AJ did not look very steady on his feet. He also seemed to have taken her joke to heart about the plant he had landed on. Well, at least it did not have any fruit on it yet, so he was not covered in squished tomato juice. Silver linings. He still looked very sheepish.

>>"Do you- uh- is it 'cause you eat it? Are all these eating plants?... I know plenty of stuff, but pretty much zero when it comes to plants. Can you save it?"

"Yes, they are eating plants" Pippa chuckled. Most of the community garden was spices, herbs, and vegetables. There were a few decorative elements, but mostly it was for people who wanted to grow something for their own table, as much as the urban environment allowed. "And nah, I don't think this one is gonna fare well. But it's just one plant." she sighed "Do you want to take a seat? Your ankle doesn't look very steady. Are you sure it's not broken? I know plenty of stuff, but I'm not a paramedic." she added with a smirk, looking around for one of the stools nearby.

Well. It was official. AJ was a murderer. The thought made him unbearably sad. The plant would lose its individuality and rejoin the energy of the universe. It would no longer be Pippa's favorite.

She might not be a paramedic, but he was. "Ice, elevation, compression. Could I impose on you for a bit? The faster I get it wrapped, the less blood can pool and the faster it'll be back to normal. It'll be the difference of being tender tomorrow or being worthless. If you could just call me a cab-" He wasn't about to lay down in here with the glass, though how he was supposed to get from the top floor to the bottom with only a Pippa-sized crutch... "Please tell me this is a building with an elevator."

Silver lining: when a paramedic falls through your glass ceiling, at least the help is incredibly close.
As long as it's also conscious.

>>"Ice, elevation, compression. Could I impose on you for a bit? The faster I get it wrapped, the less blood can pool and the faster it'll be back to normal. It'll be the difference of being tender tomorrow or being worthless. If you could just call me a cab-"

"I do have ice. And bandages." Pippa noted. It was an old habit of hers to keep a well stocked first aid kit, and ice was easy to come by in her apartment. If they managed to do some first aid on the ankle, he would have an easier time going home.

>>"Please tell me this is a building with an elevator."

"It does. You'll love it if you like to live dangerously" Pippa smirked. The old iron elevator was an inspection short of a death trap. "How about we go one floor down to my place, and plan from there?"

AJ blinked. He'd killed her favorite plant and she was... inviting him inside?

"You have ice? Oh thankfu-" he caught himself before he swore "-I was going to have to order some. My freezer is really like more of a second fridge." AJ pulled his foot up to keep himself from actually putting weight on it, but that meant any forward movement was going to actually have to require help. He wasn't used to needing help, he was used to being the one to give it.

He hobbled with help, trying not to lean too heavily when he stepped with his good foot. He knew exactly how much muscle weighed and also knew how much he tried to pack the muscle on. He was small, but dense.

"Y'know, your head might've made a better crutch than your shoulder." He tried to keep a straight face, but the twinkle of amusement in his eyes made it obvious that he was teasing. Twisted ankle beggars couldn't be crutch choosers.

Besides, she'd said it was only one floor, right?

"Oh wow. You weren't kidding about the lift." AJ was amazed once he saw it, that it wasn't operating by crank wheel and actually had a button, if the button even worked.

>>"You have ice? Oh thankfu- -I was going to have to order some. My freezer is really like more of a second fridge."

"You're lucky I'm a classy day drinker" Pippa smirked, offering support as they began to move. Give her lack of heels at the moment, he was easily taller than her. Which was not saying much, on off days most potted plants were also easily taller than her. He leaned on her carefully as they headed to the rooftop door.

>>"Y'know, your head might've made a better crutch than your shoulder."

"You know the streets might make for better walking than the roof."

>>"Oh wow. You weren't kidding about the lift."

"Nope" she agreed cheerfully, allowing him to use the railing for support rather than her. It was one flight down to the apartment door, which she opened by the time he got there. "Here we go. Make yourself at home." she led him to the couch; the whole apartment was small in a New York kinda way, but cozy. "I'll go get the ice. If you try anything funny, I'm not above kicking you in the ankle and pushing you in the elevator."

Of all the things AJ had assumed of Pippa, day drinking was not one. It surprised him, even. She was turning out to be a lot more than she looked at first glance.

"How boring would that be? Walking? On a street?" He teased making the normal sound totally absurd. He was rewarded by being passed off to a railing. He was glad for his upper body strength and still a bit sweaty by the time he made it down a single flight of stairs.

Again, she surprised him with a threat. So violent. He was one part proud and one part amused. He wasn't a fighter so just about anyone could kick his ass. "I'm flattered by the offer, but the floor seems safer. Can I borrow your floor? I can take the shoe off if you don't want shoe on the couch, but it needs to remain above the heart." And he wasn't about to let her get anywhere near his foot. He'd been running and jumping and so far the smell was contained inside the shoe. He didn't want to gas the poor kindly soul who threatened to kick him where it hurt.

They made it to her apartment, which was good. Pippa made sure the man knew she was willing to wreck him in self defense, but he did not look like he would start any trouble, not with his ankle hurt anyway. Therefore, he was allowed on the couch.

>> "I'm flattered by the offer, but the floor seems safer. Can I borrow your floor? I can take the shoe off if you don't want shoe on the couch, but it needs to remain above the heart."

"Floor it is" she nodded, and went to the kitchen to put some ice cubes into a plastic bag. The first aid box was in the bathroom; once she scavenged up everything she returned to the floor by the couch, only to find she had another problem: she was still wearing the gardening gloves. Uh. That was going to get suspicious, not to mention unhygienic. She paused.

"One moment." she returned to the bathroom, taking off the gloves and washing her hands for good measure before she took out a pair of plastic gloves from the first aid kit, and returned to the couch once again. "Um... do you need help?"

He flopped down once he had permission. Like a man who was used to sleeping just about anywhere, which he was, he found his current accommodations to be more than adequate. He felt a smidge bad about putting his shoe on the couch, but it was a necessary evil. He put both feet on a cushion thinking that maybe if he didn't touch the bottoms of his shoes to anything, the germs wouldn't be so bad? Ugh. Shoes were so gross.

She rummaged around and apologized, for what he wasn't sure. "Take your time. I'm not going anywhere." AJ was focused primarily on un-lacing the shoe around his hurt foot. Once she brought him something to wrap with, he'd re-lace it extra tight. Until then, he should be taking something to help keep the swelling down.

Pippa came back in wearing gloves like he might be contagious. And the sounds he'd heard must've been hand washing. Honestly, he wasn't sure if he should be touched or insulted. Did she not want to touch him that much? Or was she just taking his health that seriously?

"If you have a kind of anti-inflammatory OTC like Ibuprofen? That's Advil, Nuprin, Motrin... I'd be grateful if I could have two." He held out his hand for the ice. "Oh and an ace bandage or an extra sock? Panty hose would work too, I'm not above using a good compression stocking."

He took his place on the floor, and Pippa sat down cross-legged next to him, sorting through the small pile of supplies. Touching the inside of the plastic gloves only bothered her for a moment; they were brand new, so she just got a flash of some factory before her powers got accustomed to them.

>>"If you have a kind of anti-inflammatory OTC like Ibuprofen? That's Advil, Nuprin, Motrin... I'd be grateful if I could have two."

"I've got advil" she nodded, getting up and walking to the kitchen for a glass of water and the painkillers.

>>"Oh and an ace bandage or an extra sock? Panty hose would work too, I'm not above using a good compression stocking."

"Elastic bandages" she pointed at the pile on the carpet. "I only wear panty hose for work, and unless you also do drag next to parkour, you won't like them... Drag parkour. Is that even a thing?" she plopped down again, handing him the glass of water and the pills. "Let me know if you need more ice. I'd offer you a drink but that's probably a bad idea with the painkillers."

She pointed to an elastic bandage which was literally right in front of him.

Oh. He must be blind. Definitely not watching Pippa walk away for water, defiantly not distracted. Uhh. By the pain. Definitely the pain.

"Thanks. I'm not much of a drinker anyway."

AJ tossed the pills back and sat up as much as he was able to in order to drink them down. Then he grabbed the bandage he definitely didn't miss earlier and crunched up further in order to wrap his elevated foot.

He had to ease the shoe off and pulled tight enough that he made noises he couldn't stop. He also snuck the ice in before the last round of wrapping so that it stayed in place… then realized the shoe wassn't’ going to fit back on, even unlaced.

AJ flopped back and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Ice is ten minutes on, ten minutes off in cycles. Nsaids every 4 hours with plenty of water.” Or food. Food would probably help more, but he was already imposing. Hopefully he’d be out before 4 hours went by… AJ talked like he might be reading the instructions off a page, then moved one hand aside from his eye to peek at Pippa.

”You play nurse a lot?” He flicked his eye down towards her gloved hands.

AJ took the pills and got around to bandaging his own foot, including the ice pack in the process. The result was kind of large, and definitely did not look comfortable.

>>"Ice is ten minutes on, ten minutes off in cycles. Nsaids every 4 hours with plenty of water.”

Well, at least he knew what he was doing. He lay back down, and Pippa sat on the floor, not sure what to do.

>>”You play nurse a lot?”

"What?" she blinked, then looked down at her hands. "Oh. No, not really. It's just... um, a touch thing." Great, now she sounded like a clean freak. Pippa did not like to explain her powers much to people, but wearing gloves for fashion was a lot easier to get away with than wearing plastic gloves at home. She got up again, walking to the kitchen and returning with a small box of assorted red and yellow cherry tomatoes. "Snacks?"

Just a touch thing.

Autistic? Mutant? Germophobic? Pippa left a lot of conclusions open, none of which had enough evidence for him to classify as the winner just yet. She'd touched him earlier, hadn't she? What was different now? AJ folded his hands across his upper chest and tried to remain as non-threatening as possible. The gloves, he could ignore. It was just a touch thing, the nothing personal was implied.

"I'd love a snack." Trapped as he was, he couldn't think of how to make this less awkward for either of them. "But really, if you have other things to do, you don't gotta wait on me." Surely she had a job or... hobbies that he hadn't murdered? He glanced around for a clock to note the time, not even sure he could watch TV from where he was... maybe if he looked at it upside-down...

"But y'know. If playing Nurse is your thing, I'm all for it." He settled back to an all-too-innocent face.

>>"I'd love a snack. But really, if you have other things to do, you don't gotta wait on me."

Of course she did. The guy crashed through the roof of her garden - well, the community's garden, but really - and now he was on her floor, icing his ankle. It was not like he was gonna go anywhere anytime soon. At least he was entertaining company. Pippa danged a cherry tomato over his face.

>>"But y'know. If playing Nurse is your thing, I'm all for it."

The tomato was withdrawn.

"Very original." she deadpanned, eating the tomato "You know, most people go for librarian. Or teacher, occasionally. One guy tried Santa's elf, it did not work out for him."

She was gonna feed him? It looked like it was gonna happen, he had his lips all reaching and tongue at the ready until he opened his big fat mouth. He was shocked, not really but his face was totally aghast, when she ate his tomato.

> "Very original."

"Rude." He objected to the tomato tease. As for the rest, "Librarians don't wear gloves unless they're in antiquities or something. Teachers don't wear gloves, unless they're in the medical field and in labs. Whoever called you an elf deserved whatever you gave him and more. I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd kicked me for the crutch comment earlier."

But he couldn't just leave it at that. He couldn't. He wasn't a creep, he was just a jokester with nothing to do while laid out on the floor. "C'mon, the nurse thing is totally justified. Nurses wear gloves. You very clearly have a patient here." Was he pouting? Nah, not pouting. It was just a severe lack of tomato. They were probably homegrown in the greenhouse. He imagined they would taste of sunlight and given the winter conditions, he wanted that.

Probably too much. AJ sighed.

"I'm teasing. If it's a sore spot, I'll leave it alone."

>>"Rude."

The tomato was good. Fresh from the garden, more flavorful that the ones at the store that are mostly water. Pippa smirked as AJ complained. He only had himself to blame.

>>"Librarians don't wear gloves unless they're in antiquities or something. Teachers don't wear gloves, unless they're in the medical field and in labs. Whoever called you an elf deserved whatever you gave him and more. I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd kicked me for the crutch comment earlier."

"It wasn't the gloves. It was the boobs and the glasses." she clarified with a grin. People had all kinds of fantasies about small blonde girls who had large boobs and wore glasses. And many of them were dumb enough to share them with those girls. Pippa sometimes wondered if it ever worked out for them.

>>"C'mon, the nurse thing is totally justified. Nurses wear gloves. You very clearly have a patient here."

This, however, clearly was about the gloves. Pippa sighed.

>>"I'm teasing. If it's a sore spot, I'll leave it alone."

Should she tell him? Even Sabine only found out when they were stuck on the ship in a life-death situation. Then again, if he was a bigot, she could still kick him in the ankle.

"It's a precaution." she admitted, offering another tomato, and letting him take it this time. "Weird stuff happen when I touch things."