[Jarret's Clinic] Chasing Cures [Maliken & Talen]

[Talen Stirling]

15th of Summer, 511 AV A few people were walking through the streets of Denval on this chill summer afternoon. The sun was casting deep orange light and weak shadows from atop the western hills, reflecting in many colours off the bright Denvali houses. Talen walked with purpose through the streets, unarmed in his casual clothing. Today, he would see if anything could be done. He walked past a corner and started looking at the houses at the side of the street for "Jarret's Clinic". He'd seen the small clinic in passing a few times, and suddenly an idea had ocurred to him. Perhaps there was a way to combat, if not cure, his hemophilia? The blood disease was a danger, a risk for both him and everyone he worked with in the guard. Too many times had it been a danger, or simply a great annoyance. He refused to be ruled by it, and with the same stubborn reasoning he had joined the guard despite it; now he'd hopefully find a cure. Talen sighed, and took a deep breath as he arrived outside the door of the small clinic and approached the door, murmuring a prayer to Viratas and Priskil. Hopefully there'd be a cure for the curse of his blood. He knocked slowly and firmly on the door three times and awaited someone to open it.

[Maliken]

OOCSorry for the delay Work. Who would have thought that Maliken would actually find work in Denval, in a place where Isur were rare, and where she was actually useful outside of a smithy? Maliken could only smile at her position, a soft, swiftly dissipating smile was all that she allowed. She was pleased, but would not allow herself to be overcome by its foolishness. She had a long way to go before she managed to complete her goals, but for now, she was pleased learning to dress wounds and craft poisons. Even today in Doctor Jarret's absence (he was visiting a patient too sick to come to him) she was diligently working to better herself, make herself more useful. She couldn't read Common well, even speaking it still had it's difficulties, but the skillfully drawn images in one of Jarret's books of anatomy were being studied as diligently as any student of Zeltiva. "Femur..." Maliken stuttered softly to herself as he grabbed onto her leg through her pants. If it wasn't for her shimmering Isur/female facial appearance, she might have been mistaken for a male child, a young boy with long hair. Even her breasts were small enough to be cleverly hidden by her generically male clothing and leather apron. Long ago she discarded her robe, it was too large, heavy, hot, and restricting. It had outlasted its use of hiding her missing left arm. Sure, she'd rather people overlook her being unfortunately right-sided, but she was no longer so self-conscious that she needed to so obviously hide it. She accepted it now. "Pa-patel... patella." Maliken again moved her hand to her knee, gently massaging the bone as if to not only identify, but if doing so would magically ingrain the knowledge into her head. Perhaps it helped. When the rapping on the door was heard, Maliken groaned, barely above a whisper just so nobody could hear her from behind the entrance to Jarret's Clinic. Maliken closed the book and returned it to its proper place on the bookshelf, then in several graceful gliding steps, moved across the room and opened the door. And there she was, a five foot woman with the youthful appearance of a seventeen year old girl and only a right arm stood there, examining Talen before he even mentioned what was wrong with him. It was a game she played, trying to point out some flaw in the person, just to see if she could measure how much she might have learned. He looked healthy though, perhaps he wasn't a patient after all. "Hello."

[Talen Stirling]

For a second Talen just stared in a moment of surprise. He'd seen Doctor Jarret around as well as his former apprentice, yet never anyone like this. "Hello.. His answer rang awkward for a moment as he understood just who was before him. A young - or so he thought - Isur woman, strangely pale and missing her left arm was standing in the doorway examining him. Quickly hiding his surprise and confusion, he gave her an awkward smile as he talked. "I'm Talen, and I was hoping that you might be able to help me with a ... Disease of mine." For a second he looked past her and inside the shop to see if anyone else were around, then returned his gaze to her; he felt somewhat less nervous now that he had started talking. "I've a curse, or disease, in my blood." He stood there, looking for words a short moment. He'd never known the name of what was wrong with him, though it was simple enough in and of itself. Deciding to simply explain it seemed the easiest way. "From birth, whenever I have received a wound the bleeding hasn't clotted up and stopped simply on it's own easily. Often it takes a long time before a wound can heal, and it's been a great hindrance and a danger in many situations.." He continued speaking in a clear voice, now that he had started he wanted to get it over with. "I've come to the clinic in the hopes of finding something to aid me against this. Either a cure, or a temporary means of assistance such as a potion or paste against the bleeding.." He stopped, and looked at her for a response with an expression of equal hope and nervousity.

[Maliken]

Maliken glanced over Talen once more, dissatisfied that the young man had nothing visibly wrong with him, which meant he had more complicated needs. A disease, already it was sounding more complicated than she would be able to handle. "If it's a disease of sex, I won't help you. Bedding a virgin to regain your health is only a myth." Maliken was joking, but there wasn't a smile, a shimmer of joy, or a faint giggle to give that a way. She doubted that he came in search for sex, and even more so that he would believe sex would cure a disease, but her style of humor was difficult to grasp. "The doctor isn't in right now. You can come back later..." Maliken glanced across the room, the book of human anatomy was still visible, this was her chance to learn, and not just by reading and prodding herself, but on a life subject. "Sit down." A sudden change of her mind, but possibly a welcome one, she would do what she could to help him. "I am Maliken, welcome to Jerret's Clinic. I will try to help you, free of charge." Maliken spoke in an almost distracted manner as she walked about the room gathering utensils and supplies. Flasks of purified water, some water with minerals dissolved in it, that interesting device of Jerret's that lit its own flame (useful when you had only one arm) with a flip of the switch, scalpels, tourniquets, the book of "Human Anatomy", and lastly, linen bandages. It took a good several minutes before Maliken had all these tools gathered in an obnoxiously organized manner that made sense only to her young Isur mind, and then she was standing in front of Talen, examining him as if he was nothing more than a flower. "Open your eyes. Wider. Tongue, open. Give me your hand." Demanding, Maliken hardly waited for Talen to offer his palm befor she reached for his wrist, her probing fingers gently digging into the skin to read a pulse, as if to be certain he wasn't dead. Why was she doing this? Practice, there was no reason to hurry with the task of solving the medical mystery. He had the damn disease since birth, it probably wouldn't change anytime soon. Maliken released his hand, only to ask him to keep it outstretched towards her, and she took the scalpel and waved it around the air. "I'm going to cut you." Maliken didn't smile, even though she had been told smiles comfort patients when they need it most. Talen looked like a big boy, he could probably cope with the fear of bleeding out at the hand of the crazy one-armed midget child. Assuming Talen complied, Maliken would draw a small line of red across his thumb, very small, just to examine the blood flow from a typical cut. She knew how a standard cut would bleed and about how long until it slowed. If Talen were correct, his thumb would bleed for an obnoxiously long time. "Drop some blood into this flask. Now this one." One at a time, Maliken offered the flasks to Talen so that he could do as she asked. The blood would be studied later, perhaps she could get a bit of Ol' Jerret's blood to compare with.

[Talen Stirling]

OOCForgot to mention before: No problem it's delayed, I find your posts to be very good For a moment Talen looked dumbstruck, mouth gaping just a tiny bit and his blue eyes widening an ich; what had she just said? Shaking his head a tiny bit, he let out a short laugh at her surprising joke. Such ideas had never taken hold in the settlement, the priests of Viratas knew too much for that kind of superstition. Though, it raised one other question... Was she a virgin? Suddenly, his trail of thoughts was ended abruptly, and he lookde disappointed as she was about to turn him down - 'till she told him to go sit in a doctor's naturally commanding voice. He walked over to the indicated chair, and sat down tentatively, looking around the strange room and at her scurrying about gathering equipment. He looked curiously at her as she offered aid free of charge, and murmured a thank you, unsure if she would actually hear it preoccupied as she was. Out of all the queer things in the room she would probably have to be the strangest oddity; a one-armed pale wisp-like Isur. She looked so very young, which was strange in contrast to her experienced and professional behaviour. When she approached him, he tried a friendly smile yet the way she looked at him didn't exactly invite friendliness. He felt like a plant, and wondered whether she planned to have him grow or hack him down. Quickly, he followed her every order. Despite being a little nervous, taking orders he was used to and the confidence and finality they were delivered with meant there was little time or space for doubts or second thoughts. When she asked he stretched out his hand immediately, only to be caught in mid-air by the surprisingly strong grip of her black, silver-veined Isur right arm. Whatever this lead to he wasn't sure, and thus figured he'd simply try and comply with whatever she ordered. With his hand hanging oustretched in the air, she suddenly waved about a scalpel with a calculative, thoughtful look in her eyes. Instinctively, he wanted to withdraw his hand yet forced himself to sit still. She seemed eerie, yet he just nodded when she stated she would cut him. Again, no questions and no hesitation, just facts and actions. The cut itself barely hurt, though watching the scalpel cut into him was a disturbing experience. The blood didn't flow irregularily fast at first, yet didn't seem to slow or coagulate any more than the skin came close again. He felt abit embarassed; being researched like this made him more aware of his weakness. He composed himself and nodded at her with a half-smile, then took the flask with a steady hand. He held the side of his bleeding thumb towards the mouth of the flask dripping steadily into the vessel. As she passed him each of the flasks, the flow of blood seemed to slow down a little, yet not end and obviously not coagulate. At first he was focused yet the task required little effort. "So.. Do you often have young men bleed for you?" he looked up at her and asked while filling a flask, a humorous smile 'cross his lips. He still felt a little uncomfortable, but she'd made a joke earlier so it had to be possible to make her laugh, or at least smile.

[Tabarnac]

XP Award! Talen XP Award: Observation +2; Seduction +1 Additional Notes: I wish Maliken had stayed as this was getting interesting. If she comes back, you can continue it and I’ll add on more points then. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns. Keep writing!