Jintao bit his lip. He had been passing around that lie ever since he lost his arm and Tay was the first person he wished knew that was false. The moments of his awful past began haunting him. He closed his eyes, but that never worked to chase anything away. What was it about her that seemed to bring things up like this?
"I forgot my coat downstairs," he went for the stairs without looking at anyone.
"Jintao-" Daisy put her hand out to stop him, but he was already down the stairs. She turned to Tay with her hands on her hips and a look that said, "how dare you." Then, as though she remembered something, fear filled her eyes again. "Excuse me," she said, almost shaking, as she turned to the living room.
@_-Captain BRM-_
"How dare I, indeed," Tay muttered, watching through her bangs as the old woman left the kitchen. She stood and limped with silent feet to the rich cabinetry, then opened the doors and searched the shelves. She made no sound, taking quick inventory before hobbling back to the oven with a muffled groan.
Jintao was a foolish man, and he ailed himself. Yet she admired his disposition.
She mixed herbs and spices into the liquor before applying the acholic solution. It fizzed and boiled in the skin, so that her hands grew white and small unquenchable sounds issued from her throat. But she did not remove the rag and remedy until it had served it's purpose.
Sweat had streamed lines into her dirty, young face, and hair clung to her forehead as she rewashed her feet and pulled apart the welts with sterilized needles, then washed them again and repeated her process with the liquor.
Without covering and insulation her work would be to little avail, but she did not have the composure to call the old woman back, or to try and summon Jintao.
Instead she sat back in the chair and breathed heavy breaths, her weak body excited by pain.
She heard the rumble of voice, but understood no words.
Her and Jintao were not so different.
@Lacy Duckwing