How did I get here? (Mdu_ntr)

[Anonymous]

Louhi obediently stepped over to the chair, her eyes momentarily glazing over as she emotionally distanced herself from his sharp tone. It was the dreaded question. What were her powers? "Mostly water elemental and lights, though I occasionally discover a new one. I have begun learning to identify and harness my powers" Her leg buckled out from under her, but with only the tiniest adjustment, she shifted the dropped weight fully onto the walking stick, deciding against mentioning her training to defend herself.

She wasn't entirely sure what her powers really classified as. Sometimes she could control weather, othertimes she was making lights explode and there were times she even went invisible if she got scared enough-- and once she had become mist. That had been an interesting experience, though she wasn't sure if it was a power she possessed, or a power offered to her by the trainer at the time.

[Anonymous]

Massah nodded. 'Water mages are useful but this one is crippled. If the healing mages can't do something for it, it will be sold to TRIM,' he said.

'Sir. I am currently without a mage. I was hoping to put in a request for this one,' Thanael said. He had actually only just decided he wanted her, purely because he didn't like TRIM. He understood that the organisation was useful but in some cases, the ends did not justify the means. Also, they were not to be trusted there. Who knew what they were researching.

'Why would you want it? A crippled mage is useless in battle.'
'We use mages for their abilities and I am intrigued by what this one can do,' he said simply.
'Very well, I want a report on your mission within the day,' he ordered before looking back down to his work. 'You and the mage are dimissed.'

[Anonymous]

Louhi inclined her head in something of a bow and managed to shuffle her way backwards a couple paces before turning and making her way back to her new Master's side. She bit her tongue and stiffled any indication of pain walking should have caused her. If she had to not be crippled to be useful, she could pretend not to be crippled as long as they didn't strip her stick from her. She needed the support some days.

She dared to look up at Thanael for further instructions-- which she hoped included someplace not so far away that involved sitting, but did not expect it. She had no reason to expect anyone anywhere to even try to accomodate her finicky limbs or make her more comfortable. She'd always been a slave in one form or another, titled as servant, mage, apprentance, it made no difference. Her roles had been nearly the same, namely: do as you are told and ask no questions.

[Anonymous]

Thanael put a hand firmly on her back to indicate she should hurry but did not look down or speak to her. His every movement was restrained until they were out of the room. 'You can stop acting now. I don't care if you are crippled or not,' he said as he continued to walk. He did slow down however so that she could walk at a more comfortable pace and removed his hand. He hadn't checked under her shirt so for all he knew, there might be more wounds under there.

'You are not to go near that office unless under direct orders. He has little respect for me and will make your life harder now that you are associated. You are to give him no reason to be angry at either you or I, is that clear?' Thanael ordered in a levelled tone. 'You are not mine yet so anything you do will be on your own head. I will still get into some trouble though and I would rather avoid it.'

They were heading to the hospital via the shortest route possible. Thanael did not want any interruptions. He glanced down at Louhi. 'How are you holding? It should not be much longer and you can rest,' he said. He wasn't saying it in a kind way, it was just he didn't like the idea of anything in unnecessary pain.

[Anonymous]

Louhi nodded, glancing back at the door to make sure she remembered the door, the hall and other key identifying markers so she knew where it was she was avoiding. In all honesty, she doubted she would be going anywhere except under direct orders. She never had known what to do with free time since she'd had so little of it so far. Even during the period when she was 'free' in a way, she had not really had free time. Her time was spent finding food and improving her shelter, not playing or relaxing or other such luxurious things.

"I will not go near the door" She promised softly, allowing herself to limp slightly and pick up the pace. She wouldn't make him wait on her if she could help it. She was however surprised when he looked down at her and asked how she was holding. "I'm alright" She said, though with a hint of breathlessness. She would have to be quite near broken to admit she wasn't okay. She was in pain, but that was nothing new, and that was not to be allowed to stop her from doing what she needed to do.

However, getting completely back into the speaking when spoken to habit might take her a few days when she wasn't strenuously thinking about it, plus, learning all the new rules of a foreign place. She hoped Thanael would be a patient master...or at least the punishments for mistakes would not be horribly severe. Suddenly, she was curious if this civilization had managed to eradicate the practice of whipping yet. She had seen it used more than once, but found it a horrible practice-- perhaps because it was a punishment that had been hung over her head more than once and she desperately wanted to avoid the experience.

[Anonymous]

Thanael sighed, he understood that the girl was trying to be obedient but she needn't push herself. 'Slow down,' he ordered. 'I am walking slower for your benefit, there is no need for you to hurry.'

From that point on he walked silently, making his way through the passages until they got to the medical ward. 'Sit here while I find someone to take care of you,' Thanael ordered, gesturing to a chair in the waiting room. He went up to the front desk and tapped on a small, metal bell. A man looked up from a small computer and raised an eyebrow.

'Visiting or admitting?' the man asked in a bored voice. Thanael glared at the man and tapped a finger towards the insignia on his shoulder. Just because he had removed his headband, did not mean he was any less in station. The man saluted but did not get up.

'I'm admitting a mage found during a recon mission. She has burns and is crippled. There should be a bed waiting for her,' he explained tersly. The man checked his computer and nodded.

'Master Sergeant Thanael Harbour? Bed 4, Emergency Ward 3A. Your ship sent information through but we did not know the seriousness of the situation,' the man said. He saluted again as Thanael turned back to Louhi.

'Come on,' was all Thanael said.

[Anonymous]

Louhi flinched, her eyes dropping to the floor as he ordered her to slow down "Yes sir" She said quickly, matching his pace as best she could, though his one stride was two of her's since her leg shortened her already small stride.

She sank into the chair as ordered, her leg immediately quivering now that the weight was off of it. She just made sure her leg was covered by her skirt and let it quiver for the moment. It was overworked and she knew it, but that didn't change the situation, or reduce the distances she needed to walk.

As discretely as she could manage, she watched Thanael at the counter, observing and trying to get a sense of him. He seemed like a proud man, one who demanded respect be shown to him-- not because he'd earned it, but because he expected it and had on a special suit. Apparently the suit meant he was important, because the guy behind the desk sure changed his ways when it was pointed out. Perhaps it wasn't so different than the completely different styles of clothes worn by the different stations in her own time.

She deftly and without hesitation got back onto her feet when summoned, feeling a little like she should be skulking behind him, head bowed, back stooped, bowing to his every whim instead of just following, but follow she did, matching his pace again, finding the balance between hurrying and doddling. She wasn't really sure how to react to indifference, at least not indifference this pure. There was of course a certain amount of indifference from almost every master and mistress, but there was also a certain element of contempt, dislike or favor, depending upon the individual.

[Anonymous]

He noticed that she flinched when she sat, whether out of pain or fear he was unsure. Her leg was shaking so perhaps it was a flinch of pain. 'If you are ever in pain, please tell me. Also, there is no need to bow, scrape or cower on my account,' Thanael said as he made his way to the emergency ward.

When they got to the designated bed, he offered his arm to help her up. He didn't really care if she took the help or not, he just gathered that she was in pain and it would be easier to help her rather than watch her struggle.

OOC: sorry it's so short, I'll make up for it next time or something.

[Anonymous]

She was nearly always in some pain, so it made sense to her to only inform him of additional pain, otherwise he would tire of hearing about it very quickly "Yes, sir" She replied quietly.

She hesitated, being careful to wipe her hands off on her skirt before touching his arm and allowing him to help her up into the bed. "What are they going to do?" She asked in concern. "Can you stay?" Medicine was something she was not overly confident in. Surgens of her time had been fairly unskilled.

[Anonymous]

Thanael felt sure she wasn't telling him everything. It would be so much easier when they were bound together; he could just go in and find the information he needed. 'If we are to be bonded, it will be my duty to take care of you. I can't do that unless you tell me the full truth. Please get used to doing so,' he said in a levelled tone.

Thanael raised an eyebrow and looked at Louhi before answering. It seemed strange to him that she wanted him to stay around. He supposed he had nothing else to so sat pulled a chair closer to her bed. 'You are in a hospital; they are going to do everything they can to heal whatever ails you,' he said while indicating her legs. 'Was there any reason you wanted me to stay?'

It was about time he explained what was going to happen to the girl, she'd been obedient so far so she could at least know what she'd got into. 'Louhi? What do you understand of what is happening?' he asked. He wanted to judge how well she held onto information and how she analysed it. He would be able to get a better understanding of her when they were connected but for now, this way would have to do.

[Anonymous]

Louhi shrugged "I'm nearly always in some pain, I just didn't think you wanted to be constantly reminded of it." The break in the leg had been bad, a spiral fracture on top of it. Honestly, given the time she was from, she was lucky to be alive and able to walk, not to mention the burn. She shrugged "I can if you want me to, I just thought it would become bothersome over time to constantly hear about what does not change." She explained meekly. "I did not mean to be disobedient or withhold information from you." In her experience, people just didn't want to hear about it.

"I wish for you to stay because I am frightened and am not wholly trusting of surgeons. You said you would not let harm come to me, and whether that is entirely true or not, I feel safer with you here. Besides, they are afraid of the marks on your garment."

"I understand I am to be placed into your servitude, trained to use my powers under your command, I do not understand the term bonded, but you said we would be bonded, so it shall be" She seemed strangely accepting of this so far. "I don't think I yet know exactly what my duties will be, but I believe I am proficient at following directions, provided I understand the terms as they are used." She had found over time that language had changed drastically. "Oh, and that you said the hospital would try to heal me." She doubted it would work, but she was willing to let them try. She didn't' see how it would do any harm.

[Anonymous]

Thanael did not bother to address her comment about disobedience, he doubted she was the type to do anything wrong deliberately. After a while with her, he'd probably find that she could have a lot more freedom than many other mages. She seemed trustworthy and hopefully she would live up to his expectations.

'I would rather have you reminding me of your pain than unknowingly causing you more,' he said while scanning the room. Something must have happened while he was away, otherwise a nurse would have come to see them by now.

'We rarely use surgeons now. Most people prefer to be healed by psychics and mages. They can block any pain signals to your brain while they stimulate damaged tissue to regrow,' he explained, though she probably didn't understand what he meant. 'You needn't fear that I will retract what I have said, nor that the healers will harm you.'

'The markings show that I am a Mordecai and my rank within the military. That man at the desk was of lower rank than me so he should have shown me respect, just as I do with my superiors,' he explained. 'The reason he did not at first was because Mordecai wear headbands that connect them to their mage. I do not have a mage at this current time, so I do not care to wear my headband.'

'You are correct. I am glad you are taking in the information and accepting your situation thus far. After they have healed you, you will be taken to have your headband attached. This will enable me to read your thoughts and for you to read mine, if I choose to allow you, this is what we call bonding. I will be able to control your abilities and use them myself. There are other uses for the mind-link but I will discuss them with you later, if the need arises.' There was no need to scare the girl with thoughts of mental abuse. He doubted she would ever need to know it.

[Anonymous]

Louhi had always had a desire to please her masters, which could be considered an asset, or a detriment depending on your point of view. As the master, it was easy to manipulate her because she was already eager to please. As a person interested in Louhi's mental health, it was potentually damaging to her, especially since thus far, she had failed to gain actual approval from any master for more than a moment at a time.

Louhi nodded quietly. She would do her best to remember. "How long do we wait here?" She was beginning to think this was another parlor rather than a sick room.

Louhi had no idea what psychics were, how brain signals worked or what exactly 'damaged tissue' was. "Surgeons were simply the healers of my time I suppose...and the apothecary to an extent." She considered it slowly "I met a doctor once though, he wore a very white overcoat....like a fresh fallen snow. I'd never seen a garment so white." He had still not been able to fix her leg, but she did not hold that against him. He had kindly tried.

She listened carefully as he explained why the man behind the desk had failed to show respect until he had pointed out the markings. "Are they going to shave my head?" She asked, barely keeping the squeak out of her voice. She of course wouldn't fight it, but for a girl (of her time) having ones head shaved was a horribly humiliating act and was generally reserved more for punishment-- or for true slaves and lice riddled orphans and prisoners. None of which she particularly wanted to be grouped with. She'd never seen anything attatched to ones head through the hair. Hair got in the way of such procedures.

"I do have nightmares, I hope these will not disturb you" She glanced at the lights, half expecting them to be flickering and trying to explode now that she was nervous about possibly having her head shaved, but nothing was happening yet.

[Anonymous]

'My guess is that the ward sees patients based on triage. Have you heard of that before?,' Thanael asked. 'I suggest you be patient and wait you turn.' Now that she had mentioned it, however, he was starting to think the same thing. Perhaps it was time to discuss it with a nurse.

'You've got to stop assuming that things are the same as what they were back then. We do not use herbal remedies, labcoats are for laboratories and nobody is going to shave your head,' he explained. He massaged the bridge of his nose lightly; this was going to be a frustrating mage to educate if she kept comparing the two, or perhaps three, ages. He guessed the first few weeks with her were going to be teaching her history and about the society in which she was living now.

'I can block the messages sent between us, or I could discuss it with a doctor to prescribe you something for it. In fact, the psychic could just block the problem all together,' he said, thinking aloud more than to her.

He got out of the seat and straightened his uniform. Without uttering a word to the mage he went to the ward's nurses' station to discuss what was happening.

[Anonymous]

"No, I don't believe I have heard of that before" But she had no problem waiting if waiting was what she was supposed to do, she had merely wondered since she had taken his statement earlier to mean this was where they met the medical personel-- whatever form they might take.

Louhi nodded meekly, but she was still unsure where she was, or when she was. She had not been near a true civalization since she'd managed to get whenever she was currently, so she was still attempting to grasp how things worked and wasn't sure she ever really could considering the vast differences. She did not have the basic foundation to build understanding.

She did not particularly like the idea of of anything medling around in her head and blocking dreams. It wasn't so much that she enjoyed the dreams, but they were familiar and she was able to see her mother clearly, which was growing rapidly more rare as time caused the mental image of her to fade from memory. Besides that, bad things happened when things were poked into the brain.

She watched nervously, but silently as Thanael rose without a word to her. Had she displeased him? She fiddled with her walking stick, eying her surroundings with uncertanty. What she was supposed to do now, she had no idea, so she sat and waited in silence, resisting the urge to rub her leg. Without him nearby, she was afraid to appear defective, and with him nearby, she was afraid he'd ask to see her leg-- which was still a private part of the body in her mind, but she suspected the doctors would want to see it anyway.

[Anonymous]

OOC: do you want to control any NPCs so you can guide the thread a bit more, in either this or the other one? I'm feeling a bit like a control freak sorry.

The nurses window was open and the nurse there smiled at him before saluting. 'Good morning recruit... Thanael Harbour,' she said while glancing down at a computer screen. 'How is your back holding up?'

'My back is fine, nurse. Thank you for your concern,' he said with a slight bow. To those who showed him respect, he had no problem acting in kind. 'However, that is not my reason for being here. I have a mage with burns and crippled legs. Do you have anyone available to treat her?'

'There is nobody treating it yet? I shall have someone sent right away,' she said before turning back to her work. Thanael bowed and she looked up and saluted to him. Hopefully things would run back on track again.

As Thanael entered the room once more he noticed that Louhi was acting anxiously. The mage looked so small there sitting on the bed, practically clinging to her walking stick in his opinion. he ignored it. He had tried to help her somewhat but this was something she would have to get used to by herself. The sooner she got used to her surroundings , the more comfortable she would be and the more useful too.

He sat in the chair once more and relaxed, which for him still meant that he had correct posture and seemed alert. Whether it was his training or his personality that made him that way, it was hard to tell.

[Anonymous]

((I can control NPCs if you want, but I don't think you're a 'control freak' and don't mind you playing them if you're enjoying doing so. Which ones do you want me to pick up if any?))

Louhi looked up as he entered, relaxing slightly, but mirroring his posture. She had learned to look to the master for behavioral cues, but having her legs dangling over the side of the bed wasn't going to last long. "Sir?" She addressed quietly "May I pull my feet up on the bed?" Her feet not touching the floor put extra strain between her knee and her feet and was more likely to cause the leg to start hurting again.

Over time, Louhi was sure she'd get used to things-- provided she actually managed to stay in this time, but for now, she was confused, and for the most part, accepted that was how things would be for awhile. She was curious to see who was going to come through the door and how they would attempt to fix her leg this time. Maybe it'd even work. They had vehicals that didn't touch the ground. Knowledge seemed to have come a long way -- except for the witches part. Even however long later, people switched back to fearing those who were potentually stronger than them. The witch hunt just simply gained a new name and method.

[Anonymous]

OOC: Anyone you feel like (staff, other soldiers, other mages) but we'll need a doctor or nurse soon if you want.

Thanael looked at Louhi and guessed that her legs must be uncomfortable. 'If you must, but take your shoes off before you do. You may leave your leggings on,' he said. There was no use getting the bed dirty; someone else would need the bed afterwards. 'If you wish you may lay down instead, it may take the extra stress of those legs.'

Seeing as though they had time, he might as well start teaching her about where she now resided. 'Is there anything you do not yet understand or that you wish to know about?' he asked. He might as well start with anything she found confusing. It would be hard to teach her if she was already confused.

[Anonymous]

Louhi obediently removed her shoes and shifted further up onto the bed. She wasn't ready to lay down. It felt too vulnerable, but she shifted so she was sitting at the head of the bed, her good leg straight forward and her bad leg bent slightly at an angle, as if it wouldn't fully straighten for her. She arranged her skirts to ensure that her feet were covered, even though the stockings were still in place.

She considered it a moment. She wanted to know why witches/mages were still hunted, but she was afraid to ask that. People were touchy on the subject. "Nothing pertinent comes immediately to mind." She admitted. "I don't understand the advances you have made with your transportation, or how it moves without touching the ground, but I suspect I don't particularly need to understand those things." She considered it a moment longer. He was giving her an opportunity to ask a question and she didn't want to waste it. "I would like to know, if you don't mind, where I might be sleeping." She'd slept on mats in corners of the mistress's room, as short lived as that might have been. For most of her life, she'd slept in the servant's quarters with her mother until she'd been driven from her home. She'd had her own room once, but she suspected that was mostly because that master had not had servant's quarters, just a spare room that was as opulently furnished as the rest of the house, and from there, life had gotten complicated. She had angered him and ended up nearly 400 years into the future, been hit by a car, rescued by her friend, slept in a 'normal' bed of her own and been relatively happy there, which was probably what provoked her previous master to fling her through time again where she took to sleeping in a cave.

There was no standard for sleeping spaces in her life. Sleeping under a table seemed like a reasonable place to sleep, perfectly within normal limits.

Without really thinking about it, her hand went to her temple. It was several moments later she remembered she had orders. "Sir, my head hurts" She stated without apparent concern. Considering she'd been apparently unconscious in the dessert, trying to outrun a sandstorm, possibly having teleported herself there to begin with and been generally under stress for the last several hours, her head hurting didn't seem like anything horribly unusual to her. It seemed actually quite normal, not to mention she'd been injected with some unknown substance.

[Anonymous]

The girl seemed comfortable enough. It was unfortunate that she felt so insecure about her leg though, her insecurity would more likely be a hinderance than her leg actually being broken. It would also be the hardest issue to solve. When they were bonded he would have to do a deep search through her mind to see if he could find the root of her insecurity and find a way to rectify the problem. He didn't want her insecurities getting in the way of their work.

'I'll explain the second query first because it will be the easiest. You will be sleeping in my quarters, however I do not mind where. There is a sofa bed, which you will have to vacate if I have company. I can get a stretcher sent down or you can sleep on the floor.

'As to our transportation systems, if hot air is pushed in one direction hard enough, the object will move in the opposite direction. By controlling the amount of air and the heat produced, you can control the velocity. That is the most simple explanation for the simplest type of craft. I doubt you are ready to understand much more,' Thanael said.

He was about to respond to her headache issue when a doctor came in. Thanael stood out of respect but waved his hand to indicate that Louhi should remain seated.

OOC: feel free to take the doctor.