I Want Much More Than This Provincial Life?

Fallow let go of the breath he'd unknowingly been holding.

Lijuan let him go and turned away without uttering so much as an apology for what she'd done, and he felt his stomach sink. He thought he'd deserved an apology, at the very least, but that was that. She gestured to the wound on her body and asked for his help. Well, it was less of an ask and more of a demand, but who was he to deny it? He'd been the one to injure her in the first place...

"Let me... g-get some herbs..." Fallow managed to choke out as he stood up, wiping the spots of blood from his face with a sleeve. Without any further words the deer kelahati trudged into the forest underbrush, his feet leaden. It didn't take him long to find what he needed; Fallow knew this forest as well as he knew his own hands, after all, but even as he picked the herbs his hands trembled, and he soon found himself crying quietly into his palms. For once he was glad to be alone. He could cry in peace without Lijuan's harsh judgements. With a few sniffles he wiped his puffy eyes with the back of his palms, staining them with tears, and quickly gathered the rest of what he needed.

When he returned to Lijuan his eyes were no longer puffy, but the whites were pink from his tears. With the herbs clenched tightly in his fists Fallow sat under a tree several feet away and began to grind them into a paste with a small mortar and pestle he removed from his pocket. One could never be too prepared, after all. He was focused on his work, not daring to look in her direction in fear of what he might see. There was nothing but the sound of stone against stone as he ground the assortment of herbs into a thick green paste. Only when he was satisfied did he turn his head to his companion.

"Um... I... m-made a salve..." He still couldn't look her in the eyes. "You'll have to apply it yourself before I c-can, um, bandage it..." Fallow's voice trailed off, all confidence lost.

Lijuan

Lijuan hadn't said another word after wanting him to help with her wound, probably in much more a demanding tone that she should have used. She wasn't use to being kind, caring, or gentle with others in her time so far; hell, she never had gotten close with others to care for such a thing in the first place. Life had always been nothing more than a fight for survival, facing challenges day in and out. Being with Fallow wasn't any different, right? Had she reacted too harshly? Fuck, from the way the man was practically avoiding her was more than enough to know she had.

Yet, how else would she have needed to react? If it had been anyone or anything else that had done it, she'd send them six feet under in the matter of minutes. Here they were though, many feet about and his body still intact; the only different was the small red marks he claws left behind in their wake.

Just like him, she didn't make an attempt to look his way, afraid of the look on his face. Lijuan was more worried about this than she thought she'd actually be. Then again, she really should be feeling sorry. He felt sorry for just the act himself, and even wanted to help; there was no blaming him if he actually didn't want to help now.

A low growl erupted from the back of her throat, soft enough for just herself to hear; aimed at herself for being stupid about this all. Would an apology come though? Perhaps not now, or anything soon, but maybe later; much later. Hell, it would be a surprise if she ever did apologize, in the same day at that.

It wasn't until he heard him speak that her eyes slowly panned over to look at him; regret in her eyes but not a single speck written in her face. She nodded though, it was all she could really get around to doing. He was so confident before and now because of her it was all gone. She gave another growl of frustration to herself, just as she nodded her head again.

Her hand went around to start undoing her clothing, letting it shed down around her hips; at least only leaving her in just her uper undergarments. She outstretched her hand towards him, motioning for him to bring that concoction to her, though her face was looking towards the ground the entire time.

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She she undressed Fallow's face flushed beet red, and he turned his gaze away. He wasn't about to incur her wrath by looking on her without her consent. Fallow had found himself on the receiving end of her claws once, and that was quite enough for one lifetime. It was only when he saw her gesture him over that he looked, though he kept his eyes focused solely on her face. Had he seen regret in her eyes? It was hard to tell; she wasn't looking at him, either.

If Lijuan felt sorry, why not say so? It'd do much to lift the heavy air settled over them...

The man found himself at her side in only a few strides, one advantage of his height. He offered the mortar to her, its contents a thick green paste.

Her gaze was still fixed on the ground, though, and Fallow cleared his throat to get her attention. "I-it might sting a bit when you put it on at first..." His cheeks flushed again, a baby pink this time. "But after that, um, it'll numb the pain until I c-can dress the wound..." His gaze trailed down her body to the wound on her side. Blood seeped through her undergarments, and it was clear that the wound was deep, but from the looks if it, not deep enough to require stitches. Fallow allowed himself a sigh of relief. Good, it'd heal well...

With the bowl in Lijuan's hands, Fallow began to pull out strips of white cloth from within his pocket. He was well prepared, at the very least. "J-just let me know when you're ready, okay?"

Lijuan

In all honestly she didn't even really care if Fallow gazed at her unclothed body, it wasn't as if she was completely naked standing there. Even if she had, she still would not have minded in any way; a body was a body. Plenty were just shaped different, but they were all basically the same in concept; usually that is. Her hand went over the scar that ran along the side, from the underside of her breast and almost towards her hip. The wound was far less deep than she imagined it being, after having a pair of large claws smack against her like they had.

The blood still seemed to flow from the wound, but that was something that would happen; at least until it could get wrapped up. When he spoke, she didn't have it in her to speak back. Perhaps not the best choice, but what was she to do? It was almost a small lack of trust in her own words at this moment, so she silently took the mortar from the tall man.

Once she had some of the blood wiped away from the wound, she gripped the mortar in her bloody hand to use her clean one to spread it on over. With a couple of fingers she gently dug into the green goop, enough to hold without allowing the concoction to land on the ground. He mentioned it would sting, that was the first thing he mind went to just before gliding the stuff over her wound.

Lijuan let out a hiss of pain, but it wasn't too bad, only a sting that was it. Her abdomen flexed and contorted with each passing over her wound, not because of the sting but the soft pain she felt while he fingers grazed over. Eventually it did start to numb the area, causing a soft sigh of relief, and an eventual look up from the ground.

"I...." she turned her head away slowly, looking off towards the trees, "I am... sorry?" Oh god was that really a question? She KNEW she was sorry, but gods did she actually know how to get that to be known. The small woman shook her head and growled to herself.

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As Fallow began to prepare the bandages for easy wrappings, his ears twitched. Was that... an apology? True, it was tinged with the intonation of a question, but it was still an apology. That was... something? Wasn't it? Even more curious was the fact that Lijuan seemed upset with herself? Was it her upwards inflection that did it? Either way, he knew how hard it must have been for her to even consider apologizing, though he couldn't help but smile faintly at her attempt; he'd have to teach her how to properly apologize later, when she wasn't so fired up.

He set a hand on her shoulder and smiled gently, eyes welling with tears as he said, "I appreciate your apology, Li... Just... you really scared me back there, so please... don't do that again?"

And with that he crouched down at her side and began to dress the wound with skilled hands. "Let me know if it's too tight," he told her, though it was already clear the kelahati knew how to expertly dress a wound. His long arms made it easy for him to wrap the bandages around her torso, not too tight, not too loose, but somewhere in the middle. He worked in content silence until he tied the dressing off, tucking the ends in so that they'd make hardly any impression under her clothes. "There we go," he crooned, as if he'd been treating a small woodland creature instead of a kirin who'd just tried to maul him not long ago. "I'll have to redress you once a day until the wound scabs over, but with proper treatment it should heal right up and not scar."

He didn't know why he added on that last part. Would she even care about scars? Fallow's cheeks were colored with blush again, and he coughed nervously into his hand as he straightened up and looked elsewhere. "Should we make camp or move on?" he asked. "I'm in favor of making camp. I-I know of a good place to, um, to get some tasty fish and mushrooms, and then we can head out bright and early all rested and refreshed."

Lijuan

Lijuan's eyes hadn't made another attempt to look at him at this point, they studied the ground more than anything. Would he accept her apology? Or just push it aside like she'd had done with his own? If he did the latter, then she surely wouldn't be angry with him about it; it would definitely be something she deserved in fact. She sucked her lower lip into her mouth as she crossed her arms; more of a sense to keep them out of the way when he worked at her wound.

Wait, he appreciated it? She took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. It was something, at least, she didn't expect any acceptance; but this would surely do. The Kirin nodded her head lightly, knowing well he anger could always get the best of her at times. Yet, she was more than willing to try and curb it for him; anyone else? They were probably more than screwed.

There weren't many more words, well, any more words from her own mouth at least. Her ears only moved about when Fallow spoke, taking in what he would say; or just listening to the rustling of his fingers as he worked on dressing her wound. "That feels fine..." she finally spoke up, but just enough to be heard.

Once he was done, she took a step away, hand gently running over the material of the dressing. It wasn't tight, or loose, but it was decent enough to keep the area well and protected. Hell, if it had been her, she would have surely made herself do it. Yet, he wasn't like her in the smallest bit. He was kind and generous, always worrying of the well being of others besides himself. Was she lucky to have met him? Or was he unlucky to have met her? Only time would really tell with that one.

"Huh?" she was pulled form her own thoughts, "oh, I suppose if you want to make camp we can. It would probably be a good idea to rest until morning, so I don't aggravate my wound if we head on."

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"Then we'll make camp," Fallow said with a smile. "You focus on getting a fire going while I go catch some dinner, okay?" He gave a slight bow before departing into the woods, leaving Lijuan with some time to not only redress herself, but to also to collect her thoughts.

He allowed himself to slip into the form of a deer again--it was easy to maneuver silently through the brush this way--and began to sniff around for water. The stream he'd found earlier was small; no decent fish would be found there, and he'd have to catch more than necessary to feed the two of them. And so he followed the scent of water until it grew stronger, and until his ears were firmly fixed on the sound. Before too long he stepped through the underbrush and onto a riverbank, his cloven hoof sinking slightly in the soft earth. Again he shifted forms, this time shrinking until his body was long and sleek-furred. With webbed feet, rounded ears, and a long skinny tail, Fallow had taken the form of an otter.

Slipping into the small river, he dove beneath the surface and began searching through the murky waters until he found the fish. Hunting them was easy in this form; his slender body moved swiftly through the currents, picking off the fish one by one until he had a decent assortment of bass along the bank. Climbing out and shaking himself dry, the kelahati once again shifted, this time to his original form, and strung the bass through the gills. With his fish in hand, he set about finding some greens for the pair to eat. Dandelion greens, some wild carrots, and a few mushrooms would make for a lovely accompaniment. With the veggies gathered in his sashes, Fallow walked back to their makeshift camp with a bright smile on his face.

"Li, I've got quite the spread for us!" he chimed, holding aloft his string of four bass. "How's the fire going?"

Lijuan

Lijuan didn't really say anything to him at the moment, she just basically waved him off to go do what he was going to; if he wanted to have her make a fire, then she'd go ahead and make a dumb fire. If it was only her, as it had always been, she would have never really mattered to make a fire. For her, eating things raw was much easier; though she could easily digest it all the same.

She sighed softly, this time really did give her some space to get her mind together; think about things. Plenty of things at that. She needed to get one task though, at least have the fire up and ready when Fallow returned. With a heavy sigh that woman re-clothed herself, minding her own hands around her wound, and got to work foraging for things.

Her first task was finding some rocks to outline the area where the fire would be at; which would help keep it from spreading around the forest. That last thing she'd want was the area to burn down due to carelessness. She was a hot headed asshole, not a completely heartless being. Finding some small rocks was... a task at the least; she wanted them all to be sort of uniform in size if she could manage it well enough.

Well, they all ended up kind of the same size, a few bigger and a few smaller; but not by a whole lot. Good, this was definitely a start! A better start than she assumed, but a start. Alright, the next step was picking the right spot; one with little grass or even just a nice.. dirty spot. AH YES! There was one, the best spot, the PERFECT spot. OH gods, she couldn't have felt more ridiculous now.

Was she really spending her time doing this? Fuck, she really, really was. Damn, she must have liked Fallow enough to even care about doing this; that tall asshole. Lijuan sighed more, spot located now and rocks placed beside it. In a quick shift, she turned into her Kirin form. He large clawed from feet gently dug at the dirt, making... a shallow hole, almost round in shape but a little wonky. Oh well, she was going to put stick in there anyway.

The gathering of those was easier, just grabbing dried, dead sticks and leaves from the ground; then putting them into the little pit she made. She'd already placed the rocks around the area beforehand. NOW, the fire needed started, for that she changed shape yet again.

This was the more tricky part, she needed another rock; TWO ROCKS. Yeah, two, good thing she had a few extra left. Just as she bent down to start striking them against each other, she heard Fallow's voice; causing her head to shift over in his direction.

"Well enough I guess," she shrugged her shoulders, now slapping those two rocks together quickly, "if I'm lucky enough it should be up and going soon." Wow, he did have quite the spread, didn't he? Maybe she was surprised, but maybe she wasn't either. He knew the forest like the back of his hand, or she could assume in the least.

With a couple more strikes in the time frame, a few sparks seemed to catch the kindle of tried grasses; causing them to slowly start burning. There! That was exactly it, she just needed to keep it going and hot.

She lowered her face close, hands bunching the heated spot closer under it all; a soft breath blowing upon it. "Almost.... there," she said in almost a whisper, possibly trying to boost herself up, "THERE!" A soft flame started to build up, gentle at first, but it would slowly gain power as it rose up and caught the sticks.

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