feral kou AUs for shutsdown

[miraculess]

AND AGAIN :')

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[shutsdown]

[The place is deserted, and there's really no furniture or anything, just a blanket and a backpack in darkest corner, the one least visible from the door and closest to the window.]

[miraculess]

[ about the same as her own place, then; she'd had several more blankets, but that was mostly to make up for the fact they were all threadbare.

...does glance out the window and huff very softly under her breath, though. he'd really jumped... ]

[shutsdown]

[he sure had, and his movements are starting to reflect it a bit, though he's trying to hold out. sitting on his blanket and beckoning her over, reaching into his backpack.]

[miraculess]

[ sidling cautiously over... ]

...you don't need to do this. I can stitch myself up on my own.

[shutsdown]

I want to. [ah, there's his needle and thread]

[miraculess]

You're hurting more than I am.

[shutsdown]

I'm fine. [pats the blanket.]

[miraculess]

[ looks at him hard, trying to find... something in his expression, any hint of the usual disgust or fear or— anything that would actually make sense, really.

(she doesn't, of course.)

...kneeling where he'd directed, and after a moment's hesitation starts tugging her shirt up on the side she'd gotten stabbed, being careful not to expose more skin that she has to. it turns out to have gone pretty deep; the only thing having kept it from nicking a lung being that it'd been the wrong angle to go straight in through her ribs. ]

[shutsdown]

[honestly his setting probably has some incredibly fucked up existences, so even if his face did things, he'd probably have been trained into nonreaction anyway. plus, he doesn't actually care. eyes that injury carefully for a moment, then threads his needle and gets to work.]

[miraculess]

[ she doesn't react to the stitching— she's tense, of course, still watching his hands (watching him touch her) with a wary sort of intensity, but there's no increase or decrease in that as the needle pierces skin and flesh. ]

[shutsdown]

[we're both so fucked up. he doesn't touch her any more than necessary, but he also doesn't give the impression it's out of disgust or fear.]

[miraculess]

[ they're both incredibly fucked up. that little bit is still the most she's been touched without intent to harm since her grandmother, aside from that headpat; despite what it is he's doing, there's still a part of her that wishes she could feel it.

she still drops her shirt the instant she thinks he's done, shifting to deliberately stress his handiwork and check that the itch that meant "pain" had settled into something less angry. ]

... thank you.

[shutsdown]

[he simply shrugs, scooting back carefully to lean against the wall and ignore his protesting ribs.] Don't worry about it.

[miraculess]

[ actually shoots him a baffled look before she can stop herself ]

I don't get offered this sort of thing often enough that I can afford not to.

[ ...covering up that lapse by getting stiffly to her feet ]

[shutsdown]

... I don't have ill intent.

[miraculess]

...Perhaps you don't. Good things still don't happen to me without there being some kind of price.

[shutsdown]

[goes quiet for a few moments, definitely not contemplating how that could apply to his life too.] Maybe that's so. But it won't be because of me.

[miraculess]

[ pressing her lips together ]

...Try not to take any more falls.

[ turning to take her leave ]

[shutsdown]

[nnnnnot gonna say anything to that, but first-] Do you have a name?

[miraculess]

[ ...stops.

without turning around: ]

I don't.

[shutsdown]

... Mine... isn't something I can use, anymore. I'll see you around.

[miraculess]

[ he might have been trying to reach out with that, but what it gets him is an absolutely furious, bitter glare cast over her shoulder. ]

If you think that compares... with all respect, I hope you don't.

[ slipping out the door!! ]

[shutsdown]

[...ok bye gonna. curl up and actually focus on his pain now, trying to figure out the fun ways in which he has fucked up his ribs.]

[miraculess]

[ enjoy and maybe take the damn door next time.

...of course, as is usual for her outbursts of temper it's barely an hour later before she wants to crawl in a corner and die out of sheer regret alone. which is stupid; it would be so much easier not to give a damn instead of dealing with the mess and confusion that's coming from caring at all. but... he said he didn't have any intent to hurt her. so that hadn't been said to hurt her, so...?

she never comes to a conscious decision about it, but nonetheless her next break-in to steal food finds her hunting for supplies she'd normally have no use for, and after that back at the building he'd invited her into. she's much quieter, this time, keeping her gears carefully disengaged and her breathing slow and shallow; she has no desire to run into him and have to try to explain what she's doing. ]

[shutsdown]

[Except Kou was an assassin, and well trained in how to deal with his own kind. A floorboard creaks, and he had chosen this place with that alert system in mind. He'd been curled up with his bedding, but by the time she reaches his door, he's ready with knives on the other side.]