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[She wonders if his reaction would be different if he still had all his memories... In any case, there isn't anything she can do to change that fact that it's going to sting, so she just tries to be thorough in cleaning the wound. And...a bit gentle. Once she's done with the front of his shoulder, she moves on to the back.]

I'm almost done, Tyr...

So it really did go all the way through... [ He mumbles and turns his body to let her see it better. Tyr doesn't blame her for the fact it hurts. Of course it's going to hurt... And he knows she'd be a thorough as possible with him. ]

...Thanks for all this, Rita.

Yeah...

[Tyr... The last thing she wants is for him to end up with an infection because of the curse, so she wets the cloth with fresh alcohol and starts to clean this side, too.]

Don't worry about it... After you're fixed up, we should take a look around the house.

[ He takes in a sharp breath and releases it slowly. It really, really stings... ]

Yeah... I probably can't use my staff with this wound, but I still have my fire rune and blastia if anything shows up... Make sure you stay close to me.

[She isn't going to let up. The faster she works, the faster it'll be over--and finishes soon, with a few more dabs, and straightens up.]

There.

--And I could say the same to you, you know. I can still use my whip.

[ While it feels like a long time, he's glad it's over soon. He releases a slow breath. ]

I know you can--and I want to stay close to you, too.

[ He stays sitting right where he is, though. ]

[Rita leaves the bottle of alcohol on the counter and pulls out a box of bandages now. If he has a different reason for staying put than knowing he has to be bandaged, Rita doesn't realize.]

Good. It's not like we can just split up to look when anything can happen.

[ That is his only reason. He shifts his arm slightly to make wrapping his arm easier. ]

Exactly. [ He's so, so glad they're on the same page for once... ] Especially if this is a curse... It's starting early.

[She doesn't like that it seems like he was just hurt out of nowhere. They can't go far from each other with something like this happening.]

Most start right at midnight, right? We just don't always notice right away...

[Is it going to get worse? This month is going to be the new October...

Lost in her thoughts, she starts wrapping the bandage around his shoulder, maybe a little too tight.]

[ He nods. ] That's true... If it didn't hurt so much, I wouldn't have known...

[ Though he sounds a little bitter about that. Every month from now on, they'll need to be careful.

And he knows she's making it too tight, so he reminds her: ] The bleeding already stopped. You can loosen it...

[She feels almost as bitter as he sounds. It's times like this that she hates the City...

His reminder gets her attention, though and she moves to pull them loose.] Oh...sorry.

[She starts rewinding the bandage, not so tight this time but secure enough that it's not just going to hang there, and glances at his face.]

How's this?

[ He offers her a small smile. ] That's perfect.

[ He might not even need it, but if there's something here and he needs to fight, he doubts the magic will keep the wound from reopening.

And the wound...it makes him think of Rita's scar again. He looks over at her as she wraps the bandages, and bluntly asks: ] How did you get that scar? I...don't remember anything about that, either... [ If he ever did, but he won't rule things out now. ]

[It'll offer a little protection, too. She continues winding the bandage like that, then, but her own expression falls at his question.]

I don't think...you ever knew that I got it. It was during one of those random curse weekends... [She wonders if he remembers the event at all now.]

[And now he's concerned for her. He can't believe she'd never tell him...but it must have been really bad for her to be like this.]

Sorry... I didn't know things like this happened before...

[And no, he doesn't remember anything that happened...]

[She shakes her head.]

It's not your fault.

[And she doesn't just mean the problem with his memories...]

We... I don't think we were really friends when it happened.

We weren't?

[ It must be pretty old, then... He can hardly remember the times where they couldn't stand each other. ]

...Still, I'm sorry... It must have really hurt...

[She shakes her head again, both as an answer to his question and because it's still not his fault.]

It was okay... I was the one who was cursed.

What...?

[ He really doesn't understand what she's saying... That she hurt herself? No... ]

[She figures that Tyr's probably forgotten that kind of curse entirely, too... As she finishes wrapping the bandage around his shoulder and secures it with a small clip, she thinks about how to explain it.

But she's never good at anything besides blunt explanations.]

I was hurting people...so somebody else had to stop me.

[ He assumes she means someone other than him... He knows curses like that exist, but they never happened to them. It's something that only ever happened to other people on the network.

When the bandage is secured, he turns around to face her and reaches for her hand. ]

Rita... It's- It's over now. You don't have to tell me what happened.

Huh?

[It isn't that she doesn't understand why he's saying that. Rather, she's just a little surprised...but grateful. Even if he doesn't remember that she did it to him the second time...

That's exactly why she wouldn't want to talk about that time.]

Thanks... How's your shoulder?

[ He offers her a small, reassuring smile. He doesn't even remembering everything, but he knows how much memories hurt... She doesn't need to go over them with him. ]

It's fine now... I think it'll heal up pretty easily...

[ Since they got to it quickly... ]

[After Estelle left and came back, Rita never wanted to tell her what happened, either. Maybe whether or not it's right for someone to forget painful memories isn't so clear-cut...

At least his shoulder's all right. It shouldn't even leave too much of a scar, she hopes.]

Good... Let's check on Riou and Flynn.

[ Tyr hopes not, but at least he knows what this one is from. As far as memories go, he wishes Rita didn't need to remember... ]

Right... Riou's always been fast, though, so I'm sure he'd know if something was happening right away.

Can he sense that kind of thing in his sleep?

[The City doesn't let her forget...]

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