Dormont.

In the player-ruled region called Astorea, the facilities of the capital Astorea were still being built... or rebuilt, depending on how one viewed the situation. Of these, one of the more important infrastructures was medical services. Since the healers were either alchemists or those devoted to faith, gathering all the peoples under one roof seemed to be one of the more eccentric ideas proposed by Astorea... or so it seemed. It was more likely that the few who did think of doing so simply did not gather a large number of them together in the manner used by "hospitals".

Right now, an azure-haired female Yladian was currently awaiting treatment... or rather, waiting to be assigned someone to treat her. Her current state was one that clearly demanded treatment: her clothes on her back had been split open and the skin had been singed. The only thing stopping her clothes from falling frontward was a single strip of gauze going around just underneath her chest, tied together. When asked how it happened, the only reply she was willing to give was "I was struck by magical flame." When asked to elaborate, she only said "An unfortunate encounter." From her silent downcast expression, it was clear that the person having the unfortunate encounter was the woman in front of them asking for treatment.

Either way, she seemed respectful and patient enough, so she was accepted for medical treatment without waiting for too long. Waiting for the physician, however, seemed to be a different thing altogether. Fiddling with her palm menu, the Yladian player watched her energy bar slowly recover as she sat in waiting, using it like a timer despite there being a clock for her to refer to.

Hopefully someone would tend to her soon.

@Beatrice

 

It was that time again for her to work as a functioning member of society, Terrasphere that is and boy was she nearly running late. She would repeatedly look back and forth between the time and outside the carriage window, to be specific she was worried not of her conduct but every second that she’s late, a patient’s hitpoints might drop significantly. It was volunteer work for her as well as the ideal job she’s chosen to become part of Astorea’s auxillary and medical teams. Of course she was prepared for this, she was taught by kind NPCs beforehand how to treat patients. While of course she doesn’t possess healing magic, she would be provided ointments that can lessen the pain and heal wounds significantly. It didn’t take her long as she was only a few minutes late because the carriage driver was feeding the horses.

“Aha! Thank you sir!” she cheered without ever bothering to turn back. With her bag in hand, she sprinted right into the medical center. Form what she’s seen, there was quite a line of patients waiting to be treated, some were missing limbs, others looked as if they were poisoned, scorched marks and claw marks made by fauna. She headed up towards the information center and inquired which tent she was assigned to. The nice guard pulled out a list and directed her to her own unit.

“Thank you for your hardwork!” She said to the guard as she scurried along to immediately find her superior.

“I apologize for being late!” She was like an obedient and well-mannered 14 year old, so innocent looking and yet looking forward to a hard day’s work.

“Its fine, what matter is that you’re here now, almost more than half the medical team is here, your next patient is number 32, she’s sitting right there. Direct her to her bed, you know the procedure right? Don’t be afraid to call on the pharmacist” said the doctor as he left for another patient.

Acknowledging her orders she grabbed the prescribed papers relating to her patient and started scanning them. According to what it says in the manifest, she was hit by a magic flame. If that was the case it might have a debuff effect on them so she called out to the pharmacist to prepare the following drugs.

2 Healing Salves
1 Energy Elixir
1 Dose of Curan (Buff remover tier 3.)

The Pharmacist was quick to give her the prescribed drugs as she makes her way towards her patient, named Sylpha, an azure-haried female Yladian that demanded immediately treatment.

“Hello there! Ms. Astarte is it? I’m Nurse Beatrice or you can call me Lady B. Can you walk? I need you to come in here and we’ll start running diagnostics and proceed with the treatment.” She clasped her hands before accompanying her into her designated bed. She would then proceed to pull thick curtains all the way to the divider.

“Alright before I apply treatment, I must know the full nature of the wound, Do you feel anything apart from the obvious burning sensation behind your back?” When it was filled out that this was damage done by a magic flame, she wanted to know if there’s any other debuffs on her. She pulled out a magical device in which she held like a hand mirror, it appeared to be a combination of a stethoscope and a hand mirror altogether.

“I will need you to lay down on the bed on your stomach please, kindly remove your top too” she requested as it was meant to allow her to place the chest piece behind her back, she’d feel a cold sensation right where the chest piece is. The function of the device is to display the amount of health points she has and has missing as well as her energy gauge, in addition to that it can also detect harmful or beneficial buffs on the patient. Color of the buff indicator measures how good or how bad the buff is, whereas red would have been something close to death affliction, a curse that cannot be cured by alchemic means.

But if @Sylpha Astarte hasn't been afflicted by a high tier curse, then they’d have no problems.

“Now I need you to tell me what happened, this is quite.. a big wound, it’s a miracle you had enough stamina to get here” she remarked as the magical device would reveal her results.

(OOC: Do indicate HP, EN and buffs on her)

 

After a long enough wait, a person finally approached and called her name. Nurse Beatrice, she called herself. Purple hair, matching eyes and a rather energetic demeanour. Was it just her mood? Sylpha didn't know and just let the nurse do her job, following Beatrice to the bed.

The first question was, naturally, the nature of the wound and it's lasting effects. "No, I do not. I did feel my energy drain at the time I was struck, though." For once she actually went further than talking about just some magical flame.

The nurse took out some sort of device the Yladian player had never seen. It didn't look like it fit anything a medieval fantasy setting was supposed to use, but Sylpha couldn't really complain. She had little to no medical knowledge and thus there was no point in arguing with someone who did this for a... virtual living.

When requested to lie down and expose her back, Sylpha felt quite confused because her back was mostly exposed due to that portion of her clothes having been burned off. Instead of trying to question the nurse's methods, she just said nothing and untied the gauze. Gravity did the rest of the work and the patient caught the remnants of her top fell forward, which she caught. She wasn't wearing anything underneath which made things easier. Lying down she trembled when the unknown device was placed on her back.

The following was seen:

Sylpha Astarte

31 HP

MAX HP

27 EN

MAX EN

Physical Condition *#@!-Degree Burn, Bruising
Mental Condition Exhausted
Buffs None

When asked how the wound happened, Sylpha said thus: "I met a creature in an unfortunate encounter and was struck from behind three times." As for what exactly she met, she kept silent about. She had her reasons why, of course, but she wouldn't explain them either. She just waited for Beatrice to do her work. Of course, Sylpha wasn't aware that her condition looked so odd on the device.

 

As the instrument would display her current condition, she then proceeded to prepare sterilizing the entire burn wound before applying the healing salves.

“This may sting a bit but I want you to endure it for a while” regardless, all wounds regardless of severity must be sterilized first before treatment. She could assume that the magic flame she spoke off was a work of an evocation expert, someone who’s actually capable of more than just physical interference, rather the complete consumption of vitality altogether. Fortunately her case wasn't so severe, but alas it was a miracle that she was able to escape from her attacker.

Dampening a clean piece of cloth with medical alcohol she the proceeded to dab it on her burn wound, afterwards she then drew the healing salve and proceeded to apply treatment. From the burning sensation Sylpha has been feeling, the cooling relief of the medication was what she needed. Her wounds would start to glow green as the balm would take effect and repair her wounds slowly, a normal reaction for anyone who had used regenerative potions or salves before. While the wound had closed almost completely, this doesn’t mean that she had completely fully recover from her hitpoints.

She took a handful of the balm and rubbed her hands together, and proceeded to massage her back. It was known that stress and fatigue were a solid factor that can interfere with energy regeneration.

“So which city are you from?” she asked Sylpha as she worked her way from her lower back to her upper back. She had quite a lot of experience with massaging people before full dive, her mother would usually teach her to massage her father whenever he had built to too much stress and fatigue from work. If they moan or groan, then sure enough it means that you’re doing something right, having knowledge for pressure points is a major bonus.

“I like your name by the way, Its derived from the name of the humming birds my family used to show me.”

 

The azure-haired Yladian nodded and then shifted her hair out of the way to let Beatrice do her work. She was lying faced down, so a nod would be hard to see, but it certainly wasn't a "no".

Sylpha couldn't stop her body from trembling though. Even if she had pain suppressed instead of realistic, it was a mix of something painful, ticklish and itchy all at once. Mostly painful. This translated to her fighting to suppress twitching and trembling as the cool cloth ran across her back. The Yladian patient couldn't see the magical salves taking effect since she was face down, but when the pain started subsiding she knew that whatever her nurse was doing, it was working.

What the Azure-haired Yladian player didn't expect, however, was getting a massage. "Whoa!" a reaction slipped from her lips. While her wound was closed, it didn't seem like her burned skin was completely healed. In the end, she just ended up fighting to suppress her reactions again.

Then, as if fighting against that, the nurse-turned masseuse started asking questions to get her to open up. Maybe in another social context, she might open up more easily. However, when she was met with as much pain as relaxing sensations, it was difficult. Actually, to be exact, it was more relaxing than pain because Sylpha still came up with an answer.

"Have a guess." In fact, Sylpha wasn't sure what kind of question she was being asked exactly. Was Beatrice referring to the game world's cities or the cities in the real world? Sylpha was quite sure she read in a guide that it was never a good idea to reveal any information about one's location or real name in a Virtual Reality game. Thus, she asked Beatrice to guess so she could tell which was being referred to.

Complimenting her name, though, earned a better response. "Thank you - ah - though I chose the name randomly." Even her surname which was a reference to a deity was randomly chosen.

 

“Hmmm… I guess you’re from Stokbon? Or wait maybe from Dunnstands?” Ignoring the fact that she was a player, she pretended to be a NPC who knew nothing of reality. While she couldn’t hide the fact that she is, her circumstances forced her to cope and caused her to treat this world as the real one. It wasn’t much of a healthy choice but doing the things she does in Terrasphere was enough to take her mind off the fact that she actually “died.”

“You choose your own name?” Of course she knew she meant that it was randomized for her but to say that to for an exactly like a NPC or someone pretending to be one would definitely confused them. People just don’t choose their names, they were given to them from the moment of birth or in the early stages of youth, it would be a sad story to have no name or have chosen one themselves, regardless of reason.

“I’m from Stokbon by the way, you may not know me all too much but my family recently just moved there in order to find work, plus it’s a nice place to settle down too!” Salves were known to have some oil in them as well making it a good item used to massage the wounded and relieve some stress and stiffness off their shoulders, or at least some particular brands.

“I never had experienced combat before but I’ve been meaning to ask, what it like is to… fight out there?” she asked. Beatrice never did experience any real battles before as she acted like a civilian than a regular adventurer, she was always protected by city guards, escorts and mercenaries. While the sight of battle maybe scary it was also exciting, plus the fact that she didn't have confidence in herself to become a competent fighter like the rest of them. So she let others fight battles where they are needed but sometimes she would feel useless and began to wonder what it was like to become as brave as they are.

But if Sylpha was willing, Beatrice would love to listen and it was probably an opportunity to ask a player for once instead of a NPC.

That is given that she doesn't fall asleep because she was doing a good job massaging the back of her entire torso.

 

Stokbon? Dunnstads? Beatrice must've been talking about the game. If that was so, then an answer was really easy. "Miss Beatrice? I'm a Yladian, I don't come from Falderen to begin with. Astorea had taken us in as refugees." They come from the country called... Yladia, of course! Any up-to-date geographer could point out that Yladia was a different country north of Falderen.

As for her own name, answering that was also easy. "Orphans get to choose their names when they come of age." And even if they didn't, they could call themselves anything and get away with it. No parent would be around to enforce otherwise. Sylpha wouldn't like the unnecessary sympathy that would come after using such an excuse, but if she could just gloss over it, it would be fine.

While Beatrice was indeed doing a good job at massaging her patient's back, Sylpha was still suppressing her reactions. With that, she wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon. Hearing Beatrice's backstory, Sylpha had no comment. Dormont was... rebuilding, right? Yes, there would be new jobs, but now felt a little too early to be coming here. She kept that to herself.

Then, there was the question about combat. How it was like. Certainly, a nurse would not see battle unless they were a player. Even medical professions sent into war zones to tend to wounded soldiers would not experience combat, only the aftermaths. "I use magic, so my experience is not of the normal kind." Most would be using martial weapons instead, unlike this Arcanist. So, she couldn't say anything about what it was like to cut down an opponent with a sword.

"You spend all day firing magic from afar and running away before they get close. If they do, you have to use other magic to stop them from getting to you. That is, assuming they don't have something to throw or shoot at you. Like other magic, which is why I'm here."

Sylpha had an unfortunate encounter with something that could, and now she had to pay miss Beatrice to nurse her back to health. That was the consequence of lacking strength.

 

She listened and her interest grew even more wishing she could see Sylpha's magic. She was brave enough to venture into dangerous wounds and now that she's survived the trip here only merits her strength. Truly marvelous, those who'd risk their lives to clear a way and provide safety for those who cannot fight is a herculean effort. Would she be able to be like that someday?

She started giggling at the thought, and laughing softly at herself believing that it was utterly ridiculous and impossible for her to use magic in tense situations like that. She’d probably flail and run for her dear life before she could even begin to take a step closer. She wasn't done as it would take quite a while before her cycle is complete, for now she wanted to hear more from her.

“H-how does it feel to possess magic? To use it?” She asked as her tone of voice lay hint of anticipation as if she wanted to try something like Sylpha said. She couldn't stop herself as she wanted to know more and more about it, of her adventure, the recent events and the trials she faced as an adventurer here in Terrasphere. She was like a child pleading a young woman to tell her a story and that she would wail out in amazement, thinking that she might wanna be like them and see what its like.

Even if it seems she doesn’t have the competence for it.

“I’ve always dreamed about using magic someday but I never got to it. You see I really don’t believe that I have the potential to wield magic and even if I do, I’m afraid that it might be too much for me to handle. But mom told me of witches and sorceress, not the bad ones but those who realize the dreams of other people with it, like what you’d read in those fairytales” She stroke her back gently from down near the bottom trailing up to the nape of her neck.

“I’m jealous, if I ever had that kind of power I’d use it to help people and make their dreams come true… like a fairy godmother of sorts” even though she’s a player and its achievable, Beatrice lacked the confidence because to her, she’s afraid to do it, use it or even screw up and yet the temptation still lingers at the back of her head, hence why she’s asking. If she’d ask enough people about it and hear them out, maybe she’ll be convinced to use it.

 

The conversation topic turned towards magic. Understandable, as magic was not very common amongst non player characters. All a player had to do was to press a button at the character select screen and they now possessed magic at the most rudimentary level. The very first question was what it felt like to have magic.

"It's just an extra something inside yourself that others don't have... but why would you want to know?" It was somewhat understandable why someone would ask, but it was much like asking a Felis what it was like to have cat ears and a tail: They had been born with it, so unless they didn't have it or lost it, they can't speak that much about a difference. If someone were to ask a person who was born with only one working eye what their vision was like, they would be confused on how to answer.

Sylpha was then treated to the... fantasy? of Beatrice's about using it for the greater good. "I don't think magic means what you think it means." She started. "You can't grant wishes with magic. You can do many things that are viewed as impossible, but you can't make something from nothing. Meaning, there are things even impossible for magic. What you do with magic you pay in mana."

Using terms like 'mana' to someone who didn't have it would just only cause confusion, so Sylpha had to try to use an overly simplified example: "A boulder blocks the entrance to a village twice the size of any man. Everyone looks at it and says 'we can't move that'. A young boy says 'I will', then trains his muscles for several years. He becomes strong and possesses large muscles. With great effort, he pushes his entire body against the boulder and rolls it out of the way. He is left panting in exhaustion.

Let's use magic instead. A young boy says 'I will' and trains in the art of Arcanamancy for several years. He returns a wizard. He chants the spell and arcane force pushes the boulder, rolling it out of the way. He is left panting in exhaustion. Both men paid an equal amount of energy to exert the strength to roll the boulder.

You hear tales of heroes with magic strong enough to level a mountain, but with the same amount of time spent training, you could learn to make the most volatile of concoctions, gather the required amount at the mountain and level it in an explosion.

At the end of the day, even if you have what someone else doesn't, you aren't special. You don't become some super respectable figure for having it. If you have it, you should use it however you like. If you don't, you're no less of a person for not having it."

Suddenly, Sylpha realized she had been rambling on for a long time. "Pardon me, I didn't mean to drone on." She apologized.

 

Sylpha asked the reason why she wanted to know but she didn't answer that, rather she was expecting that Sylpha knew the answer. Soon afterwards she began to explain what magic is to Beatrice, it was like receiving a lesson from a trained professional, the philosophy of how one trains with it and the fruitful results that comes afterwards. Was magic really that the same as training your body how to fight? She thought to herself.

As much as she liked where she was getting at, Sylpha pulled the rug out from under her when she mentioned that magic isn't that special. Just because one has it, that doesn't make you unique, rather it was concluded how one uses it.

“Oh no, by all means! Actually I’ve been looking for an opportunity to ask a mage about their idea of magic, yours was… quite an eye opener” she seemed to have finally get what magic is at least from her stand point. A privilege not to be abused because you have it, not because it’s some kind of power you control and others don’t, not because it can grant wishes and realize all mysteries like in those fairytales but because it was magic that can define who you are.

So should Beatrice ever get ahold or learn how to use magic… what kind of person would she be in the future when she does? She finished up and clasp her hands together, rubbing them off before stretching upwards.

“And we’re done! So all better now? It should have worked right?” She motioned Sylpha to sit up right as she hand her a small bottle of energy elixir.

“Drink this, it tastes just like water so don’t worry about it” Beatrice drew her device once more and set the chest piece onto her, getting a read on her vitals. She’s making a full recovery, from a lower number to a higher one, gradually increasing by the second.

“Wonderful! It worked so well, right then! The treatment is successful! You will gain a hundred percent as soon as you head on out. I do hope you enjoyed my healing massage right? I don’t mind getting feedback tho!” She cheered as she opened up the curtains.

“So where are you heading off to---“ she cut her words realizing how nosy she’s becoming.
“A-ah I apologize but I just… you seemed interesting to talk to and.. I..”

 

Whatever was perceived as rambling to the Yladian patient appeared to have been perceived as valuable insight instead. It was not entirely Sylpha's intention to attempt to shatter someone's dreams of what magic was like. However, this was what Sylpha saw her magic as: Just another skill. More aesthetically pleasing and definitely used for her purpose of finding new sights. Sylpha had attempted to make 'magic-like' sugarwork before, but it's very different when there was a light coming from the magical power. She tried to replicate it with tonic water that glowed in the dark. It worked out... but only if you shone a black light at it!

While there were other methods, nothing had the same structural integrity while having a similar translucency and colorability. It was perhaps this disappointment that made Sylpha's passive perception of magic turn more cynical. Apparently, not too cynical since Beatrice did not seem to be convinced off magic. Not that it was her intent, anyway.

Sylpha just remained silent for the rest of the massage. When they were finally done, she got up and switched to a sitting position. Opening her palm menu, the patient checked her status to make sure she was actually healed.

Sylpha Astarte

94 HP

MAX HP

89 EN

MAX EN

Physical Condition None
Mental Condition None
Buffs None

She was.

"Yes, thank you." Sylpha thanked her nurse then drank the elixir offered. She didn't question or even brace herself for the taste and downed the thing with a nod after being told to drink it. Just like before, she didn't question the medical professional. This entire treatment was likely going to cost a fair amount of her money, but curing the burns was, at least, worth the price in her opinion.

Then Sylpha was asked about her opinion about the massage. It was a strange point to elaborate on, because she had been suppressing her reactions. "It was satisfactory." Was the only comment she could think of leaving.

As the curtains were opened, Sylpha put her clothes back on, finally realizing that she had her front exposed to the nurse the entire time. It did not bother her much because she was a nurse, but forgetting about your own clothes was rather embarrassing.

She answered more questions as she dressed. "I'll probably either be here, Dunnstads or Stokbon, trying to buy ingredients or something. I'll probably go around baking before I'm ready to go be adventurous again. Some good stuff shows up out of nowhere every now and then." Quickly, Sylpha stopped herself before she started droning about baking and whatnot. There wasn't a need to talk longer and there were likely other patients that demanded her attention.

When she was finally done dressing, she thanked the nurse one last time before leaving to go make her payment. Even if her company was pleasant, one should not desire to return to a place of medicine so soon.