pest control

bruises & battlewounds. [closed]

aikonotoska:

A small gasp left her as the cold towel was pressed to her back– a blessing if she ever felt one. The fire that seemed to be raging and burning her skin up was put to rest, her eyes opening a bit more as the coldness jolted her awake. As per his instruction, Aiko took deeper breaths and sighed in relief as the cold towel was pressed here and there, likely wiping off blood new and old. It wasn’t nearly cold enough to numb the pain, but she took what she got.

It was when her bandages were tugged that a new sharp pain surfaced– the scabs had grown attached to the gauze, and some were taken off with the bandaging. Aiko managed to suppress most of her whines, mostly used to the pain, but also not wanting to cause more trouble. It was the mention of alcohol that caused Aiko to tense up more, her legs drawing closer to her chest. As soon as she felt the first sharp sting, she bit down on a finger.

Tiny whimpers echoed against the tiled bathroom floors and walls, some of the wounds worse than others. She could smell the alcohol and blood and it made her dizzy– the pain making it hard for her to stay awake rather than passing out– but Aiko held through. Hopefully next time she could take care of the wounds sooner, and thing wouldn’t be so rough. Most of the pain dissipated into a muffled ache by the time her wounds were redressed, a sigh of relief leaving her. It was when the stranger said he was done that nervousness began to trickle back in.

Trying not to move the new bandaging too much, Aiko pulled her dress but up from around her waist, zipping it up halfway on the side before giving up. She was too tired and, with her experience, it might be a futile gesture anyway. Nervously she chewed on her bottom lip, looking down at the bite marks she put on her finger. Her voice was clearer now, more awake after the pain subsided.

“W… what do you want from me…?”

“...Where the hell did you get that impression from?” He rebuked her almost immediately. His pause was only there due to his initial surprise, which was quickly replaced with a dry annoyance at the fact that she just up and assumed he was doing this out of anything other than a sense of obligation.

“Listen, if I wanted anything from you -- it would probably be for you to take better care of yourself. Just looking at the way your body was all beaten up turned my stomach over a couple of times. You seem pretty delicate, so don’t take on more than you can handle.” Brushing the dirt off himself, he stood up and adjusted his hair, which had managed to make a mess of itself as he had cleaned her up. His hands stank of alcohol and were, in all likelihood, dirtier than he could see in this darkness. He regret touching his face so much, but he couldn’t help it -- he’d wash his hands later, for now he offered her one to help her up and off the ground so she didn’t fall over in her fever.

#cursedwithfluff #I swear to god he's not gonna be this bad most of the time #also I love love love made in abyss to bits #been a fan for the longest time so getting to interact with someone from the cast is a dream come true

@cursedwithfluff

As tempted as he was to go exploring outside of his room, he had reason to keep himself locked up. Outside was a sea of untested waters full of stranger things than just strangers. He had spotted something covered entirely in fur, and at first had thought it to be simply an animal, perhap someone’s pet, before he caught a better look and was proven otherwise. Since then, he had had his back against the door, weakly slumped against it. Before long, the image in his head had become almost violent. There was no longer a pet, there was only a beast. In place of soft fur, there was a matted coat. Instead of bunny ears, they were now pointed and hound-like. He imagined dagger teeth and poison stingers and -- wait, that couldn’t be right. He could’ve kicked himself for getting so far ahead of himself. To set this right, there was no choice but to stare that thing in the face and recognize it without his initial perception clouding his thoughts. Opening the door, he peaked outside, only to see it -- her? -- just a ways away, facing his direction. His voice shook.

“He...llo there, neighbor.”

ofedenflowers

There was so much to digest he didn’t know where to start. For once, there was an overwhelming amount of things to do as opposed to just having a handful of end goals to focus on. He supposed that, like with anything, the best way to get a head start was to grab a book and study it. While directing himself towards a library, his head was filled with thoughts of his days training, enough to the point that it served to distract him from the modernity of this city. Soon enough, he found himself passing through an odd door that seemed to open of its own accord. He hardly had any time to breathe before passing through a metal arch and causing it to beep loudly. Jumping, his eyes caught onto what must have been a librarian, and quickly he scrambled to right himself, speaking up nervously.

“I’m gonna need some books. Lots of books.”

#ofedenflowers

bruises & battlewounds. [closed]

aikonotoska:

Was she being comforted by him in some strange way? Aiko’s brows knit together at the others words, but didn’t have the energy to question it. This stranger was… strangely kind for how serious he seemed to be. It was weird. She… almost wasn’t used to it. Still, there was nothing more she could do, just watching the other mill around for the first aid kit. Her breath slowed a bit. Staying still helped.

She watched as the stranger walked behind her, before dropping her head again. Everything felt hazy now, her adrenaline kicking in and numbing the pain slightly. Exhaustion was beginning to creep in when the other spoke up. Aiko couldn’t help her heart race a bit more, hands clenching slightly– but it made sense. With a shaky breath, Aiko reached to her right side, undoing a small button and unzippering the top of her dress. It was hard to get the strap over her head, but finally the top half of her dress pooled at her waist.

It felt strange showing these wounds to anyone but him but at this point Aiko was desperate. The wounds needed to be cleaned and patched up again, and it was hard to reach on her back. Even her stitches were crusted with blood, bruises peppering her shoulders and around the gashes.

“S’ok…” Her voice was weak, eyes starting to droop closed. She was so tired. “M… Aiko…”

“I have no idea what you’re saying, just so you know.” He only said this to have something to say, otherwise he would have been dead silent. “There’s blood everywhere. No wonder you’re falling over. Hey, do me a favor and take a really deep breath. Can’t keep them shallow while I’m doing this. You’re gonna want to feel awake.”

At least, that’s what he thought. Whatever was coming out of his mouth now was really just strung together with no tact whatsoever. It wasn’t very often he had to do something like this for someone, much less a girl. Hell, if it was a guy he’d be having a much easier time. But given the circumstances he was almost glad to have someone this small to focus on and take his mind off the sheer absurdity of the setting, if only for a moment. With no clue where to even begin, he supposed it would be best to clean it all off first. This began with a cold towel to her back -- hopefully waking her up a touch -- and ended with the very same towel being stained red (he hoped no one planned on using this thing later). In the middle of doing that he had torn off her bandages and gently cleaned up the areas that had the most damaged, amazed at just how bruised one little girl could get.

“I’d be surprised, if I wasn’t so...” Horrified? He shuddered to think what had happened to her, but judging from her demeanor he didn’t think she would answered even if he asked. “I’m gonna use the alcohol, now.”

Meaning, this was gonna burn quite a bit. He had a gut feeling she was used to the pain by now. The color of the bruises and areas around each cut weren’t young. It had to have matured over some period of time, and he couldn’t imagine how tough it must have been just to walk. That she even got down the stairs was a grand feat all on its own. He applied a fresh, alcohol-soaked towel to the most at-risk areas with very hurried movements before taking a deep whiff and immediately regretting it. His nose flared from the burning smell, but he had enough sense left in him to properly wrap the wounds -- which upon closer inspection had some very amateur stitches in them -- with bandages. With hope in his heart that he hadn’t screwed something up along the way, he pulled himself back away, the mental image of his father finally fading away from his mind.

“All right.” He said this with a peppiness otherwise foreign to him. “I think it’s done. You can, uh, put your clothes back on.”

bruises & battlewounds. [closed]

aikonotoska:

The first question that came to Aiko’s mind was ‘what does he want from me’. It was normal, people always wanted something in return, no act of kindness would ever go unpaid. But she was in no mood or condition to do anything, despite the others insisting– maybe he would let it slide or, or let her repay him later. All Aiko knew was that if she didn’t get help now, she would likely pass out and end up at an actual hospital. At least this guy wasn’t asking any questions about how she ended up the way she did.

Begrudgingly Aiko nodded, her fake smile dropping quickly. Pain made her comply. Walking slowly, Aiko’s hand dragged against the drywall that lead into the bathroom, a small cough leaving her lips. Even if all he did was put water on it, anything was better than nothing.

The tiles were harder to walk on, but the ceramic sinks felt so good on the palms of her hands. Her entire body felt like it was burning up with a fever. It was terrible. Why did she stop taking the aspirin? Leaning against one of the off-white and stained sinks, Aiko breathed heavily, legs wobbling beneath her. She couldn’t stand anymore– the pain on her back was too much, and as gently as she could, Aiko slid down to sit on the floor. The tiles felt cool on her calves and thighs beneath the skirt of her dress.

“Sorry…” Why was she apologizing? It… just felt right.

“What the hell are you apologizing for? You’ve done nothing in the past minute you’ve been here to warrant it. Feeling bad for falling over?” He couldn’t blame her for that much, she looked awful enough to warrant it. “Don’t be. In fact, this just makes things easier. Hold on.”

Truth be told, he wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do. He knew something had to be done, but the details were something he could figure out in the near future. But for now he was only able to spout some assuring words while searching around for a convenient solution to this. He found exactly what he was looking for labelled in clear red letters “FIRST AID EMERGENCY KIT” in a container attached to the wall. Upon opening it up the rest came to him quickly. Anyone knew the basics of first aid in the military. Not that it mattered much given the circumstances, but all the same in any sort of accident these matters were of the utmost importance. Eren especially felt the need to live up to the standards his father had set being an almost heroic doctor in what was once his hometown. Slumping next to the girl, he gave her a quick once over before finally deciding to speak up once more.

“I -- I think you’ll need to take off your top. From what I can tell, you’re pretty screwed up all over there. Hard to do that while you’ve got a dress on. I’d say sorry, but I’d feel like a hypocrite after getting on your ass about it earlier. ...Sorry.”

It really did just feel right to say it.

bruises & battlewounds. [closed]

aikonotoska:

Why did everything feel so hot? The only source of coolness was from the wall, pressed against her shoulder and temple, but it didn’t last long. She felt too hot, too dizzy, nauseous. Weren’t the wounds supposed to be better? Maybe skipping on taking the aspirin was a bad idea– she had gone so many weeks with taking a handful every day, and the pain of the wound was really sinking in now. This was bad, she needed water, cold water, and her aspirin. Where did she put it again?

The sound of another’s voice startled Aiko from her haze of pain, head snapping up to look at the other. Her heart stuttered for a moment– the black short hair, put-off expression, deeper voice… For a second she thought it was him. But He was gone now, and living, of course he wouldn’t be here. Still, Aiko remained tensed and ready to run back to her room at any given moment, if that was even possible for her.

Sweat beaded at Aiko’s temple, gently falling down her jawline. If she wasn’t leaning on the wall, she would have probably fallen. Using the drywall as support, she tried to put on her best smile, but she was never good at faking them. Her breaths came in short, pained pants as she responded, trying to talk as clearly as possible.

“Can’t see a doctor…” Aiko swallowed thickly, tongue feeling like cotton taking up her whole mouth. “Um– excuse me… I have to go to the bathr’m…”

“Yeah, my dad would kill me if he saw me let a wounded girl go off on her own.”

While he didn’t quite insist on it to begin with -- though he would have very much liked to! -- the more he thought about it, the less tolerant he became for phony smiles and self-destructive behavior (himself the exception). He could spot one from a mile away and it made him sick. Something about it just rubbed him the wrong way. He didn’t like it. Even if it were a stranger with a strange face and stranger problems, something had to be done.

“Uh. Come here.” He said this while pointing to the bathroom entrance, himself stepping inside the doorway. “I’ll be your doctor for tonight. Can’t let my dad roll in the grave because I didn’t wanna fix someone up. I’m sure it’s something that can be remedied. Probably. Anyway, come on.”

bruises & battlewounds. [closed]

aikonotoska:

Despite being in heaven, a place where everything was supposedly perfect (it wasn’t) and angels roamed (sheep did instead), Aiko realized that her new home still had it’s ups and downs. She knew it certainly felt better than when she was alive, but the wounds she carried throughout her travels in Japan remained. They were no longer as infected as they were before– which was a relief, Aiko knew that if she hadn’t taken her own life a blood infection would have gotten her soon thereafter… But still, the gashes beneath now dirty gauze were starting to throb again, angry and red. She needed to clean them again, and the only sinks were publicly used.

So she waited until night, when less people would roam the hallways of the Moonpie Motel, and headed toward the bathrooms. She knew the wounds were still trying to scab and scar and likely fused to the gauze in the process– taking it off would be painful. She felt like crying. Why did there have to be pain here too? Perhaps she was being ungrateful– the wounds were healing faster than before but… Aiko simply wanted them gone. Heading down the stairs, her tongue rubbed between two teeth, in the gap where one was lost due to her step-mother. Her eye was still red too, but less angry, now.

“Mmm…” She felt dizzy, and leaned against a wall a few feet away from the entrance of the bathrooms. There was nobody around so– it would be okay. It was okay to have her hair tied and leave the wounds to cool in the night air. It would be easier to clean. She just… needed a little time to rest before getting there, to make the dizziness go away…

He didn’t feel very awake. There was a certain part of him that didn’t really even want to recognize the possibility he wasn’t just dreaming. It took up enough of his mind that he had said spare few words since his awakening, and what might have otherwise been a very violent reaction was otherwise stifled by the sheer hilarity of it all. After all, it was hard to be aggressive when you were surrounded by locations almost entirely named with an alliteration. Still, there was some comfort to be found. The place he had found himself shacked up in wasn’t exactly rundown, but it wasn’t pristine, either. The walls were thin, his patience thinner. He took the time then to live up to the job he’d be given, if only for a spare few moments. He watched a waterbug sputter through the bathroom door before crushing it under his feet and kicking it into some corner. His silhouette would become clearly from this angle, which he held for a few seconds before letting himself sigh. The feeling of someone else’s presence made him stiff up immediately. He nearly whipped his head around before thinking better of himself. No need to make conversation, just head inside the bathrooms and no one would have any chance to bother him--

--Or so he thought. A quick glance in the dim light showed a much more awful picture than he’d initially expected. From the glum look on her face to the way it clearly pained her to even stand, the damage on her body was about the realest thing he’d seen so far. It sobered him up, to say the least.

“Hey.” He said this entirely unsure of himself. “You look like hell. Thinking about going to a doctor anytime soon?”