Pleased to (re)meet you

Written by Thyme and Wolsal

Boredom?

No. No, to call it boredom would be an obscene understatement. Torturous? More accurate. He closed his eye exasperatedly. Whilst the soft bed he lay on was a welcome departure from the half a millennia of sleeping on the cold hard ground bound by chains, his mind and body ached for something. Anything.

Sun trickled in from the partially curtained window, illuminating the top half of his body in the warm golden rays. A small shoddy hospital bed sat in the middle of the room- a room hastily cleared and blocked off fewer than 2 weeks ago. 

The room itself was bare- dark wooden walls, a small bulletin with medical logs scribbled down, a small bamboo table with what seemed to be surgical supplies placed neatly on it, benches lined with linens, bandages, jars of leaves, needles, small vials of sealed off liquids, stacks of papers full of both medical techniques and notes, a mask attached to what appeared to simply be a metal box, and all other manner of items.

All equally uninteresting. 

He rapped his class on the blanket pulled up to his chest, green medical gown fastened by buttons on the front. He fidgeted with one of the wooden buttons, eyes wandering around the room he’d already scanned about 1,000 times by that point.  He’d only been in it for a few days- well, that he knew of- and yet he already grew tired of it. 

Same thing every day, doctors come in, try and talk to him, probe at his chest and head, write stuff down, leave. You’d think after being stuck in a pocket dimension for 500 years that this change of pace would be welcome- rest assured, it was not. Not fully, at least.

He sighed, turning his head to the side as he heard talking on the other side of the door. In any other world he’d simply get up and march out himself- he found out the hard way that half a millennia of no walking alongside near fatal injuries wasn’t the best state to be attempting an escape in. 

He strained his ears to try and hear what was being said- he couldn’t. Simply a muffled conglomerate of seemingly hushed voices. He could make out an almost familiar male voice, murmured and concerned, and the sharp yet whispered voice of his assigned doctor. 

He laid his head back down on the pillow, sighing. Bored. 

Solomon heard rustling from outside from bushes seated just outside of the window by his bed. He lifted his ear to try and listen better- he was in a partly underground section of the building, and the window was too high up to catch a glimpse of whatever was making the sound. He closed his eye, furrowing his brows. He tried to ignore the sounds the best he could-

Then, he heard the unmistakable sound of the window being lifted open. 

He thought to look and see what was going on, but quickly came to the conclusion that would mean running the risk of interacting with whomever was attempting to break in. 

It wasn’t that he cared about whether or not this person would steal or break anything in this building- hell, they could light it on fire for all he cared, he just was simply too tired to facilitate a conversation.

He heard heavy yet tentative footsteps making their way towards his bed- he could almost feel the nervousness and hesitance coming from the other person in the room.

The chair he knew sat beside his bed creaked with the weight of someone planting themself atop the seat- he could now hear the soft breathing of the person. Stillness once again filled the room, the silence feeling heavy in a way he couldn’t place. 

Before he could think to finally just question the person on why they were there and quit feigning sleep, he felt a gentle and oddly familiar hand grab onto his own.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-” Solomon nearly jumped out of his skin, eye shooting open as he jolted back. The other man jumped back, nearly falling out of the chair he sat in- eyes wide.

“O-oh! You’re awake I- shit I’m sorry I didn’t know-” He averted his gaze, scooching himself and the chair back slightly. He leaned back slightly in his best attempt to play it cool.

Solomon stared the person up and down, panting to regain his breath and calm himself from the sudden need for motion. His eye narrowed as his vision began to clear- the person he was looking at became sharper in his vision.

No fucking way.

Seated in front of him was a seal- he had brown fur, a large scar stretching across his face, a notable absence of a tail, and piercing dark eyes. He looked older- more scarred, more aged- certainly not dissimilar to himself, but it was unmistakable. It was him. Keith

“What the hell are you doing here? Get out-!” Solomon growled, vitriol dripping from his words. Keith raised his hands in an attempt to assuage him, swallowing hard.

“Like- as in here in the room, or alive-?” Keith asked sheepishly, still avoiding eye contact. 

“I know why you’re alive, idiot- why are you here?” The haggard goat hissed through gritted teeth, whether his teeth were gritted from anger or the pain of his injuries was entirely unclear.

Keith sighed, hesitating for only a moment. "I'm here because of you. I wanted to be here when you woke up." He stood up and leaned on a wall a bit further away

“Well… I’m awake now, so stop wasting my time. What do you want?” He shakily raised a hand to wipe away blood that had started to trickle out of his nose.

Keith noticed the blood and walked over "You're hurting yourself, here let me help." He grabbed a corner of the bedding and dabbed at his nose- being met with a hand promptly shoving him away and an angered and pained yell. 

Solomon glared at him, breath quickening and nostrils flaring as blood started to flow heavier onto the right side of his face from his head.

“G-get away- don’t touch me-“ He hissed, fur raising as he scooted back, tail now hanging off the bed.

"Hey hey hey, you're gonna fall off the bed." 

Keith moved closer, reaching out in an attempt to wrap his arm around his back to prevent him from toppling over.

He instinctively tried to shove him off, jumping back in surprise-

With a loud crash he came tumbling off the bed, the side of his head smacking against the floor with a thunk and a yelp. Keith ran over and tried to help Solomon up, promptly getting smacked by his tail.

An exasperated groan came from outside the room, door creaking open as hooved footsteps traipsed towards the bed. “For gods sake I told you to stop trying to escape! I mean at least wait until you’re not dying before y-” The doctor cut herself off as she caught sight of the seal standing next to Solomon who was still on the floor. She cursed under her breath.

“Oh for the love of gods, you again? Out! You’ve caused enough trouble already!” The doctor, Zivka, marched towards Keith- grabbing his arm and dragging him out. “Hey- wait- I was just-” “No! No waiting! You need to leave!” She continued lecturing him until he was out the hospital door, promptly being shut out of the building.

Keith didn’t bother trying to get back in- instead he made his way to the window by Solomon’s room, sitting down next to it just out of view of the room occupants. He watched as 2 doctors hoisted him up onto his bed, fighting with him to get his bandages changed and wounds cleaned. There wasn’t much he could do now save for sit back, and watch the chaos unfold.