The Lobby

Esmeralda was exploring the town and had entered this large building at random, just to explore. She'd never seen anything like this place before and everything looked so strange, it was difficult to believe she wasn't dreaming. Suddenly she heard what sounded like a small girl's voice and turned her head. When she saw that the young girl was bleeding she gasped and ran towards her, "Are you alright? How did this happen?" 

Esmeralda gently backed up and held up her hands to show she wasn't holding any weapons. "I'm sorry for rushing you like that. I promise I won't hurt you." She tore off a part of her skirt and took out a flask of alcohol she always carried with her. Where she came from, infections often led to amputation, so she always made sure she had something with her, even for small scratches. "I can clean it and wrap it for you if you like. Or I can set these down next to you, if you don't like people touching you." 

Esmeralda smiled warmly at her, "It's fine. This is such a strange place, I wouldn't blame anyone for being scared of a stranger here, particularly of one running at you so suddenly."  She held the alcohol over Melody's wounded hand, "Prepare yourself. This will probably sting a bit, but it's much better than letting it get infected."   

Esmeralda tied the piece she'd torn from her skirt around Melody's hand as gently as she could, trying not to exacerbate the pain, but she had to pull it tight to put pressure on the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding, "I shouldn't think so. If it hasn't stopped bleeding in five minutes, we'll stitch it up. But this looks like a pretty shallow cut, so you should be fine if you just keep it clean and regularly change your bandages."

Esmeralda grinned at her, "I'm Esmeralda, pleasure to meet you. You handled this pretty well, I know some grown men who cry when they have to use alcohol." She winked at her playfully as she sat down next to her on the floor, "Have you been here very long?"

"No, I have no idea where I am, or what I'm even doing here." Esmeralda laid her head in her hands and looked at Melody's strange clothing, "I guess you aren't from Paris?"