. life and strength and breath

[boarddyd]

Who: Dimitri + CR
When: June + July
Where: Aefenglom + Outer City + Underground
What: catch-all
Warnings: none (yet)

[ catch-all for june + july | contact @ tendopeshuu or here ]

Comments

[boarddyd]

[When Dimitri tore his eyes away, he had hoped that would be the end of it. Felix would stalk off, or enter the ring for a fight of his own. He'd lowered his head, straining to focus on how still his body is.

Because it feels like he's swaying-

With blood throbbing in his ears, Dimitri doesn't hear anyone approach. He jerks his head upwards when Felix speaks, wincing immediately at the wave of pain the sudden motion caused.

Oh well... he's already busted. Dimitri sighs. Deflates. Shoulders caving in to make him smaller on the bench. He scoots aside, leaving Felix room to sit if he cares to.] You needn't worry, Felix.

It's just a small cut. [He reaches up to thumb the blood away from his head, pushing a sweaty clump of hair aside to reveal the minor abrasion. Nothing to worry about, right?

His other arm holds his weight, locked, and his elbow shakes when he shifts to let Felix see his face - betraying the presence of a more severe injury.]

[finesseblade]

[ Felix fixes him with a level stare for a long moment, then snorts. ]

As if I'd care about a pitiful little cut like that—I'm not talking about your head.

[ He jabs an index finger at the trickle of blood running down Dimitri's forehead, and then, like a knife, that finger slices downward, until it's pointed straight at the center of Dimitri's chest—and the heart of the issue. ]

Do you think I can't hear your breath rattling around in your chest like a convalescent?

[ His eyes drop to the sudden empty spot on the bench, and for a tight-lipped moment he's caught wrestling between contrary instinct and common sense. He feels like a wild animal circling another, equally wild animal in wary investigation, reluctant to turn his back, reluctant to move any closer.

Common sense wins, eventually. Felix settles on the bench, back stiff as a rod, his eyes flicking down to Dimitri's chest, and then back up to his face. His fingers curl around the edge of the bench between them, and no closer yet. ]

Just this once, can you stop pretending everything is fine?

[boarddyd]

[Felix's finger provides a focal point - something for Dimitri to look at that isn't the shifting room or an accusatory glare. He watches the sharp motion and it's as if the very notion of Felix so easily pressing past layers of propriety and posture cuts him.

Dimitri flinches, curving in on himself in silent acquiescence.

The position hurts, strains his breath further - he sits up straight again and allows himself a gasp for air. He can't deny Felix's request, even if he'd been inclined to.

So he doesn't bother trying to parse out his own preference.

Instead, he lets his arm bend, lowering himself suddenly into Felix's shoulder. He tries, as he takes an awkward position using the other as a bulwark for his weight, to twist his head and offer an apologetic smile... but he can't manage it.]

I'm sorry.

It really isn't too bad. I just... need a moment. [A long moment.]

DIMITWI.....

[finesseblade]

[ Felix has fought in bloody battles. He's run men through and watched the life leave their eyes, skewered on the end of his blade. He's seen whole battalions of soldiers scorched to death by a single mage.

That this should be the thing that makes him freeze up is ridiculous, but here he is, still as a statue under the sudden, shocking weight of Dimitri settled on his shoulder. This isn't even the first time in all of their lives he's found himself in this exact position. Were they still children, he wouldn't even bat an eye—would welcome it, even.

But they're not children anymore, and Felix finds himself at a loss for what to do with a Dimitri that's willing to lean on him this easily. ]

...Stop apologizing.

[ He huffs quietly, almost put-upon, but lets go of his death grip on his seat to shift just slightly, getting a leg over so he can plant one foot on either side of the bench and slide his arms under Dimitri's shoulders. Thus positioned, he's able to maneuver Dimitri into a more comfortable position for both of them. Still quiet, still as professional as he can keep it.

Like this, he can move a hand down Dimitri's side, prodding carefully and frowning at the unpleasant give he finds beneath his fingers, the sense of pieces very much cracked and out of place.

He's not a healer. His bedside manner is atrocious. But for once his voice is oddly subdued, some of the characteristic edge worn off. ]

Tsk. Doesn't feel like a moment's worth of damage to me. How badly does it hurt?

WWWWW FEWIX

[boarddyd]

[A Felix without tension is a stranger to Dimitri - the children they once were no longer exist. Instead, Dimitri is nestled up against muscles drawn tight, and he can't discern irritation from caution from surprise.

His weight is uncomfortable, and he takes Felix's shifting as an affirmation. When Felix's arms guide his shoulders and support him, he makes to sit up.

The pain reorients him, and he's left slouched back in Felix's lap.

Prone, but not vulnerable. Felix is sharp and powerful, but he is no danger to Dimitri. He relaxes, enough that Felix can feel against his body but not enough to gasp a full breath.

Then, he looks up, settling his gaze on Felix's jaw rather than eyes that are just out of view.] I... I haven't been able to catch my breath since it happened. [It's easier to describe physical symptoms than a level of pain that keeps fluctuating between excruciating and negligible.

That's the shock, Dimitri.

[finesseblade]

[ He can feel the moment Dimitri relaxes against him, and Felix—in spite of himself—relaxes too, breathing some of the tension from his shoulders in a quiet exhale. Okay. That's one problem solved. One in a host of much larger, more pressing problems.

He glances down and blinks in surprise when he finds Dimitri watching him so intently. He's struck by how much he'd forgotten of this past version of his once-friend. Clear-eyed. Lucid. Not whole, no, but still struggling to keep his head above the current, unlike the drowned and deadened prince of his present.

Sometimes he thinks this world has a sense of irony, and that this is meant to be his own reckoning with the ghosts of his past.

...You didn't answer the question, [ he murmurs, and for a moment longer he's quiet, watching, listening, ears twitching intently. Watching the dilation of Dimitri's pupils, and frowning.

After a moment, he sighs. ]

Reckless. I think you've broken a rib. Maybe several. Don't even think about moving, and— [ He plucks at the topmost button on Dimitri's jacket pointedly, ] I need you to let me unbutton this, before it strangles you. To death.

[ He glances up, catches the eye of the guard from before, and promptly snaps at her—for once, more sharply than at Dimitri. ]

What do you people have that passes for a healing potion? Get me as many of those as you can carry. Now.