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[jemerite]

[She has not moved from the place where the Labyrinth finally spit her out, lying in the grass curled into herself. The vine has come to investigate, now that she has been returned to the Garden. Where has she been? Has she learned her lesson? Perhaps.

She's filthy. Her hair lank and knotted, her clothes muddied and ripped. With her arms wrapped around herself, she claws at her skin with blunted nails, keening miserably. She has hardly ceased since the storm ended.

She rocks back and forth, her forehead pressed into the dirt, and as she falls onto her side, the vine follows curiously. Her face is bruised and crusted with blood, wounds she had not felt at the time, and truly she does not feel them now.

The vines slithering finally draws her attention and she makes a low whimpering sound. Her face is dry of tears, at least. The dead do not cry in such a way, even if her mouth is trembling.

She stares at the vine a moment longer before she draws herself up and tries to slink away from its gaze, but it follows her. She gives up eventually, sinking back down at the base of a tree and hiding behind her drawn up knees. That same piercing little wail eventually begins again, muffled from within her protective huddle.]

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[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

[ Amanda is out for a walk, now that the storm has passed; she was cooped up inside the Pagoda, has been for a while now, but the sense of confinement had started to make her feel uneasy. She can mostly walk without the cane now, if slower than before she injured her leg, and so she left it behind when she went out.

Self-absorbed she may sometimes be, but she has a sense of compassion. And so when she sees the woman under the tree, she pauses a moment, watching her. The piteous little noise she makes is finally enough to coax Amanda to walk over to her.

Up close, the other woman is dirty, covered in scratches, but Amanda is a doctor and that hardly fazes her. ]

Hey. [ She touches Zinc's shoulder, very lightly so as not to startle her too much. ] Are you all right?

[jemerite]

[She flinches initially, but the woman does not sound nor smell familiar, and Zinc looks up at her with her bruised and dirty face. This woman does not know her, will not hate her.

She shakes her head. No. She is not all right, she is alone, she has gotten herself into trouble, and she is ugly. These bruises will not heal on their own, she needs Barbet to make it right again.]

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

[ If Amanda knew what she'd done, maybe she would have a different opinion, maybe she'd be more cautious. But she doesn't. Carefully, she crouches down next to her, tries on a small smile intended to be reassuring, practiced from years of having to deal with patients.

Her lips press together as she thinks, one hand lifting to push a strand of her own hair behind her ear, and then she decides to start with something relatively easy. ]

I'm Amanda. What's your name?

[jemerite]

[She stays mostly curled up, less out of fear of Amanda and more out of self-pity.]

Zinc. They call me Zinc.

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

It's nice to meet you.

[ Self-pity is a thing Amanda has more than a passing familiarity with herself, though she doesn't yet recognize it in this woman. She's tilting her head slightly to get a better look at the cuts and bruises, instead. ]

Can I do anything to help? I'm a doctor.

[jemerite]

[She shakes her head emphatically.]

No one else can do it.

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

No one else but who?

[ She's not going to insist, especially since Zinc seems so emphatic, but that doesn't keep her from being concerned. ]

[jemerite]

Barbet, he's the only one.

[And he obviously wasn't here. She wouldn't be in all this trouble if he were.]

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

[ Amanda's bad leg is starting to bother her, and with a slight wince, she shifts her position a little to put less weight on it. ]

You should at least put antiseptic on these scratches. They'll get infected.

[ The whole undead thing? Yeah, she hasn't gotten that yet. ]

[jemerite]

No.

[She shakes her head.]

They won't. The virus is enough.

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

The virus—

[ Her mouth turns in a slight frown. She understands what a virus is, but why it would prevent something like that— ]

I'm sorry, I don't understand.

[jemerite]

[She ducks back nervously, but she's already opened her big mouth.]

I'm already infected.

[shadingtogray.livejournal.com]

[ Instinct says she shouldn't be too close to someone who has an infection, but there's nothing she can do now — she's likely caught it already, if it's airborne. She doesn't know it's not the kind of infection she imagines. ]

Is it something treatable?

[ She's heard things about the snakes here, and while Amanda isn't fond of snakes, it's better than nothing. ]