2021-06-26: Cleanup and Consequences
- Log: Cleanup and Consequences
- Cast: Riley Arwell, Xander Lovell
- Where: Sylvara Great Woods
- Date: June 26, 2021
- Summary: Once again, the Fangs have the audicity to be depressed after trying to kill people. But... someone has to do the singing. Takes please immediately after Violent Surprises'
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.
Riley hasn't left the woods entirely; it would be a long way to walk, and the trees and underbrush provide good cover. When he feels he's put enough distance between themselves and the scene of the attack, he sinks down to the ground in a slow and measured way, trying not to dump Xander onto the forest floor.
Aside from this care taken, much about his manner is flat, and tired. He mumbles a hollow "Sorry again," as he settles Xander enough to begin checking his injuries, looking for wounds that need to be cleaned or stitched. There's something between a cut and a burn from Xiumei's saber... ... and he's not sure if those vines in his back are going to be permanent now until they can shake this round of the curse. He rummages through Xander's bag without asking, looking for medicinal candies and other things that might be of use.
"Do you have any sort of... salve?" he asks, in case Xander is awake enough to respond. Surely he does have some, but Riley doesn't know what kind is needed.
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.
Xander should have protested. He should have tried to walk on his own. But each time he had the thought, his vision darkened, and he wasn't sure how much time passed between. During the silence on the way to safety, he became instinctively drawn to the warmth against him, leaning gently against Riley's chest.
He slipped in and out, but stirs back to his senses with the clink of his vials against each other as Riley rummages about. Straps and pockets inside help separate and organize his tools and potions. There's his notebook, too, stuffed with extra pages and folded additions, flat on one side and seconding as a buffer to keep the discomfort of irregular shapes from Xander's hip.
The candies are easy to find, but the vials are unmarked. Xander's eye lifts open at the sound of Riley's voice. He flinches to action, hissing and gripping at his own wound as reality sinks. Xander sinks back down with it.
"Short jar. Cream colored." He tries to focus on Riley's face. "At least eat one of the candies first this time." Worry bites into him. How are Riley's wounds? And... how's... the rest of him?
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.
Riley fetches out two candies and feeds one to himself and the other to Xander, before searching out the salve Xander described. He applies it to Xander's wound, grimly regarding how deep it is -- at least it seems to have sealed itself.
Then he peels up his own shirt to treat his burns -- the mark there is longer, from the whip form of the weapon, but not as deep or severe as the gouge Xander received. Once that is done, he starts to cut away the vines from Xander's back, to shorten them at least. Removing them would require cleaning and care, and if they're cursed, Xander might end up bleeding more than he needs to while he's still in a delicate state. It might be better saved for later.
There's a similar leftover mass of thorns trailing from Riley's forearm where he cut it open during the battle.
Throughout all this, Riley is... quiet, unable to think of anything to say, or to drum up the motivation to try to change the sullen energy hanging about him.
Finally, he asks, "Are you hurt anywhere I missed?"
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.
Xander grimaces as he endures the initial treatment, equally wordless, and without complaint or even direction -- not if Riley doesn't need or ask for it. Once Riley takes a moment to tend to himself, Xander grabs a vial from his pack, filled with bright, violet-pink liquid and injects it into himself. It'll help speed the healing on top of the medicine.
He curls on himself a little as Riley takes care of his back, and he doesn't offer input on that, either. They're probably both thinking the exact same thing. They have enough experience with it by now.
It's always been Riley who fills the silence. Xander doesn't know what to do with it. He knows it's partially his fault. For failing. For... dragging Riley down, both in body and spirit.
"No," he replies, quiet. "I --" Xander shakes his head. "I'm fine." He sits up to turn and gently reach for Riley's hand to pull it toward him, carefully readying a dagger. "...Your turn."
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.
"Thanks," Riley says quietly, offering his arm as Xander asks for it.
The silence stretches on again. Riley knows, too, that he's the one who usually fills these silences, and lifts the mood with chatter, or songs, or whatever other nonsense he can think up. That makes the silence his fault, his responsibility.
But he feels so... foolish. So rebuked.
How could it have happened again? That the girl they chose to attack was someone special to one of his 'drifter friends.' That she had amazing relic armor and weapons that could be summoned in an instant. That Xander and Riley earned the sympathy of the two of them, but not their understanding -- just that horrible question. Isn't there another way? Didn't you try to find another way? Shouldn't you keep trying?
He clenches his teeth, looking down at the ground. When did he make the decision? And wasn't it done too lightly? He told himself it was to keep Xander from being alone in his guilt, but wasn't that just a rationalization? Wasn't the real reason that he knew what it was like to feel the curse fall away and he'd decided it was worth someone else's life to feel that again, to steal back his wellbeing even for a brief time? Using up other people's decades to buy himself a few more days or weeks. And he's been able to push that aside, to find reasons to justify to himself why it was still okay to laugh and smile.
But it's like the universe is saying not anymore. The bill is due now.
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.
Xander expertly cuts away the vines of Riley's arm. Surgical practice never goes dull with the trouble the Fangs get into, and he was riding on years of it even before that. Precise. Quick. Clinical. It makes the moment feel colder to realize it.
That's what Xander's been, hasn't he? Cold. Empty, at times. Leaving Riley to drag and carry him, when Riley was the one who came for help. Xander promised himself he'd save him. He nearly failed that. Everyone else thinks there's a different kind of hope. A third option. A way to salvation that isn't bathed in blood. If only there were. But even if Xander wants to believe they have a means to escape and survive... they have to continue the hunt to make it that far.
They won't let that happen. They won't save Riley, because as long as they don't pull the trigger themselves, they don't think of it as taking someone's life. But Xander can do what needs to be done. For that, Xander has to do better. Be stronger. Dig down and find the pieces of himself that fractured.
Once he's done tending to the thorns, Xander sets the knife aside, taking Riley's hand. Xander sets Riley's palm to his own cheek -- his face is warmer than his fingers. He curls his fingers in to squeeze, eye still unable to meet Riley's. But he starts to hum, soft and low, like a somber lullaby.
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.
Xander pulls Riley's hand to his cheek and begins to hum.
The gesture is strange, unexpected, and captivating. Enough so that Riley's thoughts are pulled from their spiral as he looks back at him with widened eyes, before closing them to listen, and to feel the warmth of his cheek and the and subtle vibration of his voice.
When the humming quiets, Riley responds softly, "...thank you for the song. It was beautiful."
A Xander song is... a rare thing. Normally he would tease and carry on and make a big exaggerated fuss over it to embarrass him, but he isn't feeling very normal right now. Will he be, again, soon...? If Xander is trying to comfort him, he must be acting really off...
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.
Once Xander runs out of melody, he shifts his head, kissing Riley's palm. A jab or a tease would have come as a relief. But even without the usual fussing, Xander's cheeks have still reddened, his eye pointedly glancing away.
Promising everything will work out feels empty right now. Like he keeps saying that, and not backing it up. He needs to promise it with action, not words.
Does it just hurt you more, the way I am?
Maybe Xander should be asking that himself, if he didn't already know the answer.
"...You should get some rest. I can... handle the singing tonight."
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.
...You should get some rest. I can... handle the singing tonight.
Riley feels his face getting a little hot. He needs to muster up some damn words before this really gets out of hand.
He swallows and tries to gather himself back up into a proper approximation of Riley. "...I would like to encourage your newfound interest in singing, but you need rest. I'm just being... up in my head. I'm fine. Or I will be once the shock of all of our luck dramatically running out wears off."
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.
Xander exhales, slow and heavy. He lets go of Riley's hand only to take him by the face, meet his gaze with a sudden intensity.
"Riley. ... Everything fucking sucks right now. You're allowed to be 'up in your head' about it."
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.
You're allowed to be 'up in your head' about it.
The attempt at giving Riley permission to feel his feelings doesn't... fail to land, exactly, but Riley pulls a face, even as Xander earnestly locks eyes with him.
"...well, yeah. But it sucks for you too and you nearly got gutted by a sword made of light less than an hour ago. I don't want to make you stay up taking care of me."
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.
Xander can never seem to manage to hold his eye contact that long.
"I don't hate taking care of you."
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.
I don't hate taking care of you.
Half of Riley's mind tucks those words away for safekeeping, because he's going to want to revisit them later when he's not feeling so bleak.
The part more focused on the realities of the moment prompts him to grumble at Xander. "But you do hate taking care of you, which is the problem. Please get some rest. You can take care of me tomorrow if I still need it."
He'll have to make sure he doesn't. Although if he can get his spirits back up, maybe he'll want to redeem the offer anyway just to enjoy it...
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.
But you do hate taking care of you.
Xander shoots an affronted glare directly at Riley, the hair on the back of his neck on end like a cat trying to make itself bigger -- except no one can see it when a Xander does it.
He opens his mouth, loss of words, then growls at Riley when the words don't form.
"...Fine."
Then, perhaps still fueled by offense and rebellion, he resettles himself back against Riley's chest before closing his eye.
<Pose Tracker> Riley Arwell has posed.
Riley smiles just a little as Xander bristles at him -- he's not so lost in his gloom that he's immune to such a moment of Xander cuteness.
And then Xander complies, settling against Riley's seated form for his sleep.
Riley begins to sputter a protest, but then sighs and accepts his fate, brushing his hand over Xander's hair.
He hums Xander's sad lullaby back to him. Maybe when he's feeling stronger and more himself, he can put some words to it...
<Pose Tracker> Xander Lovell has posed.
Xander's attempts at retaliation are always his own undoing. Fatigue sinks in the moment Xander isn't trying to force himself up anymore.
In the comfort and warmth, lulled by song, he quickly drifts to sleep.