dyaddyissues | ryslig

Are you all right?

I'm sorry I headbutted you; you startled me.

I don't know how you didn't hear me, it's not like I was making an effort to be quiet.

I'm fine. Not the first time I've had my nose broken, won't be the last I'm sure.

I heard you just fine, but I wasn't anticipating being picked up by someone many times larger than me.

Do you need anything? Ice? Painkillers? To yell at me face to face?

Noted, warn you next time before showering you with surprise affection.

I won't say no to some ice. Before the swelling gets worse.

[ "Maybe you can kiss it better", he types and then deletes. Too corny? ]

Maybe just approach with caution when I'm shape shifted. My fight or flight instincts get a little sharper, it seems.

How's your head? You don't feel concussed or anything? Should I drag you to the clinic to be sure?

This just proves, you're as hard headed as I've always believed you to be. Even when you're an adorable deer.

Aching. But if it's a concussion, it's a lesser one. I'll be fine, no need for the clinic.

Just be glad I can't wield a lightsaber with hooves.

I'll be over shortly with ice and alcohol. Of the drinking kind. And I'll brush your wings if you want.

Trust me, I am thankful. You've marked me enough as it were.

[ he's teasing her, sort of. ]

You know I won't say no to getting my wings brushed.

Hey, I fixed it! Eventually. At least this time the Fog will heal you in another day or so.

[ a few minutes later, there's the sound of a hoof gently kicking the door. She's got her arms full of the aforementioned ice, a bottle of whiskey she'd intended to give him.for the holidays, some assorted snacks from her own hoard of favorites, and a new soft brush that she'd acquired specifically for feathers. She's looking the most apologetic she's been except for times she hasn't actually lived through yet. ]

Edited (html) 2021-12-05 04:38 (UTC)

[ He's ready for her, when she kicks at the door. Ben opens in, holding a towel to his face, a nice bruise visible under his eye. Still he smiles when he sees her, steps aside to let her through. ]

Hey. Come to shower me with attention and grovel for my forgiveness, I hope?

[ She manages to make her eyeroll somehow affectionate as she deposits her tiny hoard on the table nearest the sofa and holds out the ice pack with a stern look. ]

Sit down and put this on your face before it turns any more colors, unless you want to spend an inordinate amount of time explaining that you got beaten up by a tiny deer.

[ Antelope. Technically. ]

Then we'll see about the groveling.

Edited (words out of order) 2021-12-07 02:13 (UTC)

[ He takes the ice pack with a nod and replaces the towel, wincing as it comes into contact with his busted nose. Tosses the towel on the table and flops back down on the sofa. ]

No, I'd make something up if anyone asked me. Giant deer, eh - I'm sure that there are larger minotaurs here. Wouldn't be too hard to get them to believe me.

[ He gestures for her to come sit... not too close, don't want another accident! ]

Remind me not to get on your bad side in that form. Even small, you're dangerous.

You knew that already. Everyone's small compared to you.

[ It's even more true now that he's a giant winged beast!

She sits down at the other end of the sofa, her intent becoming clear a moment later when she picks up the brush she'd brought. ]

Scoot back a little. I don't do grovelling, but I think I did promise to sort out the mess I helped make of your wings.

[ She's pretty sure she broke a few of his feathers in the process of springing off him to run away while he was writhing around in pain. Not to mention whatever branches and such he'd caught them on while trying to make his way home through the forest he'd unwisely followed her into. ]

I dunno, there are some other monsters that can rival me in size. Not many, but I've seen them.

[ His wings bristle slightly, and unfurl - only slightly, not to their full width but just enough to make it easier for her to brush his feathers through. Wouldn't want to knock her off the sofa, or anything. As ordered, he scoots back to give her better reach. They're a mess, just as Rey expects, dirty and dishelved, some crooked or almost wrenched completely free. ]

You might have to pull a few. Couldn't reach.

[ She makes some noncommital noise, privately annoyed that she's stayed approximately the same size while human and has gotten even smaller when shifted unless the Fog is in, though she feels a bit proud of her ability to take on someone so much bigger and win, in some manner of speaking.

She's careful with his feathers, plucking a few broken ones out from amongst the others before she begins to run the brush over those that just need a little smoothing to go back to their glossy perfection. ]

I don't know how you manage these things, honestly. Let me know if I hurt you; I'm trying to be careful, but I've never had feathers before.

[ She pauses to disentangle some leaves from the aforementioned feathers, quietly enjoying the silky feel of them beneath her fingers. ]

They've taken some time to get used to, I will give you that.

[ Getting through doors, sitting down, putting on clothing. An adjustment, all of it.

He closes his eyes, a sigh of contentment as she starts picking through his feathers. Brushing them, plucking the broken, uncomfortable ones from his wings. After a few minutes of this, Ben finally speaks again. ]

You know... if you decide to take up a career here, you're not bad at this.

[ It's an entertaining thought, but she scrunches her nose up and rewards him with a light swat on the arm before she starts on the other wing. ]

Now I know you've got a head injury. You did not just suggest that I want to give up my perfectly reasonable job working security at the casino in order to groom the wings of random monsters.

[ She's not truly offended, but there's something awfully intimate about the whole thing that makes her have no interest in repeating it with anyone else. ]

I like doing this for you. Just you. I don't want to brush anyone else's feathers, just like I don't want anyone else braiding my hair.

Are you busy?

For you? Never.

It's a slow night at work. I've just been out of sorts since all the weird stuff. I spent a few days haunting a house.

This is going to sound awful to you, but... I kind of miss Tarkin.

I killed a bunch of zombies. With a bat.

I'm not gonna say it makes any sense to me, but I know from experience that people can change. He was kind of your... uncle, right?

Yeah. Do you remember when we were in that alternate Ryslig?

Javert was my dad, and -- Tarkin was Uncle Wil. He was a good person. And then later, when we were kids -- I understand what happened to him. Why he turned into the man he did.

He was a better person here. And now he's -- dead, I suppose. Back home, certainly. Who knows, here.

I met him, when we were kids. Think he always felt kind of weird about me, and I can't say I felt too much different. Maybe there was some kind of regret over his involvement in the Death Star blowing up my mother's planet, I never bothered to ask.

Anyways, I'm sorry.

So in what ways did he change? I mean, why don't you tell me about him, what he was like as your uncle and beyond?

[ since he was obviously someone important to Rey, to Ben it was another reminder of the past - his mother, the legacy of their family... ]

I was sort of awful to him for a long time. Up until I met him as a child, really.

I couldn't deal with caring about him, or him about me. But when we forgot who we'd been -- he was kind, and vibrant, and a decent person. He bought me a fancy cake for my birthday, and got Javert to be less severe all the time. He tried, anyway.

He was a good father figure to Abigail even after we came back. I can't say for sure, but I think he regretted the things he'd done.

I don't understand how this place can make a person better, but if it can do that -- would it be so bad to stay here?

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[ryslig]

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