Herbs & Honey (Solo)

[Maya Frostfawn]

Timestamp: Fall 2, 523 AV The day was young and the air was crisp and cool with the changing of the seasons. Maya imagined that if she was just about anywhere else in the world, she could see the leaves beginning to change with the season, and if she were still alive as opposed to caught somewhere between worlds, she could see her breath turn to a silver fog in the air as she had done in her youth. But there was no time to dwell on that now, she needed to get to work. And to get to work safely, she needed a disguise, for if anyone discovered just what she was, she would surely be killed... for real, this time. So, she took out her disguise kit and set it down on her table before taking a seat, pulling it in, and preparing herself for the long day ahead. Before she even began her work, she needed to decide who she was going to be that day. Since she wasn't too experienced in the art of disguise making yet, and also, didn't feel like taking a ton of time on the disguise although she technically had all the time in the bloody world, she decided that she was going to craft something simple. Something she could handle that wouldn't be too time consuming. She decided to disguise herself as a woman in her thirties. A woman who wasn't dead just yet. A woman alive, full of life. A woman who spent a decent amount of time on her appearance, but not too much time. A woman who spent just the right amount of time on it and wouldn't draw too much attention to herself, (because that could be bad for a nuit). Someone who wouldn't come off as vain. To begin her transformation into this nameless woman, Maya reached for pale, peachy, pale brown powder that served as a foundation. She opened the little tin with the foundation, and then reached for a makeup brush. She would apply a thin layer of the foundation to her skin first, before adding additional layers and touches to deepen her disguise. She would need to add the foundation to any portion of her skin that would be exposed to the elements and prying eyes, because any break in tone or the disguise would give her away and she'd be killed in an instant. She wasn't exactly gifted in the fighting department, after all. Thankfully, it was cooling off this time of year, so she had an excuse to wear heavier clothes and travel with her hood drawn, which meant less of her body was exposed to the outside world, which in turn meant she didn't have to cover as much of her body as she may have had to during other times of the year with the disguise she was putting together. However, that still meant that she had to thoroughly disguise the exposed areas, which would consist of her face, hands, and wrists. To begin the process of building her simple disguise, she dabbed the makeup brush in the foundation, raising a thin cloud of foundation that quickly dissipated in the air. When the brush had been thoroughly doused in the fine powder, Maya raised the brush to her cheeks and began dabbing the brush against her skin. She repeated the process with her chin, nose, and forehead. When she had finished applying each dab of foundation, Maya went back over the dabs with her brush, and began rubbing it into her skin--small circles on the cheeks, lines that drew the foundation toward the center of her face with everything else. Then, she went back over every portion of her face with quick little brush strokes to help cover anything she may have missed and make the texture look what she hoped was a little more natural, because, in her experience, applied makeup didn't always look that way and that could be quite detrimental to her existence. When she was finished with her face, Maya reapplied the foundation to her brush and began working on the next portion of her body--her hands and her wrists. Word Count: 690

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya lifted the brush out of her tin of foundation, before guiding it over to her left wrist, where she quickly brushed some foundation into her skin. She drew her brush against her dry flesh from wrist toward the elbow, moving only a few inches before raising the brush and applying another dab to her knuckles in a swift streak, and another to the center of her palm. When she was finished, she dipped her brush in the foundation again, before returning to her wrist. She pressed the brush into her skin and began winding the foundation in small circles all the way down the length of her arm toward her elbow, on both the upper and lower arm, until none of her true skin color was exposed, until she was entirely covered in foundation. She repeated the process of brushing the foundation into her skin on both her knuckles, fingers, and palms until each inch was covered before pulling her hand back to survey her work. It looked like a relatively well-applied base coat. Satisfied with her work, Maya passed the makeup brush from one hand to the other, dipped it back into the foundation, and then raised it so she could repeat the process with her remaining hand. When she was finished, she closed the container of foundation, put it back in her disguise kit, and then reached for both the rouge and the blush, so she could add some color to her face and lips. It was one thing to have a more natural skin tone, and it was another to look truly alive--to complete her disguise, she would need more than natural skin. She would need something that suggested she was actually alive as opposed to caught somewhere between the worlds of life and death. She would need to apply makeup in order to give others that sense of her, and even then, it may not be enough if she could not hide her frailty. She could only hope she was up to the task as she opened the container of blush, which was a pale pink that reminded her of drying tulips. She reached for another makeup brush as soon as the container was open, and quickly dipped it inside the pale powder. When she felt the brush was sufficiently covered in powder, Maya brushed the brush over her cheeks, making them far livelier than they had been before. Although she couldn't tell, the makeup hadn't been evenly applied--it was clumpier in some areas than others, and thicker in some areas than others, making the skin an unnatural texture with more color on it. To an onlooker, this would probably make her appear as though she were someone still learning to apply makeup, or someone who simply had poor taste. When Maya had finished applying the blush, she closed everything up and put it back in its proper place before reaching for the rouge. It was a startlingly bright red. In a way, it almost hurt to look at it, it was so bright. Maya quickly opened the container, dipped her finger inside of it until it was red as blood, and then drew her fingertip over her upper lip, followed by the lower lip, applying a relatively even layer. When she was finished, she closed the container of rouge up, and then cleaned her finger on the inside of her attire so no one could see the stain. When she looked down at her finger again, she realized she had brushed off more than the rouge--she had ruined the makeup she had applied to the entirety of the finger earlier in the assembly process. She couldn't have a mis-colored finger. That could lead to her untimely demise. She had to fix her mistake before she left the run-down flat she currently called "home." So, she reached for the makeup brush she had used to apply the foundation earlier. When she lifted it from the table, it left a pale brown dust behind. With it, she brushed more foundation into the exposed finger, adding some of the foundation that had been on other portions of her skin to it with each hurried brush. When she felt as though she had not only covered the finger that had once been exposed, but had applied a relatively even coat of makeup, she put the brush back, satisfied with her work and filled with a sense that each step she had taken to disguise herself thus far had been carried out to the best of her ability, she decided to move onto her eyes, which was more or less the last portion of her body she wished to disguise and apply makeup to before heading out and into the world for work. She wasn't sure what color would look best with her skin in terms of kohl or eyeshadow, but at least she didn't have many options. She simply picked one of each at random--a black kohl and an eyeshadow and decided to go with that. Surely, it couldn't look too bad when she had everything applied just right? She decided to start with the kohl, which was another powder in a container that looked like crushed raven's feathers that were somehow also a powder and not at all the texture of an actual raven's feathers. She applied it to her lashes first with a brush, shaking them out by blinking when she was done with her application. She could feel it clumping, but didn't have the heart to care as she moved onto the next stage of her disguise, which involved highlighting her eyes with the kohl. She did this by delicately pulling at the skin around her eye with her fingers as she delicately traced around her eye with a narrow pencil-like stick brush thing used to apply the kohl. She wasn't quite sure what the word for it was, and she never traced her eye very well because she spent all of her time worrying, (as much as someone as detached as she could worry), about poking herself in the eye by mistake as she was trying miserably to apply it, but she did her best. When she was done with that and her eye looked like the beginnings of a clown who had been punched in the face, Maya reached for a final container of eyeshadow. She opened it quickly, reached for a clean makeup brush, and dipped it inside the container before closing each of her eyes and dabbing the pale blue powder onto her eyelids until they were fully covered. Then brushing the powder in. When she was finished, she put everything down, closed everything up and knew her disguise was essentially complete. There were just a few more things she needed--to cover herself more fully with her clothes and to work on her walk so that she would be harder to pick out in a crowd. So that she would seem more natural with each of her movements and blend in more with the (mainly) humans who surrounded her now that she had come to Sunberth. Word Count: 1,185

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya felt as though it made the most sense to cover herself up a little more first. A) because it was easier to do than work on a walk. B) She had to get used to moving around in her clothes, especially in a way that didn't cause them to shift too much, so it made the most sense to dress herself first before moving on to the next stage of her disguise's development. Maya began by pulling her dress down as far as it would go, so that it covered her ankles. Then, she pulled her sleeves all the way down, to expose the least amount of skin possible on both her hands and wrists, (the fabric drew over the lower portion of her hand, just above where her wrists met her hands). And then she pulled her hood high up over her head, inched it forward a little, so it hung over her head, obscuring the upper portion in shadow. Satisfied that she was as covered as she could be and as fully obscured as she could be and as disguised solely with makeup as she could be, she pushed back her chair and rose from the table. It was time to practice her walk so she could call her disguise "complete." She needed to move in a way that suggested she wasn't a member of the walking dead, and in a way that didn't make her seem like she was going anywhere in a hurry as that may draw unwanted attention. She also needed to find a walk she could manage, something she could be consistent with, because inconsistency was a problem when it came to a disguise--it provided a window through which onlookers could discern the truth, and that was a problem she couldn't allow. Thus, she needed to find a sweet spot where her walk was just the right pace--not too slow, but not too hurried. Fluid and consistent. Something that wouldn't give her away in a human heartbeat. Had she still been alive, she may have taken a deep breath prior to moving. But she was no longer alive, she was caught somewhere between life and death. And although it had not been long since she began her journey walking between worlds, she seemed to have forgotten much of what it meant to be alive. What it meant to move, what it meant to truly feel, to connect with emotion as opposed to experience it from a space of extreme detachment. So, Maya simply began moving. She stepped across her flat from one side to the other, and then back again. She moved slowly. She tried to move a little faster this time and managed to pick up her face, but she moved awkwardly. She tried to glide, but she simply slithered. Well... slid? Waddled. That was it. She waddled, like a bloody penguin or a seal trying to make their way against the land. Flopping around on their flippers. It wasn't exactly graceful, but she kept at it. She kept on trying until she began to move more fluidly and at a more even pace. She kept on moving until she felt a lot more confident in her walk, and her skills--her ability to keep up her disguise, at least, when she wasn't under close scrutiny or a ton of pressure anyway. Even so, she kept on moving, making sure she had her walk--her even gait. Her slight gracefulness, no hint of a limp or leaning on one foot or leg more than the other. A straight back, hands swinging with her step, arms relaxed and at her sides. Yes, things were improving slowly and steadily, and although she technically had all the time in the world in which to practice, she also... didn't, because she did have to get to work at some time soon or the good doctor wouldn't be very pleased with her timeliness, or rather, her sheer lack thereof. Thus, Maya made a final round of her house, and satisfied that she could keep up appearances for a little while longer, (hopefully, at least the rest of the day until she returned home after work), she made for the front door. Within a moment, she had slipped outside into the crisp fall air and had shut the door behind her. From there, she began making her way through Sunberth's streets toward the place of her employment, working for the good doctor, who was often considered not such a good person although he was a good doctor... in the sense that he knew a lot about medicine and herbs, even if he didn't always put that knowledge to good use. As she moved through the city, she heard voices and saw shadows creeping toward her or farther away, depending on her movements and theirs. She saw someone get shanked in the streets, a scream die on their lips, and continued on, trying not to draw attention to herself as the body was looted. Luckily, she made it past that particular area, and that potential problem, unscathed, and had little more to her walk when she emerged on the other side. As the sun began to dip toward its after noon-day side, Maya began to move a little faster toward work. And before she knew it, she was almost there. And then she was there, at the familiar door. She went inside and was greeted by the familiar sound of screams, the voices of the tormented that the doctor held out back, against their will. And she was greeted too by footsteps and a familiar voice calling her into the Clinic's depths so she could get to work. Help the good doctor as was her job as his good doctor's assistant. Word Count: 960

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya crept through the shadows and past familiar and unnameable smells toward the back of the building, toward where she had heard the good doctor's voice coming from. Once she had closed the distance that had once rested between them and allowed her eyes to settle upon him, the nuit realized that the good doctor was busy at work, but not with a patient or one of his many experiments. She could hear something bubbling, popping softly from time to time and smell a myriad of things that mixed with the scents that normally filled the Clinic. Things she could not name. Just as she could see a number of tools and instruments out and about the Clinic's many surfaces for which she had not a name. "What are you working on?" she asked upon coming to a stop a few feet away from where the doctor was tinkering with a few vials of what looked to be crushed herbs. He blinked and looked up at her. "It's a quiet day today," he began. "So I thought it would be best to use the time to make some pills." A pause. "Pills?" Maya asked. The good doctor nodded. "Medicine for pain, for stomach upset, and perhaps, a few other things." Maya nodded. "I haven't had the pleasure of concocting pills before, so I'm not sure how to help in this situation," she admitted. There would be no point in trying to hide it from the doctor; he would realize soon enough when she began bumbling about his work area. "It's simple enough. Why don't you begin by keeping an eye on the honey?" he began. "I've already got it heating up, you just have to be sure not to burn it." The doctor gestured toward a yellowish-amber liquid, which was bubbling over a tiny fire. As soon as she saw it, Maya commented, "I doubt it'll need much longer in that case." The doctor looked up and peered at it, as though seeing the honey he had been heating up for the first time. "You're right, we could probably start pouring it into the molds now." A pause. "Take it off the fire for me, would you?" Maya nodded, reached for some gloves to protect her hands, which she saw resting nearby the pot on a counter, put them on, before taking the pot of honey away from the fire. She set it down on what appeared to be a protective covering, so it wouldn't burn anything before asking. "Should we put the fire out?" the doctor shook his head. "We may need it later." "Ok," Maya responded. "Now what should we do? "You said you wanted the honey to be poured into some sort of mold?" The good doctor nodded. "Should we wait for the honey to cool at all first?" The doctor shook his head. "No, we would only need to reheat the honey if it grew too cool--we couldn't make the pills properly if the honey became solid." Maya nodded. "Alright." The doctor moved closer, and then passed her. He reached for the mold--a roughly 10x10 inch square, with deep half-ovals cut into it. "Pour the honey into this so it's close to full and then let me know when you're done," the good doctor directed. "When you're done with this one, if you have any more honey left, pour it into the molds I left in the operating room. You should find them in the cabinet." Maya nodded. "Ok, doctor," she said as she reached for the mold, taking it from the doctor and placing it on a flat surface before her before reaching for the pot of molten honey. She could feel the heat coming off of it as she lifted it on unsteady arms, and tipped it over the mold. Although the honey poured out of the pot slowly, it poured in a clump, and although she carefully guided the contents over the mold to get it in each little compartment, Maya found that she overpoured more often than not, and the honey spilled over the mold between compartments. She knew she would have to clean it up later or the good doctor would be upset with her, but tried not to think of it as she filled the mold with honey before setting the pot of the remaining honey down. When she had finished setting the pot down, Maya grabbed the bottom of her skirt, shoved her right pointer finger through the fabric so it encased the limb in its entirety, and then used it to carefully wipe the spilled honey from around the mold. When she was finished, her skirt was messy, but she knew she could clean it later. With the honey beginning to cool, she popped it back onto the flame for a moment before heading into the other room to grab another mold--there was still enough honey left to fill most if not the entirety of a mold sheet. When she had retrieved it, she returned to where the good doctor was working--the place where she had left the mold behind. She found him carefully grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle, but ignored the sight in favor of her own work. Again, she grabbed the protective gloves before reaching for the pot of warm honey and pouring it over the mold she had just placed beside her first. Although she didn't make as much of a mess with the honey this time, there was still a mess. Still waste that she had to clean when she finished pouring. Maya quickly finished pouring the remaining honey into the mold she had retrieved, cleaned up the spills the same as she had before after setting the pot down, and then looked up at the doctor. "The honey has been poured into the molds, doctor. What do we do now?" she asked. The doctor looked up from his work with a small grunt. "Now, we need to add the herbs that the body will respond to. The things that make it a medicine. The honey itself is merely a delivery method--a sort of capsule that will harden around the herbs and make them easier for our patients to take." Maya nodded, that was pretty cool. "Are they meant to be chewed or swallowed in their entirety?" The doctor shrugged, "it could be either, although I think swallowing them with water works best." Maya nodded. "Now, we must work quickly before the honey hardens or all of our preparations will have been for nothing." He handed her a jar he had sitting on the table. It had some ground up herbs in it. Maya had no idea what any of it was, but one looked to be almost beige and the other was green. They formed a salt and pepper like powder together. If pepper could be green. "This jar contains a mixture of ground peppermint and ginger. They are both good for stomach problems--although they form a lovely tea, not everyone likes tea when it's not cold, so I like making pills when there's the time." Maya nodded. "What I'd like you to do is fill the eyedroppers we keep in the cabinet with this mixture and then drop a bit into each pile of honey. Try to keep the distribution even if you can, but this isn't a perfect science, so don't worry too much if it's not. And be quick about it! We cannot let the honey harden before we finish!" Maya nodded as she took the jar of herbs, "yes doctor," she said as she hurried to retrieve an eyedropper, filled it with the herbs without giving what she was doing much thought, and set to work. Word Count: 1,289

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya began with the honey-filled mold closest to her before working her way back, holding the dropper over each mold and carefully squeezing until a few flecks of ground herb had made their way onto the surface of the honey. They reminded her of fall's fresh fallen leaves dancing on a bed of still water. She wondered if they would sink over time or simply continue to lie there as she kept on working, making her way through the entirety of the first mold within a matter of minutes. When she was finished, she had used up most of the herbs, so she refilled the dropper before asking the doctor if she should add the same mixture to the remaining molds she had filled with honey earlier on during the course of her day. The good doctor grunted and nodded, so Maya quickly set to work, dropping a bit of the herb mixture into each of the honey molds she had filled earlier during the day. When she was finished, she set the dropper down on the counter and realized that she doubt the doctor simply wanted the herbs to sit on the surface. So, she would have to push them farther into the honey. She imagined it would get messy if she tried using her finger, which was likely too big anyway, so she would have to look for something smaller she could use to stir the mixture into the cooling honey. Maya knew that most of their tools were kept in the operating room, so she went to rummage around in there. A few minutes later, she returned to her work with a small metal pic she thought might have been used to clean out teeth or something. She wasn't entirely sure. After giving it a quick wipe on her dress so it was relatively clean, Maya set to work carefully stirring the herbs she had dropped onto each pile of honey into its depths. With each of her efforts, she found that honey clung to her instrument, and a little twirl rose from the honey's depths, so she had to clean the pic off from time to time as she continued to work, finishing the process of stirring the herbs into the honey within roughly half an hour's time. When she had finished working, she set the pic down after giving it a quick wipe to clean it off and turned to the doctor. "I've finished my work," she announced, simply. The doctor grunted. "Good, now we just have to wait for the honey to cool and harden; the weather should help it along." Maya nodded. Cool air had begun to creep into Sunberth with the coming of autumn, and wasn't likely to flee until spring arrived again a fair amount of time from now. "What would you like me to help you with now, doctor?" she asked. The doctor set down the next batch of herbs he had been grinding and turned to his assistant. "I was hoping you could help me test some medication I put together yesterday." Maya blinked. "What medicine would that be?" she asked. "Another batch of pills. I want you to try it and then I want to give a few to the boys out back to see what happens." Had Maya still been alive, she might have begun to break a sweat. But she was no longer alive, and her heart could not betray her. Nor could her emotions, her expression, for she was too distant to feel. It was clear the doctor was in another of his moods, although he had lulled her into a false sense of security by being kind and normal enough while she was working. "Where are these pills?" she asked carefully. The doctor retrieved them for her, handing them to Maya without a word. "How many should I take?" she asked. "And how many should we give to the others?" she added. "One should suffice... for now," the doctor replied. "And they're meant to be taken with water?" the doctor nodded. "Alright, give me a moment," Maya said as she set the container of pills down on the counter while she went to retrieve a container of water. It was just an empty jar they normally stored herbs in. One that hadn't been perfectly cleaned, for its contents still tickled Maya's nose and its remnants clung to the side of the jar, or floated in the water. She set it down on the counter after getting it, grabbed a pill, and eased it into her mouth. She couldn't really be harmed by it, she knew, if it was dangerous, but she also couldn't exactly take it, so she'd have to pretend. She carefully set the pill on her tongue and drew it back with her teeth before reaching for the water. She tipped the glass back, pretending to sip, swallowing heavily but fakely with a loud gulp. As she did so, she tucked the pill to the side of her teeth, where she hoped the good doctor wouldn't be able to see if he scrutinized her. When she was done with her little act of swallowing the pill, she set the jar of water down. "Now, we wait I suppose." The doctor nodded. "I suppose we can give the others their pills in the meantime." The doctor nodded as she set to work before heading off before the doctor could stop her. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what he had given her was supposed to do. Nor was she sure how the good doctor would react when whatever it was didn't happen to her. Word Count: 942