Elison was still being gentle with Jaspar as he pulled off his clothes. He took the top of first, Jaspar putting his hands in the air as Elison pulled the material off him. The sensation of the soft material rubbing over his skin, leaving him cold and shivering in the bathroom, was almost enough to make him throw up again. His nerves digging into his stomach tightly. A hand ran over his shoulders, gripping him tightly for a moment.
"Need a moment before the bottoms?" Elison asked in a strange tone.
Jaspar could feel the heat from Elison's body close by, the cold air in the bathroom making a clear difference. He was shaking, both from nerves and from the cold. The smell of sick still faintly in his nose. He shook his head, his hands moving down to push himself out of the sweat pants. Elison didn't stop him, just helping him tug them off finally. Leaving him naked in front of Elison.
"I'm going to pick you up now," Elison told him, hands shifting under his knees again and behind his back to sweep him up. He moved slowly, Jaspar thankful for it because his head was starting to spin. A strange sensation given he could no longer see.
Warm water surrounded him as he was lowered in the still filling tub. Elison let go of him and Jaspar let himself sink into the warm water, taking comfort from the warmth which swallowed him up. Elison's arms wrapped around his chest and forced him to sit up before he could fully submerge himself in water. The water sloshing violently in the tub. Jaspar felt his head land against Elison's chest again.
"Not so fast," Elison said seriously. "We can't get your bandages wet."
"Oh," Jaspar said dumbly. It made sense when he thought about it, it made sense. He didn't have anything in his eye sockets to protect them at the moment and most injuries needed time before they were put into water. He was let go again, Jaspar slowly falling back against the hard surface. His fingers running over the smooth surface he was now sitting in. The bathtub was ceramic, he mused.
He curled his knees up to his chin and hugged his arms around his legs. "I don't suppose you guys are going to take me to a doctor to have my eyes checked out? I'm sure cancer eye patients usually have something put into their sockets," Jaspar said grimly.
Jaspar didn't really want to think about it but was also painfully aware he might be living for a while yet given that he was being treated with care. His stomach churned uneasily again as he thought about what he knew about people who had lost a single eye and the care they needed. He had never heard of people losing both before, but it must have happened to someone. Fate wasn't exactly always kind after all. As the feeling began to make him feel ill again and weak, he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. He would worry about the future as it came. For now, he just needed to work out if he actually had a future to be concerned with.
"I..." Elison hummed thoughtfully. "As far as I know nothing has been planned. I will talk to my superiors about it. I..." he trailed off, the tone changing from thoughtful to regretful and slightly embarrassed. "I am not normally involved with the after care," he admitted, by the sounds of it sitting next to the bath tub. "I think the middle house are normally responsible for all that stuff. I'll make contact with them."
"Involved... I guess not," Jaspar murmured under his breath. It made sense that the man only had one real role in the process. The one who hunted down innocent university graduates to ruin their lives for money. "Was the middle house where I was supposed to go then?"
"Yeah," Elison said in an affirmative tone. "The people there are trained to deal with these situations," he continued, Jaspar not stopping him but not really wanting to know either. "Most have been through it themselves under less kind regimes."
Jaspar bit his lip to stop himself from yelling or making a comment about 'kind' regimes where people had their limbs and organs stolen from them. Anger was starting to build up instead of fear but anger wouldn't be helpful at that moment. "Will I end there if the vision I had was a fluke?" Jaspar asked, clenching his fists gently.
Elison made a nonchalance and uncertain tone. "Not sure. I don't even know what the plans are for your next few days' kid. This kind of came out of nowhere. Even if you hadn't had the vision, I'm not sure you would have been sent straight to the middle house anyway. They will want you to testify about the man who tried to have you gang raped." Elison said calmly, not exactly uncaringly but certainly neutrally. "I literally just got told to be your bodyguard until further notice."
"My name's Jaspar," Jaspar said, unable to say anything else, "Not kid. I'm twenty one, not a child," he growled, shifting his legs so he was no longer curled up in the bath tub.
"Jaspar," Elison said slowly, the sound making Jaspar shiver despite the anger which was currently starting to burn inside of him. The way he spoke, it wasn't like he was just saying the name, it was like he was tasting it. A dark and smooth tone which ran over his soul. "Good name. Keeper of the treasure." Elison hummed, "If you are still a seer despite all this, it will be a very good name for you to have."
Something inside of Jaspar shifted. The fear and helplessness were pushed aside by pain and anger at the words and the tone Elison was speaking. Like it didn't matter that Elison had been the one responsible for him losing his eyes. Like his future didn't matter and was nothing to be concerned with.
He shifted, tightening his fist before punching in the direction of where he thought Elison was, snarling from behind clenched teeth. His fist collided with flesh. Jaspar felt a slight feeling of triumph, shifting to strike again but fingers wrapped around his fist letting Jaspar know just what he had hit. Elison's hand.
"Is that really smart?" Elison said, his voice still stubbornly neutral.
Jaspar let out a noise which was more animal than human and almost screamed with anger, punching again, this time with his other hand. Elison shifted, letting go of his other fist. The unexpected change made Jaspar lose his balance and he fell over the side of the bath tub. As Jaspar was slumped over the side of the bath tub, Elison picked him up easily and put him on the floor.
Flat on the floor, Elison pinned him down. His wrists were forced above his head and a knee was between his legs. Elison breathed on his neck. Jaspar screamed. The piercing sound one of frustration and anger rather than fear. Thrashing in Elison's hold, trying to hit and fight back against Elison, ignoring the pain of his limbs hitting against the unforgiving tile floor. Except his arms were still pinned above his head and the way Elison was pinning the rest of his body didn't give him much ability to kick or strike the man. Tears rolled down his face and he ended up just sobbing harshly. The sounds of anger dissolving into sounds of despair.
Elison didn't try to stop him, just kept him pinned to the hard ground.
Eventually, he calmed down slightly, more out of exhaustion than out of actually calming down. The desperate and wounded sounds died down to hiccups and his body slumped.
"Finished?" Elison asked still calmly.
Jaspar desperately wished he still had his eyes just so he could glare at the man for his apparent indifference. He had no energy left to become angry again, so he just remained silent, focusing on breathing. Elison leant down close to his shoulder. The action making Jaspar inhale sharply as Elison's thigh pressed down against his vulnerable and naked private parts.
Elison's breath was hot and humid against Jaspar's skin as he spoke directly into his ear. "I will forgive that tantrum this once. I understand you are stressed and this is a traumatic time for you but I am not your punching bag. You try to hit me again, I will respond appropriately. Is that clear?" Elison hissed. Jaspar suddenly wished for the neutral voice back as Elison's voice was dark and serious. Not angry, but unimpressed for sure.
"You did this to me," Jaspar hissed back, some courage coming from somewhere deep inside of him.
"I did and now it's my job to keep you alive and in one piece," Elison said still in his unimpressed tone, but leaning away from Jaspar's ear. "We are stuck sharing a bed and I'm the one who's going to have to help take care of your daily needs now that you are blind. I would think carefully about how you want me to treat you Jaspar." Elison let go of Jaspar's wrists.
"We're sharing a bed?" Jaspar croaked, his courage fading as his mind was hit with how dangerous a situation he had just put himself into. Elison had already said he was to be his bodyguard and he had decided the best way to deal with the nightmarish situation he was in, was to piss of the guy who was going to be guarding him? He pulled his arms back down his chest slowly, aware Elison was still straddling his thigh and he was still naked.
"Did you not notice?" Elison commented sounding bemused this time.
Jaspar flushed slightly. "Not really," he admitted slowly, "my head was hurting too much and then I realised ..." he trailed off, inhaling sharply at the thought. Tears starting to pool again under the bandages.
Elison said nothing, a hand ruffling his damp hair. Elison stood up, reaching down to pull Jaspar up of the floor too. Jaspar leant on Elison as he tried to get his footing, his head still vaguely dizzy. "You'll have bruises," Elison commented almost sadly. "You'll regret deciding to have that tantrum on a tiled floor," he scolded. Jaspar almost hissed back that he hadn't decided anything but given how his recent attempt at striking out had gone, he remained silent instead.
Soft material was suddenly dropped on his shoulders and Jaspar realised he had been given a towel. He grasped at it and wordlessly dried his body. He could feel the aches of future bruises all over his body. Elison was likely right, he was going to be black and blue for a while. The towel was ridiculously soft and no doubt expensive. When he was finished, he wanted to wrap it around himself like a blanket, but Elison took it from him and dropped it somewhere, leaving him shivering.
Something else was dropped on his shoulders. A robe, it turned out as Elison put his arms into the sleeves and tied the sash around him. Like the towel, the robe was fluffy and soft. It was also very warm and smelt of laundry soap. His fingers clutched on the ends of the sleeves tightly, trying to stop himself from wrapping his arms around his body and hugging himself like a child. He needed to stand tall and be brave now.
"Come on," Elison said, his gentle tone returning. A large hand took his wrist and pulled him forward. Jaspar followed mutely after, the cold tiles turning to a plush carpet under his toes as they entered the corridor. Just what world had he entered into here?