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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 10:11 am
(1/7 Isaia)
After that first morning at sea, the fleet of rescue ships made a hasty stop and offloaded their passengers in Setal. The market town was larger, a bit better equipped to handle the injured, and in the flurry of healer rounds and painful relocations, it wasn't until he was dozing off that first night that Isaia wondered if Vaani and her sister had continued on with their trip. They'd done their job, after all... had delivered those they rescued safely to harbor, and could wash their hands of the nasty business all together and carry on with their lives.
The next morning, however, he spotted her among those doing rotations in the large building they'd been laid out in. She didn't stop to see him, herself, but at one point they made eye contact and gave awkward little waves. 'I see you, I remember who you are' felt somehow novel, considering all the pathetically ruined people she had likely come across in the past day.
The victims were split among a number of larger buildings that were clearly warehouses; merchandise was either piled up outside in neat pallets or shoved to the corners of the building to allow room for the injured to sprawl out. They'd been separated by severity, he realized; those dying or with severe issues were elsewhere, while Isaia was in a building with others like him, with burns or broken bones that led to caterwauling and tears, but weren't at immediate risk of death unless a fever or infection took them.
Now, almost a two weeks later, he was getting sick of laying here. His arse was sore, and he couldn't roll over onto his side because of his messed up arms and chest and the awkward splint they'd put his leg in. Instead, he lay on his back, aching but subdued thanks to some pain medicine he'd been given, staring up at the ceiling while the dull roar of dozens of others talking helped him tune the world out.
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 10:17 am
(1/7 Uquin)
The brief break to inspect the wreckage (which Zadia suggested) resulted in no new leads and very little reassurance as to the state of their loved ones. The ship, which once had been marvel of engineering, was reduced to shreds of metal, smoking and gruesome to witness. The excursion added almost a day to their trip, but in the end it was a boon; they managed to get notice of where the injured had been taken, and were able to change course appropriately.
On landing, Uquin was just as eager to seek Isaia out, but entreated Zadia to get a room at the inn and wash up first. If the boy was injured badly, them approaching in their road worn and sweat covered states wouldn't help him.
Once cleaned up, they went to look for their loved ones. A small city of tents was erected by a number of warehouses, and inside were healers and other helpers were setting up work and living spaces inside it. Zadia was sent to look for Isaia, while Uquin asked around for Maritza.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 1:17 pm
Vaani - 1
Shortly after their ship docked in Setal, Laksha left Vaani with a choice. While neither of the sisters could have predicted what would they experienced on the open sea it was only Laksha who had to stay. Her Captain gave the crew express orders that for the moment they would remain in port, doing all they could to help until proper healers could be called in, but Vaani was free to do as she pleased. She could either take another ship home, book passage further up the coast or stay with them.
For Vaani the answer was obvious. She wasn't trained as a healer nor was she strong enough to help move survivors from one area to the next, but she was a good worker. Growing up in a family of seven had taught her how to keep a routine, how to wash linens and serve meals that were easy enough to digest. Changing bandages was something new, as was applying salves to burns, but...at least she wasn't handling the dying. That...that was where she drew the line.
With her hair back in it's signature braids and her clothes mostly cleaned, Vaani moved about the warehouse delivering meals. It was mostly just warm broth, but seasoned with what they could find to hopefully keep some of the more vocal residents quiet. A few times she'd spotted Isaia across the way and when she caught his eye she did her best to offer a wave, or at least a smile if her arms were full, before moving on.
She wanted to check on him, really she did but...What reason did she have to? What made him anymore deserving of her time that everyone else here? She was here to work! Not socialize and yet-
Well, her rounds were done and now she was just holding an empty tray so...Maybe she could just...Vaani was close to going, really she was, until she heard about another man asking about Maritza and that just seemed a little...odd. How many Maritza's were there in Belrea? Was it a common name?
Curiously, the short yaeli went out in search of the man and found a severe looking Talean. Maybe if she hadn't been so tired or Isaia so beat up on the ship she would have noticed similarities but as it stood she very nearly didn't approach. There was something about the man that made her intimidated.
"Uhm, excuse me? Were you asking about Maritza?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 1:28 pm
Zadia- 1
Walking through the rows of makeshift cots caused two reactions in her. The first was Zadia walking taller, as if she could block out the painful moans of the injured and the cries of those who mourned the dead. She told herself that morning that she would start out by ripping off the scab, by going to the warehouses where those most grievously injured were kept, and yet after walking through the door...she knew she couldn't.
Imagines of a buck toothed Isaia, holding his bloodied stump of a baby tooth in front of him flashed through her mind and the smell of her mother's favorite sweet buns coursed through her. If she saw either of them, or worse, corpses resembling theirs....Wrapping her arms around her chest, Zadia had turned away and went to the others.
After a bit of asking, even more interrogation, Zadia was on his trail. Someone who looked like her brother should have been close and since Isaia didn't exactly blend her heart was nearly in her throat by the time she came to him. Every ounce of the woman she'd grown into faded away when she saw him in those bandages and Zadia cried out his name as she raced to her brother. "Isaia! Isaia!" She couldn't even tell if he was awake or not - not that she cared!
When she was close enough Zadia dropped down beside him, tears freely falling down her cheeks and her hands....Spirits they reached out for him but...his arms...How was she supposed to hug him?! Instead, she put them on his chest and leaned against him as much as she dared.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 1:51 pm
(2/7 Isaia)
You know what they needed in here? Music. Music would really pep everyone up. It might get annoying, after a while, but he'd much rather listen to that than to so many conversations. He closed his eyes and sighed out slowly. Throughout the days here, he'd convinced one of the people caring for him to move the pendant he'd been given to his wrist. It let him fiddle with it, rubbing his fingers over the surface of the silver, or shifting it so he could examine it better. His arms didn't like to bend, if only because the bandages on them were too tight to allow it, so this was a better way to look at the gift Vaani had given him.
He was doing so now, idly feeling the surface of the carved piece, when... when he heard her. His eyes shot open and he turned his head, startled, heart leaping into his throat in an eerie match to her own reaction - just as she sank down beside him. His sister resembled their father, just like he did, with a narrow, angular face with sharp eyes - but right now they welled with tears, and her pink hair somehow managed to look dull as flyaway pieces whisped around her face. "Zadia?" He blurted out - only for her to sink down over him.
"Woah-- hey hey-- don't cry, you're gonna make me cry!" He said, loudly, wiggling as much as he could under her flopped over him. His voice was a lot better than it had been, thanks to getting decent water since then - and while his body hurt in a lot of places, the bruising from various debris was mostly faded to ugly purples and greens here and there. His chest was wrapped up, as were his arms from nearly his knuckles to halfway up his biceps. His chest didn't need to be fully wrapped, and just had poultices placed on the burns there; and his leg was splinted over the knee.
"What're you doing in Matori?! What about the shop?" The answer was obvious, but Isaia forced the thought out of his mind. "Get off me, let me sit up sis--"
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 1:58 pm
(2/7 Uquin) The healers he'd spoken to, so far, didn't know anything about his wife. The fear lodged in his chest and lungs, making it hard to breath, but Uquin took some solace in the fact that they recognized Isaia. The first healer he spoke to, recognizing he was a healer himself, had pulled up some parchment notes on his condition, filling him in - in detail - about his condition. Badly burned arms, enough they'd be permanently scarred, if not limited in range depending on how recovery went. His chest had less serious burns by far... his knee was shattered, but hadn't suffered from the bloating or infection that some crush wounds did, so amputation had been deemed unnecessary.
But, the topic kept turning back to Maritza. Knowing his son was alive and safe, and likely reuniting with Zadia, gave Uquin a bit of time to focus on his missing wife... when a soft voice piped up from behind him.
Uquin turned to gaze down at a petite little yaeli woman. Her face was round, and combined with her twin braids and large eyes, she looked exceedingly young to be in such a harrowing place. His gaze sharpened however when she said 'Maritza', and he fully turned to her, with perhaps a bit more haste and eagerness than he should have. Only his greatly honed restraint kept him from grasping her shoulders to shake her for details. "Yes. Maritza, she is a small lightning woman. Have you seen her? No one here knows anything about her." He allowed a dose of disdain to drip into his words, and fixed the girl with an impatiently hopeful look that probably made his gaunt features look manic and unpleasant, in hindsight.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 3:29 pm
Zadia 2
Somehow just hearing him say her name broke through her defenses. Zadia nearly choked on her breath before outright sobbing. She dropped her head down onto his chest, heedless of any wounds he may have had there, and just cried. "Don't tell me not to cry!" She half-shrieked, half-cried, "You don't get to do that! Not after all this." That stupid, half-brained, impulsive, slack jawed, idiot! How dare he....how dare he be okay.
The man in the space next to Isaia, who had been trying his best to get a healer's to look at his knee, promptly grew quiet the louder Zadia got. If the crying hadn't shut him up her admonitions did.
When he wouldn't stop wiggling she sat up again, half her hair having fallen out of it's messy bun, and the hybrid did her best to get her breathing under control. "What do you think I'm doing here?! The hell with the shop; we came for you." With a sniffle, she moved to help prop him up with what pillows she could find - one of which was sure was just a shirt that had been stuffed with other shirts - until he may have been comfortable? Honestly it still looked rough.
"Father and I boarded a ship as soon as we got word. Lioe and Marcella are home, we just...I couldn't stay not knowing, Isaia."
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 3:36 pm
Vaani 2
"Oh spirits," Vaani murmured and reached up to clutch her amulet - only to remember she'd given it to Isaia. The chubby little yaeli took a deep breath instead, her glowing eyes as wide as a frightened prey beast until the intensity of his one, lone pupil. She was sure he only looked this way out of fear, as so many others did, and surely not out of madness or some other less pleasant malady. Surely not...
"I-I have not," Her voice was even smaller now, barely above a squeak and though Vaani hadn't stepped away from him she did shrink into herself. "I only know of what Isaia told me and I thought that if you were looking for her too that...maybe you might know him and wish to see him?" I'm going to be strangled, or cursed. Surely there was a story about a one eyed foreigner with ears that had been pulled back by wires to stand taller... And then a not so far off shriek caught her attention, but Vaani was too scared to look away.
That was...well, it sounded too healthy for any of the survivors but she was afraid that if she went to it that this man might very well attack.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 3:51 pm
(3/7 Isaia)
Thankfully, his sister wasn't hurting him with her tears. Despite the bandaged chest, she wasn't being awfully rough or slapping him or anything, so he forgave the bit of stinging just having pressure on him brought about. He wanted to clutch her shoulders, or hug her, but the stiff, uncomfortable bandages made him feel like a wooden toy, arms unbendable as they were. Her shriek made him flinch, but he quieted his complaints and just... basked for a moment.
His sister's hair was clean, if messy. Her face, when she sat up, looked awful - with shadows under her eyes and a red flush to her face that made her eyes look more red than their usual pink. He wanted to reach out and help her put her hair up, but in the end just sort've pat her arm awkwardly with his unbandaged fingertips, smiling brightly. "Aw, Zadie, I'm fine see?" He insisted, as he was propped up, fixing her with his most winning grin. He knew his hair was pretty lank since he didn't have the time to lavish it as normal - but he was clean, thanks to the helpers who'd come through every few days to help keep them moving around and clean.
His dad would know. He'd look at Isaia and know he was fine, and they could find mom and get going, and everything would go back to normal. It could go to just being a really crappy day, and leave it at that. "Dad'll tell you, the healer's said my arms look worse than they are and - dad knows plenty about crutches for people, I can probably hop on a boat and go home before you know it."
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Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2023 3:57 pm
(3/7 Uquin) ... Ah. The yaeli practically withered under his gaze, and when she quickly corrected herself and said she hadn't seen his wife, Uquin couldn't keep back the way his expression sharpened, unhappy and displeased. However, she continued on and at the mention of his son's name... he forced himself to lean back again, smoothing his face back to its more neutral look. She was utterly quaking in her boots now though, and he felt frustrated, but also ridiculous for losing his composure the second his daughter left his side. "You thought right, miss. Isaia is-" His tone smoothed itself into a polite tone, tired though it was - only for him to cut himself off when he heard Zadia from across the room.
His gaze snapped up to her, and it shouldn't be hard to find her - her bright pink hair was unusual for anyone except the rare Oban -and yet in this sea of people of various blondes and oranges, he couldn't see her. "Can you bring me to him then?" He looked back at her again, crossing his arms.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2023 3:26 pm
Vaani 3
Vaani unconsciously took a half step away from Uquin. The moment his features changed she felt the urge to move far away from him and very likely would have if he hadn't pulled back. "I-I can," she swallowed back a lump in her throat and gave a half-hearted nod. This time when Vaani turned away from him she looked over her shoulder, just to made sure the reedy man was following.
And yet...after a moment she stopped once more, this time to turn her glowing eyes toward his. "Be gentle when you see him. I don't know what your connection is and I know you've worried, but...he's been through so much." Take a deep, utterly fearful breath, Vaani stiffened, "And I'll make you leave if you upset him while he's healing. Now...come on, he's this way." There was just no way she was going to let Isaia backslide now that he was looking better. She admittedly didn't know what he looked like up close, but...well, after this much healing and a good sponge bath surely he was feeling better, right?
At least physically.
She maneuvered around caregivers and healers alike, passing by rows of pallets like buildings on a street until she came closer to Isaia and...a sobbing, pink haired woman. "Oh goodness." Vaani murmured.
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2023 3:51 pm
Zadia 3
"You look awful." She sniffled. That stupid grin might have brought a little one from her, but she wasn't fooled. Zadia reached for his hand - fingers? nubs - and gave them a squeeze. She did her best to fluff his hair with a little tousle, teasing it in some spots to give the limp strands a bit of volume before settling beside him.
Of course, when she grasped his hand her own brushed up against something odd and when Zadia looked down she saw the pendant. Trust Isaia to loose his shirt in a near death crash and pick up a trinket. Through that contact she gave him a bit of her own healing magic; it was nowhere near as strong as her older sister's or their fathers, but Zadia knew enough to bring comfort. "Just stay still for a while, okay? I doubt dad's going to let you on any kind of ship once he sees you." And, as if summoned, she saw her father approach...
...with a yaeli? The soft little thing looked positively anxious next to Uquin and Zadia's own eyes hardened. "Thank you for bringing him here, but we'll be looking after Isaia now. You don't have to worry about him anymore."
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2023 10:12 pm
(4/7 Isaia)
Isaia squawked at the insult. It felt... easy to just fall back into the habit of squabbling with his sister, though there was an itch in the back of his head, a feeling like she was looking at him a bit too intently. It was just her being super worried for him, he... he didn't blame her. He was still scared as hell for his mom, but the doctor said they were still looking so - so it wasn't like she was dead or something. He was tugged out of his thoughts, though, by her fussing with his hair, then squeezing his hand.
The touch of healing magic wasn't new, even here - there were plenty of healers, but their magic was spread painfully thin and most of what they could spare was for those more seriously hurt. The magic made some of the ache in that arm diminish, even if it made the skin itch annoyingly instead, but he still grinned at her. "Aww, you really do like me." It was meant to be playful, but only after it left his mouth did he realize that, in this context, it might have come out a little mean spirited.
When he followed Zadia's eyes, Isaia felt his breath punch out of him when he saw his dad. He uh- didn't really think he'd feel like this, seeing his dad, but there was a surge of relief that seeing a parent after all this brought, along with a crumbling sense of guilt and shame that made it hard to look at him. So - his eyes slid easily to the person next to him, brightening immediately upon seeing Vaani there.
Even if she looked terrified. "This is Vaani! She's been taking care of me since I woke up." He interjected loudly and with quite a bit of exaggeration (since she'd only really had a chance to see him that first night), thwacking his sister with one bandaged arm in quiet scolding. "What my darling sister means to say is - we know you guys have a lot of people to watch, but they'll take me off their hands. That's not to say you and your sister can't come visit us for tea when you get a chance to breath, right sis? You wouldn't shoo off my rescuer, would you? Dad? You agree right?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2023 10:28 pm
(4/7 Uquin) Uquin fell into step behind the small woman, and was so eager to find his children that when she stopped he almost ran into her again. He took a step back, so as to put space between them again, peering down at her as she gazed at him with that same nervous stare. ... And yet... instead of continuing to shake and quail, she found some manner of firmness that he couldn't help but be impressed by. There were so many patients here, it would be easy to focus merely on their physical recovery, leaving their mental health as a lower priority.
And yet, this girl was willing to speak up to someone who so obviously scared her, and was even threatening to remove him from Isaia's company, if he upset him. He could only respect her for that. "I see." He responded, at length. They continued along and, eventually, he spotted them both. The moment he spotted them, Uquin quit his trailing of the young woman and moved past her, walking briskly to his son's side, crossing to the other side of the pallet from Zadia so he could kneel and touch Isaia's other arm.
And the brat of a son didn't so much as acknowledge him, beyond the light of recognition in his eyes. All too soon, those multi-colored eyes were flicking away and-- of course.
Uquin sagged just a little, relieved even though he was annoyed, as his injured, half dead son prioritized sweet talking a pretty girl. Uquin would have cuffed the brat upside the head, like Maritza was wont to do, if he wasn't so worried for him. "Not even a hello, child? I'm already supposed to play host and offer tea and biscuits before I can confirm you're alive? Ungrateful thing." Uquin drawled, clicking his tongue as he pulled his prayer beads from their spot wrapped around his wrist, hovering his hand over Isaia's body as he reached out with his magic to assess the damage.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 11:53 am
Zadia 4
"I love you, stupid." She murmured the words just loud enough so that Isaia alone could hear them. Zadia would have done anything for her family, but the bond between the triplets was different. They'd come into this world together, lived through a rough childhood as one, and she'd be damned if he left before she was ready.
"Vaani." Zadia repeated the name with a side eye toward Isaia. Oh of course it was a girl that made his eyes absolutely shine when his grief stricken, worried ill sister came to his bedside! Any other time Zadia would have given him a tongue lashing, but right now she was just happy to see some life to his skin.
"Oh by all means, come then, sit with us." The words were mostly sincere, but there was a fair bit of spite to them as well. Not directed at Vaani....well, not all of them. She was a little chuffed that a stranger was here taking care of him when she'd come so far, but the bigger part of Zadia was just happy that Isaia had someone by his side.
Mostly she was just annoyed that he'd shifted tracks so fast!
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