Private By a Thread

[Riven]

Tags - Oleander

Riven had yet to leave Nar Shaddaa, her visits to the planet were for several reasons after all and one of those had been the hunting of a target. But... something went wrong. She remembered taking the shot, she remembered confirming it and packing away her rifle, but then something sudden. An explosion? Did someone find her nest and blow it up? Did she somehow mess up with her traps?

Whatever was the cause the short elf now found herself in a predicament as her crimson eyes steadily opened. She could see ahead of her a sign, but someone seemed to have put it on the wall upside-down. A high pitched duo of boops were heard from above her, she knew those beeps, it was her loyal companion Pincer, but what was he doing on the ceiling? She looked up to see the scorpion-like droid stood on the ceiling, its optical scanner at the end of its tail pointing directly up at her as her hair seemed to cascade up towards the roof.

It was then she felt the gravity of her situation; she was upside-down and hanging from something. Her head was dizzy, beads of crimson dripping down her face and to the floor as they landed in a puddle of water. Yes, there was an explosion, she was blasted out of a window and that's all she remembered. With a light grunt of pain she tried to look up at what had snared her only to find some sort of cable tightly wrapped and coiled around her right leg.

Instinctively she tried to pull her body up to reach for the cable with a hand but she quickly stopped as she felt a sharp shooting pain in her shin. She gave out a shocked cry of pain and let herself hang there for a moment as red eyes looked back to the ground at Pincer who was quite literally just a few inches away from her; she had almost hit the ground. "It's... A fracture..." she muttered with a grunt of pain, she was used to that type of injury, her bones were fragile enough that she often had to deal with it.

Pincer offered a few low pitched swooning beeps in return as it looked up at its master with its large optical eye. "... You called that doctor already...? Good..." responded Riven, thankful that Pincer was ever reliable in situations like this, always taking the initiative to kick in with its emergency protocols and call for aid; Oleander of which had recently been added to the list of contacts. "... The rifle...?" asked Riven as she looked towards the droid, it offered another set of beeps before it moved to the edge of the alley, the durasteel case that contained her rifle safely hidden behind some boxes. "... Great... I guess we just... Wait..." spoke the elf as she glanced around once more, lightly swaying back and forth on the cable. She could touch the floor with a hand, suspended as low as she was, but her main concern right now was where that blood that was dripping down her face was coming from, and how long Oleander would take to arrive...

 

[Oleander]

//: Riven //:
//: Attire //:

Today was her day off. She had cleared her schedule for the rest of the week after her encounter with a small elven assassin. The appointment was routine, consisting of a check-up and some relief for her eyes.

However, the entire meeting had thrown her off kilter.

The back of her hand wiped at her face, and sweat collected just at her brow. Oleander kept herself busy in the small greenhouse she created in the warehouse that Mercy had given her. Here she lived, worked, and studied. It was her own little oasis away from Hapes.

It was the least the Vigo could do after obliterating her garden and livelihood.

Still, no matter how much she let herself fall into her work, something somewhere reminded her of the encounter. All she needed was just some time away from people, to refocus her mind and get back to work.

As she ripped out one of the invasive weeds, Oleander reminded herself she had to see the woman again in the next few days. The thought caught her off guard, and she fell back with the weed in her hand. She let the rest of her body fall flat into the soil as she looked up at the ceiling and the artificial sunlight.

Sighing, she'd just deal with this like she always does. Bury it deep and move on. Riven was a patient, and emotions only got in the way of anything productive.

People were confusing.

Oleander sighed heavily as she heard the echo of her comm device. She looked up and saw that it was flashing with a number she didn't fully recognize. Slowly, she sat up, reached for it, and flipped through the message.

Maybe she thought too hard about the elf because she was not being messaged for a field call. She sent a quick message back and set the coordinates into her tracker. Her lips pressed together, seeing that it wasn't far — literally walking distance.

Taking her time, Oleander stood up and gathered her things after cleaning up and putting on something more suitable to check on her patient.

It didn't take her too long to follow the instructions and walk up to the hanging elf. Looking around, she could see that she should have rushed over. The message didn't sound too urgent, but nonetheless, she couldn't do anything more about it. Kneeling down, she pressed her fingers to Riven's neck to check a pulse.

A hand patted her cheeks lightly, careful to not harm her further. "Hey, you called?" She tilted her head and smiled.

"Gonna cut you loose, this doesn't look too bad, but we can fix you up."

Standing back up, she pulled out a small cortosis blade and cut the wire, letting it slack enough so that Riven could fall just at her feet. She kept the pressure on Riven's leg, though. The bleeding was concerning, but there wasn't anything deadly from what she could initially tell.

Her focus was on the leg as she took off her jacket and set it aside. A small box of tonics and other items opened up with a flick of her wrist. Oleander began the examination and looked up towards Riven's face.

"So are you going to tell me what happened?" Her voice was light despite the situation. "Or do I get to guess?"

 

[Riven]

Tags - Oleander

Riven was thankful that it didn't take long for Oleander to arrive, and also for the fact that her target wasn't too far from her office. She wasn't sure how long she had been unconscious for however, wasn't sure how much of the blood had rushed to her head already. When the doctor knelt down in front of the hanging elf to check her pulse her red gaze looked back to her, "... You can just ask if I'm dead..." she softly spoke in response, though it was likely that Oleander was checking her pulse for more than just that.

She then watched as the doctor stood back up to start cutting at the cable. "... My shin, it's fractured-" she managed before the cable was cut loose and she was able to fall gently to the ground. The first thing she noted was the pain that shot up through her injured leg, the cable now uncoiled somehow felt even more painful as she lay on the floor, but not only that but she felt so incredibly dizzy as the blood within her body was able to finally stop pooling in her head. The yelp of pain was followed by the easily noticeable disorientated look on her face, eyes seemingly unable to focus as she groaned softly in discomfort and pain.

There was another source of pain though, a throbbing one that she felt at her side. Her hand reached down to the side of her waist but didn't touch, the material there was partly cut and damp with blood, no doubt where the blood that was dripping up her face had come from when she was suspended. "Nn-... I think... I got stabbed by something..." managed Riven through gritted teeth as she felt the pain keenly now. Her leg, if the fabric was removed, would show the marks left behind by the coil of cable that wrapped her shin, but there were no lacerations, the fracture was a result of a crushing force caused by the tangled cable.

Her disorientation prevented her from being able to look directly at Oleander but she answered her question regardless; "... An explosion... I don't know how..." was all she could answer with for the time being however. Her personal droid appeared besides Oleander, its main optical scanner at the end of its tail zooming in on her face for just a moment before it offered a few beeps and whirrs before casually observing.

 

[Oleander]

//: Riven //:

Oleander focused on the leg, nodding as Riven muttered that it was fractured. That much was clear. It would take time to heal, but Oleander already had a plan: she could stabilize it here and later douse it with a tonic to accelerate the bone knitting. With Riven's odd resistance in the Force, traditional means wouldn't work, but Oleander trusted her own concoctions.

"Yeah, it's fractured—" she began, then froze as something Riven said registered. Keywords. Worrying words.

Setting the leg down gently, Oleander moved to her torso. Without hesitation, she pulled trauma shears from her bag and cut through the blood-soaked fabric, peeling it back.

The sight made her inhale sharply. The laceration was deep, angling across the side of her abdomen. Bad, but not immediately fatal — if she acted quickly.

"Shit, Riven…" Concern slipped past her usual clinical mask.

Dragging her kit closer, she snapped it open, pulling out antiseptic, dressings, and suturing tools. She glanced at the elf, who was already starting to fade. Her red eyes narrowed.

"Not today, Riven... you're stuck with me..."

Looking to the nearby droid, she nodded sharply. "You're the one who called? Keep her talking. Don't let her drift."

Oleander worked fast. She slid a needle of local anesthetic into the skin around the wound — a sting, but minor compared to everything else.

"Stay awake, Riven. Talk to the droid. Just keep your eyes open for me, okay?"

With gloved hands, she irrigated the wound, flushing blood and grit away with a steady stream of antiseptic solution. The cut gaped, showing torn muscle and the glint of foreign metal lodged deep. She cursed softly under her breath.

Her fingers probed carefully, gauging its depth. "Of course," she muttered. "Has to be embedded."

She braced her forceps and glanced up. "Alright. Deep breath, Riven. One good one."

In a single motion, she drew the metal shard free, tossing it aside with a wet clatter onto the floor beside them. Blood welled immediately, and Oleander pressed sterile gauze hard to the wound, holding pressure until the worst of it slowed. She poured a coagulation tonic over the site, watching it hiss faintly as it began to take effect, then layered more gauze and maintained steady pressure.

Only once the bleeding dulled did she reach for her stapler. "Temporary closure," she explained, though Riven was probably barely lucid. With quick, practiced clicks, she set staples across the wound, just enough to hold it in place until they reached the office. She dressed it with another heavy bandage, her palm pressing firmly over it.

Her voice softened as she checked Riven's face. "How're you holding up? Still with me?"

The question was partly to keep Riven talking — partly to keep Oleander steady as she worked. The side wound was controlled for now; next, the shin needed to be stabilized.

 

[Riven]

Tags - Oleander

As Riven watched Oleander pull out her shears to start cutting through the fabric of her gear in order to get to the site of the wound she let out a gentle grumble, "... Hey... You're ruining my clothes..." she managed in her soft disorientated tone. She couldn't see the damage done to her own body from this angle, but the look and response from the doctor didn't particularly fill her with confidence. Thankfully Riven was a lot calmer in these situations than she was dealing with people, somehow.

Try as she might to keep her vision focused it kept blurring and drifting, her eyes felt so very heavy and unfocused as she heard Oleander snap open her medical kit, eyes unable to keep track of her for much longer as they started to turn up towards the sky. With her body still she couldn't really notice the pain, it was movement that seemed to remind her of it as no doubt something cut into her further each time.

Ever loyal Pincer, the small scorpion droid, regarded Oleander with its main optic as it offered her a few affirming beeps and whirrs in response before it scuttled up towards the side of the elf's head. It started to offer sharper more urgent beeps and boops while snapping its hydraulic claws in front of her face. It seemed to have a surprising amount of effectiveness in stirring Riven from her want to just close her eyes and rest, and the reason might be obvious as she responded; "... Mmm... Just... Five more minutes..." she answered. The droid was acting like it was just another morning for Riven which had a strong result in keeping her lucid.

There wasn't much of a wince when the needle pierced skin to apply the local numbing agent, no doubt she'd subconsciously gotten used to some of the pain when she was laying still already so the pointed pinch of the needle was barely felt. The antiseptic solution however was very much felt as her body twitched in response to the stinging sensation, and with that twitch she felt the presence and pain of the metal shard lodged within her body as she let out a brief cry of pain. At the very least it woke her up more...

Thankfully the pain was quickly being ebbed away by the administration of the anesthetic as she pulled in a shuddering breath, eyes able to glance back down towards Oleander as she was treated. "... It's... not that bad right...?" she managed before being asked to take in a breath. She braced herself in anticipation for the pain, even with the numbing agent it was still going to hurt. A deep breath was taken.

With a swift pull the shard was dislodged and immediately Riven let out a sharp gasp as she yelped in pain with a light whimper following. She clenched her jaw to try and restrain most of the audible displays of pain she was enduring as pale hands balled tightly into fists. Her crimson gaze became misty as she looked away, the natural response to such agony.

As the worst of it passed she tried to steady her shuddering breaths, she trusted that Oleander knew what she was doing as she felt the pressure applied to the wound, the gauze steadying the flow of blood before the coagulant was applied. But thankfully the anesthetic had more than enough time to entirely numb the pain of the stapler closing the wound shut.

With the edge of pain taken away she found her vision becoming more unreliable once more as the loss of blood took precedent, and anytime it seemed like she was about to drift off Pincer would again snap its hydraulic claws above her face to bring her back.

"How're you holding up? Still with me?"

She saw Oleander's face come into view as she asked the elf, and those misty red eyes looked back as she offered a light nod. "Mm-... Dizzy..." she answered. "... All better...?" she asked, her voice sounding so awfully tired at this point. All that remained now was the fractured shin...

 

[Oleander]

//: Riven //:

While they were, for the most part, out of the woods, Oleander still worried about the assassin. It was hard not to frown; all of this was stressful, and she hated how much she was starting to care. Shoving her feelings down, she nodded.

"Yep, it's all good now." A small lie, but one meant to comfort the elf.

Looking down, she noticed the swelling in the shin. The cord that had wound itself so tightly around the bone shouldn't have fractured it this badly. Resting a hand on Riven's thigh, she worked carefully, palpating higher up the leg to check for other breaks. If the damage extended into the femur or hip, it would be far more serious. After some gentle prodding and squeezes, she concluded it was localized to the shin.

Focusing back on the fracture, Oleander threaded the cord away from the limb. Almost instantly, the swelling worsened, the skin stretching taut. She frowned and uncorked a vial of anti-inflammatory tonic, applying it with quickly. It would help ease the swelling, at least long enough for her to stabilize things.

The shin was going to be the most troublesome. If Riven weren't such a void in the Force, healing would have been simple. Instead, she'd need to immobilize it and get her back to the office.

With what she had on hand, Oleander fashioned a makeshift splint, binding it firmly enough to keep the bone from shifting but not so tight that circulation would be cut off. Satisfied, she glanced at the droid, speaking to it as if it were a worried relative.

"We need to get her back to my office. I can do a proper cleaning there and decide if she needs a cast or a brace."

Her red eyes flicked down to Riven, weighing her options. She couldn't sling her over her shoulder — the side wound would tear. Dragging was out of the question. With a sigh, she closed up her bag, swung it over her back, and moved to stand over the injured assassin.

"I'm carrying you."

Sliding her arms under Riven's armpits, she maneuvered carefully, mindful of the wound in her side. Once she had the elf upright, she guided her arms around her own neck, securing her before lifting.

Oleander's hands settled under her thighs, supporting her weight as she started walking. The pace was slow but steady — all she could manage with someone clinging to her.

She tried not to think too much about how fit Riven was, how easily she could feel it now. Instead, she distracted herself the best way she knew how.

"So…" she said dryly, "why are you getting blown out of windows?"