destinystrings | Farewell Happy Fields!

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Farewell Happy Fields!

Farewell Happy Fields!

☯

What: Aftermath of Anoli Attack: Hospital
Where: Leo Ward - Caduceus Hospital Headquarters
Summary: It is the aftermath of the Anoli attack on the Closing Ceremonies. The injured have been taken to Caduceus Hospital Headquarters, and it is time for reflection, visting, or old-fashioned escapes from the hospital rooms.
Warnings: Mild squick if people want to describe their wounds in explicit detail.

Caduceus Hospital Headquarters. It has a distinguished history within Hinoto-Ri, boasting of a staff of well-trained Healers, as well as possessing the most cutting edge medical technology possible. There was no limb they couldn't reattach, no organ they couldn't replace... - they even claimed to be able to bring someone back from the dead (with the small disclaimer that it could only occur under certain conditions and with an obscene amount of luck).

So needless to say, the hospital was more than well-equipped to deal with the aftermath of the Anoli attack on the Closing Ceremonies.

---

Nearly every hospital bed had been filled by an injured patient that night. The A&E room had been in constant chaos, with civilians crying and shouting, searching for loved ones, or demanding to see doctors or healers to help so-and-so...

There had also been plenty of reporters milling about, shouting and crying over the status of the Mayor's Secretary, and whether the Red Lion had really died at the scene, or if he was still alive and well within the safety of the hospital's ICU.

By the time morning broke, there was a false sense of tranquillity within the hospital. The healers had been pushed to their limits with the sheer number of patients being wheeled in and out of surgery, but otherwise, the situation had finally gotten under control. Now, both civilians and visitors were merely waiting for word of the conditions of their injured friends and family...

[Welcome to the winding down of the event! You are now at the hospital, where you may be visiting the injured, or be one of the injured yourself! Those with RED injuries will be in the ICU, and those with YELLOW injures will be in normal wards, for obvious reasons. Those with GREEN injuries wouldn't have had to go to the hospital at all, so they are free to come and go as they wish!

You may all start your threads and mingle!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If the way he was hugging his wings around himself was any indication, as he unthinkingly polished his nails by fidgeting with them... or perhaps more tellingly, the way the wing on her hand's side moved subtly, to lightly press its feathers into her outstretched hand, without him appearing to have consciously directed it to do so... maybe some physical contact wouldn't be unwelcome?

He didn't exactly respond to what she said at first, unsure of what to say. But the question made him look up again, blinking in surprise.

"Oh-- oh, it's not that. Things--" He smiled a little, embarassed. "Things are going as well as usual, I suppose. It's just... different, being here. The people..."

A second's pause, as he looked back to his nails, searching for the words he wanted to use. "In the Citadel, everyone knows about the correlation between plumage and age, and about how much my clan -- the humans' own elite hunters -- does to protect them, and... and how important the...." He made a vague gesture, "the ranks and... honors, and titles, and...."

He sighed, giving up on trying to explain it from that angle, and shook his head. He looked back up to her, eyes a little shiny with tears that hadn't yet built up enough to consider falling, which he probably hadn't even noticed for himself yet. "Here, where my clan isn't? People don't fall all over themselves with elder this, and yes sir that, and... and they speak with me. Not with the elder Razielim, but with me. Or maybe just with that curious-looking creature, but it's still a great change in approach." He was smiling as he said that, cheeks creeping subtly toward a more purple hue. "I don't believe that the extent of it was ever more apparent to me than after I'd been here for even a little while... and though I find myself missing my brothers, I don't think I'm ready to return quite yet. Besides...."

He leaned down subtly more, voice hushing just a little to compensate. "There's ice cream here. And hot chocolate!" Between that hint of a kid-at-Christmas expression on his face, the weight of those earlier thoughts clearly brushed aside for now, and the nearly conspiratorial delivery, it was probably safe enough to assume two things here. One, that he'd never had either of those sweets, back in Nosgoth. Two, that he was so enthralled with his discovery of them there in Hinoto-Ri, that it outweighed, or at least counterbalanced, his desire to see his brothers again just yet.

Yes, dessert was holding him here.

How old was he, again, exactly?

"You've tried those... haven't you?"

((Sorry for the TL;DR! Hopefully that last bit made you smile, though? :) ))

...Ah... Though she herself had never held a position nearly as close to Avitus', she can get a small sense of what he means. To many of her classmates, she is not Aoi Misato; rather, she is the "student council president", or at worst, "the little miss". The disconnect in the titles was... sorrowful to say the least. It's hard, being seen only for what, not who you are.

However, his excitement at hot chocolate and ice cream blows those thoughts to the wayside. She really can't help but smile out of genuine happiness at his obvious glee.

"I've tried both, yes. They're both very delicious; I should try them again sometime." She has to hold back a small giggle - his cheer is infectious.

((OOC: This is... the cutest darn thread, oh my goodness.))

"There are some places not too far from the hospital that sell them. I was thinking to get some, after doing what I could here... but that may take me until the hours for visiting are through, with as many people as are here." His smile faded a little again at that, but only for a moment. He finally pulled his wings back up behind him, straightening up his posture just a little bit more again.

"However, if it would help you feel better, I wouldn't be adverse to fetching some now...."

Thinly veiled excuse there, burdie. Thinly veiled indeed. That formality was a joke that wasn't going to last beyond her answer, and maybe not even that long.

((In other words, be an enabler here, Aoi! :D))

Another stifled giggle - even she can pick up on that much of a hint.

"If it's not too much trouble, I would like that very much." Hopefully the nurses won't object...

"None at all; I'll return shortly!" He grinned and turned, hurrying out of the room and down the hall.

Not half a minute later, he came back in, wings down around his waist in a hug and cheeks purple.

"I... ah... forgot to ask. What is it you'd like me to bring back for you?"

She is initially surprised when he takes off at such a speed, but gives yet one more soft giggle as he returns. "Would strawberry be alright?"

"Strawberry ice cream, or strawberry flavoring in hot chocolate? Or should I get some of each?"

"Just strawberry ice cream will be fine." She smiles a bit awkwardly at the thought of strawberry in hot chocolate. It sounded like something a friend of hers would appreciate, but she was not nearly as much of a strawberry fan as he.

He gave another nod to her, dipping down in a subtle bow as he turned again. "I'll be back."

And with that, he left again.

He was gone for a good ten minutes, perhaps, before he came back in, his wings back up behind him, feathers floofed. He had a container in his hands, the shiny, thin kind of cardboard domed with clear plastic, and a rolled-up napkin barely concealing a plastic spoon. That hadn't come from the hospital's cafeteria; he must've ducked out to a shop nearby.

"Here," he said, closing the door carefully before heading over to offer it to her with a smile. "They even put fruit and a bit of whipped cream on top."

Indeed, there on the top of the pink ice cream was a little puff of white, and a few thin little slices of strawberries, just to make it all look fancy and impressive.

He had a second container in his other hand, likewise with a spoon and napkin... and his looked to be dark with chocolate ice cream and sauce inside. "I hope it's to your liking."

She had settled back into her bed by that point, staring out the window thoughtfully. However, his return has her sitting up again with a smile, holding out her hands to accept the ice cream. "Thank you very much, Avitus. I really appreciate this." Staying in the hospital meant there was not much to look forwards to, so getting a treat from such a kind person was especially wonderful!

She carefully pops off the top and takes a bite... Her smile widening a fraction as the sweet taste spreads over her tongue. "...Delicious!"

He took a careful seat on the chair next to her bed, sitting toward the front so he could tuck his legs beneath it, and arranging his wings on either side, relatively out of his way. The clear top came off of his as well, and he likewise took a bite, closing his eyes while he played with it a bit in his mouth.

"I love their syrups," he said, sighing happily as he looked back down to it. "They're better than what I can find at the markets, in bottles."

He took another bite... and after a moment, his eyes mostly closed again and smile wide, there was some faint sound from him, a low, melodic, liquid sort of burble under his breath... was he cooing? Because it sure sounded like it. And he didn't seem to be paying attention to the fact that he was making that sound, either, intent on the little container of chocolate dessert in his hands.

He looked to her again, the sound continuing, gently, quietly behind his words as he spoke... however he was doing it, it wasn't with his larynx. "Did you have ice cream in the world you'd come from? Or did you only just find it here, as well?"

That... is an interesting sound. She's not sure if it would be polite to comment however, so she refrains from mentioning anything.

"Um... We have ice cream where I come from, yes. I used to get it with my friends sometimes." Her lips pull into a soft smile at the thought of her group back home. "I had one friend who would always insist on getting strawberry flavor... He really loved anything with strawberries in it."

"Mm... I wish we had this, back where I'm from. I'm not certain how we'd have been able to, though; even if there's milk and cream and sugar... one would have to go fly north to retrieve some ice from the mountains. It seems quite a bit of work, for something that isn't strictly needed. I mean... it isn't as though ice isn't something some of the clan is sent to fetch daily... but...."

He shook his head a little, the coo trailing off at the thought, until he stuck his spoon back into his ice cream, getting a little more on it, and watching the syrup drip slowly back over the rest of the dessert. "It would be quite an expensive treat, I'm certain. And the syrups, and the flavors.... I'd never heard of chocolate before. Where does it come from, I wonder...?"

"I know that they make it using cocoa beans, but I'm not sure what process they go through to create it exactly."

She takes another delicate bite, making sure to swallow completely before she continues. "In my world at least, it's native to another continent, but we are able to import it to our country and make our own chocolate with it."

"Another continent?" He paused, thinking on that a moment. "I only know of the one, in my world, but I've never traveled far. It makes me wonder what might still live, further off, that we don't know about.

"Perhaps these cocoa beans live on another continent in my world still, and we simply haven't found them?" He poked at his ice cream again, playing with the syrup and taking his time with it. "But then... I know we've varieties of things which aren't here, too."

A slight pause, and he peeked back at her again, curious. "Might I ask... is your world much different from this place? Where you lived, I mean? Did it have many of the same things?"

"You haven't? Does your country not use boats to cross the ocean?" That was how Japan received quite a bit of influence from other countries before and after its period of isolation.

"...The place I come from is very similar to Hinoto-Ri in many ways. I come from a large city called Tokyo that resembles Hinoto-Ri slightly. However, our technology and the power of Personas they have here... That much is very different." She shakes her head slightly. "Even though there are demons in my world as well, most people aren't even aware they exist. Magic and things like that... I doubt many people would believe in it."

He shook his head. "Magic was well known to have existed in Nosgoth... it's just that no one quite remembers how to use it any longer. Or something like that, I suppose. I certainly don't, but then, I never did. And... I don't think a Vampire's Gifts actually count; they come entirely unbidden and can't be taught to others who wish to learn, or I would be able to heal others as several of my brothers can.

"Perhaps humans in other lands haven't lost those arts, if they are elsewhere." A little sigh, playing a bit with his ice cream again. "But we have yet to find other humans. In fact, we've yet to find other inhabitable lands." He sighed. "Essentially, there simply aren't any clearly practical means of exploration. The ocean is all the way on the other side of everything, the mountains to the west are incredibly treacherous for humans, with difficult winds for my clan, and the lands east are next to impassible... plus, the Turelim still roam those parts, and Richter thinks there could be Zephonim hiding there as well." He made a face, and finally took a little taste of his ice cream again.

"And every report essentially says the same thing anyhow. The lands are nearly dead. Little grows still. And it's even more lifeless the further one gets from the Empire's territories. The Citadel's own fields are perhaps the most fertile places in all of Nosgoth, unless one counts all of the greenhouses and window gardens.

"This city is... it's far different from anywhere in Nosgoth, in appearance. I'm much more used to buildings sort of... growing into each other, in places. More balconies. More stone, and stained glass, and poles with banners hanging down here and there. But the wall, we had one too. The dead trees... those, I've seen plenty of, out in our fields too. Heldrad always comes to drag me outside to show me when they bloom, and they usually manage to, each year. Not much, but enough to provide a bit more food for the humans. ....It makes me wonder if the trees here will live again some, come springtime.

"I'm not used to seeing any trees among buildings, though. Is that similar to where you're from? The streets, interrupted by areas set aside for trees?" He took a bigger bite, waiting for her answer.

((TL;DR: He comes from a crapsack dying post-apocalyptic-sounding world where little is growing, and the terrain is progressively worse the further they get from the city, which is pretty barren too, so they can't explore much. Also, bets are, he's never seen lush and healthy plant life on a large scale before.))

She stares at him, unable to mask her incredulous expression. "...We have trees in parks, yes. But many of the plants you see are only once you get away from the skyscrapers. Outside of that, there are many fields and well-forested areas." She pauses for a bit before asking:

"But from what your land sounds like... Are you saying that even Hinoto-Ri has more nature than your city?"

"Within the city, yes, quite a lot more. The Citadel is full with buildings; expanding it is a chore for all." He frowned. "One must first be certain that the mountains are cleared away properly without, so that none, especially the Turelim, may use them to breach the walls easily... then the Citadel's outer walls must be rebuilt to contain the new space. And then finally, we remove the old wall, and build. So it's quite a bit less trouble to simply design buildings upwards, and such that they connect... it saves them some trouble during the tremors, too, for having so much support. So there isn't a great deal of room for bare earth, or for plants, I'm afraid.

"But here... it's all quite different. I get the feeling that the mess of trees out in one of the wards here wasn't planted deliberately, even. That's... called a forest, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's correct. Although even the forest here is limited due to space..."

There's definite confusion on her face as she tries to imagine the place Avitus is describing. "The... Turelim. You've mentioned them twice now. What are they...?"

"They're..." He hesitated, wincing faintly. How ought he approach this?

"I believe I mentioned there being other clans in Nosgoth, aside from my own...? Raziel was the first of the six clan leaders made, and first also in strength and power; Turel was the second, following after him. He and his clan, as I recall from the Empire's days, were vicious brutes, and fantastically cruel... and he's done absolutely nothing over the ages to lessen that impression. In fact, it was only a few centuries ago that one of his fledglings was found wandering the northern wastelands and brought to the Citadel... and after speaking with my brother Heldrad, was taken in. Apparently poor Ulrich was deemed a weakling, and was to be culled, but managed to escape. He's been loyal to us ever since, for showing him mercy and opposing Turel."

He looked down, playing more with his ice cream again, face unreadable. The little tale must not have sat right with him in the slightest, even though it seemed to have a happier ending than not, for the Turelim in question.

"I believe I also mentioned that all the clans looked rather human once, too, long ago. As mine grew to be blue bird things, Turel's... mm." A slight frown. "I would liken them almost to dogs. Or perhaps bats; I'm not certain. They're great beasts, tall and heavily built... they quite often weigh twice, sometimes three times what the human guards do, most of it in muscle. Their ears are longer than ours, and quite wide...."

He was playing still with his ice cream, twirling the spoon lightly over whatever of it was still left in there, as he spoke. "And just as their ears have grown, so has their capacity to hear things. Ambushing them is apparently nigh impossible. Most of the older Turelim also have telekinesis, at least as projectiles. They're quite agile, and can move very quickly, especially on all fours, although they are still bipedal.... And they have quite soft fur when it's clean, although it's incredibly short, and somewhat sparse. Making floor rugs of their hides isn't uncommon, in the Citadel."

He made a face at his ice cream, and then held it over for her to see. He'd smoothed it over with his spoon while he spoke, and then used the tip of it to trace a simple drawing in the surface, of two figures. One would be almost half again taller than the other, if it weren't leaning down a little, with an almost dog-like head, snout very short and ears huge. The other figure might well have been human. It wasn't all that detailed; it was done in ice cream and chocolate with a plastic spoon, after all.

"They look a bit like this," he said. "I could see if I can find something proper to draw with, if you'd like...?"

Edited 2013-03-15 13:15 (UTC)

She looks with great interest at the image he's drawn in the ice cream. "They sound like nothing I've ever seen. And you... use their hides as...?" Her expression becomes slightly more disturbed then. If they had started out similar to Avitus, that meant they were just as intelligent as humans, if not moreso. Using their skin in such a way is... distasteful to her.

"Some manage. They're difficult enough to kill that the hide is usually ruined by the time they stay dead, so it isn't as common... and thus, the larger pieces of hides, to say nothing of the whole ones, are worth quite a bit." He was quiet; it was hard to tell if he approved of the practice or found it just as abhorrent.

"Sometimes, when someone has consistently done things so horrible...." He trailed off, not really sure what more to say, apparently debating with himself over how to continue that sentence... and then he shook his head, not going to continue it after all. "The other clans aren't sapient any longer, by any stretch of the imagination, I'm certain. At least it seems more--"

He paused again, and blinked, looking back up at her, looking sheepish, some faint little grimace. "You probably don't want to hear so much about such dreadful topics, do you. I'm supposed to be trying to cheer you up, and here I am instead, going on about Turelim. Um." What to change the topic to? He bit the inside of his lip lightly, thinking quickly.

"What sort of position do you hold, in your world? I mean-- what is it you do?" There, that topic was surely safer, wasn't it? And it wasn't as though he wasn't curious!

Edited 2013-03-18 09:24 (UTC)

Her expression only falls as he continues describing them, but when he changes topics she makes an effort to look a little cheerier. It's just... difficult to do after hearing such a horrible story. Even though one side may have been wronged horribly in the process, she still can't bring herself to condemn anyone.

"...I'm the president of my school's student council, but other than that I don't have any occupation. It's against the school rules for students to have jobs unless there are extenuating circumstances."

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I got mad at Photoshop. This icon will just have to do instead. :/

Photoshoooop! /Shakes fist

*snfl* It quit loving me.....

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incoming TL;DR!

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snfl It quit loving me.....