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Far from Home

Started by PixelatedGlory, March 21, 2018, 09:05:22 PM

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PixelatedGlory

Oren was too consumed with holding on and letting himself recover on the way back to break the awkward silence. Not that he would have known what else to say.

They lost someone and only time will help them move on. There's nothing I can say to make it better.

Oren half climbed, half slid his way down to the ground. He was standing and could walk but he was still a little wobbly on his feet. At least he could open his eyes and watch where he was going though. "Thank you for helping me back Aeris. I'm sorry." He was about to ask the younger Howler to assist him with walking but then he finally looked down to see the blood. "I can walk, I don't want to get blood on you." He walked towards them to follow towards wherever he was supposed to go. "But water before anything else please."

DragonSong

"I got it." A different Howler stepped forward, offering an arm for the healer to lean on. "C'mon. We can get you into one of the communal tents," he offered.

The group that had gone to recover Shyla and Erik's body returned soon after, the elven girl much more subdued than normal.

"Where's Oren?" she asked Aeris, who'd been talking quietly with Winter about funeral arrangements. Her brother nodded toward one of the larger tents and she moved toward it almost in a daze.

PixelatedGlory

Oren sighed, he really did prefer to have someone help him so he wouldn't risk falling. He felt like it made him seem really weak though, especially considering he hadn't been able to help Erik. Oh the fragile little human man, making a big show of collapsing even though he didn't do anything.

He reluctantly accepted the arm to lean on and followed the Howler with just a quiet little "thank you." With the Howler's help he slowly made his way into the indicated communal tent. Once he could sit down inside he asked politely for some water to drink and a bowl to wash his hands in. The blood-soaked clothes could wait a little longer but Oren preferred to at least clean his hands. Eventually he would want some food too, but that could wait a bit longer. He may or may not have been thinking straight. It had been a while since he lost a patient.




Oren had managed to drink a little water and scrub most of the blood off his hands by the time Shyla and the rest returned to camp. He had asked someone for a new bowl of water so he could finish cleaning. Despite being in the tent, Oren shivered a bit from sitting in the damp clothing.

He looked up as Shyla entered but his face held very little emotion on it. He told himself he had come to terms with the death itself, however that was mostly a lie and he would still be reeling from the pain the others were experiencing. He had lost a few patient before but normally he would have left their loved ones to their grief. That wasn't exactly possible here and, if he was honest, he wanted to stay and try to help these people even if he could have left.

The dull throbbing of his head snapped Oren out of his thoughts and he rose to try to speak to Shyla. "Shyla, I'm sorry... I..." What is there to say? Is she angry? Does she regret bringing me here? Is she going to hurt me to ease her own pain? He gave up and sat back down. The only option was to let her decide what she wanted to do first and then try to deal with that as it came.

DragonSong

The girl waved him off brusquely. "Don't do that. You did your best, it's not your fault," she muttered flatly.

Aeris, having ducked into the tent after her, rumbled low in his throat and shot the healer a look. "Shy," he said slowly. "We owe the lad an explanation."

She glanced sightlessly in his direction. "You sure?"

He rumbled again and nodded, raising her hand to his chin so she could feel the gesture. Sighing, Shyla turned back to Oren. "If you're feeling up for it, come walk with me."

PixelatedGlory

Blunt. Well I guess its better than some other ways she could be acting

Oren probably shouldn't have agreed to walk around with Shyla. His headache was still there and he was liable to get dizzy if he exerted himself too much. There was something important going on here though. Something that Oren absolutely needed to learn about if he was going to stay and help any of these people. He also didn't want to keep looking so weak in front of everyone.

"I'm fine," he lied even as he held himself off from wincing at the headache, "I'll follow you, just take it slow please." Oren dried his hands off on his clothes, being careful to avoid getting any of the blood back on his hands. He then stood up and walked over to follow Shyla out of the tent. "Also you can take your time explaining whatever is going on here. It's obviously something very serious and whether you want to show it or not you are in pain."

DragonSong

"No, it's fine." She shrugged, easily making her way to the edge of camp even without a proxy sight. "We're all used to it now."

She sighed quickly and picked her way into the low shrubbery that surrounded the encampment, gesturing for Oren to follow. "There's a thing around here somewhere...ah! Here."

She found-- well, "stubbed her toe on"-- an old, gnarled stump and took a seat. A brisk nod indicated he should do the same. "Alright, this'll probably be easiest if you tell me what exactly you want to know, one question at a time."

PixelatedGlory

'Used to it'? How many of their people have died like this?

Oren was a little confused why she was leading him into the brush around the camp, but he wasn't about to ask. He was tired, hungry and his head was throbbing. Fortunately it wasn't long before she found what she was looking for. With her toe, of course. Oren didn't even bother to ask if she hurt her foot. She would've just shrugged him off anyway. He simply eased himself down to sit next to her on the old stump. A stray thought passed through his mind: It's quiet here partially hidden from the camp.

"It felt like his body was actively fighting me every step of the way. I used more than triple the normal amount of healing energy than should have been necessary but it still wasn't nearly enough. Do you know what was causing that?" Sitting down was good. As long as he wasn't exerting himself he could focus on his thoughts and speaking. He wouldn't be very eloquent or probably even all that kind with his words, but he would do his best. Oren was still a caring person and Shyla didn't need someone getting angry at her right now. Even if he had been brought into a situation he was completely unprepared for.


DragonSong

Shyla sighed and drew one knee up to her chest, face turned out over the mountains as though she could see the rocky view.

"It's...sort of complicated," she murmured. "And I-- I'm sorry it was like that. For you. I didn't know it would drain you like that." She sighed again and shook her head. "We've never had a magical healer around before, I thought you might be able to...help."

She pursed her lips, quiet a few moments longer, then mumbled, "It's a curse. Everyone has it, the whole pack. Well, everyone except me."

PixelatedGlory

Oren wasn't really sure what to do. He looked over towards the mountains but he clearly wasn't getting whatever she was out of the view. It was pretty, he guessed, but they were just rocks to him and held no special meaning.

She's blind you dummy. This isn't about the actual view.

He wasn't sure why he had to keep reminding himself of her condition. Perhaps it was because she seemed stronger and more capable than him despite his eyes, at least for the most part.

Oren tried patting her on the shoulder in a very awkward attempt to comfort her. "You-you really don't have to apologize to me. I'm ok," he winced, "or I will be. How can I expect you to know how my magic works when even I only don't fully understand it?"

He grimaced when she finally told him that the pack was cursed. A curse that strong was not something he would be able to break as far as he knew. Not that he would even have the faintest idea of how one would try. Everyone except you? Why... never mind, that can come later.

"Does the curse prevent all healing or just for certain injuries? Also is this the 'sickness' you were talking about? If so I don't know that there will be anything I can do." It was more than one question at a time, but he was hoping she wouldn't mind too much.

DragonSong

Shyla exhaled harshly and shook her head. One question at a time.

"As far as we know, the curse only prevents healing injuries that are-- are meant to kill someone, I guess," she murmured. "And no, it's not the sickness. This is...different. Older."

She lowered her head, staring blankly at her lap. "Every member of the pack will die before their twenty-seventh birthday. Sometime's it's weeks, even a month before, sometimes it's a matter of hours or minutes. But all of them will die, without fail." She shook her head. "Erik was twenty-six."

PixelatedGlory

Oren could have smacked himself. He had been wrong. He was going too quickly in his haste to get this over with.

He forced himself to slow down, take a breath, and listen carefully to what Shyla was saying. Pushing too hard, too quickly would only result in both of them getting frustrated or hurt. She was still talking so he took that as a good sign.

"So the pack is cursed to never be able to grow old then? I guess at least I can help your younger members for sure. As long as this sickness isn't related to the curse I should be able to help with that too. After i've helped who I can maybe we can try to figure out more about this curse, but it isn't really something I know much about."

DragonSong

Shyla shook her head. "The sickness is just a sickness. We haven't been able to figure out what it is, but we at least know it's not magical."

She shrugged and wrung her fingers together. "And it's more than the age thing. The curse. It's also why they're all..." She gestured vaguely. "Furry. They should be lycanthropes, wolf shifters, but they're all...stuck. Caught halfway between one form and another."

PixelatedGlory

Oren's face softened and he tried to put as much compassion into his voice as he could, "Shyla, if it's not magical I should be able to take care of it. Any other injuries that aren't being... enhanced... by the curse too. It may take some time but I don't really have anywhere else I need to be."

Unfortunately the curse was something entirely different. Everything he learned about it seemed to point to something carefully designed to make it difficult for the pack to live while also ensuring they could not fit in to normal society. It was no wonder they had to make camp up here in the mountains.

Someone really wants this pack to suffer in isolation don't they?

Oren couldn't help himself. He put his hand over Shayla's to try and stop her from wringing them together. In a very gentle but stern voice he said, "Stop. One thing at a time. I'll heal the others and then I promise to try to help you figure out more about this curse. I don't think there's anything else I need to ask you about the curse tonight."

There were probably other things he could have thought of but at that point there was no need to further stress Shyla, or himself for that matter. He knew enough to do his job and perhaps he could ask anything else that came to mind at another time when they were having a better day.

DragonSong

Shyla nodded slowly, knees still drawn to her chest. "Thanks," she murmured, eyes fixed blankly on the ground. "We'll compensate you for this, I'll make sure of it."

PixelatedGlory

"As far as i'm concerned you are my patient too while we are here. If you need something from me just ask. I believe you when you say that you will compensate me but really that's not my focus. I don't help people for the money. I do it because they need it and because I am able to." Oren smiled kindly even though he knew that Shyla couldn't see him.

Oren figured that maybe a change of subject might help things a little. "So, it seemed like you were familiar with this private stump in the bushes. Do you come here often?"

DragonSong

Shyla huffed a small laugh and glanced in his direction-- a little off to the side, but that couldn't be helped.

"Subtle," she noted wryly, but she shrugged and answered, "Sometimes. If I need to get away from everyone for a bit. We haven't been at this camp long though, just about three months."

PixelatedGlory

The laugh was good to hear. It meant she was actually listening to Oren and not focusing completely on the loss and pain. Baby steps were still progress. He resisted the urge to try to correct where she was looking. It was close enough.

"You've spent most of the day around me, haven't you noticed? I'm the best at being subtle," he grinned at her. "Thank you for sharing your hiding spot with me. Even if you've only been here three months i'm sure it still means something to you. What's it like living with this pack? The good things; i've heard enough of the bad for now."

He was curious but more than that he felt they could use some positive thoughts too.

DragonSong

Shyly huffed a bit under her breath and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling just slightly. "It's...it's basically like living with a couple dozen older siblings," she settled on after a moment. "Really protective older siblings."

PixelatedGlory

"I couldn't imagine having so many older siblings. Two were enough for me," Oren laughed. "Actually once they realized I wasn't ever going to be the big strong farming type like them they mostly left me alone unless I got into trouble."

Oren carefully moved to stand up and stretch a bit as he looked around at the camp and the area in general. "I guess with all those protective siblings you must be pretty safe even up here in the mountains. I think I understand why they mean so much to you though if they're all like siblings to you." His headache had returned and he was a little cold but his attention wasn't on himself. It was the same flaw that had led to him being bedridden in the past when his ability was revealed and everyone flooded his home to be healed.

DragonSong

She shrugged with a soft grunt and pursed her lips. She didn't much like talking about...this. Emotions. Ick.

"We should get back," she muttered, getting to her feet and dusting at her breeches. "You hungry?"

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