one foot in front of the other foot

[sageprincess]

Characters: Anyone not stuck in the dorms
Setting: Anywhere but the dorms
Format: Pick your poison/party style
Summary: General mingle log for the rescue team side of things during quarantine. There will be subthreads for each day of the event!
Warnings: General horrortower warnings

[At least it's not a space flying whale trying to bring the Tower down this time around?]

Comments

[bashfulshifter]

--No, that--d-don't move. [If whatever abilities she was using to keep up that metal slab are also what she uses to fly, Rick doesn't want to even risk having her lose concentration again and hurt herself even more.] I-I'll c-carry you, I j-just n-need to--ah--

[...So there's no way he's going to try prying at wires that may or may not still be live with his teeth for the sake of making a very inefficient tourniquet, and trying to cannibalize Amelia's clothing seems like a bad call. Following a brief moment of indecision, Rick compromises by pulling off his own shirt; it's not what he would've preferred, since no matter how delicate he is it still hurts immensely to navigate around his injured arm, plus he's not wearing anything underneath. Sorry, Amelia--Rick's kind of flabby and has an inordinate amount of body hair and he's really self-conscious about it, okay? Please don't laugh.]

S-Sorry. [For the bare chest and the pain he's about to put her through, he means. Rick folds his shirt length-wise and attempts to tie it as tightly as possible around Amelia's thigh, using his working hand, teeth, and feet for bracing.]

[ladyliberty]

[Wow Rick she is so not in a position to care right now. Amelia grits her teeth as he ties the shirt around her leg, peeking through her fingers despite her better judgement.]

Oh god...

[bashfulshifter]

[Good, that means she won't worry so much about what Rick's asking her to do next.]

...Okay. Um--hold o-onto my sh--shoulders.

[He turns his back to her and holds out a hand, in case she needs help sitting up. If Amelia's paying attention, she might notice something...odd at the base of his neck--some kind of sore or object imbedded in the center, polished flat and distinctly purple. Another reason why he doesn't go around shirtless.]

[ladyliberty]

[Amelia does her best to sit up, wincing a bit as she wraps her arms around Rick's shoulders. She's lighter than she looks-- she can at least manage that much.]

[bashfulshifter]

[This is both a fortunate and unexpected development--regardless, Amelia is much taller than Rick and he wouldn't feel safe trying to carry her down with how poor of shape they're both in anyways, so he goes for a more novel approach.]

Sorry. [Yes, yes, he's going to keep apologizing for a while, better get used to it.] H-Hold tight...let me k-know if we n-need to s-stop or s-something.

[Rick's letting her know ahead of time, since the tiger that he turns into a second later can't tell her this himself. Assuming Amelia has a comfortable perch on his back, he'll go ahead and carry her to the stairs.]

[ladyliberty]

[It's hard to get comfortable at all with her leg in the state it's in, but she does her best to arrange herself so she won't fall off, clinging to the tiger's fur.]

...Thanks.

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick glances over his shoulder to give Amelia an inquisitive glance (or as inquisitive a look as a tiger can manage). Why is she thanking him? He's the one who got her into this mess in the first place, right? If anything he'd apologize more, if he could talk.]

[In any case, Amelia seems to have a good enough grasp and it won't do either of them any good to stand around and argue over what just happened, so Rick heads onward. He has a pretty bad limp, but Mittens the tiger is much more tolerant of these sorts of things than his human counterpart and doesn't complain; things are made considerably easier thanks to the wheelchair ramp. He descends the many flights as fast as Amelia will allow.]

[Unless they run into problems beforehand, Rick won't have to stop or shift back until around floor thirty-six, at which point the stairs lead outside and crumble, and his abilities abruptly cease functioning. Hopefully the transition from agile quadruped to stocky biped won't be too jarring for his passenger, if they get that far.]

[ladyliberty]

[Tigers weren't really built for riding, and it's a little difficult to maintain her balance with only one good leg. And going around and around the spiral certainly wasn't helping with Amelia's nausea or wooziness from the loss of blood. At some point, she begins to slip off.]

[bashfulshifter]

[Amelia I think you're losing your grip, you might want to]

[Amelia]

[What are you doing]

[Thankfully Rick notices that his passenger is falling before she slips off entirely, but there isn't much he can do to stop her as a tiger. He's forced to shift back and try to hold her in place with his good arm until she comes back to her senses.]

--H-Heh?

[This may or may not be easier said than done if her abilities are faltering.]

A-Amelia? H-Hey, s--stay--w-wake up.

[ladyliberty]

[Amelia's brain had more or less gone into auto-pilot mode, which keeps her from plummeting out of the sky without having to think too much about it. But once Rick rouses her, her conscious mind kicks in again, and suddenly she's operating on earth gravity again.]

I'm so dizzy...

[bashfulshifter]

[Without warning, Rick suddenly has a tall person who weighs as much as he does perched on his back. He falters, staggering forward a couple steps before he manages to regain his balance. Already his legs are screaming in protest.]

[Good thing they only have...what, thirty-five floors to go? Yeah, that's fine. Less than half the residential Tower to clear. He's got this under control.]

--E-Eh-- [Rick gives a pained wheeze as he tries to shift Amelia so he can at least attempt to straighten his back.] --J-Just--f-f-focus.

[ladyliberty]

[Amelia grits her teeth and shakes her head, trying to clear it.] Okay, focus. [She'll get a little lighter, but her conscious mind is having trouble keeping it up.]

[bashfulshifter]

[Just that little bit feels like a load of bricks pulled off of Rick's shoulders. He breaths a relieved sigh and presses forward with renewed determination.]

[It occurs to him that not keeping Amelia mentally engaged might end poorly for the both of them, so he resolves to try and keep up some kind of discourse with her. Unfortunately, all Rick can think to say is: ]

...I-I'm s-s-so s-sorry.

[ladyliberty]

It's okay. [Amelia mumbles, trying to focus on hanging on to distract from the throbbing pain in her leg.] I can't even control my powers. I would've never made it on the X-Men. [She takes a shuddering breath and presses her face against Rick's shoulder.] What a dumbass.

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick is quick to correct her, even though he's not entirely certain what the "X-Men" is, or even the specifics of what Amelia's powers are.]

--N-No! No, this i-isn't... [He takes a deep breath.] ...F-For s-starters...this w-w-wasn't your f-fault. I d-didn't know...I sh--shouldn't h-have...

[He trails off.]

...Y-You're still l-learning. There's n-nothing w-w-wrong with that.

[ladyliberty]

Well it's too late now, anyhow.

[bashfulshifter]

[With more conviction than someone in Rick's position has any reason to have: ]

Y-You'll be fine.

[ladyliberty]

I'm not gonna die, stupid! [Amelia wails.] I meant being stuck here!

[bashfulshifter]

[He flinches with noticeable scorn.]

--Y-Y-Yeah, I--yeah. Of c-c-course. S-Sorry.

[Awkward silence as he continues hiking down flights. Maybe he'd be better off just turning back into a tiger and not making things worse for himself...]

[ladyliberty]

[Forgive her, Rick, she's a little on edge here.

Amelia heaves a deep sigh and puts her head against Rick's shoulder again.]

I'm not going to die here.

[bashfulshifter]

[Attempt number two at showing confidence: ]

I w-won't let that h-happen.

[ladyliberty]

I know.