﻿Reggy looked down at the rat in his hands and nodded dumbly, and upon taking a closer look he realized that the little rodent was indeed wounded worse than he'd first thought. The gash on its side was leaking profusely, and his palms felt slick with blood -- not much, really, but Reg suspected it was more than an animal that size could afford to lose. "I...I think I need to stop the bleeding..."<br/><br/>He looked up, back to the girl. She didn't seem to be in shock or hysterics, which actually put her a step or two ahead of Reggy, who was perilously close to purchasing real estate on the corner of Panic and Despair. She was beautiful, he did notice that, but she was so damn<em>calm</em>, more than a nearly naked girl alone on the streets on a stormy night had any reason to be. Her admission of recognizing him as a theater employee did little to assauge his worry; as...<em>flattering</em>as it might have been to think of himself as worthy of attracting a stalker's attention, tonight was<span class="bbc_u">so</span>not the night to deal with such things. Reflexively he nodded again as she asked about the bike, locked into the parking rack at the building's corner behind him.<br/><br/>Reg jammed a hand back into his bag and pulled out a faded but clean handkerchief. From the way the little rat was behaving in his hand, he was nearly certain it was Silas, and the knowledge provided Reggy with, if not focus, at least a more definable priority. He wrapped the kerchief around the rodent's body and cinched it with surprising dexterity, providing a temporary bandage to staunch the bleeding. A glance upward told him the girl was still there (where was she going to go? This was probably the most exciting action Cape Merrin had to offer all night) and he straightened his usually slouched shoulders.<br/><br/>Reggy still didn't feel entirely comfortable leaving her on her own, but from the rat's frenetic squirming he had the notion that time was of the essence. "Um...look, I think I need to get my frie-...uh, my rat inside, somewhere...are you sure you're alright?" Reggy shook his head and didn't wait for her answer; whatever she said, he seriously doubted she was fine, but he didn't know what more he could do for her. He lifted the poncho up and deposited the rat gently into his dry satchel, then without another word pulled the poncho up over his head and offered the bunched-up bright slicker to the girl. "Here, just...take this, at least, you've got to be freezing. It's not much, but I guess right now it's all I can offer..."<br/><br/>Without another word, Reggy turned and fumbled the bike-lock key back out of his pocket and started to walk quickly toward the bike rack, holding his satchel tight to his chest to prevent his passenger from being jostled. Another blast of thunder rolled overhead as the storm picked up another second wind, so to speak, and Reggy unsnapped the normally obstinate little lock, dragging the old Mock-it Rocket off of the sidewalk.<em>'Hey, look at that. Success. Now if I can just stay that lucky a little longer...'</em>