Rainbow of Red [Closed] - Printable Version
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RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - megs - 08-22-2019
"Hey, what-" Ishara's pushing at him was met with verbal protests as he walked backwards into the room to avoid being knocked over by the small, but determined woman. She would have been easy to overpower, but Darcy wasn't one to go around manhandling women even if she was content to do so. "What is the meaning of this-" he started, suddenly suspicious of her intent, but the set of her mouth shut him up. Something he said had annoyed her.
"Yes, gossip," he agreed quickly because he was still making an effort to end their interaction. His visit had also been half-work, since it was his duty to investigate if one of his men expressed an interest in an Eskran civilian. He'd not expected to be made to feel so foolish by one Eskran nurse. He'd underestimated her and now he was paying for it. He frowned as she posed coquettishly. She was already attractive, she did not need to make the effort. He had noticed, but now was acknowledging to himself for the first time that she was very beautiful. As if he had been trying to ignore it. All that red hair framing delicate features. Gentle green eyes.
"You're fine," was all he said, instead of anything even vaguely complimentary. If she was a spy she was certainly too smart to waste her time on someone like Renly.
"I'm going to go," he announced quickly, gently pushing past her. He opened the door and stepped across the threshold. "Good bye, Miss O'Rourke."
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - saronym - 08-23-2019
The sigh she emitted deflated her. Her shoulder fell and her hand slipped off her hip and hung loose at her side. He really didn’t give up much, did he? She let him push past her, body gone limp as if she had given up on the game she played. Except with a sudden movement, she snatched his wrist and stepped closer to him. She gazed up at him through her upper eyelashes. “Are you going to write a report about me?” Her voice turned lower in tone and whether that was to mess with him or keep her words quiet from prying ears in the hallway, she didn’t let on. Her slim fingers held his wrist right at sensitive pressure points. She knew just a little pressure could send crippling nerve pain up his arm if she pressed.
But she didn’t.
She wasn’t sure anymore what game she was playing or what message she wanted to send to him. Whether she wanted to threaten him or wanted to do something else with him.
“I’d love to read it.” Her lip curled at the side and her brow twitched, she looked more playful than threatening. “And tell your friend I’m not interest--”
“Miss O’Rourke! There you are!”
Ishara all but jumped at the shrill voice that addressed her. It sent ice down her spine. Her hand jerked away from the general’s wrist and disappeared into a fist hidden at the small of her back. She looked like a child hiding a cookie behind her back. Had she seen? “Yes’um.”
“You have patients!” A woman with a pinched face hissed at Ishara. She glanced in passing at the general and curtsied. A display of custom that lingered in the more conservative of Eskrans to acknowledge their betters. “Clodah Macey, sir. Overseer.” She gave that brief introduction implying her superiority over Ishara and then cast the young woman a look of accusation. “Are you keeping this man?”
“No ma’am. He had questions about --”
“Did you answer his questions?”
“Yes ma’am.”
The woman gave Ishara a pointed look.
Her face burned but Ishara gave him a little curtsey. Her form was impeccable but there was nothing but defiance in her eyes.“Beg your pardon for keeping you, sir.” Her voice turned syrupy in a way that towed the line between demeaning and sarcastic. With that Ishara moved away, skirting around the large figure of the strange and handsome man who’d come to see her. Before she turned a corner, she glanced back at him. One last look, thinking she’d probably never see his face again.
Clodah curtsied before she moved away from the general, leaving him in the bustle of the hospital hallway.
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - megs - 08-23-2019
Ishara was holding on to him again and Darcy didn't pull away. She kept touching him. He couldn't figure out what she was trying to convey by so casually putting her hands on him. Those thin, delicate fingers gripping his wrist felt like a threat somehow. "You don't get to read my confidential reports," he said as if he was scolding her. "But maybe I will write one. I'll tell them you're a spy or-"
He'd been on the brink of threatening her with CAF surveillance until someone barking her name had them both separating like they'd spontaneously combusted . Or been caught standing too close at a school dance. Ishara dropped his hand and he simultaneously took a step away from her at their attention turned to the sour looking woman who approached them.
Darcy couldn't keep the amusement from his face as he witnessed the sassy redhead get scolded by her superior. An obnoxious smirk curled at one corner of his mouth as he watched Ishara curtsy for him. He nodded politely in return, back to looking the picture of a haughty general. "It was no trouble Miss O'Rourke,” he said with obvious sass.
Darcy nodded to the overseer as well and watched as both women departed. He was still smirking as he left the infirmary.
⤧
The general was not smirking when he returnedto the infirmary. In fact, his second visit was more of the involuntary sort and he was much closer to dead than he had been the previous time. It didn't take long for news of the attack to follow his arrival. As well as the admittance of several of his men after a bombing attack on one of the CAF training facilities.
Darcy was conscious as he was rushed through towards an more intensive ER wing of the hospital, but just barely. The bright lights and faces of strangers flashed by like a movie reel that wasn’t playing right. He couldn’t make out what was being said, the words jumbled to nonsense in his ears.
For a second he thought he recognized someone. A sassy redhead with a worried but determined expression. He wanted to reach out to her, but she was gone as his vision darkened and everything faded away.
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - saronym - 08-25-2019
A pair of sneering brown eyes lived in Ishara’s memories as the next weeks slipped by. They would sneak up on her as she daydreamed the monotony of the days away. Strange how carnage could become so familiar as to be boring. The mystery of Dante and his friend-with-the-crush kept her mind busy. As did the growing tensions in the war. His eyes were the same as she remembered except how he looked like a frightened boy. “Okay okay okay.” Ishara repeated the simple word over and over. A mantra as she prepared her mind and spirit to put this man back together again.
She shoved one of the CAF medics aside so she could take her position on his right side. They had done the work already of peeling away most of his ruined clothes. So much of it charred and in pieces and strips. His skin looked the same way.
“All I need you to do, Dante -”
“It’s Darcy Weatherfare. General Weatherfare.” The medic corrected her.
Her head jerked towards the medic who spoke. “What?” She shook her head to orient herself back to what she was doing. “All I need you to do…” she hesitated over his name, confused. His name was different but the gold starbursts around his pupils were the same. “...is keep breathing, darling. I’ll take care of the rest. You just breathe.”
He lost consciousness but it didn’t matter because he kept breathing.
⤧
She got him into some kind of state resembling order. The blast had scrambled his insides and minced his outsides but you wouldn’t know it anymore looking at him. He was cleaned up of any evidence of blood. She even combed his hair the way she had seen him style it.
Ishara knew the healing process was far from over. He would be weak when he woke and there was no telling when that would be. She posted up guard in his room. Had another cot wheeled in so she could nap and sleep off some of the magic depletion fatigue. She fell into a heavy, deep sleep just as soon as her head hit the thin hospital pillow.
When she woke it was dusk and the room was quiet.
He was still sleeping.
So, naturally, she went through his personal effects. She started with the tags he wore around his neck. They were on a table next to his bed. She picked them up and inspected the words. Darcy Weatherfare. There were some numbers and a couple of other letters. She didn’t know what the rest meant.
“How are we feeling, Darcy?” Her voice was just above a whisper. She was testing out the name and it felt alien after calling him Dante in her mind for a few weeks.
“What story do these tell?” She wondered aloud to herself as she peered at the tattoos that covered his arms and crept over his shoulders and towards his chest. She was attracted to one image of a bird in flight and touched it’s spread wings.
She turned away from him to rifle through his other personal effects. An expensive-looking watch. A piece of luxury in the middle of a war. How interesting. She pocketed it, glancing at him surreptitiously over her shoulder. “Mind if I borrow this for a reading?”
She found some other identification papers that had been in his uniform pocket. A military I.D. that had his birthday.
“Child of Farin?” She held up the I.D. and cocked her head, comparing his photograph with his sleeping face. She tapped her lower lip thoughtfully. “Hm! How about that.”
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - megs - 08-26-2019
When Darcy finally woke Ishara was still there. He didn't register her at first. He didn't register much of anything. He felt strangely disconnected from his body. Truly as if he had been taken apart and put back together again. He groaned and shifted uncomfortably in the bed. Or he tried to, anyway, all of his limbs felt heavy. One amber eye blinked open. The other was hidden behind a layer of heavy bandages. Finally, she was there, in the corner of his vision. A figure he didn't yet recognize in profile. He didn't know where he was or who she was. Nothing was making sense to him, yet. He startled, and then recoiled with a gasp of pain when something not quite healed moved a way it shouldn't.
He was able to decipher one thing, whoever she was was holding something she didn't need to be. That he didn't want her to be. His thoughts felt like they came in fragments. It was a dingy silver coin inlaid with emeralds. His token to Phaedra, the Veridian goddess, that he had gotten from his mother as a child. "Don't tou-" he started to rasp an instruction at her but dry and unused vocal chords had him in a coughing fit instead.
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - saronym - 08-27-2019
Ishara startled when he spoke. Or tried to speak. The coin fell from her hand and rolled along the floor. "Shit!" She cursed and then clasped her hands over her mouth as if afraid who might hear it. She retrieved the coin and placed it back with Darcy’s things. She had taken all of his personal effects and inspected each one and laid them all along the top of a rolling tray that the CAF doctors sometimes used. She had her own little museum of Darcy artifacts going.It was just her and the man struggling in the bed. So only Darcy heard her curse.
"Don't try to speak." She said quickly rushing to fill a cup of water for him from a faucet in the room. She rushed back to his bed with it sloshing some of the liquid on to her hand.
Ishara sat neatly on the edge of his bed and placed her hand under Darcy's head to support him while she offered him water. "You inhaled a lot of smoke from the explosion and whatever nasty things they use to make bombs.”
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - megs - 08-27-2019
He was not pleased to hear the coin hitting the floor, and was then more determined to get up and out the bed. A hospital bed, he was finally able to figure. If the stark whiteness and the scratchy sheet was any indication. He wanted to sit up, but he couldn't. His arms weren't cooperating. They were sore and heavy. There was nothing he could do but lay there and wait until the woman returned to his field of view. Darcy frowned at the woman settling herself on the edge of the bed, but he accepted the water and drank deeply from the cup. His one working eye was trained on her face. Recognition brightened his features as he pulled away from the now empty cup. "Miss O'Rourke." He didn't sound much better, his voice sounded like it was being dragged over gravel. Almost like a growl, which was also likely as a Veridian man. Not that she knew all that about him.
"What are you," he spoke slowly, almost needing a breath between each word. "Doing here...Where...am I?"
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - saronym - 08-28-2019
A warm expression spread over her face when he recognized her and called her by name. She hummed cheerfully acknowledging that his memory served right. She set aside the cup and let him sink back against the bed again but she kept her place sitting next to him. She made herself more comfortable kicking off her kitten heels and bringing one leg up underneath her. It was not a very lady-like posture for a dress but she neatly arranged her gauzy, pleated skirt to maintain her modesty. She liked the pastel yellow color of her skirt against the stark white of the bed linens. She liked, also, imagining her mother’s horrified face as she sat so casually with a man on a bed.
“You’re in Eskra at the military hospital in Perl. There was a ...bombing. So, I’m taking care of you until you’re strong enough to get back to work.” She placed an extra feminine lilt into her voice as she explained the situation. So often had she dealt with scared and confused soldiers who lost pieces or whole chunks of their memories after a trauma.
“You were very badly hurt, Darcy.” She stroked his hair when she told him. She stopped, her hand resting in his hair. She cocked her head, “Why did you lie about your name?”
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - megs - 09-04-2019
While her demeanor was likely meant to be comforting, Darcy was entirely off-put by the warmth that she was showing. It was different from their previous interaction. She'd been running hot in a different way that day. He didn't remember the attack that she spoke of but he did recognize the hospital now that she identified it for him. He frowned at her and pulled his head out from under hand. The best he could, given that he was trapped in a hospital bed. If he cared that she seemed to be making herself comfortable on the bed next to him he didn't say anything about it. He barely looked at her. He seemed to be trying to absorb as many details about the room as he could, though there were very few to be had. His attention turned back to her when she said his name. He frowned. She must have gotten the real one off of his IDs.
"I lie to everyone," he said, automatically. He wasn't trying to comfort her. At present he didn't feel like continuing the ruse with her. "I didn't know you. We're barely allies."
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - saronym - 11-10-2019
Ishara folded her hands neatly on her lap. She could tell he didn't want to be touched at the moment. That was fine. Maybe he'd let her pet him later. He had soft hair. The texture was very fine and almost wispy. Maybe he would let her wash his hair. It was still dirty from the blast. They'd one the best they could with some wet towels but that was no substitute for a good shampooing.
"Well, this is a neutral zone." She gestured all around her indicating the hospital. It was true, legally speaking. The medical facility was neutral. "And there's no point lying about your name. That's so silly. Darcy is much nicer than Dante but I was willing to like you even if your name was Dante."
She smiled playfully and toyed with her skirt in her lap.
Her expression calmed and became thoughtful. “How are you feeling? Do you have any pain?” She placed her hand on the center of his chest and said a few words in Eskran. Her fingers felt warm as they released the spell into his body, checking him for any sources of injury, pain, or illness.
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - megs - 11-24-2019
Waking up hurting and disoriented was making Darcy grumpy. Being confined to a bed was making him grumpy. Knowing that he would be confined to a bed for an indeterminate amount of time was making him downright curmudgeonly. Ishara had obeyed when told not to touch his hair, but even with one good eye he could see that there was something about her expression that would make that obedience short-lived. He continued to frown at her, though it did very little to put her off in anyway. She looked perfectly happy to be perched on at his bedside. Darcy wondered if she had other patients she could be bothering, or if her company would be interrupted by another severe-looking supervisory coming to clap her into attention.
"I don't need you to like me," Darcy snapped. Which was neither the truth or a lie. He didn't know what to think of this fiery redhead at his side. He'd come to investigate her those few weeks ago at the behest of his friend, but quickly found it was his own mind that was filled with her.
Perhaps, she had bewitched them both. Put a curse on them with those soft green eyes so they would do her bidding.
He turned his head away from her, so he didn't have to see if her expression changed with his harsh words. She had a charming smile.
She spread her fingers over his chest and he didn't look at her or answer her question. He was hurting. He had a headache and there was a dull ache in this legs. Darcy sighed deeply in what sounded like exasperation. It was warm where her hand was. He wondered what she was doing but didn't ask.
Probably cursing him again, he thought, having no doubts now that she was akin to a witch.
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - saronym - 11-24-2019
Ishara clucked her tongue at him like a scolding mother for his harsh words. He turned his face away and it only gave her the view of his handsome profile. Square jaw and beneath his fine hair cut short she could see a tattoo on his scalp behind his ear. Her eyes were drawn to his face but she closed them to better concentrate on the spell. She winced sensing his discomfort. Her fingers curled some against his chest and then they flattened out again when she released the magic.
Her eyes popped open. "I'll get you something for that headache." She stood and smoothed the front of her skirt before she began moving about the room preparing a little philter in one of those cheap, plastic hospital cups.
"Do you have a wife back home, Darcy?" She asked as she work. "Kids?"
She offered him the answers to her own questions without being prompted. "I'm not married myself but my parents are sure eager to marry me off. No kids but there are plenty of young ones in my family. My siblings are all married and they are quite active." She giggled and peaked at him over her shoulder while she chattered. "My father's an ambassador, you know."
She turned, skirts swishing around her legs and she brought the cup to him, holding it with both hands as if it were precious. "Here. This will help." She promised him, sitting down again on the edge of the bed, she held the cup to his lips assisting him to drink.
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - megs - 01-01-2020
Why won't she go away? He thought bitterly. Darcy couldn't figure out why Ishara was still lingering in his hospital room. He'd been none to kind to her and revealed himself as a liar. What did she want? Darcy didn't say anything when she moved away, and he kept his gaze away from her. Even with Ishara across the room the weight of her small hand against his chest seemed to linger. As well as the scent of her. Freesia and clementine. He remembered it, even in his dreams. He could hear her putting something together at the little cart in the corner that he had briefly noticed was stacked with herbs and vials.
"I don't have anyone," he replied, but didn't elaborate. It was not entirely true. He had siblings, and cousins, but that had not been her question, and he couldn't talk about them without revealing more of who he was. Besides, he could tell by her bouts of giggling that what she wanted to know was if he was seeing anyone. He wish she would stop wanting to know things about him.
It was too late but the general considered for a moment that he should have told her he was indeed happily married with a flock of children somewhere. Easier to get him out of her head then. He wasn't thinking straight, likely from the attack and the pain. He'd have to do better about keeping his mouth shut around her.
"What's this," he asked. He frowned down at the cup and then at her. Doubt swirled in amber eyes. He pushed her hand away when she raised the concoction to his mouth. "Do you intend to poison me, now, witch?"
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - saronym - 01-12-2020
Ishara hummed some kind of soft and low sound if empathy as he admitted he didn't have anyone back home. She could tell he was being truthful. People in pain so often found it difficult to bother with little lies or pleasantries. This is why it was hard to offend or dissuade her, a veteran of the hospital. It just wasn't a pleasant place. She sighed when he pushed her hands away. She waited, patiently, holding it between two hands and doing her best to look harmless.
"Of course I wouldn't poison you."
She pushed the cup forward again, "We're not so different, don't you think? You're not my enemy. We're just two people who found themselves on the opposite side of a conflict more powerful people have chosen to wage here."
RE: Rainbow of Red [Closed] - megs - 02-01-2020
Amber eyes narrowed in her direction at that little sound she made. He'd said more to her in ten minutes about himself than he had said to anyone in ten years. He didn't want her pity. Mostly because it appeared that she was overflowing with excess sympathy and he didn't want her to waste it on his petty lie. With an exasperated sigh, he took the cup from her and downed the concoction all at once. He dropped the empty cup back into her hands and gave her a raise of his eyebrows as if to say 'happy?'
The mixture was bitter and wrinkled his nose, but he didn’t complain.
"We're very different," he grumbled, leaning back into the thin hospital pillows. Between the pain he felt, and the rigid supplies of the military hospital the only comfort to be had was her presence and he was doing his best to resist it. "If you don't consider me an enemy that is your mistake to make." Which was not to say he wished her harm directly, just that he thought it was foolish for her to give him any leeway in the situation. They were on opposite sides, and whether or not he wanted to be there and whether or not she thought him an enemy was irrelevant.
He didn't know why he was insistent on insulting the woman who was supposedly in charge of his care. She could, at any point, decide to turn on him. Darcy had her pegged as too much of a bleeding heart to really do anything like that.
Bleeding heart.
He found that funny. Given the 'Hart' he knew that was currently obsessed with her. He chuckled.