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

[Jaron Grunn]

Fall 45, 511 Another day, another coin. Jaron's arm would be a constant reminder of the first job that he took in Zeltiva, a job that involved getting a treasured item back from a professional swordsman. Not that Jaron was an amateur, but the woman appeared to know exactly how to wield her blade with such deadly efficiency that she could probably fight with a blindfold and manage to decapitate her opponent with nothing more than a flick of her wrist. Even with a demonstration of his own skill Jaron was unable to get what he was promised; the client was less than pleased, but that was why Jaron asked for half of the payment up front and half after - he could use the first half to pay a healer to bandage up his arm. His shoulder. A nice nick on his back under his ribcage. And a little cut just under his left eye... He pressed his shoulder up against the wall of a building in some random alley and took in a sharp, quick breath. Jaron's stamina wasn't so strong that his body was able to stand a little sparring match that lasts for more than an hour; most of the thugs that he dealt with were dealt with quickly. He deflected their blows, got in a few of his own and if the situation required it, he ended their life as quickly as possible. He didn't dance around the problem to exhaust his opponent, and taunt them with silly cat calls and other remarks about his performance. If Astrolabe was better with magic, Jaron would like to enlist his abilities to make that woman go up in flames. That would be very satisfying, Jaron thought. Jaron brought his hand up and looked at the fresh, warm blood that spilled down the inside of his sleeve and dripped down into his palm. The wound was still open, but thanks to the shoulder injury on the other side he wasn't able to fully inspect the wound. He was overconfident in his ability to get to a healer in time before he simply bled out in the streets; not that he could just walk the streets like nothing happened. His condition and his wounds would draw unnecessary attention and the last thing that Jaron wanted to do was explain that he lost a job to a superior opponent. Maybe it was wild tiger, or a glassbeak and he was lucky to stay alive. While he fancied for a moment about the possible other scenarios he could use to explain his situation, Jaron failed to notice the rock at his foot and stumbled forward. The loss of blood and his exhaustion didn't help Jaron in reacting in a speedy manner and he went crashing down to the ground, injured arm first to the cold pavement below. "Really?" Jaron yelled at himself as he wound his foot back up and looked over to the rock and prepared to boot it to the other side of the damn alley. "A damn rock?!"

[Herb]

While walking down the back alley's which was his usuall method of getting around Zeltiva, this way he avoided the majority of the populace, thus saves himself the hardship of having to watch everyone else's feet. On this occasion how ever he managed to completely ignore his surroundings, walking round the alleyways he was keeping close to the walls the sheer amount of things moving up and down these paths was simply asstounding. Keeping his bag held tightly to his side, and using his staff to lean on or bash someone who'd gotten to close in the leg, when out of know where this huge figure towering high over head appeared infront of him, seemingly taking no notice of this little rock man infront of him. With no time for further reaction he raised his staff aiming to land a wicked blow on this giants shin, but as he readied his blow the giant lurched forward, his feet connecting with Herb's heavy stoney body, collapsing almost immediately downwards and over his head. Dust and sand erupted as the giant hit the ground, a little shaken by the sudden accident Herb laid flat on his back on the floor, his staff a few feet away, knocked cleaning out of his hand. Shaking his head, he sat up and looked around, noticing he had some strange read substance on his skin, looking closer he recognized it as blood, and hurridly looked towards the fallen giant, when he suddenly heard 'Really?.. A damn rock?' ' I beg you're pardon?....who are you calling a rock!! I'm perfectly big enough to have been spotted! ' He looked the giant up and down, recognizing where the blood mostly come from, and climbed to this feet. ' And why are you bleeding all over me? Are you in some kind trouble? I really don't like to see people bleeding all over the place like this '

[Jaron Grunn]

Before he replied to the talking rock, Jaron brought his hand up to his head to feel for any injuries he may have sustained that would have impacted his brain. His fingers went through his messy hair, not feeling any bumps, bruises or wounds that could explain what he just saw. A talking rock. He had heard about some statues that could talk, walk and move like they were people, but he never had seen one before. If they ever existed in Lhavit, Jaron must have just assumed they were statues and nothing more. He pushed himself up to his feet as he kept a curious gaze to the rock that asked him a question. A rock that asked him a question. Though Jaron's body was in no condition to get up to his feet in the normal manner, and being a tad confused by the Pycon, all that Jaron managed to do was flip himself on his back with a sad thud. He let out a growl as he curled up to rest his body on his right side, the bleeding arm on his left as he looked over to the rock again. "You're a pylon, right? What are you doing in the middle of the damn street?" Of course he wasn't in a street, but Jaron wasn't sure just what was happening at that moment. Would the skies open and a chorus of angels throw candied apples at him next? "Didn't intentionally bleed on you," Jaron corrected the Pycon, "Was bleeding before I ran into you. Had a disagreement with a woman, and this is the result." He growled out again as he placed a hand over his left arm and forced himself to sit on the ground. In that moment Jaron realized his carelessness at neglecting his body's own needs for attention and he pulled his hand away from the wound and saw it was nice and red, still. "You don't happen to have a bandage on your, uh," Jaron looked to see what sort of supplies the rock had. Was that a stick it was carrying? "On your, uh, stick?"

[Herb]

He looked at the giant curiously, reaching for his staff lying on the floor nearby. ' I'm a Pycon, not a plyon...not entirely sure what one of those is actually. ' He muttered almost under his breath looking intentley at the blood flowing down the giants body. What kind of disagreement leads to you being all chopped up? '. Moving a little closer to the giant, eyes darting from place to place on his body, within a few seconds he was standing directly infont of the him, pushed the tip of the staff into his chest and pushed firmly till he crumpled backwards laying on the floor. ' Lay back please, and let me have a look at them wounds, you're really quite lucky you ran into me....erm over me sorry. I'm a healer just for you're information, although I don't have my tools here unfortunaltey. ' Looking closely at the his arm he moved swiftly to remove the blood soaked jacket, swift but carefully to not cause any more pain then he was clearly already in. Almost standing over his chest, left arm out to his side, he looked closely at the clean cut, it was a long deep lasceration about five inch's long, deep red blood was seeping out and onto the floor underneath. Moving his small stubby fingers he concentrated a little bit and his fingers grew in length, becoming long slender appendages, using these new fingers, he clasped the edges of the woundand pulled them together, ripping his jacked as best he could a clean bit, and wrapped it firmly and tight around the wound, so that it wouldn't open quite so easily and stem the bleeding untill he could get this giant to his little shack. Keeping himself moving he rummaged the giant onto his side to examine the wound to his back, decided it wasn't life threatenening and returned the giant to his laying down position. ' Right, if you can walk, you'd best come with me. I don't live too far and I can hopefully stich you up abit better. '

[Jaron Grunn]

"A disagreement that could only be solved with the clashing of swords, some shouting, and maybe a humiliating walk away without what I was seeking, Pycon." He said with a grunt as he was manhandled - by a rock - and inspected. The tiny fingers that went into the wound to poke around and then pull it together so it wouldn't bleed out everywhere were different; Jaron had been treated my medics before, but this was an experience he was going to remember. Remember that time I tripped on a rock and he patched me up? "Yeah, walk." Jaron said more to his own body than back to the little rock. He growled out as he pushed himself back to his feet, his sword scraping against the pavement as he got up to his feet and didn't appear that he was about to fall over. He looked the tear of his jacket that the little rock tore open and frowned as he tugged at the cheap material. Jaron wondered if he would be able to return the jacket back to the stall of the Zeltiva merchant for a refund. A sword strapped to ones side and a hard stare worked wonders in bartering with skeevy merchants. Thankfully the little rock was capable of walking at a slower pace which made it easier for Jaron to stay behind him as the rock walked without a care in the world. It was odd watching such a creature walk and Jaron wondered if he was really seeing that creature move or if he had a bigger bump on his head than he realized. Maybe he lost more blood than he thought and he was really hallucinating the whole thing? "So where do you live around here? You better not say under a rock, or I'll know for sure I've really lost my marbles..."

[Herb]

Making sure he had his bag still firmly in it's place, and picking up his staff from the floor, he turned and began a speedy walk in the direction he was originally heading, muttering under his breath of the rudeness of some people, wondering why they can't always be as cheerful and helpful as he was. A few minutes passed and she stopped outside a little wooden shack, no more then four foot tall, almost double his height so for him it would be a tall structure, to the side of this building was a small herb garden. Turning round he looked up and the giant and motioned with his staff ' Sit there if you will, I shall be back in a couple of minutes. Just need to pop inside and gather some herbs and bandages. Maybe even a needle and thread come to think of it. ' He spoke loudly yet politley, opened the door and dissappeared through it. While inside the hut he rummaged around for what he was looking for, moving to a small cupboard moving the insides around till he found a small little package of bandages, underneath that some needles and thread, putting them in his back till later. Moving swiftly to his little table, looked over the available ground herbs and thought to himself. ' Now...which herbs to use. Something to help stem the bleeding....some Aloe for that, should help bring any swelling down, while fighting any infection that sets in. I'll add some Yarrow to this...best make sure he doesn't go and bleed himself to death ' Having decided he picked up the various herbs and plants, and left the shack by the front door, and back towards the giant.

[Jaron Grunn]

Jaron didn't question the order as he sat down on a wooden stump that looked like it was made for chopping wood. He hoped that the little rock wouldn't mind that he would sit on it as he would probably be colouring all of that with blood by the time that he was done with this little rock that thought he could heal Jaron's wounds. In the past it was easier getting into this situation, as usually he was with someone that could drag his ass somewhere to be healed or at least patch them up themselves - Sev had been very useful for that. He was able to get Jaron to quit his grunting about it and just fix the wound so they could move on. He looked over to the little hut curiously as he heard some words from inside and wondered what sort of other inanimate object was alive in there. Maybe another rock that was his friend? Or maybe a chair that had magically come to life and was also the rock's friend. Lover, maybe? The rumours of Pycons was something Jaron never experienced before in his time in Lhavit; there were farmers and there were city dwellers. Some were non-human, but they had assimilated so close to the culture of Lhavit that one couldn't tell them apart from others. When Herb came back out with the supplies, Jaron eyed the area on the Pycon's face (that he assumed was the face) and smiled over to him as he pulled his hand back from the wound on his arm. Whatever the Pycon had done to it previously to stop the majority of the blood from pouring out had worked, as Jaron only held it as while the blood was no longer flowing it was still red, raw and sore. "You're not a doctor, are you." Jaron said as he tried to identify the green masses of plants that were brought out and set near the wooden stump that Jaron was seated upon. He looked to his bloody hand with a grunt and wiped the cold blood on the thigh of his pants. "I shouldn't be complaining. You're a magical rock that talks. For all I know you could resurrect the dead," He swallowed nervously as he forced a smile on his face while he adjusted his seat while on the wooden stump. "What do you need me to do?"

[Herb]

' Just lay down, sit down...does not really matter..as long as you stay still. ' He replied politely, right before pushing the giant onto the wall and climbing on top of his lap, dumping his supplies in front of him. Looking more closely at the large clean wound on the arm, reajusting his fingers into the long thin fingers and began to remove the now blood covered rag that he'd previously tied up. Moving his fingers gingerly over the wound, he dabbed it with a damp cloth to remove as much of the excess blood, keeping an eye on the giants face. After much dabbing and wiping the wound appeared to be much cleaner, although the blood was still seeking out, so he took out the needly and thread, and looked up to the giant ' This is going to hurt alot I'm afraid, but hopefully it shouldn't leave too much of a scar, though I must admit..It's my first time doing this on someone still awake. '. As gently as possible he began to use one hand to pull the wound closely together, while taking the needle and pushing it through, almost cringing at the needle breaking through the skin, moving swiftly down the wound, needle moving in and out. By the time he was finished the wound was closed and jaggedly stiched up, taking up the damp cloth again and dabbing up the new blood from the stitching. ' Well, that went better then I expected. Now just to finish patching it up, then onto the rest. ' Putting the needle and thread down, and picking up some of the herb mix, rubbing it firmly over the now stitched up wound. ' Now these things will aid you in the healing of the wound, it's a simple mix of Aloe and Yarrow, hopefully it will stop any infection setting in, as well as stopping the inflamation. and if I'm correct it should help promote the healing. Make sense? ' He looked back up to the giant, while wrapping the now unraveled bandage in his hands round the herb covered wound.

[Jaron Grunn]

The little rock had quite the assortment supplies that Jaron saw as he brought them out and set them in Jaron's lap. He looked at them briefly as the arm was twisted around and moved so that the rock could look at it more closely and clean the wound. He winced as he felt the cloth clean the wound as gently as he could, but Jaron knew that there would be far more pain than what he was feeling if the wound was to be closed for good. When he saw the needle and thread he didn't let out a single groan and grunt in reaction to the stitches that would have to be threaded into his flesh to keep the wound shut so it could heal properly. "Someone... Still awake?" Jaron shook his head at that comment and just curled his other hand in a strong fist. He had endured this sort of pain before when he and Sev were out in the middle of nowhere and he would sew up Jaron's wounds to prevent infection and bleeding out at least until they could get to a city and to a proper doctor. "Just get it done, fast." Jaron said a little abruptly. He knew the rock was being polite and volunteering his time to patch Jaron up but he wasn't in the mood for pleasantries at the moment as he felt the needle pierce the skin. Without anything to numb the pain Jaron let out a low growl of a yelp as he felt the thread pull through the flesh and the needle go through the other piece of flesh. His hand shook momentarily from the onslaught of the pain so he gripped the stump of wood that he was seated on as he bared down and grit his teeth as the rock did its job and sewed up the wound. "Yes, makes sense. I know a bit about those herbs - my," Jaron paused for a moment as he looked to the bandage that was being wrapped around his arm. "This isn't the first time I've been sewn up before, sadly. Scars are part of the job. As long as I can use my arm again and the wound on my back heals, I don't care what my body looks like." Jaron moved his hand and arm slightly and he could feel the pull of his flesh that was now tightly sewn together to prevent any more blood from leaking out. He grunted out again, as he looked down to the rock and gave him a grin as he rubbed the top of its head. "Thanks for this, by the way. I don't have any coin on me as payment, but when I heal I could offer my services to you. Skills for skills, right?" Jaron paused as he realized that he hadn't introduced himself, or found out the name of the rock at his feet. "I'm Jaron, by the way. Jaron Grunn - if I pass out from blood loss, make sure they at least put my name on my tombstone."

[Herb]

' Oh payment isn't something I really think about...might be why I have little money I guess. My name is Herb, nice to be patching you up Mr Jaron. ' He replied cheerfully while tying off the bandage of the arm, making it tight and firm so as not to let much get in, and hold the wound and stitching in place. Moving slowly he picked up his supplies and climbed off his lap, while on the floor he layed it all back down again, urging Jaron to roll over and lay front down on the stump. after the brief tussle of Jaron moving round, Herb gathered up his supplies again and climbed back on top so that he could get better look at the large unclean laceration . This wound was large and wicked looking, jagged edges hanging open, the deep red blood seeping out, and down his side. ' Ohh I didn't realise this was quite as nasty, should've looked at this one sooner. ' Moving his fingers deftly to the cloth, he began to dab and wipe the blood away, being careful not to let the cloth enter the deep open wound itself. After some minutes the wound was clean enough to try and push the sides together, hearing for noise from Jaron, before grabbing for the needle and thread again, this time he stitched much slower, trying to piece each piece of jagged flesh into it's matching opposite hole. Making sure each stitch is in the correct place, using a the cloth to dab it each time, this process lasted several minutes until he was happy that the wound was sealed and cleaned up the excess blood surrounding it. Exchanging the needle and thread with his herbs mix, he began pasting it over the wound, not being particularly careful or gently about it, rather to make sure it simply stayed in place. The bandaging took only a few minutes and required Jaron to sit up again so he could move the bandage round the body fully, making it tight and tying it off again. ' Now I will urge you not to do anything overly stressful for the next week or so, if you do you will probably break the stitches and likely bleed to death as a result. Not something I would like to happen at all. Though if you're thinking of traveling around at some point, I might be able to think up a useful payment at some point. '