Alice sighed in relief as she wrapped the towel around her, looking down at the open wounds on her shoulders in dismay. They would definitely scar, but she didn't want to upset Zarkash and so kept the thought out of her mind. Before leaving the room she made sure her towel was secure, biting her lip nervously at walking in front of him in a towel. There was no other way, though- her clothes were still out by her bed in her rush to get away from the two men arguing.
She closed her eyes in anticipation and opened the door, walking quickly out into the large room, striding uneasily down the rows of beds. She looked around for Zarkash, but saw him looking out one of the windows, with an expression of confusion.
"What's wrong?" She asked, wondering if he saw another demon outside.
"What's this white stuff?" Zarkash turned around to point out the window, but froze when he saw her, his eyes widening. He turned back around again, clearing his throat uneasily. "It's strange." He muttered.
"Oh, that's just snow. It's November, so it's about the right time to have our first snowfall." Alice said casually, picking up her clothes from the table. "You've never seen snow?"
"Your father dismissed me during the summer, I guess. It was a lot warmer when I was last here."
Alice nodded and scurried back to the bathroom, coming out again fully clothed. She walked over to Zarkash as he stared out the window, touching him on the shoulder and making him jump. He looked back at her and seemed relieved to see her fully clothed.
"So it's called snow? What is it?"
"It's like frozen rain. When it's cold enough, snow falls and covers the ground. Do you want to go outside to see it?" Alice grinned at the flash of eagerness in his eyes.
"I don't think we're allowed to."
"Oh pish-posh. Let's go." Alice grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the room.
"Pish posh?" Zarkash snickered, remembering when her father had said that. He tried to keep up as Alice brought him down a flight of stairs, opening the doors to go onto a balcony of the building. He looked around in surprise at all the snow around him, flinching as some landed on his shoulders.
"Shit that's cold water!" Zarkash yelled in surprise, moving back into the building, looking very annoyed.
"What? It's just snow." Alice said, holding out her hands, a few snowflakes falling onto her palms.
"It's cold. I'm not wearing a shirt." Zarkash muttered, looking at the snow uneasily.
"You didn't realize it would melt on you, did you?" Alice giggled, looking at Zarkash's angry expression.
"So?" He muttered.
"Water's not that bad, Zarkash. Why are you so afraid of it?" Alice walked over to him, holding the droplets of water in one of her palms.
"I've had a bad experience, okay? I don't want to haveit happen again."
"What happened?" Alice looked up at him in concern.
Zarkash stared down at her for a minute, trying to ignore her wide purple eyes as they stared up at him. "Morg happened. He's a storm dragon, and he can make any weather he wants at any time. He made a typhoon and tried to drown me when I was younger."
"Oh." Alice whispered. "Well, you're not going to drown in snow, you know." Alice said, walking back out into the snow. She tilted her head up and opened her mouth wide, Zarkash watching her in shock as snowflakes started falling into her mouth. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back inside, looking down at her to see if she was alright.
"Don't do that." He growled, but let her go.
"Well I'm not going back to the ward unless you try it too." Alice said, crossing her arms stubbornly and stood her ground.
Zarkash let out a low growl of frustration, stepping out into the snow, hesitating before exposing himself completely to the snow. He looked up, watching the snow fall slowly around him, some of the flakes hitting his face and melting against his warm skin. He opened his mouth slightly, letting a single snowflake fall into his mouth, before glaring over to Alice.
"There I did it. You need to get back, now." He grumbled.
"No, not yet." Alice walked over, grabbing his wrists and putting them out palm-up to let the snow fall on his hands. "See? No harm done. Water's fine, as long as there's not too much of it."
Zarkash looked down at the size of Alice's hands compared to his, smiling as he noticed how much smaller hers were. He looked out over the balcony, noticing all the snow was obstructing his view of the forest. He turned cautious and guided Alice back into the building, closing the doors behind him.
"You need to get back, okay? We'll both get into trouble if you don't."
"Alright- you have to take a shower too, though." Alice snickered when Zarkash stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide. "Oh come on- you need it- look at your hair." Alice pointed at a stick poking out of his hair from one of the earlier battles. "You can't walk around with matted hair- that's gross."
"It's really that bad?" Zarkash looked down at his hair, but seeing nothing wrong other than the twig. He pulled it out, throwing it aside.
"Yes. It's stinky, too. Please take a shower?" Alice said, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"Fine." He sighed, his shoulder slumping.
"Thanks." Alice smiled brightly, walking back into the ward.
Zarkash walked over to the bathroom at the other side of the room, looking around at all the porcelain fixtures curiously. Which one was the shower? He walked over to a large metal box in the corner, opening the door and looking up at a nozzle up above him. Figuring this was what Alice meant, he shed his pants and stepped in, looking down at the knobs in front of him in confusion. Why were there two?
He turned the left one, letting out a loud yell as cold water started streaming down on his head. He turned it back again and stood in the shower, breathing heavily in shock as he dripped water.
"Alice?" He called out, looking down at the knobs in anger. "How do you make this thing do hot water?"
"it's not that hard, you just- OHMYGOD" Alice opened the door and blushed as she saw Zarkash standing naked in the shower, the door of the shower wide open.
"What? What's wrong? What do I do?" Zarkash wiped the water from his eyes, seeing Alice turned around, her face flushed crimson.
"J-just turn the other one. The right one." She stammered. "And shut the shower door, Zarkash!" She said in a high pitched voice.
Zarkash looked over at the shower door, noticing the glass on it was slightly waved to hide his form from her. "Oh, sorry." He said, closing the door and turning the hot water on. He sighed in relief as hot water poured onto him, wondering what to do at this point. He looked around at the shelves, noticing a strange small bar in a small depression. He picked it up, swearing as it almost slipped out of his hand. This time it did slip out, and he swore, leaning over to pick it up but knocking one of his black horns against the cold water knob. He held his head as it throbbed in pain, hissing as he felt along his horn for any damage. He glared down at the bar, kicking it into a corner of the shower as he turned the water off, calling it good. He shook himself out, whipping his hair around his face until he felt at least semi-dry. He opened the door slightly, making sure Alice wasn't there before stepping out, looking down at the cloth set on the counter. He picked it up, wondering what it was for. He shrugged and set it down again, putting his pants back on, struggling to put his wet legs into the fabric.
"Alright, done." Zarkash called out to Alice. He heard a relieved sigh and Alice looked into the room, scoffing as she noticed he was still wet.
"Didn't you use the towel?" She pointed to the cloth he had picked up.
"Towel? What's a towel?" Zarkash looked to where she was pointing, and saw the cloth. "Oh, that thing. What's it for?"
Alice rolled her eyes and walked in, grabbing the towel and drying his chest and back off. "Use it to dry your legs off too. Now your pants will be wet all day." She sighed.
"I'll be fine." He said, still rubbing his horn. "Can you check to see if my horn's chipped? I knocked agianst one of the knobs."
Alice smiled and nodded, motioning for him to lean over. He kneeled in front of her, trying to look someplace other than her chest right in front of his face as she looked through his hair for any sign of chips on his black horn.
"Nope, don't see any." She patted his head, and looked at the grimy water falling down her palm. "Didn't you even wash your hair?"
"With what? I got it wet." Zarkash grumbled. This was turning into a hassle.
Alice sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I'll wash it in the sink. Come on." She walked over to the sink in the main room, usually used for washing utensils. She set up a chair in front of it, motioning for him to sit down. He obeyed and sat, leaning back as Alice pushed his chest down. He set his neck against the sink's bowl, flinching when he heard running water behind him. Alice pushed him back, using a portable nozzle to wet his hair again.
"Be right back." She said, walking into the bathroom to get the shampoo.
Zarkash stared at the ceiling, sighing in frustration at going through all this just to get clean.
"Alright. Now, keep your head leaned back." Alice said, pushing Zarkash down again. She squirted a glob of shampoo onto her hand, rubbing her hands together to lather it before running it through Zarkash's hair, trying to avoid the worst of the tangles. She moved around his horns, noticing with amusement that his hair actually curved around them in its own part. She heard Zarkash sigh in relaxation, slumping in the chair a little as Alice continued to wash her hair.
"Feel good?" Alice smiled at Zarkash's relaxed face.
"Uh- yeah." He said, glancing up at her to see her reaction. She smiled and scrubbed his head, making him flinch and tense for a minute.
"What are your horns made of?" Alice said curiously, running a palm along the broad curve of one of them.
"Bone." He said, glancing up at her again. "Why?"
"Does that mean your bones are black?" Alice said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, aren't yours?"
"No. Mine are white." Alice chuckled. She ran her palm along one of the horns. "Can you feel that?"
"Yeah. They can feel just like skin. Don't know how." He shrugged. "Don't do that too much, though."
"Why?" Alice looked down at him.
Zarkash blushed. "Just don't."
Alice blushed as well and nodded, going back to washing his hair. "Alright, rinsing." She said, spraying the shampoo out of his hair with warm water. Alice sat Zarkash up when she was done, taking the towel and rubbing his head to dry his hair.
"There." She said, and laughed as his hair poofed out slightly. He smoothed out his hair, smirking at Alice's laughter. He reached out and ruffled her hair so that it tangled in a poof, chuckling as she squealed in protest, smoothing it back down too.
"Alright, enough joking around for now. Are you feeling okay still?" Zarkash pointed to the wounds on her shoulders, only covered by the hospital gown.
"Yeah, they should be fine." Alice looked down at them. "I could heal yours now, if you wanted."
"No way. Not until you're healed. We should re-bandage them." Zarkash said, looking around for the roll of cloth the nurses had used.
"You're not taking off my shirt." Alice said, her voice low. Zarkash looked at her in shock, his eyes wide.
"That's not what I meant- I don't want them to start bleeding again from moving around too much."
"Yeah right, you just want to take my shirt off." She said accusingly. "You're from luxuria. I know better than that."
"Side benefit." Zarkash muttered to himself, hoping Alice wouldn't hear. He felt something hit his head, and looked back to see her angry expression, armed with another pillow to pelt at him.
"Perv!" She yelled, throwing it at him again, but flinching as her shoulder suddenly started hurting again. She felt the spot and sighed as blood covered her hand.
"See? I told you." Zarkash growled, bringing over several rolls of bandages.
"I'll sit behind you so I won't see anything, okay? You have to have new bandages."
Alice looked at him skeptically for a minute before groaning in embarrassment, sitting in her bed and covering herself with the blanket as she took the gown off. She set it aside, holding the blanket tightly against her chest."That's all you get, perv."
"Quit calling me that." Zarkash growled. "This is for your own good." He unraveled one of the rolls, wrapping it gently around her left shoulder before moving to wrap it around her neck and then her other shoulder. He wrapped the cloth around her upper chest, then secured it with tape at the end.
"There, see? No problem." He said, standing and turning around so that Alice could put the gown on again.
"Fine." Alice said, looking down in embarrassment.
"Later we'll go to class. Right now, I think you need rest. This is the second time you've opened your wounds again." He crossed his arms in disapproval.
"Yes, mother." Alice said sarcastically.
Zarkash grumbled, walking over to a chair to watch Alice rest.