I wasn't fired, I'm RETIRED [wandering_giraffe][M]

Goldie · October 16, 2023, 04:16:28 AM

"Yes." He responded sardonically, "It's obvious I'm trying to kill you because I'm working to keep your brain inside your head. That tracks. Now stay still." He wound the cloth as tightly as he dared and then helped to lean her up against the wall.

"Keep your eyes on me, ok? You said they wouldn't want to be on the sea. Does that mean there's someone on shore you're sweet on?" Gods was he an 80 year old man?

wandering_giraffe · October 16, 2023, 12:59:54 PM

Her eyes wouldn't focus on anything. She couldn't remember...the pain in her head was intensifying. She didn't know if she could take much more. But somehow, the pain made her thoughts clearer. She made herself focus on...was that Nik talking to her?
"I don't have anyone..." she said through gritted teeth. "My ex left me after she found out what I was...said I was..." it seemed she almost choked on the word. "A liability."
Elara hit the ground beside her in frustration.
"Fuck...that's all I am it seems."
Her breathing had slowed down some, and she seemed more stable now.

Goldie · October 16, 2023, 01:54:38 PM

Nik used his fingers to gentle open her eyes and stare and them in turn. He shook his head.

"Dammit, I don't know what that even does but...did that help? I could try again?" He breathed heavily. She didn't look good at all, "You're not a liability, Elara, you're just fucking nuts. Like all of us."

wandering_giraffe · October 16, 2023, 09:48:04 PM

What Nik did kindof helped.
She did wince alittle, as the wound the elf captain had slashed across her eye wasn't fully heated yet.
Finally her breathing had slowed down some. It was making it easier to close her eyes when her lungs and head were cooperating. She shakily took a breath, groaning in pain.
Elara weakly gestured to Nik's side.
"How...how is your side?"
Damn her arm felt heavy.
She could feel herself slipping. Fight it, she told herself. Or maybe don't fight it.
"There's a mirror...of...some sort...on her desk...Could be important," Elara quietly said, before her eyes became too heavy for her to keep open.

Goldie · October 17, 2023, 10:09:03 AM

"What, you want me to throw that in the water, too? Hope we can both get thrown around and die from head injuries? I don't know what the hell any of this stuff is or what it does. I never lived here, Elara. We just hung out and hooked up a bunch. I wasn't going to grill her about all of her stuff."

He grunted himself over to the pile of rings he had left behind and brought them back with him. "My side fucking sucks, by the way, but right now I'm the least one in fear of dying so it doesn't really matter does it."

Two fingers reached into the pile of rings and pulled one out, "Now if you're OK with it, I'm going to pull a "stupid captain" and try on some magic rings that may help or may kill us. Hopefully one of them will heal you."

The first ring slipped on his finger and he held his breath.....

Nothing.

Into the next.

wandering_giraffe · October 17, 2023, 10:23:47 AM

Elara mustered up as much of a smile as she could.
"Glad...to see I'm rubbing off on you."
She slid down into a half sitting, half lying position.
The pain was intensifying again and she let out a gasping sob. The pain seemed to come in waves, making her head feel like it was going to explode.

Goldie · October 17, 2023, 10:50:03 AM

Another ring, another dud.

The pile of non-magic rings was growing steadily, but at least he wasn't dead.

And then....

His throat started to close and he felt it difficult to breathe. He recognized this feeling, but looked down at his hands to verify. Sure enough, silver threads were winding around to create webbing between his fingers.

Quickly, so he could breathe, he snatched the ring off his finger and put it in his pocket.

"Oy, Elara, I got another one of those swim rings." He didn't want to try on more random rings. One of them would definitely kill him, he could feel it.

wandering_giraffe · October 17, 2023, 12:11:01 PM

Elara was shaken out of her pain induced haze by Nik saying he had found another ring.
"Good. That's good," she muttered.
"Let's go," she pushed herself up and shakily sat there, the room feeling like it was spinning around her.
"On second thought maybe I just need to sleep for a little bit." She groaned and clutched her head. She just needed the pain to stop for two seconds. No. If she slept she might not wake up again.
Elara grabbed the outcropping of rock and slowly pulled herself up to a standing position, her hand gripping the outcropping in a death grip. Just push down the pain, she told herself. She had a whole crew out there on a ship somewhere on the ocean.
"Ok..." she said, taking deep breaths.
"I'm ready." She wasn't ready, but if she just laid there she'd probably never get up.

Goldie · October 17, 2023, 03:01:52 PM

Nik held her down, refusing to let her stand up.

"Oh no. No no no." He told her gently, "I'm no healer and we're both in rough shape. I might only barely be able to swim myself to the surface let alone pull you along." He rubbed his hands over his face. This was bad. This was so so bad. They were both on the edge of death, Elara moreso than him now, and they were stuck in a cave that very probably had limited air....they had already been there for five days....

He grabbed one of the five remaining rings and slammed it onto Elara's finger, "Please tell me this one is magically the one that's going to heal you or give you super strength or something."

wandering_giraffe · October 17, 2023, 03:12:27 PM

As soon as Nik shoved the ring on her finger, she felt a familiar surge of energy rush through her. The same kind that she felt when she used to practice her elemental magic. Before she swore she would never use it again. How the fuck did Thaleia get one of these?!? The ring shimmered, before seemingly to fuse onto her hand, tendrils of water coming out from the ring and enveloping her hand.
"Nik," she said, still breathing slowly.
"I know this sounds stupid but get me to the waters edge. Please. I promise it won't hurt me...at least not any more than I already am."

Goldie · October 17, 2023, 03:17:04 PM

Nik stared at the weird water that bubbled from the ring and around Elara's hands. Gods dammit he had killed her. It was going to encompass her and drown her and all because he was tired of risking his life trying on rings that he decided to just put it on her this time.

He was a horrible person. The worst kind. Why couldn't he just be selfless like those heros in story books? Why'd he always have to worry about himself? So many people would have been spared if he just put others first.

And then she spoke. The fuck....was she saying?

"The fuck are you saying?" He demanded, but made no move to take her closer to the water.

wandering_giraffe · October 17, 2023, 03:26:10 PM

Elara tried to stand up again.
"Get me...to the water's edge."
"This ring...will heal...but I need to be near the water."
Gods she was probably going to give Nik a heart attack.
She hadn't practiced her magic in so long she even wondered if she could do it.
Her eyes were focused on the water.
"Just get me over there...Trust me," she said weakly.

Goldie · October 17, 2023, 03:43:02 PM

Nik sighed heavily and looped his arm around her shoulders.

"If you fucking die it is not my fault." He muttered under his breath. Moving her was hard. His side was on the mend, yes, but he was still very much in pain and had weeks ahead of him before he could do any real living stuff. A grunt escaped him as he took on her weight, but he helped her move closer to the water.

There he collapsed, breathing heavily, hopefully they were close enough for whatever suicide mission she was on.

wandering_giraffe · October 20, 2023, 11:35:11 AM

"Thank you," she quietly said.
Elara lay there for a second, and then pushed herself over to the waters edge.

Elara tried to remember how she connected with the water before. She slowed her breathing to match the ripples in the water. The water slowly enveloped her form, and she closed her eyes, letting the magic do it's work. Five minutes later, the water disappeared, and Elara took a deep breath.
She cautiously looked at Nik.
"I...could try to heal you too. I'm sure you have questions."

Goldie · October 20, 2023, 06:11:56 PM

Nik watched the water encompass her, his mouth agape in shock. He knew that damn thing was going to take her over and kill her. He knew it and yet he still he was stupid enough to actually listen to her and bring her to the water and what the actual hell now he was going to be responsible for her death despite saying specifically it wasn't going to be his fault and he needed to stop panicking!

But the water didn't kill her. It eventually dissipated and....there she was, completely fine. No, better than fine. And she was...healed?

"No." He responded almost immediately like a reflex, "No no, absolutely not no. I don't want to mess around with any of that." He swirled his hands around in the air gesturing to where the water had just covered her.

wandering_giraffe · October 21, 2023, 07:20:35 AM

Elara sat down, alittle shocked that she could still do it after all that time. And she was quite exhausted. It was rather hard for her to use her magic to heal. She cautiously touched the back of her head, and winced. It was still sore, but it didn't seem to be bleeding anymore.
She turned to Nik.
"So I may not have told you everything..."

Goldie · October 21, 2023, 09:32:40 AM

He shrugged and nodded, unsurprised, "Well, damn, Elara I hadn't expected you to. We've known each other for a few days of absolutely blood fuckin chaos. If you had told me everything I would be more scared of you."

There was a pause and he fiddled with the bandages on his side to peak at his own wounds. The black streaks from the poison had disappeared, but the silvery blue-green scales that matched the slashes on his back had started showing up around the edges of the injury. He sighed.

"I hope you didn't expect to know everything about me, too, because you're not the only one with history and I'm not the one to ask questions. You tell me when you're ready or when it's relevant."

wandering_giraffe · October 24, 2023, 05:24:38 AM

Elara listened intently to him. When he finished, she nodded.
"It's not my business to know the personal lives of all my crew."
She noticed the scales showing up around his wound.
"Did...did she curse you?"

Goldie · October 24, 2023, 06:07:18 AM

Nik tried to quickly cover up his side when he realized Elara was snooping, but he wasn't fast enough and she had spotted the scales that were growing in what skin had been before. He considered lying, telling her that this was all part of Thaleia's grander scheme, but what goes would any of that do? He still wasn't really sure what it all meant, but he was certain that he didn't want to know. But yet at least.

Maybe one day, but not yet. Even though it would probably answer a lot of questions.

"No. Not with this at least." He decided on honesty, "Maybe with other things, but not with this." He pulled up his right pant leg to reveal a series of thin scaley scars that wound up his leg and then turned to show the finger-like slash marks that stretched from his neck to his waist that were also healed with the same scales. "Something about my nature fighting with my knowledge of myself or some witchy bitch bull shit."

wandering_giraffe · October 28, 2023, 04:41:03 PM

"Wait...so you're...a siren? Elara was quite puzzled. It was the probably the head injury. She sighed, putting her head in her hands. Nothing made sense.
Well now it was Elara's turn to add to the insanity.
"So I was born with the ability to...I don't know how to explain it...control water. My parents trained me to better control my ability, and when they were confident that I was ready, they pushed me to use my power. But I wasn't ready. It went all wrong, and my parents died."
Elara laughed bitterly.
"And you said I wasn't a liability. My own parents died because of misplaced trust in my 'abilities'".