"You crew probably needs you," Anto said, closing his eyes after more prodding. "I will be fine. Give those savages hell for me."
He pushed his damp hair out of his face, wiping the sweat from his man on the sheet he was laying on.
group
The female looked up at Fane, brow raising. The first mate shook her head and didn't make a move. "Mercedes needs me here with her while she works on you." No one really understood it, but the ship's tiny doctor and brash first mate were as thick as thieves.
"And why is that?" he asked, shifting slightly after another prod, "Would you not be most useful helping defend the ship?"
(My b, my b, I changed it)
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Mercedes gathered what she needed from her prodding and looked to Fane. The first mate stood up straighter as the small woman turned to her and gestured to her own rib cage, pointing with different numbers of fingers every now and again. "Because you have two broken ribs and one bruised rib," she told Anto with an arched brow.
"….And she needs you for….?" Anto was a rational thinker, and this seemed very irrational to him.
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The small woman let out a sigh-like noise and stood in front of Anto, opening her mouth and pointing. Her tongue had been cut off, and there were scars on the corner of her mouth, like something had roughly bit into the skin.
Now all of the pieces came together.
"OOooooh," he exclaimed, blushing slightly. "I apologize. I did not know."
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Mercedes smiled kindly and patted Anto's shoulder, then moved over to a counter to begin gathering supplies.
Fane came up to his other side. "That would be the other doctor, Mercedes Thorne. Tiny, but can be one helluva brutal woman if she needs to be. Never piss her off whenever she's holding a needle or scalpel to you. 'Accidents' are prone to happen."
"Ah, the woman sucking the soul out of one of the poor carpenter boys?" he asked, nodding. "She was the one who patched up my legs."
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Mercedes curled her nose in disgust when he mentioned the soul-sucking. Fane chuckled, the sound containing an edge of raspiness. "She helped to patch you up, though you might not remember her. The one you're talking about is the main doctor, Lady Presley."
"Yeah, it is hard to remember things when one is bleeding to death," he said, frowning down at his exposed torso. "What does she plan on doing?"
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"Attempting to fix your ribs that you broke," Fane said bluntly as Mercedes came over with some supplies. The tiny doctor nodded, then started wiping down the wound with disinfectant.
"No, I did not break them," he said, pointing a finger vaguely in Fane's direction, "The fat-ass that fell on me broke them."
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"The fat-ass that you jumped on and caused him to fall, you mean," she countered smoothly. "Had you not done that in the first place, we wouldn't be here, now would we?"
"Well, he killed someone," he responded, putting his arms under his head. "I figured you would've cared about your second mate getting gutted like a fish."
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Fane and Mercedes frowned at each other, and the doctor ushered for the first mate to go and fact check. "I'll be right back," she said, then walked off after tapping the table next to Anto's head.
"Try to come back in one piece," he called after her. "I doubt the crew can take many more casualties."
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She held her arm up high over her head, flipping him off as she called back, "I'll be devastated if this finger goes missing!"
Mercedes shook her head with silent laughter, then lightly prodded Anto's bruised rib for him to sit still and let her work.
He got the message, relaxing his body as much as he could. "Please try not to break anything else."
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She faked an exaggerated pout, then grinned and got to work, steadily growing more and more serious and focused the more time went on.
((Skip to when she's done?))
(Ye)
"Fuck. It felt like you did more harm than good!" Anto exclaimed cheerfully, beginning to sit up. He was careful to not wrinkle the tightly wrapped bandages wrapped all around his chest.
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The small blonde and freckled woman crossed her arms and arched a brow, not impressed with his complaining. Fane still hasn't come back, but there was a lot of shouting and stomping around from up on the deck coming from the overly bossy first mate.
"Hey," he said, noticing her sour look. "I've never claimed to be tough. Anyways, am I cleared to walk?"
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She sighed and waved him off the table, her way of saying 'yes, but only because I know you're too stubborn to stay.' Unlike the other doctor, Lady, Mercedes was a lot more sympathetic to the patients who were anxious to get back on their feet, even if it put a slight risk to their recovery time. She had been the same way.
He got up to his feet with a groan, putting a hand on his side as he limped his way up to the top deck. "Thanks, doc!"
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She offered a two-fingered salute and smile as he left, then busied herself with cleaning up her supplies and workspace.
He popped his head up to the top deck, looking around for Fane. It was a mess of dead bodies, crew and enemies alike.
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Fane, now done with ordering the drunken people around to clean up the bodies, was crouched next to the body of her second mate, fingers brushing his bloody stomach and becoming stained with the dark red liquid.
Anto made his way over to the first mate, resting a light hand on her shoulder. "I am sorry I could not get there sooner. These damned legs held me back."
