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oddsandends2021-10-08 07:11 pm
mytarget) wrote in oddsandends2021-10-08 07:11 pm
96th ♫ | they all say that love wins, but I keep losing no matter what I do.
Hurt/Comfort - Hurt/comfort is a fan fiction genre that involves the physical pain or emotional distress of one character, who is cared for by another character. The injury, sickness or other kind of hurt allows an exploration of the characters and their relationship.
- Post with Character Name | Series in the subject.
- Others respond. Gen, shipping, smut, everything goes.
- Roll 1-10 at RNG for a scene, play it out and have fun!
1. INJURY. You've been injured. Broken bones or bleeding out or maybe just a tiny little papercut. The choice is yours.
2. SICKNESS. You're sick and laid up in bed, at home or in a hospital. The severity is up to you.
3. FEAR/ANXIETY. Something is happening and you're scared beyond belief.
4. LOSS OF SENSES. Sight, touch, taste, hearing, smell, etc. You've lost some important sense or ability and now you're left to deal with it.
5. DESPAIR. Nothing is good or right anymore and you can't shake the depression. Maybe that friend of yours can help though...
6. BREAKUP. You've been dumped. You need someone to comfort you, possibly by the one who dumped you.
7. MAKE UP. Fight or break up, it's time to makeup.
8. RESCUED. You've just been held captive and/or tortured for however long and finally, someone has come to the rescue.
9. BAD ROMANCE. Fight, cheated on, abused, whatever the case is, someone else can clearly see you need comfort from someone who isn't your terrible lover tonight.
10. LOSS. You've experience a loss of some kind and need help getting through it.
11. INSANITY. You're seeing things that aren't really there, hearing voices, or you're just convinced you're at your wit's end finally and you're going to crack. Maybe someone can give you a helping hand.
12. TIRED. You've had a heard life recently and you're just worn too thin to really care anymore. There's no fight left in you anymore. Can someone help change your mind?
13. ADDICTION. Drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, or any other type of addiction has got you in its grasp. First time or relapse. Will someone be able to save you?
14. INSOMNIA. You can't sleep anymore, no matter how hard you try. Maybe someone can give you company.
15. NIGHTMARES. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, you can't sleep without gruesome, horrible nightmares. Either someone is stuck in your dream with you, witnessing it or they're just waking you up, soothing you out of it.
16. BLACKMAIL. You've been caught doing something you shouldn't and you were blackmailed because of it
17. SEPARATION. You're going to be separated for awhile or were separated for a long time. Either make up for lost time or try to spend every last moment together.
18. VIOLATED. You've been violated in some way. Can include sexual overtones or not. Can someone help you through it?
19. STRANDED. You've been stranded somewhere remote, with no help of anyone finding you for awhile. Can you survive this together?
20. SINS. You're feeling the weight of your sins and guilt clearer than ever. Can someone give you absolution or lessen the ache any?
21. SECRET. It's difficult having to keep that secret of yours, be it a relationship or something you just don't want to share with anybody else. Maybe it's okay to talk about it now though...
22. ADDITION. Babies should be joyous things unless you're in a situation where you know you won't be able to care for them. Either you've adopted or found out you're pregnant.
23. WILDCARD. Anything missing? Make your own, and tell us about it in your top level!.
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That's fine by me. If I'm gonna be a little too much like someone, it might as well be people I like.
[A few more moments of trying to keep her hair completely out of the way—he'd like to tuck as much of these bandages away behind her bangs to decrease how visible they are, for her sake—before he makes a thoughtful little noise.]
This might feel a little weird, but bear with me, okay?
[He needs both hands for the bandages, and she can't lift hers above her head, but fortunately, he can move her hair out of the way with his mind, like some third, invisible hand is holding her bangs back so he can wrap her head up the way he wants to.
Whenever Taeko helps patch him up, she always gently prods his head to make sure it's not hurt, but he feels like that's a step he can skip this time. Whatever hit her here hit hard—no wonder she gets headaches.]
...You did go to the hospital after getting these, right...?
[It seems like a stupid question to ask, but he doesn't think a hospital would have let someone in Ryoko's condition out, frankly.]
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I'm... not sure. [ Which she knows sounds Really Concerning, so she clarifies; ] When I woke up after my accident, a few days had already passed since my Sentinel crashed, with me inside it. I'd been bandaged and treated and I was in custody rather than a hospital. But for me to have been treated... I assume they must have taken me to a hospital before trying to interrogate me.
[ Then she gives a derisive little snort. ]
Then again, they were the police. Maybe they just taped me back together hoping I wouldn't fall apart before answering their questions.
[ ryoko shinonome says fuck cops!! ]
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Sounds like cops.
[So she's not wrong.]
Why the hell'd they arrest you? If you passed out in your Sentinel and got banged up like this, it seems pretty fuckin' obvious what happened, yeah? Don't even need a detective to figure that out.
[He winds the bandages around her head, trying really hard to strike the balance between "tight enough" and "so tight it gives her another headache." It's...tougher than it looks, and he has to unwind and rewind them a few times until he finds a tautness that seems right.]
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[ If she sounds bitter, it's only because she absolutely is. She can tolerate a lot of things but being thought of as a liar is one of the things she truly can't stand. ]
They released me eventually, though. I'm assuming it's because I hadn't actually done anything wrong, so they couldn't hold me there any longer. And after that..
[ She trails off and her expression turns a little... flat, almost. It's the look she gets when she's trying to piece a memory back together but she's not sure where to start. ]
... well, after that, it would have been Morimura who was caring for me.
[ She thinks. ]
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[But then again, he's biased after watching the government pursue some truly wild science in the name of being completely awful.
He runs his fingers through her hair, to make sure he hasn't accidentally tied any of her bangs up in the bandages and that it's tight enough around the back. It's already a little nostalgic—everything is already, with her, because he never knows when she'll be gone.
And, yeah, maybe he does it more than once. He's just being extra sure, okay?]
Morimura...she's the school nurse, right? I guess she's probably better than any other rando.
[But not great. He doesn't want to drag her somewhere she doesn't want to be, but he really thinks she'd benefit from a trip to the hospital.
He pauses uncomfortably, and the silence extends just long enough to drag a little. He's obviously avoiding asking her to move her good arm.]
...Has it been...I mean, has the pain gotten any worse since you got here? We've been telling you all to take it easy, but it ain't like any of us are medical experts like her.
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[ She says it flippantly, with the air of a joke, but there really is no laugh to be had when she looks like this. For all the bitterness she has about Morimura, Ryoko doesn't doubt that she would have been treated as well as Morimura could manage, if only for the sheer clinical pragmatism of keeping her healthy enough to eventually get back into her Sentinel.
Still, though. However carefully Morimura would have strung her back together, she can't imagine that she ever would have done it with enough actual care as Akira is right now. It's still embarrassing, but... it's tolerable. ]
It's been... fine since getting here, though. [ 'Fine', presumably, in the way that Ryoko often means it, which is to say not actually fine but managable. ] For the most part, there's nothing that puts as much strain on my body as shifting, or piloting the Sentinel. There are still some days where it hurts worse than others, but... I'm managing.
[ ... Ryoko is also, unfortunately, transparently avoiding the point of having to let him actually finish helping her. ]
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As long as it isn't getting worse. If it does, though, let someone know.
[Another long pause before he finally takes a step backward, letting her hair run through his fingers one more time, the beginning of a grimace on his face.]
...Do you...want to turn around? Could you sit on the bed that way? Maybe tuck your knees up, or...
[Even now, he's scrambling trying to think of ways to preserve her modesty, though it's not like he has any alternative suggestions. Her chest has to get bandaged one way or another.]
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It's– [ fine, she almost says, before realizing what he might think if she goes and reaches for her favourite word. So she pauses and tries again. ] It's alright. If I couldn't trust you with this, who could I trust?
[ Akira's been her ally since the moment she arrived here, after all and that's only gotten more true. She can rely on him for this. Ryoko swallows and then with a little more brisk bravado than is probably necessary she sets both hands to either side of her on the bed and gives a short, sharp nod. ]
I can't lift them much further than my chest but – tell me when you need to me to lift or move my arms. If you need to know exactly where needs bandaging, just ask.
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......Thanks, Ryoko. For trusting me. I won't make you regret it.
[Despite trying to remain as calm about the situation as possible, Akira can't help but have the fleeting thought that she's beautiful.]
Okay. We'll start...from here.
[He delicately touches the lowest part of her ribcage, gently trying to figure out how tender her injuries are. This is another area he can't wrap too tightly.]
...Do you know if any if these are broken?
[Her ribs, he means.]
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Not as far as I know. I have pain there sometimes, but not much - I think it's mostly muscular strain there. There's not much about it I can do but let it heal by itself.
[ She's faintly aware that she really shouldn't sound so casual about this but she's long since made her peace with all the ways her body's been split apart. It's the jigsawing the whole thing back together that's always been the hard part. ]
The worst of it is my sternum, I think. From what I remember... when the Sentinel crashed, I hit the controls hard.
[ Hard is an understatement - going off the bruising, it looks like a small truck rammed into her chest. The ugly red laceration across her collarbone, at least, looks clean even if the area itself looks sore. ]
It's healing. It just gets... uncooperative, sometimes.
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If anything, the clinical way she talks about it is great at keeping him from getting too emotional, too.]
Let me know if it's too tight. You gotta be able to breathe.
[He starts carefully winding the bandages around her ribs, wincing a little in sympathy every time he has to brush his fingers along a particularly nasty bruise. He's trying not to look at her face too often, since he figures it must be embarrassing enough already, but he does steal glances occasionally, just in case she's trying to hide any pain.]
I can probably shake Doc Tobei down for some pain pills or something. Or maybe, I dunno, I've never tried it before but if I can make people see things, then...
[Maybe he can screw with their other senses, too. Though he's hesitant to test something like that out on Ryoko, honestly.]
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Mm... I wouldn't mind the pills. But... maybe this is strange, but I don't want to ignore the pain too much. It's unpleasant, but like this, I can tell when something's wrong instead of just forcing myself to continue and making things worse.
[ And they both know she's stubborn enough for that. ]
... I appreciate it, though. But I really am alright most of the time. I can manage.
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[Maybe she would have, but...he's sure it would've been a lot of unnecessary pain while she hesitated to do it.]
It's not like I don't get it, but...
[He'll just have to work harder to earn her trust. So she can call for him with no hesitation whatsoever. She's a precious friend of his, now, and it would be nice if she came to think of him as the same.]
...It just seems like right now you're putting yourself through it a little bit, too. Out of concern for wanting to be a burden, or pride, or something else, I don't know, but...just try to make sure that kind of pain only goes on as long as absolutely necessary.
[He continues to wrap the bandages around her chest, barely pausing for a moment before continuing it past her ribcage and over her breasts. It's only a big deal if he makes it one.]
...Lift your arms just a little, alright? Like you're shrugging.
[He just needs enough space to get his hand between her chest and her forearms.]
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[ She's aware of just how little that eventually is doing for her point – and just how much she's proving his point by appending it like that. She's quiet after that for a while, just doing as he says to make patching her up a little easier. She isn't usually the type to be cowed by scolding but his words make a prickle of something like shame come to life in her stomach.
Maybe it does come down to pride, as much as she wants to believe she's more level-headed than that. But maybe after everything else she's lost, she's a little more desperate to hold onto the little she has left than she'd thought.
Eventually, she finally speaks up again. ]
I'll talk to Doctor Tobei. And... if there's anything else you think you can do, I'm happy to try it.
[ If only because it'll ease Akira's worries, more than anything else. ]
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...You're not really used to having people in your corner, huh?
[It's a bitter question, the only possible conclusion he can come to after watching her skittishly back away from kindness when it's offered to her and the almost mournful way she comes around to accepting it. Like she's doing something she shouldn't.
He checks the fit of the bandages by circling an arm around her and inspecting the tautness of them on her back. It's almost akin to giving her a hug.]
Well, I'm there whether you like it or not. And if it looks like you're in pain, I'll just annoy the hell out of you until you tell me. Nobody likes it when their friends are hurt, right?
[He's still got to wrap her sternum and neck after he makes the necessary adjustments here, but so far he's been doing alright. It's probably not as good as Ryoko can do herself when she's well, but definitely a competent patching-up.]
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Relying on other people is... well, it's unreliable. Which is why it's so strange that relying on Akira and the others here has worked out as well as it has. ]
... Right. [ It really isn't the sort of situation that calls for a smile, but... to her surprise, she manages to crack a relatively small one. ] I'll make sure to let you know if I think I need the help.
[ Usually when she says that sort of thing, it comes off like she's admitting defeat – or, indeed, like she's doing something she shouldn't. This time, with that admittedly feeble smile on her face, it sounds a little more like she really means it. ]
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[But the implicit warning hangs in the air: he'll do it if he thinks she is hiding how much she's suffering. He's too stubborn not to, really, for better or for worse.]
Now that that's settled, I promise I'm done preaching at you.
[The atmosphere seems a little more comfortable than it had been a few minutes ago, though that may simply be wishful thinking on Akira's part. And with most of her chest wrapped up, that particular point of awkwardness between them is, while not completely irrelevant, certainly less harrowing than it was.
Still, it's not comfortable enough for him to say the first thing that leaps to mind—that when the lacerations on her sternum heal, they'll both have matching scars on their chests. Maybe that's an observation for later, when it feels a little less like Ryoko's liable to turtle up better than Taroimo ever could, and when the wound isn't so fresh.
That might help in other ways, though—Ryoko's been telling him so much about how she got hurt, so it might not be a bad move to do the same.]
...I got mine in a fight in an alley. I got my ass kicked, obviously—it wasn't pretty. Turns out even if you know what's coming, it'll only help so much.
[He's much stronger now than he was when he got this, but it's still not infallible.]
no subject
[ She can't really hide her surprise – even as she realizes that of course Akira must have earned that scar somehow. And for as sturdy as he is now, he must have been smaller and scrawnier once upon a time. ]
That's a little hard to imagine. Even right from the start, you've always been good in a fight.
[ Watching a guy do an Akira slide into someone's entire body leaves a bit of an impression on a girl, is all.
Her eyes drop from his face to the scar on his chest and she studies it, trying to work out if she can glean what happened without having to ask. But, if he's open to sharing... ]
What exactly happened?
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[The nonchalance of this statement might have once been worrying, but this is just what his life is like.]
Matsu nearly beat him to death after I got cut. It wasn't the first or the last time he pulled my ass out of the fire, but...it was definitely one of the worst. I felt like a goddamn idiot for weeks, sittin' in bed while he was out there making sure we had enough bandages and disinfectant to keep me patched up and Taeko was in here worrying about me.
[And he was a little peeved at Matsu, at the time—after all, he had an even bigger scar in the same place, so it felt hypocritical for him to tell him he was being stupid. In retrospect, it's because Matsu had probably been hurt in similar fashion that he could say stuff like that. Akira can't remember if he ever apologized for being so flippant at the time.
Probably not. It always felt like there would be plenty of time to do that, once he was an adult.]
I'm not gonna make you stay in bed, though. And I'm not gonna say anything to Taeko either. I know what it's like, so...I wouldn't wish bed rest on anyone, honestly.
[He'll encourage Ryoko to get some rest when she needs it, but not to the point that she can't do anything.]
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[ If she's feeling well enough to make a feeble attempt at a joke like that, then things are probably fine. The sharp pain across her chest and shoulders every time she moves her arms is easing and more than anything, having all her scars and bruises covers makes her feel a little more like... herself. Not being able to see them makes it that much easier to put them out of mind. At least for now.
She lets a comfortable silence fall for a moment longer as he finishes wrapping the next round of bandages, but before he can draw his hand back, Ryoko catches his wrist.
... it takes her a second for what she wants to say to come out of her mouth, though. ]
... thank you. For all this.
no subject
When she takes hold of his wrist, however, Akira tries and fails not to turn beet red. All those fuzzy feelings he's been beating back with a stick that clung so tightly to the fact that she said she trusted him all come bursting out at once, and he can only avert his eyes, staring at some spot on the floor off to his side.]
It ain't any trouble, so...
[No, that's not what he means, especially when he's saying it so defensively. He clears his throat a little.
She's not the only one with walls up. His are just a different shape, with a different purpose—even now, he wants to project an image of total confidence. Most times, he's successful, because he has a solid base of true confidence to build on. But right now...he should at least extend her the same courtesy, let them crumble under the weight of the moment, and be a little bit uncool. Just for now.]
...I'm really glad you trusted me to do it.
[He won't thank her for trusting him in these kinds of circumstances, but...
Someday, he'd like to. It means a lot, coming from someone like her.]
no subject
Her hand lingers on his wrist for just a moment longer before she finally lets him go. It's definitely a little mean but it's a relief to know she's not the only one having to put some effort into keeping her composure right now. ]
I'll try to make sure it doesn't get quite this bad again in future. [ Try obviously being the keyword here. She knows better than to make any promises. ] ... But it's good to know there's someone I can rely on to help me if it does.
[ Yes, she'd had Morimura back in her own era - but just because she'd known Morimura could help didn't make the idea of actually relying on her any less absurd.
Akira's different. Even if she doesn't quite know how to put it into words yet.
... Hm, she really hopes he's keeping his mind to himself right now. ]
no subject
(He isn't. He knows he shouldn't have, but he just wanted it to be true so bad that he couldn't help but check.)]
...W-Well, anyway, I should probably put the bandages away. If you need anything else, let me know.
[Almost as an afterthought, as he's putting everything back in the drawer, that almost petulant tone creeping back into his voice:]
I can help out with way more shit than Morimura could, too, y'know.
[Might as well say this kind of sappy shit while Ryoko's in too much of a state to try to retaliate for reading her mind like that.]
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She's too busy feeling her fingers across her arm, trying to ease a persistent ache, to quite catch that he's been peeking at least. ]
You definitely have an advantage when it comes to bedside manner, at least. [ She says it idly, like she's just kidding – but then she pauses and glances up at him. Wait, that's right isn't it... ] ... your powers... you can do more than just ease pain, can't you?
no subject
[Hold on. It's too late to un-say that, but it didn't quite come out right...]
Uh, that is, I'm not sure what my limit is. So I might not be able to heal the whole thing. But I could probably help it along if you're okay with me trying it.
[The thing he'd be most worried about is broken bones, and accidentally healing them into the wrong position—but Ryoko said her ribs weren't broken, so if that's not a problem, it might be worth a shot.]
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