o1 | cold, cold water, surrounds me n-- nope wait

[freying]

[ A woman has been dropped in the courtyard, her journal falling uncleanly open on top of her midsection. She's in apparent shock from the impact, and shoves at the journal while she struggles to sit up.

Meanwhile, she inaugurates her stay in Paradisa with a growing bloodsplotch on her journal pages, along with a confused, frantic call for: ]

Merlin?!

Comments

Dictated

[atadiscoverer]

[Bloodstain. Instant alert.]

Excuse me, are you hurt?

[freying]

[ We've got incoming confusion. ]

Who's there? Where are you?

[ She'll avoid saying Merlin's name again, in case she's... she doesn't know. This isn't Camelot; this isn't the woods. And she feels more pain from the drop than from the wound in her side. ]

[atadiscoverer]

I'll explain later. I'm a doctor. Just take a deep breath, calm down and describe where you are.

[His voice is accented. Scottish, but calm, clear and professional. God, a lot of people were showing up injured lately.]

[freying]

[ It's an almost familiar, yet not familiar, lilt to his voice. Most likely she was hearing things through a haze of dying confusion. Could she comply with what this man asked? And really, what was a doctor?

There's a rattling, shaky breath she can be heard taking, not close enough to deep and calming. ]

There are -- stones. A courtyard. This makes no sense, I wasn't anywhere close to Camelot, this cannot be the castle.

[ Not to mention it all looks... wrong. ]

[atadiscoverer]

[Panic and shock. Carson's been in the business long enough to notice the signs...

He's already grabbing his gear.]

Hang tight, I'll be right there. Just keep breathing, in and out.

[freying]

[ She'd be feeling even more of the first if the second hadn't been what was keeping her from screaming out in pain while Merlin had been carrying her. Freya attempts to sit up, manages it after several minutes, and then pushes this book -- where had it come from? -- off her, making the short trip to the ground.

Freya tries to look around, but it makes her head swim, and she sways. It's a slow collapse back to the stone ground, but one she makes through a series of catches and foldings of her arms.

Oh she didn't have the current vitality for this. Why didn't her side hurt like it had been? Was the collective other pain was distracting her? Had her mind taken leave of her senses with death as close as it was? ]

[atadiscoverer]

[It takes 12 minutes.

Carson is jogging out of the castle, med-kit around his neck, as he spots the crumpled figure in the courtyard, slowing down to eventually crouch by her side.]

Are you okay? I'm Dr. Beckett... Where does it hurt?

[He's already pulling medical supplies out; bandages, gauze, antiseptic. Damage minimisation, then up to the clinic for a full check-up. He even pulls out his Ancient Medical Scanner, but doesn't use it just yet.]

((OOC: Carson has a medical scanner that lets him detect injuries and disease in humans only. Would you have a problem with him using it at some point?))

[impetuous]

[ The name sounds familiar, but Gwaine disregards it as he jogs to her. Concern lines his face. ]

Hey! Are you hurt?

[freying]

[ Incoming child! Freya's unsteady, more than a bit off balance when she turns her head toward Gwaine's voice. Her eyes are wide open, if she hasn't taken much stock of the situation past her confusion and the absence of everything she was expecting. She's not exactly more energetic, but the throbbing pain in her side has subsided. ]

It's -- it's nothing. What is this place?

[ She shifts, pressing the book firmly over her wound. Or what was her wound. It can cover up the bloodstain on that side of her dress, at the very least. No need to upset a child as she died ]

[impetuous]

We're in a magic castle.

[ He says it like it is the most normal place to find yourself in. He kneels next to her, taking off his cloak and holding it out to her. ]

Are you cold? You should be inside. [ His tone adopts an approximation of his mother's scolding tone. ]

[freying]

[ She doesn't -- reach out for his cloak. If anything, Freya is trying to fight off the wooziness and the confusion to stare at this child, wide-eyed. ]

A castle of magic?

[ Her eyes focus on the walls behind him, head moving to try and take in her surroundings. This is impossible. Furthermore, this was magic, and unlike with what Merlin had shown her, she's not sure what sort of magic this is. ]

For good or ill?

[impetuous]

It's–magic. It's just magic. It's not bad. You-you don't have to be afraid. I'll look after you! I promise!

[ He smiles and shakes the cloak so she can take it. ]

[freying]

[ It's so startling to hear that -- what Merlin had said -- from this little boy, that she smiles in spite of herself. Children had a quality to them that was much less jaded by the world around them... or some children did. Not all. Childhood was relatively short lived when it came to altruism and innocence.

So she ends up taking his cloak. It'd be less kind to refuse it, right now, and she is cold. But... she looks to her injured side, and the blood that's come through the gown. It's a much larger stain, spreading toward her belly, down her thigh, wrapping her ribcage, than the wound actually is. ]

I believe you. I don't know how I could do otherwise, when you say this with such conviction.

[ When did she step into a land beyond reality? Magi ccastles near Camelot would be some kind of ironic, for sure. If she felt stronger, if she wasn't still sure she was about to die... ]

[impetuous]

[ He beams when she takes the cloak. ]

Do you want me to call someone? I don't think I can carry you inside...

[ He frowns in concentration as if he is really considering if he can manage to lift someone bigger than he is. ]

[spiritusaequitas]

[Murphy's on his way up to check on the little girl he met earlier in the week, when -- well --]

Jesus Christ!

[why is this the week for people to be BLEEDING OUT? he rushes to the woman's side, dropping to his knees next to her] Wha' happened?

[freying]

[ Freya shies away something fierce, though her general state leads that toward flopping back down when her arm gives out on supporting her. The book slides off her side, caught partly open and exposing a large, wet swath of fabric dark with blood.

Odd that her life threatening wound didn't throb like it had been since it was inflicted. ]

Nothing, an accident, that's all. I don't understand where I am.

[ Frozen for a moment, staring up at a face she doesn't know, wearing clothing she can't identify, and wondering what on Earth is going on. It's hard through a fog of blood loss and wooziness, along with the confusion, but at least fear hasn't come back yet. ]

[spiritusaequitas]

That's a long answer. [he frowns] But the short version is, you're safe. My name's Murphy .... an' I wanna help get you patched up so's you can move. Will y' let me help you?

[freying]

It's too late, Murphy.

[ Not Merlin. By all that was good, she wished she'd gotten to thank him. ]

I thank you, but I'm dying.

[ Or she was. She feels weak, feels drained and colder than even the cold can explain -- looks pale, has that spreading red stain (or already spread), and now the journal to her side -- but she sounds certain of that one thing. ]

[spiritusaequitas]

[he closes his eyes, pulls his rosary from his sweater and grips the cross tight in a quick, silent prayer, then drops it against his chest and looks at her with resolve in his eyes] Not if I've something to say 'bout it. Where're ya hurt...?

[freying]

[ He believed in the one god? This series man Freya wonders at this man, if she answers. ]

My side.

[ She looks to her injured side, and the blood that's come through the gown. It's a much larger stain, spreading toward her belly, down her thigh, wrapping her ribcage, than the wound actually is. ]

[excalibured]

[Instantly alarmed by the blood splotch, but it gets worse when he can actually hear who's talking. He recognizes that voice, and with an unknown loss...]

Freya?!

[freying]

[ She recognises that voice, but not why it knows her name. ]

You know my name?

[ Where is he? She can't see him anywhere around. ]

[excalibured]

Yes. We have become acquainted...Through a variety of means.

Are you injured?

[freying]

What do you mean?

[ She's quiet... not wanting to state what... well, was his causing. And hers. His and hers.

Complex, these dying sorts of relationships. ]

I believed so.

[excalibured]

This place, holds a lot of...Magical properties. It can pull people here, and take their memory of it when it returns them.

[A pause, whut]

Then you are not, now?