Desmond Miles ❖ 005

[failssassin]

Who: failssassin and halfthelady
Where: Espoir and the Shadowhunters manor
Style: Third
Status: Closed and backdated to the Nocterea and Yeti attack

Comments

[halfthelady]

A humored smile passed on her lips and her eyes met his for a moment before she averted hers back to the task at hand. Her tone though didn't give away whether or not that boring dates were a good thing or not. "That's true. They're more lively than the outings than I'm used to at home.

Ah, scars. That was something that Jessamine could relate to. She was going to mention that if he had been a Shadowhunter she could have healed them no problem with a healing rune, but she caught herself before she said anything. It wasn't like healing runes did any good for scars anyway. They never truly went away unless it was with time. Her own were a testament to that. "At least it won't be visible on a day to day basis."

Jessamine only flinched slightly when he let out a yell but only lifted the towel which was now soaked with blood away from his wound. "I can see that," she said a bit dryly trying to dispel the pain with a bit of sarcasm. No doubt something like that would hurt, but all the men she seemed to be acquainted with tried to appear tougher than they seemed. Her eyes softened slightly though and she reached for the hand that had gone to grip his shoulder. She gave it a soft squeeze before smiling slightly. "The sooner we get it cleaned the less pain you'll be in."

[failssassin]

"Yes, one is enough" He was of course referring to the scar running through his lips. That one had an embarrassing story, one that he'd always be remembered of when looking in the mirror.

Desmond wasn't like most men Jessamine had probably treated in her life. He wasn't used to the battlefield, the flawless skin of his torso a good testament to that. This was the first really wound he had sustained in his life. All before were scratches and bruises, even when he had fought the Abstergo's guards. He knew there was no shame in admitting weaknesses, and he had seen first hand how too much of a big ego could lead to one's downfall.

The hand resting over his and the light squeeze broke his thoughts and he looked back at Jessamine, find her closer than what he had expected. He gave her a smile that was supposed to be reassuring, but mixed with the pain grimace he couldn't wipe away of his face, it might have look slightly strange.

"I know," he said, voice barely over a whisper, "but it still doesn't make it any less painful." Still, he laced his fingers with Jessamine's, his thumb running over her knuckles as a silent gesture to let her know that she could keep on cleaning his wound. No matter how much he whimpered, he knew he'd survive this.

[halfthelady]

Jessamine gave him a slight smile. At least he only had one. By Shadowhunter standards, the amount of scars that she had was nothing in comparison to the number that the others had, but in this world, she supposed that it would be odd for a young lady like her to have more scars than someone like Desmond.

"You're going to have to tell me the story behind that one." A slight chuckle emitted from her lips as she eyed the mysterious scar on his face. her tone turned teasing despite the circumstances. "A bad lover's spat perhaps?"

His slight touch sent a bit of colour running to her cheeks. She wasn't sure if he could feel the slight white scars that ran the expanse of her hand but the glamour that was on her still covered the sprawling black mark and scars from human sight. She smiled reassuringly at him before continuing to gently clean the wound, only drawing her hand away from him so she could wring out the towel and grab a fresh one. The blood was beginning to dry on the first one, but Jessamine knew that wounds could always be a bit deceiving; she'd have to keep an eye on it.

[failssassin]

Well, it wouldn't be odd. Not by the Assassins' standards, anyway.

His smirk widened lightly as he shook his head: "If only. No, this is just a bar fight turned ugly. And I can't even say 'You should have seen the other guy'..." He had been his first week as a bouncer in Ireland. A Scott with too much to drink had deemed the American a good practice target for his fists. It wouldn't have been that bad if the man had not decided to smash a bottle of beer on his face. The doctor at the hospital had said Desmond had been lucky with only having a scar. It could have definitely gone way worse for the young man.

"What about yours?" It wasn't that he could feel them beneath the pad of his fingertips as much he remembered well seeing them on her body when she and Isabelle had that fight while Jessamine had still been in the bath. He could still see in his mind the faint white lines tracing over her skin, amongst other things he'd seen that day.

He let go of her hand and looked down again at the wound. The scratches were deep, but nothing that would required stitches, thank god. He gave her a small amused look, while he pouted teasingly:

"Am I going to survive, miss nurse?"

[halfthelady]

"Ah, the dangers of working in a shady, dark club," Jessamine cooed although her tone held a hint of slight disapproval. She had seen Will come back home with far too many scars that were from silly bar fights and she couldn't say that she was a fan of them. If anything she thought that they were downright barbaric. "I do hope that you didn't participate willingly."

Her posture immediately stiffened when he asked the question and she cursed herself silently. She had walked right into that one on her own accord, hadn't she? Jessamine debated side stepping the question for the time being but with him saving her from a rather nasty wound, she supposed she owed him as much. "You saw my dream," she said evenly even though she could still feel the stele that had drawn the faded marks onto her skin even now. It was as much as she was willing to admit to him for the time being.

The question made her let out a laugh - a strange sound considering the atmosphere outside. She played along though as she dabbed the towel lightly onto the next angry slash. "Oh, sir, I should hope so. Losing you would be terribly tragic!"

[failssassin]

"No, it wasn't. I'm not a big fan of getting punched, to be honest" he said as he gave her another small smirk.

"I have." But it hadn't explained that much. "And I've heard your slips and seen you fight as well, Jessamine." His tone, while soft and inquiring, made it clear that there would be no side-stepping the matter this time.

"You're one of them, aren't you? One of the Shadowhunters, I mean." If she was, she would be half-angel, right? Or something akin, if he remembered correctly. He wanted to ask what was so terrible about being a Shadowhunter, but he decided not to push his luck for the moment. More answers would come in time, surely. "Your scars, they come from training or from fighting?"

He only tensed when the blond started to work on the second wound, this time schooling in his groan and hiss. The whole area was throbbing but he was starting to be able to bear the pain. Her laugh brought a real smile to his face, her choice of words bringing a slight coloring to his cheeks.

"Would it? I'm touched..."

[halfthelady]

"Oh good." She gave him a pleased smile that was perhaps tinged with a hint of warning. "Because if you were that type of person, I'm afraid I would be terribly disappointed."

She could only close her eyes for a moment and pause in her cleaning. Actually, she would probably put fighting right under the slip up category - anything she had done while she was here and when she was with him had been slip ups that Jessamine would much rather forget. Just the name 'Shadowhunter' made her squirm. Any mention of her supposed double life made her heart clench up with fear although she couldn't quite say why. Finally though, she opened her eyes to look at him for a moment before turning towards the bedside table and placing the blood soaked cloth on top of the other one. She grabbed another, dipping it into the basin and turned back to his wound. "Training. They're left over from training." If Desmond wanted answers, he wasn't going to get to them easily.

His answer made her give him a bemused smile. She could tell that he was still hurting, but the fact that he was joking clearly meant that he was holding up. "Who else would I have taking me to dinner and then having to save me from being mauled by a demon?" she asked with a smile before it broke into a cheeky grin. "Most would consider me a very lucky person."

[failssassin]

He raised an eyebrow slowly at her words, his smile never faltering: "I'm glad I don't then." Because his ancestors were disappointed in him enough to last a century.

Desmond could see that the mention of the life she tried so hard to hide was not making Jessamine any comfortable. It still didn't quench his curiosity, but he knew he'd have to do this slowly if he ever wanted to have answers from the blond.

"That's quite the training you're having..." The mention of how she got her scars made him frown lightly, and before he realized what he was doing, he raised one hand up to her neck, his fingers tracing lightly over a line he remembered running on the soft skin of her neck. He could feel the marred skin beneath his fingertips but still couldn't see the scar itself. This was puzzling him. Dark eyes raised from her neck to meet hers, fingers still trailing on her skin for a moment:

"How do you manage to hide them?"

Realizing that he might have over step his boundaries with Jessamine, Desmond dropped his hand, offering her a small sheepish smile while berating himself for letting his Italian descent take over him. Still, he mirrored her cheeky grin with a full smile of his own, though he shrugged lightly:

"Well, you did told me to be a knight in shinning armor."

[halfthelady]

"I assure you it was very much against my will..." Desmond's sudden touch caused Jessamine to almost let out a gasp. It was sudden enough for her to truly jerk the towel away from his side and for her eyes to widen. If anyone in London had even dared to do that, she would have more likely than not slapped them across the face. Things like that didn't happen unless the two people in question were intimate with each other and married and the last time Jessamine had checked, she didn't share either of those statuses with Desmond. Even she couldn't tell whether or not the flush colouring her cheeks was from anger or embarrassment.

The blonde could tell that he hadn't meant to do that though and it was one of the few things that stopped her from losing her cool. Her posture went immediately rigid when his hand traced the line of one of her scars and she swallowed, finding herself unable to move even though a part of her wanted to reach for his hand and keep it there. Luckily, his hand dropped and she let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding in.

"It's called glamour." Her hands returned to cleaning quickly trying to cover up the awkward moment and her eyes flickered to his only briefly before they turned to the wound before her lips turned into a crooked smirk at the thought of it. Funny how one had to draw marks on to hide the scars that one had only to have the one mark leave a scar of its own. "How it works though is my little secret."

The phrase made her laugh. Whenever she had imagined her knight in shining armor as a child, she would never have thought to come up with an image quite like Desmond. It wasn't entirely terrible though. "I'm surprised you remember. Who knew that I'd have to end up coming to a dream world to find my knight."

[failssassin]

The crease between his brow deepened at that. No one should be put through training against their will. Even him had had the chance to say no to his training. Not that he would have had chosen otherwise, even if he had known about the side effects then. The stakes were too high now and there was a part of self-vengeance against the Templars for all they put their Animus' subjects. While Desmond wanted to know how Jessamine had found herself training to be a Shadowhunter against her will, he could clearly see how tensed she had become since he started to question her and decided to drop the subject for the moment. Especially that the young woman had been kind enough to treat his wounds. That and he didn't wanted another bruise to be added to the count.

It was strange how it had been so easy to touch Jessamine for Desmond. The only other person he had reached for without thinking had been Lucy. The implication of his gesture had not touched the young man's mind like it had Jessamine's. Another era, other customs after all. He heard the breath she let out and felt slightly guilty at pushing the limits for no good reason else than his curiosity. Still, there was a small part of him that had wanted to leave his hand there as well, and that same part felt partly relieved and partly disappointed when the blond brushed away the incident completely.

He watched her smile as she made it clear that he wouldn't know how she accomplished the feat of hiding the scars he had seen on herself. He nodded once, letting her know that he wouldn't ask. He knew well that people needed their own secrets as well. The technique's name was still amusing to him: "I thought only Hollywood had glamour?"

Her laugh was a welcomed sound and it pulled his own lips up. Of course he remembered, it was hard to forget anything that had happened that afternoon. Their walk, the children's attack, their kiss. It wasn't something that easy to forget, in a good way, and Desmond wasn't entirely ready to try and do it anyway. He couldn't deny that he had enjoyed it, even though he quickly silenced that part of him.

"I think that a dream world is probably the best place to find a knight in shining armor." Because they were pretty much nonexistent in the real world, any realistic person knew that.

[halfthelady]

Jessamine was glad that he dropped the subject. She didn't want to remember the training that she had to go through and all the dreary Latin lessons when she had wanted to be anywhere but there. In reality, the lessons hadn't been that bad but a part of her had rejected the idea that she grew to dislike it. The constant reminder that she was a Shadowhunter first and a lady second didn't help matters either. Even if he had asked more, she wouldn't have hurt him - she just would have been more inclined not to speak of her past again.

As much as she wanted to bring it up, she suspected that now wouldn't be the right time to do so. After all, what if his intentions behind it were merely accidental? That would be rather embarrassing on her part to assume things like that. Yes. Best to leave it until the right time. Not to mention that there were demon creatures lurking outside. Even without his hand there though, Jessamine could still feel the lingering warmth that he had left there.

"Is it?" Her brown eyes met his and she gave him a bemused smile. "I suppose it is but I doubt that they cast their glamour like we do." She doubted it very much.

Jessamine fell silent at that. Even though every day in Somarium felt real, it was easy to forget that it was a dream world if you ignored certain aspects of it. Of course she still longed for London, but she had settled into an odd lull. If, no - when she went home, did that mean that she would forever be dreaming about someone to take her away from the Institute? Of course she knew that knights didn't truly exist, but she still hoped. She dabbed the last bit of blood away from the wound and deposited the soiled cloth before grabbing a clean one and starting on the last. A soft smile appeared on her face. "Unfortunately."

[failssassin]

Like with the many things that had happened around Jessamine, Desmond knew he'd have to muse over why he felt so comfortable around her. She barely knew him, especially that he wasn't one to share much about himself, and he was only starting to understand who she really was. Still, he couldn't deny that he felt at ease around her and that scared him a little. How long before he forgot himself and let out vital details about himself? The bartender didn't really want the young lady to know that he was an Assassin. Not only for her sake, but because he doubted that she'd approve, even if it was to save his world. He could remember well the look in her brown eyes when she had seen his dream. For a moment, the novice wondered if Jessamine's several past slips were because she was feeling comfortable and at ease around him. Strangely, a part of him hoped for it.

He shrugged lightly, his eyes conveying his own amusement: "Well, they do say it's a magical place, so you never know."

As Jessamine started to work on the last scratch, Desmond raised a hand to wipe the sweat away from his brow. While he hadn't say anything about it for a while, he was still suffering from his wound and he could feel the toll the fight and the injury had taken on him. His hands were shaking lightly and tension had settled in his shoulders. Careful not to hinder the blond's work on his wound, he reached over and undid the straps of his Hidden Blade, tossing the weapon on the night table by the bed. It was still close enough to be reached for in case the monsters managed to break into the house. He massaged his wrist lightly, starring off in front of him, his mind slowly running off the Renaissance Italy before he squeezed his eyes shut and reopened them, blinking a few times to push away the visions, missing Jessamine's answer. Desmond wasn't really surprised that he was starting to have side-effects of the Bleeding Effect: they were more and more frequent when he was exhausted or had used his ancestors' skills for a prolonged period of time. Hopefully, he wouldn't pass out on the young woman's bed and have nightmares that belonged to Ezio or Altaïr.

[halfthelady]

Jessamine suspected something was different about Desmond - his dream had given that away pretty quickly. When they had been fighting the Noctaere, even though she had been occupied herself, she couldn't help but notice the blade that Desmond had used coming out of no where as well. In addition to all of that, it worried her that Desmond was invovled in things that seemed dangerous although she couldn't quite put her finger on why. Normally, if people were careless enough to get themselves in that sort of mess then that was their choice, not hers. Why should she have to worry about them when they hardly ever batted an eye at her well being?

Her eyes followed the blade as it fell onto the night stand. It seemed like the two of them had their own share of secrets combined. Jessamine was about to comment on it when she looked up at the man's face. Her cleaning stopped and she quickly leaned forward, placing a hand onto his forehead. She caught her hands shaking and for a minute, her chest clenched in fear but she had to remind herself that losing her composure right now wouldn't help at all.

"Desmond? Desmond, what's wrong?"

[failssassin]

The coolness of her skin against his feverish one was soothing enough to break the next onslaught of images that danced before his eyes. He leaned ever so slightly into her touch, opening his eyes, relieved to see her brown eyes and angelic face framed with blond hair instead of seeing Maria's or Claudia's or anyone that used to treat Ezio's wounds.

After a moment, he raised his own hand, fingers curling gently around her wrist and bringing down her hand as he offered her a sheepish smile and a shrug:

"Nothing, Jessamine. Just a headache." Something he could put on the blood lost, right? Or on the exhaustion he was feeling. And not on the incoming memories that blurred his vision and made him lose touch with his reality. 'Focus, man. Can't fall apart here and now.' He still needed to get home before he could let himself crash after all.

[halfthelady]

The temperature of his hot skin surprised her. She had seen wounds like this before but she had never seen them come hand in hand with a fever. Jessamine felt as if Desmond's fingers were imprinting themselves onto her wrist and if they stayed there any longer she wouldn't be surprised if they actually did.

If Desmond had been looking, he would have noticed that Jessamine's eyes gave away how she very much doubted that it was a mere headache. She didn't say a word of her doubt though and merely sighed. "Whatever that thing was must be doing something to you then. You're burning up." She moved gently moved his fingers off of her wrist and slipped away to get bandages and cold water. "I'll be right back." Jessamine cast a worried glance at him before quickly hurrying off to change the water.

[failssassin]

Even if he had caught her unconvinced look at him, he wouldn't have been that surprised by it. He hummed lowly, closing his eyes slowly as he leaned against the bed pole, the cold state of the wood helping clearing his head lightly:

"I'm sure it's just the lost of blood." Or at least he was praying hard it was. Hopefully, the monsters hadn't carried diseases or poison on their claws.

When she moved away, he shivered slightly and opened his eyes again, this time catching Jessamine's worried gaze on him. He tried to give her a smile that looked reassuring and when she disappeared into the adjacent room again, Desmond moved slowly to grab his back pack, pulling out the gift he had picked up for her. He had wanted to give it to her at the restaurant, but hadn't been able to. Putting it on the bed, he chose to wait for the right moment, or at least once his wounds were done being cleaned and wrapped up. The bartender knew this was not the best timing, but if he were about to pass out because of the Bleeding Effect, he wanted at least for the blond to get her present before he'd freak her out with his nightmares.