to rebuild or breakdown any organic or inorganic matter on a subatomic level. So remaking blood cells really isn't too hard.

[arsarcanum]

[ Sora is not sure what he did besides almost give himself permanent brain damage via bloodloss, but he does catch that whatever he did threw the doctor off! He'll move a bit more cautiously and ask what happened later.

Sora is not the fastest reader - he'll have to mouth the words to himself as he goes, actually - but he'll nod himself once he's done. ]

Well, will you at least take a favor? An IOU. [ Sora smiles, scratching his cheek. ] I'm not sure what we woulda done if you weren't here.

I'm. Gonna be honest, I don't really get it, but you put my own blood back into me, right? [ He shifts a little away from Shigeru, peering at a nearby cup of apple juice, the glass still sort of smeared with his blood but otherwise perfectly drinkable. Yeah, he's gonna pick that up and knock it back. Waaay better. ]

That must be really handy. Is there anything I should be watching out for? Like, do I have to keep off my feet or something? [ Was this a surgery? Does he have to do surgery stuff? ]