Lucy's Room

[Tyler]

Finding the wound amidst the clumps of crimson-stained, matted hair, he checked to see if it was already healing on its own, narrowing his eyes, wishing his medical knowledge was better than what it was. It was one thing their pack truly lacked, a medic of any kind, but given how he and Lucy were regarded, they probably wouldn’t have warranted attention from anyone with any skill or expertise anyway. Maybe the mansion’s library would have something he could thumb through, if only to— Tyler sighed. He was genuinely thinking about reading up on first aid for situations just like this, and the fact that it was going to happen again made his stomach twist in a knot. He tried to untangle it by picturing Farryn and Lucian meeting one sticky end or another, reaping what they had sown, but it was a weak effort at best and one he quickly forced himself to abandon in order to pay the appropriate attention to Lucy, getting to work with the bowl and the cloth he had fetched.

Tyler’s smile at Lucy’s words, the two separate sentences that were connected in the weight of their meaning, was wan but supportive, and he muttered in response, “That’s right,” while meeting her gaze as best he could to warn her silently that the water might sting the cuts and scrapes that had yet to heal, the deeper ones that Farryn had no doubt taken great pleasure in causing, even if only inadvertently. “You’re gonna want to shower when these have closed,” he said to her unnecessarily, frowning at the insignificance of the advice when balanced against the beating she had taken and how often she had endured this type of treatment.

“I’ll get you some juice or something too, maybe something to eat. Something light, huh?” It was all he could think to do; he knew the juice would help with the loss of blood, no matter how quickly her body would regenerate it, and if nothing else it would act more as a psychosomatic aid than anything genuine, but it was all Tyler had. Hollow offers that he hoped reassured her in some small way, reminded her she wasn’t alone. “Some soup, or some toast or something?” Tyler actually thought he was talking now just for the sake of it, to keep that tether between them, to anchor her to consciousness, and to steady himself while he gently dabbed blood from her neck and hands or from her jaw.

[Lucy]

Beneath the throbbing of her muscles, the ache that had settled deep inside her bones - possibly as equally psychosomatic as it was caused by cumulative injuries over the years - Lucy barely felt the stinging of warm water in open wounds, it was a tiny sharp little prick through the fog and though she winced vaguely, her eyes were unfocused, unseeing and she swallowed again, closing her eyes tiredly. It was easier just to listen to Tyler speaking, because when her eyes were open the room seemed to spin and twist around her, screwing her balance over completely, making her stomach churn over itself.

"Okay." Lucy said, voice distant, her head lolling slightly in a weak nodding motion as she took in what he was saying. The thought of showering seemed so completely exhausting though, she decided it could wait, until when she didn't know, whenever she could get her legs back under her, or else crawl to the bathroom without collapsing under the aches and pains of what Farryn had done. Hatred bubbled in her gut, a dull twinge of pain coming with it. Just like Tyler she sometimes pushed herself on through times like this just by imagining Farryn being beaten into a pulp, the sound of the 'Alpha' female's bones breaking, the sensation of her skin splitting, blood spilling and spattering everywhere. If she could just be there when the brunette took her last breath, if she could just be the last thing that bitch saw... It was enough to drive a fresh wave of tears up to her eyes at imagining the sheer relief she knew she would feel. The relief she wanted. More than anything in the entire cruel, harsh world, she wanted to be there when Farryn died. Once upon a time she had replayed the image of being the one to deliver the final blow too, but that seemed less and less likely. When she found it nigh on impossible to get up in the mornings now, to motivate her body into moving

As Tyler cleaned away the smudges and streaks of blood Lucy went quiet, fingers of her recently relocated hand flexing subtly against the floor as blood crashed back into it, making her flesh tingle. "I don't know. I don't know if I can eat anything." Lucy sighed, body seeming to shrink back even more against the foot of her bed, muscles limp and unresponsive for the most part. "I feel sick," she concluded heavily.

[Tyler]

At every little wince or waver in his friend, Tyler paused and tensed, as if afraid continuing through her falters would cause her to tip over the proverbial edge, and he wasn’t keen on the idea of being responsible for anything of the sort. She was obviously tougher than she looked, given how long she had tolerated Farryn’s abuse, but Tyler knew that even people with strength could only abide such treatment for so long before they, quite simply, ‘broke’. The notion itself was enough to turn Tyler’s stomach, and so, he did his best to put it out of his mind, as tough as that was given Lucy’s current physical condition, and his proximity to her, the way he could smell her blood so thickly and even almost taste it on the air in the room.

While the male fighter had no idea what truly went through Lucy’s head, he had no doubt that she would love to see Farryn breathe her last, and even cause the older female’s death; Tyler had hoped for the same thing in regards to Ramski or Lucian more times than he could count, and was certainly not above imagining it whenever his mind started to wander. Just the thought of ramming a silver blade right through either older male’s hearts was sometimes all that kept him going, as unlikely as either triumph was; it didn’t hurt to think about it, albeit discreetly in the ‘Alpha’ male’s presence.

Frowning at Lucy’s almost defeated statement, Tyler met her gaze as best he could, keeping up the gentle cleaning with the cloth. “Okay, but maybe I should get you some milk or something, just to… get something in your stomach, settle it down.” This wasn’t his strong point, any of this, but he’d learned enough rough first aid over the years to be able to scramble his way through situations like this, though they were usually just for him, and not others. Helping Lucy now was different, and while this wasn’t the first time he had ever helped the blonde female, it was still awkward for him, and made him feel as if he wasn’t really being as helpful as he wanted to be.

[Lucy]

In reality, Lucy supposed she had really become the human equivalent of a kicked puppy, or at least the lycanthrope equivalent; if you smacked any animal around enough they would learn to stop biting back and the blonde had clearly reached such a stage a long while ago now, she had been damaged physically and mentally in ways that might never be repaired. It was a moot point in her eyes anyway because she was sure sooner or later Farryn really would tire of her games and the Alpha female really would end her miserable existence. What bliss that would be.

Clearly he didn’t know it or even think it, but Lucy was certain that she wouldn’t have lasted even this long if it hadn’t been for Tyler, if it hadn’t been for their many conversations about how the pack was bullshit and how they hated Faryn or Lucian, or both of them, if it hadn’t been for the fact that he managed to drag her back to her feet every time Farryn knocked her into the dirt, she would have given up a long time ago.

“I’ll try,” was all she could really managed. Lucy couldn’t promise that she would be able to eat anything, or that she’d be able to keep it down. “Maybe some crackers or something.” In the end maybe wasting away was a better option, it would be the coward’s way out of the situation but at least it was a way out.

[Tyler]

To think back on how the pack had once been was painful to Tyler. If his parents had lived to see this, it would have destroyed them, he knew that; they had lived within the unit for years before Tyler had been born, and had seen it at its prime. To see how far it had fallen…

For the first time since they had died, Tyler was actually relieved that they were gone. They didn’t have to see this, day after day; abusive Alphas, volatile pack mates who could barely contain homicidal, sadistic urges. They were animals. There was nothing humane, human, about most of them. It was so detached, so different, from what it had been in their youth. Tyler missed that stability, that unity and love. And what was worse was knowing that it could never, ever go back to how it had once been. That glory was gone, lost in the past. Now, the only possible salvation was in destruction. The pack had to be torn apart, literally, at the seams.

Tyler nodded. “Okay. Good idea.” He offered her a soft smile, to try and pick up her spirits, shattered and splintered though they were. This pack kept knocking them down, but Tyler was determined that they would keep getting back to their feet; they wouldn’t stay down. “Are you gonna be okay here while I go?”

[Lucy]

In some ways, Lucy thought of the pack a little bit like Peter Pan’s lost boys, they were all just kids really, running around with no parents to guide them or watch out for them and they’d gotten themselves into this horrible mess, some of them were broken and tired, while others were just mad with power and position. That analogy would have made her laugh if her body didn’t feel like it was suffering through a particularly bad bought of seasickness.

Lethargically the blonde nodded, her vision was a blur of muted colours and shapes, drifting in and out of focus and she knew she was still riding a concussion from the strike of the iron bed frame to her skull. "I'm not going anywhere, Ty," she slurred a little, but a faint smile came to her mouth. One of her hands – the one that didn’t belonged on the end of the arm that had been knocked out of joint – rested over his, the one holding the cloth he’d been using to clean blood off her skin, a sickeningly familiar sensation. "Just don’t be long okay," she whispered.