Rufus + Efof - "A cracking time"

<snip>
As the snow subsided, and the blizzard raged, Rufus hung in the tree
branches unconscious. He was alive, but the force of being pressed
against the tree had cracked his ribs and it could be safely assumed
that he had broken at least one leg from the concussive force of the
icy wind that had knocked him down. His arm was broken too and he was
battered and bruised. He awoke to a hurt locker** and looked down at
the dizzying drop beneath him. He moaned and hoped that he wouldn't
have to endure this for too much longer.
</snip>
Who: Rufus and Efof
Where: In a snow covered tree
When: During the blizzard
Rufus heard the noise on the branch above him, and turned his head to
look upwards despite how painful it was to his chest to do so.
He almost fell out of the tree with shock when an upside down Efof
faced him, hanging from an upper branch.
"Hello!" Efof said chirpily, the bitter snow and sub-zero temperatures
not even dampening his joyous attitude.
"Efof, don't ever sneak up on me! And why are you hanging upside down
from a tree like a monkey?"
Efof climbed down. "Did I ever tell you that my people used to live in
trees? The four arms came in really handy."
"No you never told me that." Said Rufus.
"Ah! Probably cos it's all bollocks and I just made it up!" Said Efof.
He paused then added. "It's great being an alien. All you humans will
believe anything I tell you!"
"Oh." Said Rufus quietly. He was still in a lot of pain. "So what are
the four arms useful for?"
"Oh, loads of things." Said Efof. He blew on his cold hands. "But it's
a pain in the ass when you're cold and only have one pair of gloves!"
Two of his hands were so blue they looked like they would drop off. He
exercised them by dragging Rufus from the tree and into under the
tree's roots, which had formed a small cave under a snowdrift
In the shelter of the snowdrift Rufus assessed his wounds.
"I'm beaten up pretty bad Efof, I think I've broken my arm and my leg,
and my ribs really hurt."
Efof looked around, feeling pretty useless. He wasn't trained as any
kind of medic, especially human physiology. He wasn't entirely sure
how many hearts they had, and was still a bit confused as to why their
genitals were between their legs – how useless is that?
But he found a small medikit that they had been carrying in the away team.
"Never fear! For I have a small medkit!"
He opened it and checked the contents. "Oh! Here's an anticeptic
wipe." He started wiping Rufus's face with it.
"Get off! That's useless!"
Efof checked the kit for more things. "Aha! A mosquito spray, have
some of this – will it help?" He sprayed it all over Rufus' face.
"Gah," Rufus spat the spray out of his mouth. "What are you doing?
That stuff is foul! And it's not helping!"
"Well what do you want me to do? This stuff is useless!"
"It's a medical kit, there must be something uselful…"
"There's a bandage." Efof said hopefully. "He got it out and started
to bandage up Rufus's broken leg."
"Okay how is this going to help?"
"Erm…. I dunno, I've seen people do it on tv?"
"Get me a splint! At least then I can walk."
Efof looked shocked and confused. "A what?"
"A splint!"
"Are you sure?"
Rufus nodded, wincing in pain. So Efof grabbed a stick of wood and
rubbed it up and down Rufus's leg.
"Ow you fool you're giving me splinters!"
"Oh is that not the same?" Efof said innocently.
"No, just give me that stick I'll do it myself!"
Rufus put the stick next to his leg and wrapped the bandage around it,
forming a loose splint. He tried to put pressure on his leg but
screamed in pain.
Efof stood around looking and feeling useless. He wasn't sure if this
was one of those moments where the best thing he could do was to not
do anything at all, as he would usually muck it up.
He supported Rufus, who was trying to put weight on his leg, but the
leg made a cringeworthy cracking sound and bent in a funny way.
"Now, I'm definitely no expert, but I've never seen a human leg bend
in THAT way!"
Rufus was in tears of pain. Efof looked around nervously not sure what
to do. "Erm… ahh… well… maybe it'll get better?"
Rufus poked his own bent leg. Then looked straight up at Efof with a
look that conveyed all the hope he had that Efof could fix his leg.
"It needs snapping back into place. Do you think you can do it?"
Efof looked around hoping that there was someone behind him that Rufus
was talking to.
"Me? You want me to what? What now?"
"Just grab my leg here and here, then pull and twist I guess."
Efof paced back and forth with a fist in his mouth. He stopped. Then
paced again. "Surely that will really really hurt?"
Rufus nodded.
"And you want me to really really hurt you?"
Rufus nodded, looking more and more vulnerable. But the adrenaline and
endorphins in his system were helping him to block out most of the
pain, and at least he was thinking straight.
"I just don't want it to set all funny. Trust me, I've seen mum do it
loads of times. Its for the best."
Efof cringed and knelt down, he touched Rufus' broken leg gingerly as
if it just touching it would make it drop off.
Rufus held his breath and Efof tugged on the leg, putting the bone
back into place with a sickening `crack'.
Rufus screamed in pain and Efof ran off flapping his arms around,
making just as much noise.
"Urgh, I don't ever ever ever want to do anything like that again!"
Said Efof.
<Tag!>