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[ Tsuruno's given Kaveh his moment, and when his patient flinches, she flinches too, eyes flitting over to the mop, then back to Alhaitham's face. She tries to tell herself it's just an instinctive reaction. She's still on edge. He'd been trying to kill her the last time he was conscious and now he's awake again, but it has to be better. It has to be better now, or she's given this man a concussion and a bloody head injury, among lesser things, for nothing.

He speaks and her breath shudders out of her. ]

You're talking.

[ It's an inane statement. It's not even answering his question. But this is so much better than that cold stare with cruel intent and absolute silence. ]

H-how're you feeling? I hit you pretty hard...

[ kaveh remembers once more to breathe.

it comes out in a rush. there's a stutter that rises high when kaveh wonders, for a moment, if he's forgotten how to do it after all - the inhale and exhale, the relief that comes after the grip of an untenable storm. alhaitham's eyelash flutter against the contour of his cheek, and kaveh nearly drops the bag of ice on him. his fingers feel cold. this time, the scene this time is set without the proximity of it: alhaitham opens his eyes, and kaveh sees him in macro. the line of his body shifts. the silver of his body dilutes. the shadows of his form waver as he comes unto himself. and kaveh thinks -

his fingers clasp the little make-shift ice pack. kaveh moves it from the wound to its side to better account for the swelling. the cool winter of his fingers skim across the crown of alhaitham's head, it brushes aside the silverine strands there. kaveh draws in a breath. he says: ]

Well, you've seen two, now. Have there been more? And what manner of opinions have you formed on them since, hm? Tell them to me, and let this maid tell you how you are wrong. [ kaveh gestures to tsuruno. ] Tsuruno, love, can you find another table cloth? I'm going to redress his head.

[Tsuruno stares, wary, to assess him for the threat. The relief that breaks her expression tells him this was the right direction. The resemblance between them sits heavy in Alhaitham's chest--he remembers throwing her into the wall. He knows she will attempt to downplay it.

He breathes out.] My head hurts. That was a good hit.

[Unfortunately, and fortunately, simultaneously.

His gaze slides to Kaveh next. It follows the direction that Kaveh brushes his hair with cold fingertips. The follow up, the rote banter sits on his tongue: "Heine, and you all make terrible maids."

His eyes slip close. He lets it go. When they open next, they're on Tsuruno.] I'll be fine.

[Kaveh sets her to task, so he says nothing more. Instead he watches, to catch the sight of her back when she turns.]

[ My head hurts, he says, and Tsuruno has to do everything short of physically biting her tongue to keep her expression under control. Something subdued, yes, not allowed to be bright and chipper because that's not the kind of face that would be expected and it wouldn't make any of them feel any better.

But he doesn't banter with Kaveh and that strikes her as concerning and maybe that's better to focus on than Alhaitham being in pain or the tightness in her throat, so she nods swiftly to Kaveh and turns to locate a table cloth. Black or orange, very few options, and the sling of ice stays in place as she moves.

Orange is more her color, but black is more Alhaitham's, so she goes for that, granting the two of them some amount of privacy. It will be brief. She'll be back swiftly. She's anxious. ]

[ my head hurts, alhaitham says. that was a good hit. kaveh thinks - with some measure of something like exasperation, like frustration, like relief, that there is nothing more alhaitham. trust alhaitham to measure the strength of the hit that bled his head. trust the lunatic of the akademiya to see through to the core of it: that alhaitham ought to be proud that tsuruno can protect herself so well. tsuruno goes. kaveh knows - she is giving them a measure of privacy. a single moment behind the veil before the vicissitudes of the moment catches up.

there is nothing to fill the moment with, is the thing. there is a moment when the connection is broken. the severing of a single wire of a complete circuit. the fault in the bedrock shifting mountains. a rock rolling into the path of a stream. a hand outstretched, meeting nothing.

kaveh looks. the silence steeps. nothing fills it. kaveh can't fill it. he ought not try.

- but it's tsuruno, is the thing. ]

Her back is alright. [ kaveh says, because he doesn't need to look to know where alhaitham is looking. his hands begin to gently peel back the bloodied bandages, an incremental inch at a time. his fingers stain red with it. kaveh's hands are the hands of an architect. of course they would be still. today, they're still. ] Nothing is broken, but the bruise will linger. I've had her ice it. I'm going to take her to Doctor Daan so that he can ensure she is well.

[Tsuruno turns. Alhaitham's gaze stays upon her back blossoming yellow and red. Remorse is not an emotion Alhaitham feels often, but it isn't foreign. The fault is too complicated for him to claim simple responsibility, but this is Tsuruno that could have been hurt far worse. This could have been worse--blunt force can still damage the spine. There isn't a surgery here to help her, lacking in medical care as they are.

It's the pinch and purse of his brow and lips. The silence sits between them until Kaveh speaks, only of the topic of Tsuruno, only the thing that's stuff safe to speak between them.]

He'll be busy after this. [It's an observation: the wounds will pile up. People have been forced with an unprecedented demand to participate. Their autonomy in this place is as ever an illusion.] So take her tomorrow if he's available.

[If he's not equally beat.

Once the bandages are peeled back Alhaitham shifts his head and arms to slide off his headphones. He looks over the band, satisfied to see it isn't bent.]

[ She returns; the tablecloth has already been reduced to strips of fabric, to give Kaveh less work to do, to give her hands more work to do. Despite her intention to give them privacy, she has to wonder if they'll even bother talking about anything relevant. Probably fussing over her and she thinks she could tell them how many ways this body has been twisted and broken and she'd ultimately been fine, but it's likely not wise.

They weren't arguing when she left, which is concerning enough. She returns, kneeling, placing the strips down in a neat pile for easy access. One glance at Alhaitham, the blood still matting his hair and how much has soaked through the bandage and she closes her eyes briefly before she speaks. ]

Orange wasn't really your color.

[ Another absurd thing to say, but she has to stick to the light things. She has to not think about the man whose head hurts because of her. ]

[ tsuruno returns. the tablecloth is black. it's kaveh who smiles a little at it, the smile then-fading much in the way of an old and intimate bruise. it had been torn to strips. tsuruno's hands must ache, kaveh thinks, as he takes a strip. he winds it around his hand before he beckons alhaitham to lift his head. there is only kaveh's thighs. he kneels and rests the jut of his hip against the back of alhaitham's head to hold him aloft. the pleats of the dress part.

slowly, kaveh shifts. he shifts like the six pm needle of a clock, to block the sight of blood from tsuruno's eyes. ]

Orange truly isn't. [ is what kaveh says, after a beat, ] Everything that he owns which is worth keeping is green and black, you know. That doesn't include the terrible little statues that he finds wherever he goes, but that's how you know that only green and black works.

[Alhaitham attempts, at first, to hold himself up. His head swims for the effort of moving too quickly and when he blinks Kaveh has his head rested upon him instead. Alhaitham closes his eyes so he doesn't have to look up at him.

His headphones rest upon his chest with his hands curled around them.] Black is versatile. In the absence of light, any contrast to it is enhanced.

[ It's a very Alhaitham thing to say. It's also a Kaveh thing to explain this about him, in a more personal way than Alhaitham himself words it, and if not for the fact that it's two of them in disheveled and torn maid outfits and Alhaitham with a head injury, it would almost be funny to muse on it. ]

Black also attracts heat, so maybe don't wear it as much in the summer...

[ it's a soft little mutter, almost as though she's instinctively trying to converse. ]

... Ah, and say something if you start feeling tired, okay? I'm pretty sure you shouldn't fall asleep with a concussion.

Please. This is the man who graduated with the most courses taken outside of his Darshan. He knows. He just doesn't care. Just as he knows that black is a lazy way of building contrast.

[ kaveh's fingers continue to wend. the wound slowly disappears once more beneath layers upon layers - black this time, not white. kaveh is almost glad for it. black soaks up blood. ]

And I agree. You can't sleep. If you do, I - [ will not kiss it awake.

will not hit you awake.

will not have my hands around your throat.

kaveh stops. he starts. he stops again. ] - just don't. Alright? Alhaitham.

[Tsuruno attempts to advise him against the thing he does every hot season, because the rainforest only has so much variation. And he says, with a steady breath that imbue all the severity of a lofty prophet bearing down--] I'll wear what I want.

[--the words that a five year old child might say.

They both fuss. Of course they do.] And I know. I'm not sleeping. The music is too loud.

[Louder, still, with his headphones removed.]

Edited 2023-10-27 05:31 (UTC)

Sorry. Just bear with it for a little while longer.

[ Like, she'd put her hands over his ears, but Kaveh is in the process of rebandaging, so that would only be getting in the way. Alhaitham is at least feeling decent enough to be peevish, so that's some form of relief. It'll be better once they can actually get out of here, but one thing at a time. ]

Tsuruno, there's really nothing to apologise for. He even thinks the rustling of the mint plant's leaves is loud.

[ the blood disappears beneath the bandages. kaveh remembers once again to breathe. he shifts, finally, so tsuruno can see alhaitham once more. the ice pack is slipped next to alhaitham's head. it rests on kaveh's thighs, where it melts, like pinpricks of a miniature winter's storm. ]

There. This will hold, for now.

[He'll bear it, but he won't be pleased about bearing it. These are simple facts.

The cold reaches Alhaitham's head again. He reaches up. The brush of his fingers by Kaveh's is brief, quick to avoid them for a grip on it as he shifts his other arm and slowly pushes himself into a sitting position with his eyes still closed. He counts the seconds to five, then opens them.

He looks at Tsuruno.] Well, I've admitted my head hurts. Are you going to admit your back hurts?

Why?

[ There's something in her posture that's stiffened, for all that her voice hasn't changed at all. It's still light. ]

It's honestly hard to feel any kind of pain with the ice right now and it wasn't that bad.

[ Technically, she thinks she could turn off her sense of pain; she probably still has that ability, even with the majority of them sealed. But...

No, she thinks, she'd rather not. ]

[ of course it hurts - kaveh nearly says. the words are bitten in half. they are swallowed. alhaitham's fingers had skimmed past his. tsuruno's answer is a stilted one. there may be something he is missing - there may be nothing he is missing, and he simply doesn't have the capability to parse it. not as of right now. kaveh looks between them. then, he gets up. ]

Tsuruno, the bruising went down to your tailbone. [ kaveh says, gently, ] It was, and still is, bad.

[ ... ] Can you watch over Alhaitham for a moment? I need to make a call.

[ kaveh's head tilts. he steps aside towards the tables. tighnari's contact information flits to the top of his screen. ]

[Kaveh reinforces it. Alhaitham looks over his shoulder briefly as Kaveh walks away.

He turns back to Tsuruno.] Even if you don't say it I already know it hurts because I know how much force I threw you with.

[There is a pause, taking a moment longer to parse his thoughts.] Your system may still be in shock after getting attacked by someone you trusted. Given the circumstances, neither of us can be truly held at fault for having hurt each other. But you are hurt.

Edited 2023-10-29 08:45 (UTC)

[ Tsuruno watches Kaveh go, then glances at Alhaitham, hands balling into fists on top of her thighs. Not defensively or angrily, just instinctive, something to grip found in the folds of her skirt. ]

This isn't exactly the first time I've been attacked by a friend. [ Not that he's ever acknowledged friendship, but still. ] And it wasn't...

... This isn't exactly a "fair's fair" type of thing. You threw me into a wall and I hit you in the chin and over the head, and I'm getting off with a bruise and you've probably got a concussion.

[ Would she feel better if he'd hurt her much more? It's hard to say and she doesn't want to dwell on it. ]

It'll hurt later, maybe, when I process it, but--you couldn't control yourself. I could. I could've found some other way to incapacitate you, but--

[ Instead, she'd gone for brutal. ]

You're right, it wasn't a fair fight since I'm larger and stronger than you. And I would have continued until I'd killed you if you hadn't stopped me. [It would not have been just a throw into the wall. It would have ended in someone's blood, he realizes. Tsuruno's isn't the better option.]

And you were effective. There's no reason to have considered alternatives and put yourself at risk of greater harm compared to the solution that works. It's a good thing that you were able to think so quickly to protect yourself.

... I--

[ A breath. She doesn't like how that single syllable wavers and trembles and she grips the fabric even more tightly, the silver glinting up at her from her ring.

Would that have worked, she wonders, inanely. Would that kill her here? Beating her viciously? Or would he have known to break the ring?

She's not as human as she used to be, after all. ]

Could you just... stop praising me already? I didn't want to hurt you! I would have been okay if I'd been more at risk, because you--you're so important to Kaveh, you're so important to me!

[ Her throat feels so impossibly tight. ]

And if this--if this happened because of the party, because I asked you to, I--!

[The breathe in between his teeth is small, but sharp. Of course she didn't want to hurt him. Of course he didn't really want to hurt her. But that's the unavoidable reality that occurred. That's the objective truth. Alhaitham takes every piece of such a thing and puts it to light to review. And realizes it's the truth that Tsuruno is important to him, too, and it would have been a sort of grief had he broken her with his own hands.

He cuts her off:] You're not responsible for my decisions. I did what I wanted to. I was aware of the risk. Don't make something yours that isn't.

Because we brought it up and it's not just you, there are so many people who got it worse and you were just--

[ She'd make the same argument, if their positions were reversed. She acknowledges that. He wouldn't be blaming himself, he'd be stating the circumstances factually and she'd say she did what she did because she wanted to, but... ]

I'm... supposed to be the one who protects happiness, but I...

[ He'd stared at her, seeing her but in a way she never wanted to be viewed, and he had charged and she had retaliated and it's the same thing over again, just different notes, she's staring at a lifeless body, people are crying, she should have done something differently, she should have gotten there faster, she should have tried to persuade her, and it's three different situations and if she'd only just-- ]

I was... s-so scared... [ And the words slip out before Tsuruno can stop them, along with the tears she's swallowed back for months now, sliding unrepentantly down her face. Her voice cracks on a sob. ]

I-I didn't want to lose anyone else!!

[ kaveh returns.

of course, kaveh thinks, he would return to this. the rhythmic click of kaveh's heels quicken into an urgent staccato. his device is dropped next to him; he drops to his knees. it's instinct to pull tsuruno into his arms. it's instinct to turn the red of his gaze onto alhaitham, who is still sitting there as if he isn't wrapped to hell and back, the narrowed edge of them sharpened past the edge of something sane: ]

What did you say to her? [ tsuruno is crying. tsuruno is crying, wracking sobs that shake the narrow frame of her body. her friend crumpled before her, a garden of whispered hearts, and tsuruno hadn't cried. she refused to let herself cry- ] Alhaitham, what did you say to her! [ it comes out as accusation. tow men in another time and space, a piercing blow, i regretted you, ] I should have known - I turn my back for a minute, a minute, and you couldn't keep your observations to yourself. Not everyone wants themselves taken apart and their fundamental components bared!

[Tsuruno cries.

It is not, in fact, the unexpected response in a situation like this. He hadn't meant for her to, but when as the adrenaline left her system why would she not cry? She was the one in her right mind. She was the one who tensed when he awoke, afraid for even a fraction that he would bruise her again.

That isn't the part that he gets caught one.

It's that, when you live so much of your life in a factor of one or two, you forget. You forget you would be missed. That absence is known to others besides yourself. Tsuruno was afraid she'd lost him. That he would be the latest in a line of loss.

His hand lifts. The gesture is aborted at the escalating tone of Kaveh, punctuated by his clicking heels and the clatter of his phone as he dives in to take Tsuruno into his own arms instead. Alhaitham looks.

The only response he offers is silence.]

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c said to skip Kaveh this round

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