RP:Dark Readings

This is a Healer's Guild RP.

Summary: Right in the middle of a fairly peaceful afternoon, the Wintry Lady inadvertently reveal to the Winged Beast the journals describing the days she recently spent trying to understand her nature - literally. Entries halfway between medical science and butchery threaten to ruin the quiet of the Green House…

Frostmaw: Emilia's Green House

Thamalys sat on what could only be described by a monumental chaise lounge, entirely made out of blackish wood, smooth as marble. In the hands of the Blue, a tiny booklet, lovingly bound in a leathery cover. Everything about the Spellblade, his posture, the attention he was devoting to his reading, the gentle angle of his back against the wood… each detail suggested the Winged Beast was thoroughly enjoining a rare moment of peace. The only oddity that would have given away the pain devouring still the cursed arm of the Healer was that constant, tiny twitching movements that ruffled the rims of those huge silvery wings, unfurled that much the Avian needed to lean back properly. In tune with the diverse array of leafy objects that filled the Green House and literally surrounded the Blue, the latter wore a dark green shirt, embroidered with geometrical motifs of vines and stars. Despite the fact that his recent misfortunes basically originated from a tree, the Spellblade could not bring himself to dislike to silent companies of the plethora of plants and herbs that the Wintry Lady strove to take care of. Suddenly, following a loud enough noise, as if somebody was rummaging through a pile of clutter, the Winged Beast lifted his solid blue eyes from the book, carefully putting the latter down on a small table nearby. “Tinctures and Decoctions: the Art Of”, a keen sight would have seen, written in golden ink, on the cover. One of the countless titles the Blue borrowed from the Frostmaw Library - oh, he was so grateful for the kingly gift Lionel granted him. “Is everything in order over there?” yelled cheerfully enough the Avian, not really able to distinguish the small shapes of the Ice Genasi anywhere within that knotty curtain of flowers and vines that crowded the Green House.

Emilia had been away for most of the day, otherwise the Genasi would have been tending to the Blue and enjoying his company that she had not been gifted in some time. Always a short moment of time spent making sure small vials of her blood had been sent to him daily, if not a few times each day to aide with the curse he was suffering from. Entering the greenhouse with her arms full the little white woman, standing out against the greens surrounding her in every which way, found with her barefoot a vine that had overgrown out of the pot in which the rest of the plant grew. Clumsy? Of course, the tiny woman of white was down for the count spilling the contents of her arms across the floor as she slid on her belly much like a penguin across the warm ground of the Green House. By the door there was a series of items for the green house from fertiliser to new clippers for some plants, ahem...the one that just tripped her, to stray papers filled with her writing littering the floor. Light weight as the woman was she moved with a slight speed under one of the towering tiers that supported numerous potted plants. All the way under until she slid out from the dark depths at the feet of Thamalys, two small leather bound books escaping her pockets. Each book was just bigger than her hand, wrapped in leather of a dark black, with engraved writing into the cover, nearly identical journals, yet it was the title of each that made them different, “Patient 0’ and “0”. Strange. Looking up to the winged giant the freckle faces woman smiled up at the winged Blue with a most excited, yet slightly embarrassed, look across her face, “Why hello up there. Lovely surprise to crash into you today.”

Thamalys did not even manage to tone down the laughter that was quickly building within him. A thundering thing, originating from that very little portion of the Blue that lied unscathed, unspoiled by the past, unaffected by the worries of the future. A part of him the Black would never be able to reach - most certainly not in the presence of the Icy Lady who just tumbled into sight. “Where else would I go?” he asked mostly to himself the Spellblade, jumping on his feet in a blink of an eye, those huge silvery curtains threatening to knock down a whole row of clay vases. The motion of somebody who cherished the space for what is was, and what it was meant to be: a space for things to grow, and thus for the mind to rest. The arm of the Winged Beast was sore, and stiff, and still quite awful to be seen - and yet, nothing of that pain made it to his eyes, bright with something vey close to happiness. Without even thinking, and out in fact purely of his flawless manners when it came to deal with the Ice Genasi, the Blue kneeled to pick up those dark-looking notebooks, if allowed seizing the two of them at once, one per hand. At no more than a few inches away from the freckled grin of the Wintry Lady, the Avian proceeded to connect his own forehead with her, a mild - well, according to Avian standards, that is… - push imparting so as to playfully shove her away while raising once more, this time dedicating a closer look to those queer journals. “Now, that is a strange labelling for a notebook… is this some record of your first patients as a Healer? I would be delighted to have a proper look at that… I bet I could learn a lot from such an esteemed member of the Guild…” he went, possibly hinting toward a shade of irony - almost unprecedented for the Blue. And thus he stood, sort of stupidly staring at the books first and at the Genasi shortly after, as if silently requesting permission to assess the reading material presently resting in those bony, tattooed hands.

Emilia giggled, a sound like a small chime of ice clicking against itself, ringing out into the greenhouse at the playful forehead nudge of the Blue. It was a rare moment to see him, even still injured as he was, in such good spirits on this day. Even as he picked up the pairing of books the Genasi didn’t stop her smiling, though it was indeed less from ear to ear as it had been moments ago. Gathering herself up from the floor the Genasi dusted the bits of dirt that had clung to her frontside off with gentle hands of mismatched colours. All the while she spoke in soft tones, “I can say that neither of those regards any patient that I have ever properly tended to myself...yet, you may of course read them.” There was not much, if anything, the Healer ever kept from the Blue, or Sabrina for that matter, yet that was because both were her closest friends within the land. If Thamalys was to open each book he would find two sets of writing within; one titled “Patient 0’ a manly scrawl of a scientist or doctorly type not familiar in the least and the second titled “0” a very familiar writing to the Blue, Emilia’s. Starting with the first page in the manly writing it began with a sketch of a human-like shape arms spread out and legs spread out, just an outline mostly with notes scribbled along-side the page: “More curls than Patient 0”, “Below five feet in height”, “Ice cold to the touch”, “Barely blue eyes”, “Blue freckles”, “Silvery scar tissue”, “Black ice-hand and White flesh hand”, “Tiny...extra tiny”, “Inked”. Some portions had arrows pointing from the notes to the matching locations that described the Genasi from a visual on look. In Emilia’s writing on the other first page, “Day 1: What am I? A monster waiting to pounce at the slightest moment of weakness? A friendly creature? A mystery to the world? Guess we shall find out, perhaps at the end of these trials. This man claims he is the best at answering such facts with his tools and logic knowledge of all creatures. I do admit of some doubt considering that he has never seen another creature...monster….whatever I am like me. Maybe that is why he isn’t charging me for this and paid of the trip out of the land. Tomorrow we begin… I hope my friends are kept busy enough to not notice my absence for a short term.” Thus the first entry was over with. All the while the Icy One was silent, letting him absorb in the details of both first pages.

Thamalys tilted that massive cranium of his just a little, as the voice of the Wintry Lady steered toward a more serious, almost concerned tone. It was such a peaceful afternoon, why in the name of the Wind venturing into the unchartered territories of the Genasi’s secrets… and yet he could not help it - off he went, slowly opening the single digit marked booklet. The eyes of the Blue widened, while he found himself in need of sitting down on his chair once more. No doubt about the author of those lines - Emilia’s writing was something very familiar to the Spellblade. He devoured the first few pages in a blur - there was more of that. Doubt reigned undisputed, that was clear enough, but the reason why eluded him. He sighed, raising his eyes to meet those of the Icy One, shaking his head ever so slightly, his awfully long dreadlocks swaying across his face as an untidy mass of undisciplined white snakes. He knew that Emilia valued her privacy very much, and that some stones are best left unturned. On the other hand, in light of the relentless, consistent efforts and sacrifices - literally - that the Genasi carried on in his name on daily bases, he sort of felt compelled to dig a bit deeper. || Here be dragons… || he would have silently poked the Black with. The latter, though, as usual when the Blue stood in Emilia’s company, was nowhere to be heard. “As much as I know I - am - going to regret this… what is this about, Emi? Who is this man you wrote about? Ah, but well before that, and more importantly…” he continued, one finger inserting into the pages so as not to lose track of his scarce - if worrying - progresses, “ you definitely are a mystery to the world. To me. That is where the sheer beauty of your existence lies, you know? Those who claim otherwise are lying to you… understanding you is a silly quest. You are not to be understood - you are to be cherished, for that immensely diverse soul that from time to time manages to surface into sight…” concluded with a nod. Flattery? She knew better - Winged Beast do not waste time and effort in embellishing truths. The other book, ominously perched on the chair, still untouched, eyed the massive shapes of the Avian as a creepy sentinel of old.

Emilia after a moment of standing awkwardly picking dead leaves off a plant managed to find herself a seat on the couch closer to the man, her sized dwarfed as she sat next to the man. Then again it was not hard for the woman to be outsized in Frostmaw, a land of giants after all. He would that each page was dedicated to a entry based on what day it was since her apparent arrival. In the start the days came frequent, two...three...four...five…, but as time passed there would be days left between the passages, ten….sixteen….twenty-one...thirty-two, without explanation as to what had happened between the passages. Perhaps the other book contained the answers. Thamalys would find that in his reading Emilia would mention different procedures from a simple scalpel cut across her arm on the surface to the flesh being spliced open to reveal the bones beneath, broken bones, pokes, prods, extensive sounding names of things prior to days without reply. One might guess just about anything one could test on the frozen woman had been done within her time away. Now, when he finds himself reading the other book the log entries would match with that of the woman’s only it was from a science point of view documenting what had been done in some of the most gruesome details revealing oddly interesting aspects out the Genasi from the inside, though in the end of it all there was nothing conclusive on woman other than her body worked in ways science and even some theories of magic couldn’t explain. Thamalys was right she was a mystery to the world. Resting her head on his good arm, “Me trying to understand myself is not much different than you trying to find who you are or where, especially when you lost your memories for sometime when I first crossed paths with you. Or is it that much different?”

Thamalys pondered her words in silence. A fairly long one. “I suppose you have a point…” he eventually muttered without even lifting his eyes from the books. “It could very well be that I cannot appreciate what it seems to be in fact quite a meticulous investigation - just because you are at the centre of it. I do not particularly like the idea of anybody toying with your body… not in this way, that is.” Another pause followed, his knuckles white while clutching the wooden edges of the chair. “Did it hurt?” inquired the Blue, maybe a bit sharply.

Emilia shook her head slowly to his question, “For the most part, no. As it were I seem to be rather numb to feeling sensations….too frozen over for the nerves to work properly in most aspects. Some..things? Yes, in a way. The heat for instance. I cannot feel the burn as it sears my flesh, but I can see the steam as it rises off my flesh and watch as the wound starts to heal itself. The pain in my lungs however, proves I can still feel sort-of-something, like a fish out of water I suppose. The air is too dry or heated to breath and it hurts my chest. I feel like I am going without air. Drinking or eating something not cold makes my stomach upset and I cannot feel the burns in my mouth, but like everything else they heal over. I mean, I have laid awake while Sabrina has cut me open on the table for a needed surgery after being kidnapped by the Drow...Awake until her drugs forced me into a sleep, can only fight some of those for so long, even as a Genasi. I even have a bone coated in a thin layer of metal…” she said while pointing to an upper arm bone, “That saying about being cold hearted? Yea, that is me all over.”

Thamalys casually turned some more pages of the zeroth booklet, listening. “I know you withstood an awful lot…” he begun, more or less consciously playing with an especially rebellious curl of her, only to rise and move a couple of steps only toward a line of potted plants - some of them rather odd-looking. In perfect silence, and with the same poise of an experienced chef, the Blue picked a selection including a good deal of mint and a very unique variety of Frostmawian vine somehow related to myrtle. By then, he was humming a tune in the lowest pitch probably ever heard in that Green House. Two more steps, and the Avian was scavenging tins and jars. A thick scent of cinnamon filled the space for a little while, as the Healer eventually chose a small brazier - possibly originally intended to host some more flowers, who knows. “Would you be so kind?” he simply inquired, entrusting said metallic object to the tiny hands of the Genasi. Black and white, how apt. Still following that ancient tune, the Blue proceeded to divide his harvest into small pieces, all of them neatly falling within the brazier - if, that is, the Wintry Lady would have accepted his request without objections. If that was to be the case, then the Avian would have walked away, reaching a small window - high up within the architecture of the House - and then open it whole. Brazier at hand, he murmured something before a lofty gush of blue flames engulfed the herbal content - no more than an instant, tough, so that the mixture burnt much as the content of a pipe. Slowly, allowing some of the frosty breeze to enter into the space, enriched by those scents, fresh, clear, opening up the lungs of whoever dared to breathe that in. Not a single word escaped the lips of the Winged Beast, who calmly made his return to the Icy One. “I will hear no more of that - today. With your permission, though…” he added, “… I will go through those journals in greater detail. Surely there is much to learn that a Healer can use. That - I - can use… but not today. Today we shall breath fresh air, and be merry…” he concluded with a timid smile, a last time positing himself onto the chair. This time, for good. Maybe it was the herbs, maybe just the cosy atmosphere of the House, but the head of the Avian did begin to sway a little, as if cuddled by the scent. Drifting away, he was, albeit the memory of those pictures, those cold (indeed) description of the body of her left him with a rather bitter taste to deal with.

Emilia watched him in silence, attempting to determine what exactly he was doing. There was little knowledge to the Genasi of what he was doing, it seemed so strange to her, though Thamalys was a strange one. The item was accepted and held as long as he needed it. Curious eyes watching every silent move of the male. Beyond his little bit of tunes it was otherwise silent in the greenhouse, almost too silent. Once Thamalys had retaken his seat the Genasi nodded, “Of course, I much prefer the peaceful times.” Not that this was war or anything. Grabbing a blanket from the side of the couch the Genasi covered the Winged Man before curling up at his side. Calmed by the breeze and the scents it would not be long before the Genasi had drifted off to sleep on Thamalys with the blanket as a small barrier from her extreme cold.