Bandages hung loosely around her cheeks, kissing the mark Tempest Quinn had so kindly gifted her. But, beyond that, the extent of their wounds hardly matched. While burns gnawed on pieces of Ollie's body, only scratches carved hers, so inconsequential that even the doctor had barely spent a minute examining the wounds himself.
[break][break]

It was why she was here, entering his room like a child tortured by nightmares.
[break][break]

"...Hello."
[break][break]

Her fingers timidly cradled the edges of the sliding glass door as she hovered by the entranced. Every step between felt like miles' worth of unresolved tension. Tension that felt as dangerous as the monster they'd just barely escaped.
[break][break]

"Can I come in?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

[attr="class","littleollie"] "I - of course!"

[break][break] It was unbearable to know that she would even doubt it.

[break][break] Ollie glanced quickly at the nurse to affirm that she was done with his wound care, watching her disappear behind the sliding door, before his lips slid into a smile that hurt.

[break][break] It was just because Tempest Quinn had punched him, he told himself.

[break][break] A hand patted the worn fabric next to him gently, insisting that she sit down.

[break][break] "How are you? Are you alright?"

[break][break] When they'd met Remiel Calcifet hours ago, it had been under pretenses. Ollie knew that. They were Councilwoman and Head Ranger; they couldn't show weakness, especially not to others.

[break][break] But they were different — at least he hoped so.

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]
POST-PSDT

☉

She could feel her own heart thrumming against her chest as she cautiously stepped into the room, passing the nurse along the way. It was as though every step was accompanied by a vicious strike of a knife to her veins, tearing them open, and allowing her bloodied thoughts to spill across the floor.
[break][break]
It was only when she took her place beside him, allowing the bed to dip into her weight, that she drew from the spilled blood to scribble out her next words.
[break][break]
"I'm fine," she replied, although hesitancy riddled her words, turning them softer than she had intended. "Are you?"
[break][break]
There hadn't been much time between collecting the injured and meeting Remiel. If there had, this persistent worry would've been quenched hours ago. Instead, time had given the perfect opening to tear her from the inside out.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

[attr="class","littleollie"] "I am," he said, though it wasn't as if he would've said anything else. Even if it wasn't true. He knew his place in her life, and knew the spark that he was to provide admist the chaos of her mind.

[break][break] A hand reached out for hers, entangling their fingers atop his knee.

[break][break] It felt good to touch her again, like this, in the comfort of the room. Without prying eyes, at least, for now.

[break][break] "They'll heal in no time," he promised.

[break][break] His eyes met hers.

[break][break] 'I know it wasn't your fault.'

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]
POST-PSDT

☉

But it is.
[break][break]

Everything is her fault.
[break][break]

Gunner Graves is in the hospital because of her recklessness, and while ollie morales's injuries left in him a far better state, there was no denying the link of those burns to her twitching fingers. There is no burying the carelessness that raked her actions on that battlefield, nor the way blood stained her vision. In those jaws of war, she sought blood, and in many ways, she found it.
[break][break]

"It keeps happening," her confession quakes out from her lips like a newborn deer. Riddled with uncertainty, her voice remains a murmur, leaking out from between her shuddering shoulders and sullen eyes, "I keep losing control, and I," fingers tighten around his, keeping her grounded, solid. "I keep hurting you."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ollie morales[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

[attr="class","littleollie"] "i don't care," he cuts her off, staring at her with the eyes of the fiercest green. with the same unwavering depths of a lush, impenetrable forest: steadfast and unyielding in their resolve.

[break][break] a calloused hand cradled her jaw, eyes softening a touch.

[break][break] "you can hurt me as much as you like."

[break][break] his lips tweaked into a smile.

[break][break] "i hurt you first, after all."

[break][break] just like he'd told her then, that night at the party, it was a memory he'd never forgive himself for.

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]
POST-PSDT

☉

[attr="class","littleollie"] 'don't say that.'

[break][break] the anger behind her words caused him to blink, recoiling back as if she'd burned him.

[break][break] 'don't do that.'

[break][break] but even as he flinched back, his fingers never strayed from hers. they intertwined in their shared grip, like pressing his palm against a hot stove, ready - maybe even eager - to burn.

[break][break] 'don't go.'

[break][break] he'd already paid the price once for his mistakes. he already paid the price once for running away.

[break][break] a pit in his stomach grew, and he stared back into those glossy eyes of hers, a hand reaching for hers to brush tenderly at her tearful gaze.

[break][break] "i told you," he said, repeating the words from the party. "it's always been you, penny."

[break][break] "i'd do anything for you."

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]
POST-PSDT

☉

[attr="class","littleollie"] she rips her hands away from his, and it burns — burns more than the actual burns concealed beneath the bandages around his skin, remnants of her recent assault.

[break][break] "what? what do you mean?"

[break][break] his voice rises with frustration this time, the toxins seeping in.

[break][break] "i only think about myself — or i used to. that's what you used to say, and you were right."

[break][break] if he shut his eyes, rather than see her deadly image, he would see his own. how he had allowed himself to get so carried away that he abandoned her in the process.

[break][break] "but i've changed."

[break][break] he reaches for her again.

[break][break] trying to reach for the shadows that wrap around her.

[break][break] the ones he can't see.

[break][break] "penny, what's wrong?"

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]
POST-PSDT

☉

[attr="class","littleollie"] "i - "

[break][break] how was this happening? how was he fucking up again?

[break][break] it didn't matter to him that he got hurt. that sort of thing had never mattered to him. not when he'd been a kid, getting scuffed up and beaten up by the elements on the farm. growing up in a band of brothers who all had been raised to protect Eva Morales, it was all he'd taught to be.

[break][break] "that's not what i'm saying!" he said, his voice felt hoarse. whether it was from the shouting in the great chasm from their battle, or from this one. "i'm not saying it's alright, i'm not saying that nothing happened, but it - "

[break][break] 'it doesn't matter,' he wanted to say. it didn't matter because as much as she would try to push him away, he wouldn't let her. not again. but his words fall short when streaks of cold fall down her cheeks and then her voice spilled into the shape of dribbling diamond tears.

[break][break] 'you weaken me.'

[break][break] he stills, expression freezing. he stopped in his attempts to reach for her.

[break][break] 'what?'

[break][break] "don't..." he said, agony in his voice plain as day. "don't say that."

[break][break] why was it that - of all the things that she'd said to him, done to him - that hurt the most?

[break][break] "i'm just trying to help."

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]
POST-PSDT

☉