Bold and Full Bodied

Posted on Sat Jun 20th, 2020 @ 3:21am by Jacob Lara & James Thomson

Mission: Fortune & Glory
Location: Galley
Timeline: 2 months ago - Middle of the Night

Jacob was leaned up against the counter, hands held up near his face, cupping a warm, steaming mug of freshly brewed coffee. The late hour accounted for the fact that he was dressed in a only pair of raw linen lounge pants, shirtless, and barefoot. He'd had a busy two days, meeting up with a client on one of the shorter stops they'd made, and had only just gotten back aboard as they were preparing to lift off. He'd docked the shuttle, and almost immediately collapsed onto his bed, dropping into a deep sleep. It had been far too early for that, but he was exhausted. Now he was wide awake at nearly two in the morning, for no damned reason, and knew he wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon.

He heard soft footsteps approaching, and took a deep breath, wanting to appear placid, instead of annoyed at the interruption. He'd had absolutely no plan on having to deal with anyone until at least the next day, but apparently that old saying about the best laid plans of mice and men still applied even this many years later.

James padded into the kitchen in his typical sleepwear. He too had been struggling to sleep and similarly to Jacob his mind was on activities beyond the hull and crew of the Echo. He'd not long gotten back from "Visiting his sister" the code he used for anything he did beyond Alden's notice, the things that would make his cousin second guess his decision to let James join the crew. Just below the hem of his right sleeve, the edges of a bruise could be made out. Things had gotten rough during this visit, in fact, his clothing hid many more.

"Hey man," He said as he crossed the space and stopped beside the companion, dropping his bowl into the sink before filling it with water. "Couldn't sleep either?" He asked conversationally as he went about cleaning the bowl, oblivious to Jacob's irritation.

Opening his eyes Jacob glanced at James. He was dressed in a t-shirt, and a pair of shorts that both left very little to the imagination. Jacob's eyes lingered a bit as he took in the sights, and then flicked up to the man's face. "No," he said, a little more shortly than he'd planned. "Sorry, still waking up. Fell asleep as soon as I got back to the ship, and now I'm paying for it. I think I laid in bed trying to force myself back to sleep for two hours..." he said.

Just as he went to take a sip of his coffee he caught the hint of a bruise peaking out from beneath the quarter length sleeve of the man's left arm, and absentmindedly reached out, touching the spot before he realized what he was doing. "What happened?" he asked, his voice soft and inquisitive.

James was confused for a beat before he saw where Jacob's hand had been going. Subconsciously he reached up with his left hand a pulled the at the hem a bit, "This?" he asked with a shrug, "It's nothing, someone thought they could get a little handsy with my sister whilst I was visiting" he offered. A lie, but a good one, it wasn't unknown that James usually found himself in the middle of any violent situation within his orbit. "What about yours?" the Ezran asked, nodding towards the Jacob's own.

"Mine?" Jacob asked, completely confused by the man's words. He didn't have any bruises, or even reasons for bruises. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"The one on the right side of your neck..." James informed him as he pointed towards it with a wet hand, "Looks like someone thought you were a snack" He suggested with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows.

Jacob's hand went up to the side of his neck where James was pointing and he felt a slight blush creep into his cheeks. "I specifically told him not to do that..." he said, his voice holding a mixture of both annoyance and embarrassment. "I really don't like being marked by clients. It's unprofessional."

"Maybe," James acknowledged with a shrug before he shook the excess water from the bowl he had been cleaning, placing it onto the drying rack once he'd done. Turning around he mirrored Jacob and leant against the counter, "Or, it's free advertisement. You know, letting potential clients know that your last client really enjoyed their time with you" He offered casually as he crossed his arms against his chest, "Some folk might not appreciate it but I reckon there's a lot of others that would".

Jacob couldn't help it, he felt the laugh bubble up from inside his chest, and before he could stop it he felt it explode out of his mouth, and suddenly he was actually giggling, unable to stop for a few moments. "I'm so sorry, it's just..." he said, losing track of his train of thoughts for a second. "It's just you are actually right in a way. But I still don't like it. Guess I should just loosen up. Not like I've got any clients lined up," he added.

"So, what's got you up so late? Got some other bruises you aren't displaying that are making it hard to get comfortable?" he asked, jokingly.

"And then some," James said with a roll of his eyes. The worst covered his back, his mark's security had been a tad too enthusiastic with their baton as they tried to remove James from their boss. It had worked, unfortunately for them. The rest had been easy enough. Poor folk hired security as comrade's in arms, rich folk did it because for all their finery and decorum most of them could fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

"Someone tried to bring a pool cue into the scuffle, they came out looking worse than me though," He said confidently, a smirk tugging at his lips as he replayed the memories. It felt good to shake the rotten up, he didn't much care for the idea of restraint. Good people and innocents were off limits though, a sentiment he'd inisited upon when parleying with Niska.

Jacob's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Must have been more than just a little handsy..." he said, smirking lightly. "Mind if I take a look?" he asked, motioning for the other man to turn so he could pull up his shirt and see the damage. "I promise, I just want to make sure you are okay. I'm not going to try anything."

"If you must..." James said casually as he pushed off and turned away from Jacob, pulling his t-shirt up over his head but left his arms within the sleeves. He winced throughout, his back was indeed covered in long narrow bruises that were spread out in a messy fan across his back. Some of them worse than others, he was glad to have put an end to the attack when he did, any more and he probably wouldn't have been mobile for a couple of days. That would lead to questions that he didn't want to answer, especially if Alden was the one asking the questions.

"Oh..." Jacob said, his eyes going wider than they had before, and his jaw hanging open slightly as he reached out and very lightly traced one of the worst bruises with a finger. "This is going to sound weird, but I can help with this... I've got some salve in my shuttle. It will help with the pain, and will help this heal a lot faster. But I know for sure you won't be able to apply it yourself..." he said, wondering if there was any way in hell, with what he was, this man was going to trust him enough to let him help him.

James remained silent for a moment as he considered his options. As much as he had reservations allowing someone to be so intimate with him, he could also see the opportunity it present to make his life just that bit easier and give Lauren a break from some of the lies. Truly, he imagined if she'd heard about his injuries she'd tell Alden what had been going herself. He loved his sister, but even at 27 she still treat James like he needed her protection. If the salve was as effective as Jacob suggested he wouldn't need to consider pilfering some of their medical supplies and no-one would feel an iota of concern.

"Sure," James knew the companion was private enough that no one would find out from him. What reason did he have to say no?

Once Jacob had the go ahead and motioned for the other man to follow him and lead the way back to his shuttle. It wasn't far, and before long they walked through the hatch.

"Take your shirt off, and kneel down over there," Jacob said, waving his hand towards the corner of the room where he kept all his cushions. "Use a cushion under your knees, I promise you, you don't want to kneel down directly on the deck plates. It starts to hurt, really fast," he said as he approached the chest he kept his medical supplies in.

Once he had the jar of salve in his hand he walked over and knelt down behind the man. "Okay, I want you to round your back, and use your arms to sort of pull yourself forward. Really stretch out your back muscles."

James did as he was told, hissing as completed the movement feeling every single bruise stretch. "It's fancy in here, like what you did with the place" James complimented conversationally as he mentally prepared himself for the pain that he expected.

Jacob chuckled lightly, "Thanks, I like it," he said as he dipped his fingers into the jar. They instantly began to tingle as the herbs in the viscous oil caused a reaction in his skin. Reaching out he let a little bit of it drizzle from his fingers onto the man's back and watched as it ran in little rivulets along his skin. After a few seconds, when he knew it would have begun to take affect, he reached out and began to lightly smooth it across the exposed skin. "I can't promise this won't hurt..." he said. "But I'll be as gentle as I can."

James tensed when the ointment first touched his, the painful tickle as pleasant as it was sore. He releases a small sigh once the tingling kicked in, not completely removing the pain, but enough for him to relax. He jumped at the Jacob's initial touch, beyond a good scrap he'd never been a very tactile person, it took him a moment to remind his mind that it was okay. As Jacob went about his work James silently thanked himself for accepting the offer.

"What's in this?" he asked curiously, this was definitely something he could do with stocking up on.

"Several different herbs, I can get you a list of them if you'd like. Helps to keep this stuff around," Jacob said, as he began to get down to work. He'd already spread the salve across the entirety of James' injuries, and was ready to start to massage it in. "This is where it's going to start to hurt," he said, and began to apply fairly intense pressure to the bruised areas, working the salve under his fingers, and making sure it began to penetrate the upper layers of the skin as he massaged the areas he knew were going to hurt the worst without help. It wasn't the massaging that was going to help, and in fact the areas with the worst bruises he was very careful not to press too hard. It wouldn't help in the long run, and could even make things worse.

"Ma Jung Hwa" James bit out through clenched teeth as he thought to not fall forwards. The pain made him dizzy and he hoped it would be worth it. "Tell- me..." he bit out between winces, it was slowly getting more tolerable but he wasn't quite there yet. Focusing would help him.

For the next twenty minutes Jacob applied his rather extensive skills at massage to the task at hand, making very little small talk. Because the main herbal ingredient in the salve was a relaxant, with a strong, calming, medicinal scent, he knew it was going to help James start to finally start to feel sleepy, and he was even starting to feel relaxed himself. Putting the cap back on the jar he came up off his knees and stood, patting the man gently on the shoulder. "You can get up now, but if you like that shirt I wouldn't put it back on," he said, walking over to the chest and putting the jar back in place.

Feeling much better, but exhausted from the experience, James rose to his feet slowly and pulled his shirt back over his head. He felt much better and had decided it had been completely worth it providing it lasted long enough. He could finally feel the tendrils of sleep pushing at his mind and let out a yawn, "Thank you, Jacob" he said with a sheepish smile, "do you mind if we keep this between us? I don't want the others to worry" He asked, running and hand through his thick hair.

Jacob smiled, and nodded. "My lips are sealed, Companion's honor. Not that that really counts for much with some people..." he said with a chuckle. "Go get you some sleep," he added.

"some people are idiots" James declared with another yawn. patting the companion on the side of his arm as he passed him, "I really do appreciate it, I owe you. Ever need security, let me know" he promised before heading out of the shuttle, not looking back. "Goodnight, Jacob" he called out softly before the doors shut behind him and he shuffled off to his bunk.

Jacob grinned and shook his head as the man walked out of the shuttle. In all he was proud of himself. He'd helped him out, given him at least one night of good sleep, and maybe helped the bruises heal quicker. Washing his hands off quickly, so the tingling would start to dissipate he sat down at the desk and started writing out the ingredients list for the salve so he could give it to him the next time he got a chance. He never even realized when he finally slumped forward onto the flat surface of the desk and fell asleep with the pen still gripped in his hand.