Night Prowling

Writers: Chelle, Cymiri
Date Posted: 23rd April 2012

Characters: Chupsin, Daimhin
Description: The two share a late night conversation as the guard makes his rounds.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 7, day 19 of Turn 6

The healer rattled around the infirmary, finishing up. He'd been woken
up since apparently one of the people in the sick ward had started
convulsing. Everything was dealt with now, but he had to clean up
before he'd rest again.

'Rattled' was certainly the right word, at least for one set of
carefully interested ears. Daimhin had actually allowed cautious
fingers to brush against his weapon before he had realized the source
of the night-time sounds. It wasn't that unusual, of course, to find
nighttime bustling in the infirmary. However, he was fairly sure it
wasn't usually quite so...noisy.

He draped himself across the door jamb. "You got a patient you are
trying to keep awake, Healer?"

Chupsin recognized the voice of course and brought his head up slowly.
A small half smile came across his face, which was rare.
"Hhhmmmm....not quite, but I was trying to get everything put away so
I could leave."

"Put away or thrown away?" He guffawed, apparently more entertained
than was actually warranted by the lame crack. "Not like one of you
healer types to bang about like a dragon in a herd of prime beasts.
Something wrong?" More softly, he added, "Lose a patient?" Working
nights, he'd seen a higher proportion of that sort come in to the
infirmary than during the daily routine. Most of the patients who
couldn't wait for morning rounds weren't expected to last till then
either, after all.

"No, he pulled through. It was tense there for awhile, though."
Chupsin also hated to admit that it was highly probable that when the
man woke, he could have permanent brain damage from the episode.

"Agh, not the best way to spend a night." His voice was matter of
fact, but had sympathy hiding in it all the same. Just because you
hung around in a profession that made it more likely to see death and
unpleasantness than you would in some cosseted ladies' stitching
circle didn't mean you had to like it. He rummaged in his belt pouch a
moment, eventually producing a small-no doubt clandestine-flask. The
very observant would have caught the crest of his now-deceased hold of
origin on there. The wise would say nothing about it. "Want? It's not
bad, for gut rot."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm almost done and will be trying to sleep some.
The problem is I have to be up early tomorrow and a headache probably
won't help matters." Perhaps he also didn't agree with drinking on the
job, as it were, but he didn't comment. It wasn't his place. "You see
anything else tonight?"

Daimhin shrugged. "Suit yourself." It disappeared again. He'd have
been offended to know Chupsin's thoughts-it was there for off duty and
the occasional rough-and-ready application to appropriate situations,
not the guard himself, but luckily for all he was utterly unaware of
the healer's thoughts. "Too sharding cold even for miscreants. One
brave little pair of lovebirds, though." He snickered, not
particularly pleasantly.

That last statement made him wonder if perhaps Daimhin had seen
himself and Alivya that night and he shrugged the thought off. If the
guard had, he would surely have begun his extortion already. "Mmm one
would hope that nothing was frozen off to be reattached."

The snicker evolved to a full blown laugh. The guard lifted an eyebrow.
"You'd know that better than me, healer."

"Unless they came in when I wasn't here. Still, I supposed I would
have been called for something like that. Delicate work, you know." As
it was, he couldn't really help a man there. It was hard enough trying
to put back on a finger and in most cases, they usually opted for a
stump.

"Ah, but they'll pay you more marks than a sane man can spend if you
manage it."
He was still more amused than the situation warranted. It really had
been a long, cold and dull night. "You could count your fortune
quite, quite made. Enough to bag even a mangy healer the girl of his
dreams." He smiled...it was a tease, not a low blow. "And trust
me,these eyes see enough that you'd not be too short of work,
either."

"Sadly, I don't really get paid in marks. I get seeds, livestock,
food, clothes...whatever the people can manage." Of course he could
also call in favors when the time came. Chupsin preferred that
usually, though he didn't mind some of the desserts the ladies sent
his way.

"Whatever they can manage, indeed. I'll believe that, saucy wher."
Believe, not necessarily disapprove, of course. "Where's that flit of
yours tonight? Curled in a warm ball like a sensible creature?"

"Probably." He reached out softly with his mind for Tourniquet who was
indeed inside their quarters in his warm little bed. The bronze
deserved his rest for all the help he'd been. Chupsin had been forced
to send a few messages on. "Aye, he's asleep and soon will I be." He
finished what he was doing and made to leave for the night.

"Ha! At least some of us will. I'll leave you to it, Healer. See
you...sometime."

With which he did as promised and left the man in peace.

Last updated on the April 30th 2012

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Night Prowling