Cast: Mars (Midas) and Seed (Deme)
TLDR:
Support Points Earned: 2
January 28, 2018
January 29, 2018
February 1, 2018
February 2, 2018
February 9, 2018
February 12, 2018
February 16, 2018
February 18, 2018
February 20, 2018
February 23, 2018
February 24, 2018
TLDR:
Support Points Earned: 2
[12:05 AM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: Mars was happy. He was often happy, but more schemingly smug than simply joyful. That aside, today, Mars was happy. He had recently gotten another breakthrough in his translation of his tome. He decided to put the new limits of this power to the test, and set out early the next day with naught but his robes and his tome.
Mars arrived at a rather peaceful spot outside of the town, lush with flora, and started his tests. He pulled out the tome, focused, and created the outline of a glowing purple sword using his tome. He swung the sword around for a while before noting that he hadn't yet tired out, like he had expected.
Eventually, like these things usually ended, Mars started coughing, he felt pains in his chest, as though he'd taken a punch to the gut a few hours ago and hadn't shaken it off. Alright, this is my limit. Mars thought. He let go of the sword, and, like everything else, its outline immediately faded as it left his hands. It had totally vanished before even touching the ground. Mars smiled, satisfied with the new limits of his power, and began regathering himself to return back to town.
[11:42 PM] LadyDeme: The cough and its accompanying light had roused Seed from his own thoughts, set about as he'd been examining the area's plant-life; here it grew richly, hardly needing the sort of attention he tended towards, but familiarly serene -- and handy. Seed had been keeping an eye out for certain shapes of leaves, before that accompanying flash of light directed him to the source of the cough -- a familiar figure, for a moment hunched over, before righting itself.
He didn't see the smile on Mar's face right away, but the handfulls of wild lavender, purple and lanky the way he tended to be, in thin heads that clustered in hands, trailed dropped flowers behind him as he ran up to the clearing where Mars had been practicing.
"Are you alright?"
[1:31 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: Mars jumped when he heard Seed's voice. When Mars turned to see the Florkana, he sighed a breath of relief inbetween pants "Don't" pant "scare me like that." pant "I thought I was alone out here." Mars paused to remember Seed's question "Oh yes I" pant "I'm fine." pant "It just takes some effort to" pant "cast spells with this tome."
Mars paused for a few moments to catch his breath "The last fews days have been exhausting for me. Surely you've heard about what happened in the town square, right?"(edited)
[9:16 AM] LadyDeme: "Sorry, sorry." Seed put up his hands, noting very quickly how heavy Mars' breathing was, the way he couldn't catch his breath long enough to keep it from interfering with his words. The Florkana's gaze steeled for a moment -- satisfied with the explanation, magic could be tiring after all, but this seemed... Well, it was worrying, to the part of him that'd practiced a little medicine.
"In the square? No, not as such." He'd heard of an unusual scuffle, but not in the square. Seed took from a pocket his handkerchief, and spread it out onto the ground. "But please, sit down a moment first; when you're working with something that exhausting, you should take care of yourself, and don't think I didn't hear that cough."
[5:54 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: Mars rested his hands on a nearby tree, then shook his head at Seed "Thank you for the offer, but I'm fine. I've done these kinds of test runs to increase my body's endurance before. This type of thing is perfectl-" before Mars could finish, his right hand slipped. THUNK Mars hit the back of his head on an outcropping of the tree, the sound itself was loud enough to cause a nearby bird to fly from its nest. Mars spit up a small amount of blood, and fell forward onto the ground. Now on his hands and knees, Mars stared down at the ground for a moment before slowly beginning to stand back up.(edited)
[9:53 AM] LadyDeme: Seed's eyes went wide at the sound and the little spurt of blood -- Did he bite his tongue? and rushed over to Mars's side, putting a hand on Mars's shoulder, another reaching the young man's chest, trying to hold him in a stable position. The response was immediate and conditioned, without Seed's usual hesitancy.
"Hold still; don't try and move right away. Let's make sure you're OK, first." Of course, he didn't mention that when blows to the head were involved, establishing 'ok' could take a little while. But enough to stand wasn't quite the same. He offered an encouraging, nervous smile. "Do you feel dizzy?"
[4:11 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: "I-" Mars' breath was shaky and sporadic. "I am going... to be... fine." Mars' limbs were just as shaky as his words. His arms looked like they were ready to give out, and his legs were barely better. "I have... been through... far worse." Mars continued "That was just... a little bump." Mars said, trying to reassure the Florkana above him of his health. In reality, the ground was spinning. Mars could barely tell up from down at this point, much less left from right. Regardless, he attempted to stand up all the same.
Mars began by adjusting his pose. He moved his right knee up, placed his right hand on said knee, and attempted to extend his legs to fully stand back up.
[5:02 PM] LadyDeme: Seed put a hand on Mars's shoulder, his voice surprisingly firm -- his grip wasn't very tight, but it was still not to be shaken off. It looked increasingly like Mars had dangerously over-extended himself, or even suffered a concussion.
"Even a minor head injury can cause problems, and you can barely speak or stand. Sit down for a moment, before you do something foolish." Like trying to move around. Seed scolded him, but his voice couldn't keep the tone up for long, melting into a much softer tone... If no less scolding. "This isn't my request as your ally, but as a healer; you're in no shape to be moving about, and insisting otherwise... It's neither brave nor strong. Let me check and see if I need a staff for you; I'm sorry for not having one with me. Now, come, sit down -- slowly, if you can. Don't try and move suddenly, and you have my support."
He took both of Mars' shoulders in his hands, trying as best he could to ease what he was going to insist would be Mars sitting back down into a proper seat, rather than a sudden fall.(edited)
[5:56 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: "I... am no fool." Mars plainly said before half collapsing onto his knees. Now sitting, Mars began to lean back on the tree that had broken his fall, and perhaps more. "I know... that I need rest." Mars began trying to breathe more consistently, but the breaths came and went as inconsistently as they had before he'd been told to sit down. Mars sat his hands down on the ground, and stared at the bloodstain he'd made just a few moments earlier. "I... never got used... to seeing that stuff." as Mars was talking, he slowly raised his hand up, and pointed in the general direction of the puddle, the shakiness of his hand did no make it any easier for Seed to see what Mars was pointing to, however.
[6:42 PM] LadyDeme: "Hm; if you say so," he said with a nervous smile. His eyes followed Mars' shaking fnger -- it wasn't exactly pointing at anything, but the only sight worth seeing was the drops of blood, staining the grass with a red that would slowly turn a deep brown. Blood wasn't a pleasant sight, nor did he care for the coppery scent of it; but his worry and his fear at the sight of blood, on its own, felt far-away; it was not the fear of a snake in the grass, sudden and visceral. But... His brow tensed, furrowed with a visible concern that turned him back to Mars.
"I...I think I understand that feeling. One of the reason I try and use what I've learned about medicine is that I get so worried, when people have injuries like that. Did you hurt your mouth?" He recalled the cough from earlier and a wave of concern rose up, reared up, tensed and waiting -- there were other places that blood could be spit up from than a bitten tongue.
[7:13 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: "I... It... My..." Mars was trailing off into delirium, barely grasping at the bits of input he was getting from his senses. "My mouth... is fine." The logical Mars, or at least, the Mars that didn't just suffer consecutive head injuries, would never have told Seed this. "I'm... fine... I'm... fine."
Mars' previously pointing hand fell down into the grassy plains as he drifted back and forth between conscientiousness and unconscientiousness. "I'm..." Mars' eyelids felt heavy, heavy enough to come crashing down harder than he had just a moment ago. "I.. need... to keep going." Mars finally managed to piece together a sentence without pausing between every word. "I mustn't stop." Mars' breathing was getting quicker, more consistent. Mars bit down on his own tongue, hard enough to draw plenty of blood. The pain kept him awake, but caused a not insignificant amount of blood to leak from the front of his barely closed mouth.
[7:34 PM] LadyDeme: "That's right, try to stay awake. But try not to hurt yourself worse. Deep breaths now. With me." Seed took a deep breath in -- and, a rarity, one out (well, rare for not a side.) Deep, steady, even. In, and out. He held Mars in position with a steadying hand; more movement would not be good, and he wasn't entirely sure he could leave Mars, not even to fetch a staff to heal him. Not this second, anyway. Inwardly, Seed was shouting at himself -- this was his fault, after all; he'd not brought it out walking with him.
"Keep talking to me. Don't worry, just as best you can. Where are you from, Mars?" This was not an idle question, but an excuse to keep track of Mars' focus and recall, while he was dizzied like this. When things seemed more stable, he could run and get a staff -- and if he heard someone else nearby, he could manage. It was his fault that he didn't have anything with him at the time.
[9:10 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: "I... don't know." Mars wasn't being coy or lying, he had come up with many fake stories as to where he was born in the past that now he could barely remember the truth, these lies were, in a way, catching up to him. "Fur... ana." Mars said, mixing and mashing town names together trying (and failing) to come up with his hometown. "But I moved away to Femina when I was... young. I was sent there... for something..." Mars looked down at his unmoving right hand. Using quite a bit of his strength, he lifted his lower right arm up, just enough to stare into his open hand. As it finally reached that point, his sleeve feel down towards his elbow, revealing unhealthily pale skin.
"I hated it." Mars clenched his right hand into a fist "Whatever that was... I hated it with all my heart." Mars' voice was weak "I want..." Mars tensed up his hand even more, he looked like he could've bruised himself if he didn't ease up "to fix it." Mars didn't ease up, in fact, the more he talked, the tighter his grip on nothing became.
[12:44 PM] LadyDeme: To be honest, under the circumstance, Seed was perfectly alright with the gripping -- at least while it didn't seem to be hurting him. It was a tingle of worry, Mars' sun-starved skin and burning hate; but Seed was worried about other things, thnings that grip encouraged. It signaled a lot of things that, for Seed, were more important than even the conversation itself; Mars could maintain a grip. And while he seemed a little uncertain at first, he was picking up speed quickly -- but Seed peered worriedly at Mars, his head tilted low to keep an eye on Mars's hand.
And as interesting as trying to fix it was, he wasn't sure it was the right -- was it? Was keeping a line of thought going better? Seed pondered it with a somewhat uneasy expression for a moment. He kept his voice calm and level, over a growing unease, as he asked, to keep Mars talking again,
"It's OK if you can't find a good answer, just keep talking. What do you intend to do to fix it?"(edited)
[5:07 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: Mars' was barely conscious, simply following words and thoughts as they came to him, he wasn't thinking straight, it was debatable if he was even thinking at all, so he simply said the first thing that came to his head "I'm going... to save those... like me. Those without choice... Those without lives..." Mars' grip was at its limit, if he gripped any tighter he could've drawn blood with his surprisingly long fingernails "I will free them... they are counting on me... I must not falter."
Something changed, in that moment, when Mars thought about his goal, his life's work. His will was revitalized, he refocused himself, his eyelids felt lighter, his eye began to make out the shapes and beings around him, he spit up the blood that was pooling in his cheeks, and he looked up, away from his fist, at the Florkana beside him.
"I... thank you." Mars smiled a weak, little smile and released his grip "You've done those people a great deed." Mars lifted his right hand up to his head, and rested his elbow on his knee, it was far from comfortable, but it was better than resting his head on the misshapen tree behind him. "Get a staff... I'll be fine"
[3:49 PM] LadyDeme: He eyed Mars cautiously for a moment. There was a lot to say for Mars' ambitions -- to him, they seemed somewhat opaque, though he could think of their meanings... And he'd have his own questions, for another day. Seed placed a hand on Mar's shoulder to steady him as he propped himself up, and from there narrowed his eyes as he pondered what to do, the golden ring on the outer edge of his iris eclipsed by his eyelids, visible only as it flipped towards camp.
"Agreed. Don't try and move while I'm gone, understand?"
Seed rose back up to his feet, turned, and ran. His pace whipped the branches around him, his own leaves rustled by his pace. He quickly returned to his lodgings, including the staff that rested its jeweled head on the side of the abandoned building -- a simple pick-up he now deployed the absence of before. Foolish, foolish. Seed repeated it the whole way back.
"Mars?" He asked as he entered the clearing once again.
[12:49 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: The moment Seed had left eyesight, Mars slumped further into his hand. Thank... the gods... that worked, he never... would've left... to get the damn thing... had I not... put on that... show. Mars' thoughts were slow. Piecing sentences together, even in his head, took a lot of effort. I need to stay awake. I need to save them. My endurance will pay off. I need to stay awake. I need to save them. My endurance will pay off. Mars repeated those sentences to himself as he waited for Seed to return.
By the time Seed had returned, Mars' thoughts were scrambled even further I need... save... them... They... thank me... endurance... worth it... I am... a going... to be... a hero. When Seed called Mars' name, Mars couldn't make it out amongst the sea of his and others' voices inside his head. Thusly, Mars didn't move a muscle.
[5:27 PM] LadyDeme: Seed rushed over, kneeling at Mars's side and gently -- show or no, that had spoken as well for Mars' bearing as this now spoke poorly, and in truth, the difficulties with injuries to the head weren't certain fixes for the more general magic of a festal or staff; the exact extent of damage was often so delayed, or hard to find, or just not the right kind of injury that, had Seed a heart, it would be pounding. As it stood, his branches trembled as if in a gale, the flowers fluttering off as his mood sank.
"Mars, please. Stay with us. Talk to me." He was already working, moving his festal around with the hand not clasped around Mars' own. The rod's mirror flashed with light, light that carried with it his own prayers, basked in the scent of the green forest, and of his own herbacious blossoms, the healing magic working as well as it could be directed. "Just answer if you can, OK?"
[7:21 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: "I-" Mars couldn't hear anything that Seed was saying. But the moment his vision started clearing, he knew that Seed was with him. "thank you." Mars looked up from his hand at the Florkana, his body already feeling like he could move without all of his effort.
"You really need to be more..." Mars paused "Well... I lost the word." Mars smiled the kind smile that he saved for genuine moments of happiness. He knew that staves needed a time to work, but given how much better he was already feeling, he figured that most of his injuries were simple trauma to the head. "I'm sorry to have... worried you." Mars' smiled faded "I shouldn't have needed your help... I was reckless." Mars looked down towards his bloody cloak, the blood had stopped dripping from his mouth a while ago, but by this time, it had reached his arms and was close to solidifying. "I guess I'll need to wash this after I get back." Mars said as he motioned towards his cloak, trying to fake a smile.
[4:30 PM] LadyDeme: "It's natural to need someone from time to time," Seed answered, at last relaxing a little -- his smile somewhat faint and exhausted, after all that fuss that still had his leaves rustling with leftover fretting, which was running wild in him. He'd admit there were a lot of things he needed to be more.
"I'm sorry; I was slow," he added, lowering his head, as he finished the round of healing magic. No external rules, and Mars certainly seemed better.... But that was only relieving for the moment. "But you are right that you should take better care of yourself; right now, that probably means not indulging in too many athletics for a few days. Staff magic is hardly infinite. In that vein, I'd like to check in on you every once in a while during a bit. It should be alright to sleep, but I might come by during the night."
[9:33 PM] != Midas | TouchOfBronze: Mars looked back up, the kindness of Seed was palpable. "I..." Mars stopped. There's no way I can accept help from him. It's my job to defend people like him. If I need to be saved by them, there's no way I'll be able to save them. Mars stood up, still a little wobbly, and looked down on the Florkana "I'm sorry. But I cannot accept your help. I need to be able to fight alone." Mars slowly turned back towards Ucra, and shakily began walking back. "Oh, and for the record." Mars turned back towards Seed with a smile on his face "If you barge into my tent tonight to check up on me, I'm afraid that what I do when I'm barely awake is not my fault."
Gods I hope that that helps lighten the mood.
[10:43 PM] LadyDeme: It did not. Seed practically wilted for a moment, his expression one of deepening concern, his furrowed brow wiping away the traces of a relieved smile. At the end of the day, an answer like that... Wouldn't be able to help anyone. Though he could see what it was given -- from his perspective, a perspective clear from his slumped shoulders. He did not immediately rise back to his feet, but instead nearly let Mars go... Before deciding that he should say something. Even if the young man didn't think him competent enough to help... He still had a task to take, and from the sound of it, he shouldn't ask Suleiman to do it. So he put on a brave smile and nodded to Mars, as he let the young man go.
"...I guess we'll find out tonight, then. Please enjoy your rest for now."
[10:45 PM] LadyDeme: == RP End ==
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