Ashley held the bloody card in her hand, wincing as she did so. The stab wound on her shoulder hurt like a beast and the more she walked the more she jostled it around. It wasn't like she was cutting deep into the pockets of the cash cow that was...whatever that store was. It was just convenience after all that they happened to have a cool looking black trenchcoat and a disposable cell phone she could use. Of course NOW the trenchcoat had a cut in it from the stab she had received from the store owner and most of that area was soaked in blood.

Last time she ever hit a mom and pops place, ever. Those people were serious about their business. She knew that most of them packed guns, but she also knew a lot of those family owned businesses were hesitant to use them. Unregistered guns were...well, not good, even if they were used in self defense. The store owner Ashley had jacked had circumvented this whole problem by using a knife. A BIG knife, and even with her augmented speed she had barley made it out without the loss of anything vitally important.

Little Chinese guy was FAST.

The black of the coat camouflaged the blood though (for now) and Ashley already had a destination in mind. The Iris Clinic was a place she'd heard of but never really considered going to. She didn't like doctors in general, and the Mansion was to far for her to get too without losing too much blood. She contemplated calling Bentley (she had enough time to enter in the girl's number before the blood washed it off) but decided that maybe the next time they meet should be on better ground then a stab wound.

Her destination in view, Ashley stumbled a bit as she hit her opposite shoulder into a building and winced. Gritting her teeth she walked on for what felt like forever until she stumbled into the clinic, nearly falling over and instead landing heavily on her knees. She pulled her hand out from under her trenchcoat and slapped it on the floor, decorating it with a bloody hand print as she got to her feet, though weak kneed, and looked to see people staring, including the receptionist. Calmly, Ashley took a step forward.

“I...need help.” Ashley swallowed hard. “Been...stabbed.”

Quiet day at the clinic. Sveta spent her morning sleeping in late, and they took her time making and eating breakfast, taking a shower, and deciding exactly what she was going to do for the rest of the day. She kinda liked days like that. She also wondered about finally getting a job. Just to keep herself occupied. Of course, she'd have to talk to Ghost and Sebby about that. And probably Slate too. She was, after all, always being watched, the unique person she was. Oh well.
On her way out for a walk, Sveta walked down to the clinic's waiting hall; she smiled at the people, kept a safe distance from them (many of them were probably mutants), said hello to the receptionist...

... the door opened and a girl stumbled in.

She was about the same age as Sveta, as far as she could tell; she was wearing a trench coat, and she fell to her knees, leaving a bloody handprint on the floor. Oops.

>>“I...need help. Been...stabbed.”

A nurse appeared out of nowhere; people whispered as the girl stood up again.

"Take it easy, honey. Efimia dear, could you please go get Sebastian?"

Sveta blinked and shook her head.

"He is not here. Not going to be back for... an hour at least."

"I'll call him." the receptionist volunteered. Sveta nodded, and found herself walking with the wounded girl and the nurse to a nearby room. The healer was out, but they could still stop the bleeding and patch her up till Sebby got home. Sveta had helped out a few times at the clinic, mostly fetching things they needed. She knew where things were kept.

"Is it okay" she smiled at the girl encouragingly; she looked pale, probably from the blood loss "The healer will be back soon, until then just relax, we are going to take care of you. My name is, um, Efimia, you can call me Effy. What's yours?"

Ashley growled as she stumbled forward, one of the nurses getting near enough to catch and steady her. Ashley wanted to pull away, more out of instinct then anything else, but the fight was slowly leaking out of her in the form of her blood and she really didn't know how much longer she was going to be conscience at this point.

The nurse began to half walk half drag the redhead to a room, and Ashley did her very best to help the nurse along. She was quite surprised at how stoic the woman was being about carrying Ashley, but then again she supposed nurses and doctors alike saw a lot of things like this all the time. The jolting pain grew worse, however, and Ashley growled again, louder this time, from deep in her throat (a talent she'd always had, much to the amusement of others).

>>"It is okay. The healer will be back soon, until then just relax, we are going to take care of you. My name is, um, Efimia, you can call me Effy. What's yours?"

The strange thick accent that was assaulting Ashley's ears (in a good way, she found) was coming from a blond bombshell a bit off to her left. First impressions were everything, Ashley knew, because her surrogate father had told her. Also, she was pretty sure this one left quite the impression everywhere she went looking as she did. In her stabbed state even Ashley couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful she was, but she said nothing until they were in the room.

The nurse gently took off Ashley's trenchcoat and tossed it aside on the floor, next using scissors to cut off the redhead's wife beater (and tossing those scraps to the floor as well) before laying her down on the table. Ashley was glad that her sports bra was kept on (modesty and all that) as she really didn’t want to reveal more then she had to. As it was she knew her body was trying to make her blush as her eyes came in contact with the piercing blue eyes of the woman with the funny accent, but unfortunately the blood was leaking and really couldn't make it to her face.

“I'm...Rhythm. Ashley said through gritted teeth s the nurse began to make the wound stop bleeding. “Sorry...for troubling. Don't mean to.”

>>“I'm...Rhythm. Sorry...for troubling. Don't mean to.”

"I know" Sveta smiled "It's okay."

Rhythm. ither that was some weird hippie name given by weird parents, or a mutant name. Both of them seemed possible. Sveta had encountered quite a few mutants who, for one reason or another, used names like Ghost, or Cold Steel (seriously) or Iron Mouth. She was getting used to guessing at the X gene when she met another person with a name like that. It still sounded funny though. She never really called herself Muse.

The nurse started working on the wound, after she injected the girl with anaesthetics, to ease the pain. Sveta helped her by handing her the tools she needed.

"You are going to be fine" she smiled at the redhead "How did you get stabbed?"

She needed to ask the question; when mutants were in the picture, nothing was ever easy. If someone was chasing the girl, they needed to know sooner than later....

She would never admit it to anyone, ever, but Ashley was terrified. Sure, she'd been shot before and THAT had sucked, but she'd been healed and all her injuries went away like they were never there. Not this time, obviously, and the injecting of the various...whatever they were injecting in her was making her go nauseous. She almost felt herself go a bit green in the face but kept her composure. The woman next to her, Effy (odd, name, really, but fitting) had a bedside manner that rivaled Andrews.

>>"You are going to be fine. How did you get stabbed?"

The redhead struggled with herself but turned away from the pretty blond. “I...stole.” Ashley gritted her teeth as the nurse renewed her cleaning efforts of the wound. “Needed things.”

Well, one thing. The trenchcoat was purely cosmetic but Ashley really couldn’t see herself without one. Her old one was one of a kind, as it buttoned up all the way to her nose. This one didn't, but it was still soft and warm and that was all that mattered. The phone was so she could eventually call Bentley someday because she really thought seeing the little ballerina was important. Something inside of her urged her to make sure that meeting happened.

“You're...going to tell? Cops?” Ashley stuttered out as the nurse continued to do her duty. At this point she really wasn’t worried. It wasn't too long ago that they had shot her, and she believed they owed her one for that. Plus, taking on Spikes (or whatever his name was) had to count for SOMETHING. “Gimmie...head start? Please?”

>>“I...stole. Needed things.”

Boy, I really have a thing for picking up lost cases, Sveta sighed silently, another girl who has a complicated life. All right, so it kinda did make sense that she got stabbed. ho was Effy... Sveta... Muse... to judge?

>>“You're...going to tell? Cops? Gimmie...head start? Please?”

Sveta sighed again, louder this time, and glanced over at the nurse who was still occupied with the wound, and only shrugged.

"You are not going anywhere soon" she said, shaking her head "No until you are healed. And it is not my job to call the cops. Sebastian can decide dat later."

>>"You are not going anywhere soon. No until you are healed. And it is not my job to call the cops. Sebastian can decide dat later."

“But – ugh!” Ashley cried out as the nurse did something particularly painful with her wound. In passing Ashley thought maybe it was to get her to shut up, but stab wound or not she wasn't going to jail for something like this. “How long? Until healed?”

She just needed a guess, an estimate...a guesstimate, if you will. She inwardly chuckled, thinking only maybe that it was due to the blood loss that she was thinking such silly thoughts anyways. All she knew was that if she made a break for it when she was maybe even halfway patched up that maybe Bentley could help her out...maybe get Andrew over there somehow so she could get properly healed at the Mansion. She thought of Isabel briefly, but since she really didn't know how to get a hold of her she was out of the question.

“I...can't stay.” Ashley muttered, looking towards those brilliant eyes again. “Need to see...someone. Just, fix a little? I can pay, later. No trouble for you, really.”

...okay, it wasn't until after the few seconds of silence did Ashley realize how incredibly shady that sounded, but it was out there and she couldn't take it back. Whatever. Plus, it was true. She wanted to see Bentley, right? Well, more out of boredom (and hunger) then actual NEED, but it was still based on truth!! She couldn’t control how the woman with the radiant eyes and funny accent (and the nurse) would take it, but maybe life could cut the redhead a break.

For once.

>>“But – ugh! How long? Until healed? I...can't stay. Need to see...someone. Just, fix a little? I can pay, later. No trouble for you, really.”

"Oh no, forget about that right now" the nurse muttered between her teeth, focusing on what she was doing. Sveta sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You are not going anywehre injured like dis." she explained clamly "We patch you up, and den we wait for the healer to come back, and den you get healed, and den you go. A few hours, not more. You can't go out like dis, you would faint in two minutes."

Sveta was not a doctor, but even she could tell that much. Blood loss was a simple issue of math, after all.

"Don't worry you are safe here."

Effy seemed a tad upset, or maybe even exasperated, Ashley couldn't tell which. Those sparking blue eyes rolled themselves at Ashley's words, and while such an action probably would have irritated most, Ashley was simply obedient towards the overlying tell; shut up and lay still. Of course she was more polite about it, and through her words Ashley could tell this was something she had to do all the time...or at least played the part well. Either way.

>>"You are not going anywhere injured like dis. We patch you up, and den we wait for the healer to come back, and den you get healed, and den you go. A few hours, not more. You can't go out like dis, you would faint in two minutes."

“But...”

>>"Don't worry you are safe here."

Truly Ashley had no reason to believe her, but she did. Ashley laid back and sighed heavy, her eyes slightly lidded from whatever they were giving her to help with the pain. She heard music coming from another room and she smiled slightly. Okay, Effy said she was safe. Maybe she said that to all the girls but Ashley trusted her. To add to the comfort, the music she was listening to washed over her and she felt her strength augment. Well, at least if she were attacked or something she knew she could defend herself juts a tad before she died of blood loss.

“Thank you.” Ashley said, locking her gaze about those baby blues. “Your eyes...they nice. You know? Kind.”

>>“Thank you. Your eyes...they nice. You know? Kind.”

Sveta smirked; that was clearly the drugs talking. The girl called Rhythm was starting to look like she was ready to pass out.

"Thanks" she chuckled, glancing at the wound. Almost done.
By the time she looked at the girl's face again, she was out.

***

Some time, maybe half an hour later, Sveta was still sitting in a room with Rhythm. The nurse had left; she had other patients to attend to; the girl was patched up, waiting for Sebastian to return. Sveta sat on a chair, reading, and glanced up every once in a while to see if she woke up. She could have gone out, nobody expected her to stick around and look after strangers; she just didn't really have anything better to do.

“Mrrr...”

The redhead let out a tiny growl of discomfort, blinking weary eyes as she slowly put a hand up to her forehead. Ashley wasn't used to waking up somewhere so warm, but she was VERY unused to waking up in a drug induced stupor. Her mouth was dry and her body ached...well, her shoulder ached anyways, the rest of her body just seemed very stiff. She looked over to see the kind woman with luminous blue eyes and gave a goofy smile.

“Blue Eyes...” she mumbled before attempting to sit up. “What...what's – grrrr...!”

She fell back to the bed (this growl a bit louder), clutching her shoulder. Okay, so maybe putting any kind of weight on a shoulder that was stabbed probably wasn't a good idea. Ashley decided to file that under 'Duh!' along with the rest of the things that required common sense that she didn't do anyways. So she laid still, trying to keep her head from swimming.

Drugs sucked.

>>“Mrrr... Blue Eyes... What...what's – grrrr...!”

Blue Eyes? Sveta blinked. Even in her present state, the girl seemed to have noticed some details that people usually didn't, when they were stabbed and bleeding. Maybe it was one of those tricks the mind plays on you when you are losing blood.

"Easy easy" she smiled, walking over to the bed "Do not make your wound bleed again. You are fine."

Reaching for a glass, she filled it with water and handed it over to the girl, slipping one arm under her pillows to help her sit up.

"Drink. I got you some chocolate too. Sugar is good for you."

>>"Easy, easy. Do not make your wound bleed again. You are fine."

Ashley watched the precise, controlled movements of the woman that was, for some reason, watching over here like a hawk. One didn't survive out long in the streets of New York without being at least a LITTLE paranoid, and that instinct was kicking in now...well, trying to, but the drugs were beating back coherent thought with a very big wiffle bat...or something.

Ashley giggled at her own stupid thought, then immediately shut up as soon as she realized the sound that was coming out of her mouth. Ashley Aran did NOT giggle. Ashley Aran kicked ass and took names, god damn it. She repeated this firmly inside of her muddled head for a few moments before giving a determined nod. Yeah, she showed that stupid giggle who as boss.

>>"Drink. I got you some chocolate too. Sugar is good for you."

So preoccupied she was in waging war with her own thoughts was Ashley that she didn't notice Effy's offer of chocolate. She also didn't even notice the woman had helped her sit up, though the smell of her (roses) still hung in the air around the redhead. It was pleasant, just like everything else about the stunning blond. Ashley took the water and gulped it, coughing a bit before biting into the chocolate. It as divine; she never really partook in the consumption of sweets (preferring more filling foods) and closed her eyes in pleasure as she swallowed.

“This...good.” Ashley took another bite, looking over to the woman beside her. “You make, Blue Eyes?”

The girl giggled, probably from the drugs; Sveta put another pillow behind her back so she could sit on her own. She took the water and the chocolate too.

>>“This...good. You make, Blue Eyes?”

Oookay, she was talking weird. Maybe because of the drugs? Was that normal? Sveta frowned a tiny frown, deciding to read a few books before she helped out at the clinic again. Maybe it was normal, and she was just being paranoid.

"Eat it slowly and you won't throw up" she suggested with a smile "And no, I bought it. And my name is Effy. Efimia. What's yours?"

She asked again; maybe if the girl was talking funny from blood loss, the 'mutant name' from before was just an accident. You can never know...

>>"Eat it slowly and you won't throw up. And no, I bought it. And my name is Effy. Efimia. What's yours?"

It was deja vu, Ashley thought, as she cocked her head slightly and looked at the woman before her. She could have sworn they just had this conversation not too long ago. Still, she wracked her brain trying to figure out if she had told Effy her name. Well, she must have because she knew the blonde's name, right? She had to have asked first because Ashley never volunteered her name for anything. Ever.

“Rhythm.” Ashley responded, her whiskey on the rocks voice going an octave lower as she knitted her eyebrows. “And you Blue Eyes. Effy.”

She nodded, a bit pleased with herself as she leaned back into the pillows. She looked down to her shoulder, putting a hand to the stitches and wincing. Yeah, that was going to leave a scar. She was lucky the blade was serrated in any way otherwise she'd be in trouble. It wasn't he first encounter with a knife and it wasn't likely to be her last, but this time she was just lucky it didn’t hit anything important.

This time.

“Ummm...Blue Eyes...” Ashley muttered, lowering her voice a bit. “Can I...go? Yet?”