[PRP] Bruised and Broken Petals (Zac & Temperance)

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance lay flat on her bed and tried to find a way to breathe that didn't hurt. She'd discovered that while she could heal certain aspects of other people, not a bit of it worked on herself. Her arm was in a sling until her collarbone healed and her abdomen was black and blue. Ribs just kind of had to heal on their own and it was frankly awful. She reached out to grab her water bottle and winced. Her crop top was trying to twist around her ribs, but she refused to just free-ball it.

Hissing at the pain, she sat up. Shed been given a few days reprieve, but soon she'd have to be back at work. A one-armed nurse wasn't very good. Sighing, she flicked on some music.

endejester

 

[endejester]

The 'tattoo' was still fresh enough that it itched, though the colors were still shockingly vivid to him. As a reminder, it was a stark one, but he owed Temperance a follow up to the disaster that had been his run in with the faceless, nameless ones.

He knocked on the door, worried at his lip, thought about all the strange things that had gone before, and wondered what might come next. The world never quite stopped feeling 'heavy', more so because now 'Old' sunny was gone, and 'new' sunny was an unknown. Every new bit of information just led to more questions.

"Temperance?" he called, a distracted moment leading to a moment that might have seemed impatient, though it was by no means his intent.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance jumped a bit at the knock, then bit back a soft noise of pain. She was trying to avoid dependence on pain killers, but she might have to take one soon. Slowly, she got up to answer the door. If someone wanted to bother her, they were going to have to deal with her half-dressed state. The muffled noise of her name drifted through the wood.

"I'm coming, give me a second," she called out, then slid the chain off of her door before opening it. Temperance blinked. "Z-zac?" She opened the door wider, gesturing for him to come in.

endejester

 

[endejester]

"Temperance?!" The alarm in his voice was not even slightly veiled. "W-what happened?" He stood for a moment and then slipped inside. She looked hurt, she looked like she was in pain.
"Are you alright? Who did this? What happened?" He half reached for her, drawing back before he touched her though. At once wanting to comfort, and at the same time terribly afraid of causing her harm.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I'll be okay. Apparently, though, I'm pretty terrible at healing myself." She waggled her fingers at him. "Magic was never my strong point, though." Temperance walked back to her chair and slid down into it, then rested a hand on her bruised abdomen.

"I guess you could say I got on the wrong side of a wave. Upset the wrong person." She hesitated - shouldn't she just tell him? What if Alexis lost their temper at Zac, too? Temperance chewed her lip.

endejester

 

[endejester]

His eyes widened for a moment, and then narrowed again, deepening to a frown. "... a wave, like, water." It didn't sound like he found that idea confusing. Quite the contrary.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Exactly like water. I," She slumped down for a split second before straightening. None of that; slumping hurt. "I made the wrong person mad, I guess." Temperance shot Zac a look.

"I don't think the force was intended, just a loss of control. Maybe."

endejester

 

[endejester]

He chewed at his lip, and glanced away with a small sigh.
"... yes, probably." He rubbed at his arm, concerned and clearly making plans.

"We, we could go to Other Ashdown, I could see about healing you, you could tell me what to do?" He offered. He knew it wasn't something that came naturally to him here, but in Other Ashdown, imagination was the limit, right?

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"No!" she said with more force than she intended. "I... I just... I've had enough of that alternate Ashdown for now. I'll heal, even if it takes a while." Temperance ran her free hand through her hair, tucking strands of it behind her ears.

"I know you didn't come to see my bruises." She smiled at him. "What's up?"

endejester

 

[endejester]

He looked embarrassed and ducked his head. "Sorry, You're probably right too, I might mess something up." He admitted. "I um... I sort of." he waved a hand. "Um, do you remember the thing where I was turning to plastic?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"What? No, no, that's not what I meant, Zac. I just.. don't want to go there for now.... sorry." She shot him a distressed look. It certainly wasn't because she felt he could not heal her. It was just... complicated.

when he waved his hand, she looked closely at it. "Yes, I remember. And you don't look very plastic-y anymore, so..."

endejester

 

[endejester]

He gave her a tip of his head, trying to weigh out the not wanting to go to Other Ashdown, it wasn't 'the best' place, but it was at times the place he felt most comfortable despite all it's strangeness.

He let it slide and rolled his shoulders.

"Well, they sort of, left me a reminder. They said a few things about if it happened again but, they did this too..." He pulled at the collar of his shirt to show off the stars that now traced his collar bone.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"A reminder - what did they say to you?" She frowned and leaned forward a bit. The faceless were strange, fickle things. "Tell me you're not going back to, um, them."

endejester

 

[endejester]

"NO! I mean, no... no I don't intend to." He said, the first denial more vehement, the second more cautious.

"They... said if it happened again, they wouldn't let me go. I really, I really didn't like how it felt, not at all."

"I just..." He shook his head. "It makes me wonder how many other people they used to be, does that make sense? I wonder how they even got started."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Good, I worry about you, you know." The faceless were not a thing Temperance was particularly fond of.

"What's the tattoo mean? It seems an odd parting gift."

endejester