Bleeding to Death [Lesa!]

[Nia]

Shards... shards... Faranth, shards! His arm hurt and he was bleeding. The black-haired boy cursed repeatedly as he stumbled back from the Weyr Lake and as far away as he could get from that stupid sharding Red as possible. He didn't like apologizing, especially not to them. He glanced at his arm and grimaced... the cut was fairly deep. He covered it with his hand, trying to keep some of the blood in. Kio cursed some more, trying to keep his footing steady. If he passed out that was pretty much it. No one was going to help his passed out body get to the Infirmary, especially not if he was out in the middle of the Weyrbowl.

He may have been overreacting just a little bit... but shard it, no one had ever managed to land such a hit on him before! Just another reason to hate dragons. He shut out Kiosk's frenzied worry, not at all regretting that he'd left the Blue back in his room. He didn't want to stress out the Blue, but he didn't want to have to worry about anything other than himself at the moment. He wasn't being selfish... he just didn't want to stress Kiosk out. If Kio could block out the pain, then his wher wouldn't panic so much. But blocking out the pain was difficult and it made his head swim even more than it already was....

Kio staggered into the Lower Caverns, glaring daggers at anyone who gave him a shocked look. And he got quite a lot of them, what with blood still pouring out of his arm and getting everywhere. He didn't care. He just wanted to be able to keep it. The bleeding had slowed considerable, but there was still quite a lot of blood. Shard it... he could still move his fingers, though, not that he was sure what good that would do. Sharding dragons! He hated them! And those two girls... he gave an annoyed growl just at the thought. His revenge... would not come fast enough. He was going to keep away from them... for now, at least. For now....

He reached the Infirmary and stumbled inside, trying to keep himself as steady as possible and pray to Faranth that least one Healer would be in there. "I need... help. My arm..... obviously...." he even managed a rather faded smirk for a second and a laugh. It was funny... kind of... maybe he'd just lost too much blood... wasting all that time having to apologize correctly.... His smirk faded to a grimace. He'd just have to put his faith in the Healers... the thought only made him grimace more. Kio really hated having to put his faith in anyone but himself....

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[lesa]

C'fael was playing fetch with Basker - only the Black had decided to turn fetch into keep away. It was only C'fael's fault that he had decided to play fetch with a roll of bandages - he'd thought if he could play-train Basker into fetching bandages to him, then the Black could be more of a help with routine Infirmary work. Unfortunately, this had instead lead to bandages being strewn all around the Infirmary. At least it was only one roll!

The sound of someone entering the Infirmary stopped the blond's attempts at coaxing the rafter-crawling Basker down. He clearly had bigger problems. "Oh ruddy shells," he swore briefly, striding over to the other boy who was dripping blood on the now-fairly convienently placed bandages. Made the floor easier to clean up, at least! Experienced eyes ran over the black haired boy, even as C'fael all but dragged the stumbling one to a long bench, assisting him down and pulling the bleeding arm above his head.

"Stay like that, and try to keep pressure on it," he advised, estatic when Basker came flying over with one of the needle-boxes. Perfect! It had sutures all packed inside with sterilized needles, one of the ease-of-use things C'fael had adopted from his time at the Hall. He dunked his hands into the redwort bowl, drying them briskly on a clean towel. A sterile packet of gauze was lifted up and fair shoved down on the bleeding gash.

"Once it stops bleeding so heavily I can start suturing," C'fael said, gray eyes assessing again, before reaching into his hippouch and coming up with a flask of fellis juice, "Drink this, it'll take the edge off -" the solution was one carefully crafted - it would dull the drinker's awareness, but not to the point of making them unconcious. Couldn't put any numbweed on until the bleeding stopped, but this would help a tad.

"So," he finally asked conversationally, sure with a look that he had everything around him as needed, "how did you manage this, Wherling? Looks near like you got Izkeeyerdath furious at you. Now, not that it's too hard to do... but even then, Jasra keeps her red fair in line." C'fael mused, unaware of how accurate he was.[/size]

[Nia]

Kio nodded weakly and did as he was told, holding his arm up and keeping pressure on it. He winced as C'fael began messing with his wound, it only made it hurt more. But the pain was needed or else it wouldn't heal... so he didn't care. Whatever C'fael needed to do, Kio was fine with. Anything to let him keep his sharding arm. Ah... sharding, sharding, sharding dragons!

He resisted the urge to laugh ironically when giving the flask of what he definitely knew was fellis juice. He knew it was very different than the kind that he helped peddle around, but still, the irony of it all was too much. He drank it either way, knowing full well that it was going to dull his awareness and take away some of that horrible pain. He could even feel Kiosk's worries slip away. Good... shards, no wait, that was bad... ahh... sharding wher worried too much. He was going to be fine. Kio could already feel the pain fading into the distance... which relieved him.

The question of how he'd gotten the wound... was less of a question, and more of an explanation. Kio had been planning on hiding the fact that Izkeeyerdath had been the one to rip open his arm... but he had to appreciate a good intuition. He gave a short laugh. "You've got a good intuition. Ever consider going into the information business?" he mused, smirking, "And I've found that Jasra is far less likely to keep little Izzy in line when someone is mocking her friend's... lack of friends," he replied.

He wondered faintly if he was even making sense. Probably not. He did have to walk all the way here from the Weyrlake... for all he knew, this was just a before-death hallucination. Kio doubted that, though. There was too much pain for it to just be him hallucinating. Plus, he always figured he'd be smart enough to tell if he was hallucinating.

[lesa]

C'fael laughed, pulling back the gauze to check on the bleeding, a few more minutes, it seemed, "Process of elimination - I know this is a dragon-wound from the shape, and there are very few dragons who would get angry enough on their own to injure a human - Izzy's one of them, and the only one small enough to not have killed you outright." He merely said, ignoring the fact that he could have said that for all intents and purposes he was in the information business, between R'sey's obsession with knowing everything about everything and everyone and his work in the Infirmary, he knew quite a bit. People babbled when they were in pain, or under the influence of fellis. Made for some interesting conversations, that was for sure.

A few minutes went by before C'fael spoke again, checking the gauze and finding the wound had slowly started to clot, enough for him to attempt suturing. The jar of numbweed was procurred and slathered heavily on either side of the wound to allow effective anestetic to be absorbed. "Just let the numbweed absorb in and I can start. Probably going to be a good twenty stitches or more. You might even be able to spin this as some heroic tale among the Holdfolk, but I'll tell you right now it won't fly in the Weyr." C'fael checked the numbweed and wound, seemed good enough, and he pushed aside the gauze again to pick up one of the pre-threaded needles, jabbing it with swift efficiency into the top right part of the wound-edge. He pulled it across and finished two stitches before continuing.

"I won't let it." Third stitch, and a low growl coming to his voice as he spoke, "Mocking a Starseeker for a lack of friends isn't allowed. Especially when Amara has plenty of friends, even if she doesn't realize it. We're all her friends, or I for certain would be proud to call myself one of her friends. So be a little careful about who you're insulting. Or next time I'll start stitching before the numbweed takes affect, oaths or not, C'fael mentioned lightly, pulling the fourth and fifth through.

It had been childsplay for the R'sey-trained C'fael to figure out that the Wherling was talking about Amara. Jasra didn't have many that she called friends, for all that the Starseekers were a closeknit group, each knew who the others were closest to. Jasra and Amara were thick as thieves a fair amount. So his supposition made sense. And made his blood boil. Amara was just shy, everyone knew that! Being shy meant she didn't have a lot of 'friends', sure, but it didn't mean she wouldn't have her whole class stick up for her. Stupid Wherling.[/size]

[Nia]

For all his brains, it seemed that Kio still did babble like an idiot while on fellis. If he hadn't been drugged up, he certainly wouldn't have let slip the reason as to why Izzy had ripped open his arm. He definitely was smart enough to realize that. Plus, he knew that the Healer tending to him was C'fael, part of the same Weyrling group Amara was likely to be in, which meant that he must at least know who Kio was talking about. He shut his eyes involuntarily, but the pain from the needle piercing his arm didn't come, and he knew that was because of fellis. Not squeamish, Kio watched C'fael curiously, deciding that if he must go through such a process, he might as well learn from it.

He listened intently to C'fael, not particularly caring for the exact words, just the fact that this boy... was very intuitative. He almost matched Kio himself! That... almost annoyed him, actually. In fact, it did! He was the detective, the investigator, the one with all the knowledge here...! It bothered him that there was another information ring going around somewhere... knowing things about him and his people! Kio didn't like competition. He really didn't. He resolved to see just how much this C'fael knew... and he would have been able to find out now with some well-placed questions... but his mind was too addled to figure out what questions to ask to get what he wanted. What a shame....

Kio laughed when C'fael was done. "Another lecture? I already got one of these from Jasra, plus a nice little reminder from her dragon," he said, "I don't need you to tell me what to do. I'll pretend to listen, pretend to apologize, and then go out and do it all again...." he continued, not entirely sure what he was even saying at this point. "Go ahead, though. Stitches without numbweed, I mean. A little pain never hurt anyone," he snickered at his own joke.

It felt strange, getting stitches. The feeling annoyed him, but he supposed at least now he knew what it was like to be under fellis. Kind of. Sort of. Not really... well sort of. Whatever. He knew what other people did when they were on it, and he wasn't surprised to find that he could barely feel anything. "Who do you work for...?" he asked, frowning, thoughts of the boy's intuition coming up again, "Or do you freelance? Or are you just curious? I'd like to knoooowww," he babbled, half of himself annoyed at the way his voice sounded and half of him genuinely wanted to know. Annoying self... being annoying... stupid fellis... making him say stupid things....

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[lesa]

C'fael snorted lightly as he worked on the thirteenth stitch. For all he thought he was good, Kio was such an amateur. Just... such an amateur at finding out information. You didn't use words, silly Wherling. You used everything about the person but their words, because words can lie. It was plum obvious by now, what with his growing up with R'sey. R'sey was the master at knowing everything about a person just by them walking in the room - C'fael was still at Journeyman status there, and knew it. Kio was merely an apprentice. Because really, revealing who he 'worked for'? Oh that was just pathetic!

"Well one of these days a lesson will stick, or at the rate you're going, you'll find yourself force-transfered, hated by all and transfering yourself, shunned by all but your fellow Handlers or dead. You have no more common sense than a wherry, Kio," C'fael muttered, working the seventeenth stitch, wondering darkly to himself why he didn't just let the other boy bleed - his oaths, Ansyth reminded him with a nudge. Ah, that was it. Right.

Really was feeling like he was talking to a rambling brick wall here, for all the good his sound advice was doing Kio - boy had to have a death wish, honestly.

[Nia]

Of course words didn't do it... but Kio was rather adept at manipulating, and people often tended to slip up when they thought they could trust someone. Stalking was much easier, though. The little subtle mannerisms people thought no one noticed, and the like. But it was just the fellis addling his mind, and that coupled with the blood loss made him say things he was definitely going to regret when he came to his senses. The still-sensible part of his mind was definitely going to have to remember to keep away from this C'fael... or find some way to ruin him... not that it was likely, seeing how easily he was outsmarted while under fellis. Shards... he really hated competition.

Breathing a heavy sigh, he smirked widely, not losing his cocky demeanor. "This is why I plan to remain behind the scenes... ah... that thing with Amara was just a spur of the moment and, if you must know, I do regret it. Hated or not... people need what I have, so I highly doubt they'll want to kick me out of their Weyr." His mind cursed at him for letting that slip. Idiot! Wherrybrain! Control yourself! He could at least hope that C'fael thought he meant information....

Shards... there was another worry. If he knew this much already...? Would he be able to figure out about the fellis dealings? Of course not... but he'd have to start being more careful. Shard it...! If he'd known there were more investigators running around he would have been more careful to start with! Stupid, stupid, that'd been so stupid...! Why were there suddenly people able to best him...? It was infuriating....

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[lesa]

C'fael merely cocked an eyebrow as he worked on stitch twenty. Ten more should do it... and the blond thought to himself that out of all the things he had heard on fellis, this was some of the more... interesting. Other things had certainly been more enlightening, but this was just... interesting. Boring, in its way, but interesting. Explained why their store of fellis leaves had gone down, at the very least.

"Hmmm," he merely murmured, trying to decide how to phrase this, "You know, stealing from the stores meant to go to the Infirmary gets noticed very quickly. Do you really want A'mor coming after you? Because he makes me look like a Pink firelizard as compared to Izzy when angry. And stealing from his Infirmary? Oh, that makes A'mor angry."

Now perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration - C'fael wasn't precisely certain that Kio was stealing from the Weyr-stores for his dealings, not even certain it was fellis - but it was the most likely. It was a well known 'secret' about F'del, after all, especially when one worked with the Purplerider's exlover and friend. So for others to have the same problem made sense. C'fael also wasn't precisely certain as to A'mor's response. And he knew full well he was lying about his being a Pink 'lizard to A'mor's Red dragon. He was much more a Brown to A'mor's Red - angry in a different way.

[Nia]

Annoying... this guy was annoying and Kio definitely did not like him. He didn't like the fact that his brain was too high on fellis to come up with anything witty or to even catalogue his subtle motions and the twitches of his face to really judge his reactions. Shard it... he was outmatched because of that, and he knew it. He had to stop talking. Just stop talking. For once, shut your stupid mouth! You're on fellis and you're outmatched! But of course... even Kio wasn't able to fully listen to himself at the moment.

A look of genuine surprised crossed Kio's face. "What are you going on about? I haven't taken anything from your Infirmary," he frowned, as though thinking. But he was thinking. Why would C'fael think he'd stolen anything...? That would just be dumb and obvious. His mind didn't exactly pinpoint the whole fellis aspect of medicine, so he figured that maybe C'fael thought he was selling illegal meds or something. He gave a short laugh. "Why would I be peddling medicine from your stores...? That's... idiotic. It doesn't take someone with half a brain to see that they're suddenly low on medicine without having used any of it... as you can prove." He continued, thinking.

"Besides... people only want information from me. Nothing physical, nothing to be stolen... Just lazy people that can't gossip for themselves," he continued, not outright lying. All R'fus needed from him was information... just, you know, information on who happened to be addicted to fellis. He didn't do anything with the actual product itself, and certainly didn't steal it, "If you have a talent, why not sell it?" he added, snickering lightly. The strangeness of the stitches was still extremely odd... and he hoped that C'fael would be done soon. He just wanted to sleep.... To sleep and not talk, then wake up and severely regret the things he'd said today. Shard it....

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[lesa]

Well, the babble confirmed it. The Wherling was running fellis. All the more serious stores were kept under lock and key, and even the fellis was monitored closely. But all of the responses and Kio's general behavior all added up to a fellis-runner of some variety, even if he didn't use himself.

C'fael merely kept himself quiet - he had more than enough suppositions to work through without adding more tinder to the fire of information merrily crackling in front of him. The best part of it was, Kio was likely to remember none of this. Wonderful how his concoction worked - for regular patients, they didn't rememeber the procedures, but this would make it so that he was the only one with the knowledge. Now to just mention his worries to someone, perhaps B'nyur or W'al, as it wouldn't be fair to bring back the memories to F'del, the once-fellis-addicted Purplerider being his Weyrlingmaster aside, or A'mor, for being F'del's friend. Of course, if he mentioned it to R'sey - and he would have to mention it to R'sey before the Bluerider guessed... would be interesting, to say the least.

Three more stitches would do it, he supposed.[/size]

[Nia]

There was no response from C'fael, so Kio kept his mouth shut, the stable part of his mind glad that C'fael hadn't egged him on any more. The worst part of this was absolutely that he wasn't going to be able to remember most of what he'd said... and that was a worrysome thought. He wouldn't remember, but that sharding Healer would. Of course... distancing himself from the fellis opperation wasn't too difficult and hiding it wouldn't be all that hard. They'd just have to be more careful... and it was his stupid fault.

For such a mastermind, Kio really was an idiot.

He suddenly felt exhausted, though... he didn't want to talk anymore and say more things that he'd regret. He just wanted to sleep. Great.... He'd have to figure out something to do once he regained his senses... but he wasn't going to remember. He'd just go prancing around like usual, stirring up trouble and hatred without a care... this boy and whoever he worked for (he definitely worked for someone, that much was obvious...) had to go down. But that was bothersome... if he was so adept on his own, what kind of person was he partnered with...? He'd have to look more into this... perhaps enlist some help, since he couldn't be seen snooping around himself anymore....

"Are you almost done?" he asked, being careful to stay quiet after asking. He didn't want to say anymore. No more words were necessary. Sharding fellis, taking his wits from him...! How did people even enjoy taking this?! He just wanted to go to sleep and pretend this had all been a nightmare. And what a nightmare it was... it was rare to find someone that could outsmart him like this. In fact, he'd never had anyone outsmart him like this. Ah... what a person to run into with a gaping wound in his arm and mind dulled by that sharding fellis....

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[lesa]

"Hmmm?" C'fael got out slowly, finishing the knot, "Yeah, almost done." The Healer moved back, reaching over to where Basker perched next to a roll of bandaging. He lifted a bottle of redwort, slathering the red-tinting liquid over the wound-site. Izkeeyerdath's claws were fairly clean, as a dragon's were wont to be, so only resterilizing the wound-site before wrapping would be needed. He hoped.

If not... well, it would be an easy way to keep an eye on Kio - having to work to clean an infection would assure his coming back to the Infirmary many times. No gangrene would be amazing - C'fael didn't want to have to explain to B'nyur or A'mor why they had to cut a Wherling's arm off. Would be very bad. Very bad. He shook off the thought, laying gauze heavy and overlapping over the wound.

Sure, he only really needed one roll of bandages to secure everything - but using two not only made sure it wouldn't let it go, but, well... it would keep Kio out of mischief. A near mitt out of his hand would assure that! One last jab with a syringe of medicine (in hopes to keep out infection), rounded out his treatment.

"There, all done. Either stay here and sleep or have me help you to your quarters and sleep there. Your choice, though keeping you here would be easier."

[Nia]

Kio's head still felt very fuzzy and heavy. Like he was in some sort of daze. He really didn't like this feeling, and resolved to never try fellis. Ever. This loss of control was the absolute worst that Kio could ever possibly feel, and it definitely made his worst fears a reality. Being taken advantage of like that... it pissed him off. He was going to orchestrate something for his revenge... but shard it, he wasn't even going to remember this! That thought, honestly, scared him. The fact that he'd be completely unaware that this had ever happened... it was disturbing. The ultimate loss of control.

"Good," he muttered, unable to stop his response. But he could stop himself from continuing his rambles, so he did, holding his tongue back and simply watching as C'fael went about his work. He couldn't feel it, so watching the process was odd. Kio definitely didn't like this feeling, either. He did like to know that his arm was attached, afterall, and with all this fellis it certainly could have been cut off and Kio wouldn't have known a thing. But then the gauze was laid over it and the wound disappeared form Kio's sight....

Hopefully, when Kio came back to get these damn things changed, this C'fael wouldn't be around. Not that he'd remember anyway, shard it! That was so frustrating. He really just wanted to sleep. He gave a frustrated sigh at his options. He didn't want C'fael to "escort" him back just because that seemed like such a pathetic thing. Spending the night in the Infirmary was just as bad, he guessed, but for some reason it just seemed less demeaning. "I'll stay here," he said, finally.

Of course... that meant he was going to have to spend more time around C'fael, even if he was sleeping. But hopefully waking up in the Infirmary would be able to jog is memory of this conversation more than if he were to wake up in his room. Worries for Kiosk seeped into his mind, but he ignored them. He'd deal with that issue later....

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