.jpg)
"Okay, good. Bear with me a minute. I'll get your wing good to go, and we can move, alright?"
Pollux's voice was oddly calm- at least it might sound so to an outsider. This kind of stuff had never swayed him much. He started placing twigs to stabilize the break as best as he could, but he hadn't really dealt with wings much at all, so he hoped he wasn't doing more harm than good. As soon as he was done, he offered to help Rykah sit up.
Rykah whimpered quietly whenever the other touched his wing, the entirety of the limb sensitized with pain thanks to the break. When the other finally had him sitting up the broken wing sagged around his shoulder, clearly unsteady and nearly useless as the other pressed tight against his back.
"Alright, well…" Pollux muttered, mostly to himself, "I brought my motorcycle out here, so I could try to take you on that, but at the same time, I'm not sure it's a great idea."
He had none of his medical supplies on him, as he was supposed to be out here alone, and he wasn't sure whether he should call someone up to help out.
"What do you think I should do?" he asked, "My place isn't far if we drive- and I can carry you to the bike at least."
"G-Getting out of here fast is probably best… I-If I keep my wings tucked in I should be fine.." his voice was quiet and nearly drowned out by the thunder overhead.
"Works for me," Pollux said, carefully lifting the other up.
He ran back down the trail, doing all of this with ease. As much as he disliked some aspects of being a vampire, some of his enhanced abilities were not among the things he hated. Pollux helped Rykah onto his motorcycle once they got there, and he started up the engine, checking back behind him to make sure Rykah was okay and ready to go.
Rykah kept his wings and tail close, on arm firmly latched onto the other, while the other held his injured wing closer to him by force so the wind wouldn't catch him.
Pollux started off the drive slowly, and sped up a little once he was sure Rykah was alright. The drive was less than ten minutes altogether, and soon they arrived at his apartment complex. Pollux fished his key out of his pocket and turned to Rykah.
"You think you can make it up two flights of stairs, or do you need help?" Pollux asked.
He shut off the engine and parked the vehicle, then swung his legs onto the ground. Gods, his hair was soaked, and he was miserable. Though there was no way he was miserable as this poor guy. What had he been doing out in the woods anyway?
Rykah had actually been on his way home when the storm hit, having been living in a less than weather approved structure out in the underbrush. Usually when storms like this hit it wasn't this bad, or he had taken shelter in an alleyway in town, but this time it had been unexpected.
"I… Maybe?" He said softly, not sure if he could make it or not.
"I'll help you, then," Pollux offered, "It's no problem at all."
He reached out to Rykah again, asking for permission.
"I've got plenty of medical supplies inside, plus a lot of experience under my belt. So don't worry about your injuries too much. I'll get you fixed up."
"Kay.." mumbled Rykah, not really having much choice but to let the other help him as he let the other do as he wished, honestly preferring to pass out again.
Pollux lifted Rykah up the stairs and carried him to the apartment door, where he set him back on his feet carefully and went to unlock the door.
"I'll get you a towel and a change of clothes. And- oh… are you allergic to any medication that you know of? I was going to grab you some pain meds, if that's alright," Pollux said, unashamedly starting to strip off some of his soaked clothes right in front of Rykah.
He felt disgusting and cold. While waiting for a response, Pollux turned the heat up a little bit.
Rykah froze for a moment when the other began stripping off, before averting his eyes "'m not allergic to anything besides mint…" he said softly, keeping his eyes on the floor, his soaked and muddy tail flicking anxiously.
"Okay, well I'll get you some, then," Pollux replied, ducking into his bedroom.
He grabbed a clean pair of underwear and his bathrobe, and put those on, then grabbed a clean towel and clothes for Rykah. He headed back out and placed those in front of Rykah, then went to the bathroom to grab some painkillers. He sat there, thinking for a moment about which to give, then opted for morphine. He grabbed the syringe and went back into the living room.
"You haven't had any alcohol in the past few hours, have you? And you're okay with needles?" he checked before unwrapping it.
Rykah had already shimmied out of his muddy clothing and into the clean set, though there hadn't been much he could do for the mud in his feathers and tail. "No alcohol… 'nd I'm usually okay with needles.." he said shyly, seeming to calm down a little bit despite the sharp pain whenever his injured wing moved so much as an inch,
“Aight, I’m gonna give you a shot of this stuff then,” Pollux said.
He unwrapped the syringe and then carefully injected the medicine into Rykah’s arm. He went to throw the needle away.
“Do you have any injuries besides the wing?” he asked.
"I.. I'm not sure… I think maybe I cracked a few ribs.." he watched him carefully as he moved through the house, his own body still rooted to the floor by the front door.
"You're welcome to sit down," Pollux said, gesturing at the couch, "Sounds painful… but there's not really a lot I can do. They'll heal on their own in a bit over a month. It's really just dealing with the pain and making sure you're breathing okay."
He grabbed his stethoscope from a nearby table and got near to Rykah again.
"Mind if I take a listen?"
Rykah nodded a little in agreement, already knowing that much, since he had had cracked ribs before. He backed away a little when the other got close, but nodded his consent when the other want to check his breathing. For the most part he seemed okay, just the broken wing that sagged at his side, partially held up against his shoulder with one hand.
Pollux carefully listened to the other’s chest, and after a few moments, he shrugged.
“Sounds good to me. I’ll get you some ice to put on your ribs, and you can rest up. Oh, and I’ll try to adjust the splint a bit… though um… that’s probably not going to feel great. Eh, I’ll wait until the morphine sets in a bit.”
Rykah nodded, wincing a little at the thought of touching or moving the injured limb. Waiting until the other had left back to the kitchen he moved cautiously towards the couch, the weight of everything that was happening beginning to set in.
Pollux came back with a bag of ice wrapped in a towel, and he sat it next to Rykah, along with a blanket that had previously been draped over the back of the couch. Once done with this, Pollux sat on a chair across from him, eyeing him curiously.
"So who are you, anyhow? You didn't seem so interested in answering my question before, considering all the pain. Which was fair enough, but I feel like I should at least bother to get to know your name."
"Him.. Its Rykah…." he said softly, reaching for the ice and slotting it against a particular spot on his ribcage, watching the other with a mixture of nerves and curiosity.
Pollux relaxed his posture.
“I’m Pollux. If you couldn’t tell, I’m… I’m a healer by trade. I could always just bring you to work tomorrow and my colleagues have more supplies there, but we were in something of a pinch out there. So sorry for that.”
"I.. I couldn't ask you to do that..besides.. there's no way I could pay any kind of medical bill right now.." said Rykah nervously, his eyes flicking to the ground.
"We don't demand you pay the bills right away," Pollux said softly, "Not that you have to go, but don't let that be a deterrent. I've been there, gone through that shit. It isn't great, which is why I've pushed so hard for my colleagues to be more lenient."
He smiled slightly.
"But again, it's up to you. I'll do what I can in the meantime."