The first encounter. Tag Tristan.

[Gabriel Smith]

He came to slowly and heard the low beeping of one of those weird hospital monitors and the sound of footsteps, muffled voices in the distance. The smell of disinfectant floated in the air and reached his nose and he frowned at the bitter scent. Ew. He hated those. He felt an itch up his nose and wondered at the tiny little plastic tubes that were pumping air into his nose. One cheek was cold, but the other one was pleasantly warm, the side that didsn’t seem to have been shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.

He tried to speak, however, he couldn't. His jaw felt weird, swollen; like a jigsaw-puzzle put together the wrong way. He tried to shift, but the drugs that the doctors had him on were really effective, because while the kid felt no pain, he didn’t feel much else either. It was not only after a couple of seconds later that he remembered the real reason he was there. His father.

Unexpectedly, the memories watched over him. The first hit didn't register. His body was too cold by that time. The second made him think that something wasn't right, but he simply furrowed his brow in confusion. It was the third that made its way past his shock and disbelief to rip the pain from his body. The lashes came at him again and again and Gabriel couldn't scream. The pain was too intense for something as meaningless as a scream. He just opened his mouth and waited. The vomit came soon after as he felt pieces of his clothes hanging against him.

He wondered briefly what his back looked like. He didn't really care. That was irrelevant. He never saw it anyway. The pain was beginning to subside and he thought it was over, but then he felt the wave come toward him. Gabriel didn't know what to do anymore. Screaming wasn't really an option now that he had nothing to focus on.

But now he had a thing in mind, he had to get out from there. “Where am I?” He mumbled under his breath. When Gabriel attempted to move his jaw, the pain was back. His lips were dry and twice as thick as usual, covered in scab and it hurt when he twitched his mouth to speak. Gabe open his eyes slowly, or tried to at least because only his left eye responded to the command. He squint at the light and the white walls; the entire world squeezed into a blur of too bright shapes. He gave it another, a more careful try. Opening his good eye only a bit, he waited until his visions cleared, and then opened his eye all the way. Slowly, he tried to get up from the bed just to find out that his right leg was practically covered in a blue cast and his right arm was covered in something that look like screws.

"Is someone here?" The kid asked difficultly.

[tristan]

Pediatrics, one of the hospital's best places. Tristan adored the floor and it's patients, namely people under the age of eighteen, because they didn't seem to whine as much. They didn't groan like the adult patients did, and even though they had their moments, Tristan could at least admit that the adult patients were worse then the ones that could be classified as 'teenagers' and 'children'. Even then, the wounds on the younger patients would healer quicker then that of the older ones. Something as painful as the injuries inflicted on someone, whatever the age, was horrible, but the gentle recovery was a long, but beautiful process that Tristan enjoyed seeing; a road of progress.

A smile had found it's way upon the man's fragile face. It seemed like months since the last actual smile came from a thought running through his mind. And the smile had found a way to keep Tristan happy, at least for the moment, before he was to think again about what had happened only mere days before. The smell of the hospital filled with the white halls as he traversed them, taking a left down a hall, and a right into one of the patient's rooms.

Tristan glanced from the object that he was nearly always found holding in his hand when he was making a simple trip around the hospital, his planner, and saw the young boy lying down on his hospital bed. Tristan could hear his whimpering little voice call out to ask if anyone was there. Tristan looked at his currently horrifying body and frowned. It was sad that anyone would do that to their own child, or, at least that's what he had been informed of what had happened to the five year old. Tristan wished he could help, but it would seem he couldn't help him in that section.

This was something that the child was probably going to have to deal with on his own. He was going to an orphan now after this whole ordeal. It was quite sad, really. He shook his head and glanced at the planner, taking a step towards the bed and let out Gabriel's name from his mouth, ”Gabriel Smith. Five years old, catastrophic damage. Lacerations, minor burns, possible internal damage.. There's a lot of things listed here.” His eyes focused back onto the boy as he stepped next to his bed and gave him a warm smile. ”Gabriel, sorry to alarm you, but your in the hospital with some injuries we're still tending to! Will you be a good patient and listen to what me and the nurses have to say to you, alright? We're going to fix you up and send you straight out of here when we can.”

Tristan's smile faded and he checked Gabriel's vitals, writing down something on his planner instantaneously after. A nurse walked in and Tristan stared at the male nurse, ”Will you tell one of the other doctors in pediatrics to schedule this patient a CT scan to the chest area? We'll need to get this over with by AT LEAST tomorrow. The injuries don't seem as bad as some of the other patients here, but we need to be careful with this one.” The nurse slowly walked out, seemingly following Tristan's command.

The doctor glanced back over at the child and stood at the foot of his bed, ”Okay, here's what we're going to do. As soon as I can get you scheduled in, probably today, we're going to scan your chest and make sure everything's alright! If not, we're going to have to schedule some surgery. But don't be alarmed, this is just to make sure that you won't.. uh, be asleep for a very long time!” Tristan had quite the hard time explaining these kinds of things to children, but he had to do it. It was a part of the job.

[Gabriel Smith]

The moonlight streaming on the streets disappeared as clouds rolled in front of the silver star. Lightning cut a jagged swath across the sky and a loud crash of thunder booms. It felt as if the streets were shaking in an earthquake. The wind picked up as he continued walking and it whistled down between the buildings as if a hurricane was rushing. . A moment later the heavens opened up with a rumble of thunder and a flash of lightening. The rain that had been threatening for hours began to fall like bullets. Violent purple lightning streaks across the starry sky, accompanied by the crash of several thunder that roared in his ears. It seemed that it was going to be one of those bleak, dark, storm filled nights that were so common in Seattle. Though the small child should be used to the city weather by now (he'd been living in Seattle since he was born), he couldn’t close his eyes. Every wave of rain sent chills down his spine, every roll of thunder made him shiver in fear, his heart was practically going to come out from his small chest.

“It's just a storm, it just a storm” The kid said trying to sound brave. However, he miserably failed. He remembered the feeling of knowing what it felt like to have someone protecting him, someone that would give the whole damn world--and maybe his soul--if only to see him smile. However, Dick knew it wasn’t real, knew it was only the desperate gleams of his soul, the scraps of the innocence in him struggling to believe in lies he told himself to find some comfort. The child knew well that believing in that shimmer of hope will only prolong his pain, only make it all the worse to suffer the cycle again. He knew that it was part of his torment, the false gem of hope.

Gabe almost jumped from his skin when he heard someone in the room. Quickly, he hid under the sheets and look at the man from from one tiny slot. The more he saw it, the more the nice man reminded him one of those super heroes from the cartoons on TV. The man was simply breath-taking for the kid. His wide-chest build as well as his mighty body made him feel so safe. His bushy eyebrows and a pointed chin made him look strong and powerful. If someone had asked Gabe to draw a superhero, he would have definitely drawn the man in front of him. It was such a pity cartoons weren’t real.

“Huh?” the kid said after the man's long speech, his confusion was more than evident in his face . He barely understood what the other man had said. The only thing he knew was that he was alone, afraid and in a lot of pain. Crying without wrecking his face, a single tear can made its poetic way down his pretty cheek without marring his masculine features. There’s no sound, no sobbing, just the jerk of his shoulders against the effort of trying not to make noise, just the quiver of his lower lip as his face gives way, crumbling with his control as soon as he remembered he had no where to go.

[tristan]

Tristan shook his head. He should have known that Gabriel would not have understood what he was saying to him. He put his finger on his chin slightly playfully and rolled his eyes, looking at the youngster. ”We’re going to fix you up and we need you to not protest, okay?” He said, trying to explain to him what he had just said. It was kind of hard to explain things to such a young child, but it had to be done in some way or form. It was going towards trying to make the patient feel at ease, even if the child couldn’t understand.

Tristan couldn’t help but stare at Gabriel and shake his head in slight sadness. The child was so nervous, and what child wouldn’t be? He was in a strange new place without his loved ones. No one was here for him. He was alone. Tristan went from a form of happiness to a depressed, but thoughtful expression. He let out a small groan and hid the expression, giving Gabriel a fake smile. He was here to save the child’s life and make sure that he wasn’t in any more harm then he was now. He had to remember to stay positive in front of the patients, specifically the more younger ones.

”In a moment, I’m going to scan inside of you and check for things that could hurt you,” He explained to the child briefly with nearly no detail at all. It wasn’t the time for detail, it was just time to get this child some help, ”But before we can do that, I need you to tell me that would won’t move at all when we scan you! In fact, you should promise.” Tristan rolled his eyes and gave a grin to Gabriel. He extended his hand and his pinky.

And there was that movement in his lower lip like he was going to cry. The child was pure; innocent as any other child. It was hard to see those moments where the innocence was exposed to the outside, but Tristan hid behind a mask for the child’s current sanity.