"What if, for what ever reason, you were unable to travel and explore the world you love?"
Also asked by @waitingrose so I’ll incorporate them both.
He couldn’t remember what had happened clearly, which for him was the first sign of trouble. There was the obvious muck that plagued one’s mind when they first were roused from slumber, but it felt as though he’d been buried under a ton of loose gravel. Every inch of him felt sluggish and sore, and his fingers were slow to curl and respond. Soft fabric, simple stitching, freshly starched. Then the smell touched him, or rather, the lack of one. Clean air, too clean. His eyes forced themselves open as the muscles in his face constricted. A curled expression showed his confusion, and even mild distaste for waking up like that. Not since he’d visited the brewery in Pandaria had he had such hellish time of waking, but even this felt different. It was when his eyes opened, and the blurry surface of a stark white ceiling greeted him, he knew something was wrong.
“He’s...he’s awake.”An unfamiliar voice touched my ears, and I couldn’t help trying to look and see who it was. There was a curtain blocking by view, so I reached to try and pull it back. That’s when I noticed the bandages across my arm. They were wrapped thickly from wrist to shoulder, the stain of red beneath them. As my mind cleared from the haze I could feel the dull ache of pain from simply moving, so I gave up and let my arm fall to the bed.“Sir...sir can you hear me?”My head turned, and I found a charming elven man standing at my bedside. His form was draped in soft shades of white and strips of black, and his face was a picture of noble birth. All high cheek bones, and sweeping features. But it wasn’t his face I stared at, it was the pin attached to his chest. A phoenix laying over a cross, its talons perched across the surface.“What...happened?”My god, what happened to my voice? It sounded as though I’d had nothing to drink for months, and the fire in my neck was instant. I decided it best not to try and talk so much, but the look he gave me...“It’s...important that you rest, you’ve been through...you just need your rest.”“What...happened?”He chewed the edge of his lips and I found myself drawn to that quirk. There were a thousand different things about a person you could learn just watching the way they moved, the messages they sent without uttering a word.“Please...”He hesitated for another moment, a sigh passing into the air as he slowly nodded. A hand came to lay against my other arm, and I could feel the bare contact. No bandages there, that’s good at least.“From what we’ve been told...you were...caught in the blast of an infernal when it landed on the battlefield. It...struck the ground not ten feet from you. You’ve been here now for almost a week, kept under sedation.”Images flooded into my head, but they were like jumbled pictures flashing. Like someone had taken a portfolio and tossed it in front of you and asked you to try and piece them together. Heat, a loud crash, and then weightlessness before I hit.“How bad?”Again I saw his hesitation, and his eyes flashed down towards my legs. Instinctively they twitched, fingers curling in and flexing as I tried to figure out why he looked almost distraught. Or rather, they would have...except they didn’t. My heart was beginning to reach a steady, fevered staccato and the grogginess was quickly washed away.“I can’t feel my legs...”
The months that followed were some of the hardest of my life. I’d been torn apart my magics chaotic and tormented but nothing compared to the agony of a journey’s end. When the infernal had landed, I learned later, shards of its rocky structure had blasted out like shrapnel. Pieces had struck into my body and torn the muscle and bone beneath it. They did what they could, they told me, but the fel taint had twisted the torn structure of my spine and muscles. Corrupted them in even the briefest touch and made their mending impossible. Time and again I asked them if I’d walk again, but after a few weeks I stopped bothering. I think it was the first time I stopped smiling, and just stared out one of the distant windows for the longest time. That would be my only viewport to the outside world, and so I took to memorizing every facet in the grain of glass, the people that wandered by and I imagined were living their lives. Would they find the time to go and learn the world as I had, would they find a loved one and cherish their existence like the air they breathed. The world continued to turn, but I would only ever see it through that window. Wanderer no more, it seemed.
A rare moment of peace had fallen over Deliverance Point. The sound of crackling fires and laughter drifted through the camp; many of the soldiers now enjoying a hot meal. Quiet steps brought the huntress around soldiers snatching seconds from the stew pot, illuminated gaze shifting beneath her helm to a worn paper gripped in her hands. With a clear of her throat, her attention returned to the men and women. "Is there a 'Sathios' among you?" (from Veilianna @veilwilddawn)
Scattered voices were broken by the occasional bit of a hush, or quiet laughter. Many of the soldiers she passed had bruises or cuts lining their forms, hard fighting having left its mark on them. When she found the group circled around a cookfire, spooning fresh helpings of stew from a bubbling pot a few glanced up. The name had caught their attention, but there was an obvious drop in the features of those that knew it. A cant of a head beckoned her off to the side where a lone figure sat on a cut log.“Good luck.” Was the only thing said in response before their attention fell back to their meals and conversation.She’d find the man separated from the others, in a quiet section next to the mess tent. A few bits of ruined stone had formed a sort of ring, his chosen perch for now. For once the man was mostly devoid of his armor save the legplates and sabatons still adorning him. A loosely fitted linen shirt hung off him in a lazy fashion, the lacing partially undone while he set to wrapping a garish looking cut that still oozed a bit of blood. It ran the length atop his forearm, a break in the skin running almost half a foot. Even as he tended the wound, though, his ears flicked and his eyes lifted at the approaching shadow. A grizzled face turned up to peer at the Ranger, an even more haggard voice calling out.“Need something?”
Liferoot: Has your character had an easy life? A hard one? Something inbetween?
“Hmm, I would say my life has been interesting so far. I grew up in a decent sized home and went through the usual ‘proper etiquette’ training that was required of me. Then I left that in favor of mud, wounds, and windy tents. Since then, life has been a bit harsh but I make due! I have my family, friends, and colleagues now so I would say that things are wonderful!”{Oh Velest. She has been through quite a bit but does her best to keep positive about it all. It surfaces on occasion in the form of nightmares but that doesn’t stop her or slow her down. Just throws her off for a time. So overall, I would say it is ‘Inbetween’.Thank you for the ask, Cat <3 }
