A city of white and silver, doctors from all over the world come to converge here and find work. Hospitals of all kinds decorate the white walkways of the city. There are many notable ones you can visit if your pet is in need of some attention. (+3 Precision)

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Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Nyxia » 08/29/2016 2:15 AM

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In the wake of the events of the Purine Interrogation Center, Reima found himself with hard choices having to be made. His forces were stretched thinner than they ever had been, worse he found himself with few trustworthy allies now. In the hours of evening he had been forced to steal into the Imperial camp, with a few white lies and one very nervous intelligence keeper at his side. All of this to steal back one of his own people, a young fully mortal hunter names Hima. Upon finding her Reima was relieved to see that the young hunter having suffered no ill effects from the Manticore poisoning, though she was badly wounded. This he didn't realize as he slowly picked her up, and proceeded to sneak away from the camp and back into one of their safe houses. His reasons for this was simple; he'd lost two hunters to mysterious circumstances, that Reima currently believed to be betrayals of both militaries.

It was there Reima saw the severity of Hima's injuries, without medical attention she would likely die with her reopened wounds now bleeding heavily again. That however was going to be a problem, considering how little trust he had for anyone right now. There was also the minor problem of the difficult questions he would be forced to answer about Hima's injuries, if he sought medical help from a standard hospital. Instead Reima had to consider swallowing his pride and seeking help from one source that would not ask any questions, one which was accustom to strange wounds. He would have to seek out one of the three hospitals in town which tended to supernaturals. A glance to the shaking, pacing Nym, told him he would have no other choice.

It was close to midnight when Reima once more bundled Hima up, and lifted her from the bed in the safe house. Nym followed him as far as the door, opening it to allow him to venture out into the darkness of full night. Concern and fear showing brightly in the half-fae's deep blue eyes as she made like she would follow him, only for Reima to shake his head for her to stay put. He didn't want anyone else there if things didn't go well, it would be one more of his people in danger; and Nym could barely take care of herself, being more human than fae. Instead he carried Hima down the silently sleeping street, towards one of those supernatural hospitals. It was distasteful for the powerful hunter to be reduced to asking for help from those he believed to be an forbidden lot, but if it meant Hima's life he would have to behave.

It didn't take him long to come upon the first hospital he sought, only four blocks of walking with the sedated woman who weighed next to nothing. Pushing into the hospital, he found no one in the waiting room reception area. "Hey." He raised his voice, which echoed back at him from the white walls. "Need some help out here!" He was unhappy, to say the least, as he stood there with Hima wrapped in a bloody blanket. The woman in his arms shifted some, moaning very softly in pain as Reima adjusted his hold on her. His temper was nearly at it's end being here, but he was quickly growing impatient in the span of seconds as he stood there with blood dripping down his arm to the tile like floor he stood on.


Bottles smashed, I raised my hand
How can you all even stand?
And why is there joy in this poison? Oh
Faking smiles and confidence
Driving miles to capture this excitement
I can't take anymore

You're never gonna get it
I'm a hazard to myself
I'll break it to you easy
This is hell, this is hell
You're looking and whispering
You think I'm someone else
This is hell, yes
I am in hell



We Don't Have to Dance - Andy Black
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Flame » 09/14/2016 5:34 PM

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Night was one of the few times when Lilith felt somewhat comfortable in her own skin. It was a rare sensation – one which she had grown unaccustomed to in the countless years which had passed since that one definitive turning point which had changed her entire life. It was strange, really, how one could be so comfortable with the very feeling of being uncomfortable, but it had been a necessity for her in learning to cope with her new, if unpleasant, reality. She’d had years of practice now, but still, every once in a while, the weight of the world seemed to remember its own existence and chose to settle itself upon her shoulders, just for a few fleeting moments before she could remember to ignore it once more.

Tonight found her caught up in one of those moments as she sat at a small table in a whitewashed room. A cup of half-finished coffee sat idly in her hand, the disposable paper lightly stained with the watercolor imprint of a pair of lips, the stirring stick sitting forgotten in the tepid liquid. The room was quiet – unusually so – especially considering the time of night. This was usually when the hospital tended to see the most business, but almost all of the rest of the team was either off for the night, or attending to a situation which required their presence off-site. As a result, Lilith was left to single-handedly tend to the current patients as well as take in any new cases which happened their way tonight.

Normally, nights like these came as a blessing, as it meant that there was no one there to accidentally catch her in the act of sneaking supplies away. Of course, she didn’t do so for her own profit really, but rather out of necessity. After all, there weren’t many places in the world where a vampire could find access to fresh, untainted blood without having to hurt someone in the process to get it. Lilith was a rare specimen in the sense that she preferred not to take her sustenance from live victims (although even she couldn’t argue the fact that the taste was incomparable). She did every once in a while, but only when her subject was lucid and readily willing to give it up. Naturally, that wasn’t an occurrence that happened frequently. Her situation wasn’t an ideal one, but it was about as close to sustainable as any other vampire had ever come to.

Unfortunately though, she’d fed recently this week, so all she was left with was time on her hands as she stared blankly at the wall on the other side of the room. She’d already done her rounds and checked on all of the patients three times in the past hour and a half, so at this point, she was really just biding her time until something – anything – happened. In fact, she was so engrossed in her lack of distractions that it took her several seconds to realize that she’d heard a sound come from near the reception office. Normally, it wasn’t her job to intake new patients, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if that was just Julie coming back from her usually-longer-than-fifteen-minute smoke breaks. She waited a few moments longer, expecting the sound to die down as quickly as it had come, but the sound of a distinctly unfamiliar male voice perked her ears.

Abandoning her half-finished coffee, Lilith swept out of the small break room, deftly navigating her way through the narrow hallways towards the front of the building. She only made it a few steps in the right direction when the unmistakable scent of blood hit her like a brick wall. At another time, had she been less well-fed, the smell might have stopped her in her tracks, but practice had conditioned her to ignore the primal urge which still stirred deep in her gut at the warm, metallic scent. It took only moments for her to make her way to the reception office, and one quick pass of her dark, scarlet gaze was enough to spring her into action.

“Bring her and follow me,” she said briskly, not waiting to see if the man carrying the injured woman had heard what she said before turning back the way she came. “We need to stop the bleeding and get her stabilized before I can do anything else for her. Tell me everything that happened.” Her tone was brusque and brooked no room for argument as she led the way to the closest room where a clean operating table awaited - clearly, she was accustomed to being obeyed without question. She assumed that the man would handle getting the patient onto the bed while she glided from cabinet to cabinet, gathering the supplies she knew she would need.
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Nyxia » 09/25/2016 3:38 PM

Reima was surprised in some way that no one was at the desk, though he couldn't say it was abnormal for this to happen. He avoided supernaturals and their places as much as possible, which put him at a disadvantage for reading the situation here. Still it tried his patience to stand here and wait for someone to come out. He had to wonder if their lack of aid was due to him, and his powerful reputation among the supernaturals. He was just about to turn around and try to make it to one of the other hospitals, when a woman stepped out of the door. Reima eyed her for a moment, as she spoke to him. After all it was not normal for someone to give him orders, not when they were likely Other. Most of the supernatural feared and to an extent hated Reima, and he knew this. Still for Hima he could bite his tongue to some extent, as he hurried to follow after her without a word.

The hospital looked fairly normal to his eyes as he made his way to the room with long strides, doing his best not to jolt Hima too much. Still he said nothing as he settled Hima carefully down on the table, pulling away from under and around her the bloody blanket. "Manticore attack. She was given the antidote for the poisoning, but that doesn't fix the damage it did to her." He left out the part about the Purine and Imperial involvement, and the stealing back of his hunter from a field hospital. Instead he simply turned and stared down the woman with his own deep crimson eyes, as if darning her to say too much more. This little trick often worked well when he dealt with supernaturals, as they were unnerved by his strange eyes for a mundane.

"She was hit by its stinger, and claws. I don't think it bit her." Crossing his arms over his chest, Reima continued his stare down. "And you'll fix her up, not kill her." He couldn't seem to puzzle out what kind of supernatural this woman was. While the red eyes narrowed down the list some, he knew not to let that fool him. She didn't come across as a daemon, and from what he knew vampires normally started going crazy over blood. She wasn't behaving that way at all, so Hima was safe from that option at least. The problem was Reima hadn't unstrapped his weapons before rushing off with the mortal injured hunter. His fairly large sword was still strapped to his back, and twelve knives hung in various places on his thighs and upper arms as well as hips.


Bottles smashed, I raised my hand
How can you all even stand?
And why is there joy in this poison? Oh
Faking smiles and confidence
Driving miles to capture this excitement
I can't take anymore

You're never gonna get it
I'm a hazard to myself
I'll break it to you easy
This is hell, this is hell
You're looking and whispering
You think I'm someone else
This is hell, yes
I am in hell



We Don't Have to Dance - Andy Black
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Flame » 10/13/2016 4:31 PM

Lilith could tell by the sound of footsteps following behind her that the man had heeded her orders and brought the injured woman - that, and by the strong scent of blood which trailed her as well. To be honest, there had been a moment when she wasn't sure whether the man would actually obey; there was a certain look in his eyes that said that he wasn't one who was used to being given commands, but she hadn't given him the opportunity to argue before whisking away again. After all, it was his friend who was injured, and whether or not she received treatment was entirely up to his jurisdiction. If he couldn't bring himself to follow simple orders from a doctor, well, then the blood of the injured woman would be on his hands.

Lilith made her way back over to the table with supplies in her arms just as the man was putting the patient down, removing the blanket which had swaddled her to reveal equally bloodstained clothing. The slashes and tears in the cloth clearly showed where the points of origin of the injuries she'd sustained were, and judging by the size of them and the amount of blood she'd lost, she was in a dire situation indeed. Vampiristic instinct took a backseat as Lilith's medical training kicked in, and she immediately began to strip the injured woman of her blood-soaked clothing. Whether or not the man in the room might be embarrassed at how brazen her actions might be didn't seem to concern her - if he couldn't be in the same room as a half-naked woman, that was his problem. Right now, Lilith's only concern was getting to the wounds and addressing them as quickly as possible without wasting any unnecessary time.

Although the young doctor didn't once turn to look at the man who'd brought the injured woman in - she had eyes only for her patient now - she heard every word of his explanation. The only indication of it was a slight pursing of her lips at the mention of a manticore attack. Even among the supernatural community, a manticore attack wasn't an everyday occurrence. Part of her wondered at exactly what the circumstances were that had lead up to this woman receiving her injuries, but again, that wasn't of importance just yet. "She's already received the antidote - that's good." Lilith appeared to be murmuring to herself as she deftly wiped the wounds with some sterile gauze to get a better look at what the actual cuts themselves looked like. "If she hadn't, you wouldn't have made it halfway here before she died, or was paralyzed for life, at the very least." She bathed the largest of the wounds with a squirt bottle of sterile saline solution to rinse out what debris might have been lodged inside, bloody liquid streaming into a waiting, empty pan below. "Luckily the wounds seem to be clean, although if you'd waited any longer to bring her in, she would most definitely have an infection. It's hard to say for the moment whether she will." There was a distinct note of disapproval in her voice, although her gaze never lifted from where her hands were working. A needle and surgical thread were procured and wielded deftly in one hand as the other worked to slow the bleeding with more gauze, at least enough to see what she was doing through the blood still oozing from the wound. She had her work cut out for her, but with any luck, she'd be able to stop the bleeding before the damage was irrefutable. Needless to say, she'd be dipping into the hospital's blood bank tonight, but this time, it wouldn't be for herself.
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Nyxia » 10/14/2016 2:14 PM

As the woman began her work on the injured hunter, Hima moaned in pain when her shirt was removed. Her eyes briefly fluttering open, as she gasped in a deep breath from the salt water poured into the massive rack mark across her side, her back arching away. For a split second her eyes locked on the other woman above her, and the pain was clear on her face. Then her eyes once more closed as she went back flat on the table, her breath coming in ragged pants of agony. Behind the woman however, Reima's reaction was barely controlled. At the sound Hima made, his face contorted into a mask of rage, before he forced himself to calm down once more. She had not caused that pain to simply harm Hima, she was doing her job he reminded himself.

Slowly Reima began walking around to the other side of the table, his many knives jingling softly as he walked with the sound of steel on steel. He was unbothered by the sight of Hima shirtless, after all he'd many times had to field dress his hunters after incidents. Instead he shifted his coat on his shoulders, and stepped up to the head of the table, across from the doctor. His movements were calculated, each step carefully planned on an unconscious level to cause both fear and for as little noise as possible. His normally imposing six foot two frame cast a shadow across Hima's face, as he slowly began to rub his finger across her forehead and through her hair in a gesture of comfort. "If she hadn't been given it quickly, she would have been dead before the hour after her battle was done." His voice was cold, with a hard edge to it like steel. "The manticore she fought was old, probably at least a century old, so she told me." Despite the hard tone, his voice also carried a hint of pride to it. "Hima is one of my best hunters." The last he said quietly, not meant to carry far. His mind unable to accept losing her now, not when he was already short two hunters to that same beast.

After a long moment, Reima once more looked up once more at the doctor. For a split second his temper flared in his ruby colored eyes, furious that this...thing would think he didn't take the best care of her he could. "She was treated with ointment before..." His words stopped, the heat of his voice clear. "A few days ago the wounds were treated." As he looked back down at Hima, he took a deep breath to calm himself. Stitches across several of the wounds had opened and broken, the deep wounds across her left ribcage and stomach wept watery blood. She looked worse than she had the day before when he'd stole her back out of the Imperial field hospital, the truth of what she'd suffered in her battle clearly written across her body. "Just...help her." He hated the feeling of helplessness he felt as he realized he could do little to fix Hima, worse because now he was relying on a supernatural of some kind to help her and keep her alive. A completely mundane woman he respected greatly, now had her life in the hands of a supernatural. Reima was forced to look away and step back from the table for a moment, both to collect himself and to keep his emotions in check.


Bottles smashed, I raised my hand
How can you all even stand?
And why is there joy in this poison? Oh
Faking smiles and confidence
Driving miles to capture this excitement
I can't take anymore

You're never gonna get it
I'm a hazard to myself
I'll break it to you easy
This is hell, this is hell
You're looking and whispering
You think I'm someone else
This is hell, yes
I am in hell



We Don't Have to Dance - Andy Black
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Flame » 10/14/2016 3:55 PM

Lilith’s hands were deft as she tended to her patient, the ease of her motions derived from countless years of experience. Even before she had been turned, she had been a doctor, and as such, it was in her very nature to care for those who needed her expertise. Needless to say, being forced against her own will to have to feed on the life force of others had been a jarring and almost catastrophic change for her – more than once she had considered terminating her own life over the course of the long years, not being able to stand the idea of being one of the very monsters that put people like this woman in hospitals like this.

However, she had learned via a long and painful process that killing and maiming wasn’t all there was to life, even for a vampire. The first discovery on this new journey she’d embarked upon was the turning point in her new life – the moment when she learned that she could sustain herself on blood without having to harm anyone for it. Once she’d discovered that, everything else had slowly begun to fall into place as well, and it wasn’t long before she was practicing medicine again, and not only sparing lives, but saving them.

It was also during this time that she learned that there were others out there like herself – those labeled ‘monsters’ by the world around them, but in truth, they were good people trying to make their way in their own lives. Many of them were more celibate even than her, at least when it came to harming other life – one vampire she’d met had refused all sustenance, and she’d watched him starve, lucid, even to his very final hunger-ridden moments. Others learned to live off of animals, plants, and even emotions and energy alone; unfortunately for her though, her affliction followed a very classic form, but she’d found her own way to deal with her unique needs without harming people in the process.

However, she’d soon come to find that hunters were almost entirely indiscriminate when it came to their quarry; to them, a monster was a monster, regardless of who it was that lived inside their head. That was the reason why she was here – Lilith had seen far too many innocent supernaturals injured or killed at the hands of bloodthirsty killers, and as she’d treated more and more unrightfully harmed individuals over the years, she’d slowly garnered a smoldering hatred for those who hunted her kind. She’d never once met a hunter who asked questions before they killed, and it was purely coincidence alone which had led to her first hunter kill. As a result though, she’d saved the life of two young lycan children, and since that moment, she’d found her new calling as a hunter in her own right. And thus, the hunters became the hunted.

The injured woman’s body suddenly jerked into motion in response to the renewed pain, but Lilith’s only reaction was to force her back down again, if only to keep her from tearing her wounds afresh. Luckily, she slumped unconscious soon after, but not before Lilith could all but feel the rage emanating from the man standing behind her, his gaze burning a hole into the back of her neck. He knew better than to act on his emotions though – she counted on that much. After all, if she waited long enough to administer a painkiller and let it work its way into her system, she would have lost more precious blood.

It wasn’t the ominous looming of the protective man which caught Lilith’s attention in the end; it was the mention of one word which caused her to tense, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. This woman was…a hunter? A flicked crossed the doctor’s dark red eyes, invisible to the watching man seeing as her gaze was still downturned upon her patient. This woman, and no doubt her hulking companion, were the reason why hospitals like these existed – the source of all of the unnecessary graves in family backyards. For a brief moment, Lilith’s fingers itched for the scalpel right next to her hand. She could end this here and now, while this woman was weak and on the verge of death. Hell, it might even have been a mercy to put her out of her misery, considering the state she was currently in. Cold anger trickled through her veins as she quickly considered her options – killing the injured hunter would be child’s play, but she still had the very angry, much more intimidating man to consider. Could she move fast enough to take them both out before he caught on? It would be so simple – just one tiny cut into one artery, or the smallest air bubble inserted into a vein…

It was the sound of an unexpectedly gentle plea that shook Lilith out of her blood-soaked reverie. “Just…help her.” For the first time since she’d first laid eyes on the man when he’d walked in with his injured companion in his arms, she let her gaze lock onto his as he backed away from the operating table. In spite of her warring instincts, there was sympathy and almost an odd gentleness in her gaze. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen someone in his position, desperate, helpless, and wishing they could do anything to be in the place of the person they cared for. Lilith wasn’t making any promises about the future – in fact, she still fully intended to end both this man and his injured companion…but not like this. Even monsters like them deserved some humanity.

“I will do everything within my physical means to save her life, you have my word.” Lilith’s eyes spoke the same truth as her words as she held the hunter’s gaze, crimson on crimson. She would keep her oath until the hunter was nursed back to health, that was her duty as a doctor, but after that, they could both consider themselves fair game.
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Nyxia » 10/15/2016 2:06 AM

Reima didn't say a word, he simply nodded. His wide shoulders didn't relax in this least, nor did his expression though it remained stoic. He couldn't trust any supernatural, not even a doctor. As he watched the woman working on Hima, he felt his own sixth sense rise. At first he tried to shake it off as simple paranoia chalked up to her being something other than human, but he couldn't shake off the prickle of danger he felt. However while he didn't fear in the least for himself, he did make sure for Hima's sake to be ready just in case. "I'm glad." He'd faced down some nasty things in his time, the scar that ran under his right eye back to his ear from a hex proof. If it had been him, Reima hoped the others would leave him to his fate. Then as he thought that his son's face flashed before his mind's eye, Near would be heartbroken if he died. That was the double edged sword of his life, supernatural hunter and father of a vampire.

It never got easier for him either, no matter how the others tried to "reason" with him on the subject. In many ways Reima always viewed supernaturals as a kind of plague, something that was wrong with their world. He'd seen how many innocent people had hurt or died at the hands of beings that were unnatural, things that he felt should have kept to themselves. Hell, he'd been one of the people who'd paid the price of spilled blood because of a monster that looked human. Now standing there in the brightly lit white room, Reima was reminded of things he wished he could forget. He hadn't always hated them, in fact he'd once loved and married a woman who was a witch. Now though when he remembered the night she'd died, the vampires he'd angered because his little shop couldn't pay the "protection" fee; the anger again started to rise in his chest, right along with the sheer grief he'd felt every day since her death.

His path from that night on had been set, when his wife had taken her last breath and gone on with their daughter already dead in the same room. It had boiled down at the time to revenge, that was the reason he'd killed those five vampires during the daylight hours in the months that followed. In the years that followed, Reima and those who worked with him and helped many pick up the very pieces of their lives he never could, in the wake of such loses. He had done everything in his power to stop others from suffering what he had, and while he had crossed the line more than once (and made many powerful enemies along the way) he could safely say those he'd killed had deserved to die. Still while Reima didn't go out simply looking to kill any supernatural, he couldn't say he would shy away from the job if it was offered. The supernaturals didn't even try to police themselves as far as he could see, in fact those that didn't run wild didn't seem to last long as far as he knew. He could still remember going to the vampire master in his town, all those years ago. How the man had laughed, and explained to him the way of things, that they had a right to kill any of the humans in the town simply because they could.

Hima was a different kind of hunter though, she outright refused to hunter supernaturals that were in anyway human like. She strictly hunted monsters which killed and caused problems, things like manticores, imps, and other none intelligent things. The last time he'd sent her to deal with a werewolf problem, she'd ended up in about the same condition as she was now, trying to reason with them instead of putting them down. Instead of keeping his mouth shut though, Reima found himself unable to keep his thoughts inside his head. "The worst part of it all is the why." He grumbled pacing a little further back from the table, just in case this doctor was a magic user. "A vampire...she got herself nearly killed, one of my other hunters is dead; all because a little vampire girl told them about the monster the army kept killed her family and took her little brother." He snorted at it, though he really didn't think the woman was paying him any mind. After all she probably knew him by reputation, and was ignoring him. "Hima...you and your bleeding damn heart." He was now grumbling softly, not really talking to anyone. "First it's reasoning with werewolves that are eating people. Now you're nearly dead to save one worthless soldier and some little vampire boy. And Lich...he was right there with you, it was him that died instead of the boy...He chose to keep that vampire alive." Pushing a hand through his shaggy but still short white hair, Reima couldn't even fathom how she could do that.

As he watched her being worked on, Reima felt the inner storm of emotions and caution warring to push him. The problem he found was that he had no real target, which meant his blades would stay tucked away. This doctor, while a supernatural, likely hadn't killed anyone or done anything that warranted him to act.


Bottles smashed, I raised my hand
How can you all even stand?
And why is there joy in this poison? Oh
Faking smiles and confidence
Driving miles to capture this excitement
I can't take anymore

You're never gonna get it
I'm a hazard to myself
I'll break it to you easy
This is hell, this is hell
You're looking and whispering
You think I'm someone else
This is hell, yes
I am in hell



We Don't Have to Dance - Andy Black
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Nyxia
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Flame » 10/15/2016 2:37 PM

Fresh red blood stained Lilith's fingers and hands as she held the two edges of the largest wound together, the needle in her right hand dancing as she skillfully wove the torn skin back together. "Your...friend was incredibly lucky. While her wounds run deep and she's lost a lot of blood, she seems to have escaped any serious internal injuries." The talking was as much to soothe the worried man as anything else - normally, she wouldn't have cared whether the hunter was dead or alive, let alone his emotional state, but again, this was the doctorly side of her instinct kicking in once again. She'd found over her years of experience that it helped to talk the concerned onlookers through the process as she worked. After all, medicine in itself was almost its own kind of magic, and only those trained to use it could really tell what was going on during the process.

Within a few minutes, she had finished stitching up the largest of the wounds. Blood still wept slowly from the treated wounds, but the worst of the damage had been addressed, and gauze would staunch what still escaped soon enough. "She needs a blood transfusion, and soon. Do you know what blood type she is?" Lilith would draw what she needed from the hospital's stock, but in the meantime as she waited for a response, she began to remove the old sutures from some of the other wounds. Those would need to be retreated and closed again, considering the fact that many of them were beginning to tear open once more. Each was carefully washed and disinfected, then deftly sewn shut again with tight, neat stitches.

During the entire course of the operation, there was nothing that Lilith did to give away the fact that she was anything but human. She could all but smell the danger reeking from the man standing across the operating table, and she couldn't predict what he would do if he discovered her true nature. Plus, he would be more likely to trust her if he thought she was merely a normal human, and her mind already began to turn with ideas for how to maneuver herself into a convenient position from which to ambush him, even if it took her days or even weeks to do so. After all, she was the doctor who was saving his companion's life - that was a good start for building some foundation of trust, right? If being a vampire had taught her anything, it was that it was usually in her best interest to hide her nature from as many people as possible, and it also happened to make her job as a hunter much easier as well.

Lilith listened silently as the man recounted the events which had led to this moment, and it gave her pause, if only momentarily. From what she could glean, this woman whom she was treating perhaps wasn't the indiscriminate killer she expected - or perhaps even wanted - her to be. But still, a hunter was a hunter, and she couldn't waver in her resolve now. "Was it a trap? Or were the vampire children actually in danger? What did you do with them after what they did to your hunters?" The questions may have been somewhat blunt, but Lilith was curious, and she needed to know whether she would have to go out and rescue these children after her shift was done here. Either that, or it would only fuel her resolve to end these hunters, especially if the man had killed the children in retribution, vampire or not.
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Nyxia » 10/15/2016 4:39 PM

His eyes were on the doctor once more, pulled away from all the turning of his mind. Still Reima's face betrayed nothing of the emotions which lurked below the surface, instead he simply stared at her. "Luck is to fickle to be counted on. Hima is skilled, as was Lich." He watched her work, cold eyes calculating each of her movements with a sharp perception. "That bumbling soldier also help..." Reima still didn't know how he felt about the man, no matter that he'd carried her back and made sure she was tended to. In a way he doubted it mattered, it wasn't like they were ever going to see him again. That didn't make it easier or better for him, to admit that someone else had been part of it.

As he watched her Reima was still bothered by his soldier's sixth sense, that danger was close. She wasn't human, a fact he reminded himself of when she began trying to sooth him. That didn't mean she meant either of them harm though, but he had to really think how likely it would be. After all this was the same hospital he'd once brought Near to when there'd been a fight between himself and some other clan or something. They hadn't killed his son, so why would they kill Hima? That alone calmed him some, though he didn't drop his guard in the least.  "Her blood type is B negative." He did know most of the basic information for each of his hunters, especially since her tag had been lost in the fight.

"The kids...well." As if by simply bringing them up, Reima remembered when his own son had been that little. "They would have been killed if she and Lich hadn't gotten involved, so I would call it danger. I guess she insisted that soldier take them to a vampire group. Hima made herself worse to make sure they were safe and okay. Guess it has something to do with being the kid of a werewolf, herself." He shrugged his shoulders slightly, as if it didn't really matter. Truth be told, Reima knew he couldn't have harmed or killed them himself. The boy had looked and acted too much like Near, which made him feel like more of a hypocrite. "She has some kind of card for them..."

He wasn't alarmed at all that this doctor wanted to know about them, they were always that way about supernatural children. Without thinking about it, Reima began rifling around in his coat pockets looking for the worn out card. The chimes and clangs were broken only by soft tinkling of his many weapons, as he moved with the skillfully light move more common to a thief than a hunter of large size such as he was. "They're some kind of group of vampires. Take in newly turned if people bring them, lost kids...animals that behave like vampires...huh." His hands found the card in the front breast pocket, but when his fingers wrapped around the worn out card Hima had kept since her own youth, he pulled out something he'd thought long gone. Caught between his index and middle finger was a delicate gold chain, which held up a small simple locket. His brows frowned at it, as he held out the card with his other hand.  

He couldn't even remember it ever being on him, not in the last seven years of his life. For the briefest moment grief and lose mixed with confusion flashed through his ruby colored eyes, before they hardened once more as Reima tucked away his late wife's locket back into his pocket. He swore he'd buried it with her and their daughter, which puzzled him further. The hint of potion making and magic would have still clung to it, part of his late wife's own scent. Shifting his focus once again back to the doctor, Reima only glanced at Hima. "They're called the Ilztirahn house." There was no hitch in his voice, no evidence of what those memories brought back to him.


Bottles smashed, I raised my hand
How can you all even stand?
And why is there joy in this poison? Oh
Faking smiles and confidence
Driving miles to capture this excitement
I can't take anymore

You're never gonna get it
I'm a hazard to myself
I'll break it to you easy
This is hell, this is hell
You're looking and whispering
You think I'm someone else
This is hell, yes
I am in hell



We Don't Have to Dance - Andy Black
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Flame » 11/02/2016 3:11 PM

As the hunter spoke, Lilith merely nodded along, knowing that he was probably talking more for his own peace of mind than anything. Different people had different ways of dealing with crises, and as far as reactions went, this man was taking everything relatively calmly (even if he did give off the distinct air of possibly wanting to jam one of those various weapons into her neck if given the opportunity). After all, this hospital was more accustomed to admitting supernatural patients, and generally speaking, hunters and humans alike avoided this part of town like the plague. The fact that this man had brought his injured companion here said something for how much he cared about her well-being. After all, a 'normal' hospital would likely have asked a lot more awkward questions about the nature of these wounds, and sometimes it was safer sequestering those people from the world in which supernaturals lived.

Lilith worked efficiently, and within a short fifteen minutes, she had completely resealed all of the injured woman's wounds. The stitches which had bound her skin together originally were somewhat haphazard, and only marginally effective - it was a good thing her companion had brought her here for treatment, as the prior work seemed to have been conducted at a lower skill level than what Lilith boasted. With the injuries newly closed and cleaned, the woman already looked considerably better. If nothing else, she at least wasn't covered in dried blood any more, and Lilith was confident that with the right care, she would make a full recovery with only a few scars to show for her near-death experience.

Now that she knew what type of blood the woman needed, the young doctor whisked out of the room without notice, making her way down the hall to the refrigerated storage area where the blood transfusion supplies were located. Rifling through the bank of donated blood that they hand on hand, she pulled out a pouch of blood labeled 'B Negative' and set about preparing it for transfusion. A few minutes later, she returned to the operating room with the warm bag of fresh blood in hand (again, she was thankful for the fact that she had fed so recently, otherwise she would likely have displayed outward signs of hunger while handling the sample). Setting about getting the IV set up for her patient, she soon had the life-giving blood pumping into the woman's veins, and after checking to ensure that the line was secure and the flow was steady, Lilith set about dressing the wounds she had just treated.

"This process might take a while, so I'd consider settling in more comfortably, if I were you," she said conversationally to the hunter who still loomed over the operating table, her hands deftly administering an antiseptic balm to the newly-stitched wounds before dressing them with gauze to try and prevent possible infection. A small movement of her head indicated a chair located by the patient's bedside, strategically placed so that a visitor could sit yet remain close to the patient. It wasn't until she'd actually finished wrapping up all of the wounds that she finally glanced up at the man, realizing that he'd been trying to hand her something. She caught a glimpse of those strange, raw emotions on his face as gold metal flashed as it caught the light before being slipped back into a pocket once more. Reaching out, she took the proffered card, which clearly looked as if it had seen younger days in the past. "I've heard of these guys before," she murmured off-handedly, her gaze flickering over the face of the card in her hand. "From what I know of them, your companions' sacrifices will not have been in vain. The children will be well cared for under that roof."

Setting the card aside on the small pan which had previously held her clean operating tools, she made her way over to a cabinet off to the side of the room, opening the door to rifle through the numerous bottles contained inside. Sifting through, she dug around for the specific antibiotics she was looking for to prescribe to her patient. "Make sure that your companion stays on these antibiotics until her wounds have fully healed. We wouldn't want to fix her up, just to have her die of a perfectly preventable infection, after all." Pulling out three different bottles, she set about counting out pills of various colors and sizes from each one. "So, you're a hunter, eh? You've certainly got some nerve, showing up in this part of town." The glance that she shot him showed no sign of ill-will - if anything, her words could almost be taken as her joking with him. After all, it would do her no good to put him on his guard - she wanted him to trust her, especially if she planned to be able to keep track of him after tonight. "So, what got you into the hunting business? Just wake up one day as a kid and decided that was going to be your career? And how about her? You mentioned that she was raised by werewolves. Seems like a strange occupation to choose, considering her history." It would be at least a couple of hours before the blood transfusion would be complete, so now would be a good opportunity to get to know her adversary.
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Nyxia » 12/03/2016 5:44 PM

When she was done with her work, Reima felt his guard come down a little. After all what harm would she really cause now, especially since it wasn't like he intended to leave Hima there alone. "I'm perfectly comfortable." He made no move to sit anyway, continuing to stand and keep his watch. At the same time he shifted his weight from his left leg to his right with the same sounds of his armory shifting with him, crimson eyes cutting to the doctor's face. He did however step around to the head of the table, keeping himself out of her way while staying close in case of trouble.

With a sighed out breath, Reima regarded the woman. He'd never once heard of the group named on the card, though apparently a lot of supernaturals had. "Their sacrifices...shouldn't have been made." His eyes glanced away, towards Hima instead. "If the armies would quit trying to use unnatural things for an advantage, none of this would have happened." His eyes scanned over the IV line in her arm, checking it for anything out of order. Just because this woman was supernatural didn't mean she would try to kill them, he had to remind himself of this and looked away from it. After all she was a doctor, he didn't need to be to guarded. He had a lot on his mind right then, thus he let it drop.

As he took the bottle of pills Reima gave her a less than amused look, if she needed something he would have been happier to go and find a human doctor to give it to her. Still he wasn't sure if saying this, or handing back the pills might cause offense, something that might get them killed. Her comment about him however brought his heckles up some. It took him a moment to realizing she didn't have an accusatory tone, if anything she seemed to be joking with him. Reima breathed out and let himself relax a little bit, finding it a little odd that she hadn't seemed all that upset so far about what he and Hima did. Then again Reima had to wonder if maybe she didn't fully realize who he was, a small blessing if that was the case, would explain why she hadn't attacked or tried to kill them. "I guess I do, but isn't that always how it is?" He wasn't entirely sure how to respond to a joke.

Her questions about them however did give him another sense of unease. "Its complicated for me. I wanted to continue running a shop as a boy, but..." He stopped for a moment, shrugging it off. It was no one's business why he did what he did, no matter how "nice" they made themselves seem. "Hima got into this business, as a means of helping supernaturals with problems." Now he simply shook his head, watching as Hima stirred on the table. "She has this weird thought that we should be protecting them and humans, fighting with monsters not supernaturals." He'd never figured her out, but then Reima made it a point not to try to either. After a moment more it seemed Hima was starting to slowly pull herself awake as they spoke, and Reima shut up waiting to see what would happen. When she simply continued to shift though, he looked back over. "She's always trying to change the system, something about if more supernaturals joined us then things would be better." It was crazy talk mostly, but Reima had no interest in her reasons. Hima's eyes finally opened, though she looked a little confused as she started to glance about.


Bottles smashed, I raised my hand
How can you all even stand?
And why is there joy in this poison? Oh
Faking smiles and confidence
Driving miles to capture this excitement
I can't take anymore

You're never gonna get it
I'm a hazard to myself
I'll break it to you easy
This is hell, this is hell
You're looking and whispering
You think I'm someone else
This is hell, yes
I am in hell



We Don't Have to Dance - Andy Black
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Nyxia
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Flame » 12/13/2016 3:42 PM

When the hunter refused the proffered seat, Lilith merely lifted an eyebrow fractionally in his direction, but made no move or sound to argue against his choice. After all, it was entirely up to him to decide what he was most comfortable with, even if that involved questioning her trustworthiness. One couldn’t blame him, she supposed – hunters were an untrusting type as a whole, and for good reason; there would always be people like her waiting for the opportunity when their guards were down to strike. Plus, it wasn’t exactly as if they went out of their way to make any friends either; rather, quite the opposite held true. “Suit yourself,” she replied, her tone clearly conveying the fact that it didn’t make a difference to her either way whether he chose to sit, stand, or even run in circles in the operating room. As long as he didn’t get in the way of her work, that was.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as the man moved to the head of the operating table, more likely than not to give her room to work, and satisfied that he wasn’t going to interfere with her duties, she set about checking the IV and ensuring that her handiwork was up to her standards. It took only a few moments, but once she seemed content with the state of her patient’s care, she leaned back against the side of the operating table, her arms now folded neatly in front of her chest as she turned her attention away from the woman and finally fully upon the man. Crimson eyes searched him with a mild curiosity, but there was no hint of ill will in her gaze as she seemed to weigh him, taking note of every tiny detail. There was no such thing as having too much intel on your enemy, and she fully intended to be as well-prepared as possible when she finally faced him one-on-one.

“Well, it sounds to me like that was their choice to make. After all, every person has a price that they’re willing to trade their life for. Who’s to judge them for doing what they thought was right?” Her question was a redundant one, but her voice remained conversational, her tone neutral. She had no doubt that this was a touchy subject for the hunter, and the last thing she needed right now was to put him on the defensive. If anything, she was simply making conversation to pass the time as they waited for the blood transfusion to complete. She did, however, appear mildly amused by the look which the man gave the bottle of antibiotics which she’d handed him. “I promise you, there’s nothing in there but antibiotics to keep her wounds from getting infected. After all, why would I want to go through all the effort of saving your friend just to harm her after all of the work was already done?” She scoffed lightly, but in actuality, she was being quite serious about the matter; if the woman didn’t take the pills as prescribed, there was a decent chance that her next visit to the hospital wouldn’t turn out quite as well. “If it really bothers you that much, I could always just write her a prescription and you can pick it up from your own pharmacy instead.” With that matter-of-fact tone, she closed the subject for discussion, considering it a shut case.

Lilith was far from surprised when the man seemed less than forthcoming with information about himself. It was only to be expected, but nothing would stay hidden from her for long. She had her means of getting information, and she didn’t need him to tell her himself for her to find it. He did seem somewhat more open when it came to talking about Hima though, and the more he revealed about her, the more Lilith wondered how much she didn’t know about her patient. “Maybe she’s right, but I wouldn’t know. I’ve never really been one for politics myself.” She shrugged noncommittally as she spoke – two could play at this game. As she did though, movement caught the corner of her eye and she looked down to see that her patient had begun to stir, and her eyes were just opening.

Bending down, Lilith placed a hand gently on the woman’s shoulder to restrain her for her own safety. “Take it easy there, you’re alright.” Understandably, the woman would likely be quite confused and disoriented upon waking in this strange facility, and Lilith now took it upon herself to keep her from tearing any of her new stitches, or accidentally jostling the IV which was still injecting fresh blood into her system. “Your friend here brought you to the hospital, and we’re currently getting you patched up. You lost a lot of blood, so we’re currently giving you a transfusion, and while you might feel a bit under the weather while you heal up, you should be back to your normal self soon enough, given you don’t go off on any extreme adventures before you heal.”
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Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Nyxia » 12/15/2016 3:55 PM

For a long moment more Reima stared at the pill bottle in his hand, weighing both his thoughts against the facts. Finally after a moment, he put the bottle in the front right pocket of his coat with a grunt. After all the woman's words did make sense, she hadn't harmed Hima during this time when he could have done very little to help her. "No, its fine." His guard steadily was coming down towards this woman, who seemed to bare them no ill will at all. Probably he hadn't killed anyone she knew personally, and that meant to him she likely had little to no clue who he was. His lips quirked into a slight smile, showing humor at the whole of it. He'd let drop her comments about sacrifice, in favor of not dreading up ill thoughts for himself. Instead he shrugged it off some, keeping his attention on the matters at hand.

While Hima blinked several times at the doctor, she struggled to figure out what the woman was talking about. Her friend? Did she possibly mean Gunner had brought her here? She couldn't understand why he would do that, considering how close they'd been to the front lines when she'd been injured. The last thing she remembered was the forest clearing, Gunner trying to administer the anti-venom to her in the aftermath of their battle with the larger than normal manticore. His voice floated in her mind, telling her they'd won. The children also came to mind, her giving the card to him for him to get them help. After that everything was dark, a blank to her. She remembered the bite of the needle in her arm after she'd closed her eyes, and the aching pain of the anti-venom pushed into the muscle tissue.

Instead of saying anything, she tried to shift her head towards the male voice she'd heard, something familiar and even comforting in it. "Where?" Her eyes searched about the room, landing once more on the face of the doctor. "Who...?" Her eyes than went to Reima who laid his hand on her shoulder, keeping her from moving around as well. She frowned up at him, her mind working quickly to understand his presence there. She knew he might come looking for her if she didn't check in, but again his standing there was unusual. As far as she knew, normally he would have sent another hunter to track her down; just as she had been sent to track down Lich. Clearly her mind was struggling to catch up with what it had missed, evident in the expression on her mocha face as she stared at him. "The kids?" It was the first coherent thought she had was the pair of frightened little faces which had stared at her after the manticore had been downed.

Only glancing at the doctor, Reima nodded his head. "Your fine." He assured her as he pushed down a little harder on her shoulder. He too knew that her pulling the new stitches or upsetting the IV line would be a very bad thing, which is why he made sure to keep her down. "I brought you here from the field hospital. We're near the Medicai City safe house, you're nearly home." He wasn't sure giving up that information was such a good idea with this woman close by, but then again so far she hadn't seemed hostile towards either of them. "The kids are safe, he got a message to that...vampire." Reima had to work to keep the disgust from his voice at the word, but his face nearly pulled into a grimace at it. "Stay still, listen to the doctor." With a shake of his head, Reima knew he needed to let the others know. "I'll send Neme to collect you when you're allowed to leave." He doubted leaving her alone now would be dangerous, considering Hima would be able to defend herself if need be.

Once Hima settled back down and stopped moving around, Reima glanced at the doctor. "One of my people will be here soon, to take her back home." He was still measuring out his information, caution winning out despite his lowered guard. With that much worked out, Reima turned and started to leave the room, "I'll see you once you're rested and able, Hima." He turned only slightly back towards her, "You're off duty until a doctor clears you."

Once he had stepped from the room, Hima's eyes wandered back to the doctor. "Thank you." She guessed it was a supernatural hospital, based on the other woman's odd color of eyes. More shocking was that Reima hadn't threatened or in some way terrorized the doctor to get her aid. "I...feel a little...sore." She laid herself back on the bed, completely unconcerned by the fact that the woman was some kind of being. "He'll see to it the most adventure I get, will be paperwork. Trust me." She was less than thrilled at the fact that she was sidelined, but then again she hurt so bad she could barely raise her own head.


Bottles smashed, I raised my hand
How can you all even stand?
And why is there joy in this poison? Oh
Faking smiles and confidence
Driving miles to capture this excitement
I can't take anymore

You're never gonna get it
I'm a hazard to myself
I'll break it to you easy
This is hell, this is hell
You're looking and whispering
You think I'm someone else
This is hell, yes
I am in hell



We Don't Have to Dance - Andy Black
User avatar
Nyxia
Ultimate Specialist
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Keystones: 609
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Status: Doing my best to get back in the swing of things.

Re: Shadows of Half Truths [P]

Postby Flame » 12/16/2016 12:24 PM

Lilith was somewhat surprised when the hunter took the pills and pocketed them instead of taking her up on her offer of writing up a prescription instead. Considering how untrusting his type were, she really would have expected him to have remained exasperatingly obstinate throughout the course of his visit here. Perhaps it was concern for his companion which had softened him to some degree, and Lilith made sure to take note of it – that was something that she might be able to use against him in the future. Her ilk towards the female hunter may have dulled slightly over the past hour or so – after all, it sounded like the woman actually had a conscience for a hunter – but she trusted the man no more than when he’d first walked in. Based on his attitude alone towards supernaturals in general, something told her that he was exactly the kind of quarry she hunted.

None of these thoughts showed on her face though, which was trained to a smooth, professional calm. She even flashed a small smile back at the man when he finally cracked one of his own; something told her that smiling wasn’t an act which came naturally to him. If she was about to say anything though, she was interrupted by her patient stirring back to consciousness. The woman was confused and disoriented, which was only to be expected considering her condition, but the fact that she was voicing lucid thoughts was encouraging, as it meant that she’d suffered no serious brain damage from her blood loss. The fact that one of her first thoughts was to voice concern about the vampire children lowered Lilith’s suspicion yet further – perhaps hunters with morals actually did exist after all, but considering her past experiences, Lilith wouldn’t be quick to believe it. However, any ill-will she might have held towards this injured woman had diminished considerably in the meantime.

Lilith listened quietly as the two hunters exchanged words, the man briefly catching his companion up to speed on the situation. While she remained politely silent though, Lilith was absorbing every ounce of information which passed between the two, filing every tidbit, however small, away in her mind for later use. The one thing that caught her attention most though was the mention of a safe house nearby. Something told her that if she intended to track this man down later, that would be the best place to start.

“Don’t worry, I’ll ensure that she’s well cared for until someone comes to collect her,” Lilith finally said reassuringly to the man. “After all, it’s quiet in here tonight, and I certainly wouldn’t complain about having some company.” She smiled lightly at the woman lying on the operating table, removing the hand which restrained her once she was certain that she had given up fidgeting.  Lilith watched as the man turned to leave the room, her gaze calculating. There was no sense in going after him now – he was still far too on-guard for her to do anything about at the moment, and especially when there were so many other injured supernatural patients around them that he could use to his advantage. No, she would need to get him away from the hospital first before she could even consider making a move, and something told her that to get to this particular specimen, it was going to require more finesse and cunning on her part than usual.

Once the man was gone, she turned back to her patient – this woman would be her line back to the other hunter, that much she knew was true. “Oh, don’t mention it. I was just doing what any doctor would have done,” she replied to the woman’s thanks. “You’re definitely going to feel a bit battered for the next few days at least, but I’ll prescribe you some meds to take the edge off the pain. After all, it looks like you’ve been through the wash. You’re lucky your…companion brought you in when he did. He saved your life, that’s for sure. Speaking of which, I don’t think I even caught his name in all of the craziness that was going on.” This was when Lilith began to lay down the foundation for her next mission – to track down the hunter. “I do have to agree with his verdict though – no field work until you’ve been cleared by a doctor, myself or otherwise.” She was going to have to try and find a way to make the former the case. “So, I hear you got your injuries while fighting a manticore. It must have taken some serious guts to tangle with one of those beasts, especially if what your friend said about this one was true.”
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