2017-08-04: Seek, And Ye Shall Find
- Log: Seek, And Ye Shall Find
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Lan Lilac
- Where: Adelyn Ranchlands
- Date: 08-04-2017
- Summary: A wounded Lan Lilac casts about for a simple country doctor, and finds one!
============================<* Adelyn Ranchlands *>============================= The area around Adlehyde Castle is occupied by rolling fields of grass that are the envy of nations more seriously affected by the desertification that plagues Ignas. Most of the continent's cattle and horses are bred and raised in these ranchlands, which are owned by a scattered assortment of families, each with lands and borders carefully marked out by poles and fences. While Adlehyde's soldiers patrol the main trade routes throughout the country, the ranchers are for the most part left to their own devices except during tax season; this has tended to produce an independent and stubborn streak in the people who call this territory home. Folks around these parts are used to looking after themselves, and do so with a brutal effectiveness. The four-footed wealth that covers the ranchlands attracts its fair share of rustlers, bandits, and other ne'er-do-wells; when local posses prove insufficient to the task, a single rider sent to the Adventurer's Guild will generally bring help quick enough.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Being a shaman is pretty great, all things considered. You often get a better understanding of just what makes the world work, you're able to forge a relationship with some of the primal forces that comprise the universe itself, and you get a fair amount of repect from your Baskar peers! Plus, you get PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS!
It's just too bad that none of Lan's involve 'fixing her own injuries'. Rigdobrite is many things, but a healer isn't one of them.
The blonde shaman walks slowly, with her left arm tucked against her side. She doesn't /think/ it's broken, but... it still hurts. Lacour is an unfamiliar city to her, but if she keeps walking she'll /have/ to find a healer, right??
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Fortunately for the wandering shaman, there is in fact a wandering country doctor in the area. Sometimes it's good to get away from the maddening crowd for a little while, and to place some distance between one and one's responsibilities. To return with more of a clear outlook, and a fresh perspective.
Citan Uzuki does not cut a particularly intimidating figure, despite being well over six feet and built solidly. Maybe it's the billowy robe that he wears, or the fatherly expression that seems constantly on his face. Maybe it's the glasses. Or, maybe it's the physician's satchel that he wears over one shoulder in his meanderings.
Actually, right at the moment, he's perched atop a rock outcropping, away from the road and the nearest farmland borders. For the moment, his eyes are further to the horizon than the trudging Baskar; speculatively eyeing a nearby ranch and its equine offerings, milling up front in the paddock closest to the road. While the idea of taking a horse is appealing, that might not be a good idea in the Badlands. There may not necessarily be enough fodder or water for a beast, unless he decided to take a mule. A mule is certainly a possibility, though. They're a good deal calmer than most horses, and possessed of even more beast sense--
Movement that isn't the milling of horses finally catches his eyes, and his gaze flicks down, toward the form of Lan Lilac below.
A small rock is kicked from his perch as he abruptly whirls and makes his descent. The pebble clatters its way down the outcropping at about the same time that Lan Lilac draws even to it -- and rather than in front of her, there comes the sound of footsteps behind her.
Odd.
"Hallo!" Citan's voice is a rich and mellow baritone, and just the sort of thing that carries well across open distance. He's a little ways behind her. Had he backtracked quietly? Or was he on the road all along? "Hallo, there! Are you well? Do you need help?"
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Lan would be so, so very happy if someone would come to her rescue right about now. Alas, that seems unlikely until she makes it into the actual town itself - Lacour was kind to her the other evening, and maybe it will be so again today. She's just got to get back into the more populated areas... It's not like simple country doctors just fall out of the sky or anything!
Sometimes they sneak up behind you, though...
The quiet clatter of a pebble falling catches Lan's attention, and she takes a single step away from the rocky outcropping. She definitely doesn't need to endure a rockslide, too!
Despite her injury, she seems light on her feet; Citan has barely said hello before the Baskar maiden has spun on her heel to face him, lavender eyes wide. "Ah?? --Oh! I'm okay. I just got a little banged up, is all..." Her body moves like a dancer's, or maybe a martial artist's, feet sure and limbs wasting very little energy. Too bad it can't disguise the way her left arm is stiff an sore. "Sorry, do you know this town well? I've only been here a couple of days, and I don't know if they even /have/ a healer living here."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Simple country doctors may not fall out of the sky, but they can backtrack while the sound of a falling pebble masks their approach. They can also be crafty enough to use such minor deceptions! After all, a simple country doctor can never be too careful. You never know who's on the road out on the rural highways...
Citan's brown eyes flick once to take in the girl's appearance. She's certainly someone who knows how to move, physically, but his physician's experience recognises the stiffness and the way she favours her left arm for what it is. The arm is sprained, possibly broken, and looks like it must be in a great deal of pain. In spite of that she's carrying herself admirably.
"Actually, I am afraid I do not." There's something almost stilted in the formality with which this simple country doctor speaks, as though he had learned all his language from a book, rather than falling back on more casual speech patterns. Yet it doesn't slow him down in the least, diction sharp and clear in spite of his seemingly clumsy diction. "However, I am a travelling doctor, so perhaps I may be able to help you? If, of course, you like. No charge," he adds, just in case that might have been an incentive to go elsewhere.
What can he say, he's a sucker for hard luck cases, because he is a simple country doctor, friend to all.
Something like that, anyway. Citan is already shrugging his satchel off regardless of her answer, looking her over with eyes that are considerably less warm than his reassuring smile. There is something cold in the heart of those eyes -- like he's dissecting her in his mind, diagnosing her wtih the cold dispassion of a machine; all business.
"There, perhaps you might want to sit down over here. On that rock, perhaps. It will be high enough; may I see your arm? Simply hold it out, if you can. I cannot see if it remains folded up," he says, not unkindly, one hand rising to adjust those bizarrely intricate, but probably useful, spectacles.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
It would be more prudent to be suspicious of anyone meeting her on the road outside of a town - after all, not all Drifters are nice, and not all people are Drifters - but Lan wants to believe in people. She always wants to believe that other people are basically good, right up until the instant they stab her in the back.
Her expression falls a bit when Citan admits that he's not familiar with the town or its doctoriness, which is a new word that she has just invented. Still, she's Baskar, and Lan will make it no matter what--
Or he could be a healer, himself. Lucky?!
Lan's ready stance loosens a hair into something calmer, less guarded. "Really? Ahaha, isn't that lucky for me~?" she practically sings, apparently immediately trusting him. After all, the only people who go into the healing arts generally care for the wellbeing of others...!
"Thank you," she sighs happily, following his directions to settle down on the edge of a large rock. It's less easy to unfold her arm, but she manages it, holding the injured limb out for him with the aid of her right arm to prop it up. "It's too kind of you to offer," Lan demurrs, already wondering if there isn't some way she can repay the favor - not because honor demands it or anything, but just because Citan was kind enough to offer.
Unlike the good doctor, Lan is everything she projects herself as. A simple soul, a simple girl, one with a sprained elbow and a warm smile that makes most people want to like her. "I got in a scrap with one of those big insects outside of town - I didn't realize just /how/ solid their armor is, and I think I elbowed it a little too hard..."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"You are most welcome." Citan's dismissal is somewhat distracted, because he's already reaching to support her arm. His hands are long-fingered like any surgeon worth their salt, but his grip is also surprisingly strong. "Try not to move too much, and we will see what we will see."
Carefully, he probes at the wound, but he's mindful not to probe too deeply, because it probably hurts like the dickens right now. His free hand reaches up to adjust his spectacles more securely onto the bridge of his nose. "Yes, it would appear your elbow is sprained. Not to worry, though. I have a poultice that will take care of that."
He lets her go with equal care, twisting to rummage in that battered old satchel. It smells like old leather and oil, and seems to be well cared for in spite of its obvious age. Maybe it came from the discount bin of simple country doctor supplies.
Meantime, he pulls out a small mortar and pestle, loading it with a few sprigs of something fragrant and quickly, efficiently grinding it into an unrecognisable gluey substance. A few drops of water from a glass vial, and it starts resembling more of a paste than a glue. Along with that, he plucks from the satchel a roll of linen. "Your arm? This should dull the pain, and also promote healing for what has been damaged. A simple country remedy, but it is always the simplest that are the most efficient, I find."
"Perhaps next time it would be better to try something sharp, that may find the chinks in their armour, hmm? That might be more efficient than merely trying to beat them to death. After all, such a chitinous shell has been designed to protect the creature beneath from blunt impacts." Citan puts the vial of water away, carefully; clean, near-sterile water is a precious resource in his trade. "Now, then." Ready?
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
Whatever else she may be, Lan is steady; when the doctor reaches out to take her arm, she barely cringes. The injury is fresh, merely a few hours old - just old enough, in fact, to have reached its most swollen and painful. Fortunate for her that it isn't broken! It's just sore, and without his help she would have been inconvenienced for weeks.
"I don't actually know how to use a knife or a sword or anything in a fight," Lan admits, sitting still while he works at the mixture. "I feel like I'd end up cutting /myself/ before my enemy, you know? So in the end, I dropped a big rock on it and it died after all." A rock, a meteor, same difference!
She holds her arm out for him, the simple act of trust something he's likely used to from his patients. "...Your satchel smells good," she smiles at length. "Can I at least replace the water you used for me? I have some in my flask, and what if you need more for another person who's injured?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
As the arm is offered, Citan takes it carefully and slathers some of that medicated goo onto it. There's no telling what's in that simple country doctor remedy, but it must be effective. It tingles as soon as it makes contact with swollen and tender tissue, even soothing the raw ache that seems to come from deep within the limb.
Once that's done, he winds the roll of linen around it, tightly to keep the past in place but not enough to constrict the wound unnecessarily. He's watching it like a hawk the entire time, sensitive to even the faintest reactions if he's winding the linen too loosely or tightly.
"No matter. Sometimes it is good to carry a knife even if you do not intend to use it. The roads are not always safe to travel, and sometimes just possession of such a weapon is deterrent enough. Besides, such a tool has other applications, such as preparing food." Yeah, let's not ask the good doctor about cooking. That's one of those things he never really got the hang of. Maybe it's not all that bad, but it's not pretty. Sufficient to say his wife absolutely does not allow him in the kitchen unless he's there to clean things up. But he goes on smiling that benign smile. "Sometimes it is just handy to have a sharp edge close at hand."
What a weird doctor. Aren't they supposed to take some kind of 'do no harm' oath or something? Although he didn't say anything about actually using it against people, so...
He gives her arm a gentle pat, well away from the wound, once he's finished binding the sprain. "There you are." His satchel smells good? "I should hope so. I have half a continent's worth of remedies in there, and somehow I have made them all fit, ha-ha!" Citan goes about putting things back into the satchel. "Ah, do not worry yourself over that. I have plenty enough for my travels, and a good supplier. In fact, I am due to receive a shipment soon, so I am not concerned."
"For the time being, it would be best for me to continue on. If there is nothing else that you need, then good day! If you have further need of my services, seek me out in Lacour. I will be staying for a few days, yet, I think." Citan offers a cheery wave as he throws his satchel back around one shoulder. "Good day!"
Well, not all Drifters are nice, but this one sure seems to be.
<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.
He's a good doctor, or at least Lan believes so - she knows that sometimes things have to hurt a little more before they'll feel better. Medicine doesn't work unless it tastes bad, according to her mother...
"Oh! Well, I have a knife for cooking and opening things, but I don't know how to really use it for self-defense. I might practice though now, after this..." Lan sits still and lets him work, lavender eyes betraying little pain. It's easy to feel at ease around the strange doctor, somehow... he's got a familiarly paternal air, and his eyes remind her a little bit of her own father's.
It's too bad she doesn't really know how she might repay him, even though he doesn't seem to /want/ such. One good turn deserves another, doesn't it? Maybe paying it forward will be good... Lan smiles at him when he finishes up by patting her arm, tucking the limb back against her side with less tension than before. "It's already feeling a little better. Thank you!" She waves after him with her good arm, reclining a little bit against the rest of the large rock she's sitting on. "Travel safe, and I'll see you when I see you~"
Because after all, the Guardians work in mysterious ways. Hopefully she'll see her new friend again soon!
It... completely fails to occur to Lan that she has no idea who he is.