RP:Bruises, Booze & Braids

Location: Private Villa, Rynvale

Summary: After a confrontation with Iinquotahae, Leoxander and Lora are taken to Lita’s beach villa with Mahri on the move for a mend.

Private Villa

Mahri tracked Leo from the Jolly Roger to the Villa; noting the smells of a fight - namely blood and sweat - not to far from it. He wasn't really too hard to find, stepping onto the steps leading up to the elevated porch, she makes sure to take heavier steps. She scented Mouse close by and didn't want to frighten her. At the door, Mahri pauses to listen to the sound of singing. By the tone and rhythm she guessed it to be a lullaby; meant to sooth and encourage rest. Remembering countless other lullabies sung, the wolf smiles in a bittersweet manner before openeing the door and walking right in with a "Hello?" called out.

Leo was awake in a heartbeat just before Mahri called out, however quiet the creak of the door. His hand instinctively moved toward the surface of the nightstand at his side and not only was there no weapon there, since he’d had to unharness to have bones set and bandaged, but it caused his clenched teeth to bare in a grimace for the sudden movement, right hand clutching into the right side of his ribs while his left hand gripped firmly (not quite bruise worthy) into Loravelle’s shoulder or bicep. Mahri only had to follow the sound of the grunted, hoarse curse to the room where they rested and would probably arrive just as he was bowing forward a bit in small but significant pain. It had almost been a day but some hairline fractures were still mending from a fully fractured state, and as the Silver eyed she-wolf likely knew, perhaps even the timid maidservant, those were just about the worst bones to break.

Loravelle 's poorer hearing meant she missed the door creaking, but she did hear Mahri's voice call out. “Mahri?” She calls back, sitting up to climb out of the bed to greet her. Leo waking up at the same time and reaching out stops her, however, and she tries to halt his movement before he can hurt himself. “It's okay, it's Mahr-” Her reassurances are cut off by the startling grip of her bicep, and she winces. “We-we're in here,” Lora calls out, attempting to free herself from the rogue's grasp. She wanted to check on him and scamper off to get him another drink if he needed it, then do something about her hair to hide it so she looked decent. ...There wasn't really time for that last bit, though. Lora will just have to suffer the faux pas of having her hair down.

Mahri followed her ears and eyes to find the pair. Not at all surprised by anything except the fact Mouse had the longest freaking hair she'd ever seen, but the Silver would refrain from staring as she leaned in the doorway and swept her eyes over Leo. "Lay down, Cap'n." Blowing a bit of stray hair from her eyes, the wolf pushed her way into the room and sat on the floor if no chair was available. Then, to Mouse, "You should leave it down." She meant the hair.

Leoxander clutched onto her briefly for two reasons. The pain and the instinct to protect. It only took him a moment to growl under his breath and push through the ache, which had lessened significantly in his rest, but a drink might still take off a bit of the edge. Privately grateful he’d taken her advice, the tension in his body relaxed as his groggy mind realized who it was just before Loravelle’s cut off words confirmed. Mahri’s demands stamped a little more pressure on the wolf, because he was used to the Beta throwing them at him from the past, but he wasn’t keen to argue either woman, today. He laid back into the stacked pillows between his back and the headboard or wall. One day. Just one day, Leo. It felt like a day too many to be so… idle. “If somebody’ll get me a damn drink.” The bottle of rum Lita had gifted him the night before had been finished off that morning, and the rogue needed more medicine.

Loravelle admired Mahri for her sterner tone. She rarely, if ever, managed to squeak out words so confidently. There had to be a place for the silver-eyed wolf to sit down that wasn't the floor. Did Ace keep extra chairs tucked away somewhere? In the meanwhile, she pats the bed as an invitation for Mahri to sit somewhere more comfortable than the floor and considers slipping out of the room for more alcohol. “O-oh. I...” She touches the top of her head since running a hand through her inky locks might take a bit. “It gets in the way if I don't keep it up...” And it's immodest. And Mother might kill her if she saw her running around with it loose. She already has exposed ankles and exposed arms. Then Leo mentions a drink, and she takes that as her cue to run off for said drink. “I'll bring something for you too, Mahri,” Lora adds, before leaving the room. Lita hopefully has an impossibly large supply of alcohol with how much drinking the pirate does alone. She finds two more bottles of whiskey and returns with one in either hand, one for Mahri and one for Leoxander. After handing them off, she busies herself with braiding and unbraiding her hair, just to do something with her hands.

Mahri 'll toss her flask to the wolf, assuming he'll still be able to catch it from his prone position. "Stop yer bloody whining, wolf," she said, but not without affection.

Lita isn't surprised that Leo and Lora are still floatin' around the beach house. She'd ducked out early, no need to wake them. Lita does thankfully have a fairly well stocked kitchen of booze. Seeing that food wasn't a necessity and insomnia was a friend these days. She wanders through the front room and into the guest bedroom where the pirate's lounging and Mahri has seemed to make herself comfortable. She offers a smile for the woman. "Good to see you around." She says before eyeing Leo. "You look a little less like death." She says in jest. "Enjoying the company?"

Leoxander grimaced a bit. He caught it, but right as it hit his ribs, and he dared to think the woman had aimed on purpose. Still, in the time it takes Lora’ to retrieve more whiskey, he’d fed his addiction with a drink from her flask, trustingly, tossing it toward her as best as he could with his left arm. Of course, he smelled Lita before he saw her, using his sharper than natural canine to tear open the wrapping that covered the cork of the bottle they’d borrowed. “I’ll restock yer supply.” Not that she ever paid for a drink at the J.R., anyhow. “This feels tragically familiar.” Him stuck in a bed, surrounded by – not necessarily a bunch of women but ironically, the wolf didn’t make a lot of male friends, for some reason. “Nobody lettin’ me leave this room. I spent less time on the cot after fightin’ the demon than this.” Despite a bit of begrudging behavior, it hadn’t exactly been unpleasant, that rest and recovery. Better, now, with another bottle in hand.

Lita said to you, "No need, I'm sure we're even someplace." She smirks at his mention of his fight with the demon and teases, "You were younger then."

Loravelle wonders if she should start keeping a flask handy that isn't filled with her medication. ...She doesn't even have that flask anymore, come to think of it. At least she didn't feel like she needed to drink it now. There's a lot of things she is gradually realizing that Lora should probably just have on hand or have easy access to. Ace, Mahri and Leo all seemed so much more resourceful. She tries to sound stern like Mahri at Leo's comment about nobody letting him leave the room. “You're locked down until you get better, okay?” ...It doesn't land, really. She softens up toward the end of the sentence, then turns to wave at Lita.

Mahri catches the returned flask and takes the bottle from Lora with a thanks just as Lita is walking in and the beta finds herself looking up at the vampire. "Always around, I guess." Usually in the background which was fine with her. Glancing at Leo, the wolf can't help but think that last time she remembered Leo was on a bed surrounded by women they were healers and he was on the doorstep of death - literally. But, anyway. "What Mouse said, Cap'n. Don't make me tie you down."

Leoxander managed to aim a false glare Lita’s way. He didn’t quite have the advantage of being immortal and beautiful forever, but he did age slow. Had his life been a little less hectic, a little less unhealthy, a little less tragic, he might not look so far into his thirties. But he’d lost count of the true nameday number, by then. Another one coming up in weeks. He managed a sigh through the dull ache in his ribs. Looking toward Loravelle, eyes grazing unbound hair subtly, he found grey. “I’m fine. She might be strong but it was only one damn punch.” With unbridled anger and vampire strength behind it, sure. He couldn’t likely climb his ship’s ladder but laying in bed was making the man anxious. It was fortunate he couldn’t read minds. Mahri’s thought would have made his skin pale dramatically, particularly since that memory was long since lost in a fog.

Lita nods at Mahri's assessment of being always around. She'd be in a similar boat, probably. Around and about and Leo makin' everybody be more social these days and what not. She smirks at Mahri's words. "Not in my house, he might like that." She's teasing, probably. Better not to know. She catches sight of Lora trying to braid her hair and nods at her. "You want some help with that?" She wasn't a pro by any means but the girl looked liable to tie knots in her hair just as soon as braid it.

Loravelle thinks about making a joke to Mahri about using the rope in that horrible sin-filled box 'Trish' gifted her the other night, but holds her tongue. That's in poor taste and she still felt a bit sour over it. She crosses her arms while her gaze meets Leo's, not necessarily defensively, but more to cover herself for how exposed she is compared to normal. ...Not that she's naked or anything, just...not used to being around others with bare arms and legs and loose hair. “I know, but...” Lora worries and probably didn't need to say that part. Her face probably said that enough. Loravelle jumps at Lita's offer to braid her hair and isn't sure how to respond. Someone wants to -touch- her hair? "I-I...Um...I mean," Only her sisters and the pirate have touched it. She takes a breath. "I-if you want to..." It should be fine. It isn't like one of the gods will strike her down if her hair is touched by another person. Her mother might strike her down, though.

Mahri quirks a brow Leo's way at mention of a 'she' who punched him hard enough to, she assumed, break ribs. Lita is playing with Mouse's hair and the Captain seems to be in good hands even if Mahri could have made short work of healing his ribs. Healing isn't something she did often or without reservation. Getting up she walk over to sit on the edge of that bed, or cot, or whatever and still offers, "I can fix it." If he wanted her to.

Leo was about as wary of magic, or whatever means the druid had to speed up the process, but he trusted her more than most. After a moment and another swallow of whiskey, he managed a slight nod. He didn’t have the time to afford laying in bed with so much work on the horizon. “Yeah, if you would.” It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate ‘Ace’s’ hospitality and binding, or Loravelle’s loyalty and care, but being in a bad state that kept him bedbound for a day was far worse. Knowing the book keeper’s mistrust to the talent neither of them possessed, he was grateful Lita made that offer to distract her as Mahri settled on the bed at his side. “Don’t tire yerself out.” Just enough to get him back on his feet without so obvious a cringe on his sun freckled features. He looked from one dark-haired, silver eyed lycan to the other dark haired pair as they further bonded while the beta did… whatever the beta had to do to finish the mend Lita had started, shamelessly watching if the decision was made for new hands to touch that long grown mane.

Lita hadn't meant to make Lora nervous. Quite the opposite, she'd been trying to help. "You can say no, it's alright. You won't hurt my feelings or nothin'." It feels awkward now, so maybe she should leave Lora to braiding her own hair. Sometimes Lita forgets that people have boundaries and personal space. With Mahri offering to heal the pirate, Lita takes her leave to fetch a glass of whiskey for herself from the kitchen before returning to their little gathering. "Y'all're gonna give 'im a complex hoverin' like this." She says as she rejoins the trio. She sips her drink, seein' the pirate of a mind take Mahri up on that healing option, she turns back to Lora. "Cal seems to think your gift will be in soon. Think I can steal you away from this one sometime for a beach day?"

Loravelle feels bad for almost saying no when she really did want to say no, but thinks she can make up for it. Her sundress has pockets, and it just so happens that in those pockets she has a handful of her hair pins that are a little bit more durable than the delicate, floral ones she oftentimes decorated her hair with. These are made of ivory. She holds them out for Lita to see once she returns. “I can show you how we fix our hair back home.” Ace's hair looked long enough to wrap around one of the flat, longer rectangular pieces of ivory in her hands she thinks. “This is called liangbatou. You wrap your hair around it and it looks sort of like wings. Some ladies wear some that are really tall, but I've only worn small ones like this.” It seems she and Leo are of a similar mind, because she heard Mahri's offer to fix the pirate's ribs and after watching the silver-eyed lycan stir the air with magic before, she can only imagine that she heals with magic as well. Magic made her nervous, so distracting herself with something as frivolous and time consuming as doing her hair and explaining it all to Lita would work perfectly. Hopefully.

Loravelle got too distracted with trying to explain the hairstyles from her homeland, apparently. She almost missed Lita's announcement about her gift. Her face lights up. "I think so..." Her eyes cast a glance over at Leo. Did he have anything planned she needed to stick around for?

Mahri half expected that Leo would turn her down and when he didn't she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her gloved hands found their way to hover over the injured ribs. Shutting out everything around her, the lycan falls into herself and then out again, not that anyone would see that - it's more on a spiritual level. Her healing magics reached out, touching the cracked ribs then beyond to find the life force needed for the knitting of bones. Birds outside, ocean birds, were the closest thing she could find and their screeches would suddenly stop as they fell lifeless to the sand. The life force of two birds pooled within the beta to be channeled through her hands and to the small fissures of curved bones, growing new to bone to connect them. Leo might feel warmth at first then a brief burning before, in what seems like mere moments, Mahri pulls her hands way, wiping them on her thighs to stop the tingle in the palms. "There. Should be good." Gosh, she's tired now, but not to the point of exhaustion this time.

Leoxander was obviously watching the interaction between vampire and maidservant when she looked his way, and there was no protest in his eyes or from his voice. The trust he had for Mahri was enough that he casually took another drink as she began her process. Only the slightest tell from his expression betrayed the slight burning sensation as what was left of the fractures he had left fused, properly due to Lita’s setting of those bones. A deep breath tested it, followed by a sigh of relief, and he twisted to put his feet down on the floor, sitting on the bed beside Mahri, rubbing the part where his rib cage had previously ached. One hand held the bottle, the other rested on her shoulder in place of a verbal ‘thanks’. Even if Lita’s guest bed had been comfortable and accommodating, he was ready to stop playing the role of patient. Leo risked a glance back over his shoulder at the two doing their… hair… thing.

Lita remembers to brush her hair most days. That's usually the extent of her hair care routine outside of washing it with soap. Occasionally it's haphazardly braided but rarely is it any sort of prettily fixed up. She's not against it, just hasn't had reason to bother with it. She'll find a seat next to Lora though as the girl shares the ivory pins and she traces one with a delicate finger adoringly. "Can you show me?" She asks, running her fingers through her own hair. "Is mine long enough for it?" She's not such a fan of magic herself in most instances, so she's grateful for something else to focus on. Absently, she checks to make sure the charm anklet is still securely on, an enchantment which serves to not only keep bare feet clean but also to keep the scars on her back hidden from view from most. It wasn't a strong charm by any means but it was effective.

“Yes! Absolutely. So...This piece,” Lora's set all of the hair decorations down but is holding one of the rectangular pieces. “This is bianfang. It's what makes the liangbatou wings.” She holds it between her teeth for a moment while parting her hair down the middle, and sort of talks out the side of her mouth to explain some more. “It'sh eashier when you've got at leasht two people helping, but...” She takes the long bit of ivory out of her mouth and sets it horizontally on top of her head, flattening it with one palm before continuing to wind the right half of her hair around the right side of ivory. “I learned to do it by myself with some practice.” Lora hands the other long piece of ivory over to Lita and slowly walks her through the steps on how to wrap her hair around it and pin it into place with the little decorative pins she has to work with. “Then you just add more until it looks pretty, and that's it! It's either this, a braid, or a headscarf for me. Gotta keep it hidden or up and out of the way. Some people braid some of their hair into sparrow tails at the back of their neck, but it's...extra work. I don't do it unless I have to.” That hopefully took more than long enough for Mahri to finish healing Leo, but she peeks over her shoulder to check, just in case.

Mahri offers a small, tired smile to Leo before getting slowly to her feet. "Anytime. I'm going to get some rest now, though." She feels sorry for the birds and gives a silent thanks for their sacrifice out of habit. Glancing towards Lora and Lita, the wolf shakes her head. Girly stuff is so beyond her. Mahri manages a small waive to the women before leaving. At least she's not weaving or stumbling. this time.

He was abandoned by the other ‘not-into-girly-stuff’ person that occupied that room. Not that Ace was overly abundant with it, barefoot and free form, but basically by the time he was healed he was able to twist enough to observe the two with a strange expression, one between amusement and confusion. He hadn’t shaved and his hair was bedmessed from the day and a half spent in recovery. “You two gonna be at this for long?”

Lita will offer a brief wave and a mouthed Thanks as Mahri stands to take her leave. She wasn't much for the fancy hairdos either but well, she was trying. Leo would owe her one after this. Or two. She's trying to follow Lora's instructions, fiddlin' with the hair pins. She sorta gets the gist. It's a little off center but if she fiddles with it much more she's liable to just give up in frustration and yank them out. She straightens a bit as Leo stands, offering him a blank stare somewhere between wanting to run for the hills and ask him his opinion. But alright, she'll bite. "What yah think?" She wrinkles her nose playfully. Probably definitely not her style but she shrugs a little.

Loravelle is just happy someone is humoring her with listening to her try to explain these elaborate things. They're special to her, but she gets it. It's time consuming and not for everyone. Mahri is given a grateful look before she departs and a soft thank you. Lora is done with her hair, but turns toward Leo with a timid but mischievous look. “You're next.” His hair wasn't long enough for this by any stretch, but she'd work a comb through it if he let her. And Lita did such a good job for her first try at it! She grins. “You did so much better than when I tried the first time. ...I tied a huge knot in my hair the first time I tried doing it by myself and almost had to cut my hair to fix it. Thanks for trying it.”

Leo was able to chuff a laugh without pain again, and that was exactly what he did seeing some of Lita’s hair poking to the side like a tube. Truth, he’d seen Loravelle sport the look more often than not, but his vampire friend with her usual tousled beach hair combed now and then, sporting her ‘I-don’t-give-a-damn’ attitude most of the time… It was amusing to say the least. “Maybe you should go for the headscarf route, Ace.” Lora’s threat is met with one of his own. “Not until you show me that broom trick again, Dove.” He countered a few choice words of his own, with a drink of Lita’s whiskey, obviously feeling better between the three of them tending to his wound.

Lita keeps reaching her hands up to touch those 'wings' and trying to imagine how they must look on her. "I'm not against trying new things once. Though I don't think it'll be a regular look for me, thanks for sharing." She did like learning about people and their histories. She done it in another life as an informant, though she was far more antisocial nowadays. She would have thrown something at the pirate for the looks he's giving her, if there was anything in reaching distance other than her empty glass. Grr. He'll have to settle for a bemused glare and veiled threat of things to come. She tugs the ivory pins from her hair and shakes her fingers through raven curls, feeling more herself with her hair down. And she hands the pins back to Lora. "Actually, I like braids." Maybe not the bird tail ones if they were complicated though. And then Leo mentions that broom trick and Lita makes a face at him. "Aww come on can't you wait til I leave the room at least?" She's teasing.

“What broomstick trick-” Oh. That. He saw. For the first time all day, Loravelle’s face has gone pink. That's a record. “I- Um. Well..” She'll just fuss with her done up hair and try to figure out how to respond to that later. Her gaze resettles on Lita. “You're welcome!” She pockets all her hair decorations when she returns them. “I like braids too, they're easier than this.” The broomstick thing has her looking Leo's way again. Surely not here? And she joins in with Lita, sort of teasing but also a little bit serious. “That's an alone time activity, Leo!”

Leoxander would have probably caught the glass like he’d caught a steel bat a day prior if she -had- chucked it, but fortunately the vibes in the room were less than hostile. “It’s yer place.” He answered Lita as he pulled his boots over and shoved his feet into them. He’d deal with unwrapping his bindings later. “Don’t suppose you got anything in your pantry for me to raid?” She was a vampire, after all, and didn’t have a lot of need for canned beans or edible meats, but now that the pain had subsided, the rogue was starving. Even if they could make a trip to the Broken Barrel, which was where he’d intended to go before running across his new dark-eyed ‘friend’.

Lita shrugs at the pirate's question. "You're welcome to check but likely not. Cal sometimes keeps food around but I get on him for it. It turns if he doesn't toss it out and leaves the place smellin' worse than wet-" she shrugs a little again, apologetically. She'd been about to say 'wet dog' but maybe that wouldn't go over so well in present company, if she didn't mean bad by it. "Probably better off heading up to Simon's if you think you can make it. All my love if you have a few bottles of his honeyed whiskey added to your roster for the JR? For a private stash?" It was her favorite.

Loravelle hadn't eaten in some time either. The mention of food reminds her that she should probably eat something eventually. Did that mean it was time to leave? She looks from Ace to Leo, and makes a mental note that her raven-haired friend likes honeyed whiskey. She'll have to find some to gift to Ace sometime. “I've never had honeyed whiskey before. I like honey...” Lita said to Loravelle, "Highly recommend. Make him buy you one."

Leoxander finished lacing his boots to stand again and nodded at her answer, and her request. “Consider it done.” It was the least he could do for her taking his injured body and his companion (he wasn’t quite sure what title would be appropriate until meeting the motherf-.. Zarah) in for the evening to rest and heal. Lita would probably find a wooden crate with a half dozen liter bottles of a tasty label on the steps of that porch he’d renovated years ago, soon enough. A glance between the two, landing on the vampire. “Let’s keep it a step at a time. I’ll make sure you two have somethin’ to share on your beach date.” With kites, he figured, having overheard the conversations in the past. Stepping up to Lita, he bit her cheek with his unshaven whiskers as he kissed it and touched her arm. “I’ll see you around, eh? The Mouse wants ink.” Picking up his jacket from wherever it had been tossed, he looked back toward Loravelle with the expectation of her getting ready to go.

Loravelle gets up to follow Leo out, but before doing so she leans in to give Ace a hug after Leo kisses her cheek. She's getting used to this hugging stuff. It's nice. “I do want ink,” agrees the Mouse. Someday. She's still a little nervous about it, but Lora will figure it out eventually. “I'll see you soon, Ace.” Lora probably left her sandals by the front door, so she'll pick them up on the way out behind the pirate.

Lita will return the pirate's kiss and Lora's hug. It's still strange to hear anyway other than Leo call her Ace- it's been a while- but it touches a smile to her lips. "Anytime," she muses at the mention of ink. She owed Mahri some, too, come to think of it.