[PRP] Better Late than Never

[Tymiko]

Tymiko wasn't proud of herself or what she'd done, but her pride had been enough to keep her from accepting medical attention. When she'd been escorted with the other trainers to the hospital, she'd waited for backs to be turned while the more serious injuries were attended to. Then she'd slipped out the door without looking back.

It hadn't been the first time she'd left the group. She had faith they would be alright, and how much did she really know about them anyway? They were more like acquaintances than friends, and while she did worry about them, at least they had each other. She wasn't one to include herself in groups or cliques; not theirs or any other.

Being on her own had its disadvantages, though. Tough as she tried to be, Tymiko didn't really know how to address the deep gash on her arm other than to take out the glass, wash and attempt to stanch the blood. When she fled to the woods, however, all she'd had to do that with were leaves, water sources in the wilderness, and some other basic foliage.

She must have made some bad choices in picking her resources because while the bleeding had eventually stopped, pus was making an appearance. The girl could hardly stomach looking at it any longer. Much as she hated to admit it, it was time to go back to civilization and ask for help.

Taking her washed and dried hair scarf, she wrapped it around her arm and tied it to avoid looking at it as well as outside exposure. Then she snatched up her pokeballs and bag and headed back into Camphoreon. Where she would go, she wasn't sure, but a medical facility would be a start.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith wasn't working again yet but he was hanging around the hospital. There was a whole new crop of interns to get to know for one and for another it was almost a home away from home. It had the advantage over his apartment in where he was choosing to spend time right now because he was sick and tired of his apartment. It was too quiet in there to spend long periods of time, he needed people around him like he needed food; he started feeling weird if he didn't have any all day.

Anyway he needed to be in today, later on he was getting the dressing covering his eye changed. He could have taken care of it himself, would usually insist on doing so for small wounds, but poking around inside his eye socket had made him feel queasy and dizzy when he tried so he had opted to let other people deal with it.

Currently however the giant man was hanging out in the lobby, watching the world come and go and chatting with Kelly and John who were doing admissions when the pair weren't busy. He was aware that he was drawing stares and trying to ignore this fact. Stares were par for the course for him but these were in general more 'gawping' rather than just staring or a second glance. Fresh, puffy, livid red scars across one side of your face and a dressing over the eye would do that apparently. Dith tried very hard not to mind or feel self conscious.  

[Tymiko]

Upon entering the lobby of the hospital she'd fled from not too long ago, Tymiko was startled. There in plain sight was a patient she knew, but he didn't look at all like her last recollection of him. Then again, when they had last been in the same room, she had wanted to avoid examining the others' injuries as much as she had wanted to ignore her own, so she hadn't paid too close attention to the damage done to anyone. Now, though, there was no running away.

To the girl, Dith looked like he'd returned from a war. Perhaps that was not too far from the truth given the nature of their attack on Team Rocket, but somehow for Ty, wounds like this had never really registered as part of the risk until they had actually occurred.

"Dith?" She said softly, walking toward him. "Dith, you're hurt!" Though that much must have been obvious to the Russian for quite some time, the young trainer seemed to have trouble registering the fact without saying it aloud. "...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she said slowly, her voice barely a whisper as she reached out her good hand to touch him. "I shouldn't have run away. I...I just...I don't like to see you in pain..." Her voice cracked slightly then and she attempted to close a tightened grip on his shirt, her building emotions threatening to seep out of her like water from a weakened dam. "All of you. I don't like seeing any of you hurt...!"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ty!" Dith exclaimed the girl's name in surprise as she appearing seemingly out of the blue, i.e. from his right side. When she grabbed onto his shirt he wrapped his arms around her instinctively and pulled her close. "Where have you been?" he asked, looking down at her with concern etched into his scarred face. "I knew you had got back here and that you left so I thought you must be more or less alright but- agh, it's good to see you."

He wasn't actually sure what to say in reply to what she'd said though. Just go with it he supposed, starting talking and hope sensible came out or at least something approaching sensible. "It's okay," he continued, "you don't have to apologize, I'm just glad you're okay... and I will be fine," he gave the girl a gentle squeeze. "Maybe things will take some adjusting to but I will be okay." It could have been a lot worse, he could be in Luke's position.  

[Tymiko]

Nerves calmed somewhat as Dith's arms embraced her, the girl was overcome by a mix of happiness and distress at being reunited with her injured friend. "I went to the forest," she confessed quietly. "I was scared. I don't like hospitals or seeing what they do to people. Even if it's just to make them better."

Ty wiped her eyes on the back of her hand before looking up at Dith. Something about seeing him in this state affected her deeply. The fact that she hadn't been there for him or any of the others only made the tears well up in her eyes again and it was all she could do to brush them away before they threatened to spill. Now was not the time to get so emotionally weak.

"It's good to see you too, but...what happened to your eye? You don't look okay!" she cried, her voice rising higher in pitch, almost accusatory, as if she suspected the large man to have been trying to keep knowledge of his injuries from her. While some part of her knew that she was being entirely unfair in conceiving this notion, she couldn't help getting upset about it anyway. So much for not getting emotional. "Will you be able to see again?"

Almost as a second thought, she began to look around frantically, demanding, "Where's Rosie? And Luke, and Yuri? Where's everyone else?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith understood that a lot of people didn't like hospitals and it was quite understandable really. Most people only came to them when they or somebody they cared about was seriously ill or injured, that was never going to make a positive association. Ty's statement about why she didn't like them confused him a little but maybe she didn't like the machines and things? They could probably be intimidating or disturbing if you didn't really understand them....

Ah.

"Ah...." Dith sighed, fingers coming up to the side of his face to brush over the puffy red scars. "There was some shrapnel. Glass, mainly, and a shard of metal." This was still difficult to really think about let alone talk about. It could have been worse though, remembering that was important.

"I can see now Ty," Dith said softly after a short heavy silence, giving the young water trainer a wan smile. "All things considered I was lucky just to lose an eye and get a few scars. I'll still be able to do everything I used to, I will just be bumping into things for a while." He would get used to it and he would get used to people staring at his face too. It could have been worse. "Rosie is fine, so are Sera and Yuri. I think that everyone who was admitted has been discharged now other than Dove and Luke." How much should he say about them? He wasn't sure. He wasn't sure of much right now. He didn't want to spread details that weren't his to share but Ty would find out soon anyway so perhaps it was alright?  

[Tymiko]

The girl was visibly flustered after Dith corrected her. "I know that, but I mean...your other...?" He answered her question before she managed to finish it. She would have spoken up again, but then she realized from his short silence and the nature of his smile and tones that he was probably having a hard time coming to terms with the idea himself.

Even if he was upset about losing an eye and having a scarred face, Dith certainly wouldn't be the sort to complain about it. This realization only made her more upset for him, however. She broke down into sobs and hugged him tighter than ever, her body racked with the force of her emotions.

"You look like a pirate," she cried through her tears, hiccuping as she tried hard to keep her voice clear enough to understand. The knot in her throat was threatening to garble her words into incoherent wails. "A great, respected pirate who's been through many adventures and fought hard for his crew. Scars are badges of courage. You look more awesome than ever!"

Sniffling, she swallowed enough sobs to hear the man mention the others who had been involved in the van explosion. "...Are they going to be discharged soon, too?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith squeezed Ty carefully with one arm and smoothed his free hand gently over her hair. "Yarrrr," he rumbled. He knew she meant what she said, knew that she was right in a lot of ways but... eh, he really missed binocular vision. "The others should be released within a week, maybe two?" he shrugged. "It depends on how they progress...."

Something was off here. He couldn't quite work out what it was but something niggled at him.

"And I will have the best costume at halloween," he went on while he tried to work out what it was. "By then I'll probably be used to it, and I'll be the only person with an eyepatch not walking into things."  

[Tymiko]

Nodding miserably in agreement, the girl tried to work out what the large man meant by how the others progressed in order to distract herself from the news of his permanent injury. Despite his care in squeezing her, however, she winced as a stab of pain shot through her right arm. The scarf she had wrapped around it had grown damp, though with what, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Blood or pus, most-likely.

Taking a step back from Dith, Tymiko put her left hand over her wrapped arm, casting him an inquisitive look as she continued to sniffle and hiccup. "What do you mean by 'progress'? What's there for them to progress with in a hospital?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Hu? Dith blinked (winked?) and looked down at Ty as she flinched. "Progress... progress with their recovery," he clarified with a frown. "Ty, are you okay?" Why did she have her headscarf tied around her arm?  

[Tymiko]

Stiffening at Dith's question, she nodded. "Um, I just...hurt my arm," she explained. "I ran out of bandges, so I just used my scarf. Almost forgot about it." Glancing about anxiously, she asked, "Uh...do you know where I can find some sanitizer or...or something?" What did one use to clean up this sort of thing, anyway? She didn't want to bother Dith with it when he clearly had enough on his mind already.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith looked down at Ty for a few moments as his brain ticked over. "You ran out of- Sanitizer? You-" The huge man shook his head and smoothed a hand over his hair, controlling the urge to call her a complete and utter idiot. "I'm going to need to look at that, or somebody is anyway," he continued. "It will need cleaning properly, maybe a course of antibiotics. дерьмо, Ty! What were you-? Agh, nevermind, just... come on, we'll go up to my office. If it's not that bad I'll look after it for you rather than admitting you here." He should have tracked her down sooner to make sure she was alright, she was only a child for Arceus sake! She shouldn't have been left to cope alone.  

[Tymiko]

The girl grimaced internally as she watched Dith's body language. So much for not bothering him. "I-it's not so bad," she said, tucking in her injured arm a little closer to her body. His use of Russian surprised her, but she resisted asking what he'd said. By the sound of it, it was likely profanity of some sort. "I could've just gone to a convenience store to restock on supplies, but then I remembered you were here and came back here instead."

Nervously following the large man, Tymiko worried about what his opinion would be. At the same time, though, she was touched by his obvious concern, not having expected him to react in such a way when he didn't even yet know how minor or major her wound was. She didn't tend to spend as much time with him and the other trainers as they did with each other, but he still seemed to care for them all equally.

"I'm sorry," she told him meekly, thinking of his cut-off sentences. "I didn't want to cause you any trouble. At least not any more than you're already dealing with."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hey." Dith paused for a moment and looked down at the young girl with a slightly wan smile, reaching over to give her shoulder a light touch. "Don't apologise, okay? I'm sorry I snapped. We've all been through a lot and... well, we can deal with this now, it's fine. Anyway I could do with being busy, technically I am not back at work yet so I'm at a loose end." And that was not good, it just led to lots of worry and unhappiness.

"Here!" Dith announced as they turned onto another corridor and came up to a door that had his name on it on a little plaque. Well, actually it was quite a long plaque as he had asked for his full name and as such it read: Dr. Dimitry Konstantinovich Vladamirin. Reaching into his pocket the huge man fumbled out a small bunch of keys, located the right one and let them into the darkened room.

Flicking the light on Dith stepped inside and held the door open for Ty. It wasn't a huge office but it wasn't a little box of a place either. The walls were stark white but cheered up by several pale wooden bookcases. These and of themselves were not that cheery but the adorable pokemon plushies that sat ranked along their tops certainly were.

Where the bookshelves did not cover up the plainness of the walls there were large print photographs of Dith's pokemon: there was Zla pulling a face, there sat Viktor on a sunbathed patio with a peaceful look in his golden eyes, Luna looking up at a brilliant sky of stars and Dolly prancing through a grassy field. A rather more formal photograph displayed an elegant Ninetails (missing its left eye) beside a shiny Gardevoir set against the backdrop of a rather grand fireplace.

The desk was a large glass affair. Sitting on top were a computer, an in tray, an out tray, some photographs, and an impressive collection of Transformons figures. The set of locked cabinets behind the desk were covered in amusing bumper stickers.

All in all, in the clinical environment of the hospital, the room had a homely feel; its occupant had definitely stamped his personality on it as firmly as it was possible to do so.  

[Tymiko]

"You have no reason to be sorry," Ty answered with a shaky laugh, putting a hand to her head. "It is my fault, after all. I just didn't realize you...cared so much. Or anyone did, really." She sighed, her shoulders dropping guiltily. "I do a lot of stupid things and knowingly get into a lot of trouble, so I don't like to involve other people when I can help it. That's why I try to stay out of the way of you and the others. You can't worry about what you don't know, right?" Or who, she thought with a pained smile. "At least that's what I'd hoped."

Casting Dith a skeptical smirk, she asked, "Aren't you supposed to be off work for a reason? I can understand wanting to be busy, but there are a whole lot of other things you can occupy yourself with to pass the time, aren't there?" Not that she was complaining. She was a great deal more comfortable having Dith look at her injury than some strange doctor she'd never met before. Ty hardly trusted adults as it was.

Tymiko caught her breath in astonishment as they actually came to a door with the Russian's full name on it. She hadn't fully grasped the meaning of what he'd meant by his office. And certainly somewhere along the way she'd learned he was a doctor, but to actually picture him practicing as one in a real hospital had never really occurred to the girl. He even had a key for it and everything! "Woooow..." she exhaled, clearly taken aback.

When they stepped inside, she thanked him for holding open the door as she took in their new surroundings. The sight of the pokemon plushies on the bookcases made her giggle a bit before she turned her attention to the photos of Dith's pokemon. Each portrait appeared to capture the strongest aspect of its subjects' personality and magnify their own kind of beauty in their specific states of being.

The photo of the Ninetails and shiny Gardevoir especially interested Tymiko, as she had never before seen either pokemon with Dith. "Um...Dith?" she asked tentatively, glancing back and forth between the blonde man and the formal picture. "May I ask who they are?" Along with her genuine curiosity, she thought that maybe it would get his mind off of more worrisome things like what kind of state the other trainers were in at this moment. Including herself.

Her focus was quickly drawn to yet a new subject, however, when she caught sight of the Transformon figures. "Oh, cool! I didn't know you got to keep all these kinds of things in your office!" This, this right here was one of the reasons Tymiko had no problem trusting Dith when she tended to avoid most adults. Because he so clearly wasn't an adult; at least not at heart. The bumper stickers earned a grin from the girl who had all but forgotten why they had come to the doctor's office in the first place. "How much time do you spend here?" she wanted to know. Prior to viewing this place, she'd simply though he spent most of his time in Kodo with the other trainers.