Long Way from Home

[Pearl Dragon]

With her nose nearly touching the book's pages, Kira was oblivious to the other two as they worked. She continued to oggle at the pages, nearly hypnotized by the visionary illusion of the pictures. On it, there was a farmer with his family, and some animals. The words were large, bubbled text that meant absolutely nothing to Kira, but she was plenty distracted by the images. Her brain was comprehending them as "objects" in space, but each time she reached out to touch them, she continued to feel that same flat surface. It was a complete mystery of how it worked.

With the tip of a claw, she suddenly hooked the top portion of the page and felt it lift, which revealed yet another page beneath it. This page, however, was different from the first. On it, the text read "Cats are soft! Feel the soft cat!" Once again, the words did not register to Kira, but her eyes were immediately drawn to the center of the page. A large, grey cat was depicted sitting on a fence, and at the center of its body was an actual patch of 'fake fur' with which a child might be able to interact with the story. Kira reached out, a little bashfully at first, and then opened her mouth in gaping wonder as she felt the soft, fur-like texture of the image. It was like magic! Before, the image had been flat, but this one....she could touch it!

Eagerly, she hooked her claw at the top of the page and turned it once more. This time, it was a pig standing by a trough, all of which made no sense to Kira. But sure enough, another textured patch presented itself in the center of the animal. A rough, leathery substance that Kira ran her finger across. This one was smoother, without fur like the first one, but still so full of texture! One after the next, Kira flipped through the pages, feeling each textured portion and finding everything from slick, velvet, fluffy feathers, and even a rough patch of sandpaper. She was intrigued! There were so many, and soon she was even reaching forward to touch the pages with the sensitive pads of her feet where the texture registered even stronger.

[kilnarak]

Ash nodded at Doktar Jeddy, wincing slightly when the man began to clean the wound and work at it with a hooked needle and thread. It hurt a little, like being stung by bugs, but not enough to be worried about. Back home a shaman would have dealt with the wound, perhaps in a similar way aided by magic. He had never suffered any wounds this bad before, but he had watched now and then when hunters were brought back to the Eyrie, wounded from the hunt.

When Jedidiah had finished, he rolled the leg of his pants back down over the wound. He would need to wash them, to get the blood out, but he could deal with that a bit later. His brows furrowed slightly as he watched the big man, letting him prod at the other scrapes. When he was finished with that as well, he voiced his thoughts - at least, voiced them as best he could in this foreign tongue.

"I watch. Help you?" He gestured toward the cleaning potions and metal implements, the needle and thread. "Use help?" He glanced toward Kira for a brief moment, considering if she could help as well. But... he didn't want to frighten her further. He looked back toward Jedidiah, waiting for an answer.

[okami1reeka333]

Jedidiah:

"aaah. . " he paused for a bit after he finished cleaning his other wounds. . he pondered for a bit. . . granted he was a doctor, but he didn go over instruments a doctor would use, what they were called. . . well, the ones he was seen using, he did. . . but not all of them. . . well, hopefully theres something he can teach ash with this. . . and hopefully he can learn something. . . though he was going to need someone to stitch him up on his back and neck. . .and if Ash attempts and fails. . . he could poke the spinal cord and cause pediment damage. . . he sighed. . " umm . . .sure. . " he replied.

he grimaced as he went to go get the tools that would be needed to stitch his back up and neck up. . .to clean the wounds first. . . pulling out saline shots. . well, one in almost turkey baster lookin syringes. those were good for flushing the IV and getting a good start in injecting saline into the bloodstream. . . " well. " he started, as he unstrapped his bags of medical supplies and unzipped his his shirt and removed it. . . " we will need to wash it first. " he stated.

[Pearl Dragon]

At the sound of Jedidiah moving to collect more tools, Kira jumped suddenly where she sat, startled back to where she was by the movement. The book she was looking at jumped as well, and was caught in a frantic fumble of wings and feet until finally it was rapidly put back on the stack she found it on in a messy half-toss. She looked all around, ears flicking back and forth as she tried to assess whether or not they'd seen her perusing the strange object, and when they continued about their business, she breathed a small sigh of relief.

I told you it was a bad idea.... A nervous thought spoke in the back of her mind. She tried to steady herself where she sat, the jack-hammering thud in her chest not quite settling just yet. Already the sudden movement had brought a fresh wave of aches in her pinched shoulder, and she anxiously wrung her hands together. She wanted to see more of the objects, but with the others up and moving about, she knew she'd probably not get the chance. That, and their business suddenly had her feeling as if she too needed to spring into some kind of action. Collect....things, she wasn't sure yet. What did they need from her? Surely they brought her here for some work or another. She could collect wood, but there were no great fires to feed, only strange walls and surfaces, and alien objects that brought out a dangerous fascination within her.

For a little while, she watched the giant begin to gather more of the strange objects, and then addressing the bleeding wounds on his neck. From what she could gather, he was tending to his wounds. After rocking in fidgety indecision, Kira finally rose from where she sat and began walking about around the kitchen in a quiet search. Her eyes fell upon some pots and pans, which she wondered if perhaps these might be something she should assist with, maybe these too had some purpose for healing? Exactly how, she was clueless, but it was worth a try. Grabbing some of the pots from the bottom, she pulled, and watched in wide-eyed horror as the others slide sideways and toppled in a noise concussion of sound down onto the ground. She hopped and jumped away from the mess, sprinted to Jedidiah in a hurry and thrust the pot at him. Her ears shot back flat to her head and she looked over at Ash as if for help. The moment the giant moved his hand to take the pot, whether he did or not, Kira would dart back to the other pots and pans and begin scooping them up off the floor to replace them to where they had been. A few choice pans she kept, which she also rushed over to Jedidiah.

Keeping low, she huddled at Jedidiah's feet, holding the pans up to him in offering. She could only hope that perhaps this might 'help' in some way.

[kilnarak]

Ash followed Jedidiah's instructions as best he was able, focusing on the task at hand. He put on an odd pair of gloves at Doktar Jeddy's instruction - they felt odd over his hands, but Jeddy had put on a larger pair as well to clean and tend his own wounds, so they must be necessary. He took one of the fluid-filled tools and lifted it as directed to the first of the wounds, squeezing to squirt the stuff into the wound and letting it run down through it, removing any gunk, then took a damp pad of white cloth and blotted blood and moisture from the wound, gradually drying it.

Each cut was treated to this process, before finally they were all clean and he could begin stitching them closed with the curved needle. This process was a little more stressful, and he found that forcing the needle into Jedidiah's skin was more difficult than he thought it would be. He was afraid he would put too much pressure, but the man's skin was fairly thick, and it took him a few tries to get used to pushing the needle in deep enough and hooking it through to the other side.

There wasn't any real threat of him poking hard enough or deep enough to puncture the giant's spine, though when something crashed in the kitchen his hand slipped and he poked somewhere that began bleeding. He hissed, casting a startled glance to the brownish blur that had streaked over from the cacophony, then grabbing another pad of cloth and pressing it down over the bleeding. He managed to offer Keera a strained smile as she held a pot up to Jeddy, though he wasn't really sure it was for. Maybe to collect the blood? Or maybe for the used up dirty cloth pads? That seemed more likely, so with one hand he gathered up the ones he had used for cleaning and awkwardly dropped them into the pot. Once the bleeding stopped, he dropped that pad into the pot as well.

[okami1reeka333]

Jedidiah:

"just . . make sure to stitch layer to layer together. . . after its been cleaned. " he pointed out gently. . . the cleaning although there was some pain, there wasnt much to be too overly bent out of shape over. . .the dirt and pieces of feathers were washed out very well. . . when it came to stitching the flesh . . .it didn help his body was in fight or flight mode, seeing hao his muscles were slightly tensed . . . it was evident from some of Ashes attempts to penetrate the skin. . .though, it did help him in his favor that there wasnt much of a layer of fat on his back. . . there was some on his belly and sides. . . and on his face ". . . . .[it will be ok. . .just breathe.]" he tried to reassure in Ash's native tongue. . . although it took some thought since most of each of the words were he was still trying. . .

the unsteady pricks he was not taking well. . . his hand felt unsteady and the pricks were either forced or there was not enough force being applied. . . one of the pricks got a shallow nerve. " Aah Fu-" he started before just putting the back of his hand to his mouth as if he was just going to rest his head on it. . .temporarily clamping his jaw shut for a bit before the wave of stark pain subsided. " . . . its ok, just keep going. " he stated he really tried his best to not react during the entire time. . . . but from hao little to non resistant the scars were on his body, it was obvious he did not sustain these kinds of injuries often, if at all. . . he was use to just mending them, not receiving them. so of course it was rather sensitive to pricking and

during the entire time, the pain was the less of his worries. . . .although his instructions were very clear and precise, such did not stop him from having a panic attack. . . at one point it was so bad it looked as though he was completely fine. perhaps it was from trusting an untrained hand at the back and nape of his neck with a needle, perhaps it was from the unsteadiness of Ash's hand. perhaps it was the sudden clattering of cookware that was causing him to have an fit. . .he isnt sure. . . though it wasnt until they finished that he was finally able to calm himself and force himself back to normalcy. . .

he glanced down towards Kira, before smiling, and patting her not hurt shoulder. " alright. . . nao that is over. . whos hungry? " he asked. . . stew was out of the question seeing he is going to need to clean the pots prior. . .

[Pearl Dragon]

The pans were relinquished from Kira as she brought them, and she huddled nearby to watch Ash and the giant in their work. The giant was hurt, and Kira wondered how mad he might be when it was all over. From what she could tell, Ash seemed to be inflicting further injury to the master with some kind of needle, but Kira simply wrung her hands in anxious patience, since the larger man seemed to be sitting compliantly and allowing Ash to do...whatever it was he was doing. Maybe it was similar to what the large man had done to her shoulder? She glanced to the sewn wound on her own skin and touched it gingerly with a claw, feeling the itching sting and then went back to watching the others.

Finally, Ash finished what he was doing, and they seemed to be wrapping up their strange tools and instruments. Kira tilted her head in Ash's direction, and then flinched downward as the giant lowered a hand to her other shoulder. She swallowed the small peep of surprise, and then stared with widened eyes as the giant stood and looked at them, asking something in his strange language.

Kira looked once more to Ash, then hurried to his side to stand at attention, awaiting further instruction. Her stomach fluttered uneasily, eyes darting this way and that as if searching for something she'd lost.

[kilnarak]

When he had finished, Ash gently patted Jedidiah's arm and stepped back, putting the needle down. "Hope heal," he replied in the other man's tongue, smiling a touch uncertainly. The giant had flinched rather a lot while he'd been working, and he wondered if he should apologize for causing so much discomfort. He hadn't meant to, and he wasn't sure there was any way not to cause discomfort - at least not without magic at his disposal.

He saw Kira looking to him and he smiled to her. When she hurried to his side he stooped and (provided she let him) he would pick her up. "Re wux nugriup? Coi tepohaic coanwor vi drong thurkear... [Are you hungry? It has been a long night...]" He asked softly. She was so thin, just skin and bones... He glanced up at Jedidiah, wondering if he might help with the food preparation as well - he could hunt to replenish their stores tomorrow...

"Food... welcome. Pihg?" He tried to answer in English again. He was still a bit uncertain about cooked meat, although the crispy stripes of pihg meat had been pleasant...

[okami1reeka333]

Jedidiah:

he glanced over at Ash before nodding. " Pig sounds good. after a night like this, i bet both of you are starving after the excitment. " he replied. . .looking at Keera, the poor thing seemed scared? perhaps she was shaken up from the events still. . . poor thing. . " right so pig, oooooh wrapped in bacon again, and perhaps ribs too, with some salad and fruit? " he asked. " well, time for me to get started on that. " he stated, he then walked over, grabbed a book, and proped it open - a cook book, before going around and grabbing various ingredients and pots and pans that were still clean. . .

he then paused for a moment. . before turning towards Ash and keera. their clothes were dirty. . . it was an infection risk. . . .good think he has plenty of clothing and they recently grabbed Ash some sets of clothes as well. .

" Ash? can you grab a shirt " he started to ask, before grabbing the tattered clothing item to show what he meant. " from my room? for Keera. she will need something clean to wear. . .you should change clothes too. " he added in suggestion as he set the clothing item back down and went to grab more ingredients.

[Pearl Dragon]

Kira clung to Ash's shoulder, wrapping her feet around his waist as he picked her from the ground. Her grip was unsteady and uncertain, but strong, and even if he had let go of her, she had latched onto him in a way that was almost simian, allowing her to support herself even without his help. Her shoulder ached and stung, but her attention remained on the two, mostly watching the giant as he went about gathering more objects and talking in the strange language.

Ash also spoke to Kira as well, directly, and Kira's ears swiveled and twitched with every word and syllable. One word was repeated a few times, and Kira pointed at herself and at the ceiling, towards the door. "Pig. Pig pig." She chirruped, wanting badly to understand the meaning, and hoping she was at least showing she was competent enough to try and be productive in figuring out what new tasks might be given. She uttered a few other chirps and blurbles to Ash, suggesting they take wing and gather the required materials for the fires or whatever it was that this giant required them to do, but was still not sure if Ash would even understand her. Her words had a desperate, questioning edge to them, ushering and nervous. Standing around was never good, unless they were in rest times, and Kira did not feel as if it were rest time yet. She'd only just been taken in, she was sure they would be expected to get to work very soon, or face consequences for being lazy.

[kilnarak]

Ash smiled and stroked Kira's back when she readily let him pick her up. When she began repeating the word pihg, pointing at different things, it was fairly clear what she wanted to know and it made him smile. He ruffled her ears and then took his hand back to mime eating something. "Eat pihg. Sone. Eat."

He glanced up from her to Jedidiah at the man's request, nodding. His clothing was in a rather unbecoming state, bloodied and dirtied from the birds. Kira's was no better. He shifted his grip on her and smiled. "Yth geou gethrisj thirku hesi ofilnari. Wear new shirt. Shirt." He plucked at her garment in emphasis, then moved to carry her upstairs.

He took them into Jedidiah's room first, and set her down on the big man's bed before moving to the man's dresser and searched around a bit to find something suitable. All of Jedi's garments would be far too large for little Kira, but eventually he selected a green sleeveless garment that didn't look like it would be too baggy. He returned to Kira and offered it to her. Would she need help changing? "New shirt. Wear?"

After a moment of thought, he returned to Jedidiah's dresser and selected another garment - gray, longsleeved, long enough that it would likely fall to his knees. "Wear new shirt," he repeated, then pulled off his own tunic and put on the new shirt by way of example. He gestured to Kira and the shirt he had given her. "Keera wear?"

[okami1reeka333]

Jedidiah:

oof, he didn realize hao hungry the burbat was. . . as much as she was saying 'pig' . . .that or she was confused as to what it was. . . he seasoned and prepared the meats while he listened to the two head up stairs. . . it was nice to see Ash was all the happy to use what he understood in English as well as with his own tongue try and explain what things are. . . means hes getting abit more comfortable in his own skin here. . . getting confident with what he was learning so far. . .

hopefully he can teach the lad enough to where he can do well on his own as well as learn from him enough of his native tongue to be able to hold deep conversations. just like in the first night, he weaved the bacon strips together to be able to wrap the ribs and other pieces of pork with them, layering some spices between the pieces of pig and bacon. . . he also prepared mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, and in some of the areas, layered those with the pork and bacon as well in a separate pan. . . with the oven already preheated, he stuck the pans in and closed the door, before starting the timer and setting to getting some vegetables prepared. . . it might also be a good idea to get some fruits cut up for them as well. . .

then it hit him. . . . what if the neck was too big for the poor thing? . . the neck of the shirt. . . .well, he could always just go and stitch buttons and ribbon for the bat so she can close it up more. . . though the sleeves or sleeve holes of one of his shirts should be wide enough for those wings of her's to fit just fine. . .

oh! perhaps they would like some cake too!

[Pearl Dragon]

As Ash plucked at the tattered rags that hung from her body, repeating a word 'shirt', they began to head towards a different part of the house and Kira glanced nervously from the giant to Ash and back again. Soon, they had gone up a flight of stairs and into a room that had bedding, some large wooden objects, and a few other doors that led nowhere. And the room was filled with the scent of the giant...

Kira hesitated, clutching Ash's shoulder as they went, and felt a twist of panic rise inside of her. What were they doing, they were going into his space. Ash was going through his things. Even after Ash had set Kira down to rummage through the objects and rooms, Kira looked all around and continuously looked back towards the door. He was stealing! He was-

Suddenly she couldn't take it anymore and as Ash pulled a few articles of clothing from one of the drawers, Kira nearly ran into him in her urgency. She tugged at his shirt, mouth working and words chirping in broken sentences as she tried to warn him that what they were doing was wrong. They couldn't be up here-

"Wear new shirt. Keera wear?" He said, and the word that had been repeated multiple times downstairs stuck with her. Shirt. The giant had also said 'shirt', and now Ash was holding out a piece of cloth that looked like a cleaner version of what she currently had on. She paused, mid tug, and watched as Ash pulled his tunic off to replace it with a new cloth of his own. The clothing that was held out to her was taken by shaking, uncertain hands and Kira held it for a moment, looking up at Ash with flat, questioning ears.

Was this a shirt? It had to be, and whatever a shirt was, must be what she was expected to wear.

Kira closed her gaping mouth and swallowed, before turning her back with one last nervous glance at Ash. She had to put it on, of course, and so she reached into her rags to pull out the small stash of pellets she'd kept and set them on the bed. The pile was small, and growing smaller by the day. When she'd run out, she knew she would need to rely completely on Zavijah for more food, that is if she ever saw Zavijah again.

Grabbing the back of the rags she wore, Kira pulled her old, dirty clothing off of herself to replace it with the new 'shirt'. For a moment, one might notice that the fur on her back was patchy, grown over in areas where old scars and burns had been set into her flesh. Old punishments. Old lessons. The new 'shirt' fell over her like a sheet, inside-out and draping itself across the winged portion of her arms, falling slightly from her shoulders. Even with its smaller size, she seemed almost to swim in it, but she turned and gave Ash a forced smile. With a backward swipe of one hand, she scooped her remaining pellets back and quickly slipped them into pocket that was inside of the 'shirt'.

"Shirt. Pig." She said, wondering if now that one task was done, would they attend to the next. Whatever this 'pig' task was. A strange smell wafted up from the first floor, catching her senses and turning her head towards the door. It almost reminded her of Zavijah, when she would hold eating things over an open fire to share with Kira. They were always strange and alien to her, but now she found the smell to be oddly comforting and familiar.

[kilnarak]

Ash tilted his head to the side as Kira pulled a pouch of some sort out from under her garment, blinking. It looked like the sort that a gatherer might wear to store herbs, but why had she worn it under her clothing? Wouldn't she want for it to be easy to reach? Still, despite his confusion, he smiled at her as she put on the shirt - inside out so that the breast-pocket was turned toward her body. He reached out to tousle her ears.

"Shirt," he agreed, plucking the garment, then carefully picking up the tattered, dirty thing she had been wearing. It looked more fit for a rag than for clothing, but... perhaps they might wash it? And mend it? He wasn't sure if there was much to be done to mend it, but perhaps Jedi would know better. He folded the garment, then draped it over his arm and reached to pick Kira up again. "Now pihg. Eat."

He carried her back down stairs and into the kitchen, where Jedi was doing things involving food. He could smell the fire burning inside the oven, the aroma of cooking meat. When they arrived, the giant had a plate of chopped fruits set to one side, and a bowl with... some sort of viscous sweet-smelling stuff inside it that he was stirring with a big spoon. Ash ruffled Kira's hair again, then set her on her feet.

"Ash and Keera help?" He didn't know much about cooking but... it looked like Jedi was in the process of cooking up a lot of things, so he could probably use a hand?

[okami1reeka333]

Jedidiah:

he couldn help but hear bits and parts of the conversation unfolding upstairs. . . well, parts of the conversation. . . one of them had broken english while the other seemed to just repeat two words. although it seemed all was well, the smaller one, Kira seemed rather nervous still? haoever whenever the two finally came down stairs, it was clear as day that she was scared, and he was trying to help- well, he never had a doubt there for ash- but poor thing. . . nao wearing his shirt, the poor thing looked like she was wearing a boat sail on her for a shirt it was so big on her. . . .

he felt bad for the poor thing, she looked terrified and was in a bedsheet of a shirt. . . though it did seem she was beginning to calm down. . "Ash and Keera help?" ashed asked. he smiled gently. "if you want to, you dont have to. . " he replied, before he paused abit. . . " . . . if you want, one of you can stir the pot? " he offered. hes going to need to figure out another job . . . something easy. . . " perhaps Ash, you can stir, and Kira, you can warn me when the oven beeps? " he suggested.

Seeing hao Kira was just about at the same point as Ash was when they first met, he gestured with his hands alot as he spoke. gently as to not look angry or anything of that sort. . . hes already tall. . .no need to traumatize the poor thing with a flailing giant. he then patted the oven where it was cool. "oven. . will go 'beep beep beep'. warn me when it happens, ok?" he asked. . . he doesnt expect her to do this, little alone understand. . . but, he knows shes not going to know where any of the dishes or silverware is going to be, and he really did not want her to burn herself. . .