[Jarret's Clinic] A Necessary Evil [Tabarnac]

by **Maliken** on May 8th, 2011, 3:07 pm

Day 76th of Spring, AV 511

Maliken had been in town a few days, already managed to score a home, that Captain Astrid seemed a fairly accepting person to a possible new civilian in town. In fact, the captain even told Maliken of a small clinic owned by a man named Jarret. The Isur had no idea really what to expect, except that he was probably your typical doctor with medicine and bandages. Maliken herself was a Poison Crafter. At first glance, it might seem strange that someone that works with poisons would look for work for someone most likely to cure a patient from such a thing, but the truth was that creating poisons was the best way to know how to fight poisons. It had plenty of medicinal uses, and that was going to be her argument. Back in Sultros she worked for a doctor doing precisely the same thing, except out here where you could see the sky by looking out your window, the opportunities to learn and the herbs you were exposed to were so much greater, rather than moss, lichen, and shady mushrooms, that she felt like she would need years to find new recipes.

Maliken rapped lightly on Jarret's Clinic door as she waited for an answer. Her small, convenient Crafting Kit was neatly put away and worn across her pack like some common pack. It was the easiest way to carry such a thing when you were short and short-handed. "I heard I could find work here, is anybody here?"

by **Tabarnac** on May 8th, 2011, 7:37 pm

"Ow!" whined a rather grubby little boy who was sitting on a chair while a querulous old man bent over to daub at his split brow with a clean bit of gauze folded up and dipped in ethanol. Many physicians and herbalists liked to put a lot of things on a wound, but Master Jarret was of a mind that keeping things clean allowed the body to take care of itself. That's what it was designed to do, after all.

"If you would hold still, it would be over faster," he grumped. "If you were not an idiot boy, you wouldn't be in here at least once a week with something that needs fixing."

But the boy's pain was immediately forgotten when he saw the short woman walk in after knocking, his mouth dropping into a silent O. Jarret looked over his shoulder, said, "be right with you," and turned to finish up quickly while the boy was distracted.

by **Maliken** on May 9th, 2011, 4:20 pm

Maliken stepped inside, since the door was open and there didn't seem to be anybody that would particularly mind her being there. She assumed people did this quite often in fact. As she stepped in, she heard the casual conversation between the man, probably the doctor of sorts, and the little kid, obviously the victim of being a child, careless and wild. Maliken looked around, not terribly disappointed from what she expected, but then saw the child staring at her. Was he shocked? His lips parted in a sort of surprised or distracted manner as he watched her. She smiled a little. Smiled, it was the first time in a long time, but children had a tendency to do that, if only a little. She silently waved to the child as the doctor worked on saving his life, or some other smaller operation of lesser significance. She moved away from the door and over towards the wall and stood there until the old man had finished and paid more attention to her.

"I am. Here. To work for you." Maliken would slide off the pack she wore on her back and held it out to show to the doctor. It was her portable poison crafting kit. Small, but enough for small limited tasks. "I can make poison, and I want to create antidotes. I want to help and I need money."

by **Tabarnac** on May 15th, 2011, 2:02 am

"Yes, yes," he said, still facing the young scalawag. "That's what my last apprentice said, and he turned out to be a great big embarrassment who moved back to Avanthal when he realized that he wasn't to be the princess of Denval. Couldn't even make a proper tincture before he left, but oh no, he knew better than old Jarret."

The boy was trying not to laugh, but at least that distracted him from trying not to cry out. The old man grunted, then shoved him off the chair.

"I'll put it on your tab, little monkey rat. Tell your mother I want some of the good cheese this week."

His patient nodded, mumbled his thanks, and bowed to Maliken, apropos of nothing, and kept stealing glances at her as he made his halting exit. Meanwhile Jarret turned around, hands on his hips as he scowled at her.

"Well, what can you do? Specifically."

by **Maliken** on May 17th, 2011, 5:06 pm

It didn't take a genius to catch that scowl from the human. Maliken stared at him for a moment, wondering just what it is she did to anger him, but tossed the concern aside and assumed he was just an old prick that was angry, not specifically at her. She lowered the poison crafting kit gently to the floor. She had this strange feeling that somebody's past mistakes were going to bite her. "I know a little about medicine, not much, but I have knowledge of poisons, and I know that certain poisons can be used to help in specific medical situations. Such as a child that needs medical treatment, hysterical, unable to control the shaking of the body from pain, a little Engeron Bane will put him to sleep for nearly a full day." Of course there were risks involved, but there were always risks involved. Digging an arrowhead out of someone's chest risked severing arteries and veins, or infection. Poisons were the same, they had effects, but they could always have unexpected side effects.

"And what I can't do is return home. It is forbidden, so I have nowhere to run away to once reality tells me life isn't perfect and I'm not some princess." Maliken was sarcastic now. She knew very well life wasn't perfect. Hell, she didn't think it could get much more difficult for her. A one-armed Isur, it was practically a joke. "My left arm has been amputated. I can't work in a forge, I can fight with any skill, my options for making a living are limited, so I am here, asking you to take me in, to teach me, and have me help you in anyway I can. I'm not asking for much, just enough to feed myself. The poisons are good, antidotes shouldn't be impossible to discover." Maliken sighed, staring up at 'Old Jarret', as he called himself. Denval wasn't closed off to the world anymore, people would be coming more often, poisons, like all things, spread with the movement of people.

by **Tabarnac** on May 23rd, 2011, 5:49 am

He looked her up and down, but mostly down because she was shorter than him. Of course she was on the receiving end of his ire that was rightfully directed at one Alodian, big lump of a Vantha who had worked for a few weeks and then split. Scared of the voluptuous Denvali ladies, he was sure, but he had nobody to whom he could complain. Enter Maliken, target extraordinaire.

"Well. I don't suppose you'll have any references." He sighed, long-suffering in his mind, but really just old and crotchety. He wasn't bad, but grumpy. "No marks from Siku or Rak'keli?" he asked suspiciously. He respected a person who worked with their natural gifts and knowledge more than those who relied upon the power of the gods to see them through. Crutches, those kinds of powers, or perhaps he was just jealous.

"I can teach you a thing or two about poison, and not just the medicinal values, if you catch my meaning. Well, have you got a place to stay or do you need my spare room? And don't think you can shirk your duties because you're missing an arm. I'm not without compassion, but I'm running a business here."

by **Maliken** on May 23rd, 2011, 9:39 pm

Maliken returned the inquisitive examinations, though she was certain she found a much less intriguing specimen. She was an Isur, he was a Human, that made her more interesting in a town of mostly humans by Default. She was female, he was old, that made her more appealing to him, most likely, than he was to her. She was average height for an Isur, he was fairly average for a Human, again nothing interesting by either of them, unless he was just unfamiliar with seeing people significantly shorter than he was. Of course, she had a single arm, amputation of the other one, that made her much more interesting to study than he, who had only a few wrinkles on his forehead to combat. She shrugged to herself and waited until he finished his visual inhale of her person.

"No references." It was without shame or arrogance, mainly just an echoing confirmation of the old man's assumptions, which were logical to begin with. "Only marked by Izurdin. Siku and Rak'keli have yet to find me intriguing." Maliken hadn't considered the chances of getting marked by either of those two goddesses, but now that it was brought up, she actually found herself thinking about it, how interesting that could be. "I will learn if you will teach." Maliken didn't comment on the innuendo of learning poisons for more notorious purposes. She knew very well how poisons worked, they were meant to kill, to main, to damage, to wound. Antidotes just intrigued her almost as much as poison did itself. "I have been lent a place to stay, but it is temporary. If you have a spare room, I would be thankful." In his debt would be more like it, a place she wasn't comfortable being in, but she would at least be able to work her way out of it and perhaps even be profitable for the man. "The world is without compassion even because of my condition. I do not expect to be cared for as some child anymore. I am nearly a grown woman." If she were human, she'd already be hitting that age of fading strength and vigor, but as an Isur, she was just barely an adult, if even that.

"If you tell me to leave, I will not argue or fight your decision. I will not be a burden."

by **Tabarnac** on May 24th, 2011, 1:50 pm

"Very well," he said. He reminded himself that this maimed Isur woman was not his faithless Vantha student, and if the restrictions of her body made her less capable an assistant in certain venues, her specialty intrigued him. "You have your place for now. I'm sure Captain Astrid in her infinite generosity has let you a place for the season without rent. When the time comes to start paying you can decide whether a bit of distance from me is worth the money."

He nodded toward the hall and led her finally into a dark, cool room full of supplies: roots, herbs, and other things that needed to be kept in such a controlled environment. It also made a handy workroom, where everything was close by.

"Well, now. Let's see what you can do." He waved toward the equipment and supplies, which were abundant with Kalean natives, but also had modest supply of more exotic fare.

by **Maliken** on June 7th, 2011, 2:12 am

"Thank you. I will let you know soon, my decision." It was kind to offer a place for her, though living alone had its own comforts. She would consider this later.

As Maliken stepped into the room, her eyes lit up instantly. The darkness did not bother her, she was used to darkness, the Isur lived under the earth, they could see through the darkness as if it wasn't there. Her breath stopped itself as she gazed around the small room. It was small, compact, but there was everything here to do whatever it was she could want. Samples of herbs, glass containers of aquatic insects, slugs, plants. The tools were vast, things she hadn't seen since Sultros, and others still she wasn't familiar with. This place, this would be perfect for her. Maliken exhaled after a long moment, then turned to look up at Jarret.

"Let's see what you can do."

Maliken smiled as she peered back into the room. He didn't have to ask the Isur twice, she wanted this, worse than she originally thought she did. This is truly where she was interested in being. It didn't matter if it was Sultros, Denval, or the depths of the ocean. If she could make poison, medicine, study plants, she would be happier. She peeled off the large robe, it was a burden to her now. A burden, though helped in disguising that missing arm of hers, she wouldn't accept. Work was to be done now. She was ready to shed her shame and get her hand into action once again.

She stepped inside the room, moving in front of the large desk, obviously set up for someone slightly taller than a solid five foot in height, and reached out. Her ink-black, Izurdin-harden hand picked up a jar. She reached inside with her thin probing fingers and extracted a small sample of a vine. "The Assassin Vine. It reminds me of home, it was plentiful on the surface of the mountains near Sultros. I learned, as a youngling, on this vine. Can you light a small fire? I need to burn it." Maliken looked up at Jarret again. She had difficulty using flint and steel in her current state, and since she hadn't learned Reimancy as she was meant to as a child, conjuring a flame wasn't an option. She had no tool to create fire for her. Such a tool would be sacred to her.

"I must, philter, the ash of the vine. I'm not good with philtering... I've only seen it done." Maliken swallowed dryly as she waited for a response, an 'okay' to continue or something or rejection. If he allowed her, and assisted her, then she could continue and would do her best to remember how it all worked.

by **Tabarnac** on June 11th, 2011, 3:58 am

Jarret moved quietly and efficiently to help her, making no word, garrulous or otherwise. He turned a little wheel on a clever burner, much of the delicate glasswork done imported from Wind Reach, then held something that looked like tongs over the output. When he squeezed his hands, the flint on one tong scraped against metal and a small shower of sparks fell into the gas and lit. He set aside a metal tray as well, for the vine to burn, then took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth. The smoke would not kill him, but he was old and his constitution was no match for a young human, let alone a young Isur.

He gave no approval or rejection, merely observed and assisted, giving her enough rope to hang herself or enough to span the chasm and prove herself. Of course, she already had the job, but if she were talented and skilled, he would actually care whether she learned and drill her all the harder. Perhaps that was why Alodian had fled Denval.