From:
Marvin Kosh <trustno1@omniloth.net> Date: Mon Oct 21, 2002 3:15
am Subject: [DL-T] Dash it all... So Close
Late morning, day 5
"Look," Libby said, "that wound is not going to heal if you keep walking
around here in a daze. Do you hear me?"
"But-" Joanna protested as she was frogmarched into a room.
"Falak," said Libby, "make sure this girl stays in her bed, will you? I
can't watch everyone at once."
The redhead sighed and flopped back on the empty bed. "I'm not a girl,"
Joanna said softly when she figured Libby was out of earshot.
"You're not?" Falak smiled, and put down the wooden dragon he was
working on. "You look an awful lot like one to me." He chuckled, "
'name's Falak by the way." He said, saluting with a small chisel.
"Joanna," she replied, turning her head to face him for a moment. "What
I meant was, I'm a grown-up, I can take care of myself." She coughed
noisily just then and grimaced at the pain in her side. Then she looked
over again and asked curiously, "What's that you're working on?"
Falak picked up the little wooden egg and tossed it to Joanna. It was
about the size of a small chicken egg, carved in the upper half into a
dragon rearing up as if to blast a wraith. "Its just something I spend
my time on." Falak swatted at some of the clippings trying to brush them
off the bed he was propped up in. "I do sort of a magic act, and I give
them away as gifts." He grinned sheepishly, "Mostly to GIRLS." He then
got more serious, and pointed to the bandages wrapped around his
stomach. "I got this the other day in a fight with a drunk guard." He
indicated her side with the chisel, "Where'd ya get yours?"
Joanna pressed her lips together a moment, looking up at the ceiling.
"I got skewered. I ran onto a guy's sword. Lucky for me it missed
everything important on its way through."
She held the egg up in the light, studying it. "It's nice work," she
said, looking back across at him again, her aqua-blue eyes glinting with
approval. "You could probably make some coin if you made these for a
living, you know."
He tried not to think about how a girl - or woman as she insisted - got
a sword wound, but then again Falak himself wasn't too smart when he got
that dagger in the gut showing off for Brandy.
Falak shrugged, then winced as it pulled on his bandages. They really
weren't necessary, but that nurse from hell kept him here. "I've sold
them before when I was out wandering and needed some quick cash. But its
not really that good." He indicated the bag of oddly shaped pieces of
wood next to his bed. "I got those from the local carpenter, mostly cast
off pieces and garbage. True sculpting is done in stone." Falak grinned,
"And besides, sculpting really isn't that fun."
"No, but it's a way of expressing what you feel.. In here," Joanna said,
tapping at her heart. "I think.... I think I used to do that too to
make my way in the world.... I poured all my love into sculpting....
that seems like another life ago, now," she said, crinkling her brow as
she grasped at fragile strands of memory. "So what do you do when
you're not stuck in here?"
"Oh, just a little of this, and a bit of that." He smiled then tried to
change the subject. "You said you think you used to sculpt?" Falak
raised one eyebrow in a comical expression. "You usually know about
those sort of things." Falak smiled warmly.
"I don't remember much about what happened before I arrived....
'here'.... two years ago. Just bits and pieces. Oh, I'm not a crazy
person, if that's what you're thinking. I can recall every day since
then just fine." She laced her hands together over her stomach and
sighed again. "It's the stuff before that which isn't clear. And I
really wish I could remember more, it just seems to slip away like it
never even happened."
"So you have amnesia?" Falak said seriously, "Its a word a medic in
Raisa called memory loss. I can't quite remember everything that he
said, I was," He coughed conspicuously, "err, indisposed as I heard him
speaking." Indisposed was right, he was hiding in the closet as the
doctor got home early when Falak was trying to steal a particularly
expensive painting.
Falak pondered for a moment, "I think he said that the patient, that
would be you," Falak nodded at her. "he said the patient should refrain
from trying to dwell on the past, and concentrate on the future, and
eventually their memories would return."
"So, as not to be thinking about memories, lets talk fun." He grinned
realizing he was the one who changed the subject in the first place.
"What do YOU do for a good time?" He tilted his head as he looked at
her, "or can't you remember that either?" Falak asked joking.
"Well, I'm always fond of a good party. Not that I can relax and just
be myself, you know. Work just seems to take over at the first sign of
trouble." Joanna noticed the baffled look he gave her and clarified,
"I'm a guardian, protector, that sort of job."
"You're a bodyguard?" Awareness about the sword attack blossomed on
Falak's face. "Somehow you don't look the part." Falak paused, trying to
think of the words. "You're a lot less... bulky than most of those I
know. Not that this is a bad thing." Falak added quickly, "I mean, your
very good looking, I mean..." Falak stammered tripping over his tounge.
Falak decided that it was time to change the subject again.
Spotting his bag of dice sitting on the small table between the two
beds. "Do you play dice?" He asked picking up the pouch, and pulling on
the strings.
"Ah...." she thought for a moment, then looked at the cubes in his hand,
"yeah. I seem to remember playing a few tables in my time. It's all in
the wrist." She smiled, the first time in days she'd done so.
Falak smiled as well, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside as he always did
when a cute girl smiled at him. He was glad he finally was getting her
to relax. It almost made his loaded dice seem evil.. "Yep," He pulled
the table out away from the wall as he explained. "You roll two dice,
then add the two together to score, and you get double that if they are
the same numbers." He threw a couple tossed, getting three double 6's in
a row. "We each take turns throwing a few times," He indicated his last
double 6, "See how easy that is?" He handed her seemingly the same dice,
but in reality using his skills to exchange his loaded dice for a pair
that were fairly poor.
"Hmmm," Joanna said, shaking the dice thoroughly and then releasing them
onto the table, "if you say so...." She got herself some fairly mean
rolls and blinked. "Well, looks like my luck isn't changing," she
commented with a giggle.
"Either that or my luck is just that good." Falak laughed and showed her
the loaded dice. He chuckled at her look of confusion. So he leaned
forward and plucked another pair of dice out from behind her ear, and
then made them disappear into thin air. "I said I did a magic act." He
grinned at her. "I just didn't say how.."
She laughed softly. "So this is your idea of a good time.... beguiling
young women with your sleight of hand?"
"I could have suggested we play for money." Falak suggested grinning. He
paused as if hearing something. "One sec, Airsight just reminded me of
something." He leaned over the other side of his bed searching for
something, barely able to keep his balance with his legs in the air.
"You're a dragonrider then," Joanna commented, watching him wiggle
around on the bed. "How long you been joined?"
"Less than a week really," He said muffled by the coverings on the bed.
"Ahh here we are." He said as he righted himself with a bottle of wine
that was only half empty. "I always keep one of these hidden in my
pack." He explained as he pulled at the cork. "Never know when ya might
need it." He grinned, "Especially in a place like this where they BARELY
EVEN LET YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE LIKE A SLAVE WITH WATER!" The last directed
out the door supposedly at the nurses.
He turned back to Joanna and offered the bottle. "I don't have any
glasses, so we will have to share," He smiled again, "But I won't tell
if you don't."
She took it, holding it carefully, studying it. Then she caught the
whiff from the top of the bottle and smiled, raising it to her lips and
taking a mouthful before handing it back to Falak. Her eyes closed for
a moment as she savoured the taste. "That's the stuff," she said with a
contented sigh.
Falak chuckled and took a drink himself. "I see you're no stranger to a
decent wine." He handed the bottle back. "You seem a bit surprised that
I'm a rider." He snorted a short laugh at himself, "Not that I wasn't
surprised.." Falak then explained how Airsight made such a fuss
travelling across the green to where the Circus was camped just to join
with him. "It's strange really, he's always there. Not that I don't love
the little guy." He said with a smile and the look of a rider talking to
his dragon. "Its just a lot different than what I was used to.. before."
A sad look crossed his face almost mirroring the look Joanna had before.
"You mean, the life you had to give up to be a rider?" Joanna asked,
taking a moment to realise the bottle was back in her hands. She took a
small swig and returned it to Falak again.
"Well yes and no." He said reluctantly. "There was a lot of struggling
to survive before I came here, and I don't really want to go back. But
there were some good times too that I'm probably not going to be able to
get away with now." Falak took another long pull on the wine finishing
the bottle as he thought about scaling walls and breaking into manor
estates in the middle of the night on a contract to steal something
valuable.
"Not that there aren't good reasons for staying here." He smiled as he
tossed the empty bottle across the room into the small basket for
medical waste. "I mean, free room and board and such." Then he grinned
at her, "And of course the company is good, even stuck in here."
"There is that," she said, flicking her hair back over her shoulders,
"though I have to admit I came in here feeling pretty down. And if you
hadn't brought me out of that I probably would have been, well, really
bad company." She grinned briefly.
"I don't really believe in bad company." Falak responded, "I think that
a person can have a bad day, but most everyone can get to a point past
that, and become happy, relaxed, and friendly." He grinned to himself
thinking of some of the women he had gotten VERY friendly with in the
past.
"Take your word for it," Joanna said, looking at the ceiling again. "I
never argue with anyone who shares their stash of booze. One of those
little rules I have." She looked across at Falak and smiled, "So, what
you want to do now?"
"Well, seeing as how they are so strapped for beds in this place," Falak
started to suggest, "You could come joi-"
He was interrupted as the head healer came into the room jostling both
of its occupants. "There you two are. Libby says you should be able to
walk, so I'm drafting you as messengers." R'chein said waving both of
them out of the room.
Falak sighed, and barely got another look at Joanna as he grabbed his
shirt, and followed, trying not to look disappointed.
"I knew it was too good to be true," Joanna muttered, "things finally
start to look up, and someone has to come along and throw a wrench in
the works."