#but after all the vet clinics closed he seemed paralyzed so I brought him to bed and forcefed him pedialyte

[redabeliz]

Soon all the white fur will be gone

Off of all our clothes and

Off of the couches

And off of the bed

With the hums of sickness

The cold of the season

A wet spot is left

At the end of the bed

With changes so sudden

And chances lost

My legs twitch at the feeling

Of the wet spot

At the end of the bed

Grief unheard

Grief blocked off

Grief, confusion

There's loose fur in my throat

Or it feels just that scratchy

The dryness doesn't help

This home that is stuffy

My arms are cold

And he can't lay next to me

I wish that health were controlled

So I could have my baby

That wet spot

Of pedialyte and spit

Even though it's just a dot

My mind is obsessed with it

Was it a lack of attempt

In this day and a half

A feeling of contempt

Or regret at this kitty print autograph

How to move forward

How to move back

Of his wet spot he left

I have my own

At the top of the bed

[clairekatswritingcorner]

Just in the Nick of Time

Word Count: 2,180

Summary: Alexys is busy closing up the clinic one night when a mysterious stranger turns up, winded and wounded, and collapses right in front of her in the lobby.

*Author’s Note*: First of another batch of commissions for @bad-blue-moon-rising and her precious selfship with Tom! The first time I saw him I got so excited because…masks are so neat (but then I realized I didn’t do a lot with it T^T oh well). I hope you enjoy!

“Looks like that’s everything.”

Alexys was finishing up yet another long day at the vet clinic. Although the clinic itself had closed an hour or so ago, it was common for the dutiful pet doctor to stay a little later than everyone else, ensuring that everything was organized and taken care of before she headed out. Sometimes there’d be clean up or supply orders that could technically wait until the next day, but Alexys rested easier knowing it was all done before she left. Some of the other employees considered her dedication to be a little on the extreme side, but tonight her propensity for working overtime was going to kickstart a fateful encounter.

The young woman gathered her belongings and made her way for the main lobby. Slipping around the check in desk, she already had the key out so she could lock up for the night. To her surprise, it seemed she wasn’t going to make it outside without one more problem barreling through the doors and falling into her arms—quite literally, in this case.

Alexys couldn’t help letting out a small shriek as an unfamiliar man stumbled through the entrance, panting and sweating as he tried to stay on his feet. He didn’t have much strength left, and he’d used the last of it making it into the safety of this building; or at least, he hoped it would be safe. He’d been in more life threatening situations before, and situations just like this more often than he would have liked, so he expected the outcome of this one to be no different. He’d make his way to some random building, hide away inside until his partners could come find him, and do what he could with what he had to tend to his wounds.

Alexys dropped her bag, and the man dropped to the floor. He was on his knees, groaning and holding his side, clearly in some sort of physical distress. He may have been in some kind of mental distress, too, considering the state of panic he was exhibiting. It was hard for Alexys to imagine someone not feeling panicked in a situation like this; the man looked like he’d just barely managed to escape some sort of fight for his life. It was a little hard to tell the extent of both his wounds and his demeanor due to his layered clothes, and a very striking yet peculiar mask that hid his face.

Her first thought after her initial shock was that it was a little ironic; the fact that he was wearing an animal mask, that is. It appeared to be the visage of a white fox, although Alexys reminded herself in the midst of her arbitrary mental detour that now wasn’t the best time to be getting distracted by his appearance. This man needed medical attention, and the longer she stood around in paralyzed confusion, the more his chance of survival dwindled.

“Uh, uh, I’ll call an ambulance!” Her words were a little garbled, all fighting to pile out of her mouth at once as a rush of adrenaline seized her body. Suddenly, everything was moving too fast, all at once, and she knew she had to react quickly if she wanted to keep up with it all.

She knelt down beside the bag she’d dropped, frantically sifting through its contents in her haze of both determination and horror. How could she be so stupid, why was she reacting this way? She was used to dealing with emergencies, even emergencies that treaded the razor thin line between life and death. She’d dealt with a handful of such instances today, and yet right now she just couldn’t seem to pull herself together. She supposed maybe it was because now she was dealing with a human being instead of an animal, although it wasn’t like she didn’t care deeply for the patients she treated. Maybe it was just due to the severity of the situation, and the fact that she was alone, and the clinic was so quiet that the lack of sound was more oppressive than any loud noises would have been.

She shrieked again when the man grabbed her wrist. She was just getting ready to dial 911 as his strong, rough hand seized her arm, his expressionless mask staring at her with a kind of eerie intensity. Was he going to hurt her? Was this actually some sort of set up, a plan to prey upon her sympathies until she let her guard down like one of those schemes you hear about on the news? Now her blood ran cold with the realization that she might have just waltzed into an obvious and life-threatening trap. She was so concerned about this mysterious stranger’s wellbeing that she hadn’t even considered worrying about her own safety…this may turn out to be the greatest mistake she’d made in a long time.

“Don’t…” His voice was weak and raspy, and Alexys felt herself starting to tremble in fearful anticipation of what his next demand might be. “Don’t call the police…”

“What?” She was honestly dumbfounded, and her befuddlement was almost strong enough to snap her out of her traumatically concerned state.

“Don’t call the police,” he said it again, with a little more strength this time, although apparently that was all the strength he had left. As the last word left his mouth he collapsed, slumping facedown on the floor as he finally succumbed to the blackout that had been encroaching on his vision since he’d entered the facility.

Alexys wasn’t sure why, and she knew it wasn’t advisable, but…she wanted to listen to his words. She didn’t want to betray his trust. Even if he hadn’t really had a choice in giving it to her, since the regrettable state of his body was what determined whether he was going to pass out or not, she felt like she had some duty to help him. Surely it wouldn’t do her any good to commit such an act, but something in her heart encouraged her to do so with no reservations. In a way, a hurt animal had just drug itself to her doorstep, and it was her policy to do everything in her power to save any hurt or ailing creature brought before her.

She may only be a vet, but she had enough basic knowledge to get him patched up. She could only hope there wasn’t any severe internal damage, because if that were the case he might not make it until morning. She wasn’t sure why he was so insistent on her not calling for help, determined to the point that he implored her with his last conscious breath. Then again, perhaps he’d gotten into a scuffle that involved him getting in some trouble with the law; it certainly didn’t seem like what had happened to him was simple or unintentional.

Although she was confident she could tend to his wounds at least somewhat, she had to acknowledge that he was much larger than any of the normal patients she dealt with. There also weren’t any techs around to help her maneuver him around, so she spent a good five minutes or so wrestling him onto a gurney she could use to get him back into one of the operating rooms. She didn’t plan on doing anything too significant, like cutting him open or trying to pop bones back into place, but she knew she could handle giving him the stitches he required in at least one or two places.

“So much for making it home early,” she mumbled to herself as she got back into the sterile parts of her uniform. She always left later than everyone else and getting home before midnight or one o’clock would have been an early night for her. But she wouldn’t have been able to sleep knowing she left someone untended to, or kicked them out, or got them in trouble by calling the police who might not actually do anything to help them. As disruptive as this situation was, it’d become her responsibility, and she was going to see it through to the end.

As she got to work removing the parts of his clothing where she could see blood seeping through, she examined his mask out of the corner of her eye. His eyes were probably shut behind it, completely immobile and blank as a result of the restorative state his body had defaulted to. Should she remove it and see what kind of damage had been done? There didn’t seem to be any blood flowing from his ears or neck or dripping from his face. There were a few streaks of blood smeared across his mask, a stark contrast to the white background they disrupted. From the way they were positioned, she was fairly certain they weren’t made of his own.

But there also seemed to be a weight to the mask, an invisible one that encouraged her to stay as far away from it as possible. She didn’t want to touch or displace it, or even try to clean it, for fear that she would disturb the individual whose identity was currently locked behind it. For now, it wasn’t imperative for her to know who the mask belonged to, who had made their way so unceremoniously into her clinic but refused the help she tried to offer in the form of getting him to the nearest hospital. In retrospect, this was the nearest hospital, even if it wasn’t one for humans…and since she was able to moderately treat his injuries, it was a sufficient enough place for him to stay.

After getting the wounds she could see disinfected and patched up, she laid a blanket over him and went to grab a cup of water. She’d had to remove his jacket and cut part of his pantleg to reach the cuts trapped below, and she took the salvageable parts of his outfit to get them washed. When she returned, she found him still asleep, and sat with him for a while trying to decide what to do next. She couldn’t leave him here to wake up alone, but she couldn’t really take him anywhere else, and she wasn’t sure if it would be wise to take him with her, only to discover she’d invited unsolicited danger into her home.

She was starting to feel a little drowsy when the man made a groaning noise, his limbs rustling under the blanket. Alexys perked up and came to his side, touching his shoulder gently out of her reflex to comfort patients. The man instantly flinched away, and Alexys took a step back, keeping a cautious eye on him. He’d just been through quite an ordeal, but considering how violent it seemed, she couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t going to instigate some kind of problem himself.

“Where am I?”

The more he woke up the calmer he became, but Alexys kept her distance. “You’re in a vet hospital. You came charging in here from outside, but I don’t know where you came from before that. You were hurt pretty badly, enough that you passed out from the pain and blood loss. I treated the wounds that I could, but I don’t really have the tools or expertise to inspect you for internal injuries—”

“And who are you?”

She was a little hesitant to respond. “My name’s Alexys. I’m a veterinarian at this clinic, and you’re lucky you came when you did, because I was just getting ready to lock up for the night. Would you mind telling me who you are?”

“Alexys, huh?” the man replied, sounding a little amused. Alexys wasn’t sure what was so funny about her name, and she also wasn’t going to let him sneak away without getting an answer to her own question. Before she could repeat herself, he started speaking again. “Well, thanks for your help. Looks like I got here just in the nick of time. Without you I don’t think I’d have woken up from that black out. And thanks for not calling the cops, too. I don’t have any personal issues with them, but uh, you could say that thanks to my work they definitely have more than a few issues with me.”

Alexys crossed her arms and allowed him to keep going. “Anyway, that’s kind of a lot to get into. It’s pretty late, and I’m sure you were hoping to be home by now.”

It didn’t seem like he was going to hurt her, which was a relief. “I was. But I’m not leaving here until you at least give me your name.”

The stranger chuckled, entertained by something she still couldn’t figure out. To her surprise he lifted the mask from his face, revealing the considerably handsome appearance of a man with dark eyes, wavy hair, and a short wavy beard to match. Alexys blushed involuntarily in response, much to her own embarrassment.

“The name’s…Tom,” he answered with a half grin. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Alexys.”

[sleepyfan-blog]

If you're in the mood for prompts: #1 “I’m sorry I scared you, I didn’t mean to.” for ConHayth

@balsaminaceae​

Fandom: Assassin’s Creed

Pairing: ConHayth

warnings: Father/Son incest, Modern AU, angst, attempted murder

word count: 2,935

summary: Once a month, Connor and his coworkers are required to attend meetings to discuss how the testing of the falcons they are training with are going, and what differences in behaviors that they have observed, if any. Towards the end of such meetings, if the CEO or another powerful leading employee of Abstergo is giving a press release, they are required to tune in. One of them doesn’t go well.

It’s been a year and a half since Connor’s been working for Abstergo, and he still found these check-in meetings to be boring at best, and vaguely insulting at worst. He had bonded with Corbin, one of the red-tailed hawks that they were training, and was able to see through his eyes, and influence the other’s movements, while he was seeing through the bird’s eyes. Once his fellow researchers had found this out, they had been absolutely delighted. They had asked him all sorts of questions, finding out that Connor was in possession of second sight - as well as his apparently enhanced senses and above-average strength, even for someone his size and age.

But the way that some of the other research teams spoke about him was... More than a little creepy, and caused the young man to feel as if they thought of him as little more than another piece of the experiment. The worst thing was that when he politely brought up the fact that he was a human being rather than an object to be studied under a microscope, everyone in the room stared at him, blinking a little before all claiming at once that they hadn’t meant to sound like that, and that he was being a little oversensitive in the matter. At first Connor had been unsure - as he knew that many of his colleagues tended to be rather blunt - and second sight was an incredibly rare gift... But the way a few of them spoke about him was chilling to say the least.

Connor had tried to describe what it was like to feel the wind beneath wings that weren’t entirely his - to see the ground from so far below, and to glide and coast in the enclosure that Corbin had been put into... But it was difficult to quantify, and the young man couldn’t explain how or why he had bonded with the relatively young red-tailed hawk. The meeting was winding down, thankfully, and Connor was sitting in a chair closer towards the door, as while some lingered to talk longer after the meeting was officially over, the young veterinarian always longed for fresh air and sky - raining or sunny or somewhere in between didn’t matter. Just the feeling of being out of that meeting room and a little bit of freedom was blissful.

Occasionally some of his coworkers would allude to something deeper to the reasons why they were researching falcon behavior, but they were always quickly quieted down. Connor was well aware of the fact that they were hiding several things, but as no one seemed to be the least bit interested in telling him - or the two other people who were out of that particular loop who worked in this building - it was a mystery that was likely to be gone unsolved for some time. Still, the birds were treated well, and no one had attempted to lock him in with the falcons overnight, so the young man was content not to try to pry further into the mystery surrounding this longer term project.

The head researcher - the one who was responsible for reporting all of their findings to the higher ups who worked in the main office where Haytham did - cleared her throat and stated once she had all of their attention “Since we have finished discussing everything of value and we have an hour left of the meeting, we will watch and listen to the live press conference that Haytham Kenway is currently giving.”

Many of his fellow researchers groaned a little, but none of them asked if they could leave early - as they had never been allowed to do so. Connor was curious as to what Haytham was going to talk about, and was always happy to see his beloved - even if the other was going to be on a screen. The head researcher quieted everyone down as she switched the large, wall mounted computer screens to a live streaming site, where Haytham was giving a speech.

“- and further more, the veterinary clinic program that has been running for six months will be expanded from the four clinics in New York, Boston and Cincinnati will be expanded by another eight clinics in cities across the united states. As with the first four, they will be providing excellent, at-cost pet care.”  Haytham said, sounding confident, a touch of a smile on his face as he gestured, to underline his words.

A small, fond smile appeared on Connor’s face as his father continued to speak about where the clinics would be opening, and other such details. He could hear a quiet murmur among his fellow researchers - perhaps surprised by the increase in the program? The young man couldn’t imagine why - from what he could tell, the initial four clinics were a boost in profits and good PR of Abstergo, and having more of those clinics would only help, rather than hinder.

Haytham concluded “Do any of you have any questions?” looking over at what must be a sea of reporters.

Several cameras swiveled towards someone - including the camera that they had been watching Haytham through, and terror clutched at his stomach, as Chevalier stepped closer, saying “Yes, I have a question.” the Anarchist shifted his position a little, and raised a pistol, shooting Haytham squarely in the chest, the force of the bullet knocking the CEO off his feet. The Frenchman sneered as he was swarmed by security “How quickly do you think you’ll die, you miserable pig?”

The cameras went dead shortly after that, but there had been screaming and chaos captured on tape, and the entire table was in uproar. frenzied questions and horrified words were exchanged, but Connor was rooted to his seat, frozen and mute in utter horror at seeing his father fall backwards out of sight, shock and pain on the other’s face. Those moments were playing over and over again in his head, and a miserable sob wrenched it’s way out of Connor’s chest before he could stop himself from making a sound.

Strangely enough, a majority of the sound and movement died down at the sound that Connor made, and the young vet was paralyzed by the intense staring of everyone else in the room. He could feel his breathing become fast and shallow, and it was difficult to see anyone as his eyes were so blurry. He reached up to his eyes with one violently trembling hand, realizing that he was crying uncontrollably.

Someone was trying to touch him, and a face came into his hazy view - but their touch was static and their voice seemingly filled with false concern. Connor hissed acid; y “No, I am not okay! I just watched my father get shot!” with that, Connor jumped to his feet and fled the meeting, despite several hands reaching out for him - he knocked them away, growling at anyone who tried to stop him to let him go and to leave him alone!

Connor locked himself into a single-person bathroom and allowed himself to sob until he had no more tears. Then he drank as much water as he could force himself to drink through cupped hands before shakily calling Shay - who had to have either been at the press conference or watching. His phone rang and rang and rang.

Finally, Shay answered his phone, the other sounding tense “Good afternoon Connor - yes I saw what happened at the press release. Your father’s at the private hospital he was last time that something awful happened to him. He’s in stable condition and just went into surgery. Where are you? Haytham wants to know where you are, and for you to come to him as soon as you can.”

“I... I’m at work. Th-the research center, n-not the cl-clinic.” Connor hiccupped. Shay sounded as if he was barely holding himself together, and the young vet was doing his best to attempt to calm down. “I... We were... In a meeting and we finished and... I... Where should I go to get... to Get to him? back to the apartment or...?”

Shay cut him off, though the other’s voice was filled with grief and kindness “I’ll come get you at your work - it’s closer to the hospital than your apartment is. If your boss won’t let you leave early. I’ll talk to her.”

“Okay. T-thank you S-shay.” Connor managed out, getting back up to his feet “Do you want to talk to her over the phone or... Or once you arrive...?”

“I’ll talk to her once I show up - more credible that way. Stay inside the research building until I come to get you, alright?” The other responded, sounding stern and worried.

“I will...” Connor promised. His phone buzzed a little and the young man frowned unhappily “... My phone’s about to die on me...”

“I’ll let you go. I’ll text you when I’m about five minutes away.” Shay responded before ending the call.

~

It took Connor more courage than he wanted to admit to having to use, in order to leave the bathroom - and it took him some time to even make it over to the door. He cracked the door open, to find what appeared to be his entire research team - as well as the head researcher waiting for him outside of the bathroom. Connor closed the door and locked it, before leaning against it, startled by their presence and wholly unprepared for the questions that might be flung at him by inquisitive and possibly well-meaning coworkers and boss.

Someone knocked on the door, calling out “Connor... I’m not going to force you to come out of there, but... I would like to talk to you for a moment. It’d be easier if the door wasn't in the way, I wouldn’t have to half-shout to make myself heard.”

“I can hear you fine. If you’re about to ask if someone’s coming to pick me up to take me to father, the answer is yes. He’s going to text me when he’s getting close and I will be leaving, meeting be damned. The boss can fire me if she wants to. I hate being looked at and poked and prodded like a lab rat, anyways.” Connor grumbled, knowing that perhaps he was being a little unfair. “I can hear you fine through the door.”

“I... Wouldn’t dream of stopping anyone from visiting family who’d been badly injured so suddenly. And what do you mean by being poked and prodded?” His boss responded, sounding vaguely hurt.

“Why didn’t you tell us your real name, Connor? Didn’t you trust us?” One of his coworkers piped up, sounding as if he’d somehow betrayed them in some way.

“Connor Hill is my name, it’s just not my full name. I haven’t told any of you my first name either, mostly because I don’t want to hear any of you attempt to say my name, only to slaughter it and give up. I also didn’t want to be accused of getting this position because of who my father is.” The young vet hissed irritably. “Oh please. Don’t start with that. The tests that you people run on me while I'm working with Corbin - the endless questions. How would you like it if you were asked millions of questions that you either didn’t have the answer to, or when you tried to answer, were completely disregarded as utter nonsense because the person asking them didn’t have a proper frame of reference! It’s like trying to describe color to someone who can only see in black and white. In French, while they don’t understand a word of the language.”

There was a long stretch of silence from the other side of the door, but Connor wasn’t going to apologize for his words, or open the door. Not until Shay texted him, as he was fairly sure that he would say something that he was going to regret if he had to deal with false concern and pretty words that weren’t honestly meant from the people on the other side of the door. His boss spoke up after what felt like an eternity “I see. I wish that you’d come to me earlier with the information that such inquiries were upsetting and stressing you out, as that was something that none of us had intended. We’ll leave you be, if that’s what you’d like.”

“It is.” Connor growled, having realized that he might have been a little harsher than he should have been “... And I am sorry for being rude. I just... Don’t want... to lose both of... Of my parents because of... because of the violence and a-avarice of o-others.” He was going to start crying again and he hated that fact.

“Thank you for the apology, Connor.” The head researcher murmured before continuing “I’ll be sure that everyone else leaves you alone - if your ride does forget to text you, will you please tell me whose supposed to pick you up?”

“Yeah... Shay Cormac is.” The young vet responded quietly. He heard the sounds of footsteps leaving and breathed out a silent sigh of relief, pulling himself together somewhat.

~

Connor wasn’t sure what was longer, waiting for Shay to arrive, or the drive over to the private hospital and being checked over for weapons by two members of security - and that was after his ID had been checked three times against the list of people his father wanted to talk to after surgery. The both of them were let in and taken up to Haytham’s room.

The other looked pale and worn, and was laying down in bed, typing away on his work laptop, looking up as Connor came in, only one guest was allowed in at the time, and Shay had very graciously allowed the young man to come in first. “Connor, I’m glad that you’re here. I-”

The younger man threw himself at his father, holding the other tightly and burying his face into the other’s chest, being sure not to press against the other’s bandages, holding Haytham as tightly as he dared. Despite a stern promise to himself not to start blubbering all over his beloved, Connor could feel himself start to tear up again “I’m so... I’m so glad that you... That you s-survived. H-how are you doing? H-how long are you going to n-need to heal? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Haytham’s eyes softened a little, and the other pressed a gentle kiss to Connor’s forehead, murmuring an apologetic “I’m sorry I scared you. I didn’t mean to.” One of the other’s hands was gently petting his hair, the other lightly patting him on one of his shoulders in a soothing gesture.

“It wasn’t your f-fault you got s-shot.” Connor responded, giving the other a watery attempt at a smile, feeling part of himself relax a little.

“I should recover fully in a couple of weeks - however I will have to stay out of the public eye for several months, as it would be incredibly unusual for someone to recover so swiftly, even with the aid of the best medical services available to man.” Haytham responded quietly “The anarchist who shot me has been detained - and I will need to speak with a police officer, as I was shot in a very public event. Shay and Charles will be handling that aspect of it, although I am certain that the trial will not take very long - however there is a high likelihood that his fellow anarchists will try to meddle, or hope that the trial will allow them another chance at killing me. There are... A few things about them and why they are so determined to kill me, that I have not spoken to you about.”

“I know.” Connor murmured “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to. I love you and trust you and I always will. You said before that you didn’t want me to get further involved in this, and if not telling me about that helps to reassure you that I won’t, then you don’t have to talk more about it.”

His father nodded, seemingly surprised that he wasn’t pushing for more information. “Thank you, Connor.”

Before either of them could say anything else, Shay knocked on the door, opening it a crack and saying “The police officers are coming up to speak with you, ‘Aytham. Just thought that you’d like to know.”

His father heaved a sigh before responding “Thank you for telling me.” Connor was about to ask if Haytham wanted him to stay for that or not, when his stomach rumbled loudly in complaint. A dark blush appeared on his face and the young man covered his eyes with his hands, horrifically embarrassed. His father glanced at him, a small and amused smile appearing on his face as the other asked “I’m guessing that you missed lunch?”

“... Yeah... I was very busy today and then the meeting started and we’re not allowed to eat at the meetings. I was going to have some of my lunch after the meeting ended but... That didn’t happen. I wasn’t bothered by hunger until my stomach just decided to complain.”

Haytham chuckled lightly before gently pushing Connor away, saying “Go eat then, I’ll be here when you’re done.”

The young man nodded reluctantly and left, glancing back at Haytham as he did so.