Closed Things that go bump in the night. (Cin-Cin, Iosha)

[Darkness]

Timestamp: 76th of Fall, 512AV It was a calm day, and Darkness walked aimlessly through the city as usual, waiting to find something that caught his eye. Although his bearings weren't too good, he'd already found a few decent places in which he could watch the humans without disturbing them, and he was moving from one another. To be entirely honest, he was happy simply watching their interactions among each other, still relatively alien to him, and from time to time his curiosity got the best of him, making him pause suddenly in the middle of the street to watch a merchant bartering, or children playing, or two old men complaining about the youth. Sometimes he didn't have to stop walking, and then it was even worse - with his attention somewhere else, it wasn't unusual for him to bump into some unfortunate person. Luck had it that he hadn't bumped into an Endal yet, but it would seem luck would soon turn his back on him. Darkness was walking slowly, trying to follow the flight of some of the birds with his sight, when he once again ran into someone. This time, however, it was different. This time he stopped watching the birds immediately, turned to the small woman he'd bumped into, and said: "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Do you need help to get to the Infirmary?" Because this time, he'd felt blood on his claws. He didn't even know where he'd cut her, but he was certain that if anyone mistook the accident for intentional harm, he was going to be in a lot of trouble. So, half-holding his breath and with worry painted on his face, he waited for the woman's reply.

[Cin-Cin]

Cin-Cin had been walking through the streets of Wind Reach, she was heading t the gates, she was going to the Stables. The Stables were located right outside the gates and that was where she worked. Today she had to see the Deks daily jobs. She was going to evaluate them, one by one, to see if they were doing their job correctly. Try was flying above her, he knew that he wouldn’t stay with Cin in the Stables, not that he couldn’t enter, he just would rather be outside, that cooped up inside. But he liked going with her to work anyway. While she was walking below Try was up in the air, his eyes on a group of small birds coming his way, deciding if they were friendly and would like a small chat. It was when they got closest to him that Try heard a familiar voice, but yelling in pain. Looking down he saw Cin-Cin clutching her arm. Cin had been walking along, looking up at Try as he watched the birds, she was smiling at him, thinking about how he was just so funny, stalking the birds before actually talking to them. He was so social, but so shy. That when she felt herself bump into someone and a few sharp daggers were pierced into her small arm. She cried out in pain as Try dived down to her rescue and she looked up into the eyes of her attacker. She saw bright, hard, green eyes that seemed to lack any depth. Holding her bleeding arm she examined the man-thing in front of her. He had red-black fur, like an animal, that covered his entire body. He stood up straight like a man and held out clawed hands that dripped red from her blood. She realized she had been stabbed by the man’s sharp nails and she also realized he was speaking. He spoke Common and through her pain and non-fluency in Common she tried to recognize his words. He seemed to be apologizing, he didn’t mean to hurt her, and did she need the Infirmary? Ah, so he didn’t mean it. Still startled by his appearance, she only nodded and tried to shoo Try away as he furiously cawed at the man. “Shh, shh, Try. I’m fine.” She tried reassuring her bird. He went quiet and glared at the man. “I may need a healer, yes. Can you guide me? Do you know where the Infirmary is?” She hoped he did. She didn’t want to try to explain, she wanted to focus on her pain.

[Darkness]

The cawing right next to him managed to draw Darkness' attention from the injured woman for a brief moment, in which he looked at the animal causing a ruckus. Meat, was his verdict as he gave the flyer one last, hungry look before his attention returned to the small Inarta. By that time, however, he'd missed the strange look she gave him. If he had realized that she felt unsafe around him, then maybe he would've changed his actions. As it was, though, the half-Zith only caught the final shooing motion of the woman towards the bird, followed by some words he couldn't understand and, in the end, the woman switched back to Common to ask him if he could take her to the Infirmary. "I know how to get from here, but it might not be the shortest way." He looked up and down the woman, almost appraising her - in fact, he was trying to guess her weight. In the end, he decided that she was light enough, and he took a small step towards her, his left arm going behind her back while his right one aimed to lift her legs. His objective with that maneuver was, of course, to lift the small woman and carry her comfortably to the Infirmary - but he hadn't quite thought what her reaction might be.

[Cin-Cin]

Good, the thing knew where the Infirmary was. Cin guessed she shouldn’t be calling him a ‘thing’ she guessed that he must be a man, of some sort. She was thankful that he knew where he was going, even if it wasn’t the shortest way. She didn’t think she had the energy to fully explain anything to anyone right now. Her arm was in too much pain. Of course she really shouldn’t be thanking him; he did injure her quite badly. Cin-Cin knew that the healers would fix her up real good, and she didn’t think she was bleeding that much. It caught her completely off guard, and actually frightened her quite a bit when the man moved to pick her up. She gasped in surprise at his gesture, and flinched just a tiny bit, barely noticeable. Try gave a warning caw. Cin had a habit of trusting people easily, that’s why she was able to believe the man that he didn’t harm her on purpose, and truly was sorry for the incident. But his appearance was too new, and strange for her to grasp all at one moment. She thought that he may be a Kelvic, with his hair and claws. She had seen Kelvics that kept some animal qualities from their animal form. Mostly, she saw it was just their eyes, she had never seen something of this magnitude. Of course, though, she wasn’t sure what exactly he was, or if he was a Kelvic, what animal he changed into. Some Kelvics retained animal instincts, attraction to blood being one of many. Saying that, it was clear to see that Cin-Cin wasn’t even close to comfortable in the man’s arms. She could feel the claws that cut her in the first place on her back and legs and that frightened her. She didn’t want to seem rude. The man was just trying to help, but Cin would rather walk with only a bit of support and watchfulness from the man. “Oh, um. Thank you, but, um. I would actually rather walk. My legs are not hurt, I’ll be fine walking. If you don’t mind.” She said quietly, still grasping her arm and looking away from his face, trying to avoid the emotions on both their faces.

[Darkness]

Not used to reading humans at all, the city-dweller's gasp and flinch went completely unnoticed by the half-Zith, whose attention went, once again, to a bird cawing at him. He could've even sworn it was the same bird, but it didn't really matter, not while it stayed out of his reach. If it ever did get close, though, he was as good as eaten, and then... He was pulled out of that train of thought by the the young woman's declaration, which was met with a confused blink. Hadn't she just said she wanted help getting to the infirmary? There was another nuance of these humans, confusing as most things about them, and just as intriguing. Still, confused or not he wouldn't be the one to turn down the opportunity to not carry someone around, so he knelt on the ground and, slowly, turned the woman upright again, until she could stand once more. Stepping back once more, he licked the blood clean off the fur in one of his arms, grinning unconsciously while he did so. With the other hand, he was rummaging in his body-pack. With a grunt of success, he pulled out a strap of cloth. Holding it towards the woman, he said: "Tasty as you are, you're bleeding too much. Cover your wound with this, and tie it tight. If you can't with one hand, I can help you." As far as the Zith were concerned, this was a very minor wound, not even life-threatening. But he wasn't dealing with a Zith, he was dealing with a meat, and he had no idea how much blood they could lose before dying - he found himself regretting having passed on slaughtering the slaves to speak with traders, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

[Cin-Cin]

She was grateful the man had put her down and she looked up at him to give a small thank you. That’s when she saw what exactly the thing was doing. It was licking her blood off its fur. Her blood, it was licking it. She stood, frozen, staring at him in pure horror at what he was doing. The thing was licking her blood. It was eating her blood would it eat her too? No, she knew he was trying to help, but there was something different with this one, it was something new, she had never seen a race like this before. All she knew now was that, even if he was trying to help, he was dangerous, and she needed to get into the hands of a couple of healers, really quickly. She allowed the man to tie the cloth around her arm, knowing that less blood in his vision and smell would probably be better in the long run. Less tempting to whatever instincts he was facing. She turned to her bird, whom had been desperately trying to scare away the thing, doing absolutely no good. He knew too, that this man couldn’t be any good. Even if he was trying. Seeing the man lick an Inarta’s blood she knew that it wasn’t a far-fetched guess that he would eat birds too. So she wanted Try as far as possible from him, so he was safe. And she also needed a healer pretty soon if the thing was right about her blood loss. Calling Try over she said to him, “Try, I need you to get a healer. A healer? Okay? Bring them back here. I’m worried.” He looked at her oddly, as if to argue with himself whether or not to leave her. But in the next second he flew off, speeding towards the Infirmary. Avoiding his eyes, Cin-Cin said to the thing, “To the Infirmary then?” She started walking, clutching her now bandaged arm.

[Darkness]

Darkness knotted the cloth over the woman's wound, tightening it so that it'd cut the bleeding. It wasn't much, but it would have to do right now. She didn't look too well, at least according to the half-Zith's lacking experience with humans, so it was probably for the best. Then she... chirped something to the bird who'd been bothering him, and the bird left, causing Darkness' face to turn to a sincere smile, and igniting his curiosity anew. "Yes, to the infirmary we go. Lean on me if you need it, and don't worry. Once the bleeding's controlled, our claws carry no venom." He said, letting the woman set the pace. "I must admit I'm curious about that bird you sent away - thank you, he was starting to get on my nerves, but how did you do that? Did you actually talk to him, or is he trained to respond to that? What language were you speaking?" His curiosity triggered, the Zith's questions were endless. Fortunately for his interlocutor, Darkness had learned to contain his interrogation when talking with the slaves at Xy, at least enough so that the other person could actually answer.

[Iosha]

Sitting at her desk, Iosha vigorously started writing her medical report for the day in her journal. In her past experiences with medicine, Iosha learned that keeping a journal or any type of records of her patients cases or experiences during her day. Could help her if she came upon a problem in the future. Today wasn't to busy, so Iosha took the opportunity to complete the journal entries. All Iosha did today was nurse a patient through a fever throughout the night. Nothing she couldn't handle, but it gave her time to update her medical journal as she watched her sleeping patient. After finishing her last paragrah, Iosha noticed Keah stick her head into the room and said to Iosha in a soft voice, “I'll take over Iosha. You should go home and get some sleep since your working the night shift again.” Iosha sipped her tea and mouthed the words thank you to the younger woman. She closed her journal, stood up, and walked to the door. She meet Keah outside the door, and she said to the other healer, “I think the worst of his fever has past, but he still needs fluids, so when he wakes up make sure he drinks some water.” Keah put a hand on the tired woman's arm and said with a weary smile, “I will Io. Try to get some sleep. You look like you can fall asleep standing up.” Keah wasn't far from the truth. Iosha had been working nights for the last two weeks, and in the morning, she just been exhausted by the steady influx of patients. She reached up and squeezed the young woman's hand and said softly to the young woman, “I must look like a zombie right now. OK Keah. I am going to head home. Good night err...morning.” She turned and left the Infirmary. Walking down the Inner Warrens, she started to listen to the sounds of people starting their day. Suddenly, she saw a curious sight of a white falcon flying toward her. Iosha stopped in her tracks waiting to see if the bird landed or flew by her. To her surprises the bird landed at her feet and started flapping his large wings in her direction. Iosha looked around, and she noticed a few people stop and watch her. She took a step back and looked down at the bird. Suddenly the bird started hopping up and down, and the bird started squawking loudly at her. Iosha face turned red and she wondered if the bird was just hungry. Iosha kneeled down and said to the bird, “Sorry my little friend. I don't have any food.” The falcon tilted his head in confusion and squawked loudly at her. Startled, Iosha jumped back, and she saw the falcon start motion to her with his head. Iosha thinks to herself, “Does he want me to follow him?” With a nod, Iosha said to the bird, “OK, I will follow.” The falcon flapped his wings again and took off into the air down the hall. Iosha picked up the pace to follow the white bird.

[Cin-Cin]

Cin-Cin leaned on the man, only slightly, still wary of him. She would have been fine by now, be he had to love blood… Cin shivered. What exactly was he? Should she ask? Maybe that was too rude… Cin stayed silent, only pondering his race, or animal. Her first guess was still Kelvic, and the animal form, she guessed some sort of bear. They had brown bears around here but he seemed more reddish. His claws too were odd, she tried to think of the last time she saw a bear, to compare the claws. But unfortunately she was mostly to busy being blacked out or screaming to notice any details of the bear that was killing her. The thing asked about her bird… Try? Oh, she hoped he would come back soon. The comfort of a healer or really anyone would be so much help. The man scared her. She was only trying to be nice by accepting his help, plus who else would do it other than the offender? The problem with Try was that he couldn’t speak Nari. He seemed to understand it just fine, of course he was a bird and she couldn’t know for sure. She felt they had a strong enough friendship to know what the other one wants. But other people didn’t have the same connection and they did, so all they would see is a big, white bird, cawing a whole bunch like a madman… er…. madbird. Cin was almost offended that the man found her bird annoying. He most certainly was not. Try was only protecting her. That’s what he did; protect her, just as she protected him. The reason she sent him away was to protect him and the reason he went was to protect her. That’s what they did, and even if Try didn’t know what the man was saying, or was even in hearing range, Cin-Cin felt the need to defend her friend. “My bird, his name is Try, is my best friend. Yes I spoke to him, in my native language, the language of Wind Reach. It’s called Nari, maybe it would do you good to learn it. Not everyone speaks Common.” Cin paused, taking deep breaths, trying to sooth both her offended feelings, and raging arm. It felt like it was on fire. The whole no-venom-claw thing only made her feel worse. She hadn’t even thought of venomous claws. All the thing did by saying that was put new doubt and fear into her mind. Oh, where was Try? Where was the healer? They needed to hurry, Cin was scared.

[Darkness]

The half-Zith looked curiously at the woman, concerned about the her ever-increasing heartrate, ticking in his sensitive ears like a clock. As far as he'd learned from their slaves, that usually meant they were going to do something stupid soon. Right now, though, there was nothing he could do to avoid that. However, before he could mention anything, her words derailed his focus, and next time he spoke it was to reply: "Oh, so it's yours? Sorry, didn't realize it had an owner. No harm meant." To Darkness, the concept of pets and slaves differed only in the species of the subject, and back in Xy it was generally a bad idea to threaten a slave you didn't own - the owners tended to strongly object with their claws. With the bird having been marked as definitely not dinner tonight, he moved on. "I would like to learn Nari, now that you mention it. Common... is not as common as I expected. I should've seen it coming. Back in Xy, the majority of us didn't speak it, nor did quite a few slaves, so I shouldn't have expected it to be any different out here." He shrugged, not really concerned about it. "Do you know someone who could teach me?"