342. please help me

[mememaker]

Hurt/Comfort - Hurt/comfort is a fan fiction genre that involves the physical pain or emotional distress of one character, who is cared for by another character. The injury, sickness or other kind of hurt allows an exploration of the characters and their relationship.

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Tried to resist. Failed. :| #1, second meeting or post-engagement, go.

[takerofthings]

As it turns out, he's not only unwelcome in London - which he'd known, and gone anyway - he's quite readily recognizable even after over a year. He'd put up a good fight, nearly gotten out unscathed, but eventually there had been a lucky hit, low to his left side and deep, too deep to really hurt at first. He'd been able to think thoughts like no shock, nothing vital hit while he'd pressed a ripped and folded scrap of fabric against the wound, but that kind of linear, logical thinking is long gone by now.

It's possible the loss of blood is making this seem like a better idea than it is, but his unsteady footsteps have led him away from the logic of Elisha and toward Diamond Castle.

He catches a flash of silky gold hair in the distance before he finds he's stopped making any forward progress, because somewhere in there he's dropped to his knees. Damn. Get up. Get up.

going with second meeting~

[ishineon]

Red is a stark colour even in the greyness of dusk. And when that colour is splashed across someone for no appropriate reason (ie, not inflicted by herself or her underling), Säde considers it the duty of an Ace to investigate. The figure's still alive, will probably pull through, she thinks absently as she runs. Not fatal, she notes as gets close enough to pull his arm over her shoulder and haul him bodily up.

"You're Dafydd," she realises, much less absently, her voice sharp, when she's got him upright. She's more dragging him than supporting him as they make their way toward the castle. "What happened?"

[takerofthings]

Dafydd's teeth clench painfully against a cry as she hauls him back to his feet, but the spear of pain clears his mind somewhat. He knows they need to keep moving and leans heavily against his rescuer to get his feet under him, as well as he can.

It isn't until she speaks that he realizes it really is Säde and not just his imagination. "London," he manages, short and curt and with almost no accent. "Needed to--talk to someone. Shouldn't've." His explanation is cut off with another hiss as he presses his hand harder against his side.

[ishineon]

"All right, all right, enough talking then," she says, intent on getting him inside. Not anything to concern herself with beyond helping him, then. The Clubs' Face Cards could hardly begrudge medical help offered to one of their own. Still, best to keep this discreet. She's trained in first aid, but there's so much blood that she can't leave him alone to fetch anything.

The luckless Three she catches gapes at the sight, but she hisses a warning to keep his mouth shut, sends him to fetch the Diamonds' doctor. Nowhere as skilled as Itchy, but good enough. In between now and her arrival, she's going to make him lie down on a couch so she can put pressure on his wound herself.

[takerofthings]

For a short time, he isn't certain what's happening, but when he comes back to himself he's on the couch. The doctor hasn't appeared yet and his eyes find her face. He lifts a hand to touch her arm, but his fingers are bloody and he stops.

"I'm sorry," he says softly. "I shouldn't...I don't know why I came here."

[ishineon]

There's an impatient huff, and she shakes her head, less at him and more to get the hair out of her eyes. Her words come stilted and unfocused, more interested in keeping his wound pressed closed. "Seeking help isn't something to be sorry for. Surprised you even made it back."

The doctor, when she comes, is efficient and quiet and uninquisitive. Säde, assured that the doctor can deal with him by herself, disappears to clean herself of his blood.

But when the doctor's done, she's back, dismissing her, sitting on the floor next to the couch, clean and tidy and resting her chin on her hand, observing him.

[takerofthings]

It still hurts, but it's a different, more distant hurt that he can keep at bay while the doctor is there. He lets himself drift for awhile and when he opens his eyes again, Säde is there. Watching.

His eyes are clearer when he meets hers for a few moments. "Thank you, Milady."

[ishineon]

She merely nods. "You're welcome, but it was simple human decency." Then she's silent, eyes cool, mind ticking away.

It's abrupt when she speaks again, suddenly, "To come back from London, the path is equidistant between the Diamonds and the Clubs. Surely you weren't already so dizzy as to take the wrong turning?"

[takerofthings]

He's lost too much blood to be able to spare any for an embarrassed flush. Small mercies. But he does drop his eyes. "I don't know what prompted me to come this way," he admits. "I'd lost a lot of blood by then."

He'd been thinking of her earlier in the day. Just briefly. Had she been occupying his mind so much that he'd instinctively turned to her instead of to his own Suit?

[ishineon]

That makes her shake her head again. "In the state you were in, it would have been better to stay in London. Returning to the Deck was pure foolishness." Her hand lifts briefly to his brow, then drops without touching it.

[takerofthings]

Dafydd's eyes track her hand and stay on it as he answers, "Staying in London would only have guaranteed my death. There's a price..."

He trails off as his rational side catches up with him and shakes him by the shoulders. There's no need to go spouting off about his past to the Ace of Diamonds. Whatever that night had been, even if it hadn't been a dream, it had still felt like one. There's nothing here to tie them together.

"...This was better," he finishes, laying his head back down and closing his eyes. "I'll be gone as soon as I can, Milady."

[ishineon]

Her brow shoots up as he speaks, but as he lays back down, it's smooth again. She looks at his shut eyes, then up at the ceiling, gnawing her upper lip just the slightest bit.

She isn't sure if he's still awake by then, but she leans over to brush a kiss over his forehead anyway.

[takerofthings]

He nearly isn't, the painkillers are kicking in, but he's still awake enough to realize...he hadn't dreamed that either. It's almost more difficult to believe. But he doesn't stir, because what reaction could he have?

What had happened between them had just been a mistake, from her view. He'd been a mistake. Right?

there is a relationship meme. is it a sign?

[ishineon]

She'll stay a little longer and then leave, she tells herself. No one else will know to come here, anyway.

She'll still be there when he wakes, head leaning against the arm of the couch, breathing slow and even. The room is dark, but there's the faintest hint of light at the window.

Yesss. Is totally a sign.

[takerofthings]

He sleeps through the dull pain, but the high, sharp stab when he rolls over without thinking is enough to jerk him to wakefulness. Then he freezes when he realizes he isn't alone, and stays still when it registers who else is there.

He should wake her. Shouldn't he? An instinct prevents him from reaching out to touch her shoulder and he whispers instead. "Säde. Wake up." It feels strange to say her name like this.

http://memebells.livejournal.com/94128.html?thread=152134320#t152134320

[ishineon]

It's just as well that he doesn't touch her to wake her; it would have been unseemly to break the wrist of someone you've helped. As it is, Säde jerks awake with a bleary "wuh...?" and then a more lucid "Damn."