fadewalk | RP: Tali, Neria, Garrus ((TW: blood, mild self-mutilation))

Cold. She was…

Pain bloomed across her body, but Meredith refused to fall back into the sweet, quiet darkness. Pain was real. She was…

Meredith opened her eyes to darkness as absolute as that which had held her back from her pain. She couldn’t feel her fingers, until she tried to move her arm and they exploded into tingling sensation. The toes of her right foot would not wiggle, but her left did and they would have to be enough. She lifted her head and she was…

She came close enough to the surface of the darkness to notice that she no longer felt the cold. She knew that was not a good sign, but she was…

She was awake.

The chains of the shackles holding her wrists rattled as she felt the links. They were threaded through an old metal loop stuck into the floor, presumably in the middle of the room. She wriggled carefully downwards and found the wall nearly her height away from the loop. When she tried to stand the shackles barely let her get to one knee. At a probing touch to her bad ankle, she nearly screamed for the pain, and the crumpled, sticky state of her greave left her no illusions as to what state she was in.

Meredith sat, legs bent with her right closer to protect it. Her mouth was dry, but she was not yet hungry that she could tell. There was an itch. And something she was forgetting, something important.

Meredith took the metal loop in both hands, and pulled. It shifted. Her fingers moved downwards, searching along the metal plate attached to the floor. One bolt, tight. A second, loose. She tried to twist it, but her numb fingers couldn’t catch on it. The third was similarly not quite loose enough, but the fourth.

Meredith smiled, and licked blood from her lips. It was a start.

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Meredith stared at the light, blurry though it was. She listened intently, matching syllables and emphasis to its flickering. Magic of some sort, though there was no metallic tang on her molars while she breathed. Perhaps an enchantment of some kind?

Her ponderings distracted her from her savior’s removal of her armour. She felt the pieces as they were removed, tracking where each was laid. When something cracked, Meredith was able to manage her surprise down to a twitch of her shoulders, but when something cool was spread across her face her hand shot up and grabbed her savior’s wrist in alarm.

Then, a cool tingling seemed to spread out from her cheek, easing even the throbbing over her nose a little. She released her savior’s wrist, only to have them take her hand and spread more of her strange poultice over her palms.

Meredith stopped her, holding her savior’s hand between her own. She felt, carefully, over the strange gloved hands. She could almost believe that her savior had suffered some injury, but there were no stubs where the rest of their fingers should be. Not even more than the two joints for their pair of thick fingers.

“Wha.” She managed to croak.

Tali very gently took her hand back from Meredith, coughing nervously. "It's....not important right now, Knight-Commander." She hesitated, and then decided that little, white lie wouldn't cause too much of an issue. "It's just my gloves, Commander."

Tali peered at Meredith's face, and gently ran a finger tip along the bridge. Broken, if Meredith's reaction was anything to judge by. "Commander, I will also need to reset your nose before I try and apply medi-gel. Do you want me to help you with your breastplate, your greave, or your nose first?"

Gloves, they said. Their gloves gave them only two joints in their hand.

“Lie.” Meredith snarled, ignored the pain blooming in her nose as she pulled away from the stranger’s unnatural fingers. She clenched her hand tight and threw the fist straight for the dimly flickering light, all her pain and adrenaline and betrayal behind it. She twisted at the waist to add more torque, and her knuckles cracked when they hit a helmet of some kind.

Her back plate made a wet sort of noise as she twisted, and the next thing Meredith was aware of she was lying sideways on the floor. She tried to move her fingers, and had no idea if they had so much as twitched. A creeping horror curdled in her guts and began to seep upward. She tried to wiggle her left foot. No feeling there either.

Meredith shuddered, but only felt her head and shoulders shake. With no voice but all sincerity, she mouthed, “O Maker, hear my cry: seat me by Your side in death.”

Tali tried to dodge the incoming strike, and wasn't quite fast enough. Meredith's punch slammed into the side of her helmet, and Tali tumbled backwards swearing loudly in Quarian. For a human as battered as she was, Meredith could still pack a punch. Tali hoped that nothing had cracked or broken - there were no flashing warning lights on her heads-up interface...yet.

Tali watched from the short distance she had fallen away from Meredith as Meredith twitched and shuddered. She had an unfortunate suspicion, but there wasn't any easy way to tell with the Knight-Commander in as bad shape as she was. Tali pulled the tiny journal out of a belt pouch pocket, and quickly scribbled a note to Neria and Anders, hoping that they would see it soon. Tali got here feet under her again, and crab-walked over to where Meredith lay.

"Well, I suppose I deserved that. Knight-Commander, I promise you. I swear..." Tali hesitated, and then continued, "I swear by the Maker that I will not willingly do you further harm. I am trying to keep you alive and in as few pieces as possible." With that said, as gently as she could, Tali undid the final buckles and pulled Meredith's breastplate and back plate out from under her.

Meredith’s eyes stayed fixed on that speaking light. As though it were some indication of the truth. The stranger’s hands were gentle, easing her armour away while supporting her head and neck.

Meredith blinked slowly. Panic churned in her guts, her skin was still trying to crawl off her bones, but Andraste guide her and let this be the right choice because she had finally reached the end of herself. “Very well.” She slurred slowly, and submitted to her strange savior’s care.

Meredith's backplate had crumpled, battered inwards in sharp corners and edges by biotic force - the metal gleamed the faint burnished blue that biotics occasionally left behind on man add materials. Meredith's back was a soaked mess of sliced cloth and flesh - Tali could not contain a gasp of horror and a soft croon of pity at the sight. As carefully as she could, she removed the fragments of torn fabric from the wounds and used the remaining fabric to wipe away as much of the blood as she could.

Three long gashes in a spider's web outwards from the point of impact, low between her shoulders. Tali gently applied medi-gel to the cuts, bruises and scrs scattered across Meredith's back. She hoped that someone more familiar with human anatomy would be able to take a look at the damage to Meredith's back, before she had to close the wounds - she wasn't sure Meredith would be in any state to have them reopened for examination.

With a soft whisper of "I'm sorry, this will hurt," Tali set her fingers on either side of Meredith's nose and set the bones back in line with a wet, painful sounding click. She was quick to apply medi-gel to the bridge of Meredith's nose, the numbing effect of the gel hopefully cutting the pain quickly.

Meredith grunted an acknowledgement of the warning a second before her nose was put back in place. Bile rose, but she swallowed it back down. She could not afford to lose a drop of moisture if it could be helped. The cooling poultice worked its healing, and after long minutes only an aching throb behind her eyes troubled her.

But that easing came with consequence. With a thirst. Her other pains had been more urgent, and Meredith had ignored the crawling, aching itch that rushed through her veins and tore at her skin from beneath. She was missing something. She ~~was missing~~ ~~wanted~~ needed something, and she didn’t have it.

She listened to her strange savior moving, trying not to flinch when her abnormal hands would suddenly touch her. Tried to focus on anything but- on anything else.

The last thing to go was the crumbled shin guard, peeled out of Meredith's likely broken leg. The fact that Meredith didn't so much as flinch as Tali pulled shards of shatters metal out of her leg spoke volumes to Tali's unfortunate suspicion that Meredith has some severe nerve damage in her back.

Best case scenario, the force of Aria's blow has compressed muscle and bone around the nerves and they were currently cut off due to the pressure of the wound. Worst case...Tali fervently hoped that the worst case wasn't going to happen.

Tali untied the wrap of cloth that covered the back of her helmet and her shoulders, and folded it into a pad that she slipped beneath Meredith's head. She warned Meredith again that the next few moments would hurt, and then straighten the Meredith's wounded leg to align the bones as best she could. After cleaning the wounds as best she could, and applying a through layer of medi-gel (the last of that package, though she had at least one more on her person), Tali used the undamaged greave to splint the leg.

As Tali worked, she hummed - a quiet, cming lullaby that her Aunt Raan had used to comfort her when she was little.

((ooc: just tell me when to show up))

Meredith focused. On the noises, the vibrations that passed up through her body as parts of it she could not feel were manipulated. The taste of bile lingered. Her helplessness made her sick.

Her strange savior- no, it was unworthy to continue calling them that. “Name.” She rasped, demanding an honest answer through will alone. But their song was so strange, the rhythm surprisingly quick for such a softly sung tune.

((OOC: Go ahead, order can be Neria, Tali, Meredith until someone else comes along.))

((ooc;; mind if I jump in on the end of that order?))

Neria approached the Great Hall with caution, the blood trail making her stomach stir, uncomfortable. It wasn't hard to see were Tali stood with Meredith and she was impressed with the girls appearance for a second, quickly remembering why she was there in the first place. She halted a few steps behind Tali, dropping her staff and raising her hands in a low gesture, hopping that the Knight-Commander saw it as a sign of peace.

"Tell me what is her situation, lady Tali." her voice was soft, composed and polite. She kneeled, cautious, eyes hovering Meredith's face with a blank expression.

((ooc: yas, come in Garrus!))

Edited Date: 2015-09-01 05:45 am (UTC)

Tali has just managed to pause in her song and say, "My name is Tali'zorah, Knight-Commander" when Neria walked up behind her. Tali stiffened slightly as Neria spoke, and forced herself to relax, to continue projecting calm.

Tali quickly rattled off the injuries that she had so far identified. "Minor lacerations consistent with impact damage from insufficient padding to distribute biotic force under her armor, across 60% of her face, torso, and limbs. I applied medi-gel to most of those, but they could be reopened with too much stress. A broken nose, though I'm afraid she may have done that to herself during her crawl from the dungeons. Crushing damage done to her tibia and fibia on the one leg - I've splinted that as best I could with her undamaged greave."

Tali winced as she leaned over to get a better look at Meredith's back. "Biotic impact point located approximately one inch above the bottom of her shoulder blades, centered directly over her spine. The way her armor crumpled around the impact point caused some very deep sliced wounds in the muscles of her back."

Tali looked over her shoulder back at Neria, her frustrated, pitying expression hidden by the dark glass of her helmet, and then turned back to Meredith. "Knight-Commander, please tell me if you cannot feel my hands at any point." Then, very carefully, Tali began gently tapping on Meredith's limbs, starting from her shoulders and moving downwards.

((OOC: So, posting order should probably be Meredith, Garrus, Tali, Neria?))

((OOC: Meredith had suggested for it to be Neria/Tali/Meredith, and with Garrus I thought it would be Neria/Tali/Meredith/Garrus, but I don't mind changing either))

((OOC: *facepalm* Nevermind, you are right, I'm blind!))

Edited Date: 2015-09-01 05:51 pm (UTC)

Meredith nodded as best she could with her cheek pressed against the folded-cloth pillow Tali’zorah had supplied her. She had barely heard the footsteps approaching, which meant it was likely an elf that joined Tali’zorah. The elf’s voice seemed familiar, though she could not recall where from. Tali’zorah rattled off her list of injuries, and yet they didn’t sound as terrible as they felt, and despite the lengthy list Meredith relaxed.

She grunted an acknowledgement, feeling the gentle prods from Tali’zorah’s thick fingers pass down her shoulders, beside where her surcoat, gambeson and tunic had shredded into her back, and below that it was only the pull of fabric against her shoulders as it was moved.

“There.” She slurred.

While the Normandy had been well supplied, a lot of said supplies had already been used for various reasons since her arrival in this weird time-space dimensional rift. Garrus was only able to find a sparse few packs of medi-gel left (his own stores were dextro- only), and a handful of clean bandages. It would have to do, he supposed, as he gathered it all into the crook of one elbow and made for the airlock.

For the first time since his arrival, Garrus stepped into the surreal, greenish world outside. He'd be a damn liar if he tried to tell anyone that his free hand didn't go right to the grip of his closest gun. After a deep breath, he steeled himself and relaxed into a brisk walk.

His eyepiece lit up with a display of Tali's location. Inside the large stone building, of course. And...underground? Garrus found a side door, one that looked like it lead through some sort of old kitchen (who still uses fireplaces to cook?), but there was a set of stairs down beyond that. The tunnels under the castle weren't the most conducive to travel, and Garrus found himself at a point at least once where his display said Tali was right in front of him, but there was a wall in the way. Eventually, he did come around a corner to see the Quarian--and another human(?) woman--both crouched over what appeared to be a corpse.

His eyepiece lit up again, listing off the vitals of the injured party and indicating major injuries. He slowed his approach, coming to a stop just short of the scene.

"I brought what I could find," he announced, holding out the bundle of limited supplies. He didn't think twice about how his two-pitched voice might sound to someone half conscious who had never heard Turian speech before. In fact, he hadn't thought any of this would be unusual at all, what with his rather extensive experience of nearly lethal situations. "It isn't much, it looks like the med-bay was picked clean recently."

Neria looked over her shoulder to stare at the new visitor, eyebrow quirked in a slightly stunned expression. Questions could come later. She rested by Tali's side studying Meredith's injuries, swallowing hard, keeping in mind the things Wynne had taught her years before about healing spells; how to focus her magic and use it to see what was wrong in someone's body, how to use said magic to heal injuries, mend bone and flesh. She rubbed her hands together and glanced the girl by her side, nodding before placing her hands softly at Meredith's back, on the spot she couldn't feel the girl's touch.

The Warden Commander didn't like being beaten and sliced and she had left her room utterly pissed with the situation; cleaning someone else's mess just to ensure the flow of time was preserved, specially knowing what Meredith had done but... seeing the woman on the floor hanging by a thread washed away her rage, leaving nothing else but pity with a hint of frustration. She shook her head, taking a deep breath.

"Knight-Commander, you'll feel my magic right now, but rest assured I'll only use it to heal you the best I can."

A soft, clear blue light shone on her palms, spreading a warm and gentle feeling. She closed her eyes, focusing, figuring out what was wrong with her back; the torn flesh and muscles, the swelling and the blood leaking from her veins, the compressed nerves against the bone. She started mending the veins, clearing blood clots from the area and then moved to the muscles, feeling its fibers, the way it should be arranged. The swelling was waning, bit by bit, setting the compressed nerve free. Now she could get a better feeling of the rest.

Sweat drops formed on her forehead, eventually running down her face. Her arms trembled, but she kept the flow of magic steady, aware of the fact she was quickly running out of mana due her inexperience with advanced healing techniques. But she wouldn't falter, wouldn't stop.

Tali had never seen biotics...no, magic, this was magic like the Inquisitor had mentioned. She'd never seen anything like what Neria was doing before, but she watched in awe as Meredith's most severe injury began to knit itself back together right before her eyes.

Tali spoke softly, making sure that Meredith understood her before moving. "Knight-Commander, Warden Surana is currently healing the worst of your injuries. I promise that she is only working in the interest of keeping you whole. A member of my team is here with additional medical supplies. His voice is the strange, two-toned voice. Can he come over so that I can take the medical supplies from him, or should I go and pick them up from him?

Heavy steps approached that reminded her of Carta enforcers. Confident, firm, uncaring of who heard them coming. There was a particular clicking to the footfalls though, something like enamel, or perhaps a bone armour. Then they spoke. Meredith tried to get up, to lift her head to stare into the darkness that seemed only to affect her. She twitched at best, and ground her teeth in frustration.

Tali’zorah did not seem to be alarmed. Meredith pushed her panic back down her throat.

Then, before she could even recover, the familiar elf revealed herself as a mage and began to cast on her. Meredith called up a Cleanse, but it was healing magic and the Cleanse dissipated unused. She lay still instead, feeling something tingling up her neck, a sort of pinching that was moving downwards until-

“Grrnhk!” Meredith snarled as suddenly her left side gained sensation. Pins and needles engulfed her, the stabbing merciless but very welcome. She wiggled her fingers and toes carefully, and though there wasn’t much sensation beyond the tingling pain she did feel all but her right foot move. She inhaled deeply, suddenly aware of how short of breath she’d been.

“Enough. You exhaust, useless.” She rasped near-voicelessly, pushing the mage’s hands away. From the ‘taste’ of their magic, Meredith could tell the mage was nearly out of mana. Heartened that her hands had managed what she’d wanted, she flexed her right hand a little to make sure it was no fluke, then waved in the direction Tali’zorah’s team member seemed to be. “Come.”

Garrus was patient to wait. He shifted his weight as he stood off to the side, looked back down the hall every few moments, scratched the back of his neck. He knew when a situation was bad enough that he shouldn't just walk right up and risk ruining anything. Part of him wanted to question the strange biotics the human(?) woman practiced. The other part of him had seen enough strange things in the galaxy to know when not to question a gift like that.

He came back to proper attention when he heard Tali talk about him. His back straightened and he waited, only moving forward at the order of the injured woman on the ground. She sounded authoritative. Something he could respect, but something that also made him wary. He handed the supplies down to Tali as he took a knee.

"Do we know who--or what--did this?"

"Yes, we do."

Neria used her last burst of mana to relieve Meredith's pain, letting Tali work with the things that her companion had brough. She had no idea of what those packs were, but she had a pair of free hands to help with the bandages, if necessary. Her hand sought for a handkerchief to clean her forehead, uncomfortable for being without mana for the moment.

It's ok Neria, Certainty is not here and you're not alone. Be calm.

Now that she wasn't working with her magic, though, her eyes would glance at the armored visitor every now and then, trying to compreenhend him. Not that a fully-clothed girl with a dark-glassy helmet with only two lights to be seen didn't caught her attention at first too.

"I think the Knight-Commander received an up-close and personal introduction to Omega's one rule, Garrus." Tali unwrapped and handed Neria a roll of sterile, tensile gauze and gestured towards Meredith's splinted lower leg. She cracked open the hard case on another pack of medi-gel and began to gently apply it to the remains of Meredith's open back wound, and to any remaining injuries that Tali could see.

Tali could see the questions in Neria's eyes as she looked back and forth between Garrus and herself. Tali felt a little self-concious - she'd taken off her helmet and shoulder wrap to give Meredith some comfort, but now that meant that all the mechanical working of her suit were visible. Neria must have no idea what to make of that, let alone Garrus' s appearance...

"Knight-Commander, have we missed any additional injuries? We have enough medi-gel to treat most superficial wounds, but I doubt you want to be undressed for a full exam in the middle of a hallway."

Fool mage. With all their mana spent they were that much more vulnerable to temptation. Meredith felt around the edges of the last burst of magic, then with a certain twist of her abilities shunted it instead into her head. The hallway spun and voices blurred, but the magic served its purpose and when she opened her eyes some little part of the darkness had receded.

“A demon,” Meredith corrected Tali’zorah. A demon under the control of an elven mage- Ah.

So that was where Meredith knew her voice from. Well, well.

And now the mage tried to help her victim. A guilty conscience hoping for leniency, most likely. Tali’zorah and her bizarrely voiced team member were the only reason she was still alive: witnesses against the mage trying to finish what she’d started. She would be dealt with.

Meredith flexed her muscles, testing each from her shoulders down. Pain in her leg, to be expected. Pain in her knees, palms and elbows from crawling like a helpless child. Pain in her back, but a manageable amount compared to what it had been. A migraine, but it would not distract her. The shaking from the crawling under her skin. It was the pain in her throat and mouth that troubled her most, since blood loss would only be exacerbated by dehydration.

Meredith pulled her arms under her torso, shifting carefully, and pushed herself back into a sitting position. Tali’zorah was a dim shape on her left, the mage a blur on her right. The third, larger fuzzy outline next to Tali’zorah must be her team member, and she nodded to the two of them. “Water.”

"Don't fuck with Aria," Garrus recited in reply to Tali. He helped unwrap gauze, handing it to the Quarian as he had sections ready. He was doing a very good job at pretending he didn't know he was being stared at by the human(?) woman nearby. He did, at least, give her a nod of recognition. And thanks. Whatever that trick was that she'd pulled, it had done a lot of good on this battered woman.

"She's one hell of a biotic," Garrus gave credit where it was due as he popped open a compartment on the upper section of his armor. A plastic tube with a pop-up nozzle on the end slid out. Water. "And she's an even better outlaw. But I wouldn't call her a demon."

He held out the water for the injured woman, his posture offering that he would hold it for her while she drank, if she wasn't strong enough.