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[rain_of_bullets]

[Haine has taken matters into his own hands.  When he found nowhere around that did in fact do piercings or tattoos, he figured any small, sharp object would do.  To be fair, the wings do look pretty badass with the hoops and cuffs and a thin silver chain he found to fill the piercings with.  Most of all, he just wanted to stick the bastards that

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[myfatherspath]

[As soon as the struggling stops and Haine's breathing becomes more steady, Naoto calms somewhat as well. It's far easier to work on someone who isn't fighting. Asking nicely would have gotten her anywhere, and she hadn't felt like waiting until he lost consciousness.

She opens the final rings while his attention remains on Nill, and his few flinches seem like involuntary reflex rather than struggle. The pieces of metal lie in a small, filthy-red heap beside her.

How could he be such an idiot?

She grabs the towel, but before she can tear it into strips, Naoto sees that the blood on his wing is already clotting. The metal must have interfered with his natural healing...aside from the blood loss, he'd be perfectly healthy soon.

As much fun as it would have been to stick around and practice various versions of 'I told you so", Naoto quickly but quietly pushes herself to her feet. Haine doesn't need to know that she helped, and frankly, she'd rather he didn't find out. The whole thing is a hassle, and the last thing she needs is more shit from Badou.

Every second counts if she wants to get away, so Naoto yanks out her notebook and scrawls words for Nill to read. If she doesn't hit anything else, it's nothing more than a glorified whiteboard. Right?]

he'll be fine in a few minutes
DONT TELL HIM I HELPED
he was just delusional

[She holds up the notebook just long enough to be read, and then wastes no time in setting off to find a place to wash the blood from her hands. Naoto has no doubts that Nill will remain behind. If she wants to question Naoto's judgment, she can always use the notebook the way it was meant to be used.]

[manmade_angel]

[Nill feels a weight come off of her shoulders as she feels Haine start to relax and hears the metal rings start to come out and be discarded onto the ground. She just had to keep soothing him like this, and soon everything would be okay. At least, she hoped that once the piercings were out, Haine would be okay. Why he wasn't healing like he usually did, Nill couldn't begin to figure out.]

[She looks up at Naoto once she hears the woman standing up, eyes asking why she's leaving. Well, it looks like the wings are starting to heal, but couldn't Miss Naoto stay until Haine could stand?]

[Reading the message in the journal, it becomes clear why Naoto is standing up and leaving: she and Haine don't get along. But maybe if Haine knew she had helped, they could be friends! Helping each other was what friends did...]

[But Naoto leaves before Nill can ask her to stay--and possibly carry Haine back to the house. She doesn't have her journal so she can't call for help, so she's just... here like this until Haine can stand. Nill lays back down on the ground, still holding Haine's hand, and waits.]

[rain_of_bullets]

[He isn't sure how long he lays there, covered in his own blood and barely able to move, but after a time, after scabs form and crust over and his body feels stronger, now that it's managed to make up for the bloody wounds that refused to close. It isn't quite the same, of course, as laying dead in a dirty alleyway one moment and feeling his heartbeat thudding in his chest as his stomach tries to rebuild itself the next, but it's hard to ignore that dull thudding in the back of his mind.

Hands that once held weakly in return twitch and tighten their grip. It isn't as fast as before, and his wings still feel sore as if he'd just woken up in this place. Eyes hazy and dull become sharper, focused, and finally seem to take inventory of his situation. He jerks once, red eyes darting around him as if on the defensive before he finally takes note of Nill. She's still holding his hand.]

...

[As much as he hates showing his own weakness, at least Nill is the one person he can trust with them. Okay, maybe Badou, but not without catching hell for it later. He pushes himself up from the ground, at least enough to sit, but this time, he manages to have at least a shaky sort of strength behind it.]

[manmade_angel]

[While Haine isn't aware of how much time is passing, Nill feels as though she's laying awake through eternity. Looking into Haine's clouded, unfocused eyes scared her too much, made it feel as though she were laying next to a corpse. Nill had never seen Haine 'dead', and she reasoned that she never wanted to see that and had no reason to see it. Because Haine would always be okay. Haine would always be okay...]

[She's been watching their hands while Haine heals, and so the first thing she is aware of is Haine gripping her hand tighter. She sits up, hand squeezing back, and watches as Haine starts looking around, then trying to get up. Nill helps him as best she can, bracing one of his shoulders so if he wanted to lean on her... well, he could try.]

[rain_of_bullets]

[He doesn't mean to lean on her, but every now and again he slips; a combination of blood loss and the slick pavement beneath his feet. His free hand checks automatically for his guns and much to his relief, they're still there. A pained hiss escapes his lips. Why do the wings have to be so damn sore?]

Shiiiit.

[There's silence for a while as he trudges back toward their home, wings unsettled and stained.]

Hate this fuckin' place...

No matter what, I always seem to end up putting you through stupid shit.

[manmade_angel]

[Nill tries to help Haine up as much as she can, but she has a feeling that Haine wants to do this like he does most things: by himself. She doesn't like it, but sometimes that's just how it has to be.]

[She walks alongside him, making sure that if he starts to fall over, she can try to push him back up onto his feet. They're going slowly, and Haine doesn't want to talk apparently. Nill supposed that the nice thing about being friends with someone who couldn't talk, was that if you didn't want to talk it was easy to not talk.]

[Though when Haine does start talking, it's more or less what Nill expected (she doesn't like it in Luceti either, as pretty a place as it is). However she didn't expect Haine to be worried about her. Nill immediately shakes her head and puts her hands on his forearm, lightly. She's alright--she's always waiting for Haine to come home with holes and blood in his shirt. Some might think that it's horrible that she's used to waiting for her friend to come home hurt, but it's a part of knowing him. And that's okay. How Haine is, is okay.]

[rain_of_bullets]

[Walking takes a little more effort than he's used to. He hasn't had much chance to test it here, but his body doesn't exactly heal as fast as it used to. Still, each step is a little stronger, a little more sure, even if the ache in his wings won't go away and neither will the obnoxious weak-feeling that goes along with that. But progress is progress.

When Nill touches his arm he turns to look at her, nodding in a way that shows he understands. She's okay. Just like always. When did it become always?]

M'not gonna die that easy.

[He tries a smile, as much as he ever does, a scant lift around the corners of his mouth that's more a smirk than anything else.]

Can't even do what I want with my own fuckin' body. Like they own us.

[manmade_angel]

[It's a relief when Haine's steps become stronger, when he sways less, and overall looks as though he has control of all his faculties. Things will be okay, as long as they get home soon and Haine can sleep this off. She'll have to make an extra portion for Haine tonight--nobody can heal well if they're hungry, she thinks.]

[Nill smiles back at him, very happy that she could help him smile. They're always few and far between, but when Haine does smile, it means so much to her. She keeps her hand on his arm, not holding it so much as... just making sure he knows she's there. And he'll always be there too, because yes, Haine dies easily, but never manages to leave them all.]

[Her hand squeezes Haine's arm a little--it's sadly true that it feels as though their bodies don't belong to them anymore. With how often everyone changes, in both body and mind, they're powerless to keep control or make the choice not to fall in love at first sight, or whatever. Haine and Nill were both born to have their bodies and choices controlled by others, and before they were here, it felt as though they were progressing away from that. And now...]

[She walks a little closer to him. Nill wants to tell him that it will be okay, that they'll go home soon and forget this happened, but she just doesn't know.]