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No Cure For Bad Luck (Magyar)

Started by Eckhart_Von_Musel, September 04, 2017, 01:03:25 PM

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Eckhart_Von_Musel

"This is just my luck."

It wasn't a very nice day outside. Eckhart Von Musel walked down the streets of Maestoso, hood pulled over his head. It hadn't been raining when he left the inn- if it had been, he would have stayed inside. "I miss Hyoite." Eckhart thought bitterly. "The weather back home is so much nicer."

Eckhart had a reason for being outside, of course. The other day he'd seen a flyer advertising a new apothecary shop in town, one that supposedly sold very high end merchandise. As Eckhart had recently come into a bit of money, he figured it'd be worth checking out. His familiar had opted to stay at the inn- all the better in Eckhart's eyes. "It's been a while since I had some time to myself."

From what Eckhart remembered, the new apothecary was on the other side of town. Maestoso was a big city, and it would likely take Eckhart at least an hour to get there- that is, if Eckhart took the well traveled streets. Maestoso had a labyrinth of back alleys, and many long time residents were able to navigate them with no trouble at all. Eckhart looked down one of the alleys, trying to make a decision. "If I try taking a shortcut, I could get hopelessly lost. If I don't, I'll be walking an hour in this dreadful rain."

"I hate being wet."

It only took five minutes for everything to go horribly wrong. Eckhart had been navigating the back alleys fairly well in his opinion- he hadn't gotten totally turned around at least. Then, without any warning, somebody shoved him against the wall. Letting out a small cry of fear, Eckhart looked at his assailant- a larger man in a sleeveless jacket. His teeth were crooked, and he smelled distinctively of tobacco. The man pointed small device at him- something Eckhart recognized from a book he'd read as being a gun. "A'ight you little shit." the man said in a gruff voice. "Hand over yer coin an' I wont blow yer brains out."

Eckhart looked around nervously. There was nobody else in sight, at least that he could see. "Ah, er, can't we, uh..." Eckhart struggled to find the right words. He looked pleadingly at the man. "Um... please?"

Magyar

"Raoun, we seem to be running low on dried Edelweiss..."

Raoun frowned, stopping mid stroll, and slung his pack off of his shoulder. He remembered stocking up before they'd left the last village- "You did, but you also drank a lot of tea on the way."

Raoun's frown deepened into a scowl, and he swatted at the air around his head, muttering, "You know I hate it when you listen to me think! I'm not some storyteller's fancy for you to follow along to." He knelt, needlessly re-tied his pack, and took off at a brisk walk. His cloak fluttered behind him, and he pulled his hood across the dark tangle of his hair, the grim and tight-lipped face he so favoured sliding across his features. He was dressed slightly better than normal, having been coerced into buying leather walking boots and a pair of linen braies. He still wore a raggedy skirt and tunic though, and his pine dyed cloak had seen far better days.

"Then maybe you should keep your thoughts to yourself," Naia nipped back defiantly, a touch of insolence colouring her tone, "It's hard not to hear every stray curiosity and unsaid insult you procure out of that thick head of yours!"

Raoun almost stopped walking for a second, so caught was he by her words. He was irritated now, and he said, "Keep my thoughts to myself? What does that even- how would one even do that?!" he readjusted his grip on the pack and trudged forward, muttering to himself. "I can hear you, you jag!"

"What does that even mean?!" He yelled, suddenly very aware that to anyone around him, it would appear as if he was yelling at nothing. He snapped at Naia, albeit under his breath this time, "Just shut up and stop rummaging around in my thoughts!" He knew she'd listened when she withdrew ever so slightly from him. She couldn't go far, but she could seclude herself if she wanted to. He'd have to apologise later... and his scowl deepened further.

One foot after the other, over and over, until he was far enough from this blasted place to fly. They'd decided on keeping a low profile, but that meant walking in highly populated areas. And wouldn't you know it, he'd taken a human road into a human city, where there was an annoying abundance of humans. He was busy brooding over how he couldn't fly, how they were running out of tea leaves, how he'd have to make it up to Naialei somehow, and much he didn't like stone buildings and stone roads when he walked past an alley. An alley with some teenager and a much larger, much shadier looking fellow pointing something his way. Raoun snapped out of his funk, sudden self-preservation instinct taking over. He called, albeit with every intent to abandon subtlety if the need arose, out into the alley, "Hey, whatcha doin' with the kid?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Well lad? Are you gon' to pay up, or do ye need more persuading?"

Eckhart stared at the man, terrified. "Shit! Now what?" he thought in a panic. "I can't just give him my money- then I'd be back at square one!" Eckhart attempted to reason with the man, but his fear got in the way. "But, um, I don't, uh-"

The man pressed the gun deeper into his chest. "Don' make me repeat myself, lad. Your money. Now."

Before Eckhart could stutter out anything else incomprehensible, he heard a shout come from outside the alley. "Hey, whatcha doin' with the kid?"

Glancing to his right, Eckhart saw a haggard looking man in a green cloak staring at the scene that had been unfolding. The mugger cursed under his breath, then gave the newcomer what he must have thought was a charming smile. It made him look slightly demented. "I was just givin' him directions is all. Poor kid is lost."

Eckhart looked at the cloaked man nervously. "Please help." he mouthed wordlessly.

Magyar

Raoun caught the boy's distressed message, but it was Naialei who really felt the compulsion to act on it. That was sort of her thing, protecting the innocent, guarding the unguarded, underdogging. Raoun wasn't opposed to that idea, but he did prefer to avoid conflict instead of engaging every single sob story and bullied child they came across... this time, however, he would make an exception.

"Let me," Naia asked, already preparing the golden-cream coloured flame behind him, "I don't like this one already." She began to materialise, becoming slowly visible to Eckhart and his mugger. Almost like a mist settling in the early morning, her wispy hair, nearly translucent clothing and pale skin floated just behind and above Raoun, eyes quite literally afire, and fingers engulfed in the tongues of flame. Raoun unslung a rusted arming sword from his pack and lifted it to Naia. She obliged, touching the blade - as soon as she did, the same creamy fire began to lick up the length of the blade.

He chuckled, remembering fondly his training sessions from back home. This of course, would be child's play in comparison, but the adrenaline felt all the same. He replied, "Be my guest..."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart's eyes widened what appeared to be a female figure materialize beside the man. The figure looked wispy, and it was difficult for Eckhart to see it properly through the rainfall. What he could see was that somehow, the figures eyes were aflame. "Sweet Ansgar, what the fuck is that?" he thought, beginning to get very frightened. "Why can't the people I meet ever be normal?"

"How are the flames staying lit in this weather?" a smaller, more easily distracted voice in his head asked. "Are they ethereal?"

Upon seeing the man draw a sword- also mysteriously on fire despite the weather- the mugger panicked. Clearly terrified by the man and his ghost, he clumsily fired his flintlock at them. "S-stay away!" he shouted as he turned around and began to flee...


Magyar

The mugger, while a tad cowardly and definitely of a despicable moral bent, was a worthy marksman. His shot punched through Raoun's thigh, forcing the Nephilim to take a knee. He grunted in pain, clenched his teeth, and tried to rise. His right leg burned like it was being stuck with a hot poker, and it buckled under him, nearly sending him sprawling.

"Raoun?", Naia asked, concern tinting her words, "Can you st-"

"Wings." He hissed between his teeth, "Now!" Naia complied nearly immediately, only hesitating to quickly gauge his tone. Raoun was prone to acts of rage-induced violence, and though she'd been with him long enough to accurately decipher his tone and thought process just before such episodes, he had been deceptively calm before... Nonetheless, she gave him his wish.

Under his cloak, wings of the same colour and luminescence as she herself sprung into full form. Together their wingspan was almost fourscore Raoun's own height, and they stretched high above his head in this pose. He quickly brought them in and then pushed them out again, effectively flapping forward, and propelling himself down the alleyway. Though Naia, who was now hanging tightly off of him, arms wrapped snugly around his shoulders, was ethereal in form... his wings were most definitely not. Their golden feathery tips dragged against the cobblestone walls and kicked up large trails of dirt and stray debris in their wake.

Raoun cleared the gap between himself and the mugger in a second, gripping the man by the back of his neck and forcing him to the ground. Using his wings as a makeshift parachute, he flared them wide and stopped himself from tumbling with his prey, rather landing with his good knee between the older man's shoulder blades. His bad leg trailed awkwardly behind him, Raoun unwilling to put weight on the limb. As he had the squirming man in his grip, pinned to the ground, he raised his sword high above his head in preparation for the killing stroke...

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart watched helplessly as the mugger's shot connected with the man's leg, causing him to double over in pain. Eckhart winced. "Shit! He had a... ghost... thing, how did that even happen? Are guns that powerful?" Looking back, he saw the mugger had begun to flee, dropping his weapon in a panic. Relieved, he made a move to help the injured man...

Out of nowhere, the man grew a pair of wings and shot towards the mugger. The wings dragged along the walls of the alley, one of them hitting Eckhart in the face as it passed by. Feeling as if he'd been smacked by a particularly heavy pillow, he fell to the ground. In a daze, he looked back to see the man had the mugger at his mercy, and was raising his sword to deliver the killing blow.

Eckhart froze. Images flashed through his mind of the last time he'd been "rescued"- the psychotic smirk of his would-be savior, the panicked screams of his tormentors as they were dissolved into nothingness. None of it had been necessary, and all Eckhart had been capable of doing was sitting by helplessly and watching. "No! This can't be happening again!" Eckhart thought, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "I- I don't want this!"

"Then stop him." said a smaller, more determined voice in Eckhart's head. "You're a healer. It's your job to save lives."

It only took a split second for Eckhart to make his decision. Rushing towards the two men, Eckhart snatched the gun off of the ground and pointed it at the winged man's head. "Stop, now!" he yelled. "Nobody needs to die here!"

Magyar

The mugger, currently pinned by both a knee and a painfully firm grip around the back of his neck, twisted to see Eckhart pointing the gun at his would-be murderer and began to laugh, or perhaps cry. It was hard to tell, but there definitely tears running down his cheeks and an almost forced laughter ringing in the alley.

Raoun turned his head towards Eckhart, staring around the weapon about an inch or two from his face. He squinted skeptically at the boy and was about to start verbally abusing the little snot for not being grateful when Naia stopped him. She was smiling, and not at Raoun. The teen had chosen pacifism, a decision she wished Raoun was more open to. At the same time, the man Raoun had tackled had shot her partner, and she thought he deserved some punishment.

Reaching into Raoun's left arm, like a sleeve, she pulled the man's head up by his neck and then forced it back into the ground. His laugh-crying went out with a whimper, but he wasn't dead, or even unconscious. Concussed, perhaps. Raoun was a bit taken aback, but he didn't argue.

"Honey," Naia started, phasing her hand back out of Raoun, and gently pushing the gun barrel to the ground, "That doesn't have anything in it anymore."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Both the men turned their heads to look at Eckhart- the mugger a blubbering mess, and the cloaked man unimpressed. The ghost was also looking at him, but unlike the other two she she was smiling. She was still smiling as she put her arm into the arm of her companion as one would put their hand in a puppet. Eckhart's eyes widened as she- no, they proceeded to give the mugger a concussion. "Sweet Ansgar, what the fuck did I just witness?"

Removing her arm from the cloaked man, the ghost proceed to inform Eckhart that the gun wasn't loaded anymore. The healer went red in the face as an ethereal hand lowered the weapon to the ground. "I, um, uh..." he sputtered, feeling incredibly embarrassed. "Er, yeah, I knew that. I... I just didn't think you'd notice."

"God, that sounded fucking stupid. I gotta change the subject before I dig myself any deeper."

Smiling apologetically, Eckhart scratched the back of his head. The rain hadn't let up, and his hair and clothes were sopping wet. "Um... Thank you. Do you need help with your injury? I'm a healer, it's the least I could do to repay you."

Magyar

Raoun regarded the kid with squinted eyes, distrust clear in his expression. Distrust of what exactly, he couldn't nail down. The kid's motives, his morals... his presence in an alley, to name a few. But before he could voice or even share his concerns, Naialei took the opportunity to do exactly what she always did. She made his decision for him.

"That would be fantastic, thank you," She said with a wide smile. The young one was particularly kind, or perhaps Raoun particularly unkind, but either way his gratitude surprised her. Most didn't give so much as a scrambled thank-you after being saved, so for someone to offer a service in return had given her a special kind of joy. This boy was just full of pleasant surprises, "Do you have somewhere we need to go, or are you certain you can employ your arts in this dank alley?"

Raoun scowled, both at the slowly growing ache in his leg and at her agreeable nature. Why did she have to be so... likeable?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Well, um..."

Eckhart glanced at the hooded man apprehensively. The man hadn't spoken since he'd been stopped from killing the prospective mugger, and the look he was giving Eckhart made it clear he wasn't happy about that. "Why did you offer to help?" a voice in his head asked. "Look at him, he's clearly unhinged."

Pushing that thought aside, Eckhart gave the man and his ghost a nervous look. "Ah, well, it's probably better we get out of the rain, right?" Looking around, he spotted an area that was shielded from the elements by a small balcony. "There! We could go there!"

"Who puts a balcony in an alleyway? It's not as if there's some amazing view down here, all you can see is the wall."

Once again ignoring his thoughts, he outstretched his hand to help to hooded man up. A timid smile showed on the boy's face. "My name is Eckhart. Eckhart Von Musel. It's nice to meet you!"

"Just wait, I bet he won't give me his name. He's going be all like 'whatever kid', or something like that."

Magyar

"Raoun." His reply was blunt, but he didn't care. Disgruntled Raoun was unreasonable Raoun.

"Naialei," the ethereal woman chimed, significantly happier than the man she floated around, "Charmed to make your acquaintance."

Raoun sheathed the flaming blade, fiery tongues vanishing as they hit the leather of his belt loop. His wings began to fade away, like dandelion seeds blown in a strong wind. He took Eckhart's offer, reach up and grasping the boy's forearm and using him as one would use a wall to stand. That is, with very little regard for the wall. He weighed more and was taller than Eckhart, so when he pulled himself to a standing position, he nearly pulled the boy down with him. It didn't help that he was balanced on his left leg, his right being near as incapacitated as the man he'd just been squatting on.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

To his surprise, the man actually gave him his name. "Oh!" he thought hopefully. "Maybe I was wrong! I mean, Miss Naialei seems really nice, so he must be a good guy if she's willing to spend time with him! Right?"

The sheer disregarded Raoun showed Eckhart's own wellbeing broke that illusion pretty quickly. Eckhart strained under the man's weight, his small frame nearly buckling. "Ok, I take it back." the boy thought, eyes watering. "This guy is an asshole." 

It was slow going, but Eckhart managed to help the man reach their destination. It wasn't much better then where they had been, but the balcony prevented the two from getting more soaked then they already were. Doing his best to set the man down gently, Eckhart rested his hands on his knees. "Ok..." he said, sounding incredibly winded. "I'm, um, going to need to cut a hole in your trousers so I can see what I'm doing. Is that ok?" He smiled nervously. "I know sewing, so I can fix them afterwards if you'd like!"

"Did I really just admit I can sew to this guy? Sweet Ansgar, I'm fucking up all over the place today."

Magyar

Are we sure this child is male? Raoun asked, careful to keep his thoughts as private as possible. Prone to thinking aloud, as normally it didn't matter how loud or quiet he was - Naia would always know his intention - he had to take special care to keep his opinions to himself. Naia told him that he could be abrasive at times.

Oh shush, she scolded, He's going to help us, regardless of his possible femininity.

Raoun gave Eckhart a sideways look, opting to say nothing rather than something in objection. Naialei, however, wasn't so stoic or impolite, said, "That will do very nicely, thank you. And he appreciates it, doesn't he?

Raoun gave a grunt, and eyed the cobblestones. He leaned against the wall under the balcony, before sliding down into a sitting squat of sorts. Another grunt and a dull thump against the ground, and Raoun was ready to be stitched, sitting as he was.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Raoun's silence was more unnerving then anything he could have said, and Eckhart had to stop himself from whimpering in fear. "At- at least Naia is nice, right? She'll keep him from murdering me if I fuck up, right?"

Smiling nervously, the boy uncapped his scalpel. "Alright, this shouldn't take too long. I think." Cutting through the man's trousers, he was able to get a better look at the man's injury. His eyes widened- Eckhart was used to dealing with arrow wounds. "Eugh, that's nasty..."

It looked as if a hole had been punched in Raoun's leg. Blood trickled out at a steady rate, and Eckhart immediately got to work stemming it. The boy's hands grew a pale blue-green color as he touched the man's injury, clotting the blood as it came out. With that out of the way, the healer focused his attention to the bullet that was lodged in Raoun's leg. "Shit."

"Ok." the boy said. "The good news is that the projectile didn't go in deep enough to hit the bone..." Eckhart looked at the Raoun and Naia, grimacing. "The bad news is that it's lodged under your external iliac artery. Trying to cut it out is too risky. I'm going to have to pull it out by hand, okay?"

"Sweet Ansgar, a medical emergency and an unpleasant patient? This is a nightmare..."

Magyar

"By hand?" Raoun asked incredulously, the look of disbelief on his face betraying what little faith he had in the immediate procedure, "Unless you've the smallest hands in this damned city, babes included, your fingers aren't going to fit into my bullet wound."

"Oh, Raoun!" Naia exclaimed, suddenly exasperated, "Give the boy a chance, will you? We haven't much of a choice, unless you want to limp your way out of this place and cut it out yourself!"

Raoun gave the wispy apparition a glare that could melt iron, and let it wash over Eckhart before closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the wall with a long sigh. Without lifting his head, he snapped, "Just get it over with then, and do a good job of it!"

"He will!" Naia defended, before turning to Eckhart and asking in a quieter voice, "You will, won't you?"

Raoun snorted, not at the question itself, but at the premise that Naia's lowered tone was one he couldn't hear. Never mind the fact that he could feel her intent often before she knew it. That being said, his knowledge of this boy's skill was exactly null. Walking on faith, and Naialei's good will, he was.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart looked at the man indignantly, eye twitching. "I can do it." he said bitterly. "Just you wait." Giving Naia a nod, he turned his attention back to the wound. "I think..." he added to himself.

Gingerly pulling at the edge of the man's would, Eckhart squinted. He could see the bullet nestled in between the bone and the artery, a glint of metal in a sea of blood and pus. "You know, you're actually pretty lucky." he said absentmindedly, giving the bullet a gentle prod with his pinky finger. "This is nothing really. My friend Kino once fought an owlbear, broke a lot of ribs." Showing a surprising amount of dexterity, the boy pushed the artery back slightly with his finger, nudging the projectile softly. "One of the ribs was close to piercing her lungs, so I had to cut open her chest and mover it back into place by hand." The bullet wiggled slightly, and it only took a few more seconds for Eckhart to slide it out. "I guess what I'm saying is..."

Placing one hand on the injury, Eckhart regenerated the man's cells so as to close the wound. The healer held up the bullet for Raoun and Naia to see, his gaze surprisingly intense. "... You have nothing to worry about."

"That will show you for doubting me, asshole."

Magyar

The highly disconcerting feeling shared between the pair of bonded souls at having a young man's hands several inches within Raoun's thigh was not betrayed by Raoun. For all the world he couldn't feel his legs at all, except for the smallest of twitches under his left eye.

Naialei, however, was squirming in place next to Eckhart, gently floating above them now that she wasn't holding onto Raoun. Of course, she didn't have to, in fact, she didn't have to appear at all. It was all her preferred façade, and she used it as one would their eyebrows; to express every little emotion she could. As soon as the bullet was out, Raoun released a tense breath through his nose, and offered a hand in thanks to his impromptu surgeon.

"What about that urchin?" he asked, nodding without looking to the still slowly writhing man on the stones behind them. The mugger's eyes were unfocused, and his lips were moving ever so slightly but he wasn't making any noise. Raoun would have normally disposed of the body, but there was no body to dispose of, so this was uncharted territory. He told Eckhart as much, before testing his freshly healed leg by rising on it.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart's lips curled into a smile as Raoun offered his hand, a hungry gleam in the boy's eyes. "That's right." he thought, shaking the man's hand enthusiastically. "Now you appreciate me, don't you?"

The man then stood up, asking Eckhart what to do about the mugger. The healer looked at the not-quite-unconscious man apprehensively. "Um..." he started. "Let's... Let's just leave him here. I think we've done enough to him."

"Somehow I think the guards would be more likely to arrest us than him..."

Magyar

"Leaving him could result in our future damnation," Raoun warned, though Naia berated him for his pessimistic language. Truth was truth, however, and a haggard angel man travelling with a naïve healing boy and occasionally a spirit-like vanishing woman were not something easily forgotten. If this man were to notify authorities of them... it would make both of their journeys all the more dangerous - regardless of if they continued together or split later.

"As grim as he puts it, Raoun is not wrong," Naialei chimed, her ghostly features almost translucent against the gray stone, "You humans have a propensity for the holding of grudges."

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