[UNRECORDED]

[illdrinktothat]

Walter goes right back to drinking as soon as Caro leaves. Well, feeding his cat then drinking, so when he does inevitably pass out (finally, many hours into the night later) his fucking cat is less likely to wake him up.

She does anyway.

The first thing he sees is a small furry face and unnaturally big green eyes, approximately an inch from his nose. Which she'd been biting.

"Goddamnit, cat, no. Go the fuck away," He grumbles at her until he realizes that the daylight shining in through the cracks of the curtains looks a lot further along than morning - beyond late afternoon, even. Well, fuck. Bourbon gets gently shoved off her place on his chest so he can roll over and tryand cover his face with his arms because despite whatever the fucking sun says, it feels like too early and not enough liquor yet. His cat keeps pawing at him. His head's pounding. The cold wood floor isn't helping his head much, either, but he doesn't feel like moving yet. Two seconds later, the small cat latched to the back of it doesn't help, either. Those claws are fucking sharp.

He curses and yells and she scampers away, but he's up, finally. From there it's just... finding if he has any coffee left to make and maybe actually changing to a different set of clothes before Caro shows up. That might be a good idea.

He ends up sitting on the kitchen floor, drinking black coffee and feeding Bourbon sardines while he waits for the inevitable neighborly visit. She settles right into his lap, apparently having forgiven his earlier rudeness since he found more treats for her.

Comments

[illdrinktothat]

Walter's grateful she doesn't flinch away. He keeps her head steady with a firm hand under her chin anyway, just in case. This sort of thing takes a deft hand regardless of location... but this is her face. He'd rather not her, say, lose an eye or something.

"Close your eyes," Is the last instruction he gives before he goes to work.

It's precise work but not terribly time-consuming. The first cut above her eyebrow gets deepened through the skin (but not into the muscle) and he carefully extends it over her cheek and down. That part takes a bit more care, however. It has to be deep enough to scar significantly but not so much that it'll really interfere with her... well, doing everyday things like eating and whatnot. And he does have to pause a couple times to gingerly wipe away blood with the rag.

And then, of course, he has to repeat the process over a second time. He takes... slight liberties. They're a lot more even and symmetrical than the original wounds had been, and they follow the lines of her face a tad bit more. But they still look like battle scars, so they'll still serve their purpose well.

Walter cleans all the blood off for the last time before pressing a bandage soaked in something vaguely medicinal scented against the wounds. It'll sting, he's sure, but it'll also stave off the bleeding and any possible infection. They did just do this in a kitchen, for fuck's sake.

"Hold this," And then he takes his hand off her chin to reach down for one of her hands so he can just put it on the bandage. This, of course, has the added side effect of him having to be kind of uncomfortably close, and of course that's when he talks again. "You alright, sweetheart?"

[caroflower]

Caro closes her eyes as instructed. And ohhhh, this hurts a lot. But Caro's used to pain, even if not usually quite this sort. She stays still and keeps breathing deeply and evenly. Focusing on the breathing helps, actually.

Fortunately for her, Walter's quick about it. And sure enough, the bandage stings like hell. Caro hisses a little bit at that. And then she has to very firmly remind herself to focus on her breathing and nothing else when he grabs her hand to move it up over the bandage. Good lord, Sullivan.

She opens the one eye not covered by bandage when he asks how she is, and oh dear he's still very, very close. "Fine," she says. "That was fast."

[illdrinktothat]

"That's gonna," Walter lets go of her and steps back, gesturing vaguely. "Sting for a little while, then you won't feel it quite as much."

She'll still feel it but that goes without saying. It might be a Walter thing that he's generally not fond of the magic numbing shit the Capitol makes. It's good when you need it, but he's of the opinion pain's probably going to keep you from making the injury worse. It reminds you it's there.

"It'll take a bit to heal." He steps away to wash the knife and then his hands. Bourbon follows behind for a moment but gives up when it's obvious treats are not imminent; instead she crawls into a nearby cupboard.

Walter's just gonna look at the pinkish water and the blood going down the drain and not Caro, at least not for a moment or two. "It should be by the time your Victory Tour kicks off, though."

[caroflower]

"I figured." Both to the stinging and the taking a while.

"Hopefully Weyoun won't actually have a heart attack when he sees." She smiles, but that pulls at the incisions oops. So she smiles kind of lopsidedly. Oh well.

She readjusts her hand over the bandage. "How soon do you think I can eat? I'm hungry." Let's not ponder that carving up her face made her want stew.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter does away with most of the supplies, save the salve he managed to procure. It won't work as great as the shit Luigi got for her but it'll do in a pinch, and he doubts she'll mind it all that much.

"Lemme take a look." And with that he wanders back over. He has to lift up the edge of the bandage and, well, lean in especially close to eyeball the state of the wound. It looks fairly raw yet, which is really not unexpected, but the bleeding's slowed down considerably. It won't be but a moment before it's not even a trickle. "About as much time as it takes me to find a bowl and silverware, probably."

He goes to do just that and he knows immediately that he lied. It's going to take him longer to locate anything in this goddamn kitchen.

[caroflower]

Just when she thought she was safe, here's Walter looming up to take a look at her face again. She should have known. She goes very still as he does so.

She watches with amusement as Sullivan starts poking around the kitchen. "Wouldn't be the first time I drank soup straight out of a container," she says after a moment. "Well, stew in this case."

[illdrinktothat]

Walter's really trying to not notice how she reacts to him getting that close. He was her mentor during the Hunger Games and he is... him. He can't really remember a point in his life where he didn't make people uncomfortable on some level.

After a minute he gives up on the goddamn bowls, but he does find spoons and that's... good enough. He drops on the table them by Caro, and moves the bread and the stew there, too.

"Yeah, well, least this time you don't have to worry about getting knifed at any moment." He laughs a little at his own dumbass joke and gets himself some coffee before settling at a seat across from her.

[caroflower]

Caro accepts a spoon and pulls one of the jars towards her. She opens the jar and lets it sit a moment. She's cautious about getting too hot stew close to the open wounds on her face.

She snorts. "Yeah, we already did that part." Caro, that's not funny.

After a moment she takes a tentative bite of stew. "Oh good, it turned out okay." Eating's not even too difficult.

[illdrinktothat]

"Sweetheart, that ain't much of a knifing." Walter laughs and tries not to be awkward about the food. He mostly succeeds.

"Can't be any worse than leech water." He's going to regret saying that because she'll probably ask about it. For now, he's just going to grab a jar and eat. Because he might... not really have eaten much in the past few days, aside from nibbling a little when he feeds Bourbon sometimes. He doesn't much ever think about it really.

[caroflower]

Caro laughs at that. "I promise not to tell anyone you knifed me inadequately," she says before she can stop herself. Then she makes a face like she can't believe she just said that. Which she can't. She laughs helplessly a little.

But then... "Leech water?" She's frowning like Weyoun does, where you can practically hear the frown. "I don't wanna know, do I?" She tears off a piece of bread with a little more force than necessary.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter has to just... set the spoon down and look blankly at her for a moment, trying really hard to keep his shit together. It mostly just translates to his shoulders shaking a little from the laughter he's not letting happen. "Thanks. I did just go to all that trouble to fix my reputation and all."

And then she asks and he regrets. The frown is enough that he quickly shifts his gaze away. My, look at this stew. He'll just get to eating that now. "You don't."

[caroflower]

She sort of toasts him with the jar of stew. "If anyone asks, it's the best knifing I've ever gotten." Caro, you need to stop. But she makes an over the top flirty face at him anyway. If she were sitting next to him instead of across from, she'd probably elbow him in the side obnoxiously. It's probably a good thing she can't.

She gives him a long look. "Yeah okay. I won't ask then. Doesn't sound like it'd be good dinner conversation anyway." She dunks the bread in the stew and eats it carefully. Turns out the jaw injury was the main problem before, not the laceration. She'd figured, but she couldn't be sure.

[illdrinktothat]

"How considerate." Walter coughs and suppresses more laughter. What the hell did he start here? "It's been a while since I've knifed anyone, after all."

He doesn't even know why he's saying this. God help him.

He can almost feel that Look. He tries to ignore it best as he can. "Best not to." Then it hits him that it actually is dinner, isn't it? He never much pays attention when he's not dealing with the schedule of the Games. He eats when he eats and that's usually an 'if he eats.' But Caro brought dinner tonight, so he supposes he should thank her for that at some point.

[caroflower]

Caro has to smother her giggling long enough to say "Really? I wouldn't have known. You didn't seem out of practice at all to me." She blinks just a little too slowly for it to really be batting her eyelashes at him.

Caro considers the topic closed, at least for now. No point in ruining a perfectly good dinner. Well, at least not any more than they already are with really ridiculous innuendo.

[illdrinktothat]

"It's not something you really forget how to do." Walter laughs, eyebrows raised at Caro - and then suddenly bolts back in his chair a bit. "Ow. Goddamit, Bourbon."

A second later, a familiar cat face is peering over the edge of the table from his lap. Stew. She mewls.

"No. No, fuck you, no. That's not your food and I'm not a tree." He just scowls down at the kitten, who just mews again even louder. "No. You can't get on the table, you little shit."

Then he realizes that he's arguing with a cat small enough to fit in the jars. And it had all been going so well.

[caroflower]

Caro opens her mouth to say who even knows what when Bourbon makes an appearance. She just laughs even harder instead.

"Sorry Bourbon, I didn't bring anything for you. Maybe next time." Is that presumptuous? If it is, Caro very decidedly does not give a fuck.

[illdrinktothat]

Bourbon doesn't even care, she's busy swatting at Walter's arms like she's going to just take the stew for herself. As far as she's concerned it's hers, anyway, and why can't she sit on the table like she normally does?

Walter sighs. "She doesn't need any more treats, she's a freeloader." He leans down to emphasize that last word at the cat like she gives a shit. She just keeps batting at his hand trying to get a spoon. After a moment of that he relents and sets a piece of meat on the table's edge for her. "You fuckin win."

She happily inhales it then meows again.

"You better watch it, furball. I'll still sell you to Sae." He lifts her up by her scruff, depositing her in the chair beside him before continuing on his meal. His meal, cat. Not yours.

[caroflower]

Caro tries not to giggle too obnoxiously at Walter and Bourbon's antics. And then she remembers a thing.

"Yeah, no awkward cat petting at the dinner table." She smiles innocently at Walter, eyes wide. You better remember that remark.

[illdrinktothat]

Walter snorts at that one. Well, he snorts mostly glaring at the cart still. "What would Weyoun say, huh?" He does peer over at Caro long enough to raise a brow thoughtfully and... "Guess now is a bad time to mention my disappointment that the assgrab maneuver never happened."

Walter, no.

[caroflower]

"I think he'd just yell manners if he didn't pass out from the shock. His delicate constitution and all." Caro, what?

She cocks an eyebrow at Walter and grins. "Well you know, the night is still young." Caro did you really just--? Yes. Yes you did.

[illdrinktothat]

"Couldn't he do both?" Walter's pretty sure the man can multitask. He's also sure he's not half as delicate as he pretends to be, but that's nothing worth mentioning.

The next bit that comes out of her mouth, did she actually - she did. Well. He slowly leans back and tilts his head, trying to look less amused than he actually is. "I suppose it is. You up for it so soon? I mean," He laughs. "After the knifing."

He's not even going to acknowledge that Bourbon is trying to stretch from her chair to his to get back onto his lap. He'll just... kick his legs up in that chair for other reasons, of course. The cat just happens to wander across them by coincidence.

[caroflower]

"Oh, don't worry," Caro says sweetly, "I have a lot of stamina."

She sees what Walter just did for the cat. Careful Sullivan, that's kind of adorable.

[illdrinktothat]

"You do, huh." Walter tries to sound skeptical but the amusement (and maybe a little bit of quiet bafflement) in his voice kind of kills that fairly dead. "I'd ask you to prove it but I'm afraid we might fuck up all my hard work."

He's got to grab Bourbon and plop her back in his lap because she's already halfway up on to the table as soon as he's not paying 100% attention to her.

[caroflower]

Caro considers that. "Oh, that's a good point. I guess I'll have to take a rain check." She twirls a stray lock of hair around her finger. She's been playing up the flirting to ridiculous levels, but at the same time...

[illdrinktothat]

"Alas, another day maybe." Walter's feigns a very 'oh how sad it is' voice, and yet. You know, he should maybe focus on eating now and not... the hair twirling. That seems like a pretty solid plan for the moment.

He can wonder what the fuck was even happening later. Much later. Much, much later, preferably when it's just him and his liquor. And... er, his cat.

[caroflower]

"I'll hold you to it," Caro says brightly. Caro. And then she decides maybe she'd better focus on her food. Because good grief.

She'll have a moment when she goes home where it actually sinks in what she's been saying. And what Walter's been saying right back. Right now she'll just eat this stew.