milliways_bar | (no subject)

*He flares, brighter than the sun. He casts shadows from the trees around them.* Security rarely deals very well with anything that goes on in the bar, why should they make an exception for this one case? Why not spare them having to do any actual work?

She winces, shielding her face and taking a step backward.

"Who is that, Yrael?" The light is making it difficult for her to tell.

*Yrael turns to the captive, almost friendly.*

Tell her your name, if you would be so kind.

He can hear it now that its talking directly at him, but the other voice has faded and he can't keep his sightless eyes open any more.

'Ramon. Its Ramon.'

Goddammit. . .

"Ramon Salazar."

Her face turns a little towards Yrael, and she says bitterly, "Throw him in the cells. But don't kill him."

*There is a laugh, a laugh that rises and falls with the sound of a dying dog.*

Shall I... literally throw him in the cells? Accomplish both?

"No--"

She shivers. In spite of looking away, her eyes are starting to water. "Goddammit, Yrael, could you tone it down?"

*And Yrael is there, in human form, looking cheerful. In his change, he lets go of Ramon's throat.*

*sarcastically* Anything for a friend.

The hand is gone from his throat, there's weight on his shattered knee suddenly and he collapses with a scream he can't stop himself uttering. New levels of agony smash through his system and it makes him retch on the floor, while he's simultaneously trying to not move his damaged leg.

The scream snaps her head around, and a moment later she's kneeling next to him, touching him -- and she's not sure why, but she has a duty, and no one deserves to be in pain like this.

"Can I try and heal you?"

*Yrael rolls his eyes and steps over Ramon's broken body so he can head back towards the bar.*

*leaving* Jack will be so disappointed I didn't kill him.

Her jaw clenches, but she otherwise ignores him.

"Ramon. Ramon." She slips into the Speech. "I'm going to try and heal you."

He can't respond, pain has closed his throat and he can't breathe. He just tries to follow the sound of the voice in the darkness and turn his head to them, not even trying to work out who the person is because at this point, it doesn't matter to him.

She lays her hands on his throat, very gently, and starts speaking again.

No healing can be accomplished without the pain being fully experienced by both parties. Her throat and eyes explode with pain, and a moment later, so does her knee, but she can't stop speaking now.

And it's over, and she half-collapses as the wizardry lets her go.

He hears words, they sound like they're coming in Spanish. He relaxes slightly under the familiarity, even though he can't quite make out what he's hearing, the hands on his neck are gentle and sort of comforting...but then the burns on his throat and face start to throb even worse, pain from his knee engulfs him and he feels like his ruined eyes are boiling in their sockets, he wants to scream it all away...

...and then it's gone. He feels the hands slipping from his neck and opens his eyes on reflex, only to be hit with the realisation that - he can see again. And nothing hurts.

He raises himself up onto his elbows, blinking around in confusion, he simply can't get his brain around what just happened. And when he examines the face of the girl next to him, his confusion is far worse. It takes a moment for him to remember her name but then,

'Nita?'

She props herself up on one arm and looks up at him. There's steel in her gaze, and in her voice.

"You owe me."

He blinks...and curse, because Arithon's enchantment is still with him and he feels exactly how bad Nita feels right now. And the guilt for making her go through it is crushing...he screws up his eyes and tries, even briefly, to remember what it was like to not feel pain.

He bends his leg slightly to test his knee - and finds it working perfectly. He looks back at her in shock. 'You fixed it all?'

"The eyes and the knee and the burns. Yes." The shakes and after-effects of the spell are starting to wear off.

He flops back down down onto the grass for a moment, breathing hard. I was blind. I was fucking blind...!!

He doesn't ever want to feel that again. But he puts it away for now, he'll deal with it later. He props himself back up. 'Then yes, you're right. I do owe you.'

"Why was Yrael trying to kill you?"

He looks at her closely, then scrubs his hand over his face, still hardly able to believe that it was all fixed.

'I hit someone in the bar. A friend of his.'

"Who?"

. . .people we both call friends. . .

He stands up and dusts himself off. He doesn't want to stay out here, and doesn't want to answer her question either. He remembers the look in her eye when he told her his name. So he just holds out a hand to help her up and doesn't say anything.

She eyes him, and the hand he's offering. She doesn't trust him, and he's not answering her question -- but her legs are still wobbly enough that she's grateful for the help up. So she accepts the hand, and looks him in the eye as she stands, obviously expecting an answer.

He tactfully ignores her questioning look. 'Come on, I'll walk you back. You look a bit shaky. Tell me if you think you're going to fall.'

He hesitates before saying, 'Thank you.' And its obvious that he's grateful.