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Cabin Fever (Glorilyss)

Started by Eckhart_Von_Musel, April 09, 2017, 01:43:59 PM

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Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Fuck."

The rain made it impossible to see. Eckhart stumbled through the forest, trying to find his way back to the road. He had only strayed off the path for a minute to take a look at some berries he'd seen on the side of the road, how did he manage to get lost? Thunder roared overheard, and a flash of lightning illuminated the night sky. "I'm going to catch pneumonia if I don't find shelter soon," Eckhart thought grimly. "This isn't how I thought I'd die, but I suppose fate is funny that way."

Eckhart wasn't used to weather like this. His jacket, meant to protect from the harsher elements up north, was completely soaked through. The rain had caused his mop of blonde hair to stick to his face, and he kept having to push it out of his eyes. His feet were the only part of him that were dry, but Eckhart wasn't sure how much longer that would last- his boots were beginning to make odd squelching noises as he walked. He sneezed. "Shit." Eckhart muttered. "This isn't good."

Salvation came in the form of an old house in the middle of the woods. From the looks of it, it had been abandoned for some time- at least a few years. A flash if lightning illuminated the cottage just long enough for Eckhart to notice the door was slightly ajar. Not caring if the building was occupied by anything, Eckhart ran inside. "Anything to get out of the rain." Almost immediately he took off his coat, leaving it on the floor. Without the heavy jacket, it'd become apparent to anybody who saw him that Eckhart was malnourished. Now taking a look around the dark room, Eckhart could see that he was in the kitchen. A small fireplace was in the center of the room, and there was a table with a few chairs. Sitting down, Eckhart began to rummage through his backpack for a change of clothes. After getting changed into slightly less soggy clothes- his pajamas- Eckhart sneezed again. "Someday, I'll be able to fix illnesses with magic," he thought angrily. "Then I won't have to worry about bullshit like this." Muttering under his breath, Eckhart would attempt to get the fireplace lit...

glorilyss

It had started out as a rare, fine day: little ruffles of wind had brushed tender fingers over the long shanks of the foothills, breathing over the sea of grasses like a lover's whisper in the ear. The whole sky seemed brilliantly blue, cupped in the palms of the horizon, with the jagged edges of stony crags outlining the western edge of the world, but falling away to near infinity to the south and east. The air held that queer mixture of coolness and warmth, poised on the edge of spring, but unwilling to release the faint briskness of winter quite yet. Overall, everything had seemed quite right with the world: utterly peaceful, and better yet, utterly empty.

Eira had always preferred solitude to crowds, though she certainly appreciated the opportunity for  observation that throngs provided. But she'd felt so claustrophobic lately, the confines of human society wrapping vicious fingers around her other-ness, choking her in a way that she wasn't familiar with at all - at least, not outside of her old family home. And oddly enough, she'd been feeling so much less human recently - the pressing masses of people in cities were the worst, of course, but she'd found that even small villages had been too much. She'd needed something far emptier than a country lane: she'd needed wide-open skies, and absolute solitude. She really just needed to get away, and the mountains had been the best place for that.

Now, as though buoyed by the breeze at her back, she had chosen today to begin her descent back to humanity. Even though she was eager to return to the cities and the libraries that they held, she took her time, savoring the sweetness of mornings filled only with sunshine and the pleasantly-mild exercise of walking. She'd found the cabin in the early afternoon, and though she didn't particularly need to rest, she'd stopped there anyway, feeling an odd kinship with the abandoned little building: partly rundown, lonely, but still standing, despite everything. And it had faithfully done just that: stood stalwartly around her as she ducked inside, scouting out the simple two-room layout, unslinging her bag from her shoulder as she ducked into the back room. It wasn't particularly large, and there was nothing more than the half-rotted frame of a bed, a stone bench, and a candlestick, but it felt... homey.

The rain had come on quite suddenly, but Eira was used to the sudden ferocity of mountain storms. She didn't expect the rain to lighten up until dawn, at least, but it made no difference, anyways; it wasn't even midnight yet, and she could take her time traveling. She'd sat amid the tatters of the old bed, cushioned with pine boughs that she'd fetched from the surrounding woods and reading by the guttering light of one of her last candles, when she heard the noise. Nearly indistinct amid the downpour, but unmistakably a creaking of rusted hinges to her acute hearing, it could be nothing but the front door.

Eira closed the book silently, tucking it under a bristly branch of hemlock and pine, and stood, moving through the room like a ghost. The image was enhanced by the linen shift that fluttered, deathly pale against milk-white limbs, and the near silence of her passage. Pausing only briefly at the door, her hand hovering over the small knob for just a moment, she twisted, stepping through the opening in a flutter of gauzy garments to see....

... some half-clothed wretch, kneeling on the fireplace. The image was so incongruous with what she had been expecting that a sharp bark of laughter was forced from her throat, one hand flying up to hover over the hollow in her collarbone. Her eyes were wide with imagined fears, but the truth before her was really laughable. From what she could see, he was a skinny little thing, young enough and hardly worth the effort of catching and killing, had she been her dragon self-

'Stop that!' Her voice was stern in her own thoughts, pushing aside the beast that always lurked in the back of her mind. No time for that now. One hand resting lightly on the jut of her hip, she raised a pale eyebrow, looking both amused and unsettled at the same time. "Bit of a wet night for exploring. Who are you?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Come on dammit, why wont it light?" Eckhart thought impatiently. His box of matches had been in his coat pocket, and had been thoroughly soaked like the rest of it. "This is just my luck," he thought. "I bet my food will be ruined too."

Just as he finally got a match lit, a sharp laugh from behind him caused him to jump. Eckhart let out a timid yelp as he scrambled to his feet. Spinning around, he saw what at first glance appeared to be some sort of specter standing in the doorway to the other room. Rubbing his eyes, Eckhart squinted at the ghostly woman for a moment and determined that she was, in fact, alive. "She needs to get some Vitamin D, she could get sick like that." Eckhart thought with a frown.

"Sweet Ansgar, don't sneak up on people like that!" Eckhart said indignantly. Suddenly a unsettling thought occurred to him. "Oh shit, what if this is her house? I'm not trespassing, am I?" Smiling nervously, Eckhart took a step back. "Um, my name is Eckhart. I was just about to-" Eckhart interrupted himself with a sneeze. Wiping his nose, he continued. "I was, uh, just about to leave. I'm really sorry for bothering you, I didn't think anyone lived here." Picking up his jacket and bag, Eckhart opened the door and stared what looked like a wall of raindrops. He looked at the woman again, a sheepish expression on his face.

"Um... Could I stay the night?"

glorilyss

Everything about the youth before her spoke of self-consciousness, from the nervousness of his smile to the stammer in his speech. He didn't much look like an adventurer, Eira thought dubiously. They were really starting them out young these days, too; what had happened to parents keeping their children at home? Not that it had done much for her, really, but still. It was the principle, at least.

Still eyeing the boy with something between skepticism and amusement, she lifted the other brow to join its twin. "I'm not exactly 'sneaking,'" she pointed out matter-of-factly, and she hadn't been; she was just used to moving quietly: half predator, half prey - depending upon the situation. "And you don't have to-" Her words were drowned as the door was opened, the sheet of water splashing into the growing puddle under the eaves of the roof.

"I'd close that door, unless you're trying to drown me out. But then, you don't look like you can swim, either." She eyed the water with an expression of distaste, like a cat fastidiously drawing its paws back from mud, and enhanced the image by shuffling backwards an inch or so. Whether the puddle really would rise and cover the floor, she wasn't sure, but she had little desire to find out. "I don't really live here. Judging by the state of the room back there, I think your assumption was correct. No one's been here for a while."

Turning quickly, she disappeared into the gloom of the back bedroom, the faint illumination from her candle growing stronger as she retrieved it and strode across the main room. Brushing gently past the youth, she knelt at the fireplace, touching the candle to the driest patches of tinder and kindling that she could find. A flame straggled into view, and Eira sat back on her heels, puffing gently to get the fire well-lit. Shifting an earthy, hazel glance to the newcomer - Eckhart, she reminded herself - she cracked a smile, the glow from beneath carving deep shadows into her face. "I'm Eira. What's got you hiding in abandoned cabins? Haven't you got a family that's worried about you?" Blunt, but then, she had no reason to be otherwise.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart sighed in relief when the woman told him he didn't have to leave. Quickly closing the door so as not to get wet, he saw the woman disappear into the other room. His stomach growled. "Well, I suppose I ought to check on my food." Eckhart thought glumly. "Just wait, it's all going to be ruined." He was almost right- most of his food had been completely ruined by the water. However, he had a small wheel of cheddar cheese still coated in wax.

The woman came back as he was peeling the wax off of the cheese. As she used a candle to get the fireplace lit, Eckhart knelt down in front of it, glad for the warmth it provided. He realized how pathetic that made him look, so he quickly stood back up and sat in one of the kitchen chairs instead. When the woman asked her question, he gave her an embarrassed look.

"I-I'm nineteen." Eckhart replied, looking at his feet. "I'm not that young, I own my own house." Looking at Eira -as that was her name- his next sentence was cut off by a sneeze. Eckhart's nose was beginning to run now. After an awkward pause, he continued. "But that's all the way back in Hyoite. I'm out here 'cause I want to learn some more healing spells. We don't have any fancy schools up north."

Eckhart took a bite of his cheese and swallowed before continuing. "Not that I can afford any of the schools here. I can barely pay for food, y'know?" Suddenly going red in the face, Eckhart laughed nervously. "Haha, I'm sure you probably thought I was some kind of fighter, what with the warhammer and everything." he said timidly, motioning to the (very wet) hammer lying on top of his coat. "I'm really sorry, I'm sure you think healing is lame."

Wanting to change the subject, he looked at Eira curiously. "So, um, what do you do?"


glorilyss

The flicker of movement at Eira's side revealed the boy huddling next to the fire, clutching a small block of cheese safely protected from the elements with its wax casing. Surprisingly enough, she felt no hunger - but then, she supposed that was because she was keeping such a close rein on all of her urges. That last thing she needed was to get caught up in the thought of food and end up shifting back to her normal form. No, the youth seemed harmless enough, and she really didn't have the heart to make a snack of him.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she nearly missed what he was saying. Flicking her head up as he plopped into the chair, the dull flush of embarrassment on his skin, she caught the tail-end of his first sentence. "Nineteen? Oh." She politely bit off the rest of her words in favor of not making a remark; no point belittling him. Surely he was aware enough of his own size without her drawing attention to it.

"You're a bit far from home, aren't you? And if it's healing schools you're after, you've done well to leave Connlaoth. You should be able to find some proper mages in Arca, though."  Her expression clouded with interest as she mulled the possibilities over, clearing briefly as he indicated his weapon. She actually hadn't noticed it before, but then, she'd been a bit distracted by the stranger in her - well, not hers, perse - kitchen. "Ah, no, I didn't exactly take you for a fighter." She opted for the polite silence again, softening her words with a gentle smile.

She had just stood, stretching her arms over her head and bending slightly backwards, when he spoke again. Straightening up, she took one short, sharp step toward Eckhart, reaching out a hand in an attempt to grasp his arm. Provided that she moved quicker than he did, and that he didn't jerk away, she'd flex her fingers over the skin - My Gods, he's thin! - and pull, feeling herself center at once with the earthen floor beneath her feet. She felt the energy dart up her calves, curling in her belly like eddying smoke, and then shoot along her arm, leaping from her fingers and sinking deeply into the skin beneath her palm.

It hadn't been much, really, just a short, sharp burst of energy intended to burn away the cold inside him, and maybe even dry up the sniffles while she was at it. Hand still warm on his arm, she cracked a small smile. "I'm sort of a healer, myself."

[OoC: If you don't like how that went, let me know and I'll rewrite it.]

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Hyoite." Eckhart quietly corrected her. "Not Connlaoth." He supposed it was an easy mistake to make- ethnically he was Connlaothian.- but it still annoyed him a little.

Suddenly, Eira gently grabbed his arm. "Um, what are-" Eckhart started, but a warm feeling caused him to stop short. "Oh fuck, is she attacking me?" Eckhart thought in utter panic. His fears were soon washed away when he felt his nose clear up. The warmth seemed to spread over his entire body, as if he was taking a hot bath. He stared at Eira in awe as she told him that she was a healer as well.

"'How- how did you do that?" Eckhart asked, completely blown away by her abilities. "Like, what kind of spell was it? No matter what I try, all I can do is grow back cells and clot blood..." Eckhart's sniffles were completely gone now. "I wish I heal that easily." he thought bitterly.

"You'll never be as good as her." a small voice in his head told him.

Eckhart shook his head quickly. "No, I'll be better. I've got to be." Smiling at Eira, he used his scalpel to cut a slice of cheddar from the wheel and handed it to her. "Thanks. If not for you, that could've turned into something nasty." Taking a bite of his cheese, he continued on.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn to heal like that?"


glorilyss

If she was being completely honest with herself, she had done it to show off, just a bit. Eira was proud of the skills that had marked her as so different from her family; where they had all been weapons, she was a tool that could erase the marks of their destruction. It had been a comfort to her through the tumultuous years of growing up and struggling with her darker nature; even though she was a dragon, and therefore inherently bad, at least she could give back to the world. At least she could return a little of the kindness that her family and her kind stole.

"Growing cells and clotting blood are no small thing," she replied, one shoulder lifting in a shrug. "As for how, I just... pulled. My ability has more to do with an affinity for the earth; I'm not healing in a technical term, I suppose. Just manipulating the energy in a body, really." Her face crumpled a little, the look of puzzlement making her look as young as Eckhart himself. She had never really understood her magic, even despite everything she had read about it. But then, perhaps that was the point; if you understood sorcery, did it still hold all of its power? Half of magic, after all, is the mystery, as she had heard someone say once.

After a moment, Eira's face cleared, mentally shrugging the problem off as something for another day - or maybe another century. Eyes focusing on the hand that still lay on her visitor's arm, she snatched her fingers away, a faint flush creeping along the back of her neck. While he probably wouldn't have noticed it against the heat she'd given him, her skin burned much hotter than a typical human's, as though she carried a tiny sun inside of her belly. She typically took pains not to touch humans, at least, but she'd been caught up in her own vanity. 'Idiot.'

Drawing her attention back to the conversation at hand, she caught the tail end of the question Eckhart had asked. "Oh, here and there. I've had a bit of time to read everything I can get my hands on." She stepped back a pace, giving the boy some breathing room, subconsciously splaying her hands out in front of her and studying them as though they might give up their secrets. "For the most part, I was born with my affinity for the earth. I've always had that, to some degree, I think." Her hands shifting, one wrapping around the thin width of her ribs, the other cupping her chin. "But I know normal healing, too: bandages and herbs and all of that. I studied a bit in Connlaoth." She paused, finger tapping against the corner of her mouth, eyes half-crinkling in amusement. "Wonderful at healing with their hands, Connlaothians are, but you know how they are about magic. I couldn't stay for long."

Eira shrugged, dismissing the thousands of years of training and his thanks with one simple gesture. Drawing a chair toward her, she lowered herself slowly, lower lip nipped in thought, then seemed to conclude whatever argument was inside of her. "You should show me what you can do," she told him, though it was more of a statement than a a request. Extending one pale, white forearm, she pressed the tip of a fingernail an inch or so below the wrist joint, then flicked downward with a casual slash. Even as a human, her nails were far stronger and sharper than average; berry-bright blood welled out of the slash instantly, gleaming among the fretwork of pale silver scars that danced along her skin, testament to a creature who had lived too many lives in the same body.

"Show me how you clot blood, please." Her words were a little more polite this time, one eyebrow raised and eyes focused on Eckhart's face. He would probably think that she was a maniac - but then, maybe she was. She seemed to pay no attention to the steady pit-pat-pit of blood on the floor, nor the rich, copper scent that wreathed around them. If she had to, she could fix herself, and there was none of the messy spurting that would have indicated a sliced artery. For now, she wanted to see what he could do.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eira seemed nice, if not a little distant. The way she talked made everything she said seem like it was an afterthought- as if there was a lot more going on in her head than just her conversation with Eckhart. "I wonder what's distracting her?" Eckhart thought curiously. He gave Eira a puzzled expression when she asked to see his powers. "Wait, you mean-" he began to say as Eira cut herself with her fingernail. "It takes a lot of mental fortitude to just... hurt yourself like that." Eckhart thought worriedly. "The ease at which she did it..."

"Oh, um, okay, right now. Right, I can do that." Eckhart smiled awkwardly, hoping to mask the uneasiness he was beginning to feel. Slowly outstretching his arm, he placed two fingers on her injury. Caught off guard by how warm her body was, he retracted his hand a few inches. "Did... did she not stop using her powers after she healed me? What is this?" After a moment, Eckhart reached out and touched her wrist once more. A pale turquoise glow began to emanate from the tips of his fingers...

And nothing happened. For some reason her blood wouldn't clot, despite the fact that Eckhart could feel the odd, subtle vibrations his powers caused. "What? What? Why won't it work? This needs to work, I've done it, like, a million times!" Desperately, Eckhart's eyes began to scan Eira's body, hoping to find an explanation for his inability to heal her. She didn't seem to be wearing any protective talismans that could be preventing his magic from working, but something else cause his eye. Illuminated by the glow of his hands, almost invisible against Eira's pale skin was a scar. Upon closer inspection, Eckhart could see another further up her arm.

And another. And another.

Eira was covered in scars, far too many for Eckhart to count. "No, this is wrong." Eckhart thought. Pulling back his arm quickly he stood up, fear etched into his face. A bit of Eira's blood was on Eckhart's hand from where he had touched her. An awful thought crossed his mind, and he slowly brought his trembling hand to his mouth. It only took Eckhart tasting it for a second to get him to panic.

"Human blood doesn't taste like this." he thought as he took several steps back. "Oh Ansgar, she's not human. She's not a fucking human. What do I do?" Never taking his eyes off the woman in front of him, Eckhart slowly reached down and picked up his hammer. He took what he believed looked like a defensive position. "St-stay back." he squeaked, trying desperately to put on a brave face. "I'm w-warning you, I, um, know how to use this."

glorilyss

Eira knew she was taking a bit of a chance by extending her arm towards the young man, with her skin giving out the hot glow of an alcohol lamp amidst the dampness of the cabin and the incipient chill of the rain at night. And while the stunt about cutting herself so carelessly was a little risky, she wasn't worried overmuch by the though; after all, something as tiny as that scratch had been - well, in the grand scheme of things - was hardly more than enough to make her flinch. However, looking back, maybe she'd been a bit reckless.

And after all, how was she supposed to know that he wouldn't be able to turn back her blood? She'd done this once or twice before with other humans, and they'd managed, though she had to admit that they had seemed to have difficulty with it, too. And while Eira knew that dragons were not humans - no matter how much she tried to ignore that fact, and despite the amount of time she spent in her two-legged form - she hadn't realized the truth depth of her distance from that race that seemed to have things so much easier.

She felt the exact moment when the air in the room changed. From a rising frustration to a growing doubt, she could practically taste the sharp tang of fear in the air around them, felt an icy claw draw sickeningly-sweet against her spine, raising gooseflesh along her arms. An instinctive bolt of fire curled through her stomach at the feeling, and she grappled briefly with the predator's desire to catch its chasing prey, even as her hand reached toward the boy, eyes widening with alarm as he brought the bright splotch of her blood to his mouth.

They moved as one, oddly enough, her own feet taking her backwards as he widened the gap between them. 'No! This wasn't supposed to happen!' She felt the inner desire to flee spreading wings beneath her skin, almost as though she was nearly about to shift, but struggled against the instinct. Half-morphing would certainly make things worse, as she was fairly certain that he didn't know what she was, only what she wasn't. She was relatively sure that she could work with that. After all, elves weren't human, and they were generally respected, right?

The air thickened even more as he bent to retrieve his weapon, and she raised both arms instinctively, palms out in a gesture of surrender. "I'm not going anywhere." Her voice was calm and slightly slower than normal, the light of the fire glinting in the tangle of her hair and limning the curve of her cheek. "And I'm sure you do. I don't want to hurt you. I want to help you learn how to heal." She paused for a moment, thoughts tumbling over themselves like kittens at play. She had to calm him down - she had no desire for either of them to head back out into that storm.

"I want to show you how to heal," she repeated, pulling out a new stool and sitting on it, hands resting on her knees, but still palm-up as a gesture of her good will. "Remember? I could have tried to hurt you earlier, if I wanted to. But I don't want to." She felt rather as though she was talking someone down from a ledge, or as though she was trying to make something clear to a suspicious child. Those caught in the grip of strong emotion were always the most dangerous. "I don't want you to be afr-" Too late, she snapped her mouth closed. 'Foolish.' Men hated to be reminded of their fears, and she'd gone and made it look as though he was scared of a thin, waiflike woman. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable," she amended, head bowed toward her lap, looking very much like the scolded young girl she had once been.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart lowered his hammer slightly. "You want to... help me?" he said nervously. This situation was getting stranger by the minute, but nothing Eira had said was untrue. "I suppose that not being human doesn't necessarily mean she wants to kill me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid- she looks just as scared as I am right now."

Lowering his weapon all the way, Eckhart gave a the woman a confused look. "That's certainly an, uh... interesting... way of trying to help me." He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry for freaking out at you back there, I, um, never met somebody who isn't human before. Stereotypes, y'know?"

"Good job Eckhart, now you look paranoid and prejudiced. Ansgar, I'm an idiot."

Deciding not to make matters worse by asking exactly what Eira was, Eckhart instead decided to focus on her offer. "Not to sound, um, rude, but... How will you be able to help me? You said your abilities were earth based, but mine are based in life magic. Isn't that like a swordsman trying to give archery lessons?"

glorilyss

The sense of relief that welled up from her gut was immediate and intense as Eira saw the signs of hesitation written in the young man's face. She kept her own as carefully shuttered as she could, the cool mask of a bomb disposal expert stretched over the pale skin and hazel eyes. She let him speak for a few moments more, watching the warhammer slowly droop back from the guard position he had held it in, until the hint of threat seemed to have fizzled from the room. The lack of tension left in its wake only the patter of blood on the floor, a realization that brought with it a faint wave of dizziness. Eira was suddenly quite glad that she'd sat down.

Lifting her arm into her lap with little apparent concern for the red stains splotching the white shift, she laid her fingers along the top of the incision, pressing against the neat edges of the gouge and dragging her fingertip along the injury, funneling energy into holding back the blood and knitting the edges of the wound together. As she worked, head bent to her task, she shrugged slightly. "It's alright. Most people don't actually notice someone different, as long as they look like humans. I have to confess that I didn't think you'd notice, either." Frowning slightly, she lifted her head, the corner of her mouth tucked down. "I also have to add that I didn't expect you not to be able to stop the bleeding..." She chewed her lip meditatively, then shrugged. "But maybe you just haven't had much practice. Certainly not on non-humans," she added, a half-smile tweaking at the corner of her mouth.

Settling herself in a more business-like manner, she fluttered a hand in the air, driving away his apology. "Are you saying that swordsmen shouldn't be able to wield any weapon they come across?" Once more, one of the pale blonde brows rose, but then she shook her head, spreading her hands in front of her. "You're right enough, though. I don't work through life magic, and you don't use earth - though both can be learned, if you really wanted to. But one thing that they do have in common," The girl lifted her hand, palm curved in a cupping motion, and drew from the earth beneath her, until a small sphere of glowing, pale-green light shivered in her hand. "Energy control!" She crowed the words in triumph, the wavering light whispering against her face and making her look like a child with a particularly exciting toy.

"There might be some things I can teach you about manipulating the energy in a body. That part should be the same, between our two abilities, at least. And, of course, I've learned how to heal without magic." Eira tilted her palm downward, letting the green ball roll of of her palm and splatter against the ground, soaking into the hard-packed earth beneath them. "I'm sure you've heard of Mordecai? Well, it's always a good idea to be able to set a bone and stitch a wound without actual magic." She spread her hands in front of her, shoulders half-lifted. "And I can surely teach you a lot about that."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

After the initial fear, Eckhart could feel his heart begin to sink in his chest. "I couldn't do it. She probably thinks I'm a loser now." When Eira said that she didn't expect he'd fail, Eckhart felt his fears were confirmed. "Welp, there goes any respect she may have had for me." Eckhart then watched in awe as Eira seemed to effortlessly pull energy out of the earth, holding it in her hand as if it was a physical object. "Alright, that's pretty cool. I wish I could do that."

As embarrassed as it made him, Eckhart decided to accept Eira's help. There was no point in refusing it, an it wasn't as if he had anything better to do while he was stuck here. Setting his hammer back down, he walked back to his chair and sat down. "I know how to do stitches already." he said, feeling a little defensive. "I learned how to do it years ago."  Eckhart's eyes lit up a bit as he continued. " I actually think sewing is really-"

He stopped himself before he could call his hobby "fun". "I do not want her to know that I like sewing. She probably thinks I'm a big enough loser as is."

"Useful. Sewing is a useful skill to have." he said, going red in the face. Deciding to change the subject before Eira could say anything, Eckhart reached down into his backpack and pulled out his journal. He handed it to Eira, still blushing. "Here, um, look at this! It's all the herbal remedies I know!" It was clear just from a glance that the book was well used. There were way more pages than the book seemed to be able to hold- Eckhart couldn't afford a second journal, but paper and glue were cheap. "I've been writing down everything I've learned since I was twelve. Pretty neat, huh?"

"Now she's going to see your handwriting, dumbass. Nice going." a small voice in his head told him. Eckhart turned an even brighter shade of red. "Hahaha, I-I'm sure you knew all of these already though." he stammered. "Sweet Ansgar, I'm really fucking up today."

glorilyss

Eira could clearly see the play of emotion across the young boy's face, though she carefully averted her eyes out of politeness. The young dragon affected extreme interest in the crackling flames, feeling the heat whisper over the exposed skin of her shins and arms, to give him a few moments to figure out precisely what was going on in his head. After living with humans for so long, she had no trouble picking up on the nuances of human emotions.

When he spoke, however, she flicked her eyes back toward him. The most interesting shade of red rose up his throat, flooding the planes of his cheekbones. Eira had always been fascinated by the sight of humans blushing; it was so terribly warm-blooded of them, and quite a handy indicator of feeling. While she was equipped with something very like the ability to blush, as well, it manifested itself by a very pale silver-pink shimmer. Fetching to some, but unnerving in the way that she was set so obviously apart from humanity.

"Sewing certainly is. Some people even take amusement in it beyond its usefulness," she added, a twinkle in her eye as she suppressed a titter of laughter. She wouldn't have guessed that 'fun' was the word he'd used, but she could certainly put together the fact that he'd choked himself off and seemed thoroughly flustered by what he'd been about to say. It didn't take a genius to take the next step. "I'm really not particularly good at it, though." Her voice brought on a tinge of chagrin. "I only sew to stitch wounds, and even then I don't much like hurting people, even if it is necessary sometimes."

She accepted the book that he extended to her, eyes lighting up with a scholar's delight in a text she'd never laid hands on. She laid the book on her lap, fingers splaying over the cover for a moment as though feeling the residual vibrations of the boy who had crafted such a thing, then flipped it open, eyes avid and hungry as she pored over each page. When she spoke, it was absent-minded, as though she wasn't paying nearly as much attention to the young man as she was to his book of simples.

"There's a lot of things here that I've seen or used myself true. But there are a few things that I've only heard of, and I don't think I've ever.." Her voice trailed off, leaning to peer closely at a certain recipe, fingers trailing down the words, then glanced up. "I don't think I've ever heard of that particular use for this plant, though. That's good to know." She turned back to the book, making little noises of delight or surprise now and then, letting the conversation fall into silence for the moment.

After a few minutes, with the book still only half-studied, she looked up, looking almost shy. "I'm sorry. It's terribly rude of me to just ignore you like that." Roses and mercury colored her cheeks, and she offered an embarrassed smile to him. "Did you teach yourself how to heal, back in Hyoite? Or was there someone to show you?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Damn it!" Eira had clearly caught onto his embarrassment towards his hobby. Eckhart's cheeks flushed a bright red. "She won't be able to take me seriously at all now. I'm such an idiot." Right before she accepted his journal, Eira said something that set off Eckhart's paranoia again.

"I only sew to stitch wounds, and even then I don't much like hurting people, even if it is necessary sometimes."

Eckhart's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why do you feel the need to tell me you don't like hurting others? Like, isn't that one of those things that's taken for granted?" His fears quickly vanished once Eira began to compliment his journal. "O-oh gosh." he thought, blushing profusely. "Eira's really sweet, isn't she? I don't think I have anything to worry about." As Eira continued to read enthusiastically, Eckhart began to argue with himself about the woman's true nature.

"She's not human, dumbass. She's probably a banshee or a hag or some other horrible monster."

"Calm down, she's fine. If she wanted to hurt me she'd have done it already"

"You don't know that. She could be waiting to see if you're threat or not."

"Why? She's being really nice to me. That's gotta mean something, right?"

"Who would just randomly want to be nice to you though? Nobody wants you around, you're a loser."

Eira suddenly spoke, causing Eckhart to flinch a bit. He relaxed when he saw her blush at him -"Look at how she blushes, isn't that odd? I'm telling you man, something is very wrong here."- and was happy to resume his conversation with her. "Will you shut up? Eira is nice, she's not going to hurt me."

"Oh, um, it's fine. You don't need to apologize." Eckhart said, cheeks still a bit red. "And yeah, I taught myself. It's a bit funny that you cut yourself for me to practice on, I used to do that a lot. I couldn't clot blood back then though, only regrow cells. I never got scars, but sometimes I'd pass out from blood loss afterwards. I actually only learned how to clot blood, like, two weeks ago. An owlbear attacked me, and I did it out of desperation. I feel like I should've figured it out years ago.

Looking at his feet, Eckhart continued after a moment's pause. "My sister used to tell me my magic was just weak, but I really don't want to believe that. Her powers developed a lot quicker than mine, that's all." Not sure if really believed what he'd just said, he looked up at Eira. "You were really bad at magic at one point too, right?"





glorilyss

It was just as well that Eira had been far too absorbed to notice the internal dialogue racing through Eckhart's head. Perhaps it would provide some comfort to the boy, knowing that his thoughts had gone unnoticed, as taken with the book of simples as she had been. She had realized hat he had a tendency towards embarrassed flushes, and had personally decided on making less eye contact, if that would make him feel more comfortable. Humans could be so odd.

Then again, most humans didn't find themselves, for lack of a better word, trapped in an abandoned cottage, in the midst of a hellish rainstorm, with a creature who smiled with a sweet face but was, at her core, and predator.

Well, there was that.

She let him speak, nodding once or twice. Though on the surface, injuring oneself for practice was a bit ghastly, but she found it far preferable to hurting others just for practice. Repressing a delicate shudder at the thought, she raised her eyes once more to Eckhart before remembering her earlier decision and letting them drop to her lap. Speaking to the open pages, she shrugged slightly.

"No one is really good at magic when they first begin. Some people might pick it up faster, but that doesn't mean they're better." She paused briefly, forefinger tapping her chin in thought. "It's a bit like the physical aspects you seen on people. Some people grow faster, others take more time, but get where they're going eventually." She flipped a page idly, twiddling with the corner. "But the more you learn, the faster your magic will grow, of course. It's just common sense, really." She lapsed into silence, uncertain where to go from there. She was hesitant to pry into his life, in case he got defensive again, though she was certainly curious enough.

[sorry for the shitpost:C]

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart smiled at Eira's reassurance. "See, I told you she was nice." He was silent for a moment, expecting Eira to say something else, but she seemed to be very engaged in his journal. "She's barely even looked at you since she began reading it. You must've really impressed her!" Eckhart frowned. "It's not that great. Maybe she does something with the knowledge in the book, like she absorbs it and I'll start to forget everything I've-"

Eckhart shook his head. "No, that's stupid. Eira's just interested in what I've learned, that's all. I need to calm down." An awkward silence descended upon the two, broken only by the occasional sound of Eira turning the pages of the journal.

The storm outside only seemed to grow fiercer, and a particularly loud thunderclap caused Eckhart to jump. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since they'd stopped talking, but he gave Eira an embarrassed look. Deciding to try and break the silence, Eckhart tried to think of a good conversation starter. "I don't want to ask her what she is." he decided. "If I know, I'll either panic or not believe her and panic anyway." Still, he couldn't help being curious as to who she really was, so after awkwardly clearing his throat, he spoke.

"Um, so, where are you from?"

glorilyss

The silence had stretched between them like miles of empty horizon, almost glimmering under a hot sun mirrored by the crackling hearth-fire. Eira had fallen almost in a doze, a reverie of silence and the knowledge passed from one mind to another, gently cradling the experience of the pages between her fingers. Even though most of the receipts in the book were those that she was familiar with, she caught a strange sense of intimacy by reading the book that the boy had created. She supposed it was like reading a diary, a secret glance between the pages of a neat and orderly mind.

This contented somnolence was broken quite suddenly by his question. Where are you from? Innocuous enough, she was sure, but it was never safe to be too generous with information when she was born to the name that she bore. Quietly, she closed the book, pressing one palm flat against the cover, almost in a caress of regret. She would have liked to follow the pages to their very end; there were many things that she had forgotten, beyond those that she had never known.

"I was born in the mountains." She was quite careful not to mention which mountains; there were too many tales of dragons in the Kilanthro Range. She stood up, not abruptly, but with a sort of determination that made it clear the conversation was over.

"There's a bedroom back there, with a bedframe. I've cut some pine branches to make a mattress. Would you like it?" She thought it only polite to offer; since she had been there first, it was almost like she was the hostess, and at least Eira was mannerly. She wiped her hands across the front of her shift, lifting a vibrant hazel gaze to the boy. "I'll be gone in the morning. You won't have to worry about me at all."

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