A "hole" lot of trouble

[Deleted]

That night, Azeurid slept like a baby. Perhaps it was the exhaustion from bashing his way out of a locked pub cellar about to burn alive, perhaps it was the debacle with Loren whirling around his weary mind. Either way, Azeurid's first afternoon in Avaleur City turned out to be the start of anything but the straightforward life he'd promised himself it would be.

He woke with a start. A stout looking nurse was prodding him from his bedside.

"Ouch!"

"Hmmph. You're awake now, are you?" she asked.

Her voice was stern, yet caring and warm.

"I am now you've woken me!"

"Very well. You have a visitor, Master Azeurid. I have instructed them not to tire you out too much, you still need your rest."

[Deleted]

Loren walked into the room, an assortment of flowers that looked like they had been taken from a field somewhere. He smiled at the man, "Hey there, gla to see you made it out." in his eyes he looked a bit sad, "I brought these for you..." I'll just set them over here." he placed then on the table and te sat in the chair in the corner of the room. He looked out of the window as he played with a purple flower in his hands.

[Danielle Otis]

Dani walked through the infirmary, searching for the man with the messed up foot. She seemed to peak through every door. She wanted to check up on him, make sure he was okay. The pub was getting fixed up, hell the place was able to keep doing business while they fixed it up.

Of course she wasn't walking around with permission. If she really had to she would switch over to her cat form, but she was determined to see him. If not only to give him his get well soon gift.

Finally she spotted the man in a room. With a grin, she entered. "Hey! Glad to see you seem okay. Hopefully your foot gets fixed up," she threw him a small box of chocolates, landing on his bed, right beside the man. She looked over at Loren and smiled, waving. "Friend of yours?" she asked Azeurid.

[Deleted]

Azeurid smiled at Dani and placed the box of chocolates on the table beside his bed, next to the wildflowers from Loren.

"You could say that." he said, turning his gaze to Loren and eyeing him worriedly.

"Dani, thanks for helping back there. I just don't know what happened. One minute we were in the pub drinking away from the rain and the next we were locked in that cellar and the place was on f-"

Suddenly, the nurse appeared in the room. Her hands were on her hips and she had a concerned expression on her face.

"Master Azeurid, you must keep yourself calm. You have had quite an ordeal. Getting yourself worked up is not going to do your foot any good at all!"

"My foot? Oh, my foot... I remember now. It all seems a bit of a blur, I passed out before I... You and the barman brought me here. But I remember now..."

Azeurid looked around at points on the ceiling as though desperately trying to recall what had happened. Then his eyes fixed on Loren's and went wide with realisation. He turned to look at the nurse.

"The pick axe. I hit the door with a pick axe trying to break out of that damn cellar, and missed! Oh God. Show me my foot," he said.

The nurse frowned and slowly grabbed onto the bottom of the duvet covering Azeurid's lower body. She looked concerned.

"Are you... sure?" she asked.

The patient nodded. Reluctantly, the nurse pulled back the duvet.

Azeurid gasped.

His left foot had a clean hole, about two inches wide, through which he could see the pristine white bedsheets.

[Danielle Otis]

Dani stared at Azeurid's foot with furrowed eyebrows for a moment.

"...that, that looks like it really fucking hurts. Sheesh, will that effect your walking?" because that was the kind of person Dani was, the girl stood at the end of the bed, and slowly poked her finger through the man's foot. Once she touched the bedsheets, she grinned.

"That was actually entertaining," Dani added, removing her hand and giving the man a light, reassuring smile.

[Deleted]

Loren had used that wonderfully timed and perfect distraction to escape. He looked up at the second story window he had just about killed himself getting out of. With that one last look he continued on his way.

He was a bit upset he hadn't done what he had came there to do, but with witnesses it was better to just leave...

A dark purple feather was left in the chair he was in, the window open letting in a cool breeze.

[Danielle Otis]

Dani turned to look at Azeurid's friend, to see he had left. With a frown she spotted the feather. Oh, how she knew those. Never used them herself, but as a thief and assassin she had to know what it was at the very least. A very powerful poison. Very.

"You sure that was a friend of yours?" she turned to Azeurid and mumbled, walking over to the chair and picking up the feather. She twirled it in between her fingers. Maybe he just dropped it. Maybe he had intended to use it.

But she knew she would have to try and keep an eye on Loren now.

[Deleted]

"Perhaps more of an acquaintance," said Azeurid.

"Perhaps you should choose," barked the Nurse, "your acquaintances more carefully!"

With that, she marched across the room and snatched the feather from Dani's fingers, wrapping it in a paper handkerchief.

"Enough poison to kill a man!" she snapped.

Azeurid turned to Dani and shook his head in disbelief. Avaleur was turning out to be one hell of a city.

[Danielle Otis]

"Actually, it's way more poisonous than that. Can leave a full grown dragon staggered, I hear," she stated, pursing her lips at the nurse. "Not enough to kill, but poison like that would have you dead in an instant." She grew a dislike for this nurse in an instant. Snatching things from someone's hands was just plain rude. Dani crossed her arms and turned to look at Azeurid.

"You came at a bad time in Avaleur, I must admit," Dani grinned with embarrassment, as if she were to blame for the troubles. Of course she wasn't, but none the less she was ashamed of her home for the troubles being brought up. "The guards threw the Queen in jail. Some assholes are running the castle now. And I haven't a clue what happened, really, more or less I know that something not right is up."

Dani sat down in the chair closest to his bed, and shrugged. "Like I said, bad timing. No worries, I'm sure it wont stand for much longer."

[Deleted]

Azeurid listened to Dani recount the recent goings on in Avaleur, his eyes fixed with intrigue.

"Sounds like a lot's been happening around here," he said. "But I plan to stay out of trouble, for now. Until now, I've moved around a lot before trouble has chance to find me. But I'm getting older now. I want to find somewhere to set down roots. Somewhere to call home."

The nurse, still holding the feather in the handkerchief, exhaled sharply.

"If you ask me, best thing you can do is move on from Avaleur as soon as possible! The place is going to ruin!" she spat, before marching towards the door.

She turned at the door and looked at Azeurid.

"You are free to leave the infirmary, by the way. We have done all we can. Make sure you get plenty of rest and stay off your feet for a while," she said. "I'm going to take this poisoned feather with the rest of the infirmary waste to be destroyed."

And with a huff, she was gone.

[Danielle Otis]

Dani stared at the door where the nurse left and muttered under her breath, "If I ever see her walking down the street, I might just mug the bitch..." Of course, Dani meant to speak in her head. A criminal shouldn't be talking about what she does in front of a stranger. Alas, she forgot to shut her mouth. She didn't even realize she had said it.

"Your acquaintance who had the feather no doubt has more. Throwing that one in the trash doesn't fix the damn problem," she exhaled a sigh as she spoke to the man in the infirmary bed, eyes still fixed on the door.

She really did hate that damn nurse. And she only knew her for five minutes.

The young neko girl turned and looked at Azeurid with a smile, "Everything will get fixed up eventually, no worries. I'm sure you'll be able to call Avaleur your home soon enough. Is your foot hurting at all?" She looked down at the foot once more.

[Deleted]

Azeurid peered down at his foot. He shrugged.

"It'll be fine," he said. "But my boot is ruined..."

He pointed towards his soft leather boots lying in a heap on the floor beside the bed. One of the boots had a savage tear through the middle from where the pickaxe had slammed into his foot.

"I guess I'm 'gonna need some new boots. Do you know anywhere that's open?" he asked. "I'm going to go for something a bit more... substantial... this time."

Azeurid twisted and sat on the edge of the bed before hobbling up to his feet and reaching into an almighty stretch.

It had been quite a day.

[Danielle Otis]

"You really should be resting, not standing, ya know," Dani laughed, arms still crossed, shaking her head. "But there are a few clothing shops. I don't think the infirmary will let you leave just yet, but maybe I'm wrong."

"There are a few armory shops around as well, where you can get some pretty tough boots I'm sure. You might want to look there," the young girl added with a shrug, throwing in ideas.

"Though I must ask...there's a hole in your foot. And you're worried about getting new boots?" she teased, entertained. She had never had a wound that bad, or noticeable. The only thing was the scar on her left shoulder. But she assumed she would care more for the wound than the boot.

Dani sat down at the edge of the bed, looking at Azeurid, listening to what he had to say.

[Deleted]

"Hmmph. You're right. I'm should rest up for a while," shrugged Azeurid. "But I'm gonna need some new boots eventually."

He turned and looked at Dani and smiled.

"Thank you for coming, Dani. It means a lot. Maybe there are some good people in Avaleur after all."

With that, he limped towards Dani and patted her on the shoulder. Azeurid felt something surge through his body. Perhaps it was the pain emanating from his foot, perhaps it was a warmth he felt from actually feeling compassionate towards another person. Regardless, he limped towards the door of the room, wincing with every step, before turning back to look at Dani.

"See you around." he said.

===OOC===

Thanks for being patient with me on this thread - sorry it dragged on due to me not being around much! Going to leave this one here and resume some time in the future when Azeurid has recovered more