#*post arc

[ josephine shoves her hair out of her eyes, hands swiping at her damp face. her fingers brush too close to the still-broken bones of her nose and she jerks back with a wince. 

quietly, as if she is half-hoping they won't hear, ]

[ she pounds on the door once, twice, three times; heavy, frantic knocks. her voice is tight with fear and the spill of leftover adrenaline when she calls through the door. ]

He's unsteady on his feet, but he does manage to stumble to Darcy's bathroom in the dark and search through her medicine cabinet to find something--anything--to dress the would Ruin had inflicted. It might not be bleeding, he finds as he strips out of the ruined shirt, but it's still open to the air, hurting like hell, and just begging to be infected.

Hanging his head, one arm cradling his side while the other props him up on the wall, he can't help the humorless, anxious laughter that spills from his lips when he finds that she only has Hello Kitty Band-Aids. And as he laughs, a cat hisses loudly at the doorway, eyes shining menacingly in the dim light.

The hand he's pressed to the wall to support him moves to the sink as he tries to kick the door closed to keep he cat away, but only succeeds in getting his leg snagged by the territorial animal's claws.

[ there's an angry bruise purpling along the line of her jaw and a thick piece of gauze taped to her cheek to cover one of the nastier cuts. 

it's going to be hell to explain at work when she decides to go back, but she considers herself lucky, for now. ]

[ this is the last person she expected to see. ]