Room 324, Sunday Evening

[vanillajello]

Kate felt weird. As if she... was supposed to feel kind of dizzy, but everything was completely clear instead. With a vague buzzing, somewhere in the background. It was probably shock.

She was just going to run with it, for as long as it lasted. Then collapse. Maybe cry. She wasn't thinking about any of that right now. Someone else was her priority.

And that someone was Bod, who'd been using her as a walking aid on their way up from the lobby.

"So, what do you need?" she asked when they'd made it to her room.

[ooc: For the poor, poor boyfriend.]

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[therewaslife]

Bod, meanwhile, took a step back just so he could rub his eyes again. The irritation was still there despite the shower. He wondered if his poor eyes would ever feel all right again.

Moving, of course, meant he had to use his feet and that reminded him that he'd been barefoot for three days and that was going to take some time to heal from. He winced and hissed quietly.

[vanillajello]

Kate didn't hear him over the water, and it was probably for the best. That way, once she opened her eyes again, she could concentrate on finding her pink mesh bath sponge thingie, and getting some soap on it.

He still had ash on him, and she was still bloody in places whether she wanted to or not, not to mention just being generally icky.

So the obviously the solution was that they'd both have to end up smelling delightfully floral.

[therewaslife]

At this point, Bod wouldn't have minded smelling like a cookie. He just wanted to desperately rid himself of some of the physical reminders of that place.

The bandages on his knee were starting to droop due to the water and he could see the red, blistered, and torn skin. He reached down and pulled it up some, just hoping it'd last till the end of the shower.

[vanillajello]

Kate hoped the same as she glanced down, and was more than a little glad that she'd bought a first aid kit for the room some months back. At least they'd have fresh bandages for it.

"I'm sorry if this stings a little," she said as she reached for him, sudsy sponge in one hand. "Soap and wounds don't really mix well."

[therewaslife]

"It's fine," he said, shaking his head. "It's not going to compare to some of the other things I've felt. Everything hurts."

It was honesty but probably honesty she didn't need to hear. "They need to be cleaned."

[vanillajello]

Not honesty she needed to hear, but at least he was here and talking to her. She could deal.

"Okay."

Didn't mean she wasn't going to be gentle and careful with her touch as she started slowly with his shoulders.

[therewaslife]

"All right," he repeated, having no real idea what to say. Every time she moved that sponge over a cut, he winced or hissed but otherwise said nothing.

He was concentrating on her, though, almost intensely because it seemed to be the only way to keep his thoughts tamed.

[vanillajello]

And she was mostly focusing on watching her hand and the trails of soap on his skin and trying to watch out for any particularly nasty cuts so he wouldn't end up in too much pain.

Once she was done with his chest, she urged him to turn around so she could do the same to his back.

[therewaslife]

He did albeit slowly but he was doing everything slowly right now. Bod reached a hand out to support himself against the side of the shower and bowed his head, trying to will the tension away.

It didn't work.

[vanillajello]

And she wanted nothing more than to just lean against him and embrace him and do what she could to make the tension go away, even if she had a fair amount of her own too. But her legs were tired and his feet were battered and he had an unraveling bandage on his leg.

Maybe the tension should wait.

She had to blink rapidly a moment to keep the tears at bay, then composed herself, glad he couldn't see her. Then she continued with what she was doing, starting with the back of his neck, cleaning the ash off his back first, then off his arms.

[therewaslife]

"That feels nice," he said because it did. It was nice to feel something soft and being used to help him, not hurt him. "I hope I don't ruin your shower. I'll apologize to Bobby if I do."

[vanillajello]

"Come on, this is Fandom," she said softly, sliding the sponge along his arm. "I'm sure the showers can take all sorts of things. We had blue dye in here once and everything."

She knelt down now, to work even more carefully on cleaning his legs. Hardly even thought doing that was anything special.

[therewaslife]

"I hope so," he said, tensing again as she got closer to spots that really hurt. He bit his lip and breathed deliberately slow when the sponge got near his knee and closer to his feet.

"We've made the water quite the color," he said, trying to keep up the conversation even if he wanted to curl up and cry. Still.

[vanillajello]

Plenty of time for all that curling up and crying stuff later. How else were they supposed to spend their time if they happened to both be too freaked out to sleep before passing out from exhaustion?

"Mm, grey and red," she said dryly, if quietly. More focused on being quick and careful with his feet. "Delightful."

[therewaslife]

"C-careful," he stammered, unable to keep it to himself. He knew she was doing careful, he could feel the care she was taking but having time to suddenly recover had made it clear how much damage he'd done to his feet.

[vanillajello]

"I'm being as careful as I can," she said gently, stopping and peering up. "Think it would be too much to do anything to the soles? I mean, I got some antiseptic stuff and bandages if you'd rather just use those."

[therewaslife]

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to -- " He stopped and shook his head. "I haven't looked at the bottoms of either foot yet. I don't know how bad they look. It just hurts."

[vanillajello]

"I know, Bod, I know." She'd had soap in tiny scrapes, and that had stung. She could guess how bad this must be. "So do you wanna look?"

[therewaslife]

"I suppose," he said, moving to sit on the edge of the tub so he could carefully lift one foot up. The good news was that the water had pretty much washed away the blood.

Still, the bottoms of his feet were pretty much covered in cuts (some that still looked like they had ash or small rocks embedded), bruises and cracked skin.

"Oh." That was the only reaction he had to that sight.

[vanillajello]

And since he'd pretty much stolen her intial reaction, she just stared for a moment before saying anything.

"... Yeeeah, we're so not putting soapy water on that."

[therewaslife]

Bod pushed some wet hair out of his eyes and winced. "There were no floors there, where I was. It was dirt, ground or charred out buildings. And after awhile, I didn't feel anything anymore. I think my feet were numb."

[vanillajello]

"Yeah I bet," Kate replied, raising her eyebrows and still staring a bit, resisting the urge to poke at his feet. She suspected there would be a time to do that later.

She looked at him again. "I'm so forbidding you from going to classes tomorrow."

[therewaslife]

"I won't argue with you," he said. Considering he tended to argue with her about small things (as she did him), he figured that was a testament to how he really felt.

[vanillajello]

"Good," she said, pushing herself up to standing carefully, because slipping and falling was not something that needed to happen to her right now. "So I won't have to take any desperate measures to keep you from being dumb."

She said it kind of fondly, but she was tired, and probably would have balled up all her stress into an angry attack of bitchiness, had he decided to argue with her.

[therewaslife]

And having that sort of aggression thrown at him probably would have spurred his own anger. He didn't use it often but it was there. Instead, he smiled a little at her and decided to stay seated.

"I don't want to see anyone but you for awhile," he said, bowing his head again and centering himself. His thoughts were ragged, his head hurt and he couldn't really do with more people right now.