[action] when arriving, please refrain from dying on the lawn

[freying]

[ While location may be everything in real estate, timing may just be everything when it comes to the Time Compression pulling people here. The young woman who found herself on the ground when she wasn't expecting it had little to actually complain about, too much at a loss of energy and blood from a wound dying the fabric of her beautiful, medieval gown a dull red-brown at her right side to much complain about what ground she was expiring on. Freya was aware she was dying, had known so almost immediately after being wounded, and if it was disorienting and jarring to have gone from being carried by Merlin to dropped on the not-so welcoming ground, well, at least he had been trying.

Having strangers find her should have been more upsetting, but outside of expediting her current process to its natural conclusion, she wasn't finding it in her to get heavily upset. There are two times to run into her on this bloody valentine evening: ]

1. [ As she's brought into the infirmary, still responsive to questions, but actively bleeding and incredibly pale; ]

2. [ Or after people have managed what Freya swears should have been impossible, and she's stable enough to be looking forward to more than a few hours left in existence. Still pale, still disorientated, and now a bit mystified by the explanations offered, a tired Freya is alert enough to be spoken with. Please don't stab her again she's at maximum daily quota! ]

Comments

Action; 1

[seethelanterns]

[Rapunzel is always eager to help and make use of her hair's power when people get hurt, usually from venturing too far into the Training. An injury like this was worse than she was used to, but she had to try.] It will be okay. I can help.... [She tried to assure the girl, not sure if she could really understand, but quickly gathering her hair and pressing it to the stab wound. Catching her breath before she sings the incantation. As she sings, the hair glows, it's power working to heal the injury.]

Action; 1

[freying]

[ Freya's immediate response is to open her eyes, struggling to focus on who's talking. Not a familiar face, but one speaking in tones of reassurance. That can penetrate, even if Freya feels it's admirable... and pointless. ]

It's all right.

[ She was too tired to still be crying at the pain, or the fright, by now. She wanted to tell this person that they didn't need to waste their effort, and maybe -- manage to tell them to tell Merlin thank you, for her. Since she wasn't really in a position to do so herself, pending he didn't appear before all her strength left her.

It's hard to tell what's been gathered to her side, but one thing isn't: the soft, glimmering of this woman's head (her hair, yes, but it looks more like a sort of broad halo to Freya), and her singing. Not a song Freya recognises, if that doesn't seem important.

Magic?

Her eyes widen a fraction. It was too late for magic. Not that Freya had ever seen a magic that worked like this, incanted by such a strange song, or with such an odd manifestation, but surely, it was too late. You couldn't sing life back into a body anymore than water back into a dam once the wall was breached.

Maybe so... but this did help relieve the pain. For that alone, Freya could manage a small smile. ]

Thank you.

[ For helping send her off nonpainfully ahjskdfh ]

Action; 1

[seethelanterns]

[Rapunzel did not even know Freya had any connection to Merlin, but if she did she would have been even more determined to help, given their friendship since his arrival. She knew Camelot's stance on magic, knew she would likely have been killed if she had been discovered there.

She waits, biting her lip and looking to Freya nervously as she finished the song, waiting to see how she would react. She knew Flynn had sort of freaked out a little, even if he had managed to keep it under some semblence of control.]

You're welcome. I just....saw you were hurt, and I wanted to help. Can you tell me your name, where you're from? Maybe someone you know is here and can help.

Action; 1

[freying]

[ Dying was starting to feel much more pleasant than Freya was expecting. Still dark and tiring, but not so... painful.

It was a welcome shift. She's genuinely so distanced from current reality that she can only watch Rapunzel finish her song with half-open eyes, that small smile still on her lips as a trade-off for the grimaces of pain being brought in here. ]

It doesn't... hurt.

[ Her tone is close to wondering. This person must be talented indeed, to be able to do that. For all that much of magic had been frightening in her life, this? Wasn't. Magic as something closer to what Merlin spoke about, a gift, and not a curse. (If hers had been very, very literal.) ]

Freya. [ She pauses, breathing in slowly. ] My name is Freya.

[ Where she's from is more complicated, and if they're still close to Camelot... which they had to be, she wasn't going to unwittingly expose Merlin to any more danger than she already had by existing. She may be dying so she thinks, but it far from means allowing someone else's life to be hemmed in or cut short.

So her final response is... to slowly shake her head. ]

Re: Action; 1

[seethelanterns]

Good. [At the very least, Rapunzel had helped ease the girl's pain. She knows and accepts that Camelot officially doesn't encourage or condone magic at all, given Merlin's secrecy and his insistance she not tell anyone he had magic.]

Freya? Okay. Well, I'm guessing someone might have already talked to you and explained, but you were brought to Balamb Garden via the Time Compression. There are all sorts of people from all sorts of places, even times. You arrived here pretty hurt, so you're currently in the infirmary.

Action; 1

[freying]

[ Her eyes fully close, then open again, brow furrowing. Yes, someone had mentioned these things, in a flurry of other phrases she hadn't really had sink in quite yet, due to the aforementioned condition.

Why bother telling her this now?

She shifted, reaching for her side. There was no way she was healed from that wound. No possible way! ]

Yes. No. I don't remember if they did.

Action; 1

[seethelanterns]

[Rapunzel gave a nod, shifting her hair as she started to rebraid it a little. More likely, the girl needed rest. Explaining the situation could come later. Rapunzel just didn't want the girl confused as to what was going on. Rapunzel had been confused and overwhelmed a little enough when she arrived without being injured on top of that, after all.]

Well, it's okay. I mean, there's time to explain later if you need to rest for now. I'm Rapunzel. But if you'd tell me where you are from maybe I could help and see if anyone you know is here? They can come to see you and might explain things better. If you're up for it, I mean.

2

[youngnobelman]

[Touma, pulling an all nighter to keep an eye on Freya, smiles at her over his laptop.] How are you feeling?

2

[freying]

[ Freya opens her eyes, fighting off tiredness more than anything else. Pardon her if a certain detail hasn't sunk in quite yet. ]

Alive.

[ It's kind of not what she was... expecting. Though who is this man? Freya make an attempt to sit up, but it doesn't go so well. ]

Re: 2

[youngnobelman]

[He nods, about to explain who's responsible for this wonderful alive state of affairs, before she tries to sit up; automatically he puts the computer down and moves closer in case she falls.] Just relax; you've been through a lot.

Re: 2

[freying]

[ Some part of her wants to laugh -- yeah, she has. It's not too different than the usual story. Instead she concentrates on catching herself and finally propping herself up. She's louder, more at normal volume, when she speaks this time. ]

But -- how?

Re: 2

[youngnobelman]

[Ooh, stronger voice, there's a good sign. He also takes a quick glance at her heart monitor as he answers.] There's a girl here with healing powers who was able to heal your wound, and we also gave you a blood transfusion because you lost a lot of blood. It'll take at least a few days, but you're on the road to a full recovery.

Re: 2

[freying]

[ She didn't notice what she was hooked up to at first. Didn't realise she was connected to anything at all, and had no idea what a transfusion was, but -- ]

Rapunzel. I remember her. Her hair, and the singing...

[ She trails off as she looks at the heart monitor, her arm, her hand, and what's connected to it. ]

What is this?

[ Her voice hikes up a bit at the end, and she fumbles for where the IV connects to her arm. ]

2

[nevergetscredit]

[Merlin couldn't really say why he wondered into the infirmary that day. He didn't need healing. He could have been coming to see Rapunzel, but on this day Merlin imagined she'd be with Eugene, not here. But perhaps with all of the celebration of love happening, it felt like as good a place as any other to go for a while.

He didn't expect what he saw when he got there.

This couldn't be real. He held her as he died; he put her to rest in the lake. She'd been lost to him forever, and he knew that even though it grieved him so very much. And yet now he was seeing her in front of him]

Freya?

2

[freying]

[ Freya stirred out of the half-awake state she'd been falling into, not quite willing to give up to sleep in the face of a fairly miraculous reality: that of being alive. Right now it outweighed the other burdens living carried, and for all the healing had helped, she was still down a significant amount of blood. It left her light headed and struggling to focus -- and yes, fighting off her own need for sleep.

Merlin's voice feels like that extra part of the strange reality where different worlds and Time Compressions and Congratulations this is an Acadawhatsits were tossed together with magical hair healing and life. It's likely a delusion -- she knew where he was, where he should be getting back to, the details of how this place worked were too hard to hold on to right then -- but a strong enough one to make her pay attention.

She does her best to sit up (if it doesn't go well, and she collapses back onto her elbow on her uninjured side to prop herself up so she wasn't lying down totally), turning toward the sound. Blinking when she sees him, willing the sleep out of her eyes. Finally, tentatively, she does what everyone does REPEATS HIS NAME that is says his name. ]

Merlin?

[ ... that she manages to sound surprised when everything's pretty surprising right now was a testament to how much she figured she was... probably actually asleep and dreaming. She reminds her dream self that if she's still alive tomorrow, she needs to get away from all these kind people. For their own sakes. ]

Re: 2

[nevergetscredit]

How...

[Freya can't be the only one that's dreaming. Merlin has to be dreaming too, there's no other way. He feels like he's seen a ghost, and he has, because that's what Freya is.

He looked like the world has been pulled out from beneath him. And all his grief is there on his face, plain as day]

I saw you...

Re: 2

[freying]

[ She knows. Because she knows she was dying, and if all this? Is still a confusion? Then maybe this is actually some kind of strange moment out of time. ]

I know. I don't understand why this is happening, and I know.

[ And she's sorry. For causing him the pain she sees on his face now. For inadvertantly having caused him pain at all, when all he'd done for her was show her kindness, and more acceptance than she'd ever thought to deserve at this point in her life.

She tries to better sit up, confused and sad in turn, along with tired. So darn tired. ]

I'm so sorry, Merlin, I really am.

Re: 2

[nevergetscredit]

[Freya's 'I'm sorry' seemed to pull Merlin out of his funk, and he finally started to realise that Freya was really here.]

No, don't apologise, don't ever apologise.

[Merlin steps forward, coming to sit on the side of her bed, and smiles]

You...you're alive.

Re: 2

[freying]

[ Her cardiac monitor is still on, and she fiddles with the finger paddle that she really doesn't like. Thankfully the IV isn't connected any longer. She couldn't make the image of it going straight into her arm quite leave her mind's eye. This was all so... overwhelming, if she pushed herself up a little better.

Her smile is small, and hesitant. She doesn't believe this, but she's starting to. And she's not sure she likes it, if it's... an unexpected delight to see Merlin one last time.

She'd just have to figure out how to get away from here. If she was alive, then everyone was going to be in danger. Maybe not tonight, but the next evening? Her chest constricted. ]

A woman named Rapunzel saw to that. She... I've never thought something like that could be possible.

[ She'd been partly delirious at the time, so the memory has a certain unreal quality to it anyway, paired with the following conversation. ]

2!

[werepanther]

[Normally, Tom doesn't visit the infirmary unless one of his Cadets got hurt, but he'd been making more frequent stops ever since his old roommate started working here again.

He was going to leave right after dropping off some food for Touma, but... he can't help being curious and wandering over to Freya. He gives her a polite nod as he stuffs his hands in his pockets.]

Hey. You feeling any better?

[freying]

[ Freya looks up at yet another unfamiliar face, also... so strange in that he, too, is polite. Part of it is being new, she knows that, people who didn't have a reason to be afraid of her. Yet. ]

I'm alive.

[ She keeps repeating this to everyone: it's that incredible. That implausible to her. ]

I should probably count this as better than I was.

[ A beat late, but she drums up a smile from somewhere. She can feel her tiredness pulling her down, but not too strongly to shove aside for now. ]

[werepanther]

[So she came from a near-death experience... Tom smiles in return, moreso because he knows the feeling than anything else.]

I think I would too.

Touma - er, you probably know him as Dr. Norstein, but it looks like he's taken pretty good care of you. [If Tom sounds proud of it, it's because he is.] I'm glad.

[freying]

He's been most kind.

[ She glances down to her arm, where the gauze bandage over the place the IV had been. ]

He and a woman named Rapunzel.

[ She's not sure what to make of this man being glad. All of these people are far too trusting and open from the start -- or is that a different sort of collective experience speaking? Her expectations since finding Merlin, since... dying, yet remaining alive, aren't yet set. She's just tired enough not to spend too much time lost in the worries. ]

[werepanther]

That's what they're here for.

[He follows her gaze, glancing down at the bandage before looking elsewhere; he thinks it's rude if he does it for any longer.] I'm guessing your world didn't have too many hospitals?

[freying]

Is that what this place is called? A hospital?

[ She looks around, if her focus comes back to Tom. Not directly -- most of her watching ends up being indirect, occasional glances toward his face, his torso, but a more wary attempt at keeping an eye on him. ]

No, nothing quite like this. No ivy lines for your arm, to carry blood or medicine.

[ She brings her arm closer, hugging it to her while ignoring the heart monitor. That was strange, but not as invasive as the IV line. ]