[flashback] blood bets.

[Caelum]

Caelum eyed his patient through the thick of matchstick lashes for a minute before crawling to his feet, a little less awkward than the night before. It was as if this skin fit him better, but was still not perfectly tailored.

"Ethaefal," he tried to explained and, studying the cheating gambler standing in his rented room, wondered if he failed. "Caelum," he added, squinting one eye before sighing and gesturing at a chair. "Sit down. I'll check your stitches and you can be on your way."

[Murdoch]

"Ethaefal," he said, the word feeling strange in his mouth. He eyed the man suspiciously, unsure what exactly was going on, but he'd found in life that it was better to do what the nice monster told you until you could get the hell out of its way. "Uh. Okay. It feels fine," he said, moving slowly over to the chair and sitting down.

[Caelum]

A sardonic twist curved his mouth and, after a moment, he shook his head at something. It was a feeling dampened, maybe, with his patient's reaction; and for a little while he mentally flailed about for the appropriate words, the necessary manner in which to attempt to explain the shift that had taken him upon sunrise. The vocabulary required to define what it was he had become -- and he would have agreed, painfully and bitterly, with Doc's assumption of monster -- tapped at his wrists in the dark, in the sunlight, interminably, keeping him shackled from the sky. He hated those words.

In the end, he said nothing. A squat was assumed before his patient's chair and deft fingers began to gently peel back the bandages. Once the neatly stitched wound was revealed, he reached for some cotton to clean the edges and then to reapply a sharp smelling ointment. It was not until he was rewrapping the muslin that he spoke.

"I'll give you some more of this ointment to be applied in the morning and at night. Keep the wound clean and bandaged until the ointment runs out. After that, leave the bandage off so it can dry up properly. All right?"

[Murdoch]

"Ointment, right," he said, trying not to stare and managing only a few glances through dark lashes. "Until it's out, then dry. Where'd you learn all this stuff anyway?" he mumbled, wincing a little as a bit of muslin pulled away from where it was stuck to his stitches.

[Caelum]

"Here and there, somewhat of it from before," before was worded strangely, but he did not think to explain.

The next time Murdoch glanced at him, he caught the gambler's eyes with an intensity meant to hold them. "I was human once," he said this softly, "And I was more than that once as well. I'm not going bite you." A wry twist took his mouth. "It would be rather self-defeating considering I just stitched you up."

He leaned back, sliding up from his crouch to repack the medical replies. "All done."

[Murdoch]

"Right, well," he mumbled, a lop-sided grin twisting his mouth as he was assured both of his safety and that he wouldn't get eaten. "We've all seen better times, huh?"

He slouched over to reach for his boots, and began quickly shoving them on. "Well, thanks for all the help," he said, obviously eager to get the hell away from this once-human-once-divine whatever-the-petch. "You said there's some ointment or something?" he asked, glancing up as he buckled them on.

[Caelum]

Caelum lifted a hand, rubbing it back through sun shards of hair. It spilled about the elegant curve of his horns as he made study of Doc's shadow, swift and eager. It had the corners of his eyes tightening in what might have been a wince and he cadged a small, glass jar of ointment to toss at the gambler.

"Take care," he said shortly, distantly, releasing his patient from any further obligations to suffer his presence.

[Gossamer]

. Character: Caelum Experience: 2XP Medicine, 1 XP Leadership Lore: Dealing with Cardsharks, Tending the Sulky & Disagreeable Character: Murdoch Experience: 1 XP Interrogation Lore: Being Stabbed, Complaining Additional Note: Sorry about the delay! I thought someone told me they'd taken care of this, but upon reading the thread I realized they couldn't have! Sooo sorry guys! Next time a 2x4 upside the head to get my attention will produce XP results faster! I would have given you more XP, Murdoch, but you didn't really do much but grumble. Also, I did not award lore of what the Ethaefal was because you didn't ask any questions and Caelum didn't elaborate. .