Logs:Unpleasant Remedies

Logs:Unpleasant Remedies {{#ifeq: This is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me... \| \| \|
This is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me... }}
Cast Rune, Coda, Corinna, Sasha (NPC), Julio (Offscreen)	\| Template:Date \| }} Rune brings Coda to the Chantry for healing, enlisting the aid of Corinna. The trio then discuss Sasha, and what should be done with her -- as well as debating the nature of the relationship between Jeir and Julio. Related Scenes: Here, Kitty Kitty
Location {{#ifeq: Party Central \| \| \| Party Central}}
Corinna is here, treating wounds of her own. She's still got a bandaged hand from a firey ghost that decided to take up residence, and is sporting a new bandage on her midriff. That one's visible because she's just fucken passed out on the couch, face buried in a cushion from another chair that she's stolen for the purpose. She's wearing crusty punk clothes. Hopefully not... _too_ crusty. It's well after midnight by the time the sound of squealing tires can be heard outside. And then probably not the greatest of signs when the door to the Party Pad bangs open, Rune's voice sounding angry but mostly incomprehensible before the man enters the room. And given that he's currently holding the battered and bloodied body of his bestie in his arms, a man who looks almost-all-the-way-dead by way of getting into a bareknuckle boxing match with a particularly agile lawnmower, if the lacerations are to be believed. Spotting Corinna on the couch, he shifts Coda's weight a bit in his arms, trying to not do any more damage. "Primus!" he shouts, voice the kind of bark meant to get someone's attention from across a crowded room. Or, in this case, out of a dead sleep. Really, he might have explained what was happening, but given the scene -- it really kind of speaks for itself. Corinna rolls in her slumber, her hands going up and squeezing the cushion around her face. Pastel nails dig in to press the padded cloth to her ears. Something that sound suspiciously like "five more minutes" comes muffled out of the cushion as she turns onto her side and goes diving face-first for sofa money. Rune blinks as Corinna just -- sleeps through it. Usually the bark is enough to get most people on their toes. He cocks his head to the side, muttering something under his breath as he moves over to where the bar is, taking a quick mental inventory of the contents on top before angling Coda's legs in such a way that he can use them to clear off whatever might be there with a hideous crash as probably-tacky-olive-colored-glass hits tile in an amazing display of Entropy in motion, as well as the sound that goes right along with it. Turning over his shoulder, Rune puts a little more force behind it. "Primus! Your assistance would be -most appreciated-." Coda is quite the sight. His shirt is a bloody mess, five jagged lines in the cloth revealing mangled flesh beneath. There's a nasty bite mark in his hand. And burn marks in the shape of bite marks on his throat, now covered in quite a bit of dried blood. A dead weight in Rune's arms, a dead weight for glass clearing, and growing paler by the second. What isn't covered in blood is covered in mud, old leaves, bits of grass and dried grass. "... love that band..." Corinna's low voice comes out in a mumble through the seat cushion. "time is it?" she asks, sounding like the Platonic form of the verb 'groggy'. Maybe the breaking glass that came before Rune's statement took a moment to catch up to her. But her eyes roll open and she zombies her way upright, to a seated position. "m wake. I'm awake. what." She blinks heavily, clear that she's not got everything in focus just yet. "Rooon, oowhat're you doing here??" she asks, her accent thickly Californian. She manages, at last, to climb to her feet and come investigate. Rune looks up as Corinna gets to her feet, offering her the slightest bowing of his head, the small aversion of his eyes in respect for her station, though most of his focus remains on Coda. "We found Sasha," he starts. "And were attacked. Coda is in very bad shape, and --" There's a moment where he has to physically swallow. Probably his pride. "I don't know how to help him. I need you." He gets the injured man laid out on the bar, some very basic first aid applied -- what looks like a cauterization on the neck area. Hardly a skilled surgical treatment, but enough to staunch the major bleeding there. "Help him," he asks. "Please." A glance back to the way he came, and his eyes lid for a moment, as if trying to remember something just out of sight -- or checking on something that can't currently be seen. Corinna growls a noise that's mostly a very tired person being woken up and not imbued with anger or disgust or any other emotion that normally comes with growling. This one comes with knuckles in her eyes rubbing crust out of where she wore her makeup to bed. Well. To couch. "Mn. Fuck." That's as much as she has to say about that, coming over to look at Coda's unconscious body, standing next to Rune. There's a few moments where she's just breathing heavily and getting her bearings, maybe like 10 seconds or so. She puts a hand in Coda's hair, and says, "Stable enough, for now. Grab my bag," she says, nodding her head, eyes still drooped low, toward a backpack in the foyer. For her part, she heads into the kitchen to make coffee. Which is a totally necessary ingredient to this magick happening. Rune goes and gets the bag as instructed, waiting on the woman to work whatever magic it is that she can work in this situation. He turns to look at Coda once more, whispering to the man, "If you die on me, I will find you and kick your ass for eternity," he threatens, then leans down and gently kisses the man's forehead. "So don't fuckin' do it, asshole." Still, there are a few other considerations. He gives a small nod to Corinna, and then heads out the door again -- and comes back a moment later with Sasha in his arms, in much the same limp shape as Coda was, eyes half open with a cut in the middle of her forehead. Even a cursory glance with Life would tell Corinna she's not dead. And that same cursory glance would reveal just how horrific that otherwise particularly lucky fate might be in her current situation. Emaciated, dehydrated, starved of oxygen, and largely paralyzed. But there's a magic on her, as well, keeping her from slipping closer to the Shade Realms -- in this case, probably a blessing. But an examination of the magic itself would reveal exactly how nefarious this particular effect can be in the hands of someone skilled. And cruel. Even if its particular current use is as benign as it can get. A few minutes later -- you know, coffee takes time, man -- Corinna returns, sipping on a cup of the good stuff. That necessary nectar. And she already looks better, her deep blue hair tied back in a scraggly ponytail, most of it escaping but good enough to keep it out of her face. When she lays eyes on Sasha, she has no idea who this person is, but takes in a breath and exhales deeply. A sigh, or something close enough. Her eyes are on that slice in the middle of her forehead. "We ran into some of those, too. He cut their Third Eye out, used them as sentinels. Disembodied, floating things." She sets her coffee mug on the bar near Coda's head with the ring of ceramic on marble, and digs through her bag to retrieve a sachet of herbs, a small vial of some ruddy liquid, a pair of tongs with runes etched along the handles, a pair of paint markers, and an antler-handled knife. She arranges these tools nearby, setting them out on the floor, and considers them and the situation for a moment. "Anyway," she says as she selects some of them, having not yet Seen the girl, "Why are you acting all... weird." The Primus thing, probably. She slips the small sachet of herbs under Coda's lip, between that and his gum, and slides a hand under his head and neck to lift him so he doesn't choke when she pours whatever vile brew she has in that vial down his gullet. "He's done it to dozens, from what I saw. More, if you saw one too. I did what I could for her, but." He gives a little shrug, glancing back at her. They'll light that bridge afire when they get to it. The explosives are already planted, after all. Still, he pays attention as Corinna does her thing. Given how few and far between lessons have been, he'd be a fool not to watch someone far more skilled at work when she works her particular Arts. The question, though, does draw his eyes up a little. "I'm acting weird," he replies, "because we both know that you don't owe me a damn thing, and have less than zero reasons to trust me. And you don't owe him a damn thing either. So me calling in a favor from someone above my station that doesn't even particularly fucking like me was already a shot in the dark. Ma'am." Because they're ostensibly in a formal setting, and certain protocols have to be observed in these things. Especially when you're basically on Permanent Probation as it is. "Twenty five where we went. Only fifteen still alive. More eyes than that. So they persist after death, or...," Corinna says, her vocal patterns turning somewhat clinical and hard as she works. She doesn't finish the thought she trailed off on. "What happened to him, anyway?" she asks, taking one of her paint markers and scrawling something in the middle of her forehead -- somewhere around where Sasha's been sliced open. A Futhark rune, not that she's trying to steal Rune's thunder or anything. But it's a way to open up her Sight. She'll see for herself in a moment, but it is storytime. "C'mere," she says. She doesn't really respond to what he's said about acting weird or favor-owing or any of that. "You can heal yourself, right? How do you do it? I'm going to close his wounds with my tools, and sing. Do you sing? If you do, sing with me. If not..." she extends a hand in a gesture at Coda, palm up, "Give him comfort." "Probably as many," Rune agrees with a nod. "Didn't really have time to count. Five wildcats appeared, possessed by Jeir. I think. Or -- dominated." He winces a bit. "Their eyes were maddened. Like they were aware of what was happening to them, but with no control, eyes pained and frightened." He presses his lips together. "Emptied nearly two guns into them, and two of them stayed on their feet until --" Whatever that thought is, he lets it die right then and there. "In the end, there was one. It wandered off after we struck a minor deal that'll probably come back and bite me in the ass later." Still, when instructed to begin assisting, he gives a small nod. The man's voice -- well. The face might be pretty, and he can probably fake it like the best of them, but with no formal training it's certain awkward and leaves something to be desired. But as a focus for the will, it works well enough. The words are there=, and the will is there, even if the deeper knowledge of how to focus this particular effect is not. Rune goes and gets the bag as instructed, waiting on the woman to work whatever magic it is that she can work in this situation. He turns to look at Coda once more, whispering to the man, "If you die on me, I will find you and kick your ass for eternity," he threatens, then leans down and gently kisses the man's forehead. "So don't fuckin' do it, asshole." Still, there are a few other considerations. He gives a small nod to Corinna, and then heads out the door again -- and comes back a moment later with Sasha in his arms, in much the same limp shape as Coda was, eyes half open with a cut in the middle of her forehead. Even a cursory glance with Life would tell Corinna she's not dead. And that same cursory glance would reveal just how horrific that otherwise particularly lucky fate might be in her current situation. Emaciated, dehydrated, starved of oxygen, and largely paralyzed. But there's a magic on her, as well, keeping her from slipping closer to the Shade Realms -- in this case, probably a blessing. But an examination of the magic itself would reveal exactly how nefarious this particular effect can be in the hands of someone skilled. And cruel. Even if its particular current use is as benign as it can get. \ A few minutes later -- you know, coffee takes time, man -- Corinna returns, sipping on a cup of the good stuff. That necessary nectar. And she already looks better, her deep blue hair tied back in a scraggly ponytail, most of it escaping but good enough to keep it out of her face. When she lays eyes on Sasha, she has no idea who this person is, but takes in a breath and exhales deeply. A sigh, or something close enough. Her eyes are on that slice in the middle of her forehead. "We ran into some of those, too. He cut their Third Eye out, used them as sentinels. Disembodied, floating things." She sets her coffee mug on the bar near Coda's head with the ring of ceramic on marble, and digs through her bag to retrieve a sachet of herbs, a small vial of some ruddy liquid, a pair of tongs with runes etched along the handles, a pair of paint markers, and an antler-handled knife. She arranges these tools nearby, setting them out on the floor, and considers them and the situation for a moment. "Anyway," she says as she selects some of them, having not yet Seen the girl, "Why are you acting all... weird." The Primus thing, probably. She slips the small sachet of herbs under Coda's lip, between that and his gum, and slides a hand under his head and neck to lift him so he doesn't choke when she pours whatever vile brew she has in that vial down his gullet. "He's done it to dozens, from what I saw. More, if you saw one too. I did what I could for her, but." He gives a little shrug, glancing back at her. They'll light that bridge afire when they get to it. The explosives are already planted, after all. Still, he pays attention as Corinna does her thing. Given how few and far between lessons have been, he'd be a fool not to watch someone far more skilled at work when she works her particular Arts. The question, though, does draw his eyes up a little. "I'm acting weird," he replies, "because we both know that you don't owe me a damn thing, and have less than zero reasons to trust me. And you don't owe him a damn thing either. So me calling in a favor from someone above my station that doesn't even particularly fucking like me was already a shot in the dark. Ma'am." Because they're ostensibly in a formal setting, and certain protocols have to be observed in these things. Especially when you're basically on Permanent Probation as it is. "Twenty five where we went. Only fifteen still alive. More eyes than that. So they persist after death, or...," Corinna says, her vocal patterns turning somewhat clinical and hard as she works. She doesn't finish the thought she trailed off on. "What happened to him, anyway?" she asks, taking one of her paint markers and scrawling something in the middle of her forehead -- somewhere around where Sasha's been sliced open. A Futhark rune, not that she's trying to steal Rune's thunder or anything. But it's a way to open up her Sight. She'll see for herself in a moment, but it is storytime. "C'mere," she says. She doesn't really respond to what he's said about acting weird or favor-owing or any of that. "You can heal yourself, right? How do you do it? I'm going to close his wounds with my tools, and sing. Do you sing? If you do, sing with me. If not..." she extends a hand in a gesture at Coda, palm up, "Give him comfort." "Probably as many," Rune agrees with a nod. "Didn't really have time to count. Five wildcats appeared, possessed by Jeir. I think. Or -- dominated." He winces a bit. "Their eyes were maddened. Like they were aware of what was happening to them, but with no control, eyes pained and frightened." He presses his lips together. "Emptied nearly two guns into them, and two of them stayed on their feet until --" Whatever that thought is, he lets it die right then and there. "In the end, there was one. It wandered off after we struck a minor deal that'll probably come back and bite me in the ass later." Still, when instructed to begin assisting, he gives a small nod. The man's voice -- well. The face might be pretty, and he can probably fake it like the best of them, but with no formal training it's certain awkward and leaves something to be desired. But as a focus for the will, it works well enough. The words are there=, and the will is there, even if the deeper knowledge of how to focus this particular effect is not. Corinna's eyebrow marks up at that comment about Rune's minor deal. "Yeah. Bet it will. Those spectres are not wholesome, from what I've seen of the company Jeir keeps." She pauses, but her dark eyes stay on his face and her eyes stay open. "So you didn't catch him. We didn't catch him. But we've seen more of how he operates... I made a ghost gun. We should... make more, maybe." Whatever a ghost gun is. She doesn't really explain in that moment. She lets that train of thought trail off, and dips down below the bar to collect her tongs from her bag. "He's got some herbs in his mouth that'll put him in the right state of mind, and the brew will help his body come closer to its ideal state, not the falsehoods that've been forced on it by... claw-wounds?" This she says pretty much into Coda, her eyes wandering his body and pausing on the various wounds he has. She clicks her tongs together, and then starts to work by going one bloody gash at a time, pinching them together. At the same time, she begins to sing, her voice quiet at first, and low. It's almost throat singing, in a low and guttural tongue. The tune is rhythmic -- the metronomic beat is in time with her movements. With each downbeat, a suturing pinch of Coda's flesh. With each upbeat, a movement to the next section. There's a sense that it's this rhythm, more than the words, that's important, and she keeps it perfectly. Rune -- does not know old norse. So the song itself he can't really keep up with. But this rhythm is familiar enough, he can improvise. And so he does -- chanting the names of healing runes. Runes of banishing darkness, death, and disease. Laguz. Berkana. Kenaz. Safety and security. Healing and growth. He intones them like a percussive beat, keeping time with the woman's song, to the best of his ability. It might not be perfect, but. It's probably enough. As she grabs the tongs and starts to pinch those wounds together, his eyes widen. Now that's a trick that he clearly hasn't thought of before -- but he's definitely tucking it into the back of his mind... Time seems to stretch forever, as it is wont to do in the middle of a ritual. It might be seconds. It could be hours. Without timing the damn things precisely, it's nearly impossible to tell, the energies of the world twisting in those ways that make keeping up with the time imposed by consensual reality a laughable task. At some point Coda does wake up, though it is not pleasantly. He groans, back arching as the clamp of the tongs that finally made him stir clamps down. At first he seems to have no clue where he is or what's going on, and it's probably as well that Rune had to take his spare gun and that his other one is still lying under a dead panther somewhere, in need of replacement, because agonized and disoriented means a Chakravanti trying to find his guns. His knives are still strapped on but...he figures out where he is and what's going on in the split second of pained panic, and he gives a soft shudder and grits his teeth together, as if determined to physically hold back another sound. In that split second his eyes had found Rune's and relief flashes across them as he closes his eyes. His job here, now that he's awake, he figures, is not to be a hindrance to the two Verbena who are saving his ass, and if the effort of staying quiet makes him start to sweat it's nevertheless the effort of a man who has returned to his proper color and who is no longer slipping away. As the ritual continues and Coda begins to awaken, Corinna realizes she forgot something pretty key. Maybe it was the lack of a full cup of coffee. There's a look on her face that betrays that thought, but she keeps her rhythm as she continues to sing, setting down her tongs in time and reaching down into her bag. She produces a trio of thin leather straps -- some scrap from a project or another, and, still singing, grabs Coda's wrist and turns it over, pressing them into his palm. She looks into his eyes and makes a motion for her mouth, the universal hand signal for eating, as she continues to chant. And then her work continues -- tongs again. Pain, again. No anaesthetic for Coda. Handy bit so as not to grind his teeth, though. Rune feels the man coming up. But he doesn't dare stop his part in this. It might be small, but it's not insignificant. He reaches for Coda, pressing down on the man's shoulders, giving a little shake of his head as he gives the Chakravanti a pleading look, meeting the man's eyes as best he can. It's only when Corinna brings out those leather straps does he fully realize what they're both in for. Thank god he can keep what he's feeling off of his face through long practice. Taking the straps, he holds them up before Coda's face, giving a little affirmative nod of his head and a sympathetic look. 'This is gonna suck and I am so, so sorry' that look says. But given that he hasn't stopped chanting? Yeah. They're gonna press on. Coda feels that strap in the palm of his hand. It's almost disorienting all over again. Surreal. Rune's grounding press on his shoulders produces a sharp gasp, and his eyes fly open. But then he meets Rune's pleading gaze. He shudders, glazed-over gaze meeting his friend's. Straps. Corinna making eating motions, oh there's one in his hand, but Rune's holding some too... He just shoves the one Corinna handed him into his mouth. Opening his mouth lets another sound of misery escape, but he does it. It takes a moment for the reason for Rune's sympathetic look to really dawn on him, but he just takes a deep breath and nods once and sags back onto the bar again. Whatever they need to do he's certainly not fighting, and if anything he sort of tunes into the meditative drone of Rune's chanting, setting his breathing in time with it not because it's at all a focus for him magickally, but because the rhythmic, numeric quality of it gives him something else to focus on besides the pain. The work continues, slowly and methodically, over the course of 15-20 minutes that might as well be eons. Corinna breaks her eyes away from Coda to check on Rune as they continue to work, but it continues despite whatever noises Coda might make. And when it's done, she sets her instruments down and takes her coffee -- cold now -- in both hands, backing up until her shoulders press against the nearest wall, where she slouches and just stares down into the black, still surface. She sips at it, drained and contemplative, and waits for Coda to feel good enough to stir lucidly. By the end of this particular ritual, Rune feels exhausted. Corinna must feel like she just ran a marathon. He can only imagine what Coda must be feeling like. Still, as the wounds close his friend slowly but surely starts to come back to normal, he lets out a deep breath that he didn't even know he was holding, forehead dropping to Coda's chest as he just takes a moment to appreciate the fact taht there's a heart still beating in there, and not dead on a trail somewhere. "Scared me," he mutters to the Chakravanti on the table. "Ass." But he rises, giving Coda's hand a squeeze as he shoots Corinna a thankful look -- a real one, like a six ton weight has been lifted right off of him. And then... he remembers Sasha. A glance over at the girl, on the couch, laid out like Sleeping Beauty, eyes half open as she stares at the ceiling. "Couldn't tell you if she's still in there or not," he tells Corinna. "Though for her sake... I really fucking hope not." By the time the end of it is reached Coda is a lot calmer; he even dozes off for a little while. The end of healing is easier than the beginning, and the tong pinches soon just become sensory input. He pulls the strap free from his mouth and sets it gently aside. He does feel like someone rode him hard and put him away wet though. He raises an exhausted hand to Rune's curls when the other man drops his head to his chest, sifting through them for a moment. "Lo siento," he murmurs softly. He squeezes Rune's hand back and lets go, carefully struggling to a sitting position. "Thank you both." But his own gaze goes to Sasha, and he says to Corinna: "Sasha Vintelhaus. Elliot's daughter. Rune saved her life, but..." Well. Corinna can see the but for herself. "But she's basically a zombie," Corinna says, braving a brief glance up, dark eyes flicking between Rune and Coda and the all-but-dead body on the couch. Her gaze goes back down to her drink soon enough, and then to her wounded hand, which she opens and flexes, staring at the burnt mess that is her palm. Sasha's father gave her that. For Coda's sake, she repeats herself from earlier. "Down in the south, we ran into almost thirty bodies, with the same cut," she says, tip of her index finger barely brushing against the skin of her forehead. "And, looking through the Gauntlet, we saw dozens and dozens of disembodied eyes. Stolen from them. We were able to help some of them, but..." Editor's note: I have no idea how that resolves, just yet, so while Corinna'd have details... I don't! Rune is already preparing for the epic 'what the actual fuck did you do to her' reaction that he's sure is coming, leaning back into the bar and scooting some of the broken glass aside with his foot. Just in case he ends up with his face pressed forcibly into the floor. Again. Still, he offers Coda the slightest of smiles. "Yeah," he chuckles. "You sure as hell siento'd it. Like a damn champ. Every time I think I've got a handle on your soft and squishy math-magic shit, you remind me of what a badass you are." Beat. "Nerd." But that lecture doesn't quite come. At least not yet. And so Rune offers what helpful bits he can. "Yeah," he agrees. "Jeir had one of those on us too. Or. Well." Truth will out, eventually. "Me. Mostly." A small shake of his head. "He -- complimented me. Asked me who my mentor was. Threatened to kill Coda if I didn't tell him." Rune's dark and twisty mentor, Cerridwen. Still at large out in the world, wreaking havoc somewhere. "Should have offered him Julio or whatever the fuck his name is." A little shake of his head there. "Useless as tits on a bull." The Chakravanti ducks a quick, warm smile at the ground as Rune compliments his shooting skill...and gives him some of his pride back, perhaps, in so doing. But soon his attention is all on Sasha. "That man is not who he says he is," Coda agrees quietly. "But...do you still have his marble?" Coda sure as hell lost his marble while he was getting kitten pounced. "With the ability to perceive her third eye I might be able to pull it back to her. It will probably take me some time to get the spell written up...and I might need to meditate here for awhile to get my juice back...but it might be possible. Though it might take a shaman with an equal grasp of space to do it, instead. I am not sure. It does not have to be me." Corinna still hasn't really _examined_ Sasha, and something about the way Rune's bracing himself -- his body language and expression -- has her eyes already narrowing. This orbit of their relationship, lacking in trust, has been primed, after all. And purposefully, by that old warlock making a game of manipulating those in his care. But the shift toward Julio has her concerned, too. "Mn. What happened? Where is Julio? When Tyler and I met him before, we pried some info out of him, but it's hazy, now. All I remember is that whatever his deal with Jeir is, it's personal." And as Coda talks about getting Sasha's eye back, she finally brings her attention to the girl: "What's her deal? What _did_ happen with her?" Finally she has enough moxie -- or coffee, maybe that's the same thing -- to be looking between their eyes. Rune gives a shrug. "Possibly," he says. "I'd have to inventory my stuff to see where it went. It might still be with him in the van." Though he certainly seems interested in the details of how, exactly, one would pull the third eye back to the victim it came from. A magic that he knows absolutely nothing about on any level. It's Corinna's question, though, that makes him blink. "Julio?" He says the name like he wants to spit it. And judging from his face, he very well might. "Our fearless lead nephandus hunter can barely manage to identify his ass from a hole in the ground. At the end he was almost useful. He managed to keep one of the cats from attacking. But I still poured an entire clip into that fucking thing and it stayed right on its feet. He can see spirits, and helped us see the eyes, but whatever his deal is? He's not cut out for this. And given what we've just seen of Jeir? Neither are we." Turning back over his shoulder to Sasha, he just gives a slow shake of his head. "Couldn't heal her. Barely help her," he admits. "She'd been out there since she went missing. What, a month at this point? Didn't even have time to get a fire going before he got to her. Must have been waiting for her. Just barely got the tent up." A small shake of his head. "Emaciated. Dehydrated. Holding onto life by a thread. I couldn't heal her, it's beyond my skill." As evidenced by his needing help with Coda. "There isn't much I can do to strengthen or fortify her," he admits. "But." A small pause here. "I know how to keep her from dying. So I did." Corinna can probably only guess what kind of perfectly fucked up uses magic that doesn't heal you, but keeps you from dying, could be put to. "I thought she was dead when we found her. Rune saved her," Coda reiterates, sliding off the bar to stand beside his friend now with an air that is distinctly protective. But there's no challenge in his tone. Gentle, polite. They have bigger problems. "He claims to have been from a chantry in Mexicali full of Kha'vadi and Chakravanti. But I suspect he is Kha'vadi. He has no combat skills, but is an adequate shaman. He claims he was dispatched to bring Jeir back for judgement and sentencing, but nobody in their right mind would send him out. A Chantry full of Chakravanti would not send a lone Kha'vadi out, they'd have sent at least one other with him or sent a Chakravanti to do the job. One at least as powerful as Jeir, which he is not. For this, they might have formed an entire temporary cabal. And instead...one lone man, who has yet to name the actual name of his chantry, who has no business chasing this man. And I thought I heard the panther say something about him, imply something, that I didn't understand." A pause. "Either way? There is more to this story than he tells us, and I do not think we should act on his advice or put him at our backs again until he spills it." The other questions are amply answered, so he offers no opinions on those, only ticks off all the things which make absolutely no sense about Mr. Julio Santana. "Yeah." Pause. "Yeah." That's to Coda, as she listens to him list Julio's mysteries. "Personal. Gotta be." Corinna drains the rest of her coffee and steps forward to leave the empty thing on the barcounter. "Okay." She lets out a held breath, staring Rune in the eyes for another moment. "She's in stasis. Okay." And then she moves on, just like that. "We've got to get... _lenses_ for everyone, if we're going to keep doing this. We're going to all need to be able to see spirits, spectres, and _cheval_. And we're all going to need to be able to hurt them. What happened to both teams isn't sustainable. I was able to put something together." She crouches down and digs into her bag to find her pistol. She ejects the magazine, puts it on the bar counter, and then racks the slide and catches the bullet that's in there, before putting the pistol down next to the magazine. It's a tiny thing, a little Kimber Ultra Carry, almost smaller than her hand. And etched on the barrel with paint are a pair of runes. Read right, it says something like: "Ghost Bow". "Magick's dead now, but: Bullets turn ephemeral when they leave the barrel. No harm to the ridden, _very_ harm to the rider. We need," she gestures with her hand flat and palm up at it, "More of that. You both shoot, I think?" Rune turns back to look at Sasha. 'Stasis' is probably a polite way of saying it, but he gives a little nod of agreement. Though as Coda and Corinna talk about Julio, he adds his own comment. "It's weirder than that," he confirms. "Coda probably didn't notice, what with all the blood loss, but -- those things? Didn't attack Julio. And the cat said -- something." He shakes his head, trying to recall it. "It didn't just feel personal. It felt..." A glance to Coda, searching for the right word. "Intimate. Right?" Corinna's words, though, draw a raised eyebrow from him. "Maybe. Being able to hurt them is great. Keeping them from hurting us is probably likewise useful. Those things tore through the protective spells I had up like they weren't even there, and if he's got that much power going -- I'm not sure how we'd defend against that." That gun, though, certainly has his attention. As does catching the little bullet that was already on it. "I'll take two," he sighs, moving over to look at that runework. That part, at least, is familiar to him. The namesake suggests that much. This may be the first genuine smile Corinna has ever gotten out of Coda--versus the very polite and practiced ones he's given her in the past. She deserved one for saving his life anyway (and more than that, but he'll address that soon), but this? This gets a boyish, gleaming grin from the Chakravanti. "Indeed we do. And this?" He steps closer to get a better look, even though unlike Rune he can't read them. "This is brilliant." Rune draws his attention back to Julio. Intimate. The Chakravanti nods firmly, then Coda closes his eyes, sifting back through everything that was said. "Something caught my attention, what was it...?" Because part of him stayed alert and aware of his surroundings until he literally couldn't anymore. And then he snaps his fingers, and repeats what did in fact niggle at him. "Mi nino favorito," he murmurs. Which really just loops right back around to Corinna's conclusion. "Very personal." "He gave off an... intimate impression when we ran into him before, yeah." Corinna's brows knit and rise. Her hand presses a loose lock of hair back behind her ear. "I didn't get a good look, but there was a photo on his phone as he was swiping through them..." She lives in California and is multilingual. She doesn't speak full-on Spanish, but those aren't exactly hard words to parse. "... man. That phrasing is a little creepier than intimate." She lets some silence linger there for a minute, and says, "Okay. We can talk some more logistics in a while. The scale of what he's doing is starting to get out of hand. With all the people we found, without a truck, it was... And we need better preparation; protection, like you said, and the other things. I think we should all get some more rest." She looks up and over to Sasha. "And her." She looks to Rune. "How long until the clock runs out?" Rune crosses his arms, looking decidedly displeased. "I think that we need to have a more more frank talk with our friend. Before he gets one of us killed." A look at Coda then. "...or worse." This time, a glance at Sasha, on the couch, the little hairs on his arms rising up a bit. Corinna's question once again snaps him back out of his own head, expression growing dark. "If I keep using that? As long as you need. But..." But, there's a but. In that she'll just keep getting progressively worse without treatment, yet be unable to truly die while the magic is up. Endless suffering, even if she can't feel it. "If we get her to a hospital she might have a fighting chance to recover without us. Physically, anyway. Without the Art? Days. Maybe hours." "A hospital could at least put her on an IV. Deal with the dehydration and the starvation, while we work on another solution." He looks down at himself, and over at Rune. "We'd best clean up before we take her, or else they are going to have many questions for us that we do not wish to answer." Cleaned up, though, with his PI license in hand and a story about being hired to find the missing girl? They should get her into a bed without too much police interference. He hopes, anyway. "No, no hospitals. They--" her voice is sharp and sudden and forceful, and she just as forcefully cuts herself off. "After we have some rest, let's do the same thing for her -- get her body out of the danger zone, at least. Just not, you know." Her mind. Her soul. Corinna's dark eyes just stare at Sasha. "There are rooms in the Chantry, unused. We can make her comfortable in one of them, for now." Rune looks a bit unsure of that answer. But Corinna just saved his friend, and -- well. The disparity in their rank makes his next move perfectly obvious, whether he agrees with it or not. Giving another small bow of his head in respect, he simply answers, "As you wish."

[[Category:RP Logs|]]{{#ifeq: Mage | | | [[Category:{{#replace:Mage|,| Logs|Logs:Unpleasant RemediesTemplate:RB Template:LBCategory: }} Logs|Logs:Unpleasant Remedies ]] }}

Logs:Unpleasant Remedies {{#ifeq: This is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me... \| \| \|
This is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me... }}
Cast Rune, Coda, Corinna, Sasha (NPC), Julio (Offscreen)	\| Template:Date \| }} Rune brings Coda to the Chantry for healing, enlisting the aid of Corinna. The trio then discuss Sasha, and what should be done with her -- as well as debating the nature of the relationship between Jeir and Julio. Related Scenes: Here, Kitty Kitty
Location {{#ifeq: Party Central \| \| \| Party Central}}
Corinna is here, treating wounds of her own. She's still got a bandaged hand from a firey ghost that decided to take up residence, and is sporting a new bandage on her midriff. That one's visible because she's just fucken passed out on the couch, face buried in a cushion from another chair that she's stolen for the purpose. She's wearing crusty punk clothes. Hopefully not... _too_ crusty. It's well after midnight by the time the sound of squealing tires can be heard outside. And then probably not the greatest of signs when the door to the Party Pad bangs open, Rune's voice sounding angry but mostly incomprehensible before the man enters the room. And given that he's currently holding the battered and bloodied body of his bestie in his arms, a man who looks almost-all-the-way-dead by way of getting into a bareknuckle boxing match with a particularly agile lawnmower, if the lacerations are to be believed. Spotting Corinna on the couch, he shifts Coda's weight a bit in his arms, trying to not do any more damage. "Primus!" he shouts, voice the kind of bark meant to get someone's attention from across a crowded room. Or, in this case, out of a dead sleep. Really, he might have explained what was happening, but given the scene -- it really kind of speaks for itself. Corinna rolls in her slumber, her hands going up and squeezing the cushion around her face. Pastel nails dig in to press the padded cloth to her ears. Something that sound suspiciously like "five more minutes" comes muffled out of the cushion as she turns onto her side and goes diving face-first for sofa money. Rune blinks as Corinna just -- sleeps through it. Usually the bark is enough to get most people on their toes. He cocks his head to the side, muttering something under his breath as he moves over to where the bar is, taking a quick mental inventory of the contents on top before angling Coda's legs in such a way that he can use them to clear off whatever might be there with a hideous crash as probably-tacky-olive-colored-glass hits tile in an amazing display of Entropy in motion, as well as the sound that goes right along with it. Turning over his shoulder, Rune puts a little more force behind it. "Primus! Your assistance would be -most appreciated-." Coda is quite the sight. His shirt is a bloody mess, five jagged lines in the cloth revealing mangled flesh beneath. There's a nasty bite mark in his hand. And burn marks in the shape of bite marks on his throat, now covered in quite a bit of dried blood. A dead weight in Rune's arms, a dead weight for glass clearing, and growing paler by the second. What isn't covered in blood is covered in mud, old leaves, bits of grass and dried grass. "... love that band..." Corinna's low voice comes out in a mumble through the seat cushion. "time is it?" she asks, sounding like the Platonic form of the verb 'groggy'. Maybe the breaking glass that came before Rune's statement took a moment to catch up to her. But her eyes roll open and she zombies her way upright, to a seated position. "m wake. I'm awake. what." She blinks heavily, clear that she's not got everything in focus just yet. "Rooon, oowhat're you doing here??" she asks, her accent thickly Californian. She manages, at last, to climb to her feet and come investigate. Rune looks up as Corinna gets to her feet, offering her the slightest bowing of his head, the small aversion of his eyes in respect for her station, though most of his focus remains on Coda. "We found Sasha," he starts. "And were attacked. Coda is in very bad shape, and --" There's a moment where he has to physically swallow. Probably his pride. "I don't know how to help him. I need you." He gets the injured man laid out on the bar, some very basic first aid applied -- what looks like a cauterization on the neck area. Hardly a skilled surgical treatment, but enough to staunch the major bleeding there. "Help him," he asks. "Please." A glance back to the way he came, and his eyes lid for a moment, as if trying to remember something just out of sight -- or checking on something that can't currently be seen. Corinna growls a noise that's mostly a very tired person being woken up and not imbued with anger or disgust or any other emotion that normally comes with growling. This one comes with knuckles in her eyes rubbing crust out of where she wore her makeup to bed. Well. To couch. "Mn. Fuck." That's as much as she has to say about that, coming over to look at Coda's unconscious body, standing next to Rune. There's a few moments where she's just breathing heavily and getting her bearings, maybe like 10 seconds or so. She puts a hand in Coda's hair, and says, "Stable enough, for now. Grab my bag," she says, nodding her head, eyes still drooped low, toward a backpack in the foyer. For her part, she heads into the kitchen to make coffee. Which is a totally necessary ingredient to this magick happening. Rune goes and gets the bag as instructed, waiting on the woman to work whatever magic it is that she can work in this situation. He turns to look at Coda once more, whispering to the man, "If you die on me, I will find you and kick your ass for eternity," he threatens, then leans down and gently kisses the man's forehead. "So don't fuckin' do it, asshole." Still, there are a few other considerations. He gives a small nod to Corinna, and then heads out the door again -- and comes back a moment later with Sasha in his arms, in much the same limp shape as Coda was, eyes half open with a cut in the middle of her forehead. Even a cursory glance with Life would tell Corinna she's not dead. And that same cursory glance would reveal just how horrific that otherwise particularly lucky fate might be in her current situation. Emaciated, dehydrated, starved of oxygen, and largely paralyzed. But there's a magic on her, as well, keeping her from slipping closer to the Shade Realms -- in this case, probably a blessing. But an examination of the magic itself would reveal exactly how nefarious this particular effect can be in the hands of someone skilled. And cruel. Even if its particular current use is as benign as it can get. A few minutes later -- you know, coffee takes time, man -- Corinna returns, sipping on a cup of the good stuff. That necessary nectar. And she already looks better, her deep blue hair tied back in a scraggly ponytail, most of it escaping but good enough to keep it out of her face. When she lays eyes on Sasha, she has no idea who this person is, but takes in a breath and exhales deeply. A sigh, or something close enough. Her eyes are on that slice in the middle of her forehead. "We ran into some of those, too. He cut their Third Eye out, used them as sentinels. Disembodied, floating things." She sets her coffee mug on the bar near Coda's head with the ring of ceramic on marble, and digs through her bag to retrieve a sachet of herbs, a small vial of some ruddy liquid, a pair of tongs with runes etched along the handles, a pair of paint markers, and an antler-handled knife. She arranges these tools nearby, setting them out on the floor, and considers them and the situation for a moment. "Anyway," she says as she selects some of them, having not yet Seen the girl, "Why are you acting all... weird." The Primus thing, probably. She slips the small sachet of herbs under Coda's lip, between that and his gum, and slides a hand under his head and neck to lift him so he doesn't choke when she pours whatever vile brew she has in that vial down his gullet. "He's done it to dozens, from what I saw. More, if you saw one too. I did what I could for her, but." He gives a little shrug, glancing back at her. They'll light that bridge afire when they get to it. The explosives are already planted, after all. Still, he pays attention as Corinna does her thing. Given how few and far between lessons have been, he'd be a fool not to watch someone far more skilled at work when she works her particular Arts. The question, though, does draw his eyes up a little. "I'm acting weird," he replies, "because we both know that you don't owe me a damn thing, and have less than zero reasons to trust me. And you don't owe him a damn thing either. So me calling in a favor from someone above my station that doesn't even particularly fucking like me was already a shot in the dark. Ma'am." Because they're ostensibly in a formal setting, and certain protocols have to be observed in these things. Especially when you're basically on Permanent Probation as it is. "Twenty five where we went. Only fifteen still alive. More eyes than that. So they persist after death, or...," Corinna says, her vocal patterns turning somewhat clinical and hard as she works. She doesn't finish the thought she trailed off on. "What happened to him, anyway?" she asks, taking one of her paint markers and scrawling something in the middle of her forehead -- somewhere around where Sasha's been sliced open. A Futhark rune, not that she's trying to steal Rune's thunder or anything. But it's a way to open up her Sight. She'll see for herself in a moment, but it is storytime. "C'mere," she says. She doesn't really respond to what he's said about acting weird or favor-owing or any of that. "You can heal yourself, right? How do you do it? I'm going to close his wounds with my tools, and sing. Do you sing? If you do, sing with me. If not..." she extends a hand in a gesture at Coda, palm up, "Give him comfort." "Probably as many," Rune agrees with a nod. "Didn't really have time to count. Five wildcats appeared, possessed by Jeir. I think. Or -- dominated." He winces a bit. "Their eyes were maddened. Like they were aware of what was happening to them, but with no control, eyes pained and frightened." He presses his lips together. "Emptied nearly two guns into them, and two of them stayed on their feet until --" Whatever that thought is, he lets it die right then and there. "In the end, there was one. It wandered off after we struck a minor deal that'll probably come back and bite me in the ass later." Still, when instructed to begin assisting, he gives a small nod. The man's voice -- well. The face might be pretty, and he can probably fake it like the best of them, but with no formal training it's certain awkward and leaves something to be desired. But as a focus for the will, it works well enough. The words are there=, and the will is there, even if the deeper knowledge of how to focus this particular effect is not. Rune goes and gets the bag as instructed, waiting on the woman to work whatever magic it is that she can work in this situation. He turns to look at Coda once more, whispering to the man, "If you die on me, I will find you and kick your ass for eternity," he threatens, then leans down and gently kisses the man's forehead. "So don't fuckin' do it, asshole." Still, there are a few other considerations. He gives a small nod to Corinna, and then heads out the door again -- and comes back a moment later with Sasha in his arms, in much the same limp shape as Coda was, eyes half open with a cut in the middle of her forehead. Even a cursory glance with Life would tell Corinna she's not dead. And that same cursory glance would reveal just how horrific that otherwise particularly lucky fate might be in her current situation. Emaciated, dehydrated, starved of oxygen, and largely paralyzed. But there's a magic on her, as well, keeping her from slipping closer to the Shade Realms -- in this case, probably a blessing. But an examination of the magic itself would reveal exactly how nefarious this particular effect can be in the hands of someone skilled. And cruel. Even if its particular current use is as benign as it can get. \ A few minutes later -- you know, coffee takes time, man -- Corinna returns, sipping on a cup of the good stuff. That necessary nectar. And she already looks better, her deep blue hair tied back in a scraggly ponytail, most of it escaping but good enough to keep it out of her face. When she lays eyes on Sasha, she has no idea who this person is, but takes in a breath and exhales deeply. A sigh, or something close enough. Her eyes are on that slice in the middle of her forehead. "We ran into some of those, too. He cut their Third Eye out, used them as sentinels. Disembodied, floating things." She sets her coffee mug on the bar near Coda's head with the ring of ceramic on marble, and digs through her bag to retrieve a sachet of herbs, a small vial of some ruddy liquid, a pair of tongs with runes etched along the handles, a pair of paint markers, and an antler-handled knife. She arranges these tools nearby, setting them out on the floor, and considers them and the situation for a moment. "Anyway," she says as she selects some of them, having not yet Seen the girl, "Why are you acting all... weird." The Primus thing, probably. She slips the small sachet of herbs under Coda's lip, between that and his gum, and slides a hand under his head and neck to lift him so he doesn't choke when she pours whatever vile brew she has in that vial down his gullet. "He's done it to dozens, from what I saw. More, if you saw one too. I did what I could for her, but." He gives a little shrug, glancing back at her. They'll light that bridge afire when they get to it. The explosives are already planted, after all. Still, he pays attention as Corinna does her thing. Given how few and far between lessons have been, he'd be a fool not to watch someone far more skilled at work when she works her particular Arts. The question, though, does draw his eyes up a little. "I'm acting weird," he replies, "because we both know that you don't owe me a damn thing, and have less than zero reasons to trust me. And you don't owe him a damn thing either. So me calling in a favor from someone above my station that doesn't even particularly fucking like me was already a shot in the dark. Ma'am." Because they're ostensibly in a formal setting, and certain protocols have to be observed in these things. Especially when you're basically on Permanent Probation as it is. "Twenty five where we went. Only fifteen still alive. More eyes than that. So they persist after death, or...," Corinna says, her vocal patterns turning somewhat clinical and hard as she works. She doesn't finish the thought she trailed off on. "What happened to him, anyway?" she asks, taking one of her paint markers and scrawling something in the middle of her forehead -- somewhere around where Sasha's been sliced open. A Futhark rune, not that she's trying to steal Rune's thunder or anything. But it's a way to open up her Sight. She'll see for herself in a moment, but it is storytime. "C'mere," she says. She doesn't really respond to what he's said about acting weird or favor-owing or any of that. "You can heal yourself, right? How do you do it? I'm going to close his wounds with my tools, and sing. Do you sing? If you do, sing with me. If not..." she extends a hand in a gesture at Coda, palm up, "Give him comfort." "Probably as many," Rune agrees with a nod. "Didn't really have time to count. Five wildcats appeared, possessed by Jeir. I think. Or -- dominated." He winces a bit. "Their eyes were maddened. Like they were aware of what was happening to them, but with no control, eyes pained and frightened." He presses his lips together. "Emptied nearly two guns into them, and two of them stayed on their feet until --" Whatever that thought is, he lets it die right then and there. "In the end, there was one. It wandered off after we struck a minor deal that'll probably come back and bite me in the ass later." Still, when instructed to begin assisting, he gives a small nod. The man's voice -- well. The face might be pretty, and he can probably fake it like the best of them, but with no formal training it's certain awkward and leaves something to be desired. But as a focus for the will, it works well enough. The words are there=, and the will is there, even if the deeper knowledge of how to focus this particular effect is not. Corinna's eyebrow marks up at that comment about Rune's minor deal. "Yeah. Bet it will. Those spectres are not wholesome, from what I've seen of the company Jeir keeps." She pauses, but her dark eyes stay on his face and her eyes stay open. "So you didn't catch him. We didn't catch him. But we've seen more of how he operates... I made a ghost gun. We should... make more, maybe." Whatever a ghost gun is. She doesn't really explain in that moment. She lets that train of thought trail off, and dips down below the bar to collect her tongs from her bag. "He's got some herbs in his mouth that'll put him in the right state of mind, and the brew will help his body come closer to its ideal state, not the falsehoods that've been forced on it by... claw-wounds?" This she says pretty much into Coda, her eyes wandering his body and pausing on the various wounds he has. She clicks her tongs together, and then starts to work by going one bloody gash at a time, pinching them together. At the same time, she begins to sing, her voice quiet at first, and low. It's almost throat singing, in a low and guttural tongue. The tune is rhythmic -- the metronomic beat is in time with her movements. With each downbeat, a suturing pinch of Coda's flesh. With each upbeat, a movement to the next section. There's a sense that it's this rhythm, more than the words, that's important, and she keeps it perfectly. Rune -- does not know old norse. So the song itself he can't really keep up with. But this rhythm is familiar enough, he can improvise. And so he does -- chanting the names of healing runes. Runes of banishing darkness, death, and disease. Laguz. Berkana. Kenaz. Safety and security. Healing and growth. He intones them like a percussive beat, keeping time with the woman's song, to the best of his ability. It might not be perfect, but. It's probably enough. As she grabs the tongs and starts to pinch those wounds together, his eyes widen. Now that's a trick that he clearly hasn't thought of before -- but he's definitely tucking it into the back of his mind... Time seems to stretch forever, as it is wont to do in the middle of a ritual. It might be seconds. It could be hours. Without timing the damn things precisely, it's nearly impossible to tell, the energies of the world twisting in those ways that make keeping up with the time imposed by consensual reality a laughable task. At some point Coda does wake up, though it is not pleasantly. He groans, back arching as the clamp of the tongs that finally made him stir clamps down. At first he seems to have no clue where he is or what's going on, and it's probably as well that Rune had to take his spare gun and that his other one is still lying under a dead panther somewhere, in need of replacement, because agonized and disoriented means a Chakravanti trying to find his guns. His knives are still strapped on but...he figures out where he is and what's going on in the split second of pained panic, and he gives a soft shudder and grits his teeth together, as if determined to physically hold back another sound. In that split second his eyes had found Rune's and relief flashes across them as he closes his eyes. His job here, now that he's awake, he figures, is not to be a hindrance to the two Verbena who are saving his ass, and if the effort of staying quiet makes him start to sweat it's nevertheless the effort of a man who has returned to his proper color and who is no longer slipping away. As the ritual continues and Coda begins to awaken, Corinna realizes she forgot something pretty key. Maybe it was the lack of a full cup of coffee. There's a look on her face that betrays that thought, but she keeps her rhythm as she continues to sing, setting down her tongs in time and reaching down into her bag. She produces a trio of thin leather straps -- some scrap from a project or another, and, still singing, grabs Coda's wrist and turns it over, pressing them into his palm. She looks into his eyes and makes a motion for her mouth, the universal hand signal for eating, as she continues to chant. And then her work continues -- tongs again. Pain, again. No anaesthetic for Coda. Handy bit so as not to grind his teeth, though. Rune feels the man coming up. But he doesn't dare stop his part in this. It might be small, but it's not insignificant. He reaches for Coda, pressing down on the man's shoulders, giving a little shake of his head as he gives the Chakravanti a pleading look, meeting the man's eyes as best he can. It's only when Corinna brings out those leather straps does he fully realize what they're both in for. Thank god he can keep what he's feeling off of his face through long practice. Taking the straps, he holds them up before Coda's face, giving a little affirmative nod of his head and a sympathetic look. 'This is gonna suck and I am so, so sorry' that look says. But given that he hasn't stopped chanting? Yeah. They're gonna press on. Coda feels that strap in the palm of his hand. It's almost disorienting all over again. Surreal. Rune's grounding press on his shoulders produces a sharp gasp, and his eyes fly open. But then he meets Rune's pleading gaze. He shudders, glazed-over gaze meeting his friend's. Straps. Corinna making eating motions, oh there's one in his hand, but Rune's holding some too... He just shoves the one Corinna handed him into his mouth. Opening his mouth lets another sound of misery escape, but he does it. It takes a moment for the reason for Rune's sympathetic look to really dawn on him, but he just takes a deep breath and nods once and sags back onto the bar again. Whatever they need to do he's certainly not fighting, and if anything he sort of tunes into the meditative drone of Rune's chanting, setting his breathing in time with it not because it's at all a focus for him magickally, but because the rhythmic, numeric quality of it gives him something else to focus on besides the pain. The work continues, slowly and methodically, over the course of 15-20 minutes that might as well be eons. Corinna breaks her eyes away from Coda to check on Rune as they continue to work, but it continues despite whatever noises Coda might make. And when it's done, she sets her instruments down and takes her coffee -- cold now -- in both hands, backing up until her shoulders press against the nearest wall, where she slouches and just stares down into the black, still surface. She sips at it, drained and contemplative, and waits for Coda to feel good enough to stir lucidly. By the end of this particular ritual, Rune feels exhausted. Corinna must feel like she just ran a marathon. He can only imagine what Coda must be feeling like. Still, as the wounds close his friend slowly but surely starts to come back to normal, he lets out a deep breath that he didn't even know he was holding, forehead dropping to Coda's chest as he just takes a moment to appreciate the fact taht there's a heart still beating in there, and not dead on a trail somewhere. "Scared me," he mutters to the Chakravanti on the table. "Ass." But he rises, giving Coda's hand a squeeze as he shoots Corinna a thankful look -- a real one, like a six ton weight has been lifted right off of him. And then... he remembers Sasha. A glance over at the girl, on the couch, laid out like Sleeping Beauty, eyes half open as she stares at the ceiling. "Couldn't tell you if she's still in there or not," he tells Corinna. "Though for her sake... I really fucking hope not." By the time the end of it is reached Coda is a lot calmer; he even dozes off for a little while. The end of healing is easier than the beginning, and the tong pinches soon just become sensory input. He pulls the strap free from his mouth and sets it gently aside. He does feel like someone rode him hard and put him away wet though. He raises an exhausted hand to Rune's curls when the other man drops his head to his chest, sifting through them for a moment. "Lo siento," he murmurs softly. He squeezes Rune's hand back and lets go, carefully struggling to a sitting position. "Thank you both." But his own gaze goes to Sasha, and he says to Corinna: "Sasha Vintelhaus. Elliot's daughter. Rune saved her life, but..." Well. Corinna can see the but for herself. "But she's basically a zombie," Corinna says, braving a brief glance up, dark eyes flicking between Rune and Coda and the all-but-dead body on the couch. Her gaze goes back down to her drink soon enough, and then to her wounded hand, which she opens and flexes, staring at the burnt mess that is her palm. Sasha's father gave her that. For Coda's sake, she repeats herself from earlier. "Down in the south, we ran into almost thirty bodies, with the same cut," she says, tip of her index finger barely brushing against the skin of her forehead. "And, looking through the Gauntlet, we saw dozens and dozens of disembodied eyes. Stolen from them. We were able to help some of them, but..." Editor's note: I have no idea how that resolves, just yet, so while Corinna'd have details... I don't! Rune is already preparing for the epic 'what the actual fuck did you do to her' reaction that he's sure is coming, leaning back into the bar and scooting some of the broken glass aside with his foot. Just in case he ends up with his face pressed forcibly into the floor. Again. Still, he offers Coda the slightest of smiles. "Yeah," he chuckles. "You sure as hell siento'd it. Like a damn champ. Every time I think I've got a handle on your soft and squishy math-magic shit, you remind me of what a badass you are." Beat. "Nerd." But that lecture doesn't quite come. At least not yet. And so Rune offers what helpful bits he can. "Yeah," he agrees. "Jeir had one of those on us too. Or. Well." Truth will out, eventually. "Me. Mostly." A small shake of his head. "He -- complimented me. Asked me who my mentor was. Threatened to kill Coda if I didn't tell him." Rune's dark and twisty mentor, Cerridwen. Still at large out in the world, wreaking havoc somewhere. "Should have offered him Julio or whatever the fuck his name is." A little shake of his head there. "Useless as tits on a bull." The Chakravanti ducks a quick, warm smile at the ground as Rune compliments his shooting skill...and gives him some of his pride back, perhaps, in so doing. But soon his attention is all on Sasha. "That man is not who he says he is," Coda agrees quietly. "But...do you still have his marble?" Coda sure as hell lost his marble while he was getting kitten pounced. "With the ability to perceive her third eye I might be able to pull it back to her. It will probably take me some time to get the spell written up...and I might need to meditate here for awhile to get my juice back...but it might be possible. Though it might take a shaman with an equal grasp of space to do it, instead. I am not sure. It does not have to be me." Corinna still hasn't really _examined_ Sasha, and something about the way Rune's bracing himself -- his body language and expression -- has her eyes already narrowing. This orbit of their relationship, lacking in trust, has been primed, after all. And purposefully, by that old warlock making a game of manipulating those in his care. But the shift toward Julio has her concerned, too. "Mn. What happened? Where is Julio? When Tyler and I met him before, we pried some info out of him, but it's hazy, now. All I remember is that whatever his deal with Jeir is, it's personal." And as Coda talks about getting Sasha's eye back, she finally brings her attention to the girl: "What's her deal? What _did_ happen with her?" Finally she has enough moxie -- or coffee, maybe that's the same thing -- to be looking between their eyes. Rune gives a shrug. "Possibly," he says. "I'd have to inventory my stuff to see where it went. It might still be with him in the van." Though he certainly seems interested in the details of how, exactly, one would pull the third eye back to the victim it came from. A magic that he knows absolutely nothing about on any level. It's Corinna's question, though, that makes him blink. "Julio?" He says the name like he wants to spit it. And judging from his face, he very well might. "Our fearless lead nephandus hunter can barely manage to identify his ass from a hole in the ground. At the end he was almost useful. He managed to keep one of the cats from attacking. But I still poured an entire clip into that fucking thing and it stayed right on its feet. He can see spirits, and helped us see the eyes, but whatever his deal is? He's not cut out for this. And given what we've just seen of Jeir? Neither are we." Turning back over his shoulder to Sasha, he just gives a slow shake of his head. "Couldn't heal her. Barely help her," he admits. "She'd been out there since she went missing. What, a month at this point? Didn't even have time to get a fire going before he got to her. Must have been waiting for her. Just barely got the tent up." A small shake of his head. "Emaciated. Dehydrated. Holding onto life by a thread. I couldn't heal her, it's beyond my skill." As evidenced by his needing help with Coda. "There isn't much I can do to strengthen or fortify her," he admits. "But." A small pause here. "I know how to keep her from dying. So I did." Corinna can probably only guess what kind of perfectly fucked up uses magic that doesn't heal you, but keeps you from dying, could be put to. "I thought she was dead when we found her. Rune saved her," Coda reiterates, sliding off the bar to stand beside his friend now with an air that is distinctly protective. But there's no challenge in his tone. Gentle, polite. They have bigger problems. "He claims to have been from a chantry in Mexicali full of Kha'vadi and Chakravanti. But I suspect he is Kha'vadi. He has no combat skills, but is an adequate shaman. He claims he was dispatched to bring Jeir back for judgement and sentencing, but nobody in their right mind would send him out. A Chantry full of Chakravanti would not send a lone Kha'vadi out, they'd have sent at least one other with him or sent a Chakravanti to do the job. One at least as powerful as Jeir, which he is not. For this, they might have formed an entire temporary cabal. And instead...one lone man, who has yet to name the actual name of his chantry, who has no business chasing this man. And I thought I heard the panther say something about him, imply something, that I didn't understand." A pause. "Either way? There is more to this story than he tells us, and I do not think we should act on his advice or put him at our backs again until he spills it." The other questions are amply answered, so he offers no opinions on those, only ticks off all the things which make absolutely no sense about Mr. Julio Santana. "Yeah." Pause. "Yeah." That's to Coda, as she listens to him list Julio's mysteries. "Personal. Gotta be." Corinna drains the rest of her coffee and steps forward to leave the empty thing on the barcounter. "Okay." She lets out a held breath, staring Rune in the eyes for another moment. "She's in stasis. Okay." And then she moves on, just like that. "We've got to get... _lenses_ for everyone, if we're going to keep doing this. We're going to all need to be able to see spirits, spectres, and _cheval_. And we're all going to need to be able to hurt them. What happened to both teams isn't sustainable. I was able to put something together." She crouches down and digs into her bag to find her pistol. She ejects the magazine, puts it on the bar counter, and then racks the slide and catches the bullet that's in there, before putting the pistol down next to the magazine. It's a tiny thing, a little Kimber Ultra Carry, almost smaller than her hand. And etched on the barrel with paint are a pair of runes. Read right, it says something like: "Ghost Bow". "Magick's dead now, but: Bullets turn ephemeral when they leave the barrel. No harm to the ridden, _very_ harm to the rider. We need," she gestures with her hand flat and palm up at it, "More of that. You both shoot, I think?" Rune turns back to look at Sasha. 'Stasis' is probably a polite way of saying it, but he gives a little nod of agreement. Though as Coda and Corinna talk about Julio, he adds his own comment. "It's weirder than that," he confirms. "Coda probably didn't notice, what with all the blood loss, but -- those things? Didn't attack Julio. And the cat said -- something." He shakes his head, trying to recall it. "It didn't just feel personal. It felt..." A glance to Coda, searching for the right word. "Intimate. Right?" Corinna's words, though, draw a raised eyebrow from him. "Maybe. Being able to hurt them is great. Keeping them from hurting us is probably likewise useful. Those things tore through the protective spells I had up like they weren't even there, and if he's got that much power going -- I'm not sure how we'd defend against that." That gun, though, certainly has his attention. As does catching the little bullet that was already on it. "I'll take two," he sighs, moving over to look at that runework. That part, at least, is familiar to him. The namesake suggests that much. This may be the first genuine smile Corinna has ever gotten out of Coda--versus the very polite and practiced ones he's given her in the past. She deserved one for saving his life anyway (and more than that, but he'll address that soon), but this? This gets a boyish, gleaming grin from the Chakravanti. "Indeed we do. And this?" He steps closer to get a better look, even though unlike Rune he can't read them. "This is brilliant." Rune draws his attention back to Julio. Intimate. The Chakravanti nods firmly, then Coda closes his eyes, sifting back through everything that was said. "Something caught my attention, what was it...?" Because part of him stayed alert and aware of his surroundings until he literally couldn't anymore. And then he snaps his fingers, and repeats what did in fact niggle at him. "Mi nino favorito," he murmurs. Which really just loops right back around to Corinna's conclusion. "Very personal." "He gave off an... intimate impression when we ran into him before, yeah." Corinna's brows knit and rise. Her hand presses a loose lock of hair back behind her ear. "I didn't get a good look, but there was a photo on his phone as he was swiping through them..." She lives in California and is multilingual. She doesn't speak full-on Spanish, but those aren't exactly hard words to parse. "... man. That phrasing is a little creepier than intimate." She lets some silence linger there for a minute, and says, "Okay. We can talk some more logistics in a while. The scale of what he's doing is starting to get out of hand. With all the people we found, without a truck, it was... And we need better preparation; protection, like you said, and the other things. I think we should all get some more rest." She looks up and over to Sasha. "And her." She looks to Rune. "How long until the clock runs out?" Rune crosses his arms, looking decidedly displeased. "I think that we need to have a more more frank talk with our friend. Before he gets one of us killed." A look at Coda then. "...or worse." This time, a glance at Sasha, on the couch, the little hairs on his arms rising up a bit. Corinna's question once again snaps him back out of his own head, expression growing dark. "If I keep using that? As long as you need. But..." But, there's a but. In that she'll just keep getting progressively worse without treatment, yet be unable to truly die while the magic is up. Endless suffering, even if she can't feel it. "If we get her to a hospital she might have a fighting chance to recover without us. Physically, anyway. Without the Art? Days. Maybe hours." "A hospital could at least put her on an IV. Deal with the dehydration and the starvation, while we work on another solution." He looks down at himself, and over at Rune. "We'd best clean up before we take her, or else they are going to have many questions for us that we do not wish to answer." Cleaned up, though, with his PI license in hand and a story about being hired to find the missing girl? They should get her into a bed without too much police interference. He hopes, anyway. "No, no hospitals. They--" her voice is sharp and sudden and forceful, and she just as forcefully cuts herself off. "After we have some rest, let's do the same thing for her -- get her body out of the danger zone, at least. Just not, you know." Her mind. Her soul. Corinna's dark eyes just stare at Sasha. "There are rooms in the Chantry, unused. We can make her comfortable in one of them, for now." Rune looks a bit unsure of that answer. But Corinna just saved his friend, and -- well. The disparity in their rank makes his next move perfectly obvious, whether he agrees with it or not. Giving another small bow of his head in respect, he simply answers, "As you wish."

Logs:Unpleasant Remedies

This is gonna hurt you more than it hurts me...

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