A medical emergency

[fadingworld]

A deep navy cloak hides his features and the more ornate tunic the courtesan usually wears to greet his clients. Mal hunches his shoulders and slides through the crowds hoping to avoid notice. He keeps his head down until he reaches the home of the doctor and wraps smartly on the door. "Open up," he calls in a voice that expects to be listened to.

How much time did he have? He could not have a client bleeding out. Not this one. Not one who had come to him for help, to be treated privately.

Comments

[mandragoraspiritus]

"A few injuries of various kinds that needs some continuous tending, one persistent cough and one young lady in the last stages of pregnancy that unfortunately had a falling out with the local midwife. I offered to help when I heard, although her mother and sisters always watch me like hawks." He smiles a wry smile. "Apparently it is unseemly for a man to aid in such matters."

[fadingworld]

"It is not traditional," Mal says with a grin, "And as I have said before you are good looking." His eyes dance for a moment. "They are quite forward thinking to have allowed you in."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis snorts. "Oh no, it is no charm of mine that has me watched I dare say. More that they are highly suspicious of my intentions but have no choice, no other to help. The young lady in question is having a hard time of it and does need the help."

[fadingworld]

"And you are not likely to fall out with them," Mal guesses. "Or you are good hiding it if you are. You won't abandon her the way the midwife did."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"No, certainly not. This is the woman's first child and she it quite scared. I shall not be leaving her without help."

After having cleared his plate of food, Regis goes to fetch a couple of apricots from a nearby basket and finishes his breakfast with that. "Though I shall admit I would far prefer to do my work without the supervision of distrustful women."

[fadingworld]

Mal smiles, "It takes time to build a reputation with women. Maybe they won't trust you, but they will tell others about you. The next set of women will be less distrustful and so on till they trust you implicitly."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis wonders silently if he will even be here long enough for that to happen. Perhaps. He is hoping for some few years before he will need to move on again. Perhaps to venture further south.

"I will have to hope," he says with a slight smile. "In the meantime I shall simply have to do my best to endure they have no reason to throw me out."

[fadingworld]

"Are they very rude to you?" Mal asks curiously, wondering if an e-courtesan might help smooth things over by his presence. He had been around two pregnancies at the Rose Thorn.

"And if they are, what do they say?"

[mandragoraspiritus]

"No, not rude as such. More overly suspicious. They do not say much, other than perhaps at times question if I truly know what I'm doing. It is more the hanging over my shoulder to watch my every more that can be bothersome. But, no matter, it won't be for much longer."

He rises from the table, starting to clear the things away. "But it is probably time we moved on with our morning. How is your head?"

[fadingworld]

"It's almost normal," Mal says with a thankful smile. "Is there anything you need fetched back while I am out? I mean to be a bit of tourist this morning and walk around the city."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis doesn't really have an errands he needs to send Mal on, but doing so should help in getting the young man acclimatized to his new life.

"If you would stop by the baker and the butcher on your way back from your wanderings it would save me the trip. Some more bread and ham would be useful."

[fadingworld]

A simple errand would draw a groan from many a person. To Mal it is a new adventure. He will end up spending much time examining the choices and sampling a few breads.

"It will be a pleasure." He laughs merrily, "I feel like a child in some ways, learning a whole new world."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Mal's enthusiasm makes Regis chuckle and smile at him rather fondly. "Is this where I then caution you to not stray too far from home and to be wary of strangers?"

[fadingworld]

Mal grins, "And I promise to obey and immediately stray off?" Thankfully he does have some common sense. He stands up and pauses. "Have you a band or a piece of ribbon I can in my hair?"

[mandragoraspiritus]

"So long as you aren't too picky about what it looks like, I'm sure I can find a cord or something like it for you." He eyes the long far of shiny hair. It does look beautiful and even though he had been somewhat asleep, he can remember what it had felt like sifting through his fingers.

"It must take much work."

[fadingworld]

"Thank you," Mal says, "It doesn't need to be pretty...I just want to blend in for a change." He touches the tail end of his hair and says simply, "It's my job to look pretty...it was I mean. My daily preparations including hair could take a couple of hours to get it perfect."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis doesn't doubt that. Mal is a beautiful man in himself, but the level of refinement expected of a courtesan had to take a lot of time.

"That would mean very early mornings here," he teases gently. He's already sure that Mal won't go to such lengths here.

[fadingworld]

Mal parts his lips to protest that he can do and then pauses to laugh. "I don't have half the perfumes and lotions I need to take that long." But he will take his time to look decent and make sure his clothes sit perfectly.

His eyes dance, "I could create a beauty routine for you to follow."

[mandragoraspiritus]

Regis arches an eyebrow at him, mock scowling. "And here I thought you said that you like the way I look." Beauty routine, really!

[fadingworld]

“You’ve stIll got to maintain it.” Mal is quite gifted at mimicry and has the Madame’s gestures and tone down. “If nature is left to itself it will slowly slip.”

[mandragoraspiritus]

Ugh, that is unsettling, with that woman's tone and gestures coming from Mal. Regis plays along, though, and simply points a long fingernail at himself. "Vampire. In case you have forgotten already."

[fadingworld]

“And vampires need it more than most.’ Mal suppresses a giggle and brings them back to that silly tale. “Why with proper care you might actually be able to sparkle in sun light.”

[mandragoraspiritus]

At that Regis huffs out an exasperated sigh. "I should not have let you read that book."

What he does next can be considered showing off, he's aware of this. But it would at least put an end to the teasing of his humble self. Between one breath and the next he's simply no longer there but has rather dissolved into a cloud of thick, graphite-colored smoke hanging in the air. It flows forward past Mal, around him, toying with his long hair for but an instant and messing it up, then out the door of the kitchen. In moments Regis' voice is heard from the study. "Are you coming?"

[fadingworld]

Okay. That was unearthly. Mal stands staring at the space Regis had occupied. His skin tingles and his heart is definitely racing a little.

"Okay, that is a seriously unfair advantage," Mal calls out. He smooths his hair down again as he makes his way more slowly to the study. He grins as he steps in the door, "You could scare someone if you snuck up on them that way."

[mandragoraspiritus]

"Let me then say again; vampire." Sneaking up on someone should be the least scary thing about him.

It isn't now that he wants to scare Mal but he does want to understand, for it to be perfectly clear that Regis isn't a human. Yes, Mal has seen his fangs by now but those are nothing compared to other things he might have to witness. At least the dissipating into smoke doesn't look so... Monstrous as other things he might have shown to prove his point.

Even so, now he does again seem perfectly human where he stands searching through a drawer in his desk for something suitable for Mal to use to tie up his hair.