lean back and breathe

[getting onto the table is an adventure, but she makes it, holding pressure down on the wound the entire time to try and slow the blood flow]

[watches him with quiet evaluating eyes] …This isn’t your first time stitching someone up, is it? [even if it is, it’s a little late to pick someone else] [good lord] [🙏🙏🙏]

[good thing tex secretly thinks of herself as immortal, or else she would be getting pretty worried]

[he would prefer not to be judged right now he’s so terrified] [what if this woman dies in his home?] [does that make it his fault oh my god he can’t go to jail he has a daughter and he’s trying to woo this weird swampman]

I’m not entirely sure what kind of operation you think I’m running here, but it’s certainly not, you know, ER level shit. [he immediately feels bad for being snippy] [God, Marlón, you’re not the one bleeding] I mean. Like, once, kinda, but the dude had to really coach me through it. 

               yeah, okay. relax. 

          [ he CAN relax, sometimes, uh, when he’s dissociating ]  [ but right now he’s present physically and mentally so maybe he should try meditating? some deep breaths, mind empyting, all that ]  [ it sounds like it should be pretty simple but it’s. hard for him to wash everything out of his mind when someone is pressing on his back ]  [ he’ll start with the smells then. just completely. block those out of his brain, one at a time if he has to. and then the soft light. that’s not so hard. ]

               [ after a few minutes, the tension starts leaking out of his shoulders ] [ it’s slow going but it’s happening ]

[Marlón can feel it, and he’s pleased when it happens] [finally this dude chills for what he assumes is the first time in a pretty long time] [not that he’s judging, but come on, bud, lighten up a little]  

          [ gabe is physically incapable of anger, he’s too Exhausted ]  [ but also marlon. did not mean any harm and also did not pressure him into getting physical so it’s. not like he would have any reason to be mad. ] 

               okay. well. okay.  [ nods ]  if i thought you were trying to pressure me into fucking you, i’d have to kill you.  [ i mean, that’s not super true and gabe would probably do it, but after he got what he wanted he’d kill him, just to. keep theoretical bad-guy marlon from doing similar things to other people ]  [ but he doesn’t have to think about that, brain, because that’s not even remotely close to what happened, so shut the fuck up ] 

               so don’t … worry about that. you’ll know if i. whatever. you know ??

That’s... good to know. [he really means that, too] [it’s what he would want]

I get what you mean. I guess I’m just... I mean, I’ve been a piece of shit before, in my life, you know? Not, like, that shitty, but I’ve been a person I’m not proud of today, so I guess it’s just like... in trying to step back from that, sometimes I get a little anxious, you know?

          [ the hair on the back of his neck stands up a little when he takes the necklace but it’s not a bad thing, it’s just. something that he can feel is charged with good stuff. so that goes directly over his head ] 

          [ nods ]  got it.  [ he’s not. great about listening to his body but he’s seriously tired of passing out in the woods so. he’ll pay attention. and try to remember to drink this stuff once a day ]  [ that … concludes the end of their business, technically, but like, he’s still not super. duper assured that he’s Safe. it’s the paranoia jim ]

[puts his big ol’ hands on Gabe’s shoulders] Now, I can’t promise that any of this will for certain fix what’s going on with you. It could be out of my hands, you know? But I’ll do my best to help you out.

               uh,  [ originally he was going to say ‘i absolutely don’t mind kissing you for my headache medicine’ but as marlon goes on he decides that’s. probably not what he wants to hear ]  [ like, cognitively he can understand that asking for someone to fuck you as payment for anything is super fucked up but he just has trouble computing that with himself and the situation they are in and also ]

               i didn’t think you were asking me to – i’m sorry !!

          [ would marlon be upset if he said it was a joke? probably? he’ll just tell the truth then ] 

               i don’t know why i said that, i’m sorry.  [ don’t like.. leave. please ] 

[he’s very surprised gabe isn’t mad at him] [this is... a huge relief]

Oh! It’s... It’s okay, really. I mean, you don’t have to apologize, you know, we all say shit sometimes.

          [ well if he insists ]  [ nods and. shrugs ] 

               i’m a witch of opportunity i guess.  [ he believes in. things. i mean, he and others have magical powers and his mom was pretty religious but he’s not like. any one belief ] 

               [ … ]  thank you. 

Of course! [he disappears into the back room for a bit to prepare the tea-blend and get him the necklace] [the necklace is alternating strips of white and blue beads with lone, larger royal-purple beads between them, long enough to fit over Gabe’s head] [Marlón puts the beads on him and hands over a small jar of loose tea]

          [ BIG YIKES ]  

               wait wait wait – what’re you …

          [ good feeling? super gone ]  [ there’s a very brief moment where his hands just sort of unconsciously reach out after him and his nice big soothing warmth but that’s Squashed and his hands are now tightly fisted at his sides ]  [ think think use your brain ]

               [ stiffly ]  i don’t understand what just happened. 

I don’t, um--

[he’s so! embarrassed, and unhappy with himself] I’m really sorry, it’s... I didn’t think how it might come across, you know, if I-- [Words]

[deep breath] I’m not tryin’a take advantage of you, or anything, you know, it’s not... You know? I would never ask for sex for payment, especially not from someone in pain, that’d be backing someone into a pretty fucked up corner, right, and I’m not about that, I’m--

          [ gabe regularly scams non-magic users by ‘reading their futures’ in their palms and tarot cards and. while those are skills and magical abilities some people possess, it is not something he possesses. his actual abilities are way less. neat. and cheap. ]  [ so, yeah, something cheap and easy to access in return for something that will hopefully help him? it’s wild to him ]

               uh, yeah alright. that’s … are you sure ??  [ don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but like, ]

Absolutely! Seriously... headache treatment, even for magically induced headaches, is a fairly easy job for me, you know? So I couldn’t possibly ask anything more difficult in return.

Besides, getting these rocks will be a big help for me. I go through ‘em pretty fast.

          [ nods nods ]  [ he looks kind of … sad ]

               at least where i’m from, it is. europeans would go after the healers first when they were witch hunting, ‘cause they were the easiest to find. 

          [ feelings sharing time is over now ]  [ shrugs a little ]

               so that sucked. but it’s super neat. that you’re a healer. uh, keep your head low i guess. even though technically murder is illegal now. even when they’re murdering witches.

[he looks... a little horrified, maybe, but also that europeans are Evil As Hell is not really... news to him]

          [ he’ll do his best not to try ]  [ aw gabe dont be so… gross and emo and hard on yourself ] 

               … uh. is that … it ??  [ like ]  just. river rocks ??

          [ gabriel would haul in a half ton of smooth river rocks specifically smoothed out by a river found at the river naturally if it would get rid of his bullshit so this seems. inordinately cheap. ] 

               do you have a color or size preference ?? how many … do you need ??  [ the mouth of the river is like…. less than a mile from his house so u literally probably could not have asked something easier of him unless you wanted swamp mud. ]

[Marlón is... kind of weirdly delighted by how shocked Gabe seems] [he’s... glad what he needs is something easy for Gabe to get]

          [ his garden that burned to a crisp right along with his house but :’) marlon looks so starstruck and oozy about it he can’t say that so he just kinda bites the inside of his cheek and nods ]  [ life ? not been kind to this fucker ]

          [ normally he would not take his shirt off in front of someone in these circumstances but uh, he just did his laundry ( finally ) and also? kind of wants to show off his super, duper nice shoulders and lats. just saying ]  oh, yeah, it’d be a shame if i got my clothes dirty.  [ he lives in a swamp … rhg. anyways he strips right out of his shirt and lays right on down there ]

[Marlón doesn’t even get the irony] [because! because you should always keep your clothes clean, yes] [sets the shirt aside so that it won’t get anything on it] [then lights a few candles, scented with basil and peppermint oils] [it’s supposed to be good for migraines]

[starts to hum softly as he massages the salve into certain points along Gabe’s back] [the salve itself is a combination of gingko biloba, basil, and just.... just a little bit of marijuana] [it’s not formulated in a way that would get anybody high, though, is the thing] [just soothing]