Forums » General Roleplay » Silence and stillness (open)

''Are you sure? You look like your hurting..''

"Sure, I could use some help. Can you lever me to my feet? I'm gonna have to bend forward to do it otherwise and that's gonna hurt..." His side injury had at least clotted overnight, but the scab was going to pull and if it cracked open, it was going to hurt like blazes and set him bleeding again.

He offered the hand not on his injured side in case Hybrid wanted to help him up. "Gently," he reminded Hybrid.

Elder walked over and gently helped Sterling to his feet. ''Sorry if I got you hurt..I was so tired..'' He said, frowning a bit. But Elder now had..Ears. Small black dog-like ears that were hanging down and hidden in his black hair.

Sterling was looking for a distraction; any distraction, and Elder's ears were easily that. "Did...did you always have ears...like that?"

He began to shamble his way to the bathroom, trying not to think what the sting of hot water was going to do to his side.

''What about my ears?''

"You have dog ears..." Sterling murmured, reaching out to touch them.

When he touches them the fur was smooth, and they flick. ''...Are you sure?''

"I don't know, can you hear me-" he dropped his voice to a whisper: "when I say this?"

Elder snorts. ''Why did you whisper? I still heard you, however.''

"Just to test your hearing," Sterling replied. "Not bad, though." Once they've reached the bathroom door, Sterling sighed.

"This is gonna be fun," he muttered as he walked over to the washbasin and began to wet down the side of his shirt, which had dried to his injury.

Elder frowns and rubs his ears a bit. ''Musta got them while I was asleep.'' He murmured as the cut on Sterling starts to sting as water runs over it.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Sterling continues to wet his shirt and peel it back from his injury. He wines and grits his teeth as skin pulls and the wound oozes again. At least blood doesn't count as slime, or he might have passed out.

He continues working diligently until he can pull his shirt off, and then stare at the scars on his chest and back. Yeah, that's why he avoided mirrors. He turns his back to the mirror. "Um, I think I got it from here, thanks, Elder."

Elder nods and heads back to the beds. He removes the hidden shirt he had on. His body was covered in bullet holes, stitches, and bruises.

A small picture fell to the floor and he picks it up. Once he saw what it was he shut his eyes tightly and dropped it, flincing.

Sterling takes a painful shower, even though the water isn't nearly as hot as he likes it, and the pain in his side is, well, debilitating. He keeps his arm pressed against his side and then finally grabs a towel.

It's good to be clean again, even if his injury did reopen. With the towel around his waist, he opens the door and goes to get a nice wad of gauze--which he'd forgotten to bring with him. And notices Hybrid's strange mood.

"Something wrong, Hybrid?" he asked, voice tight with pain.

Elder opened an eye, and points to the picture.

What one saw was what seemed to a picture of a happy family, two kids and the mother of them. Beside her was a blue eyed man with black hair and a slight smile though he had a cut over an eye. Written under it was the guys name, but it was blurred and unable to be read clearly.

Sterling forgot about his throbbing side for a minute, looking at the picture instead. He was surprised by his sudden reluctance to talk.

"I'm really sorry, Hybrid." And then winced. "That's not your name, is it." He reached for the bandage and then sat on the bed, starting to wrap the cloth carefully around his injury.

''That...Was my family once....'' Elder stammered, the picture yellowed with age. ''That was my wife..And my kids..'' And he sighed, ears hung limply. ''We were happy..Were happy. But only once.'' He added, rubbing his arm lightly. ''Before I lost everything.'' As he picked the picture up and looked at it. ''It was my name, once.''

Sterling finished wrapping the bandage around his chest and then sighed and looked at Hybrid. That was the problem with having a family; in his eyes anyway. It only took a bad spell of ill luck to dash all the happiness.

"Are they...still around?" Sterling asked.

Elder looked at Sterling sadly, eyes tearing up.

He didn't say a word, but closed his clawed hands.

That was all he needed to see, Hybrids eyes filling with tears and he felt terrible. Darn it, this was why he hadn't started a family in the first place! He was sick and tired of losing people and now he had to empathize with others losing their families? It was ... painful on a scale that dwarfed even the deepest scar on his body.

He moved to sit beside Hybrid and clapped his hand to the guy's shoulder. There really wasn't anything he could say at this point that wouldn't make it worse or better. So he said nothing for a moment, simply sharing in the misery, and then went to change into proper clothes.