September 20th, 2017

The heat wave was finally over, and that meant that the chance for dehydration was mostly over. That had been a large danger, especially with children as they had rationed their water from the jugs that they grabbed in the lines every day. The water from the faucets had started tasting different, and they had put a barrel or two outside to try catching the rainfall, but that didn’t seem to work. It looks like there will be a drought this year.

Jimin’s and Taehyung’s voices are joined by Jongin’s as they talk to the children to try to soothe them to sleep, despite the fact that they are put on edge by the sound of the bombings. The bombings are growing farther and farther apart day by day, and that means that the streets are a little safer for civilians, even during the safe hours.

But that didn’t stop Nari from being wary. The human trafficking is bad enough, but the plan to go and talk to the government base is slowly in the works. The issue is that so many people are tied to the base, and there are continuously new additions. Just the other day, a man named Junmyeon had been lifted off the streets, and he had come in with a broken ankle that was thankfully easy to set.

Simply put, it’s easier for Chanyeol to stay at the base while Nari goes to the talk. Namjoon and her both agree that the two of them need to be at the talk, and they need several others there too. Nari would like to make the suggestion for Junmyeon to come along, but with his ankle it would be easier to entrust him to operations at the base. Despite his injury, Jin had been instructing Junmyeon about the rationing system that they had set up.

“Nari, can I grab you for a second?” Yoongi is leaning against the wall, gun tucked into his waistband.

“You should stop putting the gun away like that. You might shoot yourself in the leg, and I can’t afford to take out very many bullets at the moment,” Her nose twitches a little at his presence, because frankly, Yoongi is a little hard to understand. His opinions are strong, and so is his sense of justice, but he still puts the people he knows first. And that’s why Nari knows that she wants to bring him along to the government base. In a way, he’s a blend between Nari and Namjoon, and he knows it because more often than not, he lets himself be the mediator in their arguments.

Yoongi shrugs a little, “I have to figure out another way to store it because you’re right.”

“What do you need me for?” She murmurs, walking toward him with a bit of a limp. Much to her chagrin, he notices.

“How long have you been limping?”

She ignores his question and repeats her words, “What do you need me for?”

And he ignores her question, “Tell me how long you’ve been limping first, and why.”

Nari narrows her eyes, and that’s the worst possible time for Namjoon to pass by. His head is down, but at the question, his head picks back up, “Who is limping?”

Their faces give the answer away and Nari growls a little at Yoongi, who smiles sheepishly, “You could have just answered the question the first time—”

“How long have you been limping? We need you in good health,” Namjoon’s eyes are rather sharp and his words feel similar to scolding.

“We need everyone else in good health,” Nari drones right back. “And if that means working on an injured foot, so be it.”

“Take your foot out of your shoe,” Namjoon leans down, starting to untie her shoe without permission.

“What? No, let go of me!” She wiggles away but Yoongi puts his hands on her shoulder gently, freezing her into place.

“Nari, humor us.”

“No! I didn’t give you permission to touch me!” She yelps as Namjoon continues to try to pull off her shoe. In reality, she isn’t mad about him trying to find out about her foot as she is about him continuing to push at the topic and her buttons. To his credit, he doesn’t actually touch her, but twists it off her foot gently as Yoongi keeps her in place. And she’s a lot more comfortable with Yoongi.

Namjoon hisses a little at the sight of the swelling, and she swallows because there’s not much she can do. Normally ice and balm would take care of it, but there’s no ice because electricity doesn’t run at all hours, and there’s no balm because there’s not much in their inventory to treat minor injuries. Instead, there were dressings and wrappings for support, but she didn’t touch any of those because they were more important for setting bones.

“This is bad,” Namjoon says simply, looking back up at Nari, who curls her lip.

“I’m aware.”

“Then why didn’t you—”

“I’m not going to rest when there are people to treat and things to do. Are you forgetting whose family technically owns this building?” Her words are rather haughty, but that’s mostly because she feels rather defensive.

“What happens if you’re not taking care of yourself?” Namjoon raises himself to full height, his tiredness wiping away in the irritation that quickly settles on his face. “Chanyeol can’t manage everything by himself, and you and Jin have full inventory of all of our supplies.”

Yoongi slowly backs himself away from the conversation, and Nari gives him the stink eye because she can sense another argument about to happen.

“Like you said, I have a lot of responsibility,” She hisses back. “I don’t get to feel sorry for myself when I have to care about others.”

“Don’t use my words against me,” Namjoon growls. “You need to take rest for your foot.”

“Or what? You’ll tie me down to a chair?” It’s funny, but she has no issue treating others and letting them have a weak moment. But the same doesn’t go for her.

“Is that what I have to do?” Namjoon’s voice is rather dark. “I’ll do it. We need you at full health otherwise the base suffers.”

“And if I take rest and back down from my responsibilities in order to rest, the base suffers regardless.”

Yoongi yawns a little, and the two with rather charged tempers whip their heads toward him. Yoongi arches an eyebrow, “For the amount that you two argue, you two have the same expressions on your faces.”

They scowl back at him, and Nari takes a step backward, forgetting about her sprained ankle, and wobbles a little before steadying herself with the wall. She had been making sure to wear shoes with a little more ankle support in the last two days, but without it, her lack of balance is a little more pronounced. The little action makes Namjoon scoff, as if it was only proving his point.

“What’s going on?” Hoseok passes by, rubbing at his forehead. It’s clear that he’s tired as well, but Nari softens a little at his expression.

“Nari injured herself and isn’t telling anyone,” Namjoon’s accusatory tone makes her defensive again.

“It’s not an injury!”

Namjoon steps forward, unintentionally putting his foot on her injured one, making her hiss again and try to pull her foot away, which only makes her lose balance and nearly fall to her knees. Surprisingly, strong hands grab her arms halfway, and pull her back to her feet. And Namjoon looks just as surprised as she does.

“Sorry,” He mumbles, letting go as soon as she’s balanced on her fe