Azhdarchid
Jr. Weyrwoman
azhct[M:-1490]
Totes.
Posts: 1,627
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Post by Azhdarchid on May 23, 2011 22:30:20 GMT -5
The bad part about Xirofel turning his other hand up for his own investigations was that Qosis saw it too. He dropped the stitched hand's wrist and grabbed the other, dragging it over and splashing a thin coat of redwort extract over all the scuffs. Then he released Xiro, seemingly contented over all these tortures, and the ones brought upon the traitor by his sister. Unfortunately, they were not to be left to the conversation. He would not be privy to the crescendos of Xirofel's pain, because the other brat could not leave well enough alone.
Tedaon's sharp eyes had sealed the prospect. With a disappointed "tch" between grit teeth, Qosis pulled another small bottle from the pocket of his brown jacket. This one was blue. He set it on the ground between him and Xirofel, then fished out yet another container. When he opened this one, a waxy puff of oil smell briefly flowed around them, then disappeared. Qosis dug two fingers into the oil, then rubbed them against his other digits. He capped the oil bottle and at last plucked up the blue one. Tedaon and Aidan were close, but traders had a knack for covert action.
He sank the same two fingertips into the gelatinous well of the blue bottle, swirling them around and manhandling Xirofel's unstitched hand back his way first. He smeared the gel-- numbweed --over the other Candidate's palm, then repeated the process with greater delicacy over the stitched wound. Qosis' action slowed when he heard the close footsteps, and he promptly offered up Xirofel's hand to Tedaon's observation.
"It's no trouble, Healer," he said. "Xiro fell--" Qosis' lips coiled up at the corners. "--and cut his hand, but I took care of it. I am grateful for the training I have received under Journeyman Lokien. You can examine my work of course. I don't think there's any other injuries..." He turned his face back toward Xirofel's, hoisting his eyebrows in a mockery of concern.
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Boo
Jr. Weyrwoman
booct[M:-425]
Shirath: THOSE aren't spirit fingers... THESE ARE SPIRIT FINGERS!!!
Posts: 1,917
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Post by Boo on May 24, 2011 8:00:21 GMT -5
By the time Tedaon had reached the small group he was feeling mounting frustration. Eyes carefully taking in what he saw. Crying girl, dejected looking boy and… Qosis. Qosis and Sagaral were slowly becoming the bane of his existence. Sure, he had other things that caused him stress but none more so than the candidates. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh right now or cry as he stared at Qosis. He looked at the hands of the candidate boy, Xiro and checked over the stitches. Well, he didn’t really care too much at the moment considering that no one was screaming in agony or being mauled by a Wher. He then looked back at Qosis, containing his rage as best he could. Neras had landed on his shoulder and was chirping loudly at the children before him as though berating them for pestering His. “Hm. Well isn’t that lucky...” He said quietly, “I’ll be sure to pass that along.”
Tedaon looked between the candidates. The girl looked to be angry about something, lip quavering and eyes glaring daggers at him. Tedaon met it with a steady stare of his own and then turned his eyes on each of the children in turn, studying them and their reactions. The girl dropped her gaze suddenly and Tedaon could hear her deep breathing.
Fel couldn’t stand it. This other boy had called Xiro his brother. Even after everything her heart was pained to hear those words. She loved her brother, she did. But she hated him too. Hated him for everything he’d done to her. To stand here, see what she had done and be blamed by that boy there made her so sad that she felt enraged. To top it off this healer seemed to have dead eyes making her feel completely enraged at all of them. But she needed to get rid of the Healer. “We’re fine, really sir. I was just upset that’s all.” She said, trying to make herself sound cheerful.
Tedaon continued to watch the girl cautiously. Something was going on here and he’d just officially decided that he didn’t really care. As long as those wounds wouldn’t become infected and cause more work for him he didn’t really care. The looked good enough and he took a couple of bandages, numbweed and antiseptic salve from his bag and pushed them into Qosis’ hands. “Hm. You know. Some of us healers have things to do, so, fellas, next time only call me if one of you is mauled by a Wher. ‘Kay? Thanks.” He said in measured tones.
He threw a final glare at each of them before turning on his heel and stalking back to the Infirmary. Neras took that moment to fling himself at Xiro and chatter away sending him a barrage of almost toonish images of Tedaon working, trying to sleep and then being woken again. That would show them to disturb His. He flicked around not even caring whether or not he hit anyone with his tail or wings and flew off to catch up with Tedaon.
Fel glared at the retreating back of the healer and then looked back at Xiro. She was completely disarmed. She didn’t know what to say but ducked as the Flitt flew past her, whacking her in the side of the head with his wings. She rubbed her head and glared after the Black Flitt in anger. Normally she wouldn’t have cared in the slightest but at the moment she wasn’t herself. It seemed that she had a completely different personality specifically for her reactions to Xiro.
(ooc: is it bad that Tedaon just reminded me of Snape? >.>)
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Post by kayleetonkslupin on May 24, 2011 20:32:53 GMT -5
Aidan stared in shock. He stood rooted to the spot as the Healer checked Xiro over. Xiro! Alive! "Y-you didn't between!" he stuttered in relief. "You were gone...all gone...I thought...I thought they'd hurt you, Xiro! More...that you were...gone..." Tears filled his eyes.
"But you're alive...you're all right...Xiro..." He flung himself at his roommate and brother, wrapping one arm around him as he examined Xiro's hand. "It's better...did Qosis make it better?" he asked tentatively, looking sideways at the other boy. He doubted very much that the demon-girl who had tried to kill Xiro and was at least half Red had done anything to help him.
"You're alive, Xiro..." He squeezed Xiro tightly, burying his face in Xiro's shirt. "I'm glad...Xiro, you're safe..." His knees threatened to buckle under him, so he bit his lip, planted his feet and clung tightly to Xiro as to a lifeline. What if Xiro vanished again?
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Sakoru
Drudge
THE FEARSOME FIERY BEAST
Posts: 11
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Post by Sakoru on May 24, 2011 20:47:02 GMT -5
Had he been thinking straighter, Xirofel would have anticipated Qosis' next move the second he lifted his hand to stare at it. Instead, he didn't even notice the scarred hand coming at him. He did clue in when he had to slam his now-free hand down on the ground to keep himself from toppling into the other candidate. Having redwort slathered on his other hand only made the trader catch his breath in pain; the instant the other man released him he ground his palm hard into his thigh, trying to ease the sting.
Rocking back and forth slightly, trembling with the tension in his muscles, Xiro stared in the approaching duo's direction with half-glazed eyes, trying desperately to kill the pain in his hands before they actually arrived. Only Qosis' soft 'tch' and sudden motion beside him caught his attention, and he pried his gaze off the healer, shifting it rather warily to the man next to him. Again the blasted giant managed to catch him, but this time the results weren't painful. In fact, the smell drifting up from the bottle told him even before Qosis' fingers touched his hand that he did have numbweed.
Not at all impressed, though he'd suspected this would be the case, Xirofel glared daggers at the other candidate as he smeared numbweed on his hands, but forced a game smile onto his face when the healer came closer. The expression wasn't exactly genuine, but it should fool the guy long enough that he'd sharding well leave. He growled under his breath at Qosis' oh-so-innocent pun, "Ha, ha. Very funny." He did not, however, speak loudly enough for anyone to hear except for the would-be harper beside him. "I'm fine now. Sorry to bother you, healer."
Liars, the entire trader-trio -- all three trying to get rid of the man. Of all of them, Xiro's body language contrasted the most with the sprightly tone he used -- he was still visibly twitching with the strain. The wrist in Qosis' hand was hard as a rock, every muscle so tight that it felt more like wood than flesh. Though he smiled pleasantly back at the other trader, his eyes stated very clearly that he was going to castrate the bastard the second he got the chance.
Momentarily distracted from this happy idea by the black firelizard screeching and bombarding him with images, Xiro stared at the creature, looking more than a bit confused. At least, he looked confused until he figured it out: the flit thought that he had sent Aidan to the infirmary to get his owner. Oh, fantastic. Glaring at the chattering creature, the trader ducked his head just in time to avoid being whipped in the face with a slim tail, and he followed its progress past Fel, brows drawing together slightly when the dark wings clipped her upside the head. Not that he really cared, at the moment, given that she was, whether directly or indirectly, the source of his physical pain.
The entire time Tedaon had been standing there, Xiro had been fighting to keep the smile on his face. Now he gave up the act, released a low hiss and jerked violently at the hand Qosis still held captive. "Shardin' half-hatched, iron-brained, snake-oil deadglow!" Snarling, he pulled harder, twisting his wrist in an effort to free it. "Did ya conveniently forget that numbweed doesn't work after ya use redwort?" Personally, he wasn't forgetting any time soon -- with the redwort in the way, the numbweed wasn't doing its job in the slightest, and if the sadistic snake-son had meant to cause him some more pain, it was definitely working.
Having forgotten all about Aidan, the trader jerked in shock when the boy landed on top of him, flinging up an arm in an automatic effort to ward him off. Completely rigid with astonishment and pain, he didn't return the hug, way too amazed at what he'd just realized the boy had said. "I... what? No! I'm not a dragon!" As for being fixed... Xirofel shot Qosis a dark glare when Aidan mentioned it. Though the burn in his palms wasn't gone yet, it was at least slightly more tolerable. He would not, however, say that it was fixed.
Now he had to figure out how to escape this thrice-scorched situation without either Fel or Qosis killing him. Xiro was uncomfortably aware of the fact that his sister would not take kindly at all to Aidan clinging to him, and he flicked a nervous stare to her, trying to maneuver his roommate off of him. She wasn't saying anything -- yet -- and so he spoke, rapidly, trying to remedy the situation before somebody (namely him) got hurt worse and before Fel started using his guilt against him once more. Inevitably, he lapsed back into trader-isms, too stressed and in too much pain to bother suppressing it. "Fel. I know I never sent anythin' to ya, an' I'm sorry, but it wasn't you I wanted t'leave. Not that I expect ya t'believe that, but it's true, and," he snatched at the realization that had just surfaced in his mind, "didn't ya leave Ralet when ya came here?" Or had something happened to their little brother that he didn't know about? Child deaths weren't uncommon on the trail, but Ralet had been doing fine when he left a turn ago, being well past the first few turns when most children died... had that changed, he wondered?
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Azhdarchid
Jr. Weyrwoman
azhct[M:-1490]
Totes.
Posts: 1,627
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Post by Azhdarchid on May 24, 2011 23:34:50 GMT -5
"It should have dried," Qosis answered thoughtfully, then opened up his redwort vial and sniffed at the contents. "Might be too raw. I guess I should leave the dilutions to the actual Apprentices." Luckily Tedaon had given him replacements of his own stock, and Qosis could trust the Journeyman for quality. He had not meant to cause Tedaon any trouble at all, and lying had been the fastest way to see the healer back out of their affairs. Yet even in leaving, Tedaon demonstrated the toneless generosity expected of his Craft. He was a good man.
The ultimate cause of Tedaon's appearance there had latched onto Xirofel, and would likely prove a better weight against flight than Qosis' own presence. Thus he was free to let himself off the scene for a well-deserved drink and candlemark in the baths. First he wrestled Xirofel's hands back into his care, one at a time, to wrap the bandages Tedaon had given him around each palm. The remaining roll he dropped in the traitor's lap. "Change the bandage every day." He passed his old supplies on to Xirofel as well, including that slightly dysfunctional redwort. "Numbweed once, and 'wort once a night. Separately I suppose." He grinned. "In a sevenday go to the infirmary and have them look at it...unless you want to come to me."
His shortened right forefinger jabbed Aidan's shoulder. "Boy. Stay here and comfort Xiro a while as he and his sister talk things through." Qosis gathered his legs under him and ascended, backing off a pace before he addressed Fel. "And talk you shall. But remember what I said. He's no good to the Weyr dead or maimed beyond what he manages for himself. I'm trader, same as you. You can certainly trust me more than him. I do not break promises." Qosis turned on his heel and strode out of sight around the corner of the barracks. Xirofel had proven he was not worth any more of the older Candidate's time.
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Post by kayleetonkslupin on May 24, 2011 23:56:09 GMT -5
"I thought they killed you, Xiro," Aidan said softly, resting his head on Xiro's chest and holding onto him as Qosis worked. He made a mental note of the words that Xiro had used, as they might be useful for later. Atenna seemed to think cursing could be useful. Shardin' half-hatched, iron-brained, snake-oil deadglow, he thought. That was how he felt about Xiro's sister right now. But one didn't curse at girls.
That was a pity, because that was really what he wanted to do. "I know you're not a dragon, Xiro. But I...I didn't know. I wasn't sure what would happen." He'd never seen anyone die. "You vanished. I didn't know what happened," he said plaintively. "I was scared." He turned his head to look at Fel.
"Fel, right..." He bit his lip. "I don't know what happened," he tried, "but family's family. Can't you just say sorry to each other?" he suggested hopefully. "I'm away from my family and I miss them, but Xiro's my roommate and he's been the only family I've had since I got here. Family's good to have, and friends."
"My name's Aidan, not 'boy'. And you're Qosis." He'd heard Xiro say it enough not to forget it. "Don't do that to me. I'll stay with Xiro, because he's my friend and my roommate, and the only brother I have right now. I'll stay because he needs me. Not because you say." Aidan's breathing had steadied and he spoke with more conviction, jaw set. "I'm Herder, not trader, but here we're all Candidates, and none of us ought to break promises."
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Boo
Jr. Weyrwoman
booct[M:-425]
Shirath: THOSE aren't spirit fingers... THESE ARE SPIRIT FINGERS!!!
Posts: 1,917
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Post by Boo on May 25, 2011 6:12:00 GMT -5
Fel kept rubbing the side of her head and watched silently as the oldest trader, continued to fix Xiro's hands up. Lucky Xiro having all these healers here to fix his injuries. Would that he had injured himself in the middle of nowhere. She would have been more satisfied then. She stood there silently, observing the skill of the candidate, trader... Exile? Whatever that meant. The people who had patched her up were not nearly as skilled as those in the Weyr. Even though this older boy had basically admitted that his training was basic it was clear that he knew well what he was doing.
He finished bandaging the hands of her brother and then looked at her. His words shocked her a little. She didn't intend to kill him. How then would she make him suffer as she had? It was absurd. The hatred she held for her brother somewhat shocked even her. That she would rather cause him emotional pain than physical was also rather... troublesome. She had begun to calm but the initial sight of him there, running around the Weyr without a care. It had twisted her heart and mind beyond belief.
Xiro's question made her scoff. She would not answer it. He didn't deserve to know the answer to that. If he had truly cared about any of them he would have asked before now. Truth was, she knew she had abandoned Ralet but at least he knew where she was. She was in Dalibor and was not about to leave as her brother probably planned to. No. She would remain until she was permitted to leave. Whenever she got the chance she would find someone to take messages to her family. She had already received one herself. They not only knew where she was but had approved of it. Tears began falling again as she realised what he was suggesting. That she was no better than him. She would not give him that satisfaction. She would not tell him what had happened to her and nor would she rise to the bait.
Her eyes narrowed at the boy as he hugged Xiro and she hissed in renewed rage. She seemed almost draconic in her anger as she eyed the two boys, fury in her eyes. "Family..." She choked back a sob and, between her crying continued, "How dare you presume to know anything about me." She wiped her eyes and turned on her heel. She didn't want to be here anymore. She would leave Xiro alone to dwell on that. If they impressed together, good. She would be ready to speak with him... Maybe. At the moment she couldn't be there anymore. Sorry would do nothing to be rid of the pain she felt every day when walking and it certainly wouldn't fix their relationship.
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Sakoru
Drudge
THE FEARSOME FIERY BEAST
Posts: 11
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Post by Sakoru on May 25, 2011 17:37:11 GMT -5
It should have dried, but it hadn't, and Xirofel found that he was considerably less able to be casual about this than Qosis. He did, however, manage to prevent himself from cursing anymore, though it took a bit of effort. No more derogatory words spilled from the trader's mouth; he was too preoccupied with the boy that had materialized on top of him. Even when Qosis seized his hands yet again, he kept himself from resisting, but the dark eyes remained fixed warily on the other trader's hands, making sure that no more redwort found its way into his wounds. As it happened, the giant didn't seem interested in tormenting him further, and soon his hands were bandaged without incident. Xiro flexed them experimentally, decided that it was a decent enough job, and returned his attention to the man beside him.
Much as he hated to take the advice, he knew that it was sound. Nodding slightly, the smaller candidate did allow himself a reluctant grin at Qosis' remark. "Not on your life or mine," he responded, brows quirking in mild amusement. This was about when he realized that Aidan was still talking to him, and he dropped his gaze to the younger boy. "I'm not dead and I'm not likely to be anytime soon," he pointed out, a little more roughly than he'd intended. While an ordinarily gentle soul, he was still very much aware of Fel staring at him, especially after he heard the low hiss of rage that emanated from her, and his voice reflected his nerves.
Scorch the shell and sear the shards. Aidan was making everything worse, although he clearly didn't mean to, and Xiro tensed again. Upon lifting his gaze warily to meet Fel's, he wished he hadn't. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and an unbidden memory flashed back to him: the day he left, she'd been crying, screaming for him to come back. He'd pretended not to hear her. He'd walked out of the caravan and her life, and he'd never had any intention of re-entering it. Even if he'd wanted to, he couldn't.
No matter what his intentions were or had been, they didn't matter now. The elder of the two siblings stared after his sister even after she'd left, lifting a hand in an unseen effort to stop her. Before he could even will himself to speak out, she was gone, and he realized that Qosis was too. He hadn't registered any of the older trader's parting words, and only now did he become aware of the pile of medical supplies also sitting in his lap. Silently, Xiro picked the stuff up gingerly, deposited it in his pockets, and gently pushed Aidan off his chest, rising slowly to his feet. He offered a hand to help his roommate up, but he hardly even looked at him before turning away.
"I need to go." The announcement was soft, barely audible. "Don't follow me, Aidan. I'll be back, maybe late tonight." Really late, if he returned to the barracks at all. With that, Xiro turned and disappeared, entering the building only long enough to drop his newly-acquired healing supplies on his bunk. And then, whistling for Lakeeti, he headed off for a destination even he couldn't identify. Just like old times... except this time there was no open road waiting for him.
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