Sleepless Nights [Claw, Rose]

[Jazz]

Jazz's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the feint light to make out a well-studied ceiling. It was still dark, couldn't be past midnight. She found it hard to sleep well without True Sleep these days, considering...

She sighed, still staring up at the ceiling. It had been three and a half weeks since they'd won the war, and she wasn't near recovered. If only she hadn't been healed so much before that, she wouldn't have had any resistance. She slowly swung her legs around and sat up, with an arm to her chest where she'd broken five ribs. She stood up, equally slowly and cautiously stretched out. She was fine, and her bandages were still in place.

She walked to the door and looked down the passageway. Everyone was still alseep. Good. Her friends were too protective of her, or so she thought, and she didn't want them to loose any sleep. She walked down the flight of stairs to the kitchens, not over-exerting herself. She wasn't in major pain, she just didn't want to cause it, or trip down because she was uncareful.

Reaching the kitchens, she looked around for the water pitcher. Seeing it on the counter, she made her way towards it - but stopped before she got there. Reflecting the torchlight, the weapon's rack caught her sight.

Gingerly, she took down a sword. She hadn't been allowed to touch a weapon heavier than a dagger yet, for fear that she'd hurt herself. And the sword was certainly heavier than she remembered. She took an experimental lunge, but regretted it as soon as she did. Catching it before it clattered to the floor, she put it back before she held an arm to her aching chest.


Water, she told herself. That was the intention. Get your glass of water and go back to bed.

[Claw]

(Thank you!.)

Claw lay in bed, eyes closed but awake, listening to the sounds of the fief. Hearing the sounds of footsteps padding down the stairs he sighed to himself, and shook his head. No doubt who that was. Sitting up slowly and quietly he got dressed, and slipped some padded socks on for extra quietness.

She was too restless. Five broken ribs is no small injury, and to try to carry on anyway? Madness. Quite like him, come to think of it, which was probably one of the reasons he loved her, because she never gave up, but still. Now he was quite glad that he'd set that spell on himself, otherwise he wouldn't even have known.

Padding out of the room, he quickly surveyed the halls. No sign of other awake people, which was good, and no sign of assassins.
You're getting paranoid. He told himself, but smiled nonetheless. Even though Bael had been banished to that strange half death place, his brother would be able to escape. Sliding down the banisters, something which he had not done for several years now, he landed silently on the hallway floor.

Listening carefully for sounds, he heard a slight thud upstairs, which he ignored. It was possible he had woken someone up, but Jazz was more important. Hearing a sound from the kitchen, Claw slipped over to the door to see Jazz lunging with a sword. It was clearly painful, and she nearly dropped it.

Claw walked in and put his hands on her shoulders, softly and quietly

“Guess who.”

He whispered, before walking around her, and looking into her eyes.

“You really shouldn’t y’know. Follow the healer’s orders. We don’t want you to get hurt further.”

He smiled sadly at her, but still listened for sounds. Yep, somebody was definitely awake upstairs. Ah well. He’d say sorry in the morning.

[Rose]

((You're welcome.))

Rose rolled over in her bed and slowly opened her eyes. Sore muscles protested at the thought of being moved. She sighed. She just couldn't sleep tonite. Maybe a ride would help. She got out of bed and stretched slowly. She'd just checked on Jazz before she went to bed, which was a little over 3 hours ago. She'd given Jazz some True Sleep then to, she couldn't seem to sleep without it.

Footsteps padded softly outside her door. Rose frowned. She picked up the sounds of more footsteps outside her door, which were very quiet. Two people up? Goddess. she thought. Who would be up at this time of night?

She walked over to where she'd tossed her clothes over a chair, she pulled them on, leaving her boots off. She opened the door and followed the footsteps downstairs.

She walked downstairs and through the entry hall, following the long hall down to the kitchen. She heard Claw's voice speaking softly. She should've known. The True Sleep that they'd been giving Jazz was starting to not do its job, she was building up a resistance to it, just as she had with the healings. Just like with any type of drug. She walked into the kitchen which was bathed in torchlight.

"What is this? A midnight meeting and I wasn't invited?" she said dryly.

[Jazz]

“You really shouldn’t y’know. Follow the healer’s orders. We don’t want you to get hurt further.”

Jazz looked up, straight into his eyes, and was about to say something that she'd probably regret. She didn't, however; she looked down, and dragged a stool over, sinking into it and staring miserably into the tabletop, resting her head on her hand.

"I know," she said sullenly, softly, "It's just..." She sighed, frustrated. "I can't help wondering if... It's hard," she finished lamely.

It was. Jazz couldn't even make a simple lunge with a sword. It had been almost a month. Sometimes she felt that she'd never get better, she'd never fight again; and if she did, how long would it take? She was bursting at the seams. Two weeks bedridden wasn't a cup of tea for someone that was as restless as she.

Sighing again, she looked up. Her eyes were every bit as tired as she felt. "You understand." It was a statement. He did understand her better than anyone else.

"What is this? A midnight meeting and I wasn't invited?"

Her head snapped to Rose, and she relaxed when she saw that it was, in fact, she. "I didn't mean to wake everyone. I was only getting a glass of water," she said, though the corners of her mouth tugged upwards, "It seems I was caught out."

[Rose]

Rose smiled.

"I couldn't sleep anyways either. Couldn't get comfortable." she said. She eyed Jazz then the weapon rack. "Does getting a glass of water also involve touching any weapons of some sort?" she asked.

Rose paused. Poor Jazz. It had to be really hard to have to sit in bed until ribs and other injuries healed. But of course, having been healed so much, like any other person Jazz had developed a resistance to healing.

"Jazz, would you like to get out of the fief for awhile? I don't think you can ride just yet, but we could fashion a litter or something. I know that doesn't sound all that great, but at least you'd be getting out of the castle." she offered.

[Jazz]

"Does getting a glass of water also involve touching any weapons of some sort?"

Jasmin winced. "No?" she offered, then sighed tiredly. "What gave me away?" she asked, standing up annd walking to the cabinet. Extraccting a glass, she carefully poured the water into it, then draining it in one long draught. She examined the empty glass, before refilling it and returning it to her chair. Pushing her black curls out of her eyes, she looked up as Roseanna adressed her again.

"Jazz, would you like to get out of the fief for awhile? I don't think you can ride just yet, but we could fashion a litter or something. I know that doesn't sound all that great, but at least you'd be getting out of the castle."

She bit back the sharp reply that was on the tip of her tongue - ' "Litter"? That doesn't only not sounds great, it sounds painful!' - and gave a more civilized answer. "Thank you, but no," she said, with a small, grateful smile, "I'd just be bumped around more. It's not Carmine that's killing me, it's..." she waved a hand vaugely, "Just sitting here. That's the problem."

Again, a sigh.

[Rose]

What gave me away?

Rose smiled mysteriously.

"Lets just say that a little bird told me." she said slyly. She thought for a moment. Jazz was definatley getting restless. She needed to get out of the castle before she ended up acting rashly out of impatience.

"Well, I really think that you should get out of the castle. How do you feel when you walk? On a scale of one to ten. How much does it hurt?" she questioned.

[Jazz]

"Lets just say that a little bird told me."

That wouldn't be so unlikely, if you considered the factors. Rose was a wildmage, and there were plently of birds about. Jazz smiled slightly, shaking her head. "I'd like the name and adress of said 'little bird', if you don't mind," she said lightly, "I have a few things to say to him or her."

"Well, I really think that you should get out of the castle. How do you feel when you walk? On a scale of one to ten. How much does it hurt?"

"On a scale of one to ten?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrow. "That's hard to say. It honestly depends. On a lot of things."

She grinned up at Rose, like this was a huge joke. It always helped to be cheerful. If you went around, all depressed, you inevitably ended up feeling even worse. If you had a happy demeanor, however, you felt much better - or so she liked to think.

"I'm fine, really, Rose," she said earnestly. Lie. "I'll be alright." Barefaced lie. "Don't worry about me." Hah. Like that was ever going to happen. Roseanna was very overprotective of her. If came with the kightmistress territory, she supposed.

[Rose]

"I'm fine, really, Rose."

Rose raised an eyebrow as her amethyst eyes studied Jazz's own green ones intently. Being part Yamani, Jasminai of Carmine Tower was very good at hiding her emotions and feelings. She probably wasn't going to learn anything from her like that.

Rose looked at her other former squire, Claw. She raised her eyebrow at him.

"Well, what do you think? You're her fiance." she said wryly.