by Scarab on Sun Mar 17, 2013 9:42 pm
Honestly, Tamar figured they’d been doing pretty okay up until the moment when the girl he’d just fought half a dozen Kobolds with passed out.
His first reaction was... okay, the truth was, it was panic. His second reaction was to run through whatever knowledge he had about the effects of magic on the body. He remembered members of his family getting in the same state a couple of times - overusing their abilities to the point where it started drawing on their physical reserves instead. And his family were highly advanced magic users, not just teenage amateurs. That was probably something like what happened here. Simple exhaustion, nothing too much to worry about...
Except of course, they still had to move her. And Anji was having none of it. “I told her, I tell her every bleedin’ time, don’t overdo it, you ain’t a friggin archmage already!” the ramble was clearly Anji’s attempt to cover up her own steadily growing concern. “She ever listen to me?”
“...I guess not.”
“An' where are the damn priests, anyway? They said, ‘go to the cathedral, it’s safe there,’” There was a momentary pause as Anji stopped walking, eyes scrunched in pain. “And I’ve got some weird kid following me, where’d that green-haired guy go?”
Tamar glanced around. He hadn’t actually noticed the other figure, the one who had apparently carried Anji most of the way here, go. “I... I think he went off looking for the same thing we are.”
“Why'd he go in the opposite bleedin' direction, then? Crows, my head...” Anji grumbled. Looking at her, Tamar figured it was sheer doggedness that was even keeping Anji on her feet right now. The place was filled with people in a similar state and various stages of awareness.
“I... maybe you should sit down, or something?” he suggested after a few more seconds.
“Nuh-uh, not until we find a damn priest already.” Anji shook her head determinedly. “Gotta be one of ‘em who isn’t dealing with scraped knees right now.”
“Well, I could go find one,” Tamar suggested. Really asides from the incessant pain in his shoulder and the dim numbness where Eliziya had tried, mostly successfully, to heal his hands, he was fairly sure he was better off than most of the people in the building right now. “I’ll bring them to us, don’t worry.”
Anji gave him a look that could... only be described as suspicious really. Or would have been, if she didn’t look so damn tired. At any other time Tamar suspected he’d have been refused. “Blood and Bones, go.”
“Don’t bother.” A deep, and slightly annoyed voice echoed from right behind the two, and they looked up to find a tall man in a black preist suit and matching duster standing behind them, looking down at them from underneath his wild white hair, which was held back by layers of bandages. “I already went to the trouble of coming over here. If you want to run off, that’s fine by me, but I won’t go looking for you.”
Tamar would’ve jumped, except it had kind of been a long day. Instead he tried to turn around without just letting Eliziya fall. He had to do a double take, though. The guy certainly looked like a Priest, he had the robes and everything, but there was something beaten down about his face that suggested he’d be a lot happier if he weren’t currently having to walk around treating injured townsfolk. “Um... hi.” Tamar started, a little lamely. “Um... could we get some help please? Only we um... fought some Kobolds.”
Shaking his head in annoyance, the priest sighed. “You too? You would think more people would have the sense to get out of the way of a horde of murderous lizards, but apparently not.”
“I was under the impression priests were a bit more helpful.” Anji said grumpily.
“I was under the impression that kids didn’t get into fights with raiding parties.” The priest’s response was instant, and laden with sarcasm. And... well, Kobolds were one thing, but this was an argument Tamar wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved with. He made some half hearted attempt to nudge everyone backwards in the direction of a seat.
Anji turned to glare at the priest, “Considering I found them, I figured I ought to ‘ave lended a hand. Beggin’ your pardon, for savin’ your sorry ass, I won’t be making that mistake twice.”
“Pardon granted.” The priest glared at Anji with his strangely grey eyes. “Perhaps next time you find a mob of fantastic creatures seeking looting and destruction, you will remember what happened today and consider not bringing them home with you.”
“Aye, that I can do. Maybe I’ll be in time to help myself to all the loot left by the people not needing it anymore. After all, I’m just a kid, what could I have possibly done?” Anji said as she leaned Zi onto the chair proffered by Tamar. Standing, she returned the priest’s glare, though the priest was noticeably taller. “Now, are you goin’ ta help, or shall I limp over to a nicer priest with better manners?”
There... probably wasn’t another priest available, now that Tamar looked. There weren’t all that many to begin with, and they were clearly being stretched pretty thin as it was, but he didn’t say this.
The priest's expression shifted to an amused smirk as he made a wide motion toward the rest of the hall with his right arm, hand still hanging limp. “By all means, go right ahead. Good luck on finding one that’s free.”
“Alright then.” Anji said as she started to slowly walk away.
Emphasis on the ‘slowly’. Anji clearly wasn’t in the right shape to be walking away anywhere with her head held high, but damn it if she wasn’t going to try. It was actually kind of admirable in a dumb sort of way. The priest seemed to agree with the dumb part of the sentiment as he watched her depart, still smirking. “Oh come on, we just found this guy, he’s trying to help, isn’t he?” He hesitated when Anji glared at him. “Saints alive, bring back the Kobolds.”
The now very amused man responded before Anji could speak, chuckling to himself. “No, not really.” Rolling his eyes, he glanced down at the unconscious member of the group. “Though I suppose I’m obligated to do so eventually.” Apparently this was his way of signalling that he was willing to give up the conversation if the other was.
Tamar shrugged. He’d kind of run out of energy for this a few hours ago. “Then could you please take a look at her sister for us? I-I don’t think she’ll calm down until somebody has.”
Anji whirled around at this, a smart remark clearly hovering on the tip of her tongue. The priest interrupted anything she might have said, however. “Alright, alright.” Traces of amusement still lingered in his tone. it seemed he was in a better mood than when he had arrived. “While I get to that, you go make miss Burn Victim here sit down before she manages to hurt herself again.” So saying, he began a quick examination of Zi, checking her pulse at her wrist, monitoring her breathing, and glancing around for any major wounds.
Tamar frowned. Was this guy really a priest? He looked the part, but there was something... off about the whole thing. Still he was obviously here to help regardless of what he said, so Tamar figured following Anji wouldn't hurt. He hesitated for only a second. “Um... she’s okay, right? I mean she kept healing me even when I told her not to so I figured she just... wore herself out or something.”
“Well, that explains that. Next time, don’t complain about the healer focusing on you first. Chances are, they already handled everything that’s wrong with them while you weren’t looking. Healing magic works best when used on the self.” Answering in a more serious tone, the priest stood. He intended to leave it at that, but after a moment of thought, he clarified for the boy. “She’s fine, just sleeping. Now go and drag your friend over here before I have to. Better you she yells at than me.” Regaining his previous sarcastic demeanor now that the serious work was done for a moment, the priest made a shooing motion with his hand.
“Yes, sir.” The statement was virtually automatic and Tamar turned around quickly so as not to see the smirk on the Priest’s face. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted Anji and this guy in the same space, but she couldn’t just go wandering off like that, Eliziya wasn’t the only person who needed to see someone right now.
~~~
“Hey! Anji, hold up!” Running had become an obviously bad idea within a matter of steps so Tamar sort of half-limped as fast as he could after the retreating girl. “Where are you going?”
“To find another healer.” The girl said simply, limping away from the priest with a determined glare.
Tamar hesitated, once more mentally wishing for Kobolds. “Is it really that bad? I mean, he seems to be doing a good job...”
“Yeah, doin’ a right... fine job. I’m just so... glad he exists. I hope... he continues with his fine job.” Anji said, pausing every few steps to collect her bearings.
Tamar was glad she wasn’t looking at him. That way she wouldn’t see him rolling his eyes. “Look, he’s helping your sister so... so that’s okay now, you don’t have to run off, just let him help you. You need it.”
“I’m fine, really, just need to take a nap, is all.” Anji stopped, glancing at Tamar with a wan face.
Tamar couldn’t help the tug of sympathy. he considered reaching out and taking her arm, or something like that but thought better of it. He liked having fingers. “Yeah. I suppose we’ve all had a bad day, huh?”
“Yeah, I’d say so. You injured? Somethin’ got your shoulder there...”
The question surprised Tamar enough that he paused before answering. He tried to shrug but ow, bad idea. “Lightning bolt. S’no big deal.” In actual fact it hurt as if somebody had drilled a hole in him, but he couldn’t help thinking about how much worse it could have been. “We got really lucky. I’m not sure how we even... Well, the Kobolds won’t be coming back now, I suppose, so it all worked out.”
“Oi, lemme get a better look.” Anji twisted around and looked at Tamar’s wound. “Oh, it looks nasty! You need to see a doctor!” Looking around, the only priest visible was the one they had just left, who was casually leaning back on one of the benches near Zi, legs crossed and eyes closed boredly.
Tamar opened his mouth to protest that it wasn’t all that nasty --because there’s trying to be tough, and then there’s just being an idiot-- but by this point Anji had done an apparent one-eighty in tone and was dragging him back in the direction of the somewhat snarky priest.
“Oi! Dumbass in the black! Help this idiot before he kills himself.” Reaching the priest, Anji all but shoved the swordsman into the chair next to the albino... guy.
The priest cracked an eye open and arched his eyebrow, regaining his smirk. With no explanation for his expression, and no further movement on his part, he looked Tamar over with his one open eye. A moment later, he spoke, definite amusement in his voice. “Well... he doesn’t appear to be particularly depressed or bleeding, so I’m just going to assume you are giving me a generous time limit out of the goodness of your heart.” Dropping his one good hand into his pocket, he pulled it out a moment later with a vial of herbal paste. Turning to Tamar, he tossed it gently over to the boy (note to self, Tamar: don’t quickly grab stuff with that arm). “Here, just put some of this on those burns. It should start the healing overnight, since none of them are very bad. Consider yourself lucky that the lightning just flashed over your skin. You could have ended up like her.” He jerked his thumb in the direction of the other member of the party. Then, turning back to Anji with another smirk, he continued. “Now, if you are done pointing me to all of the people who don’t need my assistance at the moment, I believe there is a charred mark there on your shoulder that indicates you’ve been running into lightning bolts yourself.”
“Oh this? It’s nothing. Honest. I- I’m fine...” Anji’s face paled as she stumbled backwards.
The priest’s expression was serious now. He seemed to be done joking. “And I’m the most colorful person you’ve ever met. Lightning bolts powerful enough can cause nerve and muscle damage, so if you value the use of your arm, you will sit. Down.” His final two words were punctuated for emphasis as his eyes narrowed. That, Tamar thought, was the kind of voice you did not want to argue with, especially when it was owned by somebody going around handing out medicines.
Tamar watched Anji sort of stumble into a seat, mumbling protests, and figured this might be a sensible course of action for everyone involved.
“Thank you. Now, you, kid, come over here.” He motioned to Tamar as he withdrew another roll of bandages. “I hope you know how to tie a bandage, because if not, I’m going to have to teach you, and frankly that will be annoying if I can’t show you.” He raised his injured right hand.
Tamar frowned. “Is it anything like tying up a boat?”
“...Close enough.” The odd priest began to sprinkle the unrolled bandage with what appeared to be water from a vial he had drawn seemingly from nowhere.
Whatever it was Tamar suspected it was probably going to hurt (stuff Doctor’s put on wounds just seemed to do that automatically) and Anji was clearly thinking the same thing. “Oi, I didna sign up for none of your crow-bitten priest stuff. What is that, and why are you tryin’ ta put it on me?” Panic laced through her speech as she began to hyperventilate.
“It’s holy water, obviously.” The priest was smirking again. “Blessed by God? Heals minor wounds? You know? That stuff? As to whether or not it hurts...” He trailed off and began to casually twirl the bottle. “...it doesn’t. It’s water, what do you expect?”
“Well, if the water is as sharp as your comments, a lot of pain.” Anji said in a monotone.
“Oh, don’t worry, Anji, I’m sure that isn’t even remotely possible,” Tamar said as brightly as he could. he only realised the implications after. However, the priest only seemed to think that was funny and went on with his work, handing off the prepared bandages to Tamar for wrapping. It really wasn’t very much like tying up a boat, which Tamar had only done the once anyway, but he managed. (Heck, the alternative was letting the guy he just accidentally insulted at it again.)
Anji didn’t stop glaring at the priest for the duration of the healing process. “Uh, well, what’s your name?” She asked, seeming to cast about for a topic of discussion that wasn’t Kobold centric. “I mean, uh... Do you come here often?” she asked with a smile. Tamar winced for reasons that had nothing to do with his injured shoulder.
“I’m pretty sure that attempt at starting a conversation just physically hurt me. And for your information, I don’t particularly care what you call me. Kurt is fine, but ‘dumbass in black’ also works, as long as you don’t mind paying for my medical services.” Smug smirk still on his face, withdrew a few more vials from his pocket, one more of the paste he had handed Tamar and two vials of holy water. Holding them out to the two, he gave quick instructions. “Give one of these vials of water to the sleeping girl when she gets up. It will help her regain her energy. You take the other and the rest of the bandage roll and finish fixing up all of the rest of your minor wounds. I already explained what this,” he paused and held out the bottle of herbal paste. “is for, but if you forgo-”
And because there was no way the evening could be allowed to end on such an almost peaceful, if awkward, note that was the moment when the huge door to the cathedral burst open, without so much as a knock first.
They sometimes say, "the place where I am right now was circled on a map for me"... Unfortunately, I kind of suck at orienteering.