<span style='color:purple'>{Get me the plant and that stone, if you can get anything that looks like it's been manually cut get that too, but don't take much else, I don't know what they were doing with the stuff and we don't know what other things they may have rigged.}</span> She thought to him. Leah crawled down from her perch beneath an overhang of a roof. She made her way back to the alley and leaned against a cool brick building. her wings spread out behind her. She rumaged in her pockets for a pair of gloves. She found a pair, one with holes, but still a pair of gloves. She closed her wings around her, making appear as though she was not there, save for her violet tail-flame that moved as she twitched her tail, watiting.
<span style='color:red'>'Alright, no problem.'</span> Korif took the plant along with the rune-marked metal and the guns before making a quick dash away. These things had a habit of exploding on him. Unfortunately, they also had a smaller blast radius. The explosive set in the box threw Korif into the alley Leah was waiting in and threw him against the wall. Rubbing his head, Korif got up and looked around. Nothing was damaged, but he had a rather nasty gash down the side of his face, which he had only noticed when he looked in a puddle. He looked at Leah and grinned. <span style='color:red'>Well, this could've gone better...</span> he sniggered as he slumped sideways back down against the bloodstained wall.
Leah nodded. <span style='color:purple'>Yeah, if probably could have gone better, I mean after all at the moment you're bleeding, i'm a Vampdragon, your blood smells good, we've got a handful of god only knows what and it's the middle of the day.</span> She said. Leah bent over and picked up the plant, she held it rather far from her body, mainly because she had no idea what it was. Her ear twitched some before she began to walk. <span style='color:purple'>Come on, I'd help you, but i'd probably just wind up killing you if I did anything now. There's stuff back at the apartment, I also want to see some things in the books there. Worst comes to worst you have to meet Jazlyn.</span> She called over her shoulder.
Korif picked himself up and tried to keep pace with Leah. <span style='color:red'>You know you're probably gonna have to get these bullets out, right?</span> Korif smirked as he half-limped alongside. It was just a good thing he was used to taking so many bullets and shards of metal to the flesh, otherwise he'd be dying in a pool of his own blood. <span style='color:red'>So, what d'you think that is?</span> He gestured to the plant the Vampdragon was carrying. <span style='color:red'>Doesn't look familiar to me, and I've seen some odd plants.</span> The blood was trying to seep into his closed eye, but ended up just making a red circle around the outside of his eye lids.
Leah didn't speak until sometime later when they were back at the flat. She set down the plant on the counter and took what Korif was still carrying and set them next to the plant. She led him to another part of the flat, down to the far end of the hall, she unlocked the door and gave it a slight push, the momentum carrying it slow enough for Korif to get a good look at how thick the metal that reinforced it was. <span style='color:purple'>Okay, lie on that metal table over there and be very glad i was studying to to be a doctor at journeyman's level before my minor incident.</span> She said. She made her way through a few counters covered with varying plants, pills, trays and metal tools. <span style='color:purple'>Also be glad that everything here is steril and that you're bleeding enough so that you'll probably be fairly lethargic for the next few days.</span>
Korif pushed himself onto the table with a groan. The bloodloss in his leg was starting to make it numb, and he wasn't exactly fond of numb limbs. Made them useless. <span style='color:red'>Wonderful... c'mon, get these damn things outta my leg so I can go back to walking and using walls as an alternate mode of transport.</span> he smirked. Some of the tools Korif observed as he watched Leah didn't seem very... subtle. Still, it was better than nothing, even if it was going to hurt... a lot... which it most likely was going to.
Leah collected a few tools from the counter and put them on a cart which she worked from, most of them were sharp, and she wasn't about to tell Korif that this wasn't going to hurt. She set to work, using scalples and other varying tools. She pulled three bullets from his leg and set to then fully cleaning the area around where they had entered, clearing away the blood from the fur so she could see what she was doing as she used a needle to put stitches in. The whole process only took about 30 minutes, although for Korif they were quite probalby a very painful 30 minutes. She took the bullets and put them in a container marked bio-hazard, the tools were put into a rather odd device upon which she flicked a switch and a humming filled the air. <span style='color:purple'>It helps to have well-off friends and friends with rich parents.</span> She said, more to herself than Korif as she walked over to a sink, took of a pair of gloves that she had donned and washed her hands before returning to the metal table. <span style='color:purple'>You need help up?</span> She asked.
<span style='color:red'>Nah, I'm good.</span> he smiled weakly. He slid off the table but lost his balance horribly, and collapsed. He picked himself up and decided it was better to shift all weight possible onto his good leg. <span style='color:red'>You got any bandies?</span> He winced a little. He'd ended up on some sort of operating table many a time, but only a few were as painful as this. Still, he thought of it as a good reminder to always be careful when facing armed opponents, and unarmed ones, for that matter, and always be ready to make a hasty exit if the loot explodes. With a sigh, Korif sat back on the table.
Leah was about to warn Korif as he slid off the table, but by the time she opened her mouth he was already on the floor. She went to help him up, though he seemed to be doing fairly well. She looked up when he asked a question. <span style='color:purple'>Probably do somewhere... although I'm not sure because as it happens I'm not sure what those are.</span> She said sheepishly. She looked around the room for a bit before turning back to him. <span style='color:purple'>I'm going to get a few things real quick, back in a sec.</span> She said. She left the room and went into the small kitchen area where she had dumped everything. She took the plant and moved it out of the way as much as possible before picking up the rock and going into the same room she had to retrieve the box and daggers. She immeadiately went to a bookshelf filled with large volumes that looked thoroughly uninteresting and ran a finger over the tops of the spines, rock in hand. In the end she pulled down to. One a large black book with silver inscriptions on the spine, the other a mottled grey-blue that also had silver inscriptions on it. She tucked them under her arm and went back to where Korif was. <span style='color:purple'>Okay, so what was it that you wanted?</span> She asked.
<span style='color:red'>Sorry, bandages.</span> Korif half yawned as he spoke. He'd forgotten how long ago it was since he'd even rested his eyes, and it was starting to take its toll. He looked around again, the tools that looked like instruments of torture made him wince slightly, unsure of which had been used to extract the rounds spat out from the automatic weapons. He lay on the table and stared at the ceiling for a while, another yawn sliding out of his lungs, before the weight of his eyelids got the better of him, and he fell to sleep. It seemed amazing that he could, as he could even feel the cold of the table even as he drifted off.
Leah nodded and went over to retrieve a few bandages from a cabinet. she came back to find Korif asleep. She smiled slightly and put down the bandages. Gently as she could she lifted him from the metal table and brought him back out to the main room before setting him on the couch. Inwardly she was thanking the benefit of improved strength that came with her condition. She went back and retrieved the books and the rock from the lab and put those on the coffee table already quite laiden with books. She went back into the kitchen and scrawled two notes before picking up the plant a few of the metal objects that she honestly had no idea what they could begin to be and then left the other note. She walked down the hallway a ways and unlocked one of the other doors, music poured from the flat as she went in and set down the things she had brought and the note that read:<span style='color:purple'>Jaz- found some stuff you might like to see, what the fuck is it? -Lee P.S. Don't smell the plant</span> She left and closed the door quietly behind her. Back in her apartment Korif was still asleep when she got there so she picked up the second note and tossed it in the trash, she hadn't much figured he'd wake up. She stretched and looked at one of the few clocks. It was about mid-afternoon. She figured she might as well try and sleep so she wasn't on a day-time schedual. She went back into what could be considered her room, texted Em, then fell asleep, her claws digging into the bare rafters.
Korif's eyes blinked open. He rubbed half of his face sluggishly, feeling half-drunk and half-drugged up. Sitting up, he arched his back until he heard a satisfying 'pop'. He didn't know why he was aching all over, save for his leg, but he doubted Leah had done anything to cause it. He looked around and only just realised that he'd been moved. He obviously hadn't done it himself, but the only other person in there was... of course, Vampdragon trait. Slowly, he turned himself around and put his feet on the floor. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, taking a look out of the window. There were still people rushing through the market. Nothing bothered him until he saw uniforms. Oh, hell. The Bhim authorities. Looked like they were around the scorch marks of the blast, and they probably already knew that it was Korif. He turned away from the window and started staring at the floor, his joined fingertips forming two sides of an imaginary triangle pointed ahead.
In the back of her mind Leah felt someone stir in the flat, nothing really registered until she let go of the beam of wood and fell to the floor none to lightly. She muttered something and picked herself back up. Wearily, she went out into the main part of the flat, the sun was setting, but it was still somewhat bright. She stood off in the shadows and watched Korif before speaking up. <span style='color:purple'>Y'know aside from the fact that the police probably arent' going to come up here looking for you, the guy at the desk down there already knows my thing. If somebody comes up to see me before 9 at night i reseve full right to tear them limb from limb. It's in the leagal documents.</span> She said, she wasn't joking about the leagal documents. <span style='color:purple'>Although if you really feel that you're safer off somewhere else there's a back way out, it's underground for a bit then comes up off to the side in the middle of the market.</span> She added, seeing the aprehensive look on his face.
Korif seemed to jump a little, startled. He looked up at Leah and smirked. <span style='color:red'>Nah, I wouldn't want to risk it. Evasion. Heh. I'm good, but I'm not always that good.</span> He looked out of the window and observed the setting sun. He rubbed his right eye and suddenly clenched his teeth as the ventilated leg flared in pain again. Removing a syringe from a pocket somewhere, he thrust it into his leg and emptied the contents, putting the needle back in the pocket. The pain died down, but Korif found he had lost some feeling in his leg. Looking back at the floor, he gave a sigh.
She chuckled, shaking her head. As Korif took out the syringe from his poket she turned away and gave the cieling a look, the words Not again running through her head. <span style='color:purple'>I know that was probably some form of morphine, but I've got stuff in the back that probably works just as well if not better. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper than what you can get around here.</span> She said, turning back to face him. She stood in the awkward silence both arms behind her back, her right hand gripping her left elbow.
<span style='color:red'>Uhh, morphine? Nah, this is too strong to be morphine. I dunno what it is, but I've used it before and I ain't dead, am I?</span> He tried to give her a reassuring grin, but he doubted it would've worked. <span style='color:red'>I find it's easier to steal the essentials rather than pay for them. You can't put a price on life.</span> Giving his thigh a punch, he could feel the muscle tense as he did so, confirming that his leg was responsive enough for him to make a hasty exit should he need to. <span style='color:red'>C'mon, don't look at me like that.</span> he replied to the somewhat worried look she bore. <span style='color:red'>I'm not going to die on you that soon. I have a habit of not doing.</span> He gave her a knowing wink and a small smile.
She still stood off aways until the very last ruby rays dropped and the artificial lights of the market clicked on. As soon as there was no sun to contend with she walked up to Korif and put her arms around him. <span style='color:purple'>Sorry, I've just lost a few people and almost lost myself to stuff we've gotten off the streets. I'd actually be dead if it weren't for that kid, showing up from the middle of nowhere all scared-like. Said she didn't know her name or where she was and kept calling me "ma'am" and asking if I knew where her mother was... sometimes i hate her for not letting me die...</span> She said, her voice trailing off. A split second later: <span style='color:purple'>Please tell me I didn't just say that... Nope, you did. Dammit.</span> <span style='color:purple'>Sorry.</span> She mumbled.
Korif smiled. <span style='color:red'>S'alright. You need to get it out, you do that. Doesn't matter if there's a lot you need to get off your chest, it's not like I'm going anywhere.</span> He moved his arms around her shoulder and squeezed a little. He'd forgotten how much he still didn't know about Leah, and finding out was only half the adventure. He looked down at her for a moment and sighed a bit. Shame he'd left when he was still young. He might've been able to enjoy this sort of thing more often.
She sniffed a bit, her eyes glazed, watching and looking but not quite registering anything. Her mind was off wandering, evidently, flickers of thoughts flashed through her mind's eye, fleeting but each having been remembered for a reason currently unknown to her. It seemed almost as though someone had silenced the whole market, a combination of a buzzing and high-pitched ringing in her ears. <span style='color:purple'>Thank you.</span> Was all she said.
<span style='color:red'>No problem.</span> The thought that Leah could confide in him made Viriathos smile. He was glad to be able to help like this. Yet another thing that he'd noticed was that this Vampdragon wasn't afraid to show emotion. Viriathos had come across many a Vampdragon in his time, and they were stone dead in terms of emotions. He didn't really like it when people bottled things up, and he was pleased when they were willing to let it go.
