Post by Hua Yuan on Nov 5, 2021 15:12:18 GMT -8
His phone rang right as he was finishing up his shift. The burner phone had no way of telling him who was calling, but Yuan didn’t feel like picking up. He turned the key and headed home, when he heard the ringtone again. Dammit.
“-Hello?
-Hi. Is this Yuan?” The voice was shaking under the thin veneer of calm. Clearly the speaker - male, judging by the timber of the voice - was trying to keep it together.
“Cinder said I could call this number. If something went wrong.
-Talk to me,” the Beast responded as he shifted gears.
“-It’s my friend. I think he’s bleeding out.
-Where are you?”
Thankfully, the massage parlour carried a first aid kit. Mostly at Yuan’s insistence. Navigating the streets as fast as he could, the Playmate found a small group of Changelings at the location - It was right next to a Gate.
He recognized some of them, former Springs who followed Eurydice’s lead and switched to Summer. They were huddled around a whimpering figure, a man around Yuan’s age, that was clutching his hand. Even through the stranger skin colour of his Mien, the paleness was unmistakable: he was in shock.
“-What happened?
-We were hunting near the Gate when we ran into these small spiders. They weren’t many at first, but they just kept coming. We got careless.
-Show me.” The Beast’s voice was gentle but firm as he put on the vinyl gloves from the first aid kit. Gingerly, the man unfolded and revealed the wounded hand. It was a nasty gash and there was a lot of blood, but a quick assessment revealed that no artery had been nicked. Yuan nodded.
“-It’s going to need stitches, but you’ll live. Can you get to a hospital, or do you need me to find you someone?” Pulling off his coat, he wrapped it around his makeshift patient.
“-Can’t you heal it?” The Playmate shot a glance at the ex-Spring. He should have known better than to ask that.
“-No, I don’t have that Contract.
-But I’ve seen you do it!
-Ohmygod I can’t have stitches! It’s going to take forever to heal! I’m going to lose my job! I can’t lose my job! Please please please!!”
The man was hyperventilating. The situation was quickly getting out of hand.
“-N-no, you don’t understand. I-
-Come on, man! You have to do something! He’s hurting!”
All eyes were on Yuan. Looks of expectation, hope. Judgement? Maybe. How dare he withhold the gift of healing? The Playmate gritted his teeth, trying to stand his ground.
“-Listen to me. You’re going to be fine. It’s just…” The fight left him when he saw the man’a terrified eyes. It was a slippery slope - saying that this was not a big deal would likely do more harm than good; Yuan had spent enough time putting Changelings back together to recognize the more common stressors. He exhaled, giving up.
“-Fine.”
He placed a hand on the wound and let his Glamour flow. Pain blossomed in the back of his eyes as the bloody gash began to close.
“-I still recommend you have it-
-Dude! I told you there was nothing to worry about.
-Fuck off! You were almost crying yourself.
-Was not!” The clamour took him under like a riptide. With the imagine dangers of life or job loss, the Courtiers returned to their usual swaggering, forgetting the one who had helped. It had been, after all, expected. Some Spring was always around to fix people up, right?
Yuan sat on the ground, watching the motley walk away into the night, a smile plastered over his emotions.
Was the city always so imperfect?
“-Hello?
-Hi. Is this Yuan?” The voice was shaking under the thin veneer of calm. Clearly the speaker - male, judging by the timber of the voice - was trying to keep it together.
“Cinder said I could call this number. If something went wrong.
-Talk to me,” the Beast responded as he shifted gears.
“-It’s my friend. I think he’s bleeding out.
-Where are you?”
Thankfully, the massage parlour carried a first aid kit. Mostly at Yuan’s insistence. Navigating the streets as fast as he could, the Playmate found a small group of Changelings at the location - It was right next to a Gate.
He recognized some of them, former Springs who followed Eurydice’s lead and switched to Summer. They were huddled around a whimpering figure, a man around Yuan’s age, that was clutching his hand. Even through the stranger skin colour of his Mien, the paleness was unmistakable: he was in shock.
“-What happened?
-We were hunting near the Gate when we ran into these small spiders. They weren’t many at first, but they just kept coming. We got careless.
-Show me.” The Beast’s voice was gentle but firm as he put on the vinyl gloves from the first aid kit. Gingerly, the man unfolded and revealed the wounded hand. It was a nasty gash and there was a lot of blood, but a quick assessment revealed that no artery had been nicked. Yuan nodded.
“-It’s going to need stitches, but you’ll live. Can you get to a hospital, or do you need me to find you someone?” Pulling off his coat, he wrapped it around his makeshift patient.
“-Can’t you heal it?” The Playmate shot a glance at the ex-Spring. He should have known better than to ask that.
“-No, I don’t have that Contract.
-But I’ve seen you do it!
-Ohmygod I can’t have stitches! It’s going to take forever to heal! I’m going to lose my job! I can’t lose my job! Please please please!!”
The man was hyperventilating. The situation was quickly getting out of hand.
“-N-no, you don’t understand. I-
-Come on, man! You have to do something! He’s hurting!”
All eyes were on Yuan. Looks of expectation, hope. Judgement? Maybe. How dare he withhold the gift of healing? The Playmate gritted his teeth, trying to stand his ground.
“-Listen to me. You’re going to be fine. It’s just…” The fight left him when he saw the man’a terrified eyes. It was a slippery slope - saying that this was not a big deal would likely do more harm than good; Yuan had spent enough time putting Changelings back together to recognize the more common stressors. He exhaled, giving up.
“-Fine.”
He placed a hand on the wound and let his Glamour flow. Pain blossomed in the back of his eyes as the bloody gash began to close.
“-I still recommend you have it-
-Dude! I told you there was nothing to worry about.
-Fuck off! You were almost crying yourself.
-Was not!” The clamour took him under like a riptide. With the imagine dangers of life or job loss, the Courtiers returned to their usual swaggering, forgetting the one who had helped. It had been, after all, expected. Some Spring was always around to fix people up, right?
Yuan sat on the ground, watching the motley walk away into the night, a smile plastered over his emotions.
Was the city always so imperfect?
Yuan takes 1 Severe Clarity damage from healing 1 Lethal with his kith blessing.