Shifting 3
Shifting 3 ~SnowDragon
The silver dragon opened his eyes with a soft groan, almost in self pity. Everything was blurred into nothing but grey and greyer splotches, his fins ringing painfully as the rain continued to fall against the roof heavily, each sound like nails were being driven into his brain.
His body was slow to respond to his mind's commands, leaving him laying there still, a little whimper escaping his own muzzle at his own helplessness, his breath escaping in long pants. How long he had been laying there he had no idea. He blinked his eyes, his eyelids closing slowly and the splotches become just a little clearer.
Another soft groan escaped his muzzle as he managed to roll over onto his back, soft jolts of pain jumping from his numb wings as they protested being crushed underneath him. He tried shuffling... somewhere, anywhere and cringed as the resulting movement banged his head and fins against the bottom of a wall, blinking his eyes rapidly which helped his vision a little, helping him to make out the distinction between wall, roof and floor as he panted.
Oh god, what was happening to him? He willed his frame into rolling over and struggled to lift himself to stand, hissing almost at once as his left arm collapsed under the weight, which left him on his side once more with a thud, his vision flashing with the pain as he gasped deeply, grabbing the bandaged wound tightly with his free paw, he could feel it was soaked through with blood. He could see in his memories the moment which had caused the wound, cursing the fox form once more. His scales would have deflected the force of the blow, he and anSwer would have been alright.
The... drug must be wearing off... or his mind was fighting it off, his vision was starting to clear on it's own slowly as he slowly rolled over and propped himself up against the wall, trying to keep control of his heavy panting. His chair was on its side he noticed...blinking as he remembered the final moments before he fell... He logged off HYDRA, locked his terminal, then fell, taking the chair with him. Oh how he hoped that didn't make a lot of noise.
His bed? He looked and let out a sigh of relief to see anSwer 's feathered form still there, tucked under the covers. If he woke in such a state, the gryphon was sure to wake much worse. He checked his watch... 6:46am. He didn't have a lot of time. He stumbled slowly to the cupboard and grabbed the first aid kit once more, cutting the bandage with a talon and gently removing the blood soaked guaze patch before opening another one and replacing it, wrapping another bandage around it. It would look a little strange, but it keep anyone from seeing the actual wound, which was sure to arouse a lot more susipcion.
Once he was done he slipped the kit back into his cupboard and grabbed a sheet of paper, quickly writing up an explainitory note as best he could.
anSwer,
We're safe. I got you back from the park without being followed, so this place is secure. Unfortunatly, being my age has it's drawbacks, I must attend school today, lest my absence be noticed. The house will be empty by the time you read this, but it is imperative you don't adjust anything within the home; my parents are very observant. I will be home this afternoon as quickly as I can.
Sorry about the... condition I have left you in, but it was nessicary to keep you from freezing to death. Clothes are in the cupboard, please take what you wish. HYDRA was notified when we returned.
Salen quickly looked over the note, shaking his head a little as he added something else important.
PS: Bathroom is down the coridoor and first on the right.
~AlarinGlow.
He quickly signed the letter in the signature of his HYDRA handle and then placed the note on the bedside table where anSwer was sure to find it when he awoke. Then, taking a quick look around the room and checking himself over, finding his knife still holstered on his ankle, he moved a little unsteadily to the door and locked it tightly behind him, ensuring no one from the outside would stumble upon his sleeping friend. On his way out, he quickly grabbed his backpack and an umbrella to keep himself dry, fearing how his head would react to rain hitting it if sound caused him great pain.
It had to be a military grade traqillizer and rifle. It was the only thing Salen could think that would hold such a grasp over him for so long. The bus ride into school had been a nightmare, his vision was still fuzzy and blured, he'd nearly fallen over getting to his seat twice. His mind was sure he must have looked as bad as he felt but the rational part of his mind still grasped that the others couldn't read into his affected mind and to them, apart from his lack of natural moving grace, looked perfectly fine.
Either that or they actually noticed and were afraid to even gossip about him on account of yesterday's excitement, for fear that he'd do to them what he did to Jarad... Who actually wasn't on the bus, he'd noted, turning his head to look for him over the back of his chair. His wound as well seemed to be better, the gauze patch wasn't red yet, but he suspected that would change quite rapidly with little warning, though he hoped it wouldn't happen. What could possiblely cause this kind of injury other than being shot at?
Soon enough though, he found himself within his classes, and instantly realised in his rush to make it on time after awakening, his dazed mind had grabbed the backpack but not the books that belonged in it, leaving him with a notebook he'd left in there from the day before and a pen. And his knife, which for some strange reason his mind brought up as well. Casually reaching down to his ankle, he ran the underside of a scaled paw against it's holster through his trousers. He could feel the gripped handle underneath his paw and let out a little sigh of relief, sitting up once more, his eyes being drawn back to the board...
To whether the day progressed slowly or quickly, Salen couldn't tell. Everything seemed so dull and out of place, not to mention slow. But his memories of events just past were shockingly few and fast, as if he was dreaming. The drug in the darts must have been designed to make containing a subject easier after initial capture. How he dreaded to think how anSwer would be feeling when he awoke. At least his problems would only be mental.
How did gryphons cope with pain anyway? Did they have nerves in the feathers or was it just... there and everything was in the flesh beneath? Maybe he'd ask when he got back...
"Salen?" There was an odd clicking in front of muzzle... "Hellooo, anyone home?" Odd voice as well... He blinked his eyes strongly and looked up, noting the class empty first of all, a rather amused adult feline standing in front of him next, the teacher for his last class... that was all he could remember. The clock read a little past the end of the day.
"You know you can't sleep here right?" she giggled, leaving him blinking in confusion, his mind catching up a moment later that the day was over, and that he was due to go home. He nodded his head slowly and grabbed his backpack and got out of the room quickly, shutting the door behind him as the feline let out a giggle behind him. He simply couldn't believe this. Maybe if he just slept like his mind wanted everything would slip back to normality once more.
There was a thought, sleeping of his own free will. He'd had insomia since for as long as he could remember. And while it served him well enough to his own survival, at times he sometimes wished he could just shut his eyes and sleep. Crowds of people still populated the hallways, moving as slow as they could for some reason, and the silver dragon did his best to weave through them without falling flat on his muzzle. He must have looked half drunk, but the quicker he got back home the better.
By the time he managed to find his seat on the bus outside, it was still raining. The clouds looked less angry but only by a little, and the rain was still pouring down in waves. By the time the bus started moving on it's route, his own rush to return home had increased the frequency of his laboured breathing. Diverting his attention to the window, he found a strange comfort within the swirling mist as the bus drove along the rain soaked road.
His wings fluttered in annoyance as the rain stuck them just outside the protective range of his umbrella and he did his best to fold them in tighter against his back as he reached for his keybox on his lanard, at least glad he hadn't forgotten them. Slipping the second silver key into the lock he turned the door until it clicked and slipped inside, dumping the umbrella in its stand next to the door. The shut the door with a little force, creating a louder-than-usual slam, his fins flicking in protest.
There was complete silence as Salen climbed the stairs. A sudden worry filled the silence of his own mind, the note he'd written left out when he himself would be returning... anSwer probably had no idea it was him. Turning right at the top of the stairs, he slipped his blue key into the lock and paused for a moment. He had a key, that meant he put the lock in or otherwise owned the room. Then he turned it with a click and pushed the door open.
The feathered form of anSwer, clothed in a pair of Salen's black shirt/pants combo was backpressed against the wall right to the left of the door itself, the hazel eyes of the gryphon meeting the green's of Salen's before let out a sigh of relief. Salen quickly shut the door behind him and leant against it, happy to finally be safe once more.
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