Pain That Needs Healing (Vayl & Caridan)

[Redd]

x

Day 39, Spring 514AV

Redd had been lying upon the bed, having found that pacing was just causing her too much pain, in fact, doing anything caused her too much pain and all she wanted to do was curl up and sleep. She had indeed thought about curling up and dying, but she now had Vayl to protect and keep company, so dying was out of the question if she could help it.

Vayl had gone out, once again. It was no surprise to her seeing as she was basically under house arrest until he could get citizenship, which was taking a while. However, at the present, she wasn't feeling too great and at that precise point she felt like she really would die even if she didn't want to.

Forcing herself to sit up upon the bed, she untied the cloak allowing the rest of it to fall onto the bed and slowly, she pried off her simple black shirt, revealing the claw marks down her left side. The young wolf couldn't help but wince at this as she inspected it. It looked horrible and she wasn't exactly sure whether it was normal. Her fractured ribs however was the same as always, painful but not noticeable by eye sight.

Slowly, she lowered her gaze to her ankle, pulling the leg of her pants upwards to reveal the nasty bite on her right ankle that the alpha wolf of the last pack that she had runned with, left her. It looked worse than her ribs and a groan worked its way up onto her lips. How was she not dying yet? Or was she already dying and she didn't realise it yet?

Her hazel gaze flickered to view the roof above her as she gently laid back upon the bed, not really bothering about her shirt for the minute. Vayl was normally out for long periods of time anyway so she should have enough time to dwell and then cover them back up so then he wouldn't notice a thing. She didn't want to be a burden upon him, she would hate the fact if she was.

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Vayl padded up the stairs to his house softly, pulling his hood down and shaking his hair free. He breathed a sigh of relief, he hated being outdoors. Far too many people, too bright, too warm, too loud.

Smiling gently, he opened his front door.

"Hey Redd I miss-"

His greeting was cut short when he caught sight of her. Initially he was caught off guard because she was lying practically naked on his bed, which he had reminded her was not a normal thing to do. But then he noticed her wounds, especially her ankle. He didn't know much about medicine but he knew a infected wound when he saw one.

Vayl's face suddenly ceased to show any emotion at all as his mind went into a crisis situation. Grabbing Redd's clothes he pushed them over her, before bodily picking her up and wrapping her in his bedsheet.

"You're sick, I'm taking you to the doctors." me muttered emotionlessly. If he admitted he was panicking it would only worsen the situation. He'd have to stay strong for Redd.

"Redd you're going to be ok, I promise" he said softly, running down the stairs three at a time, before kicking the front door open.

Where could he go, where could he go??? Vayl slowly spun around on the spot, looking for anyone, searching his memory, trying not to completely collapse in fear. Eventually his terrified mind spat out a memory at him, a healer who lived close nearby, for a fee.

As if one could price Redd with gold.

Groaning a little with Redd's weight, Vayl took some deep breaths and started running off in the direction of the medic's house. He ignored the odd looks he was given.

"Redd.." he muttered with barely suppressed anger. "Why did you not tell me about this earlier?" he tried not to raise his voice, but his panic was making him do things not like him, and he shouted the last word at her.

Finally arriving at the house, Vayl kicked on the front door desperately, not having any spare hands and not wanting his accent to attract any attention. Vayl cursed violently in Symenos. Why now, why now?? It was becoming good..

Vayl growled primally, "Redd you are Not going to die on me ok?" he muttered, kicking the door harder.

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Caridan]

e


"Stop yer racket or I call the guards!" sounded a furious voice from the inside. The locks turned with a rusty moan and at once the pair were faced with a plump woman standing at about 5ft 3 with the most displeased look upon her ageing face.

Margareth had locked up the shop early today due to the lack of customers. In fact the place hasn't been doing particularly well for seasons now, barely scraping a living. If not for her lodgers upstairs she would have been going hungry most days; but that one, that crow haired medic boy, he was a generous sod. He looked after her better than her own husband did.

It was half way though accounting that that a sharp bang on the door ripped her from her precious coin and into a state of rage for she couldn't possibly comprehend why anyone would be in such a blasin' hurry to get their hands on a book. However having laid her eyes upon the Symenestra man with a red haired girl in his arms calmed her somewhat for t'was not the first time people like this came pounding on her door.

"Ya lookin' for mr Redding, aren't ya?" she grumbled. Her voice saturated with an accent one might find floating around the Zeltivian harbour. "Aye." Margareth gestured for them to follow as she lead them to the back of the shop where a tight, claustrophobic staircase loomed ominously. "Right, upstairs. There's just one door right at the top. And be y'all respectful and not too loud. He's a busy man. If he ain't there then come right down at once."

With those words he walked away, anxious not to leave her money unattended or her door unlocked for flies to swarm in. And as she did so a shallow mutter left her lips. "Kids..."



He had returned from work in the early hours of the morning before the sun began lazily lolling about the horizon line. But somehow he hadn't felt tiered, or perhaps he did but his mind pulsed with a slight migraine which swiped any semblance of dream from his lids. Then again his sleeping pattern had been all messed up for days. Sometimes he'd stay awake for days, others times he'd be awaken from deep, exhausted slumber and called into work by some pesky messenger boy. Perhaps this was the reason for this infuriating headache.

For the better part of that morning he prepared himself a hot tea of mint and sage which soothed his sinuses considerably so that he could work on a better remedy with more clarity.

This cure he knew well for he'd been making it for his recently deceased father - may he rest in peace. Tying his black hair up with a strand of leather, Caridan began setting out his equipment. A pestle and mortar and a clean, glass dish as well as a knife and a cutting board and a very small metal spoon with thin edges which he used for measuring. One spoon full was roughly a gram of substance.

His flat was filled with herbs at constant rotation for the pace with which he used them up was astounding. And roughly on weekly basis he'd go down to the market or on occasion even to the lake shore to restock. However this time Caridan was lucky for there was a bunch of young Feverfew plants suspended from his window frame. He'd have hung them up there yesterday so they hadn't he time to try yet but that didn't matter. Swiftly working from memory that had been engraved into the stone of his mind permanently he began by cutting 6 leaves very finely before sweeping them into the dish with culinary precision. This herb was far more of a long term cure than instant pain relief but it was especially good fighting the cause of migraine. Then a mix of sage and rose for the sweet scent which ensured the relaxing of the head and honey which was his staple ingredient to all for it's versatile use and sweet taste, have been ground to a smooth paste before being added into the concoction; and the final ingredient, one to finish off this masterpiece of a cure was just a sprinkle of temper from his own precious plants. Too little for a good trip but just enough to relax him and send him into a pleasant haze for the rest of the morning.

Thus it wasn't long before the snares of joyful sleep had enslaved Caridan only to be severed by Margareth's enraged yelling downstairs. Was it noon already?

The cure worked and Caridan felt afresh wishing only to stay in bed for a little longer. That wasn't granted to him however and soon enough he heard the creeks and cracks of the stairs beneath the Rose coloured carpeting that lead up to his room in the attic. "No rest for the dead." he said to himself with a glimmer of a smirk before straightening out and buttoning up his white shirt and swinging his apartment door open to investigate what was the cause of all this havoc. The sight beyond this door whoever was one he did not expect at this time.

"Can I help you?" he said, shaking the sleep from his blood shot eyes. Temper did this to him but his frequent use of the herb had meant that often he had many an excuse to substitute for the cause. This season's lie was supposed spring fevers which troubled him.

With courteous bow of his head in a greeting Caridan gestured the duo into his home, suspecting that the red head was the one needing his medical attention. Without much ordeal he instructed the boy to remove her clothing and lay her out on his bed which had not been used for days as Caridan had a nasty habit of falling asleep in his chair by his table or in other such obscure locations.


e

[Redd]

x

To say Redd was surprised to hear and see Vayl return home early, was an understatement, a look of pure shock crossing her features as she heard his voice when he pushed through that front door. As she observed his face and how it ceased to show emotion however, she knew it wasn't because she was half naked when he has told her to be fully clothed like normal people, it was because of her wounds.

This thought was only solidified when he roughly pushed her clothes back over her body before picking her up in his arms, wrapped in his sheet and she couldn't help the protests that passed her lips at this. "I can walk!" Though she wouldn't admit how much pain she was in seeing as it was too late to deny having bad wounds.

As he ran door the stairs, she heard him swear that she would be ok and a sigh came to her lips, her head resting against his shoulder. Redd knew she would be ok, she just figured that her wounds were doing their odd little thing so then they could heal, but then again, seeing Vayl's face cease to show emotion, maybe it was really bad.

Her hazel eyes noticed the streets as Vayl ran down them, wondering where exactly he was going. Wasn't it unsafe for both of them to be on the street? Why did they leave the safety of the house simply because of her wounds?

Upon hearing his angered words, she allowed a growl to bubble to her lips and she would have responded with a few choice words as they waited at a door, but that said door soon opened to reveal a plump woman and blinked for a moment.

Who was Mr Redding? Wait, was that the doctor? What exactly did a doctor do? So Vayl brought her to see a doctor because of her wounds? Couldn't they just wrap a bandage around it like the male human had done when she was bitten by the alpha? Of course she had lost that bandage having used it for a distraction, but still it helped congeal the wound for a little bit.

As the woman led them to a very confined stairway, she was more than happy to forget the wounds and clear out of there in a nutshell, it looked like it was too much of a death trap and flight was clearly in the front of her mind. However, when she began to twist in Vayl's grip to try to escape, she almost cried out as her two fractured ribs protested and the material of her shirt rubbed against her claw wound and she slumped in his arms, resigning herself to the fact that she had to go up there to see this doctor. Her gaze widen a little as the door swung open without Vayl having to bang on it to reveal the pale man, her head angling slightly. He was different, but she couldn't place exactly why.

When Vayl was instructed to remove her clothes, she was once again throw off balance, but didn't the people normally want clothes on? It was what Vayl kept saying, so why did this man want her clothes off? Did he need them off to bandage her? Why couldn't he just give them bandages?

However, as she felt Vayl do as the man instructed, she was partially with drawn back into her mind, finding a safe spot there. Seeing as even if she did struggle against Vayl, it would just put her in more pain and Vayl wasn't an enemy to fight, he was just trying to help. Wasn't he?

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Relief washed over Vayl as the door was opened and he was let in. He quickly put Redd down on what he assumed was the doctor's bed, hopefully it was clean, and took her clothes off without a moment's hesitation when instructed to. Still, some misplaced sense of duty made him avert his eyes to maintain Redd's modesty to some level.

"She hasn't told me how long she has had these wounds, but I suspect some time. I believe they are from a wolf, is that correct Redd?" Vayl said in a matter of fact tone, trying to keep himself calm. When he asked Redd the question his lavender eyes bored into hers with an intensity he didn't know he had.

As the doctor began his work, Vayl turned to watch. As much as it pained him to see Redd naked, it would be useful to see what is being performed in case he had a similar incident in the future. Knowing Redd that was more than likely.

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Caridan]

e

The patient has a large infected wound on her side and bite marks on her ankle.
Likely result was sustained in combat.
Name:...
Gender: female
Age:...
Birth date:...

He scribbled on a sheet of paper as the other two prepared. He had instructed them to undress the afflicted areas and as they did so he examined her closely.

One didn't need a fast knowledge of medicine to see both wounds had descended into various states of infection. In fact she had been lucky that maggots had not began settling in them or gangrene had not yet set in for otherwise he'd turn her away at the door step and sent her to the nearest surgery for amputation. Lucky indeed, a read headed little girl whose behaviours was quite strange, from the few glimpses he stole around his examination. Somewhat... animalistic?

For a moment he wondered as to their citizenship but that matter could be solved later. For now he nodded to the man and instructed him to lay his gold mizas out on the table in advance. He wasn't about to treat his girl and get nothing for it, especially since they appeared a little too strange to belong to any of the wealthy families around Ravok.

First order of business was cleansing the would thus, turning his back on the too with little words, Caridan bolted downstairs to Margareth. She always had a vast range of medical books at hand and there was a particular one had had in mind. One which he had the pleasure of scouring though a couple of days ago but it's presence was a comforting means of jogging his memory.

Jile... jile, ejil, jile, he repeated in his head, fussing about the flat. He was sure he had a jar of Jile berries somewhere. The book in his hand cracked open at the right page, since his skill in philtering was somewhat lacking. "A-ha!" Caridan exclaimed beneath his breath in a manner of victorious vocalisation. He'd was fully swallowed by his craft now, turning his back to his patients, allowing them to converse whilst he'd gone on a bout his business freely.

Hunching over the hearth Caridan sparked a small fire which soon roared into a great behemoth of a flame, working the little bread oven above it, snuged between the bricks. Whilst it heated up the young medic took a handful of berries, about 11 or 12, all perfectly round and black in colour and he began grinding them into a perfect smooth black paste with his pestle and mortar, then emptied it into a smaller glass dish, adding some cut up jile bark into the mixture. It was then placed into the heating bread oven with the door open to ensure tempered speed with which the herb would surrender it's essence to the heat. The entire time one long white finger continuously fallowed the text in the medical book, reading it over and over again and then repeating it in his head and then reading it again thoroughly.

At that point Caridan had finally turned to his patients, though his fingers had already coiled around another bunch of herbs. Dried purple flowers of Azhiltu, it's leaves and the black seeds of Lidgefar were placed together in the grinder next. Situating himself perched on the windowsill, Caridan's hands beat them together into a dry paste as he spoke, looking straight at girl with a pleasant smile loitering about his lips.

"If you could please sign your name and age on that document." he inclined to the sheet of paper on the table. "How precisely did this occur? It's not very often someone with such severity of wounds visits my humble homestead." His voice was smooth and temperate, deep in sound but pleasant. He spoke politely but his eyes rimmed in red betrayed some degree of detachment, as if he wasn't precisely all that interested. "You're lucky I agreed to treat you as you wouldn't go far in this state. Another day or two and you might have lost that leg."

The room began filling with the sweet smell of jile essence, winding like a snake though the air. Striding over to check on the mixture and deeming it not yet quite done Caridan noticed the somewhat insufficient amount of liquid forming. How could he have been so stupid in forgetting to cover the dish? Quickly fixing his mistake he had hoped that enough salve would still form to clean both wounds sufficiently.

Setting the Lidgefar and Azhilty powder to the side Caridan decided not to leave anything to chance. Doing this kind of job, one might as well do it correctly.

He'd cut a temped bud embraced by two fully grown leaves from one of his temper plants which had for years been his prised possession and handed them to the girl. "Here, eat this and I do apologise for the taste." It was enough temper to render her very light headed and perhaps even begin to sway her vision somewhat. She'd definitely feel quite the pleasant, relaxing high soon after though the taste, though mild was quite bitter and the juice of the plant would stick to the roof of her mouth so Caridan offered the girl a spoon of honey to go with the temper.

During the wait for the drug to take effect, the medic retrieved the Jile salve from his hearth, hands wrapped in the cloth of his coat to prevent unnecessary burnt fingers and left it on the windowsill to cool. And then he watched. Watched out for the visible signs of temper acting on the girl's mind, sending her aback, dropping her eye libs and rendering them slightly blood shot. She might sway a little.

Having very little close to no comprehension of remorse, Caridan really didn't feel bad for drugging the red head. In fact he was doing her a favour for what would come next was inexplicable agony. The temper wouldn't take it away but it would definitely dull the sensation.

What happened next would match the horrors of a doctor's surgery only, unlike a simple amputation, the pain was more drawn out and even once the treatment would stop, the pain would linger for a few moments. Caridan washed his hands thoroughly, scrubbing beneath his nails with soap, all the way up to his elbows. Then he grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol that stood directly adjacent and washed his hands with a small amount of that.

This was perhaps the moment he was glad of the other male's presence in the room for he'd do the hard work for him. Caridan wouldn't enjoy this for he didn't really enjoy inflicting agony on others but it was a necessary evil. Looking tot he Symenestra he spoke in a gravelly voice. Seriousness illuminates his crystal blue Svefra eyes. "Hold her down please. If she squirms, please prevent her from doing so; so that I may do my job correctly. This is very important."

The crow haired doctor soaked a rag in the white distilled ethanol and began washing over the girl's wounds. First starting from her ankle and then proceeding to the deep slash in her skin. This only lasted a few moments, though he was guilty of dragging it out a little to ensure that every nook and cranny had come in contact with the spirit, as well as the flesh around the wounds to prevent further infections - but the pain would be agonising, tearing though her body, stinging mercilessly. And at the end of it all the wounds would re-open, smearing crimson liquid which he'd clean off with a fresh rag before applying the Jile salve mixed with the Lidgefar and Azhilty to them. A clear viscous film that would purify the wound, dull the ache and lessen the bleeding, promoting fast clotting.


memory jog for next thread. Ignore this bitConnal - sleep tea
Belltor- scaring prevention


e

[Redd]

x

Redd had basically zoned out by the time she was undressed and lying upon the bed, but Vayl's Words had brought her back, reminding her that she had to be somewhat in the present to explain, or so she thought she might have to, seeing as Vayl was asking for her conformation.

"Are you sure about this Vayl, I mean what if he isn't a doctor what if..." Her words trailed off as her hazel hues flickered over to the other male, watching him go about his business, observing as he lit a fire and she watched it burn for a moment.

When he had finally turned back to them, she found the loitering smile upon his lips and her head angled to the right, pushing herself up into a sitting position, wincing with the effort as her two fractured ribs protested in this movement. She was somewhat curious as to what this man was doing, listening to his instruction to sign her name and age onto the document. Remaining quiet so then she would catch his next question as to what had happened for her to receive such wounds.

Taking a moment, a sigh worked its way upon her lips as she pondered whether to tell him, there was the problem of also of the fact that she couldn't read or write. Lifting her left arm so she could wrap it around her form, pressing an open palm to the side where her fractured ribs were, she decided to speak.

"I..." She paused, inhaling and wincing because of it before continuing, "I can't write... Or read for that matter." She stopped, glancing over at Vayl as she bit her bottom lip, pondering whether she should tell him about what had happened.

Deciding to just tell him, her gaze returned back to him, nodding her head a couple of times and deciding to just bend the truth a little. "I was... by the lake when I ran into this human, we had a..." She again stopped as she winced at the memory of the jab and the falling un-conscious bit, before continuing. "Pleasant conversation and then a pack of wolves must have caught wind of our scent because we were forced up a couple of trees. I was not so quick however and the alpha had gotten a hold of my ankle, luckily I was able to shake him free and get to safety."

Taking a break, she shifted her weight a little upon the bed to try to angle the weight away from her right side, "He gave me a bandage but I... Lost it. As he provided a distraction I jumped down to run but I was forced into the side of a tree and the pack had cornered me and one got a lucky swipe along my side. A big black cat came in and they were distracted while I got the hell out of there. It was... Four days ago I think if I go by the amount of sunsets that has passed."

It was then that she noticed he was offering her to eat some kind of plant and she lifted it to her nose to sniff, her nose wrinkling at this before she would pop it into her mouth chewing with absolute disgust. She was a meat eater, not a plant eater and she wanted nothing more that to spit it out.

As she swallowed, she followed it up with that spoonful of honey, her face still screwed up with disgust. She could do with a great big chunk of meat right about then and she was just about to debate that when she suddenly began to feel a little light headed and she allowed her form to lie back upon the bed another soft sigh upon her lips.

Redd wanted nothing to do but sleep then, her tired body telling her that she needed to, but every night she continued to fight it and her head swayed a little as her blurred vision tried to focus upon the roof.

What was going to happen? Was she dying? No, she couldn't be, not yet. Vayl had told her that they were seeing a doctor, had this doctor by any chance poisoned her deliberately? No, Vayl was here he would know if she had been poisoned.

As soon as she felt the agonizing pain that tore through her body, when she felt the wet rag rub into her wounds, it brought a snarl to her lips and her fingers grasped a tight hold onto the bed sheets underneath her form.

It felt like that the pain would last forever and she almost truly believed that she was finally dying, but as the salve was applied the pain began to dull and mixed with whatever it was that she ate, it was almost as if the pain wasn't there and a smile curved her lip as a sigh of content settled upon them.

"Vayl... Vayl." She whispered softly as her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, "Vayl, we should go to the doctor's more often it's... Dreamy..." She muttered finally at last as she couldn't find the exact word for it. It was like pain, but then there was a dreamy lift to it afterwards, taking her away from the pain and starvation of the world.

x

"I can't give you the sunset,
But I can give you the night."

x

[Vayl]

x

Vayl's shoulders tightened slightly and he pushed a hand into his pocket, eyeing the doctor with no short measure of suspicion.

"And exactly how much do I owe you, sir?" he muttered, eyes narrowing a little. He was worried the price would be way beyond the range he could possibly afford. But he had Redd's money as well, or a portion of it, should he need it.

Vayl frowned slightly when Redd confessed about her illiteracy. Well, he could teach her that over time.

"Give me the papers" he muttered softly, looking at Redd in sympathy. "I'll sign them for her. I know the details."

Name: Redd Vestrange

Vayl decided to give Redd his own surname, it should ease matters when it comes to exactly what relation the two of them shared in public view.

Age: 18 summers

Vayl bit his lip as he filled this in. He didn't know how Kelvics worked but Redd certainly seemed to appear that age. Whether her.. interior appeared the same Vayl didn't know, he'd just have to hope.

Looking upwards, Vayl's mouth parted slightly as he did some quick arithmetic.

Birth Date: spring 80th, 495 AV

Signing the paper with a neat flourish, Vayl handed over the form with a thin, pale extended arm, his eyes boring into the doctor's with violet intensity.

"I hope that is satisfactory..." he muttered darkly. Whether it was directed to anyone or just talking to himself, however, was not entirely clear.

When Redd began recanting her story, he frowned in concern and rested a hand on her arm, squeezing it reassuringly, but making sure his claws didn't cut her.

Then the doctor applied some drug or other and Redd began losing her slip on reality. Vayl had read enough about this to understand it was necessary, but it didn't stop him tensing up in terror, feeling he might have to pick her up and run at any moment.

"That plant... she won't become reliant on it will she?" Vayl drawled.

He had heard of such substances that made people feel some sort of pleasure, but once eaten once, the consumer could not bring themselves to stop taking it, until they died. If that had just happened to Redd.. He didn't know what he would do.

x

But one day
you will stand before death's decrepit gate,
without really knowing why

[Nemesis]

Caridan

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Skill ??	+??
Skill ??	+??

Lores

*??
*??
*??

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*??
*??

Loot/Expenses

*??
*??

Redd

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Escape Artist	+1
Observation	+2
Rhetoric	+1

Lores

*None

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*None

Loot/Expenses

*None

Vayl

Knowledge :

Skills

Skill	XP
Skill ??	+??
Skill ??	+??

Lores

*??
*??
*??

Micellaneous :

Injuries

*??
*??

Loot/Expenses

*??
*??

____________________________________________

Notes

*Caridan, Vayl, send me a PM if you return and I'll update your grades.
*loveyly writing as always, Redd can tell this is a very old thread. Would have been funny to see more of a drugged up Kelvic!
*Not much to give, but if you feel I've missed anything, throw me a PM.

Feel free to PM me with questions, comments, or concerns, if you have any.
Also, remember to either delete your grade request or edit it as 'graded'.
Thank ye!