Unexpected Break (Rista)

[Taln]

The moment he saw her cradle herself protectively and her voice quavered, his defensiveness melted away in a breath and something unusual tugged at his heart. He'd always been too quick to anger, to react, to strike out like the dek beast that he was. Rista looked like a wounded, abandoned and frightened hatchling and as usual he reacted without thinking. "I'm sorry little one-I just get a bad temper. I didn't mean to hurt you.You did just fine at sewing. I'd let you, but you need to rest, or you'll just make it worse in the dark like this."His words tumbled over each other, trying to soothe the injured feelings he'd caused. Taln now thought of her as tenderly as his hatching, Reech, and he quickly moved to kneel in front of her, so they could be eye to eye. Not even considering a protest, he gently wrapped his large arms around the scared girl to comfort her. He put his chin on top of her head and smoothed a hand down her hair making crooning sounds in a husky voice. A faint, long ago memory prompted his actions. Someone soothing him once when he'd first gone blind. He never knew who it was that had comforted him at five years old, but it seemed now was the time to return a small gesture that meant so much. "I won't yell at you little one, it's alright. I promised I wouldn't hurt you physically, but I never meant to hurt you verbally either." Gods he HATED hurting people with his clumsiness. No matter how he tried, he just stomped on people like an enormous oaf! "I just get mad sometimes is all. You're tired and I know you're trying to do a good thing but you gotta learn when enough is enough okay?" The man looked at her with worry and shame darkening his vivid green eyes. With ease, he lifted the girl's delicate frame, rose and deposited her on her bed. He sat on the dirty floor in front of her, one arm still on hers and he scowled (squinted) into her boundless ebony eyes, unable to tell how badly he'd upset her. Taln tried, but for the life of him, he couldn't see what her expression was. He sighed heavily, toying with lip ring, not sure what to say. All he knew was that he'd terrorized someone yet again with his temper. He dropped his hands from her immediately, not wanting to offend her again. "I never should have crossed the line Rista Yasi, please accept my apology." His voice barely sounded above a whisper. The man bowed his head and looked down at the floor, wishing he could sink into it.

[Rista]

It was almost comical how quickly his temper changed. If it hadn't hit so deeply, Rista would probably have smirked at it, poked fun of him a bit.. But as it was, she couldn't see anything funny in the situation. It was definitely not a conscious thought, but the hard and annoyed side within her found the sudden softness with the man to be exaggerated, as if he was mocking her. It was a silly thought, but it didn't want to let go completely. By so visibly displaying her weakness, it felt as if she had shamed herself, and that she couldn't stand.

She avoided to look him in the eyes as the tall man knelt down to sit by her on the floor, and tensed up as he hugged her seemingly out of nowhere. Little one? Was that how he saw her? Rista made a few attempts to move away, but the man probably didn't know how strong he was; she couldn't move an inch. It felt strange to be so close. He was oddly warm, and now that she didn't have the nose tucked against the wounds she could sense his own personal scent a bit more; sweat, yes, but also that fragrance that came from skin and soap and other things... Almost against her will the girl relaxed, her head coming to rest a bit better against the others shoulder.

So strange, she hadn't felt like this since... well, she had hugged her brother without restraint when Karva was still alive, and there had probably been a nurse-maid or two who had earned her affection. But besides that, nothing. The hand that ran over her hair was comforting, and she felt herself calming down slowly but surely. My, it wasn't just him who was quick in the mood changes, it seemed. She sighed a little and closed her eyes, fingers moving a bit awkwardly; what was she supposed to do, hug back? It felt even stranger, the thought made her oddly reluctant. Oh, so this was her limit? A hug was fine, it could be tolerated and perhaps even enjoyed a little bit. More would just feel strange and wrong though... It was a comforting feeling, somehow. At the very least, this mongrel wasn't easy on her feet, that much she had found out now.

She was spared any further decisions. A small squawk of surprise escaped the little yasi as she was lifted up seemingly without any trouble at all, and carried over to her bed. As she was released, she quickly sat up again and cleared her throat, the cheeks a little flushed from the treatment. It was as if she was nothing more than a little kid, ordered to bed by a father.. The thought made a slightly bitter smile tug at her mouth. She had never known a father, he had left long before she was born; he probably didn't know that she existed, if he even was alive. Her mother was probably around somewhere, she had met her once or twice when she was really small. All she remembered were the red hair and lined face of a dek that probably was pretty, but not intelligent enough to make use of it to get herself to a better position in life. Even if the woman was still alive, which was very possible, she had nothing to do with Rista. 'Mother' was just a word that held no meaning to her.

Busying her fingers with straightening out the blankets beneath her, she listened awkwardly to his excuses, not sure if she wanted to just forgive him and get it over with or scold him for being too.. too nice. She twisted a bit at his words of regret about stepping over line, and a faint humorous smile appeared, flickering and weak, but visible none the less.

"Isn't it a bit late to think about crossing boundaries, Taln?" she said quietly and rubbed her fingers against one another, to rid them of the mucus that covered some of them. She felt calmer now, and slightly more composed; she was still hurting within, but at least she had stopped cowering. "I don't know what got into me, to react like that.. It must be because I'm tired. You're not to blame, I probably didn't express myself well, as usual; no one's ever commended me for my tact, or for being a great knower of people." The smile widened a bit as she glanced over at him; the dangling threads of the last stitch annoyed her eyes, but she kept her fingers at bay for the time being. The softness of the bunk was pleasant and her body ached to lie down, but she couldn't. Not just yet..

"I understand your point" she continued, jumping over to the topic of his wounds. "If you really don't want me to continue then I won't.. Just, can I please get to finish that last one? I just have to tie it together, if it keeps dangling like that it'll get stuck.." She almost sounded pleading, the eyes stuck on the annoying loose ends as if it physically hurt to look at them. It was amusing, even more so than the fact that she was allowing herself to be pushed around by a dek. It was as if their roles had been reversed, and the girl barely noticed when it happened. It really was a shame, that his eyes were so bad; he'd make a good Endal, if she was one to judge.

"If only there had been a divine healer in Wind Reach.." she mumbled to herself and looked up at Taln, smiling faintly and with a unusually soft look on her face. But perhaps there was nothing to be done this long after the injury occurred... She didn't know. Rista had no knowledge when it came to healing or medicine, she didn't even know how to wrap a bandage in a good way.

[Taln]

He looked up at her, noting the quiet, almost wry tone to her question. Taln nodded in agreement as he watched her fidget and decided to help her out. "Ya know fire dirt will clean that quicker than smearing it will ever do." Taln swiftly knelt and rose with lithe movement to the fireplace. He put a large hand into the soot and grabbed another handful of ash for Rista. The large man settled into a sit in front of Rista again, denoting long practice with rising and sitting on the ground. "Hold out your slimy hands." He said, demonstrating with his left one to show it palm up. When she finally complied, he dumped the ashes onto her bloody hands and did the same with his own. With the ash between both palms, he rubbed them vigorously together. The dryness of the ashes, and the moisture of the blood combined with the friction of his rubbing hands, forced both substances to roll off into small bits of crud that essentially dried and cleaned the hands. All that was left was a bit of light grey ash that he wiped on his bryda. Taln smiled like a child showing a magic trick and held out his hands to show Rista. They were now surprisingly clean and dry. "Every time I get a sore or cut or something, I let it bleed a bit and as long as I put fire dirt on it, then it always heals without infection. Of course I have to bandage it after but fire dirt always makes it clean." While he had no idea of the intrinsic antiseptic quality of ash, and not a shred of healing ability, the fiery haired man was incredibly quick to pick up on small things that improved his life, even a little bit. While Taln had no book learning whatsoever, life had taught him a few clever tricks that insured his continued survival in a harsh place like Wind Reach. He heard what she said, and what she -meant- but her smile said the most of all. Following her gaze, he wondered how long it would be before she obsessed over the stitching again. When the young woman conceded his point, he wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not. He'd yet to meet a yasi that owned up to a mistake. Ever. Rista seemed more...smart, he figured. She noticed lots of things and knew how to read and the right words to use for hard concepts. Taln figured if he didn't let her keep stitching, she'd never let herself sleep. "If you promise to go right to sleep after, then yea you can stitch till your eyes fall out from exhaustion." He smirked as he answered. For the first time in a long time, the man gave a geniune laugh at the very idea. "If there was a divine healer here, I'd be the -last- person on the list for care! Roll the needle in ash if it gets too slick and bloody, healer Rista..." Taln teased her and went back to the small chair that was sure to give out soon under his weight.

[Rista]

She watched in disbelief as he went to the fireplace and dug his hands into it. Ash? It must be what he meant by 'fire dirt'; it hadn't clicked with her at once, but now that it did, it made her want to cringe. Not only because he had shoved his hands into the dying embers that were bound to be hot, but because.. well, ash was dirty, right? How could anything get cleaner using.. Rista opened her mouth to protest as Taln brought back, but as he managed to dump the dust onto her hands before she had time to say anything, the girl decided to just suck it up and let him do what he wanted. She flinched at first, expecting the ash to be hot and his hands to be rough, but calmed down as neither turned out to be true.

Her eyes went slowly wider as she saw how the rubbing slowly worked it's magic; the dry ash soaked up the sticky liquids, and as it dried and fell off her fingers looked as good as clean again. A delighted smile appeared on her face as she peered over at the red-haired man; it really was just like magic.
"I didn't know it worked, doing like that" she said and looked at her hands again. "You mean ash though.. Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to correct you again." The smile vanished again, fickle as a small flame with how it grew and disappeared; this time because she didn't want him to get mad again, or think she was patronizing him.

Still, the brighter mood lingered somewhere in the darkness of her eyes as she was allowed to continue her work; there was a strange sense of relief as he gave the reply, and she readily nodded as a promise. She'd be good and sleep, she just had to finish this one thing.. Her hands were quick to return to his side before he left the bed, carefully tying the ends of the string together to finish off the last stitch in his side; there, much better. Now she could relax a bit more.

"You shouldn't say like that" she scolded with a smile in her voice to take off the edge of the words, and pushed herself up from the bed again. Gods, how hard it was to not just fall back down and close her eyes. "I don't think a divine healer would think so much about rank as to what is most urgent to take care of. I'm sure that if you laid dying and an Endal had cut her finger, you'd go first nine times out of ten. At least I hope so..." Surely the justice of such a person be on a greater scale than the one they had at the Reach. A life was a life after all, and it should be of equal worth.

On her way back to the spot on the floor, the yasi was suddenly faced with a different kind of problem. While there was a tear in the bryda he was wearing it would be bothersome to constantly keep the torn fabric away while she was working. Normally it wouldn't bother her in the slightest to be in the same room as a naked man; she saw them all the time in the baths and never thought twice about it, but all of a sudden it felt a bit different. This was her own room, and it was dark and she still wasn't completely comfortable with the discoveries she was making about herself... She bit her lip, trying to come up with a good solution, without really finding one. Taln was unlikely to help; he'd probably just suggest that she went back to the bed again, and that solution to the problem wasn't one that she liked very much. Gritting her teeth a bit, Rista decided that it would have to be the uncomfortable solution; she could always make the man hold the bryda away from his own leg.

Making a beeline to collect the needle again, she did as he suggested and cleaned it off with some more ash - she was far less confident with sticking her hands into the fireplace, it felt way too hot for comfort - and then pulled on a new thread before she returned to her place, determined to stitch up the long wound on his leg too, despite the tiredness that made her eyes heavy and her thoughts slow. She wobbled a bit as she sank down on her knees, but regained balance quickly again; a quick glance went to the mans face, narrowed slightly to see if he had noticed anything in the gloom.

[Taln]

"Ash." He repeated, nodding his head until the hair fell into his eyes. "No, it's good to tell me. I can't learn if you don't." Taln looked down for a moment, not exactly proud. "I can't read or write or nothing so unless people say something, I can't know about stuff." The tall man tried not to laugh at her expectant expression of pain. "Fire dir--ash is cool enough to touch when it's light colored. You won't burn yourself. When it's dark you can't always tell though." Taln watched her nimble little fingers tie the knot firmly. She still intended to sew everything up! This girl could barely stand, she was so tired, but Rista was damn well determined to do it anyway. She couldn't possibly be serious with those ideals! Hadn't she lived in Wind Reach her whole life?! Yasis. Though he said none of that out loud, he raised both eyebrows nearly to his hair line at her comment. "Rista, I wouldn't presume to know what a divine healer would be like, but I can definitely say that an Inarta of high rank, especially a female, would gratefully and most certainly choose the Endal every single time. Not all Inarta are treated equal." The dek spoke with supreme confidence on that. Caste is caste, a yasi should know that. He teased her with a grin. For some reason she was staring at the bryda and he had no idea why. Taln knew she wanted to see if she'd sew that too and... The reason for her look became clear suddenly and he pondered it for a moment. She'd said nothing about it though. The slit in the bryda was exactly the size of the gash. He'd either have to rip the bryda in half or take them off completely for her to sew the leg or even get a decent look at the injury. He hoped she wouldn't make him rip or shred the only thing he had to wear. The skirt/pant style wasn't something that took well to the slightest cut. The gash in it was already brazen enough to flash a view. If Rista kept kneeling at his leg, she'd get a surprising eyeful as it was. He sighed, wishing for the millionth time he wasn't a dek. In the end, it was her decision to make, not his. When she returned with the needle and knelt, Rista was staring up at him like she was looking for.. something? Waiting for him? Taln looked down at the young woman with a hint of trust in those vivid emerald eyes, patiently waiting for whatever she intended to say.

[Rista]

Good, it didn't seem like he noticed anything. The girl gave Taln a quick smile before she returned her attention to the injured leg, and regarded the bryda for a moment. Then a wry smile appeared on her face as a solution to the problem popped up in her head; they were already torn, right? They still needed mending, so what did it matter if she ruined them a bit more? She didn't ask for permission, nor did she give the man a chance to react; her hands reached for the fabric and took a firm grip on both sides of the cut clothing, before she jerked her hands apart.

A very satisfying sound of tearing cloth could be heard as the gap widened downwards, and suddenly she had a lot more access to the injury than she'd had before. It was oddly pleasing, and a catlike look of content lingered on her lips as she raised the needle and began her stitching again; working quickly, she seemed to have gained a bit more structure to the madness this time, as she pushed the needle through his flesh, cut the string, tied it together and then continued with the next stitch.

"How about this then?" she almost hummed after a while, deciding to reply to his doubts with a hint of amused mischief in her eyes. "If I ever end up marked by Rak'keli, I swear that I'll treat every person according to the urgency of their injuries rather than their ranks. If that means that an Endal will have to wait for a moment, then so be it." The girl laughed, finding the thought amusing. She didn't have a close relationship with any of the gods, she barely prayed at all aside from a rare comment to Syna now and then, and to be marked by Rak'keli.. Well, sure miracles happened, but hardly to her.

"Have you ever thought about trying out any instruments?" she asked once she had calmed down a bit, and glanced up at the dek. "You probably wouldn't need much sight to be able to play, and from what I can hear you have a nice voice. If you became good, you could perform at Inclement Weather and maybe rise to Chiet.." Perhaps it wasn't the best of options for a man like him, but Rista figured that any occupation would be better than the life as Dek. She herself was fighting beak and claws to avoid such a fate, and she couldn't see how he managed to live at all like he was.

[Taln]

The loud tearing sound in the quiet room almost echoed and Taln mentally winced at her decision to rip the bryda even more. There was already enough accidental flashing with the eight inch slash. Now, well, he'd uh..get a better breeze. He knew a dek couldn't afford modesty but he'd at least wanted something to cover him until his Lontev allotment in the fall. It was her choice so when Rista got more of view than she expected, she'd have only herself to blame. To his surprise, Rista actually looked pleased to shred what little bit of cloth he had left to wear. He shrugged. It was her choice to make, not his. The dek looked down at her quick little fingers practically flying through the stitching now. She was a quick learner and once again, he found himself impressed with the swiftness of the young woman's mind. The man stayed still as a statue, remembering how she'd taken it personally when he'd winced earlier. He toyed with his lip ring, spinning it around, trying to think of something, anything other than the needle jabbing him and the thread tugging his skin every few chimes. The man threw back his head and laughed at the absurd image of this tiny creature suddenly favored by the gods and refusing Endals, while her dusky little face turned green over a bit of blood! "Yea, I think they would rename you 'Rista the green faced at the sight of blood!' Seriously though, you're catching on to that sewing stuff really good. It's a shame you almost sick up over it." The tall man couldn't help but tease the girl over it. She was an amusing young woman who really made him laugh. The dek was clearly impressed at her quick learning and deft skill and wasn't afraid to mention it. He knew she was exhausted and could barely stand, yet her energy and wit were still intact. "Instruments? Music? I've never tried to sing before." Taln looked at her in disbelief, widening his eyes as he stared down at the tiny yasi by his knee. The dim embers cast an ugly greyish hue over his eyes, making them look completely without color. He watched her ebony gaze to see if she was teasing him, but she seemed earnest about it. He shook his coppery hair and held out his large, work calloused hands toward her. "I use my hands and my back Rista because I'm suited to nothing else. That crowd we walked through is -agony- on my ears." Taln's voice grew even more quiet at blatantly stating yet another physical weakness. "Loud noises like crowds and stuff makes me just wanna run. I guess the less I can see, the more I can hear, but I'm not so sure that's a good thing. They made such such a blaring racket I thought my ears were gonna bleed. I couldn't get outta there fast enough! How could you just walk through them and not want to cover your ears? Didn't it hurt your ears too? "

[Rista]

He should only know how hard it was for her to keep her eyes open. Her vision was blurring, the head thick with tiredness, but she had to keep the facade up, had to make him think that she wasn't too tired to do this. She wasn't even sure why she was so stubborn about helping him, it was just.. She didn't want to have it on her conscience if he got ill and died because of these wounds. Perhaps, when it came down to it she was only trying to sate some sense of guilt she wasn't aware of, trying to make up for the fact that she loathed his caste so much for how they were viewed and treated.

She smirked at his laughter, realizing the comedy of her situation. He was right, it was an odd thing to talk about when sewing in his skin made her queasy; the notion of a healer getting sick from blood made her chuckle, and brought the mind away from another wave of nausea that wanted to wash over her. No, she wasn't a very good healer-material, that much she was realizing. The compliment was shrugged off almost immediately.
"I'm still young" she excused it with, and gave the poor work at his side a quick glance, somehow keeping from cringing at the sight. It wasn't very pretty at all, but it might do the trick..

His account of the loud people made her a bit surprised though, and through the darkness of the room she peered up at him, trying to see his face. "Sure they were loud" she said slowly and cut off another piece of string to tie together the wound, "but not so much that I wanted to hold my ears. Just normal bustling sounds, as to be expected on a night like this.. You must have really sensitive hearing, to react like that." It was an interesting subject, but Rista couldn't really focus her thoughts around it like she normally might have. She was getting sloppy in her work; the stitches was placed further away from one another, and it wasn't like she could remove them and try again and get a better result when she noticed. None the less she kept on struggling, hoping to finish the task soon.. The conversation was surprisingly nice, but the bed was calling out to her, and her head nodded every now and then when her thoughts strayed. This wasn't working, she couldn't focus anymore.

With a sigh that was part relieved, part exhausted the girl finished off the last stitch and sat back on her heels, head spinning slightly.
"There, done" she mumbled and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, before putting the needle away again. "Sorry about the bryda; thought it was better than to strip you naked.. If you come back some other day, I can try and mend them for you, or.. something." Just talking was tiring, and she heard how slurred her voice was; with a grimace the small woman pushed herself up on her feet and stood wobbling next to the chair, seemingly about to gather up the sewing kit and clean off the needle despite her exhaustion.

[Taln]

Taln looked at the raggedly interesting zig zag pattern of stitches and saw her nod off--twice. "You certainly are still young and need your rest. Ok mighty healer you've done twelve bells of work today. I'll take care of the mess but you," the man paused and stood, to scoop up the little scrap of a yasi and casually sling her over his shoulder like a sack of feathers. "need to go to sleep. Now. So stay still, or you'll put out all that fancy stitch work you just did!" The man smirked and reached down for the sewing kit as well. He walked to her trunk in half a stride and dropped the leather packet on top of it. In two more strides, he set down Rista onto the bed. His coppery hair slid forward to cover his eyes and he knelt beside the small bed. Ignoring any protests she might have, Taln grabbed the blanket and put it over her as he would a child, literally tucking her in. He smirked down at her, with mischief gleaming in his eyes. "You gotta keep your promise right? I'll sleep by the door for you like a good dek, while you get some sleep. No arguments now! And no worries--my 'sensitive hearing' will stop anyone from disturbing your sleep." He waggled a finger at her and smiled tiredly. His heavy lids drooped over vivid green eyes and he turned in a half roll to the door that was very close by. But then again, to someone his size, everything in the small room was close by. Taln literally lay there with all six feet of him stretched out, blocking the door entirely--and half the tiny room. He was used to dek being used as guard dogs to block doors while the higher ups slept, and he didn't mind all that much. He looked at Rista on her little bed and he had to admit, it was the most interesting meet up he'd ever had. In his life. He smiled sleepily. Secret : Sorry, didn't intend to maul around Rista like that--it's just his big friendly way.

[Rista]

"Wha.. Taln! You big brute, put me down.." She protested as she once again was lift up from the ground, this time only to be slung over his shoulder like a sack of grain. Tired as she was there wasn't much she could do to protest; indignation made her huff and puff at being manhandled like this, and she made sure to pinch the big oaf thoroughly before she was put down on the bed. Rista tried to say something about her clothes and him not having to stay at all if he didn't want to, but it was muffled by the blankets and a wide yawn as he tucked her in...

What a strange man, and what a strange feeling. There was something rather nice and slightly awkward with being treated like this, as if her dead twin brother had returned and turned into an older, gruffer and decidedly larger version of how she remembered him. The girl watched as Taln went over to the door and made himself comfortable; fine then, he could just do whatever he wanted. He had so far, things weren't likely to change from there on. A small smile spread over her lips as she closed her eyes, too tired to want to do anything more than sleep...

"Better not let anyone see you here" she murmured quiety as she slowly sank deeper into the bed, sleep already taking over her mind. "You might get in trouble for.. dealing with.. mongrel like.. me.." Then she was asleep, the deep black wells filled with thought and feeling hidden behind the eyelids; dark lashes brushed against her cheeks as she breathed, slowly and quietly like a child. With her small frame hidden beneath the blanket it was easy to think that she wasn't more than that; a child, vulnerable and alone, in need for protection. The fact that she had survived in the harsh environment of Wind Reach for this long was quite a feat, even if her situation always had been a bit precarious. Perhaps this encounter would help her relax a bit more, not be on her guard as much... It was hard to tell.

oocshall we stop after your next post, perhaps? Turn this one in for some grading, and then we can start a new thread up if you want. I've thoroughly enjoyed posting with you, I'd love to continue and have them meet some more.. ^^