Gigi
Approved
5 Cleric of Graves
Posts: 109 
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Post by Gigi on May 12, 2019 5:08:47 GMT
7/35 hp
The blood on Kara's hand was met with no hesitation as Gigi gave a secure, tight, handshake. "Yeah, and you didn't have to step in. So, fair's fair. It's settled." Two strangers brought together by the adrenaline of potential death, no big deal.
Gigi pulled away from the handshake first, another fit of coughing seizing her lungs. Right, the spores. They'd had no resistance entering though her wounds, and her body was still trying to fight it off. Slipping to one knee, coughing still, the healer pounded her metal fist on the ground as a hint of bluetone took her vision. The frustration was evident.
"Fine, fine." She grumbled to herself, reaching into her hip pouch and pulling out a small rectangle box - and taking out a cigarette. Took a poison to kill a poison after all. Lighting the tip with green fire that pooled in her palms, working quickly still kneeling on the ground, Gigi muttered a strange word, 'Marammat' and took a deep inhale of her cigarette. Green sparks filled her lungs, tinging the smoke she exhaled green. "Fucking hell."
The poison wrecking her body evaporated at her spell word, the ability actual proving she could correctly cast spells - unlike her poor success against the beastie.
If Kara had tried to bend down, offer help, or reach out a hand of support it would have been pushed away, violently, and a clear sneer of "I'll handle it myself." If not? Then the warrior would have no clue to hit to her own pride it was to be on her knee dying of poison when she should have been able to force her way through it before it became a problem.
Groaning she stood back up, passing her cigarette into her metal hand as she took stock of herself and Kara. They were both in bad shape - but Kara seemed to have had a great set of armor to keep most injuries at bay. Gigi? Her jacket was sliced open, revealing the metal left arm. Her pants were shreds. Blood was just starting to clot though sluggishly bleed still.
"It's a bit of a walk from here, but I can patch you up a lot better in my office than I can out here. Least I can do." She looked down at the beast, then over to where the mutilated corpse of Merryfingers lay scattered, walked over, and settled a shimmer of purple necromatic fire over his corpse that sunk in and dissipated into him. "Might even ask if you wouldn't mind bringin' him with us too. I'll dress 'em up and see if we can't do something about his state of existence." While she couldn't bring someone back yet, Nine could. "And then, once that's set? I've got a rogue bird to track down."
That bit was said with significantly more venom. Robin hadn't seen the last of her, not by a long shot. A dagger was slipped out of the base of her boot, a small almost scalpel like sized thing, but the edge on it seemed like it made up for its petite size. With the tool Gigi began to make precise and thought-through slices and nicks - she was beginning to remove the head of the vulture beast.
Lesser Restoration used to purge poison effect
Gentle Repose on the corpse
3/4 level 1 spells used
3/3 level 2 spells used
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Post by moralhazard on May 12, 2019 5:18:54 GMT
Kara coughed once more, and felt the last of the wracking pain vanish. She wiped her bloody mouth on her armor, breathing hard. She watched Gigi kneel; there wasn’t much she could do, in all honesty, to help someone coughing up their lungs from poison. Kara left Gigi to deal with it herself, trusting from the spells she’d seen that Gigi was much more likely than she was to be able to manage it.
Instead, Kara went to fetch the leather cover for her glaive – lined, recently, with a removal cloth cover – and slid it onto the weapon. She strapped the glaive to the makeshift harness on her back. Finally, she picked up the discarded metal place, tucking it away as well; no sense in leaving it behind when the half-plate could be replaced. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d needed repairs.
By the time Kara came back, Gigi was back on her feet smoking a cigarette. Kara blinked, but didn’t ask. She nodded at the suggestion of healing; a binding for her ribs and something to make sure none of the cuts from the demon got infected would be very helpful. If Gigi could manage more than that, Kara would be grateful.
Kara followed Gigi’s gaze to the corpse lying on the ground. She’d never seen him alive, and she looked back sharply at Gigi, with considerable respect, at the idea that there might be something that could still be done. Kara made her way over to the body, looking down at it for a moment. There were scattered gray bits that Kara recognized as intestines lying around it, and the smell was – beyond foul.
Kara had smelled worse.
With a mental shrug, she knelt and picked up some of the squishy gray bits, sort of – tucking them back into the body. She wasn’t entirely sure how it would work, but she imagined the more they had of him, the better. Then, with no apparent effort despite the half foot of height the bard had had on her in life, Kara scooped him up and rose, carrying the body back to Gigi.
“Bird?” Kara glanced back behind them at the monstrous bird they’d slain, then back to Gigi, watching as she hacked the thing’s head off its neck. She paused. Where had the monster come from? As far as Kara knew, it had just appeared out of the alley. She thought about asking, then shrugged and let it go. She was fairly sure Gigi hadn’t wanted it there, and it was dead now. That was enough for Kara.
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Gigi
Approved
5 Cleric of Graves
Posts: 109
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Post by Gigi on May 12, 2019 5:33:15 GMT
Whittling away at the neck of the creature, ultimately freeing it from the rest of its corpse, Gigi stood up again with the trophy on her shoulder. "Good, you grabbed some of his organs. He'll need those." Yeah, Nine could deal with the corpse - her fault she was out here to begin with.
"Guy who hired me on to keep him on his feet while he tracked down this thing. Said it would be his honor or some rot - wasn't really listening. He owes me money now. And like hell he's getting credit for the kill either. Half of it's yours."
Gesturing with her head, a sort of 'come on' motion Gigi began leading them across the Dock Ward and into the Castle Ward, growing closer and closer to the City of the Dead. Gigi didn't talk much, if at all, once they started walking - content to bring herself down from the adrenaline high via the cacco and brown sugar taste of her poison of choice. Aware of how bad it would look to be seen carrying a dead mutilated body Gigi took the back route home, weaving through the alleys and questionable paths until the two were standing in the slums just south of the City of the Dead There was a smell in the air that wasn't quite right. The buildings looked a little on the 'worse' side of worse for wear, and were crooked. This one in particular? It was pretty shabby, and not anywhere in the chic way. The door was closed shut, windows shuttered closed all through the 3, maybe 4 floors it had peaking into the main street, and had no personality whatsoever.
Sighing she looked the shorter woman over, then turned back to face the house. "Let's get you both inside." Her first words since the battle scene. Stepping through into the house, well, there wasn't much. A small kitchenette with a round table and three chairs around it. A sitting area was to the right with a low table and slumpy couch and overstuffed chair. A stairwell was to the left of the kitchen, where Gigi was now going upwards.
"Come on, room's up here. I'll get you topped off and you can be on your way." She called down over her shoulder, a bit more at ease now that she was at home. Passing two doors to the farthest one down the short hallway -clearly the house was more narrow than anything else, but long- and opened the door to what could only be a strange mash-up of a personal bedroom and doctor's workstation.
Candles, all lighting as she waved her hand over the room in general, were everywhere. Wood was the primary building material inside, and barely any personal possessions lined the few shelves and single small bookcase pushed up against the wall - where a cigarette tray and a collection of rolling tools and materials sat. A small wardrobe was next to the window, right where the curtain separation would butt against. A small bed was in the corner with a single pillow and blanket -all sort of off color and nondescript. They were old and already well used by the time they had found a home here it would seem. No rugs warmed the floor, no paintings or decorations were on the walls. No proof of family, loved ones, or any sort of relationship indicator could be seen. A lockbox style chest was under the window, though right now it was open and seen to contain various metal working tools and scrap metal, wire, and other strange odds and ends.
What took up the larger amount of space though was a curtained off footprint with more candles, several bowls of herbs and incense, various surgical tools (all much better condition then what you would have expected), a stack of worn but clean towels, and a hybrid between a cot and a bed that seemed like it could bend in the center and be supported by stilts. Jugs of water and other shallow dishes were on the larger workstation against the wall.
Shrugging off the tattered remains of her jacket and tossing it on the bed Gigi turned to pull the curtain away towards the wall, so there was no temporary barrier in the room. She looked from her guest to the bed, to the table, back again, the floor, then frowned. "Alright, so just set the body here, on the floor…" She ran her hand through her hair, puffs of smoke rising between her lips. "And you? Just.... Hang out here on the table a moment. I'm gonna get someone else to take the corpse."
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Post by moralhazard on May 12, 2019 5:43:38 GMT
Kara was just as happy not to talk at all on the walk through the city. It wasn’t like it was a lot of work to carry the corpse; it wasn’t even terribly awkward to balance him, because unlike someone alive, it didn’t really matter if she had to keep him at a comfortable angle. But the high of the battle was gone, leaving behind it a sense that Kara had come very nearly dying.
She replayed the fight in her head as they walked. She had been lucky, Kara decided. It seemed like the monster hadn’t taken them seriously, not until the end. She’d had a lot of good blows, some skill, some luck. If not for Gigi, Kara thought it was more than likely her corpse would have also lain on the alley floor.
Kara wouldn’t have regretted it. Better to die trying than to live with letting such a creature loose on the city.
Kara came to that conclusion – and the conclusion that ought to be carrying her javelins around – almost right at the time when she reached the small, crooked building that Gigi seemed to be leading her to. Kara glanced up at him, then at Gigi, a small frown wrinkling her face, but she nodded when Gigi suggested going inside, and followed her in and up the stairs.
Kara stood at the doorway into the room, surveying it curiously. The room didn’t look bare to her; she didn’t think much about it, in truth. Her own room was much the same, except that she rented it at an inn, and slept on a bedroll on the floor. Obligingly, Kara set the body down on the floor. She took her glaive off, resting it against the wall. She had to hop up a little to sit on the table, but she did so without complaint. Her feet dangled off the edge of the table, boots swinging quite a bit above the floor, but Kara stayed put where she was, waiting patiently.
Curiously, her eyes roamed over the herbs and incense and the surgical tools. It looked, disappointingly, rather like a normal medic’s station; Kara had expected something more from someone who could raise the dead.
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Gigi
Approved
5 Cleric of Graves
Posts: 109
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Post by Gigi on May 12, 2019 5:55:46 GMT
Gigi left to walk down the hallway, opening a door next to hers without knocking. There, in a room similar to hers, was a taller skeletal woman with just as a distinctive look as Gigi. The side of her dirty blonde and brown hair was braided in tight cornrolls against her scalp with the other half of her head in dreads. Spiky bangs covered her forehead while the shoulder length hair pooled on the pillow under her head. Tattoos lined her body just as much, if not more, than what Gigi had, her patterns showing in abstract shapes that would look more in place for a wizard than anyone else. 0s and 1s dotted the shapes. She wore a baggy tank top and tight leather pants with a wide studded belt. And to top it off? She was chewing gum, popping the bubbles loudly.
"Sup Geeg." She said as if one entering the room without notice was common place. Her eyes widened as she took stock of Gigi's still obviously wounded body. "Shitttt man."
"You owe me for this stupid contract you signed me up for. You know what he was after? A giant vulture bird demon thing!" Gigi let her pent up temper from the experience billow out towards her roommate. "And this is the fucking result." She threw the head at Nine, who caught it with a grossed out look on her face. "Now, I have a corpse and a halfling in my room - you get to deal with the corpse."
Having turned the vulture's head to stare at its cloudy eyes Nine whistled and popped her gum. "Fuck man, a vrock?" Gigi huffed through her nose. Of course Nine would know what it was. "Shittt."
Rolling her eyes Gigi left Nine to start preparing her own medical space for what would essentially be a resurrection.... Of sorts. Raise Dead was just as effective, if a little unpredictable, if you had to jerry rig some organ implants.
Entering back into the room Gigi was pleased to see Kara on the table. "Right, thanks." Awkward but polite, Gigi began to prep herself for spellcasting, pushing aside her current fusterations to focus. "This will work best if you can doft your armor. I can even mend it after a bit if we need to cut any straps to make remove easier," she gestured to the tinker table by the window and continued. "I'll need to be able to put my hand on your chest, skin to skin, for this to work best." The healer turned her back as Kara hopefully would begin to strip off her armor and took one of the towels and soap and began to scrub her arm clean.
"Anything else, injuries wise, you might want someone to take a look at while you're here? I can re-heal scarred muscle, re-set poorly healed bones - that sorta thing. And I can promise you, by my word as a healer, anything you say or confine in me, will remain between us. I will never use the knowledge gained to harm or attack you, in any way. I will sense any injuries you have once we begin, it's just easier to know where to focus form the start. So, no use trying to hide anything."
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Post by moralhazard on May 12, 2019 13:31:24 GMT
Kara hopped back off the table - it was hard to take half plate off sitting - and began the process of removing the armor. She took the gauntlets off first, glancing around before making a small pile on the floor at the edge of the table. With how the armor was shaped and fitted, it would much easier to just take it off than to try and remove only the chest parts.
Some of the chest plates were badly bent from the talons; one in particular was pressing into Kara’s ribs, and the world went briefly white when she pulled it away. Pain lanced through the broken ribs it had been supporting. Kara made an awkward, stifled noise and gripped the table with one small hand, shuddering. It was mostly an act of will to stay standing, but she did, even though her face was pale beneath its tan and sweat beaded on her skin.
After a moment the worst of it passed. As if nothing had happened, Kara went back to removing the pieces of her armor, until all of it was healed on the ground.
Beneath the half-plate Kara wore a black shirt, short sleeved. It was ripped open from the monster’s talons, and bloodied. Her arms were bare today - she hasn’t wrapped them. Kara stripped the shirt off and folded it, setting it on the edge of the table, so all she wore on her upper body was a slightly bloody breastband. She hadn’t taken off her leather pants or boots. She wore a sort of necklace, a woven leather thong with a bear claw dangling from it.
Kara sat on the table again, hands in her lap, and waited for Gigi. Her torso was a mass of bruises; the armor had clearly protected her from cuts, but it would be obvious how hard the monster had hit. Some masked bruised and broken ribs; others were just superficial. The one wound on her side had three scrapes from the claws, deep and painful looking. The only other serious injury was her head, scraped in several long lines along the shaved side. The bleeding had stopped at least, although lines from it ran down her neck and halfway down her front and back.
Kara was all muscle. Sitting and resting, without any apparent flexing, she had visible definition in her arms, back and stomach, including a rippling six pack. She also looked, more or less, like she was all scars. There were three slashes on her shoulder, as if a bear had hit her. There was a recent looking red line down the side of her torso, with tell-tale marks where she had been stitched together. There were plenty of other marks on her torso as well; slashes on her sides from swords, slits left behind where daggers had been plunged in, and a scar on her back that looked like someone had tried to chop her down with an axe. She had a few burn scars as well, including a hand-sized splotch on one side of her front.
Her arms weren’t any better. Both were heavily marked with scars from her shoulders down, including what looked like it must have been a particularly nasty wound to her left bicep. Her wrists were ringed with pale, chafed looking scars, and almost every one of her fingers had scarring, in addition to the back of her hands.
Scarred muscle and poorly healed bone. Kara looked down at herself, taking Gigi’s offer seriously and thinking it over. “Collarbone,” she said, finally. It had been broken and healed during the resistance; by the time she got out of Sundabar, after the war ended, the healers then had told her it was too late to do much but it hadn’t healed well, and would probably hurt for a long time, and be in danger of re-breaking. The pain had long since gone, but Kara would prefer to never break her collarbone again.
Otherwise? There were plenty of scars that pulled when she stretched, but as long as she kept limber nothing pained her or hurt when she woke. None of it slowed her down either. The red line on her side Caim had healed; it had scarred but there wasn’t any pain beneath it.
Kara waited for Gigi now, sitting still and patient, locked firmly upright with her feet still dangling above the floor.
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Gigi
Approved
5 Cleric of Graves
Posts: 109
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Post by Gigi on May 12, 2019 18:30:37 GMT
Things had to hurt before they got better - a notion displayed by the hisses and grunts she heard from Kara as she removed her armor. She would have helped, but, warriors she knew could be finnicky about their armor being touched by others. Plus? She had her own prep to finish. Which was delayed a hot second the moment she turned around to see armor-less Kara.
The low whistle was obvious as to what she thought of that.
This was going to be a bigger heal then she thought...
Turning around to go back to one of the drawers Gigi rummaged around until she found the heavier stuff she generally kept out of her healers kit. A vial holding several ounces of a shimmering green liquid, similar in color to the green her tattoos glowed, a syringe, and a silk length of rope. In a well practiced motion Gigi tied off her right arm, drew a precise amount out of the vial, tapped it, then pinched the needle into a vein. The concentrated healer serum called 'Poppy' whispered into her veins at the same time Gigi pushed the last bit of her natural healing power into preparing herself for a long healing dive.
Healer's kit use, Gigi heals: 4+4 hit die (+8 total)
YkVSICe61d6+8
Cure light wounds lvl 1:
1d8+4
The drug was a unique one, and everyone reacted to it differently - if you were someone who used the healing arts at least. Clerics, druids, even some sorcerers, wizards, and the like, if they could channel or use the restoration arts? A hit of poppy opened up those healing channels to let them push beyond what their bodies could do.
The aftereffects varied as well.
Nine? She lost three of her five traditional senses, hearing, sight, touch, taste, or smell - the combination was always different. Magma, one of the Bird's other fledgling healers and Gigi's own apprentice, suffered migraines and distorted sight. And Gigi? She was pulled into a healing coma like state where her body was as motionless as a corpse. The effects were impossible to circumvent. Impossible to ignore. But when you were on it? The power of life was in your veins.
"I will be placing my metal hand on your forehead and my other on your chest where your heart sits. Once this happens I will be calming my breathing and syncing it with yours. Just focus on breathing slowly at a pace comfortable for you - I'll be doing all the work. Close your eyes or leave them open, it's up to you. Once I've synced to your breathing and pulse I will begin to touch my consciousness to yours, then slip into the subconscious layer. There will not be any sort of thought sharing, but there might be something strange, like the feeling you get when someone is standing behind you but you haven't looked to see them yet, to confirm they're there."
By this point it seemed Kara was as settled as she would be. The candles were steady with no flickering. Incense had been lit to fill the room with a light woodsy and floral scent. Sandalwood, bergamot, jasmine, honeysuckle. Settling down Gigi leaned on the medical cot, as she slowly rotated her neck to relieve the tension that had built. "It will look like, even though I'm standing, that I'm deep asleep, or even unconscious, depending on how long it takes me to pull your injuries out of you. Anything beyond that? It's hard to describe until you've felt what a dive feels like. I'll head the fresh wounds first, then take a look at the collarbone and freshen up anything else I might find. Do you agree?"
She was sure there was a host of damaged muscles, organs, and bones underneath all those scars...
For a deep dive procedure like this she always wanted to be sure the patient in question on her table agreed. Unless in the heat of battle, and life or death was literally on the line, she always gained clear consent.
At her agreement? Gigi closed her own eyes and placed her hands where she said she would. Feeling her pulse she matched breathing patterns, slowly sinking to the point where she could hear Kara's heartbeat in her ears overlapping her own. It took a while, Gigi falling into a meditative like sleep, the green glow of her tattoos growing and fading to match the duo's breathing with the soft light of a firefly.
The out of body experience of healing someone from the inside out, only possible due to the divine gifts she'd been given, was the only place where Gigi felt like she was in command and pursuing something she was actually good at. Years of pouring over medical scrolls to learn the body systems. Countless practice sessions with Nine so she could know instinctively what was wrong with a body. Gigi's consciousness was floating inside Kara's body as a green light of rejuvenating energy.
The recent lacerations were obvious. But everything that lay under? The fog cloud version of the healer couldn't believe was she was sensing. There was the collarbone, as she had mentioned. But there were a number of other offset bones, fissure cracks, and joints that were already so torn up Gigi was impressed Kara was still walking as fluently as she was.
Urging the green to knit together skin from the inside out, refreshing the heart to reduce strain and calming the lungs to breathe easier. Muscles were given a top notch internal massage, the fatigue that would have been left sucked up like a sponge so no stiff aftereffects remained. One scar in particular was quite angry - that had been one that'd nearly brought the glaive warrior to the other side, she was sure of it.
Spring cleaning was happening inside Kara, all totally normal, if a bit on the 'shit fuck damn lots of it' side of things. Perfectly normal and expected. Until Gigi's consciousness skimmed the brain.
There was damage here. Bruising. Personality changing, bruising. There, on the frontal lobe.
That was unexpected, though not impossible given the host of other injuries.
Leaving the brain bruising for now, that wasn't something she wanted to touch without another healer nearby or without Kara's knowledge of what was going on. That... That wasn't a one and done heal job.
Pulling out back into her own body, stiff and sore from the magnitude of old wounds she's absorbed to herself to purge out of her self later Gigi lifted her hands off of Kara and took a stuttered step back. Black dots began dancing at the edge of her vision - she wouldn't have long before her body went into its healing coma. Penalty for healing past what the fates allowed.
Kara heals a maxed out lvl 2 cure light wounds: 20 points due to custom drug Poppy use by Gigi (mimics Circle of Mortality ability at the highest spell level) Gigi in turn takes that 20 points of damage into herself as fatigue.
"There, you should feel quite more like the young 20 something you are instead of the battle veteran who drinks late into the night at the taverns. A good night's rest should take care of the lingering aches you've got." She'd peg Kara at being no older than 23 based on the physical impression she'd gained while in her dive. The light from the window showed a few hours has passed, the candles burned halfway.
At some point Nine must have come in and collected the corpse, it wasn't there anymore.
"I found something too, in the dive." Gigi expanded, sounding tired. "Your, well, there's no good way to say it. Your brain is bruised. Badly. Frontal lobe - that's the part that controls, personality mostly. Movement too, and your ability to smell if you've ever had issues smelling things." Not the best bedside manner, but Gigi wasn't one to sugarcoat her scan readings. "It's a series of dives to repair it, and I'd need help. But it is repairable." She cut herself off with a yawn then, those dark spots getting bigger. "We can meet up later, if you'd like, once you've thought about it. It's an old bruise, so you've prolly learned to live with the changes. But, you don't need to."
Kara hp: 24/65 -> 44/65
Gigi hp: 7/35 -> 29/35 -> 9/35
Gigi: all spell slots used
Custom Potion
Poppy - drug
This vibrant green, highly viscous, potion can be used by healers of all types to push past their own limits of what they can heal in a day. Must be injected into the bloodstream. One of the seven custom drugs crafted by the Little Birds
Grants user one additional use of highest spell slot for a cure spell only. This extra spell slot is taken from the next day's casting ability, ie, after a long rest the user has -1 highest spell slot at the beginning of the day. The points healed are fueled by the caster's own HP pool, therefore the caster takes the amount healed in damage. Caster suffers some sort of RP withdraw immediately after spell is used; a sense is lost (ie, smell, sight), forced coma, migraines, etc. Up to player.
If Cleric of Graves, mimics the Circle of Mortality ability and maxes HP. Other effects based on Cleric type (Life, Death, etc) or other caster (wizard, druid, etc.) determined by different class features that make sense for that class.
Poppy only has an effect on someone who can use healing spells or healing abilities. If non-healer takes a dose, nothing happens.1d6+8·1d8+4
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Post by moralhazard on May 12, 2019 19:28:36 GMT
Something flickered across Gigi’s face when she saw Kara, some emotion Kara couldn’t quite identify. She glanced down at herself, then back at Gigi. The bruising was bad, but she’d had worse, and recently. Kara didn’t say anything in response, letting Gigi finish her preparations. Gigi explained what she was going to do; Kara nodded, slowly. Breathe, slowly, and let the healer – inside her. Kara’s hands tightened into little fists on her legs. The idea of sitting with a feeling like someone was behind her made her feel tense and anxious. She exhaled that out, slowly, coming to terms with it. She was here and safe. The battle was over. Kara wasn’t sure what she would have thought of Gigi if the two had simply come across one another, but – after fighting side by side, Kara trusted her, at least for this. Kara nodded slowly. After a few awkward moments, she realized Gigi seemed to want her to speak. Kara cleared her throat. “Yes,” she said. Slowly, the balled fists on her legs relaxed, hands opening and smoothing out against the leather pants. Kara focused on her breathing, keeping it slow and smooth and steady like she might in meditation as Gigi approached her. She focused on the smells of the room – soft and pleasant, flowery, with hints of smells that Kara didn’t recognize. She had to fight to stay relaxed as the healer approached; Gigi would be able to see the tension flicker through her muscles, holding them more taut before they relaxed again, an effort of will and mental control that she’d made many times before. Kara watched the green glow of Gigi’s tattoos grow, keeping her attention focused on that and her breathing as the healer’s hands touched hers – warm skin on her chest, cooler metal against her forehead. She kept her breath slow and rhythmic – in and out. In and out. The glow of the tattoos seemed to shift to match her. Kara could feel Gigi behind her. It wasn’t like what she’d imagined; it didn’t feel like the prickling sensation of an enemy at her back. Instead it felt like – like standing back to back with a squadmate in the heat of battle. You didn’t have to see them to know they were there; you felt it, bolstering you against the fight. Slowly, Kara let her eyes close. She could keep her breathing even and steady while her thoughts wandered, if she so wished, as long as she stayed relaxed. The sense of tension at Gigi’s touch was fading away; Kara could tell it wouldn’t take conscious effort from her to be calm. She set her breathing, not letting the rhythm alter, and drifted away, back into memory.
“Daddy?” Kara’s eyes flickered open, and she let out a little groan, head aching.
Vanka smiled, smoothing Kara’s hair off her forehead. “He’s just stepped out. You took a pounding, little guardsman.”
Kara closed her eyes again; her head throbbed. “I don’t remember,” she said.
“Riots in market square,” Vanka said, her hand smoothing Kara’s hair.
Kara gasped, eyes shooting open. She sat abruptly, shaking, trying to fling the covers off. “Blurred – Hana – are they – ” Kara’s eyes were wide and frantic.
“Down, down, down,” Vanka’s hands dropped to Kara’s shoulders, gripping and pressing her back into the bed. “Blurred is in the next room. He is fine; the healers say his head is nearly as hard as yours. Hana is the one who pulled you both out; she’s well, just bruised and battered.”
Kara shuddered, sinking back slowly into the pillow under the pressure of her mother’s hands. “Mama,” she was shaking, tears spilling slowly down her cheeks, fear and relief all mingled together.
“What’s this?” Petrus closed the door behind him, a cup of water in his hand. He set it down and crossed to the other side of the bed, sitting and wrapping Kara against his chest, a crushingly tight hug.
“Petrus, the healer said,” Vanka began. She sighed and gave up, her hand stroking Kara’s cheek then dropping to her hand, holding it tight.
“It’s all right, my heart,” Petrus murmured, rocking Kara against his chest. “You’re well, and so are your squadmates.”
Kara gripped her mother’s hand tightly, and turned to bury her aching face into her father’s shoulder, sobbing. She could feel his lips on her head, warm and soft. She wasn’t sure how long she wept; she only knew that when she stopped she felt light and clean, like her parents had washed all her fear away.
“There we go,” Her father smiled, looking down at her. “It’s all right, my heart. We’ve got you.”
Kara smiled up at Petrus, and at Vanka too, taking a deep breath. “I know,” she said.
Kara’s eyes flickered open when Gigi spoke. She inhaled, slowly and evenly, lifting her hands from her legs. She turned them over, looking down at them, and, experimentally, clenched her hands into fists, flexing and unflexing. Kara blinked. Just as cautiously, Kara tested her legs, clenching and unclenching the muscles. She hopped down from the table, twisting slowly, side to side. She stared at Gigi; now it was Kara’s turn to look shocked, long before the topic of brain damage came up. “I – I didn’t – I didn’ t know,” Kara looked down at herself again. Before the healing, she would have said she was fine; she would have said old aches and pains didn’t bother her. It was only now, after Gigi’s healing, that Kara could even realize just how badly she had hurt. Kara looked evenly at the healer when she began to speak again, quietly, listening to her with a new, deeper respect in her face. Her… brain? Kara lifted one hand to her head, reflexively, hovering over as if contact might hurt the bruise. “Movement?” Kara frowned; it sounded like that worried her more than the part about personality. Kara exhaled, slowly. She could tell the healer was tired; she looked tired. An old bruise, repairable. Kara opened her mouth to answer – she was fine, wasn’t she? If the healing took this much from Gigi, then it wasn’t necessary. She moved fine; she was limber enough when she needed to be. Then she paused. What if… her head was like the rest of her? What if she just couldn’t understand how much better it could be? “I’ll think about it,” Kara said, quietly. There was a deep promise in her words; she wasn’t saying that to avoid offering offense, but rather because she really would think about it. Kara's knees buckled, abruptly, and she gripped the table tightly to avoid hitting falling. She felt healed, but utterly worn out as well, as if she was a rag which had been wrung out in the wash. “I need to – ” Kara could tell she wouldn’t be able to remain standing much longer. Out of ideas, she let herself sit on the floor, a little hard but keeping her head safe; she wasn’t sure she could sit either, but it was at least easier than standing. Her vision blacked out for a moment; Kara let herself lean sideways, slowly, catching the half-fall with one hand and easing herself down. Within moments, she was asleep on the ground, chest rising and falling with new, uninterrupted ease. |
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Gigi
Approved
5 Cleric of Graves
Posts: 109
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Post by Gigi on May 12, 2019 19:44:44 GMT
Gigi simply nodded to Kara's agreement to think on it. That's the best she could have hoped for, really. It was a big thing to be told, that your brain might be knocked up. It was her own biggest fear, that something would invade inside her head and take away all her knowledge, all her countless hours studying, all the things that made her, her. She couldn't imagine a fate worse than having her mind taken from her.
Sighing Gigi watched as Kara drifted down to sit on the floor. She knew she hadn't been able to absorb everything, but neither did she expect sleep to overtake Kara so quickly. She must have been exhausted before the battle.
Unfortunately for the both of them Gigi too was slipping, and slipping fast. The dark fireflies were blooming faster now - the healer leaning against the medical cot in an effort to stay focused at least a little longer.
A hand rested on her shoulder blade.
"Get some sleep Pix, I got it from here."
Muttering her thanks, trusting her mentor in the healing arts to handle things from here, Gigi let her eyes flutter close.
As the only conscious person in the room Ninette, Nine for short, hoisted Gigi on her shoulders fireman style, and deposited the pink haired woman on her bed, tucked her in, and smoothed her hair. Additionally she bent down to scoop up Kara as well, doing the same but so she could relax on the medical cot. Tugging the curtain closed so the warrior would have some impression of a private room Nine cleaned up the bloody rags, frowned and hemmed over the used bottle of Poppy with a disappointed sigh, and generally tidied things up.
That all set? Nine grabbed the bundled head of the vrock and poked her head into the third doorway. "Piss? I'm stepping out a bit to take care of something. Geeg an' one of her patients are both conked out in her room...." For a moment the more experienced healer went silent. "And... Arlo? She used Poppy again."
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Post by Waybef on Apr 3, 2022 5:16:06 GMT
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Post by Waybef on Apr 3, 2022 5:17:11 GMT
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Post by Waybef on Apr 3, 2022 5:19:53 GMT
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