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 Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:16 pm
"I don't know if it could be considered a secret. I got further in the army because of my skill with a bow and arrow than I did with my abilities to decipher and create maps."
He fired another arrow, a little more aware that Lai was at his side than before, but he didn't seem to mind the Russian man being closer to him. He remembered that someone was always standing at his side when he fired arrows for tests during his stay at the encampments, or to simply show off and win bets, so this was no different.
Only it made him a little nervous. Just a little, but not enough to ruin his aim.
"When I was first drafted in the military they thought I was useless because I only had one eye and seemingly only the ability to read maps regardless of the language the key was in. Then Au-, someone, taught me a little bit of archery and I started to get noticed and moved up in ranks."
Another arrow shot off, this one so much closer to one of the main three that it knocked the feathers off and onto the ground. Just a little more and he'd have his target done, so Einar grinned and turned to Lai.
"How about you? What's your special talent?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:41 pm
"Hmm...Then maybe your secret one has not surfaced yet." The Russian brushed a stray lock of hair out of his face with his fingers. "I am sure it must be interesting though, whatever it is."
Lai went back to watching the arrows Einar shot hit the target. The man was extremely good. As the Norwegian started talking again Lai turned back to look at him. He story was quite an interesting one. The Russian did notice when Einar caught himself while talking, though did not do more than just inwardly say 'Oh' and dropped it.
He wasn't paying attention when Einar turned to him but snapped back as soon as he saw the movement.
"My special talent? Hmm...I guess I have not found it yet either."
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:13 pm
Einar found that hard to believe.
"So you mean there's nothing that you're good at already? I'd consider riding a bike a talent, despite your earlier flight show, so you must have something else other than that? No man is capable of having nothing he can do, even if he can't do it well."
He shot off another arrow as he was speaking and frowned a bit as he watched it miss the destination he'd wanted, instead the arrow finding it's mark in the ring on the outermost edge. He'd gotten distracted and it showed very clearly.
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:21 pm
"Well, when you put it that way, yes." He paused. "I can cook fairly well and I play cello. I have also learned some home economics type things so I can do little tasks with a needle and thread and such things like that."
Lai's cheeks turned pink and he braced himself, preparing for the onslaught of derogatory things anyone and everyone called him when he said he was good at cooking, cleaning, anything declared in his time as "woman's work". It happened every time and Lai was certain this time would be no different. To try and take his mind of the anticipation, he watched Einar's arrow fly and then hit the outer edge. Step one, 'shock of person you are talking to' is complete. Step two about to be initiated in...Three...Two...One...
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:50 pm
"Really? So if were to tear something or needed a new eye patch I should come and find you? Sounds pretty useful, I'll have to keep that in mind when I seek you out."
Einar had run out of arrows at this point in time, his last few shots horrible on the target. They didn't go shooting off into the air or grass like he was worried they might, but as they all stuck in the same spot on the outer ring he knew he was slightly troubled. He made his way over towards the target after setting his bow down and making sure Lai was still clear, and as he approached he frowned.
Normally he never shot this bad, no matter how distracted he was. He'd had people screaming in his ears, yelling at him, running around naked or poking him, but he'd always shot true during those times. Why was now different? Because a Russian guy was talking to him?
"Hey Lai, would you like to give it a shot now? I've managed to shoot a while quiver and not make my goal, so I figure maybe it's time to give someone else a go."
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:05 pm
Lai jumped slightly, startled at the non offensive words coming out of Einar's mouth. He looked to the Norwegian, trying to find a bluff or something. Surely he did not think that truthfully. Or...Maybe he did, and Lai was just so used to being berated that he had lost hope for someone who actually was impressed with him. He stammered, he was so startled and excited.
"W-Well...Y-Yes. Though, I have never done an eye patch before, so I might be a bit shaky on that." Lai dug a small rut in the dirt with his shoe. "You know, you are the first person outside of my aunt to say something nice to me about my talents." The pink turned into a rose red shade.
When Einar returned with the arrows, Lai nodded, happy to try but knowing he could never get most of the arrows into the bulls eye.
"Sure, I would like to try. Watching you has helped jog some memories of what my cousin taught me, so I might as well try and see if they still work."
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:24 pm
"Sewing an eye patch is no different then sewing anything else, and chances are I'd only need you to repair it. This lucky charm here has been with me since I joined so I don't plan on ever parting with it or replacing it."
He touched his eye patch with the tip of his left thumb, a grin spreading over his face.
"And I'm not really sure if I like being compared to a Russian aunt, but I'll take whatever compliments you feel like giving me. At this rate we're off to a good start, wouldn't you say?"
He winked (though you couldn't tell) and held the quiver full of arrows out at Lai, ushering the man to take them and give it a shot.
"If you find you're having issues let me know and I'll give you a few pointers."
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:44 pm
"Ah I see. Well then, I could do that no problem." It was truth, that was simple, he could do that within a half hour if the tear wasn't large. "I am not comparing you to her. Just saying that out of all the people I have come across only you two have said anything nice to me. You two are extremely different people. And I agree, a very good start."
He took the bow and quiver from their owner, swinging the arrow laden bag over his shoulder and standing where Einar was only moments before. He faced the target with the bow in his left hand, he was a right-y after all. He took the first arrow, nocked the bow with it, drew back, aimed, and fired. It soared and clipped the edging of the target before landing in the grass a few yards behind.
The second arrow made no better. It decided to go over the target and land straight up in the dirt behind the large circle. The third arrow hit on the outermost blue ring. A hit! A very palpable hit! Lai was able to restrain himself from bursting out with joy at his achievement, but spoke up nonetheless, not facing Einar but the arrow that shook slightly in the target face.
"Ah well. With some practice I bet I could be," He turned to face Einar with a relaxed, yet excited smile on his face now. "Like you...A little."
The Russian turned back to the target face before seeing the Norwegian's reaction. As he drew his fourth arrow, Lai had in mind to try and get closer to the center of the target. He had made some improvement right? Might as well make a goal! Lai placed the bow against his leg just to move his fingers. They were sore from holding the weapon for so long. As soon as he picked it back up and was aligned, the Russian placed the arrow on the shelf of the bow and lined his shot by closing one eye. It looked clear to him. Lai raised the bow, checked quickly to make sure the arrow was on the string right and drew back. Then it happened.
As soon as the arrow was as far back as Lai could pull it the bowstring made a sound like a whip and snapped back against his face. Lai was sure he felt the skin just beneath his right eye break open, but pain erupted all over that area. Startled, he dropped the bow and staggered back, holding his hand over his cheek and eye, releasing a cry of pain and confusion as he did so.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:41 am
Eianr had to purse his lips together to prevent a chuckle escaping from his mouth, though a soft snort did manage to make it through. It wasn't one to be mean, it was more or less one at the whole cuteness of the situation. Einar had been around people like himself for so long, ones who excelled at archery, so it was a a bit of a humorous relief to watch someone miss so badly. He was going to suggest moving the target closer after watching Lai's arrows continue to miss, but when the sound that came with contact struck his ears he had to look towards the target instead of letting his eye wander like it had been.
He gave a whistle of approval as Lai's arrow finally struck the target, albeit in the the outermost ring, and he turned to give a nod and grin towards the Russian man. Archery wasn't exactly rocket science, all you had to do was hit a non-moving target, so he felt a little praise had to be given when someone was able to make contact. He was about to open his mouth to say something when Lai spoke again, and Einar was slightly taken aback.
"Like me? Why would you want to be like me?"
His cheeks quickly turned bright red, as this was clearly the first time anyone had ever said anything even remotely close to that, and he didn't know what other retort to come up with. Perhaps Eianr wasn't used to getting compliments like this, or at least ones that didn't have some sort of snide underbelly to them, so he simply stood slightly flustered with his gaze on the ground. He was probably going to stand this way for a while until s sound he knew all too well, like the thud of an arrow into a target, drew his attention along with a loud cry.
"Lai!"
Einar's gaze snapped upwards and over at the man who was backing away, hand over his face, and the Norwegian youth quickly moved to get to Lai's side and take his hand off of the injury. Covering it like he was wasn't helping them out at all, and Einar had to be able to see where the wound had been made in order to know how to deal with it. Bow injuries where common in his line, of course, and as he'd suffered a shot or two to the face he knew the pain.
He reached his hand out and gently placed it over the one of Lai's that rested on his face, and he slowly tightened his fingers so he could get a good enough grip to pull the hand away should the Russian not cooperate.
"Lai, you have to move your hand to let me see. I can't check if you're covering your face."
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:24 pm
Lai felt red hot pain coursing from his cheekbone up past his eye. It made his eyes water and that mixed to cause more stinging. The Russian grimaced and released another, but shorter, cry of pain which turned into a groan. He kept his hand clasped tight over the right side of his face as he staggered back, feeling like he was going to fall.
He didn't though. Lai remained standing now about four feet away from the bow that he dropped. At the feeling of Einar's hand he flinched away involuntarily, but as he felt the Norwegian's hand tighten around his own he did not struggle.
"Ein-Einar...?"
Lai knew the voice, he just wanted to make certain the man was there. He felt numb and the other young man's voice sounded far away. The Russian stood there and shook all over, not focusing on the warmth of the hand that rested on his, but the warmth that was sliding soup-like down his covered cheek. Slowly, he removed his hand and opened both of his eyes.
On Lai's pain-red face was a two and a half inch long gash right beneath his eye. Blood, now free from the hand that held it, spilled from the wound and ran down the Russian's face and dripped onto his shoulder and collar like red tears. His gray eyes were wide with fear and watered with more pain as air touched and harassed the injury. With some difficulty (for his neck felt tight) Lai turned his head to Einar, stared him straight in the eye, and had nothing to say.
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:19 pm
Einar frowned deeply at the sight of the wound that ran on Lai's face, and inwardly he thought it was such a waste to something that was so beautiful. Sure he thought Lai's face beautiful, as he did of most people who had both of their eyes and didn't look like trolls, and it seemed a shame that something had struck him in this way.
Ignoring any call of being clean and sanitized he pulled the tip of his sleeve up enough to get what blood he could off of Lai's cheeks, uncaring that his cream sweater was now reddening at the cuffs and would probably have to have the sleeves cut and sewn to be short. After a few moments of wiping he had to apologize to the Russian, aware that the fabric of his sweater was certainly not soft.
"Sorry about this, but we need to get what we can off. It doesn't look like the wound is deep at all, more or less just really long. If we get this taken care of right away you won't even have a scar to remember it by."
His voice held a bit of hopeful mirth to it as he took another gentle wipe, finally getting the blood clear away enough that he could see then thin cut that ran so long. He would have traced it over with his finger if he could only be certain that the salts and oils on his skin wouldn't burn deeply, so instead he simply moved his own face closer to Lai's. With another smile at the man Einar did what he'd done before when the Russian had hurt himself, and without any hesitation or repellent feelings gently ran his tongue over the angry wound.
When he finally pulled his mouth back there was a bit of spittle that had accumulated on Lai's cheek, but the bleeding was slowed down quite well. The taste of blood lingered on his lips like he'd just sucked on a mouthful of coins for a while, and Einar could only force a coy grin.
"Like I said, if you keep getting hurt you're going to run my tongue dry."
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:04 pm
Lai did not mind the scratchy material of Einar's sweater and only mumbled an "it is all right" and an "I understand" to the Norwegian as he tended to wiping the blood off the Russian's face. Lai truly did not mind, only when the sleeve got close to the cut did it burn him and caused the young man to wince, but other than that, the material felt good against his skin.
He wasn't looking at Einar anymore, only straight ahead and down a bit at the bow with the snapped string. Lai thought he really did have the worst luck with things. Oh well, at least it did not get his eye....And he automatically felt bad for even thinking that.
"I would not mind a little scar. It might help me to remember 'aim bow away from face' so this does not happen again." His tone sounded bitter and like he was beating himself up over what had happened. Another wince as the last of the blood was wiped off by the sleeve.
"...Thank you again for helping me." Lai was aware of the blood on his right hand dripping down from his fingers to the floor. It felt cold. "I do not know what I would have done without you-" His eyes flicked over as Einar got closer and again put his mouth on him. The Russian saw the smile, it was vastly different from the grins, and felt his stomach knot up.
Einar's warm tongue ignited the injury, making it send hot sparks out and making Lai flinch. Despite that, the red color from the first experience rose up, perching throughout his face but darkest in his cheeks. When Einar pulled back, the color stayed and was joined by the inner pouting feeling, which was now more prevalent in Lai's stomach. The feel of Einar's saliva now cooling on his cheek made the Russian look away.
"I will try to be more careful. I am only human though, I will get hurt sometimes." He looked back, turning his body towards the other man as well. "I am sorry if that happens. I will buy you all the water you want when that comes to fruition." A tender smile followed, soft for Einar to show gratitude and soft for Lai's face, which stung with the faintest muscle movement.
Another thing stung Lai; what did this man think of him? And why was Lai himself so concerned about this?
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:03 pm
"Don't worry too much about it. Accidents happen, we're both just really lucky it didn't hit your eye. I wouldn't be able to get that bleeding to stop and nothing could probably save your vision outside of quick medical treatment and a miracle, though we both admitted earlier that we don't know where the clinic is here in the compound."
Einar rubbed the back of his mouth with his sleeve again, the taste of cotton replacing the taste of metal, and he made sure to keep rubbing until the taste went away. While he didn't mind the taste of blood it wasn't something her certainly wanted to stay in his mouth for longer than it needed to. His eye moved from the wound on Lai's face and to his hand every now and then, as if he was weighing his options, and Einar simply thought for moment before speaking again.
"I'd prefer you try to stay safe though and avoid things you think may cause you injury. The bow string snapping was a total fluke of an accident, a 1 in 100 chance, so things like that can be forgiven. But if you do things you know to be reckless than no amount of water you purchase would make me happy with you again. You should treasure your body."
Perhaps Einar was being slightly bitter over the fact that beneath his clothing his body was riddled with scars that made him terrifying to view without any proper covering, so others who didn't worry about scars seemed to irritate him. He didn't care so much about himself only because he was already ruined past the point of return, so what was one or two scars amongst the dozens already there?
"Still, I guess we should get moving and go indoors to get that looked at. I may or may not have some medical supplies in the tool pouch in my room, since I always carried some with me when I went out on missions during my time. I think we can get some gauze there for your face as well as some cream to help it heal a lot faster."
It seemed like whatever he was thinking of before seemed to finally pass through his mind, and Einar reached over and took Lai's bloody hand at the wrist, raising it up enough that his tongue could gently touch the fingertips.
Why was he doing all of this? Normally any person would drag someone away to the hospital without worry, so why was Einar going the extra mile...?
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:30 pm
"I guess I did get lucky there." He winced. "It feels like it came pretty close. Just watch, the moment we walk out the door the clinic will be right across." Lai believed it, stranger things have happened and life had a sense of cruel humor about stuff like that.
The Russian did not notice Einar's constant eye flicking, but waited calmly for the other man to, what he thought was, get the iron taste of blood from his mouth with his sleeve. When the Norwegian started to speak again, Lai paid him attention.
"I do treasure my body. And I am a very cautious person; to the point where I can be a nervous wreck on occasion." He felt a pinch somewhere near his stomach. The pouting? "I do not want you to be unhappy with me; I like you happy." Lai was looking Einar straight in eye when he said that. The Russian flushed, he had just spoken an inner thought, one that was not supposed to have been said. He hoped the other did not realize this. At the suggestion of cream and gauze Lai nodded.
"Sounds like a good idea. The faster it heals the less questions about where I got it-" Again he stopped mid sentence, but this time to stare in awe as Einar became delicate with him. Lai blushed again, even feeling his neck go hot beneath his collar. The actions the slightly younger man was doing entranced him. Why was he doing this? Was he always this forward? And if so, was he this gentle to everyone?
So many questions arose and hung around in Lai's head that he became enveloped in answering them. Once one was somewhat answered another would arise. Lai felt it impolite to ask the blond man directly, and the motions he was doing to the Russian's hand felt too good to make stop. Until, of course, Lai realized Einar was touching his bloody hand.
"No Einar! You could get ill doing that!"
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:10 am
Einar ignored Lai's protests as he cleaned the last of the blood from the older man's hand, his eyelid hanging heavily as he only seemed to concentrate on what was before him. As he finished cleaning up the rest of the blood without any hesitation he paused on the tip of Lai's index finger, sucking the last of it off before looking up and grinning at the Russian.
"You're saying that now after all I've done so far? Aren't you picking a rather odd place to suddenly get bashful?"
He chuckled and let Lai's hand go, though this time he didn't stop to wipe the taste of blood out of his mouth. For some reason it wasn't as coin-tasting like the times from before so it didn't bother him nearly as much, and inwardly Einar worried that perhaps he was growing fond of the taste of blood. Something like that wasn't too uncommon for the men of his time, those who reveled in the war, but Einar prayed something like that wasn't going to happen to him - ever. Or if it did happen, maybe his tastes would run towards only one person alone and not everyone.
It was still too early to think thoughts like that, and as Einar was far away from his time and at LOTUS he had no reason to fret over developing blood lust and anything of that sort, so the Norwegian youth shook his head strongly and looked at Lai, his face suddenly stern.
"Okay, come with me now. We're going to get that cream and bandages that I mentioned for your face, and then after that you're free to wander around wherever you please."
There wasn't much room in his voice for discussion or compromise as the young man headed towards the building at a quick pace, looking back every now and then to make sure the Russian was following him. His room was located down past the one that homed the Priest and a little past the library, so he picked up his pace as soon as he entered the building. It wasn't that he was in a hurry, but if they didn't want that wound to scar then they needed to get it sealed and cleaned properly as quickly as possible.
"Okay, here it is."
Eianr paused in front of his door before opening it up, letting the hinges creak under his weight as it moved inwards. The whole scene was like a tornado had come through and destroyed what little cleanliness that a typical LOTUS room had to offer, what with the mattress off the frame and leaning against the wall to form some kind of triangle. Everything else seemed a little okay, save for the scattered clothes here and there and the uniform hung neatly on the wall, and Einar coughed a bit before he stepped inside and motioned for Lai to follow.
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