Spirits of the Earth

Kuro finally found his way to the ground, away from the rooftops and dashed his way through the coutyard of the Connlaothian Palace. Beatrid is being carried by him with his bloody scarf wrapped around her waist. She's losing it as well as consciousness. Soon enough, Kuro sped down the hallways, causing the maids and troops to nearly dive out of the way. The nurses and doctors practically jumped out of their skins when the ninjaesque Mordecai bursted through the doors with the woman in his arms. No words were exchanged as everyone pretty much knew what was going on. The Nurses moved fast to get Beatrid out of Kuro's arms and worked from there.

(Sorry for the crappiness. Muse is slowly dying. :P)

By the time they got to the infirmary, Beatrid was drifting in and out of consciousness despite her vow to stay awake and make sure the nurses patched her up correctly. Just because, honestly, she was sort of paranoid when it came to needles and medicine and stuff like that. Probably an odd, silly thing for her to be skittish of, considering she could take a bullet (or in this case, nice, pointy blades) while charging into battle without even a second's hesitation. But that was different! Really. Anyway, perhaps it was better that she wasn't really awake to deal with all the stitching up and cleaning up and mending and medicine and all that stuff that went into saving her life, because there was certainly less panic on her end as a result. And no struggling. For some reason, getting fixed always hurt one hell of a lot more than getting wounded in the first place, and it was also nice to not have to deal with knowing how bad off she was until after she was out of harm's way.

Thank goodness she was. Hell, thank goodness Kuro was quick. Soldier or not, she was still only human. She didn't heal quickly like Kuro, and there was still only so much blood she could lose and live. Hey, she wasn't invincible, as cool as that would be if she were.

Beatrid had no idea how much time had passed when she finally woke up again, nor could she even remember passing out in the first place. All she knew when she finally opened her eyes was that she was in a familiar sterile white room with the awful cheap beds and equally cheap sheets--since, of course, it wouldn't make much sense to get high quality stuff that would just eventually get blood or piss or vomit on it because, hey, that's what happened when you treated sick or injured people. Ugh. Beatrid glanced around the room while keeping the rest of her body perfectly still because she was sure moving her head would make her dizzy and, even if she couldn't remember much after being injured, she could still remember that little moment of impulsiveness and stupidity that winded her up here to begin with. Damn...what the hell had she been thinking? Whatever happened to tackling the guy, or kicking his legs out so he fell backwards? No...she had to dive right toward Kuro and get slammed instead of him.

Then again, there hadn't been much time to think then, and those last two brilliant ideas popped into her head as she was laying in the hospital bed trying to think. Because her head was pretty fuzzy from blood loss so thinking came a bit slowly. It probably took her a good ten minutes to think up all that for all she knew.

Whatever...she'd saved his life. Now they were even so he could stop trying to rescue her. When she didn't need it, that it; stopping that throwing knife from plunging into her face was another story, though she would have noticed it if she hadn't been so agitated with him.

That was her story and she was sticking to it. Heh.

And maybe she was still out of it to be thinking like this, but another random thought that popped into her head as she was laying there, eyes half closed, was, Well, I guess this means I get an extra few days off. Hah! That was one way of looking at this, she guessed. She got her ass kicked (though not without kicking that Reiwhatever bastard's ass! Because she had a gun and he didn't!) so she probably wouldn't be up for a few days or so. Which meant taking it easy. No missions for her! No anything for her until she was healed! Which meant--oh shit. Which meant visitors. Which meant she probably couldn't escape, especially not while she was bedridden.

She was trapped if any of her fellow Mordecai idiots decided to come here and rub it in. Mostly, she was just worried about Drones or Kuro making an appearance with her not being able to point a gun at them, punch them, or escape to her room or a random hallway or something.

God-damnit.

Well, one of them had better bring her chocolate or something. Kuro owed her some at least and...heh...hopefully Hek wasn't pissed about being ditched.

With a sigh, Beatrid shifted where she lay, wincing--agh, her side ached like a bitch, even if a quick feel with her hand showed that...shit. Not only was she stitched up, but she was apparently naked beneath the sheets, too.

Just bloody great. Bastards!

Yanking the sheets up to her chin and deciding to put off her plan until she was given a big tunic or something, she sighed and rested her head back against the pillow, braid pulled to the side. The plan had been to check the table next to her to see if her pistol was still around--just in case--but since that meant sitting up, well, never mind that. She could wait. Because while she could deal with the dizziness and the pain in her side and the weakness that would be apparent when she sat up, there was no way she was going to risk accidentally flashing someone. Even if she knew the doctors had seen everything while patching her up and cleaning off all the blood.

Damned side wounds. This sucked. So, she'd just wait until a nurse came by and ask for something to wear in case they'd forgotten--oh, and her book. She might not be able to see straight yet, but it'd be nice to have for when she could.

"How are you feeling, Beatrid?" Kuro's voice nearly echoes in the room. The ninjaesque Mordecai stand near twenty feet away from Beatrid's bed with his back turned to her. He's currently leaning on the post of another bed, not too far away. He's been in the room since the end of the operation, mainly to watch over her. His scarf is nowhere on his face, so he stands a bit 'bare'. He could sense her presence a little more active than when she was asleep. Hence the reason he spoke up.
"I trust that you are in fair condition." He adds one last bit still without looking.

Gyah!

Beatrid just about jumped right out of her bed at that, except it hurt too much to really move and she didn't want to tear her stitches. "Kuro!" she yelled--or, yelled as much as her voice and condition would allow, which meant more of a hoarse, forceful exclamation than an actual shout. Turning her head to face him, she pulled the sheets up impossibly higher until they were practically right under her nose, and she probably would have pulled them higher if they weren't tucked in at the foot of the bed. Oh shit! How long had he been there? If he'd been there the whole time...oh Gods, if he had, she'd finish what Reiwhatever had started--when she was able to walk again. Hopefully he hadn't. His back was to her now, so that had to be a positive sign, right? Hell, when she thought about it from another angle, like if she had to choose whether it be Kuro in here right now or Hek...well, she had to say she'd have chosen Kuro at this moment since Kuro at least had never groped her.

"U-uh...yeah...fine. I'm feelin' fine..." she finally answered distractedly, folding and unfolding the top part of the sheet. It was a lie since, well, she kind of felt like shit right now, light-headed, weak, in pain, and bloody naked, but compared to the alternative--death--she was fine! She cleared her throat, hoping to strengthen her voice; it sounded oddly small, and that bugged her. But, hey, she was tired, so she had an excuse and a valid reason. "How...er...how long have you...been there?" she added, trying to look nonchalant and unconcerned, but likely failing. Her cheeks felt hot, and she was actually surprised she had enough blood left in her still to blush. She almost wished she didn't.

But, since it was probably pretty stupid to be worried about someone seeing her naked, especially considering she probably could have died--she didn't know because she couldn't remember and that irked her to no end--she quickly switched topics to something more important. "Yeah...fair condition...uh, so...what was the damage...?" she asked as casually as she could, finally stopping fiddling with the sheets and folding her hands on top of her chest. Then, rolling her eyes, she added, "If I'm dyin' or something...don't tell me."

That sounded way wittier in her head than when she actually said it. Ugh...she really was still out of it. Gods she hated this. Stupid blood loss. Snorting softly, she shook her head slowly, even though she still got a bit dizzy as a result. "Heh...you look...well."

He could tell that she was not fine by her voice, but ignored that bit otherwise. She's a horrible liar, but it was intresting that way. After hearing question, Kuro wasted little time to respond.
"I've been here since after the operation. Making sure no one disturbs you while you rest." His answer wasn't immediate, but he told her quickly, nonetheless. He finished his statement on time to hear what she had to say next. He kept his back to her still. He never believed in invasion of privacy (unless it was on a mark) and respected that with his coworkers.
"You could have died from blood loss if I had not arrived sooner. Otherwise, you are saved from death." Kuro speaks of the near grave news. If Kuro were a normal human, she would have died on route to even the City. Her last statement caused Kuro to close his eyes. Only he knows why he looks so well.
"My wounds heal at an unnatural rate. What I recieved from that battle were scars by the time we reached Reajh. I am no normal human." He answers to Beatrid's last statement. His true colors are slowly showing. Would he go as far as telling her what he truely is?

"Ah...operation...?" Beatrid repeated slowly, still watching Kuro's back. The hell? She just figured her side had been slashed open so all they really needed to do was stitch her back together. Then again, she wasn't a doctor and wouldn't have been able to be one, anyway, given her aversion to such things. If she didn't like getting stuck with a needle there was no way she'd be able to stick someone else, much less open someone up with a knife--unless it was an enemy in the heat of battle, that is. So, yeah, this was news to her. How long had she been out of it, then, and...what the hell had been operated on? Damn, she hoped she still had all her organs where they belonged, though she guessed if she didn't notice anything obvious was gone she couldn't really miss it.

It was, however, good news that she was out of the woods and apparently wouldn't be dying from this encounter. Good. Because that would have pissed her off to go out in such an...anti-climatic manner.

"Good to know," she murmured tiredly at Kuro's reassurance. "Because if ya saw anything...you wouldn't live to remember it." Cool. She was going to live, he apparently hadn't seen anything he shouldn't have seen, and...well, she guessed that brought her to a part she'd kind of been putting off...

That whole "swallowing your pride" thing. She'd never been good at that, especially not around people she didn't usually (understatement!) like. Yeah. He had hauled her here for medical attention, hadn't he? She probably would have died if she hadn't gotten treated promptly...though she'd only been hurt to begin with because she was saving his ass. After he'd saved hers. So...since that technically made them even, did she have to do it? Couldn't she just, like...assume that whole "I got bloodied up defending you" thing counted as a "thanks"? It was kind of how she liked to show gratitude, anyway. No, not by getting owned in battle, but through actions rather than words. She wasn't good with words. At least not in that whole sappy sentimental area.

Now she sounded selfish, ungrateful, and stupid. Argh. Bah...she guessed she could afford a little ego bruising just this once.

Ah, well...it couldn't hurt to put it off a little longer.

"So, uh...operation, eh? They didn't...take shit out, did they?" she asked randomly,closing her eyes a moment to rest them and taking a careful breath, since it still hurt to breathe for her wound. "I just kinda thought they, you know...just sewed me back together."

Aha! Another distraction! Kuro was talking again, and...eh? That...was weird.

"Huh...?" Well, yeah, he did look perky but she just figured he was being stubborn like she usually was and was toughing out his stab wound. She figured he had bandages and stitches beneath his clothes. Hey, it was something she would do, walk off a wound and act like it was nothing--if she could walk and it wasn' lethal or mind-numbingly painful. She hadn't been expecting him to say that it was healed already and he wasn't quite a normal human.

Hah. No shit. If he as already healed, obviously he wasn't average.

"...What the hell's that mean?" Beatrid asked, cracking an eye open. Succinct as always.

Kuro ignored Beatrid's threat about him seeing anything. Of course he didn't, but that matter is useless to him either way. When she questioned him about the operation, he opened his eyes, but kept his back to her.
"They had to make sure nothing vital was struck on the inside. Internal bleeding is just as bad as external. Luckily, you're still intact." The ninjaesque Mordecai explains. He doesn't know much about medical, but he does know enough to be able to properly pick up his insides and walk himself to an emergency room. When she finally questioned him about the last thing he said, Kuro closed his eyes and pushed all thoughts from his head.
"You should get some rest. It'll help you regain yourself." Kuro suggests, keeping his eyes closed and his back to Beatrid.

Ah...that made sense. Beatrid frowned a little and absently knotted her hands in the sheet, just to have something to fiddle with. Internal bleeding...yeah, she knew about that. Right. That made sense. Hell, come to think of it, she'd been really lucky. She could have easily gotten some broken ribs or a punctured lung, but by the grace of some deity or sheer luck she'd reacted quick enough to avoid the full brunt of the blow. Still, that made sense. She'd still been hit hard and deep. Ouch.

Bringing a hand up, she rubbed her eyes to try and clear them up and accidentally bumped her nose, and received a shockwave of pain as a result. Wincing, she gingerly felt her nose with her fingers. Ow, right, her face had gotten busted up, too. She'd almost forgotten because the pain in her side took her mind off of that. Well, her nose felt properly taped up and if it had been broken, it felt like it had been set, even if it did feel puffy. Her lip was still swollen and had scabbed over where it had split. Yay, she must look great right now, not that she cared. Wasn't like she was vain.

"Good...that's comforting," Beatrid said on a yawn, still annoyingtly exhausted. She hardly even noticed how Kuro avoided the question, her tired mind instead thinking that his suggestion sounded mighty nice. Sleep. Her body really wanted it, but she didn't, not yet. That is, not until she got some clothes. There was no way she was falling asleep naked, sheets or not! She had a tendency to move a lot in her sleep, so there was no way she was going to risk falling asleep and yanking the covers down during the course of sleep. With her injury, it wasn't like she'd be tossing and turning, but she could still move her arms, and that's what counted!

Which...well, that brought her to yet another dilemma.

Heaving a sigh and toying with the sheet again--she had a feeling already that this whole bed-ridden thing was going to drive her up a wall. Forget that initial thought about an extended "vacation", she was going to go insane! One day off was one thing, but she liked being active!--she glanced toward Kuro. Whatever. Just...forget pride right now. There were no nurses around, she wanted to sleep some more, and really, what sapped the most pride: the danger of flashing or asking for some clothes to avoid that risk? Yeah, that was a no brainer.

"Hey, uh...Kuro? Think you can do me a favor?" Wait, cut that. Actually, now that she was actually starting to lead up to the sentence, this was going to be excruciatingly painful. Beatrid grit her teeth and stared up at the ceiling. Actually, maybe she should wait for a nurse to avoid this embarrassment. Unless the nurses were busy and...she'd be stuck. She gave another sigh and kept her eyes fixed onto the ceiling like it was the most interesting thing since...something really interesting. She was tired now and didn't feel like waiting, and since she was hurt and had suffered blood loss, she had a right to ask favors of unwounded people. Regardless of who they were. Wasn't like she could help it--he was just there, so she'd take advantage of that! "Right...think you can, uh...get a nurse to get me something to wear?" she finally muttered, words almost indistinguishable. "A big shirt or something."

Because there was no way on this green Earth that she'd wear anything resembling a dress. Not even in the infirmary. She knew they probably wouldn't give her breeches or anything since that would require standing up out of bed--something she was not going to be up to anytime soon--and her old breeches she knew were ruined from blood and whatnot so they had to remove them, but, no. No dresses. No infirmary gowns. Just...a large man's shirt would do just fine.

Good, she didn't push the matter any further. Kuro wasn't about ready to explain himself in full. He would be betraying himself at this point in time if he did so. Now she's asking Kuro of a favor, something Beatrid never does. He listens closely. Well, that was easier done than said.
"Right." Kuro answers as he begins to walk towards the wardrobe on the other end of the room. One that sits almost directly right next to the door. He opens it up to see Beatrid's clothes, cleaned, but tattered. He reaches in to pull out what he feels would be confortable to sleep in. A rather large sweater. One that supposedly belonged to a large man. Luckily, all the clothes in the wardrobe are clean. He closes the wardrobe and walks back to Beatrid's bed, placing the sweater down within her reach. Hen then goes back to leaning on the post of the opposing bed, without lookin in Beatrid's general direction the whole time. Almost much like a well trained guard dog.

Word had gotten out that the one and only Beatrid was wounded and in the infirmary, of course, Hek was one of the last few to know because he had been finding his way back to the castle. Today had been an interesting day, first he was carted here, then he got to have a bath, then, he got dumped in the city to fend for himself. Him. Hek-Akiz the farm boy with the funny hair. Needless to say it all went downhill after Beatrid ditched him to go god-knows where which ended up wounded. Pfft, females. Anyway, after Beatrid left Hek all alone he wandered around and bought cheap clothing that would last for about a day until his other stuff was cleaned. So, once Hek got his clothing, he had a few pieces to spend, assuming Beatrid gave it to him to spend.

Now, he was glad he had gotten that gift for Beatrid since she was currently healing from a mortal wound, and any gift at the moment would be like a peace offering, a suck up gift, and something to make her feel better. Hek didn’t even know what was wrong with her, but since she was in the infirmary it must be something a little worse than the flu, otherwise she’d be in her room throwing up, not in the infirmary getting poked and prodded. Ah well, since Hek just got back and heard about Beatrid, he would set off down one hallway and maybe ask a maid where it was.

At the entrance of the building, he pressed a hand to his forehead, ripped it away and hissed. What the hell? Why did that still? Hek looked at his hand and then lightly poked his forehead, hissing again. Why did…? Oh right! He had bashed his head on the tub and apparently forgotten about it, ah well maybe now they’ll want to help him even more! Grinning with his new great plan, Hek set off to find the infirmary.

Once he had found the infirmary, it was about half an hour later and the daisy he had grabbed before getting into the door was wilted and very dead from being held between Heks hot fingers. Hopefully the chocolate (which he had learned after twenty years makes cranky ladies less-cranky) faired better than the wilted dead daisy. The maids helped, sure, but, after hearing rumours that Drones started, and the words from that one maid who he helped up probably got them to get mixed feelings about the newest addition to the Connlaoth kingdom, so, they all fawned and cooed and told him to go rest because of his head, or, ignored him completely or looked at him like a feather duster that talked in tongues.

Sighing in relief that he had <I>finally</I> found the damn infirmary with the help of a pretty brunette maid named ‘Chelsea,’ who was now off to do her other chores. Well, there were normal people here, how about that? Poking his head into the room, Hek looked around, seeing The Ninja Guy poking around in a closet and Beatrid in a bed. Taking a step into the room, he paused, making sure he wasn’t going to explode from some random force of the person in the closet. Moving again, he rushed slightly to the side of Beatrids bed and smiled, he had changed out of the itchy uniform and into his new clothes, an off-white shirt tucked into tight brown breeches. Of course he was wearing boots to end the outfit… they were brown too.

The blooming bruise on his forehead was a light blue in colour because it was on the left side of his face and beneath the lavender. Grabbing a chair from someplace or another, he put it beside Beatrids bed and closed his eyes before putting the chocolate on the bedside table with the wilted daisy on top.

�I wanted to get you something because you were so nice to show me around this morning… So I did, and now it has two uses! If you’re anything like my mom you’ll like the chocolate.�

Hek started to talk, his voice was normal and he wasn’t talking to her like she was dying, because if she was, she’d look like it, and Beatrid just looked like crap, but no dying crap. A sly evil grin grew on Heks face and he held his hands, noticing the shirt on the bed, good luck to Beatrid if she wanted to put that on.

�See? If you had stuck with little ‘ol me you wouldn’t have … Whatever it is you have… What do you have anyway?�

According to various sources, Beatrid had blown off her face, lost a leg, had her intestines pulled out and lost both her arms. Her legs still looked there, and so did her arms, so it was just a normal wound. A bad one considering she looks like crap, but still, just a wound and those heal in no time flat. Hek smiled, a reassuring smile he gave to his sister when he was the one with the nasty gashes. Looking around, Hek began to tap his foot on the ground before looking at the sweater on her bed, having had gashes on his side before, he knew it’d be hard to lift his arm to put anything on his torso without help. So, he decided to tell Beatrid this.

�You know Bumblebee; you putting on that sweater alone is going to hurt… A lot… And since I’m worried after your health, can I assist you in putting it on? If I touch anything I promise you can do whatever you want to me…�

Looks like Hek would be doing something he’d rather not for a while… Because everyone knows Hek and his hands and how they can’t stay in the same place for more than a few minutes, because even know, his hands which had once been clasped together between his knees are now on top of his thighs and lightly tapping.

Beatrid rested back against the pillow and idly watched Kuro fish around in the closet, and as he did the thought suddenly occurred to her that, while he might bring her a nice, big shirt...well...that wasn't exactly the end of her problem because, well, the shirt wouldn't just slap itself onto her body, now would it? And, quite frankly, she really wasn't in the mood to move around much. Sitting up would hurt, she imagined, and she still felt all light-headed. Really, all she wanted to do was lay here and do nothing more strenuous than breathe. And maybe sleep some more.

Turning her head and gazing up lazily at the ceiling, she closed her eyes and sighed quietly. "Thanks..." she said, just as quietly. There! She'd gone and said it finally!  And...well, that hadn't been quite as painful as she'd imagined it would be, though she didn't really have any idea what she was thanking him for: for hauling her to the infirmary, or for going to get her a shirt? Maybe both. Yeah. It could count for both, or he could just decide for himself! Maybe she was kind of stingy in her thank yous, but, eh, it wasn't something she was too accustomed to. It was kind of embarrassing in a weird way, actually. No, scratch that--she had no problem with showing gratitude. It was just when she was proven wrong that it was painful, because pride had a tendency to form a big ol' lump in her throat. Not to mention she hated admitting that she'd been wrong.

Beatrid had actually started to drift off again when the sound of a chair scraping across the floor brought her back, and she opened her eyes as the sound jarred her, brow crinkling in annoyance. Until her eyes fell on Hek, after which they widened in surprise as he pulled up a chair and sat at her bedside and...put a wilted flower and a bar of something on the bedside table, which she soon learned was chocolate. Chocolate! Her one true love. Well, damn. Here she'd been almost expecting him to come here to drive her crazy, and he'd brought her gifts which was...oddly sweet. Even after she'd ditched him in the village, which she did indeed regret, because now she was bedridden.

"...I love chocolate," she admitted almost sheepishly. She didn't get much of it, either, but when she did? Heaven on Earth. How the heck did he know? Oh, wait, his mom. Heh. Yeah, seemed that wonderful stuff was universally loved by females, and she could imagine that the men had caught on--chocolate was full of instant happy feel-good stuff, after all, and if it weren't for her side making it impossible to sit up on her own, she would have dived for the stuff and started munching already. Though, eating right now probably wasn't a good idea until she'd recovered more; she didn't have much of an appetite at the moment, anyway. "Your mom taught you well...thanks, Hek, and, uh...good to see you found your way back..." Really, she hadn't meant to ditch him like that! Wasn't like she had been planning to get so...distracted.

Then Hek went and smiled slyly, which instantly put her on guard. Lifting her right arm, she held the sheet tightly below her chin and eyed him warily--she couldn't punch him when she could hardly keep her eyes open!--and then sighed in relief. That was it. Oh...

"Yeah, don't rub it in..." she muttered, then sighed. "Uh...I don't have anything...just...well, I got my nose broken and my side split. But, I shot the guy that did it," she added with a characteristically smug grin, though she couldn't smile as widely as usual or her lip would probably crack again and her face was bruised. Ow. Anyway, yeah, she'd got the guy! Sure she got hurt...but he was probably way worse off than her with a chest wound and both she and Kuro were alive! Seemed she'd forgotten what Kuro had told her while she'd been losing consciousness.

Hek smiled reassuringly, and Beatrid relaxed more, because it didn't seem like he was up to his usual pervy antics. In fact, he was, indeed, being oddly, well, nice. Kuro was standing watch with his back turned, Hek was being supportive...it was odd, almost, but--

...What the fuck?! Scratch that!

"Yeah, right! You just wanna see my boobs!" Beatrid snapped at Hek's suggestion, eyes narrowed and eyebrows pulled together as she kept a firm hold on the sheet, going rigid. She completely ignored the nickname because, well, that was nothing compared to what he'd just said! Worried about her health, indeed!

No way in hell. Not a chance. She knew good and well how his hands had a tendency to mystically, magically wind up some place inappropriate, and not only that, but him "helping" meant she'd have to lower the sheet, which meant baring her chest for Hek and Kuro both to see! Hah! Like hell! No, she'd rather just tough it out, wait for them both to leave, and toss the sheet over her head to try and change beneath the covers. Which...would probably fail. Because putting on a shirt while laying down? Impossible. Hell, right now putting on a shirt while sitting up was impossibe because she couldn't even sit up on her own, she'd quickly discovered. Whenever she tried, pain exploded through her left side, not to mention that, indeed, she couldn't properly lift her left arm as it stretched the skin along her side.

Then, the rest of what he said suddenly registered. Wait, what? Do whatever she wanted to him? The way he worded it made it sound dirty, and her eyebrow twitched, but...hopefully he didn't mean it like that! Because, maybe she was still kind of loopy, but...an idea had popped into her head--or, rather, an image--and it was such a classic, evil visual that the threat of being groped was almost worth it!

...Besides, he said anything. So if he wasn't careful, she could both kick his ass later and make him do that other thing. Heh.

But, even if she did agree, it still didn't mean he'd get to see anything. Because, like she'd told Kuro, if he saw anything he wouldn't live.

Suddenly smiling, that mental image cheering her up considerably, she nodded suddenly. "...Alright. But...you have to stay behind me. No peeking. You too, Kuro," she added, frowning and biting her lip. She still didn't like this, but...well...she wanted that shirt on, the nurses were busy, so...eh. Besides, if Hek kept his word, he had more to lose in this if he screwed up, really. And she'd seen them both naked today, hadn't she? Hah...she gave another twitch and sighed.

"Seriously. I'll kill you both if I catch you looking. And Hek? Touch a thing and you're in a dress for a day. A pink frilly one. And you have to wear a garter and lace panties. Same for you, Kuro, if you look...after you're dead, of course..." she muttered, still holding the sheet to her chest. "Now...just...help me up and let's get this over with..."

She was probably making a very, very stupid mistake. But...augh. As painful (in more than one way!) as this would be, it was a chance she was willing to take. Hek in a dress would make up for everything.

(OOC: I disapprove how you made it seem like Kuro didn't notice Hek entering, Draco.)

Kuro indeed did notice the new guy entering the room while he was browsing the closet, but let it slide since he assumed the fool was only there to visit the injured woman. Kuro listened to the harmless interactions until the man mentioned helping with the sweater. Figures. What really got to Kuro was when Beatrid agreed to it, even if it did sound a bit reluctant. After her threats to both himself and Hek, Kuro approached the bed and threw a quick glance at Hek.
"From where I come, Honor is what is most important in life. If you dare to vandalize a lady's honor in my presence, I will make sure you don't have the hand to do so a second time." Kuro notes coldly as a warning to the other male in the room. Soon after, he reaches towards Beatrid to help lift her into a proper sitting position by picking her up, under her arms.

(Okay, so you disapprove of me not power playing your character? Got it… ((Note, I didn’t say anything about Kuro other than him poking around in a closet, which he was doing… I left his reaction of Hek being in the room to you, I just carried on too long for Kuro to stop him from going farther into the room. ^__^))

Ah, only been here for half a day and already the females were assuming he wanted to grab their boobs instead of actually help them...Ah well… That’s what he got when the first impression was him taking a bath and his hand accidentally fell on her boob. The gash on his forehead was worth it, in a slightly odd painful way. Hek listened half to Beatrid and watched Kuro before turning his attention on the wounded soldier. Poor dear, she’d be in that bed for a while, looks like Hek would have to claim a chair and sit down here everyday, later, once they tackled that sweater, he’d bring her a book or something.

“I don’t want to see your boobs, I’ve seen plenty of boobs in my life time and trust me when I say yours aren’t amazing enough for me to just want to stare at your tits.�

When she said her threat, which wasn’t too threatening coming from someone with a sheet pulled to their chin. But, over the few hours he’s known the… Female… she’d probably hold true to her threat. In an odd role reversal Kuros threat was less scary, probably because Hek didn’t know him, and, he looked a little like he got caught in a meat grinder. All Hek did was look at Kuro oddly for a moment before growling and tried to push Kuro back and away from Beatrid when he went to lift her under the arms.

�Are you retarded!? Her side got gashed and you got and lift her under the arms? You’d go for the waist dumb-ass.�

This was growled out and he stood on one side of her bed. An air of ‘OLDER BROTHER’ radiated about him, and he snarled at Kuro not saying anything before putting Beatrids arms on his shoulders and lightly holding her hips from above the white sheet, than did the exact same thing Kuro did, only safer, and with a lower stitch opening rate than lifting her by her arms. As an after though, Hek looked over at Kuro, the lavender side facing the ninja and his eye looking a little too left of Kuros face, and smiled.

�I’ll be afraid of you when you ride a bull, or turn into a woman, keep your threats to yourself… And where I’m from, honor can go do its self and it’s not vandalizing if she likes it…�

The smile, by the end of the sentence was a full fledged grin and he picked up the sweater and went to lean behind Beatrid, making a light ‘ahem’ sound in the process to get her attention if she was glaring at anyone/him/a wall/her side.

((OOC: Sorry for the short post!! *goes off to school*))

Beatrid twitched yet again. Er, well, that was reassuring, she guessed. In an odd way.

Except that now she really didn't want to lower the sheet because he'd just gone and dissed her boobs! Ouch, major ego bruise there, not that she'd let anyone know that because she was a soldier that didn't care what the size of her breasts were like some hussy tavern wench or pseudo-Warrior Woman (oh yes, those types really pissed her off...warrior woman, indeed, except that they were usually half naked; really smart, leaving all the vulnerable bits exposed--not to mention they rarely even knew how to fight; they were just in it to be rescued by some hot buff dude)! Really. Large breasts would get in the way and be impossible to bind, so hah, not to mention the back problems. Nope. Didn't care at all. And it wasn't like she actually wanted anyone drooling over her, anyway, so yes, she liked her modest bust. Still, she couldn't help but glare at Hek--he could have been nicer! She was wounded here, damnit!--and then she shook her head and snorted, still keeping the sheet in place.

"...Good to know," she grumbled as nonchalantly as she could--which wasn't very nonchalantly, considering she grumbled it. Ass.

Then Kuro was suddenly coming over to her bedside.

And Beatrid nearly burst out laughing at what Kuro said, though she somehow toned it down to a few snickers for the sake of her side...though even that still hurt, which cut off her mirth pretty quickly. Something had suddenly clicked in her mind, and, well...oh dear Gods. This was just too funny. Two men. In the same room with a wounded woman. Who was also naked beneath the sheet. Enter the testosterone! Actually, as funny as that revelation was at the moment, she was actually pretty sure it would get annoying very quickly, because if they started getting pumped up and Hek lost a hand and Kuro lost a foot, well, then they'd both be in the infirmary with her and she wouldn't get her damned sweater on until some nurse finally noticed her, though then they'd be too occupied with reattaching Kuro and Hek's severed limbs. If that were even possible, which it wasn't. She didn't think.

Also it was annoying because she'd been called a "lady" ("lady" conjured up images of lacy dresses and laquered nails and painted faces and adorned hair...blech) and that whole vandalizing bit. That...was a new way of putting it. Guess she'd been ruined, then, since a lot of the rookie males were kind of stupid when it came to anything with two legs that was female, and she'd had her ass grabbed and patted quite a few times. Of course, said soldiers always ended up doubled over trying to reinflate their balls, which was always quite satisfying, especially since they never did that again. Quick learners and all. Nah, she was quite capable of warding off the usual bawdy gestures, and as much as it pissed her off, eh, soldiers. Not really the most tactful bunch.

Hek was just lucky in that when he'd groped her, it had supposedly been an accident (eh, she could see it) and he'd busted up his head in the process. Heh, the tub had done her job for her! He'd seemed genuinely sorry, too. Bah...in retrospect, none of the other tactless, wet-behind-the-ears pups had ever apologized. They'd laughed, instead.

All that was quickly wiped from her mind, however, when Kuro came to help her up--by lifting under her arms.

"Shit!" Augh, she'd known sitting up wouldn''t be the most fun, but damn! The funny thing was that it hurt even more than when she'd actually been slashed, because now she didn't have the numbing effects of adrenaline or shock on her side, and her eyes actually began to water most annoyingly as pain blossomed through her body. She'd been to the informary before, but this was by far the worst she'd ever been injured, and suffice to say she never planned on it happening again, damnit! Then, the sharp pain subsided to a dull, aching throb as she once again lay back on the bed, exhaling slowly (so as not to further aggitate the wound) as she realized she'd been holding her breath.

Hek was growling at Kuro, now, and Beatrid reached up with her right hand to quickly swipe at the edges of her eyes. Jeez. Well, there they were, going at it again, though Beatrid was most surprised by Hek's tone--he sounded pissed. She was pretty much used to Kuro trying to defend her, but she'd always just figured that was an honor thing, like he'd said himself--though, honestly, that "honor thing" had kept her alive and, pride or not, she owed him. Hek...well, oddly enough Hek kind of reminded her of an old friend of hers, one of her best friends when she was young. He'd acted similarly when she'd fallen out of a tree and broken her leg, only in that case it had been him blowing up at another guy for trying to help her hop one-leggedly back home while she leaned on him. Instead, he'd just scooped her up and carried her, even though she'd been bull-headed even then and had complained the whole time. She'd never had any brothers--just one older sister--but he'd been like the brother she'd never had.

Until they both went their separate ways. But...stuff happened.

The realization made her blink and relax, even though her side was still enflamed. Hek had grabbed her by accident. He apparently wasn't interested in her boobs. And...well...now that she really thought about it...

He really hadn't been hitting on her, had he? He'd just been joking, hadn't he? Damn...she was so used to all the other idiots that it had become pretty much a trigger reaction for her to just assume that, but now that she really thought about it...maybe he really was just being, well, a guy. That she could definitely deal with; looking back on their fun little bathroom battle, his violin playing, and the fact that he'd been thoughtful and brought her chocolate, he really was the type she could see a friendship in.

Though, that didn't mean that it still didn't hurt when he lifted her up. There was really no easy way to do it, because either way skin and muscle would still be jarred--the only real difference was watching out for the stitches. Beatrid still cursed, grit her teeth, and dug her chewed-down nails into Hek's shoulders as he helped her up, hardly even aware of his hands on her hips. The pain kind of made everything else non-existant, and besides, she was still covered.

Breathing heavily as she was finally sitting up, eyes closed and a little moist--she wasn't crying! Her eyes just watered when shit hurt a lot!--she finally cracked her eyes open when Hek started bantering back, and then she scowled weakly at that last bit, rolling her eyes ceiling-ward.

"Oh yeah...this is making me so hot," she muttered, a little breathlessly as she was still in pain. In case both men didn't catch the sarcasm and think her a masochist or something, she snorted and shook her head. "Yeah, right."

That was when Hek went to stand behind her and "ahemed" at her, and she turned her head a little to look back at him. Right. Sweater. Sighing a little, she nodded. "Right...so, um...how are we gonna do this, exactly...?"

She turned to glance down at the sheet thoughtfully--she could probably still keep it around her and slip the shirt on--but...the sheet was no longer where it was supposed to be, and was instead bunched at her stomach. FUCK! Beatrid actually squeaked--a sound she would forever deny making--as, quick as she could be, she snatched the sheet back up with her good arm and yanked it up to her chin, her face tomato red as whatever blood she had left rushed to her head. Shit! It must have fallen when Hek put her hands on his shoulders and helped her up! She hadn't even thought of that!

Which was why getting the goddamned sweater on would be a really, really good idea. Goddamnit. Maybe they'd been too busy arguing to notice. Yeah. That'd be nice. And if they had noticed and said one word, she would shoot them. Which was why she herself said nothing in a firm effort to pretend it never even happened. Which it hadn't.

[...how the hell did I manage to go on a paragraph long rant about boobs? XDDD It's early, shoot me!]

Kuro was about to help get the sweater over Beatrid's head before he stopped and turned his attention to the door. He throws his arm out to the side and twirls a dagger around his hand before catching it in a readied position.
"Someone's here." He notes calmly. Before the others would notice or him to move any closer to the door, the dorr opens and a couple nurses walk into the room. This causes Kuro to lower his arm and hide the blade.
"What on earth are you two doing?! You musn't move the patient." One of the nurses call out to Kuro and Hek.
"She requested to help her put something on. She still needs some assistance in doing so." Kuro continues.
"Well, we're here so we will handle that. You two get out of here in the meantime." The other nurse adds to the ninja and the new guy. Kuro nods his head before reaching over at Hek to grab him by the collar bone to pull him along towards the front door. If he were to struggle or make any sudden movements to get away from Kuro, he would damage himself.

By the minutes, Connlaoth was getting worse and worse. First, he gets kidnapped or ‘relocated’ because of his Mordecainess, than he gets bitched at because he was smelly (he had been working in the field since early that morning) and made to take a bath by the very female who was healing on the bed… And now it had slow nurses who were… well, Slow. He’d have to tell Beatrid what he thought of this … place… one day soon, maybe not right now since she was going to get treated by them, but soon… When these nurses were well out of hearing range, just incase he got the beatings from every other Mordecai he managed to piss off. Of course, Hek noticed Kuro freak out about the door opening, it wasn’t that amazing, they were wearing slight heels that clacked on the floor, anyone from down the hall would hear them though with the door closed, Hek didn’t though he was just a boring human with half of a lavender face.

Before Kuro could grab his collar bone (…) he looked back at Beatrid, his brown eye exploring her face for a moment, and smiled slightly at the redness of it. Oh, so she noticed her lack of sheet too? Heh. Hek had, but he didn’t say anything, or look for very long… So, Hek hadn’t seen Kuros pretty knife-twirling skills, but he did hear the door open, thus the nurses enter and bitch. A slight snort and he rubbed his bruised forehead, could he plead in pain and get something wrapped around his head? Probably, but these two looked vicious, and he’d really love to see how differently they got Beatrid into that sweater… Last time he thought, or looked, he was the only country bumpkin without a hospital or healer or nurse or doctor within a days riding range, he was no surgeon, but he knew how to put clothing on wounded people. Usually because he’d been wounded a few times himself and had the experience on which limbs <I>not</I> to move.

�…Well, I’d like to see you put that sweater on her without moving her, and besides <I>I’m</I> not the dumb-ass who was trying to lift her arms.�

Hek replied dryly before Kuro finally had his hand on Hek’s collar bone (do you mean the shoulder right beside the neck..?) he planted his feet and wrapped both hands around Kuros wrist, digging his nails onto either side of the ninjas wrist where his fingers ended up. Hek, having been the one with fingers digging into his own wrist before, knew it didn’t hurt, but it still didn’t feel all that nice, and if he wanted to do a sucker knee to Kuros groin or side, it was wide open. Hek didn’t move, but his gaze was level and he glared at the other male. He didn’t want to start a fight in the infirmary, but he did want Kuro to let go of him. His voice was level and oddly un-Hek like because it was so polite, so that either meant he was mocking Kuro or actually asking nicely… It was probably the first one.

�I would appreciate it if you’d let go of me and never touch me again,� <I>freak</I>.

The last word was left unsaid, but it was clear as day in his right brown eye what Hek-Akiz thought of Kuro the Mordecai ninja who was clearly either a complete mental case or he’d lived in a box for the better part of his life. That one could go either way because living in a box would bring mental instability, and with people in big cities you could never be too sure. Hell, Beatrid even seemed on the edge of sanity, but with people like this here, he could see why. Slow nurses who neglected their patients, really… How can TWO nurses be out of the room at the same time? Fellow soldiers who had the IQ of a tack hammer, and one that jumped at every little thing… Though that last one was kind of funny… Hek would have hours of fun thinking of all the things that move suddenly, like birds.

Really, Hek didn’t want to start a fight, at least, he didn’t want to start a fight in the infirmary, but he didn’t feel like getting grabbed by strangers like a naughty dog and if the nurses decided to bitch at him again so be it. He was the newbie, the one who was allowed to make mistakes because he ‘didn’t know the ropes.’ The only half-decent person he’d found so far was bedridden, which left Hek stranded to either wander on his lone-some or sit beside Miss. Grouchy day after day until she was well enough to walk again and finish that tour she’d started giving him that morning.

Looking quietly and levelly at Kuro for a few moments before moving his foot slightly, he decided he’d rather stay with Beatrid… She was more interesting, even if she’d ditched him to get her ass kicked. Oh well, made her more of a person, which made him remember something. Turning his head slightly, Hek looked at Beatrid from the corner of his eye and smiled reassuringly.

�By the way Beatrid… Congratulations on shooting the bastard, but I think you missed.�

He winked at her, hoping she'd get the little hidden message before turning back to look at Kuro, one eyebrow raised in question about the whole ‘letting go’ thing which he hoped the fellow Mordecai was considering, he never did like being within arms reach of another man.

[Heks' rubbing off on you and you like boobs..?]

Eh? Still flushed, Beatrid's attention turned to Kuro as he whipped out a dagger suddenly and announced that someone was there, and then she blinked and looked toward the door. She could't hear anyone, given the door was shut and all, but she still raised an eyebrow and looked at Kuro oddly. Um...well...this was an infirmary. It was probably just a nurse; Beatrid wasn't expecting any other visitors (and if Drones--er, Yones--showed up, she'd be very sad indeed) and it really wasn't anything unusual for there to be nurses bustling around, making the rounds, even if they seemed to be understaffed, currently. Feh, certainly wasn't like that Reiwhatever guy would pop up. She'd shot him in the chest and the palace was heavily guarded by people with guns and crossbows, so good luck to him to even try setting a foot on the palace grounds. Beatrid wasn't worried, though Kuro sure seemed twitchy and he wasn't even the one who was bedridden.

But before she could make some comment to him, two nurses bustled in and chastised both he and Hek, and Beatrid rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time. Now they decide to pay attention to her! And how were they going to do it differently? They still had to move her, and she was already up and sitting with her back to the headboard. The damage was already done, and...well, she wasn't bleeding all over again, so obviously no stitches had been broken. Hek had been careful, so no damage was literally done, and if it was, she didn't know about it. Her side still ached and throbbed as much as ever, her face still hurt, but that was nothing new, and she could imagine it was going to be like that for a while, so she might as well get used to it.

Not that Beatrid was complaining, because she'd much prefer two women assisting her than two men. Less awkward that way and all, not because it would hurt less but because she didn't have to worry about someone oggling her chest, unless one or both of the women were that way, which still wouldn't bother her as much. Beatrid couldn't help but smirk a little at Hek's comment--right before he was grabbed by Kuro, who tried to haul him out of the room.

Thus, it began. Hek resisted--and rather politely, but then again she didn't know how hard he was digging his nails into Kuro's wrist--and Beatrid groaned loudly, eyes narrowing in annoyance. Males. She was right. Just being in the same room as her, they were probably going to end up brawling and over who knows what. She didn't speak male, so she really had no idea what this current little drama was about--did Kuro have to try and haul Hek out like that? She knew she wouldn't appreciate being manhandled like that; being grabbed like that, and especially when she could walk on her own, would make her slug the other person, and she was surprised Hek hadn't already. Well, she'd seen enough fighting for the day, in any case.

She opened her mouth to speak up, but then a sweater was suddenly over her head, muffling any noises she was about to make and making everything dark for a moment until her head popped through. One nurse helped pull her braid through, helped get her good arm through the sleeve, and then pulled the sweater down. They didn't even touch her left arm, not even attempting to pull it through the sleeve. Instead, it was allowed to remain where it was, tucked beneath the sweater. "There, now. We'll just leave your arm like that; we don't wanna jostle your wound too much, dear, so next time you wait until someone trained comes by to help. I know they're cute, but..." one woman lectured while the other younger one turned around briefly and "ahemed" at Hek and Kuro both, clearly surprised to see they were still there. "What did we tell you two! Shoo!"

If her face weren't so sore, she would have palmed it. Instead, she did her best to ignore it. "Yeah, right. Um, look, thanks, but they can stay." They were her only entertainment here, after all. Hek she rather liked, Kuro she owed. "And..."

Turning her head to finally say what she'd been about to say, she frowned. "Kuro, leave him alone," she ordered firmly, even though she was the one injured and stuff. She even narrowed her eyes, letting him know she did not approve. That just wasn't necessary! "Seriously, just chill. Last I checked he could walk on his own." Besides, he was new. He'd only been there since earlier that day! But he didn't need to be treated like a bad dog. He had already seemed kind of depressed earlier that day, and she imagined it was the culture shock.

And then Hek made his comment.

Beatrid blinked a few times, then suddenly burst out laughing--which was short-lived and quickly regretted, the pain quickly doubling her over and making her grimace. Yeah. She got it, all right. Ahahaha...

Though, it hadn't exactly been smart to say that while he was being clutched by Kuro.

Oi, males.

"Heh heh...why, thanks, Hek," she grinned. What she was saying thanks to, exactly, was open to interpretation.

"Now...think you two can, like...be in the same room together and not kill each other?" she asked suddenly, tilting her head. "The nurses are kinda already understaffed."

Kuro's grip on Hek's collar bone tightened as his wrist was viciously gripped. Compared to gun shots and sword slashes, this was a mosquito. With every action, there comes a reaction. Both of them are learning that the hard way at the moment.The nurses disapprove of this new event. Even Beatrid doesn't seem to pleased. Kuro's glare was fully focused on Hek with his comment.
Only Kuro truely knows that Reikoku was not slain by one shot. He knows that even the most vicious of assassins rely on honor. More than likely, Reikoku would feel insulted by Beatrid's move and would come to Connlaoth, seeking revenge on her. With Beatrid injured and Hek around, this would be bad for Kuro. Beatrid was right. They should have finished Reikoku off. Hostle actions with allies only places them in a bad enough distraction for a greater threat.
"I would gladly remove my hand if you remove yours. Your nails pressing against my nerves doesn't help either of us." Kuro notes calmly to the opposing male.

Learning things the hard way must have been for Kuro, because Hek already knew the whole ‘With one action comes a reaction.’ Plant a seed and water if a few times, it turns into a plant. It was like magic. Actually that was a lie, it was the plant and some water, and there was no magic. Hek, moved his hand slightly and fidgeted, still being highly uncomfortable with someone’s hand on his neck that he wasn’t all that into in any way shape or form. Of all the people he’s met today, he still doesn’t like Kuro too much, this dark ninja just rubbed Hek the wrong way, probably the way he acted, kind of wasn’t very… Human like.

Hek vaguely heard the nurse telling them to shoo, and than Beatrid saying that she didn’t mind them here, and Kuro to stop. Hek liked the last one best, yes, Kuro, stop killing Heks neck, he needs that, it holds up his head which he breaths and eats and thinks with. At least he’d think with it if he weren’t male. Since he is male, he tends to think with something else…

His fists you morons.

Though, he wasn’t really thinking with his fists now, he wasn’t thinking much at all except about how much he disliked having strange men holding his neck and if this it what it felt like when you were getting violated. Hek would assume so and was going to say something witty and very Hek like before the hand on his collar bone (…?) tightened and he moved forward slightly, because he liked his neck and didn’t feel like getting it ripped off by someone he certainly wouldn’t want to die by. In response, he tightened his grip on Kuros wrist and than after digging his fingers in one last time he let go and glared back at the creature which happened to be Kuro.

�My nails were on your skin; my fingers were digging into your tendons, which is apparently the reason why you couldn’t let go first. Try and pull me anywhere instead of letting go and I’ll kick you in the nuts, you may seem invincible, but if you’re normal you won’t have testicles of steel.�

It wasn’t a threat it was a statement from one male to another that Hek was a dirty fighter, he knew it, and he wasn’t afraid to use those dirty fighting skills if he chose too. They way he saw it, if he could find a way to win a fight without getting anyone hurt but himself, good on him. If he has to fight dirty to do so, who cares? He didn’t. He did believe in plain honor though, don’t kill women unless they’ve stabbed you already, or children, or pregnant women, or defenseless men. Hek didn’t like killing period.

While waiting for Kuro to let go of his precious neck he had heard the nurses talk to Beatrid, telling her to get some rest and ignore the two hooligans because they were grown men and could keep care of them selves. The nurses also decided to glare at the two males, the younger one giving them both measuring looks, her eyes lingering a few moments longer on Kuro before talking to them.

�Don’t disturb the patient while she rests, she needs quiet and I expect you <I>both</I> to be grown up enough not to act like the children you are acting like now. I trust neither of you will move her and if she needs anymore help to come find one of us, we’ll be in this wing and check back on her later.�

Her tone was no non-sense and matter of fact before they both walked out of the room. Hek of course, being Hek, watched their bottoms as they left. This was when he gave a measuring look to Kuro and hooked his thumbs in his breeches pockets. End of round one, but who’d end up as the Alpha male, because they were both certainly competing for it.

God! Okay, that was all cute at first, but now this was just getting <I>annoying. Beatrid grit her teeth and clenched her fists in the bedsheets as Kuro decided to be a stubborn bastard and keep his grip on Hek, and visa versa. From where she was, it just looked like Hek was gripping Kuro's wrist to relieve some of the pressure--but all the same, grabbing someone near the neck was far worse than grabbing someone's wrist...just because that tended to be a more delicate, sensitive area with a lot of nerves that got quite angry when mistreated. Granted, he didn't actually have him by the neck but by the collar bone instead, but it still looked painful--a lot more so than getting your wrist grabbed. Mainly because she didn't even think that was even possible...ow. Which meant Kuro had to be holding on pretty tightly to be able to do that. Nope, Beatrid didn't like this one bit, and it was really starting to grate on her nerves. Next thing she knew, Hek would get sick of that and kick Kuro, and then it would just escalate from there.

"Kuro, goddamnit, let go!" she growled this time, her voice far sharper. "You grabbed him first! The rule is whoever grabs first lets go first. Shit, man!" Not that there were any rules or anything, but that was generally the unspoken law as ar as she knew. Anyway, if she could have, she would have gotten up and broken them up herself. Males! God! Did they always have to act so damned stupid? Whatever the case was, she wasn't impressed, and Kuro should have certainly known better. Picking on a new guy in an infirmary, for fuck's sake (though, eh, she supposed it was the best place people could fight, given they could get immediate medical attention)! And hell, wasn't like what he'd said was that</I> bad...frankly, Beatrid was surprised Kuro had hauled her back here before she bled to death. After all, she had basically told him to go drown himself. Er...yeah. She supposed she was lucky, there. Heh.

Then Hek let go, and Beatrid snorted at the "testacles of steel" comment--she did not want to know--before continuing to glare levelly at Kuro, waiting for him to let go. Sure, she'd slapped Hek upside the head a few times and wanted to knee him in the groin a few times, but it was okay when she did it. Because, uh...punching someone wasn't as bad? Well, it was more orthodox, in any case. Yeah, she'd just tell herself that where it suited her, heh. Besides, she'd had valid reasons! She didn't go violent on people unless they touched her in places she didn't want to be touched. Words were another thing--she didn't smack people over words, because she had a sharp tongue and could hold her own. Basically, she matched it all up--words for words and physical contact for physical contact! Made sense to her. Well, okay, so she did sometimes smack people if they made a comment about her boobs or ass. But that was different.

Beatrid turned her glare on the two nurses when they told her to ignore them. Rest? Get some rest? She was not going to rest until those two knocked it off! She'd taken it upon herself to take the new guy under her wing and he gave he chocolate! Thus, he couldn't be allowed to get beat up by anyone (but her when he needed it). Yeah, yeah, so she felt kind of protective of him in an odd, sisterly way all of a sudden...even if she didn't know him all that long, well, hells, they seemed to share a lot of the same opinions on certain subjects. Really, they needed to stick together--maybe she wouldn't go completely batshit insane.

She did, however, agree with the rest of what was said by the nurses, and the look she shot Kuro and Hek showed it...which meant she also saw the way Hek watched their bottoms. No surprise there. Even when his collar bone was being dug into he still had time to watch some girl's butt.

...Males...

Sighing, Beatrid looked over at Kuro, since Hek had already let go. "Are you <I>done yet? You're giving me a fucking headache. You guys aren't cavemen, so cut the crap." Heh...that was a funny visual there, actually. Scary thing was she could actually see it. A little grin formed on her lips, and she leaned back against the pillows, wincing. "If you wanna stay, you gotta play nice and unbastardly. Last thing I need's a headache. Alright? Damn..."

Kuro's attetion easily ignored everyone else in the room as he was more focused on the reluctant one. Even with Beatrid yelling at him, he still didn't halt. That is until Hek loosened his grip. Once Kuro's wrist was free, he let it fall to his side. He didn't even flinch or rub his wrist free of pain. It almost makes someone wonder if Kuro even felt pain. Hell, he was inhuman enough already.
Pain is a beautiful word if described correctly. It reminds one that they are alive. Something that Kuro has grown to ignore. Kuro's attention finally turned somewhere else for a change when Beatrid spoke up again. No words came from the man as he turned away from the two and went back to his watchpost, where he was before Hek came in.
If he wanted to kill or actually damage the new guy, he would have done so. He was only trying to give Beatrid some privacy while the Nurses tended her needs. That didn't turn out as successful as planned. Now the only thing he can do is keep watch and make sure no one bothers Beatrid while she heals. Especially Reikoku.

Hek was very done, in fact he was so done with this other male that he was about to make the same noises as a teakettle and kick the crap out of Kuro. Would he succeed in kicking the crap out of dear Kuro? Probably not, but Hek would try and possibly bruise the guy, or, aim for his nuts, aiming for nuts was a good plan of action in Heks opinion, he knew it was his weak point, and many a males nuts was his weak point. Off that mental topic, Hek’s hands went to his neck to close the top of his shirt while turning away from Kuro. Fuck, that had hurt! Hek, being male, didn’t show that it was painful, so he was hiding any evidence that it could of hurt, which will probably end up being bruises. What type of person grabs someone by the neck before they even had a chance to leave? When ordered out of a room… By nurses… Casting a side look over his right shoulder to Kuro with a quick but subtle glare he went and took his seat beside Beatrids bed.

Mismatched eyes glared fully at Kuros back while he went and stood across the room from that closet where Kuro had been when he had entered the room. What fun for Beatrid would that be? Hek wasn’t much for culture and etiquette, but he knew it was at least a little polite to look at the person you were talking to. Oh well, Hek was here to pay attention and talk to Beatrid in place of the walking statue… Who had the fucking claws of one too. Lifting his hand to rub his chest in a casual itching looking way, he looked at Beatrid for a moment and grinned before leaning forward to fluff her pillows in which he’d assume to be a comfy way. He was acting like a mother hen! Sitting down, Hek looked at the ground a slight blush on his cheeks and he leaned back putting his hands in his lap.

�Sorry for being such a mother hen, Bumblebee, kind of instinctive… I have a little sister.� The next line was pure boasting, “ and am told I’m the beeest big brother in the whoooole wide world, I'm obviously her only brother.�

A large proud grin turned into a small sad smile and he leaned his head back and closed his eyes before sighing and rubbing his collar bone again in the now not-so-subtle itch way. It was the collar, hell, Hek was used to being topless most of the day because of the heat and here he was, half the day through and he has yet to work up a sweat or get dirty or take off his shirt for something other than a bath. He was going to go insane here with nothing to do but snarl at strange males and baby Beatrid while her side heals. Babying someone wasn’t that bad, it was still something to do and that he usually did with his shirt, unless he was the one getting babied… That was another thing entirely and it completely made him insane and he’d be worse than a crotchy old man whom hucked things because he wanted attention.

Hek was very foul mouthed when he wasn’t allowed to move. Hek looked at Kuro for a moment and back at Beatrid, did she like him? Hek, after knowing her for only maybe half of a day, figured out she was a rather foul and violent female would could take jokes… But did she seem the type to like the stiff silent types? Looking back at Kuro he decided he just didn’t know… Only a day of ‘studying’ a person wasn’t enough to figure out what type of people they liked. Why did he care anyway? Looking to Beatrid he was ready to glare at her if she wasn’t asleep and than lightly ran a hand over her forehead before turning around slightly and dragging the chair closer.

Since someone nearby falling asleep usually helped him do it when he was the one injured, no matter how tired he was, he decided to force a yawn and lower his head to the bed and closing his eyes. Without noticing, being in the city was more tiring than digging up vegetables and before long his breathing was even and slow and quiet.

Hek had fallen asleep, with his head resting on Beatrids bed, his arm supporting his head a few inches from her side. Probably an inadvertent way to keep her from turning on that side if she gets into a deep enough sleep to roll-over, which he hoped she wouldn’t do. His lavender face of hair was lightly brushing her side, but since it was just hair and surprisingly as floppy and un-hard as it looked, it wouldn’t do much else but tickle.

What an asshole! Beatrid was all-out glaring by the time Kuro finally let go of Hek, her fists bunched tightly at her sides like she wanted desperately to use them. It was a good thing she was wounded and bedridden, because othewise she would have whalloped him one good for that. Unfortunately for her, she could scarcely move without pain shooting through her, so that would just have to wait. Heh. Yeah. Anyone ever told her that pain was a beautiful thing and she'd probably smash their face into a brick wall repeatedly while asking, How beautiful is it now, huh?! between face smashes, of course. It wasn't beautiful, it just hurt like hell and kept her confined to a bed, unable to do a thing but make pictures out of the stains in the ceiling and hope her visitors didn't kill each other. She didn't need pain to remind her that she was alive--she just needed a pulse and air in her lungs. She could do without the pain, oh yes she could...hell, if she had been any other type she would probably be crying like a sissy right now, except she was about as stubborn as a man in that respect.

She did not cry.

Her eyes just watered now and then.

She did, however, grimace and make little involuntary sounds of pain now and then, but the grimacing could easily be transformed into glaring, which suited her fine, especially right now. Oh yeah. She was impressed. Two visitors and one of them, her "rescuer", picks a fight with the other for no good reason. Real nice. She was certainly not impressed that Kuro, the one that had started that little confrontation, was also the last to finish it, and she hated being ignored, too. Another reason why she hated being bedridden--she could be ignored. Maybe that was why she had violent tendencies, because she spent a lot of time fighting of perverted advances and had no other way to get someone's attention when words failed.

Psha. Yeah right.

She was about to make some other demand when Kuro finally let go, turned away, and...went back into watchdog mode without saying a word. Not a single word.

Bah...whatever.

Beatrid was still fuming and frowning silently at Kuro's back when Hek came back over to her bedside and leaned over her. She blinked and started slightly--which of course made the wound hurt more and made her gasp sharply before she could bite her lip--but then...Hek was reaching down to fluff the pillow behind her, which she was not currently leaning on and which was currently a little to the left of her, as she was still sitting up. He actually fluffed her pillow for her. Beatrid looked over at Hek in surprise as he sat down, looking strangely sheepish.

And, for probably one of the few times since she'd met Hek, a genuine smile actually curved her lips. Not a mocking smile, or pissed one, or rueful one, but a truly content one that was quite the contrast from her usual glares and scowls, and she suddenly felt kind of bad for how she'd been to him earlier...especially for ditching him just because she'd been getting stressed out. Heh...mother hen. He certainly was. Trying not to wince too much, she shifted as carefully as she could to lay back down, breath coming out as a sharp, pained hiss whenever she moved wrong--which was everytime, because there was no right way to move. But, laying down turned out to be more comfortable in the end--took less effort, and she really was exhausted. Now that everything was calm again--and Hek didn't look too badly hurt, or at least he didn't say anything--she could maybe sneak in  quick nap.

Hey, the nurses had ordered her to.

"Heh...I was the little sister in my family," Beatrid told Hek quietly but fondly, grinning a little. "And I know my big sister was the beeest big sister in the whooole wide world. She was my only sister, too, but...y'know." She smiled and laid her head back against the nicely fluffed pillow, letting her eyes drift closed like they wanted to. It was odd, she never really talked about herself much, but then, she could never really relate to many other people. It felt comfortable talking to Hek, though; sure, he was perverted like any guy, but he really did have that brotherly, friend vibe going for him. She liked that. It was soothing and familiar--not that she'd ever tell him that, because she wasn't the mushy type. "Bet your sister was right. I know I was right about mine," she added firmly.

The big, proud grin he'd worn previously further confirmed her previous little revelation.

She cracked an eye open when Hek ran a hand over her forehead, then gave a tired smile. Heh, her mom used to do that when she was little and sick. Yep. He really was a mother hen. But...she actually didn't mind it. It sort of brought back some fond memories, and she wasn't opposed to all types of physical contact--just the types that included boob grabs and butt pinches, the uncomfortable, non-platonic shit. Man. All this after she'd kind of been an ass.

"...Sorry about ditching you," she murmured tiredly, trying to keep her eyes open and absently ruffling his strange hair once, apologetically.

It was hard to keep her eyes open, however, when Hek wasn't keeping his open, getting all too comfortable looking his his head on her bed. Soon, his breathing was even and quiet, but Beatrid's was, too. Indeed, it wasn't much longer before she'd also drifted off, nice and comfortable inside the sweater and beneath the sheet, in the room with Kuro as a watchdog and Hek sleepin next to her.

And if any one of them pointed out that she snored, she'd kill them. But for now, she was sleeping like a log with one arm on her stomach and the other tucked up inside the sweater.

Kuro remained still and silent the entire time he stood on the other side of the bed next to Beatrid's bed. He leaned against the bedpost, keeping his eye on the door and his ears on any sound the whole time. He listened to the conversation the two behind him were having. How both of them were sounding like they were comparing each other to their siblings. Once everything got soundless in the room, Kuro turns his head to look at the sleeping duo. He turn his head back to face forward, but looks at the ground before looking at the door again.
"I was more like a father to my younger siblings. That was, until I left them without notice. Now I look after this kingdom in place of them, not even knowing if they are still alive or not." Kuro speaks to, clearly himself since everyone else is asleep. If he could only show his true colors around others, people might start to think differently about Kuro.

Being a bit of a light sleeper during the daytime, he had heard and felt Beatrids apology and the ruffling of his funny hair. So, after that, he kept his head lowered and he yawned silently again, resisting the urge to sit up when Kuro spoke. In Heks half asleep brain, he could only sum up ‘Wow, those are really big siblings,’ so he blinked a few times and kept his head down, assuming that Kuro was assuming they were asleep, which meant he wasn’t supposed to hear that. No problem, Hek had no problem pretending he hadn’t heard it, but his neck was getting sore and he’d only been laying like this for ten minutes or so. Good think he woke up or he’d have such a bad crick in his neck. Hek sat up, stretched and than moved his chair back a bit to stand up and stretch again. Leaning over Beatrid to make sure she was really asleep, a light smile was on his face and he brushed the hair on her cheek this time. If it wasn’t apparent, since Hek had no family here, he had adopted Beatrid as a little sister to love and to hold… And to annoy the shit out of when ever he got the chance.

The sounds of birds taking flight drew his attention to the window and his face grew worried for a few seconds before retaining its sleepy look. He really was sleepy; clothes’s shopping was harder than it looked. He wondered how the hell women liked doing it… Ever. Hopefully Beatrid didn’t like shopping because he had a horrible suspicion that if she ever did go shopping, she’d drag him with her. Than probably ditch him again to get her ass kicked by unknown people… Mismatched eyes looked at Kuro while he stood up and walked slightly behind him, but a good arms length away. How did Hek know that Kuro wasn’t the one who had caused this? He only knew she got slashed and that it was on the left, he didn’t know what caused it, who caused it or why. Maybe it was all Kuros fault and she would have been fine if she hadn’t have left him to fend for himself. Oh well, Beatrid didn’t seem like she wanted to say anything and if she didn’t want to that was okay, right? Right.

Now standing a good two arm lengths away from Kuro he turned to him so that he was still a ways away but facing the silent male. The one thing Hek really didn’t know, and wanted to know, why this guy was so hostile towards him. What had he done? Last he looked Beatrid wasn’t in any type of relationship with him, and if she was she was doing everything she could to get Kuro to dump her. So, putting his hands in his pockets, Hek-Akiz licked his lips before directly speaking to the statue.

�Do I present a problem to you or something, am I annoying, because I'm getting the vibe that you don't want me here, I'm right, arn't I?

He wanted to know, hopefully his talking didn’t wake up Beatrid, but her breathing sounded like she was on the verge of snoring which meant she was in a pretty deep sleep already. So, Hek stood there, ready to jump back incase Kuro tried to grab him by the collar bone (seriously, how the hell do you do that? You <I>do</I> know where your collar bone is, right?) again to drag him out of the room. His neck already hurt when he touched it, he didn’t want to think about how it would felt it someone touched it again doing the exact same thing that hurt it.

Hek had nothing to worry about, really. Beatrid hated shopping and did it only when it was absolutely necessary--like when her clothes started falling apart. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but yeah, it got across how often she went shopping well enough. That just wasn't her thing...useless waste of time, really, and so boring. Which meant, now that Hek was around, she would drag him along with her next time, just to keep her company and, well, not bored.

That was a long ways into the future, though. She needed to be able to walk, first.

Beatrid was a pretty deep sleeper when she was sleeping the sleep of sheer exhaustion, like now, which meant she might as well have been knocked out. Which she basically had been, earlier. Otherwise, she could sleep fairly lightly and wake up at the drop of a hat. Just depended on how tired she was, really. In any case she didn't hear any of what Kuro said, nor did she feel Hek finally got up, even when he brushed the hair off her cheek. Heck, she didn't even move unless you counted a slight, reflexive twitch that people tended to do in their sleep when someone touched their face. Nope, she was really gone, so gone she wasn't even dreaming. Or, at least, she wouldn't remember any of her dreams when she did wake up, which was probably for the best because, given all that had happened the past few days, the dreams would probably be pretty screwed up to say the least.

Still, once her body decided it had gotten enough rest and the pain in her side began to return as sleep began to fade, she stirred a little uncomfortably, which of course made her side feel just dandy. That woke her up, and she'd been about ready to groan and open her eyes, then request someone to go find a nurse so they could "professionally" clonk her over the head and knock her out again, except...Hek's voice suddenly filled the silence, coming from a little ways away and from the opposite side of the bed than where he'd fallen asleep previously.

Now, that might not have otherwise stopped her from opening her eyes and acting awake, except what he as saying...Beatrid quickly shut her eyes all the way again and forced her breathing to even out and deepen again. She'd faked sleep successfully quite a few times in the past, mostly when she just didn't want to do something or when she was supposed to be sleeping but couldn't. Or, when she was eavedropping. Like she was now. Bad, Beatrid. But Hek was asking a very interesting question, and somehow Beatrid knew that if she interrupted, Kuro probably wouldn't answer. Hell, he probably wouldn't answer now. But she wasn't taking any chances wrecking that. Hek had asked an honest question, so maybe Kuro would supply him with an honest answer if he didn't feel like anyone else was listening in.

Might be an honor thing, you know.

Remembering that, according to other people, she snored (though she never liked being told that), she made her breathing a little deeper in a practiced way, imitating the way people's breathing tended to get before they were about to snore. She didn't fake that, though; after all, she wanted to be able to hear what was being said, because suffice to say she was interested. It was something she had also been wondering.

Now, if Kuro suddenly decided to grab Hek's collar bone again...that was another story. She'd be awake in a flash.

[Forgive this post. I am falling asleep as I write...and I don't think writing about sleeping people was a good combination...so...it's lame. *passes out*]

Kuro's eyes never left the door. He was expecting anything to happen. Anything except the for one of the sleepers to wake up. He could hear Hek moving around behind him. He could feel the man's presence near him slightly, then move back again. It wasn't until Hek asked his question when Kuro realized the curiousity in his own actions. Every question deserve an answer, no matter what the way it is answered. In the current situation, it deserved an honest answer.
"Forgive my earlier actions. I wasn't myself. I was still on edge from the battle earlier." Kuro begins in a calm and concerned tone. He turns his head enough to look in Hek's direction. Also to make sure if Beatrid was still asleep.
"I was not expecting my nemesis to find me for some time yet. But he did and Beatrid happened to be unfortunate enough to be around. I told her to leave while she could, but she didn't listen. I was distracted and things got a little out of hand." He paused as he turned back to facing the door. He looks down to the floor before himself before continuing.
"Beatrid saved my life. No one has ever done that but myself. If she had listened to me to begin with, she wouldn't be where she is now." He stops to turn around to face Hek without his back in the way.
"He is still out there somewhere. It takes more than a bullet to take him down. I still am a bit tensed on that thought. I overreacted when the situation got obscure in here. So, there you have it. I have no problem with you. Only myself." He finishes before he turns back around and begins to head towards the door.

So, there the parakeet man stood. Rather creeped that Kuro happened to answer the questions that were floating around in his head too. He didn't show it on his face, but in his head he demand himself to stop thinking repeatedly just incase Kuro might pick up on his mental images and thoughts. Not that his mental images were bad or anything. Though, by the time Kuro was all done with his speach, or, almost done at least, he had vaguely answered Heks asked question. Though now he had much more information than he could ever want about this situation, and something that just made Hek want to stand there with a eyebrow raised with a 'huh?' expression on his face. So, an edgy Kuro told by nurses to skedaddle grabs nearist persons collar bone and tries to drag them out of a room? Hek could only come up with one explination to that... Kuro had a horrible fear of nurses, the colour white, or needles. Opening and closing his mouth a few times before he could really think of words to say, Hek closed his mouth for a few moments and then spoke while Kuro was walking to the door.

"I'm not going to forgive you, it was very uncalled for and 'being on edge,' dosn't help you when it was a simple request laid out by nurses. Calm down for crying out loud, and stop being so damned paranoid. It's really tiring and almost pathetic, I don't know you, and from the way you act I don't really want to."

With that said Hek turned around and went to stand by a window and looked out of it. His shoulder leaning on the wall and he rested his head on it. The sun was out, and it was almost dusk. Hek missed his home, a lot. First inadvertant night away from home in a weird castle full of strangers. It was like a unrequested sleep over at a friends house all the way in almost another country. One thing for sure though, Hek knew it sucked, a lot, did he even know where his room was? For a few moments, Hek racked his brain for the location of his room and than made his funny hissing sound when he couldn't remember. Ah well, he could pull an all nighter wandering around, maybe escape and run back home. After watching the sky for a few minutes, Hek turned around again and proceeded towards his chair, sitting down and waited for Beatrid to wake up.

((OOC: Baaaad post... sorry! XD))

That wasn't really the sort of answer she'd been expecting. Really, she'd been expecting Kuro to lay out some sort of reason for why he seemed to dislike Hek, but instead he...spilled out everything that happened. Not that she really minded; if Hek had asked for details, she would have given them because it wasn't like it was a secret or anything. Some asshole came to pick a fight and she stepped in. Nothing unusual, though the whole "life saving" bit was kind of embarrassing; she was no hero, she was just doing her job, but she felt pretty stupid for getting her side torn up and nearly dying as a result in the process of trying to rescue someone. Yeesh. She should have done a better job with the saving bit, indeed, because it seemed a bit counter-productive to save some from death or injury only to be killed or injured in the process, not that she'd had much time to think of a better way to approach the situation. She winced a little at that detail but kept her eyes shut and breathing even.

The detail about that Reiwhatever guy still being alive, however, was what made her the most twitchy. What? But she'd shot him! Point blank in the chest! Lots of vital things were in the chest, the heart being one of them! People didn't just tend to live very long after that, unless they were inhuman or just very lucky with access to immediate medical attentionl. Hell, even if you didn't hit any organs or arteries you could still bleed to death. Maybe Kuro hadn't seen where she'd shot him. In any case, last she'd seen of him, he'd been laying down motionless, and she was pretty sure that, if he survived, he wouoldn't be up and about for a long time.

She wasn't too worried. He came around again and, next time, she'd blow his brains out. There was no way anyone could get up and walk around after that, unless they were a zombie, but then they were already dead.

Ah, whatever. What it all boiled down to was that, indeed, it seemed Kuro was stressed, he really needed to relax some, and he really shouldn't randomly flip out on people, especially those who were on his side. Okay...maybe she was often stressed out herself and also snapped at her fellow Mordecai, but, well...usually that stress actually stemmed from certain Mordecai to begin with, which resulted in her snapping at them because they were bothering her. But she didn't really do the whole "displaced anger" thing. Nah. She had no reason to, because when she was angry at someone, she was angry at them and promptly let them know it. Thus, the rightful person got to suffer instead of some innocent maid or random passerby! It worked perfectly! For the maids and random passerbys.

Kuro should probably take a leaf from her book in that area. Which meant he should have bloody finished Reibastard off to begin with, damnit! It would have taken, what, all of two seconds to pick up her pistol and add a few more holes to his body, of use that katana of his to slice of his head. Hey, she wouldn't have lost that much more blood in the three seconds that would have taken, and then no one would have to be stressed about the guy magically jumping out of a closet at them. Though, Beatrid sort of felt she had a bit more to worry about in that aspect...she'd shot him, so chances are he'd want revenge, blah blah blah, on her.

Fun stuff. She'd make sure to shoot first, talk later next time, if there was a next time.

In any case, she couldn't blame Hek for his answer to that. First impressions were a bitch, Kuro had kind of blown it, and the sad thing was...Beatrid had known him for years and this was about as profound as he'd ever gotten. He was talking more, sure--Beatrid wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing--but he was still so...stiff and expressionless and toneless, like he wasn't even a real person. It was creepy, really. Seriously, did the guy ever smile or laugh? Maybe he was a zombie. A zombie ninja. Heh heh, brains.

Beatrid couldn't keep playing asleep any longer, because that random revelation made her grin far too broadly to pretend to be asleep--unless, of course, she was having a really good dream--and she finally let her eyes open, just like that, and stretched her right arm over her head while yawning. "Have a riveting conversation, you two?" she asked blandly, glancing once toward Kuro before letting her eyes rest on Hek with a wry smile on her lips. Done stretching, she let her hand flop over to rest on her chest, on top of the nice, comfy sweater.

It was pretty obvious that she hadn't been sleeping.

Kuro heard what Hek had to say. He stopped with his hand on the doorknob and lowered his head as he listened. Almost as if he didn't hear Hek at all, Kuro opens the door and heads out into the hallway, just as Beatrid makes her presence known. He was right. Perhaps it's better for Kuro to distance himself from everyone else until he cooled off a bit. He pressed his back against the wall beside the door to close his eyes. After a moment, he opens his eyes and begins to walk down the hallway. He seems to be heading towards the training grounds. Perhaps practicing would help him relieve stress.

Sitting down, Hek saw Beatrids huge grin and wondered what the hell she was dreaming about. Of course some things went through his head, but nothing he’d like to repeat in her presents just incase it was worth of getting his ass kicked over, and Hek didn’t want to get his ass kicked. That hurt. Looking towards the door, he noticed Kuro about to leave, and then leave moments before Beatrid sat up. That was surprising, Hek was expecting kuro to stay around so Hek didn’t jump on Beatrid and magically want to hump her. He seriously didn’t her question made him look around for a moment before he answered it.

�I do believe we did… He’s creepy… glad I met you first or I’d have been looong gone, More-de-cray or not… still don’t really know what the hell that is.�

Looking back outside, and knowing that, though she was awake, she’d still be sleepy. He leaned down, gave her a quick cute brotherly kiss on the forehead and than lightly patted her cheek.

�You should get some actual sleep and not just a fifteen minute nap, Bumblebee… I’ll come bug you tomorrow… and the day after that..� Hek slowly started to walk backwards towards the door,� and the day after that, and the day after that!�

So, Hek did, over the next few weeks, Hek visited Beatrid daily and brought her books to make her shut up about how bored she was. And he was even really evil and got a maid to lend him a rather hot romance novel, which he still had yet to be bitched at about, which meant Beatrid either liked it or she hadn’t read it yet. He hoped it was the first one because he wasn’t looking forward to having a paperback novel meet his forehead, let alone a raunchy one. So, it was another day and Beatrid was still in pretty rough shape, at least, he was the last time he saw her, Hek never got around to seeing her the day before because he had ‘training’ which was basically him sitting down and thinking… At least, that’s what it seemed like because the instructor, in Heks humble opinion, blew monkey chunks. A lavender fanned head poked into the room and a smile on his face.

So, Hek went into the room, quietly and silent as a mouse, and went to her bed and stared for a good full minute before saying.

�Good morning Bumblebee… You look better�

Again with the grin and he put his hands in his pockets. He was wearing the clothing he had come here in, the belts and the whole nine yards, minus the dirt.

It was horrible staying bedridden like that, and over the days and weeks, Beatrid had been going absolutely stir crazy. Every time a nurse came in, she practically interrogated the poor girl for news from what had become known to Beatrid as "the outside world". Okay, maybe that was pathetic, she hadn't been wounded long, but still! Bah! What a "vacation" this had turned out to be! Seriously. What made her even more twitchy was to learn that there was apparently a huge battle taking place in Reajh--some bastard was tearing the place up, some mage. Beatrid wanted desperately to get out there and go help, but she obviously couldn't in her state, and the fact that the mage was able to function meant that there were no Mordecai on the scene. And since no one knew Mordecai existed outside of folk tales, Beatrid had to rein in her anger and act like that was nothing unusual, because she certainly couldn't tell even a nurse what she was. Only other Mordecai, dragoons and other high ranking officials.

Well. There was nothing she could do. Oh well...

Hek visiting her everyday was what kept her sane. Sure, they'd had a rocky start, but she found herself actually looking forward to his visits. She'd long since eaten the chocolate he'd bought her, but soon he was bringing her books to stave her boredom when he wasn't around to entertain her. Heh, how'd he know she liked to read? Maybe he'd snuck onto her room and discovered her stash...of books. Nothing naughty, or at least that's what she'd claim, but one could only wonder about that because she hadn't complained when Hek had brought her a rather racy novel one day, sneaking it in after bringing her so many tame romance and adventure novels. In fact, she hadn't said a thing about it at all. Truth be told, though, it was hidden beneath her pillow so she could giggle at it when no one was around, flipping through all the pointless "romance" parts to get straight to the juicy bits!

...Though she did not giggle. No. She chuckled</I>.

Bah, she had to amuse herself somehow, right? And those books were so funny. C'mon, throbbing manhood? Love tunnel? Was that really supposed to be hot, and...did people really get off on that crap? She'd have to ask Hek, though she wasn't sure whether or not she'd like the answer.

Ah yes. Such deep thoughts.

The days dragged by, the only fast parts being when Hek visited her, and those were the parts that she wished would drag, because they always ended so quickly. And then she'd be bored and alone again. Hey, you could only read so many books before that, too, got a bit old. Soon enough she'd be working on lame history texts because the library would run out of fiction. In any case, Hek was far more interesting than books, and soon she began seeing him as a sort of brother, a good friend. Occassional bickering and all.

Still, there came a point where she was finally allowed to get up on her own--without the help of a nurse--and soon she was no longer dizzy or light-headed. Before long, she could walk around on her own, dress on her own, all that fun stuff...though her side was still achey and she still had stitches and all that. One day, Hek also didn't visit...and that was probably the worst day out of those couple of weeks, though she'd likely never admit that outside of her deathbed.

It was the day after that that Beatrid got up, bored out of her mind (she could only read that dirty novel so many times before not even it was funny anymore) and slipped out of her nightshirt to get dressed for the day. Her side was feeling much better, if it was still tender, but that was okay. She could walk just fine now, so it was time to get dressed and take a stroll around the palace, which was about all she was allowed to do, no matter how much she insisted that she was fine. But, eh, even if the nurses didn't know that she was a Mordecai, they did know she was high ranking...which meant they would drive her insane. Which was why it was time to escape before they could stop her and raise a bloody fuss!

Back facing the door and on the opposite side of the bed from the door, just as a precaution, she was just slipping on her loose, well-worn breeches when the door opened. Beatrid didn't think anything of it at first save to grit her teeth, expecting it to be some nurse who would rush over to baby her. Damned doors had no locks on them, so she couldn't lock them out of the room! However, she soon discovered that, no...that was so not a nurse. In fact, it was none other than Hek, because he had somehow managed to quietly approach...and speak up right behind her.

"GYAH!" Beatrid never moved faster in her life. She yanked her pants up all the way, wrapped her arms over her chest, and would have dropped to the ground to hide behind the bed if her side wasn't still sore and bending wasn't still difficult. Instead, she groped behind her blindly on the bed for her shirt, couldn't find it, and was forced to turn slightly so she coukd snatch it up and hold it to her chest. Then, because now Hek was staring at her bare back, she turned around to face him, face red. Did he have to stand right there?! Oh Gods. How bloody long had he been there? Now he'd either seen her ass or her boobs (if he came in from just the right angle) or both. Fuuuuuuck!

"YOU!" she roared, unable to fathom up much else to say at the moment. "You...you...can't you knock like a normal person?! Turn around! Turn around now!" she demanded. "I'll deal with you when I'm dressed, so stay put or I'll hunt you down! Oh, no, Hek. I haven't forgotten what you said, darling. Remember? Heh, I really hope you haven't forgotten what I said, either, because I was fucking serious." That last bit was said with a hint of a malicious grin as she tried not to act like being walked in on embarrassed her as much as it actually did.

Yup. She was feeling much better already!

Kuro had passed out in the next room. Not something he was expecting himself to do. He had always been around the area. Either in Beatrid's room or the next room. Luckily, the walls were thin enough to keep a good ear for any sign of comotion. Of course, he heard of what happened with the mage in the village, but he couldn't leave Beatrid like that. Any distraction means a large opportunity or advantage for the enemy. He wasn't about to take any risks.
His eyes suddenly shot open when he heard Beatrid yell out. Barely even a second passed and he was already out the door. He stopped at the door to Beatrid's room and held a dagger in his hand, ready for anything.
"You alright in there, Beatrid?" He calls in through the closed door. He didn't want to go bargging in like a barbarian and making the situation any worse off than it can be. If she's being attacked, the attacker could injure her, being startled by the door opening all of the sudden. He kept his cautions until he heard her talking to Hek, using his name. There are still possibilities though.
"I'm coming in." He calls out one last time, while slowly reaching for the doorknob.

((While I'm sure the other Mordecai will have a problem with Yones showing up, I'm hoping you guys don't. The story I'm going with is that he was injured badly during the unfinished catacombs thread. EDIT: And now I notice that Small Wonder will be away for a while. Oh well.))

god damnit, did they have to be so loud? People were trying to sleep here!

Yones Mallak opened his eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the light in the room. He still felt (and probably looked) like hell, even after all this time laying in bed. The last few days he'd been allowed to walk around the small room with the assistance of a nurse and a cane, the latter of which he groped for with his "good hand." There was no one here at the moment, but it wouldn't do to have anyone wander in and discover his writing hand was actually un-injured, even if his other wounds were real enough.

That fact was painfully apparent (quite literally) as he attempted to stand. He hadn't yet walked unnassisted since the incident in the catacombs, but he was determined to give whoever was in the next room a piece of his mind. Yelling in a goddammed infirmary of all things.

It hurt like a bitch, but Yones managed to raise himself to a standing position and stagger over to the door. This method of movement was quite humiliating for someone who generally prided himself on his grace (no matter how average it might have been in reality). His hair was probably a mess as well. A damn shame, as it was finally a decent length and would have been quite attractive to the ladies had he the time to properly care for it. All things in their place though.

So, time for the door. Well, he'd use his hand just this once, it was unlikely anyone would see. The door swung open, the light from the hallway temporarily blinding him. As he stepped out, he saw a figure dressed in black holding a dagger, apparently preparing to rush into the adjoining room.

Yones, being in the infirmary, did not have a weapon on him. So he did the only thing he could.

"HOLY SHIT! ASSASSINS IN THE PALACE! GUARDS! WHERE ARE THE GUARDS GODDAMMIT?"

((Hee hee! Welcome to the thread! 8D I’m glad you’re here, the more the merrier! Sorry if the post was late and looks rushed... x_X Had to get a lot in it and yeah, sorry if I inadvertantly powerplayed.))

Thought it was all fun and games for Hek-Akiz, wonderful useless yet pretty Mordecai of the fair and few, it was a heart attack and a half for poor Beatrid. Hek nearly jumped back and laughed, but knowing that would gain him a black eye or two he didn’t and just pretended to look scared. It worked, he hoped.  At least the view had been nice, even if the scar that the wound left was eye catching and sore looking, surprisingly he hadn’t been looking at the bottom or the chest that he had been presented with so graciously his mismatched eyes had stared at the healing wound. Who ever did that was certainly a jerk-off, but, who ever had done that was obviously dangerous, or Beatrid was just being stupid and not really thinking when she did whatever she did to get herself wounded. His eyes went to her flustered face and he kept himself from smiling, his urge to smile died when she said her threat. Oh, shit. How could he have forgotten that? How could he have assumed Beatrid forgot that?

Great, now Hek-Akiz, the still very-much-so-newb More-creak-crab was going to have to prance around in the castle in a pink dress in high heels and the whole nine yards… Would he have to do his hair to? Hek pondered for a moment about how short it was and how that it would be impossible to do much other than slap a pretty pink bow on the lavender fan of hair… Best not mention that to <I>her</I>. A sly grin appeared on his face and he crossed his arms over his chest, not leaving quiet yet and hearing a voice coming from the other side, Hek spoke louder than normal to drown it out.

�Only if you walk around with me in a tuxedo and a top hat and a cane… You can be my gentleman if I have to be a lady.�

Taking a few steps back towards the door, walking backwards just to piss off her scariness, he heard someone yell about an assassin. Crap, well, that was no good. That certainly drowned out Kuros other spoken thing so Hek didn’t hear that either, going to the door he yanked it open, staying behind the door incase this ‘assassin’ came flying in with daggers drawn and throwing stars and disappearing gas or whatever the hell it was that they used. For a moment, Hek’s mismatched eyes widened at the sight of the ‘assassin’ who did indeed have a dagger out, before remembering he had heard Kuros voice through the door. Oh, haha, that wasn’t an assassin! It was just Kuro, the one who was obsessive about Beatrid. Hek had noticed how often he saw Kuro in this wing, which was almost every time he visited.

Hek didn’t really ever see him in the room, but in the hallway or another room somewhere when the door was open. Hopefully Beatrid knew about that and wasn’t creeped out by it, or, she didn’t and wasn’t creeped out by it, who knew?  Walking out of the room behind Kuro, not really caring if he got noticed by him or if had gone to save Beatrid from the Evil Peeping Heks, he went to check on the familiar voice from down the hall.

Mismatched eyes drifted to the man… Oh! That was why he was so familiar! It was Drones! That was his name right? Hek took a few steps closer, his arms up to show he wasn’t an assassin.

�You! I remember you, … something-ones, right? I’m Hek-Akiz… That wasn’t an assassin, it was just Kuro… He probably thought I was doing something indecent with Beatrid, but I wasn’t…� though I’d like to, “ I swear, and if I was� Hek gave a slow manly nod, “ I’d make sure she was quiet.�

Should he mention the whole dress thing? Would that take off the ‘wtf?’ factor when he did walk around in his pink poofy dress? Hek pondered for a moment before looking back and Yones (or Drones as Hek knows him) blinking a few times. Why was he here? And how long? Hek noticed the injuries and that if he had them he sure as hell wouldn’t be standing up. Being the peace maker, or at least he thought himself to be, he took the first step to being ‘friendly’ which would probably be taken as sympathy, which it half was anyway.

�Here, let me help you back to your bed… I’d feel like keeling over if I were you…�

Which was the truth, Yones â€"did- look like hell. It was official, Hek was one hell of a mother hen, but he didn’t mind if he came off a little… Feminine. Girls liked that, right?

Despite her own predicament, Beatrid managed a dry chuckle, even if it was a nervous, awkward one. "You say it like it'd bother me," she said, raising an eyebrow. Dress in a suit and tophat, complete with a cane? Not a problem. Hek had only known her a few weeks now, and quite a few of those weeks she'd been locked up in an infirmary because she'd had to go and get herself sliced up. Thus, he probably didn't know that, as it was, she always wore men's clothing, anyway, and never ever wore women's clothes. So, really, for her wearing something like that wouldn't be strange at all, even if she had never dressed so formally before. Anyway, it was just how she was, and she would die before she ever willingly put on a dress. Which...made this all the more strange. Hek was so willing to go through with this! Hmm...

Something to ponder.

Maybe he crossdressed in his spare time? After all, she hadn't seen much of him outside the infirmary, either. You never knew what someone did behind closed doors. Beatrid couldn't help but smirk a little; damn, this sucked, because she was finding it difficult to stay pissed off at the guy! That was certainly a first, because she usually derived a certain amount of not-so-guilty pleasure from tearing into someone, but the guy was such a weirdo that it was becoming hard to be much more than simply amused at the moment, Then again, the image of Hek decked out in a pink, frilly dress complete with lingerie beneath was just...great. The prospect of actually seeing it was almost worth the humiliation--worth it to the point that she was almost glad these rooms had no locks.

But that was her secret.

And she still intended on drawing out this little revenge of hers. Oh yes. She'd make Hek streak through the palace in nothing but his lingerie at the end of the night, even if she had to make him do it at gunpoint, bwahaha!

Ahem.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be your gentleman. Now get the hell outta here, already, lemme dress, and next time knock, will ya? Damn," she told him, screwing her face back up into a disapproving scowl, though her words lacked their usual bite. Mostly because she just wasn't angry anymore, so she just couldn't muster up the effort to pretend. Though, it did help some when Hek backed away rather than turn and walk out like a normal person, which meant he was probably doing it to bother her and stare at her half-clothed form more. The sicko. Glaring at him, though only half genuinely, she pressed her shirt firmly to her chest with one hand and grabbed a pillow with the other, cranking her arm back in preparation to chuck it at him, but that was when someone yelled loudly from outside the room about an assassin...and when Hek went and yanked the door open, and hid behind it, of course!

"SHUT THE GODDAMN DOOR!" Beatrid yelled as she dropped down behind the bed in case some assassin barged in, guns a-blazing, half panicked at the moment since she was not only half clothed but weaponless, as well. Shit! Too late for that, she'd glimpsed someone in black at the door just before she'd ducked. What was wrong with Hek?! You did not open a door if someone outside was yelling about assassins! Especially now that she knew all about her fellow Mordecai, Kuro's, lovely assassin clan shit and since she just-so-happened to have totally owned one of Kuro's rival assassins. Call her paranoid, but she wasn't stupid--that one guy had tried to kill her right off the bat because he obviously wanted to target Kuro's teammates to get to him or something, and since she'd gone the extra step and put that guy out of commission, well, it really wasn't much of a stretch to say they'd like to get revenge on her. That was how that worked, right? Right. It was predictable like that. Normally, she'd find that exciting, but since she had no gun and was shirtless, it really wasn't something she wanted to deal with at the moment.

Crouched on the other side of the bed, the side farthest from the door, she looked around quickly for something, anything, that she could use as a weapon. The only thing she found were her boots, but she snatched them up just the same and readied herself. They were pretty heavy and had some thick, hard soles--a well aimed boot could easily knock someone out! Boots in hand, she peered cautiously over the bed, and...and then she groaned.

Well, technically, it was an assassin. Just not the type she was expecting. Kuro was standing there with his knife out, and Hek was already walking out of the room past Kuro. Er...well...guess that was it, then. No real assassins.

Groaning, Beatrid pressed both hands to the top of the bed and rose to her feet to fix Kuro with an angry--but, though she'd never admit it, relieved--stare. "What the fuck are you doing?!" she demanded, jabbing a finger in his direction. "Shit! Are you trying to freak everyone the hell ou--shit! Get out! Out, Kuro, get out now!"

That had to be the part where she realized her shirt was no longer with her, but was laying on the ground where she'd dropped it in her search for weapons, since modesty wasn't exactly a top priority when danger was about. Her sentence ended in a yelp as she dropped back down behind the bed, mindless of her sore, scarring side, and wasted no time in yanking the shirt over her head. Backwards, no less, but she really didn't care.

That also had to be the moment where the palace guards, having heard Yones' yell, came onto the scene, weapons at the ready--though a general air of confusion soon replaced determination when all they found was not an assassin, but Kuro, dagger drawn, by Beatrid's room with Beatrid yelling at him to go away, and Hek over by Yones talking about not doing indecent stuff with Beatrid and offering to help the guy back to his room, all mother-hen like.

Yeah. Just a little weird.

Mordecai...

Kuro stopped reaching for the door when Yones began yelling off his presence. Kuro nearly threw his dagger at the fool to silence him, but decided against harming fellow Mordecai. The door swong open when Kuro had his head turned to Yones. Kuro instantly dropped into a ready position and swong his head back inside the room. All he could see is Beatrid dive over the bed and Hek poke his head around the door. He finally dropped his guard as Hek walked out of the room. He could only lower his head and shake it.
When Beatrid began talking to Kuro, he looked up in her direction, only to get yelled at to get out. Funny thing is, he never entered the room. All his did was slowly reach for the door to close it. He put his dagger away and stood in front of the door so that no one would enter. This has been an odd few weeks. Even when the ninja is more paranoid than the woman, who's head is at stake.

Yones just stood in shock for a few moments. He had forgotten about the new recruit, the country bumpkin with a horrible memory for names. What was he doing here?

Oh yes, doing some indecent with Beatrid. It was like the baths all over again... Except apparently that's not what they were doing. Then why was Beatrid here?

Then there was the assassin, or rather, Kuro, who looked pissed enough to kill someone. Yones took a few steps away from him, and from the rapidly approaching Hek, who was saying something about assisting him back to bed.

"I don't need your damn help! Don't touch me!" The last thing he needed was this bumbling fool to knock him over or something.

Then Beatrid appeared at the door, yelling at everyone within range, and shirtless... so were they actually... But...

"You know what? I'm going back to bed. Unless there's actually some reasonable explanation for all this, but I don't see how that could be." He took another step backward, nearly tripping over an approaching guard. "THE HELL?"

Yones rebounded off the guard, slamming into the closest wall, and slid to the ground, breathing heavily. This was not a good day.

(See? I told you it sucked xP)

Okay, so he didn’t need his help, didn’t have to freak out like Hek touching him would make him explode into a billion pieces very painfully. Feeling more than a little hurt at the rejection to over the simple offer to help, it wasn’t all that surprising, apparently that bad day that Hek had met this person on only turned into a bad few weeks, and Hek never seemed to introduce himself at a good time. Pretty soon he’d just give up. A quick glare towards Yones and Hek went across the hall and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and his head down slightly. Hek was probably pouting like a scolded child, but you wouldn’t be able because his hair was covering the right side of his face, which was facing Beatrids door and her guard dog, Kuro.

This sucked, a everyday hello turned out to be something a little more and… Hek looked up slightly when the guards rushed in. Took the lazy bastards long enough, Hek took slight notice in one making Yones fall on his ass but he didn’t go over to help him up. Why would he bother after being told not to already? That he didn’t need help? Ha, screw him. Hek snarled slightly at Yones and turned slightly away from him, ignoring his injured ally, even though it was nothing serious, let one of the damn nurses help him. Humph.

Getting fed up with waiting Hek cleared his throat and gave his best to sound authorities as he could, it was probably a sad attempt and Beatrid, had she been outside, would have done a better job with scaring away the guards than Hek ever could. Especially if she didn’t have a shirt on. Being fed up wit being a fun extra wheel for people to bark at, because Hek and just recently managed to trip a guard who turned around and barked at him like he’d stabbed him in the gut with a rusty butter knife. He didn’t care anymore. Pushing himself from the wall, Hek walked over to Beatrids door completely and utterly ignoring Kuro knocked on it, above Kuros head and spoke through it.

�Beatrid, I’ll be in the front hallway, when you feel up to it meet me there.�

So, Hek stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled off.

[It did not. *whap!*]

Her first and only thought before the door was briskly shut was, Oh GOD, not Drones, too! Just what she needed! More fuel for his damned rumor, which reminded her: she had to kick his ass still! Sure, he'd started the rumor weeks ago, but...STILL! She'd kick his ass both for what he'd already started and for what he was probably going to add!

But then it was shut, and she was left blessedly alone.

For the moment.

It was impossible. It was simply impossible for her to do anything so simple as to take a walk without the entire palace seemingly conspiring against her to make an uncomplicated situation utterly ridiculous and just...just...argh! Beatrid huffed irritably as the door was shut, finally, and worked on quickly adjusting her clothes--buckling her belt, putting on some boots, and...she snorted when she discovered that her shirt was on backwards and quickly slipped her arms inside it, rotated it, and slipped her arms back through the arm-holes again before smoothing it down. God. People here were insane. That was all there was to it. Insane!

Which meant she probably was too, but...ah well. She had to admit, all the drama did make things interesting. As much as she hated to admit it, she did kind of like it...

It gave her an excuse to rough people up if she so pleased, after all

Which she was not in the mood for at the moment. Rather, she was embarrassed. Embarrassed, and there was no one within arm's length or throwing distance to whack. See, if there had been someone near her, she could have easily dealt with her embarrassment by simply punching them or hurling a well-aimed boot or other such heavy object at them. WHAM! Instant satisfaction and everything would be all better and she'd be content again! Misdirected rage? Perhaps, but that wasn't the point! Anyway, there was no one here. So she had to deal with the embarrassment on her own, which meant...she was just going to stay here hiding in her infirmary room for a bit longer. That was the other thing she did when she was embarrassed--she hid. Sometimes, if she was totally mortified, she kicked the person's ass that did it and then hid...then...kicked their ass some more. Heh. However, she couldn't really do that until she healed proper--sure, her wound was better, just a nasty, puckered scar running along the length of her side, but the skin was still new skin, soft and tender. Easily broken.

Hiding was the next best option, so, with a grunt, she plopped back onto her bed and sat with elbows on her knees and chin propped on her hands, listening to the commotion outside her room.

Until a knock on her door made her look up, and Hek's voice came through.

And it wasn't a usual Hek voice. He...sounded kind of down.

Oh, what now...?

As much as Beatrid would have liked to remain in her room, pulling the heartless bitch card, the fact was that that card only worked in some (okay, most) instances, and a down Hek wasn't one of them, though she had no idea what he could be moping about. Jeez. Wincing slightly, she pushed herself back to her feet and slunk over to the door, opened it quickly, and slipped out--

To find Kuro and Yones still there, of course. Kuro stationed near her door, and Yones...heh. Yones, slumped down there on the ground. And lookit that--he'd apparently gotten his ass kicked, too. Beatrid couldn't help but smirk, any previous embarrassment fading at the sight. Yep. She could never pass up the chance to take a swipe at him. "Oh! Drones! So great to see ya again! Damn...I was gonna kick your ass for being a fucking asshole, but it looks like your ass already got fucked...up. Huh. Guess I gotta wait a while longer while you...recover. Ah well, I'm patient, but...get better soon!" And then she flashed him her most charming grin and, ignoring Kuro, went off on her merry way to find Hek.

If she was lucky, he'd get pissed and follow her and she could jab him some more. It was oddly satisfying like that. Mainly because he tended to fight back, while Kuro just didn't care and Hek, well...she had more sisterly feelings toward him than anything, so if she yelled at him, it was just one of those things. Yones...well...everyone needed a rival, right?

Beatrid. Ugh. Yones had forgotten how aggravating the woman could be. He was just about to yell out a scathing report when the female Mordecai gave him a big grin and sped off down the hall after Hek.

Yones sat in deliberation. On the one hand, he was really godsdamned tired, and probably needed rest and relaxation while he recovered. On the other hand, his rival was escaping after delivering a mortal insult to Yones, who's dignity had already taken a beating from the chaos of the past few minutes.

Well, he didn't feel all that injured really... in fact he felt better than he had in quite a long time. He was in his element wasn't he? A battle of wits. He was good at those. He was a Witter, or whatever they called people who were good at a battle of wits. A Witter. Yones the Witter. That sounded good. Yeah.

All in all, he was a little dizzy and stunned from the effects of his fall, but... hey, waitaminute! Why was he still on the floor? What good were all these guards doing, miling around in the hallway like a herd of confused cattle? Yones glared at them.

"Help me up damn you! Is this an infirmary or a circus?"

Yones was helped to his feet, and leaned heavily on his cane. Now, time for bed. NO! Beatrid. He was going after Beatrid, to deliver the most destructive, devestating insult the world had ever seen.

However, he'd lost some time collecting his thoughts (even a Witter needed time to think things over), and there was no way he could catch up with her at his current, hobbling pace. But Hek had said he'd be in the front hallway, and Beatrid had hurried after him. That's where they'd be, and that's where Yones would head to as well.

((OOC: Oh, he's polite now, but just wait. Soon he'll be witting it up. Did I mention that Yones is easily confused first thing after waking up? Poor guy. Also: Woah. Did I write all that? I was only here about 2 hours...))

((BRIDE OF OOC: Ok, I just deleted the part of the post dealing with Mara because I'm lazy. I hope this is still good.))