Hard Rain (of Gunk) [Day 16, EA--open, lookin' for a healer!]

[Ko]

"Ow." Ko muttered a string of semi-nonsensical phrases that was likely cursing in the Shore People's isolated dialect as she searched through the camp for one of the healers. At least, all that stuff about rotting oysters and cracked keels certainly didn't sound positive. She had a hand pressed awkwardly to the side of her neck just below her jaw, and a leather hood pulled up over her head to keep the worst of the greasy precipitation out of her face and hair.

[Jin]

Hearing the cursing outside Jin, jade in hand, poked his head briefly out of his tent where he had sought shelter from the rain while he prepared himself for what was to come.

"Everything ok, Ko?"

[Ko]

"Jin of the Unicorn!" Just the person she'd been hoping to run into, she realized. Someone who might have some salve for her neck... and wouldn't stab her with a jade-smeared knife before asking questions. She made the greeting gesture with her free hand, pressing it against her heart with fingers spread.

"Everything is fine except for this pissing rain. This shouldn't happen now, it isn't even water!" Ko scowled in disgust, then winced as this pulled at the tender skin below her jawline.

"Uh... that is, it's the same thing as the other day. Except usually I don't care, but I don't want this filthy stuff to touch where it gets sore..." She tried to smooth away her scowl, leaving instead an expression that warred between seal-pup eyes and not that I need help or anything...

--
((In practical terms, Ko has taken 5 damage from her Unstable Form spirit drawback. ))

[Jin]

Jin rustles around his tent for a moment before handing her a skin of water, "Rinse it off then get in out of the rain and we'll see what we can do."

He ducks back inside making room for her to enter.

[Ko]

"Oh. Okay." It made sense that Jin would rather work under cover than get out his medicine man things outdoors in this disgusting weather, come to think of it.

Ko knew from experience that once there was no longer water against her skin, her body would simply forget its sea-breathing, and the whole thing would have to start again when she went back out in the rain. But there was little danger that she'd dry off completely while sheltering in Jin's tent. Her hair was damp under her hood, her clothes already partly saturated... really, no one in camp was going to be totally dry until some time after this disgusting weather stopped. Still, as she knelt in front of the open tent flap and splashed the clean (if somewhat stale) water down both sides of her neck, she made no effort to keep it from running over her collarbone and shoulders and soaking into her shirt. A very thin trickle of blood washed away with it.

"Thanks..." Ko looked and sounded a bit sheepish as she ducked inside the tent, hunching a bit and trying to confine her dripping away from anything that looked important. "This doesn't even always happen in the rain, I swear it. This horrible place!"

[Jin]

"I imagine that would get pretty inconvenient."

The tent is simple despite the station he had been granted in life. But it was still large enough to comfortable fit two especially since the sorcerer traveled light under normal circumstances let alone a march like this. There was some clutter - most of it being scraps of paper and rolled up scrolls.

"Let's see if I have anything that might help... I guess we need something that doesn't desiccate the skin but will soothe it...."

He mutters along to himself as he begins to search through his medicine kit, setting aside various herbs. Adding a few drops of oil from a clay vial, and some water from the skin, he begins to crush and mix the herbs with mortar and pestle until they form a thin, wet salve.

"I think that should do it - the oil should help keep the worst from settling in while the herbs should help soothe. Though I'll admit I'm still not well acquainted on anatomy such as yours." Not entirely certain how best to apply the mixture he hands the salve over to Ko.

(8 healed once used)

[Ko]

"I don't know... I'm not that different from anybody," Ko protested, still somewhat sheepish. She accepted the bowl of salve and sniffed at it. It certainly smelled like medicine. She tugged off her hood and pulled gently at the collar of her shirt, then scooped up some of the stuff with her fingers and dabbed it on to the 'scratch' on one side of her neck. It stung a little, then immediately felt cool--some of the slight tension in Ko's face and body immediately eased. "Oh, that feels better!"

She poked the spot tentatively with a fingertip. "I don't think I could breathe in the water with this stuff on," her expression became a bit thoughtful. "But that's good. I don't want to breathe that disgusting rain." She smiled. "Thanks, Jin of the Unicorn."

As she gently spread the stuff over the rest of the length of each 'scratch,' she went on in a somewhat more relaxed tone, "I don't even mind it coming on in heavy rain, most of the time. Typhoon rains, when other people say that walking outside makes them feel breathless--that doesn't ever bother me. The rain here isn't the same, though."

[Jin]

"Yeah I can't imagine taking any of this into your body in any way is good for it."

There's a moment of awkward silence as he parses the range of reactions. Dealing with people outside of their health was not his strong suit but he could tell there had been a misstep.

"I'm... uh, I'm sorry if I offended. I didn't intend for it to sound like that." He unconsciously rubs bits of herbs off of his good hand against his clothes, "I only meant I don't have the experience to know which areas would be most sensitive or most at risk..."