It Really Happened

[Benji]

It isn't easy, what with the pain and all the blood and everything, but Val gets all her paperwork from the glove compartment, and her books and judogi (both liberally spattered with blood, she had no idea how she'd clean them but she didn't want to leave them behind) from the back seat. It all barely fits in the cardboard box she keeps in the backseat. She's so intent at her work that she doesn't notice the fact that the tall (at least to her) stranger had strapped swords to his back. The shock was almost enough to make her drop her box of stuff.

"Whoa."

She didn't know wizards got swords.

[Orphan]

Orphan smiles a bit at Valkyrie's reaction to his blades. He helps her load up her stuff and take it to his car, moving quickly and staying alert in case the sounds he'd heard earlier should seem to be getting closer. After everything else was stowed, he flattened a tarp in his trunk, and a couple layers of garbage bags atop that. He also put on heavy rubber gloves as he went around to the passenger side of Valkyrie's car, taking more garbage bags and some duct tape with him.

"Could you keep watch while I take care of this part?" he asks, gently. "You've had a bad enough night, it wouldn't do for us to get caught by the police while I move your friend."

[Benji]

Oh god her dad would kill her if she was found moving a body.

"Yeah, uh, sure. Are you going to be able to move him on your own?"

[Orphan]

"I'll manage," Orphan says. "You've done plenty tonight, and you're hurt, so just keep watch."

"I've got some weapons in the back seat. A pistol or a shotgun, if you're good with either of those, I think I've still got a couple machetes back there, too."

As he opens up a garbage bag and starts the roll of tape, he says "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. I go by Orphan."

Orphan lifts the corpse's head and upper body away from the seat, slides the garbage bag over the head and as far down as it will go, then uses his shoulder to hold the body up while looping the duct tape under and around a couple times. Then he goes around to the driver's door. He pauses to listen and look around again before continuing, mystically aware in all directions at once. Since there were zombies about, he also takes a moment to take in a slow, deep breath through his nose, trying to catch any approaching scent of decay.

[West]

~~Narration~~

The sounds that Orphan previously heard have faded, and the night is still, except for the sound of rain dripping off of roofs and water rushing into drainways. The smell of blood and ichor on Ghoster make it difficult to smell anything else. Even Valkyrie seems to emit the rank stench of decay from her encounter.

[Orphan]

Not noticing anything amiss, and the sounds he'd heard earlier having faded in the distance, Orphan sets about finishing the task. He lifts the corpse's feet, tosses two layers of garbage bags over them and tapes them together. Then he goes around to the passenger side and pulls the body out by the shoulders, keeping the upper body high and letting the bagged feet drag. Not the most dignified way of handling a body of a fallen mage, but he'd pay his respects later.

Orphan puts the body in his trunk, lifts, takes off the gloves and stores them and the tape roll in another garbage bag, which he ties shut.

"Hopefully the Guardians will take care of her car and cleaning up any blood still here," he thinks to himself. "My concern right now is her."

"Valkyrie, I just got into town. I don't know any of the local Concilium. Do you know someone up the chain of command, or do you have some other place you'd like me to take you? We need to get you some medical attention, get those wounds cleaned out, get some liquid in you, then you could use some rest."

[Benji]

Thankful, and not afraid to look it, that Orphan was handling Ghoster's body, Val moved to the trunk and selected a .357 Magnum. She felt a great deal safer with it in her possession.

"I know three others that work at the Museum, but it's closed now and I don't know where they are at night or how to get ahold of them. And I don't know when the Guardians are going to get here." She certainly couldn't take him to Ollie's place, and that left only her place. "I don't think I should go to a hospital, Zilker seemed to think it was a bad idea. I guess that leaves my apartment. I have a better medical kit there."

It was like one of those serious tool boxes, and people have mentioned that it seemed a little like overkill. Well, after zombies it didn't seem like overkill.

[Orphan]

"Alright, I'll take you there, then. We'll take it from there after we get you patched up. I know a little about medicine myself."

After he starts on the way, Orphan asks her "So, do you belong to one of the orders, or have an assigned mentor?"

[Benji]

Val gives directions to her place to Orphan.

"Nope, this is my second, maybe third day Awake, I'm not sure what time it is. And you already met my mentor back there. He was paying off a debt to Primoria when he took us in."

[Orphan]

"That... that skater guy that abandoned you? That was your mentor?" Orphan doesn't even attempt to hide the shock in his voice. "I'm really, really sorry. I assure you, though, mentorship among the Awakened isn't supposed to go like that, and rarely does. The two mentors I've had have been fantastic... I've learned so much from them."

Orphan thinks to himself for a bit. "If that's what passes for mentorship here in Sacramento, things are a mess here. Maybe that's why Fate directed me here, to help straighten out some of this mess. I've got to get hold of the local Arrows ASAP."

To Valkyrie, he says, "Well, after we get you patched up and you get some rest, first thing we should do is get hold of this Primoria you mentioned, and get you set up with a proper mentor."