RP:On The Mend

From HollowWiki

Part of the The End's Not Near Arc


Summary: A sore and stiff Reginae runs into an acupuncturist monk off the shores of Cenril. He offers his services free of charge and earns a noteworthy mark of good faith in the naga's book.

Cove

It’s been two days since Reginae fought Kreekitaka in the Grand Arena. Though Pilar had healed most of her physical injuries, her muscles and pride still ached. She was out of practice, exhausted from shifting, and had strained herself in a reckless and emotional fashion. The male rogue form she’d come to occupy was discarded for her true form while she hid in a coastal cave far up the eastern Cenril shore. Hefty, frigid waves crash against the rock formations jutting from the ocean floor. Salt sprays her crystalline scales, her ivory tail is unfurled and bobbing lazily on the water’s surface. It’s not like the water garden in Alithrya but she can’t risk a public setting in this state. When she’s supposed to be deceased. Her spider silk hair is spun into a loose, decorative bun pressed against the back of her neck. Styling her hair is one thing she’d missed about traipsing around in another gender’s skin. Her shoulders roll forward, raised and stiff while she lazily tries to work out the kinks in her humanoid torso.


Bastion wasn't quite spelunking, but he liked to think it was similar. He'd taken a small dinghy out from the docks and wound up caught on some rocks near a cave system. It had intrigued him, so he'd set to exploring. It really wasn't his fault the boat had failed, it'd been... less than seaworthy, but he was trying to get it from where it'd gotten stuck some time ago for a friend, and he'd overestimated his abilities and his boat's... lack thereof. All was well, though. He'd get it back sooner or later. For now, exploring! Maybe even a bit of fishing and relaxing in the darkness of the caverns. The boy clambered up some rocks, purposefully making noise so that any inhabitants would be aware of him. He exuded a calming aura, though weak, and wild animals tended not to take much offense at his presence, as long as he wasn't near their young or somesuch. But then, he pulled out his little black ocarina. He played a light, lilting melody that hopped and skipped off the cavern walls, and seemed to play on the black waters lapping at the rocks in their long, long dance. Everything was wet, and dark, and his seat was rock, but all seemed right with the world to the boy. As he got into the music, cherry blossom petals began to fall around him, staying where they landed, as real as could be.


Reginae didn't see the ship or the monk. She did, however, see the cherry blossoms filter down from a higher platform on the cave ledge behind her. The melody drifted out with it, as if it was the very wind by which the blossoms fluttered from. She turned, casting her azurite stare towards the shadowed section. Her tail twitched, soothed by the sound. There's no breaking the spell, she remains silent from her position in the cave pools. Her tail curls in, coiling beneath her humanoid torso as she lifts herself to the full height of the ledge overhead to watch the stranger with cautious appreciation. She'd only speak if he stopped playing. Her demeanor wasn't threatening, though in truth she should have been disguised. There's not enough strength left in her to do so. "What is that instrument?" She'll ask, if silence presents itself in his melody.


Bastion had never seen a naga. He didn't have his blindfold on, and his vision ranged out, beyond what his eyes should be able to see. Despite the dark, despite her being behind him, he saw her clearly, coiling tail and all. It was awe inspiring, beautiful. When he stopped playing at the end of the verse, she spoke, and he smiled. He didn't know whether she was a danger or not, but she wasn't coiled to strike, wasn't preparing a spell, and she talked to him. That bode well. She was also hurt... which pained him to see. "It is an ocarina. I made it from a special clay, filled with special minerals and a black pigment. It has a wondrous effect, the ground being pitch black, with so much grass and flowers growing out of it. Very pretty." He laid down against the rock, looking towards the cavern ceiling, hands behind his head. "You're very pretty, miss. My name is Bastion." The cherry blossom petals stopped falling, as he left his trance, though what had fallen stay where it lay. "I've never seen a naga before. I didn't know they were real, but it seems everything exists, in these lands. If you're hurting, I can help make you feel better, if you like." He didn't comment on the nature of her wounds, as he didn't think it was his business, if she didn't choose to share that information.


Reginae listened calmly, leaning her elbows into the cliff face to support her extension. A special pitch clay, that's something she hasn't heard before. "It sounds enchanting." She replied, both of the flowers growing from the soil and the music from his unique instrument. His compliment causes a tilt of her head, inspiring a twitch of a smile on her lips. "Happy to make your acquaintance, Bastion. I'm known as Nicolau -" Her most recent alias. The name Reginae belonged to someone presumed dead. "Naga are very real, and very troublesome in most cases." She shrugs her stiff shoulders and winces. "Lucky for you, I'm on the mend." This is said in a teasing tone, meant to imply no ill will. "I've been seen to by a healer but my muscles are taking a little longer to recover." There's no trace of scar or scabbing skin or scales. Whatever ailment plagues the woman, it's below the skin. "Lost a tussle recently." Her head tilts, trying in vain to crack the bones in her neck. "Ugh, if you can indeed help, I'd be grateful for your service and pay you in kind. What is your profession, Bastion? Where do you hail from?"


Bastion rose, dusting off his bum, and walkd to her. "I'm a peasant monk, on a pilgrimage of labors. It is my duty to toil alongside the commonfolk. To share their labors, their sorrows, their joys, their struggles. To help all who I can, however I can. I am sworn to poverty, so I couldn't accept any form of payment if I wanted to." He slipped behind her, somewhat fearlessly, and touched her shoulders, palms and thumbs exploring the muscles of her back. "Ouch. You certainly are on the mend. I can't imagine you're very comfortable like that. Here, lay down on your stomache, on your tail. I don't have a table, but I think it'll be more comfortable for you than the rocks. Ah, and I'm from, ah... a land far, far to the east. I think. I'm half convinced this is a different world, truly." He kept feeling along her back, down her spine, to her tailbone.... and where it kept going. "I'm going to stay away from your, ah, scales. For now. I don't think I could use my acupuncture effectively through them, not with the materials I have. I would need specially tailored needles, enchanted Mithril, I think, self heating so they could burn a tiny hole through the scale, to get where they need to go. It wouldn't harm the scales though, I assure you, just as the needles won't harm your skin. Now, lie still. Try not to wiggle at all." The warning wasn't because it would cause pain or discomfort, but quite the opposite. When he pulled the first needle from his bracelet and inserted it, injecting his own Ki into her vital energy lines, she'd feel sensations of tranquility and euphoria, pains numbed and cast aside, body relaxed, mind blissfully comforted. "Ah, the muscles will still take time to mend, but they shall mend faster. "You'll need to get your rest, but that won't be difficult, after today. For the next week or so, you'll find it almost impossible to be uncomfortable." Partially because with her greater, larger anatomy, he had to use more needles, and on a smaller area... only her humanoid back. He had to do more work than he usually did for treatments, though the next two hours would seem infinitely shorter to her. Once he'd pulled the last needle from her back, she'd likely be tempted to nap there on the spot, feeling more like a cat in a sun ray than a snake lady in a cavern.


Reginae falls asleep as soon as she situates herself on the warm rocks atop her tail. First, she explains how she'd been in a battle for political reasons and lost horribly. She wasn't disturbed by him avoiding her scales, because she was snoring lightly after he started speaking again about needing rest. Once the task was finished, she stirred. Groggy and squinting her eyes, she turned to face him, most of her torso still on her tail. It was dangerous to trust a stranger with her lift; without disguise. A woman thought to be dead. "To what do I owe your kindness, monk?" Her grin is lazy, predicting the possible return to sleep before she started off towards her next destination; Chartsend. "It feels all together different from normal healing methods. I feel I must repay you somehow."


Bastion was the one person in Hollow who could be trusted implicitly, with any secret. He gave off an aura of trustworthiness, earned through his vows unbroken. "I am a monk, miss. Civil service is my lifelong dedication, I do not do what I do for reward. Besides, I am sworn to poverty... I do not desire wealth, nor gratification of any sort for my work. I only hope that it brings you some comfort, some peace... that is reward enough for me." He could hear her slipping off to rest, probably greatly needed. He never asked her name, but he didn't need it. If it wasn't freely given, then she had her reasons. He'd sit beside her in companionable silence, once the needles were removed and cleaned, enjoying the company in this hidden treasure of a place.