|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:49 pm
Yulu didn't really hear the exchange going on between Song and Shiver, or between Shiver and Tofir, as the only sound that filled her ears was her own shallow breathing. She wasn't hyperventilating, her pulse was moving back to a regular rhythm that no longer left her feeling winded, but every breath she took was short and timed. It was as though she were breathing to someone's directions, and the color of her face was slowly returning as well. The only evidence that she was feeling unwell other than her silence was the thin veil of sweat that still covered her face, as well as the wide nature of her eyes.
They weren't focus on anything, instead staring straight ahead, though the moment Tofir finally spoke in her direction her head swung and their gaze sat upon him. The panicked expression she had been wearing instantly vanished as a look of recognition swept over, her lips curling into a familiar smirk. It wasn't of mockery, like she was simply pretending to be afraid to get him to be the one to apologize, but it could have been taken that way if it wasn't for the fact that she still looked rather shaken.
How could she let someone's words get to her like this? That thought lurched in her mind as she heard Tofir's words to her, though it slowly started to shift back as she tried to come up with some kind of witty retort. Yulu wasn't about to let this guy think he could get the best of her with his words, even if he were a mind healer, since she knew her skin to be quite thick. This was unacceptable, and she would have her revenge.
Eventually.
"I thought...a Mindhealer had been taught that their words were powerful tools and shouldn't be used carelessly. That a Mindhealer should never turn their anger at anyone around them, preciously because they know what makes them tick?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:23 pm
Tofir brought his hands up to his face and rubbed tiredly. The mindhealer part of him was pointing out that he was covering his face and that it was a gesture of shame. He told his mindhealer self that anyone could have figured that out and to get stuffed, he didn't need any more help doing damage here. When he brought his hands down he looked down and made himself meet Yulu's gaze. He had to do this much right, because she was absolutely correct.
"They are. We are. You're right. I should never have done that. I went through the entire apprenticeship and the mental conditioning. I walked the tables. It was an unthinkable breach of protocol." The self-flagellation was going well, and it was certainly heartfelt. He couldn't believe what he'd done any more than Yulu could, apparently. But he couldn't go on forever, and so he concluded simply: "It should never have happened. I am more sorry than I can express."
An excuse probably wouldn't put him in her good graces, and really there was no excuse to be made. He was having a bad day? So what? Man up and get over it. She'd provoked him? Certainly. But that didn't give him the right to verbally eviscerate a person. The only excuse that was even maybe acceptable was that he was human, and fallible, and really, he'd crossed the line. You said that when you spilled porridge or forgot someone's birthday. Not when you used mindhealer training to figure out a person's weak flank and attack it.
He sighed wearily. At this point, he was emotionally bankrupt. Unless one counted guilt and shame as emotions. He couldn't help hoping that Yulu would offer him some form of absolution, but at the same time he knew he still wouldn't feel he'd deserved it. There was a chivalric streak that ran through him that told him as sharply as the mindhealer training that he'd done wrong, and what's more he'd done wrong to a female. A very odd female who would probably have laughed at his thoughts of honor, yes, but a female nevertheless.
"I really am sorry," he reiterated.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 8:43 pm
The corner of Yulu's lip twitched slightly against her smirk, as if it dared to try and pull itself into an actual smile. There was delight in listening to this boy prostrate himself in front of her as he was, his apology getting longer and longer as he spoke. She'd been prepared to let it all slide the first moment he said he really was an a*****e, Yulu deciding not to be a history major today and forget it all, but letting him continue on in this fashion was pretty amusing too.
She was thankful that years of being berated by her father had allowed her to keep a straight face no matter the situation, her expression still not faltering away as Tofir once again apologized for his actions. If anything might be giving her away it would be that her eyes no longer seemed so wide and wild, their own view back down to calm and calculating. Yulu was watching Tofir, and she found it powerful that he was in her hand simply because of something he'd said to her. Sure it had been something that had shocked her into a state she'd rather not think about, but that was the past. She was in control now.
"Are you done?"
Her voice was soft when she finally spoke again, having stayed silent during his little speech about responsibilities and being sorry, and it sounded as though she needed to clear her throat a little. She did after a second or two, a deep breath following shortly behind. The smirk stayed on Yulu's face as she moved her hands to gently rub against Song's head, as though the motion would keep her calm during whatever she said next.
"Instead of being sorry you should be thankful that I'm not allowed to hit you, or else I would have give you a match pair of dark circles. I don't want to ruin either of our chances at Impression, and I really don't think me trashing you would have ended well for both of us. I've come too far to get stuck here, and I'm sure you feel the same way."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:35 pm
Tofir had been so absorbed in his own contrition - and a part of him that he didn't acknowledge had enjoyed the spectacle he'd been making with his apology - that he hadn't really noticed that Yulu was regaining control of herself, expression and all. It happened sometimes. He wouldn't admit it, but he really did love to put on a show and be dramatic on occasion. If he weren't genuinely ashamed of his earlier behavior, he might have reveled a bit more in the new role of penitent that he almost never got to play.
"Are you done?" she asked, startling him. That wasn't at all the reaction he'd anticipated from her. He wouldn't have been surprised if she hit him. The same part of him that enjoyed spectacle and attention probably wouldn't have objected too strenuously to the idea, and neither would the truly penitent part of him, but the rest of him was just as happy she hadn't. He didn't like being hit. People were dirty.
"Um. I suppose I am," Tofir said, clearing his throat. Being prevented from making further apologies he was at a bit of a loss for words. He'd been on a roll before. Now he was mostly taken aback. Shiver whistled at him inquiringly.
"For the record, though, I don't think you'd be able to give me one black eye. Let alone two." It was out before he could stop himself. He actually facepalmed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:14 pm
Yulu had to chuckle a bit at how he went from apologizing back to being slightly cocky, though to her horror the chuckle sound more like a giggle. On her side it was Song's turn to whistle, her tone matching the sound of Yulu's giggle, and it seemed as though she were delighting in the mood her girl was having. Yulu sent a frown down the Gold's way, stopping the whistling, and she sighed as her gaze turned back to Tofir and a response rolled itself into Yulu's head.
If there was one thing she could pride herself for the time being it was the seemingly never ending stream of responses she was having lately.
"Oh really? I suppose that could be true, since you seem the type to never want people to touch you. Must be troublesome if you ever find a girl that just happens to fit your criteria."
She had no idea what his tastes were at all, but she could tell he had some kind of touching deal going on. She could smell the chemicals on him from where she stood, her nose so used to having to pick them out, and she smirked slightly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:49 pm
Peering at Yulu between his fingers, he wasn't sure he'd heard her right. She was doing something between chuckling and giggling. At least that's what it sounded like. He let his hand fall to his side and watched her warily. Last time she'd finished laughing it had been only a few moments before calling him an a*****e. He had decided that he reacted so badly because she had caught him off guard. This time he was prepared for any sort of verbal hate she might send his way.
When she frowned at Song, Tofir's guard came up. Shiv, confused by the goings on and his human's rapid emotional shifts, sat very still on the ground next to Tofir's boot, one delicate claw resting lightly on the top of his foot. He looked back and forth between the two humans and whistled at Song. Did she know what was going on? Humans made things very complicated. It seemed to Shiv that if there wasn't going to be any violence, it would be very nice if the humans just got along. There would be less tension in the air to make him fret.
Tofir raised one eyebrow. "Oh, when I find the right girl, she can touch me wherever she wants, however she wants, for as long as she wants." A voice in the back of his mind added, As long as she's washed her hands.
"And it's hardly any secret I like things to be clean. It's something I picked up at the Hall. I was under the impression all healers preferred clean environments." Because there was no way he was going to admit to his rather severe hang-ups about contagion. Not while he wasn't sure what she was going to do next. Quite frankly, he wouldn't put it past her to spit at him, and while that wasn't likely to pass any contaminants into his system, it would still be foul and demand some sort of reaction that would put him in a quandary, since he couldn't punch her like he would a guy who did that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:23 am
"We generally do, but there are some exceptions. I've met quite a few healers at the all that had such phobias it was hard to believe they'd even get near a patient. I couldn't understand how someone so terrified of blood could call themselves a healer, when they knew anything they did would have to involve them coming into contact with the substance eventually."
Yulu took a few steps towards Tofir, shifting the silent Song from in front of her chest to her shoulder. It was a pain to constantly have to keep her arms holding the Gold how she was and if Song would merely hold onto her head it would free up many things and Yulu could get to work. She had almost forgotten that she came out here for cleaning the stables, not to socialize or whatever else it was that she was doing, and as soon as the flit had moved a bit the woman stopped walking and stretched her arms. It felt good to be able to move them in their normal range, and she bent herself back a bit in order to perhaps crack her back.
"I was always the odd healer out in my classes, never being scared or disgusted no matter how much I was covered in blood and bile. It's probably because of how my Father was when I was growing up, never letting me show disgust in anything no matter how badly it got, but it might have been for the best. I can think clearly even when the blood starts to fly, while I have seen others scream and back away."
She remembered several scenes with so called 'healers' flinching away from broken bones and open wounds that simply oozed the red life, their reactions annoying and bothersome until she had stepped in and cleaned everything up. The only thing she found that type could be counted on for was the sanitation part of the job, knowing good and well they wouldn't leave a single thing behind that could possibly be dirty in any way.
"I...don't think that's a bad thing though, to want to be clean. You stay healthier, and people don't look at you like you're a heathen."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:39 am
Tofir got the feeling that she knew more about him than she was saying. Though from what she was saying, all she'd have to tack on was a "like you" to the end of her description to make it more personal. It wasn't quite true, though. He didn't really have a problem with blood. Or bile. Or anything that came from inside bodies. It was the stuff that came from outside bodies that went inside them that bothered him. He could treat bleeding patients, and those with broken bones. It was the ones who were sick or sloughing skin or had oozing sores that bothered him.
"I've met some of those," Tofir said dryly. "They probably thought they'd just be theoretical healers. Problem with that is if their problem's with infection, they'll be working with infectious things a lot, and in more concentrated doses. If they just don't like blood and guts, theoretical healing could work."
Tofir had actually given this some thought earlier in his life. Until he decided that mindhealing was his calling, there'd been a bit of a crisis when he realized that he really, really didn't like being around sick people, or people who were otherwise infectious, like those with rashes. But he really could deal with regular old guts and gore. He'd done so at the last hatching, and since.
"Your father must have been a slave to your education," Tofir remarked. He had a theory forming in the back of his mind, and her reaction might tell him whether he was right. Maybe. If she was as good at guarding her thoughts as she seemed to think she was, he might have a harder time. It was just a theory anyway. "But, as you say, it seems to have turned you into a competent healer."
There wasn't much he could say about cleanliness. He agreed with her on all points. Fortunately, he was saved from having to try to make some response by Shiv launching himself into the air with a whistle as Yulu readjusted her back. Until his attention was recalled to it, Tofir had managed to ignore Yulu's lack-of-a-shirtiness. Now he was reminded of it once more and his eartips turned pink. Oblivious, Shiv continued to whistle, having decided that Song was a real stand-up sort and wouldn't she like to see the strange thing his human had been doing before they came in?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:58 pm
"He wasn't so much a slave as he was a tyrant. . . but I guess I do owe him that much. Should I decide to return to the Hall and not stand any further I will be ready to walk the tables without any stress thanks to all I have learned from him."
Song responded in kind to Shiver's call with one of her own, beckoning him much closer to her instead of actually trying to leave. She appeared quite content to merely stay on Yulu as it was, her tail wrapping itself around different parts of the woman's body as she moved. Yulu didn't seem to mind the movement as much as she had earlier, her body growling slightly accustomed to the pain thanks to the numbing cold she was starting to feel. . . in which case Yulu remembered that she was indeed without her shirt.
Normally she wouldn't have cared, plenty of people had seen her shirtless at the Hall and she had wrapped herself quite well today, but it was when she turned and saw the coloring that dotted Tofir's ears that she dashed back and grabbed the discarded item off the ground. It was quickly pulled over her head, dislodging Song, and with a startled cry the little Gold started to fall towards the ground. She didn't spread her wings as if to fly away, instead she shot her claws out and dug them into Yulu's leg in an effort to stop her decent. The intended action caused Yulu to stagger backwards, a look of pain on her face.
"Gah, shar-"
There was blood soaking through her pants now, the little claws having dug deep. It was unintentional, mostly Yulu's fault, and the woman bit her lip as she tried to reach down for the wide, yellow-eyed flitt.
"Tofir, do you ....cloth?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 5:35 pm
"Oh. Well, at least there's that," Tofir said a little awkwardly.
If he went full-out mindhealer and sympathetic he'd merely annoy her he guessed. Sympathy probably wouldn't go over well. But he could definitely put a few more pieces together in the puzzle that was Yulu. Fun. Not that he'd probably have too many more chances to work on it in the future. And because of that he definitely wanted to pursue the subject of her father further, but he refrained. He didn't need to know. It wasn't as if they were going to end up friends or anything.
Shiver was willing to come closer until Yulu started moving about far too frantically for his taste. He became upset and squealed and whistled in high-pitched bursts, part scolding Yulu for startling him and mostly expressing that he didn't like when humans startled him, or the world very much when it was a startling place, which it frequently was. Perhaps it was a good thing he had a human to keep him safe. At least, he hoped Tofir would keep him safe.
For Tofir's part, Yulu's sudden flurry of activity and rush to don a shirt caused his blush to spread to his cheeks. He could have gone on pretending he hadn't noticed. Or trying to pretend he hadn't noticed. But now that she'd drawn attention to her lack of clothing he had no choice but to notice, and he was noticing. It was sad, really: he was trained as a healer and a large part of that training had involved seeing lots of people in various states of undress, and he'd had girlfriends whom he'd also seen in various states of undress, but that was definitely different. There was a distinction, even if he wasn't sure how to articulate it.
"Ah...I...Um. Cloth." Tofir agreed without moving.
Shiver was moving. He flew over to Song to make sure she was all right. It was an instinct that confused him, and once he got there and she seemed to be fine, even if her human was now oozing, he was a even more confused and waddled shakily back to Tofir and paced in circles around his feet. Which reminded Tofir that he should probably be moving said feet and finding a cloth to stem the blood flow.
"There always seems to be blood involved when we meet," he said with his back turned to her as he sought a clean bit of rag. One that hadn't been used on a harness yet or been on the floor. They weren't as common as one might think. But he produced one and offered it to her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 6:30 pm
"What can I say? I guess you just bring out the clumsy girl in me."
Yulu gave a soft whisper of thanks as the rag was handed to her, Song dislodged from her leg and now resting on her shoulder once again. There was a slight hole in the pants where Song's claws had racked their way through, Yulu finding it with her finger, and she gave a quick tug that was followed by the sound of ripping fabric. It appeared she had experience in tearing clothes away from wounds, and as soon as the hole was large enough to fit whatever standards Yulu was going by she quickly ran the cloth over the location of the wound.
The wound was not as deep as Yulu suspected it may be based on the pain, but it was still quite long and slightly deep. She spread the wound open with her fingers to get a better view, ignoring the blood that pooled over her hand and onto her wraps, the expression on her face not one of a person looking over themselves, but that of a healer looking over a patient. It was as if this leg was not attached to Yulu's body, that she were merely surveying someone else's injuries.
"I shouldn't have any problems with this if I can get some salve to stop the bleeding. It looks like she's grazed a good deal of my skin and it's mostly superficial bleeding, but it may hurt to put pressure on the leg should it be walked on. The bleeding will continue for a bit without pressure applied to it."
Song chirped in Yulu's ear after a few moments of silence from the young woman, her hands on her legs to try and stop whatever thin trickle was coming forth. The gold was worried that her person was now mad and hated her for hurting her person, but Yulu merely looked up and over with a semi-smile.
"It's fine Song, accidents happen. I just...though you'd use your wings instead of your claws. You're no good to me if you won't fly."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:25 pm
"Yeah, sorry about that," Tofir said. "Can't really blame you for disliking me if I have that effect. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be much of a consolation if I told you that you don't strike me as the type to ordinarily be clumsy and girlish, would it?"
There was a reason for that, of course, and it was simple. Yulu didn't strike him as particularly girlish. At least, not when she wasn't going about flashing her breasts at people. In those instances it was very hard not to think of her as female, even if she wasn't particularly feminine. However, she was covered once more and bleeding, which meant that his very male reaction - BOOBS! - could be set aside and his healer training could assert itself. He shooed Shiv to a distance and stepped closer.
"Do you want any help?" he asked. He was proud of himself for remembering to use the word "want" rather than "need." Of course she didn't need his help. Or wouldn't admit to it if she did. But then, she wasn't likely to admit to wanting his help either. But at least this way the choice was most definitely hers and he wouldn't seem to think she was incapable. He could see for himself that she was perfectly capable.
"That came out wrong," Tofir said. "The timing, I mean. You seem to have the whole bandaging thing taken care of, but you should probably go to the infirmary and have it cleaned out properly before infection sets in. It's not exactly a body part you want turning green and falling off."
He offered that as a joke. If Yulu's father was the tyrant she named him, he probably hadn't made that sort of joke, but when he was little his mother had always told him that if he didn't clean cuts they'd turn green and the wounded body part would fall off. He'd never taken it seriously, even after acquiring his difficulties with contagion and contamination. It was an old joke that his buddies at the Hall had teased him with. Maybe it would amuse Yulu and take her mind off of the discomfort of having been clawed.
"What I meant was you should go to the infirmary and if you want help getting there I'm offering my assistance. I can carry you, which will probably be better for your leg, or I can just give you shoulder to lean on as you hobble. Your choice. I'm afraid I really can't let it go until the end of the chore period, however."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 7:49 pm
"Don't you start apologizing either, you'll make me feel like I was the one in the wrong all along."
Yulu's words were rather muffled, considering she'd raised her leg up enough that she was doing her best to tie a makeshift wrap around it. The rag Tofir had given her somehow had been shredded during the course of the check up, Yulu's hands never idle even when they seemed to be, and with the little strips she did her best to create a cover. It worked well enough that the gash was covered, and it was only when she was finished that she heard the rest of Tofir's little speech.
Something about needing help, or getting there with his help? Was he offering to take her there or just stating facts? Yulu raised an eyebrow because she wasn't quite sure, though she knew her leg would hold up well enough even if Tofir seemed intent on getting it cleaned out.
"No, I should be alright for now. I can stand on it without too much difficulty and I, like you, am out here to do chores. If I find that I can't move when this is all over then I'll probably have to enlist you for aid, if that's alright."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 9:38 pm
"I wasn't going to apologize," Tofir said.
There wasn't anything for him to apologize for at this point. The blood was her firelizard's fault. She'd been the one to startle the lizard, too. Maybe some blame could be placed on him for causing her to put her shirt on in a hurry, but she'd been the one to take it off in the first place. He sure as shells hadn't asked her to do that. For someone who seemed to view herself as masculine, she certainly made sure no one could forget she was female.
He watched her with a healer's critical eye as she finished up the bandaging process. He could see that he'd not given her a lot to work with, but clean bandages rags were hard to come by. That was not their function. They just had to be cleaner than whatever they were cleaning. Since it was only a stable, Tofir honestly didn't care much, but because the rag had been turned to a purpose that overlapped with something he did care about - hygiene and infection - he couldn't simply ignore the fact that the rags didn't measure up to his standard of cleanliness.
He listened to Yulu with his hands crossed over his chest. He was not impressed with her logic, and it showed on his face. The fact that a person could stand on a wound didn't mean there wasn't a danger in the wound. People did remarkable things with incredibly bad injuries all the time, but that made them stupid, not stoic. He was not an admirer of people who were too stubborn to get something taken care of before it turned into a big problem. Excluding himself, of course. He had standards that he held himself to that were different than others'. He had to be strong.
"No." It most certainly was not all right. "This place is a sty, and there are all sorts of things that could get into it and I wasn't really offering you a choice of whether you went to the infirmary now or later. I was offering you a choice of how you'd get there. I think, however, that your ability to make decisions might be somewhat lacking in this case, however."
So saying, he closed the distance between them and stooped briefly to catch her behind the knees with one arm. With his other arm he basically scooped her up and held her like a very large baby. Or a damsel being rescued, though he was leaning more toward the first comparison at the moment. The picking up was something he enjoyed doing with girls who squealed and giggled, but he actually did have experience lugging patients around. Even reluctant ones. That said, this would be a lot easier if Yulu didn't struggle and just let him carry her.
"This really is for your own good," he assured her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:20 pm
"What are you taAAAAAHHHHHHHH"
Yulu's sentence turn into a cry of surprise the moment she was lifted off her feet, her eyes seeing the tips of her toes suddenly before she felt strong arms support her under her knees and against her back. She was quickly aware of the feeling of someone's warmth, as well as Song's cries of heavy protest at having to be moved again, and Yulu's face turned two shades of red before it blanched white.
The innate knowledge that if she flailed she would probably get dropped on the ground suddenly entered her head, the sensation of coming into contact with hard ground not something she particularly wanted at the moment, leaving Yulu to suddenly tense. She didn't try to increase her weight, not wanting to fall that way, but she certainly wasn't trying to make herself any lighter.
" . . . . "
In her lap Song chittered nervously for Shiv, trying to ask him what his person was doing to her person! This was not very nice!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
