Insensitive (Sett)

[Sakhmet Richmond]

((this takes place immediately after Horus' hospitalization))

Sakhmet was, to put it lightly, furious with Sett. She was so worried and upset about Horus, and then her older brother went and was a completely absurd ass to their baby brother, as if yelling at him would accomplish a single thing.

She'd silently fumed the entire way home, and as soon as they were in the living room she'd turned on him, seething.

"I hope you're pleased with yourself. You've only upset him more, and now how much do you think he'll trust us? We're supposed to be on his side, Sett, not pushing him away. He needs us to support him."

She very much wanted to kick him in the shins, but he was (fortunately for him) not close enough for her to reach, and so she contented herself with reaching down and picking up the cat rubbing itself against her ankles.

"You're a right ass, you know that?"

[Sett Richmond]

The ride home was silent; Sett looked out the window of the taxi, facing away from Sakhmet, still unaware that she was very angry with him.

Once they reached home, he practically kicked the door open and was about to run down to his room to trash it when Sakhmet turned on him and started reprimanding him for his actions. He hadn't seen his baby sister this livid since...well, ever.

He was surprised enough to hang back to hear everything she said. But the moment she finished, it was his turn. But none of the things that came out of his mouth matched up to anything rational he thought was in his head.

"What are we supposed to do, Sakhmet? Coddle him and let him think this is all okay?" He yelled. The tone of his voice changed, and so did the theme of his rant. "Our baby brother just about died and all because of his fucked up view of himself. He...he lied to us about being fine and I was stupid enough to believe him." His voice cracked at the end but as much as the back of his eyes were stinging, tears didn't fall.

"He...he should have..." Sett paused, his breathing becoming erratic. "He should have told us..." he should have told me, Sett thought to himself selfishly. All of Horus' childhood, Sett had been his guardian. Even before his powers manifested, Sett was protective over his baby brother. He liked to believe he was the only one who was able to protect Horus. And when he had manifested, Horus had used him as a heater when he slept, burying himself deep into Whitey's fur.

And now...now he was in the hospital with his hands bandaged up. Everything was screwed up.

[Sakhmet Richmond]

"So the only options you think are available are to either coddle him or yell at him? How do you expect to gain trust by calling him an idiot?" Sakhmet hissed, causing the cat in her arms to squirm uncomfortably.

"He's sick, Sett. Of course he's going to tell us everything is fine, that's part of the disease, isn't it?" She understood her brother's frustration, of course; it was so difficult to help when you were turned away, told there wasn't any problem for you to help with. But it wasn't Horus' fault, not really, that was the way such mental diseases preyed on people.

"He's sick, so we can't.....we can't blame him for being sick. When someone catches the flu you don't tell them oh, how could you, your immune system didn't fight it off. You help them recover and you take them to the doctor. I suppose I'll have to call his therapist, make sure he realizes this is ever so serious. much more serious than we realized."

She sighed, allowing the cat to escape, and it ran and hid under the sofa.

"I don't suppose you know his number?"

[Sett Richmond]

Sett couldn't respond to Sakhmet, even if he wanted to. He knew she was right and she was being awfully rational. He just wasn't in the right state of mind to appreciate it. All he wanted to do was break things the way Horus had broken. It wasn't fair that Horus was the one who had to go through all this.

Shaking his head, he flumped down on an armchair, burying his face in both hands. He let Sakhmet rationalise the situation, not at all shameful that he was letting his younger sister deal with this on her own. He was selfish for not even trying, he knew that, and he knew that this didn't revolve around him but he wasn't in the best state of mind to acknowledge that.

Sakhmet's question jarred him for a bit but when he came to, he slipped his phone out from his pocket and searched for Dr. Neville''s number. He had siphoned it off Thomas' phone from before because he knew it would come in handy.

He just didn't know he'd need the number so soon.

"I don't know if you should bother him so late in the evening but just...just wait till the morning or something." He handed his phone to Sakhmet and leaned back on the couch. "We have to get Horus back here. I can't stand the thought of him staying in that blood bank any longer than he should."

[Sakhmet Richmond]

Sakhmet accepted the phone from Sett wordlessly, pulling her own phone out of her purse and programming Dr. Neville's number in. When she was finished she handed his phone back with a quiet, "Thank you."

Her anger at Sett was slowly dissipating, and she realized now that she'd finished yelling at him that some of it was displaced anger over Horus' situation. "I'm sorry." She sighed, sliding the purse off her arm and dropping it onto the sofa. "You're right, he probably won't even be in yet, the morning would be best."

However, she frowned when Sett referred to the hospital as a blood bank. "I don't like hospitals any more than you do," She reprimanded, seating herself beside her purse. "But the doctors there are doing their very best to be sure Horus survives. Without them he could be dead, Sett, so we should be grateful to them. They'll let him come home when its safe, and then we'll have to do our best to help him recover by following their instructions."

The cat poked its head out from around her feet, and she bent down to scratch behind its ears. "I don't know if we can let him have the attic back until he's recovered, we may have to discuss that with the physicians and rearrange some rooms. Do you think you or Anubis could share a room with him, if the doctors approved it?"

[Sett Richmond]

He had had enough of apologies for the night and despite having to do the same to Sakhmet and to Horus later when they met again, Sett couldn't find it in himself to do so. He didn't know why his pride was getting the better of him and he didn't know why he was letting it. It had always been so that his siblings were always spared from it. He wondered briefly why this situation was any different.

Sakhmet was definitely handling this better than he was, at least outwardly. It really wasn't fair that he was letting the younger Richmond be the strong one. Then again, Sakhmet, with all her feelings and love, she really was the stronger one wasn't she? All the same, Sett had to take responsibility. He knew that.

Sett nodded when Sakhmet spoke about sleeping arrangements and he leaned forward from the couch. "Doubt Nub would let his bubba out of his sight now. It'll be best if Horus slept with Annie for the time being. I'll have the attic cleaned up and put Horus' things on the second floor for the time being. Maybe put it in the spare rooms. I'll probably sleep in one of the spare rooms for now. Just in case." He sighed and leaned back against the armchair again.

"You should work out a meal plan for him. Make sure he eats when he needs to. Whenever I can get off from work, we'll bring him out to get some exercise or fresh air. Something."

[Sakhmet Richmond]

"You're absolutely right," Sakhmet agreed that Anubis was going to cling to Horus until his recovery was ascertained, a fact she wholeheartedly approved of. She didn't think it would be healthy for him to be alone right now, not when he was feeling so low.

"We should clean it up now, before they get home." She suggested as her cat leaped onto the sofa, circling the cushion beside her. "Do all the moving before he can object, because I'm sure he will. He's sure to try and convince us he's fine."

As his requests at the hospital had made clear.

"And I think that's a wonderful idea, I'll definitely keep him on track with his meals." She smiled, then; nurturing and making sure people ate properly was her driving passion.

"I tried to encourage him to sign up for that self-defense class, the one run by Mr. Muller, but he behaved quite poorly when we went and I haven't pushed him. Do you think perhaps the two of you could start to go?"

[Sett Richmond]

Slowly, Sett began to calm down. Sakhmet's calming presence was doing him a whole lot of good. No longer was he angry at himself, no longer was he angry at his brother, even. However, he was starting to feel absolutely guilty and horrified of his previous actions.

He couldn't dwell on that longer than he wanted to since Sakhmet was suggesting they start cleaning up right now. To even think of cleaning up the blood he saw earlier was making Sett sick. "Yeah," he answered hoarsely, rubbing at his face with his hands.

Sett smiled when Sakhmet smiled, glad she was around. He didn't know what he would be doing now if she wasn't around.

"Good, good." He nodded and looked up at his sister when she mentioned the self-defense class. "Oh yeah...sure. I think it'd be better for him if he got some food in him first. We can work up to that when he's healthier."

Sett got up and walked over to Sakhmet, pressing his lips on the top of her head. "Maybe you should go and rest first." Sett mumbled against her hair. "I need to call in work and tell them I can't come in."

[Sakhmet Richmond]

"I absolutely not going to rest first." Sakhmet disagreed, frowning at the very idea. Horus was the one who was sick, she had no reason to need rest and a lot of work to do to prepare for his homecoming, besides. "His room needs to be cleaned, the sooner the better. Do you know how difficult it is to get out bloodstains? And we mustn't forget poor Crimson, I need to console him and let him know Horus will be fine."

She could agree that Sett should call in work, and she could also see how perhaps self-defense classes shouldn't be taken while weak, but she also thought that was the best way to get him back up to strength. Surely Mr. Muller would understand health reasons for being weaker than usual.

"You call into work, I'm going to clean." She stood, displacing the cat, which had crawled into her lap.

[Sett Richmond]

"Fair enough." Sett shrugged when the younger Richmond refused to rest. He grabbed his phone from her and called the cafe. Once that was settled, he went to the kitchen in search of cleaning supplies.

Did he buy any?

"Sakh, did we buy any solvents? I feel like...did you?" He called out. He scratched his head and wondered if he was the one who did the groceries this week.

[Sakhmet Richmond]

While Sett had been talking to Kali, Sakhmet had begun filling a bucket with sudsy water, her mind working furiously. It had appeared at the time that there was blood everywhere, but her anxiety and fear for Horus may have amplified that. There was certainly glass to be cleaned up, and poor Crimson would need a bath. And she was going to have to wash Horus' sheets like he'd requested.

She wasn't expecting Sett to offer his help at all, let alone to ask her whether or not they had any of the requisite cleaning supplies, and she turned off the faucet to look at him in surprise. "We have it, it's under the sink." She informed him, lifting her bucket out of said sink as she did so.

"But I have that taken care of. Why don't you give Crimson a bath and a treat?" That would keep Sett out of her way while she dealt with the blood; she didn't expect him to handle that part very well.

[Sett Richmond]

Sett absentmindedly nodded when Sakhmet pointed to where the cleaning supplies were. Of course they were there. That's where cleaning supplies usually were, weren't they?

It was only then that he realised that his shirt and hands were stained with Horus' blood. He'd had no time to even worry about anything else after the ambulance picked Horus up.

"Oh...okay," he said in a daze when Sakhmet reassured him that he would handle the blood. Sett wasn't squeamish around blood, for the record. But Sakhmet was right. He wouldn't handle it very well if he had to look at it again.

Whistling for the dog to come to him, he took comfort in seeing that Sett's own dog had taken to being Crimson's shadow. And it looked as though most of the blood in Crimson's fur was gone.

He bent down and let Crimson lick his face. "Come on boy...we'll clean you up." He patted Huggles as well before getting up, directing the two dogs to the backyard.

Taking his time with the hose, he let his dog and Crimson run around the yard, although it was mostly Huggles trying to cheer Crimson up. Once the hose was operating, he took his time hosing Crimson down. He took his shirt and jeans off as well and dumped it to the side so he could attempt to get the stain out.

Not long after, he was done and he went inside to clean Crimson and himself up before putting out the doggie treats. He let the two dogs accompany each other while he changed into some new clothes, dumping his wet ones in the wash.

Moving upstairs, he briefly hoped Sakhmet was done with at least half of the blood.

[Sakhmet Richmond]

While Sett was busy with Crimson, Sakhmet had begun to scour Horus' room. She'd begun by sweeping up the shards of glass littering the floor, then removed the shattered mirror from the wall. There was no sense in keeping it; she'd put it out with the morning trash.

She set it to one side, mentally making a note to ask Sett for help bringing it down later. For the moment all she needed was the knowledge she wouldn't cut herself while trying to scrub bloodstains out of the carpet.

Of course, she was going to have to leave the solvent to soak into the carpet if she wanted to be absolutely sure to get all the blood out. She sighed, then, before stripping the bed. Unsurprisingly the blood had seeped through the sheets and into the mattress. She resolved to flip the mattress (again with Sett's help) and then later think about buying a nice, new one. Perhaps one of those expensive ones that were supposed to conform to body shape for a better night's sleep.

She could check the carpet after the sheets had gone through the wash; she should be able to finish by then.

Just as she shifted the bundle of sheets under one arm, reaching for the door, Sett burst through and she stepped back in surprise. "Oh! Sett. I'm ever so glad you're here. I need a bit of help." She gestured toward the mirror, "I need to get that outside, and we need to flip Horus' mattress."

[Sett Richmond]

At least the blood was dried, Sett thought to himself as he surveyed the room.

He didn't quite understand how Sakhmet was so...energetic but he supposed they were all dealing with the incident the only way they knew how. Sett was being stoic, Anubis was clingy and Sakhmet was...well Sakhmet.

Without another word, Sett moved towards to mirror, picking it up with both hands and moved out from the attic to dispose of the damaged piece of junk near the bins. He went back upstairs and helped Sakhmet flip the mattress.

They moved about the attic, cleaning things until the wee hours of the morning. There was still a lot to do but they needed to rest. And despite Sakhmet's protests, Sett now had the key to the door of the attic and he pushed her down the stairs to get her to bed.

"We can continue this later. I promise. Just get some rest." Sett patted his little sister's head before moving down to the basement.

Sleep was the last thing on his mind.

[OOC: Wrapped]