[closed] Along for the Ride

[lotusmesenpai]

Who: Kanda, Lavi, & Steinbeck
Where: Traveling from Leith to Old Town
When: W3D6
Summary: Kanda and Lavi received a warrant to escort a scarback from Leith to Westerley, along with his supplies.
Restrictions/Warnings: Usual Kanda disclaimer - language.

Comments

Kanda & Steinbeck

[lotusmesenpai]

[Easy warrant, this one, but right now... they could use easy. He needs some distance, from a population in decay, from ghost coming back to haunt him, from the flicker and fade of things he knows aren't real, there to tease his senses.

So while Lavi sleeps (and he's getting worried about that one, because while that idiot rabbit tended to nap often, he's hitting new heights of lethargy.), he's overseeing the monks loading rows of crates in his cargo bay.

These, he's not going to look at too closely - they're not his concern. Instead, he turns and walks over to the one that's actually staying once the loading is complete.]

...You again, huh?

[A beat, as he frowns at the monk, hooks his thumbs in his pants pockets.]

So where are we taking you to this time?

Steinbeck & Lavi

[inksplashes]

[ The hours pass by in brief glimpses of gray and washes of the real-world, consciousness slipping from fevered silence to fevered silence. He wakes in intermittent bursts, moments of reality clashing with the fuzzy edges of a seemingly unending dream state.

But the dreams themselves slip away from his sluggish mind like grains of sand, skittering past the reach of his fingertips. Sometimes they're pleasant, warm. Lavi wakes within the embrace of some nostalgic peace, laughter ghosting across his lips.

At other times, he stirs with a racing heart, a stammering pulse. His stomach twists with the phantom pains of panic, his muscles burn with the memory of desperate races.

All of it, the good and the bad, the warm and the cold, slip away from his understanding by the time he rouses again. Lavi waits for the sleep to pull him back under, his throat dry and tight from the recycled air of the ship.

Footsteps down the hall, loud and demanding, stun him out of the sleepy reverie. He pushes up unsteadily, eye narrowing, fingers searching for something sharp and solid to grasp in the darkness of his room. What he finds is not a weapon, not in any traditional sense, but a worn book, its time-weathered surface cool to his fevered touch. ]

Geeze..

[ Shaking his head at himself, he reinforces where he is--on their ship, in his room, and pushes the sound of footsteps out of his mind. Just another dream remnant, another whisper of a world left behind in the recesses of his fatigued brain.

Inhaling to calm the staccato rhythm of his heart, Lavi swings his legs around, comes to a shaky stand. His muscles resist at first, and his balance seems precarious, but he makes it to the door, to the hallway.

Intent to hydrate and find some form of food, he pads into the rec-room, eye glassy, cheeks flushed faintly, sweat sticking to his hairline. Wavering at the doorway, it takes him a moment to register that the room is occupied, and another moment yet that its occupant isn't his usual taciturn partner. It's.. ]

Yo, Stein.

[ A lazy smile is offered in place of his usual cheer, energy reserves struggling to make even that much happen. But he's happy, if wary, to see Steinbeck, and the need to preserve a facade grants him enough stamina to deliver a second, much more inviting grin as he steadies his steps and slinks into the room proper. ]

Forgot we'd have an uncle with us today. Yu didn't give you too much trouble, did he?

Kanda & Lavi

[lotusmesenpai]

[It's pretty obvious to Kanda that all three of them are infected, and while he's not quite so invested in their guest's well-being (beyond him being a friend to Lavi and them needing to keep on good footing with the monks), he is pretty damn invested in Lavi's.

Which is why, midway through their journey, Kanda does something he doesn't usually do - he goes into the galley, makes enough of an old chicken and dumpling soup that he'd learned, and leaves some with their guest before grabbing a bowl and taking it towards the ship's bridge. Once there, he sets it on a flat console and leans over the pilot's chair.

This is almost a familiar sight - Lavi, asleep at the 'wheel' as Noah takes them to some place. Only this time, there's a distinctive flush to the other man's face, highlighting the faint circles under his eyes, and a fine sheen of sweat above the eyepatch.

Lavi looks worse than he currently feels, and for the first time that he's admitted to anyone - including himself - Kanda is worried.

Impulsively, he does something that normally falls into Lavi's domain. He reaches out with a barely there touch and brushes damp bangs back from his partner's forehead, fingertips slowly ghosting over heated flesh.]

...Definitely too damn hot, idiot.