[SE] cut from marble

Maea

I feel it in the wind, my dear
The sun is gonna reappear

Sitting upright suddenly, Maea narrowed her eyes at the tall man. "I didn't tell you that," she accused. "You've been talking about me?" It wasn't really a secret, but it was jarring to realize that something she said to one person wouldn't necessarily stay there. "If Danta told you that much, I'm sure he also let slip that I became an ascended to return from the Halls of the Dead. If we're to talk about blame, I was the one who failed the gods first - why would they do anything for someone like that?"

Turning away when he began to pull his shirt off, she missed the wound on his shoulder. Folding her blanket just to have something to busy her hands with, she kept redoing it when the edges didn't align properly. "I don't know what's so great about chaos. In my experience it just means that people I know and care about get hurt or die. Blood means something else had to die. Is death that fun to you?" Did ancients not grieve? Did they not care when people disappeared from their lives?

Good days are gonna come along
Hold on, hold on!

Astaroth

// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //

“I haven’t been talking about you, dear, but people do talk. It isn’t a secret. I also know that Kiada made the change.” The other Ancient woman’s name is strange on his tongue, and he fumbles with the pronunciation of it for a brief moment before he shakes his head, keeping his back toward her as he chuckles a deep sound. “He did not tell me that, nor that you had returned from the dead once before.” So it is her turn to slip up details about herself, it seems.

Humming a note under his breath as he turns toward her as she focuses her attention elsewhere, he dips the rag in the water again and cleans it out before placing it back, droplets of water that are tinged red start to fall from his shoulder down the raised scar tissue that makes up his torso. “Didn’t they fail you when they didn’t give you an option to return and you chose the…” He can’t think of the name, snapping his other fingers as if trying to get it to come to mind. “Acquired… mm no, Voice?”

He isn’t here to pick it apart, though, because she continues and he rests against the edge of the dark wood dresser, keeping that rag placed against his shoulder as he looks at the pale woman settled on his bed. “Chaos isn’t always pain and death. Would you prefer the stillness of a river to the chaos the fish makes as it swims through its peacefulness?” It breaks the status quo – it breaks the serenity of the still river with its movement for survival. “Death is not fun darling, it’s life. Things and people die for others to survive. Do you mourn the grass you step on day after day until a bald patch remains the same way you might mourn a creature that has given its life for you to keep yours?” His head tilts, pulling at the wound again until Astaroth’s mask falls and the smile fades, and a quiet cursed out (very much unlike him) “fucking hell” escapes him as he turns halfway from her, sure that she heard his little curse as he dips the rag again and more red starts to run.

// dead eyes on a treacherous grin //

Maea

I feel it in the wind, my dear
The sun is gonna reappear

She squinted at him, not sure if she believed that. But so far he really had been honest with her, to a fault. That he knew Kiada's story mollified her at least in part, enough to sit back down. "That's fine then. My bad."

Diving back into the conversation, she shrugged at his turned back, keeping her eyes to herself out of respect for his privacy as much to spare herself any embarrassment. "I died in an accident. Mort doesn't send people back just because they left something unfinished, it's just not how it works. Like you say, death is just life - and I turned my back on both. They owe me nothing." She was about to elaborate on her views on the value of all things, but was interrupted by the muttered curse.

"What are you doing?" she wondered with a frown, finally setting herself above propriety to see what the cause of his distress was. A little peeved that he wasn't listening, not to mention worried when the tang of blood reached her nose.

Good days are gonna come along
Hold on, hold on!

Astaroth

// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //

He hums to accept her apology, before he delves back into the conversation, shifting to face her and offer his little words of advice before she promptly denounces them in the fact that the gods don’t owe her anything. A subject of which he could turn around and ask her why she cares what they think now, then, when she has a goddess who would help where she could. "But now you have a goddess now that is the other side of the coin of Caido that adores you." But the point is moot as he interrupts it with a curse, leaning over the basin with a sigh, all of his prior charm and gentlemanly composure failing as he tries to clean the rag again.

“I have this wound that won’t seem to close properly.” He won’t know until later that it goes down toward the bone, where the bruise sits heavily in more internal pain. “It’s just opened up again.” He frowns at the rag, squeezing it out with a soft sigh. “I don’t mean to derail the conversation, but it is difficult to see. Would you mind helping me for a moment?” An offer for help if she felt so inclined. But if she didn’t, he would understand. The conversation hadn’t exactly been pleasant.

// dead eyes on a treacherous grin //

Maea

I feel it in the wind, my dear
The sun is gonna reappear

Frowning at her hands, she can't think of anything to say that really conveyed her misgivings. Not because she had anything bad to say about Dygra, not at all. The goddess had indeed been kind and welcoming so far. It was just... No, she didn't understand it herself.

"Sure." Leaving the topic for later, Maea might perhaps surprise him with her willingness to overlook disagreements when it mattered. That he asked for her help was reason enough to give it, and she was on her feet in an instant, padding quietly across the floor to have a look. Taking the rag from him and shooing his hands away so she could see properly, a sharp hiss escaped her as she saw the extent of the damage.
"When did this happen?" she asked him, while her fingers began to gently prod the surrounding musculature. Searching for signs of infection, once again wishing she knew more about healing than she did.

Good days are gonna come along
Hold on, hold on!

Astaroth

// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //

The nice thing is that the conversation can always be had later – but shelving it for the moment in favor of helping out where people need it, already proves to him that she’s different than her worries might otherwise suggest. And as she agrees, he sinks onto the dresser to lower himself so that she can get a better vantage point, head tilting slightly away from it as she goes to inspect it – staring over the other Ancient’s shoulder. “Thank you, darling.” He drawls a little softly, quieter as she starts to poke and prod at it.

The wound itself is a deep one, teeth marks having carved out a full circle of a wound – looking almost like a wild animal attack with how deep and jagged it is, especially having made it through the crisscrossed scar tissue. He clears his throat and folds his hands in his lap, content to let her do whatever it was she needed to do. “Mm, just after the Torchline tournament.” He offers a bit unhelpfully, quieting with a small clench of his jaw, nostrils flaring as he continues to stare as if unbothered even as her prodding has more blood bubbling up to the surface and spilling over.

// dead eyes on a treacherous grin //

Maea

I feel it in the wind, my dear
The sun is gonna reappear

At least it wasn't the gore crow pecking, that would have her seriously worried. This was bad enough, and the way blood bubbled up at her prodding only confirmed it. "It's deep," she mumbled, "and needs stitches. Has anyone looked at this at all?"

Rinsing the rag properly, she plucked some fire from the hearth to boil the water clean. Dunking the cloth again, she cleaned off the seeping blood and wiped down the rest of the injury as thoroughly as she could. Though she did her best to be light of hand, she had no doubt that it hurt like a bitch.
"Do you have any bandages? I could try to sew it for you, but it might be better to see a proper healer. This is beyond what I'm capable of fixing."

Good days are gonna come along
Hold on, hold on!

Astaroth

// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //

“It feels like it.” He offers unhelpfully. It’s the only way he would be able to feel it, given that the majority of his torso is deadened nerves. It had to be deep in order for it to hurt as much as it did, and now with the potential of it worsening, has made the pain worse – has made him start to lose his composure a bit. “No, not yet.” He admits a touch ruefully – having not worried about it until now that it won’t seem to remain healed.

Boiling the water clean attracts his attention momentarily, though, because she’s pressing against it again and while the rubbing and pressing against the surface of the wound doesn’t hurt so bad, it’s the pressure on the base of it that fucking sucks and he clenches his teeth a little with a sharp inhale, shutting his eyes as he swallows. “Top drawer on the right.” The opposite of the side he’s sitting on. “No need to sew it up, but perhaps we should run some boiling water on it to clean it out further and bandage it up?” He suggests in a tighter voice than before, dark gaze blinking open to scan Maea’s face in curiosity to see what she might think of the idea.

// dead eyes on a treacherous grin //

Maea

I feel it in the wind, my dear
The sun is gonna reappear

Looking up at the suggestion, she met his gaze and swayed lightly when it struck her how close they were standing. The sudden shift into playing at being a nurse had made her forget her anxieties, but apparently they were not gone entirely. "Uh, sure," she breathed, hastily ducking away to fish out the bandage. "Just a moment. You'll want to sit down for that, probably." It would make it easier for her to reach, too.

Setting out the rolls of cloth where they would be easy to reach, she waited for Asta to make himself comfortable, then picked up the basin and brought the water back up to boiling with more borrowed fire. "Sometimes I forget that we're fireproof," she admitted. "To anyone else this would only make matters worse." Settling next to him, Maea offered him a tight smile. "Ready?"

Good days are gonna come along
Hold on, hold on!

Astaroth

// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //

Dark eyes, blackened by the dark interior of the room meet her bright lavender ones when she looks up – close proximity to one another as she fusses over his wound and he offers her options to try. He does nothing but meet her gaze, though, as she starts to hastily move away, fishing out a bandage from the designated place he’d suggested while he does precisely what she’d asked of him. Sitting in what is essentially a foot stool, bringing him to a much more manageable reach for her, he watches as she sets the cloth out and brings the water back up to boiling.

Her comment does draw a deep chuckle, nodding with a soft little sigh at it. “If I wasn’t worried it would do more damage than good, I’d suggest cauterizing it. But I’d rather not reopen it if it got worse.” They’re pointless musings, honestly, because she settles next to him and offers him a tight smile, the two of them already under way of the initial plan. Hands fold together in his lap as he sits up a little straighter, ensuring she had all the access she could need by his angry wound, nodding. “I am ready.” He says a touch softly, like he’s trying to keep his breath for the boiling water to clean out the wound.

// dead eyes on a treacherous grin //

Maea

I feel it in the wind, my dear
The sun is gonna reappear

"Would that even work?" she wondered, a rhetorical question as it couldn't be put to the test at the moment - something she was intensely glad for. It was bad enough to have to cause him distress with her half-baked knowledge of first aid.

Nodding briefly as he gave his go-ahead, she carefully began to pour the boiling liquid over the wound. While it would be scalding to anyone else, the pot in her hands was only pleasantly warm, and Asta would probably have found it nice too if the liquid hadn't been trickling its way in beneath his very skin. Blood mixed with water and trickled in pinkish rivulets down his chest, soaking through his pants before splashing onto the floor. It was making a terrible mess, but at least it was over quickly. The container wasn't very big; before long Maea took a step back, finally allowing herself to breathe as she put it down.

"Are you alright?"

Good days are gonna come along
Hold on, hold on!

Astaroth

// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //

“I’m not sure.” Astaroth admits a touch ruefully, a breathy sort of laugh leaving him as she goes to grab the bucket of boiling water. He braces himself – sure that if they weren’t Ancients it would be the worst idea in the world. But they are, and so it feels like a perfect sparking shot of warmth as it bleeds through him, cleaning out the wound with a sigh of relief despite the way blood and water mix, the tangy scent of iron in the air.

She steps back and she’ll see his head tilted back a little, his eyes closed, the light of the fire bringing out the oil sheen of a warm rainbow effect in his pronged horns. He nearly shivers with the absence of it when she asks if he’s alright. “Just peachy.” He offers with a quiet sigh, tilting his head back down, remaining perfectly still as his dark gaze focuses on her again. “It was nice, to be honest, thank you.” But the job wasn’t done yet, already Astaroth starts to reach for the bandage, despite his attempts to keep the arm from moving, it’s clear that he won’t be able to get it on himself without aggravating it more and causing more blood to come to the surface.

For now, though, it’s angry but it isn’t actively bleeding for the moment, and the mess he can clean up later. All in all, he’s content thus far in their attempts.

// dead eyes on a treacherous grin //

Maea

I feel it in the wind, my dear
The sun is gonna reappear

"Don't mention it." If the water had been that nice, perhaps pure fire would have been even better. It was a bit late to think of that now, but she made a note to remember it in case they ever had to do this again.
Helping Asta with the bandage, she mad him hold on to one end of it while she wrapped it. Up over the shoulder, down the back, around the arm and then across so it would stay in place. It took a few laps to secure it properly, but once she was done Maea confessed herself rather pleased with how it looked.

"I think that's it," she announced. "You really should go to the infirmary though. They're not the Remedy, but they're still good at their job." Reaching for the rag, she began to clean his blood off her hands, before she forgot herself and put her fingers near her mouth.

Good days are gonna come along
Hold on, hold on!

Astaroth

// a beast in the business of selling forgiveness //

Nodding to her as she instructs him to hold onto the end, he does as dutifully told while she wraps the bandage around him, sighing in a bit of relief when she tucks it in and ensures it’s secured properly, and its with an amused little sharp smile once again that he dips his chin a little. “Ah, I was actually intending on taking a trip to see her for it.” He liked Isla, and it was certainly a trip worth taking if they got to share more of that wonderful tea the Remedy had.

Or, perhaps a hunt, given the tinge of iron in the air making his stomach churn with a hint of hunger. Ignoring it, as he was often prone to do, Astaroth lets her clean up her hands, before he grabs another and moves to start to dry off his pants and then to the floor, soaking up a couple of towels before adding them to a small hamper nearby a jug of the cleaning product. His pants are still damp, but nothing that angling toward the fire can’t fix, as he fruitlessly tries to brush the dark locks back and around his horns once more. “It feels so much better.” He hums as he warms by the fire, eyes shutting for a moment as he takes in the momentary peace. He’d thank her again, but he assumes that she would say much the same as before.

// dead eyes on a treacherous grin //