GREG DECKER
Human
Posts: 201
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Aug 24, 2024 17:44:07 GMT
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Post by GREG DECKER on Oct 28, 2021 19:49:55 GMT
The woman in the bed continued to talk. Her daughter was getting married in a week. He knew what the busy was like didn’t he? As a doctor in the ER he must’ve had whole weeks at a time when he was rushing to and fro so much that something slipped. Like the tub of mason jars she’d been carrying out to the car – their theme for the wedding was thrifting – second hand dress, a vintage tuxedo, lordy he’d never have seen anything like it, the husband to be was gonna look like that played James Bond. Pulled out of the meditative state he’d slipped into as he’d tried to block her voice he’d thrown Sean Connery’s name out there, only to be met with utter confusion as she’d tried to sit up on the bed. No, no, not the Scottish one, he was English, dark haired, so handsome. Like him. Was he married?
Deck had tried to retreat after that, withdrawing to the stage where the smiles drifted away and it was mostly uh huhs and that sounds great rolling out of his mouth when the grunts hadn’t sufficed. He hadn’t answered her question. The lack of a wedding ring had likely been answer enough for her to wrap her conversation up with an offer for him to come along to the wedding as a thank you for patching her up. God no.
Pressing the gauze to the woman’s palm, Deck lamented the fact that none of the glass had gone deep enough for her to need a trip up to the ER for wound exploration. She’d have been knocked out for it, the surgeon left in relative peace to draw the jagged wounds that criss-crossed both palms together. No incessant talk or worry that she might not actually have stopped for breath once in the entire hour he’d been suturing her up.
Brow furrowing, Deck glanced up at her. The scarlet painted mouth, the lipstick long since feathered out into the corona of lines that spoke of either a lifetime of smoking or of pursing those thin lips in distaste. She hadn’t noticed that he’d gone quiet yet, just carried on yapping away. There hadn’t been so much as a flinch as he’d extracted the last shard, a nasty inch long thing from the base of her thumb. If it had gone in at any steeper an angle it might’ve pierced straight from a vessel or sliced a tendon. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she had been bleeding like a stuck pig right up until a few moments ago he might’ve believed that this complete inability to feel the damage she’d done to herself when she’d tripped and smashed her hands right into that nest of jars might’ve been indicative of her being one of them and not just oblivious.
Two more stitches in and Deck was easing the stool back, eyes on his own palm as he stripped off his gloves. No vampire blood for this one to heal the wounds the same way Rayna had done his, no breathless night spent waiting for some new unholy tragedy to strike and him to end up like her. The thought still left a prickle of cold sweat breaking out on his spine, his face paling. ”You’ll want to keep that clean and dry for a week. Stitches should be able to come out in a week to ten days. Your primary care doc can do that.” He went to nod, scurry away but the woman was already eyeing him again. ”You can do it after the reception, can’t you Dr. Decker?” The maybe he mumbled her way seemed to appease her, she didn’t chase him out of the room at least.
A sigh bone deep rolled out as he headed for the admit desk. If he had to jab himself with broken glass to get out of being anywhere near that wedding he’d gladly do it til he bristled porcupine sharp with it. ”She’ll be out in a minute,” he warned the nurse at the desk grimly. Hopefully after he’d made his escape.
Deck slotted Mrs. Bickley’s chart into the rack to head up to the records room. He studied the handful of people in the waiting area. Nothing emergent between them but there was a blonde, eyes skittering, perhaps trying to look deeper into the ER. Nervous. Small wounds at her throat that left him curling his fingers in again, hiding the unmarked skin of his palm. It didn’t take an expert to know what those marks were. The nausea rolled but he was already working his way out from behind the desk.
A wan smile he had to force, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as he approached. Nerves leaping and twitching beneath his skin as he glanced around. Like it was that easy to tell. They weren’t like the movies would’ve had you believe – sticking to the shadows with it being daylight out, pale, fangs flashing with each grin. Monsters. Deck cleared his throat, held out a hand like he was encouraging the girl up. ”Hi, I’m Dr. Decker. Is there anybody seeing to you? They look nasty…” He lifted his chin towards the wounds on her throat. Not a thousandth as nasty as the wounds he’d seen in his time, but fouler in a way. Torn into the skin by something parasitic, something evil.
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KRISTA MAY
Human
Posts: 122
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 20:40:26 GMT
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Post by KRISTA MAY on Nov 23, 2021 15:49:48 GMT
 ━ i can't get you out of my head ━
No, wait, breathe. Start again.
Krista’s mind traced back to the meetings with her psychiatrist, recalling all the lessons and CBT they did together. Think about this rationally, and don’t do anything… she didn’t allow Krista to use the word ‘crazy.’ Don’t do anything brash. Think first. So, Krista was thinking… thinking about all the freakin’ things she’d say to Mal when she saw him again. Where was he? This was why people created cellphones, and yet she still didn’t have Mal’s number.
Okay, maybe he wasn’t avoiding her. Maybe he was just busy, and she was a little too eager. Maybe the breathing should’ve helped her think rationally, but Krista abandoned her afternoon class and ended up at the hospital anyway. Maybe he was just busy with work. She figured that made the most sense.
Not entirely sure where to look for him, Krista went to the most easily accessible place━the ER. While she wandered in, those big, hazel eyes, filled with hope and concern, drifted over its occupants. She saw badly-bandaged slings and gauze pressed to bloody wounds and couldn’t help but giggle. It was kinda funny, like, a vampire being a blood doctor and working with people who came in bleeding… but then her mind wandered to places she didn’t want it to go: Mal drinking from somebody but her. Suddenly, all the wounded people became threats, and she was more desperate than ever to find him.
Trying to see past those doors that acted like prison bars between her and her man, she wandered a few steps towards them and practiced her nonexistent x-ray vision. Obviously, it didn’t work━she was so bad at it that Krista didn’t even see the actual person walking up to her until he spoke.
‘Hi, I’m Dr. Decker. Is there anybody seeing to you? They look nasty…’
For a moment, Krista had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Her brows furrowed, eyes flicking over every inch of his face before she realized what he was looking at. A hand flew up to touch the little bites on her neck, fingering them gently and grinning at the memory. “These? Oh, no, they’re just… hickeys.” She giggled, already beginning to blush as she looked up at the man again. “I don’t really need any help, I was just… looking for someone? Dr. Mal Blackthorne? He’s my boyfriend.”
Krista nearly censored herself before deciding to just go for it. Unless she and Mal had some sort of connection (and they definitely had that), then they probably wouldn’t let her see him. But… if Dr. Decker told Mal what she said, then she’d have to deal with that.
Oh gosh, did she just out Mal?
Her eyes flew wide again, and she was laughing sheepishly, “Okay, I lied, they’re not hickeys, they’re just scrapes. Obviously, ‘cause it broke the skin. But I’m okay! Just clumsy.” Krista smiled, “So… is he around today?”
GREG DECKER | no notes. |
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GREG DECKER
Human
Posts: 201
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Aug 24, 2024 17:44:07 GMT
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Post by GREG DECKER on Jan 2, 2022 16:51:52 GMT
You got a sixth sense for it. Years of constantly looking for danger in every crowd, for the hurt and the desperate. It caught your eye, gave you that breathless little feeling that cut through the fog of having been talked at for the last hour and a half or having had little more than a couple of hours sleep in the last couple of nights because of the relentless shellings around the base. Months in town had started to ease it, Deck hadn’t felt those fingers squeezing tight around his heart. Maybe the PTSD was finally starting to loosen its grip on him but the vampire had brought it back.
Vampire. Christ.
The tiny marks on the girl’s neck could’ve been from anything but their resemblance to the shitty horror movie wounds those things left on their victims had that hand squeezing hard enough to his chest that he felt like one of the walking wounded himself. Weak kneed, his pulse a racing tattoo in his throat that seemed like it’d culminate with his heart exploding in his chest. Months after that thing – she’d – revealed herself and it was no better.
He could taken himself off towards a rubber room upstairs, begging for a shot of Thorazine, but that wasn’t going to erase the truths Rayna had exposed him to. It wasn’t gonna take the girl off his hands or loosen the knot in his guts as he approached. She was giggling? Deck’s brows drew together. Was that what happened to you when they fed? You lost some bit of your mind? It was a good thing she hadn’t from him, there wasn’t much left of it he thought he could afford to lose without that rubber room being necessary instead of entirely voluntary.
Deck moved in, approaching her like she was the one destined for a talk with psychiatry instead of some creature’s dinner table. Hand held out, only shaking faintly as he spoke to her. Thank God for the lack of a tremor in his voice, although his throat ached as he had to squash it doing just that. The corners of his lips twitched, trying to look like he wasn’t scared out of his damn mind as she looked at him, frowning. Her eyes flicked all over his face like she hadn’t understood him before he hand flew up to cover the wounds at her throat. That grin again, a sweet coating to the lie. ”They … they look pretty savage for hickeys,” he rasped at her, watching the blush fill her face.
Jesus, it was like domestic violence, only worse. Used for a walking blood bag rather than a punching bag. Deck’s dark eyes flared wide as she dropped the name of her boyfriend. Blackthorne, one of the phlebotomists who’d dart out of the ER as needed, always scurrying back off to their labs upstairs when they were done. A pheblotomist who happened to be a…
Nausea rolled back in. Deck grasped for the back of a chair, the colour going out of his own face as he shook his head. His throat was thick now, like all the moisture had been sucked out of it. ”I’ve … not seen him today. His office is upstairs.” It felt like a repeat of the last time, information being dragged out of him by less threatening means now. Her eyes flew wide like his own, realisation dawning? ”Looks like more than scrapes. They’re nasty little things.”
Fingers numb as they came up off the chair, moving like brittle sticks as he reached cautiously for her chin to try and tilt her head up to get a better look. ”How about you let me bring you back to clean them up? Maybe after that we can see if we can find Dr. Blackthorne?” And do what then, the little voice in the back of his head asked with a hysterical laugh. What was he gonna do against another vampire? Threaten to tell tales to people in this town who’d call him the crackpot, maybe he’d try and look up Rayna, rat out one vampire to another. Both options ludicrous.
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KRISTA MAY
Human
Posts: 122
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 20:40:26 GMT
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Post by KRISTA MAY on Feb 4, 2022 15:29:37 GMT
━ i can't get you out of my head ━
Krista wasn’t the most observant of people when it didn’t directly pertain to her━she was sensitive to minuscule details of speech, actions and behaviours from her parents and River, and maybe to Mal now, as well. However, that spawned from her life before she was adopted, and lately, she’d felt a little too flighty all the time. But even though Dr. Decker wasn’t a family member or something of the sort, he was definitely going a little ‘green around the gills.’ Her frown shifted to concern, taking a tiny step closer. “Are you alright, Mister━uh, Doctor?” Being an ER Doc meant he should probably be used to minor scrapes at the very least, right?
Well, she wasn’t gonna question somebody else about their profession━she had no idea what it was like to even go through the education process for this job.
Upstairs. Ugh. Wrong place, but at least he knew where Mal’s office was, right?! And she was in the right building, so that counted for something! Her disappointment was fleeting.
‘Looks like more than scrapes. They’re nasty little things.’
Krista shrugged, though she was more than happy to let him take ahold of her chin, moving it sideways almost unprompted. There was no way he knew something, right? This was her little secret with Mal, and how many vampires could there really be in Mystic Falls? Dr. Decker was doing the same thing Mal had in the bar, inspecting as if he had no idea what they were━was he a vampire, too? Well, she wouldn’t cheat on Mal if that’s what he was going for.
But Dr. Decker said the magic words, and all Krista’s (well-advised) suspicion suddenly vanished. Snapping her head back, a full, excited grin on her face, Krista nodded quickly. “Sure! They’re not so bad, but yeah, maybe a bit of Polysporin or somethin’, then we can go see Mal.” Well, she would, not Dr. Decker, ‘cause that would be a weird buzzkill to have his coworker lingering around, and she didn’t wanna get Mal in trouble. One had to wonder why she was here at all if that was the case, though.
Moving along at the helpful Doctor’s side, Krista thought about introducing herself but then decided that if they couldn’t find Mal, she didn’t wanna have Dr. Decker tossing her name around. But if Mal got mad at her without knowing for sure that it was her, then that meant there couldn’t be anybody else in his life, right? Okay, yeah, that was the plan for now, then. (Unless he asked her name, ‘cause then she wouldn’t be rude, of course.)
“Hey… are you sure you should take me in first, though? There’s a bunch of people waiting back there that could probably use some medical attention.” Krista laughed sheepishly, motioning over her shoulder with her thumb. She wanted to see Mal as soon as possible, but she had to at least appear not so selfish.
GREG DECKER | no notes. |
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GREG DECKER
Human
Posts: 201
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Aug 24, 2024 17:44:07 GMT
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Post by GREG DECKER on Mar 16, 2022 20:53:18 GMT
Defibrillation, the shocking of a heart back into its normal rhythm. His was pretty far off of it, the flutter in his chest enough to have Deck’s throat tightening up as he focused on those tiny wounds on her neck. She wasn’t about to bleed out on the floor, there was no vampire hanging from her like a giant leach but he could picture it there and it was enough to have his heart spasming away. A dangerous rhythm to be cut of with a jolt of electricity or a physical mule kick. A fist driven into his chest. A cold, sudden shock to bring it all back to where it should be.
The girl’s voice was a poor alternative for it. That crackle of sound snapping into focus as she stepped towards him, brows furrowed in concern. Deck started, his heart giving an attempt at a lurch in his chest. Enough that he could drag a breath in as he took a tiny step back, keeping that distance between them. He cleared his throat, tried to swallow the nausea back. ”D-decker. Doctor Decker. I’m fine.” The cold prickle of sweat was gathering in the dip of his spine though. Peeling his hand off of the back of the chair, he dragged it over the lower half of his face. ”It’s you we should be worried about, hmm?” The understatement of the year.
Dark brows hitched faintly as he reached for the girl. How did you broach it? Is somebody hurting you? Have they wiped your memory so they wouldn’t have a clue if they were? Was that why she was asking for Dr. Blackthorne? Her boyfriend. People trusted doctors, no matter what their specialty. Just the title was usually enough.
Later, when she was safe he’d talk to Blackthorne. Trying to find his way through that verbal minefield without it blowing up beneath him, finally taking his sanity with it. The breath that puffed out as he let his hand drop wasn’t amusement. Deck took weak steps back as the girl’s head came around, a grin on her face broad enough to light the place up. ”Just a little clean up, a couple of band aids,” he agreed. A whispered conversation on the phone with Mal first.
He didn’t take her wrist, she wasn’t a child, although there was some air of that sort of innocence shining out of that smile. Deck tipped his head towards the exam rooms, meeting the nurse at the admit desk’s eye as he did. I’m taking her back. Reassurance was shaky at the edge of his smile as he forced one for her. ”Our admit staff will make sure they’re all seen. We won’t let anybody suffer, I promise you that … I don’t think I got your name.” Or a good look at her, although that would come when the exam room door was shut and he could pretend that what was happening wasn’t normal for a moment.
His fingers weren’t shaking when he pushed open the door to the exam room at least. Deck didn’t reach for a clean chart as he shuffled her through it, just worried about getting the door shut behind the two of them as soon as possible. ”Do you wanna hop up on the bed for me? Promise this won’t take long.” Grabbing an equipment tray from one of the cupboards in the room, Deck set it down on the bed. ”So you’re Dr. Blackthorne’s girlfriend hmm? I can’t say I know him too well but I’m sure he’d be glad to hear you’re getting this looked at.” Unless. The choking sensation was back as he damped some gauze with saline to clean the wounds. Dark eyes darted from her throat to the woman’s eyes. He’d joked about them being hickeys but had … were they here? Jesus. The shake was back, leaving his movements jerky as he pressed the gauze to her throat.
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KRISTA MAY
Human
Posts: 122
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 20:40:26 GMT
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Post by KRISTA MAY on Mar 23, 2022 17:03:07 GMT
━ i can't get you out of my head ━
Dr. Decker stepped away, though, and Krista tried not to be offended by it. That was probably a good thing, right? It meant he didn’t also want a nibble. There was only so much of her to go around, and it was all reserved for Mal!
‘... I don’t think I got your name.’
Gosh darn it, now her sneaky plan wouldn’t work out. Ah, whatever, if she got to see Mal today then that would explain it. She’d come to keep him company (and fed) on his break, that wasn’t weird! It was sweet! Mal was lucky to have her around. “Krista.” She said lightly, glancing up at Dr. Decker as they walked, giving him another friendly smile.
Padding happily through the door, she was skipping to the bed, already halfway there before he instructed her to get on it. Using the step-stool for leverage, she hopped up and spun, landing perfectly on the edge of the bed, legs dangling off the side. “No problemo!” She chirped, “I’m totally cool with doctors ‘n stuff. Hadta go to lots as a kid. Do you get many people who are, like, kinda scared to be here?” Krista asked curiously, sitting with her hands in her lap, neck craned to one side so he had a better view.
Snickering at his words, Krista shrugged, then suddenly stilled herself when she realized she probably shouldn’t be jostling around so much. “Yeah, sure, maybe. He already looked at ‘em or whatever; he knows they’re fine.” Did he? Did Mal even care, or did he just take what he wanted and not give a shit?! Sucking in a deep breath to calm herself, Krista blew it out almost dramatically.
Okay, Dr. Decker was a little bit of a weirdo. Either that, or he was a total scaredy-cat, which Krista completely understood. She was pretty scared of Mal ‘til he helped her not be. Krista felt his hands go all shaky as he pressed the gauze to the bite marks, hazel eyes ticking sideways, trying to see him without moving her head. “Are you sure you’re okay, Dr. Decker? ‘Cause you kinda seem sorta… like, freaked out. I gotta hope you’re not scared of a coupl’a scrapes.” She giggled, “I was serious about the hickey thing, though, like, it’s totally fine. I’m totally fine. We were just messin’ around.” They weren’t that bad, were they? She thought they were kinda hot. Like… a little brand that said ‘hey world, I’m Mal’s so back the heck off!’
GREG DECKER | no notes. |
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GREG DECKER
Human
Posts: 201
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Aug 24, 2024 17:44:07 GMT
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Post by GREG DECKER on May 11, 2022 18:27:50 GMT
It wasn’t that far from an abuse case – except with this he couldn’t just call the sheriff’s department and get the guy hauled off, he couldn’t let all of his anger and frustration and fear spill over into swinging for them. Deck had seen what a … vampire … could do and it wasn’t that far from abuse – the manipulation, the control, the wounds, and worse, the absolute inability to fight against them if they felt like shutting you up.
Maybe he shouldn’t have started going about it the same way, albeit with a heavy dose of skittishness on his part. He didn’t know how else to handle it though. Get the information out of the girl if her could, patch up her wounds, try and convince her to leave the horrific situation she was in, with help of course. And all the while try and avoid throwing up from his own heavy, almost debilitating, dose of fear.
Deck never imagined he’d have preferred straight abuse to this but some part of him desperately wished that was the story that would spill out in her chirpy voice. He had the whole thing wrong, this wasn’t the recurring nightmare he’d had the last couple of months rearing up in front of him. He was just being silly.
Only Krista didn’t. Not yet.
Deck’s throat still ached with the grip of that fist but he inclined his head towards her anyway. Smiling like he wasn’t still shaky from those wounds on her neck. ”It’s a pleasure, Krista.” Under other circumstances, perhaps, but not when she was here with all the signs he didn’t want to see on her.
She seemed far happier than he was about being in the exam room, hopping up on the bed like a kid with her legs dangling. Deck had closed the door behind them, retrieved an equipment tray too but – and the nurse’s would probably tear him a new one for it later – didn’t start a chart. His brows rose, a faint huff of amusement escaping as he squeezed the gauze lightly. ”All the time. Some’ve had bad experiences, others it’s just one of those irrational fears. You were pretty sick as a kid, huh?” It could’ve been anything that had brought her in – he’d spent plenty of time in his mom’s ER before he’d ended up there without her – but a pattern of abuse would certainly do that too.
If Blackthorne was the cause of it, in either regard – Deck barely suppressed a shudder at the thought – then having his victim show it off at work was as ballsy as any move Rayna had made. Bile rolled bitter up the back of his throat as he gently cleaned around the wounds. ”Did he … it’s a little indelicate, I suppose, but … did he give them to you?” The border between consensual and not was blurring in his head in a way Deck didn’t like. He stilled as Krista drew in a breath and puffed it out again. ”I didn’t hurt you, did I?” His hand hovered an inch from her throat before he eased back in.
Those wide hazel eyes slid towards him. Deck met them almost skittishly. He drew in a deep breath and let it out, not unlike the way she’d done a minute ago. Once upon a time he’d been cool under fire but the world had grown a lot more complex, a lot scarier since then. ”Me?” Deck asked breathlessly. He forced a chuckle out of a dry throat, dragging the gauze gently over her skin again. Freaked out was his permanent state lately. ”I’m fine … I promise. These little things aren’t half as scary as the big wounds.” A mock shudder ran through him, taking part of the real one with it. They still didn’t look like ‘messin’ around’ to him, but these days everything looked suspicious. ”They just look … painful. How ‘bout you take it a little easier next time, you know, just to make sure nothing ends up infected. We wouldn’t want you to not be fine, if you get what I mean. How ‘bout we get a band aid for them and get a hold of Dr. Blackthorne?” Probably another bad move if pieces clicked their way around again, falling into place in a picture he didn’t want to see.
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KRISTA MAY
Human
Posts: 122
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 20:40:26 GMT
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Post by KRISTA MAY on Jun 1, 2022 16:43:08 GMT
━ i can't get you out of my head ━
It was only when he mentioned Mal again that Krista realized she’d tried to backtrack on the hickey thing before just now ruining the lie. Well, so much for not throwing Mal under the bus, right? “Ummm…” She started, but then smiled and shook her head. “No, no, I’m good! I mean… no to hurting me, and yes to him… doing this. But it’s okay, it was… y’know, fun.” Okay, so maybe doctors knew everything, but she was still super embarrassed about it. Beginning to blush, Krista sheepishly looked in the opposite direction.
It became easier to focus on him being all… weird and twitchy. Okay, not twitchy, but if Krista was embarrassed then he… he was totally freaking out. Ugh, was he gonna try to keep her from Mal? ‘Cause that would not be cool and Krista would be totally upset that she’d been dragged through all this just to have more problems come up. All she wanted to do was have a cute, girlfriend-y visit!
“Oh, defs. Yuck.” Krista giggled, mock-shuddering with him, which was more of a little wiggle.
Take it easier? What the heck. He didn’t get to tell her what she should do in her relationship! It was a few cuts━it wasn’t like she had a black eye or… like… well, like something worse! Sure, there were a few bites that weren’t on display, but that didn’t mean it was a bad thing. “Uh… yeah, I guess,” She frowned, glancing down at her hands and wishing she had the courage to tell him what she really felt. No, screw that. She totally did!
“I meeeeean, I feel like I’m pretty safe if my boyfriend’s a doctor.” She scoffed, “They seriously didn’t even hurt. I’ll put a bandaid on ‘em if you really want me to.” Krista slipped off the bed, landing with a little thump on the stool below before bouncing to the floor. Honestly, she didn’t wanna cover ‘em up, but Mal might, especially when she was goin’ around his work tellin’ everybody she was lookin’ for him. “Do you have any cute bandaids? Like ones with lil’ animals on ‘em or somethin’?” She was probably outta luck considering this was a hospital and not a doctor’s office, but Krista figured she’d ask anyway.
And she wasn’t really wasting any time waiting, either. Heading towards the door, Krista turned to glance over her shoulder at him again. “C’mon, I wanna catch him before he gets busy or somethin’.” It would be just like Mal to come up with a stupid excuse like that, wouldn’t it?! Like seeing Krista wasn’t more important than literally everything else.
GREG DECKER | no notes. |
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GREG DECKER
Human
Posts: 201
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Aug 24, 2024 17:44:07 GMT
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Post by GREG DECKER on Jul 6, 2022 19:09:02 GMT
Well, there was the original abuse he guessed. Adoption didn’t have to mean getting a kid out of a dangerous situation, but on top of the other signs it was like a giant check mark on his mental chart. Deck hated talking cliches, especially when it came to medicine, this was one though. That cycle of violence and abuse that meant generation after generation didn’t escape it. He’d lucked out, had a stable, loving family, even after a drunk driver had ploughed a hole right through the middle of it. Not everybody was that lucky.
Deck’s smile was wan, twitching at the corners as he had to force it to stay put. His fingers felt numb where they gripped the gauze, like sensation was retreating inwards, the body’s natural instinct to protect the vitals. ”Kids get everything in the end,” he mumbled low. Clearing his throat, he tried to will the nausea down, the feeling back. ”I bet that makes it easier with Dr. Blackthorne, not being scared of him, huh?” The ‘or of me’ stuck in his throat. She hadn’t been at any point, just fixated on the phlebotomist. Was it…?
No, no. Another thing he wasn’t letting his brain skitter towards. He wanted to press his fingers to his damp temples, to tear the memory of Rayna’s orders out of his head. You couldn’t fight against them, yet he’d still asked to keep the memory of what she’d done. If Blackthorne was one of them he could get her to do whatever he wanted.
The image of her being forced was in Deck’s mind as he cleaned those ragged scabs on Krista’s neck and pictured Blackthorne with his … His fingers squeezed the gauze harder, a trickle of saline dripping down Krista’s throat as she twitched. Deck paused instantly, stuttering questions at her – only one of which he really wanted to hear the answer to. ”It’s … OK that he bit you?” he asked hoarsely. Dark brows furrowed, his mouth pinching hard enough for a second to have his lips blanching. ”You know that being hurt shouldn’t be fun, Krista.” This wasn’t a loving little nip, this was … feeding. No, no, no. The crooning denial was back in his brain, but it wasn’t doing enough to blank any of this out.
All of this would overwhelm him later, the walls of the cabin closing in until the only way out of them would seem like the bottle. Drink it all out of his head the way he’d once done Soph’s death, burn it away until he couldn’t feel anything anymore. The thirst built hot in his throat, his hands twitching until Krista had realised and had flipped those questions back on him. Deck squirmed as she giggled and wiggled in place. No infection – could they even get infected? More questions he didn’t want to answer.
Taking her to Blackthorne might leave all that had built up inside of him spilling out on the floor. The … Blackthorne … would notice, wouldn’t he? Rayna had seemed like an animal that way, able to smell his fear. Deck set the gauze aside as Krista seemed to begrudgingly agree. Deck stretched to grab the rolling trolley of wound care equipment, but Krista was already blowing him off, bouncing up to her feet. ”He … your boyfriend should keep an eye on them, even if they don’t hurt. Y-you can never be too careful, Krista.” Sweat speckled Deck’s upper lip as he opened the drawer and rifled through it. In the end he was holding two up – duckies and cats. Ridiculous, especially considering what they were covering up. A vampire’s bite hidden under something so cute and childlike.
The wrappers crinkled in Deck’s hands as he hurried after her. The cold sweat was slipping down his back, his fingers shaking slightly as he reached out to press the band aids into Krista’s hand. ”Maybe we should’ve called upstairs … seen if he was there. Dr Blackthorne’s a busy … man.” Who was walking out of the elevator ahead of them.
Mal huffed out a breath, shouldering his way past the group of nattering old biddies heading upstairs for visiting hours. He’d have been doing them a favour if he’d pulled one of them away into the storage closet for an early bite of dinner. Nobody’d question someone that old keeling over, just a minor heart attack, nothing serious. Like the one that hit that dead lump of muscle in his chest as he saw Krista marching out of an exam room with a doc in her wake. ”Krista … what are you doin’ here?” No love. Not somewhere as public as this. He was already scowling at the doctor as he reached for her elbow as though to lead her away. The bloke looked like he was trying to squeeze a bowling ball out of a sphincter stretched wide enough for a pea and nothing more.
Tagged: KRISTA MAY (end with yours?) * Word Count: 824 |
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KRISTA MAY
Human
Posts: 122
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 20:40:26 GMT
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Post by KRISTA MAY on Jul 22, 2022 1:04:09 GMT
━ i can't get you out of my head ━
“Yup, I know.” She nodded when Dr. Decker suggested she could never be too careful, which… okay, so going back to that bar for answers wasn’t really careful, but things had worked out! So… whatever!
Slipping down off the bed, Krista pointed to the happy, colourful bandaids, and finally smiled again. “Ducks, definitely.” She nodded, taking them and blindly applying the bandaids as they walked. She used one hand to feel out the wounds, then stuck the soft, padded part on the most prominent teeth marks. “Nah, it’ll be fine!” Krista chimed, determined now to find Mal.
And, just then, like it was totally meant to be, the elevator doors opened as if they were giant gates and all her dreams came pouring out. Mal. Krista had intended not to act too lovey-dovey just in case, but that big smile was on her face the moment she saw him. “Mal!” She chimed, not registering how he wasn’t nearly as excited as she was. “I came t’visit you! I asked Dr. Decker where ya were, and he said he’d take me, but he wanted to uh… look at my… scrapes first.” Pointing to her neck, Krista gave Mal an over-the-top wink, and nearly closed the distance before he grabbed her arm. Not her hand, but close enough.
Still smiling, she walked a few steps with him and turned, wiggling in his hold to get her arms around him. “Missed ya,” Krista hummed, turning her chin up to beam at him. “Thought maybe we could get some lunch.” She did mean actual food, not just lunch for Mal, and slipped back enough to curl her arm around Mal’s. Krista glanced once over her shoulder and waved to Dr. Decker with her free hand, “Bye! Thanks!” And they were off, hopefully to eat something.
GREG DECKER | zee end! |
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hope to see you in the discord! 
