A medical emergency

[fadingworld]

A deep navy cloak hides his features and the more ornate tunic the courtesan usually wears to greet his clients. Mal hunches his shoulders and slides through the crowds hoping to avoid notice. He keeps his head down until he reaches the home of the doctor and wraps smartly on the door. "Open up," he calls in a voice that expects to be listened to.

How much time did he have? He could not have a client bleeding out. Not this one. Not one who had come to him for help, to be treated privately.

Comments

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis actually chuckles, then, and now he definitely is leaning back against Mal, not heavily but enough for it to be noticeable. "You have a far kinder outlook on things than I do, my friend."

[fadingworld]

Mal rests a hand on Regis' other shoulder. "Looking for the good, makes life worth living for me," he confesses very softly. "I let my mind go down a very dark path once." He swallows. "I saw what I did, what the people I was with had the potential to do, their dark desires and..." he breaks off.

"Only when I twisted it to look at the potential for goodness could I bare to look and live in the world again."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Sitting like this is starting to feel almost like he's being embraced, in not just a brief hug but rather something more lingering. His mind shies away from it to some degree, warning to be careful And yet... It has been so long, hasn't it? So long since he was given anything even remotely close to it.

"You do know, I trust, that I would listen." This evening and now night feels open just as much as that night when they had sat drinking the mandrake cordial and yet they haven't touched a drop.

[fadingworld]

"I do," Mal says with a quiet sense of conviction. This is why he's felt able to open up. "But those thoughts are long gone. And now? Now, oh if you could see my heart, it is light. I have all I could wish now.

I only hope I can bring some of that happiness to you."

[mandragoraspiritus]

All he could wish? Perhaps for now. Such things, wishes, always changed. But even if just for now, well, there is good in that too. Regis woudln't deny the good he'd done the young man, in getting him out of that place, that House. Now, he's just glad for his company.

He lays a hand over Mal's where it rests on his shoulder, giving a light squeeze before he lets it drop and straightens his back, gently shrugging off Mal's chin from his other shoulder.

"It is late. You should go back to sleep."

[fadingworld]

"Good night," Mal says stepping back without protest and returns to bed, curling up into small ball he often prefers. Thoughts keep him awake for a little. THey centre on Regis and how he can help the vampire see he is not alone.

Eventually he drifts off into uneasy dreams where he chases the sounds of screams but never catches up to help them.

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis stays where he is when Mal goes to bed. He doesn't think he'll get much sleep this night, if any, but he can sit here and rest with the night air on his face.

Before long though, he becomes aware that he isn't the only one having a restless night. A human wouldn't have heard it, but Regis isn't human. Even from the floor below he hears tossing and turning, soft mumbling and whining from the young man. A nightmare, then? Nightmares would pass on their own, he think, but then he remembers Mal's delirious fever rambles, and remembers that he had promised himself.

He dissipates, becoming only incorporeal gray smoke and drifting down the stairs, and through the rooms, not even opening Mal's door but flowing in under it, gathering by Mal's bedside where he again takes solid form. Carefully he takes a seat there on the edge of the bed, laying a comforting hand on Mal's shoulder.

[fadingworld]

Mal uncurls turning towards the presence. There are tears on his face as he opens his eyes. He will always wake at a touch. "Regis?" You came He can't help that happy lurch in his chest.

"Did I disturb you?"

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis shakes his head no. There had been nothing to disturb. "I merely heard you. You were dreaming." He smiles down at Mal, more kindly and softly, and more real now than before. "It seems we are both destined for a restless night. Do you wish me to sit with you until you go back to sleep?"

[fadingworld]

"If you would not mind," Mal says softly. "I fear...I've grown too used to not sleeping alone." He rubs at the back of his neck as he settles closer to Regis. "I think the scariest power any being could have would have to be the power over dreams."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis hums quietly, moving to sit a bit more comfortably without invading Mal's space too much, letting that gentling hand stay on Mal's shoulder. There are such beings out there, he knows, but he won't tell Mal that. No, not when the man deserves some rest.

"You are safe here," he murmurs. "Go back to sleep."

[fadingworld]

Mal shifts a little closer. "Do you dream like humans do?" he asks his voice softening back towards sleep but he's still conscious enough to remember anything that is said.

[mandragoraspiritus]

Once again Mal has shifted close enough that Regis wonders if he'll end up with Mal's head on his lap again.

"I don't know. I don't know how humans dream," he answers honestly. "But I do dream.

[fadingworld]

Oh it is tempting to place his head there. Mal contents himself be placing it right by Regis' thigh. "I don't even think humans dream the same." He breathes in the sent of herbs. "I dream of darkness and people calling for help some nights. Others it feels like I am sleeping in safe warm arms."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis reaches to pull Mal's blanket a bit higher about his shoulders, practically tucking him in. "Then aim for the later," he says, perhaps foolishly. Then after a moment he can't help but to ask, "Do you really dislike sleeping alone that much?"

[fadingworld]

Mal nods slightly. "All my fears, worries, pain were hidden around clients. Bizarrely I slept well when they were at my side. When I was alone...I don't know, it's when I relived things or dreamt of them.

It has been so much better since I have been here though," he hastens to assure Regis.

[mandragoraspiritus]

"It will get better still," Regis comforts, almost wanting to offer the man to stay by his side every night, but it would be better if Mal got through this properly and learned to sleep peacefully to his own.

[fadingworld]

Mal rests a hand just above Regis' knee. "You are the expert," he says with a soft smile, feeling comforted that the other thinks it possible too.

"Thank you," he says softly. "You have a habit of putting my mind at ease with a few words."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"With a few words?" He laughs then, quietly as the late hour demands. "Many would think me incapable of staying to only few words."

Mal too knows by now, Regis love of words. But there are times when he can stray more to the taciturn.

[fadingworld]

Mal laughs softly, "Some words always stand out the most." He could not possibly remember everything Regis said in one go. "Though I do enjoy listening to everything you have to say."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"That would also be a first. A dear friend used to tell me to kindly shut up or she would thrash me, once upon a time. And I am sure she would have, had I not heeded her." He gently squeezes Mal's shoulder. "But I am keeping you awake. Go back to sleep."

[fadingworld]

Mal smiles up, "I think I would break my hand trying to trash you." He shuts his eyes settling down. "Self defense I can do, nothing else." He falls silent and is soon asleep again.

The rhythm of the days resume. Mal finds that sleeping alone is easier when he falls asleep exhausted by the day. He doesn't mind even the more mundane job of rolling bandages, especially when he's finally given the chance to try bandages out on Regis.

"Ready," he calls grinning, advancing, waving the rolled up bandages threateningly.

[mandragoraspiritus]

They have done some bandages before, just on Regis' hands and arms. But today Mal is getting to advance to various ways and various injuries on the upper body. Books with illustrations on the topic and already opened on the desk and they have discussed everything in advance.

While in the comfort of his own home Regis already tends to be without the gambeson he usually favors outside, but now he's standing unbuttoning his shirt as Mal advances on him. "Do not make me regret my decision on this, Mal," he threatens vaguely, giving the man a mock glare as he pulls the shirt off. He's in good shape for a man of his apparent age, lean to the point of being wiry, with some hints of light freckling to his shoulders and a dusting of gray hair on his chest tapering into a line down his abdomen. Without any self-consciousness he goes to sit down on a stool to let Mal reach easily.

[fadingworld]

Mal just grins at the threat. He's been working hard and is pleased with his basic progress. "What is the worst I could do to you with bandages?" he teases.

He brings a small table over by the stool to place the bandages on. His eyes are appreciative for a moment as he looks down at Regis' body. It is very in keeping with what he had imagined.

Quickly he turns his gaze dispassionate and picks up the first bandage. "Shoulder first," he says. His fingers brush gently over the blade of the left shoulder making a check for wounds. Then over the muscles feeling for tension, treating him like a patient.

"Ready?" he murmurs lifting the correct width of a bandage.

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis has made a note of it before when they have practiced on his arms and hands, that Mal has a very pleasant touch. Naturally that is to be expected, with Mal's previous profession, but he's still not being overly touchy-feely. His handling is gentle but firm, hands warm, and... Regis can't quite say exactly what it is that makes Mal's touch so pleasant but he enjoys it. More than he should, he's had to admit to himself.

Now when Mal's fingers probe his shoulder, pushing against the wiry muscles there, Regis has to keep himself from sighing. "Go on then," he says instead, keeping himself in check. "Let us see how well you have caught on."