Aimless

[Anonymous]

After his close encounter with Iollan, Castien had finally calmed down--even though the much heated situation would normally send his inner waters boiling, his stinging legs kept him from wanting any more issues.

At this point, he was no longer able to fly, having flown off so fast he lost a lot of energy. Now, he was limping though the dense forest looking for some place to rest, his legs were starting to get infections in the burns left from standing in boiling water. He was going to have to pay that...thing a visit later on to 'repay' him for the burns.

But, for now, the lake he finally found seemed good enough for him. He approached the side and slowly slipped off his pants and shirt. Then submerged himself in the cool, clear water. Swimming over to a cluster of rocks in the center where he sat to finally address his burns. It may have been a day or so since he got them, but he was so busy trying to get as far away as possible so he wouldn't be on that precious land that he kind of forgot the creature made the water boil on him.

[Anonymous]

While she had the well, Anja didn't really like have to haul the water up to wash clothes. The lake was much easier and the view was beautiful. She had been here since the morning and had most of her clothes scrubbed and hanging out in the warm sun. Kneeling at the edge of the lake, Anja hummed to herself as she worked on getting a dark reddish brown stain out of the front of one of her shirts.

She didn't notice Castien at first, not paying much attention to the middle of the lake until a flash of blue caught her attention. There was a figure with bright wings out on the rocks. That was a little odd, not many people came out into the woods. Keeping an eye on the figure, Anja kept scrubbing at her clothes.

[Anonymous]

He sighed as he cleaned out the wounds and looked them over. He had nothing to bandage them with so he was trying to be gentle to get them clean enough to help the infection go away without cutting them open more. But, no matter how gentle he was, his legs just started bleeding badly the second he started to clean them.

He was so intent on his legs he hadn't noticed the girl. But, now things were getting blurry-- feverish from the infection and now getting anemic. He wasn't in a good place. His wings drooped a little bit, and in an effort to save energy the faded away, almost like his body took them back in. He glanced over his bleeding legs and sighed, defeated. Looking around as if he was looking for some medical place he saw the girl. It shocked him that someone was actually there, and he almost fell into the water but managed to catch himself.

[Anonymous]

Anja would glance over at the figure on the rock, every so often, a little curious. He seemed to be bathing or something, but it was too hard to tell from the shore. She was a little disappointed when the wings vanished, but he probably wanted to swim or something.

Shaking her head, she went back to her washing. Wasn't a good idea to keep staring at random seemingly naked men.

[Anonymous]

Finally Castien grew tired of attempting to clean his legs. He slinked back into the water and swam to where his clothes were. Doing his best to ring out his underwear before he dressed before he wasn't sopping wet, then he sighed and looked back over to the girl. This was definitely strange, but he decided to approach her.

"Hi.. Um. I was wondering, do you happen to have any medical supplies?" He asked a bit cautiously, then shifted his weight on his sore legs.

[Anonymous]

Anja had noticed the man in the middle of the lake had left, but she didn't track him beyond that. Looking up when she heard his approach, Anja noticed he was rather good looking, though he had slightly odd coloring, "Medical supplies. I have some at my home, what's the matter?"

He didn't have an injuries she could see, but that didn't mean anything, "Are you alright?" Starting to stand, her dripping, half washed shirt in her hand, "Do you need help?"

[Anonymous]

"At your home?" He repeated, taking a moment to think about him going to someone else's home.. But he needed to properly clean his legs and bandage them. And he could already feel blood and puss starting to soak his black pants. "If you don't mind.. Could I trouble you to let me have some?" He asked.

When she questioned what was wrong he looked off to the side a moment, then pulled up his pantlegs to show her the burns. Luckily they would heal nicely thanks to his lovely being a phoenix and all-- heck, he could die and be reborn, but he didn't want to go through that. Heard it was painful. And being a baby again was just not in his list of plans. "I'm fine, I just need to get properly cleaned up and what not. It has been a couple of days and the burns got infected."

[Anonymous]

"Yes. Wait here. I'll be right back!" Luckily for Castien, Anja's home wasn't that far from the lake, "I wont take long. Will you be okay here?"

She disliked leaving her clothes, but they weren't expensive, so he wouldn't get much stealing them. But those burns looked plenty real. Standing, Anja quickly tossed the shirt she had been cleaning over the line.

[Anonymous]

He nodded. "I'll be fine." he said calmly, watching her leave. But, when he turned he noticed her clothes were still there. Raising a brow, he looked back to where she went, then shrugged and turned back towards her clothes.

One nifty thing about being a water creature was that he was able to control water in a sense. He was still iffy on it all because he was the only one of his element and many times he was just spirting out steam because of the heat. But, with a large supply of water? Cleaning clothes would be easy. With a sway of his hand and some gentle movements with his fingers, he was able to manipulate the remaining dirty clothes in the water. Tossing in some soap and he used the water to ruffle them up in rough waves and then rinsed them out with a small whirl pool. All he had to do was pick them out of the water and suck all the water out and into the lake. Then he folded the, now, dry clothes and put them away. He then turned to her hanging clothes and pulled the remaining water from them and started to fold them as well. It was a small thank you of sorts, in his mind. But... damn she had a lot of clothes.

[Anonymous]

It didn't take that long for Anja to race to the house, rummage through her laboratory for some salves and bandages and sprint back to where the injured man was. Panting and out of breath, Anja wheezed to a stop, her lungs burning. Her body was rather ravaged by the years of abuse she put it through and all that running had been hard on her.

"I-" Gasp, "I got the stuff." She was far too distracted by the immediate problem to notice that her laundry was finished and dried. She had a few outfits, mostly rough ones she wore when working and a nicer one for when she wasn't mixing blood.

Wiping a hand across her brow, Anja settled down and patted her lap, "Here, give me a leg. Can you roll your pants up?"

[Anonymous]

He had just finished with her stuff when she came running up. He wasn't expecting such enthusiastic help, but he wouldn't deny it. And plus, it was a welcomed change of pace considering his first encounter since he left home resulted in him getting these nasty burns.

"That was pretty fast. Thanks." He said as he approached her. Stopping to roll up his pant legs carefully, though he was fully aware they would need cleaning again.

He then balanced on one foot and moved a leg over to her. Careful not to touch her with it, he was certain she would appreciate the lack of blood and pus on her. Even if she were accustomed to it-- it was still pretty gross.

[Anonymous]

Anja was rather startled by the wounds. He must have left them untreated for a while to get this bad. Well, she wasn't the squeamish type and pulled his leg into her lap so she could work. She kept her head down, quietly concentrating on her work. She wasn't really the squeamish type and the wounds were...gross, but she had dealt with much worse.

It was a little while before she spoke again, still focused on cleaning up the leg as carefully and as painfree as she could, "How did this happen? Or would you rather not talk about it?"

[Anonymous]

He carefully balanced himself as she cleaned, quite fascinated in how diligent she was in caring for a total stranger's wounds. He almost forgot she knew how to speak until she questioned how it happen. He thought back to the event and chuckled. "Well, I kind of pissed someone off by stepping into his lake.. He boiled the water." He looked to the side.

"I don't do well with hot things, I burn easier, so my legs got it pretty badly." He nodded, looking over her work. "You're very good at bandaging. Have you studied medicine at all?" He figured some sort of conversation would be best. He hadn't seen anyone since that day, and he didn't have a very good conversation then either.

[Anonymous]

It took Anja a moment to respond, still concentrating on his legs. It was slow going to minimize pain and to get them cleaned, "Well, he sounds a bit testy. I would avoid that place if I were you. There are crazy people in this world."

Finishing up one leg, she set it back down and gently pulled the other one into her lap. A strand of her hair tucked itself behind her ear as she worked, "Not formally, no. But I've managed to pick some things up."

[Anonymous]

"I'm beginning to learn that." He sighed. "I only left my home a few weeks ago, he was the first person I actually spoke to. I suppose I didn't chose well enough because I ticked him off a bit." He looked over his freshly bandaged leg and smiled. Watching her do the next.

"Aa.. You're very good at it, and very gentle." Once she was finished he looked over his legs, then lowered his bloody pants over them slowly. "Thank you. I appreciate your help." He nodded.

"Oh! I don't think I've caught your name. I'm Castien. Castien Talanthir. I'm from Yoreiq Islands. What about yourself?"

[Anonymous]

"I've had practice." Anja gave a small laugh and smiled up at the other man, "I'm glad I didn't hurt you. Make sure you keep those burns clean. You have to be very, very careful you don't let those wounds get possessed. Demon's can get into the burnt flesh and make it rot."

Standing, Anja brushed her skirt clean and gave a small curtsy, "I'm Anja. It's a pleasure to meet you Castien. Yoreiq? Really? What brings you here?"

[Anonymous]

"Possessed?" His eyes widened a bit. Well that was something he never knew about. He eyed his legs as if he were cursing at them not to get possessed or he'd cut them off-- then again, either way he lost.

He snapped back to reality when he heard her name and he looked to her face. "Anja? Well.. it is a pleasure to meet you." He smiled sweetly. "Hm... I got bored of my home, I suppose. Didn't see eye-to-eye with everyone so I decided to leave. I like the freedom, and lack of heat to be honest." He grinned. "I have no real destination, so I suppose you can say I came here because I'm lost." Shrugging, he looked up to the sky for a moment, then back to her.

"Is it possibly for me to.. cook you dinner or something? I feel bad having you tend to my wounds and getting nothing in return."

[Anonymous]

"Oh yes. You must be very careful. Demon's can enter your wounds when the skin is broken and make all kinds of bad things happen."

Anja could all too well understand wanting to leave home, though being bored was never on the list of reasons, "I can't imagine that. I love the quiet here. It's so empty, no one around. It's nice. My home had far to much going on. Dinner though, dinner would be lovely. Just let me get my laundry fini...shed..."

Anja finally noticed that he had finished all her laundry for her and gasped, "Did you do all that? Thank you!"

[Anonymous]

"Well.. Then I'll be sure to keep my wounds clear.." He never heard of such a thing... or well, his parents never told him. And with his old home life, he was used to getting burned-- sometimes pretty badly. But, never once did he recall demons entering his wounds.. Then again, the intense heat normally helped sterilize everything. Possibly, that was what kept him safe? But just thinking about it made him shiver. Demons? Ugh. What a scary thought.

Alas, though. The subject changed to a more appropriate one of food-- he was a man of his stomach and loved all sorts of foods, so he was excited to see what she had in stock for him to cook with. Hopefully a lot. Then again, she seemed to live alone by the sound of how she spoke of silence and tranquility. Which could also mean he may be doing some gathering and hunting for dinner. Either way, both ideas excited him.

He followed her gaze to where her laundry once hung, then chuckled. "Aa.. yeah. I did. I figured it was a small thank you for the help. An interesting skill of mine... drying clothes takes seconds, so I thought I'd lend a hand." He nodded.

"Aa.. So, lead the way?" he picked up her basket of clothes, not wanting to be rude and make her carry it. And he waited for her direction.

[Anonymous]

"That is a handy skill! I wish I had one that useful." She probably could do something similar if she shot up the right mix, but it wasn't worth it. When Castien took the basket, Anja quickly grabbed it from him, "Please. You are injured. I can carry my own laundry."

Heading off into the woods, there was an obvious path through the underbrush. She came to the lake fairly often.

"I don't have much fancy stuff at home. It's pretty simple. I mostly live off stuff I can get out of the forest."