[unrecorded]

[caroflower]

Caro is able to shoo Weyoun away earlier than usual today, so she packs up some food and heads over to Walter's. Hopefully this means there's enough time to see about Walter's scar. Caro would like to get that done with already.

So here she is knocking on Walter's door, a couple hours earlier than she normally might. It's even earlier than they'd anticipated, so she hopes he's actually awake. Well, she can hear Bourbon at least.

And hey, she even has something other than stew for once.

Comments

[illdrinktothat]

Walter is thankfully actually awake for once, mostly because of a very small, very fluffy kitten that insisted on being fed something earlier. So he's up and quietly puttering about his house when Caro shows up early.

He finds Bourbon at her usual spot in front of the door, mewing up a storm. As excited as she is he's pretty sure she may actually bolt out the door to greet Caro, so he scoops her up and holds her before he opens the door. But Bourbon doesn't really want to be held, so while he's opening the door she's busy squirming out of his arms.

"Hey, sweetheart," He's just going to pretend that he doesn't have a little cat crawling up to his shoulder. "Weyoun fuck off for the day already?"

[caroflower]

Caro has to stifle a giggle at Bourbon climbing all over Walter. "Yeah, I managed to shoo him away early. He's off doing... I don't even know what. Um, here," she adds, shifting her containers of food to one hand and reaching up for Bourbon. "C'mere Bourbon."

[illdrinktothat]

"I don't even want to know the shit that he gets up to." Walter's not even sure it's any sort of scandalous so much as insufferable if only based on the merit that it's Weyoun.

Bourbon is more than happy to be held by the friendly lady. Walter, though, is both amused and feels a little bad she's got to deal with the cat and the food. While she goes for the kitten, he goes to get the food from her. "Let's trade."

[caroflower]

"Well whatever he's doing, he's probably being politely smug about it," Caro says while managing to only look a little bit grumpy about it. Weyoun's been good about letting her escape in the evenings, but he's always so damn smug about it.

She holds the food out for Walter to take and then readjusts her hold on Bourbon. "Okay," she says, "but I'm not cooking with this." Bourbon just purrs and generally looks adorable.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter snorts quietly. "That's Weyoun. I wonder if he can even shut it off."

He gladly takes the food and gets the hell out of the way so she can come inside. From there, it's to the kitchen and putting things on the table. "So... We doing the thing?"

That's not terribly specific but he's fairly sure she knows what it is he means. Not that he's not glad that he'll be getting his scar back, it's the sort of thing that's not filled with any sort of happy anticipation for several reasons. That it's going to require no small amount of awkwardness is one of them.

[caroflower]

"I think he could if he wanted." But Weyoun really likes being a smug little shit.

She follows Walter into the kitchen and sets Bourbon down on the floor. "I'm game."

And now it's time to fidget awkwardly. This whole situation is... well. She's going to be carving something Order-related into Walter's back. There's no part of that that isn't... yeah. Caro isn't squeamish about blood, but this is Walter she's going to be cutting into. And she doesn't have experience in cutting with intent to injure instead of kill. And uh... well. It's going to be awkward.

[illdrinktothat]

"Alright. Good." Walter shoos Bourbon out of the room and actually shuts the door behind the cat. He'd really rather not have Bourbon end up covered in blood, after all.

He's a bit more at ease with the idea of her doing this knowing that she did the scar on her chest alright. Granted, his is considerably more complicated than hers, but it's good to know she can handle the basics. That it comes with the baggage of being an Order symbol, well... he's grateful she's not particularly versed in Order stuff. And he's not even going to think about how much trust this requires - that's just something he's not prepared to consider or deal with on any level.

Once the cat's gone, though, he gets to work mostly so he doesn't have time to awkwardly fidget around. He finds the knife, the bandages, the towels, and lays them all out on the table. There is a very brief moment of awkward hesitation before he pulls his shirt off and rolls his shoulders back. And because it's on his back... He pulls a chair out and turns it around, settling in it backwards, arms folded over the top. It's then that he turns his attention back to Caro. "Remember the design, sweetheart?"

He doesn't have the sketch still but it wouldn't take him long to make another.

[caroflower]

Yep, here goes the awkward. Fortunately, Walter thinks to shut the cat out of the room. Caro would really rather not deal with kitten help with this. Then Walter's laying out supplies and, oh lord, taking off his shirt. Thank god he's already turning away and sitting down, because Caro can't actually keep herself from blushing. Ugh.

She snaps back to reality at his question. "Yeah. I even practiced it a few times. Want me to draw it out first?" Actually, she might draw it on his back in pen first if Walter lets her.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter's really trying to not think about... much of anything, really, least of all being the awkwardness of the situation. He settles into his chair and prepares for the pain of the cutting, which may or may not be particularly drawn out, he doesn't know just yet. He'll be fine either way. Pain's an old friend.

He nods at Caro's question. It's a pretty damn good suggestion, really. Especially since she'll be carving it into his back with a knife. "Sure. Might as well."

[caroflower]

"Okay." Caro hunts around for something to draw on, and eventually finds pen and paper. She quickly sketches out the symbol and hands it to Walter. "Good?"

[illdrinktothat]

Walter smooths out the drawing on the table and looks it over with a very appraising eye for a moment. After a time, he nods. "Great."

[caroflower]

"Good." Caro nods even though she knows he can't see. "Um actually, why don't I draw it on you in pen first? Make sure I get everything even and stuff." And in the right place, and the right size, and and.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter considers again, but honestly there's not a whole lot to consider. "Yeah, alright."

Now he's just got to prepare himself to be dealing with being touched a lot more than he'd expected. And... drawn on. Oh lord.

[caroflower]

Caro leans in to start drawing where Walter had indicated the day before... only to find a very faint outline already there. How helpful. "Huh," she says mostly to herself, "looks like the Capitol didn't do that thorough a job after all."

Before she can think about it too much, she starts tracing over the very faint scar with the pen. She blushes again anyway. Knock it off, Caro.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter isn't really prepared for the sensation of being drawn on. It's... tingly and weird. He has to clench his jaw and not think about that. And also not laugh, because that is apparently also a thing going on here. It'd fuck up her drawing.

He glances over his back briefly after it feels like she's mostly done with the drawing on him part. "How's it going, sweetheart?"

[caroflower]

Caro tries not to think too hard about having both her hands on Walter's back-- drawing with her left and sort of uselessly balancing with her right, like how she'd hold the paper down to keep it from moving, if she were drawing on paper. She can at least file it away to consider later. Right now she has a job to do.

"Almost done." She focuses on her drawing, because she's pretty sure she'd blush again if she made eye contact right now. No point in just giving Walter more ammunition.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter's trying really hard to not think about Caro's hands on his back. Honestly, he's trying to not think much about her at all at the moment. It's a little tougher than expected.

"Good." And he rests his chin on his arms and bites down on his tongue a bit because goddamn that sort of tickles.

[caroflower]

"Okay." Caro takes a step back and looks over her pen work. "It looks good to me, do you want to check it in a mirror before I start?"

She'd like confirmation that she's drawn it okay, but she also hopes she doesn't have to deal with more of Walter's shirtlessness. Not in this context anyway.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter actually... hadn't thought about that. "Er. Yeah."

That's something that requires he get up and exit the room to find a mirror (and field Bourbon who immediately thinks it's time for attention). The bathroom's not far - and it doesn't take a ton of craning his neck around to inspect her work. The lines are even and symmetrical enough, and it follows along the old scars fairly accurately. It doesn't take particularly long before he decides it meets his standards, and he has to return to the kitchen. He's smart enough to lock Bourbon in the bathroom as he leaves, though.

Walter gives Caro a nod as he returns, settling back into his chair as he was just a few minutes previously. "We're good."

[caroflower]

Caro washes her hands and double checks the supplies while Walter's gone. She nods and ducks her head when he comes back and sits down again. "Okay."

She picks up the knife and leans in, running her fingers over the ink lines one last time. "All right, I'm starting." And then she makes the first cut.

It's... not as difficult as she was afraid it would be. She pauses a moment to make sure Walter's all right and doesn't need her to correct her technique or anything. "Okay?"

[illdrinktothat]

Walter inhales sharply when she starts tracing her fingers over the lines. It's difficult not to react much to that, really; he's vaguely thankful when that's followed up by fairly immediate, sharp pain. It doesn't take a lot to even his breathing out again when he can focus on the cutting. That's something he can actually deal with pretty damn well. It's easier to distance himself from his body when it's pain he's experiencing.

He spares a glance over his shoulder at her question. He manages a half-smile with relative ease. "I'm fine."

[caroflower]

"Okay. Let me know if you're not." And with that, Caro gets to work.

She cuts very carefully. Not too deep, but it does need to scar. Between the various lessons from Walter before her Games, the reading she did on her own, and the refresher he gave her yesterday, she has a pretty good idea of what she should be doing. The reality is just... different. Slicing into Walter is difficult, but ultimately maybe not as tough for her as it should be. She tries to focus solely on the work she's doing, and she mostly succeeds.

When Caro's about halfway done, she pauses again. "Do you need a break?"

[illdrinktothat]

Walter rests his chin on his arms, closing his eyes when she starts cutting. There's no real ignoring that kind of pain; it's not the worst he's ever experienced, but it's immediate and the sort of sharp that isn't going to dull or fade any time soon. He's dealt with pain before, though. Years of being a veritable punching bag... and then everything the Order did. Everything they prepared him for. He breathes in slowly through his nose, out through his mouth, and lets the pain wash through him as much as he can. It's just the flesh. He can separate himself from the flesh.

The talking momentarily snaps him out of his concentration. He shakes his head once. "Keep going, I'm alright."

[caroflower]

"All right." Caro kind of expected that answer, so she hadn't even straightened up. She gets back to work, cutting carefully but quickly. The second half seems to take longer, but that's probably because she has to wipe blood away more often.

Finally, she's done. She mops up more blood and holds the towel against Walter's back. "Can you hand me the bandages? Or do you want to look it over first?"

[illdrinktothat]

It's not terribly hard for Walter to slip back into that same sort of focus, once she's gone back to working on him. There seems to be more bleeding now but he's relatively assured it's nothing serious, it's just the amount of cutting that's been done so far moreso than there being any particularly severe bleeding.

"I'm going to trust you on this one, sweetheart. I'll inspect it when it's done bleeding." He actually laughs a little under his breath, before leaning forward to grab the bandages and handing them back to her. It's enough that even he winces a little, and he's grateful she can't see it.

[caroflower]

"I'll try not to let that go to my head." Caro makes another dumb face he can't even see, and then bandages him up. That's a little tricky too, but she's had more practice with bandages than with slicing into people.

"There," she says finally. "Done." She gives his shoulder a brief squeeze before making a beeline over to the kitchen sink to wash her hands.

[illdrinktothat]

"Good. Wouldn't want you to go and get all cocky about it." While he appreciates the shoulder squeeze (and he doesn't even want to think about that) it does sting a bit, thankfully not all that much. He knows he is going to be one sore motherfucker for quite some time after this though.

He's not feeling the worst of the soreness yet when he stands and finds his shirt again - that'll come later. For now it's still the residual sharpness, and he definitely feels it when he has to stretch to pull his shirt back over his head. He knows he winces again. Hopefully, she's too busy washing up to see it.

"Thanks," He says finally, once he's clothed again.

[caroflower]

Caro keeps herself busy at the sink until she's pretty sure Walter is wearing a shirt again. Then she turns and asks, "Should we let Bourbon out of kitty prison and maybe eat that food I brought?" She pauses, apparently deep in thought. "Or we could eat first. Might be nice not to have to defend my dinner."

She's not really sure what else to say or do right now, so slightly awkward small talk it is. She can mostly keep herself from fussing over Walter now that she's done cutting him up, but it's tough.

[illdrinktothat]

"She can cool her heels in the bathroom for a while longer." Walter can't even feel bad about it. That cat is such a spoiled little shit, she can deal with being left out this time. Not to mention, he'd like to be able to eat a meal without Bourbon climbing him like a goddamn tree.

It's... a little awkward, so instead of sitting back down right away he goes about finding himself a drink.

[caroflower]

Caro clears away the rest of the towels and bandages and cleans off and deposits the knife, and then brings the food over to the table.

"It's something other than stew for once," she says, smiling a little. She's slowly expanding her cooking repertoire, thanks in part to Weyoun.