Day 10
Today was a simple day, just like those before. After all, the "fun" was coming to him only at night, since his days were just him being in his bed as Ashe only came to see how he was doing and sometimes took him to a room to eat. So, to say the least, his morale was quite low during those hard times. Because being alone wasn't the issue, but being unable to do anything useful—that was the problem. One that he couldn't even handle by himself.
Or does he?
On that morning, he had had enough of all these restrictions. He wasn't feeling any pain at the time, and it had been the case for around five days now. And no one had really put on him any rules since he couldn't move by himself. Or maybe it was because of that silent accord between him and Ashe that he would listen to them until the thirty-day mark. So it seems that no one had thought that he would try to do otherwise. Was it because of their overconfidence or just simple stupidity? Sunless couldn't care less about that. Today, he was feeling a bit impish, mischievous, one might say. So instead of just waiting for someone to come to him, he would simply find them on his own.
Moving his legs was easy now; it was just a matter of holding them strong not to fall like an uncared-for baby making his first step. Or like a grandma yearning to have some attention while jumping into some random stairs. To start, he still had to get in a seated position. Which was done quite easily, but the hard part was yet to come. From his current height, even in this position, he wouldn't touch the floor with his feet.
Okay, waiting was useless. The faster he tried to walk, the faster he would get out of this exhausting—no, killing was the better word. It was killing him to stay motionless.
'Okay, now or never...'
He was alone; it was the best time to jump and try.
Okay, maybe jumping was not a good idea, but falling slowly was surely the right call. Yeah, he should really do that. Holding himself stable with his arms, he slowly pushed his hips as the bed became just another part of the room, not his sole support.
As soon as he tried to stand up straight, his equilibrium started to crumble. Using his arms to balance himself, he had to hold his breath to be sure that he was stable back. Normally, he would have walked toward the wheelchair, without any care if he could only do a few steps. But not today. He was trying to do better.
He had to think.
The rest of his body was doing just fine, maybe a little bit sore but nothing too harmful. So why do his legs have to be like that? It was as if they... Ohhhh.
In the sewer, he didn't have to move that much. All he had done was hide, steal, and sleep, and it was even worse during the last six months. Leaving his abandoned hole was far too perilous, so he didn't really use his legs for a long time... Since his body had been strained, maybe his legs had taken a heavier toll.
So if it were only for his upper body, he would only have to recover from exhaustion, but his legs had to recover too, and on top of that, they had to get used to supporting his body again.
Which means... He had to walk to be better at walking.
-"Duh, and water is wet...or is it?"
Putting this new conundrum aside for later, Sunless had to try and take his first step without rushing. To his surprise, it was far easier than expected. Then came the second and the third. Okay, until now, no problem nor tremor to report. Without any reason, the next few steps were toward the wall. Taking his time, he was able to reach it with his sixth step. His hand moving toward what was unreachable until now.
Over the days of stagnation, he had tried to imagine the texture of everything around him. What could be the feeling that his finger would experience? Would it be smooth to the touch? Rough? With a subtle pattern? Cold? Hot? Or in the middle?
He didn't say a word.
Another step was made in a different direction, but still his hand never left the wall, rubbing it slightly from the tips of his fingers. Touching whatever was in his way as he moved around the room.
All this was from a different world from his. All that composed his room would be treasured in the outskirts, even if it was in bad shape or in pieces. For example, this chest of drawers—practically no one he knew had touched those materials... He had heard some story with his mom, but could it be...wood? It was polished, and weirdly enough, it had some resistance to the friction made from his finger.
The only thing left to touch was the thing protecting him from the outside light.
Those white curtains, now that he could see them up close... They had many layers, all of them very thin but sewn together. Still, with a hesitant and trembling hand, he couldn't resist his curiosity. He had to be gentle with that, since he was not sure of how this host would react if those were to be damaged.
- "So...soft? Softer than the blanket... So light..."
Without a second thought, his face was already reaching for it, closing his eyes just to focus on this new feeling. His respiration was unsteady as if something in him had started to relax once again. And this scent—he didn't know the word to describe it.
It smells good... Something that could only be beautiful, he was sure of it.
After a moment without moving, Sunny was now in a better mood. His legs were trembling a little, noticing him returning to his bed. But when he started to turn around, that's when he saw her.
The door was closed, and standing against it was a muscular woman in a suit. Her emerald eyes were staring at him with the wildest smile he had seen in there. Normally, he would have said something, but she...the aura she was giving was one of a simple and pure happiness.
He had to take a second to remember her...
-"You... You were there, in the dark alley, right? I remember your eyes..."
At that comment, she seemed...no, she was flabbergasted, but her joy only grew stronger as she nodded in silence. Which stunned Sunless in place; she was so easy to read, and yet, he couldn't understand the reason behind her reaction. She...
'Oh yeah...she is mute...'
-"I... Oohhh—"
It was at that time that his legs simply gave out, and he hadn't even touched the ground when she was already standing next to him. Fast and quiet. Not knowing where to place her hands, as if he were the most fragile thing in this room. Yet, his first reaction was not to complain or to react. No, he simply looked at his hand to be sure that he didn't grab the curtains in his fall. Those things were far more valuable than him.
But to his utmost delight, he had nothing in his hand, and the cloud-like fabric was still where it belonged.
Letting out a sigh of relief, his attention was now turned to the short and curly-haired woman. Her panic was all over the place, so much so that he simply chuckled without realizing it. Why on earth would she have that reaction? Wasn't it a bit overexaggerated? The bodyguard was still lost on whatever she had to do. Was she...
Still on the ground, unable to muster any strength in his legs, Sunny simply looked at her.
Onyx and Emerald.
-"You don't want to touch me, right? Thanks."
It was not a criticism but a compliment. Because Ashe had already ignored his wishes, Jeanne had thought of a way to work around it, but not her. She was straightforward, it seems... It was far easier to interact with people like her. Even like that, she still came to him to be sure he was okay and was now searching for ways to help him without breaking his unearned trust.
She simply froze at the remark, taking a little tablet computer out of her pocket to—
-"[Still, do you need anything? Jeanne is not around, but if you're hurt, I can try to help you.]"
The text was shown to him, taking a second or two to appreciate her way of communicating. From the look of it, it was surely made with the sole purpose of helping those in the same condition as her.
'At least, now, I don't have to deduce things from only her face.'
Still, he had to give her an answer, right?
So as he closed his eyes, Sunless had to try and think of something, visualizing quite easily the room, but nothing useful came to his mind, so he tried to think a little bit out of the box. The furniture outside is lacking, and it didn't seem to move... Yeah, it could possibly work.
Looking at her once more, his tone was slow and composed even if his breath was faster than it should be.
-"There's a chair just outside the room; it will be on your left, around 5 rooms further behind a drawer... Can you bring it in, please? I will use it to sit on, and after having recovered a little bit of strength, I will move back to my bed.... Hoping I'm not asking too much of you."
...
Okay, said like that, it might sound like he was taking her for...how to say it... That he was taking her for a dumbass. Which was not the case! But from her expression, it seemed that he didn't even have to panic about it.
She simply gave him a wild and warm smile, putting the tablet in front of him before leaving the room. It took a moment for him to understand that she was acting that way to put him at ease. Like, she will have to come back to get her thing back. Subtle, he couldn't even be mad at it. Okay, he might have been, but only if Ashe had tried to do so.
Five seconds later, she was back holding the chair much more carefully than he would have expected from her physique. It was a little counterintuitive, to say the least. It was as if he was watching a PTV moving toward someone at full speed, but instead of rolling over them, it would simply stop in front of the victim-to-be, grazing them without any injury or shock.
Still, she came back and brought him the chair between him and the bed. Using his arms to drag himself, Sunny had to try at least a few times before achieving his goal and being able to sit on it. Taking a long breath from this effort, he had to turn his head to look at this mysterious figure.
-"Thank you... Hum, sorry, but can I ask for your name?"
Shrugging with her shoulder, she was already taking back her tablet with an answer in mind. Once finished, she simply showed him the screen.
-"[Name's Plume. The "U" is a bit tricky to pronounce, so don't worry if you don't say it correctly. And no need to thank me; I'm sincerely surprised by the fact that you remembered that chair to begin with.]"
Really? It was quite easy. After all, he didn't have much to do, so with each occasion to move outside his room, he tried his best to map the building in his mind. But explaining it was exhausting; it was better for him to change the subject.
-"So...Plume..? It the first time I've come to see you around here. Is there any reason behind your visit?"
She looked at him with the same expression, with the exception of her eyes betraying a certain discomfort. Since she had to write her answer down, he had all the time to think of his situation with all the...peace of mind that a kid like him would have.
'Yeah, right, let's speak to her as if you were shopping at the same store. Nice Sunless, very nice. Next time, maybe you could ask her to give you some of her muscle since you have no brain. At least you would have one of the two, you dumb fu-'
-"[The door was not properly closed. So I wanted to see if anything happened in here.]"
Plume then took back her tablet, as if she was using those times to put some artificial pause in her speech. There was something that Sunless hadn't noticed until now, but isn't she writing fast?
In less than a second, the rest was there and his to be seen
-"[And it seems that I was right. Since when can you get up like that? I thought that you were moving using the wheelchair. Jeanne and Ashe are keeping the progress of your recovery secret, not that we are unauthorized to look by ourselves though. Still, I'm happy to see it like that; it looks already better than during our first encounter.]"
'All that? That's some fast fingers that you have here...it would have been good to have those when I had to gamble to win some rations...'
The message was clear, but yet, he couldn't remove that formal intonation while reading in his head. But what about his door? Last time he saw it, that door was closed. Okay, maybe he touched it, but was he sure it wasn't around the handle? Who knows? Did those things are weak to the touch? Did he almost break it by being curious?
Now was the question, which is the most expensive? The door or the curtain?
The answer is YES!
He would have to sell his soul to repay either of those two...
'Focus, Sunless. Focus.'
There was something important, other than that damned door. Why would Ashe and Jeanne hide his situation from those around them? Only to not forbid them to look and check by themself? If Ashe was a little bit senile, he wouldn't mind, but Jeanne? Not that he could claim that he understood her; he still can't see why she was happy to show him Nephis while she was eating. Like, a peasant like him had to be obsessed with her every movement?
Or maybe he should kiss her foot while she tries to kick him out; it would be perfect.
-"I try to walk alone every day...But as you can see, I'm still lacking a bit in the legs department..."
He would have loved to swing his legs to reinforce his lie, but sadly for him, there was no way they would listen to him. To lie is to protect oneself from what is visible and what is not, right? There was little to no chance that Plu-...than she was trying to manipulate him. Which is why he was forced to do it. To manipulate first, to be the king or be left as a bishop...or was it a rock? No, it was a pawn. The king and the pawn. Damn Caretaker and her will to teach him and the other kid how to play a game named chass...It's chess, isn't it?
And even without it, Sunless felt safer while lying. Which was only proved once again to be a double-edged sword, as her reaction was not what was expected of her.
How could she be beaming like that? Being so happy for someone else could be okay but not for a stranger. He could see that she would have hugged him if not for the deal of no contact, so she turned to her only other way to express herself.
-"[IT'S SUCH A GOOD NEWS! You're making progress! Just don't rush yourself, okay? You are here to heal and recover; you can see it like a holiday]"
Okay, now he had another question for her...
-"What's a holiday?"
Was he dumb, or was it normal for him to sound like a broken record every now and then?
Yet, the mute woman kept communicating with him, as something happened around the door. One that Sunny couldn't notice.