Intertwine

66 - Venomous

ROARA

When I came to I was feeling much better. I was lying near the bank of the river, a bandage around my middle.

"Loki?" I asked, sitting up.

It was dawn now, so I couldn't have been out for very long. Loki was by the river bank, pulling some plants out from the roots.

I staggered up, and once again, fell face first.

"Oh you! You fool!" I heard Loki shout.

"Sorry." I said into a mouthful of grass. I pushed myself up, and with Loki's help, managed to stand.

"How did I not die back there?" I asked. "I literally got impaled. By a tusk. On a very angry wild boar."

"Oh you know, Vanaheim happens to have a rare root that, when crushed, has incredible healing properties." He smirked. "I said you weren't going to die on my watch."

He was covered in dried blood, though I didn't know what was from me or what was from the thrangians. It was smeared across his face, and all up his arms. He was wearing his green tunic, rolled up to the elbows, his breastplate discarded near where I had been lying.

"You couldn't have fixed my leg while you were at it?" I asked, then felt around my body. "Or my broken rib?"

"I told you, it's rare, there was only enough for one thing. Either you can walk and you can die, or you can live and you can't walk." He shrugged. 

I poked my stomach through the bandage. "Huh." I poked it again. No pain. 

"Please, don't do that." He said, crinkling his nose. "It's disgusting."

I looked at the river. "I want to wash." I announced.

"You want to... wash?" He asked me, frowning.

"It's been five days since I'd had a damn shower and I smell like pig, and so do you." I said, pulling my sleeves off my arms and unwrapping the bandage carefully.

"Don't!"

The bandage came free. There was a large hole in my suit, a thin paste was delicately applied over where my wound had been, but there was nothing there anymore. Just a scar that ran across my body, parallel to the one that I'd got after I'd been shot. 

"What happens if the paste comes off?" I asked him, examining it.

"It'll hurt, but technically you'll be fine." He sighed.

"I won't die?" I asked.

"You won't die." He confirmed.

I shrugged. "Okay. I'll just dose up on pain killers when we're back on earth." I began to unzip my suit. "Could you, uhm, turn around?" I asked.

"Why?" 

"I'm going to be naked." I looked him up and down.

"As I said, why?" He grinned.

"Oh, fuck off." I pushed his face away from me. 

"I'll miss the view!" He argued, but stayed facing the other way.

I slipped my suit off and limped over to the water. I waded in until the water was up to my neck. It was cold, but not too cold, which I was pleasantly surprised by. I dipped under the water and scrubbed at my scalp, getting all the grime and dirt out. I resurfaced again to see Loki facing the water once more. 

"How's the swim?" He asked, arms crossed.

"Cold." I replied. I moved my hands under the water and a spray of the clear liquid shot out at him, covering him head to toe.