Many Places of the World

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[OoC: Don't worry! I roll with pretty much anything. <3]
 
The princess was saying something, but between the ringing in his ears and the commotion about them he could scarcely hear but a few of the words which left her mouth. There was something about not hearing, he noted; he only hoped it wasn't something permanent. Losing one's hearing, especially so young, would be devastating.

Before he could get the princess to more safe ground, the flames broke and gave way to a band of green-cloaked folk. No doubt they were attackers and the very people who had caused the explosion just moments before.

Meryg turned about when he felt the princess' grip leave him. Growling, he threw back his hood and snarled at the would-be kidnapper in the green cloak. "Let her be!" he called angrily, a claw passing the princess and swiping at the attacker. He snarled again, attempting to intimidate the attacker enough so that he might let the princess be. Failing that, he hoped to at least separate the two and make the Green Cloak fight for his mark.
 
The man in the green cloak stares at Meryg with terror filled eyes, no one in Roserust had ever seen something like him before, even out in the wilds of the mountains, so his terror was rightful, so he shoves Roxanne back to the ground and runs at a full sprint towards the slowly closing gates. He dives under the gate just before it closes and that's the last of him people see. Although a large group of people are now gathered around Meryg staring at him.

First she had been thrown by an explosion, then she had been grabbed by a strange person, only to be thrown back down again. She growls and throws her hands up in the air. "W-What the hell!?" The force of the push had made her own hood fall off as well and her very unique look was out in the open for people to see, though when she noticed she quickly pulls the hood back up praying that no one had seen the collaring mark around her neck. "M-Meryg..." She tries to hear her own voice, but since she had been closer to the actual blast than he had she still couldn't hear.

She takes a deep breath and tries to calm herself not really letting Meryg know she couldn't hear her own voice, but she felt it vibrate from her throat. "The fire is spreading quickly, it's going to catch that sweets shop, see if he's okay in there if you're not afraid to help me out a little here and bring him out if you can. I'll try and get help and water for the fire." There were two groups of people at this point, ones who were helping to attempt to tame the flame and the other group were staring at the gnoll and the hooded Princess. Roxanne turns those strange duel colored eyes of hers on the people gawking and yells at them. "Quit standing there staring! Help the others out!" Once she yelled, in the most commanding tone possible for her they scattered and finally went about helping to attempt to put out the flames although it wasn't helping too much it was dampening the fire.
 
"Go back to the castle, Princess," he suggested, if in a bit of a demanding tone. "You're not safe out here. You go back, I'll help here."

He didn't wait for her to argue. Instead, the gnoll hurried to the sweets shop so that he might make certain that the old man, Roxanne's grandfather, was all right. Whether or not the princess heeded his words was to be seen; however, he very much doubted that she would do what he said. After all, he was no one to tell her what to do with herself.

The gnoll moved through the doorway of the shop quickly, taking a moment to cough a bit of the smoke-corrupted air from his lungs. He panted lightly. "Come with me," he muttered. The building creaked a bit; it seemed the fire had already began its work on the shop in some form. "The roof," he muttered to himself. There was no doubt in Meryg's mind that floating tinder from the other building had landed upon the shop's roof. He only hoped the flames would be quenched quickly enough that they did not spread to more of the city's buildings.

"Come! By order of the Princess," he reiterated, opening the door so that the old man might escape lest his shop become his tomb.
 
Roxanne hadn't heard the command, hadn't had any idea that Meryg had even spoke to her, she was directing the dousing of the flames; now aided by a long hose that spewed water in large amounts, the fires were beginning to die but they were also spreading quickly between the buildings. Roxanne curses under her breath, sounding for all the world like a sailor at this point before turning her attention to two other pipe-like objects that they could pull water from. "Cut off the flames, we have to stop them!" The large groups; with many more people added now, split off and attach two more hoses to cut the water off, finally they began to bring the fire under control.

Inside the sweets shop the old man had been found hacking and wheezing, on the verge of death, but had managed to stumble out when Meryg found him and he fell to the steel ground coughing only to be scooped out by a small group of men and takes them off down the road somewhere. A stranger calls to the gnoll though, "Thank you! Everyone likes this old man, so I've got to thank you." The stranger runs off after the group that took the old man.

After they tirelessly work for awhile the flames are finally controlled reduced to smoldering remains, though some of the shops still remain partially in tact most of them don't. She sighs and sits on the ground muttering something under her breath that she can't hear. "This was terrible..." She knew what she said, because she had thought it first but what she thought was muttering was more of a yell. Trying to ignore her lack of hearing she shakes her head and stands up looking around for Meryg.
 
The gnoll had left the sweets shop and gone in another direction, helping a group of do-gooders to quell the flames on another nearby building. He was better used there than back at the epicenter of the blast, he thought.

The flames died, as flames do after some time, and Meryg made his way back to where he had left Roxanne. He saw her as he came up the street and offered a raised hand as a greeting to her. She had not listened to him, or else not heard him now that he thought about it, for the princess had not gone back to the safety of the castle as he had bid. Still, she was safe enough; that was good.

Meryg looked at her for a moment when he walked up to her. He let out a deep breath and pulled the princess into a light hug. "Are you all right?" he asked, leaning down to her eye level. He clapped his hands beside one of her ears, frowning.
 
Roxanne found Meryg quickly and watched him help the others around, now that it was calmer people began to gawk at him once more and especially when he hugged Roxanne; who's hood had fallen again. She tried to read Meryg's lips but made a face when she couldn't understand him. I don't like this at all...are my ears going to recover...? The clap is unheard, so she doesn't even flinch just staring at Meryg. "I don't think I'm okay right now...I've got to report to my mother and father though...Oh god...they're going to be so angry..." She rubs her neck a bit staring at the ground, this had been a mistake, she knew it. At the moment she was thankful she couldn't hear. "D-Don't tell...mom and dad I can't hear please?" She gives him a pleading look her cyan blue and lime green eyes looking really sad.

Somewhere in Roxanne's head she knows that Meryg won't abide by her wish, but she still had to try, she didn't want to see the looks of disappointment and worry on their faces. She would rather them be angry at her, she had done exactly what they hadn't wanted her to, so on some level, Roxanne felt she kind of deserved the issue she faced currently. "If you decide...to tell them though, don't worry, I won't be upset. Um...thanks for helping me by the way...I know you saved me from that green cloaked weirdo, I didn't even know who he was...but I have to report them to my dad. They'll likely ask for your help in finding them, since you're the one who saw them most clearly. So...I've got a question, do you have a good sense of smell?" She kind of raised her voice not meaning to yell at him but since she couldn't hear herself she couldn't control her voice well.
 
Meryg looked about at the gawking townsfolk. He wasn't entirely worried about them; rather, he was worried for Roxanne's well being. He scooped the princess up with relative ease; a human's weight in general not much for a gnoll to carry, much less the young woman's weight, for he thought she could use the rest in her state.

He did not speak--there was no use in it. Rather that the gnoll gave but a simple, smile punctuated nod at her question regarding his sense of smell. The air at the moment was heavy with soot and flame, but he thought he would do fine to locate the ne'er do wells in question.

The gnoll kept walking, retracing their steps back to the castle. This, he thought, would be very unhappy news for the king and queen.



[OoC: I hope you don't mind the pick-up. I just hated for him to be all 'you just got blown up, now walk on your own' about things. xD He's a nicer guy than that. Usually.]
 
(No it's fine! I'm quite fond of how we've been playing this, you're character is interesting... -has been working on a gnoll in secret because of you- <w<; Actually...I recalled another character that I made that would have suited with your gnoll so much better; though I only recalled her recently...)

Roxanne squeaks a bit as she's scooped up and a dark blush colors her face at being carried so easily. She had known when she met him that he was strong but it still caught her off guard. Eventually though she sighs and just deals with it glancing up at the sky above the darkening city; it was twilight now and she couldn't believe that it was so late already; the way she leans back in his arms to look at the sky makes it a little more difficult to carry her because of how she leans but she doesn't move willingly until they arrive at the castle.

With an audible gulp she lightly pushes herself out of his arms and walks up to the front gate, saying in a clear audible voice; slightly more controlled than how she had been recently, "I am Princess Roxanne...Let me and my body guard into the castle, and say nothing of his appearance I care not for the comments." The guards are stunned but those eyes of hers and that hair, no one could mistake her for being anyone else but Roxanne; the mark around her neck helped too.

The guards let her in and she quickly strides forward going in the front door with a purpose, she walks up to her stunned parents and announces her report. "I have awful news from the city, Mother, Father...There's been an attack, far worse than what's been happening, multiple shops were lost, if there were lives lost I don't know but...Mom...I met my Grandfather, you should go and see him, he was harmed in the fires."

Her parents launch from their chairs and yell at her; she can't hear it but she knows Meryg would hear what they said, "What the hell Roxanne?! Why were you outside?! We've told you multiple times to never go out!!" That's her father, her mother is more concerned with Roxanne's burned ears and her own father.

"Roxanne...ho...how close were you to the explosion!? Oh dear gods...Is my father okay? I-I can't just stay here right now love, you handle our troublesome daughter and that Meryg fellow..." Well that didn't bode well for Meryg, hopefully it wouldn't be so terrible. Hearing this Roxanne had already decided to defend her new friend no matter what her father said. "I'm leaving love...I'll be back!" Roseanne rushes out of the castle and towards the smoke.
 
Meryg slightly winced at the way he was called "that fellow" by the queen. He could not blame the woman for being angry, but he would not hesitate to defend himself both verbally and physically should the need arise. He only wished his spear wasn't still on the balcony in Roxanne's quarters. He cursed inwardly at himself for leaving it behind. He began to speak as the queen hurriedly left the room; however, she was gone before anything could be said regarding her father and the fire.

"Your daughter needs examining, Your Highness," he said, taking a step forward. "I'm worried for her hearing; she was closer to the building than I myself was when it went up in flames. I wanted to tell the queen, but she left before I could manage it; her father's fine. I brought him out of his shop myself. He's got no more than smoke in his lungs, as we all did down there."

Frowning, he took another step forward. "You've every right to be angry, but don't punish her further than the blast did. I should have been more attentive. I should have noticed the air sooner. Five-Hells, I should have not let her leave; it's not something princesses tend to do. Blame me for this; not the princess."

He steeled himself and furrowed his brow, his mouth pulled into a tight line. He only hoped, if the king did punish him (for whatever reason), that it would not be so terribly severe that he would fail to see his home in The Plains again.

[OoC: Send a PM my way telling me about them both! I'd love to hear about them. Hell, maybe we can even get another RP going in addition to this one. I'd be up for that. I've got a few different ways of playing Meryg still, so that'd keep him fresh for you if you think you'd be interested in it.]
 
(Okay, I think it'll be fun to tell you about those two characters~ <3 Also...Ignore the 'she heard that' comment in the previous post. I lost train of my thoughts. >.<; )

Angrily her Father listens to the gnoll, but slowly, he calms down. "No." He finally says and it's unclear what he means until he speaks more. "No, it's her own fault for wandering off, even if she's an adult by rights...she's a Princess first and she should have known better. Thank you...Meryg, for taking care of her and my wife's father, she'd be heart broken if he died." He glares at Roxanne though and smacks her on the head for having made the stupid decision that could have made her lose her hearing. "Oh if you could hear me right now..." He sounded more than angry, he was furious with her and Roxanne could feel it.

Feeling shy and upset; even though she hadn't been told directly what he had said she had an idea, simply because it was her father, she knew him well though most of Roxanne's own personality came from her mother's side of the family. "L-Look...I can't hear but I'm sorry okay...I just...I just wanted to look, I didn't think I'd come to harm..." It's quiet, almost too quiet for normal people to hear but her father is right by her side and hears her well enough.

Roxanne's father growls somewhere in his throat and gestures to Meryg, "She said someone attacked, who Meryg? If you can help us find them I would appreciate it, but first come with me. We are going to escort little miss here to the infirmary."

As he starts to walk forward Roxanne easily falls into step behind her father while holding out her hand with a piece of green clothe in it. "Father...I got this from the man before he left, it should help...Um Meryg has a good sense of smell...so...It should help." She says nothing else as she's walked up one flight of stairs and into a room with a man sitting at his desk in the room, the man turns to look at them and blinks repeatedly as if in disbelief but says nothing instead gesturing to both Meryg and Roxanne to sit on the little beds in the room.

"You." The man says and points to the Gnoll, "Tell me what happened to the Princess and yourself. I know you've probably told many others in the past few minutes but to have any idea what to do for you both I need to know what happened, and don't fight with me, we have pets here so you shouldn't be too hard to examine...though you are big..." The doctor looks him up and down still with shocked eyes but his motions were flawless in the way he did a doctor's duty.
 
The gnoll nodded to the king. "I don't know what I can do, but I'll try as long as I'm still here." He took the piece of fabric from Roxanne and looked it over for a moment before quietly sniffing at the fabric. Though it mostly smelled of singed cloth and smoke, he could pull something else out of the fabric. It was a light scent, an earthy scent, and he was no stranger to it at all. "Fine dirt. Nearly sand, like dust. It's different than clay or mud. It's lighter," he murmured, shrugging his shoulders. "It was a male who wore this cloak, that much I can tell as well." Shaking his head, he shrugged again.

Once inside the infirmary and seated, the gnoll's mind wandered to thinking about if he himself had been harmed at all in the explosion. His ears were no longer ringing and, after a brief feel-up of his own body, he noted that he had no substantial wounds. "Firstly," he half-growled, "I'm no pet. You're no doctor if you speak to patients that way, either. Secondly, other than some singed fur and a cut here or there I'm fine; I've had worse from walking through the market."

With that he stood. "See to the princess. Her hearing's not well."

[OoC: No worries. It happens.]
 
The doctor simply shrugs at Meryg before going over to Roxanne and examining the inside of her ears. He does this multiple times not making an expression at all until he sits back in his chair pulling away from the Princess. "This...isn't good...The damage is quite extensive...I'm not sure...she'll recover her hearing at all." The doctor's news was grim although Roxanne hadn't heard it herself she had begun practicing reading people's lips, at least while her ears recovered anyway.

The expression on the doctor's face tells her that it's not good news and she grimaces a bit before glaring darkly at something on the wall. "I can't...hear at all. Dad..." She whined a little sounding close to tears but managed to keep herself from crying even though she was shaking like a leaf at this point. Her father was unfortunately stone still, not sure what to do for Roxanne except give her a light hug.

"I'm sure there's something that can help...there has to be..." The king mumbled a bit, he was feeling his heart break a little bit at a time until he realized that despite the fact she had no ability to hear at this point, she was still alive and he breaths a sigh of relief before shaking his head slightly. As the King falls into his thoughts though a breathless guard comes running into the room.

"Sir! There are a lot of citizens requesting an audience with you about the attack in town just moments ago! You're needed in the Throne Room." The guard bows apologetically. "I know your daughter needs you as well but...the situation could get out of hand quickly if you're not there." The guard eyeballs Meryg but shakes his head and turns to lead the King out.

"You, Meryg, if I recall correctly, take her to her quarters for me, she needs rest!" That's the last thing one hears; if they can hear; before disappearing off down the corridor.

Now that her father was gone and she didn't feel the need to keep up a brave face Roxanne curls her legs up to her chest and puts her forehead against her knees, the shaking is indication enough that Roxanne is crying. It was frightening at how silently she cried. There was no sound, no panting breaths, no gasps, no noise at all coming from her. That was a bad indication that she was used to this sort of thing, crying silently so no one else could hear. The doctor gave no reaction just turned back to his desk and left the upset Princess and Meryg alone.
 
Meryg scarcely knew this girl well enough to have developed any sort of worries or cares for her well-being; however, something in him had caused that very thing to happen. He cared for the princess' injury, and he wanted nothing more than to help the only one who might possibly help him in his endeavor to return home. Even if she had been unable to get him home, he still wanted to help her.

Moving onto a knee in front of her, the gnoll raised her head and offered a small, apologetic smile. "I'll fix this," he muttered, knowing that annunciation was more important than volume at this point. He was unsure of whether or not she could read his speech, for his mouth moved differently than a human's, but he still spoke to her. "I promise you, Princess. Don't you worry, now."

"What can I do?" he asked the doctor, standing and turning about to face the desk-jockey. "There has to be something here. Some plant, some witch, something. Tell me!" He spoke more loudly, almost angrily, as he went on talking. He even went so far as to slam his large hands upon the desk. "What," he panted, "can I do for her?"
 
Roxanne stares at Meryg's mouth trying to read the way he talked. His lips moved far differently than a human's, but he was precise enough that she understood and nodded at him still crying but she somehow managed to smile at him. "T-Thanks Meryg." When he releases her she rests her head on her knees again watching the gnoll talk to the doctor though she felt concerned when the much larger creature slammed his fist into the desk and she moved a bit towards the doctor and her friend.

The doctor sighs and shakes his head, "I'm a doctor not a scientist, I use what's already available to me, I don't have the patience to research new things. There aren't any witches, there's not much magic here except for in machines and those roses that Roxanne herself grows, and she's the only one who has even bothered to study the roses. My guess though, is she'll never recover from the hearing loss." He wasn't a very good doctor it seemed even though this was Meryg's first time interacting with the man that was obvious enough, it would make one wonder how the people of Roserust survived, especially in this castle.

Roxanne hadn't seen the man's lips move but could sort of figure out what he had said, since Meryg had been angry...she assumed he asked if there was a way to cure her hearing loss. As far as anyone knew, there wasn't. This makes her blink though, how could she forget? She grew mechanical roses with magic properties. Her eyes go wide and before Meryg can intimidate the doctor further she grabs the gnoll and drags him up flights of stairs to her room and her lab. "Maybe...Maybe...one of my roses...can help." She mumbles it really quietly, so quietly in fact it's hard for even Meryg to hear her.
 
"The roses," he said once they were in the princess' laboratory. He had just barely heard the muttering words of the princess, but the thought of the roses had also crossed his mind half-through his intimidation attempt upon the castle physician.

The gnoll moved to the work area and procured a writing utensil and a sheet of parchment. He searched his mind for a moment, the characters of Roserust's language clear enough in his mind's eye so that he might write with them. It seemed the spoken word wasn't the only thing Roxanne's tea had given to him.

He passed the hastily scrawled note to the princess.

You made me able to speak and write a whole 'nother language. There has to be some mixture to heal.

As she read his words, he had already gone about fiddling with the roses. He gathered up jars of metallic dust and raw roses alike. He had, of course, no idea what he was doing, but he thought it best to get the process started.
 
"Be careful with those Meryg!" She kind of yells at him, sounding a bit more like her usual self. Despite the fact it had only been two days and twilight approached this side of the world, she had shown most of the sides to her existence. As she lightly takes the variety of roses and jars from him and gently placing them upon the desk by where she had worked on first the yellow tea which she had drunk and had given her a sort of telepathy, then the blue tea that she had given to Meryg to help him speak her language, and just a little while ago she had worked on the green rose finding it could act as a fertilizer to the other metallic roses. Roxanne blinks as she tries to imagine a pattern to the different effects, there wasn't really any so she asks him a...very odd question. "If hearing was a color...what color do you think it would be?"

The weirdest question to ever come out of her mouth to be sure, but it was more of her talking to herself than anything. Lightly she picks up a few colored roses and jars filled with the special dust that belonged to a rose. She picks up a peach colored rose, a brown rose, a turquoise dust filled jar, and jar with golden dust in it. "Could you put the rest back...? Please?" She had already begun examining some of the dusts with a rather dour look on her normally smiling face. It must really bother her, not being able to hear at all. If she found nothing she decided she'd have to learn to expand her mental power to use her telepathy ability in order to keep a form of conversation for her and another person. She didn't want that though, she wanted to be able to talk to people without worrying about yelling or not hearing them.

With a sudden grumble and a puff she shoves the thoughts from her head making herself focus on the task she was doing now which was studying the two already ground up roses a bit moving the dust around with her long nail. Somewhere people had to wonder how she could tell how one dust was different than the other; other than the color anyway, but no one was asking her right now. She seemed laser focused on the task at hand, although she felt kind of selfish she also felt like she needed to hear again. How else could she help people in need if she couldn't hear them? She couldn't expect them to write their problems down all the time so instead she glares at the golden dust on her table. "That's not it." She turns to examining the turquoise powder now.
 
After putting up the other jars, Meryg returned to Roxanne's side at the table. He eyed the roses and dusts as if they would give him some clue as to their effects. They did not, of course, but he had a hunch. That's all it was--a hunch; however, the gnoll thought he might be right about this one thing, if nothing else.

Reaching out, Meryg retrieved both the peach rose and the jar filled with turquoise dust. He looked at Roxanne and shrugged. Even if she mixed the two and they did nothing, he thought, it would be worth the try. Still, she could mix the two and they could do something horrible. He did not want to think about that possibility.

He shrugged again, making certain that she knew that he had no idea what had drawn him to the rose and the dust.

A hunch, he wrote on the scrap of paper from before. Nothing more.
 
Roxanne blinks at Meryg reading the note before taking the peach colored rose and turquoise dust, feeling experimental she goes over and starts a pot of water to boil. A hunch it may have been but it was a little more than what she herself could feel like. She'd never thought of mixing the different dusts, she felt directly mixing the crushed portions would cause something bad though so she gently takes apart the peach metal rose dropping the petals into the boiling water and mixing the turquoise dust in. It releases a clear puff of smoke as she mixes the two which makes her back up a bit sort of glaring at the mixture. "I...I'm not sure if that was good or bad..." She mumbles quietly before peering into the oddly colored mixture; it looked terrible, vomit like in its appearance probably because of the odd mix of colors.

"Well...Meryg what do you think...?" She sniffs the odd mixture it smelled like raspberries and peaches; which didn't go so well together. She takes a deep breath while thinking about her options; though she'd probably wait to get Meryg's opinion before she decided. Lightly she scoops out some of the liquid. "I wonder what it would have looked like if I used two different dusts instead of a dust and some petals...?" It's an idle science thought from her which was a pretty good sign that she wasn't really thinking about the fact she couldn't hear right now.
 
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