This post has the following content warnings:
View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
They've left him alone in his cell.
He can't really be said to be lucid but he has very acute instincts for when there's someone and when he's alone - it's the last of his senses to depart him - and he's alone.
And then suddenly he isn't.
kobold and post-Angband Maedhros
lurkingkobold
Ten minutes before she can reasonably check if that's doing any good whatsoever. She sets up a basin with water and a sponge, while she waits, and starts putting together a poultice for his leg, still humming.
lurkingkobold
She notices the uptick in stress, when she goes to check his pain level. Should she give him something for that? Hard to tell - the usual wisdom is not to bother for people who aren't awake anyway, but this is obviously an extreme case and the usual wisdom doesn't take the mage-sense into account at all. On the other hand, she only has a little bit of the stress plant and it's too late in the season to get much more - and there's a good chance she's going to need it to keep herself going, now. She'll wait.
lurkingkobold
Pain level: ambiguous. She'll check again later.
The warm-water stone is ready; she teleports it to the basin, waits another minute for it to heat the water, and then takes the sponge and gets started cleaning him off. She starts with his shoulders, wringing a little bit of water onto them as a warning before gently dabbing at them.
That wakes him, though he tries not to make it obvious. What are they doing? Wax? Metal? The skin's just going to get infected - not that it really matters, he is fairly sure Moringotho's personally ensuring his continued life...
lurkingkobold
Dab dab, dab dab. Her humming's keeping time with his breathing, now that she's close enough to see it, without her particularly noticing that she's doing so.
After a few minutes, she pauses to trance and check on him again.
lurkingkobold
There's not very much she can do about most of that, but if he's awake she can at least introduce herself. She lets her claws click on the stone floor as she moves to sit where she can see her, with the just-rinsed sponge in her lap, then stops humming and makes a louder questioning noise.
It's trying to introduce itself. Possibilities: it's another prisoner in his cell, or a new creation of the Enemy's, or a psychological game that involves him coming to believe one of those things only to later somehow be betrayed.
Nonetheless.
Hello. What's your name?
lurkingkobold
She nods, dubious about this whole exchange, and then shows him the sponge - I'm cleaning you up; I'm sorry it hurts.
Not the injuries. I could help those along, it's just not worth the bother because they'll reinflict them. I think they'll stop you if you try but the best thing to do for both of us is to kill ourselves if we can.
lurkingkobold
Oh. We're - we're not there any more. I think that wasn't even the same world.
I don't understand how your telepathy works, I'm not sure I'm doing it right or what besides very simple things I can do with it.
Oh, this is a fake escape. Okay. Please don't bother me. I'll heal myself if you leave me alone a while.
lurkingkobold
Wow getting out of there was the right call.
Okay. If you want anything, let me know; I'll have soup ready in a while.
He wants to die, but if the fake escape'll drag on a while longer he may as well play along, insisting on dying will probably ruin their fun.
He slowly starts prodding his body to heal.
After a few hours he is too tired to stay awake and has patched the places where he doesn't have enough skin to stand a chance against infection and he falls asleep again.
lurkingkobold
The soup doesn't take that long. She brings him a bowl when it's ready, but he's obviously busy and she ends up eating it herself. She arranges the rest to stay warm, and then with nothing else to do she huddles miserably by the fire until he falls asleep, at which point she gets herself a blanket and goes to sleep as well.