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[ He can go for the handle. She doesn't know about his ability to process things right now, beyond his single-minded intent, but she doesn't think Alhaitham would have ever let her run in the first place if he'd been in his right mind, capable of lightning-fast thought.

If that's true, it's a blessing, because Tsuruno lets him pull at the same time she shoves, aiming on using the momentum to jerk the mop handle up to try and ram it into his chin while she aims a not-so-dainty kick (clad in a dainty maid shoe) at his stomach. This feels terrible but she's fighting for her life now. She's done this before--never at this much of a disadvantage, with her abilities sealed, but she'd never really stopped training. ]

[There's a sharp crack as the mop handle drives into his chin, and the forcing shut of his mouth causes him to bite his tongue to a cut. The blow stuns him as it rattles through his skull, giving Tsuruno the opportunity to slam her sharp heel into his stomach.

Alhaitham staggers back with a pained gasp dragged in, fingers slipping to too lose a hold on the mop handle. It puts just enough space between him and Tsuruno as he stumbles into the side of the desk.]

[ It's space she's seizing, pushing herself into a leap while he's recovering to try to bring the mop down on top of his head as hard as she can.

Incapacitating him is really the only option she's got left here. If this doesn't work, she'll improvise, but she doesn't exactly have the luxury to take it any easier than that. Not while he's trying to kill her. ]

[Alhaitham is only an ordinary human. He is made of flesh and sinew and bone, like anyone else. A solid core of wood collides with his skull. The motion jerks his head down. His body follows to its knees, the way of it a prelude before he crumples to the ground. A trickle of red carries itself down the grey strands of his hair, painting them with stark color.

Alhaitham lays motionless, except the steady rise of his breathing.]

Oh no, oh no, oh no--

[ It's a stricken little whisper as she drops to her knees besides his body, checking for a pulse because she has no time to observe a visible breathing pattern. The blood does nothing to ease her conscience, but he is still alive, and she has to focus on that.

She's not at full strength, or she could just carry him, but she has to settle for propping the mop against the desk, struggling to haul him off the ground to the point where she can drape him over her back (and head) like some kind of human robe and perform some kind of pained, awkward shuffle to the door with the mop as a kind of walking stick, half-carrying him and half-dragging him.

It's majestic. ]

[ beholding this majesty: the startled, if a little haggard, look of a maid just coming off his shift. kaveh looks. he is also holding what looks to be a plank of wood studded with nails. that gets tossed aside as clipped heels take him up to the familiar, thin figure of tsuruno. kaveh isn't looking at her, is the thing.

he ought to be. it's tsuruno. kaveh had checked in on the party knowing full well that this was going to be the last time in as many days that he will see tsuruno hale and safe - but tsuruno is carrying a glint of silver, and the silver is stained red. ]

... Alhaitham?

[ something in kaveh drops down into a long, deep well. there had been a palace on a cliffside. there had been the withering. kaveh had sat there amidst the ruins contemplating the end of things. this is that darkness seeped in like a terrible, inhaled shadow. this is worse. ]

[ Tsuruno freezes again at the sight of Kaveh, breath catching in her throat. It looks like he too didn't escape the maid garments, but more importantly, this is exactly what she wanted to avoid.

Slowly, hesitantly-- ]

He's--he's okay. He's breathing just fine. He just hit his head.

[ On a mop.

That she wielded.

Yeah, she is absolutely radiating guilt. ]

[ this is tsuruno. the only lesson kaveh's learning from all of this is that alhaitham's head hit the mop. kaveh looks. the panic doesn't so much recedes as it's tamped down, pushed into a receptacle, and buried with a vengeance.

and kaveh has so much of it, the vengeance, the anger, the rage. the is the light of the kshahrewar, not the part of it that nurtures and glows, but the part that sears and burns. kaveh breathes in. he allows himself to exhale. he marches forward. ]

Tsuruno, it's alright. He's going to be alright. [ kaveh's hands first find themselves on tsuruno's shoulders. he looks her up and down, and then reaches to help her with alhaitham's bulk. ] Are you alright? Did anything hurt you? If you've a wound, you have to tell me right now.

A wound...

[ She echoes him, a little distantly. Just as Kaveh shoves down his panic, she grabs handfuls of her alarm, her fear, her hurt, her guilt and packs it down with a little more care, the kind of methodical compartmentalizing that comes with having done that sort of thing for years. Now's not the time. There's still an unconscious man that at least Kaveh is helping her with, and she accepts that help gratefully. Right, she hadn't thought about it... ]

I got thrown into the wall? I think my back'll just bruise.

But he... [ She swallows, and there's still clear anxiety in her eyes. ] Al's more important right now, I think I hit him pretty hard, maybe there's ice upstairs--

It's alright. [ kaveh says, the words firm. there are teams of engineers who, upon hearing that tone of voice, will stop their panicked fiddling with sliding rules to look. ] Let's set him down by the wall for a moment. We can't go on without stabilising his neck, and making sure your back wasn't injured further. We won't get far enough upstairs. And Tsuruno - [ kaveh looks, the red of his gaze intent, ] this isn't your fault. And Alhaitham can take more than just this.

Did I ever tell you about how he overthrew the government over the course of a few weeks?

[ the words are conversational, even as he begins to lift alhaitham to the wall. ]

[ "This isn't your fault," he says, as though the things that haven't happened over the course of the last few days hadn't been a clear sign of consequences. And despite her best efforts, she hadn't been able to prevent them. Alhaitham being forced here, his murderous intent, the past few nearly sleepless nights--

Tsuruno takes a deep breath, a little miserably. There's a carefully suppressed exhaustion to her, now that she isn't trying to keep herself alive, but she moves to help move this skinny man over to the wall. ]

When he said not to compare me to that guy? A little.

[ It's still said with the kind of caution of someone distancing themselves, only half-intentionally. It's the easiest way to be calm right now, which is what his tone had told her to do, in no uncertain terms. ]

Yes, that man. [ kaveh continues in that same, firm tone. alhaitham is moved to the wall. kaveh gently lowers him, then flips him so that his head can be lowered to the floor. it's the second time that he falls to his knees. his voice continues, unwavering: ]

His name is Azar. He used to be the highest authority in our country. He confined our deity to a prison and tried to create his own. Quite literally, if I may add. Alhaitham stopped him; he found out what he was doing, he gathered a team, and he took the entire country by storm. [ it had been harrowing, coming back to sumeru city on the gossip of caravans with the akademiya in turmoil, kaveh's heart in his throat as he knows in the heart of it alhaitham's office sits, the beating lifeblood of it all. kaveh's fingers skim alhaitham's forehead. then, he stablises his neck. ]

He did that just because he didn't want the deal with the paperwork of a new regime. Can you believe it? What good is this man. He just wants to sleep in until ten every day.

[ Tsuruno crouches once Alhaitham has been placed, gaze resting on his face, rather than Kaveh as he explains. She hears him talking, hears what he's saying, but all she can really think about is the look on Alhaitham's face. The things that had attacked her before now had all been ghostly. No one she'd known.

He's so still now. ]

He knows what he wants, though. He doesn't have to answer to anyone else's expectations.

[ And she says it quietly. ]

And he's capable enough to get things done when he wants to. I admire that about him, you know?

I do too, love. I do too. [ gently, gentler, gentlest - because kaveh must keep talking. kaveh cannot stop. kaveh knows that if he stops now, he might never speak again.

there had been a hallway in the haunted house. there had been a hand on his cheek. ] But he doesn't always know what he wants. He's human, Tsuruno. He's my junior, after all - I can say this with certainty. There is so much that he needs to grow into still.

[ kaveh tears at his sleeve. the strip of cloth is used to gently dab away the blood, the viscera. the wound is a headwound. it ought to bleed a lot. ]

[ She forces herself to watch, because--she's responsible. Maybe she could have struck at the base of his neck. Gone for a pressure point. She'd had so little time to think, but it doesn't make it okay, that she'd gone for the attack with the least finesse.

But Tsuruno doesn't interrupt Kaveh. He speaks like someone who needs to, like his own thoughts will get the better of him if he stops, and maybe that's just his way of coping. She gets it. ]

... You say that like you're any different. [ Not judgmental, just pensive. Because Kaveh is human, too. They're both older than her, but she thinks there's probably some things out there he also has to grow into. Just like she does.

If she lives that long. ]

[ a second strip from the hem of his dress. this one pressed to the wound - to staunch it. it will begin to clot soon. kaveh is no amurta biologist, but he has sat in on enough of tighnari's lectures. the reality is alhaitham's blood dyeing his hands, soaking into what's left of his sleeve. the scent is overwhelming. the scene is overwhelming.

but tsuruno is here, and alhaitham is here. and kaveh is all they have. ]

Oh, I have growing to do as well. I'm hardly perfect. Don't we all, Tsuruno? I wouldn't put either of us on a pedestal. He would say the same thing. [ kaveh breathes out in the way of a sigh. ] Have you been to the top floor yet, Tsuruno?

A couple of times, not this time around.

[ Because who would just leave someone with homicidal intent to skip on upstairs? She kneels there, wanting badly to help but also hesitant to. Kaveh seems to know what he's doing. What if she makes it worse? ]

[ tsuruno hovers. kaveh knows - kaveh knows it, the helplessness, the need. but this is alhaitham, and kaveh can't let alhaitham's blood stain tsuruno's hands. she would never be able to wash it off. ]

Alright, I'm going to use the rest of this sleeve to bind the wound. It's going to soak through, but that's normal. Headwounds bleed. That's the nature of it.

Tsuruno, can you hold up Alhaitham's head? Just here, with the base of his neck.

[ Listen, she doesn't want to be a third wheel in your ownership of Alhaitham's blood, she just feels bad--

But she nods, rapidly, and moves just as swiftly to reposition herself and gently hold up Alhaitham's very unconscious head. For some reason, even though she'd done everything in her power to haul him off the floor and out of that room using her own strength, she finds that just holding up his head feels heavier. Maybe because it's one of the most delicate parts of him. ]

[ tsuruno sets her hands in place. kaveh lets go. it is the hardest thing to do, letting go. kaveh had stepped back from alhaitham's outstretched hand at the door. alhaitham had let go. the guilt steeps. what if he hadn't stepped back? what if he had let alhaitham's hand remain? would he still bleed?

the thought lingers. kaveh's fingers are deft, and sure. the ripped strip of cloth is wrapped around the bloodied wound of alhaitham's head. it disappears beneath black and white ruffles. it will soak through soon, but that's the nature of wounds. kaveh would know. ]

... thank you. [ kaveh breathes. ] I want to get him onto my back. Can you help me move his legs? We can start for the top floors; the second floor is more dangerous than staying here, but the top floor is the best place to be. We'll need to risk it.

[ Since Tsuruno was definitely not in a position to witness earlier not-platonic shenanigans in which Kaveh probably made Horrible Mistakes, she has no idea what's running through Kaveh's mind at the moment, beyond worry for his friend(?).

He wraps the wound and she nods again, gaze solemn. ]

Yeah, it's... it's okay. If it's just ghosts, I can hold them off. [ "just" ghosts.

But she'll follow Kaveh's directions, working at his guidance to help maneuver Alhaitham off the floor and onto the back of someone who is much taller than she is. At the very least, Alhaitham will look incrementally more dignifed on Kaveh's back than her own, and she'll pause to grab the mop once they're ready to proceed. ]

[ alhaitham's weight settles. has he always been so heavy? tsuruno collects her mop. she had hit alhaitham hard enough to knock him out. she will be able to handle her own, kaveh thinks, as he nods. he begins to guide them both towards the door. there will be a stairwell.

still: ]

Tsuruno, you must promise me. Stay close, but if I tell you to run - you must run.

I'll think about it.

[ Rather calmly, for someone who is gripping her mop like it has tasted the blood of an innocent and it will feast yet again tonight if it must.

It's not a promise to run. It's a promise to consider running if she thinks it makes sense to run and not just Kaveh telling her to run while he plays decoy or meat shield, because she's not letting that happen. ]

Tsuruno.

[ as soft as dust. ]

[ Her eyes narrow. ]

I'm not going to make a promise if I don't think I'll be able to commit to it.

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