abraxaslogs | I want to live, not be afraid and forsaken [open]

He absolutely does not turn over.

This is not what he needs right now.

"I was stabbed. A lot." Not very accurate. Technically he was only stabbed once. He was shot by a crossbow, tackled, and punched a couple times. Two different incidents, blurred together. "Really, it's nothing. It'll heal in time. I'm just tired."

Istredd frowns at him, assuming he does know that his body will heal, so that may be true. But it is still a concern. He disappears for a few minutes, leaving the room, but he is not gone long before he returns. He sets clean sheets to the side and a fresh set of clothing, and a few medical supplies for the wounds. He is going to bloody up his clothes and bedding, fine, but the pragmatic Istredd is getting ahead of when he's done.

"I am asking you to turn over so I can bandage your wounds. Even if they heal, it's better not to get your blood everywhere first."

He sounds as reasonable as possible so Lucifer won't get annoyed at him, although he may do that anyway. He waits patiently all the same.

"What happened? Were you attacked like Yennefer?" He has no reason to doubt that.

He doesn't need bandages, surely? His grace should be enough for something simple like this? But he's accustomed to healing immediately, not this slow drawl.

He should be fine, but this is new territory, and he's been fool enough already, he maybe should reconsider.

Lucifer turns over, but he makes a show of how unhappy he is to do so.

"No, this was..." he breaks off with a scowl, "a mistake of my own making." There, see, he's adult enough to admit it.

The blood on the tunics, for the most part, is beast. There's a hole that leads to a nasty puncture wound where he was shot close-ranged with a crossbow and then subsequently tore the bolt free, vaguely healed over already.

His bruises have faded, and the stab wound on his palm is the most recent of the damage.

"Now that sounds like a story." One that Istredd will not push, but he is leaving open if Lucifer chooses to snap at it. Otherwise he first goes for his hand. He brought water with him too so he can wash the wound before bandaging it. Otherwise it might fester. And maybe it wouldn't, he doesn't know Lucifer's healing ability, mages heal very quickly as well. But he is going to be thorough and practical about this.

His touch is gentle, he is not a healer by trade, but he has helped people who are wounded in the past. When everything around you is on fire and at war, you have to learn how to react to it. That's back home and here. He knows a stab wound when he saw it, and he doubts Lucifer stabbed himself. He wraps the hand, covering the wound itself with the bandage after taking as much of the blood he can before staunching it.

"Take off your shirt so I can do the same to whatever happened there. Have you been told before that if you're stabbed, you shouldn't take out whatever it was? That is how people bleed out before a healer can get to them."

"It does, doesn't it?" His voice is pitched too high, and his gaze falls to a corner in the room, pointedly ignoring the open conversation starter. The fact that he is willingly going along with this... this truly inane situation is a miracle in of itself. One that Istredd wouldn't begin to understand the weight of it.

The thought of moving his limbs in the right motions to even get his pair of tunics off sounds like a pain. He just wants to lay down and sleep. It's not a hard concept. What's a little blood? Most of this he's had for days now, anyway.

"No, I haven't," he bites out, "because it's never been a concern before. It's not even a concern now. You're just--" Lucifer cuts off, clearly frustrated with everything and it isn't Istredd's fault. Lucifer, all grumbling and discomfited cat, takes off the damn tunics.

Istredd patiently waits for Lucifer to eventually accept his request and pulls off his tunics. He is not new to the energy that is required for herding spitting cats, temperament-wise. He has not gotten a lot of information out of Lucifer about who he is or where he comes from, so he will have to note that one down. Supernatural healing, if he doesn't know about being stabbed.

"Indulge my concerns and you'll have clean clothes, a clean bed, and peaceful sleep. It's not a bad deal." The hand is seen to as much as it can be for now, bandaged tightly, and he turns his attention to the puncture wound. This could be from an animal attack, but he is skeptical. Lucifer would say he got an attacked by an animal if that's what it was, unless it was humiliating.

He cleans the wound gently. "Do I need to worry that someone is going to sneak in here and try to finish the job?"

"No one from Thorne was involved," an admission, "so it would be an impressive feat, now more than ever."

It's maybe the only thing Lucifer has going for him. Maybe before the meteor strike breaking into a cage would be easier than breaking out, but now? He'll have people to potentially contend with in the Horizon, but Thorne?

No.

That is an admission at least, and it does reassure him that he won't have to stay awake ready to blast someone away from Lucifer. Istredd is not a battle mage, in fact he's been in very few fights and rarely used offensive magic. But that doesn't mean he's in capable.

"If you get stabbed again, do not pull it out. Now that you can be injured, it'll only make it worse. A healer can handle it much easier with the weapon still in." And it keeps his blood inside his body. Istredd is not going to push about the fact he said he didn't used to be concerned about injuries, not at the moment. That's a future question kind of thing.

The wound cleaned, he very carefully places a bandage on top of it. "Please sit up so I can wind this around you, and then we are done." See, he is trying to be efficient and helpful.

He's just shy of saying 'yes, Mom' before he cooperates with the request, because the sooner he does the sooner they get this over with. See? He can learn. He might not even tear a blade out of his skin again after this. Progress.

Still, 'now that you can be injured' stabs something low in his gut that has nothing to do with said injury.

He doesn't say thank you, however...

"So how likely is it for you to show up with a similar injury, hm? Make me have to do the same."

He doesn't like owing anyone.

The bandage firmly done around his wound, Istredd calls it complete and he takes the clean tunic he found, offering it over to him. He also put clean sheets and blankets on the end of the bed since Lucifer apparently decided lying on it while bleeding everywhere was a good idea.

"Very unlikely. Yennefer has probably thought about stabbing me a few times, but I mostly stay out of conflict. I'm a scholar."

He did go on a mini-mission with the very man who attacked Lucifer, Geralt, that had a little violence. But it's rare. Since coming here, he would be shocked if he got involved in any trouble. He spends most of his time in the library. Who would want to hurt him? It is a little hint that despite Yennefer and Istredd being close, there's some tension there. A lot of tension.

He goes over to his bed so as not to crowd Lucifer anymore. "I've never been in a fight."

"Hate to break it to you, but if Yennefer stabs you, you're on your own for that one."

He may like Istredd but he's not getting on Yennefer's bad side for fixing up an injury that she caused. He can only imagine the hell she could bring down on him.

Not worth it.

He tests his motion with the bandages before pulling the tunic overhead.

But look, sleeping on blood is absolutely no problem. Do you expect him to make a bed? That's blasphemous, obviously.

(He will, eventually, do it. But it will only amount to throwing a bottom sheet and a blanket over, untucked, because he absolutely does not know how to make a bed. It'll serve its purpose.)

"Imagine my surprise," he says dully at the never-been-in-a-fight comment, "you should do something about that. You may have lucked out with your studies protecting you before, but don't bank on them doing it here, forever."

"She has only thought of stabbing me. And I think most exes have that feeling from time to time." Not that Istredd ever has of her. Although he has wanted to strangle her, not physically but symbolically, when she is being stubborn and difficult. He has shaken her before, but they have been careful not to get in each other's space in awhile.

This may be the first time he directly references that Yennefer is not just an old schoolmate of his. The two of them were together, long ago. Istredd hasn't mentioned it to anyone else. Only Geralt is aware, considering their shared history with her, and that had been an accidental connection.

He sighs and lies down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. Sometimes this castle reminds him of home. The Nightbloom party reminded him of the courts he avoided as much as possible, but Thorne Castle is so similar. If he shuts his eyes he can almost hear Stregobor, something no one should ever have to hear.

"I said I've never been in one, but I was trained for years in case of battle, wars were always possible. The history of mages was fraught with many wars and slaughters." So they prepared their mages for court but also in case of danger. "I'll just have to remember how."

If he had been drinking anything, he would've spat it out at the comment about Yennefer being an ex.

Well then.

He is not touching that comment--good on him.

"Training only gets you so far," he says with a scoff, waggling both his hands in the air, "take it from me, practice is important. I unfortunately learned that the hard way!"

Istredd turns his head to look at Lucifer. "You do realize the answer is probably that we should practice with one another. Although there is no end of people in Thorne who would probably want to help."

As long as Thorne could hope that they would fight for them. Istredd is not interested in fighting for anyone, but rather from anyone. Sooner or later he might find himself in trouble. His experience with the elves taught him that only his tongue has to be fast enough, but it might not have been.

"Get rest, Lucifer. It'll be better in the morning."

I want to live, not be afraid and forsaken [open]

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Maybe can wrap on this one!