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Once Gold had cleaned Tina's injury and wrapped it (magicking the wrapping so it was waterproof), he left her to relax in the hot spring for a while. Then he went back downstairs to see if Bae had decided to hang around a while.
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Bae was still looking around, having decided he could stick around for a little while. He glanced over when Gold came back into the living room though.
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"You're still here," Gold said, surprised. He managed a small smile. "You had seemed so set against it, I had thought you would just continue on to the village instead."
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"I said I'd give you a chance, didn't I?" Bae shrugged. He paused.
"Besides, I don't know where the village is." |
Briefly, Gold considered not telling him where the village was, but that was quickly eclipsed by the notion that Bae should be able to decide for himself.
"The village is just a couple hours' walk west of here," he said. "It still stands; I checked. That is, if you feel you want to go there. You are more than welcome here." |
Bae nodded. "Alright." He still hadn't quite made up his mind where he was staying, so he would at least consider staying here for the night.
"So how is she doing?" He nodded back towards Gold's room. |
"Better," Gold said. "The infection is gone, although she asked me to stop there and just bandage it. But she will be just fine."
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Bae nodded. "Good. She seems nice." He spoke cautiously, watching Gold.
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"Don't be deceived," Gold said. "She's feisty underneath."
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Bae snorted. Yeah, his mother had been that way too. "She would need to be, to earn herself a spot here."
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"Indeed," Gold murmured. Because he'd seen that parallel, too.
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Bae shook his head a little. It was getting late, so he figured he'd go to bed and leave things as they were until the morning.
"I'm going to head to bed. Any rooms I should stay out of?" |
"Perhaps Tina's, out of courtesy," Gold said after a moment's consideration. "Aside from that..." He shook his head. "I would request that you avoid my workshop, but I will not forbid access. Where you go is your choice."
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Bae nodded. That meant he didn't have to sneak to explore. Good.
"I'll see you in the morning, then." He nodded and headed upstairs to find a place to stay for the night. |
Gold nodded and watched him go before heading off to see if Tina was resting yet or not.
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Tina had made it out of the hot spring, had gotten dressed, and had gotten as far as Gold's room proper.
And she'd just kind of lost balance and fallen on the bed and hadn't bothered to get up again. |
Gold saw her on the bed and sighed indulgently. Going over, he pulled the blanket up to cover her and let her sleep.
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Tina got comfortable there, somehow managing to latch onto Gold's hand. Because of course there was no other way he'd stay.
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Gold stopped when she grabbed on to his hand, and gently tried to get his hand free again so he could leave her to rest.
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Tina pulled her hand back and curled up, settling in for the night. She wasn't going to give up his hand, either.
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Gold stumbled slightly when Tina pulled his hand with her. He tried again to get her to let go, and sighed when she wouldn't. Carefully, he got into the bed next to her and settled in.
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Tina slept through the night, and she blinked a few times when she woke up the next morning. Except there was someone next to her, and they weren't on the couch, which was odd.
"I grabbed you didn't I?" she mumbled without lifting her head. |
"Indeed you did," Gold replied, looking up from the book he was reading. He'd dozed a little through the night, but otherwise just had a book. "I didn't want to wake you, so I stayed."
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Tina grimaced. "Sorry. I didn't mean to." She let go of his hand, sitting up carefully and stretching a bit.
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"Don't worry about it," Gold replied. "No harm done."
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