"Oh... Oooooooh... Owowowow!" I go, creaking through my front door with the increased weight of wearing armour in the evening. Not caring one bit about my shop for the moment, I get to taking it off, piece by piece. Bang after bang occurs, each one preceded by the sweaty peeling of metal and under-armour clothing. Each part gets a different noise to come out, be it 'ah's!' or teeth-gritting moans.
Some even make me shiver!
Standing near enough naked, I tearlessly sob out what emotion I can and stiffly get moving. Reaching the stairs, one of my legs nearly gives out, forcing the bruises of the other to come together. Grabbing onto the handrail, a mixture of pained breath and forced laughter escapes my mouth. Nowhere on or in my body is unable to be taxed for its pain, the tithes are more than easily fulfilled.
Spotting my bed soon enough, I linger by the door and take a sniff of air. Moving my head a bit closer to my chest, I sniff again and let my nose crinkle up while my mind shows me a nightmare. One of dark patches of wetness on my sheets and bedding, a smell only a good wash will get out rising in yellow lines. Shivering at the idea of sleeping in such slimy grime, I force myself off towards the shower.
A couple of undressing stretches later and I am under a muscle-relaxing strain of steam-emitting water. Sighing and letting my eyes droop, I hold some of my hair and feel the out-of-place muck. Sweat is easily enough removed from skin by just standing under the water, but my hair needs something proper. Nearly growling at the process, my head quickly swells with bubbles and white before I lazily wash it all away.
"I am not cutting you short just because of some armour..." I groan at the mirror, getting out of the shower and turning it off. With a couple of flicks, my hair is back on the same body part and my bruised hand lingers near my pile of towels. Grabbing one, I toss it aside until I can reach the softest one. I hug it tight and walk out.
The carpet in the hallway dries off my feet and, upon reaching my bed, I lay out my towel in a protective manner and crawl up onto it. Immediately, everything about me stops moving and I sigh, not feeling the thud I definitely heard my tail make when it went limp. But, even though my eyelids are heavy, I don't fall asleep. My hand scrunches up a corner of my soft, fluffy towel.
Rubbing my cheek into it and digging into the softness of my made bed underneath, I stare at whatever is in my room. Photos and memories, decorative toys and silly little items, even a decorative rock or two. My eyes land on a silk dressing gown Einervaene made me before she left. If I can muster the strength to do anything but go under my bedsheets, I'll probably put that on.
I probably need to make that decision soon-ish, though my hair is still wet, my skin is quickly becoming the opposite. The cold is also starting to get to me, it's not particularly nippy but being so limp with nothing on is not ideal. I really need to get moving. And, yet, all I can do is dream with my eyes wide open, that same idea repeats on perpetual playback.
Someone knocks on my door.
"Can they not read the 'We're Closed, Sorry!' sign?" I question, having half a mind to get up and use the pain to work myself into a right mood to tell them to piss off. It happens again and I start to push the front half of myself up. Once more, only, this time, I can clearly pick up which part of the building it is coming from. The back door.
Raising a brow, I shake my head and force my naked self out of bed. Glancing down at my more essential bits of clothing, I shake my head and just go straight for the dressing gown. Putting it on, the soft shine of the silk is quite palatable to my currently swollen body. Even done up tight so that my chest doesn't slip out, it's not particularly harsh on my skin.
"Much as I enjoy your work, Uibaity... Einervaene will always remain my go-to for things like this." I joke, only to make myself a little miserable because I might never see her again. Nin's made a promise but who knows if I will be there to see it or feel the same whenever we go down that path in life. Those I once knew at Suhurlodst might simply never appear back in my life because we don't find them or either of us dies. Certainly feels like it's me that's going to die with my body the way it is...
The door is knocked again.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" I go internally, reaching the bottom of the stairs and passing a look at the shop's front to make sure my ears are not deceiving me. Making my way to the back, I spot a dark form through patterned glass. I take one last glance at my pile of armour and instead place my hand on a broom if I need to jab someone.
"About time you opened up!" Seigunfrei ha's as if I was expecting him. Relaxing my posture and grip, I step aside and my two training partners walk in, one notably more beat up than the other. Somehow, as well, despite the fact I was the one wearing armour, I feel like I am the one in worse shape. Baltanthan seems to be taking it in stride, how in the name of God can he do that!?
"Why are you two here?" I ask, closing the door as they make themselves at home. Mentally shaking away my issues with their uninvited walk-in, I join them at the table, my finger flicking the kettle on before I find my seat. Putting a hand on Seigunfrei, I firmly smack his shoulder until he gets out of my best chair. He groans with a chuckle and I settle on to the cushioned spot.
"Seigunfrei wants to extort you." Baltanthan grumbles with a stiff body keeping him upright.
"Not true at all!" the accused counters, his controlled laugh not helping his defence.
"Extort me how, exactly?" I direct at Baltanthan seeing as he's the one not in the mood for humour right now.
"Some treats in exchange for the work we've put in so far." he explains, our shared source of misery looking about as if he's never seen the place before. Ironically, it's Baltanthan who should be glancing more but he's focused entirely on me.
"You never asked me to pay you back earlier in the week..." I huff, shaking my head and smirking a little at it.
"I know, the training is its own reward. Besides, I still have other stuff to finish when it comes to your cooking, baking, whatever." Baltanthan explains and I nod along, the kettle switch flicking back up to announce its steamy job well done.
"Pour me a cup, will you, Seigunfrei?" I ask of him and he stops to frown at me.
"Me?"
"You owe me this kindness." I tell him, leaning forward with my sore body so he can get a better view of some of the dark patches he's left on my collarbone.
"Huh? No I- Fine." he groans, amused at the change in authority I have under this roof.
"Do you want one, Baltanthan?" I decide to ask, the hot drink will do him well with how much punishment we've both endured. Him being bare throughout it all probably means as well he's a lot sorer on the inside. A shower or God willing, a bath is much further off for him than it was for me.
Why he even chose to come into the city is a mystery in and of itself.
"Ok." is all my friend has to say and Seigunfrei quickly finds where I keep the mugs and my personal, more expensive teas. I have plenty of cheaper ones, but, the better stuff is mine even though I get it from the same company as the cheap stuff!
"To think I would be putting my work experience here to good use again." Seigunfrei tuts under his breath, the sound of swishing water calming me down. It's an oddly nice noise to hear, especially when it's filling out one of my mugs. I guess it's because I know the noise is associated with time with friends or something.
"Thank you." I quietly go when the warm ceramic enters my redder-than-usual hands. Holding onto the mug tightly, I let the warmth fill out my fingers, palm and even a bit of my forearms. I whistle into the mug, sending some of the scented steam elsewhere.
"You know, the best time to eat or drink hot things is when you are powerful." Seigunfrei remarks, the contents of his mug going away as if he's only poured himself some juice. The steam says otherwise and me and Baltanthan have both not taken so much as a sip.
"No... Best part of a hot drink is waiting for that right moment to go right for it. The cautious sips beforehand, the simple pleasure of warmth when you are cold or feeling weak. Even more so when you do it with friends who are also trying to enjoy their drink." I correct as there is simply no other way about it. My way is the best way.
"Yeah, but, when I'm thirsty, I like to just drink." he says with a shrug and I shake my head.
"Then pour yourself a glass of water or squeeze an orange. God, you could even simply stab a tube and then a straw into one of the many kinds of rockfruit growing and falling from the mountains." I tell him, my mind quickly becoming a cinema of almost comical warnings about the latter spoken fruit. A fair few of my customers have talked about having even small trees for such fruit and their contents falling off the windowsill or basket. Their blooming season is notoriously bruising on the head, nevermind the prickles.
"And what if I want a hot drink?" he asks as if it means anything. Snorting a little, I watch as he puts on that challenging smile of his. He's been giving it quite a lot while he teaches us but I think this is the first time I've seen it with our magic naturally flowing.
"Then you have it like you're supposed to have it. There's no point in going for hot food or drink specifically if you're just going to make a mockery of the caution others need. Besides, I don't see you eating bowls of fruit by scraping away at the ice block they're in with your teeth." I suggest, shivering at the ghostly feeling on my teeth and he does much the same. Baltanthan suddenly twitches with a burst of activity.
Me and Seigunfrei look at him and he slowly takes a sip. We share a laugh that Baltanthan ignores, but, I still catch the signs of a mellowing expression. One that shows he is happy to have something to help his body relax a little despite the mutual problems we have. Eventually, I finally manage to get a sip in myself and it quickly grows into larger amounts once my tongue has endured the initial scalding.
I've had worse pains all week so far in full, magic-reinforced armour, a little bit of heat is nothing. Yet, the wetter my mouth becomes, the more something is clearly missing, the more something clearer becomes and I get up. Reaching my cupboards, I pull out a small barrel and then a plate. Popping the lid off, I slide some of the contents onto the white circle and pop it back on.
Arriving back at the table with some biscuits I've bought from shops of all kinds, I take a digestive and let the other two pick at what they want. I smile as Baltanthan takes his time figuring out which one he would like. His fingers shifting between a jam and cream swirl and a custard cream. He ends up taking both and looks up at me like a little boy might.
"Go ahead, it's fine." I giggle and for the first time since some point earlier in the week, he smiles.