Private Finished Accidents Aplenty

"I didn't know you were blind, Ash!" Maisie called down from the lower branches of the tree. She grabbed a thick branch above her and started to hoist herself up. "I'm climbing a tree, for your sightless information, and I'm going to climb this tree to the top. So I'll get down when I'm done, thank you! Besides, I saw you and your strong arm--you picked all my bags up in one hand, and you think you need two to carry grocery bags? I say you can carry 'em yourself if you're in such a hurry!"

She lifted herself onto another branch; her movements were quick and sure as she scaled the tree Ash was stood beneath. The top was close, so she decided to have a sit-down on one of the thick branch bases and looked through all the rest of the branches down to Ash. Her feet swung lightly, a breeze pushing her hair around her face.

"I've been climbing trees since I was able to walk, shortcake! I ain't gonna fall, and if I do then you can laugh at me all you want. You know, I used to climb this old silver maple when I went up with the family to visit some of our cousins? Eeeveryone told me not to climb that darn maple because it'd break in a thousand different places and they'd sure as heck never climb it, but you know what? I conquered that tree at least three times over! So you can hush your mouth and watch me get to the top! Have you ever climbed a tree before? I bet you're jealous; well, I can teach you!"

"A squirrel? That's all you got?" she called down, reaching up to brush a lock of blonde hair away from her face before it got blown into her mouth. "If I'm a squirrel, then I'm going to be the one that gets in your pants!" Maisie paused for several moments, and Ash might've seen her expression shift as the gears in her head worked to realize what she just said. "Never mind, that sounded real dirty!"

She decided to continue her climb then before she said anything else that was really suggestive. Setting one hand on the trunk of the tree, Maisie went to stand on the branch she'd been sitting on and looked up above her to see where she was going to go next--but the sharp crack beneath her feet caught her attention. She couldn't even think to holler before she heard a loud snap, and the branch gave way to send her hurtling towards the ground.

Maisie was falling away from the shade, and darn it, she was hitting every branch on the way down.

Maisie was dumbfounded when she didn't feel pain from her fall. With her eyes squeezed shut she wondered if perhaps she'd snapped her neck and went on to the afterlife, and maybe that was why she hadn't felt a thing. When she opened her eyes, however, and after a moment of gathering her surroundings, she found that she was in fact alive and on the ground--not quite on the ground, actually. She was on top of Ash. And his arms were around her.

His question shook her out of her stupor somewhat. Her tone was consistently soft and surprised. "Yeah, I'm alright," she said a bit breathlessly. "I can't tell if you caught me, or if I pinballed straight into you. Actually..." Maisie trailed off, brows furrowing as she looked over the burns on his face. In comparison, she had several little scratches on her face, some angry red scraped skin, and a bleeding cut on her neck, but she was far more worried about his injuries than her own.

"You're hurt, Ash. You're all burned up--" With a quick glance around, she confirmed that they were no longer in the shade of the tree, and that hood was barely keeping the sun off his face. "I thought you said you weren't gonna catch me. Whatever happened to letting me break an' gluing me back together at home?"

For some reason, Maisie was finding it very hard to string together enough words to make understandable sentences, let alone her usual sassy retorts. Maybe it was because her face was really close to Ash's, or that she was sitting on his lap, or that he saved her even though he said he wouldn't, or because she wasn't actually dead. Orr because it was embarrassing that all her gloating about not falling out of the tree was followed by her falling out of the tree.

She scrambled off his lap, stood up straight, and distanced herself a good few feet, consciously running her fingers through her hair to pick out the twigs. "My pride," she answered, "I've had worse...really." Referring to her injuries; the cut on her neck was nothing, even if it did kind of look like a lot of blood. It was starting to stain the front side of her blouse, though she didn't seem to be affected by the loss of blood at all--her skin was still as healthy and peachy as ever with those rosy cheeks, and she didn't look dizzy or faint.

"I'm sorry. You got hurt because of me, and your sunglasses broke too. I'll pay you back for them, alright? I'll...go see the nurse after we get the groceries back to the dorm."

Maisie's pride was hiding behind a trash can at this point. Also at this point, she wanted to go crawl under the covers and stay there. With one hand holding the handkerchief that he pressed against her neck, she went to snatch a couple of the grocery bags from him with her other hand and started to walk back towards the dorms.

"I'm fine, and I ain't in the mood. Let my pride die in peace," she groaned, cracking her neck on each side. "And I already told you I've had worse. You must be deaf and blind. I bet it's because you have a deficiency in peanut butter and almond joys. Everyone knows people with nut allergies turn out just the same as you, and ain't nothing they can do about it. Save yourself while you still can, shortcake."

"Maybe you should go get your own darn lollipop from the nurse. You got burned something fierce. You one of them masochists?" Maisie snorted, glancing over at Ash with a questioning eyebrow.