Private Finished A New Hope

Eyebrow lifting at the profound amount of cursing coming from Chester’s mouth, Julian was quite pleased with his assessment of the man’s secreted wound. Although he could’ve waited until a more opportune moment to test his theory, he felt very embarrassed and guilty for doing so while he was on the phone with the paramedics, calling him an ambulance at the same time.

“Sorry” he groaned lowly, half surprised and the other frightened of low growl the man produced amid his anger that sounded like… seriously, what the hell was that? Much as he wanted to delve deeper into the man’s condition or that strange unearthly sound he’d made, Julian recognized he was still on the phone and so held his tongue.

Shrugging off the man’s questionable theory of Julian catching pneumonia, Julian began moving to be assisted in changing his clothes all the same. Still for as much as Chester had slighted his own theory about the Bandersnatch, he worried still that he wouldn’t be the only one heading to the hospital… especially as he began showing more and more signs of not being okay

“I can stand” he retorted, weakly reaching for the nearest risen surface to latch a hand onto and then pulling himself up. It took no little amount of effort to do so either, but when the paramedics arrived he wanted to make sure that if his savior was on the floor that he could flag them down, or at least call for an additional ambulance if need be. Eyeing that the man’s trouser button was undone and that he didn’t wear a belt on his way up, Julian got to thinking that if he was to be certain the man didn’t die, he might have to try another sneaky maneuver in hopes of saving Chester’s life.

Julian motioned for Chester to stand beside him so as to best assist him into the pants and as he gripped Chester’s shoulder to lift his leg into the pants Julian pressed him forward, lowered Chester’s pants and exposed six scratch marks going down his thigh.

“Son of a… lean forward” he said, holding Chester in place with every bit of his remaining strength.

“Please, you have to let me use that salve and bandage this… there’s no way this isn’t going to get infected if we both don’t go to the hospital” he was rather insistent and didn’t let his grip on the boys shoulder go for a moment as he grabbed the salve and began applying it with or without permission.

“I’m sorry but, my people are druids, I know how good this stuff your using is and how bad these scratches are… just let me help you, you did the same for me” clearly the skin about Chester’s thigh was inflamed and red, no exact pus or festering had appeared yet, but they were deep all the same. Grabbing Chester’s phone, Julian held it out and motioned for Chester to unlock it.

“It’s bad, you should call them back and ask for another Ambulance” he explained, unsure where the man lived or how to direct them properly if Chester passed out. Gods, this was making him all types of flush in the face, staring into another man’s rear end and thinking between how bad the cuts look that his butt doesn’t look half bad.

To say that escalated quickly was the understatement of the year. Having been so careless as to assume the other would be able to put up much more of a struggle, he inadvertently went too far in his treatment… nay manhandling of the poor boy. However, assumptions were all he had to go off on this Chester Mayfield, having figured he was strong enough to carry someone nearly twice his size into his home let alone however far they were from the forbidden forest and that he could handle a little tough love. He was so mistaken and that glare Chester had shot him before bolting out the door would likely stay with him forever… in his nightmares. Something about those eyes struck Julian cold, he sat stunned a moment on the bathroom floor amid the blood, mud and mess that had be heaved from the very panic idled owner of this bathroom.

“What have I done?” he flatly questioned himself, disappointment and shock very evident as he struggled with his emotions. At this point noting how spectacularly he had failed in helping anyone, his tribe and this now damaged Mayfield, perhaps he ought to wait until the authorities come and take him away… possibly forever. So reckless, always in life he had moved forward without thinking for the sake of seeing what the world had to offer him next. Always had there been other’s to help him, to protect and shelter him from the harsher realities… that under his own supervision he’d likely walk right off of a cliff and die.

Settling his inner demons in a row was often not this hard, Julian could be a might selfish in his ignorance towards accountability. As long as everyone was okay, he often didn’t see the harm in moving from place to place or one adventure to another. Still, something deep and foreboding was calling him to his feet now, to hell with his self-interest and entitlement he thought as he climbed steadily onto his feet with the jar of salve in hand and pursued his rescuer.

“This place…” he couldn’t help but admire it as he dashed around one corner and through another until he exited through the only open door to the outside and… well what he saw next laid him flat on his rear once more.

“It can’t be” his eyes battered with fear and the all to recent images of his encounter in the forest, Julian was stunned once more and nearly broke the jar of salve in his hand as he fell. Clearly something was very wrong here, before him lay a sleeping titan of a creature that had bested another monster that was only known to him in fables. It was like staring down a sleeping grim reaper and being perpetually frozen in place to await his judgement.

“I can’t move” his voice shook and trembled with fear. Heart racing as it had back to the dream of flying through the air over the land that he now recognized must be this Manta Carlos… gods, could that have truly have been real. Swallowing hard, Julian’s breathing began to gradually return to a normal pace as did his heartbeat. Nerves reinforcing themselves to hardened steel, he gathered his resolve and the contents of the bottle of salve and stood. One step after the ominous next, he moved towards the dragon and its tail. Having noticed while he was on the floor the injury it had sustained, he recalled vividly the image of Chester’s left thigh.

“You saved me… now I will return your kindness” whether he was wrong or right and this ended up costing him his life, he’d rather have lived as a kind man than an uncaring one that left innocent creatures or people to die out of fear.

“I’m going to touch you now” he waited momentarily for any kind of response from the slumbering creature, that now appeared much less towering as his imagination wasn’t getting the best of him. The more Julian looked and waited, he couldn’t help but admire the creature that was likely his rescuer in his normal flesh. That too was impressive, that Julian was so easily able to except that Chester was now this… this dragon that lay before him.

Sirens blared off in the distance, Julian’s hand covered in healing agents slowly dripped its way over the damaged tail. As Chester didn’t react to the salve dripping on his cuts, Julian slowly lowered his hand and began applying it and then raced back inside to grab enough bandages to wrap the tail in, along with the phone he had so carelessly let fly as Chester slapped it way. It wasn’t damaged and thank the gods smart phones had an emergency feature. Julian reached the 911 operators and relayed the new information about the old call, establishing himself as the damaged party previously mentioned and that there was now an additional damaged party that was of… the larger animal variety.

It wasn’t long before the ambulances had arrived and began their triage procedures before the wider vehicle arrived to transport Chester. After explaining that he was a friend of the family (a harmless white lie, but after his life had been saved a truth in Julian’s eyes), the EMS personnel explained that Chester would be going to a separate part of the hospital, reserved for “special cases” as his families condition had already been on file and required adequate room for doctors to work. Julian held fast as he was strapped to a gurney and lifted into an ambulance… as the doors closed, he still held Chester’s phone in hand and starred down the device thinking who he might call. As the pass code option appeared, Julian jokingly pressed typed in the man’s home address as seen on the side of his home and the phone unlocked… clearly this Chester Mayfield wasn’t one for complex codes or securing his electronics in some elaborate fashion. Dialing the first number that came to mind, Julian reached out to a friend in the druid community to let him know he was okay and where he would be going.

“Bring flowers… they’re not for me” he explained as his eyes began to blur and the phone fell from his hand onto the ambulance floor as he’d passed out from pure relief and exhaustion.