A healing process [Aello]

[Gabriella Ishira]

Winter 75, 510 AV At this point she couldn't wait to get her self a horse. Going out into the woods a lot, she sometimes had to walk a ways to get more herbs, she had yet to need ones so far away but that day might come soon. She needed to become well known so she could make money and get one. Her daily routine now consisted of walking through the town looking for people that need her help, some times she offered free help, some times she needed to charge. But after that she would go herb hunting, she would sell some to the other stores of she would craft her own medicine. Carrying her basket in her right arm, it swag slightly as the handle cradled in her arm. Her large dog walking next to her looking around and standing proud and large. Apollo started to pant showing how tired and hot he was, he had thick skin and fur so he got hot faster. She pet his head and headed for the lake around the city so he could drink some water and she could still gather herbs. Getting to the water finally, Apollo ran other and practically dumped his face in the water lapping it up into his mouth. The sun was brighter now that she was some what out of the thick forest, she slid her purple wool hood up to block her from the sun and got on her knees and started to pick one of the plants she found. She set her large staff on the ground next to her as she did, he dog still drinking from the lake.

[Aello]

Aello had been wandering around the forest for a while now. She hadn't yet had a chance to get back into the city and purchase a new set of clothes. Her green corset top was still tattered- the fabric torn in several different vertical lines just below her breasts; marks from her being attacked by a wolf a few days before. The slits in her clothing exposed several long, red cuts; covered with a thin line of dark red, and crusty-looking blood. Her long green skirt was slit down the middle and along the sides, (but then again, the two on the sides were normal). Several pieces of shredded fabric hung loosely from the garment, and swayed lightly in the wind. A series of cotton strings appeared to be the only thing keeping the entire outfit together. With each of her delicate steps through the forest came a sharp pain in Aello's side. Her wounds needed to be cleaned, she thought, as she tried to grit her teeth and block out the intense pain that was coursing through her body. The sparrow she had cared for a few days before was jumping along behind her, now that its leg was looking a little better, but its wing was still broken, and hung uselessly at its side. The bird seemed merrier today, and was filling the thick morning air with a light song. A strange melody that sounded like it should be incorporated into some sort of lullaby more than anything else. The bird's pace kept Aello's a little slower than usual. The poor thing had trouble keeping up. But then again, that wasn't too surprising considering how long her legs were in comparison to the bird's own, and it wasn't as though she had anywhere to be anyway. As she pushed past low-lying branches and walked along, Aello finally saw it past another thin line of over-sized, barren tree branches: the lake! It's blue-green waters were calling to her, especially now that her water-skin had run out. Bending down to delicately pick up the sparrow, and holding it in her left hand since the right held her bow, as it continued to chirp uncontrollably, Aello picked up the pace and headed towards the lake. When she reached the edge of the lake, she gingerly put the chirping sparrow down, on the ground at her side, and then knelt before the edge of the water. She dipped her hands into the cool liquid, sending a cascade of ripples out and all around her hands; several bands crashing into the shoreline like tiny waves on a delicate sea. Aello leaned into the water, and splashed some on her face. She closed her eyes, and let it drip off her chin. The water made her feel refreshed; awake. Aello reached for her waterskin, opened the top, and dipped it into the lake, hopefully the water was safe to drink, she thought, as she refastened the lid and put the waterskin down on the shore when it felt full. The bird was chirping and flapping its good wing wildly, its eyes seemed wide. "Something wrong love?" Aello asked as the bird kept chirping and hopping up and down. Aello straightened out her back, and then turned to face the direction the bird was. A blonde woman and her dog were farther down the bank. "Oh hello!" Aello called, "didn't see you there before," she said as she got up, grabbed her things, and headed towards the woman, wincing with the pain that coursed through her chest with each of her steps. The bird was hopping along behind her, although quieter than usual, as though it found the dog intimidating. When she reached the woman, Aello squinted her eyes, and tilted her head to the side, she seemed familiar, but Aello couldn't quite put her finger on it right away. Aello opened her eyes up, good and proper, all over again, and said, "hey, don't I know you? You're the woman from the fire a few nights back?" Aello paused for a moment. "What was your name again?" she asked, as she nervously eyed the woman's dog who seemed to be busy sticking its nose in the sparrow's face, terrifying the poor thing. The bird's eyes were closed, its remaining feathers fluffed, and its head was tilted back, simply waiting for the nightmare to end. Aello giggled as she pat the dog's head. "Think you're scaring it you silly thing," Aello said. "And let me tell you, scaring someone is not the route you want to go down if you plan on making any friends." OCCAello was injured by a wolf a few days before in the Just a Simple Hunt thread. Also, she met the bird a few days before this one... and fixed its wing up, she is still in the process of bonding with it/taming it. Please be warned, you hurt the bird, Aello shall hurt you... or whatever hurts the bird.

[Gabriella Ishira]

Hearing that someone was coming toward her, she then heard a voice. Oh hello! is what she heard but she thought she heard a voice that seemed familiar. Looking up as the grass near her was pressed under a foot, she removed her hood and held her hand up above her eyes to block the sun to she could see better. She saw the woman petting her dog as it seemed to scare the bird, but Apollo didn't seem to attack so maybe she did know this person. After her eyes adjusted, she studied the womans face for a second, taking in her facial features. She had mentioned something about the fire a few night's ago and it seemed this girl was thinking the same as her. Standing up, she left her basket on the ground, but reached back and wrapping her fingers around her staff just in case. Once she saw that it was indeed the woman from the night before. Seeing this, she let go of her staff and relaxed know that it wasn't some one of threat. "Apollo, down!" She commanded her dog to lay down, as she saw that he was scaring the bird. She walked over and smiled speaking softly. "My name is Gabriella, you can call me gabby if you like dear."

[Aello]

Aello slapped herself lightly in the face with her free hand. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Gabriella!" she paused and said the name louder this time, "Gabriella!" Aello paused again before continuing. "Oh silly me! How could I have forgotten when it was such a simple name to remember, and we only initially met a few days ago?" Aello continued to shake her head unhappily with herself. After a few moments, she returned her hand to her side, and opened her eyes to look back up at Gabriella, whose light blue eyes seemed to be taking in the sad state of Aello's body and general possessions. "I'm Aello by the way, in case you had forgotten," she added. "Anyway," Aello began, as she shifted her weight from her right to left foot, "what are you doing out here in the forest? No offense to you or anything of the sort, but you really don't seem the forest type," Aello paused, and raised her free hand absently, so that she could scratch the top of her head. Her face scrunched as she thought of what to say, and she imagined she closely resembled a baboon. "What I mean to say is," Aello tried again as she dropped her hand to her side, "is you don't seem the type to wield a weapon, or to really leave town, which gives you a bit of a disadvantage out here, if you know what I mean," Aello finished, leaning in a little closer to her companion. It was then that Aello noticed the basket Gabriella had brought, lying by the side of the lake. Her right brow raised as she asked, "so what's in the basket? Wait... didn't you say something last time we met, something about crushing plants and herbs to make things?" Aello's statements were left vague simply because she couldn't seem to remember much of that night. Perhaps her excessive use of auristics had knocked her out too much to truly understand the bulk of the conversation.

[Gabriella Ishira]

Noticing something was wrong, she looked her over and tried to focus on the womans body. Noticing that she shifted her weight, she thought maybe she was injured by something or maybe she was just sick. And she also wondered why she wouldn't get help for it, maybe she was to proud of a person? Could it be embarrassment? Who know, but she would hopefully ask for her help soon, if not, she would offer it. Once she asked her about her basket, she figured she must have also forgotten she was a healer, as well as she forgot her name. Leaning down, she picked up her basket then stood back up and showed it to her, showing all the types of different odd looking plants. "I'm just collecting some herbs for my medicines." Apollo had come back over and sat down next to his master swallowing a mouse he had just picked up.

[Aello]

Aello raised her right brow, intrigued, she said, "oh that's right, you're a healer." Perhaps she could help with these wounds, Aello thought as she feigned interest in the contents of the woman's basket. Honestly, what was so special about a pile of plants? Ok, some of them had really pretty flowers, or leaves with interesting designs, but other than that, they were pretty boring. But Aello couldn't let Gabriella know how she felt about the things, could she? For if she did, Aello may not be able to get what she wanted out of the woman. "Well that one with the white flower is rather pretty," Aello commented, flashing a shy smile, "what's this one called?" she asked, as she plucked the white flower from Gabriella's basket and brought it to her nose. She closed her eyes and sniffed it, expecting the flower to carry some sort of scent; but she was mistaken, and soon found herself feeling strangely disappointed. Aello opened her eyes again and placed the flower back in the woman's basket. "What's it used for anyway?" she asked. Aello stood up as straight as she could, stretching out her stomach and the rest of her limbs, and making her wounds appear much larger, and slightly worse than they actually were, trying to convince the healer to take pity on her and help with her wounds, without simply asking for her help. That was until she glanced down at them for a moment, and then quickly back up again, drawing more attention to them, and constantly reminding herself of the blood that seemed to be seeping out of the corners of that which had already dried, and the strange yellow puss that had made itself known within the last few minutes. At which point she said, "do you think it would do any good for this?" she asked, nervously glancing down at her wounds again and then at Gabriella. Aello shifted her weight back from her left to her right foot. She was starting to grow more and more nervous as she waited, what on earth would she do if the woman wouldn't help her? She bit her bottom lip. "Would anything in that basket help with these?" she asked, silently praying to any god or goddess that may be listening to throw her a bone and convince Gabriella to help her.

[Gabriella Ishira]

This woman was so full of questions, so curious she was. But it didn't bother Gabriella, she rather liked those who were curious, it ment they sought out enlightenment and they wished to learn. "Well this white one is called hibcrise, it's used to help people who have trouble sleeping." She saw the wounds and a frown crossed her face seeing them. Finally she had asked for her help in a way and it made her happy some what that she finally did. Asking if anything in the basket would help. Thinking for a second, she looked through her basket, and sighed. "No my dear, we would have to go back to my home where i could get the correct medicine to help and to help wrap the wounds cause i don't really carry all my equipment when i go herb gathering." She felt kind of bad that she didn't have the things she needed and she worried that the woman would want to go back to her home, she didn't really know her after all but she hoped maybe she would trust her enough or be enough pain to where she didn't care.

[Aello]

Figures, Aello thought as her heart dropped and her body scrunched up a little. She just knew somewhere inside of herself that it had simply been too good to be true. "Oh that's alright then, wouldn't want to trouble you," Aello said, as a sudden surge of pain shot through her body, causing her to grit her teeth and bite her tongue angrily, all she wanted to do was scream. "They aren't that bad anyway," Aello said, as she eyed her wounds, annoyed at what a nuisance they were turning out to be. The sparrow was chirping in the background, and for the first time, Aello found that it was giving her quite the headache. She blinked rapidly a few times, ignoring the sudden urge she felt to cover her ears. She was trying to hide the pain to the best of her ability, but she knew that she was failing miserably, and that it was prominently displayed all over her face. "You sure there's nothing in that basket that'll help?" Aello asked, as she slid her right hand over to her chest, using it to brace herself. "Or anything around here that would?" she asked, as she glanced down at her body and lifted her left hand outwards to the side of the body, as though she were putting her figure on display. "Because I'm not so sure the guards will let me into Ravok in this state. Not to mention, I'd more than likely slow you down... and I have to feed the bird," she added for good measure, casting her glance down upon it for a brief moment, before looking back up at Gabriella. Aello hoped she didn't have to walk into the city. She didn't feel up to it. Her whole body hurt and all she wanted to do was lay down, but then again, she really did need the woman's help, and if worse came to worse, she'd swallow her pride, ignore the pain, and march right back into the city so that Gabriella could stitch her back up good and proper. That's what she wanted right? Someone to finally take care of the enormous pain in her side? "So what do you say? Can you fix me up out here? That way I can multi-task!" Aello added. "Sparrows eat grass and what not, right?" she questioned, not knowing a thing about animals. OOCSorry to be annoying, but in a later thread it said I hadn't been back into town until then, so I can't go back into town with you, hence our being stuck in the forest.

[Gabriella Ishira]

Well crap, she thought to herself, what could she do now? She really wasn't prepared for this kind of thing. Maybe, just maybe, Apollo was ready for what she really needed him for. She knelt down and pet his head and whispered something in his ear and he ran off for the city. Clasping her hands together, she prayed that her dog would return safe to her without any issues. "Hopefully he'll come back with what i need. I've been training him for these kind of situations to be able to retrieve the items i need." She offered the woman to sit down then took a small cup from her bag and went over to the water and filled the cup then walked back and knelt down handing the woman the cup. "I need you to just relax, and i need you to take off your shirt so I can exam the wound. Now tell me what happened to you so i know what i need to treat."

[Aello]

Aello sat down on the ground as her brow raised questioningly. Take her clothes off? What? Was this woman crazy or simply perverted or something? Aello wondered, as she stared at her intently. Surely the wolf had already stripped her of enough of her dignity already? The wounds were rather visible through whatever remained of her clothes. Not to mention, if she did take them off, she would surely freeze, especially being so close to the lake where the air seemed cooler. Aello shook her head as she took the cup from Gabriella, lifted it to her lips, and sipped a few drops of water before putting it down, at which point, the sparrow hopped onto the rim of the glass, and toppled it over beneath its weight. The cup tipped over with a muffled whooshing-thud, the water it contained spilling out and to the side; wetting the bird's wings. The bird chirped unhappily, and began to flap its good wing to help get itself dry. Aello laughed as she straightened the cup up again. The poor creature was such a silly thing she thought, as she turned back to Gabriella. Aello breathed deeply in through the nose, and then out through the mouth, "relaxed," she said. Before adding, "and you can see the wound just fine, the wolf I killed the other day made sure of that, now didn't it?" Aello asked. "What a strange, strange woman..." Aello finished, under her breath. She was picking at the grass that surrounded the lake absentmindedly. When she realized what she was doing, she offered a blade of grass to the sparrow, who seemed to sniff it before taking a few bites. The bird seemed to chew the grass, and then spit it out in one large, sticky-looking pile of semi-masticated greens. Aello scrunched up her nose. "You know, if you didn't want it in the first place, you could have simply said so," she scolded the sparrow. All she got in response was a nasty hacking noise from the bird, and more of its food spit-up onto the ground by her hands.