Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

"Padraig!" Faith had run all the way home, not stopping or slowing down. She burst through the front door like a whirlwind and in a manner most unlike her, usually so controlled and quiet. "Padraig?! Oh.. Oh... thank Fa...Famula." Although, of course, the fact that she had run so fast meant that she was completely out of breath and more than a little disheveled. She was happy, there was no doubting it and she took his hand and half walked, half ran into the living room. "How... " She started putting things out on the living room table, getting her breathing back in order.

"I've done it. I think. I've made it better, at least." She was babbling, she knew, even as she started opening jars. "Gavin, one of the four men who came in with it, he has it the worse and I worked out that it.. well, I think it's not contagious, it's an allergic reaction which triggers the body's natural defenses. The things I've been treating you with, treating them with, make it worse or at the very least perpetuate it." Faith shook her head and stopped, just for a few trill. She breathed in, then out, then spoke to him again.

"We don't keep records, you see. On where people have been, what they've done. I think that diseases have patterns, behaviours almost." Looking at him she smiled and reached up to stroke his cheek. "If this is caused by the environment, then it isn't until we examine that environment that we know that. I think this is a reaction to the ginkgo blossom. It's a tree, but no insects make it their home, nor birds." She looked at him and handed him a sealed pot. "Eyebath, there's tea in here that I'm going to make right now."

She squeezed his hands and couldn't restrain herself from the delight in her expression. "He responded in two breaks, so we just have to wait. He's much further along than you." When she was sure that he had the eyebath and was doing that, she got busy moving over to the kettle and starting to put things together for the tea. "I've started at the Order, we're going to take information on each patient, track patterns of diseases, they might give us clues, surely?" Faith was about to become a fanatic about this; all the signs were there. "If I'm right and this is about the ginkgo blossom, then it's seasonal and it's about specific locations. How many people have lost their sight unnecessarily? I'm going to the university, to speak to Professor Carter. This has to be a consideration, worthy of study." There were a hundred things whirling in her mind, yet they were all peripheral to one basic consideration; this would make him well again.

"This is a chamomile, ginger and green tea combination. I'm reliably informed that it tastes disgusting. We can't add honey to it, though, it counteracts." Fussing around she got things ready, even the way she worked in the kitchen was noisy and less controlled than usual. "One thing, though?" Faith came out holding a cup of tea for him which, if it tasted how it smelled, would live up to the build up she'd given it in terms of disgusting. "When have you been near a ginkgo tree?"

"I'm sure. I'm more than sure." She smiled at him and nodded. "Gavin has had to be in total darkness since I first diagnosed him. Even in that, he's in pain. He's been examined by four other doctors, three of whom have seen this before." Nothing had touched lightbane before, she explained, nothing had ever made a difference. Faith sighed, shaking her head. It was frustrating because it seemed like there was nothing actually wrong except this lack of movement in the pupil for those with the condition. "So, if this is a permanent cure or a temporary relief, it should mean that people with it are at least able to function without having to.." Faith stopped speaking then as she realised what she was saying.

"The usual treatment for lightbane is to medically remove your sight, so that you can go outside and so on without being in pain. I had to persuade the four of them at the Order to give me time to cure them." Her gaze on him was bordering on stern, although she didn't mean it at all. "That wasn't an option for you. I'm a bully, I know." There were other treatments, she told him, including a vapour and so on, but this was the first round. He had some more of the tea to drink, too. She wrote it down for him, a list of what to do and when. There were three lots of eyebath, the tea had to be drunk every half break, take the herbal mixture once a break.

Once she was clear that she'd given him all the instructions at least three times, and had apologised for fussing at least four, Faith wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and kissed him. "I told you we'd do it. I love you." It was too rarely she said that, she knew, but the relief which Faith felt was enormous. "I have to go back to work." She'd rather not and she lingered in his arms awhile, until something he said caught her attention. "It's odd, you're sure?" He hadn't been anywhere near ginkgo trees? Faith had brought home, of course, a book about them and she fished it out of her bag. "Here. They look like this."

She was right about the cure, she knew she was, but what did this mean? His condition had progressed much more slowly than the men at the Order, but Faith had put that down to him having round the clock medical care. "If this doesn't work, then it's good news in a different way. It means this isn't lightbane." Of course, what it was then became a different question. However, she lingered in his arms a while longer then reluctantly pulled herself away, thrusting the list into his hands before walking out in a much more sedate, controlled and usual fashion for her.
When she came back home, three breaks later, Faith walked in and she was delighted. She had a pile of books with her, which she was balancing in her hands. "How are you?" Before she saw him, she called to ask. "All four of them have responded, it's only been five breaks and Gavin is able to tolerate... no change?" She walked in and saw the darkness in the room and, as she put her books down she looked at him, searching to see if there was any change in his eyes. There wasn't.

"Padraig, this isn't a disease. I've gone to every text book, I've looked up everything. It isn't an infection because I've treated you for an infection and I've given you enough of a dose to kill anything. Plus, it's not progressing like an infection would." Her face frowned and she looked at him with a puzzled expression. "The only other option, which I'd ruled out because I can't imagine how, is that it's a specific toxin. Is that even possible? Think back to when this started. The ten trials before." Could it be his work, she wondered, something that he'd been exposed to then? She looked at him with confusion on her face at the thought of it, just not sure where he'd have had the chance to get any kind of toxin in his system. But then, she didn't know when it started, so she didn't know what he'd been exposed to.

"Well, I'm glad to see that your tendency to always be an optimist hasn't been diminished any." Her retort was accompanied by a grin and a gentle nudge of her elbow. Temporary cures and lab rats, indeed. Couldn't he tell she was excited? Her grin was good natured and much more her own "It might be temporary, yes, but there is no medical reason to suggest why it would be. The physiology of lightbane is that it forces an over reaction from the body's natural defences. Once that reaction has started, we've been unable to stop or reverse it. However, it reaches a point and stops, so there is no reason to think that.... just behave yourself and have faith."

At his next dry comment, though, she was unyielding. "More tea." Faith had given him a stern glare, or the best approximation she could manage. Still, he agreed to do as she had asked him and for that she was glad. If he was distracted from her, she couldn't blame him in the slightest and she really needed to get better timing, she considered, for declarations of love. There was an undoubted spring in her step on her way back to the Order, though, very different than the careering skidding run which she'd utilised on her journey home.

After three breaks, though, there was no change. Faith sighed and shook her head at his unspoken thoughts. He was jumping to the idea of him being the one who did not respond, the outlying statistic for whom it did not work. Sometimes, she considered, a scientific mind was a very tricky thing to navigate. "Alright, let's look at this logically, shall we?" Once she had sat on the sofa, she pinched the bridge of her nose to force her to think more clearly and quell the emotions she was feeling. "It's progressing more slowly than lightbane. It isn't responding to the treatment for lightbane. You haven't, to your knowledge or mine, been anywhere near any ginkgo trees which I believe trigger lightbane." Those combined made for a strong argument that lightbane was not what he had, she knew that. However, he had made more than one valid point. "Conversely, this treatment is just breaks old and it's all just theory right now. It needs testing and more testing. However, since there is some good evidence which suggests it might not be lightbane, I suggest we continue the treatments for it whilst exploring other options."

With a smile, she squeezed his hand. "I'll try and make the tea taste better, I promise. I just want to be sure that I'm not hurting you by doing that." If he was going to be taking it for a time, they all were, then she'd have to. "I can do that this evening." Prioritizing that made sense, so she would. However, she had to admit she was surprised at his answer to her question.

"Faldrass? Padraig that was... I mean, how long ago was that? This... damnit." Faith sighed and leaned forward, taking the cup out of his hand. "If you're sure, absolutely sure, then there's no need for you to be drinking this muck. I am so sorry." Lightbane, she explained, would have more than blinded him by now if it had been that. With serious silver eyes she assured him that she had read the notes of every case that she could find of lightbane, sitting up through the nights to do so and it had never taken so long to progress. She had been starting to doubt that it could be lightbane since it was now six trials since she'd noticed symptoms, ten trials was the longest before blindness, and that had only happened once, she explained. "I should have asked you. I am so sorry, I just assumed that it had been only a few trials." If he'd been a patient at the clinic, she would have asked.

Which made it more likely that this was some kind of a toxin he was reacting to. She searched her memory for less than a trill before a look of dawning understanding came across her face. "The spiders." Faith lifted a hand and put it against his chest, where there had been a cut. "Well, we need to go back there. You've got some samples, I know, but I need a whole specimen. Preferably alive, in case they have hidden toxins which we don't know unless we trigger it. So, crack open the custom bolts, we're going to fill them with tranquiliser and go on a spider hunt."

Faith

Story: 5/5
Collab: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

Poisoncrafting: Giant Spider venom causes similar effects to Lightbane.
Poisoncrafting: Identifying the cause of Faux-Lightbane.


Padraig

Story: 5/5
Collab: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

Poisoncrafting: Giant Spider venom causes similar effects to Lightbane.
Poisoncrafting: Identifying the cause of Faux-Lightbane.

Notes

One day, one day, I will review a thread I can give you two a respectable number of knowledges for. Sadly, this thread mostly involved things learned, or done, in other threads and thus, there I couldn't reward knowledges for them, as your characters would have them from other threads.

That being said, the thread was really enjoyable to read and the trepidation from both characters feel at the thought of confronting Giant Spiders again is palpable, as well as their tension and worry when the Lightbane cure doesn't work.

As for the ending.....it was good. =P Honestly, the only problem I could find in the thread was that the opening was a little confusing at first. Fortunately, what exactly is going on is explained in very short order, so it doesn't cause a problem for more than a second. Definitely looking forward to more threads from you two. =]