Comforts of Home [Vanyel/Violet]

The first time Violet woke up, she had no idea where she was. It wasn’t long before she realized it was Vanyel’s home. Her injuries proved extensive, including a cracked jaw, multiple broken ribs, and some internal bleeding that was taken care of through more magical means. For three days, she stayed bed ridden. Vanyel hired a caregiver, after realizing how much help she would need, and neither of them were at that level of… openness... So, for two days, Violet was waited on hand and foot, with Vanyel feeding her for healing reasons that she didn’t understand…

It was on that fourth day, when Vanyel was off taking care of something, like groceries or work, that Violet found herself wandering around after getting up from a nap that she had hoped would last longer. She hadn’t done much exploring before because of the pain, but she was feeling much better, and her curiosity was getting the better of her. Violet slowly went through little things around Vanyel’s home, taking in what little things she could figure out about him. He really loved Chinese culture, dragons… cooking. It was sort of endearing seeing the things he kept around the house. She couldn’t help but smile at all of it.

It was when she noticed the couch, where he has slept, and saw a plushie near his pillow. ‘He sleeps with a stuffed animal…?’ she asked herself as she went over and picked it up. ‘There’s no way… He’s so… Mine.’ Violet curled her arms around the thing and decided to go back up stairs to bed. She was still tired and had exerted enough energy by wandering around his house and nosily searching through his stuff. She slid back into bed held the plushie to her cheek. A deep inhale and a familiar aroma coming off the plushie helped the girl fall right back to sleep…

Vanyel was not used to a situation like this. Living as Violet's roommate while teaching her martial arts was one thing, especially since she had a guest room. However, with them currently being in his house, with no guest room...things were a bit more complicated, doubly so with how injured she ended up being. Hiring a caregiver was new, but, she was doing her job and Violet was eventually back on her feet again, which was a huge relief.

But, since he hadn't been around the house in a minute, with the fridge and freezer notably bare, he went out to do some grocery shopping. He took quite a bit of time, ensuring that he got good deals so as to save money -- even with him having a pretty well-paying job -- as well as to make sure he got enough to feed the both of them a good, healthy meal.

Alongside that, he'd been trying to tap more into his Mediumship, imparting his energy into the food he made to try and accelerate the healing process. Beyond just wanting to help Violet, the idea had been present in his mind for a while, and it had been a rather difficult process in getting everything down-pat.

But, with the active practice that he had been getting through the meals he made for himself and Violet these last few days, he was finally getting into a rhythm with it. So, arriving home, he started unloading the groceries and putting them away, stretching as he closed the freezer door. He'd gotten up early, so, maybe he'd take a small nap before doing some practicing in the yard.

Well, that was until he noticed something was missing from the couch. Groaning, he started to look around the couch, under the pillow, under the cushions and the couch itself, to try and find the dragon plush that he kept with him. Upon not being able to find it anywhere in the living room, he quietly made his way back to where Violet was sleeping. Upon peeking in, sure enough, he could see the toy's head sticking out from her arms.

With a sigh, Vanyel slipped into the room, sitting down on the end of the bed, and gently shook Violet to try and get her to wake up.

‘It was day. Violet was floating in the air above a never-ending field of lush green grass. She was flying around freely, not a care in the world. Off in the distance, she could see two figures: Solomon and Vanyel. They waved at her, happy to see her. She began flying in that direction, waving back. Suddenly the sky went red, and a giant, tan-skinned woman with an angry expression appeared over the entire hill. A massive hand swung at her like a fly-swatter striking a bug out the air. She hit the ground in a hard thud. The world began to shake as the hand came to squash her and…’

Violet let out a whimper before her eyes snapped opened and she laid there frozen. Her eyes darted around until they landed on Vanyel, who was sitting above her with a hand on her shoulder. Calming down almost instantly, she moved to sit up, an arm gently wrapped around the dragon plushie, as if it really did just belong to her. “Where’d you go?” she asked, yawning. “You were gone when I woke up.”

As she woke up, presumably from a nightmare, and he heard her whimpering and watched her freeze, Vanyel immediately withdrew his hand and slid back a few inches to give her some space, lifting his hands. Thankfully, she was quick to calm down this time, only seeming to grow more attached to the dragon plush she had pilfered from his sleeping arrangement.

"Grocery shopping. Got enough to last the rest of the week. Once you're able to do stuff on your own without issue, we can grab a flight back to the City of Lights, if you want."

His eyes went to the dragon plush, becoming notably more antsy upon looking at it. He wasn't exactly the most thrilled that she had taken it, especially with how much it meant to him, but, he didn't let it show. Instead, he shuffled around awkwardly, before finally sighing and pointing to the plush.

"...Is that my plushie?"

Violet was sort of just staring at him. He looked like he needed to say something, but was trying to find the words? She saw his eyes go to the plushie. Yes, she had stolen it, sorta. It never left the house, just the living room. When the question popped, Violet puffed out a cheek and rolled over to face away from him, pulling the blankets up and over herself AND the plushie to shield them from him.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Yeah, he should have figured that this would have been her first reaction. So, as she covered herself and the involved plush with the covers, Vanyel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Why did she even want the thing? He didn't think she would ever be remotely interested in the same shit that he was -- not a lot of people were, really. This was already a really awkward situation to be in that he hoped he could solve quickly and take a siesta himself. So, he lightly pulled at the blankets, trying to see if he could uncover her without requiring much effort.

"C'mon, Vi, don't pull that with me. Give it back."

Violet wasn’t holding onto the blankets, so he could uncover her pretty easily. As the blankets were pulled back, she looked back over her shoulder at him, a puffed up pouting cheek being her expression. “I didn’t think a grown man would care so much about something like this… It’s just a stuffed dragon…” Violet rolled back over to face him, arms still curled around the thing. If it was “just a stuffed dragon” to her, she probably wouldn’t be wanting it in the first place, but alas.

Well...he couldn't really refute that point. It probably did seem weird to a lot of people that a grown man had something so childish in his house. Thankfully, at least this wasn't going to result in him pulling the blankets off the bed entirely just to get to her. As she looked over her shoulder, she received a light, playful poke to the cheek before she turned to face him.

If it was "just a stuffed dragon," he knew that she wouldn't be so defensive and protective over it. Why would she even want something like it? Even for plush, stuffed animals, it wasn't exactly super appealing to most girls. But, nevertheless, Vanyel reached for the plush to try and get it from her.

"Well, I like dragons, and, either way, it's...special. It means a lot to me."

Vanyel's poking her cheek was responded to with a silly raspberry sound, as if her cheeks had been popped. As he reached out, she didn’t move it away or hold on tight, but watched him in hopes that he would leave it in her arms. She really didn’t want to let it go, but she truly didn’t understand why. It could have been the fact that she had never owned a stuffed toy before, but who knew? As it was taken, Violet curled her knees up to her chest and laid her cheek down on them. “Why’s something like that mean so much? Didn’t think guys liked cute things like that…”

Taking the plush into his hands, Vanyel set it gently in his lap, running a hand over the spine of the long plush, smiling fondly as he looked at it, treating it as if it were an actual pet. As she asked, the smile faded into an expression of awkwardness.

"It's...something from my childhood. My mom made it for me."

As he watched her curl up and rest her cheek against her knees, Vanyel suddenly felt a bit bad for taking it away from her. So, lifting the plush from his lap, Vanyel carefully set it around her neck, letting it drape over her shoulders.

"One of the few things I was able to keep from that time in my life."