2022-05-10 - Helping Hands of the Thieving Kind

No, Gabby wasn't about to stick around and make a statement or talk to the police. There's no way she wanted to see or talk to the police. The red head bolted as fast as her injured self could get her out of there as soon as those lights showed up. Thankfully there were a lot of distractions to help with that. The problem with all of that is that she still needs medical attention, but can't actually go to the hospital. So where does that leave her? The hospital, of course.

Just not in the normal way. It means fitting in the best she can, hiding the blood from the gash across the chest with a coat she stole when she was walking in, and trying small breaths and tiny steps to keep from passing out from blinding pain from broken ribs while she stalks through the halls, pocketing what she think she might need here and there. Ace bandage? Score. Into the pocket it goes.

Robin took the other route into the hospital. In through the emergency room, at the insistence of paramedics who didn't quite believe that he was /totally fine/ and could /totally go home okay./ Something about being covered in blood and making confused, rambling statements to the police had them worried about shock or something. And hey, once there, why not stick around and make sure the guy who stole his shirt lives or whatever?

By the time Gabby makes it to the hospital, Robin has been furnished with a hospital gown in lieu of the blood-stained shirt. He's washed most of the blood off of himself, but his hands are still streaked with unpleasant-looking black veins that he had to repeatedly reassure the doctors were just a tattoo. He sits cross-legged in a waiting room chair, sipping a soda and waiting for news, when he sees Gabby pass by. There's a bit of a double-take, but inevitably, he unfolds from the chair and falls in behind her, steps hurrying a little to catch up. He doesn't call out, apparently not wanting to call attention to her.

Gauze and saline are on a silver tray, looking like they're ready to go to a room soon to get ready to help clean up something. Looks like they're going to need a second bunch because both of those get slipped into more pockets as Gabby hurries past. As she goes, Robin might note the fact that things pivot in that direction as she goes. A chair sliding with a nurse in it, the woman making a surprised noise as she suddenly goes on a small trip away from her keyboard.

A pen on the floor goes shooting out under Gabby's feet, almost tripping her up in it's almost magnetic need to follow her direction. Telekinetic backlash giving away her direction. She swears under her breath and grips the wall, catching herself with a hiss. There's a quick glance over the shoulder to make sure nobody saw. That's when she catches sight of Robin, her eyes widening for a second in recognition. Half straightening, she blinks, just staring at him.

Robin stops when Gabby notices him, staring back with a round-eyed, startled look. If nothing else, he at least looks pretty harmless? Then again, very few people look dangerous wearing an oversized hospital gown as a shirt. He recovers pretty quickly and lifts a hand in something that is half wave, and half 'I come in peace.' He gives a glance around, making sure no one else is paying attention to them, then starts walking toward her at a casual pace.

Gabby lifts her hand halfway up to chest height and gives a finger wave in return, not really able to lift the arm much higher than that by the looks of it. It doesn't look like she's about to try to fling him across the hospital, so that's good. There's a darting look around the room to make sure nobody is staring at her, but surely talking with a patient will make her blend in more, right? "Hello," Gabby offers once he's close enough. "Did the big, dumb one die or did he make it? Do you know?"

"I don't know yet," Robin answers, as he pulls up to lean against the wall slightly. He folds his arms, hiding his hands under his armpits as though it will make that backlash any less noticeable. "He was alive when we got here. Paramedics said he's got a good chance, but who knows? He got shot /and/ stabbed." There's a brief glance down, assessing her condition before he asks, "How are /you/? Thought you took off. Didn't expect to see you here."

"I don't know what he thought was gonna happen when he jumped out and basically said 'hey all y'all. Attack me!' like that. It was like he ain't never seen a beat down before." Still, Gabby looks worried about him for a moment. "Glad they said he has a good chance." She looks over herself then back to Robin. "I did take off. Just came here to get what I needed. Got slashed real good, a couple bruises. Plus I think that guy with the crappy crew cut broke a couple of my ribs. Gotta get 'em taped up so it doesn't hurt to breath so much." She looks him over. "You good?"

Robin winces at that. "Geez. Sorry... Be careful with the tape, though. You can give yourself pneumonia." How does he know that? Good question! He moves right along to answer her last question. "Me? I'm fine. The one guy tried to stab me, but he kinda missed." He glances over his shoulder, then leans slightly toward Gabby. "Listen, you're going to draw attention, dragging half the hospital along behind you. Wanna sit in the waiting room and I can find whatever else you need?"

"Pneumonia?" Gabby looks at her pocket and then to Robin, her brows knitting together in confusion. "How?" Clearly she had no idea that was a thing that could happen. "Oh, right." It does kind of stick out when everything tries to trail after you. Her head bobs lightly. "What'll it cost me?" Clearly this is a girl who grew up on the streets and thinks that everything comes with a price. "I'm not sure what I need, exactly. Just enough to clean and bandage the gash, and another roll of bandages probably for the ribs. Only got one so far."

"Stops you from breathing in all the way," Robin answers with authority. "I guess it gives the germs room to grow or something? I dunno, I'm not a doctor." He nods back toward the waiting room, and sets a slower pace on the way back. "Jesus, lady, I'm not going to charge you. I mean, I don't know why you're here instead of a pharmacy, but I've been broke, too." He snorts a little. "Been? I mean /am/. If these people think they're getting paid for this gown, they're in for a shock." He shoots her a lopsided grin.

"Huh. I guess that makes sense. I can't really breath fully as it is because this shit hurts so bad. So either way I could get it." Gabby walks with Robin towards the chairs again. That poor nurse from before makes a sudden gurgling noise is she's pulled harder into the desk this time, having to fight her own chair in order to get herself unpinned. Two other nurses notice the struggle and run over to try to help. "Dear lord this thing is possessed!" That poor nurse manages once she's freed from the death trap that's now on the floor and straining against the wall to no avail.

"Alright," Gabby says with a little squint at Robin and his smile. "But I'll own ya one. How about that? When I'm feeling better. Never know when you could use a favor, yeah?"

"It'll be harder to get pain pills. They keep that shit locked up, but I'll see what I can do." Robin glances over his shoulder, and something about the poor nurse's struggle has him suppressing a little smile. It's been a /long/ day.

"If you insist," he answers. "Favor it is. Tell ya what, if you ever hear someone complain they've lost something important, tell them to call me, eh? I could use the business." He pulls a card out of his pocket, probably made at the library on a copier, but with his name and contact information on it. "Wait here. I'll be back with the stuff."

"Yeah, kind figured I would probably have to break locks and shit to get that stuff. Not worth it if it meant more backlash," Gabby said, eyes flickering to the nurse's station and the hubbub going on over there. "Getting wrapped and shit was more important for right now. But if you can, great." She reaches out for the card and studies it. "I can do that," is agreed easily enough. That card gets slipped into the pocket with the rest of the stuff that she's been stashing.

Carefully, she starts to settle herself into a chair.

Robin watches Gabby as she gets settled into the chair. He makes a kind of abortive move to help her, but remembers himself quickly enough that he never actually /touches/ her. "Yeah, just... Make sure you don't wear the wraps more than eight hours at a time, okay?" And without further explanation or warning, he heads off into the hospital. Presumably to find her medical supplies.

He's gone for a good long while... Long enough to make a person begin to wonder if he'll even be back. But eventually, he does come walking casually back up the hallway, now wearing a plain white t-shirt and carrying a canvas tote bag. It has a smiley face on it. As he passes the waiting room, he leans in and makes a 'pssst' noise to get Gabby's attention. If he succeeds, he'll make a meaningful nod of his head as though to indicate 'follow me,' then starts to lead the way to the exit.

No more than eight hours a day? Gabby's brows tick together for a second, but she offers the faintest of nods to indicate that even if she doesn't understand the reasoning for the instructions, she at least heard the instructions. In a hospital, Gabby has to be very careful not to talk to anyone, even having talked to Robin was a risk. Thankfully nobody was giving her strange looks when she did, so she's fairly certain that the kid was alive and a person everyone else could see.

But everyone else that tries to talk to her is promptly ignored. This is done by pretending to sleep. It's the easiest option. It goes on until she hears that little pssst to get her attention, which drags her eyes over Robin's way. Well, one eye that peeks open and darts over. Slowly dragging herself out of the chair, the haggard looking red head follows Robin out of the hospital.

There isn't much in the way of conversation on the way out of the hospital. Robin doesn't seem any more keen to talk in front of the patients and staff than Gabby, but once they get outside and away from prying eyes and ears, he looks over at her with a slightly quirked brow. "Did you have a ride to get here?"

Once they're away from most of the crowd, Gabby finally offers a faint smile. "A ride? No. I walked. I like to walk. It doesn't usually hurt so much, but it's very good exercise." The smile quirks a little bigger at that. "I don't live too far. Thanks for doing that, by the way."

Robin smiles back, ruefully. "I just have my bike. Van's out at the park, or I'd offer you a lift." He waves off the gratitude. "Can I walk you home, at least? I feel bad you got so banged up."

"Eh, shit happens. I've gotten banged up before. I'll get banged up again. Those guys looks super weird though. What the hell was all of that?" Gabby wonders as she gestures with her chin the direction that they can start to walk. "You might want to grab your bike, though. I was lying about how close it was. You might get bored halfway through and want to bike off."

Robin peers off toward the side of the hospital. "It's locked up in front of the place. Let me just go grab it?" It doesn't take him long to do just that, soon rejoining Gabby while pushing his slightly beat-up bicycle. "Those guys /were/ freaks," he agrees, pretty grim as he turns his thoughts back to the events of the night. "They were trying to make off with those kids, but why? Who knows. For all I know, they were selling them to rich cannibals or something."

"Before we walk too far, I'm going to need that stuff, though. I think it'll make it a little easier to walk if I can bandage my ribs up. Holding them like this is a real pain in the ass." Gabby has the one bandage she managed to grab, so that's something. Whatever he grabbed will probably help more than just the one. "Kidnapping teenagers is fucked up. I wasn't about to let it happen. I wonder if that guy I stabbed in the chest died though. Because that'd be kinda bad for me."

Robin glances around, searching for someplace a little more secluded than the street in front of the hospital. "Around this corner?" he suggests, with a vague wave. "I'll guard from the corner and make sure no one comes along to bother you?" Yep, he just assumes she'll want to handle wrapping her ribs on her own. But at least he is sticking around to guard her privacy? "Don't know if he died or not. I only came along to see if Leeroy lived through the ambulance ride."

"That sounds good to me." Gabby follows Robin around the corner to the more secluded area, her eyes darting to give the area a once over for herself to check it. Not that she doesn't trust him, but she trusts herself a little more, that's all. She takes out her own wrap from the jacket pocket, and slides the stolen jacket off to reveal the clothes she was wearing earlier. It's easy to see why she was hiding them in the hospital with the gash down the front and all of the dried blood on it. "Leeroy? That was his name? Someone should tell him not to jump out like that when he's outnumbered. That was dumb as hell."

"Naw," Robin admits, with a lopsided smile. "I think they said it was Mik-something. But anyone who jumps out at a crowd of obvious bad dudes is a Leeroy Jenkins in my book." He stations himself near the corner, so he can see if anyone should happen by. Though he makes a point not to look too closely while Gabby deals with the wrap, he does catch sight of all that blood from the corner of his eye and frowns. "You going to be okay? You aren't going to pass out from blood loss or something, are you...?"

"Oh. Right. A Leeroy Jenkins." From her tone it's pretty clear that Gabby has absolutely no idea what he's referencing. She never really had much of a chance to get into video games or much in the way of cultural references either. So it flies right over her head. But she still smiles as if she gets it, clearly not wanting to look dumb for not getting what is probably super obvious to other people. "Well, hopefully Mik-something survives the night."

Gabby lifts the shirt up enough to start wrapping her ribs up tight, baring her teeth as she does it, and softly growling. Still, she's managing to work through the pain and do a pretty good job from the looks of it. "I'll be fine. It wasn't that bad of a cut. It just got all over the shirt because I was moving around so much. It was the rib shot that really did me in." Once she's all wrapped up and good to go, the girl nods back to Robin and looks ready to head back out.

The pair take off again, slow and steady.

Homeward!