The Famished Ascetic

Poppy

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Mar 18, 2015
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Hari had been avoiding this.

He woke up feeling like his brain was getting crushed by rocks. He looked for his medicine, desperately feeling through his bedside medicine drawer, and he eventually found the empty bottle under his bed. He sighed. He took those tablets almost twice a day so of course they would run out sooner or later. He cursed himself for not stockpiling earlier. He wasn't a man that could afford to be careless.

What was the point of a strictly healthy diet and dietary supplements if his body would deteriorate regardless? He didn't know where the fever came from, just that it was steadily getting worse.

He refused to let death claim him just yet, so he headed to the infirmary, but moving proved to be harder than he thought.

He knew precisely what could cure him, knew and craved for it, craves for it everyday in fact, he was hungry and hadn't fed for almost a decade and he could recall how good he felt when he took the tree's life but no no no, no life was worth his he would rather die on these stairs right now than compromise what he believed in

A slip. He came tumbling down the stairs he was on. It was almost surreal, he paid no heed to whatever blows he got physically, but pins and needles began stabbing at his head from all angles. He lied there at the foot of the stairs, hyperventilating on the floor and writhing in pain.

This is too much. There was nobody here to help him. He felt like the walls were starting to come down on him and his mind was taking him to a place he wished to forget. He began to cry, for a bit, until his head cleared up a bit. He stood up on wobbly legs.

He leaned against the dormitory hallway wall. Just a few meters to the exit. He walked on trembling legs and got startled by the blinding brightness of the midday sun.

It was still a long way to the infirmary.

He supported himself on the dormitory exit, paling as he realized the distance he had to go. His legs were already unreliable as they were.
 

Zell

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Dec 28, 2014
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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

When Wei HuSun woke up that morning, it had been just before the sun rose, when they air was still relatively cool and the taste of morning dew hung so heavily in the air that every time he yawned he could taste the bitter sweetness of the plants that grew. The simian boy was usually an early riser, but today he'd woken up particularly early.

With the month of March plodding along oh so merrily to its end, April was beginning to rear its gorgeous, flower adorned head, and the most important part of April was its commencement. April 1st, the yearly celebration of tricks and pranks and general buffoonery would be upon him before he knew it, and Wei would not allow himself to be taken by surprise. The whole concept of a day for pranking was something his friends and family had never appreciated back home, but since the Westerners seemed to think a prank was as much a piece of artwork as he did, he saw no reason why he couldn't celebrate this ceremony with as much gusto as he celebrated every other day that was perfect for pranking.

He rolled out of his bed, falling on the floor with a soft 'whump' before hopping up and getting dressed, running his fingers through his hair before grabbing his gun staff and throwing the window open, jumping out and resisting the urge to screech with adrenaline, as the cool early morning air billowed through his hair and ran its fingers through his fur. He curled his feet in the grass, gave a long stretch with his tail twitching and curling before trotting off to map out the school

"I can put a tripwire here," he muttered to himself. "And that door looks perfect for a bucket of glitter."

As he continued to map out his plans for the school, having walked the whole length of it from the high school dorms towards the college ones, he heard what sounded like a very heavy bag of laundry being tossed down a flight of steps. While he himself was no stranger to tossing his laundry down steps to avoid carrying it, usually people didn't do it when it was this early.

Curious, Wei changed direction. High School Students couldn't get into the college dorms, but the windows in the halls were usually unlocked. From the outside of the dormitory he fiddled with the lock and pushed the window open, pulling himself half in and taking a look around. He scanned the area a few times before noticing someone pressed up against the wall looking... very unwell.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, pulling himself through the window, his tail bringing in his staff. This guy didn't look dangerous, but you could never be too sure. "You look terrible. No offense I guess."
 

Poppy

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Mar 18, 2015
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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

Hari was hyperventilating against the exit. Loneliness and incredible sickness were a terrible combination, and add to that the knowledge that it was entirely possible for him to die from exerting a little more effort in walking, and you get a boy with steadily deteriorating motivation to keep fighting. It was no use anymore. He deserved to die lonely and afraid in an empty Hallway without having loved anyone else or accomplishing anything important.

He thought he was hallucinating when he heard someone ask him if he was "all right." He didn't expect to see anything when he turned around... but he did — a young monkey boy at the window, with a huge staff. It was too odd to be a hallucination.

Maybe this was the universe's way of telling him he wasn't going to die today.

"Help me," he said, straight and succinct. Every movement hurt him, so he couldn't waste any words. "I-I thought I just needed medicine, but at this point, I really need to see my doctor. Can you help me?"

A pause. Before the boy could get close, he should warn him. "Please be careful not to make skin contact."
 

Zell

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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

Climbing through the window wasn't hard, but he couldn't keep himself from looking closely at the man who, honestly, looked like he was going to die where he was standing. He could hear his heavy breathing from where he was standing, noticing that almost all the older man's weight was being pressed against the door, but not in any way that would effectively open it. He supposed that explained why he wasn't laying on the ground impotently sliding towards the Infirmary.

Apparently he needed to see his doctor and said something about medicine. That required going to the Infirmary, and he paused, thinking. After about half a minute he shrugged and held out one edge of his gun staff, because apparently it would be a bad idea to make skin to skin contact.

He couldn't imagine why. Vaguely he wondered if fur to skin contact would be fine, but he had the distinct feeling that a hyperventilating, probably dying person wouldn't want to talk about the specifics of not touching him.

"I don't know where to go," he said, moving towards the door. "So you can hold on to one end my staff and I'll drag you with the other, and you can tell me when to turn."
 

Poppy

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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

Hari wondered if this small monkey boy would be able to support his weight. He wasn't that heavy. His doctor said he was underweight for his height, but he was still easy more than a foot taller than the boy. He checked the boy's grip on his staff first, and it was... surprisingly sturdy. He switched his weight from the door to the staff and found it was easier to stand that way, though his head quaked because of the movement.

"Thank you. I owe you my life," he said softly. He wished he was exaggerating. He coughed a couple of times before, using all his energy, pushing the dormitory door open.

...He squinted at the bright surroundings. Between the brightness and his poor eyesight, it was impossible to see. Everything was a mess of blue, green and white, though at least he was familiar enough with the buildings that he knew where he should go. He wished he bothered to put on his glasses before leaving. (Except they could've gotten broken because of the fall.)

Hari pointed left. "The infirmary's not far. We just have to cross that field and those... stairs," he said with a hint of bitterness on the word "stairs."
 

Zell

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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

Wei had faith in his ability to drag this guy to the infirmary. He'd spent his entirely life climbing and swinging and pulling himself and other monkeys through the trees as if it was nothing. And while he was willing to concede that this guy was probably heavier than him and heavier than any of his monkey friends, he was fairly confident that if his monkey friend stood on his shoulders, the two of them would be a menacing site, if you caught his drift.

Actually wait, no. He didn't even catch his own drift. He tried to imagine him and his friend Quxing Wong standing on each other's shoulders and only saw them falling over in a pile of fur and tails.

Holding the staff firmly, and bracing it atop his shoulder, he felt the other end suddenly get weighted down. He was heavier than Wei anticipated, but Wei was also stronger than he looked. Taking a moment to adjust his grip and settle the staff in a way somewhat resembling comfortable on his shoulder, he followed the other man's directions, turning left and walking across the field, feeling the grass still wet from morning's mist.

Admittedly, Wei had to clench his mouth shut to keep from laughing at the bitterness in the way he said stairs. Perhaps now would be the time to ask if he had a name, and if he did have a name, what it was. But he decided that that could wait until they got to the infirmary.

"My name's Wei HuSun," he said, eager to fill the early morning silence. He might as well just talk about himself for a bit. "I'm from China, from this city in a valley surrounded by big orange cliffs." As he walked, he paused at the other end of the field, awaiting further directions.
 

Poppy

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Mar 18, 2015
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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

"Hari," he said, thinking it only proper to respond to an introduction in kind, even if it was hard to speak. The place Wei talked about sounded lovely. He smiled a bit as he listened.

Hari had only been to busy Tokyo and New Dehli and, of course, Manta Carlos. The idea of exploring far-off lands was enticing, but he didn't dare hope to go to wonderful places. He would bring them nothing but death and misfortune.

They were nearing the field. "Continue this path, and follow the fork to the left."

He walked to the path's direction. The sun was getting hotter, and he could feel himself burning up underneath the thick fabric of his clothes. He wobbled a bit and stumbled sideways, catching himself before falling.

And then he felt something get sucked into his body — something light and tingly, and he felt his strength begin to improve even a little bit. He looked down and saw blades of grass, now dead, come into contact with the skin peeking through his sandals.

His surprise made him fall backward into the grass. The grass underneath his palms died in a matter of seconds.

"I...! I'm sorry!" There was surprise and deep shame in his voice. His blood turned to ice. He was terrified of how Wei would react. He never wanted him to know he was a monster.
 

Zell

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Dec 28, 2014
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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

Wei nodded at his instruction and walked towards the path. Personally he didn't enjoy the feeling of gravel and rocks on his feet. Even though he had developed calluses enough that it didn't hurt, the texture was not something he enjoyed.

He kept walking and saw the fork he mentioned come into view. Mentally he had to pause as he tried to remember which was as left and which was right, leaning towards the left fork when the weight on the other end of his staff was suddenly gone, the strength he had been exerting to keep it vaguely straight now sent his staff spinning wildly into the air, landing some distance away.

Resisting the urge to sigh, he turned to the person he'd been pulling. After all, they needed to see a doctor, and he probably should make sure they were okay before he--

He stopped.

All around Hari was dead grass. Where it touched his skin it was dead and cracking, as if it hadn't tasted water in months. Suddenly he remembered what he said about not making skin to skin contact with him. Was that what happened? Instant death, a dried husk, blackened without a hint of life. Wei could feel his blood rushing to his thighs and calves, pooling in his toes, his fingers suddenly cold as ice as every instinct told him to run, run away--

A bright smile appeared on his face.

His toes curled, itched, ached, needed to run.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked, genuinely concerned. "Hold on a sec!"
He went over to where his staff lay. He couldn't even feel it as he gripped it and placed it back on his shoulder. His hands were numb. His legs ached as he went back to Hari and turned away, tilting the staff towards the grass for him to grab on again.

"Let's get you to the doctor, alright?"
 

Poppy

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Mar 18, 2015
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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

It took Hari a moment to register that Wei wasn't running away.

That was the only reaction he expected. He didn't want to expect anything else, didn't dare hope —

His mother's blood was on his hands, and the old tree in the forest and this grass. He looked at Wei and he knew he could take his life in a matter of seconds. Didn't he have any survival instincts? He should run and leave him to die.

The beating of his heart rung in his ears. It was hard to think. Even if taking the grass' lives boosted his strength, he was still sick and dizzy. His hands trembled nervously as he reached up to take Wei's staff —

But he can't. He couldn't.

"I could kill you..."
 

Zell

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Dec 28, 2014
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RE: (OPEN) The Famished Ascetic

"I know."

I know, Wei thought, swallowing thickly around the lump in his throat. He shook his head to clear it, blinked a few times to clear his vision, and tried to get rid of the thoughts that were racing in his head. I know what could happen, every part of me wants to run, I want to run, I have to leave, have to, have to, have to--

He looked over his shoulder, half grinning. "But if I leave you here, you'll die, right? If I don't want to die, I just have to not touch you right? But if I run away, then you'll die here, right?"

Wei shifted the staff on his shoulder, careful to keep it from sliding into the crease between his shoulder and his collar bone.

"Just grab on. It shouldn't be too much further to the infirmary, right?"

Wei didn't want to mention the fact that he was so scared he wasn't sure if he could hold him up properly. He didn't want to mention that he couldn't even really feel his arms at that moment, and that it was taking a lot of self control to keep his legs from shaking.