nakedsingularity | ic contact (deerington)

Skip to Main Content

ic contact (deerington)

UN:wildstyle
✎ TEXT ✆ AUDIO ▶ VIDEO

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Guess so. _{[Neither agreeing nor denying--simply filling the silence.]} Better than running around stealing shit like a savage all the time. Nice job doing the impossible.

_{[Inwardly, she hopes Laura finds a way to cope with life here better than she has. With her abilities. With everything. If Frank helps with that in even some small way... can take better care of her... then that's enough to buy him consideration, if nothing else.

And she can't be looking gift horses in the mouth. She might need extra food, with more than one mouth to feed again.]}

Do you know anything about taking care of broken noses?

_{[Apropos of nothing, but.]}

[ he raises a brow at the thievery commentary, and begins to wonder if that's how they'd been getting by before. he knows laura had often come around his apartment to raid his fridge, but he figured that was just the natural raccoon effect after he'd started feeding a stray.

but before he can say anything more on it, henry brings up the sudden question, and there's a brief moment of puzzlement before the natural concern instincts take over. ]

Wait, what happened — ? You get hurt?!

_{[You try telling a tiny tot who's never lived in Normal People Society to stop just taking shit when she feels like it when you, yourself, have a lukewarm interest in laws. It's harder than it looks.]}

I'm fine.

_{[It's somewhat wary in the face the exclamation point and question mark treatment. She's not sure what to make of him getting all excited about it.]}

It's not me. Why, does it sound like I'm mouth breathing with a broken nose? I still have some canned shit in my basement so I can still get by--Laura's the one who eats a ton. But I don't know if I have to, like. Keep changing bandages or something.

_{[Because she doubts the owner of the broken face is going to do it, and Frank--or Pete or whatever--seems like he knows a thing or two about breaking faces. No offense.]}

[ he’s got major “protective dad” vibes forever mixed in his blood. she should be starting to get used to it by now. ]

There’s different cases for broken noses. You don’t gotta be heaving through it. [ because, as she predicted, he does know a thing or two about it.

he considers for a minute before he sighs, going full “doctor castle” mode. ] But I gotta get more details than that. How long’s it been? Is it bleeding? If nosebleeds are still happening, put in some gauze and take it out after two to three days. Don’t leave it in longer than that. But that should stop it. And you gotta keep the head elevated to get the swelling down. Once the gauze is out, try some nasal decongestant. Just some over-the-counter stuff that should be easy to find. Stuff like that hasn’t gone low in supply with all the shit that’s going on.

_{[More honestly, she hasn't tried to get used to it. She and Laura share a desire to know the men who'd given them their fucked genetics, but the difference is, hers had known about her and the challenges she'd face. And he hadn't tried to find her. What did that say? And Logan--Logan had disappeared on them both. Not the greatest track record for reliability.

It's about high time to be the person she can rely on instead of waiting on others and being disappointed. And right now the subject of her questioning doesn't seem to have anyone else, so it would appear she has double the need to step up.]}

I know about as much as you do. There's a nose, it's broken. It already has a bandage on it, so I'm taking a wild guess someone got there first.

_{[So she supposes she'll change it in a day or two, according to Frank's timeline...? She's taking notes in "live-in nurse Henry" mode.]}

Nasal spray... okay... Anything else I should know?

_{[If she didn't suspect Frank would give him a heart attack, a part of her would be seriously tempted to out source this stuff to the protective dads in the crowd.]}

[ to be honest, he's surprised she'd even been willing to ask him at all about this. he doesn't expect her to place her full trust in him, not with everything, with what she'd seen of him, with the way he'd indirectly taken away the one person she'd been living with, but if there's small steps like this, it isn't so bad. ]

Just keep an eye on it. If in a few days, it's still swollen or they're having trouble breathing, just — let me know then and I can take a look at it. But otherwise, it probably just needs a bit of time to heal.

[ he's not sure she'd even take the offer to have him near the mystery with this injury, but the offer still goes on the table so she knows it's there. ]

_{[She'll take what she can get, and right now that's any kind of help for the troubled boy in the other room. She doesn't know anyone at the hospital well enough to want to take him there.]}

In other words, leave it and hope it heals right. Easy enough.

_{[Little does she know it's a self-inflicted injury and there are plenty of hard surfaces in the house for someone to smash their face if they so desire--but that's a problem for later.]}

Right. I'll do that, then. _{[Keep an eye on it, that is, though she's mannerly in leaving room for the possibility of his offer, too.]} Thanks. Maybe tell Laura to stay away from the house for a little while. Not that she won't just do whatever the fuck she wants, anyway. _{[Except she can't imagine she'd have a reason to drop in; the farmhouse sounds better prepared.]} Just for a little while.

[ it’s a bit of a strange request, but, ] Yeah, I can try to keep her away.

[ though henry’s plenty right. frank’s hardly got a say in where laura goes, which isn’t his preferred method of parenting here for an eleven-year old, but it’s hard to shift someone out of their set ways.

still, he falls silent for a moment before he adds, almost quietly, ] Hey, kid, you — you aren’t in any trouble, right?

[ it’s not accusatory or panicked, mostly just concerned. ]

Good. Thanks.

_{[It's not so strange a request when in her own way and by the extent of her means, she's tried to look out for Logan's kid, too. Shield her from some of this weirdness. It's why she'd (warily) gone along with Laura moving into a safer environment at all.

And right now, when her house is contending with an extra dose of weird, it's probably better for Laura to steer clear. And likewise maybe for Peter to have some breathing room between new faces. She can't do much to make Deerington better--but taking on a task she can do herself without involving other people in feels like a small way of doing that.]}

Everybody's in trouble every day that we're here, that's not exactly news. _{[It's not an answer and she intends to keep it that way, even as she tells him what he needs to hear to stop with the misplaced guilt or sense of obligation, or whatever this is.]} Thanks for the tips, but I'm fine, really. It's not even about me. As long as Laura's okay, that's good. That's all. That's all I need.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only