audio; un: hopscotch

[clavesregni]

I know who killed Vataz and the others. It's--

[Her voice is strained. She sounds as though she's in pain and out of breath.]

It's complicated. We need to be cautious not to worsen the situation any further. Someone else was killed. A woman. Her death is what started it all. There's someone else I need to question; I'll be able to share more once I have.

[There's the soft thud of someone's back hitting a wall.]

For now, young men should stay out of the Wards and the Keep, if at all possible. The killer can't distinguish between its true target and other men who appear similar. And don't go down into the glacial lakes. It isn't safe.

[Another pause, followed by a wince.]

If any medical personnel are able to spare supplies, I could do with a bandage.

Comments

voice | un: wooden sword

[vdovy]

I can patch you up if the medics are busy.

Is this related to the sirens?

[clavesregni]

Thank you.

Yes. But I don't have the whole story yet.

[vdovy]

Then let's get you patched up so you can find out the rest. Where are you?

[clavesregni]

The Wards. [She gives Yelena detailed enough directions to find her.]

action!

[vdovy]

[ Yelena makes a quick stop to raid the hiding place— miraculously still intact— where she has stashed anything she can't carry on her person. She had the foresight to "liberate" some medical supplies from the labs back in Serthica; frankly, she thought she'd have to break them out sooner.

Less than ten minutes later, she jogs up to Caitlyn and drops down to kneel beside her. ]

Hey, I'm here! Where are you hurt?

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn's got a cloth pressed to her forehead, trying to staunch the bleeding from three gashes over her eyebrow. She lowers the cloth so Yelena can see, and winces as it pulls at the edges of the wounds.]

My neck and shoulder as well.

[There's a deep gouge across the side of her neck and scratches across her shoulder.]

[vdovy]

[ A sympathetic wince at the sight of Caitlyn's injuries, quickly schooled back to a neutral expression as Yelena evaluates. ]

Keep the pressure on your forehead, that area bleeds profusely but the deepest wound is the one on your neck.

[ She digs through her supplies as she speaks. ] You'll need stitches. There is some topical anesthetic in here but it won't numb you completely.

[ With a flick of her wrist, Yelena produces a baton seemingly from thin air. ] You can bite down on this.

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn does as instructed, pressing the makeshift bandage as hard as she she can to her forehead, until the baton springs from out of nowhere and she gains a sudden sense of clarity about the level of pain she might soon experience.]

Will that really be necessary?

[vdovy]

[ Yelena looks sympathetic but unmoved. She holds the baton out horizontally, close enough that Caitlyn could lean in and bite down on it. ]

You have very nice teeth. It would be a shame for them to be damaged.

[clavesregni]

[That is not reassuring. But what choice does she have?

Very tentatively, she leans forward, grimacing at the fresh pain in her neck and shoulder, and - with the refined air of someone sampling an hors d'oeuvre that they think they won't like very much but being very brave about tasting it anyway - bites down on the baton.]

voice

[reparo]

Yell if healing potions are needed, I might have Dittany left. Stay somewhere familiar and I can Apparate my way there.

[vdovy]

I can only stitch her up but something to help with pain or speed up healing would be welcome. We are in the Wards. [ Detailed directions follow. ]

[reparo]

Ah, then definitely Dittany! It's not as effective as what I can make back in my world, but I've gotten the formulation right to do the key thing it was made to do, which is to speed up healing.

It should work well on wounds. [Don't think about Ron and that splinched ear, don't think - ]

I'm on my way.

[vdovy]

That sounds perfect.

[ Yelena realizes belatedly that she doesn't know what "Apparate my way there" actually entails, so she finds herself looking from left to right, squinting to make anything out in this dimly lit corner of the Wards. ]

[clavesregni]

Thank you, but I'll be alright, really. I'm sure there are a lot of people who need a potion more than I do.

[reparo]

If I make the potions, I should decide what they should be used for, Caitlyn. It's not as though we've an awful lot of medical personnel available right now.

[clavesregni]

But there's--

[She sighs, pained, realizing there isn't much use having an argument about it.

Then, genuinely:] Thank you.

[reparo]

Please - if anything, I should thank you for investigating further into the deaths. I'm sorry you got injured while doing it.

[clavesregni]

May I ask you a favor? Would it be possible for you to make a second healing potion? There's someone I know who could use one.

[reparo]

What kind of injury? I have two I can spare right now.

[clavesregni]

None at the moment. At least, nothing serious. But she's the sort of person who won't stop fighting until she's grievously injured, and...

[It's not necessarily rational, but she's spent pretty much every waking moment here worried that Vi's going to get knocked off a tower or have her face clawed off by harpies, or even get shot by an errant bullet from her trigger-happy sister.]

I worry for her. Having something that I could do, should anything happen to her, would allay at least some of my worry.

[reparo]

[ It does not take a genius. ]

...by any chance are you talking about Vi?

[clavesregni]

[A momentary stutter. HOW COULD HERMIONE HAVE GUESSED?

A pause, a little huff, and finally:] Yes.

[reparo]

[ A SIGH, and amused: ] Don't worry. I'll make sure Vi gets healed - we've been fighting together on the Eastern tower for a while, I know what kind of throwing herself into the battle she does.

[clavesregni]

Thank you. [Ideally someone would figure out how to explain the concept of 'taking care of yourself' to Vi, but since that's probably impossible, at least she has someone watching her.]