The Day After (Ronin)

[Vala]

33rd of Spring, 511 AV Groggy. Groggy and cranky. Vala was groggy and cranky when she woke up. She was so hungry. Impossibly hungry. Vala roared in frustration and in an instant, began to thrash about, immediately stopping when she turned her ankle just a little too much - she yelped, like a pathetic animal, and began to sob. Vala wanted, needed, to be held, but feared it all the same. “Priskil!” Vala moaned. Her ankle was inflamed, swollen, and felt a lot worse than it did yesterday. The tearing girl was unfortunately to self absorbed in her wallowing to be thankful Ronin had iced her ankle yesterday, probably saving her from double the pain. Still under the covers, Vala reached down to touch her ankle. Her fingers brushed against her scarf, what she had used the day before as a makeshift wrap, was stiff and crusted with dirt. Normally Vala would have pulled back in disgust, but her entire body was grimy from the day before and it frankly didn't matter anymore. She was actually so dirty that the salty tears that ran down her face cleaned her cheeks in running streaks. After many, countless chimes of her pathetic crying, Vala decided to actually do something while she was waiting. Scooting back in her bed, keeping the blanket on, Vala opened her chest of stuff and rumaged around, trying to find her pack of bandages. There was a disheartening amount left - barely any. Her store had been wiped out from her Fois incident during the winter. She sobbed even harder, throwing another mini tantrum as she realized there wasn't going to be enough. She closed her chest and scooted back down to lie prostrate and cry. Ronin had promised to come to her this morning - he promised. She would probably need his help getting to the kitchens or baths... what would happen if he didn’t. Well she would probably have to crawl. No one else knew she was injured. What if he didn’t come and she got stuck in the room? Vala sobbed a little more. The door wasn’t even locked...

[Ronin]

Ronin had slept in far later than he intended. This wasn't surprising, considering the day before had left him bloody, bruised, and exhausted. However, Ronin had responsibilities he just simply could not ignore. He had made a promise to Vala, a promise he intended to keep, and he was already late. Ronin rolled out of bed and his feet hit the cold, hard, floor. Aches throbbed in his legs, followed by various other pains throughout the rest of his body. He nearly feel right back into bed right there and slept away the pain, but his resolve was hardened by his commitment to his new friend. Ronin push himself into a full stand using his good arm, while cradling his other tight against his chest. The combination of adrenaline and blinding determination had dulled the pain of carrying Vala back to Wind Reach with a bum shoulder, but today, today he felt the pain. Still groggy and slightly disoriented, Ronin shuffled over to a pile of odd and end in the corner of his room. After rifling though it for a short time he pulled out a long strip of cloth. At one point, it had been something useful, but it had now been reduced to a, much too long, rag. Fortunately, Ronin had kept it, because it would not make a decent sling for his arm. If Ronin could immobilize it for the time being, he might be able to squeeze some functionality out of it later. He quickly made a make-shift sling out of it and check his bandages. If Vala had the time, he would have her check them and perhaps put on a fresh dressing. Ronin moved slowly in his damaged condition, but it was all he could manage, despite his urge to get to Vala's room as quickly as he could. After grabbing his backpack, he was out the door and shuffling down the hall. He rarely went anywhere without his pack. It had everything he needed in most situations. It did not take long for Ronin to make it to Vala's door, though it was longer than he would have liked. He pounded out three knocks on her door. They were loud enough to wake her, but hopefully not so loud that they scared her if she was already awake. As Ronin waited for some response from inside, he noticed that he had not made it to the baths yet himself. In fact, he smelled quite horrid. It was too late to do anything about it now, but it was something he was severely self conscious about. Maybe when he took Vala to the baths, he would be able to clean up a bit himself. When Vala invited him in, Ronin opened the unlocked door and proceeded to Vala's bedside. As he entered, he remembered the day before and the way she had greeted him. He tried urgently to quell such thoughts, as they would be of no help to him, having to spend the morning with her as he did. She seemed as though she was in as bad of shape as he. Dirty, bloody, and smelling of something less than pleasant, they were a sad sight. It looked as if the two of them had crawled out of a hole in which they had never discovered bathing. However, Ronin's first concern was not with cleanliness. It was with Vala's health. The extent of her ankle injury was not easy to ascertain the night before, so he hoped to be able to see exactly what was wrong today. When Ronin reached Vala's side he smiled and offered a polite greeting. "How are you this morning? The ankle feeling any better? Is there anything I can do?" Ronin was always full of question. He didn't know how to pace himself when it came to inquiry, and it often came across as overwhelming, but when he was concerned he had even more trouble controlling their flow from his mouth. One did not need to have known Ronin long to tell that he was worried. Such care for someone he barely knew might have been considered strange, but it was just Ronin's nature. When he connected with someone, they became of utmost importance to him.

oocThis is my 100th post!

[Vala]

"Took you long enou-" Vala bit her tongue before she could finish her caustic and unnecessary remark. "I'm sorry. You look horrible… I'm sure I do to. Congratulations on making a sling, it took me a long time to learn the basics of one on my own, even with books." She was tired. Not only was she bone tired from the craptastic sleep she had last night, but she also smelled like something had farted on her, a very nasty something. The odor was a mix of dried blood, what one would expect from rolling on the forest ground, and the bitter smell of fear and self pity. The latter would require at least two bells of scalding hot water to burn off her tainted flesh. "It's pretty obvious what we need to do… I still don't feel comfortable touching you, let's get that straight right now. I feel nauseous just thinking about it, but I need you. I'm pretty sure you don't need me since you were able to make your way over here, even if it took you a while.." She said with a playful smile. "I guess what I'm trying to say… is that I'm also not very comfortable with the friendship thing either." Vala sighed, ran her fingers through her matted hair, almost as if she wanted to pull them out of her scalp. "But I'm pretty sure you're the best thing that has happened to me since I learned how to read and blow glass - now if I could only do them simultaneously - uh yeah, don't expect me ever to admit to that ever again. No not the readglassblowing thing, about the best thing, thing..." She motioned for Ronin to come close. "You really need a change of bandages, those look like they're just asking for pus to start popping out of Priskil knows what kinda sores, unfortunately I only have enough to either wrap my ankle or half wrap your shoulder. I hope you can forgive me for my sensible selfishness but I'm going to use the last of the scraps of my store for my ankle. The sling looks like it can suffice until you can… get some more or someone else's help. While my ankle needs to stay immobilized if I want to get to the baths and kitchens." Vala cringed as she tried to avoid saying anything even mildly related to the word healers. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to open that can of worms just yet. "Now the question is: do we eat first? Yes I heard your stomach growling, mine was singing harmony. Or do we burn- I mean wash of the grime at the baths? Your call."

[Ronin]

It pained Ronin to see Vala in such a miserable state. It seemed that she was trying to be nice when she cut off her comment about him being late, but she quickly followed it up with a comment about how bad Ronin looked, so he wasn't sure what to think. He accepted the praise about the sling with a small shrug. The sling was crude at best, and had taken Ronin a lot longer to make than he would have liked to admit. He was also out of linen to bandage his wounds with. Inevitably he would have to see a healer, but not today. Today, he has other plans. If he could find help, he still had to retrieve the bear later that afternoon, and do it all without aggravating his wounds enough to make them bleed again. However, it wasn't the first time Ronin had sustained a fairly heavy wound in combat, so he knew pretty well how far he could push his body without risking it. Usually, Ronin would have felt hurt after being told that someone was uncomfortable with them, but this was a special case. Vala had trusted him once when he life depended on it, and now she was trusting him again. Ronin saw a pattern that may or may not have been there, but it encouraged him. After such a rough beginning, it seemed that they might some day become good friends, and Ronin was anxiously looking forward to that. However, there was more imminent concerns than that. They need to get cleaned up and get something in their stomachs before they keeled over from utter filth and starvation. At Vala's motion, Ronin walked closer so that she could take a closer look at his bandage. "I would insist you use it on yourself even if you offered it to me. There is not use wrapping half my shoulder. I just need to see a healer when I have the time." He smiled, trying to reassure her that he was just fine. "How about we head to the baths first. I don't think anyone will appreciate us showing up to a meal smelling like this. I'm pretty sure you could make anyone lose their appetite." His last remark was obviously a joke, and he accented it with a playful smile. "I wont be able to carry you with my arm in a sling, but you can use me as a crutch." Ronin offered her his hand as he spoke and waited patiently, expecting that it would take a while before she made up her mind whether or not she really wanted to touch him.

[Vala]

Sucking in her cheeks, Vala stalled. She wasn’t particularly good at stalling, mostly it was just petulantly ignoring Ronin. It was painful just thinking about it: touching that was. There was no other option, she knew it last night, but now that she was faced with the actual deed, it was impossible for her not to hesitate. Yesterday had been another matter: she had been injured and the overwhelming stream of adrenaline and fear of the giant killer bear had kept her Haptophobia (fear of touch) at bay. Now that the bear factor was gone, the old Haptophobia monster was latched on like a persistent barnacle, crazed slits for eyes and all, controlling Vala’s actions like a unrelenting mother in law. Opening and closing her mouth, like a fish out of water, Vala tried to get something out, something to diffuse or fix the issue. Her eyes bulged out as they stared down Ronin’s outstretched hand. It took a five chimes of awkward silence, in which Ronin’s arm was getting a thorough work out, before sound, well seven chimes if you mean articulate sound, escaped Vala’s lips. “I-i-I,uh if you get my katinu… I uh, t-t-tossed it on the ground by the bed. I-i-if you g-g-get that for me I think I- we can do this.” She gasped for breath, teeth grit in emotional pain transformed into physical. She snatched the katinu out of Ronin’s hand, rudely, but not intentionally so, she was just so on edge thinking about having to use him as a human crutch. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her wheezing breath, trying to draw on the meditating techniques she had been practicing the past season, she tried thinking of Priskil, trying to imagine herself not in this particular situation at this particular moment. Her mind drifted off, her breathing slowing, as she lost herself in the fantasy/memory of her shelving books – a remedial and somewhat relaxing task she did daily at the Enclave. With her eyes closed, Vala fumbled, using just her sense of touch to search the pockets, there were only two, of her katinu to find her pair of gloves. Before she got dressed, Vala grabbed the roll of bandages she had taken out before Ronin had arrived and stuffed them in the now empty pocket. With that taken care of, Vala slipped on her katinu and gloves. She had slept with everything on except for her left boot which she had pulled off in her sleep. Her ankle was so swollen by now that trying to get it back on would be a foolish attempt. Ripping the blanket off to the side Vala forced herself, through sheer will to throw her legs over the side of the bed, exercising her boundless lack of care as she thrashed her maimed ankle a little too much, yet again, sending shivers of sharp pain up her leg. She cried out, but maintained control. It was hot being all bundled up in the middle of the volcano, but Vala didn’t care; it was better to be sweating uncomfortably than to be touched. If it wasn’t skin to skin, Vala was pretty sure she could keep her own without regressing to a catatonic state; well she hoped. “Ok, I’ll probably need you on my right side to help support me. I can w-w-walk, I don’t need to be carried anymore. I also don’t think I can g-g-get my left boot back on. Not with the scarf bandage so thick.” Vala sniffled, trying to keep the stuttering to a minimum, avoiding any eye contact with Ronin; she tried to imagine him as the bunny she had been petting just yesterday; it made him less scary to touch. “Ok… there’s no avoiding this. Let’s just get this over with.” Vala held out her right, gloved hand and turned her head to the side. She wasn’t being particularly helpful, but at least she wasn’t fighting.

[Ronin]

Ronin could sense how difficult today was going to be for the both of them. For Vala, he feared that she would eventually just break down from her need for someone to help her and try to do it all on her own. This, he knew, would end terribly and would most likely result in further injury to Vala's ankle. For himself, Ronin worried that he might say the wrong thing or touch her when she wasn't ready and ruin their newly founded friendship. These fears were almost as paralyzing for Ronin as Vala's fear of touch was for her. When Vala asked him for her katinu it took him a moment to snap out of his dazed trance and realize that she mad made a request of him. As soon as he made this realization he hurriedly scooped it up and held it out toward Vala. Ronin assumed that her hasty swiping of the piece of clothing stemmed from her fear as well as impatience with his delay. Ronin watched as Vala got dressed further. He could only imagine that it was unbearably hot being so bundled up, which made him realize ever further how uncomfortable Vala must be with the current situation to choose this as an alternative. He watched her with a pained expression on his face. This was not due to any intense discomfort on his own part, though his wounds from the day before were no picnic, but from watching Vala go through such a struggle. Normally he would have shown some kind of physical sign that he was there for her and that he wanted to help, perhaps a hug or a gentle hand on the shoulder, but he could not do that with Vala. Instead, Ronin would have to learn how to better communicate verbally, This was something he had never been particularly skilled at, but it was better than standing there doing nothing for her. "You'll be okay." Ronin figured this was as good a way as any to start comforting her. "I promise I'll be gentle, and I'll try to make this as brief and painless as I can." He paused, trying to think of something else to say. "If it is too unbearable, you can hit me with something heavy when we are done, okay?" Ronin tried to make a joke to get even the smallest laugh out of her. His hope was that if he could get her mind on to something happier, such as slapstick-style comedy, she would find it easier to do this. Ronin listened as Vala stuttered through her simple explanation of what she wanted him to do, and he slowly moved to her right side. When she was finished speaking, Ronin watched as she extended her right hand. Carefully, he took a hold of it and wrapped it over his shoulders, letting it fall gently draped across them. He proceeded to wrap his left arm around her waist and lift her to her feet. Ronin expected for her to fall toward him and lean against his side so that she wouldn't have to put any weight on her bad ankle. However, he knew she would be reluctant to do that, so he prepared to catch her if she leaned the other way and started to fall over. After all the preparation and hesitation, she was finally standing, and they could start making there way to the baths. "Tell me about something you like to do." Ronin tried to make small talk to making their journey seem shorter.

[Vala]

“Writing.” She said, the first thing that came to her mind. She wanted to retract it as soon as she said it. Vala still wasn’t comfortable letting people know she kept a journal – it was too much of a liability. She tried to cover up as best as they could, her breathing growing labored as they made their way through the warrens. “I like to write little stories… about bunnies.” Vala half lied. She had written something about a bunny quite a while ago, but only passingly, but that wasn’t the point. Her words came out so labored that they had reached the baths by the time she finished, pausing the need for more fleeting conversation for the moment. Ronin helped Vala limp over to a nearby bench in the first chamber of the Tisuma Bath’s; the locker area. “I think I can handle undressing myself, thanks.” Vala mumbled to Ronin. The walk over hadn’t been as bad as she expected, the pain from her ankle keeping her from noticing his touch too much. It was one thing to be found in one’s room, but another to strip for a bath in the city’s communal bath, especially a co-ed one where inhibitions were meant to be checked at the door, as well as any thoughts of funny business. Vala actually felt quite comfortable stripping off her stifling hot katinu, then unlacing her lone boot, and then stripping off the rest of her grimy attire. Raising her hand, Vala called to an attendant. She handed her pack of clothes to the comfortably unclothed chiet, who took the proffered set, and said with a cheerful note, “It’s still fairly early. There’s not much people here yet. I’m sure these will be ready for pick up once you finish at the salt baths.” Vala smiled cheerfully back. There was something about the thought of being able physically to strip oneself clean of dirt, of grime, of the past, that just made Vala all tingly inside. Now that she was all naked Vala realized there would be the issue of accepting Ronin’s aide without freaking out about the direct skin to skin contact; gone was the protective force field of her Katinu. “So uh…” She looked away, considerately, as he undressed. Vala stared at her toes. “So uh… I think I can put enough weight on my ankle to limp over to the bath as long as I just use your hand as support. And uh…” Unconsciously slurring her words, “thanks for doing this for me…”

[Ronin]

Ronin listened to Vala, but he said nothing while they walked. Trying to answer his question seemed to take all her concentration, and he wasn't going to bog her down with further inquiry. He found her hobby interesting and a little amusing when she talked about bunnies, but mostly interesting. On a better occasion he would ask her to read him one of her stories, but for now, there were other things to do. The slow pace at which they had to travel was frustrating, and they were lucky that they did not have to go far. By the time they got to the baths, Ronin was sore from supporting Vala, and he was sure that she was more the happy for him to stop touching her. Now came the awkward part. Ronin had seen Vala naked just the day before, but that was a far cry different from her stripping off her clothes by choice, as well has having to get naked himself. Ronin helped Vala over to a bench where she was finally able to sit down, something he figured she was as relieved of as he was. He hoped that her comment about not needing any help undressing was a joke, since he had never had any intention of helping with that in the first place. However, the intention of what she meant was something that he simply come not focus on. Ronin figured that his best chance of getting out of this without too much embarrassment on either of their parts was to look at Vala as little as possible. For now, he was able to manage this by simply sitting facing the opposite direction on the bench. Ronin started his own undressing with his boots before moving on to his bandage. He peeled the blood-crusted cloth from his skin, and it gave off a terrible sound and smell. The sound was from the dried blood cracking and scabs that had formed being pulled off as he removed the bandage. The intense pain of doing this to himself temporarily distracted Ronin from the task at hand, not looking at Vala, and once he was finished wincing and gritting his teeth, he shot a short glance her way. At least, it was intended to be a short glance. As he turned his head, Ronin caught full view of Vala sitting there completely naked. Yes, he was staring at her back, but it was still quite a sight. Her matted hair ran over her small shoulders and down her back. It almost hid her tiny waist and flowed all the way down to sit just above her perfectly rounded rear end. It was everything Ronin could do to pry his eyes away and keep from drooling. A few small trails of blood ran down his chest and dripped down onto his pants. This reminded him that he still had undressing to do, and that Vala was probably waiting on him. Ronin quickly pulled off his loose pants and tossed them to the man who had taken Vala's clothes. He figured that it was implied that he wanted the same thing as her. Ronin stood up, and on Vala request, offered only his hand. What he had failed to consider was that seeing a naked woman sitting just inches from you tends to have a certain effect on a man, and it was quickly becoming more apparent that he had indeed noticed her. Ronin was now in a hurry to get in the baths in hopes of covering himself with at least the moving water, but he could just leave her standing there. Despite his urge to turn away, he had a job to do and a responsibility to fulfill to his new friend, and nothing was going to get in the way of that. As Vala took his hand, Ronin offered a short warning before leading her toward the water. "Watch out, it will be slick near the edge of the bath. Don't want you falling and breaking your other ankle as well, now do we?" Ronin chuckled a bit, trying to lessen the awkwardness he felt.

[Vala]

He just had to jinx it. Just as Ronin mentioned being careful at the bath edge, Vala’s footing slipped, putting just a little too much weight on her swollen ankle; she lost her grip on Ronin. Having seen girls tossed into baths before, not wanting to be one of them, and possibly earning the epitaph ‘girl who died falling in a bath’, Vala reached out frantically, wind milling her arms. Ronin was still standing by her, unfortunately for him. With her left foot up, steadied against her right calf, Vala was unable to stay standing. She began to slip in slow motion, slowly towards – him. Vala tried to fight it, flailing her arms with all the strength she could muster. It didn’t work, nothing did. His face, it just kept coming closer, and closer. Vala’s eyes bulged out, in fear or in frustration, it didn’t matter, she still looked like a squished frog about to cry. Her hands splayed out, landing on Ronin’s bare chest, but her weak arms were not able to support her unsteady weight with her added momentum. Her elbows folded from her weight, bringing her own chest closer to his. What was worse, was not that her ankle was throbbing like a petching fire, but that her face, her precious face, was drawing ever closer to Ronin’s, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was all happening so fast, that she didn’t even have time to scream for help. Not that she would have been able to, once she lip planted onto Ronin. It was painful and quite brutal. Her pointed teeth mashed hard against the soft inner flesh of her lips, drawing a bit of blood. The sting brought tears to Vala’s eyes; unable to support herself, the warmth of Ronin’s bare flesh against her own.

[Ronin]

Why did I had to say something? Ronin thought to himself in first moments of Vala slipping. He considered it a stroke of luck that she had fallen toward to him, since if she had fallen any other way, she could have gotten hurt. However, falling toward him had it's own set of problems, like that they were both unclothed. Ronin didn't have time to think about how to minimize the awkward effect as well as the skin to skin contact for Vala's sake. Instead, he just had to act. Ronin took a small step forward and reached his arms out to catch her, but he hadn't even considered having to move his face. In the moment before she collided with him, Ronin noticed that their faces were on a concision course as well. Without time to react, Ronin could do nothing back watch as her lips planted straight onto his. This may have seemed like a pleasant accident at first, but in the next moment, the rest of her body followed. As Vala crashed into his face, Ronin wrapped his arms around her waist to make sure she didn't continue on to the ground. He hurried to pull his face away and set her back up on her feet, but Ronin feared the damage had already been done. An apologetic and embarrassed look covered Ronin's face, and he tried to stammer our a few words. "I.. I'm sorry.. Are you okay?" was all Ronin could get out. Once he was sure that Vala was steady again, Ronin took a step back. The inadvertent kiss was awkward and a little rough, but it was still funny. Ronin had to try not to laugh, but a small smirk crept onto his face. He was concerned about whether or not Vala was okay, but the entire experience had been made awkward by him over thinking it, and now it was just nice to smile. "Are you ready to get in?" Ronin finally said with a small chuckle.