It took him only a moment to get his bearings. Julian blinked; still trapped under the thunder the hailing rain, pain, loss and the blind desire to live.
But there was bone-deep chill, no fatigue to wear at his heart and the loss was already far; distant.
A whole seven years.
He could laugh at it now, and the absurdity of it all.
That was to say…his situation now was also on the side of absurdity. Julian, clothed with little more than his undergarments as in Leonel's arms; skin flushed against skin. He was a slight sticky even, hot. And Julian needed a second to understand his current state.
"My dear Leonel…" he started. Those sapphire eyes were boring down upon him, and even if they only appeared like two blue blurs, Julian could imagine their intensity. He could feel it. "What did I tell you earlier?"
The air of mystery was instantly dispelled when Leonel's eyes narrowed at the words. "Too many annoying things. If you're fine now go get dressed. Our clothes should be dry now."
Julian cocked his head, "Now, pray tell, how do you suppose my blind, crippled old me is supposed to get myself dressed? Where do you suppose my glasses went?"
His glasses… Leonel drew in a sharp breath. No… It couldn't be that Julian's eyeglasses were lost in the chaos of wrestling with the dumb reptilian beast and now they'd be stuck with a disabled person who could neither see nor walk.
For a split second, he even thought of the possibility of having to abandon Julian in the woods, helpless even against the wild dogs that roamed the forest. But he quickly dismissed that idea, remembering that he had no reason to be such a heartless dick.
Or something.
"Wait here."
"...What?" Julian was a bit confused when he dropped on his ass. The cloak draped over his shoulder. There was shuffling, and Leonel stood. Maybe he was being abandoned, he thought absently, as he usually was.
Julian wasn't a complete idiot though, and if there was one thing he excelled at even with his magic abilities impaired, he had the survivability of a cockroach. He knew precisely where his glasses were. What neither Illysa nor Leonel noticed in the fray of chaos was that Julian had carefully removed his glasses and slid them inside his an enchanted pocket that he wore around his belt. He'd done right before grabbing Illysa and telling her to jump, but then again he supposed neither of them would expected a disabled old man to have reflexes as fast and dexterity as sharp as his own.
The ability to stay alive up till now had to be born out of something, after all.
And it was this ability that told him that he was in no immediate danger; no need to fight or flight or even verbally wrestle himself out of a sticky situation. Instead, he was feeling kind of lazy with the heat of sunlight ghosting over his bare skin, making him lay down on the cloak like a carefree cat.
Illysa felt kind of awkward and looked away. She was fidgeting ever since the two men woke. Her clothes were still a little damp, but she put them on earlier to avoid being caught in an awkward and compromising position. It turned out that she had done the right thing.
Too bad neither Leonel nor Julian shared her feeling of shame. Feeling antsy, the teenager got up and began patrolling around the perimeter. Not too far to get lost, but not too close to impede on the privacy that she believed the two men needed.
Julian continued to lie there, unconcerned. At least, until his clothes were all dropped on him at once, including his pockets full of odd items and even his boots. A shameful squeal came out of his mouth, limbs flailing like a landed fish.
Before he could even give words to complaints, the Inquisitor chided him, "Stay still."
He didn't really stay still and got up to a seated position, "Stay still he says, while he assaults me with my own belongings! What kind of savage behaviour is this meant to be?"
A shadow loomed over him, and his head suddenly came through a circle of fabric. Huh? Wasn't this his own shirt?
"I said to stay still," Leonel hissed again, and grabbed one of Julian's wrists, guiding it through the sleeve.
"..." Seriously? Should Julian feel charmed or insulted? He laughed heartily at the thought, "I'm blind and an invalid. Not a child, you know? Or perhaps you can't tell the difference?"
He could feel the intensity of Leonel's annoyed glare. The Inquisitor said nothing and seemingly out of spite, he forcefully manipulated Julian's limbs as though he were a doll, continuing to dress him even with all the whining.
"Ow! Sorry to ruin your dreams but I'm really not that flexible! Oh, mighty Inquisitor, you don't need to use that much strength on little old me. Aren't you pulling a little bit hard? Don't press down on my leg--."
Leonel slowed his movements, his hand spread wide on Julian's right thigh. He wasn't able to get a good look at the leg the previous night. The thigh muscle was slighter than the left one, the surface marred with vast constellations of scars. Leonel could recognize what circuit scars looked like. For the most part, they were internal, which made these particular scars even worse. They spanned from the top of Julian's hip, stretching down and spiraled around his entire thigh with tendrils that reached down even lower past the knee and licked the calf.
He wondered what could have even caused this.
And quietly thought to him that Julian must have been a potent mage before it happened. His hand ghosted over the scar, feeling the bumps and ridges and watched the way the muscle twitched beneath his grasps. Julian's intake of air was sharp.
"It still hurt?"
"I think you're smart enough to figure that out," Julian hummed, his voice didn't give much of his discomfort away, which only incited Leonel to press down harder. "Never mind, I take that back, perhaps Inquisitor Leonel was not as bright as I thought!"
"Shut up." Leonel hissed. And finally released Julian from his teasing touches and focused instead on getting him fully clothed. "Since you're blind and can't really walk, I can carry you like a babe to Fauster, and there you can go off and buy yourself new glasses. After that, you can consider my debt paid."
"Your debt!" Julian exclaimed, allowing the Inquisitor to maneuver his legs into the pant legs. "For saving your life, you mean? You cheapskate! Even if you repaid the favor, what about all the emotional damage you've caused by coming into my life? How will you take responsibility for that?"
"Simple." Leonel huffed, satisfied that Julian was now fully clothed. Dusting off his own legs, he stood and put his hands on his hip, "I caused you grief. And you caused me grief in turn. We're already equal."
Julian gasped as though scorned, "This brat!" He struggled to fully stand without a walking stick. That, unfortunately, had indeed been lost back in the underground caverns.
Leonel held out his hand but realized belatedly that Julian couldn't even see it properly. He grabbed ahold of the Doctor's arm and dragged him to his feet instead.
"Stop treating me like some sort of rag doll!" He hissed and complained, rubbing his arm where a hand-shaped bruise was undoubtedly due to appear. "What part of fragile did you not understand?"
"All of it," Leonel deadpanned, "If you don't stop whining we'll really leave you behind here to the wolves, and you won't be able to do anything about it."
"You monster!" Julian exclaimed, crossing his arm when he realized he had nothing lean or steady his balance on.
Leonel considered finding him a large stick, which wasn't hard when they were in the forest. But instead, he thought something else would be more fun. He grabbed the Doctor and pulled him closer. "Why don't you just lean on me? Since you lost your walking stick by being a fool."
Julian stepped on Leonel's foot in retaliation.
It was not smart of him, because he was left behind without aid as a result.
It took Illysa a while to realize that Leonel had actually left the Doctor behind and had to go back to find him.
But seriously, how was it that their interactions were so clashing but compatible at the same time? She couldn't wrap her head around it.