Skeletons in the closet

Theiyw was getting more and more concerned about Eis' medical state. He really didn't know how to treat fight wounds. Burns, sure, and blisters, but he didn't know a thing about gills or how to work with seadwellers in general. The mention of the daymare had him nodding - how could he forget. It was not only a strange situation in which he'd had a troll sleeping in the same tent as him, but the fact he'd comforted her that day had seared those hours into his memory. He nodded as she spoke, looking every so often at the bodies scattering the floor of the room to make sure none of them had survived and were planning a sneak attack.

Her explanation of the situation at the trench scared him. It was hard to believe that she had an other half that was capable of taking her over and doing horrible things while she was essentially made unconscious. Once she began talking about this seadweller, he felt such a rush of compassion that he nearly wanted to climb up onto the couch and hold her close - no further explanations were needed, especially when they made her this clearly distressed.

However, he knew now that there was an explanation for what the highblood pirate had said. The explanation for how she had..somehow brutally murdered her matesprit. The explanation was simple in essence - Eisire was not responsible for his death, someone else was. "You should rest." He said after a brief pause, still considering what he had just learned. "Do you need anything?" Suddenly, Theiyw realized that Eisire had just been doing a great deal of fighting, and he froze up, looking nervous. "Nothing is going to...happen, right?"

She didn't have to explain anymore for now, thank glob because she felt like she was going to sleep. She 'mhm'ed in response, then tried to remember where her first aid kit was. "Um, if you look in the kitchen cabinets there should be first aid supplies somewhere... I'd rather not loose any more head blood if that's ok." She managed a chuckle. It was such a bizarre feeling, to feel blood running down her face. Her nose was still bleeding a little, so she breathed through her mouth to prevent accidentally inhaling her own blood.

Eisire felt a pang of guilt when Theiyw froze, and she prayed to whoever might be listening that he didn't think her a monster for her split personality. She had managed to keep it hidden from those in authority, worried such a trait would either get her culled or they'd try to but Erisie permanently in control and use her for the Empress's army. "No, I doubt it... I think right now she is content at telling me how pathetic I am..." That sent her laughter rattling through her brain, a laugh so eerily similar to hers but with an unhinged feel to it. Eisire squeezed her eyes shut, hoping Erisie would quiet in her head soon.

Theiyw seemed to have forgotten briefly that Eisire had just been attacked by a pack of pirates, and he jumped to his feet before shaking her shoulder, trying  to compel her to stay awake. "First aid, right. You're gonna have to tell me what you need." He said hurriedly.

It was only after he'd returned from the kitchen that he heard her finish speaking. Sighing, he set the first aid kit down next to the bed, resting a hand on her forehead as be bit his lower lip. "You just saved her ass from a lot of angry pirates. She should be grateful. You're not pathetic." He tried to hide the compassion in his tone, but didn't do a very good job at it.

Biting his lower lip, he knelt down beside the couch again, rummaging around in the first aid kit until he found some gauze and bandages. Damn, that was a lot of blood on her face. "Where is it worst?" He asked, trying to brush her hair out of her face before glancing at the places he'd seen her get hit, either by the club or by the pirates restraining her.

Eisire coughed again, her gills felt like they were on fire. She wasn't going to be able to breathe underwater for weeks. She laughed at the idea of Erisie being grateful. "She will be grateful when I am pushed into the subconscious of my mind and she is in control twenty-four seven." Erisie was silent now, thank glob. One less thing to focus on now.

The worst and most pressing injury to Eisire's face was the cut on her forehead. It began at her hairline and stretched a little over halfway across her forehead. She pointed at it weakly, fighting to stay awake. "I think if you get that cut bandaged up and gauze on my gills I'll be ok."

This other part of Eisire's mind seemed to be incredibly intrusive, not to mention awful. "And I will be incredibly ungrateful. So, let's make sure that doesn't happen." He pulled out the bandage, unrolling it and ripping it unceremoniously so that he could work with it better.

Once he was sure that Eisire had finished telling him what to do, Theiyw began to dab at the cut on the seadweller's forehead, biting his lower lip in concentration while trying to make sure he dabbed lightly. After all, it wouldn't do to hurt her, especially if she was currently weak. He figured that might make things easier for Erisie to take over. "Tell me if I need to be lighter..." He said through the concentration, having dabbed up most of the blood. Now, he simply began wrapping the bandage around her head, being careful to not accidentally hit her horns and not tug her head up too much, creating discomfort. Once the bandage had been wrapped around her head a few times, he tied it at the front for easy removal.

Satisfied, he turned to her side where she'd been touching her gills. He tugged her shirt up a little bit, only enough to reveal the injured gills. These looked to be a little bigger than the ones on her neck, and he quickly got to work, dabbing the area with gauze before placing the webbed material over them and attempting to wrap the bandage around her midsection. However, to do this he realized she needed to sit up, so he tugged the bandage away, holding the gauze in place. "Can you sit up?" He asked, worried that he'd been hurting her while working with the bandages. A pile of bloodstained gauze lay on the floor next to him, and he took a second to glance at it, nervous.

Eisire was doing her best to stay awake, occasionally slipping into unconsciousness for a few seconds at a time. Not having blood all over her face or dripping down it made her feel quite a bit better. She still felt more or less numb, but perhaps that was partially due to shock and blood loss. She had been fighting sleep again when Theiyw spoke, his voice enough to rouse her. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, still rather dizzy.

Eisire spotted the blood soaked gauze, paling slightly. It was one thing to see someone else's blood, but another to see so much of your own. "H-how much blood have I lost?!" She just wanted to sleep, she just wanted to pretend that there wasn't blood and dead bodies all over her hive.

Theiyw quickly wrapped the bandage around Eisire's midsection, letting go of her once he was sure it was tied securely. Thankfully, now the worst of it was over. Now he just needed to make sure she didn't end up falling asleep, it was important that her body stayed awake after so much blood loss. Speaking of that, he realized that she ought to drink something, and therefore he ran back to the nutrition block, grabbing what looked like a cup and filling it with water. He wondered briefly if seadwellers drank salt water, but wasn't about to drink out of the invalid's water.

Rushing back to her, he held it up to her face, realizing only after the fact that he hadn't exactly told her why he was rushing off into the other room. It was important that she didn't think he was about to run away - if he did that he knew that there was never going to be a chance of having her trust him. A lot..." He admitted, offering the water again. "Drink it, you'll feel better..."

All Eisire wanted to do was sleep; whenever she had a fight with her other side she typically slept for a few afters afterwards. The mental wars exhausted her, and the fighting had really only made it worse. She was wondering where Theiyw had gone, but was soon greeted with a glass of water. She took it, her hands shaking slightly, and drank all of it before handing it back to him. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until after the first swallow.

She rubbed her eyes, the need to sleep repeatedly hitting her. It felt like waves, almost. "I just want to sleep... I feel so shitty." Her head dipped a little, and she jerked up as she woke up from her two second nap.

He took the cup from her quickly, setting it down on the floor next to the pile of bloodstained gauze. That probably wasn't sanitary, he'd have to wash that cup before it got put back.

Sighing, he started rearranging the pillows on the couch so Eisire could at least rest. It wouldn't do any good for her to get any sopor slime into the wounds, and the bandages would just have to be changed faster due to the way sopor slime absolutely soaked anything made of cloth.

Now that all the cushions on the back of the couch were gone, there was room for at least three trolls on the couch. After all, Eis was a seadweller, which explained the lavishness of this particular piece of furniture. Theiyw sort of wanted to crawl up there next to her, just so he could make sure she wouldn't stop breathing in the middle of her nap, but that was unprofessional, and he was acting as a stand in DocTerror at the moment. "Are you sure you can sleep? You should only sleep for a little while." It did make sense for her to be tired, after all, she'd woken him up pretty early in the evening. It wasn't even completely dark out yet, and he realized that he'd gotten a little sunburned on the jetski ride over to Eis' hive.

Eisire was already falling asleep now she was more comfortable. She nodded weakly, "Fighting Erisie is very... draining." Whenever Eisire fought against her or woke from a blackout, she felt like she'd been hit by a truck. She had also taken to taking short naps in the middle of the night, and the daymares had paled in comparison to the one she had in Theiyw's tent. Now that she thought of it, had she told him her other sides name? Well, he knew now.

She yawned, her eyes closing. Her fingers found Theiyw's hand. "Thank you," she murmured before nodding off.

Theiyw had never had experience fighting another consciousness inside his own mind, and so he couldn't quite tell or understand what that might have been like. He'd of course been exposed to Psionics, but that was only temporary, and most psionic trolls he'd encountered did not cause him to wake up covered in blood wondering what he'd done.

"No problem.." He mumbled, slipping his hand out of Eisire's grasp as soon as she fell asleep. The room was a mess, and he wanted to make sure she didn't have to wake up to dead bodies scattered all over the floor. First getting rid of the mess of bloody bandages, Theiyw carried all the trolls he found dead outside, piling them up unceremoniously into a gruesome stack. At least it might dissuade any more pirates from attacking for the time being, although he was pretty certain that Eisire would not like to add a pile of dead bodies to her island as a new design fixture.

After he was completely finished with getting the place cleaned up, tossing out the ropes Eis had been tied with and washing the cup which he'd given her, Theiyw walked outside, disregarding the pirates as he looked out onto the ocean. It was strange to see the land from this side, and he didn't want to end up watching her while she slept. That would be strange under the best circumstances, and he wasn't nearly tired enough to want to go to sleep right after he'd waken up.

Eisire was in the golden world again. She had been dreaming of this place more and more since she figured out she could fly here. She walked along the white people happily, who all seemed incredibly excited to see her. She traveled with a small crowd about her, holding hands with who she thought were the wrigglers. They wound around the tall towers, much like hers. They had no doors, just windows at the very top. Next time she visited, she would have to peer in the windows and see what was inside.

Eisire was growing weary, and bid the white creatures goodbye before returning to her tower. She read a little before nodding off again. And she was back in her hive, feeling like she had been mowed over by a horde of hoof-beasts. Groaning, she sat up, holding her side. At least she wasn't loosing any more blood for the time being.

Theiyw had grown tired of watching the sea, as its rhythmic behavior got frustrating after a while. He happened to walk back into the hive just as Eisire was waking, and he leaned back against the now-familiar wall, looking at her with a little bit of worry. She'd been asleep for quite a while, and she still looked rather exhausted.

"Sleep well?" He asked curiously, wondering if she'd had any peculiar dreams. It was confusing to him why Erisie didn't just take control while Eisire was asleep, but he decided not to press the topic. After all, as long as the two of them were safe, he had no complaints as to  how Eisire had slept.

It was also good that she hadn't had any nightmares, given that the last time he'd seen her sleeping out of sopor, she'd seemed to have had a bad daymare.

She smiled weakly at Theiyw, her head pounding from the blows to it. A bruise was already forming on her jaw, and it was clear she was going to have a black eye as well. One of her molars was feeling a little loose, probably from being punched pretty hard in the face. Eisire couldn't remember the last time she had lost a tooth, thought it was probably when her blackouts were much more frequent. On the plus side, she could no longer taste blood with every exhale and her hive no longer looked like a battlefield.

"Uh, sort of I guess. I feel like I was only asleep for ten minutes though." She'd always found she didn't feel rested once she woke from the golden land, like she only really slept ten or twenty minutes and was awake for the rest of it.

Eisire looked like she'd gotten into a fight with a herd of hoofbeasts, not a group of pirates. It almost made Theiyw feel bad that he didn't have injuries similar to hers, but he figured that due to his lack of injury, it just made taking care of her easier. Had they both been hurt, things would have taken much longer.

"Sorry? Can't do much about that." There were quite a few things that were out of Theiyw's control, and Eisire's sleep was one of them. He'd had similar experiences of not sleeping, but had Eisire told him the nature of her dream, it really wouldn't be comparable. In fact, Theiyw found that when he had restless days like the one Eisire had talked, he'd feel like he was sleepwalking, although he'd end up waking up right where he'd fallen asleep in his tent. Of course, he wasn't about to tell her that - talking about dreams was certainly not a good way to make friends.

Walking over to the couch, he went to sit at the foot of it, taking advantage of Eisire's short height to sit below her feet. Thankfully, there was room. "Sorry I couldn't have been here sooner." He apologized, biting his lip and looking down at his feet.

She rubbed her face, wincing when she touched the bruised skin. Perhaps it would be best to sequester herself in her hive until the bruises had faded, she would prefer not having to explain her injuries to anyone, even her friends. Aryane was supposed to visit in two days, you'd just tell her that you had become buried in work and needed to reschedule.

Eisire smiled at him weakly, "Not your fault." Most of the time, she enjoyed her visits to the golden land. But this time, she would have much preferred a dreamless sleep. "Are you injured at all? Or did you burn any in the sun, I'm not sure what time it was when I messaged you..." He did look like he had caught the sun.

"Theiyw, you have nothing to apologize for. You've saved my life once again. I'm sorry for dragging you into this, and that instead of breakfast you had to patch me up."

Theiyw looked at the close to blistering skin on his shins and forearms, shaking his head. His nose was also burned, but unless he wanted to humiliate himself by taking a glance at it, he wasn't going to go crosseyed just to check and see if his assumptions were right. "Got burned a bit. I've had worse." He assured her, glad that at least he'd had time to get dressed before rushing over to Eisire's cottage.

Breakfast had been completely driven from his mind, and he realized that was the reason he'd come  here, after all. Well, also to see Eisire,  but breakfast had been the excuse. "The evening's not over yet, still time to have some breakfast if you want." He assured her, looking back into the nutrition block and wondering if she had any fresh fruit.

It was sort of amusing that he kept on saving her life, and he wondered briefly if there would ever be a situation in which she'd need to return the favor.

She frowned, concerned. "You should find after-sun cream in the first aid kit." She'd burned once before, she'd gotten too close to the surface while swimming during the day, and it was an experience she didn't want to repeat again. She was feeling rather hungry, the prospect of food perking her appetite.

"I was going to cook up something, but I don't think I can stay standing for long. But if you look in the fridge you'll find fruit and dairy stuff." Eisire's breakfasts were mainly electric, made of random foods that looked tasty. One evening she had made a cake just for the hell of it. And she never ate eggs. Never. Not since her run in with food poisoning.

Theiyw shook his head. He'd never really been one for medications, having preferred to push through any injury than actually tend to them. However, since Eisire was insistent, and he wanted to make sure he was able to fight properly should another group of trolls come around, he rummaged around in the kit until he found the cream. Deciding that he didn't exactly want to use too much of it and impose upon Eisire's hospitality, Theiyw just dabbed a bit of it on his nose before putting it away in the bag.

Yeah, you don't need to cook anything. Breakfast is supposed to be easy, anyways." Theiyw usually just ate a bite of grubmeal or partly-stale toast for breakfast, and fruit sounded great at the time.

Getting up, he walked into the nutrition block, finding the fridge she'd mentioned before searching around in it a little bit. Thankfully, he found some apples and an orange or two, completely forgetting about the dairy products as he returned to the couch, handing her an apple. "Listen, you're not going to..I mean..I'm not in danger here, right?" He asked, trying to tread as carefully as possible as he brought up Erisie.

Eisire had begin to cheer up, despite that she was rather injured. Her stomach was rumbling, and as soon as Theiyw had handed her the apple she had taken a large bite. A cold chill ran down her back when he spoke. She swallowed hard, glancing away. This is why she didn't tell people about her fucked up brain; trolls saw her as a ticking time bomb that they had to tip toe around. Like anything they said could release Erisie.

"I haven't blacked out in nearly two sweeps," she replied rather coolly. "And she only really attempts to break free when I'm in danger of physical harm or in a fight." She glanced up for a second. "So no, you are not in danger here."

One major thing about moving around so much was that Theiyw rarely had time to do things in a slow manner. If he waited, he'd simply have to leave, and would leave with regrets and missed chances. "Ok." He nodded, glad for once that he'd pushed aside the pillows to allow Eisire to sleep. Because of this, there was still plenty enough room for him to lie down or sit next to her if he wanted, and therefore he picked himself up and moved so that he was sitting next to her.

That's good to hear. I really couldn't bring myself to be scared of you." The truth was, he couldn't bring himself to be truly scared of most trolls. Perhaps the Empress. Besides her, Theiyw was rather bold when it came to interacting with other trolls. As with doing things, he did not have the luxury of taking it slow when it came to making friends.

Deciding to lay down, he looked over at her, moving backwards so that there was a more civil distance between them. After all, he didn't want to make it seem as if he was flushed. No, that wouldn't do. He just was a little glad that the two of them were alive and that she hadn't kicked him out after he'd learned about Erisie. "Thanks." He said, taking another bite of the apple he was holding.

She took a few more bites of the apple before replying, feeling bad for turning cold on him. "Sorry... You're... You're kind of the only person I've told about... about Erisie in two sweeps... Sorry I got rather defensive." She continued to eat the apple, tearing off a larger chunk and biting it in half using her molars. She hissed, feeling pain in her mouth. It was defiantly loose, and she knew it would come out within the next week. There would be a hole for a few months as the new tooth pushed its way back in. After finishing the apple, nibbling at the core until it snapped in two, she set the remains on the coffee table and curled up in a tight ball on the sofa.

Feeling bad now about the way he'd been acting, Theiyw sighed, glancing over at Eisire apologetically. "Don't be sorry. I'm the one who treated you like you were about to explode on me. Should've known better." Now that he realized what he'd thought about Erisie's consciousness was completely false, Theiyw was growing more and more at ease.

The action of losing a tooth was not unknown to Theiyw, who had frequently dented or chipped his own teeth while holding metal objects such as nails between them. It was a bad habit, but his mouth was a much more accessible place for tools compared to a table. It looked like she'd been hurt, and he frowned a little bit, wanting to reach out but catching himself before he did so. "You okay?" He asked, finally reaching a hand out and resting it on her shoulder compassionately.

She smiled weakly at him. "Trust me, you'll know when I'm about to explode... It typically isn't an instant changeover." The process of Erisie taking over was not a pleasant one. It felt like her brain was being cut in half, like her very being was being torn apart. At a certain point, Erisie's taking over was inevitable but Eisire never seemed to realise that. She would desperately fight for consciousness until beaten into submission.

Eisire rubbed her jaw where the tooth was. "I think my tooth came loose when I got punched in the face." Her tongue went to the afflicted area, the gum was puffy and she could taste a little blood. She pushed it a little, wincing when it moved slightly.

Theiyw grimaced a little, remembering the unpleasantness of losing a tooth. "If you can, pull it out. If you need help relaxing to do it, just ask me." He wasn't quite sure at the moment what exactly helping her relax entailed, and he only remembered after a little while that it usually meant calming the troll in question down, which meant stereotypical pale activities. Great.

He shook his head, trying to take it back, while simultaneously making his statement more obvious to her. "Or you could just wait until daytime and go to sleep, it might fall out when you're in sopor, or at least the sopor would dull the pain." He was just about as uneducated with sopor as he was with the topic of different personalities inside the same body.