Hollow

Chapter 15: Friends

It wasn't until the moment the light layer of steam hit his face that he realized just how sore he is. He had forgotten how hard Ysve can hit when she's upset, and this time she was damn near livid. Again, he can't blame her. Still hurts though, in both emotion and body.

The elf sits down on a wooden bench beside the row of baths that have the inherently enchanted heated leaves floating across the surface of the steaming water and he tries his damndest to not look at Dumaine as he starts to undress. He has to repeat to himself over and over in his head what the two of them discussed just a night ago.

Nothing will happen between them. They'll flirt, but it stops there.

That's it.

Yet still, just the knowledge of Dumaine being in the process of taking off his leather armor in the same room as him seems to be all he can think about to the point of it making him a little oblivious to everything else around him. Especially as he starts undressing as well, and as he reaches up to attempt to remove his shirt, a striking pain shoots through his arms and he winces, lowering his arms again.

Seems Dumaine was right when he guessed Ysve may have fractured a few of his bones.

The pain snaps him out of his thoughts about Dumaine, at least. Now all he can think about is how badly his body hurts.

So it shocks him out of his internal struggle when Dumaine appears in front of him. Out of instinct, Llwell goes to look away as the last thought on his mind regarding the mage was how he was getting undressed, but when he manages to look at him again, he sees that he's already wearing a dark grey bathing suit.

Llwell can't tell if he's grateful or upset that he missed his chance to just get a peek.

"Here, allow me," Dumaine says with a smile and motions for the elf to stand. Llwell unconsciously complies, and it's only after he's standing that he begins to question what he's doing, when he starts pulling up his shirt.

Again, out of instinct, Llwell swats his hands off and even just that causes him immense pain.

Dumaine sighs. "Relax, Tathlani. This is only weird if you make it weird," he says and makes a second attempt at helping the elf remove his shirt. He's successful this time, and he briefly looks away as he sets the shirt on the bench behind Llwell, but when he turns back towards the elf, he freezes as he stares at him.

Luckily for Llwell, he's not one to feel insecure about his body. He did when he was younger, which was why he put so much effort into getting stronger only to realize that it doesn't matter how strong an elf is, he will always be skinny.

But now, as a result, his body is both lithe and muscular. Down the center of his back, he has a black tattoo of a dragon wrapped around a tree with its wings spread out across his shoulders.

Llwell grits his teeth against the pain in his body and he grabs his own shoulder, rolling his arm back painfully. But he freezes when he feels Dumaine's hand on his bare back, running along the length of the tattoo. He got it before he left, so it's still pretty new and he honestly sort of forgot it was there. So suddenly feeling the mage's hand on his back immediately comes across in his mind as a romantic gesture, despite the simplicity of the action.

He starts running through various things to say in response to Dumaine's action, or perhaps he's waiting for him to say something, but he doesn't get a chance before his hand leaves his back and the mage walks to his front again.

Was it about the tattoo? He'd think he'd say something about it if it was.

Dumaine clears his throat, and again Llwell can't tell if the redness to his cheeks is real or just in his head as a trick of the light. The lanterns illuminating the room are rather dim, so the low lighting could be causing some shadows to make him see things that aren't real.