One Upheaval After Another (Closed with phantomflame) (1/1)

Oli was silent for a while as he worked, cleaning out the injuries as best as he could and slathering on all the pain-relieving and healing ointments he had before using the gauze and bandages to secure the wounds. Once he was satisfied with his work, he stood back, going to the sink to clean off his hands.

"I know that you think you need to keep moving and running away so your captors won't find you again, but I'm saying this from experience, you'll get caught a lot quicker that way," he eventually said, drying his hands with a towel after he had rinsed them off. He knew that he should've put some ointment on his own injuries and replaced his bandages, but Amber needed them more and Oli knew that the pain he was experiencing was nothing compared to what the runaway had been through.

He turned around to face him, his gaze settling evenly on those lovely amber eyes. "I've helped more people than I can count to escape similar situations like yours, and each and every one of them insisted that they needed to keep moving. A few days later, word would reach us that they were captured, most of them being killed on sight." He moved over to the table where the medical supplies were scattered all across the surface, and he began to place them all neatly back into the kit, needing to keep his hands busy as he spoke. "The governments- or tyrants, whatever you wish to call them- have always left this town alone. We don't interfere with their affairs, and they don't interfere with ours. That's been an unspoken rule for longer than any of us locals can remember. If you stay put here, especially in one of the secret bunkers that the bakery has, your chances of getting caught will be a lot lower than you leaving." Once he finished packing up the kit, he closed it, but he kept his gaze on the table. Why was he trying so hard to make this person stay? What was so different about him that Oli wasn't able to let him go? "Plus, it'll give you more of a chance to rest and recover your strength, Amber." He finally tested the little nickname he had made for the traveler out loud, wondering if it was okay.

(By the way, I'm probably not going to be incredibly active this week so my replies are going to be pretty inconsistent)

"Well, then we'll just put a bunch of overwhelming, different scents to confuse the dogs, and we'll make you smell entirely different, like of really burnt bread or something, so they won't be able to track you," Oli said stubbornly, refusing to just give up on Amber despite all of the flaws in his plan. He didn't look over just yet, but a small smile appeared on his lips. "Yeah, it's your eyes," he said, chuckling slightly. "They were the first part of you I actually saw, so it seemed fitting."

He finally glanced up again, his pulse jumping a bit when his acquaintance took hold of his wrists. A traitorous blush began to bloom on Oli's face, but he forced himself to stop it before Amber could look up. "There was some burn ointment, but my uncle has it right now since we were helping a large group of refugees at the hotel across the street, and the pots of food we were carrying were pretty hot."

He took his hands out of Amber's grasp, looking down at the ground. "I get burns all the time from baking, it's really not that big of a deal."

Oli tilted his head thoughtfully at Amber's suggestion and went over to a counter that had some knives stored neatly on top of it. He grabbed a small, jagged one, its sharp blade glinting in the kitchen light. He removed the bandages from his hands and grimaced at the ugly blisters that greeted him. He walked back over to the sink to not make a mess and he winced a bit as he carefully made small incisions into each blister. Almost immediately, fluid started to come out, and he lightly pressed the blisters to encourage the fluid to come out.

Needing a distraction from the pain, Oli looked over at Amber and smiled back at him. "People 'round here normally have green or dark brown eyes, so it is really cool that yours are so unique-"

A merry chime sounded from the bakery, and Oli's heart pounded, forgetting his callouses as he clutched the knife into his palm, the pain not even close to amounting to the fear he felt as he heard footsteps approach the kitchen.
"Oli? You here? I have that burn ointment if you need it, I saw you had some blisters from last night," A familiar voice called out and Oli gave a sigh of relief, his body relaxing.
"It's just my uncle," he explained to Amber. "Is it okay if he sees you, or would you prefer to hide?"

"I trust him with my life," Oli promised, placing the knife next to the sink. "Over here!" he called back. A moment later, a man who looked almost identical to Oli except with shorter hair, taller, and noticeably older walked into the kitchen, his eyes immediately going to Oli's hands and the knife right next to him.

"You know doing that is painful, right?" the older man asked Oli, taking the ointment out of his pocket and opening up the small tin of medicine as he grabbed his nephew's wrists. "You could've waited until I got back."
Oli breathed a small sigh of relief as the cooling ointment was smeared onto his blisters, the pain instantly becoming more bearable. "I know, but I wanted to help fix Amber's wounds as quickly as possible."
Damien looked up from working on his nephew's hands, a puzzled expression on his face. "Who's Amber?"
Oli looked over at where his acquaintance was and Damien followed his gaze, blinking in surprise at the person he hadn't seen when entering the room.

"Oh! Hello there," Damien said, giving Amber a friendly smile. "I'm Damien, Olive's uncle." He glanced back at Oli. "I didn't realize we had more refugees coming through here."
"He's the only one that came in," Oli explained. "But he needs food, he's injured, and people are after him, so I've been trying to convince him to stay."

"Did you even comprehend anything I've told you?" Oli asked, exasperated as he stared at Amber. "If you leave, you'll die. Every stubborn idiot that says that they'll 'cause trouble for us so they have to leave' gets killed a few days later. So don't do it. Please."
Damien raised an eyebrow at his nephew's behavior; the older man had never seen Oli be so stubborn about having a refugee stay.
"Look, um, Amber, right?" Damien asked, placing a comforting hand on Oli's shoulder. "If you're not going to listen to him, then at least listen to me. We don't particularly care for the politics and wars that happen outside of our town, but we have reason to believe that an organization has a base of some sort near here, and they torture and execute every refugee they get their hands on. If anything, stay at least for a couple of days. Is that alright with you?"

"An assassin?!" Damien cried, taking a step back from Amber. "Oliver, what the hell-"
"He's a good person, Damien," Oli said, suddenly feeling tired. "I wouldn't intentionally put us in danger and Amber's not going to kill us."
Damien muttered something under his breath, but Oli ignored it as he stared down at his hands which looked and felt a lot better than they had minutes before. After a couple of moments, an idea crept into Oli's head.

"What if…" he started to say slowly, looking directly into Amber's eyes. "What if I traveled with you? I know I don't know anything about the stuff that goes on outside of this town, but I do know how to cook, camouflage, and defend myself, and traveling with me would be better than traveling alone." With any other person, he would've dismissed the very thought of it, but something about the guy in front of him was different, and he wanted to know why he was so intrigued by him. "I can be useful, I promise."

"Well, I'm done with having a safe life!" Oli cried, his calm demeanor vanishing in a blink of an eye to be replaced by sudden, stubborn anger. "I'm done with healing and helping people only for them to get killed later. I'm done with being oblivious to the world outside of this damn town. And I'm especially done with you thinking that you can talk me out of helping and going with you."

Damien looked at Oli, his eyes filled with resigned sadness. He knew that his nephew had always hated not being able to end the suffering of all of the refugees who came by their home. And he also knew that there wasn't anything he could do to convince Oliver to stay; if his nephew wanted to leave with Amber, then he would leave.

"Then we just won't get caught," Oli replied, keeping his gaze even with Amber's, his voice leaving no room for argument. He knew deep down that he was being irrational, that Amber would probably survive for a while on his own, but Oliver was tired of meeting people and then hearing that they died a few days later. And something about Amber made him want to stay with him, despite the risks.

"We can survive together. Or, you can stick with my original suggestion and stay here. No one ever bothers to thoroughly track people down here, and the locals would accept you as one of their own without question," he continued, determined to keep Amber from going off on his own. "Don't travel on your own. Please."

Oliver was quiet for a moment as he looked down at the ground, collecting his thoughts. Why did he want Amber to not leave? Damien stood to the side of the room, silently glancing between the two, also waiting for Oli's answer.

"Because I don't want you to be alone again," he finally replied, looking up. "I know you think it's best if you're on your own, but it's not safe. You're better off here, or if you insist on traveling, then at least let me come with you." He absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair, feeling a sense of defeat. He was just using the same argument that he'd been using this entire time, but maybe Amber would finally understand if he kept repeating himself. "There's plenty of things we can do to make you not noticeable here and believe it or not, we can defend ourselves too. We have weapons and safe shelters hidden all over the place, so if the wrong person does happen to pass through, we have nothing to worry about." Oli made his gaze level with the taller person in front of him. "Please trust us. Trust me. I wouldn't suggest you stay here if I knew that it would put us both in danger."

Oli was still processing the fact that Amber had agreed to let him come so he didn't register everything else he had said until a few moments later. Oli blinked in surprise before a bright, genuine smile broke out on his face, his heart racing from excitement.

"I'll be ready by then," he promised, struggling to contain his happiness from his triumph. "You won't regret this."
Oli turned around, ready to pack the things he needed to be prepared for the moment but stopped when he saw his uncle gazing at him with bittersweet eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, maybe even apologize, but Damien stopped him by walking over to him and giving his nephew a tight, warm embrace. "I can't stop you from going," the older man murmured in Oli's ear. "But that's not going to keep me from worrying about you. I'll make some food for you both to take on the road in the morning, and I'll give you some of the weapons and survival supplies from the basement." Damien pulled away after a moment, looking into Oli's eyes before giving his nephew a small, sad smile. "Don't get killed, okay? I'll be very pissed if you do."
Oli chuckled, his eyes shining with gratitude as he looked at his uncle. "I'll try not to."

"If you have enough, then that'll be fine," Damien decided, stepping back from his nephew.
Oli tore his gaze away from Damien and turned back to Amber with a small smirk on his face. "I've been dealing with blades since I learned how to walk. I mean, they were mainly used for baking and cooking, but I know how to fight with them too, even from a distance. Damien here gave me some pretty sweet throwing knives around a couple of years ago and I can throw them pretty far and accurately if the need arises."
Oli paced around the kitchen for a bit, his bright forest-green eyes shining thoughtfully. "I haven't really used a gun before, but I'm good at setting traps. I go to the nearby forest with the butcher down the street every now and then to help her catch the deer and other animals that live around there." He paused his pacing, his gaze flickering back to Amber. "I also know what plants are safe to eat and how to make food even when we run out of supplies for a little while. Is that enough skills for you?"

Oli took the weapon, admiring the blade. It was well-crafted, and fit perfectly in his hands. He nodded his head in agreement with Amber's challenge. "I can probably do that, even if it's been a while."
He kept looking at the dagger, chuckling a bit at Amber's comments. "There's actually quite a lot of nightshade berries that grow around here," he explained, tossing the blade from one hand to the next with ease. "They grow in huge patches in the forest, right next to a bunch of blueberry bushes, so I had to learn pretty quickly how to differentiate the two." He paused for a moment, thinking. "If we encounter a pack of wolves, or maybe those hounds you were talking about, then we can kill a squirrel or something like that and stuff it with nightshade berries and leave it for them to eat. You think that could work?"

Oli's focus zoomed in on the piece of wood and his mind went blank as he skillfully threw the dagger. The sound of the blade hitting the wall made Damien cringe from the side of the kitchen he was hanging around in. Oliver blinked, his hyperfocus gone as he walked to the wall, his heart beating faster and faster the closer he got. He wasn't sure if he made it. But as soon as he got close enough to see the blade hanging out of the wall, a smile of relief broke out on his face. The dagger had hit the small sliver of wood and was only around a centimeter away from being directly in the middle of it.
"It's not exactly a bullseye, but I'd say that's pretty good," Oli said, moving to the side so Amber could see his results. He processed what Amber had said about his idea, and his cheeks dusted pink in delight at Amber's praise.

"Y-yeah, I understand," Oli replied as he took the blade back, his cheeks growing redder against his will. Cyris. The name was just as unique as the amber eyes he had. "I'll be ready by then."
"I'll make food for the two of you to take," Damien volunteered, already getting ingredients out of the fridge. "Hopefully it'll last for around two weeks if you portion it out properly."
"Thank you," Oliver said gratefully to his uncle, regaining his composure. He turned back to Cyris- or Amber, since he said he didn't mind still being called that, but he kept his gaze firmly on the dagger in his hands in an attempt to keep the guy in front of him from seeing the fading blush on his face. "Um, I can show you where the showers and spare rooms are if you'd like. Unless you want to keep standing in here the entire time."

Damien nodded, looking more relaxed at the reassurance Amber gave him. "Thanks," he replied, giving him a genuine smile before going back to work with the food.

Oli caught the grimace Cyris made and his eyes immediately flashed with concern, but he chose not to say anything about it. "Yeah, of course. It's right over here." He led Cyris out of the kitchen and back out into the main bakery. He walked over to a seemingly normal shelf near the back of the building, with a bunch of old, dusty books stacked on top of it. Oli reached out and grabbed one of the books, gently pulling it out of the shelf until a soft click was heard and the part of the wall that the shelf was on opened up like a door, revealing a cozy, clean concrete hallway that had multiple doors on both sides of the hall.
"This place also doubles as a bunker in case of severe weather, or if someone bad comes through town," Oli explained as he led Amber further into the hallway, the shelf sliding back into place with a secure click. "There's no one else staying here right now, but the showers are at the end of the hall if you ever change your mind, and you can stay in whichever one of these rooms you want; they're all the same, and they're all stocked with blankets, pillows, clean clothes, water, and basic medical supplies, like painkillers if you need some to help you go to sleep."