empathicfault | IC Inbox

"She throws me away from her if she gets into a close-range fight," Hjerte notes, amused. Clearly no harm came to him from being tossed across the deck.

Ulla nods. "That way at least one of us is free to sing." No regrets on her part either.

And for Malcolm, she adds, "His upper teeth. I think the blood in his eyes distracted him enough to make him let go, so I'm grateful. And really, gnawing on my tail afterwards was hardly worth mentioning. Transformation is considerably more painful and dangerous."

"I stabbed him in the top mouth," Malcolm tells them. "In the top of the top mouth. It made him let go of my arm," he explains, tilting his arm slightly to see where the wounds had been and finding the bloody towel, though his arm is now miraculously clean. He picks it up. "Oh that's where my blood is. No wonder I'm dizzy."

"You lost a lot more than that," Will grumbles. He licks his lips, pausing before continuing. "Ulla used it to help with the healing. But there's even more in the cabin. Been a long time since there was such a mess in there." That was Hannibal's visit, of course.

He thinks for a moment, then adds, "It's possible that all three of us are a little too used to this, by now."

"Can I come home with you and clean it up?" Ulla asks. It's much more practical to let her, and silly for Will to worry about that. "Cleaning spells are easy. I scoured the barnacles from my nursery walls when I was still a baby."

Malcolm looks up at Will. He's mad. ...He's not mad at Malcolm. At least, Malcolm is pretty sure of that.

He's distracted for a moment when Ulla offers to come over and clean up his mess. She's always welcome, of course. He smiles and nods his consent. If it's okay with Will. He looks at Will again.

"Are you going to bite him?" he asks carefully.

Ulla asks and he rubs at his face. Malcolm's okay with it, and so Will nods, too. "That would be great, Ulla. Thanks."

But Malcolm must've noticed his stiffness- or more importantly, why he's holding himself so stiffly. He can practically feel the leash he's holding himself on. He doesn't react to the question for a moment, other than closing his eyes.

"No," he says, deep regret in his voice. "I'm not going to bite him, and I'm not going to stab him. I'm going to call Norton, and I'll...get some details." He knows Norton well enough that the man will understand where he's coming from.

Ulla rests her head against Will's shoulder, giving him a sympathetic squeeze. "Taylor might need to assure herself I'm really in one piece, too. She probably already knows, but is not happy either."

Ulla reaches into her bag, pulling a shrimp from a container of water there and setting it on her shoulder. She murmurs, "I'm alright, sweetheart. Barely hurt and already healed, I promise."

He's still watching Will. Still concerned.

"...You don't have to... not do... anything. I don't... want you to be someone else. I just don't want you to get demoted, either."

Will hasn't seen how Taylor can be, but he can certainly guess how she feels. Her abilities would mean she has to hold back pretty heavily, too. He nods at Ulla's reassuring words, even if they're not for him.

He then looks towards Malcolm, rather like a guilty puppy that got caught chewing up a shoe. It's partially how he's feeling and partially a defense mechanism- better this than going dead silent and angry. "It's not exactly something I can 'dial down', Malcolm," he says with a sad smile. "Better to just...be a good upstanding warden while I'm on board."

Malcolm watches him with half-focused eyes, but not for lack of trying.

He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it, then finally settles on "When can we go home?"

"Anytime," Ulla tells Malcolm, giving Will one more squeeze before she lets him go. "But let Will help you, I don't think you've fully recovered from the blood loss yet. You should eat and drink once we're there. Will can get that while I clean up."

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