middleofsomewhere | Day 11: Purple and Orange

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Day 11: Purple and Orange

Purple: A Very Foggy Morning.

The night before the fifth day since the goblin ambush brings heavy and relentless rain. When the children and their helpers wake they will find the air damp and misty. If the treckers look at their SCA maps they are close to Um’i’les, very close.

However the mist thickens and by mid morning it is fog, thick and heavy. It’s practically impossible to see their hands if they stretch them out in front of them. Goblin activity has lessened considerably this far North but there are still dangers. Most notably the treacherous landscape. Paths turn sharply, hills give way to steep drops over jagged rock.

The children call out for each other and hold hands to stick together but the days of marching are taking their toll. They are tired, hungry and cold. This is much further than they usually go and now they can’t see. The older ones are irritable, some of the little ones burst into tears. Some whisper about getting lost forever in the blanket of fog.

Orange: Tumble Down.

Approaching Um’i’les from a different direction mean the farmers, merchants and their companions avoid the worst of the fog, mist rolls in but rolls out again leaving the hills hazy but still visable.

Just before noon it happens, one of the cattle dislodges a rock on the path. A small, unassuming rock but apparently vital to the structure of the hill side.

Everything crumbles, the section of path that the cow was walking becomes mud, parts of the path ahead and behind collapse or warp. People and livestock go tumbling. It’s not a sharp drop, luckily the slope here is one of the gentler ones but a mud slide is still dangerous. Merchants shout, chickens squawk. Hopefully the Voidtreckers bring some calm to this chaos…

If they look around they will see a path lower down the hill, if they could just get everyone out of the mud, hope no one is too badly hurt and get them on the other path this adventure might be salvageable...

Purple: Safe Haven

It might be the group splits, or perhaps they stick together. Maybe they stumble upon the city, find a section of wall and follow it round. Perhaps they wander lost for hours, so close yet so far. Or perhaps they decide to stay still until the fog lifts.

But eventually they find it. Um’i’les. A city, much larger than Culin’e’ai. Much better fortified. Guards challenge them at the gate but once they see the children will let them in and runners are sent to inform those that need to know.

Things happen quickly and soon there is one of the lesser halls of the keep prepared for their use. It is simple but there is a fire at one end and servants bring in tubs of water and also blankets. Soon there is pottage on the fire and enough bowls for everyone. A woman with a face that invites no nonsense can be seen around, clearly giving orders and instructions. If she sees any of the adults looking remotely competent she will watch them, though only approach if they seem open to the idea.

Orange: Help Comes

It might be that Orange Team are well on their way again. It might be that some have gone with the bulk of the citizens whilst others hang back to help those stuck or injured. Um’i’les has sent out riders, a huge group of children with a few adults arriving in from the fog was enough for them to search the hills for any other people who may be lost.

So it may be they find the city on their own, it may be they are found by riders, who will lead them to the city. If there are people stuck the riders will help with rescue efforts.

But unless anyone has gotten themselves well and truly lost they will arrive at the city a few hours after the children.

Purple and Orange: Reunited

Animals are stabled or put in paddocks, given food and water. The citizens are led to the same hall the children were taken to. Children are reunited with parents, or much more commonly grandparents. Stories are swapped and talk soon turns anxiously to those who are still out there somewhere.

In amongst all the clamour Orange Team are reunited with Purple Team, their charges safe for now.

((OOC: A reminder that if you want an NPC to show up in your thread just let me know here. Likewise if your character wants to do something outside of this framework that's absolutely fine! If it's something that you feel mods should be aware of let me know here or on the event ooc post!))

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Reigen is basically running on instinct and leftover adrenaline at this point, after five days of convincing old people to get out of town, herding chickens over a cliffside, and arguing with smug goats mocking him while he tried to navigate a mudslide. The first thing he plans on doing when he gets back to the train is having a long shower. Maybe a burger too if he can find one; he would do many things for a burger right now. For now, though, whatever's offered for food here would suffice.

However, when he notice a child completely collapse, Reigen decides food can wait a little longer while he takes this one to get some first aid...wait. Once he's close enough to pick up the boy, Reigen recognizes who it is.

"Joscelin? Dammit, kid, you've got a health condition, you could've sat this one out--WHAT THE FUCK."

Reigen's already concerned running on the assumption that an anemic ten-year-old has had to trek through the mountains for nearly a week, but then he notices that Joscelin's clothes are covered in blood, and his concern turns to full-on panic. Is that Joss' blood? How long has he been hurt? Does his weird anemia mean that even a scratch could kill him?! Fear brings on another boost of adrenaline, and Reigen near runs to the nearest medic with Joscelin carried in his arms like a small baby.

"Help...d-doctor, I need a doctor--the kid's hurt, do something!" Reigen gasps through his words. He just got here and he's already desperate.

He’s not actually hurt, as they will discover when they lay him out on a bed and start to remove his clothes. The only thing marring his perfectly pale (if somewhat dirty from five days of bloody battle) skin is, curiously, what looks to be a faded tattoo of the kanji symbol for child, 子, right above his belly button. A healed scar on the palm of his left hand is the only other mark.

Still, he’s obviously unwell. Despite the fact that his skin is cool to the touch, he has every appearance of someone burning up with a fever.

“Mum,” he mumbles deliriously. “Mum, it’s hot.”

Edited 2019-09-21 23:32 (UTC)

Reigen is just even more confused and worried seeing there aren't any injuries. It may be good that Joss isn't actually bleeding, but that doesn't explain where the blood came from or what's actually wrong with him. Maybe he caught some disease being around all those other kids. Children are germ factories.

The next things that he notices are the ring and the tattoo. The ring he assumes is an heirloom from those dead parents Joscelin has, but what's he doing with kanji printed on his stomach? He's too young to get tattoos! A lot more questions go through Reigen's head, but all of them get put on hold when he hears Joscelin asking for his mother.

"Joscelin, it's alright," Reigen says as softly as he can manage, lightly squeezing the boy's hand. "You're gonna be alright, I promise. Just stay with me, please." He then looks to the medic, his tone changing to a desperate urgency.

"He needs medicine or something, you can figure out what's wrong with him, can't you? I can't pay you right now, but... Please, he's my little brother, he's all I have left!" That lie might be a little suspect given how Joss and Reigen don't look alike, but Reigen is hoping making things more personal will ensure they get help. Besides, his genuine distress might make that easier to believe.

Joss’s body feels like it’s made of lead. He’s sinking down into the mattress, straight through the floor, down...

He awakens some hours later in a muzzy sort of fog. He’s in a bed? How had he gotten here? The last thing he remembers was being at a table, but...no. It must have been a dream. He’s back at home in the Temple with Mum and Toyo and the others. He can feel someone holding his hand. Had he been ill again? Mum must be worried. He’ll have to reassure her that he’s okay. He lifts his head with great effort and smiles, looking far more his physical age than he has since getting on the train well over a week ago.

“It’s all right, Mum, you don’t have to...”

But that’s not Ayumu holding his hand. It all comes rushing back.

“You. What are you doing? What happened? Where are my clothes?”

Just asking those questions requires far more energy than he has at the moment and he sinks back against the pillows. Damn poison.

Reigen stays in the same spot even as hours pass. He knows he won't even be able to relax until he's sure Joss is going to be ok, and besides, what kind of (fake) brother would he be if he did leave? Crabby and foul-mouthed as he is, Joss is still a child.

Finally, the kid does wake up, with a sweet smile Reigen's never seen before. It's a little strange, but the important part is he's awake. Reigen lets out a heavy sigh of relief, not realizing that he's barely been breathing up until now.

"Oh, thank god..."

He might have cried, but then Joscelin is back to his classic self, so the moment is lost.

"You passed out with your clothes covered in blood. I got you to a doctor." Reigen frowns a little. "How did that even happen, you don't have a scratch on you...and we're getting you different clothes, you are not putting the bloody ones back on."

“It’s not all my blood,” he says, still flat against the pillows. Why must the room spin so?

“‘s the goblins, mostly. I think. There was that wolf on the first day...”

He doesn’t seem aware of the fact that he isn’t making sense. “I got shot, and then there was the poison. I think it’s the poison that’s making me—“

He breaks off and starts coughing painfully, his tiny body rising and falling violently with each spasm.

If Reigen was confused before, then Joss' statement just makes him even more baffled. A sick child is splattered with the blood of his enemies? Not that Reigen's a stranger to super-powered children, but it's still not something he assumes of every kid he meets.

"...are you telling me you fought a wolf? This really isn't the best time for jokes, Joscelin. I'm already worried enough--hold on, you were what?! How--why--what--"

A lot of questions go through his head, particularly 'How are you still alive?!' and 'Why don't you have any injuries then?!' along with a bunch of questions as to who or what Joscelin really is. Then the kid starts coughing, however, and Reigen decides the more pressing matter is the fact that he has poison in his system.

"Never mind, we can talk about that later. The sister's gonna take care of the poison right now. You just, uh...focus on not dying."

Unfortunately, Joss is too busy hacking up a lung to give a coherent answer to any of Reigen’s questions. The poison swirls through his bloodstream, doing its level best to kill him while his body struggles to repair the damage. Bruises appear on his pale, skinny chest, signs that the poison is breaking down cellular structures, and then vanish again without a trace moments later.

There’s blood on his pillow now.

“F-flask! I need to drink...”

Well, that's not good. That's a lot of things really, but good is not one of them. Between the confusion from the mysteriously vanishing bruises and the panic from the fact that Joss is coughing, there's only one coherent thought in Reigen's head.

Oh, fuck.

"Hold on, I'll get you some water--eh? Flask? What?" Reigen has no clue why the kid is asking for a drink when he's dying (why would you even have alcohol on you, Joscelin?!), but he goes to look through where they discarded the stained clothes for something like a flask. Who knows, it could just have water or medicine in it.

The “flask” in question is a largeish water skin that is mostly empty save for a trickle of something sloshing around inside of it. He has little more than one swallow left. Any longer and he’ll need to resort to finding a donor. Maybe Reigen will volunteer. He seems uncommonly committed to caring for a stranger he’s just met.

Joscelin reaches a small hand for the flask and has the presence of mind to say:

“It’s...from the train. The last of m-my medicine.”

When is the train coming? He’s weak as a kitten right now, but still strong enough to drink from someone and then erase their memory of the attack if he needs to. He doesn’t want to. Not even when he’s like this.

Reigen manages to find something flask-like in the discarded clothes, which he assumes is what Joscelin is talking about. "Ok, found it! Here, drink up."

Quickly taking the top off, he hands Joss the flask. At least there's some left in there, though definitely less than enough to be ideal. Hopefully it lasts long enough for the train to show up and get them out of goblinville before Joss ends up coughing up more blood.

Man, all this stress is giving Reigen a migraine. He's never looked forward to going to bed so much in his life.

I It’s old blood, at this point, more congealed mass than strictly liquid substance. It tastes disgusting, sliding down his throat, and the age means that it’s not as effective as it might have been.

But it’s still better than nothing.

The coughing subsides and the bruising calms down.

“Water,” he gasps.

Then, miracle of miracles, he follows up with a...

“Please.”

Reigen breathes an audible sigh of relief when the 'medicine' starts taking effect. Maybe they weren't entirely out of the woods yet, but at least Joscelin is no longer hacking up a lung.

"Right, water! One minute!" He rustles through the supplies in the room (it's debatable how much permission he even has for that) to get some classic hydration. Once he's gotten the water, he hands it to Joss and takes another look at the flask the medicine was in with some curiosity.

"If this is how things go, we'll have to pack two of these things on trips from now on."

The water is blessedly cool, and he sighs happily. Already, he can feel sleep beginning to take him again as he watches Reigen fiddle with the flask.

“Mm,” he admits muzzliy. “I miscalculated. I was not expecting to get shot with poisoned crossbow bolts not an hour out of the train. I used too much then, and I’ve been playing catch-up...since...”

If Reigen wants an explanation, too bad for him. The next sound out of Joss is a light snore as falls asleep. It’s a much deeper and more peaceful sleep than before. He looks less agonized, less fevered. Not out of the woods yet, maybe, but better.

They had been ready once they heard of the children and later the other citizens who had been brought in off the hills. Injuries, illness, all were possible and sister Emile was one of those sent to check on their unexpected visitors. She had acted quickly when confronted by the man and his younger brother. She led them both to the infirmary, a much more calming place than the hall.

The child wasn't actually injured, despite all the blood. But something was wrong. She was a little affronted at the offer of payment but she said nothing. Those worried about loved ones often didn't think of the things that came from their mouths.

"We shall do everything in our power to save him. I need you to stay calm and step away. You don't have to leave him but I will need space to work."

He seems delirious, the child that was. Her first suspicion would be an infected wound but the child is not injured. He is very pale. "Is he an oft sickly child?"

She asked as she started examining him more thoroughly.

At prompting from the sister, Reigen steps away from the infirmary bed. "Ah, sorry--I'll stay out of your way. Thank you so much, ma'am..."

Reigen's anxiety isn't completely dispelled yet, but he does feel a little more at ease seeing that Sister Emile knows what she's doing. Now he feels a little bad for freaking out on her the moment he came into the infirmary when she probably would have helped regardless. Still, it could very well be a dire situation, so better that he acts immediately.

Then Sister Emile asks about Joscelin's medical history. "Um, yeah...Joscelin gets sick pretty easily..."

Ok, Reigen thinks, how is he going to explain that Joss has crippling anemia that requires blood transfusions without making the poor kid sound like a demon to a woman who doesn't know what those are? Hopefully his hesitation just reads as the panic of a concerned family member to the sister.

"He has a health condition, so he's always tired out easier than most kids his age. I was worried about him walking on the mountain path on his own when the children evacuated, but he kept saying he'd be fine...he's a stubborn kid, he keeps trying to handle things by himself. Dammit, I should have just gone with him..."

Well, the part about them evacuating separately is true, along with Reigen really wishing he'd thought to keep an eye on the kid before finding him potentially dying.

That explains the paleness then, easily tired. Exhausted from the travel. Stubborn, as most children are. Especially the sickly ones.

"Joscelin is his name?" She moved slightly, only to get some water and a cloth to start washing the blood away. It does not seem like he is injured and yet he has some kind of infection.

"It is no use dwelling on what should have happened. From the talk I have heard this was all very unexpected. But we will get him back on his feet soon enough."

If he had an illness then rest would do wonders, she just had to figure out what was causing the infection.

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Day 11: Purple and Orange

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