Sea Breeze Freedom

[ethereal]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420px,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/91c6mp.png][atrb=cellpadding,10px,true] WHY WERE WE THERE BACKTOBACK WHY WERE WE THERE FACETOFACE I MUST BE THE LIGHT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DARK. I WILL RING A BELL UNTIL YOU FEEL ME BY YOUR SIDE. Stuff me in a cage, beat me, kill me, but you will never take my pride! Blood dribbled from the female's mouth, a recent injury inflicted by one of the many men who had aided in kidnapping her. She was a prisoner, forced to dance as a joker for their amusement. Because of her ability to speak to beasts, she was the talk of small towns. It was thanks to her that they were becoming rich. But she was treated like nothing more than an animal, despite her appearance of a young, human girl. Her mother's fur was still proudly worn around her own body, and she had fought them off more than once to keep it that way. Bruised, battered, and completely drained, Ethereal was no more of a threat than a small dog. She wanted nothing more than to be taken away, to go back to the happy days she had once lived. Her mother, the pack, everything had been taken from her. Perhaps it would be better to simply do as they said? And then a voice called to her. Soft, gentle, and knowing. Warmth, it surrounded her, chased the pain away from her aching body. Light curled around her, and pulled her from the cage. She phased right though, as if a ghost, but she was indeed alive. The light enveloped her vision, and she fell into a gentle slumber. '...Mother...?' The warmth felt so familiar. Waves crashing against a sandy shore woke her, water lapping at her face. Ether jolted up, pale hair sticking to her face from the salty water. Silver hues viewed the world around in her attempt to get her bearings. She was unsuccessful. Raising herself slowly, she pulled her body into a sitting position. Her body still ached. Skin was torn open, ankle broken, stomach empty, all because of the men who had caged her. But still... She gazed around again, and a gentle smile graced her lips. Regardless of where she was or how injured, at least she was finally free. No one would ever cage her again! The young girl breathed in deep, taking in the fresh air. She was on the verge of tears. Freedom, she had freedom again! Still, there was the few problems she had. Her body was a mess of injuries and she was completely dirty from having been locked in a cage and thrown onto a sandy shore. Sighing, Ether closed her eyes and laid down on the sand. For now at least, she could warm herself in the sun and be happy to have gained her freedom again. But what could she do in a world where she knew nothing and no one? tag: open; words: i dunno; song: ring a bell; notes: i hope it isn't too boring...

[defenderx2480]

"...My body feels heavy."

"That's because this body needs more mana. I've already explained how this works to you. Did that last blow to the head break your scale of idiocy or what?"

"It was something that had to be done."

"That's because you felt the need to jump off a d**n cliff instead of killing a few nobodies."

"They were just preforming their duty."

"'He's an innocent.' 'They're just doing their job.' 'She's pregnant.' Why did I get stuck with a pansy ass like you? Me be d**ned, just die already."

"I am dead..."

"Me d**n, it's like you're trying to be an idiot. Is that it? Is Uncie Decay going to have to help wittle baby function?"

"...You're unusually energetic."

"Yeah well, that's what happens when I sense someone about to bite the big one, Soulmate."

Zephos stopped and glanced around, looking for what Decay was talking about, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head to keep the sun out of his eye. After deciding that it wasn't quite enough and that there was noone around, he pulled the eyepatch off his right eye, revealing a solid red, slighty glowing eye.

"Oh, you want to see it up close, huh? Nice, Soulmate. I think we might finally be getting on the same wavelength here. Down on the beach, you'll have to get closer to the edge to see down far enough."

Zephos sighed and walked to the edge of the beach to find..."A wolf?"

"The hell? I definitely sensed an Orerine soul."

Zephos moved closer to the prone form and crouched beside it, "No...it is an Orerine." He glanced over the girl's body and made a quick assessment, "A large number of injuries, but untreated and left out in the open...and her ankle is badly swollen, probably broken." Decay, helpful as ever, chimed in, "Yup! Can't you just smell the infection? It's been a while since a soul this nice died. Usually they just get cured with some magic and that's that. Magic's a real pain in the backside, yanno?" Zephos frowned and grabbed the wolf's pelt to try and pull it away from the girl so he could see her injuries better. "I'm not going to let her die, Decay." Zephos felt a lance of pain shoot through his right eye as Decay had a mini-rampage inside of his head, "YOU CANDY ASS! Just let her die! Why the hell are you going to save her? It's not even like she can give you anything for it. Hey, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"

"... ... ...Not at all."

[ethereal]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420px,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/91c6mp.png][atrb=cellpadding,10px,true] WHY WERE WE THERE BACKTOBACK WHY WERE WE THERE FACETOFACE I MUST BE THE LIGHT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DARK. I WILL RING A BELL UNTIL YOU FEEL ME BY YOUR SIDE. Sand was colored crimson, liquid spreading like a morbid flower around the wolf girl. Though her face was as peaceful and calm as the most at peace person in the world, she was indeed in pain. In a few moments she would pass on, yet the though wasn't that terrifying. To be quite honest, she was completely fine with it. Soon she would see her mother again, and be with her brothers and sisters she had lost. Sea breeze swept past, carrying the salty scent mixed with the copper scent of blood. Her nose crinkled a bit, and her eyes peaked open. She could smell him, smell a man approaching her. Her brow furrowed, and she was instantly on edge. But still, she lacked energy to truly get up and run. After all, in a few minutes, she would be dead. Though from behind her appearance would be that of a wolf, the being only continued to close the distance between them. Ethereal managed to turn her head slightly, but only succeeded in making herself slump forward. Now the pain was at the fore-front of her mind, agony filling her body. Though her lips remained locked and her voice silent, she was screaming internally. The male did eventually reach her, and she attempted to growl, only to fail in doing so. She sounded like a whimpering puppy. Pathetic, helpless, weak. It made her loathe herself to be seen in such a manner. And then he did something no man ever should. Human fingers wrapped around her mother's pelt, and a sudden burst of energy filled her veins, fueled by her rage. She snapped back, and pulled her legs beneath her. Pushing hard on the ground, she managed to jump a few feet away, however, she landed on her back. Tears stung her eyes, spilled down dirty cheeks. Forcing herself to sit up once more, she glared at the human who dared to touch her mother's fur. No one could ever take it from her. She would die with it, just as her mother had. This time she growled, and it was fierce and proud. Silver hues gleamed with a raw hatred towards men. But though she showed such a rage, her injuries would prevent any physical demonstrations of that strength. For now, she was all bark and no bite. Pain shot through her again, and she fell onto her side. Curling up, she grit her teeth and bit back the urge to cry out. She really was going to die. Either from her injuries or by the hand of the human. tag: Alexander/Open; words: I dunno.; song: ring a bell; notes: :3 Thanks for joining.

[defenderx2480]

Zephos didn't move from his crouching position, even after the girl attempted to run away. Keeping him rooted to the spot was a combination of slight confusion and Decay's voice.

"There, you see? She doesn't even want your help. Just let her die and move on, or better yet, suck her dry. At this mana level, that body of yours probably couldn't even take half the punishment a normal human could."

"I'm not going to leave her like this."

"Why the hell not?"

"My goal is to save Suiren...how could I possibly do that if I can't even save a single girl?"

"Jeez...you really sicken me, you know that, Soulmate? Fine. Just don't come crying to me when she claws your eyes out and you don't have enough mana to fix that little 'Boo-boo'."
[/i]

Zephos felt Decay's presence dim, signifying that he'd gone to sleep. He sighed and put his eyepatch back on, before rising and slowly started walking towards the girl.

"...You'll die, you know."

He put his right hand into the pocket of his cloak and stopped moving forward when he'd come within a few feet of the girl but didn't move any closer, lest she try and run on her injured ankle again.

"I'm dead. At least, I was...but I still am. In a manner of speaking."

He sighed again and let his shoulders sag. Motivational speaking wasn't one of his strong suits, but he could tell from the look in the girl's eyes that she wouldn't have really listened to any advice he could have given anyway.

"Your eyes tell me that you probably have no family, or home. That you think you've lost so much, there isn't anything left to lose. I know this, because I am...was the same. The difference is, I had to die to realize what my life was really worth. But you still have your life."

Zephos crouched down and placed a small vial on the sand in front of him between himself and the girl before standing again, "That will heal enough of your wounds that you could hopefully find someone that can use curative magic. Provided you don't put too much weight on that bad ankle." He turned away from the girl and pulled his hood down lower before starting to walk away. Still, all of his movements had been prohibitively slow, seeming almost forced, and his walking speed was no different.

Of course, Decay took this moment in time to wake up, "Hey, so you left her after all?"

"...No...I'm going to find a Doctor."

"Really, Soulmate? Really? Screw you."

[ethereal]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420px,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/91c6mp.png][atrb=cellpadding,10px,true] WHY WERE WE THERE BACKTOBACK WHY WERE WE THERE FACETOFACE I MUST BE THE LIGHT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DARK. I WILL RING A BELL UNTIL YOU FEEL ME BY YOUR SIDE. The sand felt course beneath her finger tips, and it hurt the raw skin the surrounded her wounds. The sting the ate at her entire body was nearly unbearable. But still, she kept her fierce gaze upon the stranger. No one was going to take her mother's fur, not even him. No one.... no one no matter what. 'I promise mother...' She heard the male speak, and thanks to the four years she had spent outside of the Keterburg academy, she understood it fairly well. To die.... she was indeed going to at the rate she was going. He approached again, and she let out a feral snarl in response, weak hands gripping at her mother's fur. His hand had disappeared into something he wore, and she tensed up. A weapon maybe? "I'm dead. At least, I was...but I still am. In a manner of speaking." The words confused her. The dead could come back to life? Did... did that mean her mother could come back?! The though gave her a jolt that shocked her system and also made the pain come back tenfold. Shaking her head to still her thoughts, she kept herself from focusing on how much her body hurt. "Your eyes tell me that you probably have no family, or home. That you think you've lost so much, there isn't anything left to lose. I know this, because I am...was the same. The difference is, I had to die to realize what my life was really worth. But you still have your life." She didn't like this man, he knew too much from a mere glance at her silver hues. And that made her feel vulnerable. Ethereal growled again, feeling as though she had somehow been backed into a corner. How was it a man could simply look at someone's eyes and tell so much about them? Was he even human? A vial was placed before her, and she sniffed the air. The smell reminded her of the gels they had sold in the Keterburg stores. As the male left, his body slow with what Ethereal assumed was fatigue, she inched closer to the vial. Another sniff, a lick at the glass, It seemed safe. She recalled how the teacher had once opened such a thing, and so Ether attempted to imitate what she had seen. The vial opened with a gentle pop, and the young female sniffed once more at the liquid. What could she do? She could die or try the liquid. Gritting her teeth, she tilted her head back and let the cold liquid slide down her throat. The sudden sensation that filled her made her jitter. But to her amazement, several of her wounds were healed or at least made to be less sever. Only her ankle seemed to be bad now. Silver hues peered up to look at the male as he continued his slow walk down the beach. Standing on all fours, rather than just her two legs, she managed to keep a quick pace as she followed after the male, keeping her injured leg raised. It was much easier to walk on all fours in that case, and having been raised by wolves, she was fairly skilled at it. Upon catching up, she peered up at the stranger. Though Ether was capable of understanding the human language, she was very bad at speaking it. Still though, she tried. "Bad.... hurt... you?" tag: Alexander/Open; words: ...; song: ring a bell; notes: BLAH

[defenderx2480]

Zephos stopped when he heard a voice behind him and turned to face it. It was the wolf girl...


"Bad hurt you? Well, la de da. Someone who can finally top your spot as first place in the special Olympics."

"You're awake, but...Olympics?"

"Don't think about it too hard, Soulmate. You might damage that precious single braincell of yours."


He sighed and crouched in front of the girl again, "I'm afraid I don't understand...did the medicine hurt?"

Decay quickly grew tired of Zephos' entire interaction with the girl and decided to try and speed it up for his own sake "Look. Just take some mana from chick so I can translate this for you. I'm getting pretty d**n tired of this."

Zephos ignored Decay for now, and focused on the girl again, "Unless you mean me? I'm not injured...but as it is, this body is difficult to manage."

He didn't really expect an answer that he could understand from the girl, so he started searching for something else he could give her, even though he doubted there was anything left that was fit for human use..."But, you should try and find someone who can cast healing magic. I don't..." Zephos realized that the girl's speech was so broken, she might not even be able to understand what he was saying...which would certainly make this difficult. Still...he couldn't trust that Decay would be of help, "I'm getting ahead of myself here. Can you understand me? What I'm saying, that is. If you can, is...is there another language you can speak?"

[ethereal]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420px,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/91c6mp.png][atrb=cellpadding,10px,true] WHY WERE WE THERE BACKTOBACK WHY WERE WE THERE FACETOFACE I MUST BE THE LIGHT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DARK. I WILL RING A BELL UNTIL YOU FEEL ME BY YOUR SIDE. The words weren't right? Ethereal sighed softly, trying to remember what words to use and in what darn order. The male's face made her even more confused, as it almost seemed as though he was fighting with himself. Tilting her head in confusion, she stared at the stranger. The medicine hurt? Of course not. Body difficult to manage? So he was hurt. Things were clearly difficult when it came to the communication part, but at least she could easily understand what was said. It was only the reply that affected her. The female sat down on the sand, letting her tired arms and legs rest for a moment as he spoke to her. "But, you should try and find someone who can cast healing magic. I don't..." Healing magics? But... why did she need to find someone when she was capable of using such magic? The male looked frustrated, and Ether felt slightly pathetic with her inability to speak the very language she could understand. He needed to be healed didn't he? Right, was that it? She scanned the area around her, but there was nothing she could use to speak to him. So what was there? First things first, tell him she was a healer. "Heal.... I.... can.... heal magic... I can." "I'm getting ahead of myself here. Can you understand me? What I'm saying, that is. If you can, is...is there another language you can speak?" Ethereal nodded frantically. She could understand, she could very well. And then in response to his question, she barked. She only knew two languages: the language of the humans, and the language of the wolves. tag: Alex/Open; words: dunno; song: ring a bell; notes: lol.

[defenderx2480]

"Heal.... I.... can.... heal magic... I can."

"Ah, hell. You hear that? She played you like a harp!"

"So what if she did? She was in trouble, she seems better now."

"I really can't stand this anymore. I'm going to bed again."


Zephos frowned as he felt Decay's presence dull once more, but he didn't worry about it. "That's...good. You should probably try and heal that ankle of yours before anything else."

He started to stand again when the girl...barked. He stared at her with confusion apparent in his features...but it brought his attention back to the soggy wolf fur plastered to the girl's back. He reached out to grab it again, "But this isn't good. You should at least put it down until you heal the rest of your wounds. It could be moldy, and pressed against the wounds you had..."

[ethereal]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420px,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/91c6mp.png][atrb=cellpadding,10px,true] WHY WERE WE THERE BACKTOBACK WHY WERE WE THERE FACETOFACE I MUST BE THE LIGHT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DARK. I WILL RING A BELL UNTIL YOU FEEL ME BY YOUR SIDE. Ethereal frowned. Had she said something wrong? The female inched closer, trying to catch the male's scent to see if she had somehow upset him. Ethereal sneezed softly, shaking her head. Two scents? Was that possible? "That's...good. You should probably try and heal that ankle of yours before anything else." Ether glanced down at her ankle. It was bad, even after drinking whatever he had given her. The only issue with that was, if she used her mana to heal her ankle, it was likely she would pass out. She needed sleep, and lots of it before she could use any healing magic. "Mana... more... need. Not... have... mana... to heal..." "But this isn't good. You should at least put it down until you heal the rest of your wounds. It could be moldy, and pressed against the wounds you had..." ...And then his hands wove around the wet fur of her mother. "NO!" She snarled, arm striking out and harshly slamming the male's hand away. ""No! No! No! Mommy's! No!" She couldn't tell him. Couldn't tell him how important it was to her. She could never let anyone take it. She glared at the male, enraged that he had grabbed onto her mother's fur. Still, she did understand his reasoning for her to remove it. But... she needed to bathe herself and the fur before that happened. She wouldn't remove it there, not there. "Clean... first. Human smells... there." And then she raised her arm and pointed to her right. A village perhaps? tag: Alex/Open; words: eh?; song: ring a bell; notes: D8<

[defenderx2480]

Zephos sighed. Part of it was exhaustion, but the other part was relief. He'd made the right choice in leaving the ring on if she was out of mana, too. Still...it was kind of rude that she'd slapped his hand away. But, he thought he'd heard the word 'Mother' mixed in with her refusals. So the fur had belonged to her mother...understandable.

"Clean... first. Human smells... there."

So it seemed Zephos had yet another reason to be relieved. Had Decay been awake, he probably would have made some racy comment at the girl's expense...He looked in the direction the girl was pointing in and frowned, 'human smells' could mean alot of things, and very few of them were good. The girl certainly didn't seem human, but Decay had confirmed that she indeed was...was it not the girl, but he who was less than human? He shrugged the question off, and awkwardly half extended his arm towards the girl so that she could lean on him to take the weight off her ankle. He would have gone further, but she probably would have thought he was trying to touch the fur again...

"...Should we go that way, then?"

"

[ethereal]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420px,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/91c6mp.png][atrb=cellpadding,10px,true] WHY WERE WE THERE BACKTOBACK WHY WERE WE THERE FACETOFACE I MUST BE THE LIGHT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DARK. I WILL RING A BELL UNTIL YOU FEEL ME BY YOUR SIDE. Had he finally understood her? Ethereal stared in anticipation. The male seemed to understand after she had said "mother". Smiling slightly, she sniffed the air again. Many human smells came to her nose, along with the smells of other animals and odd mixtures of medicines. Ethereal sneezed again, and shook her head. When the male offered his hand to her, she was confused by the gesture. She tilted her head in confusion, and merely stared for a few moments. What did he want? Did he want her to hand over the fur? The sincere look on his face made all thoughts of such dull in her mind. So why had he extended his hand to her? Ethereal thought hard, back to one of the many classes she had listened to. "When someone offers you their hand, it can mean several things. They may want to shake hands with you, or they may want to offer you help, or maybe they just want to hold your hand as a sign of affection." Ruling out the hand-shaking and the hand-holding, Ethereal assumed that he was trying to offer her some assistance. Honestly it seemed more like it was him who needed it. She had three other good legs after all. And so she pressed her nose against his hand, wanting him to take it back. She then began to head in the direction of the smells, walking on all fours still, minus the injured leg. "We go? Heal... they can." She could smell medicines outside. Maybe they had just been resupplied. tag: Alex/Open; words: many; song: ring a bell; notes: :3

[defenderx2480]

Zephos watched the girl move in the direction she'd pointed...on crawling around on one leg and her arms. He stifled a laugh and followed after her. He wouldn't have admitted it, but the girl looked kind of ridiculous. "I guess I am the more human one...for better or worse."

"We go? Heal... they can."

That made Zephos a bit cautious. How would the girl know that? Or was she assuming? She obviously didn't get those injuries from falling on the beach, and since she seemed to be leading him towards the only settlement in the area...He slipped one arm inside of his cloak and continued to follow her, though he was wary of what might find them...

[ethereal]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420px,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/91c6mp.png][atrb=cellpadding,10px,true] WHY WERE WE THERE BACKTOBACK WHY WERE WE THERE FACETOFACE I MUST BE THE LIGHT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DARK. I WILL RING A BELL UNTIL YOU FEEL ME BY YOUR SIDE. It didn't take long. A tiny village came into sight soon into their walking. It was quaint, but it would have to do. The girl continued to limp, but at least she was moving faster than the male behind her. She had learned easily to walk on her hands and feet together like a normal wolf was, and so the action didn't cause her any discomfort. However, as they approached the village, she stopped and stood on her legs. She was tall, slender from hardly eating. The female turned to see if the male was still following her. Upon comfirming that he was, Ethereal began to walk--rather slowly as she was putting some weight on her injured foot--towards the village. All she could do was hope that they wouldn't try to take her mother's fur. It hurt, terribly to walk on her leg. But at least the doctor wouldn't take too long to reach. Upon entering the village, many of the people there stopped and turned to stare at the girl. Ethereal kept her head high, proud to be a wolf, and began to walk in stride though it caused her more pain. The signs above the little houses were easy enough to read. And so she turned to the male, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the doctor's house. Of course, more starring at the girl who wore the fur of a wolf. Ethereal growled lightly, but managed to keep her temper at bay. She turned to look at the male, in hopes that he would be the one to talk to the doctor. After all, she lacked the ability to speak well. "You... talk... ask... help?" tag: Alex/Open; words: ; song: ring a bell; notes: >.<

[defenderx2480]

Zephos glanced from side to side, his one good eye hidden by the hood of his cloak. The way he and the girl attracted attention made him somewhat uncomfortable, but he didn't see any sign of recognition in the eyes of the people they passed, so there was that. He'd been focusing on a group of men that were staring at the girl from across the street when he found himself yanked into a small building. He quickly determined that it was an office of some kind and figured the girl had found a doctor on her own. He sighed and stepped in front of the girl when a vaguely attractive woman appeared from the back room and gave both Zephos and the girl a once over before glaring at Zephos. If looks could kill...well...it was good that he was already dead, to put it mildly.

"I assume that you're there to get her patched up?" The woman motioned towards Ethereal.

"...That would be correct."

The woman glared at Zephos again. As far as she was concerned, here was a cloaked man that had a hood pulled low enough to conceal his face leading a dirty, battered girl with little more than a fur and torn rags for clothing around the town.

"So, what would be your relationship to the...patient?"

"Father." He wasn't sure why he blurted out 'Father'..it didn't even seem appropriate. The girl was young, but she couldn't be that young.

"...Yeah, right." So...the woman didn't buy it either. This wasn't going very well.

The woman walked around the counter and held her hand out to Ether, "Come along, sweetie. We'll get you patched up. Why don't you tell me your na-"

"She's mute."

That did it. There was so much venom packed into the woman's glare that he physically took a step back, but didn't say anything.

He'd wait until the woman and the girl went into the back before dropping a small bag of Gald behind the counter where it wouldn't be taken and...just left. With the girl out of danger, he didn't have much of a reason to stick around, especially since he had somewhere he needed to be...

[ethereal]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,420px,true][atrb=background,http://i51.tinypic.com/91c6mp.png][atrb=cellpadding,10px,true] WHY WERE WE THERE BACKTOBACK WHY WERE WE THERE FACETOFACE I MUST BE THE LIGHT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DARK. I WILL RING A BELL UNTIL YOU FEEL ME BY YOUR SIDE. Ethereal couldn't help but giggle to herself. The female human looked rather funny. Perhaps it was the glare she was giving the male? Ether hadn't ever seen a doctor before, and so she had not the slightest clue what to expect. The woman led her back into one of the other rooms, while Ether pondered over why he had called her his daughter. The woman sat her down on the examination table, and Ethereal suddenly felt very scared. She searched around frantically, but couldn't find the male. She whimpered softly, panicked now and very much afraid. "Don't worry dear, it's okay. Now, did that man hurt you?" She reached down to pat Ether's leg. Ether blinked, staring at the woman for a moment before shaking her head. "Are... you sure dear?" Ethereal nodded. The woman sighed, and exited the room. Ethereal was tempted to run away, but managed to remained seated, her claws digging into the table. They were made of mithril after all. Ether scanned the room. It smelled weird, and made her nose stuffy. She could hear voices from the outside, and nearly jumped when the door opened again. A tall male who appeared to be quite old, entered the room. "Hello dear, how are you doing?" Ethereal just stared. "Oh my... that ankle. Well, lets get that all healed up." He approached Ethereal and gently touched her ankle. A warmth flooded through her leg, and a light blossomed from the male's hands. The nasty, open wound slowly closed, turning a bright pink before the skin reached over and sealed together. As the light faded, so did her pain and the wound was gone though there was a small scar. "Now then, why don't you clean up dear?" He showed her to the back room where she could clean herself of the blood. Upon exiting, Ethereal dove into the warm water. It reminded her of the hot springs back home. Suddenly, she felt a little home sick. She had never seen any of the bottles before, but thanks to the teacher she had come to love, she at least knew how to read. She lifted up the bottle labeled "shampoo", and read it. So it was to clean her hair? Slowly, she removed her mother's fur and squeezed the shampoo into her hand. It took some time, but eventually she had scrubbed the dirt and blood from her hair, and from her mother's fur. Next she cleaned the blood and sand from her body before stepping out and shaking herself dry. Her mother's fur took a bit more work, but it wasn't long before she had completely dried the fur. Both her and the fur looked and smelled much better--like the lavender shampoo actually. But the problem was her clothes. They were tattered and torn. Upon inspection, she found a pair of dark teal shorts like her own sitting on the hamper. A white tank top was also there, like her own but with a v-neck. The female smiled and pulled the clothes on before quickly pulling her mother's fur back on as well. What most didn't know was that the fur was actually attached to her shoulders and the back of her shorts, giving the feel that it was indeed a part of her. After her claws had been cleaned, she pulled them back on and exited the room. In the front, the woman was counting the Gald that had been left. "You can go dear, it's already been paid for. Also, here." The woman handed her a small vial. Upon drinking it, Ethereal felt a moderate restoration to her mana. Ethereal merely stared before exiting the building. She felt much better. Clean, in healthy condition, and now rather irritated that the male had left her and not gotten himself looked at. Sniffing the air, she attempted to catch his scent. It was faint, but still easily found. She began to run, her legs moving faster than that of a normal human's. Faces blurred past, and then she caught up. Zooming past, she stood in front of him and put her arms on her hips. "You! Hurt! Go! Doctor!" tag: Alex/Open; words: LOTS; song: ring a bell; notes: loooooooong....