Week 1

[trustfelling]

WEEK 1 Unfortunately (or fortunately, for those of you who decided he ranks at an 8 or higher) the Adjudicator has made an appearance and he doesn't seem to be lying about anything that's happening here. There's no way out. It seems like you're stuck here for the time being and the rules the Adjudicator told you about are still hanging in every room. While the Adjudicator himself is around, you'll be left up to your own devices – feel free to continue exploring and getting to know your fellow Competitors for the next several days. Should you want to eat something you're free to use the kitchen before 10PM, but after that the doors will be locked and no amount of fussing with the locks or trying to break them down will get them to budge. You'll notice that the clock in the foyer goes off periodically, however. This will happen every morning at 7AM and again in the evenings at 10PM. You'll be able to hear it no matter what room you're in; it seems it's being piped in over that PA system in the walls. There isn't any punishment for sleeping through it, but you don't want to waste the day in bed, now do you? (Unless you were out exploring all last night. In which case, go back to bed, damn.) COMPETITORS REMAINING: 30

MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[OOC: Welcome to week one of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Adjudicator, you can do so here!]

Comments

[evilfrenzy]

[What the fuck.]

You what?

[No seriously though. This is the first he's heard of anyone showing up with actual injuries.]

That's even worse. You're basically implying that you've been letting them sit there and fester for days. Are you mad?

[Not sure if that's more concern or just...pure judgment.]

[flagitate]

After we got off to such a great start, I didn't know if you'd even want to help me.

[ Please help her. For the love of god. ]

[evilfrenzy]

...All right, fair point.

[And he probably wouldn't have in that moment. Way too much was going on at the time, and they really did not have the best first encounter. Hell, they still aren't really on the best terms, but...

...

Well. he can probably make this beneficial for him too. So with an exasperated sigh, he swings the door open the rest of the way.]

Ugh, fine. Where do you want to do this? Your room or mine?

[flagitate]

[ That's definitely a comfort. Thanks, buddy.

... ]

Here. [ Look at her face. She's in pain, you monster. ] I couldn't find anything in the storage room... medicine and stuff. Just these bandages I got.

[evilfrenzy]

[He's a medical professional with standards, okay.]

Fine. Come in.

[He'll let Katniss in and closes the door behind them. Not because he wants to trap her in there, but because he knows that if she's been letting these burns sit, it's going to be very painful when he goes to treat them. If she starts screaming, he'd really like for people to not hear that.]

Let's head to the bathroom. You can set the bandages on the sink.

[...]

We'll have to make do with soap and water. We really need some proper ointments, but we just don't have that luxury right now. I'm amazed you even found the bandages- I scoured the storage room for items like that and nothing.

[flagitate]

[ Maybe they'd think he's murdering her. But that'd be crazy! ]

I got them from that vending machine. [ ... along with another thing that brought up some memories. Katniss heads to the bathroom and sets the bandages on the sink.

... She really is going to have to strip down to her underwear, huh. Delightful. ]

[evilfrenzy]

Of course they'd put actually useful things in the damn vending machine. Well, it was apt timing for you to get the bandages at least.

[Rideaux says out in the bedroom for the moment, for obvious reasons...

For the record, his room and the bathroom are still pretty spotless. He hasn't done much to decorate yet, and he hasn't made a stop at the vending machine just yet either.]

All right. You're going to have to show me where they are, so undress the appropriate areas.

[If it's any consolation, he's legitimately in professional mode at this point.]

[flagitate]

I'm not complaining even if I got a bunch of useless stuff.

[ ...

Even if he's being professional, this is. No one sees her undressed. It's like taking off armor. But the pain's bad enough that she actually does strip down... to nothing but her underwear.

It's bad. Really bad. It's obvious that someone's tried to repair her skin with synthetic skin cells, but they've flaked away somewhat, leaving the patches of skin raw and exposed. There's a pretty palpable scent of blood in the air, and Katniss looks intensely uncomfortable.

She's not saying a damn thing, because she knows how bad it is, and she's pretty sure if she opens her mouth it won't help the situation any. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[He steps in once Katniss is all done. Any strangeness he might've felt about the situation (considering she's a fellow competitor first and a patient second) immediately fades into the background when he sees just how bad this is. He can't hide the shock on his face, but he doesn't actually verbally react. What the hell. This is just...there is no way that soap and water alone is going to completely fix this. Hell, he'd skip regular treatment and go straight to the medical spyrix if he had access to them.]

All right, I'm going to take a closer look at these while you answer a couple questions.

[He starts with the ones highest up and works his way down, assessing the damage and degrees of the burns as he goes.]

Have you done anything to treat them on your own so far? And do you remember how you got them? These obviously aren't from an everyday little accident.

[flagitate]

[ Kind of clears up why she has fire listed as a dislike, huh? Honestly, Katniss isn't sure how many questions she can answer. She bites down on her lip, then glances at him.

They're pretty serious. It's obvious that, at one point, they were very much third degree. They're in the middle of second and third, even with the synthetic skin cells. ]

I tried to-- use a wet cloth on them. [ But she um. Passed out in her room. ] I don't remember how I got them. I don't mess with fire.

[evilfrenzy]

[He nods along to her answers to show he's listening. It's pretty alarming to hear that she has no recollection of receiving the burns. What does that mean in the grander scheme of things?]

I'm genuinely surprised that they put you into the game at such a disadvantage.

[Like, cool for making her an easy target of sorts, he guesses. Still... He awoke with his own physical changes, but they are arguably better for him in the long run. So what the hell?

Before long, his initial examination is complete. This is so, so bad. With what he has available he's only going to be doing the minimum to prevent any horrific infections from getting in there. Which is good in a way, but Katniss is still going to have to suffer a bit until they can find antibiotics.]

This would be easier with an actual clinic room, but we'll have to make do. I'm going to have you sit on the toilet and we'll work our way down, cleaning and wrapping these up. I'm going to tell you now: it's going to be painful. There's nothing I can do to mitigate it right now.

[flagitate]

[ It means a lot of stuff she's uncomfortable thinking about. Did she get them right after the Reaping? That... no. Couldn't be, right?

It makes her head spin. ]

Yeah. Well. I'm not surprised he did something so stupid.

[ She's already gritting her teeth, because my god. This will not be comfortable, but at least she won't die horribly from infection. Probably. ]

Just. Give me a cloth or something to bite down on, [ she says, taking a seat on the toilet--after closing the lid. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[Rideaux doesn't say anything to that, because he really has no idea what the Adjudicator, and whoever else arranged this, was thinking when they planned this all out. And he's definitely sure that if either of them asked, they wouldn't get an answer. Well, they can continue thinking about it once they're all done with this.]

Here.

[He hands her a spare washcloth from the shower, then sets to work getting everything ready. His boa, jacket, necktie and gloves are all discarded onto his bed and he ties his hair back so it won't get in the way of what he's going to be doing. Then after washing his hands thoroughly, he turns to Katniss once more.]

Ready?

[Man, when was the last time he did treatment like this in such a crude fashion... But sometimes, you just have to make do.]

[flagitate]

[ She hadn't realized just how much he'd been wearing--her mind's wandering, mostly, because she's anxious. Katniss takes the washcloth, gripping it tight in her fist.

... She's not really ready. How can she, when she knows just how much it's going to hurt? ]

Just-- do it, [ she says, placing the washcloth between her teeth. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[He just nods, and gets to work. Once he's got a soapy mixture going in the sink, he transfers it with his other washcloth by gently dabbing it onto the topmost burns, then cupping more water with his hands to get them nice and flushed out.

He does all of this slowly, so he can gauge how Katniss is doing. It'd be kind of bad if she passed out onto the bathroom floor.]

[flagitate]

[ Whatever pain she's expecting, it's nothing compared to how it actually feels. Katniss has fallen out of trees before; she's nicked herself on branches, she's stepped wrong--a few times, just starting out when she was younger--and sprained an ankle once or several times.

She'd rather take all of those over this. Katniss bites down, hard, on the washcloth, but it doesn't seem to help too much. It hurts, and she really is close to passing out--her knuckles are white as she clutches the edge of the sink, and it's taking everything in her to not bolt away.

A lot of the color's gone from her face, too, and her eyes are shut tight. But, it's better than dying from the burns. Probably. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[Rideaux may be a pretty good doctor, but he's unfortunately not the comforting sort. He silently presses on, checking on Katniss every few moments as he cleans each burn. The story is the same for most of the rest of the burns, though some he has to be much more careful with than others. The more serious ones...he knows those are going to take ages to fully heal.

When he's cleaned the last one, he idly tosses the washcloth into the sink.]

I'm going to get these bandaged up now. Are you able to watch? It'll be helpful for when you get to the point of being able to work on this yourself.

[He'll still need to help with some of areas that are difficult for her to reach, but he figures she'd like to reach independence for the most part with this.

...]

You did well with not passing out.

[He tried.]

[flagitate]

[ She's not really surprised he's not the comforting sort, that he doesn't say much else other than what he does. Quite frankly, Katniss is sure she'd be either creeped out or irritated if he tried more than he has.

It's a good thing she's got that washcloth. she would've bitten her lips bloody, otherwise. She takes it out of her mouth with a shaking hand, drops it into the sink with the other. ]

Sure.

... Thanks.

[ She doesn't say much else other than that, because her voice is already weak enough. ]

[evilfrenzy]

All right. Stay steady like that. I'll need you to stand for the burns that are lower down, though.

[He grabs the bandages from the edge of the sink and begins to slowly and carefully unroll them around the first set of burns. Pins would be nice...he'll have to remember to grab some from the storage room for next time.

About that, though. He speaks up as he breaks the bandages off from the rest of the roll and begins to secure it.]

We're going to have to do this daily at the start, so the burns have a better chance of healing faster.

[flagitate]

[ Steady, he says, like she's not about to completely black out. A nod is her only reply, because thinking about standing is impossible right now. It's not as painful as his running the cloth along her damaged skin was, but it still hurts, and she grits her teeth against the pain. ]

If we can get any more bandages. [ Maybe someone would be nice enough to contribute, but she's not counting on it. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[She can black out when they're done!! And unfortunately, he's going to be asking her to stand up after this next set...]

Right. I'm going to ask for those who have received any supplies to turn them in to me. We'll see what crops up.

[It's the best thing he can think of aside from trying his hand at the vending machine himself.

Aaand there's the next set done, so he stands up from his crouched position.]

Time to get up. [...] Use me as a support if you must, but you're going to have to hold onto the door or something after you're up. I can't bandage you while you're holding onto me.

[flagitate]

[ She just nods, because... well. He's helping her more than she could have ever imagined. Especially after their rocky start. Katniss isn't sure she can ever consider him anything close to an ally, nevertheless a friend, but she's got a feeling he really wouldn't mind.

A cold sweat breaks out across her forehead at just the suggestion. Katniss's face drains of any more color that's somehow left, but she nods stiffly and holds onto his shoulders before pulling herself up. There's a ringing in her ears, but she's damn determined to not pass out. Yet.

She manages to drag herself over to the door, and she holds on tight to it while she presses her forehead against the frame. ]

Ready, [ she says, her voice more a croak than anything. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[As long as the gross burns don't actually touch him, he'll deal with her grabbing onto him. ...and really, Katniss wouldn't want to pay for his dry cleaning bill. The one that he'd absolutely try to force her to pay even though she's not even from his world. He'd make it work!!

...okay, moving on. He can tell that she isn't really well enough to learn this herself right now, so he lets her be while he moves to the lower burns. Ugh, she better not pass out while he's trying to finish this. He works on trying to keep her engaged in the meantime.]

It's good that you came to me when you did, honestly. These could have become seriously infected, and then we'd have to spend time figuring out how the hell you managed to get so badly burned and die.

[...okay maybe he shouldn't talk.]

[flagitate]

[ ...

What the hell does she say to that, holy shit. ]

Wow. I didn't know you cared so much.

[evilfrenzy]

I'm not sure what you expected when we've known each other for a little over two days. But, I cared enough to even do this for you, didn't I?

[Why must he be like this.]