multiversallogs | I know it's hard but...

Entry tags:

I know it's hard but...

Who: Steph Brown, others [closed]
What: Monster fighting, rescues, healing
Where: All around Baedal
When: Over a two week period since Hasi broke reality
Notes: Everyone has their own thread starter, which are in no particular order, if there are any problems/questions please let me know!
Warnings: NPC death, gore, violence, monsters, PTSD, my inability to be succint, if I've missed any feel free to tell me

The monsters are new for her.

It's not that she isn't used to dealing with all the assorted bullshit that Gotham can throw at a vigilante, but there's nothing quite like this. There are people like Killer Croc and Zsasz and Black Mask, who might be horrific, but they're still people. These monsters are more like animals, but they're huge and violent and they hunt people. She's not trained for this, she's not equipped for this and she sure as hell isn't prepared for it. Getting the gun and new batarangs from Rex helps, and she adds a large hunting knife to her array of weaponry, but it still doesn't feel like enough.

It's terrifying, in a way that she doesn't have time to deal with, so she pushes that down and focuses on doing what she can. There's moments, as she faces down things that eclipse her worst nightmares, when she wonders if she should be hiding instead of out here fighting. But there are other moments, times when she wins, when she gets to reunite a parent with their lost child, and it doesn't matter that Steph is bleeding, bruised and exhausted, because she did good.

At the behest of Babs, and the reminders her own body sends, she forces herself to stop and rest once in a while. Usually she goes back to wherever Babs is, or Kate, if she happens to be resting at the same time. Her sleep happens in small bursts, a few hours here or there, curled up near Babs or Kate and letting the exhaustion take over. She tries not to eat too much, because she has no idea how long these monsters will stay in the city and she's scared that food will start running out. She's already started collect supplies, bringing them to the safe places and distributing them to people.

She doesn't think about the dead bodies she sees, or the injured people. A lot of Baedalites can look after themselves, but some of them can't and it's those who end up as smears on a wall. Except for when she has to stop to throw up, after seeing half eaten corpses; then she thinks about it, and she doesn't know how long she can keep going out and coming back alive.

She hopes no one will hold it against her if she gets killed.

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"Sorry, I stopped for ice cream," Which is clearly not true, but it's an easy to joke to make as Steph sits up, already eyeing Kalinda's wound and taking her gloves off in preparation of doing something about it. She does wish she'd got here sooner, but it was just a fair distance to travel, and at least she wasn't too late.

"It comes in handy on occasion," Steph stands, tucking her gloves into her belt and pulling out a small container of water, "Let me have a look?" She's going to insist on looking anyway, but asking for permission never hurts.

Steph is more than a little impressed by how well Kalinda is taking everything in stride; she knows she was right to let Kalinda in on the vigilante and anit-militia movement. It's always good to have someone on your side who can keep their cool in any situation.

It's fine is an instinctual response, and perhaps what might be expected. She doesn't say it, though. Instead, she unzips her jacket, easing it open and the collar back so she can carefully roll her shoulders and slide it off her arms to let it land behind her unceremoniously with a dull thud of deep purple leather to concrete. The dress underneath is fortunately sleeveless, black and cowl-necked. "I don't think it's serious," is honest while not being dismissive. Her head tilts so she can look down at the long scratches on her arm.

They're deeper than she would like. Though, really, she'd like them to just not exist, let's be honest. "I should probably have it looked at." The admission isn't entirely reluctant, but she's not thrilled about needing the help, either.

The ghost of a smile makes an appearance in Kalinda's face, showing better in her eyes. "I like the ears."

Steph steps close enough to take a proper look at the scratches, it's hard to tell how bad it is with the blood, which is why she's got the battle of water. She unscrews the cap, and then looks up at Kalinda, "I can do it." It's said with a sort of easy confidence, she was planning to patch Kalinda up anyway, even if she didn't think it should be looked at. Nurse Brown to the rescue.

The comment makes her smile, "Thanks, I'm trying to make them the new thing this season. You want a pair?" It's a terrible joke, but that's Steph's forte.

"This might hurt a little," Steph warns, as she gently lifts Kalinda's arm so it's horizontal, and then slowly pours the water over the wound to clear away some of the blood and hopefully anything gross that might have been on the seplatives skin. Her hands are steady and her gaze flicks between the wound and Kalinda's face, making sure it's not hurting too badly.

Some people close their eyes or turn away. Kalinda dutifully lifts her arm with Steph's coaxing and watches the water washing away the blood and what grime there is. "I do look good in purple," she quips contemplatively. They're well-suited in their own way.

Her face remains expressionless, but seems also tight somehow. Her teeth don't clench, and her eyes don't narrow, her lips don't draw thin, but still there's something tangible without being visual that suggests it's a front. "Do you make a habit of this?" she asks conversationally, and also somewhat ambiguously. With the implication of this being open to whatever interpretation Steph would like.

"I'll let you try on the suit one day," Steph replies, a hint of teasing in her voice and she's definitely not thinking about how Kalinda might look in the costume, that's hardly appropriate for right now. She hopes the joking around helps, though, because the tightness in Kalinda's expression doesn't escape her notice.

When the wound is clean, Steph lets go of Kalinda's arm to put the cap back on the bottle and return it to the pouch on her thigh belt. She answers the question as she digs around in another pouch, "More often than I'd like." Which is almost equally as amigious, although Steph is mainly referring to tending to wounds.

An individually wrapped antiseptic wipe gets pulled out, and once it's open she gently wipes down the wound. It'll sting, but it's worth it, and with that done Steph takes a proper look at the injury to decide exactly what she'll need to do.

"Just so long as you let me play with the grappling hook, too." It smacks a bit of if I don't laugh, I'll cry, apart from where Kalinda gives the impression that she never does cry. She does, of course. Just not where anyone can see it. Especially not anyone who matters to her in any way. Steph falls under that umbrella, incidentally.

"You really are prepared, aren't you?" She'd smirk if her face weren't already pulled into a grimace. "Probably needs stitches," she self-assesses. "Nothing you can't handle, I'm guessing." Kalinda pulls her gaze away from her own injury to stare back in the direction they came, even if she can't actually see down to the street. "You were looking for me, weren't you?"

"There's always conditions," She rolls her eyes to add to the effect, her gaze briefly drifting up to where her grappling hook is currently stuck in the side of a building; how rude of it, "I should warn you, you'll end up with a lot of bruises before you get it right." It took Steph a lot of falls before she could swing well on a line, at least she had the advantage of being trained in gymnastics, her landings were always decent enough.

The first two comments just get a nod and a faint smile, her attention's drawn by her belt again, this time for a pack of butterfly stitches, "These'll tide you over 'till we can get somewher safe." It's too risky to stitch Kalinda up so out in the open, and too painful without anaesthetic. She starts applying the first row of butterfly stitches with careful slowness, holding the edges of each cut together as she puts the sticky little bandages on.

It takes her a few moments to answer the question, "I was. I knew you could keep yourself out of the way of the Candlelighters, but when I saw monsters in the street..." She thinks Kalinda is one of the most capable people she's met, but there are some things you have to be trained for, and fighting monsters is one of them.

"I'm glad you came looking," Kalinda admits. There's no shame in it. Sure, she's more than capable at home and if this had been someone swooping in to save her from a mugger, she might have been slightly annoyed or offended. But it isn't as though she could take a class at the Y on defending herself from monsters that want to tear her apart. There are some things life simply doesn't prepare you for.

Unless you're Steph, apparently.

"What does the rest of the city look like?" Her chest feels tight, but she tells herself it's not out of any sense of panic. Her body's just reacting to the pain, and it's throwing her for a loop. Or trying to, anyway. She's determined not to let it.

"Me too," Steph likes Kalinda, she doesn't want her to get eaten by monsters. Once the butterfly stitches are all applied, Steph gets out a numbing and antiseptic gel and applies it over the wound. It should help with the pain, and hopefully stop any infections.

"So far most of the structure is intact, and Hellsing has already mobilized. But I think it's going to get better before it gets worse." It will get better though, Steph isn't going to give up on the city straight away. She wipes her hands off on another antiseptic wipe, then applies a guaze pad to the wound, taping it down with medical tape. "There, good as new."

Kalinda smiles briefly. It's a little tight, but it shows enough in her eyes to prove genuine. "Thanks." She crouches down then to retrieve her jacket, assessing whether or not the piece is a total loss. For someone who enjoys looking impeccable, the answer is more than likely yes, and it's a pity. She'd grown sort of fond of it.

"Where do we go from here?" She rises to her feet and gingerly begins to slide her arm back into her sleeve. First the injured one, then the other. It twinges a bit, but she'll be fine. If only because she's already decided she has to be. Next order of business is to retrieve her baseball bat. Its hers, damn it, and she's not going to just leave it here.

"You're welcome," Steph packs everything up, she has a designated waste pouch and all the packaging and used antiseptic wipes go in there to be disposed of later. Her gloves go back on as well, her hands flexing in the fabric until they feel right.

Steph looks around, both at her grapple hook and trying to make an assessment of the city in general, "If you think your home is safe, I can take you there. If not, Babs opened her house to refugees from Mafaton and you'd be welcome there." A friend of Steph is a friend of Babs, but she understands Kalinda might not want to go somewhere she isn't familiar with.

An assessing gaze is cast out across the rooftops, as though Kalinda might be able to see her house from here. And determine whether or not it's safe to return. It isn't so simple as that, of course, but the woman makes the decision after only a few moments of thought. Adjusting her grip on the wooden bat, she nods definitively. "I'll try your friend's place. Maybe I can help others there."

It sounds so much braver than admitting she feels she's in over her head in this situation, and would prefer not to face it alone.

"We'll definitely need as many hands as we can get," She knows Babs won't turn anyone away, which means things are going to start getting busy sooner rather than later.

"Just --" Her mouth twists in a wry smile, "One second. I need to get that back." And she points at her grapple hook so Kalinda knows what's going on, "Don't go anywhere." Not that Steph thinks she would, but some things need to be said.

Without waiting for an answer, Steph jogs across the rooftop towards the building her grapple is stuck into. After giving it another quick assessment, she leaps across the gap to grab onto a windowsill, hauling herself up. It doesn't take her too long to climb up to the hook, which she grabs, disconnects from the building and then climbs back down to Kalinda.

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I know it's hard but...

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