Solivagency - Empires SMP

XXIII

A/N: Thank you all so much for the continued support! Burnout, writer's block and good old fashioned seasonal depression suck but the desire to create more jornoth content is consuming me.

You may notice this chapter is slightly more sanely written. This is because I am giving my life the disappointed Christian Mother Headshake TM and denying myself stupidity rights. 

Joey fidgeted with his finger slightly, before straightening. "I... I'm going to need to bandage your back."

Xornoth looked up at him and nodded mutely.

"Ah... I uh, need to take the upper part of your dress off for it."

They blinked, eyes flooding with sudden realisation. Their mouth cracked open slightly as if they were going to say something, but the next thing he knew it was shut again and they were looking even more awkward than ever.

"...Okay," Xornoth said finally. Their eyes followed Joey as he edged behind them until he was completely out of their line of sight, and they tensed.

This was not something Joey particularly wanted to be doing. Partly because it was, y'know, his ex and they had been a tad toxic at times, but also because of the way they flinched at his touch. Whatever the heck Scott had done, he seriously wanted to bash him over the head with some kind of chair.

They forced themself to untense as his hand carefully lowered what was left of the top of the dress. It showed bandages already in need of changing, jarring to how they had once been crisp and clean. He tried to ignore how they looked the deepest, rusted red where their wings would have been.

(Now that Joey thought about it, why didn't they have wings?)

With a deep breath, he forced himself to unravel them as if there weren't horrific wounds hidden underneath. Xornoth didn't speak at all, letting his hands manoeuvre the strips off with a familiarity he could perceive as either bittersweet or sickening.

It was probably more sickening. They fell off to show the deep red lines running over each other and the raw flesh that was painfully obvious no matter where he looked. What was left of the skin was either bruised or scarred and you'd think its original colour would be some dark shade of blood rather than pale white. The cuts looked meticulously done as if someone has taken a knife and scraped them in with precision, and he could only imagine what had possessed Scott to do something like this.

Joey looked away and tried not to vomit.

When he finally turned back, Xornoth still hadn't moved. They were hunched, still as stone. It was incredibly unsettling how they were almost curled into themself but still upright enough for him to do whatever they expected him to do.

This was fine. One hundred and ninety per cent fine. He picked up the bandages off the bed and rolled them around their ribs, slowly, as not to startle them. It wasn't as quick as he would like it to be since usually just slapped some fabric over whatever was bleeding and called it a day, but the possibility of an injury like this infecting was higher than Joey would like it to be, and he was in no way prepared to deal with that.

Soon, a good chunk of their back was rehidden amongst the stark white. It looked almost like snow, and a very good reminder of how cold they were.

(Of course, not that he should be really needing to touch them enough for it to bother him)

As the bandages were finished, neatly rolled over in a way that meant they shouldn't accidentally come loose, Joey clapped his hands together. "Welp! It's done."

He slid off the bed easily and looked around for a couple of seconds, before spotting a shelf and slotting the spare bandages on top. He can grab them later if he needed too. With a satisfied grin he turned back and paused as Xornoth still hadn't moved, their eyes looking at him expectantly.