go to hell, world [Draco/open!]

[Tally]

Ah, silence.

For once in...how long?

Tuyen had managed to slip away from the brain-breaking insanity he'd found himself in, and thank the gods for that. Another minute in the midst of it and he'd have stabbed himself. Still flightless, though, and no the irony was not lost on him. How many times had he complained about these cumbersome wings? And here he was involuntarily grounded on land and wishing they were in proper working order so he could just fly out of here.

Wherever here is. The wooded foothills of some mountain range or another, but damned if he knew any more than that. Adela? Serendipity? Whatever, it didn't matter. Just had to get to more level ground and find a village or something.

And he had to do it before this fever did him in.

Leaning back against a tree, he glanced up through the branches at the cloudy sky beyond before sliding down to a sitting position. Pain lanced down his side and he winced. Not only was the wing broken but the wounds were infected, no denying it, and the fever had hit him only a couple hours ago. He lay the spear across his knees, rested his head back, and closed his eyes. Just a moment's rest, then he had to get going again. Had to push on to a village before the infection ate him alive.

Damn useless wings. Why couldn't I get Kirshna's power? Then I'd be able to fight this off.

Tch. Kirshna. This was all his fault, anyway. And Akkiel's. And Rintrah's. Actually the whole damned world could just go to hell as far as he was concerned. He'd never gotten any breaks from it and he didn't intend to give any ever again.

[Anonymous]

Sorch, being the handsome devil he is. More emphasis on devil, than handsome, unless you were into furry men of course. Sorch was an anthro of some type, a fairly tall blue furred man. Yellow eyes, but everything else was blue, except his skin, which was pink. Large ears poked up from his mop of dark blue hair and a long lion-esque tail waved behind him. Sorch was a man of many words, many emotions and a love of pushing peoples buttons, so he was very happy when he picked up a familiar scent of a ‘friend’ from not to long ago. Sorch hadn’t forgotten his name, either, Tuyen, the man with feathered handlebars. A feral grin spread across his lips and he stalked his way across the ground, following the familiar scent, it had another odd scent clinging to it, but he figured it was something else.

Until Sorch found the poor guy. So, the scent of rot was coming from him. That couldn’t be good. The Kitty Prince walked where Tuyen wouldn’t have been able to see him, other wise his prey might run away, and what was the point of pouncing on a broken bird if it could see you? Even if it couldn’t fly away in this case.  Sorch, being the super sneaky sexy Kitty-Prince of the forest of magical rainbow cats that he was, popped up beside Tuyen and looked intently at his broken wing.  â€œYou know, you look like crap, and you should get that fixed up. Didn’t you wash it out or set it in a splint? Hmm? You’ll never be able to fly again if it heals like that!â€?

Sorch stood there, hands on his hips shaking his head disappointedly making a tsking sound. If he did this correctly, Tuyen would have been ‘startled’ (Sorch would like to think scared, but scary warriors who hate everything <I>obviously</I> don’t get scared) and jump and Sorch would be very happy indeed! His tail flicked lazily from side to side, a band with beads on it making the tiniest bit of noise that sounded like raindrops falling. Despite this all, Sorch was willing to help out Tuyen if he ended up fainting, and he promised not to do anything risqué to his pretty, feather-handle bared unconscious body.

((enjoy Teh Shortness))

[Tally]

The susurrus of the wind stirring through the branches above him, the sing-song of birds and the spiritual currents of nature...it was all too relaxing and he hadn't realized just how tired he was.  He dropped off into a light doze.

And not a minute later was jolted right back out of it byâ€"gods help himâ€"a familiar voice.

"Gah!" He started awake, eyes snapping open, and only his injury prevented him from leaping up, spear in hand, on pure reflex.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"You...how did....what are you even doing here? Don't you have someplace to be for fuck's sake?!" His fists clenched on the shaft of the spear, but he'd learned his lesson the last time they went through this. He'd miss and the cat would just take to the trees and taunt him. He spoke through clenched teeth. "You...are so lucky I'm wounded." But just let him get healed up. He still owed the cat a beating for what happened at the hot spring.

Since he couldn't have anyone standing over him like thatâ€"least of all this thingâ€"he hauled himself up and attempted to glare the cat to death. The injured wing remained tucked close to his body, hanging at an odd angle because of the fracture. His head and hands felt hot with fever, but he was hardly a weakling. It didn't worry him...yet.

"Of course I washed it. And I can't bloody well reach it to put a splint on, now can I??" Were the fractured bones in a place he could actually get to with both hands? Of course not! That would be making life too damned easy, wouldn't it? No, it was at the first joint of the wing, where he could just barely touch with one hand. He didn't actually have anything to make a decent splint with anyway, nor any medicines on him. He was out here with exactly two possessions, his spear and his pants. Even the local herbs and plants are no use to him, unfamiliar as he was with the area.

"Anyway, I just need to find a village." And never mind that the nearest village might be days away. "Don't think I've forgotten about the incident with you stealing my pants. Go bother someone else before I decide to make you pay for it." He got right up in the cat's face when he said it too, and he used a tone that made most people cringe away from him. He was in no mood to back down and anyway he felt at more of an advantage now. He wasn't naked this time, for instance. Hopefully his voice was chilly enough for the threat to be taken seriously. Hopefully...because he couldn't actually deliver on it and he knew it.

Though...now that he thought about it, the cat didn't generally react to threats in a way that benefited Tuyen's temper.

[Anonymous]

While Tuyen was having a mild freak out, Sorch was simply smiling happily and barely cringed when his ‘new friend’ barked at him rather… Violently. All he needed was the arm waving and he’d be good and insane lookin’. Sorch looked off to the side and ran a hand over his long blue furred ear while Tuyen was flipping out at him, he didn’t need to yell! Once the harping stopped, Sorch rolled his yellow eyes, waved his tail, creating that rain/leave rustling sound and then inched closer to try and see the wound, which he couldn’t… ‘cause it was a bone wound. Oh well.

�You know, I’m not as stupid as you think I am. If you’d like help putting a splint on it, I can. Just because I’m not human doesn’t make me stupid.�

Sorch wrinkled his nose and pushed Tuyen back a little by the forehead, knowing full well that it would piss him off and make him even more angry. Which was good! If Sorch would keep that up, he’d make Tuyen angry enough to keep going towards the village and not pass out because, within the few seconds that Sorch had put his fingers on the other fellows forehead, he felt a raging fever, and that wouldn’t be good. No more hot springs, he’d overheat and die! Placing his hands on his hips, Sorch looked at Tuyen, an amused and grouchy, of course he wasn’t but, if it helps Tuyen out, yey!

�Well, there’s a village over in that direction!� Sorch pointed helpfully in some direction or another, “I’d be happy to take you, but you’d have to promise not to stab me with your pokey stick. That’d hurt and my bottom is tender flesh.� A lecherous grin and Sorch bounced off quickly, out of arms reach and reach of Tuyens pokey stick. Which would really hurt if it actually managed to poke him. “<I>Surely</I> you feel well enough to get to a village or the city without help for at least a little while. Hmm?� A wide, feral grin and Sorch stopped, facing Tuyen, his arms positioned behind his back and his chest out, looking like he was standing, waiting for a parade to pass by.

((o_o Sorry if it hops everywhere xD any problems, just poke me and I’ll explain))

[Tally]

((He does have flesh wounds on the wing btw. ^w^ Sorry, I shoulda made that more clear. >.> They are what is infected and causing him fever.))

He expected…he didn't know what he expected.  A reciprocal threat.  Indignation, maybe.  But not this!  The stupid cat wasn't taking him seriously at all!  "Hey!  Hey, don't you roll your eyes at me!  I'm serious, here!  I left because I wanted to get <I>away</I> from you idiots.  W…wait, what are youâ€""

His eyes went absolutely wide as a paddedâ€"hand? paw? <I>whatever</I>â€"pressed against his forehead.  The blood rushed to his face and he must have looked noticeably flushed, which just embarrassed him and made him flush some <I>more</I>.  Argh!  What the fuck?  What the <I>fuck?</I>  Touching him now?  Oh hell no.  No one touched him, not ever.  Kirshna was about the only one he let get away with it and he still made sure the kid got his fair share of smacks on the head.

Before he can even recover from the invasion of his personal space and get a nice killing rage built up, the cat had already danced out of reach again.  Still dazed by the bloody audacity of it, by the cat's total flippancy when basically threatened with death, Tuyen didn't quite register what he'd said.  "It…it's called a <I>spear</I>, stupid.  And I'll take your skin off with it if you touch me again."

He waved a hand at the cat in a dismissive gesture as he turned away, utterly fed up.  "I'm fine.  There's <I>nothing</I> wrong with me.  And I can find a village on my own, thank you very much."  Except when he said "thank you very much" his tone made it sound more like "so slag off already".  He did take note of the direction Sorch pointed, however, because if he were being honest he really was hopelessly lost.

<I>Maybe I ought to listen to him.</I>

<I>No!  He probably doesn't even know what he's talking about anyway.</I>

A mountain stream had been running parallel to his pathâ€"well, his direction, since there was no pathâ€"so he sought it out before moving on just to cool his face off and maybe pour some fresh water over the injury.  He stuck his spear firmly in the sand and glared behind him.  "<I>Don't</I> touch that."

The water was snowmelt, and ice cold.  He waded in up to his kneesâ€"keeping his pants on this time, damnitâ€"and closed his eyes for a minute, trying to calm himself down.  He cast another look over his shoulder, this one much colder, and much more arrogant.  "You're not touching my wing, either.  I won't have some mangy inhuman stray making it worse.  You've probably never set a bone in your life."

[Anonymous]

Sorch was horribly insulted. The overwhelming urge to pounce on Tuyens back and ride him like a pony to get that wing fixed bubbled in his chest like water on a hot log. Bah! Stupid bird-person. Sorch stood with his arms over his chest, glaring with his cold yellow eyes. He'd be nice... For now. Okay, that was a huge lie.

"C'mon Birdy! You'll get that green-thing and have to have your wing removed!" Sorch started to wave his arm around. "And then you'll be lopsided and have to fly in circles!" His voice was of mock-horror, obviously having no idea how birds flew, but he could imagine what it would be like to lose something as precious as half of your flying devices.

"I can imagine your wings are more important than your testicles." Sorch spoke very seriously, for the family jewels were nothing to be joked about. He took a few steps, pacing back and forth, and waiting for Tuyen to stop with his little bath to cool himself down. As much as Sorch wanted to help him, and he really did! This damn bird-brained-boyo was being far to stubborn than what was healthy. Unfortunately, he was right about one thing.. He never had set a bone in his life. Nothing to be ashamed about, it wasn't often you got the chance to set bones.

Sorch just glared at him. "Don't drown, remember that if you pass out I can do whatever I like to your body and you'll never know." He simply grinned in his cat-like way and waggled his eyebrows, if actually helping him was out of the question, than he'd piss him off to much to actually feel ill. The overwhelming stench of rot from his wing was pretty gross though. Sorch scrunched up his nose and huffed, kneeling down and waving his tail back and forth.

"You know you'll get more sick if you walk around in those cold pants."

If Sorch wasn't a guy, he'd go on about stupid stubborn males, but because he is, his mental monologue went on about stupid feather-brained weirdos who liked long pokey sticks too much.

So, while Tuyen cooled himself down, Sorch simply sat and watched him, his tail waving back and forth in an even pattern, waiting for his grumpy friend to pass out or walk to the village himself.

[Tally]

The cold water wasn't doing much for making him feel better.  Nothing would do that now except a healer, he suspected.  What he really wanted to do was dunk his head under the surface and submerge his whole body in the harsh cold to shock him out of this fever-delirium if nothing else, but truth was he didn't trust himself not to pass out on the way back up.  He had to settle for splashing icy water on his face and neck to try and cool down, but his skin still felt hot to the touch.

Some of that heat had nothing to do with the fever.

A bath with commentary.  Lovely.  Times like these, Tuyen was glad of his swarthy complexion.  It made the flush on his cheeks nigh invisible.  How could the cat talk like that?  Who even said those things to a stranger?  It just wasn't appropriate.

Don't respond, don't respond, don't respond, Tuyen told himself, washing the dust from his arms and beginning to shiver from the effect of hot fever and cold water vying for his body.  The cat was just trying to get a rise out of him.  He would not respond to any of his remarks, no matter how...bloody damned lewd they were and no matter how hard he had to clench his teeth to keep from biting the cat's head off.

When he couldn't take the cold anymore, he slogged out of the water and up onto the grass, his wings and lower half dripping onto the ground.  A steady breeze was blowing and it cut right into his wet arms and legs and sent a fit of trembling through him.  Scowling, he trudged over to the waiting spear and wrenched his it out of the dirt.  Suddenly a wave of dizziness his hit him.  The world spun so he closed his eyes and waited for it to pass before opening them again and blinking owlishly at Sorch, the borderline delirium threatening again.  His fever was getting worse.  No amount of denying it would change that and he was going to have to admit that and accept some help or else...risk fainting in front of the cat and that was just not going to happen.  He did not faint before anyone, Akkiel being at the very top of that list and this idiot cat right behind him in second place.

But the way he felt just then he might have accepted even Akkiel's help if the man had been there.  Pride could only get you so far.  Sometimes humility had to take you the rest of the way.

"Erm," he mumbled, holding a hand up to press against his swimming hand.  "So.  Where was that, er, village again?"  He glowered at the cat.  "I still don't need your help.  I'm just...a little turned around is all."

[Anonymous]

Needle sharp fangs snapped closed and Sorch could only glare like a grumpy hen. Sorch was kindly offering him help and all he could do was blink at him like a tasty looking owl. While he was still sitting, his ear twitched and he looked up at Tuyen who was dripping and in pain and grumpy. This man pulled off pissed off very well, it must be a constant mood of his. Sorch pursed his lips and slowly stood up, the danglies at the end of his tail making the soft noise of wind through leaves, calming almost. Helped him with catching prey when he was hunting.

Thumping his tail against his leg, Sorch in all his blue glory tilted his head up and looked at the sky before taking a few sniffs.Smiling nicely, which would make anyone who knew him nervous and probably want to run away. Not because Sorch looked bad when he was smiling, if you were into furry blue-cat-looking men at least. He made people nervous when he smiled because it was... Cat having caught the bird.

"Well, I caught it's scent, I can't tell you which direction it is though, because it's not a straight line." Sorch shook his head sadly, the cat tail twitching at the tip, creating the gentle sound of rustling leaves. Smiling and all but prancing over towards Tuyen to quickly brush a finger lightly between his wings, using his catlike grace and the fact that Tuyen looked completely disoriented.

" I do believe the village is this way. I'd lead you towards mine, but we'd eat you up in a second." Smiling, Sorch tilted his head to the side and perked an ear, begining to lead the way, going fast enough to annoy Tuyen into, hopefully keeping up, but slow enough to make him think he was doing a good job. "You are after all, a bird." His yellow eyes flicked towards Tuyens broken wing. "Even if you're ground ridden." Sorch gave Tuyen his grin.

"And we cats love birds." Giving his lips a quick swipe with his tongue, he smiled again and resumed walking, ready to spring into action should his beloved new friend fall into any trouble. Like walking.

[Tally]

Beyond anger, beyond much of anything except weariness and a stubborn determination, he endured the cat's infuriating smile without comment.  Even when Sorch got into Tuyen's very prickly personal space, he didn't do more than glare and clench his teeth.  The touch was more than he could bear passively, but instead of lashing out at the cat, which never seemed to work because the cursed thing was too quick, he jerked away—

—and then winced as the motion sent a fresh wave of high-pitched pain through his injured wing and down into his shoulder.  

I should have stayed in Adela, he thought.  But no, he had to act the bloody fool and go after Rintrah on his own.  If he made it through this he swore he'd make a point of asking for help every once in awhile.

"Just...get moving," he muttered, trudging off after the cat in what he bloody well hoped was the direction of the village.  Probably there was no village.  Probably Sorch was leading him off deeper into the forest where Tuyen would have to die with the cat's idiotic comments in his ear.  Wouldn't surprise him one damn bit.

"I'm not a bird.  Stop calling me that.  Stupid cat."  As he forced one foot in front of the other, he imagined a whole village full of Sorches and fully horrified himself.  Gods.  A whole village of sarcastic, lewd cat people.

He spoke no more than that on the trek to the village, following the cat in miserable silence.  His limbs felt shaky and weak, and waves of dizziness swept over him but he dragged himself on, looking at the ground so the towering trees and the domed sky beyond wouldn't disorient him.  He watched his bare feet on the carpet of fallen pine needles, step after step, sometimes counting his footfalls to give himself something to focus on.  He didn't look up or try to guess how close they were to the village; that would just make the journey seem like forever.  They would get there when they'd get there.

Or he'd collapse on the way and that would be the end of it.  Either way he'd get to rest at last.

Eventually the twilight beneath the forest canopy grew so gloomy he could barely see his own feet anymore, but he became aware of a different light source, a faint yellow glow shining from ahead of them.  He brought his eyes up and there was the village, lanterns and torches already glowing in the falling darkness.  Tuyen let out a sigh and stopped, grateful for the sight in spite of himself.

Just a little further.  They had to have a healer or wise woman.  "I hope they're feeling generous.  I don't have a single coin on me."  It was the first civil tone he'd taken with the cat.  Tuyen would not be called an ingrate.  Sorch had walked with him all the way here and he was thankful, even if he would never actually say it.  He'd find some way to pay the cat back.

Some way that didn't involve his wings being used as handlebars.

[Anonymous]

"If you're not a bird, then I'm not a cat." Sorch shot back, giving his blue tail a flick and he perked up his ears before flashing the broken bird man his sharp grin. Sorch was very obviously a cat. "Birds have wings. Angels don't exist, at least... They don't down here." The blue cat man paused to leer at Tuyen, eyeing him before wrinkling his nose, "and you're too anal to be an angel." Then Sorch was off on his merry little way again, keeping a steady pace that was fast enough to piss Tuyen off but slow enough for him to keep up.

It was fairly dark when they finally got to the village. One of the very few villages Sorchs tribe traded with, he flicked his tail making things wrapped around it make it sound like wind was blowing through the trees. The blue cat man finally slowed down and waited for Tuyen at the entrance to the village. "You barely have any clothes on you. I'm not surprised you're dirt poor, too." Sorch looked over his shoulder at the bird-man and smiled before walking into the village and knocking on a door.

In a matter of moments a young woman with pearly white eyes and long wavy brown hair followed Sorch towards Tuyen, she was very obviously blind but seemed to follow the annoying blue cat man just fine. "Ah, is this him?" the young woman asked a small smile on his face. "Sorch, you always pick up poor wounded animals. He's a very large bird..." She blinked and tilted her head to the side reaching out to touch Tuyens shoulder, which once she touched she immediately pulled her hand back and glared towards the cat man. "He's not a bird at all! You fool. I'm sorry sir." She smiled towards Tuyen and lightly shrugged her shoulders.

"Bird-Butt, I'm going to stay in the trees and keep an eye out for danger while Little Miss Varali here patches you up. She's blind, but she can see auras though not exact limbs, so no grabbing her boobs." Sorch decided to make a point by reached to the side to give one of Varalis breasts a squeee, of course she smacked at him, but Sorch was gone and up in a tree before her hand could connect with a blue arm.

Varali smiled towards the winged man and reached out for his arm. Grabbing it successfully she pulled him towards her little house, and pushed him gently inside and went around gathering supplies after motioning him to sit on the comfortable looking bed. Varali came back and kneeled, a little bucket of supplies. "Is it just your wing that's infected? I can see it, it's rather nasty looking." The girl frowned and tapped her nose before smiling again, "but we can fix that. Sit, sit! The sooner you sit, the sooner I can patch you up. You'll probably have to spend the night here, but while Sorch is... Gropey... And annoying, he'll keep watch." Varali nodded and snapped her fingers before getting up again and brewing a cup of what looked like water.

Her pearly eyes stared at Tuyen and her hands held out the cup, "It tastes a little bitter, but it'll help with the pain. Is it just your wing? Sorch is going to be up all night to keep scary wild animals away as payment so I might as well give you the best patching up I can, I can usually see all the wounds and taints in your body... But your wing is pretty bad. Looks infected." She smiled and moved the cup towards him.

[Tally]

"You look more like a cat than I do like a bird!"  Even as he said it, Tuyen cursed himself for taking the bait and potentially getting drawn in to such a stupid argument.  He clamped his mouth shut and was determined not to speak again until they found a healer.

That resolution lasted all of three minutes.

"I can't wear shirts," he snapped.  "Too difficult to manage with the wings.  And I don't need coin.  I can take care of myself.  Usually."

Tuyen would forever be more at home in smaller villages than in cities.  Akkiel would have looked at this place and seen a poor frontier settlement, but the seclusion and the simplicity of life in these communities suited Tuyen just fine.  They were as close to his home on the Yoreiq Isles as he was ever going to get.  He followed Sorch into the village, waiting out in the main street as the cat went off to fetch the healer.

Sorch came through for him.  Hm.  In the back of his mind, Tuyen had half expected the cat to run off and leave him as a final joke.  But there he was, returning with a young woman in tow.  It wasn't until she was nearly within arm's reach of him that Tuyen noticed her eyes in the dim light.  Her irises had glazed over white.  Blind.

Dubious, he said nothing as she touched him, though he liked her immediately for calling Sorch a fool.  Woman had her head on straight.  "No I'm not a bird," he spat, aiming a quick glare at Sorch.  He flushed at the mere suggestion that he would have touched her breasts and his face heated up even more when Sorch went ahead and did it!  How had someone not killed that cat yet?!

"Yeah, you go do that," he added, looking up at Sorch in his tree.  "That's a good place for you."  If the cat were up a tree he wouldn't be hanging around Tuyen making highly inappropriate comments and gestures.

Cross that Sorch had made him blush again, Tuyen frowned the whole way to the healer's house, only letting go of his frustration when she distracted him by inquiring about his injuries.  "Just the wing."  He sat and gave it an experimental movement and flinched.  "And it's not just infected.  Broken too.  I've been grounded for days.  I hope you know your wing bones."  A dreadful and abiding worry dogged him.  How fast did small bones begin to mend themselves?  If his wing bones had already begun to set as they were, he could be crippled for life, never to fly again.  This worry tied his stomach up in anxiety, though his pride would not allow him to voice it even to the healer.

"Sorch is a trial."  Helpful though, in a fashion.  Enough to make him worth it.

Tuyen took the proffered cup and sipped at it.  "Valari, I'm Tuyen.  And I'm grateful for whatever you can do for me.  I have no coin on me I fear.  Are you sure Sorch's services are enough?"

[Anonymous]

Sorch was napping.

A low purr rumbled through his chest and his tail swished, the beads and things wrapped around the end creating that wind-through-trees noise. A blue ear twitched to the side and he remained asleep, he would wake up if there was danger. He would sense it. Smell it.

Varali smiled towards Tuyen and nodded her head before licking her lips and trying his name. "Tuyen." She smiled again and went to the side to prepair long lengths of linen in a rather odd looking bowl of murky water. "Sorch means well. When members of his tribe get hurt and there's the healer is busy he brings the not-so-hurt once to me." Varali smiled. " He's nice if... Very odd." She placed her hands in the bowl and drew the cloth through her hands above it, pushing the excess water out of it to leave the cloth damp.

"This is going to sting. A lot. But once the drink gets to work it will just be a dull throb. Okay?" Varali picked up the bowl and other linen in one hand and moved behind Tuyen, her small hands pressing against his back first, between the things before gently brushing over them, fixing feathers that seemed slighty out of place, brushing her hand over the wound, she gasped. " This is... bad. What on earth happened, Tuyen?" Maybe if she got him to talk he wouldn't focus on the pain, that combined with the drink should help, though it would throb tomorrow.

Varali went to work, being as gentle as she could as she set bone and wrapped it tightly, pushing feathers to the side so she didn't have to pull any or cut any. It took a while, and by now Tuyen was probably annoyed at how much of his back she'd touched, fingers tracing around the base of his wing to make sure everything worked well. " There." her voice was soft and she placed her hands on his shoulders gently before standing up and getting the now empty bowl off to the side.

"You should rest, Tuyen. The best thing for healing is resting! I'll make you a comfy bed on the floor so your wings can spread out without bending." After managing to clear a nice spot on the ground Varali went to get a thick blanket full of soft feathers, she paused, patted the blanket and then looked at Tuyen. "I.. I didn't kill any of the birds for this blanket. It was payment. I.. I use it during winter, but it should do for a... mattress." She swallowed before placing it on the ground and getting an extra pillow and a small blanket. " So your legs won't be cold." She smiled before placing those beside the makeshift bed for her guest.

"Once you're ready to sleep - which should be soon -" Varali paused to half-heartedly glare at Tuyen, "I'll turn off the light, because.... I don't really need it anyway." Leaning against a wall, Varali kept her eyes on her feet.

Up in the trees, Sorch was still asleep, and his tail was still swishing side to side.

[Tally]

It was a good thing the woman was blind, for it meant she wouldn't see Tuyen watching her every move.  Really, a blind healer?  Who was a friend to Sorch?  How good of a healer could she possibly be?  His eyes followed her hands, waiting for her to drop something, or forget something, or otherwise betray any form of ineptitude that might send him fleeing back to the forest.  This wench had better know her craft.

Not that he would have voiced any of these doubts.  Not that great a fool, he.  One did not go offending the healer who was about to treat you.  She might set his wing crooked just to spite him.

After watching her preparations with the linen, he had to grudgingly admit to himself that she seemed to know what she was about.  "It'll be fine," he muttered.  Really, it already hurt.  How much more badly could it sting?

"Aaagh!"  Her touch alone—gentle though it was—sent a wave of prickling needles across his skin.  The infection must have spread more than he'd realized.  He hissed but remained seated in place, gritting his teeth.  There was no controlling his wings though, and they flinched involuntarily and his shoulder muscles clenched and twitched trying to keep them still.

"Just a...disagreement."  She didn't need to know how it happened, and he didn't especially want to talk about it.  Or think about it.  Actually, he didn't much want to talk about anything just then.  He looked up at the ceiling and took a few deep breaths, told his muscles to relax.  His wings shivered and drooped, finally, into stillness while Varali finished her administrations.  The potion must have been taking effect as well, for he could more easily endure the touch of her hands upon his skin and wings.  He didn't even notice she had finished until she spoke again.

"Nn.  Rest."  With the ease of pain, exhaustion rolled in on him swiftly.  Already his eyes were half-hooded.

While Varali went on about birds and winter and gods knew what else, he staggered over without waiting for her to shut her mouth and just put the blanket on the floor.  As soon as she did he lowered himself down and stretched out onto his stomach and gave in to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Sorch sat, haunched over Tuyen. His arms resting on his elbows and his tail flicking back and forth over one of Tuyens legs, the noise from the doo-dads on his tail chiming with that funny noise they made. Like the noise of leaves rustling and small ricks clicking together. Not a surprising sound, almost a soothing one. Sorch smelled like a pine tree.

He moved a hand to his back where he had sap clumped in his fur, he knew that would be a bitch to get out. The hand moved up to go through his hair, sap free. Good.

"Tuuuuuuuuuuuu-yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen." His voice purred, the tail flicking up a little higher to his side, the tuft of blue fur smooth and moving up and down like a paintbrush. "Wakey wakey. It's almost noon." His voice was quiet, not a sharp noise, something that could easily weave into dreams and twist them around. He kept up with the purring, his tail moving up and down Tuyens side.

"You shouldn't be doing that." Varali's finger flicked an ear and Sorch huffed and stood up. "He's weak. His wing was very injured." The blue cat man sighed and wrapped his arms around the healers middle, resting his chin on her shoulder while he stared down at Tuyen. "When will he wake up?"

Varali smacked Sorch's arm.

"Soon now that you're here. I'm going to make you boys breakfast and then you can go... To where ever it was." She smiled and turned around, her steps sure and no wavering, this was her home, of course she knew it back to front.

Sorch moved back to hover beside Tuyen, this time his tail was brushing at his nose and face. "Waaaakey-wakey."

[Tally]

Tuyen remained still, his breathing slow and even, even after he'd woken up.  It was that voice that had done it, Sorch drawing his name out into two long syllables.  He hadn't recognized the voice at first and nearly jumped up to make a grab for his spear—he had reason to be jumpy of late—but then the familiarity hit him.

It was that cat thing.  And it was touching him, something Tuyen had thought he'd made perfectly clear should not be happening.  His eyebrow twitched at the furry, soft...whatever it was that grazed his legs.  That had better be Sorch's tail.  But he kept his eyes closed and hoped the cat would grow bored and drift off to bother someone else.  Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away.

He felt he could have slept more, another couple of hours at least.  Oversleeping was something Tuyen detested and avoided but a lethargy had seeped into him after pushing himself so hard and finding a comfortable place to fall at the end of it.

Varali's voice broke the silence next and whatever had been stroking his leg disappeared.  He lay in stillness, listening to their words, stomach complaining when the healer mentioned food.  If anything could get him up to face Sorch, that might do it.  He hadn't thought about it until Varali brought it up, but now that she had he realized he was famished.

Just as he was considering it, something furry and warm brushed at his face and made him grimace reflexively.  Ignore him, he thought, clenching his teeth.  Ignore him, he just likes to get a reaction, you know he does.  Stupid cat, finds it  soooo much fun to bother me.  Agh, go away!  Let me sleep!

He finally couldn't take it anymore and cracked open one sleepy eye and managed to glare at Sorch with it as he pulled away from the tail in his face.  "Stop it.  Don't you have anything better to do?  Go chase some birds or something."

[Anonymous]

While Varali puttered around the kitchen making breakfast for the duo.

A big smile and Sorch shuffled backwards, the claws on his toes clicking against the ground when he almost lost his balance, his tail waving through the air causing the doo-dads he'd tied to it to sound like wind in the leaves. "Oh good, you're awake." Sorch said happily, like it wasn't his fault for waking up the wounded man.  Varali is going to make us breakfast and then we can take off again." moving his weight from the balls of his feet to his knees, he leaned forward and with a delicate claw pushed some of Tuyen's hair off of his forehead.

Blinking for a moment Sorch stood up and gave a stretch, his tail curling and waving slightly while he pulled the kinks from his body. Despite being very much a humanoid cat person, Sorch did enjoy fluffy beds over tree branches. Fluffy beds didn't leave sticky sap in your fur, that was for sure.

Another grin after Tuyens words sunk in. "But I am chasing a bird!" his tail flicked towards Tuyens wings. " You're a bird! I'm a cat. I'm going to chase you until you get away or I catch you." A long pause, "Not that I'd know what to do with you then. Where were you headed? I'll go with you. Do you have friends or family nearby? We're in Serendipity now, in case you didn't know."

The smell of cooking foods was overpowering and a slight hiss could be heard from the kitchen before a quiet curse. Sorch closed his eyes and breathed deeply, his ears going down and he let out a low purr before smiling down at Tuyen, a genuine smile. "Breakfast is soon. We'll eat and then you can try to sleep for a while, promise not to bother you." The voice of Varali spoke up then and Sorch wandered into the kitchen and back out before placing two plates of food on the ground. "'Fraid you'llhave to use your fingers, Birdy."  

It was simple, toasted bread, eggs, a bit of ham. Sorch poked at the ham with a claw before lifting it to his mouth and biting down on it, purring all the while.

[Tally]

"Of course I'm awake.  You had your tail in my face."  He frowned up at Sorch but for once found himself too sleepy and far too comfortable to summon any real anger.  Difficult to be properly furious at the cat when his circumstances had shifted so favorably in so short a time.  He felt—dare he admit it—content in that moment, even with Sorch crouched over him and that tail of his always lashing about in a distracting way, making that noise it always made.

"And I'm not a bird," he added.  How many times is he going to make me say that today?  Maybe it was the sleepiness still in him, but nothing Sorch said was making any kind of sense.  All this talk about birds and cats and trying to catch him, whatever that meant.  More nonsense babble that he didn't know what to do with.

Sorch then apparently decided the two of them were going somewhere together, which got a genuine laugh out of Tuyen.  Oh he didn't bother to argue the point, but it wouldn't matter. When the time came, Sorch would find the reality of the matter plain enough.

"Serendipity."  Tuyen mused the word aloud, folding his arms beneath his chin as Sorch disappeared into the kitchen.  That was well enough.  Where in Serendipity would have been more useful to know.

Don't get restless just yet. It shouldn't prove too difficult a matter to find out what region he was in, and then make his way to Adela, which would have to be to the southeast regardless of where in Serendipity he had found himself. And he did have to reach Adela.  There were things Akkiel needed to know.

Sorch returned, and at the sight of food Tuyen forgot all about Adela.  He was so grateful not to have to get up to get the food he forgot to be annoyed with Sorch for the moment and took the plate with a sincere, "thank you."

A night of healing sleep and the lengths he had pushed himself the day before had left him ravenous and he devoured the breakfast in huge mouthfuls.  It was exactly to his tastes—simple, hearty fare.  He could hardly have asked for better.

[Anonymous]

The thank you got a surprised blink. Well, that was polite. Maybe Tuyen was still doped up from whatever Varali gave him last night. Now, to get to the matter about being a bird. Sorch waited for him to be finished scarfing back his food before he said anything.

"If you're not a bird," Sorch paused to draw a clawed finger ( from his clean hand ) over Tuyen's feathery appendage, to the middle of his back where he trailed the finger down the spine before lifting it away. Curious about the muscles and the things needed to make the wings work,. "Then why do you have wings. Human's don't have wings, so you're not a human." Sorch pointed towards the kitchen, "She's a human." He said in all seriousness, his eyes half closed, his lips thin. "So."

Sorch placed his hands on his knees. "That makes you a bird." A solemn nod and Sorch picked up their empty plates and returned to the kitchen, tail flicking back and forth. "Tuyen." Sorch said, coming back, bending his knees and resting his bottom on his heels. "You should get more rest after you tell me where we're heading." This was his forest - not techniaclly his - but he knew it well, he knew it better than the average human. He'd help Tuyen out.

He'd help him out because it was beyond entertaining to bother him, too.

[Tally]

"I am a human," Tuyen said, twisting around to swat at Sorch's hand.  He didn't care for people touching him, and he especially didn't care for people touching his wings, something children and women seemed drawn to do.  He might occasionally let a child do it, or give them a feather, but Sorch could keep his hands to himself.

"I have wings and I am a human," he explained.  He used a slow voice, partially to keep himself from snapping and partially in the hope that speaking to Sorch as he would to a halfwit might avail him more than yelling had. "I am a human with wings." He pushed the plate away and sat up on his knees. "I don't know why I bother talking to you. You're just going to keep insisting I'm a bird."

His fever had broken overnight, and already he felt stronger.  If Varali had set the wing bones right and if he could get a potion from her to fight off the infection whilst on the road, he could leave today.  "I don't think I'll be getting back to sleep," he said once Sorch had returned. He was too awake now, well fed and with his mind racing over his options.  Too much to do, too much to think about to fall back asleep.

"I should head for Adela probably.  Find someone I know there."  As a rule he tried to avoid Akkiel, but he had information the man needed. Rather, information Kirshna needed, but as the boy had gone missing Akkiel would have to do.

[Anonymous]

In usual Sorch fashion, he completely ignored everything Tuyen had to say and stuck to his own logic. "If your momma tells you your daddy was a human." Sorch said slowly, letting his tongue flick against his sharp white teeth and reaching over to grab at his wings gently. "She was lying." Sorch said solemnly.  A bright grin soon bloomed and his tail thumped against the ground, "You know me so well already. I'm so touched."

His hand went to his chest as emphasis and he stood up, tail still flicking. "Varali, Tuyen needs yo–Adela?" Sorch moved back to stare down at Tuyen. "Are you sick? I've heard bad things about Adela." Varalia leaned quietly against the wall, watching them with sightless eyes. She was the one who told Sorch this rumour and she didn't like it much. "Bad stuff happened recently, y'know. The commander of the armies, y'know, the woman with the big black wings? God kidnapped, sliced her wings clear out of her back, was gone for weeks."

Sorch eyed Tuyen's wings before putting his hands on his hips and flicking his tail, then he laughed and pushed a hand through his hair, "What kind of commander gets kidnapped? Bet they're just screwing the king for their position, wouldn't be surprised if she gets demoted as Commander and turns into another one of that King's concubines." Sorch flicked his tail back and forth and then looked over, "Oh."

"Sorch, that isn't a kind thing to say about anyone. Think of how that poor woman feels." Varali wandered over and grabbed at Sorch's tail, making him hiss in discomfort when she squeezed it, "Imagine losing your tail, you thoughtless lug." He visibly winced and his ears went down, his hands tucked to his sides, "I imagine worse things than losing her wings happened too!" Varali kneeled and placed a hand on Tuyen's shoulder gently before pushing a vial into his hands, "Just drink a little of it, put it in some water or eat it with some food twice a day for about three days, it should keep the infection at bay and accelerate the healing."

A smile and she moved a hand to pat his cheek, "I wish you luck. I'd suggest being careful about Adela though, with something like that having happened I imagine the boarder is being well protected against outsiders."