Recovery (For Riley)

[bewitchinghaze]

Val got the text from Alfie about Tristan's death and immediately went into overdrive. Abandoning the repotting she was in the middle of, she washed her arms of soil and tossed her apron to the side as she rushed into the main part of the house. She slid into Riley's bedroom and pulled down the covers, hauling out her favourite pyjamas and fluffing up her pillows. A quick sleep charm on her pillow, and she was out the door again, gathering her medical herbs and brewing an extremely strong pot of lavender and valerian root tea.

Pausing, she ran to her room and changed into a comfortable hoodie, figuring she'd be doing a lot of holding once her sister got back and wanting her to have the most comfortable surface to rest against possible. Chewing on her lip, she sits at the kitchen table and runs through a list of things she might need. Knocking her out and letting her sleep through her initial grief may be the best choice, she figures. The lavender tea would help with that but she stuffed a bit of dried chamomile into a pouch and shoved it under her pillow to infuse it through the room.

She sighs, feeling useless as she finishes what she can prepare before Ji-Yun arrives, and sits down on the corner of her bed. Wringing her hands, she waits and tries to prepare herself for the state her sister might be in.

Comments

[jiyunnies]

Riley ends up sleeping for a good twelve hours. She doesn't wake up once, nor is she disturbed by nightmares or memories. She shifts in the bed, cracking an eye open as it registers in her brain that the sun is up. The sun. Half of her wants to get up and the other half realizes just how heavy her entire body is. She sighs and stares out the window, wondering briefly what happened after Alfie took her home.

[bewitchinghaze]

Val feels her sister shift and pulls herself awake, surprised at how long she'd slept. While Riley had slept, Val had been up a few times to tidy up the house and put together a meal that she could give her once she was up. Once that was all done, she'd crawled back in beside her sister and slept.

"Ji-Yun?" she mumbles, yawning. "How are you feeling?"

[jiyunnies]

It takes awhile for Riley to answer her sister. Honestly, how is she feeling? Numb. She feels numb. The events of the night before like some kind of distant memory that haunt her. Her eyes hurt, her face hurts, her teeth even hurt. Normally, she'd hide her tears, put on a smile, and tell Val she's fine. But Val's never believe those white lies, she won't even attempt it now.

"Numb," she answers. She's never felt grief before. How do people get through this?

[bewitchinghaze]

She leans over, running her fingers through Ji-Yun's hair. "I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but it will get better eventually," she says, worried. "It probably won't ever go away, but it'll become easier to deal with."

[jiyunnies]

Riley wants to believe her sister. But it's honestly too hard to even think about anything other than today. Today she realizes she'll never see Tristan again, and it hurts. The fact that she'll have to talk about him in the past tense is too painful.

She relaxes a bit has Val runs a hand through her hair. "I don't know what to do, Soo-Yun."

[bewitchinghaze]

Feeling Riley relax, she keeps up with her ministrations, humming softly. "Just... don't bottle it up, unnie. Okay? It's not healthy. And eat something... I ordered pizza and I can reheat it, if you're up for it."

[jiyunnies]

"I'll try not to," she says, snuggling up to Val. "I'll talk to you about it, I promise. It's just too soon right now." She nods her head at the pizza. Riley isn't hungry, but she knows her sister will worry endlessly if she doesn't at least try to eat.

[bewitchinghaze]

"That's okay," she says, giving her a tiny smile. She gets up long enough to reheat the pizza and brings it back to the bed.

Scooching back under the covers, she hands her a plate. "It's like when we had 'sleepovers' as kids, remember? Except umma would absolutely kill us for eating greasy pizza in bed..."

[jiyunnies]

Riley sits up to take the pizza, taking a few bites just for her sister's sake. She smiles at the memories of their sleepovers. "Mom would kill us for a lot of things we've pulled since they left."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val frowns slightly as how small the bites were, but says nothing. "I'm thinking she wouldn't approve of me turning my bedroom into basically another greenhouse... Or of that time you mixed an unstable potion and blew a hole in the floor."

[jiyunnies]

"Hey," she smiles, brightly, for the first time since everything went down. "That was for science."

[bewitchinghaze]

"What science was that?" she grins. "The science of destroying our kitchen?"

[jiyunnies]

"Now I have a perfect potion for destroying our enemies' floors. Sacrifices must be made."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val snorts, shaking her head. "At least we got a nice renovation out of it, I guess. Although I think I'd prefer you test floor destroying potions outside next time."

[jiyunnies]

"Last time I took my potions outside you nearly knocked me out trying to get me away from your garden which, by the way, is everywhere."

[bewitchinghaze]

"Outside like... at the beach. Where you can't hurt the house or my flowers," she tsks, sticking her tongue out. "I can't help it if my babies are overactive..."

[jiyunnies]

"You're lucky I have Les to experiment with. He'll offer up his apartment, I'm sure."

[bewitchinghaze]

Val shrugs. "You can blow up his apartment then. As long as you remove any plants first. It's important."

[jiyunnies]

"I honestly think if Les had plants in his apartment, they're probably dead by now...or Alfie took them...speaking of, I should see how he's doing."

[bewitchinghaze]

"Maybe I don't like Les as much as I thought I did..." Val jokes. "Do you want me to get your phone?"

[jiyunnies]

"Please. You like him because he'll take me out of your hair every now and then." She nods, surprised she even managed to hold on to all the events of the night before. "Please. I'd really like to thank him."

[bewitchinghaze]

"Damn, you're right. I guess I do like him," she grins, getting out of the bed and fishing her phone out of the clothes she dumped on the floor last night. "Here, tell him thank you from me too, please."

[jiyunnies]

She takes the phone, frowning when she sees she had a text from Tristan waiting for her since yesterday. "Ow." She quickly opens Alfie's contact information and texts him before slipping back under her covers.

[bewitchinghaze]

"Unnie?" she asks carefully, concerned. "What happened?"

[jiyunnies]

She hands Val her phone, showing her the text Tristan sent about what a good time he had on the date. "I must've missed it." Riley's face is back in her pillow. "I was on my way to his bakery when it happened."