[Random Alley] Between A Rock And A Hard Place [Herb]

[Jaron Grunn]

"Herb, huh? Interesting name for a talking rock," Jaron said with a gruff chuckle as he was tossed around again like some sort of toy. Despite Herb's small appearance, he had quite the forceful way with Jaron as he pushed him around to get at what he needed to fix. Jaron never to see just how messed up the wound was on his right shoulder, but from what he could hear of Herb behind him and the needle and thread that was moving back there again, well, he had an idea that it wasn't such a clean cut as he originally thought it was. Jaron did his best to tug off the rest of his torn jacket and tossed it by his feet as Herb took apart the tatters of his shirt so he could get at the wound properly. "Here I thought it was just a little nick of the flesh back there and not something so, well, woundy," Jaron said as he pressed his lips together and grit his teeth as the wound was cleaned. The tiny rock hands were pretty precise as Jaron felt Herb's delicate fingers pull out a single thread of the shirt or jacket that somehow got lodged in the wound. Jaron remained silent as he was worked on by Herb, not that he could see what the rock was doing behind him anyways. From the scurry of motion and the sound of the needle being threaded once more, Jaron knew the pain that was about to come and he was prepared for it, at least more so than he was before. Herb took his time stitching the wound and Jaron wished he would have moved faster to get it done with sooner, but he didn't say one lick of a word as he was patched up. Jaron only let out a grunt when Herb was finished and was back up in front of him after the mixture was placed against his sewn-shut wound. "Well, thank you again. And if I could ever try and repay you in some way you know where to find me. Just look in some alley and you'll see me, or a trail of my blood again, if I try and take on that contract again." Jaron said with a shake of his head as he moved his right arm and felt the stitches along the flesh of his shoulder. He looked down to Herb with an almost childlike whine in his voice. "A week, or more? What am I supposed to do with all that time on my hands? Start planting gardens?" He knew that it wasn't Herb's fault for telling him the truth, that he would need time to rest before he even thought about taking up his sword again and get moving again. "Sorry. Just need to deal with that reality, don't I? Guess I could always go read in the university library or something..."

[Herb]

' Well I'm just glad I was about to stop you from bleeding to death, always such a waste when someone goes and does something as silly as that. ' he said chuckling to himself, and handed Jaron the remainder of his herb mix, and motioned for him to paste it onto the would by his eye. Packing up the rest of this gear, he clambered down and made his way back into the shack, dumping it back down just inside the door, heading over to a table he picked up what was a large bowl, filled it with water, and brought it outside. ' Here drink this, it's only water, but I have nothing more suitable for a giant like you. ' he said pleasantly resting the bowl in his hands., and sat down beside him on the floor. ' I'm always here to be found if you ever get into trouble again, and isn't is overly dangerous doing what you do?...fetching and fighting people? '

[Jaron Grunn]

Jaron let out a grumble as Herb sort-of scolded him about his actions prior to his condition in the alley. He took the paste and dabbed a little of it under his eye as he smiled down to the rock and took the water from him and drank it all in a couple gulps. He gently set the bowl back down on the ground as he looked to the way that Herb was getting comfortable on the ground. "Fetching and fighting people... Hm, I wish it was that easy." Jaron looked up and tried to remember just what was around him, in case he would have to take advantage of Herb again in the future. Knowing his luck, however, he wouldn't be anywhere near this part of the city the next time he gets sliced up good and raw. "Sword for hire, is all. Someone paid me to get something from another person, and that person wasn't all that forthcoming, so I had to ... convince them with my sword. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't something that easy to do since she was very, very well skilled with the sword too." Jaron took in a sharp breath as he looked down to Herb again after he hoped he knew the landmarks around this area back to Herb's shack. "What about you? What did a rock like you start to fix people up? I thought Pycons were made by people and they stuck with them, like Kelvics, just .. you know, with the hairballs and stuff. I don't think you require much maintenance, do you?" Jaron said with a grin as he reached a bloodied hand out and rubbed it over the rock's head affectionately.

[Herb]

' Oh I'm still young, only two or three years old.. I don't really think about that so much, just haven't met a giant I got along with yet. Well since my old friend died, she was the one who got me into my herbs and plants. ' He muttered looking around to make sure no one was intruding in his little space. ' What's a Kelvic? and why do they stick to people? some kind of weird glue type thing they use?' Herb looked baffled and confused, then ducked his head in embarressment at not knowing something that was probably quite well known by people.

[Jaron Grunn]

"What happened to the one that made you? Were they the one that died?" Jaron wondered for a moment what sort of thing would happen to someone that could die around someone that taught them to heal. The implication that Jaron understood that the person responsible for the Pycon's creation was someone that taught him all he knew about medicine. "Kelvic's form a bond - I guess, like glue - with a person. They stay with them through thick and thin. It's pretty cool, I guess. I've seen how loyal they can be but I haven't found any Kelvic laying around either. Knowing my luck some giant and clumsy Kelvic would bond with me and I'd be out of the business." Free from the little rock hands that were putting paste and sewing up his wounds, Jaron took the tatters of his jacket and tugged them back on his body with some degree of difficulty. He looked down to Herb who, despite missing some muscles in his face that Jaron could try and read for facial expressions, got the impression that he was embarrassed. "What have you been doing since she died? You've been alone in this alley? Seems like a pretty lonely existence, rock-man."

[Herb]

' The one that made me?...you mean my parents? they have become stone and fully formed...you would call it dead?. As for the my friend, she was very old when she found me in her garden of herbs. ' He explained carefully trying not to get his words mixed up or confused, having guessed that he was the first Pycon Jaron had ever likely come across. Looking around at his surroundings, he never really took note of what his actual surroundings were, his home was nothing more then a small ally way with his little wooden shack and tiny herb garden beside it. Larger buildings built up around it, so that the only light that he got was from straight up or coming from the either side of the ally's. ' I've been here since she died, my little shack is all I really have in the world, and it's probably more then I need. Though I'm thinking I need to find a traveling partner within the next few seasons, once I've finished studying up at the University. I need to know much more about herbs, and some better healing skills. ' He replied friendly enough, pausing a little to look up at Jaron sitting beside him before commenting further ' Maybe if you go traveling I could tag along a little bit? '

[Jaron Grunn]

Jaron wished he paid more attention to his studies in school and to all the different inhabitance of Mizahar, because his knowledge of Pycon's was pretty low. So he took what the rock said for face value, after a moment of failed contemplation, and smiled as he gave his head a nod to Herb. "And how you got your name, I guess. And you play with herbs too which is, well, cute I guess. Though a little unoriginal since not everyone is called by what they do or where they're found. If that was the case I'd be called.. Uh. Sword swinging farm boy?" Jaron said with a smirk as he struggled to get up to his feet as he walked over to the small shack. He bent over with a certain degree of difficulty and peered into the windows of the shack with a grin. "Yeah, that might be a good idea to get out there. You could always just hoist some books with you and learn as you go. Though I don't know many plant places around this area. You want to see plants and stuff, you come home with me to Lhavit and you'd die a happy little rock seeing all those green things out at my house." Jaron grinned as he stood back up and looked over to Herb curiously. "I could always pocket you and take you around, I guess. Might just need to wrap you up in something good and soft so you don't break ..."

[Herb]

' Oh I know...my friend that taught me everything about herbs had a name, but I didn't when she found me. My father told me that our kind pick our own names, and when she turned round to me in the garden and called ''You're not a Herb'' I replied yes I am! ' He spoke quite freely and openly while he watched Jaron stand up and peer into his shack through the window, a puzzled look crossing his face. Moving quietly he pulled himself up to his feet, and moving toward the door of his shack again, and looked inside to see what Jaron might find so curious.

' It's not that I just like plants, I enjoy what each herb can do, and that I can use them to help people. Always seeming people getting hurt and wounded, and you people break so easily. I like to mend you. ' Pausing for a few moments looking out into the deserted ally before continuing ' Once I've studied at the University for some time, we should go travel, you get beat up, I'll keep fixing you. Else I may never fulfill my fathers wish for me. ' he uttered beaming a smile all over his face, while tapping his staff against the side of his wall.

[Jaron Grunn]

Jaron chuckled at the way that the rock was named. It was cute, at least. Jaron didn't have a clue about the history of his own name as he thought it was just a random name that his parents chose for him to sound different from all the other kids in Lhavit. Jaron looked back over to Herb with a raised brow at the idea that humans were all weak and in constant need of repair. Not that he was in any condition to debate otherwise, so he let out a low grunt and a quick nod of his head. "Yeah, well. It's all part of the game. Though I'm not usually in need of such fixing like this all the time, this past situation was just a unique one that ..." Jaron was having trouble even spinning it in a positive way in his head. He looked back over to Herb and to that big grin and shook his own head. "Okay, fine. We need a lot of fixing up. How much longer are you going to be studying at the university? If you don't mind travelling with a couple of guys I can see us getting along fine. Though the other guy is more of a klutz so you'll have your hands full just keeping him in one piece.."

[Herb]

' Oh I'm not sure yet, only just beginning. There is so much to learn, why not learn while living right?. I think you and your fellow's might well find a use for me, if I keep patching you up when your broken that is ' He grinned enthusiasticly, which mostly let the thin line of his mouth scretch across his entire face, scrunching up his eyes, it could almost be mistaken for a mischevious look.

Getting up and looking around to make sure the street was still the way he liked it, empty and quiet, he picked up his staff, moving into the middle and starting to work through a couple of his most basic staff defense stance's, occasionally stumbling over his own foot, or clonking the staff over the back of his own head and tumbling to the floor in what could only be described as a miniature rockslide, before looking up at Jaron with a look on his face screaming '' I can fight!!''....well just about.