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+---- Thread: [CW] Night terror (/showthread.php?tid=1062)
RE: Night terror - Tristan Wells - 09-06-2025
"Thank you, John..." he muttered and he put his arm around the young man's shoulder for support. "Sorry to get your clothes dirty."
He suddenly remembered that he had carried his bag. One glance around told him that it had been taken. He had been threatened and had feared for his life that night. He had experienced betrayal and conflict. He had the suffered the worst violence he had ever suffered in his life. But this stung differently. His father had given him that bag.
"Let's go," he said, defeated.
It wasn't far. Tristan found that his body allowed him to walk fairly well, but he felt so tired and overwhelmed that he was thankful for the support. When they reached the home, he said quietly: "We'll go in through the waiting room. I think Miss Danes is asleep. But keep your voice down." He led John through the waiting room into the doctor's office. He had hoped that Miss Danes' altered circumstances would make her reconsider her plans with Mr. Blacke. Bringing the young man home was barely going to help that course of events, but here he was.
RE: Night terror - John Blacke - 09-07-2025
John laughed "don't worry about the clothes doc. I've spent years in the desert. They can be washed"
John helped him back to his office. He mearly nodded to show his understanding about making noise and didn't say a word. Good soldiers knew when to be quiet. He looked at him once they were in the office and said in a low voice "get yourself out of those cold wet clothes. I'll light the fire and get some warmth in the room and get some warm water so we can tend to those injuries" he said as he made about getting the fire lit and also some warm water from the kitchen
RE: Night terror - Tristan Wells - 09-07-2025
The pain, worry and memories he couldn't quite suppress, took up most of his mind. Still, Tristan couldn't help but note this John Blacke's kindness. There was a selfless determination in the way he took control of the situation. A generosity in the way he assured Tristan it was no trouble. And Tristan felt a little ashamed of himself for having judged the young man so quickly on their first meeting on the basis of no more than his looks, the hour, and the information that he was an army officer. He did not reflect on this long, however. His mind was spinning. It was something to think about later. Whenever. Was there anything after this night?
"Right... Thank you" he said. There was a problem. He'd have to get fresh clothes from upstairs. He took a gas lamp from his desk, lit it, and opened the door as noiselessly as he could. A dark hall greeted him. Were the stairs further away than they had been? Were they longer? Shadows danced under the flicker of his lamp and he remembered how the alley had been full of shadows, barely touched by the indirect light of distant street lighting. Until one of the shadows, seemed to get larger, take a stout shape, grabbed him by the collar, knocked him back into the wall, and he was staring into a face... Tristan felt himself getting hot. His clothes seemed damper. He felt like his legs were going to give out. Then he remembered that this was his own home.
He had never been afraid of the dark in his own home before.
He did not know how he made his way up and down again so noiselessly, while he struggled to control his own movement under pain and trembling. He knew the steps that creaked and skipped them. When he did accidentally make a noise, he stopped and wondered where it came from. It was another trap! Only when he had managed to convince himself that it was only his mind playing tricks, could he get his legs to move again.
He returned at last, closing the door behind him quietly. All the blood had drained from his face, but he held a clean set of clothes. "Thank you, John," he said sheepishly as he passed the young man. "You did a very decent thing, half-carrying me out of there. I thought I was a goner." He grabbed a wash bowl and filled it with cold water from the tap. Then he opened a cabinet and took out carbolic soap and a clean cloth.
RE: Night terror - John Blacke - 09-07-2025
John nodded "No need to thank me. I'm a soldier. We swore an oath to protect the crown, country and people. From all enemies. Foreign and domestic." He sighed "ive seen too much violence in my time. Between gun fights and riots. I wont leave a man on the ground. Thats what the medal was for before returning home and how i got wounded, i pulled soldiers from my company out of a firefight with enemy forces......before and after i was wounded" The room was warming up nicely with the fire. It cast a glow over the office and made it feel very cosy. John placed the clothes he was handed on the chair. He looked at Tristan. "Do you want any bandages, iodine or anything for the wounds? I'll get them out for you"
John placed his own jacket over the back of a chair near the fire to dry it out a little. The rain hadn't been heavy but enough to soak them both before Tristan was on the ground. "Would you like me to put the kettle on. See if we can warm you up"
RE: Night terror - Tristan Wells - 09-07-2025
He was glad to be back in the room with the officer and talk to him. It took his mind of things. Even if John seemed a little braggish, listing his accomplishments. He watched as the young man took off his jacket without any trace of embarrassment.
Wait, he wasn't coming on to him, was he?
The rain. It was on account of the rain. And the reason the young man seemed eager to impress was probably on account of Pippa.
Right?
He probably needed to lie down.
"No," he remembered to answer. "I've not been stabbed. I may need bandages for the ribs, but I'll get them." He wasn't letting anyone near the medical cabinet. Less so a soldier. He wasn't exactly new on the block. (Just a hypocrite.)
"And the cooking range is unlit, I'm afraid. You'd make too much noise." He grabbed his clothes and gave the young man a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry. I promise I'm usually a better host. Are you cold? I should have grabbed you some dry clothes as well. Do you need some? Or would you like some brandy?"
RE: Night terror - John Blacke - 09-07-2025
John shook his head "no all good. Jacket was wet and was drawing the heat out my back. The rest of me is dry. Hence why I took it off to dry out a little."
John held back a laugh "you've nothing to apologise for. This is the second time we have crossed paths in unusual ways. At least this time you haven't come in waving a fire arm!" He lightly chuckled "sorry couldn't resist"
He looked at the doctor. "How you feeling? I'm guessing now the adrenaline has worn off your feeling the pain now. I think you might need the brandy more than me"
RE: Night terror - Tristan Wells - 09-07-2025
Tristan gave John a genuine smile at the friendly joke. It was just what he needed right now to regain some sense of normalcy. "I suppose my hosting today's not so bad after all, then."
Carrying the clothes and washbowl, he disappeared behind a dressing screen. "I feel more pain than I've ever felt, if you must know the truth. I'll take an anaesthetic in a bit. Just want to get out of these clothes and get cleaned up first. But if you'd like some, there's a bottle in the cupboard on your left. There's a glass there too. Help yourself." Then several ungentlemanly words escaped his lips as - having sat down - he bent forward to take his shoes off and pain shot out through his body from his ribs.
RE: Night terror - John Blacke - 09-07-2025
John stood up and walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a pair of glasses before uncorking the bottle. John smirked at the words coming from Tristan. Obviously not a man of God he thought to himself before pouring the drinks for them both. He returned and took a seat waiting on Tristan to return once he had changed. He pondered to himself for a moment in the aftermath of the events
RE: Night terror - Tristan Wells - 09-07-2025
A little embarrassed about his outburst, Tristan clenched his teeth and managed the rest of his undressing in silence, except for the occasional groan. He washed and inspected his injuries. The ribs were bruised, but not broken. He had been punched in the stomach, but other than a large bruise, that area seemed intact. His arms and legs were bruised worse, for it was those that had received most of the kicks. His back had been mercifully pressed against the wall. He dreaded to think of what would have become of his kidneys otherwise. The man just wouldn't stop...
He trembled and closed his eyes, frowning. Then he opened them. Closing his eyes made it all worse.
He washed his face carefully. He knew that that part of his body was worst off, and would be hardest to conceal from Pippa. How he had managed to escape a concussion, he did not know, but he certainly looked properly beat up, with a black eye, a bruise on his cheek on the other side and a bust lip. His nose had bled, but it might have been fear. It didn't feel seriously injured. He had only hit it with the back of his forearm as he had tried to block a punch.
Eventually, he reemerged, cleaned up as well as possible and dressed in a fresh set of clothes. Only the jacket was carried over his arm as he was yet to self-administer an anesthetic. "School fights clearly did nothing for me. Never won, anyway..." he half-joked, desperate to make light of the situation. He put the jacket over the back of a chair and walked over to his medicine cabinet. He took out a bottle and a rectangular box. "You seem to have some experience with taking care of injuries. Did you work in the military hospital?" He took a hypodermic syringe and needle from the box, filled it with a small amount of the liquid from the bottle. Then he rolled up his sleeve and balled his fist. There were several small dark marks below where he pushed the needle into a vein.
RE: Night terror - John Blacke - 09-07-2025
John took a drink of the brandy before replying "not much. We have a surgeon attached to our regiment and on my downtime. I would occasionally help out in the ward when it got busy. Mainly dysentery outbreaks, occasionally Battlefield wounds from patrols. Plus we were also taught minor skills to assist us if one of our patrol was hit." He smirked "sadly it was school fights and street fights that made me go to the army in the first place or I'd have ended up in jail like Eugene longbottom" he placed his glass down "most came from treating myself after fights so my parents didn't see"
He continued "I also spent time in Alexandria as a patient in the military hospital while recovering from injury"