All the better; all the worse . . .

[Nayt]

Akizets didn't get to sleep too early that night, exactly as she expected. She'd stayed up with her thoughts, as flighty as they were. She attempted, if only briefly, to toss and turn in bed, but it hurt her arm and leg to move them too much. She wound up laying on her right side after a momentary tossing in bed, during which she mostly forgot what she was wearing.

The girl's thoughts were more like fantasies and fancies; her head was somewhere in the clouds during all of these, and she was mostly detached from them. They were like dreams, things she barely had an ounce of control over, regardless of how awake she really was.

It took hours for the girl to fall asleep. She did not call on Eld for help, though was tempted to more than once. The problem she encountered was availability; Eld was in his room, far from her. Not only did she not know where that was, she also couldn't walk there even if she did.

When Eld found her the next morning, Akizets was still asleep. The way she'd been sleeping, she'd curled up on her right side, opposite the side of her injured arm and leg, and had her right hand up close to her face, almost as if she'd been tempted to suck or nibble on her thumb at night. Her hair was a bit of a mess; platinum blond tufts seemed to flow this way and that. The girl was sound asleep, long after Eld had woken up, even. Unfortunately, hospital gowns rarely lent themselves to modesty, and her gown was a couple sizes too large on her, anyways. Though she was under covers from her hips down, her back was almost completely exposed, and part of her gown had slipped down her arms a bit, exposing her shoulders, collarbone, and down a bit to the middle of her chest--not quite the most embarrassing circumstances, but still something she'd have been ashamed of if conscious.

[Zach Kaiser]

Akizetsumei was still sleeping; that wasn't terribly surprising, as new patients often had erratic sleep cycles. Still, at this time of day he hoped she didn't sleep too long, as she was going to miss meals if she slept all day and there was a limit to what he could fix at night due to not wanting to wake anyone.

Nevertheless, he didn't have the heart to disturb her, and was about to leave when a second glance changed his mind. The hospital gown was quite big on her, to the point where it starting to slip off. It wasn't indecent, but it was...suggestive.

I shouldn't leave her like that... During the day the clinic was more or less open to the public, though his parents tried to keep track of who was asleep and who was awake so that no one got disturbed. But the idea that someone could peek in on her and see her like that didn't sit terribly well with him.

Not realizing he was a little red in the face, he slipped up to her bed as quietly as he could. And, moving slowly so as not to wake her, leaned over and attempted to adjust the gown so it would be a little less embarrassing for someone to walk in on her.

[Nayt]

While Eld did manage to succeed in pulling Akizets's gown back up to neck level again, he was not quite as successful in his attempts to keep her undisturbed. It was almost just as he pulled her hospital gown back up for decency's sake that the girl stirred audibly. Firstly, the sheets moved as she shifted her hips and right leg. Secondly, she let out a small whine. This prompted the third reaction: a stretching of her right arm, before she turned enough to lay on her back. The girl's eyes were half open, then, and glossed with sleep.

She looked beside of her, not at all mindful of her current state of dress or Eld's current state of . . . anything. Having just woke up, she was almost completely unaware of her surroundings--except for the fact that she was in a room with Eldridge Tsukimono.

"Eldridge . . .?" she asked aloud.

Everyone had their own unique voice when they'd just woken up, whether it was from a long sleep, a short sleep, a nap, or a simple resting of the eyes. Akizetsumei's voice was remarkably tiny, dreamy, and high pitched, almost as if she'd woken up three years younger.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld's heart jumped as he realized that Akizetsumei was waking up; however, he'd finished adjusting the hospital gown and there was nothing to worry about. Had she woken up before he'd adjusted it, it would have likely been very embarrassing.

Well, it was still kind of embarrassing for him, but he figured he'd keep the state her dress was in to himself. "S-Sorry, I was just checking up on you...I didn't mean to wake you."

She sounded downright adorable, though that was slightly offset by the fact that she used his full first name--but he'd forgive her for that since she'd just woke up.

[Nayt]

"Mnn . . .?" It was something between a whine and a hum. Even she wouldn't have known which it was, were she awake enough to hear it.

It took the girl a minute to actually register what Eld meant by that. She'd almost forgotten about what happened yesterday. Of course, she was bound to remember eventually, but usually after she woke up from a nice, long sleep, she didn't remember most of the events of the day before or even multiple days prior, and it took an hour or two after waking up or a blatant reminder to spur a recollection. This was the latter case. Assisting the jogging of her memory were the casts upon her broken limbs.

"No . . . it's fine . . ." Akizets replied softly, still with the same tone as she'd woken up with, but that was progressively fading as she awoke.

Her arm and leg kind of hurt, but she didn't recognize the pain that well just yet. She also failed to recognize that she was hungry, though Eld would likely hear the results of this. The girl was used to eating brunch around this time, after all. She sat up some, and her hospital gown slipped down just enough to show her collarbone, something that normally wouldn't be a big deal to her, anyways. With her head hung low, she tried to rouse herself to full consciousness, first by patting herself on the cheek with her uncasted hand, and second by ruffling her own hair a bit.

"How long was I asleep for . . .?" she asked absentmindedly.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Not sure...depends on when you fell asleep," Eld replied. "It's early afternoon right now."

He still wasn't terribly happy that he'd ended up waking her up, though he supposed she would have needed to wake up soon anyway. If nothing else, his parents would need to check on her at some point.

"Umm...are you getting hungry?" Eld asked politely, having heard her stomach growl. She hadn't seemed to notice, and he figured it would be rude to point it out. "You missed the lunch rounds, but I can still make you something."

[Nayt]

"Hm . . .?" Akizets hummed as she looked to Eld.

She was mostly awake now. It only took roughing her hair up a bit. Now she looked as if she had even worse bed-head, like a tornado hit her and her hair and hospital gown were the only parts of her at all affected. Her shoulders her slumped somewhat and her back was arched forward. It wasn't until a moment after Eld mentioned something about food that she looked down to her stomach and recognized that she was actually hungry, regardless of how soon it'd been since she woke up. She looked up to Eld again, and soon the full gravity of the situation dawned on her: here she was, staying in his family's clinic, and he was offering to make her something special.

Her cheeks flushed.

"O-oh. N-no, no, you don't have to go outta your way," Akizets replied.

Clearly she wasn't going to ask for anything, even if she was kind of hungry. She was especially not going to ask for anything from Eld. The last thing she wanted to do was seem needy!

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld smiled for a moment, but then put on his best mock-serious look, complete with placing his hands on his hips. "Look, I help take care of the patients, and you're a patient."

Smiling again, he continued, "Besides, my parents would kick my butt if I let someone skip a meal. So what would you like? I'm not fantastic like Maya, but I'm an alright cook."

Maya's mother's cooking was so legendary that any church event where she served food was virtually guaranteed to attract most of the town, and Maya seemed to have inherited every ounce of her mother's talent.

[Nayt]

Yep. She was awake, now. She certainly didn't look it, but she sounded it, and she was well aware of herself, now. She recoiled as if she were really being scolded, set her right hand to her pouted lips, and looked down shamefully, as if she'd truly done something wrong. She realized the folly in this just a moment later, however, and took to biting her lower lip nervously, instead. She averted her eyes from Eld and let her right hand drop into her lap.

"I-- I dunno," she replied indecisively.

She paused at length, mulling over a ton of ideas at once in her head. All the while, Akizetsumei continuously told herself to tell Eld it was her fault for sleeping too late, and that he didn't need to do anything special for her. But he was going to protest if she protested--though, this was not the most convincing of her own personal counterarguments. The most convincing of them was that Eldridge Tsukimono would actually do something special for her. He'd go out of his way to make sure she was fed. As much as she didn't want him to busy himself needlessly for her sake, the fact that he was willing was far to sweet a gesture for her to pass up, ultimately.

"Do you, um, do you have any eggs?" Akizets asked meekly, "Ireallylikeeggs."

Incidentally, she'd never actually been to a church event before, so she'd never tasted Maya's mother's or Maya's cooking before. She only knew one person's cooking, really . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Again, Eld couldn't help but chuckle at the girl; at first she seemed to think she was being seriously scolded. Granted, that would have happened had she continued to protest, but it seemed she caught on soon enough and it wasn't necessary.

"Sure. How would you like them done?" he asked.

Akizetsumei was surprisingly naive. Perhaps he was just used to Emily, who was mature for her age and rather cynical--comparatively, the blonde patient was sweet and innocent.

[Nayt]

Fortunately, this wasn't a matter of deciding for a whole group, as any slew of questions that required some sort of decision making on Akizetsumei's part was almost guaranteed to make her want to curl up in some distant hole somewhere . . . or at least feel extremely uncomfortable. This was just a matter of deciding what she wanted to eat, which was usually fine; that happened at home a lot, and she'd have been perfectly comfortable listing off all her favorite foods right now were she not staying at the clinic and Eld wasn't the one asking. She didn't want to be an inconvenience, and had to decide what she wanted to eat over what would be the least inconvenient thing to prepare.

"O-Omelets--ifthat'sokay," Akizets replied meekly.

Incidentally, this was not the least inconvenient thing to prepare. In fact, of all breakfast dishes, this was one of the most time consuming to prepare. Having never cooked in her life, though, Akizetsumei was not aware of this. Omelets with bacon and cheese stuffed in them were her favorite breakfast food, and she was really feeling the want for breakfast this afternoon.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Sure, no problem." He'd already checked on the other patients, so it didn't much matter if he took a little time to cook. His parents would be back from lunch soon anyway. "I'll be back in a bit."

Of course, while Eld wasn't bothered that it would take a little more time to make an omelet than most meals, it did mean it was that much longer before the food got to Akizetsumei.

When he finally returned, she'd find him carrying a tray with an omelet just the way she liked it. Though, Eld wasn't psychic; it simply seemed like the best way to him to get more food groups into the meal. There was also an orange on the tray, and a glass of milk (necessary for a girl with weak bones!).

"Here you are," he said cheerily, still wearing the apron he used while cooking. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

[Nayt]

While Eld was gone, Akizetsumei busied herself with vague thoughts of panic. She had the same feelings of nervousness and anxiety that she had back on that day that she slammed a door in Eld's face. None of it was meant to be rude, of course; the girl was simply afraid of saying the wrong thing--and around Eld alone, it seemed. She was able to talk freely around Sarah, Maya, and Emily. It was only Eld that got her choked up and nervous.

Akizets fixed herself up. She fixed her hospital gown and straightened her hair to the best of her ability. She didn't know where her hair-ties were, however, and couldn't pull her hair into pig-tails like she usually did. Akizets didn't much like her hair to be straight-forward like this, but it couldn't be helped right now. She checked her breath, and . . . well, she wasn't going to be kissing on anybody in the near future, so it didn't matter, anyways. She'd done all she could by the time Eld showed up in her room again, and when she looked to him, she was almost instantly surprised.

She stared at Eld, wide eyed, almost like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I-is-- is all that . . . really for me?" she whispered, actually quite awed.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Of course," Eld replied. "Eating right is especially important when you're recovering, whether from an injury or from illness." He wasn't really sure what to make of her reaction, because to him this was simply a well-balanced meal, the kind of thing he tried to eat himself as well as make for patients. He knew most people didn't always eat nice, but Akizetsumei was acting like it was a feast.

Ah well...it's kind of cute, and at least she's enjoying her stay.

He wheeled the tray next to her bed where she could reach it, before considering something.

"Will you be able to eat alright?" he asked, "I can help you if you need it."

[Nayt]

"I-- I-- um, umm," Akizets choked up, "Th-thankyou."

To her, this really was a feast. Akizets couldn't take her eyes off of it. It was always a known fact that the Terra Clan was never quite economically secure, but (beyond the members of the Clan that experience this regularly) the degree of this was all still speculation . . .

Akizetsumei carefully leaned over to the tray that Eld sat beside her bed. She was kind of fortunate that it was her left arm broken, not her right. She'd have been relatively useless without her dominant hand. So, without saying much, she leaned forward, took the fork next to the plate, and tried to slice her omelet open, only to encounter one problem: the tray was on a cart. The cart was on wheels. It pushed away from her when she tried to do anything with it.

The girl froze when Eld asked if she needed any help. It might have been helpful, perhaps, but she was remarkably bad at asking for help. She did not answer him, but he was free to make a suggestion.