After waking up, naked, bloody and covered with filthy bits of decaying, rotting Judah Bishop, Riley found herself in Mesteno's bed, lying next to Salvador.? Once her heart started beating again, she screamed and cursed at Sal, finally throwing a flurry of punches at him.? He wisely stepped sideways and disappeared, leaving Riley alone, still naked, and quite confused. She raided Mesteno's closet and stole a shirt before quickly leaving his shack, committing its location to memory of course, and streaking through the streets of Rhy'Din back to WestEnd and the safety of Zen Gardens.
She held it together pretty well - not crying, not sobbing, not breaking down into hysterics - during the trip home.? Once inside the building, she paused at the bottom of the stairs that would lead to the second floor, and peered inside the Bodhi Tree.? Danny was still hard at work, tending to the dinner crowd.? She wanted to run into the cafe and throw herself into his arms, but the place was filled with customers and she didn't want to scare them off, so she ran up the flight of stairs and into 2A instead.
David looked up when the door swung open, opening his mouth to say hi to Riley or Dan, whomever it happened to be.? When he saw Riley coming in covered in what looked like blood and possibly bits of flesh and wearing a man's shirt, the words froze in his mouth and he dropped the glass of juice he'd been holding, not evening hearing the crash when it hit the floor as he ran over to her.? "What happened?" he asked, working to keep some semblance of calm in his voice.
She stumbled and fell into his arms, tripping over an amoeba that had rudely decided to park itself in the middle of her threshold.? She clung to him, smelling strongly of death and fear and evil, and let loose wracking sobs that shook her entire body.? "Oh, god," she keened and buried her face in his chest.
He cradled her against his chest, heedless of the gore splattered all over her.? "Shhh," he whispered, "Shhh.? It's okay."? His first thought was that someone had attacked her on her way home, but he quickly realized that didn't make much sense.? For one, he couldn't imagine an attack affecting her this badly.? For another, the shirt she had on, while unfamiliar, was pretty much clean, so she hadn't taken it from the unfortunate person who dared attack her.
Still clinging to him and sobbing wordlessly, she slowly collapsed to an untidy and extremely unhygienic pile on the floor.? "He was eating the body, just...just gobbling it up like it was a f*cking turkey dinner.? And there were these shadows and f*cking words on their heads and they were talking and oh, god, the screaming."? Her voice was threaded through with panic and hysteria and she was shaking and trembling as if she were in imminent danger of dying of hypothermia.
He knelt down and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her into the bathroom.? Whatever it was that had happened, it had clearly been scary as hell, and he wasn't going to try to get answers out of her now.? He set her carefully in the bathtub and turned the water on, then gently removed the unfamiliar shirt she was wearing.? The shirt got tossed aside before he picked up washcloth and adjusted the water coming out of the faucet to a few degrees below hot.? Then he began to clean the foul mess off of her as tenderly as he could, all the while telling her that it was okay, that she was safe.
His voice, the water, the steady motions of his hands, his scent relaxed her slowly and she unwound by inches, shoulders slumping with relief, sobs and keening tapering off.? She sat forward in the tub, letting him wash her back and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and concentrating on the sensual input, forcing the past six or so hours away, out of her head. After he washed her back clean, he picked up the shampoo and began on her hair, trying to clean the mess out of it without hurting her.? Washing someone else's hair wasn't something he did very often, so he went slowly and carefully.? He didn't stop talking, even when the crying ended.?
She held it together pretty well - not crying, not sobbing, not breaking down into hysterics - during the trip home.? Once inside the building, she paused at the bottom of the stairs that would lead to the second floor, and peered inside the Bodhi Tree.? Danny was still hard at work, tending to the dinner crowd.? She wanted to run into the cafe and throw herself into his arms, but the place was filled with customers and she didn't want to scare them off, so she ran up the flight of stairs and into 2A instead.
David looked up when the door swung open, opening his mouth to say hi to Riley or Dan, whomever it happened to be.? When he saw Riley coming in covered in what looked like blood and possibly bits of flesh and wearing a man's shirt, the words froze in his mouth and he dropped the glass of juice he'd been holding, not evening hearing the crash when it hit the floor as he ran over to her.? "What happened?" he asked, working to keep some semblance of calm in his voice.
She stumbled and fell into his arms, tripping over an amoeba that had rudely decided to park itself in the middle of her threshold.? She clung to him, smelling strongly of death and fear and evil, and let loose wracking sobs that shook her entire body.? "Oh, god," she keened and buried her face in his chest.
He cradled her against his chest, heedless of the gore splattered all over her.? "Shhh," he whispered, "Shhh.? It's okay."? His first thought was that someone had attacked her on her way home, but he quickly realized that didn't make much sense.? For one, he couldn't imagine an attack affecting her this badly.? For another, the shirt she had on, while unfamiliar, was pretty much clean, so she hadn't taken it from the unfortunate person who dared attack her.
Still clinging to him and sobbing wordlessly, she slowly collapsed to an untidy and extremely unhygienic pile on the floor.? "He was eating the body, just...just gobbling it up like it was a f*cking turkey dinner.? And there were these shadows and f*cking words on their heads and they were talking and oh, god, the screaming."? Her voice was threaded through with panic and hysteria and she was shaking and trembling as if she were in imminent danger of dying of hypothermia.
He knelt down and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her into the bathroom.? Whatever it was that had happened, it had clearly been scary as hell, and he wasn't going to try to get answers out of her now.? He set her carefully in the bathtub and turned the water on, then gently removed the unfamiliar shirt she was wearing.? The shirt got tossed aside before he picked up washcloth and adjusted the water coming out of the faucet to a few degrees below hot.? Then he began to clean the foul mess off of her as tenderly as he could, all the while telling her that it was okay, that she was safe.
His voice, the water, the steady motions of his hands, his scent relaxed her slowly and she unwound by inches, shoulders slumping with relief, sobs and keening tapering off.? She sat forward in the tub, letting him wash her back and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and concentrating on the sensual input, forcing the past six or so hours away, out of her head. After he washed her back clean, he picked up the shampoo and began on her hair, trying to clean the mess out of it without hurting her.? Washing someone else's hair wasn't something he did very often, so he went slowly and carefully.? He didn't stop talking, even when the crying ended.?