Risei Kotomine (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
come_to_spoil_everything) wrote2013-03-31 02:12 pm
come_to_spoil_everything) wrote2013-03-31 02:12 pm
Ill-starred, 1
Lara has been asleep since Risei brought her here. She weighs almost nothing, so little that Risei wonders if he put too many blankets over her. She has his, and the spare, and his coat, but hers is still drying (cleaning off the blood has taken hours) and a wet blanket does more harm than good.
He slept too, of course--he took the spare futon and moved it close enough to hers that she could maybe share in some of his warmth overnight. On top of one blanket, though, and under the other, and even with a blanket between them her feet were like ice.
The sun set hours ago, and she still hasn't woken up, and he's sitting near a lamp by the window, reading and listening to the screech of the wind. Risei looks over the edge of his book and wonders when, even if, it will be okay to open his circuits and heal her again. He hasn't since the initial panic in the snow. He hopes he hasn't done more harm than good.
Be he grits his teeth, goes back to reading, and completely misses the fat tanuki that sneaks into the room and snuggles up in Lara's blankets, its snout against her cheek.
He slept too, of course--he took the spare futon and moved it close enough to hers that she could maybe share in some of his warmth overnight. On top of one blanket, though, and under the other, and even with a blanket between them her feet were like ice.
The sun set hours ago, and she still hasn't woken up, and he's sitting near a lamp by the window, reading and listening to the screech of the wind. Risei looks over the edge of his book and wonders when, even if, it will be okay to open his circuits and heal her again. He hasn't since the initial panic in the snow. He hopes he hasn't done more harm than good.
Be he grits his teeth, goes back to reading, and completely misses the fat tanuki that sneaks into the room and snuggles up in Lara's blankets, its snout against her cheek.
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He looks down to Lara instead, and can't imagine her standing, or speaking above a whisper.
"I can't leave, now," he says. "Not with you like this."
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"Why?" she asks again, and feels foolish for it. She has done nothing but ask that since she woke up.
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"You're hurt," he says, "and I can help you. And I want to."
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She hesitates. She should notify Grandfather. She should return to the castle and serve as Caster's Master once more. She should do what she said she would at the beginning of this war, for the sake of the Einzbern family.
She should have died in that battle, in defense of the family's wish. She would have, had it not been for him. The knowledge isn't new, she supposes, but organizing it in this manner speeds up some of her systems and slows others. Her circulatory system pumps enough blood to bring sweat to her palms, but her kinesthetic responses are sluggish and stiff, and an action as small as clenching her fists takes twice the time it should. Lara threw herself away in that battle, and now what more does she have to give?
"I'll stay," she says at last. "There's a good source of prana here. Perhaps it will make recovery easier."
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