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Sunday morning in the park

Nell had finally managed to drag herself up and into what remained of her burnt skirts and top. Her head was still pounding and she had quite a cough, but she just couldn't stay any longer. The nurses checked and redressed her hands and then Nell just quietly slipped out, unnoticed by anyone except the crab.

She made her way along the park slowly, wondering what had happened to the rest of her stock that had been outside the warehouse. Luckily she'd sold most of what she'd brought, so she wouldn't have lost much. Her bag had been slung across her body so she still had her important things like her wallet and phone and keys, but some of those would be hard to use with her hands bandaged. If she could just get home, just get to her plants from Soulwood.

And her cats, her cats must be starving!

It was all a bit overwhelming and her lungs hurt, so she took just a moment and sat on one of the benches to get her breath back.

[For the one who knows who they are, but it's a park and open for any park needs.]

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The news of the fire last night definitely raised Gladio's hackles a little, especially being unable to shake the feeling that he should have somehow been able to help or do something, but he hadn't even know about it until Iggy mentioned hearing about it on the radio. Naturally, his first impulse was to think of Prompto and Liz, even though he knew they'd left early, but with Liz and fire...well, it was no surprise he was a little worried. And then he listened to the broadcast himself and, well, a few other familiar names had him thinking he could at least swing by the clinic, see how they were doing, too.

But apparently, he didn't have to go quite that far.

Catching a familiar figure sitting on a bench, redirected to confirm his suspicions.

And clock all her injuries.

"Nell? You alright?"

Nell turned her head a little too quickly, which set off a coughing jag. After a moment to catch her breath she managed a wan smile for him. "M'not quite at my best," she admitted. "Just taking a little rest on my way home."

That cough definitely had Gladio frowning with concern.

"They released you from the clinic already?"

The clinic that he was now glancing toward with another frown over how she clearly hadn't made it very far, either, had she?

"I had to get home," Nell said. "I'm not far."

Was she not answering the question? She was not answering the question.

Gladio quirked a brow at that non-answer. He was hardly one to throw stones in the glass house that was pushing one's self beyond their limit...and he had to scars, including the one across that arched brow, to prove it...but as far as degrees of self-sacrifice went, this one felt a little wonky.

"Far enough," he pointed out, "to need to rest."

But, hey! At least she had stopped. Points to her there.

Edited 2023-03-26 21:04 (UTC)

Could she make it the rest of the way? That was the question. She definitely wasn't one to ask for help, and she was so close, and if she could just get to her plants growing in Soulwood soil, and...

But maybe... this was Gladio afterall. And he was one of the displaced group and someone becoming a friend and...

She could heal herself at least enough to be able to use her hands and clear her lungs with them. And if it freaked him out and he didn't want to be around her or use his gym anymore, well... it would sadden her, but...

Without the healing she didn't think she could make it home. Or get by at home on her own for a while.

"Gladio," she said after a moment. "If I gave you my keys and told you what to get from my store, would you get a thing or two for me and bring them here?"

Smart move, Nell. Because in his next breath, Gladio was going to ask if she needed help, and neither of them would have wanted that.

So, instead, he was nodding decisively and already holding out his hand. "Yeah," he said. "Sure. What'd'ya need?"

Nell breathed a sigh of relief and started to fumble in her bag for her keys - which was harder than she'd anticipated with bandaged hands. And if Gladio was starting to wonder how she'd manage alone like that he was probably right to wonder.

She finally held the bag out gingerly for him to fish the keys out himself. "The one with the green is to the shop. Near the back are two fairly large potted plants in pots with Soulwood written on them. Could you bring them to me?"

And just when Gladio was wondering if he should off to help Nell with her bag, she was holding it out for him.

"Green key," he repeated, locating them inside the bag after taking it and holding them up for proof/show of victory. "Large plants neat the back. Soulwood. Got it.

"I'm marking this spot on the bench, by the way," he added, as he leaned in to carefully hand the bag back to her. "So if you move, I'll know."

Nell laughed, which set her off on another coughing jag. "Why would I go anywhere when you're practically waiting on me hand and foot," she finally managed with a smile.

"That's the spirit," said Gladio, grinning back, fairly apologetically, though while he did feel bad about the coughing, he just couldn't find it in him to feel too sorry about having made her laugh. He adjusted the keys in his hand and nodded. "Back in a sec."

Was he wondering why Nell had asked him to go get a couple of plants from her shop.? Oh, definitely. But he'd done his fair share of oddball fetch quests all across Eos, in his day, sometimes you just didn't question it too much, you just did the damn job.

And he did return eventually, a little delayed from having to avoid stepping on the kittens that seemed pretty intent on saying hello and staying underfoot, with the plants he was pretty sure were the right ones, one cradled in each arm.

"These it?" he asked. "Where do you want 'em?"

Nell nodded, "Yes, those are the right ones." Part of her wanted to grab them right out of his hands, to get them more quickly, but didn't want to risk dropping them.

"Here," she said, gesturing. "Right next to me." She struggled to undo the bandages on her hands, finally using her teeth to undo them. Her revealed hands were raw and angry looking.

Gladio was already looking pretty doubtful when Nell started to unwrap her bandages, but his face went to downright disapproving once he caught sight of those burns. But he didn't say anything, he just set the plants down carefully where she told him to, and waited to see what this was all about.

He was about to look even more disapproving when she plunged her hands into the dirt with a sigh of relief. Dirt and burns did not mix.

But in this case...

Nell closed her eyes, letting herself drop into her connection with Soulwood and feeling the warmth of it wash over her. She pulled on the energy of her woods and the plants growing in its soil, letting it heal as much of her as it could. She lost herself in it, head dropping down even as the plants withered and the burns on her hands healed.

It wasn't enough to heal her completely, but certainly she'd be able to go about her daily work with minimal pain. Gladio would be able to see the rawness disappear, replaced by new skin, the cut on her arm suddenly looking as if it had been several days in the healing. She coughed up black gunk as her healing lungs expelled the last of the smoke damage and, as the plants finally died, her body slumped back against the bench.

If he looked closely he might see tiny green leaves poking out from her hairline.

Yeah, Gladio knew enough wilderness survival to know that mud and dirt treatments worked in a pinch, but he wouldn't want to go around slapping it on fresh burn wounds when there was better stuff available. To the point where he let out a small, surprised grunt when Nell's hands dove into the plants' soil, moving on an impulse to want to grab her hands and pull them out, but that look on her face as she closed her eyes stopped him, and he noticed the slow changes, pulled himself back again, and just...watched. Waited. Wrinkled his nose a little at that black gunk while also wanting to kind of poke at it a little.

Then looking at the plants, then back to Nell again.

"Guess I see why you didn't want to just stick around the clinic," he remarked. "You good? You need...water or anything, after that?"

It took a real effort for Nell to lift her head. She'd never tried to heal so much and she hadn't realized how exhausted she'd be afterwards.

She hated having to do it, but she had nothing to prove to Gladio. "I don't think I can make it back to my house alone," she said finally. "Do you think you could help me get in and upstairs? I'm so sorry to ask, but I think my only other option is to spend the night right here."

At least he hadn't just freaked out and left her after seeing what she did.

"Nell." The soft reprimand in Gladio's tone was definitely for the idea that her asking would be anything to worry about, although you'd have to be quick to catch it, the way he moved on quickly into, "You're talking to a guy who spent his entire first month back here sleeping in the woods. Honestly, out here doesn't sound half-bad."

He gave her a faint smile, offering out his hand. "Come on. Let's get you home. How you wanna do this? Lean on me? Carry you? I do give great piggy-back rides, too."

She managed a tired smile for him. "Slept in worse myself. I could just slide down onto the ground and sleep right here." Might even heal her more. Probably wake up with grass growing through her and need to be cut free, though.

Nell took his hand and let him help her up, but honestly her legs weren't going to hold her up for more than a few seconds, so he'd probably do better to just scoop her up.

"You're very kind," she said, sounding more than a little out of it.

When Gladio realized Nell's own legs weren't going to support her, he compensated for it with his arm to hold her up to give her another opportunity, just in case she needed a moment to get her bearings. But since it was pretty clear they weren't going to cooperate, he did scoop her up with nary even a grunt of effort.

"And you," he said, "shoulda called someone, if all you needed were your plants. Should we grab them now? Or should I just come back for 'em later?"

"I thought I could get home to them," Nell protested weakly. It was fairly obvious how drained she was since she didn't protest the scooping up, just rested her head against him. Of course, she also knew he could bench press at least three of her, so she wasn't worried about that part of it. "You could just rest the pots on me till we get back to the shop and leave them inside the door if that's okay."

Despite himself, Gladio couldn't help chuckling a little at just resting the pots on her. "Think you got enough in you to at least pick 'em up?" he asked, carefully kneeling down a little without disturbing her too much so that she could hopefully scoop them up as easily as he'd scooped up her.

"Yep," she said sleepily, and picked them up to hold onto them. "I've got them," she told him unnecessarily.

"Alright, then," Gladio nodded, slowly pushing himself and his weary, be-potted passenger back up and started their way toward her shop. "Let's get you home."

Nell was able to stand long enough to let him open the door and get them inside where the two kittens swarmed over yowling. "M'so sorry, babies," Nell said. "Soon as I get upstairs I'll get you some food."

She looked up at Gladio, then back down at the kittens. "After Gladio gets me upstairs we'll get you some food."

And back at Gladio. "The blue key unlocks the door at the back to the stairs for the apartment. Just a little longer and I'll be out of your hair, I promise?"

"Oh, yeah," Gladio snorted as he sorted out the keys to handle the door first and foremost, shooting Nell a wry look, "you're a real pain in the ass."

A pain in the ass that was being picked up again so he could carry up the stairs.

Carefully. Because cats.

"And where's the cat food?" he asked. "I'll feed 'em. The only thing you should be getting right now is rest."

"Sorry?" she said again. "Anyway, welcome to my apartment, hospitality and safety while -" a huge yawn interrupted her words, "While you're here," she finished.

The cats would show him where the food was, pawing at the cabinet door, but Nell gestured to it. "Bowls are there. They can each get a can of the wet food and the other bowl can be filled with the dry food. I just..." she gestured to the bathroom door and when he set her down she carefully made her way in to use the facilities .

She ran a washcloth over her face while she sat and managed to kick off her ruined clothes and slip her oversized floor length nightgown over her head. Everything else would have to wait. She leaned on the wall to get back to the door, then hesitated before opening it. "Don't look," she called out.

"Don't worry," Gladio assured her. "I've only got eyes for cats right now."

They were definitely making sure of that, clearly complaining and letting it be known that they didn't care much for this new waier'a lack of swift service.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear you. I get it. You're clearly starving to death. I'm just rescuing everyone today."

Nell wall-walked her way out of the bathroom and towards her bedroom, pausing only long enough to watch Cygnus and Rigel yowling at Gladio. "You're a good friend," she said in a little woebegone voice. The stress and exhaustion had won. She had nothing left. Maybe sleeping right here on the floor was good enough. She was inside, right?

But no, she was stubborn and she was tough and... well, the bedroom wasn't that far, so she just kept wall-walking along hoping she wouldn't give out before she reached it. "I won't forget this," she said. "I swear."

The bedroom! Then just a few steps, pulling back the covers, and a crawl onto the bed. She got her head on the pillow and started to reach down to pull the covers up, but she was out like a light before it was much more than a thought in her head.

Gladio scratched a little at one of the cat's ears, not that he seemed to really pay him any mind now that there was food to be had, and he waited to see if Nell had anything else to add. Met with silence, though, he gave one more venturing "Nell?" before petting the cat once more and pushing back up to his feet. He went to just check to make sure she actually made it to the bedroom and hadn't just passed out en route, then just grinned a little, shaking his head, and went to quietly make his exit.

She wasn't the only one he had been intending to check in on at the clinic, after all, but so help him if he wound up finding Stark on a park bench, too...

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Sunday morning in the park

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