The Calm Before (attn: Mara, Bao, Dana)

((ooc: Follows Have You Ever Seen the Rain... later that day.))

Amir opened his eyes. There were two of them, that was a plus. The left one still wasn't working like it should, being somewhat malformed and not entirely there, but he had an eyelid to blink so he did. The stars told him it was some time after mid-day. His body told him it required more blood. His brain told him that going to sleep in blood-soaked leather had been low on the list of good ideas, but as he recalled there hadn't been much choice.

Throwing aside the thick blankets but making sure not to disturb Dana, he pulled the now-dry IV lines from his arm and watched with satisfaction as the skin closed up around the tiny punctures. Standing carefully, he assessed the possibility of mobility.

Step one: something in his unhealed ankle crunched. Step two: something in his left knee popped but held. Step three: he had no depth perception and nearly broke his nose on the half-opened door. All of that aside, he made it to the bathroom with a change of clothes and regarded with distaste the mess of the morning's earlier patch-work. Moving everything out of the way for the moment, he sat on side of the tub where he recalled Mara being previously and proceeded to work his way out of his incredibly stiff leathers. As if having plates of silver hadn't made them difficult enough, they were now twice as hard to get out of. The feat was finally accomplished, but with enough hissing and cursing in multiple languages to have woken up half the Manor.

Grumbling, still in pain, and twice as grouchy as he started, Amir scowled his way through a hot shower and wished many evil things upon Xephier as he inadvertently got soap into every tiny little laceration, and the not-so-tiny patches of still-healing skin on his face.

Dressing was an ordeal all over again and he decided he'd rather go back to bed, but hunger called and it was time to help himself to something more substantial than bagged blood and less self-defeating than his childrens'. It didn't take long to secure a willing servant and he limped his way by the two shapes in his living room to meet said human and drink his fill before returning.

Upon re-entering his suite he moved to the couch and sat, trying not to disturb Mara, who slept on the opposite end of the couch curled into a suspiciously cat-like ball.

He waited for several minutes, tapping his fingers against the arm of the couch, playing the waiting game before finally rolling one and a half eyes.

"Oh come on. Neither one of you is fooling anyone."