CLOSED ❯ the hauntings and the haunted

[runeing]

Who: celen's boys aka viktor and charles + various
Where: around
What: charles has a bad time with his death anniversary + helps with cleanup, viktor tries not to die
Warnings: talk about death / hate crime / terminal illness

( closed starters in comments! if you would like something with either charles or viktor, please feel free to hit me up on plurk @ celen or through pm or via the game discord! )

Comments

[runeing]

[ honestly, they might as well focus on the engagement, at least that'd be a more fun topic to talk about — but at least claude doesn't try to offer his sympathies aside from some initial words of courtesy. viktor makes a face at being told to go to the clinic; quite frankly, he's tired of medical professionals, tired of being looked at with eyes full of pity and sadness and resignation. ]

I see, [ he says, which isn't an agreement, but it's not a disagreement, either. ethlyn, caitlyn says, and he assumes that must be the doctor... well. he'll keep that in mind.

he glances at caitlyn; but she'd not have brought him here if she didn't trust claude and his healing magic, whatever that is... so he nods. ]

Yes, go ahead. [ dryly: ] You can hardly make things much worse.

Can you tell me how it works? [ the healing magic, that is. call it curiosity; even if it's magic rather than science, he'd still appreciate knowing what exactly it is he's doing. ]

[feintofhart]

Ethlyn's the expert. I'm just the pharmacist.

[ He's a little more than that. Caitlyn wouldn't have brought someone she clearly cared about to him if that weren't the case; his expertise may be in prescribing medications and remedies, but he's been researching first-aid and medicine exhaustively since his arrival here, and he's treated enough people on battlefields in a pinch to at least be trusted with rudimentary care. ]

But as for the magic... [ Claude settles on his haunches, looking thoughtful. ] In my Academy days, I learned that through prayer to the Goddess and strengthening your fealty to her, she endows you with the ability to channel her divinity to heal others. And indeed, it was the most faithful among us who specialized in such magic.

[ His eyes crinkle at the corner as he smiles, the expression wry. ]

I am not one of those people. And am of the opinion it's far more about focus than it is about divinity. [ He would know; it's not as though magic is absent in the rest of the world. ] Magic surrounds us, and with proper training and focus, we can manipulate it to our own uses. Whether that's meditation or prayer or an incantation that allows us to hone in on that is up for debate -- but you didn't come here for a theology debate, did you?

[ Viktor probably shouldn't have gotten him started in the first place. He'll never shut up if you let him run at the mouth long enough. In service of that, Claude presses his palm flat against Viktor's chest and closes his eyes to focus as he begins to murmur a slow incantation, over and over again, a pale blue light emanating from his palm. One's stores of magic is a limited thing, and something Claude typically uses only sparingly in times of crisis, but there's no danger dogging at their heels here, no reason to be miserly with something that may bring this fellow some small degree of relief. He can always have a little nap once they're gone and he'll be right as rain.

Though Claude doesn't have the vocabulary for what his magic truly does, its effects are simple and restorative: it encourages cell regrowth and rejuvenation to speed healing processes that could otherwise take days, weeks, or even months to mend and increasing one's vitality, endurance, and strength through strengthening them from within. Viktor will feel a warmth emanating from Claude's palm, not dissimilar to holding a hot water bottle close to one's chest and may feel even temporarily the ability to draw breath a little easier, to stand for a little longer, much as an injured soldier may feel able to rush across the battlefield moments after breaking their leg.

Finally, his lips still and his hand falls back to his side with a quick exhale of exertion. ] Okay. I'm all tapped out. Did you feel anything?