Eveningish, Sanctity

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

The day has been... not exactly lovely, but not exactly awful, either. Having spent the morning sitting in her garden, letting the ambient light bake into her skin while she meditated.

So, really, the day was better than it could have been.

Opening the shop, she paused to look at the street, then turned back and began dusting the shelves with a vengeance. While Gabriel cowered underneath the desk.

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[can_be_more]

After landing, Aeryn makes her way to Zhaan's shop, because really, there aren't many places she can go. She's still in uniform, though the jacket's been opened and she's holding one hand, covered in dry blood, over her ribs. She's seen better days.

She drops the bag from her shoulder onto the floor with a thud, and though she's not really sure how to start this, goes with, "Zhaan?"

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Two seconds. To take in Aeryn's hesitancy, her appearance (back in uniform, and even now it sends a slight disquiet through her), and the rust-coloured blood. Practicality snaps her back to reality, and Zhaan tosses the dusting rag to the side and moves to take Aeryn's shoulders. "I won't ask how, but come sit while I get the medical kit." There's a chair with a back not too far.

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She pulls off the uniform jacket and lays it across the top of the chair before taking a seat. There's something wrong with just throwing it onto the floor. "It looks worse than it is," she says, which is the truth, but she knows how this has to look.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"That's what they all say," Zhaan replies, almost amused. A moment to reassure herself Aeryn isn't about to fall over, and she goes into the back room to grab the medical kit. It hasn't seen use since the day of the snow creatures, but it's still useful.

Returning, she sets it on the counter and opens it, pulling out the salve she'll need along with a roll of fresh bandages. She grabs a handful of the bandages, coats them with a coagulant and offers them to Aeryn to press against the wound.

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She takes them, trying and failing not to wince as she applies the bandages. She doesn't draw attention to it, instead asking, "What day is it?"

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"Tuesday." Zhaan considers for a moment, then reaches out to brush a hand over Aeryn's head.

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That's unexpected, and Aeryn twitches a little, but doesn't back off. She's been counting the days long enough to say, "I've been gone two weeks, then." Unless the last few days were longer than she thought and she's really lost track.

And then, "Seems longer."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Withdrawing her hand, Zhaan scolds herself for losing sight for a moment that this is not her Aeryn--not quite, at least. "Purgatory always appears to go on forever," she replies lightly before turning to uncork the bottle cleaner.

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Aeryn pauses, and doesn't want to ask, but has to. "This other life of yours. The one where you knew me," she says, and corrects, "this other me... What did you actually do? Just rode around on a ship? I mean..." She's not exactly sure she's phrasing it right, but she needs to know what someone does after the blow she knows the other her received to end up there.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"We... traveled around, searching for a way home--for all of us, though Crichton was the focus, in a way. He catalysed each of us into realising we could look beyond one simple dream." Put like that, it sounds oddly pretentious, so she shakes her head. "Perhaps we were simply vagabonds, running from the law, in the end."

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She wonders if Zhaan knows how hard that hit, and nods in response. She's been okay so far, she's not going to freak out now. Still. Ow. "It doesn't sound like a great long-term plan," she says, mostly to herself.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

A smile plays around Zhaan's lips, "It's hard to have a long-term plan when you're comprised of a nebari, a peacekeeper, a luxian, a human, a delvian, a hynerian, a banik, and a leviathan and her pilot. But we did manage to at least not kill each other."

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She hadn't known there were so many others on board that Leviathan. At the moment she's wondering how it didn't end in bloodshed, or maybe she's just gotten worse at dealing with people. "Good for us," she says. She thinks about correcting the 'us' and doesn't.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"We even managed to halfway consider each other friends. Some more than others..." Zhaan nods at the cloths Aeryn's still pressing against the wound. "Has it stopped bleeding?"

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Aeryn takes them away to study them, and nods. "Yeah. It was fine when I was in the Prowler, but moving again..." She shakes her head. "It's okay."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Studying what she could see of the wound, Zhaan is relieved to realise it isn't as bad as she'd thought. If it were anyone other than Aeryn, she might insist on stitches. Even Tex might get stitches, but then, Tex wasn't quite so close to her heart.

"Here," she offers a small pot of salve to Aeryn, "Spread this on while I ready the bandage."

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Aeryn nods and takes the salve, concentrating on applying it and letting that keep her from thinking. She's had over a solar day to do nothing but think. Maybe she's thought out. At least it keeps her from wincing, or at least she doesn't notice if she does.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"There never seemed enough time to consider our purpose in life," Zhaan muses into the silence. She's feeling amused again. Moving back with the bandage in hand, she gestures with it, figuring she can put it on with less difficulty than Aeryn, but not wanting to over-step her boundaries, "May I?"

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She nods, pulling her shirt up just enough to reveal the slice across her ribs. It's not too deep, but could probably look prettier. Not being able to get a good look at it in the confines of her Prowler, she asks, "Is it bad?"

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Up close, the gash is a decent size, but actually shallower than it looks. Carefully placing the bandage and smoothing down the strips of medical tape, Zhaan shakes her head, "I've seen far worse. I'd still recommend taking it easy for the next week. And if it becomes irritated or infected, see a doctor." Realising that sounds rather bossy, she softens it with a smile, "It will probably itch horribly."

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"I'm sure that'll be the worst of my problems," she says quietly. She manages a "Thank you."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

"You're welcome." Settling back on her heels, Zhaan studies Aeryn for a moment, then nods and stands again. "If there's anything else I can do..?"

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Aeryn's quiet for a long time, though now she's thinking. Thinking far too much, actually, and maybe slightly freaking out. She's outwardly blank, though, and finally says, "Can you just let him know I'm all right?"

After all, it's this or the radio.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

For just a moment, Zhaan remembers exactly what contributed to her dying, and why she'd done it. Aeryn Sun. John Crichton. In a way, she doesn't think she'll ever be rid of them. And she's not sure she wants to.

So she nods. "I can, yes. Is there a place you'll be?"

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She thinks about it, and realizes she's not sure she can get back on campus. Its not like she's a student now. And John would probably- probably, depending on his feelings about her at the moment- let her stay there, but that might be too much. She shakes her head and says, "I don't know. I'll figure it out."

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Zhaan blinks, then says, "I would offer you the spare room, unfortunately it's occupied." She can't quite leave it at that, though. "If you don't find anything else, however, I believe there's a mattress in the attic that would suffice for at least the night."

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"I appreciate it," she says, and does. And it feels extremely weird to have to resort to this. That's displacement for you. Causes you to have to deal with odd things.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Zhaan carefully wipes her fingers, then closes the jar of salve and sets it back in her kit. "Good luck, my dear. And I shall... notify him of your continued existence." She smiles, "With editing."

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Aeryn nods and, and tries to manage a smile. "I may be back," she tells her. "And. Um. Thanks again." Because that's deserved.

[notavegetarian.livejournal.com]

Heading into the back room, Zhaan pauses to pick up the phone. As she's putting away the kit, she dials. And then she leaves a message (http://whitedeathpod.livejournal.com/1532.html?thread=3195644#t3195644). It feels strange to once again be witness to Crichton and Aeryn. But right, in a way.

Returning to the front, she smiles again at Aeryn, "You're welcome."

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With that, Aeryn stands, pulls her jacket back on with minimal difficulty, and picks up her bag to set out again.