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[gabriel_tam]

The room is fairly nice, all things considered. There are several chairs, a porta-cot set up discreetly against one wall for visitors that for one reason or another are reluctant to leave, and it's clear that whoever designed this particular private room in the first place intended to make it seem as warm and welcoming as possible.

Of course, given that it's a hospital, there's really only so much that can be done.

Currently, the hospital bed is tilted upwards at an angle, with the evident intention of making the patient comfortable. It seems to be working, at least a little, because Gabriel Tam is asleep.

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[gabriel_tam]

"I... think I remember hearing him say something of the sort," he says slowly. "In any case, Galadan was right. It's not the sort of thing that could be easily explained."

There's something shuttered about his glance, though, as he looks at Yuna.

"Although it's certainly gracious of you to offer, perhaps you might better save your efforts for those who are more deserving of it."

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

Mary doesn't say anything, but shakes her head, a very little.

There is not much that is all right, right now. This particular thing could have been worse - it could have been much worse - but that does not make it all right at all.

[gabriel_tam]

"Quite possibly not, but as no one has informed me otherwise..."

Gabriel grins, and then winces as the slashes on his cheek pull.

"... it doesn't hurt to talk, at least. Or not much."

[wolflord_andain]

Galadan, too, is silent.

Gabriel has not heard the last of Galadan being kept ignorant of certain pertinent information, either.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Oh, but you mustn't be so humble!" she protests. "You're a leader of your people, a public servant and a symbol of their hopes and good order. You are more deserving, because your life is spent in service, and because when people see that you are safe and well, it makes them feel safe and well."

"I understand," she adds quickly, "that your world doesn't have magic, and it would be hard to explain. But you deserve it, at least."

[gabriel_tam]

"... or it will be, at least."

Gabriel holds her glance with his own.

"I'll ask you to believe that, if you can."

[gonna_live]

"Just so long as neither of us is gonna get yelled at whenever somebody comes in -- and as long as it's not, you know, hurtin' you too much." Hastily. "So -- you'll let me know, right? If it is?"

[gabriel_tam]

"That's not... actually what I meant."

In service. Something in Gabriel's expression twists, as if from sudden pain.

"I'd not be here if you weren't a good man," Prior Fell had told him. "What matters now is what you do next."

He'd taken those words -- the words of an angel, he knows now -- to heart, and done what he could to live by them.

Until the day when a different, avenging angel had showed up (been sent?) to kill him, he had thought --

--well, that doesn't matter now, does it?

"It doesn't matter," Gabriel says aloud.

[gabriel_tam]

"I will, Kaylee. You have my word."

He shifts slightly, settling back against the bed.

"It was nice of you to come."

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"I know that you are going to be get better," Mary says, after a moment, pale blue eyes meeting the direct look.

It's not a question of belief at this point, once she's heard it as a statement from people she trusts.

"That does not make it better now that you are ill. And I do not know how long it will be, or what will be happening - and I will have to go home and not know and it will be awful."

[simon_doctor]

He assumed the more deserving was a gracious social lie, the kind both his parents do so much better than he's ever been able to.

Something in his face, now, and in his words --

"Dad, it's up to you," he says, trying not to sound overly concerned. Overly alarmed.

[gonna_live]

"Hospitals are awful," she says. Blunt. "People comin' helps. And -- you know, we're worried, like to see for myself you're okay. You feelin' good enough to be bored yet?"

[gabriel_tam]

"I've been sleeping a lot," he evades.

It's an answer in and of itself.

"But I'll be fine."

[wolflord_andain]

Galadan's mouth quirks in slight, wry smile.

"I shall do what I may to keep you informed, Mary. You need have little fear on that score."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

Yuna frowns, wondering if the conversation is taxing him too much or if something is worsening, and her fingers begin to close around the staff, preparing to employ the Sensor magic again--but she halts at the sound of Simon's voice.

She doesn't know these people very well, she realizes. But something seems to be hanging in the air, here.

[gabriel_tam]

"Not entirely."

Gabriel meets his son's eyes. "Can we honestly afford the sort of scrutiny that would be directed at us, if I were to get up and walk out of here without any sign of injury?"

As an aside to Yuna,

"That is what you're proposing? I've understood you correctly?"

[gabriel_tam]

"And you're certainly welcome to visit," Gabriel says, then adds, wryly, "As you are now."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"You've been scarred," she says, without any trace of her earlier lightness. She picks up the staff, and again views him through the lattice work of the head. It would be simply odd, if the magic didn't throw shifting blue and red shadows on her face; as it is, it's slightly eerie.

"Looking again--I think it's in your lungs. I can't be sure. Your vitality will never be what it was, and you'll always be vulnerable, now, to certain kinds of harm that weren't as dangerous before. I can't change that."

"But yes, I can heal most of it, as if it had had time to heal naturally, but much more quickly." She frowns again. "I didn't mean to press you, and I apologize if I spoke out of turn. I do understand why."

"But you do deserve it, even if you can't have it." Most people's first impression of Yuna is a docile and pleasant child. But there's a stubborn streak a mile wide in any summoner.

[mistressmaryquitecontrary]

"I cannot visit by myself."

She says it almost reluctantly; it seems she's always dependent on other people for news, these days. She wants to be able to do something by herself.

To Galadan: "You will not always be there."

[wolflord_andain]

He inclines his head just slightly, eyes level on hers.

"No. Though I do visit often enough."

In his opinion, at the least.

[gonna_live]

"...which is a no." She shakes her head. "Well -- that's even more of an excuse."

She holds up the book she's got; the hardcover is tattered, with threads coming off the edges and the binding, and whatever picture was on the cover isn't visible any longer.

"On loan." A small smile. "Belonged to my mother, and she let me have it when I left home -- good stories, for readin' and for readin' aloud. It's as much a part of gettin' over bein' sick or hurt as whatever awful-tastin' medicine they got in mind for you. And you can guilt people into readin' to you, too. That part's fun."

[simon_doctor]

He wants to repeat those last words; wants to make sure they're believed.

(you're worth it)

"It's up to you," he repeats instead, very low.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Wait," she says.




Her voice is different. It's lower, for one thing, and flat. "What did this to him?" She's still looking through the Sensor.

There's something here. Something subtle. Something--something like something she's seen before.

[gabriel_tam]

His reaction is very, very clear.

Gabriel tenses, every muscle tightening. Pain sears through him, and bitterly, he almost welcomes it.

There's a long, long silence, and then,

"An angel. Of vengeance."

His voice is hoarse, and the few words flat, and utterly bleak.

[simon_doctor]

"...what?"

Simon's voice is altogether too sharp.