When you hear the sound of trashcans rattling and a cat hissing, you think some wild animal has gotten into your trash. When I opened the side door into the alleyway, I expected to be shooing off such an animal. Instead, a person was laying on the ground. Under the rain and darkness, I could barely see who it was. With haste I went to their side, calling out, "Hey, you, okay?"
When I turned them over, my breath got caught in my throat and my hand jolted away. The person below me had green skin and pointed ears. I didn't know what they were let alone if they were dangerous. I scanned the alleyway, seeing if anything was lurking and watching but found it to be void of life outside of the two of us.
At least, I assumed they were alive. I brought two of my fingers to their neck, just under the jawline. It took a second but I was able to feel what I assumed was a pulse. I sighed a bit; happy they were alive. That said, there was no way I could call for help. One look and they would take them away to study them.
With a final scan of the alleyway cleared, I got one arm under their legs and another under their back. A moment later, I lifted them and carried them inside. Luck would have it I lived alone here so I did not need to worry about other people freaking out.
I couldn't lie to myself though. This was crazy, it was unreal, and yet I was carrying them to the living room. I'm not sure if my brain was keeping me in check or if my first responder training was taking over. Whatever the case was, I needed to find out if they were okay.
Once I got to the couch, I placed them on it flat. I then turned on a nearby lamp. I realized now that the person was wearing a hooded cloak but the hood had fallen back, showing off some short dark hair. Step one came to mind and I placed a hand on their shoulder and shook them lightly as I called out, "are you hurt? Do you want medical attention?"
All I got out of them was a groan. So, when they can't answer, consent is implied to help them. The first thing to do was to get them out of their wet clothes. I saw the clasp on the cloak and undid it. When the clasp fell away, my hands didn't stop their work. If anything, I found myself focused on the job. I was right the rest of their clothes were wet but there were cuts on their body that looked fresh. It was also when I noticed their chest was pronounced and got the idea, they were probably female in sex. Gender I didn't know yet.
I stepped away to my supply closet that was just in the hallway and got out my first aid bag. Racing back, I dropped it on the ground next to the couch as I started to figure out what needed to be done. I had no idea if they had broken bones so moving them too much was out of the question. I got out my scissors and started to cut along the inner hem of the blouse.
Once cut on both sides I was able to pull the shirt off and toss it aside with the cloak. I noted her lack of a bra which made it easy to do a quick check of the upper chest. There were no wounds I could see present there but she did have plenty of cuts further down along the abdomen and her sides; I even noted a few on her arms.
A quick rub down to wash the blood away, some antiseptics on the wounds, and then fresh bandages put over the wounds. With that done, I got a towel and placed it over her upper body to try to keep her warm, dry her off, and provide some cover.
Next was the lower half. While I hadn't noticed any wounds down there, her pants were soaked as well. The storm here started not long ago but with how wet she was, you could swear she had been in it for hours. Sadly, I still needed to cut them away. In a few quick snips, she was naked from the waist down. I did a quick check and saw some bruises were on her legs but no reactions that made me think anything was broken.
Pleased that she was okay, I put another towel on her, this time covering her lower section. Packing my bag up, I went back to the closet. I set it on the floor of the closet as I got out a blanket and pillow from above. I went back over to her and got the pillow under her head and the blanket on top. I had no idea what she was but she seemed peaceful right now.
While she was out, I got her a set of sweat pants and a large shirt. She was shorter than I but only by a few inches so I hoped the clothing would do for the time being. It dawned on me that I realized she had no shoes on so I wondered if she didn't wear them on purpose. Back by her side, I placed the clothing on the coffee table. A moment later I had an apple and a bottle of water beside it.
Her clothes I had to bag up but I hadn't thrown them out, she may have needed something in there and I didn't want to go snooping. In what seemed like an hour I was sitting in my chair just a few feet away from the woman and sighed. I was already getting ready for bed when I heard the noise; but now, I felt the pull of sleep tug on my mind.
The next thing I knew, I heard some yelling and my eyes shot open. Daylight was coming through, the storm had passed, and the woman was looking around while she held an arm over her chest, keeping the towel in place. Soon, her dark red eyes met mine and she screamed, "what the fuck did you do to me, human?"
I tried not to move too much. Didn't want to startle her. "I found you passed out and gave you first aid." Calm tone, stay calm and it will help her calm down as well.
"So, you undressed me and molested me while I was out," she shot back. I could see that look in her eyes. Anger was a secondary emotion, something that came after fear or distress, and she was teetering on the edge of going into that emotion.
"All I did was patch up your wounds. Once the bandages were applied, I put towels over you to cover you." I motioned over to the clothes that were on the table. "Those are clothes you can have. When you are ready, I will leave the room so you can get dressed."
"Oh, so you didn't like what you saw? A goblin too ugly for yah?"
"You are far from ugly. But you needed help so I was professional in taking care of you. I'm just being polite and respecting that you may not want me to see you without clothes again."
The emotion in her eyes changed, but that wasn't anger I was seeing. Her shoulders relaxed and the fear on her face seemed to slowly fade away. She looked down at the clothes then up at me. "Why help me?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "You needed help, simple as that."
Her head tilted a bit as she asked, "what do I owe you?"
I shook my head and replied, "nothing. Would like to know your name though. I'm Alan."
There was a moment of silence then, "Shent."
