[MythicDusk]

He felt the fist connect with the underside of his jaw before he saw it. A sharp jab that flicked his head back and made his teeth clack together painfully. He was thankful he had kept his tongue out of the way.

He supposed this was a natural escalation. He had been shouting some pretty heavy things. Some people just didn't like to hear the truth.

All thoughts were shocked from his skull as another fist hit his cheekbone, sending him reeling against the alley wall.

He could hear the words of the people above him, the snarling of beasts, of sheep who keep their heads down and don't see what was around them. It was then he noticed he had slipped down the wall into the muck that collected down the alleyways.

The war raged around them and they, they just ignored it. They just let it happen. They went about their days as men and women died for a pointless cause. He hated it. He hated how corrupt it all was, how people died for stupid, pointless things. How people starved, how people went without water, shelter. Some of them were the best that humanity could offer.

He spat out a tooth. His tongue probing at the now missing molar, his eyes closed from the pain in his face and bleeding nose as he heard the people saunter away, snarls still on their barbaric lips.

Slowly, he stood, his legs shaking as he wiped away some sweat that had fallen into his eyes. Maybe it was blood. He could barely tell.He coughed carefully, grumbling to himself as he pushed his dark blue hair from his red eyes. He slowly opened the one he could open, which wasn't swollen shut and looked at his hands.

They were red. Of course he wouldn't be able to tell if he had any blood on his palms. His natural coloration stained his hands and feet red. He tutted quietly as he ran his palms down his shirt, leaving streaks of red. Well. Maybe he was bleeding.

[Jaykobell]

These rallies weren't really his style. While he could agree with the desires and the wants of those who participated in them, he was more of a mellow guy who preferred to make a difference in a different way.

So why was he here, really? He was here because he was a nurse. And because these things: they always had people who got hurt. Some worse than others, but some were just in need of a tiny bit of nursing experience to fix them up nicely. And then you had everything in-between. But for the most part, he came to take care of people.

So far, the protest had been fairly quiet. That was about to change, though, when he saw a group of kids leaving an alleyway, seemingly satisfied with themselves. They were gloating about beating up some guy, and giving him what he deserved. Oh, no.

He increased his walking speed. He didn't want to run, because then, he might attract the attention of those hooligans. And then, they risked coming back to hurt that man even more.

When he reached the alleyway, he gasped. "Ah! Hey, are you okay?!" he asked quietly, looking over the man with concern in his light blue eyes. "What did they do to you?" They had beaten him up, obviously, but he was asking more so to get the whole story, and not just this ending.

"I'm a nurse; let me look you over, okay?" His relatively small stature and soft colors — eyes so pale they almost looked white, and hair so gold in the light — did inspire a certain sense of trust in others, generally.

[MythicDusk]

Confusion felt himself flinch at the approach of another, hearing the gentle voice he carefully cracked his red eye, the other still firmly swollen shut. He carefully licked his lips, opening his bloodied mouth to respond to his questions before he winced, his jaw and cheeks hurting with the slight movement.

He took in a soft breath before he tried again. "I called them dumb animals."

His voice sounded hoarse even to him. Raw and pained, his eyes were hard, angry. Angry at everything, at everyone. "So they acted like dumb animals." He felt his lips pull back from his bloodied teeth, before they fell at the other man's words, his lips falling slack and his jaw falling open.

"You- you don't have to. I'll be fine." He wasn't used to kindness. He was used to hostility, to anger and balled fists. To be offered help was something new, something completely alien to him. It scared him a little. "No, really, I'll be fine."

[Jaykobell]

With someone who was injured, sometimes, it was wise to approach them like you would approach an injured animal. They could react unpredictably, including reacting with anger and violence. It was important to stay safe, for everyone's sake.

As he listened to the story, his face softened even more into something akin to pity. Fights like these at this kind of rally weren't uncommon. How he wished all the protestors could debate with a civil attitude, but that was naive.

"Hey, don't worry," he assured the other man, approaching just a bit more again. "I just want to make sure you're okay," he promised. It was strange to him that the man was denying his help, despite the fact he'd introduced himself as a nurse.

"I have a small first aid kit by the outskirts of this rally zone, if you want to come with me?" Ultimately, he would get better results if he gave the other the choice in this matter. "I don't like the look of your eye there, and you're bleeding."

[MythicDusk]

Confusion couldn't help his flinch as he offered to tend his injuries, looking to the floor as if he had dome something shameful. As if he was a child being scolded by his parents. Eventually he sighed gently, nodding vaguely.

"Alright, I'll go with you."

Maybe he shouldn't trust this fast, maybe he shouldn't let himself be broken down like this. Maybe he should fight more, rather than let himself be punched until the other guys hands were sore. But even if he did, it wouldn't change anything. That may be why he was so ready to follow this stranger, why he was barely putting up a fight.

He was just tired.

[Jaykobell]

He felt a little bad - maybe he had been too rough, despite his offering a choice? But when he saw people hurt, he just wanted to help them get better. It was cliche, but he was a nurse. It just went without saying.

He took a deep breath and smiled when the injured man agreed to come along. "Great!" he said happily, and he offered a hand to help the man walk. "Need help?" Maybe he was disoriented from his eye, or maybe his head was pounding. Whatever the reason, if any, he was happy to offer support during their walk.

"The name's Zsolt," he introduced himself, as he finally caught on that this might inspire the man to trust him some more. "What's your name?" They would be able to talk some more on the way to the first aid kit, but for now, introductions were a good starting point.

[MythicDusk]

"I'm fine, I can walk." He grumbled, wincing as he stood. Something pulled down his right side and he sighed through the pain, grunting as he straightened back up. "I'm fine." He said again, more to himself than the stranger who had just introduced himself.

What a strange name.

"Zsolt." He murmured, balancing the name on his tongue before he nodded his head, as if it was a physical show of how he had commited it to his memory.

"Confusion. Connie for short." He coughed carefully, wincing at the feeling before huffing and giving up, cupping his side carefully with an arm. "Don't ask." He said, no humor in his tone.

[Jaykobell]

Zsolt took a step back when Confusion assured that he could walk on his own. He felt a little bad, at the fact this man felt the need to refuse help. He had seen it before, though. It was nothing new, but it always made him feel sad for those people. Who had hurt them, to the point that they refused to accept help from others?

He wasn't surprised to hear Confusion repeating his name. Zsolt's name was a little unusual, and even he, himself, couldn't help but to blind when Confusion revealed his own. Granted: Zsolt was curious, and did want to ask. Out of respect, though, he bit his tongue.

"Alright, Confusion," he said, keeping their interaction to a relatively casual, but still professional, level. "If we go this way, we should reach the quieter outskirts. I have my stuff there — I can help you out here with your injuries." He didn't look too bad, at least. His injuries all seemed manageable, at first glance. Somewhat. Hopefully, there wasn't anything like a broken rib in there.

"If we have to stop at any time, you tell me," Zsolt assured him. "There's no shame if you need to rest."

[MythicDusk]

No shame if he needed to rest, he said. Conmfusion nearly snorted at the idea. At least he would have, if his sinuses didn't hurt with nearly every breath. Of course they would be bruised. Why wouldn't the soft tissue on the inside of his skull be bruised? He felt himself grit his teeth and wince at the pressure it put on his aching head.

Gods, everything hurt.

She walked, well, more limped, in the direction Zsolt had indicated. Every movement making his tired, hurt muscles ache more. He could probably do with a hot bath and a long nap after this. That was, if he had the energy and drive to draw himself a bath. Generally, getting the shit beaten out of you took it out of you.

[Jaykobell]

For Confusion's sake, Zsolt kept his distance, minding Confusion's personal space. At the same time, the nurse made sure to stay relatively close. If Confusion faltered, or if he fell, if Zsolt stayed close enough, he might be able to prevent a fall. He stayed by Confusion's side, matching his walking speed, whether fast or slow.

It was still a little ways away from his car. Doing this walk in silence wouldn't do. "So what are you doing here?" Of course, he could only assume Confusion was here for the rally that was going on. A bunch of youngsters and old folks alike were here to protest and try to change one of the many injustices of the world. They were having a whole lot of those, lately.

"Were you protesting with the others? How did those guys corner you in that alleyway?" Of course, if Confusion didn't want to talk — that was okay, too. As awkward as it was, Zsolt would get through a walk of silence if it gave his patient all the more peace of mind. Some just weren't talkative.

[MythicDusk]

Connie gave Zsolt a careful look, one of drawn lips and hitched breath. God his side hurt. He probably pulled something or other as he was curled up on the floor. He took a careful breath, prodding around the ache in his side to pinpoint the place of hurt.

"Fuck!"

He found it. A little ball of pain that wouldn't go unless he worked the knot away and let the bruise heal. He let out a shaky sigh before looking to Zsolt.

"I was there as a protester, yes. I said a lot of stuff, and those animals didn't like the sound of some of it, so they did what their animal brains demanded. They attacked the radical."

He snorted angrily, closing his red eye for a moment. Just a moment, before he once again began to walk.

[Jaykobell]

Confusion's look of wariness didn't really phase Zsolt; he dealt with folks, mostly seniors, who wanted nothing to do with the healthcare system. But, he did this work because he wanted people to be healthy and safe. And in order to do that, he would disregard their lack of cooperation. It was really for their own sake.

He tensed in high alert when Confusion swore, from what he could only assume was the pain of his injuries. And just like that, seamlessly, Confusion went on to answer Zsolt's questions. But, those answers were far from important when Confusion was clearly in pain.

"Hey," Zsolt said, "listen, if it hurts to walk, I can leave you in a cafe or a safe place, and I can go get my car and my first aid kit." Leaving Confusion in the streets in this condition seemed like a poor decision. In a small establishment, though, he should be safe.

"There's a lot of little cafes and break places," he pointed out, looking around quickly. "I could buy you a little something while you wait, like a sandwich or a coffee," he offered. Maybe this would soften up Confusion as well. He still seemed wary. "It's on me."

[MythicDusk]

Confusion grumbled something under his breath, waving his offer away with a blody-knuckled hand. He was just sore, not an invalid.

"I'll be fine, lets just get me patched up so we can both go our seperate ways, alright?"

Maybe he was being impolite. In his defense, he was sore, he was tired, he was fed up to the back teeth of everything. He just wanted to break the world down and start it all over again. Just make something good out of it.

Eventually, he let out a shuddering sigh. "I'm sorry, I'm just. Sore. But you don't deserve me snapping at you for trying to help." His voice was low and quiet, as if he was ashamed of the words he was speaking. "Thank you, for the offer." He finally murmured, as if through grit teeth.

[Jaykobell]

Rejecting help was nothing out of the ordinary from some of Zsolt's patients. Both in the hospital and in the street, he experienced it. So when people snapped at him out of pain or exhaustion, he never let it linger on his mind. He needed his concern to be applied to better things, like taking care of injuries.

He shook his head, and his small smile hadn't faded from his face. "Hey, don't worry about it," he assured Confusion, and he made a mental note to try and avoid pampering this one. Sometimes, that's all it was: they didn't like the extra attention, the extra care, the fact someone was trying to go the extra mile for their sake.

"I'm just really worried about you, though," Zsolt explained. "You might be in worse shape than you think. I can't see inside you, but if you have broken ribs or anything like that, really, I should bring you to the hospital to take a look at all that." He could only do so much with a basic first aid kit. Sometimes, they needed to pull out the big guns.

"Are you sure you don't want to chill somewhere?" he asked again, because he did feel like that would be best for Confusion. "If anything, just so you don't make your injuries worse. Resting does wonders for the body."

[MythicDusk]

Confusion closed his eyes for a second. This guy was good. Maybe too good. He probably wanted something for all this. Everyone did most of the time. Then again, maybe he was just a genuine guy who just wanted to help someone covered in blood.

Fuck it.

"Alright." Confusion sighed, wincing at the feeling of his ribs. "Alright, alright. Pick a place and I'll wait for you there." Maybe this was the best option, after all. He could feel his head starting to swim and his knees going weak from the pain. He could feel nausea roiling in his stomach.

He didn't think he hurt that much.

Maybe he was wrong.

Then, Confusion vomited, barely missing his own shoes.