MoD RP (Shaples)

[redribbon]

"You should lie down," Faeran said flatly. He was used to people and their bravado when it came to injuries. He spent his entire life around soldiers after all, and he had no doubt Kari, who had made a living bare-knuckle fighting and probably lived off the streets, was probably just as stubborn as the lot. Time and time again, people would tell him they were alright, only to later collapse from their own weight or to suddenly turn out worse than before. Besides, how alright was someone going to be if they couldn't stop themselves from swooning? He had serious doubts that she was alright, and he'd rather she be safe than sorry.


To make sure she knew he meant what he said, Faeran added firmly, "If you cause me trouble while I'm workin', I'm gonna lose my temper. You rest up until you feel much better before you do anythin'."

 

[Shaples]

Kari held up her hands to pacify him, trying to keep the smile off her face, "Okay, okay, I'll lie down. Doctor's orders." Even though she thought he was overreacting about the magic, it had been a rough week, and the thought of taking a rest wasn't unwelcome. She knew if she stopped moving, though, that would be it; she'd probably konk right out and sleep half way through the next day. She rubbed her neck nervously, "If it's going to be in here, though, you should probably put me behind one of those curtains, so I don't scare the patients. I'm pretty exhausted from the ride up here, and when I sleep really soundly, sometimes I start glowing." She puffed out a sigh, fatigue settling in on her shoulders as soon as she admitted it out loud, "Gods, and I haven't eaten anything but old bread since yesterday."

 

[redribbon]

Faeran glanced around the room at the soldier around when Kari mentioned her problem of glowing. He didn't think it would be any problem for anyone in here. The soldiers would probably be more curious than scared of a glowing person, unless they were new recruits. Truth be told, they were all probably more frightened of Faeran's violent snoring than a glowing person.


"Stranger things've happened 'ere than glowing people," Faeran said with a small chuckle, his smile coming back to his face. "The curtained rooms're for surgeries rather than sleepin', but if you can sleep there, I think we can make space."


At the mention of her last comment, Faeran's eyebrows creased. "Oh, you hungry?" he asked. "Meals're at strictly scheduled, but I'll go see if I can fetch ya somethin' anyway."

 

[Shaples]

Kari rubbed her head sheepishly, "Honestly, I could probably sleep wherever you put me. I'm not picky, I just don't want to spook anyone." She considered his offer for a moment, then shook her head, "Thank you, but you don't need to go to the trouble. Just point me to somewhere I won't be in the way, and make sure to wake me in time for dinner, yeah?"

 

[redribbon]

"Hmm... If you're sure." She might've been okay without a meal, but he mentally decided he was going to try to get one for her anyway. There was no harm in asking after all, and sometimes the soldiers bent the rules depending on who was at kitchen duty at the time. Before starting on his way back, he snatched a pillow from an empty cot, tucking it under his arm. After tossing soldier Joel one last smile, Faeran waved Kari along to follow him and the pair started their way to the back.


Faeran had to stop one of the medics flittering back and forth to ask for an available room, and the two were directed to one right beside the open area of the cots. "No one uses that one anyway; everyone hears their screaming more clearly," the medic joked, earning a disapproving glare from Faeran.


It didn't take long to reach the room. It's curtain was already open, which was a courtesy rule to let everyone know that a room was vacant. It was a sizeable room, enough to give the medics (and Faeran) enough room to access the tools in the back and move around freely. Shelves full of various things, from metal instruments, bandages, and bottled substances sat everywhere around the room. In the middle of it all was a wooden table serving as a bed, where a thin sheet rested.


Faeran lay the pillow onto the table. It looked pathetic, so he tried fluffing it up in an attempt to make it look a little nicer. "S'not very comfortable, but you'll get some privacy here."

 

[Shaples]

Kari gave soldier Joel a little wave before following Faeran farther into the tent, and then into one of the surgical "rooms." She was momentarily distracted by the wide array of mysterious (and occasionally lethal-looking) instruments that lined the wall, and was more than a little tempted to start sifting through the items to try to identify them. Until now, the closest thing she'd seen to surgical instruments was probably a saw and a bottle of hard liquor. When she noticed Faeran fussing with the pillow, though, she put her hand on his arm and looked up at him, "Thank you, Faeran." It wasn't much, but she'd definitely slept in less hospitable places, and she hoped he could sense her genuine gratitude. She hopped up to sit on the edge of the table and asked, "I'll see you in a few hours?"


As soon as he left and closed the curtain behind him, she flopped down on the table, succumbing to her exhaustion with a grunt. She rolled herself up in the thin sheet, wrapping herself in a tight cocoon, and fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as her head came to rest on the pillow.

 

[redribbon]

~*~


It wasn't long until the soft orange glow of the sunlight fading through the tent started to dim. It was edging into nighttime now, and the medic girls started lighting up lanterns in preparation for the coming darkness. There wasn't a lot of work to be done today which couldn't be handled by the medics, and the holy magician simply spent the day practicing his own skills with bandaging and treating wounds without magic. While the medics took shifts for dinner and work, Faeran lingered behind, wondering when a good time would be to wake his new friend.


Just as he stepped out of one of the curtained rooms, a voice called out to him.


"Time for dinner, Faeran!"


Strutting haphazardly through the open cot area was Faeran's younger brother. He was looking around excitedly, his head twisting left and right as if trying to catch sight of an elusive animal that snuck in. "Where's the new girl?" he asked. "Did you make her do surgery? How'd she act?"


"She's sleepin' in one o' the surgery rooms," Faeran answered absentmindedly. His face suddenly brightened. "Hey, why don't you go get her?"


Yue's eyebrows furrowed with suspicion. "Uhh, why won't you do it yourself?"


"She fell asleep as soon as she got into bed. Must've been dog-tired. I dunno when a good time would be to wake 'er up," Faeran admitted, lifting a hand to paw at the back of his neck. He felt bad that he had made her use her magic so soon after arriving. He knew he should have realized she'd be tired, what with traveling miles over to the camp, being forced to be part of the army, and finally learning that there were other people like her. It was probably overwhelming, and he couldn't help but feel guilty that he had put her to work instead of letting her rest.


His little brother wasn't the type that would be bothered by things like this, and it was evident by the casual shrug of his shoulders that he didn't see what Faeran was so hung on about.


"If she's tired, she's going to be hungry. You should just wake her up," Yue said. When Faeran just ended up looking more conflicted, the younger brother just shrugged his shoulders again and looked around. "Which room is she at?"


Faeran gestured over to the room Kari was in. Without another word, Yue started his way. He knew Faeran had a habit of overthinking some petty things, particularly people's feelings. If his brother didn't want to handle it, then the younger one would do it for him, as long as it didn't cause him any trouble.


It looked like the room had a lit lantern inside, but as soon as the curtains were drawn, it was evident that the light came from the glowing cocoon in the middle of the room. Yue arched an eyebrow up, amused with the scene before him. How was no one able to find her out before? A person who glowed while they slept would've been a very difficult thing to hide.


"Rise and shine, firefly," Yue sang, lifting a hand to pat the cocoon. As soon as he struck it, he hoped he had managed to strike the girl's shoulder (or even her face; that would have been even more hilarious to him), but it was hard to tell where anything was. "It's dinner time. If you don't eat now, you'll have to eat tomorrow!"


He kept striking at the cocoon, as if swatting the dust off of a blanket being left out to dry. Until he got an answer, he wasn't going to stop.

 

[Shaples]

Even deep asleep, Kari wasn't hard to wake up. A lifetime of vagrancy had made her sensitive to changes in her environment, so when someone spoke - and then touched her - her mind went into high alert, sleep falling away instantly, and she reached down for the knife in her boot. Or, at least, she tried to, but the sheets she'd wrapped so tightly around herself held her in place, as they were intended to. The alarms died down. She only slept like this in places she knew she was safe, to keep herself from accidentally attacking a friend. Right. The medic tent. Faeran.


But, no, the voice wasn't right. Then the hand came down and slapped her gently again, and she realized this definitely wasn't Faeran. She shook her head, wiggling her face out from the sheets, only to find Faeran's brother looking down at her and continuing to mildly hit her through her little cocoon. She looked up at him, hair rumpled but straight-faced, and asked mildly, "Why are you patting my boob?"

 

[redribbon]

At her words, Yue-- groping hands and all-- flew back like he'd touched a burning stove. Did he really just--? No, that had to be a lie. He was sure about this; there was definitely no way that whatever he was pawing was anything but a shoulder. This girl was just trying to ruse him-- it was definitely a lie-- she was trying to mess with him because girls were coquettish little things always trying to tease men. Even while he adamantly convinced himself of this fact, Yue still found himself behind the curtains, peeping from behind it like some shy child looking for permission to enter.


"I-- Dinner's being served."


After that, he disappeared from the curtains soon after. He was definitely right-- it was definitely a shoulder, there was no way it was anything else-- but he didn't want to hear any more words from the girl that had so thoroughly embarrassed him with a single sentence.

 

[Shaples]

Kari blinked in surprise as Yue abruptly disappeared from her line of sight. She sat up a little to try to follow him with her eyes, but was wrapped up too tightly in her sheets to move very far. Still a little blurry from her abrupt awakening (evidenced by her softly glowing skin) she watched him hide behind the curtain and wondered why he was so startled. It was just a boob - and obviously obviously an accident. Was this really the same guy that had teased his brother half to death... she blinked again, realizing she wasn't sure how long ago that had been, since she had no idea how long she'd been asleep. She also had no idea why, exactly, Yue was here in the first place.


When he mentioned dinner, though, her stomach growled, and all her questions suddenly seemed less important. "Oh, thanks. I'll be out in a s-" But he was already gone. She snorted out a little laugh. Apparently the wind magician was all bluster. She flopped back down onto her table/bed and rolled to one side, unwrapping herself from the sheet and dropping down to the floor. She took a moment to stow away her magic, snuffing out the glow in her skin. Though she hated to admit it, she did feel much better - recharged, even. She straightened her clothes and smoothed down her hair before tying it back. She needed a lump of soap and a nice body of water, but for now it would have to do. She turned to the curtain and pulled it open, then headed back out into the medic tent. It was almost fully dark now, lantern light keeping the shadows at bay, and Kari looked around, hoping she hadn't been abandoned by both brothers, since she still had no idea where she was supposed to go to get food.

 

[redribbon]

Faeran was standing in the middle of the open area, one pale arm resting on his hip and the other scratching at his head. In one of his sweeps around the tent, he finally caught sight of Kari, and the concern on his face gave way to a smile. "Oh, you finally up?" he said happily, folding his arms across his chest. Although he was addressing her, his eyes were jumping around the tent, squinting into the dim light. "Say, did my brother say anythin' about goin' on ahead? I can't find 'im."

 

[Shaples]

Once she caught sight of Faeran, she walked a little faster to close the distance between them. It didn't seem like he was busy, so she wondered again why Yue had been her wake up call. "Yeah, Yue just came in to wake me. I figured you sent him." She followed his eyes around the tent, wondering if Yue was still holed up behind a curtain somewhere, but when Faeran asked, she had to fight back a smile as she shook her head. "He basically just said 'dinner' and made a run for it." She made a vague waving gesture with her hands, letting herself grin, "Like the wind." She crossed her arms over her chest, wondering suddenly if he was really that embarrassed. "You think we should look for him?"

 

[redribbon]

Faeran pawed at his neck again, his eyebrow arched up in confusion. His brother hadn't been all that concerned about the new kid and even willingly left to wake her himself. Why would he suddenly leave the tent without even a word to him?


"Weird. Kid only hides when he gets shy. That or he had other things t'do tonight," Faeran muttered to himself. He glanced down at Kari and his brows suddenly furrowed with suspicion. Maybe his brother liked Kari? Caught sight of her and fell in love with her? No, that wasn't possible. This was their second meeting and the first time he was just welcoming her like he did with every magician. Sho's greeting was just as ruthless(ly playful), and he was a man. Maybe Kari was in the middle of something and he walked in on her? Faeran shook his head as if to physically drive the thoughts out of his mind. Ahh, none of that was important. Yue left, and that was that. The holy magician looked down at Kari and smiled. "Nah, if he's not here, he's prolly elsewhere by now. Let's go get dinner ourselves. If we see any other magicians, I'll introduce ya."


Faeran held the tent flap open for her, taking one last chance to glance around the tent for his brother, in case he'd decided to hang around in the tents in the back.

 

[Shaples]

Shy. Probably the last word she ever would have applied to Yue after their first meeting, but there it was. The image of him half hidden behind a curtain popped back into her her head, and now that she was more awake, she registered it as cute - bizarrely, anomalously cute, given what little she knew of him. Hopefully he wouldn't stay in hiding too long; she kind of wanted to apologize, though she hadn't actually done anything to the poor guy. She briefly contemplated explaining to Faeran what had happened, but she couldn't quite manage to come up with a way to say your baby brother accidentally groped me while I was sleeping that didn't sound absolutely awful, though from the look on his face, whatever was going through his head wasn't any better. She was relieved when Faeran moved on, and she nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, that would be great. I'm starved."


She stepped out of the tent, but she cast a backwards glance, too, half expecting to see Yue peeking at her from behind one of the medics. As Faeran led her out into the camp, she found herself scanning the empty rows between the tents, keeping an eye out for a little shock of red hair...


 
...but there's no sign of him, not on the walk to the mess hall, and not when Faeran leads her to her tent later that night, or even so much as a glimpse over the next few days, which she knows is weird, because Faeran keeps muttering about his absence at mealtimes.


Other than Yue's disappearing act, though, Kari's new life quickly falls into a stable routine. The magicians here aren't as chummy with each other as she'd expected (or as Faeran had implied); she has yet to actually meet any of them, but that's in part because she's just been so busy. As luck would have it, Faeran seems to be the only one of the magicians with any kind of work ethic, and he's been insistent about impressing it on her. For three days after her arrival, from just after breakfast until just before dinner, she's been getting a much-needed crash-course in basic medical training: learning what magic can fix and what it can't, how to dress wounds and what all the surgical implements are for. She also spends a not-insignificant amount of time practicing using her own magic with more restraint, letting her light fall into wounds drip by drip rather than dumping it out in buckets. It's exhausting, but more satisfying than she could have imagined - though it's not lost on her that Faeran still hasn't done any actual magic in front of her, preferring to praise her progress and deftly avoid any discussion of why, exactly, some of his patients are so afraid of him.


It's only at night, as she's walking back to her tent alone after dinner, or wandering through the darkened camp, that she feels restless. It's been less than a week, but it's already almost as long as she's ever stayed in one place. In some ways, it's perfect - the constant itch of magic that's lived underneath her skin for as long as she can remember has abated somewhat, and though it feels a little weird not to spend an hour each night ramming her fist into a wall or a tree or the ground, it's a very welcome weirdness. Being around Faeran is great, too - it would be great even if they didn't share the same magic. But when the work ends for the day, and the camp quiets down, it's like there's suddenly a different itch. It's too quiet here, nothing like the cities and towns she's lived in her whole life, and equally different from the roads she's traveled between them. Too many people, not enough buildings; just tents as far as the eye can see. And though she was tired enough that first day to sleep on a literal slab of wood, there's something about her cot that vexes her. After the first night, she slept on the floor. By the third night, she has to admit that she's avoiding even going back to her tent.


***


For a change, Kari decided to take a walk, which turned into a jog, but the more she ran, the more it started to feel like she'd never find the end of the damn encampment. After about an hour of tramping up and down the neat rows of tents, she realized the evening had gone from deep dusk to full dark, that most of the people in the camp were sleeping, lanterns snuffed out, and that she had absolutely no idea where she was. She'd run blindly, craving movement and change, the familiarity of physical exhaustion to overtake the still-unusual feeling of being mentally and magically drained. But in the dark, all the tents looked the same - even worse than they did during the day - and despite the fact that Faeran had spent a good amount of time showing her around, it wasn't nearly enough for her to get her bearings at night. She probably could have tracked someone down and asked for directions, but she was still apprehensive about the soldiers, and - she forced herself to admit - she didn't really want to go back to the tent, anyway.


Instead, she kept running, taking solace in the familiarity of the ground beneath her feet, and when the very last of the lanterns started to go out and inky darkness threatened to swallow up the camp, she held up a hand, filling it with light and looking around. She found the biggest, most heavily leaved tree, climbed it as high as she could, and nestled herself down in the branches. She felt a little stupid - and would probably feel a lot more stupid if someone found her here - but the rough bark pressing against her skin and the gentle rustling of the leaves in the wind were enough to soothe the intractable tension in her shoulders and lull her into sleep.

 

[redribbon]

Yue lugged himself across the open clearing of the encampment, a huge bag slung around his back. It was the dead of night now, with only a few campfires blooming around camp. Now that the new magician girl-- apparently a holy magician, he'd found out-- had taken residence in the medic tents with Faeran, Yue hadn't had the opportunity to speak to his brother in what seemed like forever. Spending a few hours lounging around with Sitri or joking about racist things with Sho wasn't enough to satiate his feelings of loneliness. Unlike Faeran who was surrounded with people, the younger brother didn't particularly have many friends, and his brother, pathetic as it was, was the closest thing he had to a best friend. Being cut off from him made him irritable, moody, and resentful, even though he was fully aware that all he needed to do was suck up his pride and see his brother anytime he wanted.


This medical bag, however, was going to solve all his problems. If medical equipment from the other medical tents started going missing, Faeran would be sent out to investigate it. Most of the medics were already quick to assume (correctly) that it was Yue who caused grief around the medic teams. It was natural they'd send out his brother to deal with him. Maybe Faeran would even be forced to do his work in another tent without the new girl following behind him.


There weren't a lot of trees around the encampment-- as expected from a grassland country-- but he did his best to find one towards the outskirts of the camp so it'd be tougher to find. With the fragile equipment rattling quietly on his back, Yue trudged on, squinting up at the trees and making sure to keep away from any patrolling soldiers.


In his journey though, one particular tree seemed to have something odd stuck in its branches. It looked like a person, but for some reason they didn't don the armor of a Delphine soldier. Alarms resounded in Yue's head as the first thought through his mind was that some enemy spy had lodged himself in the tree. Then again, they were still in the middle of the camp. How could an enemy soldier get this close, sneaking past the attentive patrol guards and over the wooden fences that marked the perimeter?


Whether they were an enemy or an ally, Yue didn't care. Suspicious people had to be dealt with, either with death or through terror. The wind magician carefully set the bag down to the grass, doing his best to make as little noise as possible. As soon as it was down, he set his feet square and mimicked a bow being drawn taut, setting his sights up on the person in the tree. Magic gathered up around him, starting from the grass swaying at his feet and eventually winding up to dance with his hair.


As soon as he released his imaginary arrow, a violent jet of wind blew past, shattering a branch just a little ways from the person in the tree into a hail of splinters.

 

[Shaples]

Kari woke to a memory, the sensation of wind on her skin and the sound of leaves moving around her dredging up something visceral and familiar from her subconscious. A summer storm, just moments before the rain started pelting down, the smell of earth and anticipation heavy in the air. Then something struck the tree, and it wasn't water raining down on her head. The magic in her skin deflected most of the splintered wood easily, but she'd been putting less effort into maintaining her armor since she'd started using her magic to heal, and a few of the shards actually caught flesh, one of them slicing a long line along her cheek. She growled, letting out a quick, angry pulse of light that solidified her defenses and sealed her cuts.


She was awake, but only in the most animal sense - reacting rather than thinking. Something was attacking her. She needed to move. She flipped down out of the tree and landed on her feet, coming up with fists glowing hot with white light. Anything big enough to shatter wood was too big to stop with a knife, but she might be able to punch through a cannon. But as her mind caught up with her body, she realized it was still the middle of the night, pitch dark, and there was no sound of artillery fire, movement, alarm, nothing. Just... wind?


She unclenched one of her fists and held up her hand, letting light spill out around her, until she saw... "Yue?"

 

[redribbon]

Yue stiffened when the soldier in the tree was a familiar face. It was just his luck that the one soldier he caught in a tree would be the girl he'd been trying to avoid all this time! He hissed under his breath, bitter that he'd only managed to avoid her for a few days. "What are you doing in a tree?" he demanded, his words more terse than necessary. "There are tents, you know. Hanging out in trees in the middle of the night is spy behavior."

 

[Shaples]

Kari's more than ready to snap right back at him, ask him what he's doing blowing up trees in the middle of the night, and certainly he has a tent too so why isn't he in his and-


And then he says "spy" and it hits her right in the gut. She can feel her eyes go wide and the blood drain from her face as the realization sinks in. He must have been patrolling the area. He hadn't hit her in earnest, but if he had... She turned and looked back at the tree and saw the jagged, empty scar where he'd blown one of the branches clean off the trunk. It might not have killed her, but if he hadn't recognized her, he might have tried. If it had been one of the other magicians that had found her there... She turned back to Yue and gave him a tight nod, "You're right, I wasn't thinking. I just... I couldn't sleep. In my tent. I-" She forced herself to meet his eyes, "Thank you for not trying to kill me."

 

[redribbon]

He raised his eyebrow. How could anyone be unable to sleep in their tent? Sure, there wasn't a nice warm bed or four walls to keep the place insulated and quiet, but it was safe. He couldn't understand it at all, unless this girl happened to be some sort of spoiled noblewoman longing for her home. Frankly, he didn't care why she wasn't sleeping in her tent, only that she wouldn't go napping in trees. "If you can't sleep in your tent, ask for a bed in the medic tents," Yue said, stooping over to collect the medic bag at his feet. "No trees, unless you want to die."


He hoped he'd be able to get out of there with just that. He still had to get the medical equipment up in a tree, but now that he'd been spotted in the area, he'd have to cross to the other side of the encampment to dump it there.

 

[Shaples]

"Yeah, I got it," Kari muttered. When Yue started to turn away from her, though, she shouted after him, "Hey!" To make sure he stopped, she took a few steps toward him, "You should stop ignoring your brother." She crossed her arms over her chest, "I know it's me you're avoiding, but he's starting to think you're pissed at him. If I leave the medic tent tomorrow afternoon, will you go have lunch with him?"

 

[redribbon]

Yue halted in his steps when she called out to him, and started to panic when the girl mentioned him avoiding her. How was she able to find that out? They only met twice, and already she knew his name and the fact that he was close with his brother. Faeran must've been talking about him with her. That guy wouldn't shut up sometimes.


Without turning around, Yue resumed moving forward, slogging through the grass while the bag over his shoulder continued clattering. "I-I'm not avoiding you," he huffed with hopefully convincing indignation. "It's only been a few days; I can't see Faeran everyday. We're both adults; we both have things to do."


Just in case she was no longer following him, he called back behind him, "You can leave if you want, but I have things to do tomorrow so I can't meet up with him anyway." He didn't actually have any plans the next day, but now he was sure he'd be making one. Maybe he could go beg the general for something to do. General Tiberus was probably still awake. If he had nothing to give him, he'd go beg the other magicians for something to do.

 

[Shaples]

"Hey!" She called after him again. When he didn't stop walking, she rolled her eyes and chased after him. "You're an awful liar, you know. Faeran was upset, like, immediately after you disappeared the other night, and he's been so distracted looking for you at meal times I'm surprised he's been able to actually put any food in his mouth. And it's not like I can tell him why you-" she finally caught up to him and grabbed onto his bag to force him to stop and talk to her. It clinked and clattered when she grabbed it and she looked down without thinking, only to find what looked suspiciously like medical equipment peeking out of the top of the bag. "Is that...? What are you doing with all this?"

 

[redribbon]

Yue wrinkled his brows as he racked his head for a reason why this girl was trying to guilt him into talking with his brother. So what if Faeran was so distracted he couldn't eat? Faeran needed to stop being so clingy anyway, and if she was so concerned about Faeran, maybe she should have told him what was going on so he'd be spared the grief of wondering where his baby brother had gone. The whole incident was her fault anyway. Who sleeps swaddled so tightly in a blanket you can't see their head? What was she, a two year old?


On her spotting the medical equipment, Yue's sense of self-preservation kicked in. "I found them in a tree," he said flippantly, as if the implication that he might've stolen it never crossed through his mind. "Some soldiers steal medical equipment and leave them up in there sometimes. Part of a hazing ritual for new recruits, I think. It's part of the reason I spotted you in one anyway."

 

[Shaples]

Wow, he really was an awful liar. "In the middle of the night," she said, voice laced with just the barest hint of sarcasm, "I'm impressed. We should probably go take this stuff back to the med tent and let Faeran know that you found it."

 

[redribbon]

Yue shrugged and lifted the bag off his shoulder with a light clatter. "Fine, take it, then. You work there after all," he said, holding the bag out for her to take. "I need to go look around for more people and things in the trees."