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 Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 5:44 pm
Muttering an almost ceaseless stream of curses, Ki made her way gingerly (but also speedily) to the first place that appeared busy enough to have someone present who could help her out of her current...predicament. She had her right hand clutched tucked close to her body, and had to forcibly refrain from whimpering when each jolt sent a new wave of pain up her forearm, radiating out from the sting she'd received on the back of her hand. It had only bled a little bit, but that had dried, leaving smeared, nasty-looking brownish-red streaks on her hand, and even partially up her forearm. Her hand was also beginning to swell, and she couldn't help but worry about just how venemous the damn fish had been. She could only hope it wasn't going to be deadly--painful though it was, at least she wasn't feeling like she was going to....well, die.
Hesitating out of the first establishment to cross her path, she made a face. It looked like some sort of...strange...cafe. What the hell were the servers wearing, anyway? Looking around, she tried to spot someone who looked like the might be of some use.
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 6:09 pm
Natsuki hung up the phone completely bewildered. Her heart jumped up and down like a fifteen year old school girl when she saw Dr. Tsu's phone number on the cafe's caller ID. However, the voice on the other end had been his brother, Dr. Kyou. With the Lab still in shambles, and Kyou forced to shack up with his brother and work out their apartment, he called upon her to help assist in storage and transport of fel essences and soul bottles. Compounded with the fact that the Lab Assistant, Chloe & her raevan, Roux were staying at the manager's house, this made Natsuki the ideal go-between. She agreed without a second thought, promising 'The Boys' desserts whenever she'd stop by to make her deliveries.
Naturally, it's all about location. Money. Timing.
As the servers milled around the main floor area, Natsuki was hard at work filling orders at the bar and making sure everything was running smoothly. With the assistance of her intern, Shuura, busy weekends were surprisingly less stressful. Seeing an unfamiliar face at the door, she washed her hands, pulled on her white gloves and advanced quickly, but elegantly to the door.
"Welcome to Cafe Jubilee," Natsuki said, with a brilliant smile and a gleam on her glasses. "How may we serve you today?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 4:22 am
still cradling her right hand, Ki had to admit she was impressed with the efficiency with which the cafe seemed to operate--waitresses moved smoothly and quickly between tables, and the smell...the scent of pastries swirled through the establishment--she'd been able to smell them the second she'd walked in. It was a testament to how she was feeling that she wasn't even thinking of a suitable way to make her way out with a few elegant glasses, or some silverwear. Looking towards the voice that had given her the brief, professional greeting, she opened her mouth to explain her predicament...and hesitated. This woman was familiar. She looked different than the last time she'd seen her, but...
"You were auctioned off at the Summer Festival, to raise money." she said, memory sliding into place. Another twinge of pain reminded her why, precisely, she'd come. She debated how to do so, for a moment, and then extended her injured hand gingerly, displeased with how it looked. "I was...doing an experiment, with a weird sort of fish...and it stung me." she said, making a face.
"You wouldn't happen to know how to treat stings from relatively large red-and-white striped fish with long, apparently venemous spines, would you?" Lord, but she hoped the other woman was more familiar with them than she was.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 5:13 pm
"Yes, I certainly was. Not something I normally do, but it was for charity," the cafe owner said, giving a polite bow and smiling demurely. Natsuki's eyes widened as her guest didn't require the normal cafe services, but was in desperate need of medical attention. Listening to the description of the fish in question, and the woman's casual concern abou tthe matter.
"Could it have been a Lionfish?" Natsuki said, trying to wrack her brain about the venemous and poisonous marine life in the area. WHen the woman qualified her statement with 'relatively large' and 'apparently venemous', she felt panis well up within her. Her face blanched in concern as she looked over the woman to find the problematic area. "I only know a little first aid, but I can contact someone to find out how to handle it properly. Come with me." She motioned for the woman to follow her, turning on her heel and zipping off to the employee's lounge.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:37 pm
Ki flushed, feeling stupid--it wasn't something she enjoyed...but then, she HAD been the idiot to stick her hand where it didn't belong, after all. "I uh...well, I'm not sure what a...lionfish looks like, so it could be?" This was spoken practically to herself, as the other woman was already heading off in the direction she'd indicated. Striding after her, Ki was impressed by the other woman's cool assessment of the situation. Things were looking up-she hadn't even had to put up with unpleasant hysterics, or irrelevant, stupid questions like "does it hurt?"
Careful to not jar her hand any more than absolutely necessary, she ducked her head in what she hoped passed for a suitably polite nod of greeting when both staff and guest shot the occasional curious glance her way--she was sure she looked a mess (not that that usually bothered her--but in a setting like that, it set her painfully apart...and she preferred to blend into a crowd, dammit), and to boot to have to be asking for help...it was downright irritating. "I appreciate the help, by the way." she said, realizing she hadnt' yet said thank you, since the other woman hadn't given any outward sign of irritation, or having been put out.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:50 pm
"It's worries at all. People come by all the time with beach mishaps. Have a seat here. Do you feel dizzy or nauseated at all?" the cafe manager smiled, spinning the sleek office chair to face the woman. "I'm Natsuki Yanagitani, the owner of this Cafe, by the way."
Natsuki scanned the packed shelf in her office for her book on first aid. Having beachfront property and knowing that beach goers can be careless, she found it beneficial to keep a book and basic medical supplies available, in the event of an emergency. The Gambino Hospital was across town, but she could tend woulds until emergency transport arrived. Gingery plucking the book from the shelf, she turned it backside up, and scanned the index. Finding the page she needed, she flipped pages quickly.
"Here we go, first thing it says is to soak the wound in hot water. Give me a minute, I'll ring the kitchen to heat up some water for us," Natsuki said calmly, slipping a mic from beneath her collar. She speak quickly and politely to her kitchen manager, and he responded in kind, indicating they were take care of it as they spoke. Tucking the radio away, she turned her attention back to the woman, "Where were you stung?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:45 am
Shaking her head, Ki smiled, the expression rueful. "I'm Ki'retha." she said, memorizing the other woman's name. It wasn't hard to believe, really, that she was far from the only one to have run into some sort of trouble at the beach, and ended up here...but it really didn't ease her mind to realize that she was on a par with the average -beachgoer- in terms of having done something stupid and gotten herself, in this case, injured. Wasn't she supposed to be used to dealing with the sea, and the life in it?
Watching Natsuki flip through the book, Ki shifted uneasily. Yes, her hand hurt--and it still wasn't showing any sign of abating...but she sincerely hoped that a doctor's visit wasn't required...or any sort of treatment involving needles. It wasn't that she was afraid of them, per se--but she certainly didn't like them.
When all that was mentioned was hot water, Ki relaxed, at least slightly. "Hot water? That's it?" It was hard to believe it was that simple, really. "And...it caught me on the back of my right hand. I was trying to...um...capture it, kind of, and got careless." Gingerly, she held out the hand in question, half wishing she'd at least taken the time to rinse it off again before asking for the cafe owner's help. As it was, she hoped that her hand would be recovered by the time she next made it back to the ship--otherwise, she'd never be hearing the end of it.
"How long have you owned the cafe?" Anything to get her mind off've her damn hand. Also, she had to confess, her curiosity was slightly piqued--Natsuki was not the sort of woman she would have imagined running the cafe, at first glance.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:04 pm
"Well, that's a nasty bite, you've got there, Ki'retha. You might want to see a doctor afterwards, just in case," Natsuki said, her thin brows knitting in concern. When the woman held her hand out, Natsuki took it lightly in her own, looking at the wound and the notes in her book. Releasing it, she set about rolling up Ki'retha's sleeve, so they could get her treatment underway. "Any particular reason you were trying to catch a lethal fish? Are you a collector or trader or something?"
She found the idea of a novice handling venomous fish rather strange. Most tourists and locals know well to leave those creatures alone, as they don't attack unless provoked or frightened. Natsuki examined the puncture wound again, turning her attention to the book. "I've been operating Cafe Jubilee for a year and a half now. However, we've only been in Gambino for a couple of months," Natsuki said, carefully omitted the fact that the previous shop in Durem had been burned to the ground on Friday, April 13th. There was no need to drag up such a dead horse. "I actually prefer the crowd here, than to the ones in Durem. They're mainly tourists with money to burn. Not like the poor university students over at DU and UD."
Her eyes widened like a pair of full silvery moons, as she stared at the book. The kitchen manager brought in a large bowl with hot water, on a silver trolley. "You wouldn't happen to know if part of the spine is stuck in there, would you?" she asked, motioning to Ki'retha to put her hand in the hot water. "If there is, things might get tricky. For now, put you hand in slowly because its's really hot."
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:25 pm
"As long as it's life threatening, and isn't going to need antibiotics or anything to clear up, I'd rather just deal with the residual pain, assuming this works." She shrugged. If this didn't work...well, she'd have to debate more strongly on going to see a doctor, if only to see about getting some sort of painkiller.
"And no, no...nothing like that. I uh...well, I signed up to help out with an experiment, actually--and to fulfill the first part of my end of the experiment in question...I needed the soul of a creature of my choosing. The fish just happend to catch my eye, was all. I hadn't seen anything quite like it before." She was tired, and her hand still hurt like hell...otherwise, she'd have tried to think up a better lie...a more believable one.
Nodding at the comment about tourists with money to spend, Ki grinned, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her face. She was right, of course--and it was that propensity for tourists that made Gambino such a great place for a pirate/sometimes pickpocket, as well. There were enough unfamiliar faces passing in and out of most places on any given day that it was easy to blend into a crowd...and most of them were relaxing, enjoying their holidays...and so weren't really on guard.
"I..don't think so. When it stung me, I didn't think much of it at first, since it took a couple minutes for the real pain to start--I'd think if part of a spine had gotten lodged in the wound, I'd have noticed that right away." From the look on the other's face, she HOPED she hadn't managed to let the damn fish leave her with that kind of souvenir. Slipping her fingertips into the hot water, Ki winced, the expression barely crossing her face before she regained her composure. Exhaling, she slowly slid her hand the rest of the way into the bowl. It was hot, almost uncomfortably so--but it wasn't quite hot enough to burn the skin, and so was tolerable.
"How long am I supposed to leave it in here?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 6:01 pm
"Whose experiment are you participating in? A lionfish is beautiful, but equally dangerous," Natsuki asked with interest whe Ki mentioned the need to catch a soul. A nostaligic wave washed over her as she thought about the night Noor died, co-incidently on the same beach where they were. "I did a similar thing for a Dr. Kyoupiruchi, since I am participating in his Raevan Experiments. I managed to capture the soul of a djinneyeh."
Natsuki's heart went out to Ki, not that she'd want to change places in any sense of the word.
"It says here that 'Heat denatures proteins of the lionfish venom. A wound caused by a lionfish should be immersed in water of 43 to 45 degrees Celsius for 30 to 40 minutes or until pain diminishes,'" Natsuki said, reading it slowly to make sure that she didn't overlook any critical data. The tension in her face faded. Natsuki and Ki would not have to deal with emergency transport, or the removal of a dead body. What a relief! she sighed inwardly. "It looks like we'll be here a while. On the plus side, if the swelling, itching, and pain go down, no need to see a doctor."
"Heh, listen to this, 'Though lionfish venom is dangerous, it is localized around the spines, making the fish rather safe to eat,'" Natsuki said slyly, turning the book to face Ki. A wicked smirk curled her lips, and she turned mischievous gray eyes upon her attendee, "If you find that fish again, we can make sashimi out of the little b*****d for biting you, after you take it's soul."((*Note from Wikipedia: Lionfish))
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:45 pm
Ki'retha blinked. How many damn people had this Doctor Kyouwhatever given soul bottles to, anyway?! "You captured a soul for...that doctor's experiments as well?" She didn't even attempt to pronounce his full name correctly. A djinneyeh, hmm? While that sounded more exciting than a fish, somehow she still thought she'd made the right soul choice.
However, as Natsuki read the information she'd found on lionfish out loud, Ki's mind shifted from the experiment, intriguing though it was that this other woman was, apparently, involved in it as well...to the issue at hand.
"I am sorry for the inconvenience--it looked pretty busy out there." Let it not be said that she couldn't be polite, HAH. Even better, she likely wouldn't have to go seek out professional medical attention. The rest of the day was looking up. Flexing her submerged hand, she noted that it still hurt. A lot. Ah well, it had only been in the water for a couple of minutes, right?
As Natsuki mentioned that the fish was edible, Ki perked up. Vengeance might just be very sweet, indeeeeeeed. "Assuming we can, and you're willing....I think it would be a very...fitting end to the damn thing." This last was practically a purr, a genuine smile alighting across her face.
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Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:04 pm
"Yes, I was rather surprised that I could strike a bargain with a genie in order to take her soul," Natsuki said, pulling her attention up from the bowl to look Ki in the eyes. The women had the same wickedly bemused expressions in regard to the fate of the young fish, so it looks like sashimi's on the menu tonight. "Its says thirty to forty minutes, and to see medical attention after that if the pain doesn't stop."
As time passed, the swelling appeared to go down. The floor manager kept Natsuki abreast of shop opperations via a headset, and glancing at the video cameras, she tended to her client without must reservation. Taking out some supplies from the first aid box, she set the ointments, anti-bacterial medications, and bandages on the desktop. "I can dress you wound when you are ready," Natsuki said, giving Ki's shoulder a reassuring squeeze and a genuine smile. "Then let's catch us some fishies."
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 7:46 am
Nodding once, Ki wondered how it was that Natsuki had come across the genie to begin with--it wasn't as though they were thick on the ground, after all. That said, it wasn't her place to pry, and such a question, while something she was determined to find out at some point, wasn't one she felt she could ask now.
Sitting quietly, Ki stared at her hand as the minutes passed, as if willing it to get better. She reaaaaaally didn't want to have to see a doctor, after all. When Natsuki squeezed her shoulder, she started, somewhat surprised at her own lack of attention. "I'll take it out and see how it's feeling now, then." she said, pleased to note, when she looked at it, that it seemed to be looking better than it when she'd first put it in...although it was also looking distinctly pruney, much to her distaste.
Pulling her hand gingerly out of the water, Ki was pleasantly surprised-it still hurt, but it was now manageable, and something that she could push aside and ignore. Moving her fingers as if to make sure it wasn't going to come racing back the second she tried to do something, Ki smiled, turning her head to look up at Natsuki. "I'm ready, and thank you again for going to so much trouble." Truth be told, had she been doing this herself, even after the hot water, the likelihood that she'd have done anything else for the hand was...minimal.
Now, to finish up and get back to that fish. She was looking forward to their second meeting, especially if it meant paying it back for the affront--never mind that she'd brought it on herself by sticking her hand so close to something she didn't know a thing about.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:08 pm
"All righty. Hold on, this might sting a bit. You might want to bite down on this," Natsuki said, passing the woman a flat wooden before whispering into her radio. In a few seconds time, a kitchen staff member hurried in and wheeled the now tepid water out. Natsuki put some strong antibacterial ointment for stings and cuts, and felt rather relieved she wasn't in Ki's shoes. Having used it in the past, the burning sensation only lasted a couple of seconds before relief washed over quickly. Immediately after swabbing the wound, she bandaged it quickly. "Make sure to keep that dry now. Give me three minutes to change. I'll meet you at the door."
Opening the office door, she pointed Ki in the direction of the main entrance and hurried off to the women's locker room. She didn't care that it was still in the midst of operation hours, which in itself was rather unusual for the demanding and exacting cafe manager. With revenge on the menu, and a little dose of revenge for a fellow raevan owner, Natsuki felt surprisingly spry and wound up. She exited through the back door, her policy strictly requires staff to remain in costume and in character at all times.
"Ki, over here," she mouthed at the piratess, tapping on the window. Natsuki was ready with a pair of board shorts, a long sleeved rash guard, and a really think vulcanized rubber gloves.
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Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 6:12 pm
Shaking her head, Ki declined the flat wooden object. She'd cope with the pain, thankyouverymuch. She did, however, wince slightly at the ointment's application. It didn't hurt too bad.
As the cafe's owner bustled about, giving her instructions as to how to find her way out, Ki was left with little to do besides nod. Making her way carefully to the front of the cafe, she stood by the entrance, not quite sure where Natsuki would be looking for her. When the other woman tapped on the glass, she grinned. The red-haired woman looked ready to take on just about anything that damn fish could dish out.
Stepping outside, injured (but neatly bandaged!) hand held loosely at her waist, Ki grinned. "Ready to help me bring that spiney sucker down, then?" she asked, feeling more herself now that she wasn't in as much pain.
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