January 28th, Early morning - 3:53 am

Where the fuck am I" That was the first thought that crossed her mind when she opened her eyes, and pain bloomed in her face, along with the persistent lapping of her cheek thanks to Snow, and that gigantic tongue of his. She groaned, and lifted a hand to push him away, before she attempted to rock up so she was sitting. Snow in turn, dove back into the safety of her jacket. The sharp pain, the tightness in her chest had her figuring that there may have been a snapped rib or two. Well. At least she wasn't in someone else's bed, and she still had Snow. Her dignity however hung heavily in the scum and grime that coated her from laying in the alley for so long. So it was possible she may manage to salvage a scrap or two of it.

Finally, she gave a whine, and forced herself to roll onto her stomach, before she moved to her knees, and from there, to her feet, pausing only when her head swam, and she felt like she were going to topple over. Her hand moved, blindly patting down her midsection, searching for her potion's belt, because she felt as if she could really use something such as that. She found the spanse of her pants, hip to hip devoid of the belt she sought. A string of curses followed when the events of the" Well she wasn't sure how long had passed, but she thought she could the sky lightening up" If she squinted hard enough. How the hell was she gonna explain to Wren what happened to her belt, and why her face was all banged up, and where her dignity had gone"

"I don't think I could have fucked up any worse than that." These words were spoken to the poro, snuggled into her jacket. In response, he chirped cheerfully, as if he was happily agreeing with her. She snorted at the ball of fluff. "Yeah. Thanks." Muttered as her hand moved to delve into one of the many many pockets on her cargo pants. She fished out her phone, which miraculously the screen had survived, and checked the time. 3:53 am.

She grumbled a curse, and shoved the phone back into a different pocket. And from another she fished out a crumpled pack of smokes and a lighter. One bent cigarette was pulled from the pack, and tucked in between her lips. A flick of her lighter, and a deep inhale followed, despite the pain it sent lancing across her ribs. The pack and lighter found another pocket to call home as she sucked in another drag, and began the hunt for her caster, as she realized that was not on her either. If she showed up without her caster, she had a feeling that she would be going home to her mother in a body bag, and Wren would be why.

She remembered having it in hand" until she had gone flying into the scummy alley wall, and broke a couple of ribs. She just hoped that the woman that had jacked her belt hadn't jacked that either. She searched for a good fifteen minutes, before she found it halfway behind the dumpster. With lots of teeth grinding, and cursing the pain in her ribs, she managed to move the dumpster enough for her to worm her way back there to get it. It was then shoved into the back of her pants, up against the small of her back.

Then because she felt like crap, she lit up another smoke and began the trek back home. An hour and two more cigarettes later she reached the building of her shared apartment with Wren, and drew in a heavy breath before she shouldered open the first door, and moved off towards the stairs. She climbed them stiffly, then headed down the hall until she reached the door to her shared apartment. She checked the time. 5:18 am. She grunted at her phone, as if it would change the time, unlocked the door and slid inside. She locked it after her, and made for the kitchen first. She knew there was booze in there.

Pushing into the apartment the first thing the woman might well have seen in that dark was the soft glow of technology spilling out from the office" the office that was her room. Obviously Wren was up and in there on the massive, powerful terminal housed within" which meant he knew she wasn't back yet. Of course. As she moved towards the kitchen she couldn't help but feel a gaze upon her, something blinking at her from the corner of the cupboards maybe before it vanished in the inky dark of the shadows....though not before making the ball of fluff in her jacket shiver under that ghosts gaze.

The broken woman would make it all the way into the kitchen before she'd hear the creak of the door hinge for that office, the dark silhouette of Wren melding away in the darkness of early dawn. "You're back late, find a fun time?" His tone was wry with humor as he looked her over, noting the way she moved as well as the shape of her clothing. His tone implied actual fun times but that thin grin that curled upon him spoke to what he saw.

Of course he was in there. Luck didn't seem to be on her side tonight. She couldn't have been so lucky as to come home, have a drink, and go attempt to sleep off her shame. The feel of a gaze, the shiver that Snow gave from within her jacket' well it had her glancing up, and doing a quick and quiet scan of the apartment. Seeing nothing, she cooed to the fuzzball, and gave him a gentle finger rub, which had him purring again in no time. She settled on the bottle of Tequila once she reached the table, dusted off a glass that was sitting on it and poured. When Wren spoke, she sighed, before turning to face him.

"Fun. Yeah. You could say that." The words came dryly, and she didn't look very amused. The rim of the glass met her lips, and half the contents drained in a single swallow, before she moved and gingerly dropped into a chair, wincing only when the movement sent sharp shooting pains across her chest.

Watching the woman as she moved the man didn't bother to move away from that easy lean he took on the doorframe. He'd already noted the absence of something on her person which had been there before but he decided to play dumb on such as he arms folded across his broad chest. "Well, you might want to take a regeneration potion or something because it looks like your "fun" might have broken a rib or two. Not that I judge how rough you like it but just saying." His smile was that cool, cocky that it usually was which hid the humor he found in the woman's condition. Was he worried" Maybe, but he certainly wasn't going to show such if he were.

Ticking a brow upwards as she looked about for a moment his expression fell into that neutral pleased look as he saw her finally address that ball of fluff which she'd insisted on buying a few days back. It was something of a point of contention between the two which had ended in a few threats for the woman to keep it quiet and calm or else the creature getting to live in the washing machine as, yeah, Wren wasn't having the night time singing.

He mentioned taking a Regen potion, and for a couple moments, she continued to fuss over the fluff ball and empty her glass. Then she filled the glass again, fussed with Snow a little more, petting and stroking him with a finger. Which in turn earned her a series of chitters and happy purrs as he snuggled up against her in that jacket.

Then finally, her eyes slid towards the man, lingered, then dropped down to the ground where it stayed. "Yeah. I'd love to' It's just' Yeah." She sank down into the chair, and blew out a sigh, despite the fact that the movement stirred up more pain. "Another hunter took it. I dunno who she is, but I don't think she's y"know, part of our team...But she had casters, and Uh' she was quick. And there was fire. Something exploded too. She casted a stun, and took my belt. Then knocked me out. My everything hurts right now. And I feel like a really big idiot for losing it, and I really wanna just sleep and suffer the embarrassment of this conversation for the morning"..later morning. Can we just do that?" She paused long enough to glance up and gauge his reaction. "I'd prefer if we could do that."

With that said, she began patting herself down again, searching once more for those smokes.

The man knew she had her potions lifted, but the mention of another hunter doing it' Well, that garnered a dangerous gleam to enter the man's eye. It was a look of a true hunter" a beast that lived for the kill. Such was perhaps jarring given the pleasant smile that still clung to full lips. "Oh' You got mugged by someone with a caster and you think they're a hunter?" Pushing off from that lean against the doorframe the man approached now, a hand motioning to the young woman. "Strip your top, all the way down. You've broken ribs that need setting." The tone he used wasn't so much requesting as telling. Grabbing the first aid kit from behind the couch the man set it down on the coffee table, waiting for the young woman to comply.

"As for your request to just sleep off your stupidity that's denied too. You're going to tell me about your attacker in as much detail as you can and how you got your belt stripped from you because yeah' it was a big idiot mistake. It's also one that you shouldn't have walked away from so whoever did this is a bleeding heart not to have just ventilated your head. And if they were after your potions" well" they may target you again." This was stated bluntly without pity or sympathy for the woman.

Elodie would have to of been blind to miss the dangerous gleam that came into his eyes when she mentioned the other hunter. It was the one that genuinely made her a little terrified of the man. His smile didn't help. She may even have nightmares. "I dunno. How many other people here in Rhy'din carry casters like the ones we get' Me. You. And uh' Mach?" She paused, unsure on that one. "I'm just going on a gut instinct with that one. That and she asked how it was to be hunted for a change." His request for her to strip was met with a quiet look. She should have known that he wouldn't give her a break of any kind. So instead of arguing, she gave a soft huff.

"Everything?" As she asked, her fingers moved to delve into her jacket, so she could pull Snow from it. He tittered and chirped in protest. And when she set him on the ground, he stared and panted at her for all of two seconds, before he was skittering underneath her chair to hide. She rolled her shoulders, and let the jacket drop, before her fingers moved to catch the hem of her shirt. With just a second of hesitation, she started pulling that up over her head, muttering and cursing at the pain the movements brought.

"I never get to sleep off anything." That was grumbled when he plain out denied her request to just sleep it off. She wondered absently if he had even ever made mistakes. Or if he had been a natural born hunter from the start. "I just wanna sleep and you're gonna make me recall everything in detail. Then You'll tell me more about how stupid I was, and make me feel even stupider. Like that." Her shirt she dropped down into her chair, and she'd wait to hear from him before she removed anything else. "I just wanna look on the bright side. Bleeding heart means you don't have to fill out the paperwork you'd probably have to fill out if I was dead, and not here having to deal with explaining my stupidity to you."

The man didn't bother giving her an answer as he just reached down and, with the deftness of any hot blooded hunter, remove her bra without ceremony. The garment was let to drop as he was opening the medkit, grabbing elastic wrap as those umber orbs wandered over her bare form, noting the discoloration of pale skin indicating where she bleed beneath the surface. "Ahh to be young." Okay, he may have totally checked her out too but the way he spoke was more teasing than pervy as he set aside the roll he snagged while he encouraged her to turn to him as he knelt down.

"No, casters are unique to us hunters. Did you notice anything about it' Did they use one" multiple" How about the speed of the shots. Did they use any potions before the fight?" The man's questions were spoken in dry monotone, the tone one had when debriefing and looking simply for facts so as to build a profile of a target or a scenario. Moving in close he'd wrap an arm around the woman, his expression nothing but professional as the fingers of his other hand felt softly about that bruised flesh, feeling for the irregularity before his palm slowly eased down over the area, adjusting slightly as he prepared to set the ribs back in place.

"Ready' One...two?" And he'd give a push and a pull, shoving those ribs back into place in one, fluid, agonizing movement. "You okay?" Asked simply. He'd wait for her to speak anything as he was more listening for a crackle in her voice than how she actually felt before he'd snag that roll and began to start wrapping her torso. He did this is silence, letting the woman recover from that move for a bit before he'd deign to speak to her again, his expression never changing once during the proceeding.

"Lodie. Let me make something straight. Yes, it is a lot of paperwork to file if your ass kicks it. And yes, you are a dumbass for letting this happen to you. But don't assume that just because I'm willing to tell such to you straight that I don't care about your well being, right' I tell you things because I want you to improve, to not have to repeat those mistakes that you and I have made along our journeys. You understand?" And finally he looked at her with that steady gaze of his. The man could be frightening as all hell but there was something oddly paternal about him' if not the sort of parent that lets their child experience the disappointments in life so as to build character. Finishing up the wrapping she would find her dignity restored as he wrapped well above and well below the injured ribs, constricting and supporting the entire ribcage. Well. She could never say that Wren wasn't skilled with his hands, as he removed her bra with more ease than she normally did. Most of the bruising on her torso seemed to be more focused on the left side, the bulk of the discoloration for her ribs heavy just below the breast. His comment brought a snort from her, but there was a touch of mirth in her eyes as she spoke. "What. You don't like being an old fart?" She moved with his encouragement, her body shifting until it was facing him.

"She had two. And no potions before hand. That I know of. I just know that she started talking with me. Just small talk in the inn, yeah' Then next thing I know I hear the whirr of a caster. I think I kicked her before going over the bar. She shot at me again, right after that. It was less than a minute before we were outside in the alley. The door was on fire when I went through." She went quiet. "There was something weird about how her casting felt. I don't know how to explain it. I don't- mh." She rolled her shoulder in a hapless shrug.

His question as to whether she was ready was greeted with a nod. The actual agonizing moment that he shifted and pulled, rolling his hand so that the ribs would be set properly' It drew a whimper from her, a hiss of breath, and a string of curses. She grunted at first, before she nodded, and resisted to gasp, like her lungs wanted her to. "Yeah. Peachy. That felt fantastic." She pulled in a deep breath slowly, and let her eyes close as he worked to wrap and bind her ribs securely, and hey! He even restored some of the dignity she had still been able to cling to in the way that he wrapped her. That made things a touch easier to deal with.

His words about her kicking it, and the ones that followed had her falling into silence, her hazel eyes dropping down from umber and to the ground. She was quiet for several moments, the only noise she made was the sloshing of tequila in her glass when she sipped it. Then she spoke. His words were indeed straight up, but now, she understood a little better as to why he was so tough on her. "Yeah. I understand. Sometimes". Sometimes I guess I kick myself in the ass just as hard, and it doesn't mix well." Her eyes moved to find his once more, surprise in her eyes when he spoke of the fact that he had made mistakes as well. "Eh' I was beginning to wonder if you were just natural at it. I mean. It comes so effortlessly to you. Or it seems like it. And I've been here less than a week, and someone almost gutted me, and my belt and potions were stolen. I almost got strangled the other day for staring too hard at something." She paused, and chased it with another swallow of liquor. "I feel like I've already let people down." This was murmured gently. "Was it hard" Y"know. When you first started out' Figuring how things work, and stuff?"

The man simply snorted at the comment about his age as he felt about the woman's torso. "It's called being seasoned little girl" the difference, I hope, is obvious." A motion to the fact that she was the one, topless, and getting her ribs set back into place while he was the one feeling up the topless woman as an early morning activity. Working as he took in that information he mulled such over. "How did this woman look" Did she identify herself or say anything weird or that caught in your mind" Any distinguishing features?" The man put together the scene in his head, playing it through and filling in the details as he knew them while padding the rest with educated guesses. "So they attacked you in a bar" Well" that speaks of desperation that they didn't just wait for you to clear out for the night and then put a bullet to you."

As he finished he'd pin off the wrap before moving to retrieve a muscle shirt from the last inhabitant of the apartment, their belongings sort of shoved in a few boxes in the coat closet by the door. Moving back over he motioned for Elodie to raise her arms so he could lower the shirt over her form and give her even more dignity that was loose and easy to move in. There would be no shower tonight it seemed as the man knelt down once more so as to help her out of her shoes since bending forward was not really an activity she'd be able to do for the next few hours.

Listening as she spoke he simply chuckled as she made that admission, his hand coming up to scrub those brunette locks messily. "The only one you disappoint is yourself, your view of how you should be living up to your legacy, to your pedigree. And honestly, you probably always will. It's what you do afterwards that will define you. Do you kowtow to your failures and adjust yourself accordingly' or do you take them as goals for improvement and strive to make yourself better than you were." Letting his hand slide down to the shoulder he gave it a reassuring squeeze, offered her the comfort of warm contact that seemed so lacking from the man. "As for me, no. No one is ever a natural, no one is built for this sort of work. It's all a matter of experience, of taking what doesn't kill you and making it part of your strength."

"Of course I already started the corp with street smarts, survival instinct, and the knowledge of how to fight in me. Something I'd learned and worked hard to hone in life on the streets before I took on the mantel of a Wren. But' yes, it was hard to adapt, to learn how to be a hunter. No hunter makes it as far as myself or Lt. Tuner or any of us without feeling like the worlds just kicking us in the teeth sometimes and there isn't a thing we're doing right. The best laid plans can unravel at the drop of a hat". but that's where experience comes in. Using what you've learned from surviving so you can avoid pitfalls that you've previously fallen into' or get out of situations because of new insight garnered from such."

Moving on he'd help the woman strip her pants with hardly a pause for a how do! He was leaving her skivvies on seeming interested only in making her comfortable for sleep. Pulling them down and off gently he'd finally pause to meet that hazel gaze. "So tell me Elodie. What are you going to do' Curl up in your misery or see this as the learning experience that it is and own it so then maybe next time you can do yourself well by your pride?"

She snorted softly at his words. "Yeah, Difference. Obvious. You wouldn't have lost your belt either." She paused for a moment, then stuck her tongue out at him a brief display of childish behaviour. "She was a good few inches taller than me. Dark eyes, dark hair. Skin a few shades lighter than yours. She had a nice mouth too." She cleared her throat after that, as she had initially thought the woman was trying to flirt with her. And well, she wasn't blind. "She said she didn't want my life, just my potions?" She trailed off as her mind shifted to another tidbit of information she thought may be useful. "Sleep Well. And let thoughts of Quick Silver run through your dreams. That's what she said to me right before she knocked me out. You think maybe Quick Silver is an alias of hers?"

She watched him move off towards the coat closet, curious as to what he was doing. When he turned, and she spotted the shirt in his hand, she understood, and quietly was thankful. She shifted as he motioned, wincing as she moved to lift her arms up so he could slide that muscle shirt onto her, and once that was done, she gently dropped her arms back down to her sides. When he knelt to start working on the laces of her boots, she shifted her hips and slid her foot forward so that it was easier for him, and she did the same with her other foot when he was done with the first. Then one after another, she used her toe against her heel to pull them off, and left them where they landed.

The ruffle of her hair earned him a grunt, and had she not had snapped ribs, she most likely would have batted his hand away! When he spoke of the only one she was disappointing being herself, she fell quiet, and didn't respond until she had sunk back down into the chair, and resumed the search for her smokes which had been interrupted by the setting of her ribs. She found them in her back pocket, There were two left inside, though soon enough it was only one, because the other found it's way between her lips. A flick of the lighter, a heavy inhale, and the cherry glowed red. She exhaled smoke in a small cloud. "You're probably right about that." It was admitted gently, as she" Well she was still figuring things out. And it turned out that there were a lot of things that came with being a hunter than she hadn't considered. "I want to learn from them. I want to get better, and improve and grow, it's just. Yeah. It's gonna take time, and mistakes, and me probably almost dying a half a dozen times. Maybe I'm just impatient." She lifted and dropped her shoulders in a shrug, and followed with another drag.

As he spoke of what he started with when he joined, she fell into silence, and puffed away as he spoke, then puffed some more as she considered what to say. "The worst I had done was punch a couple of people in school". Nothing compared to what you started out with. and I had my father's stories, about fantastical adventures, and hunts. Of monsters he took care of, and the cool but bad things Madsci come up with, spell slinging mages." And then there was a hunt that he didn't come back from, the only one her father hadn't been able to tell her about. She was quiet for a moment, thinking about what he'd said. Life on the streets. And from what she had read, Lt. Turner had a rough start too. Yes, she had lost her father". but most of the time she had whatever she wanted or needed. She knew well enough that it was a cushy thing compared to them. "So. I've gotta build up experiences. And the only way to do that is to keep going until I'm dead." This was said cheerily enough.

She gave no protest when he started removing her pants, and she even wiggled a little to make it easier, since she had already dropped down into her chair. Then she kicked them aside so they rested atop her boots and everything else she had been stripped of. She paused when his gaze met hers, while her she considered his words. "Honestly' I wanna curl up in my misery for just a few hours and sleep. Then I'll tackle seeing it as a learning experience, and own it."

Wren simply smirked at that childish plight, her tongue tapped with a finger and the wet digit tapped to the tip of her nose in a playful but aggravating manner. "No, I wouldn't have." Plainly stated as he worked and listened. Taking in the description the shot her a wry look when she mentioned how nice the perpetrators mouth was just before clearing her throat. "Seriously?" Yeah' that was a very disapproving tone there! Just shaking such off he'd let the woman continue, his features scrunching slightly as he heard that name. "Quicksilver huh' hmm?" All of this was noted away to look up later. "Yeah' I don't remember off the top of my head but I most certainly think they were a hunter. Must have been hard up for potions to have risked mugging you? even if you do make one easy mark." His tone was mild as he said that, any hint that such may have been a joke lost as he just pushed forward.

Feeling the tension as he scruffed her head, well, that just encouraged the man to do it more until she spoke up in response about how he was probably right and she was impatient. And when she continued on about her father, well, the man just gave her an assuring pat to her knee as he worked her pants off. "Impatience will get you killed. Pride will get you killed. Chasing after legacy' will get you killed. You need to let go of these things, focus in on what?s important. You don't have street smarts" then you walk the streets and learn. Need help with seduction and not getting your ass lit up on a pick up, you work a red light district as a waitress?" At that last phrase though the comforting hand on her knee would lift to be a much less comforting Gibbs to the head. "And you keep going until you make it, not until you're dead. Seriously, whats a princess like you got to be so jaded and world weary about so young and pert." Dirty, lopsided grin offered as he winked at the woman before he rose to his feet.

Wren offered out those dark, calloused hands to the woman so she could help lift herself up. "Well you can go do it on the bed. I'm going to stay up researching our little friend, see what I can dig up on this "Quicksilver" woman' other than she's right up your alley." Oh his grin was smug as he'd start for the office now, leaving the huntress to her own devices on getting to bed.

She blinked when he tapped her tongue, then proceeded to poke her nose with the same wet finger. That disapproving tone of his was met with a grin. "Whaaat' Don't look at me like that. I'm not blind. I didn't realize she was up to anything until I heard her caster." She huffed, and rolled her shoulders. "I guess." A soft sigh escaped, and she made no retort about her making an easy mark. She couldn't think of anything. "At least like you said, she was a bleeding heart, eh?" She arched her brows briefly, and offered a grin.

Continuing to ruffle her hair would earn the hunter a grumble, and several mutters. before she gave up, and let him. His words had her falling into silence, thoughtful. "Alright. I got things to work on then. Maybe a job to look for. Research to do." He had a point. And she knew he spoke from experience. Plus, she knew how to flirt, but she was about as seductive as a fish out of water. The leave of his hand from her knee, and the gibbs to the head" She squawked, and flopped a hand at him. "Oww. Jerk. I already hurt." But the words that followed" Well it quieted her and made her dip her head. "I'm not jaded." Pause. "Or a princess. A princess wouldn't be able to handle this job." It was said almost childishly, before a hand came up to push through her hair, and attempted to straighten out the mess he had made of her hair.

When he offered his hands out to her, she reached up to slide her hands into his, before she slowly worked her way to her feet, careful not to jostle her recently set ribs. She eyed him for a moment when he said that she could take the bed, then poked another jab at her over the woman. In return she huffed at him. "Shhh. It happened. I got my butt kicked. I'll be a little more wary of attractive people." This was mused simply before she shot him a grin and collected her glass.

Helping the young huntress to her feet the veteran simply let out a dry chuckle at her protests to his teasing though that grin told all that he needed to know. She was hurt and, literally, kicked while she was down but she'd still maintained her good humor about everything, kept that almost inappropriately glib view of things that was synonymous with hunters. It was a grit that one either had or they didn't and defined how an individual would make it as a hunter or how quickly they'll quit and run home. As things stood now Elodie certainly had at least the gall to be a huntress much as her father before her" now it was just a question of whether she had the mental fortitude, the skillful prowess, and the devil's own luck to fully make a life out of this chaos or whether she'd be ground up and destroyed by it all.

"Good. Just make sure you don't become overly paranoid. What separates a greenie like you and a veteran isn't the ability to always own a situation and always make the right call" it's how you deal with things when the situation owns you, or you make the wrong call and have to live with the consequences of your choices. Be wary and cautious but also bold and adaptable." Plucking a small vial from his belt he left the barebones healing decoction upon the poker table without commentary as he slid back into the office, the door closed behind him. The expression that held to his features was indiscernible throughout all these actions though the man could tell that despite his warm words he didn't look at all as such. No, not with a potential hunter gone rogue having shown up in his neck of the woods. Because if there was anything more dangerous than a hunter was one on the run with their backs pressed to the wall and no shortage of wild ideas of how to keep pushing forward.

She paused in her motions to head for the bedroom when he spoke again, and eyed him for a moment, thoughtfully quiet, before a sigh escaped. ""Be wary and cautious, but also bold and adaptable. I swear sometimes I'll never remember all of this.? The words were spoken with a playful tone, as he worked to pull a vial from his belt and left it on the poker table for her. Then he was gone.

She stood there quietly for a moment, before she reached out to catch the vial between two fingers, and closed her hand around it. She hadn't been expecting him to leave her anything for her ribs, so it was a gesture she was thankful for. Potion in hand, she moved to deposit the glass in the sink, then retreated for the bedroom, and the comfort of the bed within. It was there, that she downed the potion she had been given, then promptly got into the bed, and passed out.