[Citywide Storyline] Your Gods Can't Help You Now [Closed]

[Tabarnac]

Theo was fairly certain it wasn't the therapeutic kissing that was making him dizzy, but he was a sympathetic sick-up sort of fellow, but he managed to turn his head, adding his lunch to Cian's despite his best efforts to master his stomach. It was better than a vomit facial, he supposed. He shivered and sat back, wiping acidic spittle from his mouth, face pale and pinched. "The fuck did you do?" he asked. "It was a bee sting..." But all the same, he kept a cautious eye on the healer. "If you don't die on me, I'll tithe to the Temple of Nikali in your name..." The gifts of that goddess were enjoyed by the faithful and faithless alike, and everyone knew Cian Noc for a full-blown man-whore.

[Caelum]

It was fortunate that a lifetime as a healer prepared Cian for all manner of disgusts involving various bodily fluids. With his skeleton shivering as if it were trying to crawl out of his skin, he nonetheless dragged himself a few feet from the sickly stew now spread on his kitchen floor. Greater distance was not obtained as even the steadfast Yahal's favor had in the maelstrom of sick and shock backfired through the priest. It left him weak as a kitten and withered, every holy weapon in his soul's arsenal feeling as if held in enemy hands. Yet they were still inside of him. "Theo," he rasped, a pitiful sight trying to curl in on himself. Gnosis of Bala was even visible due his bunched up shirt, as seemingly unchanged as the rest. He knew better, though, and sweated dread. "Theo, I need a priest. And a physician. And a.. And a drink." He swallowed. Some divine Someone must have still loved him because humor yet prodded itself up from his dizzying soul disease. Disease? His eyes narrowed, trying to clamp onto that thought; but it fled as his stomach clenched again. "And a bed and a.. Big drink. Big, big drink. 'Cause Cap'n Astrid's gonna need half of," he exhaled, "-it."

[Veldrys]

Sometimes, when his time allowed it, the Symenestra made his way to the Opal Clinic to watch Cian Noc as he went about this work, to find out how he treated his patients and how his mark affected the healing process. Even though the human was not old yet, he was far more experienced than Veldrys was, and contrary to the Symenestra whose patients had mostly been surrogates at the Purging so far he had treated a number of different people. That was why Veldrys had decided that he wanted to learn from him. The Symenestra wore his exeoskeleton armor, as always, when he was in the company of humans that were far less careful than his own kind, on top of that was a robe, and he had a notebook under his arm. It contained a few of the notes that he had taken when he had still been living in Kalinor, his observations about different diseases, different kinds of injuries. He wanted to compare his notes with Cian and find out what he would have done. He opened the door and stepped inside, looking for Cian or the little girl that he had seen here on a recent visit – and then he froze. His violet eyes widened as he took in the scene in front of him, and he resisted the urge to cover his nose for a moment. The smell of vomit was only too noticeable. He immediately put his notebook away. „In the name of the gods, what happened?“ His accent was more pronounced when he was agitated, and the words sounded a little strange. „Can you talk?“ He turned to take a look at Cian who seemed to the one who was worst off at first glance. It seemed as if the healer had arrived. And while Veldrys was not a full-fledged priest, he was an acolyte and fairly well versed in religious matters. The drink though, unless the two gentlemen were willing to drink blood like the follower of Viratas, the drink would have to wait.

[Tabarnac]

"Noc's trying to kill me," Theo complained, getting up to his knees to get himself some water or something to wash out the bile in his mouth. But he felt a little better, though still worried. "Plus, he still looks like shit..." He managed to get shakily to his feet to see about that water. Noc would likely need some too before he got to his medicinal drinking. It did seem like the healer was the worse for wear, so Theo did what Theo did best: was useful. "I'll get the water if you get him," he said. If he knew the Symenestra better, he might have made some sarcastic comment about being used to scrubbing floors, but the acolyte had been favored by Viratas Himself, so Theo kept mum until he knew such things would be taken in stride. He had once overheard Justus make some crack about Cian thinking about Rak'keli while jerking off, and that had made Theo blush. But... Oh yes, water.

[Caelum]

"You're a cheese dick, Theo," Cian managed to rasp from where he remained in a fetal position on the kitchen floor. At least he had not vomited up his sense of humor. The healer was no giant, but he seemed to have fallen hard regardless; of course, the sheer amount of divine meddling tangling and binding up all the severed limbs of his soul produced giant sized energy when ignited. His arms were woven about his stomach, knees drawn up and unruly hair sticking to cheeks that had gone pale as a hollow moon. Cold sweat created a sheen on his skin and he was trembling with the effort it took to hold himself together. Most disturbing of all was the gnosis mark of Rak'keli on his face. Rather than glimmering gold, the colors seemed to be guttering like a candle flame in the sea wind. Shock dark eyes rolled up to find the Symenestra towering over him and he was forced to blink several times before Veldrys' familiar face came into focus. "Fever," he gasped to the physician. He could feel it burgeoning in his veins.

[Veldrys]

„He is?“ Veldrys asked and arched an eyebrow as Theo informed him that Noc was trying to kill him. If the farmer could joke about his situation, he quietly decided, it probably wasn’t too bad. He nodded at Theo’s offer to get the water, and then he turned to Cian. Unlike Theo’s the healer’s situation seemed to be rather serious judging by how he was curled up in a fetal position. The Symenestra knelt down besides him and put a hand on his forehead to find out if he had a fever and how high it approximately was. „I know“, he murmurred as Cian stated that he had a fever. „Your skin is hot to the touch. I’ll do something that will hopefully bring the fever down. Do you think you can get up and walk a few steps iif I help you? We should get you into a bed. The floor’s not the right place for you in the current state.“ He glanced at the vomit on the floor, hoping that it would give him a clue as to what had happened. Was there anything unusual about it? Was there blood in it? Half digested food? It was only as he turned back to face Cian that he noticed that there was something strange going on with the mark on his face. „There’s something wrong with your gnosis mark“, he informed the healer. „This is not just a case of two men eating a bit of spoiled food and poisoning themselves, is it?“

[Caelum]

Blood was splattered all too vividly within the bile Cian had spewed onto what had been a clean floor. It sprayed a small, butterfly pattern when he coughed as well, lurid wings across lips and chin. He closed his eyes tight against the world, focusing on what manner of warfare was being waged inside of him. "Something wrong with the gods," he croaked in response to Veldrys. "No.. No food. Theo had a bee sting. Simple.. So simple. Veldrys," and here he beseeched a fellow healer, fighting for focus when all the divine fortitude housed within him crumbled. "It's inside. Spread like.." And he slid a palm across the floor, only the concrete splay of fingers against the weathered boards holding the tremble of them to a hum. "Contagion when I touched Theo. It's not normal. It's not carried normally. I don't.." And he trailed off in a groan as his stomach clenched. A shift of what was lean muscle, trained to degrees that Denval had never seen of him, struggled to get his knees under him so that he might rise as his poor physician had bid him try. In this militant out post where every man and woman and child was taught since walking to wield steel and claw in defense of themselves and Denval, he was of the only long term inhabitants who had never once done so. Priests of Rak'keli raised arms to no man, to no monsters. They offered only healing hands, with holding all judgement. In the eyes of a few, this attack upon such a man, vital to the system of the city, would be considered an act of war. "It's in the magic," he finished with a rasping breath.

[Tabarnac]

Theo had returned with water, but stood mesmerized by the pattern of blood upon the floor. This was no installation art, but the wings of the butterfly reminded him of Talen's report from the Road, the hand prints that looked like butterflies, painted most likely in the blood of dead Mihai. He shook it off, his face a little grey, a little grave. He got himself under Cian's arm, lending him a bit of strength, though he grimaced at the ache in his back. "Water," he offered, though he held onto it until they got Cian where he needed to go. Frowning still, he glanced at Noc. "In the magic...?" He found himself rubbing his lower back, then worrying at it as they walked the healer to his bed. "I'm going to need you to look at my back," he murmured to Veldrys. "When Noc's stable or whatever. He's not the only one with gnosis..."

[Veldrys]

That Cian had vomitted blood was definitely not good. It could be the result of an internal injury, to the oesophagus or the stomach, and Veldrys wasn’t completely sure what he could do in that case. „Something wrong with the gods?“ he repeated the human’s words. He had already noticed that, and it worried him. If there was something wrong with the gods, there was little he could do, even if he managed to lower Cian’s fever. He only bore a single mark of the blood god. What had happened here that the gods had gotten involved? What exactly was wrong with the gods? „A bee sting?“ That made even less sense. A bee sting didn’t cause such a reaction. People that were allergic against bee stings had problems breathing, there might be swelling, but they usually didn’t vomit blood, and bee stings were not contagious. The Symenestra shook his head. He wished he had brought gloves. He was worried that he would contract whatever Theo and Cian were suffering from as well if he touched them too much. And then he led him towards the bed with the help of Theo. He briefly wondered whether he should use his gnosis to find out what had happened – what the two men had said was confusing – but if it had affected Cian in such a way, it might not be a good idea. He might end up exactly like the human. He’d stick to treatments that didn’t involve the divine for now. He washed Cian’s face with cool water and then made sure that the room wasn’t too hot, that he was only covered with a light blanket and that he had something to drink. Theo’s statement that he needed him to look at his back distracted him for a moment. „Your back?“ he asked. „Is there something wrong with it? Do you have a gnosis mark as well?“ Had he only been imagining it or had the blood on the floor formed the shape of a butterly?

[Caelum]

The healer collapsed into his bed and the pale squares of sunlight there. With the blanket pulled over him he rolled once more on to his side, huddling up with the trembling finger of one hand rubbing desperately at the god marks splattering the back of the other. Fever bright eyes peeked out, frowning with concern at Theo’s comment regarding his back. “Bala,” he provided on a cracking voice. His head felt over light, as if the back of his skull had thinned beneath the abrupt pressure of djed and time. He blinked against the ringing in his ears, the soft notes of a woman’s voice forming a song. There was no woman at the clinic. “Petch,” he cursed and struggled to sit up, the endearing clutter of his attic room lurching to his senses. He ended up crumpled back against the pile of pillows, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. Hallucinations were never a good sign.