So that meant no, Shay surmised. He didn't want her climbing down alone. Would there be no way to do this and not be touched? She didn't think so. Things still felt too slow, like the entire world was half as quick as it had been before the tsunami. Even that word gave Shay's heart a squeeze she wished she could ignore.
She met Angelo's eyes evenly, and all the fear she'd felt, the powerlessness, the pain, that all hardened her stare into a look no child should wear. "I...won't be able to bandage my hand alone, you're right, but if you're going to do it, I need you to make sure we don't make skin to skin contact. Can you do that? Can you promise me that?"
Bile rose in Shay's throat the longer she stayed among everything. So much death, but why? What was the purpose of this? Anger replaced her powerlessness. She had the intense desire to make something pay for all of this, and that scared her. Shay had never felt that before.
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He couldn't promise anything - not until he knew why. There were too many powers on the island for him to even take a guess. For all he knew, her hands could be poison to touch. She seemed skittish about being touched, and while his first thought was that it was power related, it was just as likely that she'd suffered some personal trauma that kept her touch-adverse."I can't promise anything right away - but I do need to know why." Because if he had to catch her, he needed to know if it would make her panic, or kill him instantly. That sort of thing was important. Those kinds of details decided who lived and who died on the Manta Carlos Islands. "I can try though - and do my best not to touch you either way." But he still did need to know.
Shay looked away from him. She knew he'd guess it was her powers. That should have been anyone's first guess who had lived on Manta Carlos for longer than a year. "I see death when I touch people. It has the tendency to make me freak out." It sounded stupid when she put it like that, in this situation.
It was then, this close to him, that Shay realized how strange the whispering around him was. It was like they were stuck far away, on some odd static phone line. Trying to reach him, trying to warn her, speak to her, but never able to pass the veil to do so. She'd never heard anything like it. She eyed him over warily. What was he?
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She saw... death? Alright, that had stoked his interest, but it would have to wait. He was about as death aligned as they came, so he was curious to know how it worked... and if it would even work on him. While he hadn't tested, he'd long suspected that some types of powers wouldn't work on him at all."Hold out your hand." He said, drawing out the bandages and antiseptic before tucking the first aid kit into his bag again. "Spray first. It'll keep it from getting infected... but it'll also hurt like hell. Then I'll wrap it up, alright?" People always tended to do better if you told them exactly what was going to happen. The less questions there were, the easier it was to do things like spray someone with an antiseptic that was going to make them yelp. The last thing he wanted was to spray her hands and have her pull back before he could bandage them.
Shay nodded and held out her hand, palm up. She didn't look away from the gash. She splayed her fingers to give the spray all the room it needed and possibly make it easier for him to bandage her without having to touch her skin afterward.
It always surprised Shay, that with all the interesting powers around Manta Carlos, people were always curious about hers. They were curious, then sad, horrified. It made her feel further like a black sheep.
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Angelo raised the bottle, giving the wound a quick squirt before jumping into action. He was careful not to touch her, wrapping the bandage deftly around her palm before winding it down around her wrist and through the gap between her index finger and thumb to make sure it stayed in place. He held his arms at an exaggerated distance to make sure he didn't bump into her (while also making it clear just how careful he was being), finally tugging it tight before trimming the last bit off."That should be good for now. You'll need proper medical care later, but until then? It'll do. Now, let's get you off this roof and to safety." He straightened up, trotting over to the edge and glancing down.
"Shit." He cursed, before realizing he was literally right by a young girl. He glanced back at her, looking a bit red. "Sorry. The other guy took off - probably heard someone else." He would just have to get her down himself.
Shay made a face at him, a kind of deadpan. "I'm twelve, sir. I know about the word shit and bitch and all those other adult things. And if you're going to cuss, now would be the time. It's a shitty situation." Shay stood and moved beside him to look down.
"I got up here fine, and I can be touched on my clothes. Just jump down and hold me by the hips or waist. Easy and at worse, it's not a far drop. We'll be fine." She was a lot calmer now that everything felt it had settled down. She was not a scared child. She was not. No. Not again.
"And when we get down maybe you can tell me about what your powers are," she said accusatorily.
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Angelo scowled slightly for a moment. "Doesn't mean I'm supposed to swear around kids. I'm supposed to be setting a good example, not having a potty mouth." He muttered under his breath. He tried to check his language when there were kids around, but sometimes it just slipped out.He caught the accusation in her tone, but he completely misunderstood it. To him, it was simply logical - she'd said her powers, and that meant he was going to have to fess up about his. He turned, heading over to the edge of the roof before hopping down. He didn't show much effort from it, and he obviously had practiced plenty of times, because he didn't look even slightly bothered from the fall.
He moved over, holding his arms up. "Come on now. And for the record, I'm some sort of... half reaper thing. I can get souls to pass on." Which was a good enough summary of his powers, without going into exactly what he was capable of. He didn't advertise the fact that he could effectively go invisible, because it was much better if it was a surprise.
That relaxed her. It answered her question, even when he hadn't realized. She'd never met any reaper, but as Shay was learning, many things messed with her powers it seemed. How frustrating. Weren't they bad enough? Did there will have to be so much she didn't know about them too? The frustration showed on her face as she let her legs dangle over the edge of the house.
When she was safely off the roof, with more or less no incident (she was a tiny weightless thing to a man like Angelo) she stared at him, more so the scars on his face, fascination replacing her irritation. "Where did they all come from?"
Shay didn't have her gloves on, or she'd have asked to touch them. She thought, in some weird way, they were beautiful. A constant reminder of battles fought and won. Of shitty situations overcome. Death evaded, or so she assumed. "Are you immortal?"
That question was significant. It held weight it shouldn't have. Shay was staring at him, a child in a moment of readiness. She was teetering between two thoughts, ready to be disappointed.
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She seemed to weigh next to nothing, and Angelo set her down carefully in the water. He didn't like it. A part of him considered insisting on carrying her, rather than setting her in the water, but there was no real reason for that. The water wasn't going to hurt her, and he might very well need his arms free. The biggest of the dangers were over - the wave had gone, and only its remains were slowly draining out, back to the sea they'd come from. As long as they stepped carefully, they'd be able to make it back to the little camp the police had set up. "Watch your feet, okay? There might be things under the water." He warned. The water was murky - there was no way to see even the ground they were walking on.People didn't normally ask about the scars, so he was surprised when she did. He looked unbothered by the question, because he truly was. He didn't mind talking about them. They were a mess, but they were his mess.
"Mmm, mostly from when I was younger. I was involved in a lot of messy stuff, and a lot of fights. Haven't really got any recent ones. Manta Carlos is a lot nicer than where I grew up." Not that New York City wasn't nice, but it had a seedy underbelly that was all kinds of messed up.
"Nope. I mean, not that I know. I'm twenty fi- six, and I've been aging like a normal person. Haven't been in a life or death situation yet though." It was possible, but it seemed unlikely to him. Even in myth, half-things didn't end up immortal.