Meeting at the training hall

[Coren]

“Seems your definition of a flesh wound is quite differen't then mine, but if you say so Sliver.” It was obvious to coren she was lying through her teeth, but he didn't press any further, he doubted that putting some pressure on her would end in the result he wanted anyway. She probably would punch him in the face too if he really annoyed her. At her suggestion of riding an eagle he just shook his head. “If I ever think that jumping on the back of those flying rats is a good idea I probably deserve getting whatever pain is coming to me for trying it out.” Coren deadpanned at her idea, not paying much attention to the gore on her and the way she was trying to lick it away. Kelvic or not that was just plain discomforting to see. Coren winced when a spark of pain unsuspectingly shot through his right arm. He ignored it and moved on, maybe he could badger a few painkillers of the white vines when the arrived there.

[Sliver]

Sliver noticed the mage turn away from her, and realized what a mess she must seem like, licking blood and fishing out bits of flesh from her teeth. She knew she shouldn't feel any shame at just being what she was, a wolverine, but her cheeks reddened a bit in embarrassment. Her eyes studied the mage closely then, with the cowl of his cloak turned away, and noticed his body twitch a bit in the vicinity of his right arm. The wolverine walked on beside him for a couple silent chimes, contemplating her next move. If Coren glanced over he would see the Kelvic deep in thought, eyes cast on the ground, teeth chewing absentmindedly on her lip. After a time she spoke. "They hurt, the claw marks, but I have always seen pain as proof that you are learning, and are still alive, so it does not bother me." It was interesting to note that while Coren had to work to try to put care into his voice, it was clear that the Kelvic was struggling to keep any traces of it from her own words when she spoke next. "Coren, is your arm really alright?" Imploring animal eyes unable to mask the concern there, studied the shadows beneath the cowl in hopes of an emotional response, and any sort for that manner. The Kelvic was a protective sort, and hypocritically didn't appreciate others down playing injuries.

[Coren]

Pain as the proof you are still alive, true but rather morbid in his opinion, weren't there a lot of other ways to know you where still alive? And didn't pain also mean that something was horribly wrong with your body or that something was at least damaged. Not something he would really connect with being alive, more like with still being alive at this moment with a change in that status possible if you didn't do something about it. He wasn't even going to think about the pain means you are learning comment, falling down a flight of stairs for example didn't really seem like learning to him.On the other side, he was a scholar and with her being a kelvic she most likely was somebody who most likely didn't like thinking things over and over before giving it a go and just learned by doing. That could be the cause of her different look on it. “That's.. an interesting way to look at pain.” Coren answered after some contemplation, giving a nod at her inquiry if he really was alright. “My arm is as right it could be at the moment, so don't really worry about it. It just hurts a bit now and then. It will pass.” He said in a carefully controlled tone. Trying to put her unease to rest. So of course he didn't mention that those sudden pangs of pain could stay for quite a while, from a mere few hours to sometimes a few days. She shouldn't be worrying about something neither of them could do something about anyway. “Either way, we are nearly at the healing centre so we can get your wounds stitched up. So I'll take that bird of you while I wait outside, no need to drag that thing inside and get all the doctors on our case for bringing something unsanitary inside the centre.” Coren tried to change the subject. Making a decent case to enable him to wait outside, he did not want to enter the healing centre, a rather busyplace during the best of times, let alone when so many people where hospitalized thanks to the recent events. It only took one citizen who wanted to vent to spark a rather uncomfortable situation.

[Sliver]

Sliver glanced up at the Healing Center they found themselves in front of. Honestly she didn't especially want to go in either. While she was fairly confident that both of her wounds required stitches, the idea of traversing the halls and having a stranger sew her skin up with a cold needle was not a positive end to her day. She shifted the bird, her gaze filled with anxiety considering she had been so bubbly only chimes prior. "I can get patched up back at the barracks, there are plenty of people there who know how to fix a wound, besides I want to know this bird has gotten to where it needs to go first. You don't get it off of me that easily." She smirked and continued on towards Winterflame, then glanced at Coren. "I've never really done this before, where exactly do we bring it?" Any hunting that Sliver had done had usually been in the accompaniment of other Icewatch members, and when they had played icestone, parchment, shears to decide who had to bring the kill in she nearly almost always won and had no need to bringing the bodies back to the Holds, either Winterflame or Frostfawn depending on what was required.

[Coren]

Coren couldn't repress a small snort at the way Sliver was trying to get out going inside of the hospital. “Neither have I did this before Sliver, but I think since we want it plucked,gutted and cooked that the winter flames are our best bet. Still, you want to go and trudge towards the winterflame hold with those flesh wounds on your right arm, risking a nasty infection while you are standing right in front of the hospital?” Coren said in a deadpan tone, hoping that she realized how stubborn or rather stupid that idea sounded when spoken out loud. When she just continued to walk away he just grabbed her by the arm without the deep scratches. A bit of annoyance at her puzzeling behaviour beginning to surface. Why was she being difficult about this? “Sliver I'm serious, I don't want those scratches become infected. I'm sure you know what an infection feels like, being an icewatch and all, do you really want to risk it when you are only a few meters away from medical treatment that is most likely better then what the people at the icewatch barracks can give you?” Coren continued.

[Sliver]

Since she had gashes on each shoulder, his grasp still caused a bit of pain, and Sliver winced. Suddenly the frost hawk was dropped on the ground and Sliver whipped around both hands lashed out, shoving Coren’s chest as hard as she could away, hopefully knocking him off balance. She was injured, in pain, and tired of Coren's apathetic annoyance. A feral gleam crept into her eyes, and teeth were bared in hostility towards the mage. She leaned forward over him, the full rage of a wolverine come to bear on the poor man. If he had needed anymore reminding that he was dealing with an entity that was a creature first, human second, Coren need look no further. “I don’t want to go in there, mage, what part of that don’t you understand?” Her words were harsh and biting, and though she regretted saying them the instant they left her mouth she turned away from him and did not offer him a hand to help him up. Shoulders heaving, breath creating steamy clouds around her face, she hefted up the hawk with a pained grunt, slinging it over her shoulder again. In a much quieter and reserved tone she spoke again. “I don’t want to see the people I couldn’t help, so yes, I’d rather risk infection than see the sadness in there. If you think that makes me stupid or weak, you can go to Dira for all I care.” Then she began walking again, shoulders low with exhaustion and sadness at yelling at the only real friend she had outside of the Icewatch. Her pride refused to let her apologize so soon after her anger had caused her to say such harsh words, so she just kept walking sullenly forward, suspecting Coren would go his own separate way and have nothing to do with her now. Even as she walked away, a whispered question hung on the air, the Kelvic being relatively sure the mage couldn't hear it. "Why do you even care?" She reflected on the irony of trying to help the mage learn so he could leave Avanthal, acting as one of the few who perhaps did not judge him harshly because of his status, and then driving him away like that. She snorted derisively at her own foolishness and just trudged onwards.

[Coren]

While Coren had prepared himself for a rebuttal of some kind when he continued to press the issue, he hadn't thought Sliver would lash out like that, he was unprepared for the bestial expression that once more reminded him that Sliver was guided more by instinct like the animal she was then by reason. Nor was he prepared for the harsh shove that pushed him of balance and onto the hard street and while it hurt. The cold and harsh way she spat the word mage at him like a curse stabbed in his heart like a shard of ice., a small part of his mind just snarled at her for it but it was quickly shoved aside, she was clearly angry and not thinking anything at the moment he mentally repressed the idea she was just luring him along for some reason. Before coren could say anything else, give an apology or try and ask why she didn't want to go inside before she spat out her next words, how she didn't want to look at the sadness she build by not being able to protect everybody in the city. Honestly Coren found the gesture of not wanting to look at the sadness not a bad idea, wasting time with worthless sentiment to the wounded while one could be getting things done wasn't a good thing. Though he doubted she would enjoy listening to that logic. Coren scrambled back on his feet as Sliver began to leave. Coren hadn't learned his magical disciplines by giving in when things didn't go his way, He hadn't learned how to deal with the constant abuse by giving up, he just gritted his teeth and soldered on. Now if Sliver thought he was giving up after this she was giving the stereotype that Kelvics aren't very smart credit. He didn't have a clue on how he was going to calm her down, but he knew doing nothing would just let this fester and let him lose the only normal person he was still able to talk to. Something he just didn't want to think about. “Sliver, wait up damn it.” Coren said as he walked after her, if she didn't broke out in a run it wouldn't take him to long before he was walking besides her, though still well out of punching range. He didn't want to take that risk now. “Look, despite what some people think I can't read minds, so I didn't know that you where apprehensive against going in there for that reason.” He honestly tried to steer away from his apathetic tone of voice, trying to sound a little more caring or at least concerned about the situation. But it just came out awkward sounding. “So I was just concerned that you decided to play the tough act about those wounds and bring your own health in danger.”

[Sliver]

The Kelvic reluctantly slowed her pace when Coren came up behind her, unsure whether this was expected or she was surprised. The realization that Coren couldn't have very many allies in the City struck her then, making her feel all the worse for lashing out in that manner, and she let him come up beside her, dark eyes taking note of the distance he had chosen in case of any more violence. "You couldn't have known." Sliver admitted when he spoke of just worrying about her wounds. She was utterly confused by his tone of voice, which was just as bland as ever, yet was straining to attempt some kind of emotion. She glanced at him. "I am sorry. I have been so accustomed to life on my own after leaving Sahova that I do not enjoy relying on others when all I have been taught is to rely on myself first and foremost. Even though I constantly seek companionship, I often push it away." She fell in step with the made so that their movements were in line with each other, heading down towards Winterflame where they could drop off the hawk, which had grown heavy in her grip by this time. "I hope I did not hurt you too much." Her voice was strange and almost hollow, and Coren would notice it was a bit more like his voice, halting and apathetic because of the uncertain grounds she crossed. She didn't much like conversations that revealed more of herself than she had to, but she felt at the very least she owed the mage that much for pushing him to the ground.

[Coren]

Coren noted the fact she didn't speed up and refuse to talk to him as good points, maybe this situation was still salvageable after all. And when she admitted she had made a mistake as well a small smile tugged at his masked face. Defiantly salvageable. Still when she began talking about how her life living alone made her more prone to pushing people away he did become a little bit uncomfortable, though he tried to hide it as much as he could. Come to him with any problem and he would help you try and fix it if coren liked the person. But social problems where the one thing that coren honestly didn't manage to get sorted out, half the time the people themselves who had the problem didn't even know what the problem was, just that they had one. “Well, I honestly can't help you much with that problem. I delve into the inscrutable mysteries of magic and nature. Not the weird ways our minds work and make us do things. That is the job of the whitevines.” Coren awkwardly stated, noting the way Slivers shoulders began to sag underneath the weight of the hawk. “I'm used to a lot worse Sliver, you didn't mean to hurt me after all. Lots of others would have followed that push up with a kick in the ribs. Just to make sure it hurt.” He didn't know what to make of the apathic tone in her usually more expressive voice. But decided to have fait in Sliver for once and take the appology at face value anyway. She hadn't done anything bad to him anyway, barring just pushing him over in a fit of unrestrained anger. “You sure you don't want to let me carry that hawk for a while? You have been carrying it for quite a long while already and the winterflame hold is still a while off.” He still thought she needed medical attention as soon as possible, but honestly he would settle for not having her wounds constantly exposed to a filthy bleeding animal.

[Sliver]

The Kelvic glanced over. He seemed to accept her apology in stride. She was glad of this, making any irreparable damage to the strange friendship she had cultivated with the mage would have hurt her more than most physical injuries, save for potentially fatal ones of course. She winced, though not in pain, more because her growing weariness was so apparent that he offered to carry the bird again. She paused for a long moment, still very reluctant to part with her kill, but she paused and turned to him, holding it out. The hawk's head flopped to the side a small dribble of nearly congealed blood falling out of a partially open beak and onto the soft snow below, staining the pure whiteness. "As long as you can manage it, yes. If your arm bothers you or you get tired I'll take it right back though." When the bird was transferred from one being to the next, and they had begun walking again, the wolverine glanced skyward and sighed thoughtfully. Deciding not to linger on who was carrying the hawk, or to bring up the little spat she had, the Kelvic decided to address something that had bothering her for some time now. "What is your mask? Is it a god or animal or something? I can never get a good look at it, and every time I do it looks like something different."