Asking For Trouble [Rina/open]

[Tally]

Brat? Brat?!

How dare this charlatan insult him when he'd come here for succor! He very nearly told her he would be thrilled to be out of her presence and find someone who was actually competent, but the old woman was already poking at his arm like she'd never laid eyes on a burn in her life. She must be daft.

Just my luck, the nearest healer is senile.

While she did whatever it was she was doing, Ruben shot a look up at Doyle, frowning up at him through dark lashes. "What do you mean touchy? I am not touchy just because I expect some measure of quality and good sense and I refuse to apologize for that. Honestly, I don't know how the people of this village get by with no one to enforce a standard of acceptability.  What you need here is a Sanctuary temple to show the rest of these hedge healers how a house of mercy ought to be run. It'd drive the lot of them out of business within the month I can tell you that, not that you could expect a Sanctuary shaman to set up trade all the way out here. I imagine the best this place can hope for is for one of their journeymen to wander through once or twice a season."

Having set Doyle straight, he returned his attention to the healer, still hoping that she would somehow manage to live up to her title. "Well? Will you be able to do anything?"

[Anonymous]

Doyle felt his mouth open slightly, just staring at Ruben. He had never met anyone like this before. How he could be so...rude just shocked Doyle. His natural response to people was an awkward politeness that it was hard for him to understand how Ruben could even talk to anyone that way. He had no idea how to even respond to it.

The healer clicked her tongue, "You are lucky you're a looker. No one is going to hang around you for your personality." Shuffling back to her table, the healer started selected some herbs, "Well. You burned yourself real good. You'll be lucky if ya don't scar. You'll need to come in once a day for a treatment."

Dropping the herbs into a mortar, the woman began to grind them, "It's 4 silver a treatment and I expect payment every day. This ain't a charity." Adding a few oils to the mixture, she soon had a paste. She looked at Doyle expectantly until the large man flushed, digging around the pouch at his belt and pulling out the money.

He handed it over, giving her one of his awkward, strange smiles, "Thank you."

Pocketing the money, the woman beamed, "You are welcome. Too bad ya didn't see me about your face. I am good with scars, lucky for your friend here." Scooping the mixture onto her fingers, she smiled at Ruben, "This is gonna hurt a bit until they start workin."

Her practiced hands started to work the mixture into the ruined skin on Ruben's arm, massaging it in.

[Tally]

What an embarrassment that Doyle had to pay for him.  Not that he didn't have every intention of paying him back to the last copper but Ruben could not have felt more like beggar just then.

Worse that the woman seemed to have expected Doyle to pay. She didn't so much as glance at Ruben when discussing the payment.  Not that he had anything to pay with but she didn't know that and she shouldn't go assuming that about him!

"Excuse me, did you say once a day?  That is not acceptable."  Ruben followed the woman to her table and kept talking.  He would put up with her atrocious attitude if it meant getting a decent treatment—these old healers and apothecaries could be odd sorts even if they did know what they were doing—but he was not in such a sorry state yet that he had to tolerate blatant, horrifying incompetence.

"Now see here, did you learn your craft in a basement somewhere?  I don't know if you're trying to con me or if you're just inept, but I am quite sure there are other solutions available. Are you even listening to me?  For all the trouble this is going to cost me, that stuff had better work. If it doesn't you can bet I'll see every coin returned—"

He let out one pained hiss at the stinging salve on his burn but slammed his fist down on the table and gritted his teeth instead of letting out another sound.  It was nothing compared to the beating his pride was taking here.

[Anonymous]

"Ruben!" Doyle flushed, rather embarrassed at the mage's behavior. He honestly was not sure how to deal with either of them and it made him slightly uncomfortable, "Stop acting so ungrateful." He felt an urge to defend Ruben's behavior to the woman, but, well, this did seem to be the norm for him. "We've both had a bad night. I'm sorry."

The healer's hands didn't stop working, continuing to rub the salve into the burn, "Oh. Pardon me. I assumed you didn't want disfiguring scars. If you don't mind permanent damage, then you should only need to come in every few days."

Doyle rubbed the back of his neck, "Once a day ain't that bad. And I'm sure ya'll be healed in no time 'tal."

[Tally]

"You can keep saying my name like that all you like but it needed to be said." Ruben could have said a great deal more in fact, but he was only just now realizing the folly of offending a healer. The woman could purposefully leave him disfigured or worse! He wouldn't put it past her either, the swindler. He'd meant every word he'd said too.  If this concoction didn't leave him free of scars and totally healed by the end of this he would have every coin back from the hag, see if he didn't.

"How long is this going to take," he snapped.  A great many days, he'd wager, the better to bleed coin out of him.  "I want to know when I can expect to see results, and I will hold you to your word."

How would he manage this? He could not go home. He couldn't make that trek every day, twice a day.  He would have to stay in the village, and yet he didn't have the coin on him to rent out an inn room and even if he did, the sum of staying in an inn for so many nights in a row would be too great.

[Anonymous]

Doyle's dark skin was quite red, even his ears felt hot, "Ruben!" His voice was a low hiss now, "Stop being so rude to your healer." He hadn't dealt with someone this rude since his mercenary days. And they at least had the smarts to treat the person in charge of fixing them with respect.

"Oh, you'll get results love. Don't you worry." The old woman smiled pleasantly at him, fingers digging into his arm a little rougher then they had been, "You'll be perfectly smooth and unblemished by the time I'm done with you."

She switched her attention to Doyle, ignoring Ruben for the moment, "Now, it'll take a few weeks at least. There is some real damage to his arm. If he's unlucky or don't follow my instructions, could take as long as 6 or 7 weeks. He gets lucky and follows my instructions, might be as short as 2 weeks."

Doyle just nodded, rubbing the back of his beck, glancing at Ruben. He knew he could afford to pay for even the longer end of that, though he had no idea about Ruben. Doyle didn't really spend much money and he had made a decent amount when he had been working. He would just talk about that with him later.

For now he just dropped his arm and shrugged, wincing as it jarred his ribs, "Well, that's a little bit of a walk for ya, eh? Why...uh....well...if ya like, ya can stay with me."

Even someone with Ruben's vicious tongue was nicer then the empty loneliness of his house.

[Tally]

"I had better be," he muttered. The vicious harpy was being far rougher than she needed, but he would not give her the satisfaction of thinking she was hurting him. He would not. Even if he had to bite his own tongue to keep from grimacing, he would not show the least bit of discomfort.

"Excuse me."  He was tired of her talking over him to Doyle. As if he weren't standing right there.  He put himself squarely in their line of sight.  "Madam, you can speak to me you know. I am here in the room with you, and I'm the one who will have to endure your treatments, not him. So if you would kindly address me and stop fancying that I'm invisible? Because I assure you I can be quite louder if you need help remembering that I am actually here."

He didn't give Doyle an answer just then, but mulled the offer over in his mind. "I'll arrange something!"

It may work, and he had funds enough back at the observatory to cover whatever expenses it would cost Doyle to put him up, but he was not yet ready to commit to that. If possible, he would rather find another way, something that didn't involve him huddling in a stranger's house like some begging vagrant.

[Anonymous]

The healer fixed Ruben with a pointed look, "I don't discuss business with children and you are behaving like one. Act your age. Until then, I'll be speaking to your..." She looked over at Doyle, "friend here."

Doyle, on the other hand, had the grace to flush again, lowering his eyes and rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "Sorry Ruben. I wasn't tryin' ta talk for ya. But, well, I mean....there ain't no rush or anything. But I do have room and it's not too much of a walk."

He didn't want to pressure the mage, but Doyle really didn't want to go home to an empty house yet again. And he didn't like the idea of Ruben staying alone with that injury.

[Tally]

"Are you quite finished yet?"  It took an effort not to speak through clenched teeth.  Ruben flexed his arm experimentally and was forced to admit—grudgingly and to himself only of course—that the woman had at least succeeded in easing the pain of it.  He felt nothing when he moved his arm save a disquieting numbness, though he still could not bear to look at it.

"And I said I'll arrange something," he repeated, half turning to fix Doyle with narrow-eyed glare.  He just didn't want to go discussing this in front of the crone.  He abhorred the idea of strangers being privy to his personal business.

The closed air of the healer's cabin with its herbal scents and incense choking the space was rather getting to him, and he had to suck in a few deep breaths.  He stayed stubbornly upright, though his head swam and he might have swayed in spite of himself.  He was ready to be out of here.

[Anonymous]

"Aye. You're all set." The healer gave him a sickly sweet smile before getting up, starting to clean up the table. She had no interest in either of them now that she was finished with Ruben's arm for now.

The glare he got from Ruben had Doyle taking a half step back. He hadn't meant to piss him off again and he wasn't really sure why he was so angry, "Right. Right. O' course. Whatever you want." He had never dealt with someone so prickly before.

"Well, let's get out of the way now, yeah?" Hopefully Ruben wouldn't get upset at that suggestion, "Yer clothes are still at my place. We should at least see if those can get cleaned up while ya decide what to do next, yeah?"

[Tally]

Ruben was heading for the door before the woman had even finished her sentence.  He stormed out and didn't bother looking behind him to see if Doyle was following.

Why did this have to happen to him?  All he wanted was one night in the field to test a theory, and as a result everything just went to hell.  Now he was stuck in the village, stuck relying on a healer he had no faith in, and stuck in a house with a stranger.

He stopped in the middle of the street and realized he was walking aimlessly, wrapped up in his thoughts and not really going anywhere.  He found a bench nearby and sank down onto it to catch his breath and collect himself.

[Anonymous]

"Uh, thank you Ma'am." Doyle bowed slightly to the woman, "He really does appreciate your help." Another bow and then Doyle hurried after Ruben. He felt bad for the mage, he really did. He just wasn't sure how to help.

It wasn't hard to follow Ruben to the bench, his expression worried. He felt really kind of guilty, that he hopped Ruben was going to take him up on his offer. That was pretty selfish of him. Moving to sit near him on the bench, Doyle glanced over at Ruben, not speaking for a moment.

He fidgeted, feeling the silence building, "Um, well....I'm real sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?"

[Tally]

Ruben cast a bemused look at Doyle.  What an odd thing he had said.  The man had offered his home to Ruben for weeks and was even willing to pay the healer's fee with no guarantee that Ruben would pay him back.  And then he asked if there was anything he could do to help?

"No, thank you.  It's fine.  It's...it'll be fine."

He still hadn't decided if he would take Doyle up on his offer yet.  He didn't know Doyle.  It would be unforgivably foolish to stay in a stranger's house, not to mention he'd have to leave the observatory unattended for so long.

He didn't want to think about all of that, anyway.  He just wanted to sit on this bench for a few moments, free of worry, and calm himself down.

[Anonymous]

Ruben didn't seem to want to talk and that was fine with Doyle. He settled into the seat and watched the people move around them. It was a nice day and Doyle stretched out his long legs and tilted his scared face back to enjoy the sunlight on it.

He wasn't going to pressure Ruben any. He wouldn't be surprised if he said no to staying with him, though he wasn't about to let him go back alone and injured to that observatory place.

[Tally]

A little time and a little calm reflection put the situation in perspective.  The market crowd kicked up a perpetual dust cloud that hung about their knees.  Ruben recognized so few of them.  Later, when he had more time, he would go and find another healer, hopefully a better one.  It wasn't a high hurtle to jump, yet he wasn't terribly optimistic about it.

Finally he stood up.  "Right.  Let's stop back at your place, then."

He had enough coin to pay the healer's fee.  He did not have enough to pay that and pay for an inn, and he couldn't make the trek to and from the observatory twice a day. That left Doyle's home as his best—and perhaps only—option.

[Anonymous]

Relaxed and warm in the sunlight, Doyle was pulled out of his pleasant thoughts when Ruben finally spoke up again as he stood up. Giving a yawn, Doyle stood as well, stretching out his back muscles, "You made up your mind then?"

He didn't really want to assume that Ruben did want to stay with him, as that would probably piss the mage off. But it would be nice to have company again, "You wanna stay at my place then? I ain't much of a cook, just ta warn ya."

[Tally]

"I said we're stopping by your place."  Now that he was calm, the heat and the crowd and the noise didn't assail his head so badly.  It was bearable, and even easier after having received a proper treatment (such as it was) for his arm.  "I may choose to go back there once I've gathered a few things from the observatory."

He would make this work.  Just because he'd suffered an injury didn't mean his life and his work could come to a stop.  What was a few weeks?  He could still work on the declensions, even if he was stuck at Doyle's.  If he brought a few light materials from the observatory, he could do even more good.

"But first we're going back to the clearing.  I have to recover anything that may be left there."

[Anonymous]

Doyle was really going to have to get used to this. But all the same, he frowned a little at Ruben, feeling somewhat hurt that every time he tried to be nice, the other man acted so prickly or cold. Though, he supposed he should cut him some slack. He had been through a rough night and was probably still in pain.

"Well, just let me know yer decision." He started off toward his house, nodding, "And I don't mind goin' with ya to the clearing. I doubt the creature stuck around none."

[Tally]

Ruben flinched and stopped dead. "What? Surely...it must be dead.  You killed it last night.  It's...dead."

It had to be.  Even here, the mention of it and the idea that it may still be loose out there made him whip his head around at their surroundings as though it would come crashing around a corner.  It hadn't occurred to him that the thing could be alive.  "If...if it's not dead, then how did we get away?  It would have to be dead.  Or we wouldn't have gotten away from there."

He chewed on his thumbnail and looked off away from the village, toward the wilderness, his determination waning.  He needed the materials he'd lost, but the night's terror returned and constricted his chest and sent dread shivering down his limbs.

[Anonymous]

"What? No. I don't think so anyway." Doyle felt a little guilty mentioning the monster, but it would have been worse to lie about it, "I wounded it, but it is probably alive. But you shouldn't worry about it. It wouldn't enter a city and I doubt it will hang around there. You had all that fire and it was injured."

Doyle reached out and lightly touched Ruben's shoulder, "I can go get them papers and things. You don't have to leave my place. Wont take me long at all."