Our Time in the Aslouis Jungle (Zakkol and Ananfal)

[Ananfal]

It was nearly nine minutes before Dyr staggered back into camp, clutching her bleeding side with one hand and her sword with the other. Her sword was thick with blood and gore, similar to Dyr herself. Using the sword as more of a cane, she hobbled/limped over to Astor. "I'm glad ya made it back safe." She said to him, wincing as speaking caused pain to assault her. "I didn't kill the creature." She said softly, looking away from him. "I only stayed for as long as I needed ta make sure ya were at camp." A deep breath sent pain slashing through her and she almost dropped to the ground. "I think I need ta get ta the medical tent." She whispered weakly.


Dragging herself up with her sword, she slowly and painstakingly made her way towards the tent and the crowd surrounding it. Most got out of her way when they noticed the blood, but a few didn't even bother to turn around and look at her, too curious about the suddenly ill man currently residing within the tent.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Astor nodded at Dyr as she hobbled off over to the medical tent. The crowd (thankfully) parted for her, most probably due to the fact that her side was bleeding with blood seeping out between her fingers. The people parted rapidly, in fact, no doubt terrified at the thought of blood now with the ill man. And apparently he was indeed very ill, Astor was now hearing. He had deteriorated in several hours. Nobody had come out of the tent since going in there, for all of the medical staff were trying to figure out what the problem was.


With a sigh, Astor progressed away, watching as the crowd sealed again behind Dyr as she grew closer to the tent’s entrance. Astor concern was no longer of the sick man, but more now of how people would be acting. Paranoia. That’d be the main thing here. People scarred of becoming ill and dying out here, away from their families.


Astor sat down in the food tent, awaiting news of Dyr.

 

[Ananfal]

Soon the woman herself came to greet him, freshly washed and changed, no longer bleeding visibly but still limping somewhat. "The docta sewed me up." She told Astor as she sat down heavily next to him. "He wanted me off guard duty but I tell em nay. Protecting people be my life, and if my life is what it takes, so be it." She said quietly, her gaze not meeting Astor's own. She had never really told someone that in person.


Shaking her head slightly, she gave a soft sigh and struggled to get up, a wince crossing her face as she clenched onto the table so she wouldn't fall. Quickly recovering, she set off at a slow pace to the food, knowing that even if she wasn't hungry, she needed food to replace her spilt blood. Actually, Astor might need some too. She should get some for him.

 

[vibrantsystem]

'So, what's the problem?' Astor asked his voice laced with concern as he noted a wince fall across Dyr's face as she tried to get up form the seat, before using the table as a support. 'You really should be off guard duty, you know. You aren't looking that good-sit down,' Astor insisted, calling after Dyr as she started to progress off in the direction of the food. 'Just relax! I'll get you something,' Astor called, yet again, before standing up and progressing over to Dyr.


'Listen, what do you want to eat?' Astor repeated, walking over to Dyr. It wasn't hard to catch up, as she was chugging along at a rather slow pace.

 

[Ananfal]

"I can't just sit still and let others do ma work for me." Dyr muttered, glancing off to the side guiltily. "I'm da one protecting ya, not da other way around." Finally she sighed and admitted defeat. "Fine, I'll take it easy for a while. And not because you told me to." She glared at the ground, definitely feeling grumpy. She hated being unable to work. It made her feel like she wasn't earning her keep.


Shaking her head, she reminded herself that this wasn't the slums and she wouldn't get killed for taking a rest. Her mood soured further with her thoughts of the place she was born and she was practically killing the food with her gaze before she actually reached out and took a sandwich. "Anyway..." She spoke up in an effort to change the subject. "How has your work been going?"

 

[vibrantsystem]

Astor suppressed a laugh when Dyr inquired about how his work had been going. Truth be told, it was all very rather tedious, and not nearly as interesting as had been promised. Astor wasn’t one to be cynical, but he had his fears that by the time he returned to civilization, he’d be extremely jaded. Once you’ve drawn one plant, you’ve drawn them all, it felt out here in jungle. The plants all looked the same (with a few variations among species) and the animals were, well, fairly uncommon, if you were to exclude the large beast that had hunted them down earlier.


‘It’s going…well, I suppose,’ Astor mumbled, casting a look around. ‘A little boring, but not terribly so,’ he continued, telling a small lie. It was immensely boring. So much for what had been put on his application.

 

[Ananfal]

It had been several months since Dyr's little excursion into the jungle with Astor. She continued to speak with him on a regular basis, spawning some rumours that she quickly put a rest to. Now that her wound was finally fully healed (something about the jungle creature's venom made it hard to heal, said the doctors), she was eager to go out once more. In this camp, it was the only peace she had.


"Astor!" She called out, spotting him amidst the others. It was almost reminiscent of the previous trip,where she too had called out to him. "Do ya wanna go inta da jungle wit me?" She asked him, one of those rare smiles crossing her face.

 

[vibrantsystem]

It had been a long period of time since Astor and the rest of the people had arrived in the jungle to conduct research. They had been out her considerably longer than had been anticipated and promised, and Astor was sure he'd aged several years over the course of several months. It was really quite concerning. Much as he remembered fearing, those months prior, his work (or lack of it) had soured his view on life. All he cared about now was returning to his home and normal job and never speaking of this trip again.


Dyr was keeping him slightly sane though. She spoke to him more frequently than anybody else, and he still remembered when they had gone out into the jungle and she'd been hurt. It had taken a long time to heal, that wound had, and they hadn't been back out since.


But then, Astor heard her voice, and rotated on the spot. He had been heading towards the food tent. It was midday, and a number of people were bustling about, readying themselves for a expedition. 'Um, sure?' Astor called to her, his voice sounding slightly confused.

 

[Ananfal]

Dyr shook her head slowly, her smile dropping. "I don't know if it's da jungle or da people but I feel like I'm getting older every day." She sighed softly. "I need ta get some relaxation time, and that means we need ta go inta the jungle." Looking around at the people preparing for a trip, she sighed once more. "Knowing dem, da trip isn't going ta be happening for another hour or so, so we can go."


Dyr had slowly gotten more comfortable with talking to Astor over time. She wasn't making speeches, but the fact that he actually seemed to understand her and didn't make fun of her accent was enough for her. And he was the only one who went on her jungle trips, not like she asked anyone else. At the mental reminder, one hand came up to softly massage the scar she had been left with after that fateful encounter. It had been feeling strange lately.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Astor cast a look to Dyr as she moved her hand to massage her wound. Well, scar, really. Astor had had to it heal. People had wanted to know what had happened to Dyr. They wanted to know why she had the bandage on. They had wanted to know things. Astor hadn't really had a say in the matter of whether or not they were to know or not, and had simply turned a blind-eye when people had come to ask him about it. He wasn't really sure if Dyr had told anyone. Maybe she had.


'Still hurting?' Astor asked, indicating the wound with a point of his index finger. 'At any rate, I think we should go before they-' Astor indicated at the group of people faffing about, readying themselves for the trip '-pull us along with,' and with that, Astor began to walk into the jungle and out of the camp, awaiting Dyr a little into the thick foliage.

 

[Ananfal]

"Not hurting, exactly." Dry muttered, still rubbing her scar as she made a quick stop in her tent to stock up on weapons before joining Astor a few feet into the trees. "Its been feeling weird lately." She admitted, indicating her scar. Now that there was no one else around, she could relax and just let go of everything.


However, her relaxation didn't come. Instead she felt even stranger. Her scar was actively pulsing in little heat waves, and she felt nauseous. Putting a hand on her head, she couldn't tell if she had a fever or her entire body was too hot. "I don't feel so good." She managed to get out, wrapping her arms around herself. What was going on? She had never felt anything like this before.

 

[vibrantsystem]

Astor turned to face to Dyr when she entered the space in the trees. She had taken longer than he had expected to arrive, but she no doubt had her own reasons as to why she had arrived later on. It wasn’t really Astor problem. He didn’t mind waiting. After all, that was pretty much what he’d spent all his time doing here. Waiting and watching. It was quite peaceful, really.


However, when Dyr remarked about not feeling too well, Astor paled. Nobody knew what had happened to the man who had been ill many months prior. He had just vanished. Was Dyr suffering from the same illness? Astor wasn’t entirely sure.


‘Do you need a doctor to come here?’ He questioned, thinking things over in his mind. Should he? Or would Dyr rapidly get worse?

 

[Ananfal]

"No! No doctors! I don't wanna be cut up and experimented on!" Her fears were mostly based upon groundless tales of horrors done in the name of science. However, she still didn't want the doctors here. God only knew what they would do to her. Instead she simply groaned and fell to her knees, pain starting to twist her insides.


It felt like her skin was burning up, she didn't know what was going on... And then she looked down and gasped. Her skin around the scar was... Blue?! "Wha... What's going on?" Her voice was loud and panicky as the blue began to spread, and then realized her skin wasn't only changing color... It was also turning hard and slick... Like scales. She paled. Oh God, what was happening to her?

 

[vibrantsystem]

Astor was slightly miffed by Dyr’s reply. What was that all about? Why would people bother to cut her up? She was ill, that was all. But then again, maybe she feared being tossed away like the previous ill person out here. She was, however, the most valuable guard out here, with the person who had “mysteriously” vanished was a little nobody who Astor had never heard of nor really cared about. It was a most strange stance for Dyr to take, thinking that would happen. Astor wasn’t really looking at her though when he was thinking that.


‘If you insist,’ he said, respecting her opinion. He wasn’t one to push her into something that she either didn’t want or, if the situation had been different, didn’t need. When Astor did finally turn around though, he was surprised to see scales of some kind instead of skin around Dyr’s scar, to say the least.


‘Um, I don’t know,’ Astor meekly said, staring at the changing skin, standing there, completely dumbstruck.

 

[Ananfal]

Pain curdled inside of her, but she didn't scream. She was used to pain. However the blue was spreading even as she was watching and she was panicking now, her breath coming in harsh pants. It went along her veins first, then spread to fill the rest of her skin, the hard ridges of scales forming after the color change. It would have been fascinating... if it wasn't happening to her.


Nails digging into skin, Dyr was unable to hold herself upright any longer and fell to the ground, back bowing with pain. However she didn't make a sound. Her eyes rolled back into her head as pain overloaded her body and despite her best efforts to stay awake, she slipped into unconscious with one last fleeting thought: will I ever wake up again?

 

[vibrantsystem]

Astor cast yet another panicked look down at the bluing Dyr, before covering her unconscious form in assorted leaf matter. If someone was to come through this way while he was gone briefly then they wouldn't hopefully stick around for too long. Or at least not long enough to pay attention the the poorly-concealed guard. However, Astor reasoned that the chances of someone passing through this way would be rather low, considering the fact that most of the people at the camp would be leaving on a trip.


Bursting back through the trees to the camp, Astor looked about, thinking what he should do next concerning Dyr. Her...change had come out of pretty much nowhere, and had caught both him, and it seemed her off guard. What had caused it? How had it happened? How would something like that even happen. In a panic, Astor began to progress towards the medical tent, moving slowly, as to not draw too much attention to himself by running over.