12th fo Frost, 4622
The human pursed her lips at the Rath's admission. A slight smile of intended comfort with an empathetic eye to bridge the gap between them. She released a slow breath from her nose, then sat beside the Rath on that stone table. She set her lantern down where its glow illuminated just enough of the injured lizard.
She held her gaze on the back of his head, though it took Arkash a few seconds longer to look back at her with his working eye. A slight tilt of her head met his gaze before she wrapped his unmarred shoulder with her hand. "I know," she assured. "I really didn't know her that long, but... She really grows on you. I can't imagine what you're going through right now, Ark," she spoke in assurance. "She was the one who turned you, wasn't she?"
Arkash nodded as his head returned to the forward position, his eyes lidded as he limberly reached down the length of his mangled leg. "Yeah," he answered while feeling all his limb's alien textures, bumps, and curves. "I'd neva' asked 'er to, she jus' kinda did it," he explained. His claw settled on his knee, which felt to be missing the kneecap - A lot of the scales of the limb were missing, replaced by scar tissue.
Izzy, taken back by the revelation asked "oh? She just turned you into a Dranoch like that out of nowhere?" She was right to question it; for all of Fayeth's flaws, she wasn't flighty or whimsical.
"No," Arkash answered as he reached into the doctor's bag to retrieve a scalpel, the Sinew Gun, and the Mortar and pestle. "...I was dyin'," he elaborated with hesitation, then set the tools down at his leg's side. "See, there was this band a' dealers in Lowa' Nivenhain, an' I got badly burned wipin' them out..."
"Kinda like you are now?" Izzy asked all too hastily.
Arkash laughed a breath, then shook his head. "Not nearly- I'd 'ave died from these burns alone when I was mortal," he continued. "Nah, the burns weren' too bad I suppose. But the Butcherin' was lata' that same day, started as soon as I got finished up, in fact."
Izzy furrowed her brow. "...The Butchering?"
He nodded. "Of th' Nameless," he explained. "Two years ago now, some dickhead decided it would be a good idea to sick th' Knighthood on the nameless; this cluster of vagrants, lepers, and cripples that lived in the city's slum. It was a slaughter; so much blood you got used to seeing pink'n'red snow." he could feel Izzy's hand clasp a little tighter on his shoulder at the explanation, it was comforting to know that someone else felt passionate about his caste.
"What the fuck is wrong with people?" She growled.
"Wish I knew," he continued as he collected the scalpel and inspected the edge. "I made it my mission to... Save as many as I could. No time to dress my wounds, it was kickin' off straight away." The bite of steel in his flesh was all too familiar to the Rath; a moment's hesitation was the only herald that he'd begun to operate on himself, cutting away sections of scar tissue on his thigh, careful of the depth of his cuts. "I led them into the sewers, whoever I could round up. Naturally, a lot of 'em got sick and died before we could move 'em. I got sick too,"
"Yeah," she nodded a little. "I can't imagine sewers and open wounds mix very well."
Arkash shrugged. "It was that or have 'em all killed on the streets," he justified. "Nowhere was safe, just had to pick th' lesser evil."
The human hummed a little, then waved her head side to side in thought. "Yeah, I suppose that's fair. I don't know what I'd do in that situation."
"It's not somethin' most people need to think about," he winced with a tight press of his eye as he peeled the scar tissue from his thigh, then put it aside before he took hold of the Sinew gun and began to fill in the weeping stretch of exposed tissue. "...But," he continued, "we did manage to get ahold of some medicine from Outa' Nivenhain. Wasn't nearly enough, so I didn't take any myself." As the Sinew foam settled and became a mess of scales atop his thigh, he settled down and breathed a bit.
"...Is that how you ended up dying?"
"Close," he elaborated as he began to tie a light tourniquet around his thigh. "Pretty damn close. The infection was in my blood by the time we got everyone out of Nivenhain. If it weren't for the power of the Dranoch, I'd be long dead." When the feeling in his leg turned number, the scalpel came to the flesh around his knee and began to open the curtains for his viewing. he continued to talk while he sawed away at the thick tissues in the area, some strain slipping through to his voice. "I just woke up hungry... Really hungry. Hungrier than I'd ever been which was pretty damn hungry all things considered."
"And she fed you?"
Arkash winced and nodded his response while he recovered from a particularly painful cut. "Yeah," he all but cried out. "-Yeah," he spoke again once he'd cleared his throat. "I don't know who it was that I first... Fed on, someone who'd seen me..."
"...Seen you...?"
Perform blood magic. "Break some law or something... I don't remember." When the inner workings of his knee were exposed, the cause for the deformation became clear; Cartilage had filled in the space where the bones were supposed to meet and on one side more than the other. Such was also the likely culprit for the nerve damage below the join, he imagined. So, he began to carve away the excess biology with his scalpel and carving sickles. "I need to focus on this bit, sorry."
It was then that the human leaned over his shoulder to get a look at what he was doing, then gasped. "Ark! What the fuck?! You're operating on yourself?!"
"I told you I'm a Necromancer..."
"So what? Doctors don't go around performing surgery on themselves!"
"I've had worse," he said again and set his scalpel down. A turn of his body saw him turn his leg on its side so that his foot was parallel to the table... before he pressed down hard on his knee from that angle, snapped the remaining tissue out of the way, and slipped his knee back into place with a grotesque boney crack.
Almost immediately, Izzy let his shoulder go, turned, and threw up the contents of her stomach on the derelict floor. Even Arkash shuddered at the sensation, but more out of catharsis than whatever Izzy was experiencing.
"I'm sorry," he spoke quietly, looking in her direction.
"You really aren't kidding, are you?" She spoke between retching.
"No," Arkash clarified as he returned his knee to the upright position and began to craft a new kneecap with Sinewthread. "I'm really not."
"I guess you can get away with it, being a dranoch, huh?" She wiped her lip.
"That helps, for sure. I'm a lot more durable and bounce back easier from just about everything, even things that would kill most mortals." When the kneecap was done, he built the connective tissues and wove them into place with the grafting needle. Then, with a reach of his instrument, repaired the connecting nerves to restore the feeling in the remainder of his leg. Sensation returned with a tingling at first, pins and needles through every inch of his limb, followed by stinging pain everywhere that he'd taken damage.
Arkash set the needle down to rest for a moment, then looked back at the girl, who eyed him cautiously. "Thanks for listening to me, Izzy," he said at last. "There's not a lot of people who care about my story," he explained with a slight frown.
"Anytime, Ark... Just uhh... Give me a heads up next time you decide to start stitching yourself back together in the middle of one, alright?"
He grinned at that, then nodded. "Sounds reasonable, I'll do my best."
From there, Arkash continued to repair a lot of the superficial damage to his limb and fully restored the blood flow when it was done.
The human pursed her lips at the Rath's admission. A slight smile of intended comfort with an empathetic eye to bridge the gap between them. She released a slow breath from her nose, then sat beside the Rath on that stone table. She set her lantern down where its glow illuminated just enough of the injured lizard.
She held her gaze on the back of his head, though it took Arkash a few seconds longer to look back at her with his working eye. A slight tilt of her head met his gaze before she wrapped his unmarred shoulder with her hand. "I know," she assured. "I really didn't know her that long, but... She really grows on you. I can't imagine what you're going through right now, Ark," she spoke in assurance. "She was the one who turned you, wasn't she?"
Arkash nodded as his head returned to the forward position, his eyes lidded as he limberly reached down the length of his mangled leg. "Yeah," he answered while feeling all his limb's alien textures, bumps, and curves. "I'd neva' asked 'er to, she jus' kinda did it," he explained. His claw settled on his knee, which felt to be missing the kneecap - A lot of the scales of the limb were missing, replaced by scar tissue.
Izzy, taken back by the revelation asked "oh? She just turned you into a Dranoch like that out of nowhere?" She was right to question it; for all of Fayeth's flaws, she wasn't flighty or whimsical.
"No," Arkash answered as he reached into the doctor's bag to retrieve a scalpel, the Sinew Gun, and the Mortar and pestle. "...I was dyin'," he elaborated with hesitation, then set the tools down at his leg's side. "See, there was this band a' dealers in Lowa' Nivenhain, an' I got badly burned wipin' them out..."
"Kinda like you are now?" Izzy asked all too hastily.
Arkash laughed a breath, then shook his head. "Not nearly- I'd 'ave died from these burns alone when I was mortal," he continued. "Nah, the burns weren' too bad I suppose. But the Butcherin' was lata' that same day, started as soon as I got finished up, in fact."
Izzy furrowed her brow. "...The Butchering?"
He nodded. "Of th' Nameless," he explained. "Two years ago now, some dickhead decided it would be a good idea to sick th' Knighthood on the nameless; this cluster of vagrants, lepers, and cripples that lived in the city's slum. It was a slaughter; so much blood you got used to seeing pink'n'red snow." he could feel Izzy's hand clasp a little tighter on his shoulder at the explanation, it was comforting to know that someone else felt passionate about his caste.
"What the fuck is wrong with people?" She growled.
"Wish I knew," he continued as he collected the scalpel and inspected the edge. "I made it my mission to... Save as many as I could. No time to dress my wounds, it was kickin' off straight away." The bite of steel in his flesh was all too familiar to the Rath; a moment's hesitation was the only herald that he'd begun to operate on himself, cutting away sections of scar tissue on his thigh, careful of the depth of his cuts. "I led them into the sewers, whoever I could round up. Naturally, a lot of 'em got sick and died before we could move 'em. I got sick too,"
"Yeah," she nodded a little. "I can't imagine sewers and open wounds mix very well."
Arkash shrugged. "It was that or have 'em all killed on the streets," he justified. "Nowhere was safe, just had to pick th' lesser evil."
The human hummed a little, then waved her head side to side in thought. "Yeah, I suppose that's fair. I don't know what I'd do in that situation."
"It's not somethin' most people need to think about," he winced with a tight press of his eye as he peeled the scar tissue from his thigh, then put it aside before he took hold of the Sinew gun and began to fill in the weeping stretch of exposed tissue. "...But," he continued, "we did manage to get ahold of some medicine from Outa' Nivenhain. Wasn't nearly enough, so I didn't take any myself." As the Sinew foam settled and became a mess of scales atop his thigh, he settled down and breathed a bit.
"...Is that how you ended up dying?"
"Close," he elaborated as he began to tie a light tourniquet around his thigh. "Pretty damn close. The infection was in my blood by the time we got everyone out of Nivenhain. If it weren't for the power of the Dranoch, I'd be long dead." When the feeling in his leg turned number, the scalpel came to the flesh around his knee and began to open the curtains for his viewing. he continued to talk while he sawed away at the thick tissues in the area, some strain slipping through to his voice. "I just woke up hungry... Really hungry. Hungrier than I'd ever been which was pretty damn hungry all things considered."
"And she fed you?"
Arkash winced and nodded his response while he recovered from a particularly painful cut. "Yeah," he all but cried out. "-Yeah," he spoke again once he'd cleared his throat. "I don't know who it was that I first... Fed on, someone who'd seen me..."
"...Seen you...?"
Perform blood magic. "Break some law or something... I don't remember." When the inner workings of his knee were exposed, the cause for the deformation became clear; Cartilage had filled in the space where the bones were supposed to meet and on one side more than the other. Such was also the likely culprit for the nerve damage below the join, he imagined. So, he began to carve away the excess biology with his scalpel and carving sickles. "I need to focus on this bit, sorry."
It was then that the human leaned over his shoulder to get a look at what he was doing, then gasped. "Ark! What the fuck?! You're operating on yourself?!"
"I told you I'm a Necromancer..."
"So what? Doctors don't go around performing surgery on themselves!"
"I've had worse," he said again and set his scalpel down. A turn of his body saw him turn his leg on its side so that his foot was parallel to the table... before he pressed down hard on his knee from that angle, snapped the remaining tissue out of the way, and slipped his knee back into place with a grotesque boney crack.
Almost immediately, Izzy let his shoulder go, turned, and threw up the contents of her stomach on the derelict floor. Even Arkash shuddered at the sensation, but more out of catharsis than whatever Izzy was experiencing.
"I'm sorry," he spoke quietly, looking in her direction.
"You really aren't kidding, are you?" She spoke between retching.
"No," Arkash clarified as he returned his knee to the upright position and began to craft a new kneecap with Sinewthread. "I'm really not."
"I guess you can get away with it, being a dranoch, huh?" She wiped her lip.
"That helps, for sure. I'm a lot more durable and bounce back easier from just about everything, even things that would kill most mortals." When the kneecap was done, he built the connective tissues and wove them into place with the grafting needle. Then, with a reach of his instrument, repaired the connecting nerves to restore the feeling in the remainder of his leg. Sensation returned with a tingling at first, pins and needles through every inch of his limb, followed by stinging pain everywhere that he'd taken damage.
Arkash set the needle down to rest for a moment, then looked back at the girl, who eyed him cautiously. "Thanks for listening to me, Izzy," he said at last. "There's not a lot of people who care about my story," he explained with a slight frown.
"Anytime, Ark... Just uhh... Give me a heads up next time you decide to start stitching yourself back together in the middle of one, alright?"
He grinned at that, then nodded. "Sounds reasonable, I'll do my best."
From there, Arkash continued to repair a lot of the superficial damage to his limb and fully restored the blood flow when it was done.
Image source.
