Casting Pearls Before Swine [Goblin!]

[Bunbun]

Katarina's ears twitched at the sound of his voice croaking something unintelligible at her before she hesitantly made her way into the room. If Tighearnán could see clearly enough, he'd be able to note a couple of changes from her appearance the previous day. A bandage was wrapped beneath her hair, covering up the injury she'd sustained due to the magical explosion, but by far the more interesting addition would be the fluffy pink tail trailing behind her that she'd apparently obtained overnight.

In her arms she carried a pitcher of water which she was careful not to spill as she saw the dire state he was in and hurriedly made her way over to him. She knelt next to him and gently put the pitcher up to his mouth, encouraging him to drink up.

"Shh, shh. Here, you should have some water first. Then we can talk."

[GoblinFae]

He gasped first for drink then for air as she assisted him, the water spilling some past his lips and down his chin and chest causing him to his and whimper with pain. "Quit drowning me woman!" He barked at her. Tighearnán panted for breath as he lay there still on the dusty floor. Even the simple effort of drink and speech had worn him out beyond measure. "All your fault," he mumbled feeling suddenly cold and nauseous now that he was still again.

[Bunbun]

Katarina flinched and shrunk backwards as she was reprimanded, as if she was expecting him to lash out physically instead of just verbally.

"You're right. It is my fault. I should have known I wouldn't be able to fix it. So... I'm sorry for screwing up and hurting you."

It was a pretty far cry from the tone she'd taken with him yesterday, and it wasn't hard to tell from the shakiness of her voice that she was once again on the verge of tears.

"But I promise I wanted to come back here sooner. They wanted me to stay overnight so they could keep an eye on any... changes. I didn't want to cause a panic by sneaking out."

[GoblinFae]

His head pounded and stomach roiled as he laid upon the filthy stone. Her tearful laments feel on unfortunately deaf ears as the whooshing of his thudding heartbeat was far too loud to make out her garbled speech. Tighearnán could only groan weakly in response. His head felt heavier and his body which had been fighting to cling to consciousness in the entire time she had been gone now started to rapidly give up its hold as if her presence meant he was free to be weak. Had the man actually had freewill of such actions though he would have protested mightily, desiring nothing more than to be perfection incarnate at all times, ESPECIALLY in front of sniffling little cat girls that couldn't heal simple broken bones. 

[Bunbun]

His lack of a proper response was worrying to say the least, and as Katarina hesitantly glanced down at his mangled arm, she had to fight back a wave of nausea. Being left without proper treatment for so long had clearly taken its toll, as it definitely looked worse than how she'd last seen it. She wasn't at all well trained enough to know the best action to take with it at this point- would bandaging it up even do any good? On the other hand, it didn't seem likely that she could make things much worse at this point, and the thought of leaving it once again without being able to help sickened her even more. She debated the best course of action, tail swishing anxiously behind her as she thought, before coming to a decision and retrieving the medical supplies he'd requested from her bag.

"Listen, I'm going to start putting this stuff on now. It's probably going to sting, so... I'll be as gentle as I can this time. Promise." With that, the girl quickly got to work, not expecting him to give her much of a response.

[GoblinFae]

She was right to expect no response as the man was far too overcome with pain and illness to focus on her. The moment she touched him though an inhuman squeal of pain escaped him as he weakly thrashed against her in an attempt to get his arm free. It was all for naught though as Tighearnán managed to expend the very last of his energy fighting her before promptly passing out once more.

[Bunbun]

Well then. Apparently trying to be gentle wasn't going to cut it this time. Not that it had worked the last time either...

On the one hand, being able to work on his wounds in complete silence and without any resistance on his part would certainly make the job easier, but Katarina wasn't entirely comfortable with it. At least when he was screaming at her, she was getting some form of feedback. As it was, all she could do was try her best and hope she was doing the right thing. She worked quickly, hoping to get it all over and done with before he woke up and started yelling again. After pushing some bone fragments back into what she hoped were the right places, applying the salve, and finally wrapping up his arm, she scooted back a bit to observe her handiwork.

Silently, she contemplated trying out her healing again- it wasn't like he could object to it at this point, after all- but when she attempted to conjure up the magical energy required to do so, her heart sank as a suspicion she'd had ever since leaving the ward was confirmed. Try as she might, she couldn't get the magic to start flowing again. The healers that had treated her had warned her that her magic could behave in... erratic ways as she recovered, but to have it stop working entirely was another story. What if it never came back?! They'd eventually have to send her back home, and...

Well, she really didn't want to go back home.

Still, though, she couldn't just leave him here all by himself. There wasn't much more she could do for him in terms of healing at this point, but she could at least try to make him a little more comfortable... right?

---

It wasn't long before Katarina came bounding back into the room this time around, this time carrying a blanket she'd retrieved from gods-know-where. She carefully draped it over him and, after a small bout of anxious fidgeting, she took a seat next to him and dug around in her bag for the book she'd been struggling with the day before. Might as well try to get something productive done while she kept an eye on him, she figured. She must have severely underestimated just how exhausted recent events had left her, however, because it was only a matter of minutes before she drifted out of consciousness herself, her head resting gently against Tighearnán's good arm.

[GoblinFae]

Fever dreams plagued him, memories of the past recent and distant flashed within his mind. His side burned with the fire of venom irrevocably changing him all over again into the monster he now secretly was. His heart ached with the loss of Niall whose face morphed into that of Ever Courageous, bloodied, gaunt, and pale, his beautiful blue eyes turned milky white in death.

Tighearnán groaned and leaned into the warmth beside him. His arm was trapped and panic began to fill his breast. He struggled weakly against the boulder crushing him and cried out as he became more frantic to escape.

When his eyes did finally open into the world of the waking it was to find himself upon a classroom floor still, his arm and side bandaged but in pain, sweat pouring from his brow, and the instigator of all his troubles tucked up beside him.

"Why do you smell like cat?" He blurted out in a raspy grumble. 

[Bunbun]

Tighearnán's movements did little to rouse Katarina from her sleep- if anything, she only ended up leaning in more heavily as time passed. It was only when she was verbally addressed with a question that she finally began to stir, her ears twitching as they picked up on his voice.

"Mmm... what? I am Kat. The hell kind of question is that...?" She quietly mumbled back at him, apparently still half asleep. It was at least enough to get her attention though, and she slowly shifted her weight off of him, stretching her arms up and letting out a massive yawn before one eye peeked open to shoot him a skeptical look.

"Wait. How'd you even know my name, anyway? I never told you that."

[GoblinFae]

"You were human before, how was I to know?" He groaned, scrubbing at his face. "Goddess you reek. Couldn't you have taken a bath before you came down here? I thought cats were supposed to be fastidious about that kind of thing."

[Bunbun]

"I was worried about you, okay?! I didn't want to be gone for any longer than I had to. I wasn't about to go start running a damn bath," she growled back at him, her tail beginning to lash about indignantly as she got worked up.
"Besides- I do not reek. You must be imagining it."

[GoblinFae]

"Worried enough you abandoned me for days?" Tighearnán winced as his feistiness made his vision swim and his head throb. "You smell like an alley cat. You most certainly DO smell. Only thing worse is garlic and its closeness to human body odor. At least wash your hands if you're going to assault my senses so."

[Bunbun]

"That's- I did not-" She started, but the words died before they could leave her mouth as she wrestled for control against her roiling emotions. What the hell was this guy's problem? It was like every time he spoke, he changed his mind on whether he wanted to blame her for taking too long or not taking long enough. In an outburst of sheer frustration, she buried her face in her hands and wound up leaning back a bit too quickly. A dull thud sounded out as the back of her head collided with the wall, and she immediately regretted her action as her killer headache from the day before returned with a vengeance. "Fuck. Okay. Look. Do you want me to be here or not?"

[GoblinFae]

Silence permeated the air filling the room after her query save for the sound of his ragged breathing. He shivered and blinked slowly still fighting to muddle through what she was asking of him. As injured and unwell as he was though, it seemed it was still not enough to smother the spark of snark that resided deep within him.

"That depends, can you actually fix what you caused? And maybe...reek less?"

[Bunbun]

"For the love of... fine. If I go have a bath, are you finally gonna shut up about it? 'Cause I'm not interested in hearing the same insult over and over again." Her hands balled up into fists as if they were preparing to start swinging, but instead remained where they were and began to rub the sleep from her eyes as she spoke.

"As for your arm... I don't know. I can try to fix it. But that obviously isn't going to happen if you won't even let me touch you."