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Previous Page: Injury and Recovery
Note: Most of this story was modified from an online roleplay. It is in present tense, and I have tried to smooth it out as best I can. If anything is confusing, please PM NightBengal on the Nexus Forums.
Bri wakes up 2-3 hours later ... sort of wishing she hadn't. She is insanely stiff and sore, particularly on the hand, ankle, and ribs, go figure. Her headache is a dull roar, her mouth is dry and she's about starving... ... does she really have to get up? She decides that yes, she does, if only to change clothes and pretend to be normal. If she can sit up. She does so, painful but not quite as bad as before. She then gets up and hobbles to her wardrobe to find something else to wear... something not blood-stained and ripped, preferably.
She isn't up more than five minutes or so before there's a light rap on the door. :: ... Bri? Can I come in? ::
:: Yeah.. just a second. :: That's no fun, that send. She finishes pulling her dress on, though, and walks to the door to open it enough to allow Tra in, all with her "good" hand. She doesn't trust the other yet.
Tra pads on in, towing a little cart with something to eat and drink -- tips from her dad, something to replenish Bri's dragon energy... and maybe her kaiser's, too. The little tea pot smells of herbs and some spices. She grins up at Bri.
"I brought you a little something... How are you feeling? Is anything still injured, can you tell?"
"Everything," Bri smirks, gesturing Tra to the couch. They can sit and talk and eat or have tea there. Bri is getting pretty good at hobbling, and her ankle is far less swollen now - but still painful. "Thanks for the meal - I really appreciate it."
Tra smiles and pulls the cart over toward the couch, leaving it within pulling distance for Bri. She would offer Bri a bit of support over there, if she wasn't toting a cart as well. All the same, she hops up, tucking a little bare foot under her. Hey, she said it would be informal; besides, she's wearing pants, if fancy ones. She doesn't have to be all proper.
"... are you serious? Everything still hurts?" Gosh... she's never had a patient who had everything that needed help.
Bri sits pretty informally as well, but not as informally as Tra - she is wearing a dress and all, if only for the easy-on factor. She smiles over to Tra. "Not everything... just most of what hurt before."
"So everything, then..." Tra grins a little, then tilts her head. "I've rested up, too... and if you wouldn't mind me helping a little..."
She puts a hand on Bri's shoulder and, if she doesn't object, slips a loose, careful hug around the older girl, pushing her healing power through every point of contact she can... and that tactic actually works in this particular case, much better than Tra did before, though still not stellar. She's a pretty well above average healer, but not what one would call outstanding; quequmra 'gifts,' as those of her race call their abilities, vary widely and seemingly randomly in the amount of power granted to each individual.
Bri is actually very easy-going with Tra, maybe because she's a kid or that Tra is trying to make up, or whatever. Briana simply lofts a brow cooly and settles back against the sofa without crushing that arm. Ahh, a healer... she forgets that, sometimes.
"Not bad - you didn't tire yourself out this time, did you?"
Tra blinks, flushing juuust a little as she settles back into the same sitting position. She knew about that, huh. "No, no... not at all." She won't be able to heal until well into tomorrow, but Bri didn't ask about that part. "Only not bad? Gosh, I gotta work on that..." She really wants to help out here, etc.
Bri is sympathetic, turning toward Tra. "You did a fine job, don't worry." ...and she gently lifts Tra's chin with a hand to make sure Tra is looking to her compassionate brown eyes.
"I know you feel bad, but you didn't 'make' me fall, and it's not a mistake that you have to correct - especially all at once, okay?"
Tra lets her chin be taken, looking into brown eyes with gray ones, ones that are at least partly sympathetic as well. She considers Bri's words before responding, smiling a little. "I feel bad... but I'm not dragging myself down. ... think that's what daddy calls it, anyway. I just... you hurt, and I kinda did surprise you, and I can help, and I wanna help, even if you say it's not my fault. You know..?" That's about as straightforward as she can put her feelings; not bad, for someone her age.
"You did help," Bri promises... and she'd add more, but she can see the food out of the corner of her eye. "Let's eat, shall we? We'll talk a little more then."
Tra, being the little open book that she is, is pretty perceptive and kind of picks up on what just happened. She has to giggle a little, but she nods and reaches over, putting one foot on the ground to paw the cart closer to them.
"Okay. You first. It's all for you, anyway." She'll eat, too, if Bri wants, but it's really to help Bri out, etc. There's actually a nice little assortment of starchy and energy-building foods: crackers, some cheese, a small bowl of rice -- sweetened with coconut milk, since Tra couldn't possibly see how someone could eat it plain -- a couple other little things, and some cookies, just for fun. The tea, as Bri may have smelled before, has some energy-enhancing herbs in it, along with the spices to make it taste a bit better. Formal or not, Tra wouldn't dare serve a bitter tea... no, perish the thought...
Bri is quite ladylike, if only to humor the younger girl, in having the tea and goodies that Tra brought; but soon after, Bri changes the subject, looking to Tra conspiratorially. "So what do you go down to the stairwell for, if you don't mind me asking?" Bri used to run off by herself a lot, too, so she feels for Tra. Truly.
Tra flushes a little again, go figure, but the somewhat impish grin kind of dispels that. "Well..." she starts, then looks up at Bri.
"It's kind of to get away from everyone, sometimes. I mean... there's a lot of people around here, everyone's always busy with something, and ... ... I can't just be alone, y'know? Daddy's all important, and mom's really nice, but ..." She trails, looking aside for a half moment before looking to Bri again. "I'm not an empath, like you or like daddy... but he says my mind is wide open, more open than anyone he's ever seen, an' I can really feel it, sometimes. 's quiet down there, you know?"
Another pause. "Sometimes I just go there to dream. ... ... kinda silly, isn't it?" It sounds silly to her, when she says it.
Bri shakes her head, feeling she can mostly understand where Tra's coming from. She offers a bit of hope and fellowship. "You know," she says, drifting back in her memories to far simpler times, "I used to do the same thing, even when I was really young. I always found the best spaces to hide. ... yours is pretty neat, I think."
Tra can't help but grin a little. "... underneath the castle in a tunnel where I can get all my nicies scummy?" Would raise too many questions if she always changed before going down there, right? She's had to go through the questioning of where the black marks came from, and she's learned fast to take care about such. Buuuut, back to the conversation...
She scoots just a little closer to Bri and tilts her head a touch, whether Bri responds to her first question or not. "... what was your place like?"
Bri is very careful to hide any hint of pain associated with dredging up those memories. After all, the place is gone... as is everything she remembers from that part of her life. Her family was attacked, political upheaval masked as a random strike, and she was on the run for a year or better... but Tra, of course, knows none of that. "Well... there was a big tree near my house, and it felt like you were on top of the world when you were up there. You could see the house from there, but you could also see for what seemed like forever... "
Tra is quiet for just a moment. "... I wanna find a place like that..." She looks ahead, taking her eyes off Bri for now. "... or even a little pond that's just for me. Daddy thinks it's too dangerous, or something... even if I keep my shield up." She means her little Create Forcefield wild talent; Bri may or may not know that she can 'will' it to stay up all the time, rather than only firing when she sees the blow coming. Not entirely unlike the actual ability, minus the auto-fire.
Bri watches, glad that she was able to get out and make her own place in the world, but at the same time wanting to shield her as much as Ingol does. With her utter openness, though... hmm... she'll have to talk with Ingol on that. After she swears him to secrecy.
"It can be pretty dangerous out there," Bri says. She knows. "I'll see if there's anything I can do to talk to your dad about it, okay? I know it's important."
Tra is about to say she knows it's dangerous... but then Bri's response kind of shifts, in Tra's mind. Her eyes get their twinkle back, and she looks at Bri with a smile. "... you mean it?"
She leans her little head gently against Bri's arm, almost snuggling up to her, not quite. "You're so nice, Bri... Thank you. Really." For talking to her dad, that thanks is, whether Bri interprets it that way or as thanking her for being nice. Interesting contrast.
Bri smiles back. "Yes, I mean it. ... and you're welcome." She takes that as thanks for talking to Ingol, because she "knows" she's not nice, of course.
Tra stays happily half-snuggled for another moment or so, then can't resist reaching out to grab one of the remaining cookies. Cinnamon-raisin, yum~!
She looks up at Bri again. "... you feeling better?" Munch. Both out of concern for Bri and to make sure she made the right food / drink picks, heh... she'll be a regular little hostess, some day.
"Yeah, I am." Bri would typically say she was 'fine' or 'okay,' but Tra seems to over-react to that. "The cookies are pretty good, aren't they?" ... and, thus, the conversation fades into the far more mundane realms. She'll just catch up with Ingol later... whether or not she gets into the details.
Next Page: Intrigue and Quandry