2018-04-14: A Seraph In The Basin
- Log: A Seraph In The Basin
- Cast: Bethany Liston, Seraph Nimue
- Where: Glaivend Basin
- Date: 14/04/2018
- Summary: Bethany encounters Nimue again, this time over some severely wounded Rolance officer.
==============================<* Glaivend Basin *>============================== Glaivend Basin is a network of dry, dusty canyons between Hyland and Rolance. It is one of the few deserts on Glenwood; a place most would find inhospitable, but it also is one of the few easy land routes between the two kingdoms, as mountains block the rest off. This makes it a frequent site of skirmishes and battles between the two kingdoms, as their armies patrol here often. Monsters and bandits are also not unheard of, making the prospect of crossing Glaivend a dangerous one. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-da2TdMaqA
<Pose Tracker> Bethany Liston has posed.
Skirmishes across the Glaivend Basin are hardly uncommon, but the site of a rather brutal one is where Bethany Liston finds herself suddenly needed. Found by a Rolance scout while travelling, and half hired, half threatened to help, Bethany now finds herself trying to safely remove arrowheads from a half conscious officer, her forceps already bloodied from one attempt. Sweat forms on her brow, and she looks to one of the soldiers. "Hold her still, damnit! Sudden movements ain't gonna help."
Really, this is what Bethany does, but it would still be a hell of a time for a distraction.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
And so a distraction comes! Nimue pops into Bethany's field of view -- and, apparently, only Bethany's field of view -- from juuuust out of the edge of her perception. She trots slowly forward, looking down at the arrowheads, then at Bethany, then at the arrowheads again...
And then cants her head slowly to one side. "Whatcha doin'?" she asks, with a big smile on her face that indicates she knows exactly what Bethany's doing. She looks down at the officer herself now, tapping her chin.
<Pose Tracker> Bethany Liston has posed.
Oh good, it's the semi-hallucination. At least Nimue doesn't make herself known so suddenly that Bethany startles, but she does still swear under her breath. If her prior experience is anything to go by, ignoring Nimue isn't an option. And the Seraph had been good to her in the past, if a bit of a jerk.
"Just tryin' to save a life here." She hisses, pulling another arrow head free and adding it to the pile. She places the forceps onto a towel to one side, and picks up her suturing needle. "How many more times was she hit?" She asks out loud to the soldiers, one of whom speaks up.
"I saw her take two more at least, ma'am. In the leg."
"Damn. That makes this a hell of a lot harder." Bethany grimaces, as she sutures the wound shut.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue looks down at the human on the operating table, then at the arrowheads again. "Weird that you're so willing to help them when you're not even from around here. I mean, a human is a human, but on the other hand, a human is... a human." She gestures vaguely, then shrugs.
She considers, for a few moments, trying to start healing those wounds in front of her. On the other hand, she doesn't really seem to be feeling it. Instead, the green-haired Seraph leans eeeextra close to the wounded soldier, saying, "You ever find any of that stuff you were looking for? Anyone to work for for more than weird jobs digging through ruins?"
<Pose Tracker> Bethany Liston has posed.
Bethany moves down to the leg, taking her forceps back in hand. "Close to the artery, but she hasn't bled out yet, so this should be okay." She takes a second before going in for the next wound. Still, despite all this, she does appear to start whispering to herself, as far as the Rolance soldiers can see.
"Didn't I tell you? This is my job." Her voice is kept low, but just loud enough for Nimue to hear her. "And no, I haven't. Closest is some merc outfit. Why are you here?" If she gets Nimue talking at least, she can buy herself a little time to work. There's a slight clink, and Bethany slowly starts to remove the hopefully penultimate arrow head."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Yeah, but, are you really... that defined by your job? Like, do you have to be going around scooping people's intestines back up and putting them back inside them or you'll die?" Nimue shoots back, pacing around Bethany. The comments have gotten the intended effect, at least -- she's definitely talking, and definitely interested in continuing to talk.
"Do you like doing it? The whole... thing. That you do. Is it fun for you? Or is this one of those 'well if I don't do it...' things..." She absently starts picking up the arrowheads, giving them a look. "Sucks... sucks... sucks... this one's okay, the smith obviously cared... sucks..."
<Pose Tracker> Bethany Liston has posed.
Bethany's initial response is a grunt, as she pulls the arrowhead free and deposits on the pile, just missing Nimue's hand. "Okay, one more." Again, she sutures, and again, she gets ready to pull the next arrowhead. "Will I die? No. But if I can stop someone else dying, seems worth doing." Again, the whispering to 'herself'.
But the question of 'does she like it' elicits a smirk from Bethany. "Heh. This ain't the job you keep on doing if you don't get something out of it. If I was just in it for the money, I'd be ruin diving full time." And in go the forceps.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue continues to watch Bethany work. "Yeah, I guess so." She then goes silent for a while, leaning in to watch a little more closely as Bethany stitches her charge up. She hums a little something to herself as she watches, then drums her finger near the arrowheads. She seems to be...
... ohp, nope, she looks away for a while, saying nothing. She stares off into the middle distance, letting Bethany work uninterrupted for a bit.
Then, back to Bethany again, surprise! "I dunno if ruin diving is a totally selfish thing... but I get you, weirdo! People like you are... kinda rare among humans, though. Most of you are asshats. Or don't matter. Or are asshats that don't matter."
There's a pause. "Good Althena it's rank here. Like if swamp ass and a crematorium had a baby." ... it -- really isn't?
<Pose Tracker> Bethany Liston has posed.
With a bit of effort, the last arrowhead comes free, and the patient doesn't start bleeding out. Needle in hand she goes for the last wound, working swiftly and taking advantage of Nimue's temporary silence. "Alright, that should do it. She should be alright once you get her to a healer. I've done about all I can." With that, she starts to clean off her tools, and place them back in her medicine bag.
"I guess I can't disagree. Life has it's fair share of folk only in it for themselves. But you tend to run into a lot of decent folks in my lines of work somehow." Then, a pause. "...Doesn't smell that bad to me."
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
There's a long glance back at the wounded officer for a few moments. Nimue seems to be considering something... twirling her hand a little bit...
... whatever it is, she doesn't end up doing it, instead moving along a little with Bethany. "Actually," Nimue says, "Seraphim have 200 senses that sense 300 different things. So I guess you wouldn't notice!" ... Is she serious? It's... unknowable but that sounds so absurd that it has to be wrong, right?
"Dunno how you can even get this close to war zones on the regular and not notice it, though," she adds, with a toss of her hair. "Plain as day to me!"
<Pose Tracker> Bethany Liston has posed.
"Alright, I give. What am I not noticing?" Bethany asks, possibly a little too loud, as she closes up her medicine bag. As she stands up, the soldiers start to get their officer ready for transport. A small amount of silver changes hands. Possibly enough, hard to tell.
"'sides, you still haven't answered my question." Bethany moves next to Nimue, her business with the soldiers hopefully completed, and turns to face the group getting ready to leave. "What brings you out here?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
"Uh-uh! Secret!" Nimue says, wagging a finger. "Buuuut I'll tell you the other part. I'm here because I wanted to take a peek at the basin again! These things boil over so fast -- sometimes you don't even know it's gonna happen, you know?" She laughs a little, before saying, "Anyway -- I guess I'm just trying to get a sense of..."
She pauses. She can't contain herself; the joke she hasn't yet told gets to her, and she starts giggling. Between giggles, she manages to force out, "Which way -- the wind-- snsnrhrhahahahah -- is blowing!"
... really.
<Pose Tracker> Bethany Liston has posed.
"....Right." Bethany shakes her head. "Well, I'd best get moving." She picks up her medicine bag and sets off in a direction. Possibly the way she came. Possibly just away from Nimue. Either way, if the Seraph wants to continue this discussion, she can catch up.
And leave her jokes where they are.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Nimue has posed.
Nimue pauses for a moment, considering her options. She could pursue Bethany, justify herself, explain what on Earth she's even on about. Indeed, she seems like she's considering that more strongly, starting to follow behind Bethany as she retreats.
Or, instead, she could do something else entirely. She decides to take a seat next to the officer Bethany was treating, instead. "See you later!" she says, enthusiastically. "Have fun learning a whole new planet! Don't be afraid to look at the weird stuff!"
It turns out there's not much of a behavior gap between a five year old and a thousand-and-five year old.