Closed Miscalculation?

[Alanna Higgins]

13th day of Spring 514 Allana stood at the edge of one of the arrange of docks that dotted the outer edge of Ravok. Rolling a cattail stalk around in her mouth slowly chewing it, she had been sitting there for nearly thirty minutes waiting on a rugged looking male who said he had a job for her. Carrying the only knife she owned at that point and time which was her eating knife which she sharpened for hours on end just to pass the time sometimes. She had it tucked away in the waist of her breeches, she kept it from cutting her by folding the fabric around the knife keeping it secure. After about ten more minutes Allana was sick and tired of waiting for a job that might not even be worth her time. With a huff she stood up, turning to leave she nearly ran straight into the dark nasty looking male whom she had been waiting on. Slowly she took a step back, being mindful of the edge of the dock she widened her stance a little. Her bright green eyes shown in a near innocent way as she asked. "What the hell took you so long? I was just about to leave!" The dark haired man gave her a greasy smile and spat into the clean lake water which made her shutter slightly. "Now look here girlie I've got a job for ya so yer gonna shut it and listen for a moment or else I'll take my part-a-nige some place where its wanted." Slightly panicked at the thought of losing the job and the possible pay out she urged forward slightly and shook her head no. "Don't be silly my good man come sit on the dock with me and lets have a little chat about what you would like me to do for you." Allana's voice was soft and rather soothing which eased the male and he nodded, sitting down with her he began telling her about his boss and how he had been mistreated. He spun her some wild tale about how his bosses daughter had been sweet on him, and no matter what he did he just couldn't shake the horny little female. Which was rather hard for Allana to believe since the male beside her was not in the least bit attractive in any way. The male told her how the girls daddy found out about them, sicking a few of his tougher hired hands on his staff daddy dearest had the stuffing beat out of Allana's would be client. Which ultimately brought him to her, so she really shouldn't complain about him telling her his little sob story. Even though the truth might be quite a bit different story when told from the other side. Allana honestly didn't care though if that girl was stupid enough to let his nasty dirty man near her then she deserved what she got. By the time Allana had snapped out of her own thoughts the male went on to explain what he wanted Allana to do for him. "So you think you can do that for me girlie?" The male asked sounding rather skeptical about the whole situation. Allana just smiled at the male nodding she hopped up. "You bet your hairy ass I do...Now lets talk turkey." The trip up town didn't really take Allana all that long since she knew this town like the back of her hand by now. Slowly she scoped out the house she was supposed to be hitting. The male Kevin he said his name was or something like that, well he wanted Allana to steal something rather precious to that exboss of his. A vase passed down from generations back supposedly that's what Kevin or Evan had heard which got him thinking of how to get back at his exboss. Which brings in Allana laying on the rooftop across the canal from the target. Gazing around the perimeter she saw no sign of a guard or any hired hand. Slipping off the roof she silently made her way over to the house she looked up at the second story window which was unwisely left open.Smiling to herself Allana jumped up grabbing onto the windowsill, suddenly she heard a shout and many footsteps below her. Thinking the worst, and seeing no other choice Allana pulled herself up into the house. When she was on her feet she was greeted with a fist to the gut, which knocked the wind right out of her. Gasping Allana looked over to the table that had been set right beside the window seeing a candle stick she quickly picked it up and rushed the rather large male before her. She managed to get a blow across the face before three more large men showed up. Knowing that she was out matched by pure brute strength, Allana jumped back out the window and landed hard on her side. She felt something in her arm pop and pain shot throughout the whole thing. Gritting her teeth she forced herself not to cry out as she stood up and ran down along a footpath keeping her feet light and her pace quick she found herself going to the only other place she could think of. The NMSS the place that would practically take anyone and everyone. With a slight hiss she walked into the building and looked about for someone who might be able to help her. With all the adrenalin pumping though her veins Allana hardly noticed the pain in her arm, that the lower part of the dislocated arm had been scuffed all to hell and was bleeding quite profusely or the nasty cut right above her eyebrow what was leaking blood down her face and would most likely leave one hell of a scar. "Um...H-hello anyone there?" She asked feeling rather stupid for doing so as well.

[Inoadar]

INOADAR

The flu had been over for a good twenty days now or more. Inoadar was now focusing on other concerns. He had a semi-willing test subject to dose with a slightly larger amount of snake venom than she'd successfully endured several days ago. Inoadar had come to the conclusion that a person's own essence could carry the eventual immunity build up that developed with exposure to many toxins.

He had noticed that, during the years he'd worked with toxins, he himself now enjoyed an increased resistance to many of their effects. Though to be honest, it was not always a benefit. He was frequently reduced now to partial guesswork on how much of a toxin constituted a test for him to experiment with in his research. He was often his own "control" subject and it was a nuisance that the doses he needed to take to feel an effect steadily increased.

But it had given him the idea that this theory could be extended to include possible immunity treatments for clients. Thus, his work on Taleena, the mother that had given herself into his "care" to pay for painkillers so he could set her son's broken arm. It was either that, or bashing him over the head, unless she wanted to hear the screams of her son's agony. He had not hesitated to word it that way either. They needed test subjects at the NMSS, and Inoadar was not averse to ANY form of motivation.

Of course, he WAS inclined to omit the detail that Taleena's blood could actually become valuable, if his theory was correct. 'Why burden her with such crass matters as money, where the more noble aim of helping her own son was concerned.' he thought greedily to himself.

The thought of another possible test subject sparked a smile as a new young woman stumbled into the common room asking for help. She had a nice cut over her eyebrow, the kind that can be easily exaggerated to denote all kinds of vague implications. The best part of it was her own inability to see it clearly, unlike the gash on her arm.

He stepped into the room, all smiles and kindness, introducing himself as "Doctor Parnell". He made to take her arm to examine the cut on it, as well to pull her closer so he could perform some charade over the "seriousness of the head wound", but the girl recoiled in obvious anticipation of pain. Her own movement brought a grimace to her face, and Inoadar only then noticed the odd set of her shoulder.

It had a funny bulge to it, and he realized he had another opportunity to work another victim-...er...patient into being a test subject. He would make the same offer to her that he had to Taleena.

"Oh my gods, dear girl! Whatever have you done to that arm? Please sit down and find a position that gives you some respite from the pain. I fear that concern will only get worse before it gets better, the painkillers available being so prohibitively expensive. I will need to either put you into a drugged sleep, or numb all feelings in that arm. But both methods are quite costly. I assume that since you came here, there must be some reason you wished to avoid the inevitable scrutiny at the Healing Hand. Are you not a citizen? Do not worry, we have no prejudices here in that regard."

Another thought came to him. One that shed a whole new aspect of possibilities on this situation. "Or perhaps you acquired this injury in a manner that would...put you in an ill light...to those that are inclined to be harshly judgmental about such things? Again, I can assure you, you need not fear being open about it to me."

He wanted to hear more...

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[Alanna Higgins]

Spring By the time Allana had actually made it in NMSS most of her upper body felt nearly completely numb. Standing there like a lump on a log she slowly looked around at the common room, being rather taken aback by the homey-nets of the lobby like waiting area. She didn't notice the gash above her eye really, that is until the nice steady flow of blood was running down over her right eye which made her keep that one eye awkwardly shut. While most other healing establishments very sterile, and clean smelling. She found this one to be warm, inviting, and...She paused a moment taking in a deep breath smelled faintly of herbs which was weird but not really uncommon for healers to use different types of herbs for their healing arts. Her eyes did yet another sweep of the room as she waited impatiently, seeing a open doorway she peered though it seeing a rather tall man. Well taller than her that was. He was working on a very frightened looking pale woman, which made Allana's stomach flip and twist in various positions making her feel even worse. As she watched him he looked back up and smiled a little as if he had already known she was there. Watching the male tell the nervous looking woman something he got up, and walked easily into the common room. His face sure did look kind on the surface, but as Allana studied him she noticed a dark sort of twinkle in his eye as he gazed at the gash above her eye, her scuffed up arm, and her shoulder. Which she honestly had no idea what was going on there...She knew she couldn't move it at all and when she tried to it hurt. She wasn't really used to getting injured so severely. Now that doesn't mean Allana doesn't know how to handle pain. Yes she doesn't handle it as a battle-aged worrier, but she can take a beating and a wallop. See Allana had never really been big in the whole confrontation aspect of her desired profession as a thief. It wasn't that Allana couldn't or wouldn't love to fight, it was just that she wasn't the best at it. While others like to cause a large hullabaloo and create a sort of organized chaos then take what they were there for as their chaos spreads. Allana would rather sneak into said targets house take the item in question and leave without bothering anything. At least she'll try to keep it that way until she can get better trained in the ways of combat. Quickly, and quite suddenly she found herself snapping from her thoughts. Having been brought back into the real world by as large sharp shooting pain running though her arm. Allana gave him a curt nod her four inch mess of hair slightly moved with her head bobbing. "My name is Allana Dr. Parnell...Now I'm not really here to beat around the bush or anything..." She said with a grumpy scowl she she allowed him to get close to her form. She Jerked back away from him, then cleared her throat awkwardly and tried to compose herself. Nodding she gingerly plopped herself up onto the exam table and was careful not to jostle her arm. She looked "Dr. Parnell" over and nodded a little. "Well to be honest I don't really have much money...Can't you just...fix it I can deal with the pain you know as soon as its fixed shouldn't it stop hurting anyway?...and what of my eye...I can't really be sure how bad it is although it is bleeding quite profusely..." She muttered with annoyance then continued with "Now dealing with what brought me here...as long as you don't get me into any trouble I don't really see the harm in telling you. As I just told you I'm a little hard up for Miza right now, and as such I've taken to...acquiring certain valuable, hard to replace object for paying clientele...Lets just say the object I was acquiring tonight had just a little bit to much protection for me...About three guys to many who were all three sizes to big, and sent me flying back out a window which brought me here..."

[Inoadar]

INOADAR

Inoadar gave the girl a direct look. "I notice you pulled your arm back when you thought I might innocently pull on it to bring it closer to look at that nasty wound. Now you're trying to say can you handle the pain?" There was as much skepticism in his face as there was in his voice.

"You obviously have only the barest idea of how much it will hurt when I force the shoulder bone back into the socket. If you're looking forward to screaming until you pass out from the pain, you're welcome to it, but I'm not going to have you crippling yourself permanently as you thrash around because you were trying to prove how tough you are. I can promise you, if you damage it that way, it is NOT going to stop hurting once it's fixed. In fact, it will take it much, much longer to fully heal. You could be climbing a tree and suddenly have the damned thing pull out again. And every time it happens, the damage is worse."

The fact was, Inoadar had seen a number of people endure a relocation of the shoulder ball, unaided by painkillers. But he wanted this woman to believe otherwise. He wished he'd gotten the shipment of 'Phantom Shell', a toxin that greatly increased sensitivity to pain. Without it, he had to settle for exaggeration and lies. "And your blood loss is not helping. If it was the other arm that was wounded, you would not be currently losing the one natural pain inhibitor the body provides. The loss of blood is leaving the pain triggers open to be aggravated, whereas a good strong blood flow helps to keep them shielded."

He was of course, making this up as he went along, but he thought it sounded good. "Why put yourself through pain when it not only is unnecessary, but potentially damaging to the arm." he gave a sympathetic look, hoping it was convincing. "I'm sure we can work something out. The drugs that will make this easy for the both of us will cost 200 gold mizas. You say you're short on mizas..." he paused for drama, "...how much do you figure this..."object"...to be worth?"

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[Alanna Higgins]

Allana looked up at the man before her. Thinking hard she growled and rolled her good shoulder. "Look Dr. Parnell," She put a sarcastic emphasis on the Dr. "I know you think your doing what's best for me, just trust me I can take it alright." she said shortly her patience wearing ever so slightly. She looked up at him though her one eye and sighed. "Look Parnell I am not going to cripple myself...I would never thrash about on the floor its unbecoming." she said and straightened her sore back. "Would you could you please just shove my shoulder back please." she asked Allana could tell that Parnell was stretching the truth in someways she just couldn't exactly tell which was truth and which were the lies. "I don't really think I need any painkillers...if you just.." She sighed exasperated "If you fix it I'll owe you a favor that you can call in at any time." She said trying to bargain with the man.

[Inoadar]

INOADAR

There was a point where gutsy defiance became brash disrespect, and a new understanding was in order. He feigned a surrender of his phony playacting and offered apologies as he made as if to shrug off the girl's saucy attitude and cooperate. "Very well, very well, no need to get angry. We will rely on your toughness instead." He moved around to her good shoulder, bracing it against the center of his chest as he gently worked the injured shoulder into position. He then locked his wrists to prepare for the quick jerking of the ball back into the socket.

This position brought his mouth close to her ear and his voice suddenly became a hiss. He tightened his grip on her suddenly, putting pressure on the shoulder, enough to cause pain without forcing it back in place. "So you don't care for my pretentious use of the title "Doctor", do you? Perhaps "Inquisitor" would suit you better, hmmm?" He gave the shoulder a sideways rub to emphasize the pain he could cause if he chose. The girl stiffened in pain and alarm.

"Easy now, no sudden moves or you WILL cripple yourself. Maybe you should consider that I might be thinking about what's best for ME, not you." he sneered. "Maybe you've led some angry operatives of some powerful family here and they're not going to appreciate me fixing this shoulder of yours. Making enemies without knowing what's at stake is a tactic for fools, Allana. And I am no fool. I don't need favors owed to me by someone who may be dead tomorrow. I need information, tonight...now."

He relaxed his hold on her without unlocking his wrists. He made sure to keep his hold over her shoulder as his voice became deceptively casual. "This can take a moment, or it can take all night. I'm good either way. But don't overlook the other side of this situation girl. It's more than the fact that I could hurt you if I choose. It's also the fact that I can HELP you."

His voice now became direct, matter-of-fact. "I'll give you a chime to think about it. Consider though, you're in worse condition now than you were the first time. Do you really think you have a better chance of success now? Without help?"

x

[Alanna Higgins]

Spring Allana had known she was overstepping her bounds when she ridiculed him. She had wanted to get a feel for what type of man he really was. To see behind his facade, and see she did. Allana let out an exasperated huff as Inoadar walked around to her uninjured arm, she felt her stomach do a somersault as he wrapped his long arms around her upper torso. Allana stayed perfectly still as Inoadar carefully moved her shoulder into place, all the while her stomach still flip-flopping with unease. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the jerking and slight twinge of pain that should follow, leaving her with a very sore shoulder. Allana could feel his breath passing over her ear, her green eyes snapped open as she heard his harsh quiet voice in her ear. Allana’s breathing picked up slightly as he pressed her shoulder into place her face for the moment remained calm as he spoke to her. Suddenly she let out a cry of pain then ground her teeth together to keep her from making any other sounds of protest. Her body naturally tried to jerk away from the pain as she wasn’t exactly expecting it. Grinding her teeth once more she was careful not to bite down on her own tongue. After Inoadar had finished ranting at her, her body was rather tense staying completely still as he relaxed his hold on her arm. She let him finish talking the chime he gave her with a calming breath. Smiling she spoke quietly “Hmm I’ve got to say ‘Inquisitor’ does seem to suit you better…” She forced her body to relax slightly as she looked over at him. “Well...To begin I kinda had a hunch you were hiding something behind your attempt at bedside manor...It is nice to know what type of man I’m dealing with.” She paused for only a moment thinking carefully about what she said. “I’m very sure I didn’t lead anyone here, those men who did this weren’t exactly built for running. And i assure you I won’t be dead by tomorrow... Assuming you fix my arm up for me..I do understand that I can’t do this alone and I would be very willing to get you any information you need...Again this is assuming you fix me up...I'd rather make an ally rather than an enemy here.” She said trying to reason with him the best she could.

[Inoadar]

INOADAR

'Now we're getting somewhere,' Inoadar thought with satisfaction. She has stepped back across the line into acknowledgement of who was in control, but not into the pathetic realm of begging or groveling. Clearly she HAD realized what sort of man she was dealing with.

"Okay, hold still and when I count to four, make an effort to brace yourself against the pull." he instructed. She nodded, and Inoadar started off, "Ready? One...two...thr-" He did not complete the count before suddenly compressing his grip. He wanted her relaxed, but poised in position as well. There was a moment's resistance, and at the same moment that a gasp of pain started to escape her lips, there was a muffled pop and he felt the limb slip back into its socket.

Her effort to contain her cry of pain was admirable, and largely successful. He felt around the socket, both to feel for any misplacement of the joint and to massage as well as hold her from any windmilling of the newly reset joint. He did not know why human nature compelled so many to immediately move an injured joint to extremes, but he could not believe it was a wise thing to do.

"Take it easy with the arm for several days Allana. I will provide you a sling for good measure. It is as much a reminder to refrain from overuse as it is to keep the arm in a good position to recover. I have some herbal painkillers I will give you as well. They are not terribly strong, but it's best to have SOME pain, ALSO to serve as a reminder that you're injured."

He took a look though the door at the other woman. "I'll be right back with them. Stay put while I check on Taleena there." He rose and went to the door, keeping his eye on a reflection to maintain observation of Allana as he checked Taleena to see that she was having no excessive reaction to this session's dose of snake venom. By season's end, he expected to see proof of her growing immunity to it. Then he would take samples of her blood and see if he could develop an antitoxin from it.

Satisfied with Taleena's condition, he turned back to the room where he'd left Allana. It was time to get details of what and where she had been attempting her theft. If she was still there, that is. If not, he would follow after her.

x

[Alanna Higgins]

Slowly Allana steadied herself, closing her eyes once more she listened to him count. One tick Allana was sitting there getting ready for pain then the next Inoadar was putting. The sudden movement caused her eyes to fly open, since she wasn’t expecting the surge of pain so soon she let out a gasp of pain and winced only the slightest bit causing her head to angle down at the ground for a tick before she repositioned it. Finally Allana heard the faintly audible pop of her shoulder popping back into its socket. The intense shooting pain that ran amok throughout her arm, and twinged slightly up her neck had faded to a dull aching pain that was much more bearable. As well as being much easier to ignore now. ”Now that wasn’t to bad, It was probably a good thing you did it when I wasn’t expecting it anyway huh?....What exactly happened to my arm if you don’t mind me asking...I do know I fell on it awkwardly.” She frowned softly as he began rubbing at her sore joint. Unease began to take hold of Allana blossoming from her stomach, and slowly spreading outwards. She knew Inoadar was trying to keep her from doing anything stupid with her reset joint. Truthfully she wanted to move it only because she knew she couldn’t do so before. Honestly only for a tick did windmilling her arm crossed her mind. She quickly and reasonably dismissed it having a hunch that it probably wouldn’t feel the greatest. Instead she gave a gentle shrug with her shoulders moving casually away from his hands. Her form was now slightly slouched and drawn in not liking the fact that she was injured so. Hearing that she’d have to take it easy with her arm for a couple days didn’t lighten her mood at all. Letting out a soft sigh she nodded in understanding she honestly doubted that she would actually wear something as silly as the sling, but she wouldn’t refuse either of the helpful gestures. Looking up at him she nodded and watched his fame walk to the door of the room. As she sat there waiting she slowly looked around the small clean room. It didn’t really take Inoadar that long to turn his attention back to the room with Allana inside. She noticed that he was holding the sling as well as the herbs he had been talking about. Realization washed over taking her unease with it, blinking Allana sat up straight. “Forgive my rudeness before...My name is Allana Higgins, I wanted to thank you for the services you’ve done for me...Now tell me how bad is my eye...Inquisitor Parnell?” She said with a soft amused smile painting her full lips. Her right eye still squinted shut to keep any excess blood from going into it.

[Inoadar]

INOADAR

Inoadar explained the ball-and-socket arrangement found in the hip and shoulder joints to the girl and explained that her shoulder ball had been knocked out of its socket by the fall she had described. "So, in addition to the strain on the bone by having the ball forced out, and back in, there is also strain on the muscles from being stretched to envelope a joint that is suddenly pulled wider than normal. It is as much for the pain of these pulled muscles that I give you these."

He held up several pouches, identifying one of them as 'Rugberry tea'. "This is only a couple of gold. But I'll have to charge you four because it's touchy to prepare. But this is finished, so you can simply brew it as tea. It's not much of a pain killer, but it will help the other medicines work a little better."

He held up a second pouch. "This is dried Tolm Root. You should boil this for a while in the water you intend to make the tea with. The water will begin to have a sort of oily look to it. This is what you want. Then strain the root specks back out of it before you make the tea. It is more specifically effective on the muscle ache in your shoulder. This will only be two more if you do the boiling and such yourself."

He held up a last pouch with dried flower petals in it. "This is Connal. It will cost the same as the Tolm. You can either use it in a hot bath for an overall relief of aches and pains, or you can make tea out of it to help you sleep. Most medicines work better if you get plenty of sleep."

He was applying a Krolar poultice to the cut on Alanna's forehead as he spoke, ignoring her winces as he took a wet rag to clean the wound first. Now he looked at her directly, "Those are all for later. And I won't charge you for this poultice, it's only a few silver for this one application."

He pulled a out a small vial, "This, however, is Hista Balm. Now I OUGHT to charge you forty gold for this little two dose vial of rub-on ointment. It is the best thing for muscle and joint injury recovery. It will numb the pain for a good eight bells, more if you rest the injury while it is on. It is commonly used for people with slight injuries to work through them, when a job is nearly finished, in order to get the job finished without delay."

Now he looked around for a moment, making sure no one was listening. "That's basically what I had in mind. You use this tonight, we go see about this job, and depending on how much this..."object"...is worth, after we split the profit, I will give this to you for free."

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