[Sodium_noir] At the Temple

[Liz Oleksyn]

Jack, Christine, Jesse, Paulo, Shang Mio
Spirit Entity, Orphan Mage, Mage, Mage, Monk
Temple of the Five Dragons
Late evening

"What are you going to do to him?" she asks a little
belligerently,  
overcompensating in her anxiety.  Christine has been
standing at the  
door but now steps back into the room, automatically
moving closer to the futon bed where Jack lies, sick
and vulnerable.

"With his permission .." Paulo replies "Heal him of
the worst of his injuries. Although most of those
scars are beyond my ability to remove, they have a
power of their own I expect is at least partially
intended?"
 
“Yeah.”  Jack answers quietly.  “It was deliberate.”
 
"Yeah, thought so." He slips a few fingers into the
bag and pops it open, holding it closer to Jack so he
can examine what is inside. He smells pungent odors,
the leather of the bag, grasslands perhaps and the
forest pines. "It helps me concentrate, helps me do
what I need to do. But all I am going to do is correct
your natural form, return it to the way it was before
you were injured. I won't change anything or dabble
where you aren't hurt. If that is alright with you, we
can begin?"
 
Shang Mio caught Jack's eye and nodded, a reaffirming
gesture. Once Jack had agreed, Paulo began to chant
under his breath. He lifted the medicine bag to his
face and breathed in the heady mixture. At his side,
Jesse fiddled with something, a length of string. It
appeared as though she were tying knots in it.
 
Paulo's half focused eyes suddenly snapped open and he
peered at Jack. A small sense of confident amusement
played at the corner of his lips.
 
"Be as thou was wont to be Jack!" he intoned.
 
As he watches the components of the ritual come
together, Jack is reminded of the endless hours he’d
spent dabbling in magicks.  Herbs, incense, feathers,
beads - all of that Mother Earthy kind of stuff -
never worked for him and Jack is a bit envious seeing
Paulo and Jesse so self-assured and certain of their
talent.  

When they were finished, he isn’t entirely sure he
shares their confidence.  

But just as Jack is having his doubts, a sudden warmth
- like something injected into his veins - travels
from his feet to the top of his head and back down
again.  He shudders a few times.  

“Oh, what the f...” 

Jack closes his eyes as the last soothing wave moves
through him - this one courses down both arms and
seems to exit from his fingertips.  When the sensation
ends, his first impulse is to sit up, as if to test
the waters.  He reckons there’s no way he could feel
this good after feeling so thoroughly horrible.  But,
sit up he does, and its done with surprising ease.

“I can’t believe how different I feel.”  Jack raises
his right hand and, with the fingers of his left,
pulls back the bandages a bit.  The scar there still
looks raw, but the skin around the wound no longer an
angry, inflamed crimson.  He makes the same
examination of the other and finds the same results.

“Well, they aren’t really completely healed, but they
don’t hurt either.”  Jack shrugs and looks a bit
sheepish.  “I’m not positive about this, but I think
the whole process may take a day or two.  Guess I
should’ve read the fine print, not just the
instructions.  Suppose it’s the Law of Equivalent
Exchange, yeah?”

“Thanks.”  He adds, the word not tossed away as an
obligatory afterthought.  There is a deep sincerity to
it, because it’s only the second time in his life he’s
found reason to say it - and the second time in one
evening.  

There follows an awkward silence, finally broken by
Jack’s realization that, in sitting up, the blanket
covering him had fallen to his waist.  The monks,
having taken his clothes to be laundered, hadn’t given
him anything as a replacement.  He hastily pulls the
covering around his backside, blushing as he tries not
to look at Christine.   “Sorry....sorry...”  Jack
mumbles something else unintelligible and offers a
crooked half-smile.

(a nekkid tag)



[OOC - I will leave the healing process to you to
describe my Dear. I felt you'd get a kick out of that.
The Healing will be complete up tot he point we talked
about. Sorry for taking liberties but I know Jack
would agree eventually as we've already talked about
it. :)]

OOC:  No worries, hon. :)


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