They had arrived with as much hurry as his companion could muster. The moment that the raft touched sand, lurching slightly, Gil was moving. His paws hitting the sand and moving through the rasping grass begging for winter to pass. He didn't look back to make sure Urtur followed. Didn't need to. They were home now and it was time to find someone to help. Gil tilts his chin up to the sky, letting loose a harrowing howl that meant now. No one would ignore the call that echoed over the dilapidated building. Well, he couldn't call it that anymore.

With all of their efforts, broken windows had been swept away, falling doors had been removed, and light allowed to fall in through the growing vines. Lowering himself through the doorway carefully, he moved with haste. Up the crumbling stairs, down the hallway, his goal to end up at the small room across the hall from his own. There he knew no one would bother her. Not unless he approved of it.

Once there, he leans again so he can move through the doorway without bumping her against anything potentially hazardous. There he kneels down and allows her to slip from his shoulders onto a small pile of old furs. He would get her new ones once he had time. Moving with purpose, Gil starts a fire with supplies left by the fireplace. Whoever had built this place had expected the winters to get cold. Or it was for decorations - whatever it was, they served a purpose now.

Twilight was shifting into night as the moon lifted high into the sky. Guided by that gentle ray of light, he turned back to Jael. "I will be back," he tells her, his eerie gaze lingering on her for a moment, a gaze to tell her don't move. Gil leaves then, heads across the hall to his personal room that he shares with his wife. Modesty acknowledges him, but with the puppies still at a young age, she barely lifts a brow at his rustling through her belongings. As long as he answers her beck and call, he knows she won't make a fuss. After he obtains what he needs, he practically glides over the tile floor back to the room across the hall.

"You will need to stay still," Gil says as he comes back over to Jael. Sitting beside her, he pulls the bag of supplies in front of him. With what little he knows of healing, he hopes what he does will be good enough until he can find someone with better knowledge.

"speech"

CODE BY SHELBY

At the lurch of the raft, Jael found herself clinging to Gil's shoulders. Clinging, but then, she wouldn't realize until it was time for her to let go. Jael masked her disappointment as she slipped carefully to the furs laid out below. While at her most comfortable curled up, she realizes now how the pain radiated from her hip. The ankle too, needed to be held out at an angle. Already beginning to swell some, she can feel the ache as it radiated between the injuries. As she became accustomed to the ringing in her ears and the ache in her head, the rest of her body would begin to complain. Gilgamesh was careful with her, far more careful than Jael had ever been with herself.

The moon rose above them, between that and the fire that he breathed life into she had a pretty good view of the room. She took it in curiously. Though somewhat used to the settlements of those who came before, she'd never quite seen something like... like this. I will be back, though Jael's look back at him is almost wry. Where was she going to go, in her state? While not helpless, she also understands that she's far better off with Gil's support. He'd be back, though the warmth of the fire as it came alive wasn't quite as nice as the alternative.

Just as promised, he returned. She needed to stay still, but oh... leaning up to look at him, maybe his expression doesn't inspire the most confidence. "Do you want help?" Though her head swam and her knowledge wasn't the strongest either, maybe they could sort their way through this together. Hopefully.

He almost lifts a paw to push her back down. She didn't need to be straining herself in her state, but he resists. Instead, his expression steels as his eyes drift to her. Would he admit that he was not experienced with these things? That was difficult for him. There is hesitation as he lifts the supplies he has procured. "No." There is a hardness in his tone as he looks away from her. "Just hold still," Gil nearly speaks through clenched teeth. He knows if he fucks up, she could be three-legged soon. His nose wrinkles as he shifts to be closer to her injured ankle.

In the next moment, Urtur is by his side. His always faithful companion. As always, the wolverine is tender, movements sure and confident as he gently lifts the girl's leg so that Gil can place a piece of thin plastic against the break. Where he found it, well, on the isle of course. Items left over from those who came before were littered all over the place and proved to be useful. Gingerly he wraps the bandage around her broken ankle while Urtur holds the plastic in place. Once it is secure, he leans back and glances at her other wounds.

A noise rustles in his throat as he shifts through the bag. Gil pulls out a bundle of herbs that he can only assume will help with her pain and nausea. Holding it out to her, he won't take no for an answer. "Urtur will fetch water to help," he says after she takes the herb bundle from him. "There is not much else we can do," he adds on as he finalizes that her bleeding has indeed stopped with a gentle touch of his paw to the bandages that cover her hip and then her head. "The herbs should help," his voice is strained in a way that he doesn't often sound.

"speech"

CODE BY SHELBY

He seemed to be processing something. The shift in his tone, the fact that some of the warmth had drained... she didn't like that. Why did that feel... strange. Jael swallowed, setting her chin back on her paws. Watching Gilgamesh carefully, but letting him work. For someone who was used to taking a strong, careful read on a situation, why was she having such difficulty with him? Why did the fact that she was having difficulty fluster her, even if she was doing her best to hide it.

Smaller hands tend to the ankle, the creature deft and helpful. Jael flinched, whimpered at the manipulation of the break back into place. She knows he's doing his best, and her gaze is sympathetic. It's not his fault.

The herbs... she sniffed at them carefully. Jael looked at the bundle, then back to Gil. What was in it? She couldn't say. But then, he hadn't harmed her yet. Gilgamesh was better than that. Jael took the herbs gratefully, chewing them slowly. "You've done more than I could dream of asking..." the words were gentle, tender. She's dropped some of her usual edge. "Thank you." She's aware of his touch on her hip, though she doesn't balk. It's clinical, after all. Her head, too, though there's already a comfort about it. Why?

Instead, a more practical question... if just to keep him here. "How do I repay your kindness?" If just to keep him talking, if just to keep him from going off to tend to more pressing matters. Well, at least it's a practical question indeed.

He notices how she glances at him when he hands over the herbs. Of course, she would be hesitant. There is no blame there. It is understandable. A strange man drags you home and hands you random items to eat? Yeah, anyone would be worried. Inwardly, he is glad that she doesn't protest and chews it up anyway. Through her chewing and him ensuring her bandages are set well enough, he listens to her speak. The smirk that lights his lips is bright against his dark features. "One has a way of following their own laws," he replies, again simply and straightforward. There is nothing hidden beneath his features. Or is there?

At her thank you, he allows a quiet chuckle to rumble in his throat. Not so much a chuckle, but a humbled noise that vibrates his chest. He would tell her no thanks were needed, but perhaps they were. If it had been anyone else... He might have left them to die. What was it about her that made him save her? Her stature? Eh, no. Her gender? Maybe. Something about females that Gil couldn't allow to be bullied or harmed. Yet, as he turned his yellow gaze down to her, he feels something stir that he hadn't felt in a long while.

Pulled from his internal emotions, he blinks at her a few ties. Kindness? He was only doing what was necessary. She would be free to leave whenever she felt ready. Right? Gil doesn't know how to respond. His lips part for a moment before closing. A pregnant silence stretches as he settles down beside her while Urtur leaves to fetch water. Getting comfortable between the fire and Jael, laying upon the cold tile floor, he looks to her. How was she to repay his kindness? The thought lingers as he moves his eyes to hers.

"Nothing," the word is breathless as he continues to hold her gaze.

"speech"

CODE BY SHELBY

There's a glimmering, a spark in him. Lightning in a bottle. Jael can see it, she can feel it. She can almost... almost taste it. It lingers between them, filling the space in ways she can't quite verbalize. Something in her recognizes something in him, and that's all the explanation she needs. Like looking in a mirror, Jael can see him in reverse. The longer her gaze lingers, the more things she can see. Shit, what had she gotten herself into? If asked, she may have blamed whatever was in the bundle of herbs. Something that would make her judgement a little less than clear.

No one was asking. She is here by choice, but then, what if she'd chosen differently? The man looms by her side, but it wouldn't do to have him on the cold, hard tile. Jael shifts, making room. There would be enough, though they would be close... sometimes the fates engineer a situation to their will. Nothing, though it's but a breath. She looks to his face, searching. The movement of his lips, the way they catch in the firelight.

A little glimmer in her opalescent gaze as he settles in close, Jael has a little question. Maybe more than little, but it's the kind that's asked with the same deference as a schoolgirl asking her friend about a boy on the playground. "If I hadn't volunteered, would I have been free to leave?" She has to fight to conceal the giggle, letting it slip out around the edges. A little twitch of her tail, too, but every gambler has a tell. Oops.

Gil sees it. How she shifts just enough. Did she not see their size difference? If he just... so slightly scooted himself onto the pelts that he would simply envelop her? Is that what she wanted? His eyes continue to hold hers, noticing how their opalescent sheen glimmers in the light of the fire. Fuck. His mind seethes as he moves without thought. Filling the pelts with his frame, he instinctually curls around her. Not in the way that he would hold his offspring, but would hold... his... Fuck. There is a hesitation again, but he excuses it.

The way she looks at him. That giggle hidden behind clasped lips. To tempting to deny. Even her words have the rumble in his chest vibrating as he looms over her. Oh how he wants to tell her no, she wouldn't have a choice. Yet, he holds back. She didn't know him. His life. His role to play in the vast universe they were consumed by.

He holds back from replying at first and instead places his nose upon the bandage wrapped around her head. "I'm sure you got a concussion," Gil murmurs under his breath, the heat radiating against the top of her head. Yes, he avoids the answer. He can't answer. Not right now. Not with the way his belly stirs and he feels the warmth seeping from her small form. He can't help how he curls more around her. "You need rest," he ushers her, persists almost, as he pulls away from her to look back down at her shimmering eyes.

"speech"

CODE BY SHELBY

Jael wouldn't say it, but she won't deny the warmth or the gravity. She won't say no. She wasn't going to say that she was holding her breath, hoping she hadn't overstepped, hoping she hadn't overshot. Gilgamesh closed the distance between them, and she could let go the breath she wouldn't admit she'd been holding. He loomed over her, he filled her periphery on every edge. Should have it felt more dangerous than it was? Was Jael in the mouth of a dragon? Hell, if she was, she had been this whole time. Though perhaps it was tempting fate, what else was new?

He won't lay his cards on the table, and maybe that was for the best. There's a glint, a glimmer to the girl. A little touch to her head and his tone of voice, gentle... why does he need to sound quite so tender? Jael has never been able to give heed to the ache in her chest, even when it flickers to life. Why now? The concussion or the drugs. Maybe he'd drugged her. It wouldn't even be in the top three of worst things to happen that day, and they did something to dull the pain in her hip.

Hip shifting by degrees, Jael allows herself even closer to the large, warm figure of the man beside her. Head on her own paws, though she's arched her neck some to watch him. Watch what he does. It leaves her more than a bit exposed as well, but what Gil chose to do with that... well, that was on him. "I heard once that you aren't supposed to sleep for a while after you get a concussion," the jury was still out on whether or not that was truth, but then, what did Jael know about healing? She could use an old wives' tale to her benefit, and ignorance could be bliss.

Gilgamesh is no fool. He can feel the way she shifts her hips. See the way she curls closer to him while still leaving herself vulnerable. His eyes linger on how her neck is exposed as her eyes look at him from her peripheral. The temptation is... irresistible. How was he to deny her? Yet, she was broken. Quite literally broken. Her leg tied up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. As much as he wants to give in, he holds back. Instead, a breath releases from him as he lowers his head down near his own paws, right by her face. He looks to her, smirks and gives his face a small shake. Ah, no, no, he wouldn't let her have it all so soon.

"That, my dear Jael, is a myth," the rumble in his voice is both tender and gravelly. Only the way a man who is having a difficult time could sound. "There is no need to go breaking more bones," Gil adds on as his own yellow gaze shimmers from the light of the now dying fire. He wouldn't fall for such tricks. He was stronger than that. Smarter than that. But he would give her something. Rather he allowed a leg to pull her closer, wrap her up by his chest and tuck his face closer to her's. "I will give you a tour in the morning," he whispers, near silent as he closes his eyes.

"speech"

CODE BY SHELBY

Ah, he was holding back. She can see it, she can sense it. He was playing it cool... the gentleman. Perhaps the invitation too blatant or perhaps they were playing their own game, Jael would... she would play along. This is a delicate sort of game, after all. She'd waltzed into the den of a dragon king, the island and its untold and strange riches its horde. Where she came from, the junkers were revered for their resourcefulness and wit, and Jael didn't doubt he was the same.

A myth... she offered a little hmm, though maybe it was a barely-substituted huff. She guessed. A little giggle at the idea of breaking more bones, but no, she wouldn't twist his arm. The glimmer and flicker radiating off his yellow eyes, the strange shape of the pupils too. Ever the more allusion to a dragon king. His leg wrapped around her then, and she gets what she wants. She has the affirmation. Perhaps that's all the seduction was built up for-- she wants some affirmation. This is as good as any other.

Tucked up against his side, Jael is safe. There isn't a way to explain it, and she doesn't care to try. There is a recognition, somewhere between the two of them. Jael curls in close, her head tucked close to his face. Wrapped up in him. Warm, safe. Only a breath between them, her eyes remaining open only barely. "Thank you." The words were quiet, tender. They hold more weight than Jael could have dreamt, but here she was. Relaxed against him, a little fire on her skin and savoring every moment.