Villain Plot - Spa day?

[esperbuthuman]

Elysium's Resort - a few days after the battle for Flotsam

A slender young girl with long green hair flanked by two stoic guards is carefully wheeled through Elysium. She is looking around in wonder, as if she's never seen anything like this. She's also covered in burns and bandages, and currently riding in a wheelchair. While the guards seem keen to keep her away from people, they don't object too strenuously as she tries to talk, and she seems rather full of questions. There's a certain innocence about her, and she seems to be curious about everything she's seeing. A far cry from how she was in the battle, for those who had the unfortunate task of facing her down.

Comments

[lightnovelexperiences]

Deedee had been hearing rumors about the green-haired, ice cold ether-casting witch the Imps had deployed against Flotsam to devastating effect, mostly from the folks she treated that had barely survived facing her in combat.

That this curious, even vivacious girl in bad need of treatment matches the witch’s physical description but not the given demeanor…

No sir, Deedee doesn’t like it.

“Answer her questions where you can, treat her how you can given her injuries. Try to upsell her handlers on the therapeutic ether massage; I want to talk to her. If not… all hands on deck.”

Deedee needs time to compose herself. She hopes the time this girl spends bathing and getting a mani/pedi will be enough.

[esperbuthuman]

Terra gives DeeDee a curious look, but doesn't make any noise of complaint. At the very least she seems rather used to having medical specialists fret over her.

[lightnovelexperiences]

By the time they’re meeting face to face Deedee has put on her customer service smile.

“Have you had a theraputic massage before?” she asks, trying not to make it too obvious that she’s trying to measure the reactions of Biggs and Wedge here flanking the girl as much as the girl.

[esperbuthuman]

"I don't believe so..." she pauses for a moment. "What's a massage?"

[lightnovelexperiences]

“The laying on of hands for healing,” Deedee says, offering hers palms-up and fingers waggling, “with or without using ether. It’s my specialty here at the spa.”

That’s not the most unreasonable thing to be ignorant of, but Deedee expects it to be part of a pattern.

[redprayer]

Rezo normally avoids Elysium out of concern, likely unwarranted, that some of the Imperials may recognize him as a former servant. A tall, blind man tends to stand out. But today is an exception, as many wounded Corsairs are recuperating in Elysium, and Rezo's job is to be a healer.

At the moment, however, he's taking a lunch break. As are several pigeons that have been drawn in by the chance for free food. Rezo obligingly tosses them bits of bread every now and then, smiling a little at the whirring of wings and the cooing of the hungry birds.

[esperbuthuman]

"Oh. I suppose that is why I'm here. Go ahead."

Terra clearly has no idea what this is all about.

[esperbuthuman]

As the young woman covered in bandages is wheeled by, she gives the man a bit of an odd look and he might sense her eyes upon him.

"Do you like feeding them?"

[lightnovelexperiences]

“Alright,” Deedee says. “Lie face-down on that bed and I csn get started.”

Deedee pauses, thinks, and adds, “Closing your wounds with my ether may sting for a moment. You look like you’ll need it.”

Keep calm. See and remember her reactions - and the reaction of the two who are either her retinue or her captors.

[esperbuthuman]

"OK."

Terra lies down on the bed face down, still clad in white robes and covered in bandages. Her guards seem to chuckle at it all, but otherwise don't really react.

[redprayer]

Rezo idly catches the sound of footsteps, of wheels against the street; and then several birds fly off at the approach.

"That's right," he says, a little startled at being addressed. It doesn't sound like someone's here to complain about him feeding vermin, however. So he asks "Do you?"

[lightnovelexperiences]

In Iren’s bar, Deedee’s answer to how the battle had went was had to treat a lot of folks who said I should have seen the other guy.

She’s positive now that she’s seeing the other guy, with all the wounds the Good Guys inflicted on her in battle.

Deedee takes a deep breath, then exhales it as she infuses her hands and the warmed oil in them with healing energy.

"I might have to adjust your robes and I'm definitely going to have to remove some of your bandages. I have sheets and towels for modesty and comfort, if you need them."

[esperbuthuman]

"I don't know, they don't really let me do things like that."

The "they" in question is likely the other two presences near the girl - Imperials clad in armor who appear to be serving as an escort. The girl herself is being pushed in a wheelchair, likely out of concern for her current wounded state.

[redprayer]

"Hm..."

He'd caught the footsteps and, listening closer, he notes they sound rather heavy. Is that metal he's hearing clinking together? Will he get himself in trouble with the young miss's bodyguards (that is his best guess for the situation) if he stays in the interaction?

Quite possibly, and yet he still doesn't feel like excusing himself.

He crumples a bit of bread in his hand and stands up, slowly enough to keep the birds from startling.

"Would you like to give it a try while you're here?"

[esperbuthuman]

"M-may I? I wouldn't want to cause trouble..."

The guards meanwhile are chatting in a low voice, they don't seem to be particularly attentive or engaged.

[redprayer]

"What harm could feeding a few birds do?" he says.

Carefully, he approaches her and crouches so that he's closer to her eye level- even if he can't actually make eye contact- and holds out his hand. A few pigeons strut closer and coo inquisitively.

"Here. Be sure that the pieces are small, and then just toss them out where the birds may find them."

[esperbuthuman]

Terra tentatively takes the bread and starts shredding it carefully, scattering it before the pigeons. Her guards take the opportunity to take a break and chat about what sounds like some kind of sports team.

[redprayer]

Rezo takes a step back once she has the bread in hand, to give her a little more space to toss out crumbs. The pigeons flutter a bit and a few fly off, instinctive animal skittishness warring with their greed for food.

However, it isn't terribly long before they sort out that the sitting human is now the one handing out food, and a small swarm of pigeons begins milling about Terra's wheelchair, cooing and pecking at whatever bits of bread they find.

Rezo listens in quiet enjoyment of the peaceful moment- and then, an exceptionally bold pigeon beats its wings together and hops up onto Terra's chair to try and nab some bread directly from the source.

[esperbuthuman]

"A-ah! Hey!"

The bird surprises Terra, and she's ill-equipped to deal with it as it manages to claim it's prize with little resistance.

[redprayer]

The pigeon startles at Terra's outburst and hops down to her feet, still dragging the chunk of bread with it. It begins to do its best to horf it down, despite the bread being too big to easily swallow.

Rezo stifles a laugh, not wishing to draw the attention of the young miss's escorts. "Oh dear," he says. "They're not very polite creatures."

As if to underline the point, a pair of pigeons hone in on the first pigeon's stolen prize and the three of them begin pecking it to bits with horrendous table manners.

[esperbuthuman]

Terra looks sullen as she nurses her hand, her voice indicating a certain childlike sense of betrayal.

"Why feed them then?"

[esperbuthuman]

"What's modesty? If you need my robe you can have it."

She sounds genuinely confused as she sits and begins to disrobe.

[lightnovelexperiences]

“I -“

You know what, she won’t argue. This is something that she will bring up with the girl again later, by typhoons and twisters.

“Let me know where you need more pressure, or less; or where your muscles are most tense.”

Deedee presses her palms down into the girl’s shoulders, gently squeezes, then glides her hands and the oil down her back and back up, avoiding open wounds.

As she does so, she lets vitality and healing ether/pneuma/whatever soak into the girl’s back and close those wounds.

Oh, someone will pay for this, by all the Fourteen Gods.

[upupatomway]

It's a little hard not to notice someone who is flanked by guards. Most of the nobles in the area left their guards with their transport or at a door to go have their fun. Atom couldn't help wondering if she was someone important. Having heard only vague descriptions of the green haired sorceress from the battle, he doesn't assume there's a connection.

He had stopped at the side of the street to pet a friendly stray cat. Seeing how friendly it was, he wondered if it had a home, but it was clear it was underweight beneath its fluffy fur when he stroked it. So he decided to do what his sister would in her absence. He picked it up and set about looking for a way to feed it and get it a home.

Seeing the girl in the wheelchair though, he figures a short detour to cheer someone up won't hurt. He waves to her, cat in one arm, and cautiously approaches. He's just a normal kid! What do the guards have to be worried about?

"Want to pet a cat?" he offers.

[esperbuthuman]

The girl involuntarily reaches her hand out, hesitation clear on her face as she looks anxiously at her guards who look more annoyed and disinterested than anything else.

"M-may I?"

The guards don't even bother answering as they turn away and start chatting about how awful their wives are.