Joining

Ykesha of Lynn · 12-02-2010, 01:19 AM

OOC: Sorry for the title. Couldn't help myself. T.T Anyway! Ykesha (You-Kesh-uh) is in lupus form. Happy posting! <3
Btw, she is not always this flimsy. >.< She’ll toughen right up once she gets some rest on her bones. ^_^

I’ve had a dream for three nights now. A child sits drawing in the dirt with his hands. In his lap lies a small pile of human fingers, bent and gray like chickens’ feet. He is humming an unrecognizable tune, but the rhythm and pace suggest he’s engineered the rhyme himself. He hasn’t noticed me, and for several minutes, I watch him while hidden amongst the insects and shadows. His eyes are wide with the wonder he creates upon the mud and his cheerful humming is broken regularly by the high hiss of laughter. Eventually, I approach him, and he looks up at me with the fixed curiosity of childhood. He smiles. His teeth are yellowed and uneven. With a sort of ticking akin to a wind-up toy his head turns unnaturally to the side and pauses once perpendicular to the ground. The grin which had adorned his face in mirth now splits wide and cuts his head into two equal halves. As I recoil and clutch my breast to still the thrashing of an unnerved organ, his tongue laps out, hanging to his throat. I now notice that his cheeks have been slit from ear to ear, although he feels no pain nor seems bothered by this deformity. He slowly rises to stand on legs which quake from dis-attention and are thin and shriveled like an apple turned sour. The fingers spill from his lap, rolling to the ground where they seem nothing but a sea of gray-studded worms. My breath falls quick within my chest and with both hands I clutch myself, jaw falling open in a voiceless cry. On uneasy, newborn steps, he limps towards me.

“Come, come, Lass of Lynn…Tell me, tell me, where you’ve been…”

When I finally wake, I feel unpleasant.

If a certain amount of sheen is applied to a white surface the color becomes muted. No longer is it the sun-sheltered length of a virgins thigh, but rather the back of a snow hare freshly rolled about in dirt. Light does not highlight a figure of this unattractive tone; it makes the subject glow instead. The moistness of Ykesha’s back, then, became a moving screen upon which the dim rays of a half-covered star touched. The sweat which had soaked through her brindled fur gave the woman a look of beaten lethargy--and this title her body received well. It was clear the hybrid had been walking for weeks. Clung to her coat were the bones of winter-starved underbrush and her bright eyes half-closed in perpetual weariness. Each step seemed drained of purpose and her claws drug across the soil like a plow upturning fallow earth. The muscles across her hips and forearms no longer ached, for the knots which had peppered and molded them together became silent from unending use. The normally attractive woman had been reduced to a scarecrow of her former self, worn down with each sunrise by the toil of travel. In reaction to this reality, the wobbly pace the woman had been moving at slowed, stiffened, and finally halted. She blinked with effort and lifted a heavy head to survey her surroundings.

This space was strange…Yet surely, five more steps would see a change of scenery?…

The small lass breathed under burden, and with the cracking of two knees locked from cold, sat with an unorganized posture upon the frozen ground. Her paws were pulled one at a time underneath her weight and she closed her lids to rewet drying eyes. The presence of her lashes upon theatrically narrow cheeks made the brindled fae tilt her once-white head in mild contemplation.

Why here? Isn’t there…

Her thin thought left before she’d digested it, and as the heat rose in a smoky column from her sweat-slimed body she sought no more to capture it. Ykehsa saw life through the eyes of the lover who receives his kiss below the waistline; her clarity was overrun by the moistness of passion and her thoughts too tempered with want to realign it. Life was the man she’d reduced to a creature in need of breath and rest. She was the animal who retreated to rinse her mouth.

Yet this usual boldness was not apparent in the limb-shaken hybrid seated upon the foyer of the Inferni. Her concerns started and fell with her own body. Her lungs ached. Her eyes felt blistered. She was sure someone had removed her spine when she last slept. With the heaviness of a bear falling from a tree, Ykesha’s front legs buckled beneath her weight and her ribs hit a solidness she’s not experienced since a week prior. For several peaceful minutes, she lay as an ant pinned by the loss of an abdomen.

These trees seem naked… she shallowly thought. I should like to dress them up a bit…

The sight of the twisted arms exploding like a fungus the soil fell from view as her lids slid lazily closed. The sweat-induced fog rose from her like a moving spire.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a slim child locked eyes with her and began to stand up.

OOC: Link to OOC joining post.

Enkiel Lykoi · 12-02-2010, 01:39 AM

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healer to the rescue!

Even though he did not often patrol the borders, far too busy with his own supply hunts, Enkiel was following the well-worn trail that his uncle and many others had packed into the earth. Inferni was cut with many of these trails. They were thin, dirt trails that were like veins cutting across the Waste. He enjoyed the firmness of the ground here as opposed to the soft sand that was overtaking most of Egypt. While there were true cities and roads, they were filthy places that he hated.

A peculiar scent rose over the cold wind. He shivered even as his nose began tracing the source. Hot sweat. Blood. Sickness. His eyes widened and he broke into a jog, one hand holding the heavy bag against his side as he moved towards the source. It did not take him long to find it. There was a woman on the borders. A collapsed woman. Rushing to her side, the small jackal dropped to a squat. “If you can hear me, please do not move.” His voice was melodic and oddly deep for his size. One hand reached out towards her, and he balked for a moment at the heat. It was wrong. She was too hot.

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Ykesha of Lynn · 12-02-2010, 06:20 PM

Her mind flipped between the realms of consciousness and nothingness with the haste and inconsistency of a child luperci first learning to shift. She was aware of the heat. It resided in her eyes as an irritating burn, in her legs as a drum of numbness, in her back as a stiff hill, and in her lungs as an unpleasant blister. She wasn’t sure which was the most uncomfortable. The lot were flies drinking from her tear ducts; they were annoying and their tongues pressing the bulb of her cornea was an agitation she was unable to rid herself of no matter how many times she waved her hand ‘round her face. While only half aware of being awake, the fae’s tongue slowly stretched its raspberry arm from her parted lips and lapped aimless across her nose. That, too, was warm. She rested here, the place where her tongue had wiped quickly becoming numb from the cold as if a steel rebar had been chilled then pressed against it. Her nostrils twitched at the change in temperature. This, was not warm. The woman heavily peeled open one iris-less eye and rolled it into focus.

She hadn’t been asleep after all. Why, then, was everything besides her nose so hot?

With a flipping motion that pulled her fur opposite her muscles, Ykesha’s head lopped to the other side. Her eyes were open half-heartedly, yet they held no focus nor adjusted to do so. She felt her ribs pressed to the soil and the odd angle at her neck. What sort of position had she gotten herself into? With an uncaring heave the brindled body attempted to erect itself proper, but no paws reacted to her will, and the heaviness of her chest proved too great a weight to bully. Her body remained lifeless. Only the wind gently lifting her pelt gave her movement. She breathed shallowly, the skin on her face hanging limp like clothes from a drying line. The woman felt strangely like a moth with one wing missing. There was pain, but her nervous system was too primitive to discern its cause nor where it was coming from. In her ignorance, she’d still try to take flight before she realized what exactly had gone wrong. It was a long fall from a height of three inches if your body weighs less than a feather.

Yet something that weighed significantly more than a feather had fallen on her. Ykesha’s skin jumped, rippling the way a horse’s does when tickled. Both ears pricked in surprise and with reserves she hadn’t yet called on she pulled her face ‘round to stare at the source of this sudden disturbance. Her moon-like eyes widened at the sight of another luperci squatted beside her. His hand was at her side; this explained the sudden touch. He was speaking - his lips moved with efficiency and intelligence - yet she only dully recognized the words rolling from his narrow chest.

“‘If you can hear me, please do not move.’”

“Whaaa?..” her voice was so soft that the sound which dripped from her open mouth seemed more a whine than a word. She blinked forcefully while staring at him, and with a swimming effect, he came into greater focus. Jackal. Man. He was very small. She lifted her head with enormous effort and when it floated precariously several inches from the ground she locked eyes with him.

“Where have…” she breathed heavily, attempting to quiet the fire within her chest enough to speak. “…I come to? There’s--” No good. With an explosion akin to orgasm her body convulsed and a bloody froth shot from her mouth so splatter the ground. She coughed terribly, her eyes squeezed shut in concentration as something horrid moved within her lungs. This coughing lasted no more than 4 seconds, but had rendered her too weary to speak. Her head fell to the earth, white coat now speckled in the red foam she’d ejected.

Enkiel Lykoi · 12-04-2010, 02:31 PM

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Slight powerplay to help move this along. :] The herbs he uses would likely help numb her throat and ease her breathing a bit.

She shuddered and Enkiel almost immediately withdrew his hand. He waited, red eyes staring darkly at the woman. While she responded to him, her eyes were wide and glassy and her reaction seemed slow. Enkiel frowned, his lips pursing together. The movement of her head surprised him, but meant she had not broken anything vital.

Suddenly she was wracked with another shudder, but this was far more violent. She coughed up blood and Enkiel’s eyes widened. That was something that he had not seen before—he had read about it, of course, but only a few diseases would cause such a thing. One of them was terribly contagious, and he feared it. If he would allow it within Inferni…

The woman collapsed and Enkiel only then went to his pouch. He sorted through the small jars of crushed plants and found two that would suit his purposes. Juniper leaves and catmint. Putting a small amount of each into one hand, he moved and propped up her head. “I’m going to feed you herbs to soothe your throat,” he explained. Then he did just that—putting the herbs in her mouth before drawing a small canteen of clean water. A palm full of water was slowly poured into her mouth to help ease the herbs down.

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Ykesha of Lynn · 12-04-2010, 04:55 PM

The cold skeleton of the ground across her breast was a pleasant and welcomed friend. She felt the fire in her chest arcing away as if stunted by this chilling presence. It hissed towards the figure which had evicted it, spittle dotting the floor between heat and cold. The two stared at each other, Ykesha’s hapless form laying sprawled between the two. She raised her head from the shelf of her white paws, eyes darting child-like from one to the other. ‘Don’t fight,’ her expression pleaded. She was not able to play referee in her present weariness, yet had no desire to see either go.

But at present, wouldn’t the absence of heat be a welcomed change?

Ykesha felt sure of this, and half-heartedly told her discomfort to leave her. Nothing happened, of course. She stared at it with expectancy, the child in her fuming internally. Why was no one listening? Hadn’t she made her desire clear? If she could have shaken her head, she would have; she had forgotten that currently it was flopped on the ground at a discomforting angle. Ykesha pulled herself from her mind, the conflict abiding there being too complex for her to handle. She again became aware of the dry and boney landscape. The trees stood like hunched men, their spines visible through speckled and saggy skin. The grass had become gray through dormancy. There was cold everywhere but within her. She blinked as her face lay pressed against the dirt. That’s right, she had wanted to dress the trees earlier. They felt so naked. With intent, her focus stayed on those, only half aware of the man beside her. Perhaps he would join her? The job promised to be a large one.

But his intention clearly was not to beatify the leafless trees. He pulled something from a small leather bag and folded it within his palm as though it were a childhood treasure. Ykesha’s fevered attention was perked and her ears flipped forward at the thought. Something so precious was worth seeing, yes? She watched him as he leaned toward her and his lips opened in speech. “‘I’m going to feed you herbs to soothe your throat,’” she didn’t understand and gazed up at him with a blank expression. She felt so heavy. She felt as though her heart was no longer pumping blood but fire. She had been electrocuted, she was sure of it. Unhindered by the weight of Ykesha’s dead head, however, the man approached her face with the prize clutched within his fist. He cradled her rolling head and at this movement, her eyes closed to quell the dizziness which threatened to unseat her. (I feel you, Ykesha. Whillackers I’m hung over.) Something dry touched her lips, and she peeled them apart to accept whatever the jackal had offered. Her jaw limply tried to chew the scaly grass, but she soon found herself too tired to work the organic matter with her tongue. The woman simply lay her head on his lap, her eyes closed in carelessness. It wasn’t until his hand pressed against her nose once again that she was aware of his further aid. Water poured into her throat, leaking out the side of her mouth to run river-like down her cheeks and neck. It was his palm which had directed the water source to her, and Ykesha’s white eyes timidly opened to see it there. She whined her thanks deep within her chest and her tongue began to lick his hand still wet with water. She worked it between his fingers the way a child sucks at each digit on one hand. The cooling effect of both the water and the menthol quelled the heat in her blood, but she still was wetted with sweat and steamed as urine in the cold.

And her lungs. They felt so calloused.

OOC: LAND ALIVE, I FEEL DISGUSTING! Not my best. Sorry. T.T Trying not to throw up all over my keyboard currnetly.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know her lung condition isn't nearly as contagous as TB is to humans. I didn't want to get anyone sick when I designed her. ^_^ I'm thinking perhaps auto-immune or bacterial? Viral would be too infectous. T.T
And I'm sorry you're having to kind of "lead" the thread. If it's easier for you, I can make her have a bit more action instead of just laying there being all ill and mooshy.

Enkiel Lykoi · 12-04-2010, 06:56 PM

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Oh I know it's not that contagious (I read your profile! Big Grin ) but Enkiel does not. I'm also going to be doing some quick posting with myself to get this moving, and then you should be able to have Ykesha become a bit more active. :]

She was coherent enough to focus on him, which told Enkiel she wasn’t as far gone as he imagined. The jackal’s expression remained dark as he watched her, feeling the heat radiate from her body like fire. Feverish. If it didn’t break, he feared that she would burn to death as the books had told him. Yet she swallowed and drank the water well enough, and that pleased him. Her tongue made the fur along his spine rise, if only for the fact he was still a young boy, and still had a young boy’s desires in him.

“I need to call my uncle,” he said evenly. His tone had never changed while he spoke to her. If she had any indication of how dire her condition seemed then she might panic. More than that, Enkiel did not want to startle Inferni further then he needed to. Gabriel would know what to do. The boy lowered her gingerly to the ground, and pulled off his own poncho to cover her. Shivering against the chilly wind, the jackal moved away from the woman and called for the Aquila.

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Gabriel de le Poer · 12-04-2010, 06:56 PM

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The beach was much colder than it had been the last time Gabriel had been there. He did not wish to linger long and battle the salty air, but duty was duty and he was bound to it. With a great loping stride he traveled from one end of the shore to the other, turning north to make his way up towards the old human things where his sister had once lived. He missed her sorely, but understood she was a creature who was not capable of being bound as he was.

Gabriel had not gone far when the call came, an eerie thing that was not quite as familiar as a coyote’s. It belonged to Enkiel, for the jackal’s cry was slightly deeper than his sister’s. Though there was urgency in the tone, it was not panicked—but Gabriel did not doubt that the boy would have called him without reason, and moved quickly towards the source.

What he found startled him. A woman who was as pale as snow was lying on the ground, covered by the jackal’s clothing. Enkiel was shivering, and Gabriel looked to him sharply. What the hell was going on?

Enkiel Lykoi · 12-04-2010, 06:57 PM

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Thankful that his uncle had arrived so quickly, the young man nodded to his patient. “She’s really sick,” he said lowly, as though not to frighten the woman. “I gave her medicine but she’s running a fever and I need to take her somewhere warm.” His red eyes sharpened, falcon-like, as they focused on the older man. An unspoken question, and warning, was in them. Rubbing his arms against his sides, the jackal hunched his shoulders against the cold air.

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Gabriel de le Poer · 12-04-2010, 06:58 PM

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Gabriel was not a healer. He was a combat medic who could set bones and close up wounds, but anything beyond that was a mystery to him. Enkiel was no replacement for Corona, but the boy was doing his best—as were others, though they had not made their intentions clear to him yet. It was the tone in which his nephew addressed him that make Gabriel take notice. The look said it all. He didn’t know what was wrong with her, or if it would hurt Inferni. Ultimately, that would come down to Gabriel. For an instant, he considered abandoning her—disease was the last thing his clan needed. Then he realized the thought was one Haku might have shared, and dismissed it. “The springs aren’t far from here,”. he said quickly. “We can take her there for now.” Away from the clan, away from a place where prodding eyes might get more than they bargained for.

Enkiel Lykoi · 12-04-2010, 07:01 PM

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They have moved her to Grotto dei Avernus, which is Inferni's hot springs. You can check it out on our website for more info. :] Your character can start being more coherent now, at least for a little bit, and then she can go back to being all sick and such. Hope the mass of posting wasn't too much! I didn't want to powerplay a lot so feel free to elaborate on what she did or did not do on the way there.

Enkiel saw doubt, and he too felt this, but he was thankful his uncle had made the decision for him. Whatever it was that was wrong with the woman, it would not be his responsibility. Either she would get better or she would die—that was now up to her. Dropping towards the woman as his uncle began to shift, the jackal spoke quietly to her. “My uncle is here, and we’re going to move you. Do not struggle.”

Gabriel joined the boy and helped him lift the woman. What happened was that Gabriel mostly carried her on his back, with Enkiel keeping an eye on her. They were truly not that far from the springs, but the walk was still enough that it worried the healer. Once they arrived, he was thankful for the heat, and felt his mood improve with it. Gabriel helped him lower the woman onto one of the warm rocks near the water, and Enkiel again hand-fed her water.

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Ykesha of Lynn · 12-05-2010, 09:40 AM

Ykesha had slipped into a faint shortly after the boy left her. She was unaware of the approach of a second luperic, nor that she was the topic of a weighted conversation. She didn’t dream while asleep; her fire-bathed mind was too damaged to procure for her images of the strange. She was no longer aware of the heat. She no longer remembered how cold the air was. She’d forgotten about the herbs and the water which now settled in her gut like oil in a beaker of water. There was a welcomed stillness, and the she-wolf would later reflect on how much like a statue she had been. She existed in form, but in mind there was nothingness.

That nothingness was broken several hours later when she peeled opened blistering eyes and found her surroundings quite different from before.

The woman sat up abruptly upon feeling the firm warmth beneath her. Her breath caught sharply in her lungs, but what normally would have burned fiercely and caused her to cough felt muted. Gingerly she raised one hand to her chest and fondled the thin hair there. Why didn’t her lungs ache as terribly as they used to? She breathed with care for several seconds and felt no change. This was no fluke. Her pain had been dulled by something. As Ykesha’s mind began to wrap around this curiosity, she realized the strangeness of her situation. She glanced down at herself and the hand which was resting against her sternum. She was in optime form. Strange, she mused. I don’t remember having transformed. The hand which gently fingered her chest lifted to her face as if she needed to better see it to believe it was there. She opened her fingers and the pink pads of her palm greeted her with the familiarity of a childhood plush. This puzzled her. Apparently in her ill fit her body had shifted, perhaps from the pain, perhaps from the fever.

And where was that fever?

Ykesha ran her nails through her thick hair, her bright eyes widening at the strangeness of the situation. She still felt ill, yet the rage in her body had been quieted. Previously it was as though someone had unleashed a maddened dog inside of her. The beast turned it’s sour head to better pierce her muscles and mind with yellowed, chipped teeth. Its claws sunk into her flesh as a foot does in dense mud. The dog had crapped inside of her. It urinated within her organs and these sources of liquid had festered and turned to a dripping pool of blackened rot. Someone, however, had taken this beast, and broken it. She felt its presence still, but it had heeled. For this, she was grateful, but it did not settle her nervous mind. Somehow she’d moved. Somehow she’d shifted. And somehow she felt alive again. The hair on the back of her neck stood as she slowly lifted her face and looked around.

What she found surprised her so much that she clutched at her naked self and flushed beneath her white fur.

She was not alone on the heat rock which had kept her warm. Two luperci - two males - were nearby. With humble, shy movements which were unlike her, the fae tucked her legs to her and held them with both arms. She stared with wide eyes at the one she didn’t recognize and felt small next to his enormous sense of presence. Her ears flicked back to reveal her discomfort, though she said nothing. As she surveyed him her eyes lowered and she hugged her thighs closer to her bare chest. He frightened her, though she could not pinpoint why.

As the hybrid considered the man before her, however, the smaller of the two approached her. She recoiled at first from his sudden appearance, but quickly relaxed when she saw his posture. He was kindly, worried perhaps. She felt a sudden flush heat her still fevered face at this. Was he worried about her. With the timidity of a child reaching for a bug, she glanced at him and a weighted expression overtook her face. He had been the one who cared for her when she was so delirious she wasn’t even sure which direction the sky was. She meant to thank him, but the words caught sorely in her dry throat. It wasn’t until she noticed this discomfort that the motive for the luperci’s close proximity became clear. He cupped within his palm another drink of water. Ykesha stared at the little lad’s hand, her hesitation only a result of manners. Yet it was clear that he had procured this for her. Ykesha’s face swiveled back and took in his face, her own a meadow of weariness and thanksgiving. With ginger movements, the lass rotated to her knees, and placed her hands outside his own. Her eyes dryly closed and she lowered her face to the water. It sloshed lightly and began to run down his wrist. When his palm was free of the liquid it once held, she sat back and stared at him.

“Thank you,” her voice choked from disuse. “I’m sorry to have been so much trouble.” Her ears flicked back as she chanced a glance at the bigger of the two.

Gabriel de le Poer · 12-05-2010, 05:35 PM

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You can reply again. I figure we can go Gabe/Ykesha/Enkeil.

Gabriel had been watching the peculiar woman intensely, as well as his nephew’s actions. Despite the boy’s lack of actual experience, he was behaving with a cool head and almost indifference that suited healers. There was very little romanticism in the jackal. This suited Gabriel just find—the more level-headed members Inferni had, the better. His lips pursed as the woman woke with a start, trying to awkwardly cover her figure as if her fur could not do so adequately enough.

He was surprised to see that the pale woman’s eyes were purely white, much as Cwmfen’s had been. It made him wonder if the two were related, but he doubted it—Cwmfen had been black and their scents were unfamiliar. Enkiel gave the woman water and moved to give her some space, and she finally spoke. Her voice was harsh. Gabriel shook his head slightly. “No need to apologize,” he offered. “You’re just lucky Enkiel here found you.”

She would have died without him, that much Gabriel believed. “What happened?”

Ykesha of Lynn · 12-06-2010, 06:58 PM

There had been a story told to Ykesha long before she’d grown into a woman. A mother once went mad after birthing a child and was inspired to catch birds from the sky. Many mornings would come with her sitting in a tree, both arms outstretched and face pointed towards the sun. A bird would fly overhead every hour or so, and the woman’s fingers closed quickly as though simply by willing it she could pull the creature from its path. At night she’d crawl down, kiss her son on the head, and seek sleep. He watched her as he grew from an infant to a child. The years of madness were unkind to her. She thinned. Her eyes no longer recognized him when she looked into his face. She abandoned speech and reason. He could not reach her with his cries. The only purpose the woman knew was miles above her swimming with the clouds. Her son became a man. She became a widow. She became a grandmother. All the while her mind was only bent on owning something from the heavens.

While seated in the trees one evening, a prize unlike any other befell her. From the sky fell a small finch, twisted and useless like a doll. The mother saw it hit the ground and bounce. Her unblinking stare followed it until it ceased to roll, and lay deformed not but twenty yards from her. Her heart began to race. She felt hot and frail at the surprise that threatened to toss her from the tree. With rattling hands the woman climbed down and approached the tiny finch’s body. When she was several feet away her body convulsed so wildly that she fell to her knees and closed the remaining distance at a crawl. The finch now in her hands, she wept and pressed its ruffled breast to her face. As smoke rises from a smoldering field, so her madness was lifted. She opened her clear eyes for the first time in years and returned home, fingers still wrapped around the finch.

When she pressed open the door to a small cottage, she became aware of how much time she’d forgotten. Her son turned his head ‘round and took in her withered image. He held a babe wrapped in cloth that resembled her and her boy. She stared at the grandchild she met for the hundredth time but only now fell in love with. Her son was silent, his shock visible in the eyes which beheld his long insane mother. She blinked at him, looked the child, and turned to leave the house. That night she climbed to the top of a tree and gazed into the sky which had stolen her sanity. Finch still in hand, the woman jumped.

As a child, Ykesha had not understood this story. To her it seemed unnecessary. She only recently found its meaning. To separate ourselves from kin in pursuit of something else results in an overbearing amount of sorrow. Ykesha felt the weight of the mother’s grief as she walked in her shoes. She recalled no faces of her home village. She knew not her parents, her siblings, or her friends. When she looked back to her experiences, their bodies were all present in her memory but they were faceless. Ykesha felt pressed to climb the belly of a tree, look out into the sky, and jump.

Life without kin is painful. Life without kin is impossible. Ykesha was overwhelmed, weary, and dying from the inside out. So when the more formidable of the two asked her ‘what had happened,’ she became small and confused. What had happened? Her chin tucked into the ruff on her chest as her mind slipped into panic. Lie, she told her herself. When her face rose again she looked unsure. Her ears flicked back and her body curled around itself.

“I came on errand from the north. There’s someone I’m supposed to find.” It didn’t explain her illness, but she hoped her condition would be overlooked in favor of curiosity. “It seems as though he’s left this region, and now I’m at a loss.”

Enkiel Lykoi · 12-07-2010, 02:39 AM

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You can reply again, if you would like. Sorry this has been such a long thread!

Enkiel watched silently. His gaze was remarkably still, almost reptilian in nature. There was no warmth within it—only indifference. He had become a boy well equipped to be a healer. No emotional involvement came from his half of the exchange. In Egypt, they likened this to his holy nature. Horus, while war-like and wise, did not often pay heed to the problems of mortals. The Prince of Strife’s even gaze studied the way the woman moved, the way her face changed. He frowned.

The movement of her eyes, shifting as they did, and the language of her body told him all he needed to know. Enkiel waited for her to finish speaking. “You hardly look fit to be traveling,” he said at length. He believed she was lying, but would not call her out on the matter. It was not his place to do so. “Come sit over here, if you could. If whatever ails you might harm Inferni, I need to know about it.” Again, an unspoken threat. If there was a need for it, Enkiel would remove her—with or without Gabriel’s approval. He had not moved during this, and his eyes had not wavered from her face.

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Ykesha of Lynn · 12-10-2010, 07:51 PM

There was a rolling person within her lungs; she could feel him curve himself as though performing acrobatics across her chest. She felt the flesh twist and protest within her. Ykesha wanted to cough. The thought of emitting the disturbance within her lungs was a precious thought. Her breath became shallow and hasteful, yet she refused to hack, fearing that the sight of her illness would cause the two males to turn her away. The very thought made her white eyes grow large in fear. She couldn’t be turned away again. She had no where to go. She knew no one to take her in. The thought of wandering the woods ill and alone made her teeth grind and her stomach twist and froth. She wanted to clutch her legs closer to her abdomen as she’d previously done, but the desperation in her mind bid her not to. Her terrified expression simply filtered from one male to the other, her face wet with the sweat which had already coated her, and the sweat which was forming out of increased anxiety.

Please don’t, she begged inwardly, her posture bent in humble prayer. [/I]Please don’t send me away. I cannot keep wandering.[/I]

She voiced no concern, but her face read a disturbing discomfort. She glanced first at the jackal, then danced in worried pursuit to the wolf. She was biting her lip, yet refused to voice the concern which was obviously written on her face. It was only when the jackal spoke that she made her concerns clear.

‘You hardly look fit to be traveling. Come sit over here, if you could.’ Ykesha’s brindled ears shot back in distrust as she collected her bruised body and slowly folded closer to him. She had not left the heated rock she woke upon, and was tempted not to. She felt so broken; her heart was stiff and rusted in her chest. Her breath was rattled by illness. Each muscle quaked and rattled beneath an over-lethargic system. Yet his demands had been made so clear. It was as though he hadn’t asked her to move, he had forced her. She moved with uneasy and labored steps. Ykesha’s white body - speckled in the blood from her earlier fit - wobblingly crawled towards the edge of the heated rock and paused upon reaching its end. She locked her pupil-less eyes with the jackals, pleading with him silently. I’m begging you… She felt the froth rise in her lungs as though the dormant being who resided there had turned in his sleep, slashing off flesh as his hands moved across her inward body. She ceased to breathe, and attempted to quiet the rasp which was so obvious in her throat. Don’t send me back… Her body convolsed as she quickly covered her mouth, a foamy spew leaking from her cheecks as each eye squeezed closed in pain and shock.

The foam was a brilliant pink in color. Ykesha’s eyes leaked trails of tears as her thin body collapsed next to the side of the jackal. She didn’t raise her face to look at him. Her fever was terrible, her lungs felt rotted, and her fear was overwhelming. She simply prayed in her head, her soul bent at the mercy of the hound whom she’s collapsed at.

Have mercy, she internally begged.

Gabriel de le Poer · 12-11-2010, 12:56 AM

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The way that Enkiel studied the girl was almost reptilian. He had a stillness in him that was similar to Snake’s, but even Snake was more active then the red-eyed jackal. Gabriel did not know if this would be detrimental or not, but Enkiel had shown himself to be reliable and grounded—what Inferni needed. He turned his head to the woman as she inhaled sharply, and watched her move on shaky feet.

At the cough and the sight of blood, Gabriel rose quickly to his feet. “What—“

Enkiel Lykoi · 12-11-2010, 12:57 AM

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Horray, we can almost be done! Big Grin

Despite the surprise in her reaction, Enkiel remained as still as he had before. She fell, and at his uncle’s rise, the jackal bent over the white woman. He pressed one ear to the back of her chest and listened. It sounded as if her breathing was being constructed by something odd, but it was not solid. He frowned, listening to her breathing, and lifted her up with both his arms.

While his face remained calm, he gingerly touched her throat, seeing if there was anything odd there. He found nothing. Lifting her up with a grunt, he moved back towards the warm rock (though the air was warm around them) and set her down as lightly as he could. Despite his size, she was underweight and feather-light. “I don’t know what she has,” he said, speaking to his uncle. “Nor do I believe she does. I would like to try and treat her, but I doubt she can move from this place. If you and I are still fine, I don’t believe it would be a threat to Inferni.” At least not yet. He looked down to the woman, dark eyes studying her face. “Would you be willing to let me try and find out what ails you?”

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Ykesha of Lynn · 12-12-2010, 03:46 PM

The woman’s body smoked like a pyre against the chill. Columns of steam rose from her wet back as was so cliché of dark city manholes. She had ceased shivering despite her pitched fever; the heat from the springs was indeed wetting her already damp body further, but it was also soothing uncomfortable skin which twitched from Winter’s touch. Ykesha, then, neither felt uncomfortable, nor comfortable. She simply existed, her body now immune to the pleasantries of being near a hot spring. Her white eyes were dulled with thoughtlessness as she stared from one face to the next. Her palm and muzzle were pink from blood, and she knew her fate had been sealed. Who would let her stay? She understood their concern as verdict; Ykesha was to be sent on her own.

Again.

The thin lass closed her defeated eyes as she pictured the boundless wandering once more. She would not live much longer if not allowed to rest. Perhaps they’d let her eat and sleep for several days beside the warm waters before chasing her off? She doubted it. Her head felt heavy with hopelessness, and as she lay collapsed near the jackal she accepted their judgment before they’d even spoken it. I’ll just be off, then, she told herself. The woman’s arms moved as though to lift herself yet as they trembled under her lifeless weight she found she hadn’t the strength left to pick her chest off the ground. Her arms shook under the strain but relaxed after no more than a second’s struggle. The lady’s broken body held no vigor. It was all she could do to keep from drifting into a dreamless sleep while fallen across the heated rock. Ykesha’s mind tensed but her body simply refused to move. She knew nothingness as a dear friend. The two embraced.

Yet Ykesha was shaken from her driftwood self as something wrapped around her. The fae’s eyes peeled open like a snake’s mouth and whirled around to see the jackal’s arm across her stomach. He held her, his face obviously pressed to her back. Ykesha blinked her startle away and bent down to look at the hand which gently cradled her. She was confused, and in this both brindled ears flicked back. The woman felt like squirming free for this sort of care felt unnatural. Her neck pulled upwards but it was the first and last of her protests. Even as her thin body tried to crawl away from the jackal’s embrace, he lifted her and righted the posture she’d fallen into. Ykesha fell limp in his arms, her head falling back doll-like to expose a wounded throat. Surprise again greeted her when his fingers walked across her neck, studying it with what she assumed was curiosity--surely it wasn’t concern? The woman didn’t care to question him and she was in no position to do so even if she liked. In this, her body became completely submissive to his will. When he placed her back on the heated rock she’d previously fallen from, she did not remonstrate. Instead her body laid curled slightly about itself like an infant first unfolding its limbs to crawl. Her gaze fell slowly on the two men, hardly taking in their expressions nor their posture. It was only when the jackal spoke that the white eyes brightened and focused. If she had pupils, they would have dilated at his words. With great effort the thin lass lifted her face several inches from the ground and stared at him. Her mouth peeled open but no speech fell from her blood-painted tongue. Her lungs were too frothy. Instead, a small whine emitted, displaying her implore and approval.

Ykesha’s heart writhed with unchecked thanks. She’d found kindness amongst a sea of misfortune.

OOC: Wooo! Okay so do you want to end it here and we can simply say her treatments with Enkiel occured OOC? If you need to RP them out to fulfill his healer prerequisites that's fine by me. She's not really going anywhere anyway. ^_^; Also, do I get posting points from this joining thread? If so, I can add up the word count and PM you with the point total.

Gabriel de le Poer · 12-12-2010, 07:48 PM

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PM the Inferni account please, it will be easier. :] You can also play as if she has gotten a little better (your call on that) and is not staying at the springs anymore unless you wish. Thanks for indulging in a long joining thread!

Gabriel looked to his nephew with a mixture of muted worry and concern. Enkiel was not being as blunt as he usually was—the fact he was playing with subtlety meant something. Still, if the boy believed that she was not a threat, he would accept that. After all, without Corona he had to rely on those more educated in healing then himself. The coy-wolf nodded slightly towards his red-eyed nephew, and looked back to the woman.

“Until he says you are healthy enough to leave here, do not. You can join this clan as a Tirones. Hopefully you can be of some use once you’re better.” With that, the Aquila left the pair.

Gabriel de le Poer · 12-12-2010, 07:48 PM

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