[he goes to snap a reply, but the woman's hands on his bandages, precise and gentle as they are, send an instant change through his body; he was on edge before, but at least he was in a generally expressive, bad humour]
[he goes still and silent, jaw tightening and his fists clenching on his lap as the bands of cloth unravel, getting damper on each layer]
[truthfully, it doesn't look nearly as bad as it did when Hijikata saw it, sunken in crusted blood and weeping infection goop; but the fact remains that someone dragged a knife down this kid's face, and no real treatment ever occurred after the fact. both the top and bottom eyelids are lacerated, never properly stitched, horribly scabbed and swollen instead. the eye itself is completely white and dead, damaged beyond repair; the unstitched cut runs another inch down from his eye along the top of his cheek, and a half inch up into his eyebrow. the whole affair is placed within the background of an ugly, purple-yellow-green tint of bruised skin and burst blood vessels]
[as for Badou -- once the wound breathes, he's barely breathing]
no subject
[he goes still and silent, jaw tightening and his fists clenching on his lap as the bands of cloth unravel, getting damper on each layer]
[truthfully, it doesn't look nearly as bad as it did when Hijikata saw it, sunken in crusted blood and weeping infection goop; but the fact remains that someone dragged a knife down this kid's face, and no real treatment ever occurred after the fact. both the top and bottom eyelids are lacerated, never properly stitched, horribly scabbed and swollen instead. the eye itself is completely white and dead, damaged beyond repair; the unstitched cut runs another inch down from his eye along the top of his cheek, and a half inch up into his eyebrow. the whole affair is placed within the background of an ugly, purple-yellow-green tint of bruised skin and burst blood vessels]
[as for Badou -- once the wound breathes, he's barely breathing]