What is means to be 'human' (Anselm/Tasler)

by **Anselm** on March 31st, 2012, 4:02 pm

OOC :

“One thing you have to say for that boy,” mumbled Anselm to no one in particular. “He's got a healthy set of lungs.” Anselm and Ndale weren't far from the University, but it was nonetheless a bit surprising to hear Tasler yelling loud and clear. “Almost there, my dear,” he whispered to Ndale.

They entered the university complex where they were met by Tasler and a nurse. She led them down one of the University wings and into what was obviously the infirmary. They very nearly collided with a grizzled-looking man who was limping out of the room. As he passed, Anselm noticed by the smell of him that he could certainly benefit from a bath. Not an uncommon condition in these troubled times.

A tall dark-haired man with a scruffy beard met them at the door. He had a tired, almost harried look about him. Looking around the room, Anselm could see why. The infirmary had no doubt been inundated with injured people since the storm, and while most of the people had probably been cared for and sent on their way, the infirmary itself had not yet recovered. Nor had its meager staff. Anselm sized up the young man. Apparently he was a healer of some sort. He had a kind face, even when creased with weary worry lines. In any case, he seemed to be the person in charge at the moment.

“This is Ndale Soromund,” Anselm announced. “She is Kelvic. While in her peahen form, she had an unfortunate encounter with a hungry mob, during which I believe her wing was broken.” He started to hand the bird to Elem when he noticed something.

“What's this?” He looked closely at the brilliant white feathers on Ndale’s back. “There is some kind of writing on her back.” He studied it more closely and then sniffed at it. “Ink. It looks like a drawing.” His curiosity was piqued and he would have dearly loved to study it further, but Ndale’s injuries were the first priority. He handed his friend over to the healer and stepped back. “Please help her,” he said. Then, much to his own surprise, he added, "I will pay the cost."

OOC :

by **Elem Bree** on April 10th, 2012, 4:33 am

Elem rubbed his eyes and when he finished doing so, there she was, pink eyes poking around like her beak. The man carrying her looked like the one who should have been the patient, but Elem chose tact, listening to him speak of her. He nodded politely, not wanting to either startle Ndale nor offend her savior. He took the bundle, watching the interest of the elder as he placed her on the Infirmary cot. There was indeed some sort of ink imprint, but it was of no consequence to Elem as it would soon be stretched away to who knows where.

He looked up at the old man, noticing the heavy bags beneath his eyes. "Do you need assistance yourself, Sir? I know Ndale. It is no surprise at all to find her in here. She is not the most graceful of Kelvic." He could see the disjointed place in her wing. He had no intention of splinting it in that fashion, however. He lifted her gently again, walking her to one of the critical beds in the back, which had the curtain which could be pulled. Doing so, he placed the peahen in a nest of blankets.

"What am I going to do with you? Don't answer that." He chuckled and gently put a sheet over the peahen, her head still poking about. "I need you to shift so I know where the break is in both forms. It may hurt, but we need to get that done to splint it."

by **Ndale Soromund** on April 18th, 2012, 2:12 am

OOCFeel free to glance at the map while she is being stubborn, Anselm. And I'm really sorry about the dely. RL kicked my behind.

She recognized him. She knew all of them but it did not make her feel safe. Calm. Maybe. Safe, no. Humans were not safe, they were deceptive and easily broken. Like her wing. How would she hunt without it? How would she hide? She was bound to the ground!

Every move hurt but what bothered her the most was the request. Change? Change into a human? She would not! Ndale began to shake her head violently, angrily until the cover fell from her eyes. For a moment her anger overrode her pain and she honked angrily in Elem’s face. Her body puffed up only to deflate just as quickly.

She eyed Elem warily, her gaze straying to Anselm. They helped but how long until they too tried to roast her. Stupid humans. She couldn’t understand herself, the days had blown by, her mind was a mess, the people were a mess, everything was a mess.

Standing awkwardly the took a step forward, intent on leaving but her wing sliding across the sheet made her wobbly and finally topple over. The burn crept back slowly after that, her vision clouding and her confusing ebbing into pure nothing. Maybe Ndale would be better off sleeping. Sleeping tended to make the days go away and between her these last few problematic days she hadn’t done much but end up in trouble and sleep it off.

Could she sleep this off too?

An odd gurgle erupted from her, a cross between a chirp and wobbled honk. She didn’t want to change! She just wanted the pain to go away and stay gone. Shaking her head a final time in rejection of Elems request she wiggled in a small circle which only served to make the burn worse.

by **Elem Bree** on April 18th, 2012, 3:06 am

She was a character, Ndale. No doubt of that in the young healer's mind. Her defiance, however adorable as it was, still managed to frustrate Elem to a degree. When she had changed before, the initial shock was enough. His eyes were certainly not on her limbs when she appeared lovely and nude before him. He would just have to explain the situation to her.

"Okay, okay. I understand you do not want to change, Ndale. That is your right."

He leaned in closer to further accentuate the point to the angry peahen.

"However, what you do not understand is that I have no idea what part of your wing is what part of your humanoid arm. Should I splint the wing, which I will, should the corresponding break on your arm be in a different place, the shifting will cause you more pain and possibly do more damage."

He looked over at the men who had brought her here, his eyes beacons of sound reason. He hoped they would go along with him, but it wasn't a requirement. Looking back at the angry, injured Kelvic, he added, "So, you can keep the wing splinted provided you do not shift into a humanoid form. If you do and rebreak or reinjure yourself, you will have to come back anyway and do it then." His tone was calm but stern. He wanted to soothe her, but her injury was one that required some time setting.

He placed his hand on the feathers, murmuring to Rak'keli for Ndale to have a positive spirit and to be relieved from pain temporarily, hoping the lack of irritation might bring her to reason. He gathered bandages and the splint once he finished, leaving the trio to their own devices temporarily.

by **Narrink Akamu** on April 18th, 2012, 4:41 am

Tasler approached the healer after noticing the trouble Ndale was giving of not transforming to humans You are confusing me, what part of what is what? He said in a confusing manner, splinting an animal wasn't as easy as splinting a human? what's the big difference? they all have bones, it should be easier. Tasler processed the words for some time, trying to figure out what he meant. Took some minutes to figure out, but from what he understood, Ndale's reject from shifting was confusing Elem to splint her wingwhy not splint the whole wing, or, I dunno, maybe I can help since I'm a bird kelvic too He said brainstorming solutions for the healer.

by **Anselm** on April 19th, 2012, 2:25 am

I do not know what I am doing here here, Anselm thought to himself. I have no reason to care about this pea-brained peahen. This is just complicating my life and putting me at risk. I should just go home and forget about it. It's not my problem. Anselm sighed, which is a bit of a trick for a Nuit. Then he limped over to Ndale and sat down beside her.

“Tasler,” he said in a raised voice to get the boy's attention. “Perhaps you are on to something. I suggest you change into your falcon form, let her see you, and then change back into your human form. While you are doing that, I will see what I can do to suggest she also change into her human form.”

He reached out and placed his hand gently on the back of her neck. Then he placed an image in her mind of her changing from peahen to woman and tried to attach a feeling of happiness to it. He continued to hold that suggestion in her mind hoping Tasler would act quickly because he doubted he could hold the suggestion for very long.

by **Narrink Akamu** on April 25th, 2012, 6:15 pm

Tasler stared at the nuit while he heard his suggestion. After this he simply left his clothes in bag and handed it to Anselm whispering to him "I'm gonna stay like this for some time" he said as he switched to his animal form and floated to land near the peahen's head and poked he head a few times to get her attention but not figuring out how he in this form could try to calm her down, or try to ease her pain somehow. The falcon then turned his head towards the healer and opened his wings and folded them afterwards, asking if he could help him with the splinting of Ndale's arm.

by **Ndale Soromund** on April 27th, 2012, 6:11 am

She wanted to peck at his fingers but stilled herself. His tone had frightened her for only a moment but it tugged at a more soothing memory. Elem healed her and helped her numerous times, he was not a predator. Still he was human though.

Ndales thoughts circled like this. Getting nowhere until his hands actually met her feathers and then it stilled. Halted really. Her thoughts cut off mid stride, a blissful silence, almost as if water had gotten in her ears and washed her mind out. It soothed her and brought forth a small twinge of curiosity. How had he done that?

Although she felt the calming sensation, beneath was a still a twinge of slight unease at being surrounded by so many humans and no escape indoors. And the old man was next, her thoughts once more freezing but this time for another reason. Fuzzy images and feelings of wanting to do something, not like water but like mud sliding in-between the empty spaces of her thoughts.

For a moment her heart beat faster and her wings attempted to flap but her eye caught yet another odd thing. A bird. The man from earlier had been a bird too. Would they both be eaten? No. They were friends. Friends? She had those. Right.

A loud howling honk slipped from her beak and Ndale felt the hands next not on feathers but on her skin. Removing Anselms hand from her next she squirmed back, not quite understanding that she had switched forms and still trying to flap her arms. Her cry of pain making her realize what she was doing.

But she still did not wish to be human. Why was she human? Humans were not safe. They ate things like her. She was not human! Why did she have this form?

Her mental shouting was hushed by an odd feeling of peace, as if she knew the answer but refused to see it and maybe it was true. Ndales mind was at a loss though. Her gaze flicking between the people in the room, scanning their faces for something before settling on Elem’s. An odd cross between a smile and a grimace crossed her face as she spoke. Her words slurred and uncertain.

“My arm hurts?”

by **Anselm** on April 27th, 2012, 2:03 pm

Anselm was relieved. Time to extricate yourself from this mess, old man, he thought as he backed away from Ndale. And get on with your own business.

He said, “Now that we have Ndale in a 'repairable' form, perhaps it would be best if Tasler and I waited outside the room.” As he headed toward the door he looked back and said, “I am Anselm. I did not catch your name. I have a modest fortune-telling business in the marketplace. Please come by sometime and I will repay you for Ndale's care.” Why the hell did you repeat the offer? He asked himself. Are you trying to start some kind of Kelvic charity? He was disturbed by his own reactions to the entire episode. He left the room deep in thought.

OOC :

by **Elem Bree** on May 2nd, 2012, 7:03 am

Returning, Elem watched as the young man with the strange pair did his own version of Ndale's shifting. It lacked the zest of Ndale's humanoid form, but he got the gist of it. He still felt like they didn't understand what he meant, but he imagined she would each time she shifted until the bone healed. Holding two small wooden rods and some bandages, he watched the various demonstrations with a sort of feigned interest. Perhaps it was the long hours with few breaks, but the naivete of the young doctor had went out with the tide of the storm.

Looking at Ndale, he didn't give her a chance to shift back or argue, simply placing the two rods on either side of her bicep and wrapping the bandage around it. He was firm without being coarse, looking at the strange old man and his now avian companion as he spoke.

" I understand that bones are bones and arms are arms. What you may not understand is that there are several bones in the arm, not just one big one."

His fingers were becoming accustomed to setting splints and wrapping, so he only had to look down occasionally to ensure the rods weren't rolling.

" The problem being that the bone of the humanoid arm is dense and heavy while the avian wing is not. Fortunately, Ndale being a peahen means that she can probably shift occasionally because she can't fly anyway. If your friend over here happened to have the same problem, though, he could easily end up lame, which would be devastating for a bird of prey."

Elem could tell the men were vaguely annoyed with him but it was really irrelevant. They had come to the Infirmary for care, not caring. It was becoming apparent to him why Mistress Claira was sometimes seen as gruff or harsh. Healing was paramount. He had the splint secured, showing the trio what it looked like. Looking at Ndale, he added, "When you want to shift to your natural form, you will need someone to resplint you, preferably looser. You won't be able to as you lack thumbs, of course." Looking back at the others, he nodded and called out to the man known as Anselm.

"Elem Bree. A pleasure." He had little time to chat, choosing to move to the next bed and the next patient.