Antimony took her time guiding Mitari to the Quicksand. It occurred to her that it might make more sense to find a local physician instead, but she had never quite trusted the medicine of the city-folk. Their practices were strange and, in her view, not nearly as thorough, and so rather than wander about Ul'dah with a potentially concussed Mitari, she took him directly to the room she'd been renting out for over a week now at the Quicksand.
She only hoped Ulanan did not stop by for a visit right now. It would necessitate some rather awkward explanations.
Getting the door open was a challenge, as her arms were busy both helping Mitari stay upright, as well as maintain a hold on the tattered doll. Thinking of the deadly object left her tail shivering in disturbed confusion, and the door swung open with a bit more force than intended, revealing a basic, one-bed room with a small desk table and two chairs on one side, and a sink on the other. The table was covered in numerous papers, including the envelope she had been carrying earlier. At the foot of hte bed, there lay a pack with the various supplies she'd brought with her for travel.
"Easy now, I'm going to help you lay down," she broke the silence that had settled over the both of them for the duration of the trip. She kept her voice low and quiet, as soothing as possible, as she guided Mitari to the bed. "No sudden movements."
If he were being completely honest, Mitari had no idea what was really happening as his head was hurting far too much for him to care about it. If he were being the somewhat cocky guy he usually was, he would just saying he was getting a free trip to a lady's room. Luckily, he was the former rather than the latter.Â
Mitari half-helped hold himself up, using his lance like a walking stick. It was particularly useful for that at least. The shift from bright daylight to a colder darker room was a welcome one, and he could only grumble something unintelligible to even himself as she spoke to him.Â
Laying himself down was fairly easily, although probably less smooth than Anti would have liked as the moment his head was securely on the bed he pretty much went limp and flopped the rest of the way down. Still, his hand gripped his lance tightly and refused to let it go, holding it like a crutch or a child holding their blanket.
Antimony wince, hovering by the bed for a moment before stepping over to the table. She considered trying to gather everything up - almost all of it was classified to some degree - but hearing Mitari's faint shifting on the bed dragged her to a different action. Instead, she set the headless doll down at the edge of the table, eyeing it uncomfortably for several seconds, before moving over to her pack at the foot of the bed.
"Do not allow yourself to sleep," she cautioned as she rummaged around. From the bottom of the pack, she pulled out a small, flat-ish wooden box that rattled when she lifted it. This she set to the side before crossing the room to the sink and wetting the rag hung nearby. She sighed as she wrung it out, ears drooping. "I'm sorry all of... this happened. I never thought... well." She smoothed over her anxious features as she turned back to Mitari and moved over to his bed, picking up the box along the way and then sitting down on the edge next to him.
"Roll onto your side, if you can. You hit the back of your head, yes?"
Far before Anti warned not to let himself sleep, he was already half-way there. He fell asleep easily on comfortable beds and dark rooms after all. It was only natural to start falling asleep whne he was finally laying down.Â
He heard a muffled demand not to sleep and faintly roused himself, but not very much. There was some sort of muffled apology of some sorts as well and a silence hung between them after she stopped speaking. It really wasn't her fault. He wasn't sure why she insisted it was.Â
Regardless, he carelessly rolled himself over further onto the bed and groaned at the movement. He didn't deal very well with head pain. Needless dramatics probably, but for him, any pain in his head felt like the end of the world. He simply didn't know a good way to deal with it.Â
With his back to Antimony, he pulled his lance close to his body and hugged it. It was his lance damnit. That stupid lady couldn't have it.
Antimony frowned vaguely at the miqo'te's grip on the lance, but it wasn't getting in the way just yet, so she didn't comment. Instead, she shifted on the edge of the bed until she could reach over him, moving her fingers through his hair at the back of his head and searching for any open wounds. Closing her eyes, she let out a slow breath and focused on something she hadn't really looked for in five years: another person's aether. She couldn't manipulate it, but she had learned to sense it, and it helped guide her search to an angry knot at the base of his skull. His aether, a warm, tingling sense, was agitated there, but not disrupted - a very minor concussion at worst.
Her touch was practiced and gentle, that of a mother well used to dealing with bumps and bruises and scrapes. "No bleeding, at least," and she forced a small smile at that. "A pretty sizeable bump, though. I can prepare something that will reduce the swelling." She pulled her hands from his head and moved to try and pry his hands from the lance. "One of the needles got you, didn't they?" She suppressed a shiver, recalling the way the doll's head had exploded, peppering Loughree's face with dark metal.
It had been a very long time since he felt that kind of touch. A mother's touch, searching for bruises and small injuries to make them better. The way Antimony moved her hands through his hair like that, for a moment, he remembered his own mother. But soft memories of her were always sharply polluted by her death. By her last words, words he was failing to live up to.Â
"No, it was when I was pushed." Mitari interrupted his dark thoughts of an ancient time with Anti's question. He still held right to his lance, but shifted his hand so she could see the needle that had cleanly pierced though his palm. The skin around it was red and agitated, but nothing else.
Antimony's chest ached for a moment, for a reason she was not willing to face, and so in retaliation to the feeling she smiled again and said simply, "Oh, that's not so bad. Can you move your fingers?" A pause and then lower, "I hope Miss Loughree is alright." As she spoke, she took his hand in her own, dabbing at the skin around the entry and exit point with the damp cloth to soften the skin there and clean up the bits of blood. The needle wasn't very wide in diameter, so the wound itself was not small, but removing it would still hurt.
She frowned at the needle, again thinking back to the doll, only this time, she remembered it in the blue, wrinkled hands of an old Duskwight. A friend. Her tail twitched against the bed.
Mitari unfurled his hand and curled it back open, showing that he indeed could move it with relative ease. It opened it again as Anti set upon cleaning the wound and presumably removing the needle. He wasn't sure where it had even come from. Something about a doll was all he heard both those screams...Â
Mitari frowned and cast a hazy eye towards Antimony. "You don't need to do this." He mumbled.
"Of course I do," Antimony replied, almost defensively. She did not give Mitari warning when she removed the needle, pulling it out swiftly in a single motion and then pressing down on the small wound with the cloth. She tugged at his other hand with a, "Hold this here for now," and opened the box she'd set aside. Inside there came multi-layered scents of herbs of various kinds. Resting atop them was a small pillar of bone that had been carved into the rough likeness of a miqo'te.
The carving she took in one hand, looked at it for some time, before letting out a low sigh. "I'm sure Ulanan would call me foolish for bringing a stranger back here, but.. you wouldn't be hurt if I hadn't insisted on attempting to reason with Miss Loughree. It's the least I could do." There was a pause and then, "May I take a strand of your hair?"
She really didn't. Mitari was insistent on that idea, but he didn't get the option to argue it as she swiftly pulled the needle out. Mitari bit his lip and muttered a stream of foul words before falling silent again.
He did as she pused his arm to do, yet kept the lance close to his form.Â
"Ulanan...?" Mitari pondered aloud before a short and confused, "Sure."
She frowned for a moment longer at the bone carving, running her thumb along the fine grooves marking certain details of the figure. She hadn't made use of this since...
"A friend who came to Ul'dah with me," she explained, shaking her ears and turning back to Mitari. In as straightforward and swift and action as she'd taken when removing the needle, she reached out and plucked a couple strands of hair from the other miqo'te's head. Hair and carving in hand, she then picked out a couple leaves bearing a pungent, bitter aroma. "I'm sorry, I don't have everything for a complete ritual, but... this should do." Using the hairs as though they were string, she tied one of the leaves to the carving's head, set it down next to Mitari, and then stood to make her way back to the sink, the other leave pinched between her fingers.
Mita winced at the pull of his hair. What did she need hair for anyway?Â
So this Ulanan thing was a friend of hers? That was nice. Then again, friends were supposed to be nice. Mitari deflated thinking of that man. Someone he had thought to be a friend but in the end...
He blinked wearily and looked towards Antimony. "Ritual...?" He questioned, wondering what the hell she was doing.
"You do want to feel better, don't you?" She reminded, as though what she were doing was the most obvious thing in the world - which it really wasn't, but that fact didn't really cross her mind, so ingrained was the habit.Â
There was a cup next to the sink, which she took and filled with water before crushing the leaf between her fingers and dropping it in.
Feel better? How did anything she was doing equate with feeling better? But he shut his mouth and just let her do it. It would be rude to do otherwise.
"So...when am I supposed to feel better? I've never had a... Uh... Ritual for healing before." Mitari asked very awkwardly.
Antimony frowned at the cup, thinking it really should be heated slowly for at least ten minutes, but... she didn't have that kind of equipment. With a sigh she turned around and made her way back to Mitari, offering him a reassuring smile as well as the cup. "Drink this - then just hold the leaf in your mouth for a time. It will ease the headache."
"Ummm... Kay." Mita mumbled before sitting up slowly and taking the cup. He gulped down the water and left the leave awkwardly on this tongue.
Watching his face closely, Antimony sat down again on the edge of the bed. After several seconds, she seemed satisfied with whatever she was looking for and shifted her attention to his hand. Her own moved to the cloth, seeking to peel it back. "Luckily you won't need stitches," she sighed and added, "But you really shouldn't move around much for at least a day or two."
"Pft. And where will I go to not move for that long? If I don't move I don't work and then I don't eat. You think starving to death is better?" Mitari huffed back defensively. He had been a drifter for so long. Sitting still was nice, but it was for people who had Gil. He wasn't one of those people.
"It's only for a day or two," Antimony huffed and then hesitated. "I... can cover your meals. It's the least I can do, after what I got you into."
Mitari grumbled again and forced himself to try and stand. "No. I can't ask that of you. Not when I was the one who got involved in the first place. It's fine. Thanks for your help." He shot his best cheery smile at Antimony and tried to head for the door.
Antimony winced, then as he started to move, launched into a flurry herself, hands going to his shoulders to try and hold him back. "No, I won't abide it! You'll hurt yourself more, and then it will truly be my fault. No, you're not to move!"
Mitari winced and fell back onto the bed with a soft 'ooph' when Antimony threw herself at him like a raging... cat. Less like throw and more like grab his shoulder so suddenly his lost his balance and flopped lazily onto the bed.Â
"Oh, come on. I'm the one who got myself into this mess to begin with and you know it. You don't have to cover for me." he grumbled, laying on his side on the bed again, although this time he was half on and half off it.
Flinching as he fell back - not quite expecting such a violent result - Antimony looked away and then, after another beat of hesitation, dropped back. "I am sorry," she mumbled. "I was only trying to help, and look at what I've done..." She sighed and forced her posture a bit straighter. "At the very least please try to rest for the remainder of the night - but do not sleep."
Mitari grumbled again and sat up, setting his land down on the floor at the edge of the bed. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Stop apologzing! You've done nothing but be nice to me. So thank you." he smiled somehow grumpily.
Her tail twitched anxiously, and she spared a glance towards the table with its mutilated doll, then to the bed. She blinked and dropped to her knees suddenly with a, "Oh no, where did it--" and felt around on the floor beneath the bed.
Mitari blinked. What? Somehow this really... killed the non exsistant mood?
Her search didn't last long as her groping fingers bumped into something small and vaguely cylindrical. Gripping it, she carefully got to her feet, using the edge of the bed as support. Her tail swished with relief as her hand opened to reveal the small bone carving of the miqo'te. "At the very least, this will help. I will keep you on its mind for a time."
"It's...?" Mitari looked utterly confused for a few moments. What was with that little figurine. It was really... creepy.
Antimony didn't seem to noticed Mitari's creeped-out-ness, for she just nodded simply. "As I said, I don't have the supplies for a proper ritual, but..."
"What does it... do? Precisely...?" Mitari asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure he reallyl even wanted to know. Maybe he should have said no to the hair thing.
Blinking at Mitari, Antimony was silent for a moment and then, "... Oh. Right. This would seem..." She chuckled a bit faintly before gesturing to the figure. "It's a representation of your body - well, mine originally, but your hair should give it enough connection that it should work..."
"Like a... " Mitari tried to think of something it related to. But he had nothing. "That's... creepy." he coughed awkwardly at it and scoot away from Anti subtly. "So you could literally do anything to me with it and I would feel it or something like that?"
Antimony frowned. "Not... exactly. It's more of a.. hm, a resonating chamber? It echoes the treatment of your physical body and can pull your spirit's--ah." She grimaced then, going quiet before, "I'm sorry, I forgot how you... everyone would see things such as this"
"N-no, I'm grateful for the treatment just... confused. My mum was a healer but she never taught me anything like... well like this." he grinned sheepishly and coughed, trying to break the tension
"This is the right way," Antimony replied firmly. "The best way. You heal from both ends."
"Eh? Both.. ends?" Mitari questioned, immediately confused again. Maybe he shouldn't be trying to learn with a conconussion. Maybe.
"Body and spirit," Antimony replied, as though this were the simplest thing in the world. She smiled. "Don't worry. It won't hurt you."
"Ah... ok..." Mitari blushed faintly before shutting up and laying down. He was tired, and if Antimony didn't mind... he thought he might spend the night at least.
She gave him a satisfied look and then moved to place the bone figure atop one of the bedposts. "No sleeping," she reminded, folding her arms and looking down at Mitari.
"And how are you gonna stop me from sleeping?" Mitari chuckled faintly, closing his eyes and getting ready to sleep anyway.
At this, Antimony frowned and reached out to pull on his ear warningly. The gesture was familiar. "You have a concussion. It is a mild one, yes, but if you sleep now, you may not wake up."
Mitari grumbled at his ear being pulled on and lightly batted at her hand so she would move it. "I know." he finally answered before leaving his eyes half-open so he wouldn't sleep. "How much longer until I can sleep then?"
"This one night should be enough to keep you out of danger," Â Antimony pulled her hand away, then turned to drag one of the chairs at the desk around before settling into it. "I understand this might be awkward," she added.
"More for you than me, right?" Mitari retorted, ears flipping back and forth to adjust themselves comfortably.
Antimony blinked and then chuckled, mildly embarrassed, "I've taken care of more than my fair share of sick and injured. Though... I suppose none of them were ever strangers before."
"It kind of looked like it with how quick you were to take me here and not to a healer somewhere." He smirked faintly, tail curling around his leg while he looked Antimony over. "And we're fast becoming not so strangers hanging out this long you know. You're going to have a hobo for a friend if we keep this up."
There was a pause. Another embarrassed laugh. "I think... that is becoming a habit of mine."
"Making friends with hobos?" Mitari question, somehow concerned that was a habit of hers.
Fidgeting with her dress, Antimony's ears went a bit lopsided as she shrugged. "Megiddo would call it the will of Oschon, but..." She trailed off and frowned, eyes moving to the doll on the table.
"Will of Oschon...?" Mitari blinked again. This women was... endlessly confusing apparently.
"To meet so many people like this." She waved one hand dismissively, "It's silly, of course. As though Oschon could have a will."
Mitari shrugged again. Too confusing. Head pain. Fuck it. "Can I take this leaf out of my mouth yet?"
Her eyes widened in mild surprise. "What? Oh! No. How does your head feel?"
"Painful and headachy. Why not? It's weird talking with a leaf in my mouth."
"Have you never taken medicine before?" Antimony gave him a knowing look. "Much of it was leeched into the water you drank, but keeping it in your mouth will pull out what is left into your system."
"Not really, no." Mitari replied before sighing. "So don't sleep and keep a leaf in my mouth all night? "
"Well, yes. Though not all night. An hour should give it enough time to take effect." She smiled then a bit apologetically. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything for... entertainment, really."
"S'fine. You could tell me something about yourself maybe?" Mitari suggested. "That might be entertaining."
"What? Oh, I don't think... There's nothing all that interesting about a simple accountant," Antimony chuckled and waved off the question. "How about yourself? Talking will keep you awake."
"Hey, I can't do accounting. That's more intereting than someone with depressing history." Mitari countered, lightly lifted a hand to wave it about dismissively.
There was a lull after Mitari's words where Antimony watched him with a quiet expression, and then her gaze shifted away towards one wall, though she smiled. "Ah, well, it does no good to dwell on 'depressing histories'." A pause. "I find it enjoyable. Organizing and aligning numbers. Though Ul'dah's regulations are new to me." She chuckled a bit faintly. "Ul'dah overall is new."
"Ul'dah's not really new to me." Mitari countered, agreeing quietly against talking about depressing histories. "I've been wandering around for... a long time." Mitari looked faintly distressed when he actually thought about how long he'd been homeless. Ever since it happened... He shook his head wearily. "Are you sure I can't sleep?"
"Do you want to end up in a coma?" Antimony leveled an arched brow at him. "Head injuries are a delicate matter. When my niece..." She blinked, stopped herself short, and then just cleared her throat. "The point is, you need to be careful or you could end up in a much worse state than you are now."
She only hoped Ulanan did not stop by for a visit right now. It would necessitate some rather awkward explanations.
Getting the door open was a challenge, as her arms were busy both helping Mitari stay upright, as well as maintain a hold on the tattered doll. Thinking of the deadly object left her tail shivering in disturbed confusion, and the door swung open with a bit more force than intended, revealing a basic, one-bed room with a small desk table and two chairs on one side, and a sink on the other. The table was covered in numerous papers, including the envelope she had been carrying earlier. At the foot of hte bed, there lay a pack with the various supplies she'd brought with her for travel.
"Easy now, I'm going to help you lay down," she broke the silence that had settled over the both of them for the duration of the trip. She kept her voice low and quiet, as soothing as possible, as she guided Mitari to the bed. "No sudden movements."
If he were being completely honest, Mitari had no idea what was really happening as his head was hurting far too much for him to care about it. If he were being the somewhat cocky guy he usually was, he would just saying he was getting a free trip to a lady's room. Luckily, he was the former rather than the latter.Â
Mitari half-helped hold himself up, using his lance like a walking stick. It was particularly useful for that at least. The shift from bright daylight to a colder darker room was a welcome one, and he could only grumble something unintelligible to even himself as she spoke to him.Â
Laying himself down was fairly easily, although probably less smooth than Anti would have liked as the moment his head was securely on the bed he pretty much went limp and flopped the rest of the way down. Still, his hand gripped his lance tightly and refused to let it go, holding it like a crutch or a child holding their blanket.
Antimony wince, hovering by the bed for a moment before stepping over to the table. She considered trying to gather everything up - almost all of it was classified to some degree - but hearing Mitari's faint shifting on the bed dragged her to a different action. Instead, she set the headless doll down at the edge of the table, eyeing it uncomfortably for several seconds, before moving over to her pack at the foot of the bed.
"Do not allow yourself to sleep," she cautioned as she rummaged around. From the bottom of the pack, she pulled out a small, flat-ish wooden box that rattled when she lifted it. This she set to the side before crossing the room to the sink and wetting the rag hung nearby. She sighed as she wrung it out, ears drooping. "I'm sorry all of... this happened. I never thought... well." She smoothed over her anxious features as she turned back to Mitari and moved over to his bed, picking up the box along the way and then sitting down on the edge next to him.
"Roll onto your side, if you can. You hit the back of your head, yes?"
Far before Anti warned not to let himself sleep, he was already half-way there. He fell asleep easily on comfortable beds and dark rooms after all. It was only natural to start falling asleep whne he was finally laying down.Â
He heard a muffled demand not to sleep and faintly roused himself, but not very much. There was some sort of muffled apology of some sorts as well and a silence hung between them after she stopped speaking. It really wasn't her fault. He wasn't sure why she insisted it was.Â
Regardless, he carelessly rolled himself over further onto the bed and groaned at the movement. He didn't deal very well with head pain. Needless dramatics probably, but for him, any pain in his head felt like the end of the world. He simply didn't know a good way to deal with it.Â
With his back to Antimony, he pulled his lance close to his body and hugged it. It was his lance damnit. That stupid lady couldn't have it.
Antimony frowned vaguely at the miqo'te's grip on the lance, but it wasn't getting in the way just yet, so she didn't comment. Instead, she shifted on the edge of the bed until she could reach over him, moving her fingers through his hair at the back of his head and searching for any open wounds. Closing her eyes, she let out a slow breath and focused on something she hadn't really looked for in five years: another person's aether. She couldn't manipulate it, but she had learned to sense it, and it helped guide her search to an angry knot at the base of his skull. His aether, a warm, tingling sense, was agitated there, but not disrupted - a very minor concussion at worst.
Her touch was practiced and gentle, that of a mother well used to dealing with bumps and bruises and scrapes. "No bleeding, at least," and she forced a small smile at that. "A pretty sizeable bump, though. I can prepare something that will reduce the swelling." She pulled her hands from his head and moved to try and pry his hands from the lance. "One of the needles got you, didn't they?" She suppressed a shiver, recalling the way the doll's head had exploded, peppering Loughree's face with dark metal.
It had been a very long time since he felt that kind of touch. A mother's touch, searching for bruises and small injuries to make them better. The way Antimony moved her hands through his hair like that, for a moment, he remembered his own mother. But soft memories of her were always sharply polluted by her death. By her last words, words he was failing to live up to.Â
"No, it was when I was pushed." Mitari interrupted his dark thoughts of an ancient time with Anti's question. He still held right to his lance, but shifted his hand so she could see the needle that had cleanly pierced though his palm. The skin around it was red and agitated, but nothing else.
Antimony's chest ached for a moment, for a reason she was not willing to face, and so in retaliation to the feeling she smiled again and said simply, "Oh, that's not so bad. Can you move your fingers?" A pause and then lower, "I hope Miss Loughree is alright." As she spoke, she took his hand in her own, dabbing at the skin around the entry and exit point with the damp cloth to soften the skin there and clean up the bits of blood. The needle wasn't very wide in diameter, so the wound itself was not small, but removing it would still hurt.
She frowned at the needle, again thinking back to the doll, only this time, she remembered it in the blue, wrinkled hands of an old Duskwight. A friend. Her tail twitched against the bed.
Mitari unfurled his hand and curled it back open, showing that he indeed could move it with relative ease. It opened it again as Anti set upon cleaning the wound and presumably removing the needle. He wasn't sure where it had even come from. Something about a doll was all he heard both those screams...Â
Mitari frowned and cast a hazy eye towards Antimony. "You don't need to do this." He mumbled.
"Of course I do," Antimony replied, almost defensively. She did not give Mitari warning when she removed the needle, pulling it out swiftly in a single motion and then pressing down on the small wound with the cloth. She tugged at his other hand with a, "Hold this here for now," and opened the box she'd set aside. Inside there came multi-layered scents of herbs of various kinds. Resting atop them was a small pillar of bone that had been carved into the rough likeness of a miqo'te.
The carving she took in one hand, looked at it for some time, before letting out a low sigh. "I'm sure Ulanan would call me foolish for bringing a stranger back here, but.. you wouldn't be hurt if I hadn't insisted on attempting to reason with Miss Loughree. It's the least I could do." There was a pause and then, "May I take a strand of your hair?"
She really didn't. Mitari was insistent on that idea, but he didn't get the option to argue it as she swiftly pulled the needle out. Mitari bit his lip and muttered a stream of foul words before falling silent again.
He did as she pused his arm to do, yet kept the lance close to his form.Â
"Ulanan...?" Mitari pondered aloud before a short and confused, "Sure."
She frowned for a moment longer at the bone carving, running her thumb along the fine grooves marking certain details of the figure. She hadn't made use of this since...
"A friend who came to Ul'dah with me," she explained, shaking her ears and turning back to Mitari. In as straightforward and swift and action as she'd taken when removing the needle, she reached out and plucked a couple strands of hair from the other miqo'te's head. Hair and carving in hand, she then picked out a couple leaves bearing a pungent, bitter aroma. "I'm sorry, I don't have everything for a complete ritual, but... this should do." Using the hairs as though they were string, she tied one of the leaves to the carving's head, set it down next to Mitari, and then stood to make her way back to the sink, the other leave pinched between her fingers.
Mita winced at the pull of his hair. What did she need hair for anyway?Â
So this Ulanan thing was a friend of hers? That was nice. Then again, friends were supposed to be nice. Mitari deflated thinking of that man. Someone he had thought to be a friend but in the end...
He blinked wearily and looked towards Antimony. "Ritual...?" He questioned, wondering what the hell she was doing.
"You do want to feel better, don't you?" She reminded, as though what she were doing was the most obvious thing in the world - which it really wasn't, but that fact didn't really cross her mind, so ingrained was the habit.Â
There was a cup next to the sink, which she took and filled with water before crushing the leaf between her fingers and dropping it in.
Feel better? How did anything she was doing equate with feeling better? But he shut his mouth and just let her do it. It would be rude to do otherwise.
"So...when am I supposed to feel better? I've never had a... Uh... Ritual for healing before." Mitari asked very awkwardly.
Antimony frowned at the cup, thinking it really should be heated slowly for at least ten minutes, but... she didn't have that kind of equipment. With a sigh she turned around and made her way back to Mitari, offering him a reassuring smile as well as the cup. "Drink this - then just hold the leaf in your mouth for a time. It will ease the headache."
"Ummm... Kay." Mita mumbled before sitting up slowly and taking the cup. He gulped down the water and left the leave awkwardly on this tongue.
Watching his face closely, Antimony sat down again on the edge of the bed. After several seconds, she seemed satisfied with whatever she was looking for and shifted her attention to his hand. Her own moved to the cloth, seeking to peel it back. "Luckily you won't need stitches," she sighed and added, "But you really shouldn't move around much for at least a day or two."
"Pft. And where will I go to not move for that long? If I don't move I don't work and then I don't eat. You think starving to death is better?" Mitari huffed back defensively. He had been a drifter for so long. Sitting still was nice, but it was for people who had Gil. He wasn't one of those people.
"It's only for a day or two," Antimony huffed and then hesitated. "I... can cover your meals. It's the least I can do, after what I got you into."
Mitari grumbled again and forced himself to try and stand. "No. I can't ask that of you. Not when I was the one who got involved in the first place. It's fine. Thanks for your help." He shot his best cheery smile at Antimony and tried to head for the door.
Antimony winced, then as he started to move, launched into a flurry herself, hands going to his shoulders to try and hold him back. "No, I won't abide it! You'll hurt yourself more, and then it will truly be my fault. No, you're not to move!"
Mitari winced and fell back onto the bed with a soft 'ooph' when Antimony threw herself at him like a raging... cat. Less like throw and more like grab his shoulder so suddenly his lost his balance and flopped lazily onto the bed.Â
"Oh, come on. I'm the one who got myself into this mess to begin with and you know it. You don't have to cover for me." he grumbled, laying on his side on the bed again, although this time he was half on and half off it.
Flinching as he fell back - not quite expecting such a violent result - Antimony looked away and then, after another beat of hesitation, dropped back. "I am sorry," she mumbled. "I was only trying to help, and look at what I've done..." She sighed and forced her posture a bit straighter. "At the very least please try to rest for the remainder of the night - but do not sleep."
Mitari grumbled again and sat up, setting his land down on the floor at the edge of the bed. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Stop apologzing! You've done nothing but be nice to me. So thank you." he smiled somehow grumpily.
Her tail twitched anxiously, and she spared a glance towards the table with its mutilated doll, then to the bed. She blinked and dropped to her knees suddenly with a, "Oh no, where did it--" and felt around on the floor beneath the bed.
Mitari blinked. What? Somehow this really... killed the non exsistant mood?
Her search didn't last long as her groping fingers bumped into something small and vaguely cylindrical. Gripping it, she carefully got to her feet, using the edge of the bed as support. Her tail swished with relief as her hand opened to reveal the small bone carving of the miqo'te. "At the very least, this will help. I will keep you on its mind for a time."
"It's...?" Mitari looked utterly confused for a few moments. What was with that little figurine. It was really... creepy.
Antimony didn't seem to noticed Mitari's creeped-out-ness, for she just nodded simply. "As I said, I don't have the supplies for a proper ritual, but..."
"What does it... do? Precisely...?" Mitari asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure he reallyl even wanted to know. Maybe he should have said no to the hair thing.
Blinking at Mitari, Antimony was silent for a moment and then, "... Oh. Right. This would seem..." She chuckled a bit faintly before gesturing to the figure. "It's a representation of your body - well, mine originally, but your hair should give it enough connection that it should work..."
"Like a... " Mitari tried to think of something it related to. But he had nothing. "That's... creepy." he coughed awkwardly at it and scoot away from Anti subtly. "So you could literally do anything to me with it and I would feel it or something like that?"
Antimony frowned. "Not... exactly. It's more of a.. hm, a resonating chamber? It echoes the treatment of your physical body and can pull your spirit's--ah." She grimaced then, going quiet before, "I'm sorry, I forgot how you... everyone would see things such as this"
"N-no, I'm grateful for the treatment just... confused. My mum was a healer but she never taught me anything like... well like this." he grinned sheepishly and coughed, trying to break the tension
"This is the right way," Antimony replied firmly. "The best way. You heal from both ends."
"Eh? Both.. ends?" Mitari questioned, immediately confused again. Maybe he shouldn't be trying to learn with a conconussion. Maybe.
"Body and spirit," Antimony replied, as though this were the simplest thing in the world. She smiled. "Don't worry. It won't hurt you."
"Ah... ok..." Mitari blushed faintly before shutting up and laying down. He was tired, and if Antimony didn't mind... he thought he might spend the night at least.
She gave him a satisfied look and then moved to place the bone figure atop one of the bedposts. "No sleeping," she reminded, folding her arms and looking down at Mitari.
"And how are you gonna stop me from sleeping?" Mitari chuckled faintly, closing his eyes and getting ready to sleep anyway.
At this, Antimony frowned and reached out to pull on his ear warningly. The gesture was familiar. "You have a concussion. It is a mild one, yes, but if you sleep now, you may not wake up."
Mitari grumbled at his ear being pulled on and lightly batted at her hand so she would move it. "I know." he finally answered before leaving his eyes half-open so he wouldn't sleep. "How much longer until I can sleep then?"
"This one night should be enough to keep you out of danger," Â Antimony pulled her hand away, then turned to drag one of the chairs at the desk around before settling into it. "I understand this might be awkward," she added.
"More for you than me, right?" Mitari retorted, ears flipping back and forth to adjust themselves comfortably.
Antimony blinked and then chuckled, mildly embarrassed, "I've taken care of more than my fair share of sick and injured. Though... I suppose none of them were ever strangers before."
"It kind of looked like it with how quick you were to take me here and not to a healer somewhere." He smirked faintly, tail curling around his leg while he looked Antimony over. "And we're fast becoming not so strangers hanging out this long you know. You're going to have a hobo for a friend if we keep this up."
There was a pause. Another embarrassed laugh. "I think... that is becoming a habit of mine."
"Making friends with hobos?" Mitari question, somehow concerned that was a habit of hers.
Fidgeting with her dress, Antimony's ears went a bit lopsided as she shrugged. "Megiddo would call it the will of Oschon, but..." She trailed off and frowned, eyes moving to the doll on the table.
"Will of Oschon...?" Mitari blinked again. This women was... endlessly confusing apparently.
"To meet so many people like this." She waved one hand dismissively, "It's silly, of course. As though Oschon could have a will."
Mitari shrugged again. Too confusing. Head pain. Fuck it. "Can I take this leaf out of my mouth yet?"
Her eyes widened in mild surprise. "What? Oh! No. How does your head feel?"
"Painful and headachy. Why not? It's weird talking with a leaf in my mouth."
"Have you never taken medicine before?" Antimony gave him a knowing look. "Much of it was leeched into the water you drank, but keeping it in your mouth will pull out what is left into your system."
"Not really, no." Mitari replied before sighing. "So don't sleep and keep a leaf in my mouth all night? "
"Well, yes. Though not all night. An hour should give it enough time to take effect." She smiled then a bit apologetically. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything for... entertainment, really."
"S'fine. You could tell me something about yourself maybe?" Mitari suggested. "That might be entertaining."
"What? Oh, I don't think... There's nothing all that interesting about a simple accountant," Antimony chuckled and waved off the question. "How about yourself? Talking will keep you awake."
"Hey, I can't do accounting. That's more intereting than someone with depressing history." Mitari countered, lightly lifted a hand to wave it about dismissively.
There was a lull after Mitari's words where Antimony watched him with a quiet expression, and then her gaze shifted away towards one wall, though she smiled. "Ah, well, it does no good to dwell on 'depressing histories'." A pause. "I find it enjoyable. Organizing and aligning numbers. Though Ul'dah's regulations are new to me." She chuckled a bit faintly. "Ul'dah overall is new."
"Ul'dah's not really new to me." Mitari countered, agreeing quietly against talking about depressing histories. "I've been wandering around for... a long time." Mitari looked faintly distressed when he actually thought about how long he'd been homeless. Ever since it happened... He shook his head wearily. "Are you sure I can't sleep?"
"Do you want to end up in a coma?" Antimony leveled an arched brow at him. "Head injuries are a delicate matter. When my niece..." She blinked, stopped herself short, and then just cleared her throat. "The point is, you need to be careful or you could end up in a much worse state than you are now."
![[Image: AntiThalSig.png]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/179079766/AntiThalSig.png)
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki
