WHO: Athessa, Madi, Lucien, Skull, and YOU!! WHAT: catch-all WHEN: mostly Satinalia and later WHERE: Kirkwall and The Gallows NOTES: post-murderhaus h/c is gonna go here
If she knew it was being thought of as her bed, Athessa wouldn't be leaning against it. Compared to some of the others, she'd gotten off easy, getting away with only a dislocated shoulder long-since popped back into place even before spirit healing. Sure, her arms and legs and hips and shoulders and elbows and knees and...everything else hurts, but who wouldn't ache a bit after waking up on a rack?
She's fine.
But she's staring off at nothing intently enough to somehow miss Laura's approach, and does something of a double-take when she sees her standing so close.
Up until Athessa notices her, she seems to be thinking--or perhaps not thinking, the way a person might not, after something bad has happened--which makes Laura less interested in interrupting and more interested in observing. Going unnoticed doesn't bother her, nor does being spotted, however belatedly.
"I was told you were injured." And if there's a tiny bit of relief in her voice, it's at the fact that Athessa seems far less injured than those around them.
She puffs out some air, pfft, and waves a dismissive hand — her left, since the right is the one in a sling. A clean, white sling, in stark contrast to the dirt and blood covering the rest of her. If Laura looks at Richard, wherever he is, Barrow, wherever he is, and Holden, across the way, she'll likely see that the sleeves of Athessa's shirt were torn off to make bandages for them.
"I'm fine, just dislocated my shoulder in the excitement. Got kicked in the stomach, too, but it was too low to break any ribs. See?" She winces and pulls her shirt up enough to reveal the bruise. "Perfect outline of a foot."
She doesn't look to Holden, or for anyone else. Her attention remains gravely on Athessa: first her arm, and then her stomach, and the mottled bruise that mars it.
"You will recover quickly," Laura says, even though privately, she isn't sure that's the case. Even if Athessa isn't as badly injured as, say, Mhavos, she looks unwell. But sometimes people require lies to help them, she's noticed. And then, tentative--"I brought you something."
"For Satinalia." Which was already some time ago now, but she'd mislaid it (or something, the explanation doesn't strictly matter). Gingerly, Laura sits at the edge of the bed and, from a bag she'd started using in the mountains, pulls a package wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. Her original plan had been to leave it beside Athessa's bed, something to appreciate upon waking from whatever experiences put her here in the first place. But since she's awake, she can open it right now.
"You didn't have to—" she starts to say, but she knows Laura knows she didn't have to get her anything. So she leaves off the rest and accepts the gift, opening it with only minor hindrance due to the sling.
"It's a box," Athessa announces, but it doesn't take much closer inspection to be able to tell it was hand-made, and thus worth so much more than anything fancy. She runs her fingers over the carving on the top.
Laura watches, at one point reaching out a hand to assist, then pausing halfway there. Athessa is capable. She might be slightly slower than usual, but she is far less unwell than Laura'd originally feared. And soon her gift is sitting between them, unwrapped.
"It is a box," she agrees, her upper arms pressing in tight against her sides, as though that might keep a swelling sense of satisfaction from overtaking her. "The sisters asked me to cut wood for them. They let me keep some to carve."
"The claws? Yes." There are places she's hesitant to mention them, but a room filled with unwell members of Riftwatch isn't one. (They aren't supposed to be opposed to a compatriot with claws--and if they are, Laura doesn't doubt she can take them.) "And you must open it. Let me help."
She wraps her hands around the bottom half of the box so Athessa needs only one hand to pull off the top. It isn't difficult to open, but it's just snug enough that it requires two working arms to separate the halves.
With Laura's help she opens the box and when she sets the lid aside she smiles at the little sachet of elfroot inside the box. Confirmed to be what it is by smell first, then by peeking into the bag.
"Ah, just what the healer ordered," she jokes, since Colin actually did tell her to employ the use of elfroot for her shoulder while it heals.
"Thank you, Laura. I love it. Now if you'll just hold your arms out kinda like this for me, I'm gonna hug you."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
She's fine.
But she's staring off at nothing intently enough to somehow miss Laura's approach, and does something of a double-take when she sees her standing so close.
"Hey, Lo," Athessa greets with a wan smile.
no subject
"I was told you were injured." And if there's a tiny bit of relief in her voice, it's at the fact that Athessa seems far less injured than those around them.
no subject
"I'm fine, just dislocated my shoulder in the excitement. Got kicked in the stomach, too, but it was too low to break any ribs. See?" She winces and pulls her shirt up enough to reveal the bruise. "Perfect outline of a foot."
no subject
"You will recover quickly," Laura says, even though privately, she isn't sure that's the case. Even if Athessa isn't as badly injured as, say, Mhavos, she looks unwell. But sometimes people require lies to help them, she's noticed. And then, tentative--"I brought you something."
no subject
"You...did?" She asks, looking a bit surprised.
no subject
no subject
"It's a box," Athessa announces, but it doesn't take much closer inspection to be able to tell it was hand-made, and thus worth so much more than anything fancy. She runs her fingers over the carving on the top.
"Did you make this?"
no subject
"It is a box," she agrees, her upper arms pressing in tight against her sides, as though that might keep a swelling sense of satisfaction from overtaking her. "The sisters asked me to cut wood for them. They let me keep some to carve."
no subject
"Well done you, Laura, this is really lovely," she says. "Did you use—"
She nods at Laura's hands. Did you use the claws for it?
no subject
She wraps her hands around the bottom half of the box so Athessa needs only one hand to pull off the top. It isn't difficult to open, but it's just snug enough that it requires two working arms to separate the halves.
no subject
"Ah, just what the healer ordered," she jokes, since Colin actually did tell her to employ the use of elfroot for her shoulder while it heals.
"Thank you, Laura. I love it. Now if you'll just hold your arms out kinda like this for me, I'm gonna hug you."