Completed "He's my friend." (II)

[Litani]

Timestamp: 72nd day of Winter Season, 512 (Continued from here.) *** And there he was. Litani smiled and Rask gave back as good as he got - the two barely needed to talk anymore, he'd been here so often. Without being told, he hopped up on the table and looped one hand back around behind his neck, pulling his shirt over his head and shaking his red hair free. She stood there for half a heartbeat and watched him; he trained hard, his body showed it, and he had very little shame when it came to showing it. But this was all just a part of the dance between them. Smirking, she tilted her head as she saw him arch that sculpted back to crack his shoulders. With a swat, she hit the side of his ribs with the back of her hand and scolded slightly, "Knock that off, will ya? You make my job harder." "You're magic, what're you worried about?" he quipped back, chuckling, shrugging his tense shoulders a few times. The muscles there looked carved from living rock, perfect and strong and damned attractive. Merciful Gods, he does this on purpose. She rolled her eyes and part of her wanted very much to fire back some scathing retort. Another part of her observed him clinically, scanning him with her eyes to see if anything was visibly out of place as she mentally prepared herself for the connection that would come when she touched him. And, lastly, a tiny sliver of her simply stood in appreciation of just how masculine he truly seemed in that moment. She took a deep breath and got to work. "They had us in the field today," he told her, unsolicited, as if knowing instinctively that she was curious as to why he'd come, what he'd been doing. Two years into their friendship, she was as genuinely invested in him as he was in her, and this time it was his turn to share his adventures. In truth, her 'adventures' were fairly bland in comparison, but, just the same, he'd always listened to her. Always. Even when she was tired of listening to herself. She was quiet now, and listened. "I thought they'd never bring us back... and some jackarse with an attitude problem caught me off guard..." He trailed off as she set her hands, cool and webbed and delicately scaled, on his shoulders. Her palms were as smooth as any human's but there was a subtle difference in how her touch felt, the way the webs connected her fingers... She, for her part, briefly shut her eyes and listened to the way his body spoke to her as she touched him. His jaw hurt. He was strong, his body wanted for nothing but her attention - his neck was hurting this time, probably as a result of the same thing that had injured his jaw. "Pick on something bigger than you, did you?" she chuckled quietly, leaning forward to breathe the tease into his ear - if he could tempt her with his body, she could answer in kind, and she chose the same words as the first time they'd ever seen each other. The pair laughed gently in response to one another and she closed her eyes again, reaching into his body to feel each discrete muscle and tendon and the way they connected together... the way this one vertebrae was misaligned, the way it caused everything around it to tense up and become inflamed. She knew that no work was possible yet - try to adjust a tense body and you'd wind up with a greater injury than you started with. As her fingers began to gently work those tender muscles into relaxation, she asked quietly, "Did you finish that conversation between you, hm?" He chuckled. He nodded, but his voice was vaguely irritated as he replied, "Yes, but he got the better of me. I didn't want him to. I'm not happy that I let him push me that far." "I don't know anything about what you do, dear one, nor will I pretend to... but isn't there a place, in a knight's training, for losing one's composure? If one of your teammates is challenging you, shouldn't that challenge be answered so that the two of you can have it out and be done with it... so that when the real enemy attacks, you've got your focus?" "Maybe." He didn't sound sure. She ran the pads of her thumbs up along the length of his neck to rest behind his ears, hitting the pressure points there, encouraging the flesh to melt under her touch. He sighed gently and closed his eyes, unspeakably grateful for the relief she provided. "I don't know why he singled me out but... it doesn't matter. Enough of that. Tell me about you now." She breathed a chuckle and worked her thumbs in slow, methodical circles. "There is nothing to tell," she said, guardedly, keeping a silent thought from him but answering as honestly as she could. "I work, I treat my patients... that's all." "But how are you?" He was asking about her heart now, and about her mind. He was asking how well she was doing in the wake of her father's death, how well she was adjusting to what he knew was a devastating blow to her. Of course he knew - he was one of the few to whom she'd told nearly everything. He was one of the few who she felt truly understood; it had been a long topic of many of their conversations, almost to the point of obsession for a while, on her part. But Rask had always been patient, had always listened, probably even costing him a few slices of sanity to do so. Yet he persevered... even when the Konti felt her own sanity slipping. Her Akalak father had been singularly dear to her and, without him, she hadn't the faintest idea what to make of herself. Now, however, there was a slightly different conversation to be had. "I'm thinking about going to Riverfall." Rask turned then, away from her hands and facing her properly. When he spoke, his words were gentle, but the obviousness of their purpose was somewhat blunt as well. Still, she knew he spoke from genuine concern. "Are you sure you're ready for that?" "No," she laughed lightly, almost immediately, shrugging her slender shoulders a minute degree. "No, I'm not sure. But I won't know until I try, hm?" She smiled at him slightly and he returned a nod; it was a sentiment they'd shared many times, this concept of facing down a challenge and bravely surmounting it, wiser for having done so. 'You won't know until you try.' He nodded lightly, respectfully. "You go then, if that's what you need to do. I'll miss you something awful, but go... whatever you need, to make sure those memories are settled." "Yes well..." she started, trying to think up some off-hand remark she could say to lighten the situation, but nothing occurred to her. Instead, she decided to just accept the sincerity with which he spoke and she nodded, giving him a gentle smile. "I will," she assured him. Nodding, he turned back to let her resume her work, seemingly satisfied with that answer. A handful of moments passed in silence between them and Litani's steady hands slowly started to work their way back to the offending misalignment in Rask's neck. She stood behind him as he sat on her table, just resting, shirtless and trying to relax again to let her work. In that moment, she thought about all the times they'd talked and all the things which had passed between them - secret things, intimate things, things which threatened to blur the borders between physician and patient, between friend and beloved. Nothing had ever -happened-, not as such, but there'd been more than enough glances, more than enough words, and plenty more than enough opportunity. For one reason or another, they'd always stopped at 'friends', even if one or the other bridled restlessly at times against the constraint. There was always another person in one of their lives, or the demanding presence of duty that got in the way, or something which had always prevented them. Always something. It was only in the moments when he came to see her that a separate existence was carved out between them, something sacred and unique and volatile. Something which required his trust and her patience, but somehow it just seemed to work between them. Whatever her hands communicated to him and whatever his body told her, somehow, it worked. And then she began. He hated having his neck adjusted. Hated it. She knew it, he knew it, she struggled to explain once-upon-a-time that she knew what she was doing... he still hated it. But, in his trust, he let her do it - and he'd seen the benefits, time and again. It didn't make him any less cranky when he needed it though; today, perhaps because of their conversation, he was strangely quiet as he felt her start to work his neck into place. Slowly, gently, she brought her hands to either side of his head and guided it to a tilted position, then moved it back and forth in a slight rocking motion... This time, she stepped closer and the adjustment almost became an embrace as her forehead dropped down lightly to rest against the side of his face. "Relax..." she breathed against his cheek, still holding his head, secure and tenderly between her hands. ...and when she felt that momentary give, that subtle easing of tension when she distracted him with that touch... SNAP. Her hands were swift and sure, cracking his neck at a seemingly impossible angle, putting right what the 'altercation' had set wrong. "HOLY SHYKE, WOMAN!" he cried, surprised more than anything else and probably wanting to move much more so than he was able - for a moment, his head reeled as it always did after she worked on him and she kept a hand lightly perched on one shoulder to keep track of his feelings. Just as she always did. After a second, he whirled to glare at her. " You did that on purpose!" "You're damn right I did," she replied with a grin, not apologetic even the slightest degree. This time it was her turn to get swatted and his hand darted out, connecting with the side of her knee. "'Ey! Watch it," came the laughed response. "You earned that!" "Maybe." "Maybe? Hells. You earned a lot more than that, for that one," he said with a playful sulk, reaching his hands up to rub at his shoulders and neck as they started to become accustomed to their new positioning. As his hands came up, hers started to slide away, but not quite in time - he caught her hand and kept it there, atop his shoulder, and turned to look at her. "You're too good to me." She chuckled faintly in response, coloring with a blush but shrugging off the compliment... although she let him keep her hand where it was. Through her Gift, she was becoming all too aware of his body all of the sudden, as the touch lingered and she started to feel more deeply. "It's my job. And you like it." "It's more than your job, Litani," he said softly, turning - albeit gingerly at first, not wanting to disrupt the recent adjustment - to face her. "And yes... I do." As he spoke, he slowly removed her hand from his shoulder and held it between his own, tenderly shifting the pads of his fingers along the side of one of hers. "Will you come back?" he asked, inquiring sincerely, perhaps unaware of how distracted he was making her. She cleared her throat lightly, shifted her weight from one foot to the other, nodding to answer his question until she could find sufficient voice to do so. "I will," she nearly whispered to the floor, suddenly unable to meet his eyes, feeling him too closely and too much. Perhaps it was that very connection that made her able to anticipate what he did next. Wordless, he got up and walked around the table until he was standing beside her, before her. He'd dropped her hand to make that short journey and now brought his hands to her face, guiding her eyes to look up at his. "Be safe," he told her, not asking but gently commanding. "Learn what you need to learn. Remember him... but don't lose yourself." And then, slowly, he stepped closer and finished off the last of the distance between them, bringing his lips to the very edge of her own - not kissing her fully, but yet kissing her quite definitively, directly reflecting all of the walls between them... a passionate, affectionate gesture, placed exactly at the corner of her mouth. So impossibly close, yet miles away from what was desired. "And come back." 'To me,' she heard his body echo, finishing the unspoken words with thoughts and flesh, whispering across her consciousness in a rare moment of intimate clarity. Only because she knew him so well, only because she'd felt him so often, did she have the sense that those words lingered in his mind... but even at that, she could not be sure. Not until he drew back away and looked into her eyes. He smiled, then, subtle and sincere, as if encouraging her to do the same. And how could she not? Even if her heart broke just a little at the thought of leaving, she couldn't help but smile back at him. Something about him just... inspired that, with her. "I will come back," she promised, nodding her head, feeling her cheeks brush against his hands. Only when she made the vow did his touch fall away and he seemed satisfied at that, able to take the Konti at her solemn word. "When do you leave?" "Spring season." "That's... not long from now." He paused, counting the days in his head. Then, glancing at her again: "See me before you go?" She couldn't resist. "You come see me." He smirked, boyishly, charmingly, as handsome as she'd ever known him. "Done."

[Radiant]

Litani :

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+2 XP
Socialization	+2 XP
Medicine	+2 XP
Rhetoric	+1 XP

Lores

Lore Earned

Massaging Rask

To Go Back To Riverfall Or Not?

Loots

Notes :

Hehe, the tension between Litani and Rask is just fun to read.

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.