Aitana had done her very best to 'rest and relax' after Rob had left she really had. She had slept on and off in bursts and even after sleeping she'd done a lot of laying around and doing nothing.
But eventually the boredom and wanting to distract herself from the heavy thoughts that nagged her in her inactivity she'd finally given in. She hadn't done much, ever mindful of the bandages on her back - not wanting to mess them up or leave evidence of her disobedience.
She'd made herself a tiny bit of food around 3 am. She'd glanced at how cleaned out her medical kit had become and then tried to look at her own back in the mirror using another small mirror. She'd brought one of her balls over to the bed, hoping to hit it around to pass the time but unfortunately that didn't work very well on her stomach and after a few bounces and returns from the wall it kept rolling out of her reach. Aitana even thought that perhaps she could do some exercises, but almost all of those produced too much pain, and the simply doing curls with tiny weights became quickly boring.
By the morning, and after another nap or two, she'd regulated herself to simply laying on the bed, facing the foot of the bed, making tons of tiny triangles out of sheets of paper before flicking them at random targets. A trash can, her dresser, the window. There were likely a hundred or more tiny pieces of paper strewn across the floor (and luckily a decent amount actually in the trash can) by the time she heard a slight tap at the door. "Come on in." Her expression looked oddly similar to that of a young child on Christmas morning.
tatterpixie
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:32 pm
Opening the door, Rob peeked in, a big happy grin on his face. "Morning, love." Normally he wasn't this perky in the morning, but he had a mission and it was Aitana. He pushed open the door the rest of the way and hauled his load into the tiny apartment, closing it behind him with one foot. He had rather a bit more with him this time than he had the previous afternoon: a bag containing more chicken tikka masala and rice, another bag containing medical supplies, and his guitar case. "How are you doing this--"
He noticed the veritable snowfall of tiny paper triangles littering the floor. "I, um, take it you've been a bit bored," he commented. Not that he could blame her -- he'd be just as bored if being raked across the back by a youma and having to do nothing but lie on his stomach all day had happened to him.
Shuffling through the mess, he set down his load and bent to give her a kiss on the cheek, then placed a hand on her forehead. She didn't feel quite as warm as she had yesterday, which was a very good thing. He glanced at her back and was pleased to see the bandages he'd applied were still in place. That meant she hadn't overdone it last night.
With a smile he sat down on the bed next to her. "How do you feel?"
With the small collection of bags and things Rob also looked a little bit like Christmas himself, though there was no surprise in what he toted. Nonetheless she observed the case and bags with far more interest then they deserved, offering little more then a soft scoff when noticed the mess she'd made in her boredom. And as he set his things on the paper littered ground she mused dramatically. "I would probably be dead of boredom very soon, so is good you came early."
Remaining still as he placed a kiss on her cheek and took a quick temperature check, she waited, shifting to rest her chin in her hands.
"Much better." She answered, truthfully. And it wasn't simply overenthusiasm. The cleaning of the wounds had done a ton of good. Halting and helping to lessen the infection that had been starting to settle upon her, lowering the stress on her body. A true recovery would likely still be days away, and a full healing of the gashes probably a week or longer. But already her fever was on the way down and she was on the road in the right direction. Food and rest and the demands not to overdo herself were very good medicine. Who knew, in a day or two she might even be able to get around a bit herself - perhaps even walk to his house so he could change her bandages.
But that day was not today yet, no matter how much better she felt. Her head tilted so that her chin rested on just one hand, allowing her to reach out with the other one and poke him mildly. "So I was thinking...." She'd had a stupid amount of time to think over the past day.
"People at work buy things through our boss when they work on their own stuff. He gets things for less money you know... since he buys much stuff for projects. If you tell me what things you need.. when you work on new stuff around your house. I am sure I could get for you." It was the least she could do.
tatterpixie
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 4:35 pm
Rob blinked in surprise. "Low-cost building supplies? That would be bloody brilliant." He hadn't gotten started on converting the third bedroom upstairs to an office yet, in part due to not quite knowing what he wanted to do to it yet, but also because of the expense of refurbishing the room. Clearly she got the whole punk DIY and sharing of work thing without even realizing she did. "Thank you, Aitana."
With a grin even bigger than the one he'd come in with, he twisted and leaned over so he could kiss her forehead, then sat back up and eyed her back. It looked considerably less red and angry than it did yesterday. This made him very happy -- it meant the infection had been caught in time. "Right then," he said as he leaned over and grabbed the bag full of medical supplies from the floor, "let's have a look." In the bag were a roll of gauze, a roll of medical tape, and another box of bandages, as well as two tubes of antibiotic ointment. He laid all these items out on the bed and stood so he could work better.
"This might sting a little…" He began pulling off bandages, dropping them into the plastic shopping bag. The gashes were holding closed, which was good, but they were still nasty looking and would certainly leave scars. "Soon as I've got you all cleaned up and bandaged again I'll feed you. I'm sure you're hungry."
"I do not know how much cheaper is but... I always hear guys talking about so must not be too bad?" She was pretty delighted by his pleased reaction, happy to have something to offer to her friend that might actually be useful to him. Not to mention it made it easy for her to possibly finagle more fun days of helping him work on his house.
But soon enough he was focused again on her back and she waited impatiently. It did in fact sting as each bandage was pulled, the sticky edges yanking at the sensitive skin around each gash. Her nose crinkled unhappily a slight grimace on her lips. But at the end of the day it was nothing compared to the peroxide from the day before. Speaking just to pass the time and distract herself she mused out loud. "I decide to tell work some truth and that I was attacked by a monster. I could not think of any other reason to explain such wounds and... I imagine they will be there for long time yes..?" Through a set of mirrors she'd seen the wounds herself and had come to the conclusion that atleast some form of a scar might remain there for quite awhile - maybe even forever.
Her grimace shifted to a smile as he mentioned food. She wasn't as ravenously hungry today as she was yesterday, having had something to eat in the early hours of the morning, but that didn't mean she wasn't excited for round two of the chicken thing he'd brought for her. Maybe she'd even remember what it was called after this time. "I could eat." Aitana mused, almost sing song. She was certainly more clearly coherent today.
tatterpixie
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:16 am
"Cheaper is good. Doesn't matter how much cheaper. Free is better, of course, but that ain't going to happen." Rob continued to pull off bandages until he had them all. He glanced up at her face as she told him about explaining to work about the youma attack, slightly surprised at first, but on thinking about it telling them the truth made sense. There were enough random monster attacks against civilians that it was a plausible half-truth.
He sat back and nodded. "Yeah, love, I'm afraid you're going to have some scars from these. I've tried to do my best, but I think even if you'd gone to hospital and gotten stitches they're deep enough they'd leave scars anyway. That thing did a bit of a number on you." Reaching for the tube of antibiotic ointment, he proceeded to re-dress the wounds. "The infection's going down, but I'm still gonna put some of this salve on you just in case." Gently he smoothed the cool ointment over her injuries until he had them all liberally coated with the stuff, then he picked up the gauze. "I hope you put a hurt on that bloody Negaverse captain."
Rolling out a length of gauze, he covered each gash with a double layer, then took the medical tape and, tearing off appropriate lengths, secured the material to her back. "There," he finally said as he finished. "You're all set for another day." He stood then and picked up the bag containing the chicken tikka masala. "You ready for curry then?" he smiled.
Aitana was not the most creative person in the world. Fabricating grand stories that actually remained believable at the end was something of a hard task. And youma attacks on civilians were commonplace enough. She just neglected to mention the fact that she'd been a magical girl at the time. And the Negaverse agent. Not the fact that she'd beaten the s**t out of the monster though because she had a pride filled reputation to uphold. The story was enough to answer questions though and buy her a week (or longer - she was supposed to call back in a week) off work.
The slight pains and aches were reflected in mild expressions on her face but she stayed put. The process was much quicker then the day before so she couldn't complain too much. "Mmm.. well at least they might be cool looking scars?" It was the second best thing, if they were still going to be there they would at least hopefully look badass, especially when accompanied by a 'cool story'.
The comment about the captain brought a mild groan from her, lamenting mildly as he slathering her wounds with ointment. "I am not sure actually. I hit him with the youma. And I know I hit him some more times then that with knees and fists, but coward put dust in my eyes. So I could not actually see how hurt he was before he ran away." He did run away though so Aitana accepted that as a win on her part.
His standing was a sign that she could try to sit up again and she shifted, slowing lifting herself. The feeling of the gauze was different then that of the bandages, not nearly as tight. It was slightly more comfortable too. Moving so that her legs dangled off the edge of the bed, she nodded enthusiastically. "Do you want help?" Because plating and possibly microwaving food was very difficult. Or she was just that bored and wanted to feel useful.
tatterpixie
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 12:37 pm
"They are going to be magnificently cool-looking scars," Rob informed her with a wicked grin. He started to head to the kitchen. "You can help if you like. I need to do some tidying up in there anyway, so you can serve up the curry. If that's alright with you."
Once in the small kitchenette, he handed the bag to Aitana and began picking up the packaging and other detritus from yesterday's meal. "Sounds like you gave as good as you got from that cowardly Negaverse arsehole," he grumbled as he worked. If he ever found out who it was, he had plans of beating the everloving s**t out of him. "That was a dirty trick, throwing youma dust in your eyes. I would have kicked him right in the bits for that."
Tossing the garbage in the trash bin, he looked over at her. He couldn't help but admire her, in all meanings of the term. "You're really something," he smiled, walking over and sliding a hand around her hips, carefully to avoid touching her wounds.
A smirk played across her lips at Rob's grin, not so secretly pleased by his answer. She had an urge to tease him about his own wounds and scars but was surprised out of it when he actually agreed to let her help.
There might have even been a mildly guilty look as he mentioned cleaning up, her eyes glancing around the room knowing full well that below the litter of paper was a whole other mess. Well, maybe he'd let her deal with it herself at least. She felt bad enough without the thought of him crouched on the floor trying to scrub days old blood out of the wood floors.
Getting up was easy enough, and she took only a moment of testing her steadiness on legs that fallen asleep long ago before joining him in the kitchen. The task he set out for her was easy enough.
Snicking a little with amusement, having to guess (and correctly doing so) what he meant by 'bits', she couldn't help but be tickled with his concern for her. Enough so that she didn't mention the fact that the 'arsehole' had attempted to go after her starseed not once - but twice. He didn't need to worry about that, not when she'd had all this time to think about how worried she'd be had the tables been reversed. She wasn't sure if she liked this empathy thing, but the feeling was becoming more and more natural in relations to the thoughts she had that revolved around Rob.
Food split evenly between two plates, she looked up in soft surprise as his arm settled around her hips. "Ohhh, ready to cash in your check already?" She teased.
"Is not fair that I have to walk around like this while you are all covered." Aitana really didn't mind. Like not at all. But she wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to get him to lose his shirt as well.
tatterpixie
I assumed she had the presence of mind to put some panties on - but since a bra or shirt would likely mess with the wounds and bandages I figure she's been laying/walking around topless since her shower.
So I guess he gets a free show at least? XD
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:36 pm
That was one of the things Rob had been admiring, her bare top and midriff. "Oh, not fair, you say?" he grinned, removing his hand from her hips to peel off his shirt. He leaned back toward the doorway between the kitchenette and the living area to toss the garment onto the bed, then returned his attention to Aitana. "No, I'm not ready to cash in my check yet, because you're not ready. You still need to heal up some more before we engage in that sort of activity."
Still, he returned his hand to her hips and pulled her close to him, enjoying the feeling of her bare skin against his. It couldn't happen soon enough for him that she get well, but he didn't want to push it -- like he didn't want her to push it. He figured letting her help with food was enough exertion for one day.
The food was still warm, so he reluctantly released her and picked up a plate and fork."Right, enough of that, don't want to get ideas," he teased. He was actually rather hungry himself, truth be told. He led the way back to the living area and sat down on the bed. It'd been some time since he'd had curry for breakfast -- since before he'd left London, in fact. It served well as a hangover meal, along with a little hair of the dog. Taking a forkful, he smiled at Aitana. "Cheers, love," he toasted before shoving the food in his mouth.
"Yeah yeah." For the broken record she'd assaulted him with she supposed it was her turn for a little bit of it in return. Not that she minded too terribly. Sure she would have liked to pass the time in more fun and exciting ways, and in particular to pay Rob back for all his hard work and effort the day before. But she knew as well that almost any movement that was quick or put pressure on her back was out. And that took at least half the fun out of it. Oh well. I wasn't as if they wouldn't have plenty of other opportunities.
Her small victory, as his shirt was peeled off and tossed to the bed, was met with a wide grin of her own. One that only grew more into an amused snicker as he pulled her into another careful and loose embrace, skin touching skin. Hers was still warmer then his, and the coolness felt nice, but only slightly. One of her arms lifted to loop around his shoulders, but she was otherwise good, releasing him when his hand left her hip. One quick kiss pressed against his cheek before he could retreat with his food.
Food in hand she followed suit, sitting on the edge of the bed before she pulled her legs cross legged. "Cheers" She returned before popping a fork ful of food in her mouth, it tasted just as good as it did the day before but she could enjoy it a little more slowly today.
A few bites in she couldn't resist though teasing him though, piping up with feigned innocence. "You know I can do splits while doing handstand?" He probably could guess. "Probably should not do right now. But very flexible." Oh yes, very innocent information. That ended with a laugh because even she couldn't keep a straight face.
tatterpixie
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 8:45 am
Rob nearly choked on his mouthful of food. It shouldn't have surprised him that Aitana was flexible -- hell, the first blow she'd meted on him during their sparring session was a backflip kick. But the visual in his mind of her doing something like splits while in a handstand, and imagining what else she could do…
Then she laughed, and he had to laugh too. "No, you probably shouldn't be doing that right now. I don't think that would be very good for your back." Not to mention the temptation that would be presented to him. He wanted nothing more than to take her right then and there and spend the entire day in bed with her, doing whatever they felt like doing. In time, though, maybe even in a few days when her wounds closed completely and the healing process was well underway. Then they could frolic. Not today, though.
He finished his curry before she did -- he guessed he was hungrier than he thought he'd been -- and he stood to take his plate into the kitchenette. "You just take your time, love," he smiled at her. "I'm going to put this up, then I'll sing you a song. How does that sound?"
It had been one final tease, well.. one final 'dirty' tease, before she'd decided to regulate herself to being good and keeping the chatter to a cleaner nature. Not that she couldn't or wouldn't spend an entire day in a pitiful verbal sparring match trying to make terrible jokes with her limited knowledge of English sexual lingo. That sounded fun enough. But because she knew that eventually, when there was no chance of payoff in the end, it just became cruel. It was not nice to get someone all worked up to simply not deliver.
But his reaction had been worth every ounce of her final tease, her eyes watching him mischeviously to see the expression he'd make. His laughter only spurred hers on more before after a long moment she finally released an amused and contented sigh.
Smile wide she went back to her breakfast, eating it slowly but steadily. When he finished before her and moved to leave she watched, nodding in agreement. "I am excited to finally see you really play." He'd of course shown her a little on each instrument but that was different then seeing the kind of stuff he did when he was actually busking.
"How is studio working? Did we do okay with soundproof and things?"
tatterpixie
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 9:47 am
"It's working out really well," Rob said from the kitchenette. "My parents haven't heard a thing since we put it up." Putting the dish in the sink, he headed back to the living area. "Sid wants to put up some acoustic tile though -- I had a couple sheets laying about in the basement, but she wants to do the entire studio with that. Can't say I blame her, she does proper mixing and recording down there, and the stuff she makes has a lot more nuances than my music. So she needs to hear it better, without bounceback from bare walls."
He went to his guitar case and opened it, taking out the guitar, and laughed slightly. "I bet that didn't make a lick of sense to you." Not that he was dissing Aitana's English; he was talking music, which had a language all its own.
Rob sat down on the edge of the bed, one leg curled up beneath him. Setting the guitar in his lap, he began softly strumming chords to check the tuning. "I know I've asked you this before," he commented, adjusting a couple of the tuning keys on the head of the instrument, "but what kind of music do you like? Like what sort of thing would you like me to play for you? Shall I just go at it like I was busking, or is there something in particular you'd like to hear?"
"Ahhh good." She nodded, always happy to hear that she'd done a good job on something - even if it had mostly been Rob and she'd just been a helping hand. She took pride in her work though just like she took pride in well.. just about everything.
The Brazilian was indeed pretty lost with the particular words he was using, but listened nonetheless intently. It didn't matter the details really, she could make out the jist. It was working well, but Sidney needed some special addition to help with her music. But when he realized it, and laughed a little, she only grinned wider, shaking her head before taking another bite of food. "I do not mind."
She had finally reached the bottom of her plate, scrapping up the last few bits of food before lazily depositing the plate on the dresser alongside her bed while he worked on adjusting and tuning his instrument. And as his question sounded she adjusted herself too, shifting to leave him plenty of room as she moved closer towards the head of her bed. Eventually she'd lay back down, but for a little bit longer she'd enjoy the joys of sitting upright (who knew that that was a joy until it was taken away from you).
What did she like? All sorts of things really. Almost anything with a good beat was nice. She heard a lot of different musical varieties at the work site, lingering through the windows of nearby apartements, or randomly on the radio when she went for a run. It was probably easier to say what she didn't like.
But then it hit her, and she leaned forward a little as the answer came to her, braids falling over her shoulders. "I know what I want to hear."
"Play for me one of your favorite songs. Whether is by you or someone else."
"I want to hear that first and then after that you can do like you are busking." Decision made she watched him expectantly.
