Wake Up Call

[toomuchbull]

[After this]

Rider doesn't know how he makes it back to the Tohsaka household after his encounter with Saber. That he does at all is impressive, as is the fact that he manages to walk around the house without making a noise.

Well, up until he gets to Chiyo's room, nudges her once, then flops onto the floor elegantly. Damn whatever complaints she has about blood on the floor.

Comments

[eien_no_chou]

It's a wound typical of Saber - small but deadly, thin yet cutting through vital organs and arteries with surgical precision. Having healed this before, she understands the manner in which she fights now. You'd think Rider would get the same sort of hint, but maybe that was asking a bit much. Chiyo reaches into the drawer of her desk and withdraws her butterfly hair comb, keeping it between her fingers at the winged insect comes to life with a flutter of crystal wings. Maybe she's desensitized, or maybe she's just tired, but Rider's bare torso doesn't bring the usual unwanted thoughts to the surface.

"Are you going to tell me what happened or do I have to stick a finger in your wound and twist it," she says, though as the words heal her mouth the skin on the outside knits closed and ruins her threat.

[toomuchbull]

"She engaged in battle unexpectedly, not giving me the time I needed to summon the axe to defend myself," Rider explains. It is, admittedly, a vast over-simplification, but it isn't a lie either.

No part of Rider is going to become accustomed to the feeling of magic knitting flesh back together. There are currents singing through his body, regenerating tissue, making the old merge with the new as if nothing has been punctured to begin with, and he can even feel the blood in his veins change volume, back to how it should be. Such acute bodily awareness should not ever be, and yet, here it is.

"This won't happen again."

[eien_no_chou]

"No, it won't," Chiyo murmurs, sitting back and stilling the butterfly in her hands. "I've had enough of this. I believe we have gathered sufficient intelligence. We should begin to act." After a pause, she pushes the heels of her hands into her eyes again. No, she's thinking too rashly just because she's tired. After more sleep, then she should plan properly their next move. "There, fixed. Is there anything else before I go back to bed?"

[toomuchbull]

The fact that Chiyo isn't angry - or is too tired to be angry - is one of the best things Rider could have hoped for, given the situation. He pokes where the wound was, as if expecting it to keep bleeding, and when his fingers come away clean, he breathes again.

"No. I'll find a place to rest for the day."

[eien_no_chou]

Emoting is a little beyond her right now - all she does is silently stand, get back under the covers, and turn the light off, dismissing her servant until at least noon.