Curing my Curse [Caelum]

[Talen Stirling]

Picture deviously stolen from Tabarnac, Merci. 27th of Summer 511 A.V. 15 Chimes after the 11th Bell. The air wasn't too hot today, and scaling the dusty road up to the Clinic was quite a pleasant stroll compared to duty on The Road or other harsh routes. The sky was filled with large white clouds that continuously moved to provide shade from the summer sun. Talen stretched and continued his walk up the road towards the clinic, in everyday clothes since he wasn't on duty. He kicked a small rock over the cliff edge, and watched it tumble down towards the city a little ways below. Continuing his walk, he reached the tip of the road which ended in a small plateau ontop of the cliff. A fairly large building with a wall surrounding it lay in front of him, and he approached the open gate looking around curiously. Last time he'd been here had been with some of the boys' visiting the abandoned building on top of the cliff. He remembered it as bigger, darker and scarier. Now, it didn't appear the least bit terrifying. Horses were stabled close by, a garden was behind the building and the whole place was clean and fresh. He'd never met Cian in person before, but Talen had heard almost only good about the healer, and what he had done with this place was great. Perhaps he really would be capable of helping him. Talen opened the door to the clinic tentatively, it creaked faintly and led into a small office with an open door into a room for immediate care to the side. Asserting himself, he stepped all the way inside and looked around for anyone to help him. "Hello?"

[Caelum]

The interior walls of the converted clinic were white washed and splattered with buttery sunlight from the windows. Though the chairs and low, wooden table were worn and battered, they were clean and comfortable too and the chairs swathed in a collection of cheerfully mismatched fabrics. A wide mouthed glass jar housed a handful of dusky, determined briar roses not stripped of their tiny thorns and the chair behind the weathered reception desk presently housed a little girl with unraveling braids. The child blinked widely at Talen, a paint smeared hand batting a tangle of hair back. There were papers spread in front of her with what appeared to be hand drawn diagrams of local plant life. Her job, by all appearance, was coloring them in with completely unorthodox color choices. Some of those colors were staining the smock tied neatly over her dress like a shield against an overly exuberant artist. “Hi,” the child grinned, displaying a gap of lost baby teeth. “You’re not bleeding. That’s good.” When people were bleeding, the resident physician had explained to her, she must bellow for him at the top of her lungs. “Want Cian? Or you here to visit Maia?” A long term patient, maybe.

[Talen Stirling]

He couldn't help but flash a friendly smile when the little girl greeted him in the colourful artistic room. She was adorable, sitting there ready to greet the wounded and the sick like it was everyday business. A little bit creepy too, perhaps, but still sweet. He stepped inside and abit closer to the desk, thinking for a moment. "I'm not sure.. I have a special disease and I'm looking for a cure or remedy.." He didn't know the difference between the two, if they had different specialties or why she asked him this question. He ran a hand through his hair, and then got an idea. He looked at the little girl, and then smiled mischievously as he decided to let her lead. "You pick one. I wouldn't know who or why, I'm sure you're much smarter than I am." Which she might just be on this particular topic afterall. "I'm Talen, by the way." He told her quickly before she could make a decision, in a voice as if he was telling her a secret.

[Caelum]

The little girl giggled and dropped her paintbrush. It clunked merrily into murky water filling an old clay pot. “Haddy,” she introduced herself, whispering it back to him in the same secret manner. A swing of study little legs and she hopped down from her seat to bounce her way out from around the desk and, with a glance over her shoulder at him, lead the way back through a wide hall. “You want Cian,” she explained while spinning around to walk a few steps backwards, probably to make sure Talen was following. “He’s magic.” Haddy did not yet understand the difference between actual magic, god granted gifts and even incredible talent. That was forgivable, however, considering her age and acute level of adorable. As they passed a door that led into a tidy kitchen, Haddy waved at the woman within bustling over steaming pot. The cook looked up with a distracted smile that greatly resembled her young daughter’s – minus the missing teeth, that is. Her smile warmed a few more notches at the sight of Talen before she returned her attention to the stove. “Cian!” Haddy called, skipping the last few steps to an open door at the hall’s end. “Talen’s here for a rem’dy.” Turning her face up to Talen, Haddy pointed a paint smeared finger into the cluttered still room and said, “That’s him,” just in case there was any doubt. There was no doubting, however, when the physician looked up from an array of vials and piles of fresh collected, feathery leaves. The goddess Rak’keli had marked Cian vividly, the most apparent of her blessings curling across the planes of his face and the back of his right hand like glimmering gold dust. It caused him to appear exotic despite his plain, servicable attire and the present surroundings of laden shelves. He blinked for a moment at Talen before his gaze dropped. Haddy was tipped a wink that sent her scurrying away, laughing as she went. Cian lifted a hand to beckon Talen within. He slumped on a stool before a long counter scattered all across with open books and working experiments. The air was redolent with the scent of green things and carbolic and bright sunlight spilled in through the adjar door leading out to an herb garden. “Hi,” he greeted Talen with an expectant smile. Swiping a hand on the thigh of his trousers, he then thrust it out at the young guardman for a shake. “Cian Noc.”

[Talen Stirling]

Her energetic, happy response made Talen smile even more. He enjoyed the company of children; they were honest and usually easy to talk to, though he'd never been close to any with no brothers or sisters. He blinked, and the she'd jumped off her chair and bounced ahead of him looking back to see if he could keep up. He took a few extra steps to catch up, and then followed her carefully with a friendly smile, modulating his longer steps to the same pace as her faster shorter ones. He felt quite at ease in this place, even though he was usually nervous when dealing with his shortcomings, disease and magic. This would most lilely involve all three. "Is he? Sounds amazing." if he was indeed magic perhaps there was hope for him yet. Hopefully he'd have time and capability to do something. It wasn't a desperate case afterall, though it could become it soon enough with his line of work. As they went into a kitchen, the girl waved at what Talen assumed was her mother standing over a cooking pot. He too waved shyly with one hand and a kind smile in passing, before he had to pick up his pace to keep up with the hasty Haddy. This place seemed like a place of healing in more ways than physical aliments, it was so peaceful and friendly. As they entered the next room, Talen realised that the man immersed in some research must be Cian, immediately confirmed by Haddy whom he threw a smile and a nod of understanding. When the man looked up, Talen looked at him curious to see someone like him. He appeared strange, not because of his looks which were normal and friendly, but the mark of Rak'keli that span across his face in golden patterns giving him an unearthly appearance that was nothing like that of his brown eyes and chestnut hair. They locked gazes for an instant before he shifted his eyes to Haddy and sent her away with a wink. Talen yelled a "Bye Haddy!" before she was out the door, and then followed Cians' beckoning and stepped up before him without hesitation. As a patient and as a man he didn't have trouble following directions. He looked curiously at the table with the many unknown ingredients, and the many strange smells peaked his interest though it was not for now. "Hello!" Talen smiled at the man and took his outstretched hand in a firm grip. He instinctively liked the man, he reminded him a little of Zagary, and he seemed to be a good man. "Talen Stirling, glad to meet you." He let go of the mans' hand and looked about a moment before continuing. Sunlight spilled in and he noticed the garden outside with plants and trees he'd never seen before. For a moment, he looked a little awkward and hesitant but then cleared his throat to declare his purpose in coming here. He'd already thought about how to present his problem afterall. "I'm here seeking a cure, or remedy, for a blood disease of mine." He felt abit rude to go straight to the point so quickly, yet figured that going around the subject would be silly, especially with someone used to these things. "Whenever I receive a wound and start bleeding, it does not end quickly, but takes unnaturally long to close." He sighed, and looked up at Cian to see what he thought. Regardless of what he saw, he continued his little speech. "Since I've joined the city guard, I've been worried that my .. condition will one day not only result in danger to myself, but also to others of my patrol or group. I want to avoid that happening, which is why I've come to you." He took a deep breath and looked a little embarassed at his short ovation as he awaited Cian's opinion with a worried smile.

[Caelum]

An ink pen was dislodged when Cian dropped an elbow to the counter and caught his jaw with green smudged fingers. Yet all the while Talen spoke, caramel eyes failed to waver from their study of the younger man. He began with the hazy-sky eyes of the guardsman and worked his way down. Had anyone else been possessed of such intensity in their regard, it might have been considered lascivious; but on the healer it, while potentially disconcerting, was nonetheless harmless. It was even scientific, performed somehow without an ounce of distraction from his attentions to Talen's statement of purpose. "When was this condition first noticed?" He inquired several beats into Talen's silence and blinked back up to the man's face. One side of his mouth curved up, made buoyant by encouragement. "Here," he added, realizing his error. Tilting somewhat sideways on his stool, he kicked a second one out from beneath the lip of the counter for his patient to make use of. "Have a seat. Sorry. So," and curious eyes zeroed back in on Talen's face. "Your blood won't clot at all?"

[Talen Stirling]

Talen felt a little discomfortable under the gaze of the healer; inspecting and researching, as if he would find secrets to his condition just by staring at him. When he asked his question, he visibly calmed abit in his shoulders and posture, and thought half a chime before answering. "When I was a wee baby, cut my hand on the edge of a broken table. My mother was a wre--" His smile was cut off and he looked at the offered stoll almost suspiciously for a moment. This had been just like reporting in from duty, yet now he was offered to sit. It felt ... Weird. He placed a hand on the table and sat down on the chair tentatively, shifting his weight abit on it before finding a near comfortable position. He looked back up at the healer in time to hear his question, and tried to explain what he'd not made clear with abit of an apologetic tone. "It does clot, eventually. But usually it takes hours for the blood flow to stop.. If you have something sharp, I can show you." He delivered the suggestion with a calm expression; he was used to bleeding by now anyway. OOCI'll be gone from sometime later today 'till monday evening next week, going on a canoo trip. Might post later today but otherwise I'll be off. Looking forward to continue the thread!

[Caelum]

"Viratas must be seeing sunspots," the healer muttered to himself. A thoughtful frown twisted his mouth and after a moment he stretched across the counter to grab a box and a handful of muslin gauze. The box was flipped open, its redwood hues gleaming in the light from the open door, to reveal a painstakingly organized array of needles. There were steel needles and whalebone, silver and gold and even one that glittered like the last lights of Zintila's night. They were of different sizes and shapes, straight and curved, and the one that Cian plucked out from its brethren was simple, straight backed steel with a wickedly sharp point. "Give me your hand," he said while setting the box down. His own hand -- the left, that which was marked along the back with two blazing Shiber letters of the god Yahal -- slid out, palm up in patient expectation.

[Talen Stirling]

Talen looked curiously at the box as he lifted it out, and his eyebrows jumped a little at the sight of the many various and sharp needles systematically organized within. He didn't seem or feel that disturbed by the many sharp objects, but took a breath and looked reasonably calm. He couldn't stop looking at the rest of them though, even after the healer had picked out one, wondering what they were made of - In particular the shiny one. His calm expression strangely become nervous as the healer reached his hand out to him. Few knew that Talen wasn't very comfortable with magic, he didn't mind it per say but he was unable to perform any himself and found it... Strange. Still, as his eyes darted to Cians' he looked friendly, and he took his hand tentatively. "What gnosis or magic is this for..?"

[Caelum]

“This?” Cian smiled in an almost unconscious reaction. The palm of his left hand was twisted around so as to make the dark spread of two foreign letters was easily visible in the cheerful light of the still room. It was not a stain, though the hue was very dim against the calloused countenance of his palm. “This is the favor of Yahal, Watchman. Don’t worry, I’m only going to poke you with this needle.” His smile twisted, trying to subdue itself from broadening into a teasing grin. “Not with magic,” he went on. “Divine or otherwise.” And he winked at the young man before firmly grasping Talen’s offered hand and in a quick, precise motion stabbing the head of the steel needle into the tip of Talen’s middle finger. The pain that flared was sharp but short lived. As the blood beaded up beneath the healer’s steady scrutiny, he gathered a bit of gauze in his free hand. “Tell me what motivated you to join the Watch,” he quietly encouraged distraction.