{ old west au }

[aceso]

It's fruitless to wish for a bit of breeze out here in this arid land, but Christine has the sash on her little office's window pushed up high to catch any stray breeze that forgets it's not supposed to be here. She sits at her desk, sorting through order forms for more supplies to be sent from the east. It's not that she's necessarily running low, but that she's overly cautious. One never knows when there will be some sort of disaster out here. Maybe there will be a collapse at the silver mine, or by some cruel twist of fate they'll get rain that doesn't stop and leads to flooding. It's better to be prepared.

Even though the window doesn't let in a breeze, it lets in the sound of someone's boots stomping across her little porch and she lifts her head to anticipate the opening of her door. It does a moment later, and someone she only recognizes by face comes in.

"Ma'am," he greets. "There's been some sorta scuffle outside of town. A guy went and got himself stabbed."

On hearing that, Christine shoots up from her seat, face full of alarm. "Goodness! How long ago did this happen?" Quickly, she begins gathering some supplies.

"Dunno," the man answers. "I was just walking by, and this guy says he'd been stabbed." Christine shakes her head in disbelief. There must be something in the water in this town. People are far too apathetic for their own good.

"It never occurred to you to fetch a wagon and bring him here?" she asks incredulously.

"Ehhhh," the man replies, tone utterly indifferent. "I dunno. That sounds like a lot of work."

"Unbelievable," she mutters, pushing past him with her bag. "At least point me in the right direction. East of town or west?"

"West," he answers, following her outside before tipping his hat to her. It looks like he'll be of no further assistance to her. Hopefully she can get the stabbed man up to his feet, or the injury isn't as bad as he thinks. She sets out that way with a hurried, determined step.

Comments

[motherfucking_ghost]

To his credit, he doesn't scream. Mostly because he's gritting his teeth too hard for it to come to come out like a scream instead of a grit gruff groaning, a long sound of pain and hissing after. Hold it there, god, let him hold himself first.

"Okay," he says quickly, panting, holding while his other hand is curled around the edge of the table enough to turn his knuckle white. "Can take a couple little stabs to one big stab." So long as it's fast.

[aceso]

Her hands move fast, threading the needle and getting into position. She's down on her knees beside the table with a face full of determination. Christine will make this as quick as possible because the less blood he loses, the better.

Hopefully he doesn't take notice of her peeling away one edge of the gauze to poke the needle in, what with how tight he's gripping the table. While he focuses on redirecting his pain, she makes a quick stitch and pulls the thread tight to pull the skin back together.

"Nearly done," she says, though it's a little white lie. She's only just begun, but it's better he think the worst is nearly over.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Yeah yeah yeah," he murmurs through his teeth, trying to sound like this is just. Normal shit. It's not; he's had his fair share of scrapes, but he can't say he's been stabbed in the gut before and gotten stitched up by a pretty doctor lady.

But it's fine! This is perfectly fine and a normal part of living here. Obviously. A lifestyle choice.

"Good fingers." Is that a weird flirt, is that flirting, maybe he shouldn't try flirting while this is going on and while it hurts. Stupid. One of these days he's gonna learn to shut his mouth, but apparently today is not that day.

[aceso]

What? How does she have good fingers? Christine isn't sure whether to find the notion amusing or strange. Maybe it can be both. She merely hums in response and continues stitching his skin while contemplating that this man is a strange one. She feels she should attribute his behavior to the blood loss, but what if this is his normal mode of operation?

"So what's your name anyway?" she asks in order to keep his mind occupied. And because it's something she should probably know so she can bill him for this.