The Florence Nightengale Effect

[onehandsomeslickninja]

That last battle... well, it hadn't gone well.

He'd gotten way too used to white magic, was his second waking thought (the first, of course, being pain). Before he even opened his eyes, he took stock of himself, and determined that everything hurt. Well, maybe not everything. His leg hurt more than most, but his face and arms felt a little better than they probably ought to given how he'd been scratched and scraped...

And hey, this ground was comfortable. Unusually comfortable, almost like a bed.

With a groan, Edge cracked one eye open.

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[medicinemaster]

It'd been touch and go for a while but Yaone had worked all through the night, setting the man's broken bones, cleaning, bandaging, stitching his torn flesh back together. Once she'd gotten him stable and resting, her work hadn't ended. After appointing a nurse to keep watch over him and notify her at once if his condition worsened, Yaone had taken to her herb garden and compounding laborator, immediately going to work on creating the medicines and supplements he'd need to hasten his recovery once he awakened. It wasn't until her vision blurred and the words in her medical texts had started running together that she'd finally stopped. Her work was still unfinished but stopping for rest had been better than running the risk of mixing up ingredients or amounts and accidentally poisoning her patient.

Yaone had been lightly dozing in a chair by Edge's bedside when that groan coaxes her out of sleep with a start.

"...Oh! You're awake!"

Her hair's loose and a little mussed, her bangs sticking messily to her forehead She still faintly smells of the herbal tonics she'd been brewing and the soap she'd used to wash up with afterward. Yaone blinks sleepily and sits up in her chair.

"How are you feeling?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

'Terrible' is the first word that comes to mind, because that wasn't wrong by any stretch. Not as bad as he'd expected, but aside from the overall aches and pains and that one particular heat in his leg, he also felt generally like he'd been run over by an airship. Everything felt sore and sort of stretched out...

But machismo asserted itself immediately -- machismo and the nature of a leader of men to show no weakness, and thus inspire and motivate his people.

"I'm worried I'm hallucinating," he said, voice at least clear. SOMETHING on him worked right, for a miracle. "Because I'm seeing the prettiest girl imaginable."

It wasn't his best line, but he wasn't in the best shape. Still, she looked especially lovely all mussed like that... All the more reason he shifted to make an extremely ill-advised attempt to prop himself up on one elbow. He DEFINITELY didn't want to look weak or silly in front of her!

[medicinemaster]

It might not be the smoothest line but it's still enough to make a faint blush rise on Yaone's cheeks. She quickly brushes it aside, taking refuge in the task of caretaker for the time being. It's not as if she's never been called pretty before; she'd been kidnapped once explicitly for her beauty. It's just a little difficult for her to see her looks as a boon after such terrible experience.

"Please be careful moving, sir. It would be bad if you pulled your stitches loose."

Her voice is gentle and soothing with an underlying layer of professionalism to it. This type of machismo is one she's familiar with, thanks to her ongoing associations with Lord Kougaiji and Dokugaku, so it's easy for her sympathize with the man's position and let the advance slide.

"Hallucinations, you say? Should I should check your head to make sure I didn't miss anything in my examination?"

The majority of the damage had been elsewhere but another examination of his head to make sure there weren't any bumps she'd missed couldn't hurt.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Stitches?" That brought him back down to reality fairly quickly, as well as giving him an excuse to stop propping himself up -- which he was very quickly coming to regret attempting. Instead, he let out a breath and sank back down, trying to assess himself again. "I mean, I'm sure I'm fine, but -- well, it would be rude of me to turn you away from doing your job."

Sending a pretty caretaker had been wise. He was already being a much better patient for her than he would otherwise have been.

[medicinemaster]

Good. It seems like this one is going to behave himself for her. Too many of Yaone's patients can be stubborn and difficult, refusing to listen or trust her instructions, when all she's trying to do is help them recover.

"Your injuries were extensive. It looked as if you had been in a terrible fight."

The majority of Yaone's patients are youkai; sometimes she forgets just how fragile human bodies are in comparison. Even someone with a more delicate physique like her own would not come out of combat so heavily damaged.

"Do you remember anything about your opponents? They seem very dangerous."

Far too dangerous to leave unchecked. Yaone might be weary but she's still willing to hunt whoever did this down and put them down before anyone else shares this man's fate.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Monsters," The memories were hazy -- either he'd taken a knock to the head or just the overall trauma had left the battle a blur except for memories of pain and frantic urgency. Which he did not approve of -- how was he supposed to learn and improve from fights he didn't remember? To a man who valued such things, ignorance stung! "They definitely were nasty."

He wasn't sure what else to say. Normally he'd have cranked up the flirting, but he wasn't quite as energetic as he'd like right now. Which was another shame, because what a pretty girl! "I hope my men are all right... Not many other people brought in?" he asked, hopeful.