[h3] Helen and Ignis[/h3]

The morning had started like any other. Helen had gotten up, dressed, and was in the office back double check her equipment and supplies just before the first patient had arrived. Usually it was one of the band members who suffered an injury or some poor bastard from the losing end of a drunk's battle. This time was much different.

She just finished up weighing the raw herbs when she heard the door ring open. Her eyes turned and noticed when the girl first came in, all timid and scared looking. She looked only around eighteen with her shoulders covered by a shawl, her left arm hidden under it and seemingly wrapped in now dirty bandages. She flinched whenever it was jarred causing her pull it tighter to her body while hiding it. It seemed the young thing had been inwardly warred with herself over this decision as Helen could tell on her approach. The patient's head twisted about seeing signs of others about, her good arm held a shopping basket in her elbow, and slowly edged farther into the back. The girl's scared rabbit act was enough to gain Helen's concern. 

She turned to face the girl and motioned her into the back, lighting a lamp along the way.   Once inside she directed the young thing over to the table and made her sit upon its edge, her feet off the ground and more relaxed then before. 

Next Helen's eyes looked over the wound sharply though she didn't remove the wrapping. Her experience and knowledge flooded her mind, while the light illuminated the small room of her work area and showed her what she suspected. She lingered over the symptoms that indicated how badly the infection had gotten. From what she could tell the laceration was deep, possibly close to the bone, with a slight dark color and filled with liquid. Clear signs the body had failed to heal properly. Inwardly she sighed, the woman flinched when the doctor let it down gently.  

She chose to ignore the fading bruises on the woman's wrists and arm, indications of abuse, while her hand reached for one of her jars. Within it was finely grounded, yellow powder made from several herbs like turmeric and ginger. Both natural painkillers to help the inflammatory and ache from the wound, something that will do nicely when the wound was cleaned. Helen inwardly sighed, hating cases like this as she spooned two teaspoonfuls into a cup and removed the kettle from its heated rock. It was then she noticed something. 

It wasn't as hot as it usually was. Her eyes momentarily stared at it, noting the lack of redness and heat emitting from the surface. It meant Ignis was away when she needed him most. she hook her head, flinging some stray strands of her bangs from her face before pouring the still hot water into the cup and adding a teabag. Steam rolled off with the aroma following it, filling the small room. 

Letting the tea seep in the liquid until it became a murky brown, she moved onto the actual cleaning of the wound. She pushed in front of the patient and gently took the arm, removing the wrapping as she did. A putrid smell made her scowl, her nose scrunched up in disapproval, until she quickly discarded the nasty bandage. The woman must've waited a long time before seeking treatment. A fact that was rather painful to swallow on Helen's mind and made a note to increase the herbal painkiller in the tea to a higher dose. 

Any farther thoughts were stopped in their tracks when she heard the whimper. The woman biting back the pain caused Helen's expression to soften then reached for some enthol and checked the tea again it had turned to only a slight discoloration of dark honey. It would have to do, Helen thought bitterly with a frown. 

[color=f49ac2]"I have to scrap away the dead tissue and clean your wound. Else it won't get better, now drink this."[/color] She explained, handing the delicate cup, and started to find a knife. The dead tissue would have to be split open and carefully cut to allow the medical alcohol in. 

While she started to wait on the tea to take effort, she knew she should call Ignis as she would need boiling water soon. She breathed then focused her mind inward, seeing the spirit's given image and let it fill her focus. After a few moments of feeling the tingling energy fill her up, her mind gave a shout. [i][color=f49ac2]'Ignis, get your arse in here please. I need boilin' water!'[/color][/i]       

Ignis dashed through the city of Meduzart, invisible and unknown. Unlike the Humans who called the city home, he was not bound by walls, streets, or stone. If he wanted to go somewhere, he needed only head straight to it. He passed straight through the walls of a glassblower's shop, through a bakery, then through the crowd in a city street. The only evidence to his passing was a slight, brief increase in termperature, completely unnoticed by most. He had explored almost every building of the city over the years when he found himself bored or unoccupied, especially during the nighttime hours when Helen slept.  No matter the time of day, there was always something for him to do. He had relaxed in the fires of the blacksmith's forge, deflected the arrows of training archers to see their reactions, etched his name into the inside of a potter's vase while it was in the kiln, and all manner of other distractions. During one month, he had even cooked meals in a man's house almost every night and convinced him that he had a problem with sleepwalking. Ignis was particularly proud of that one. 

As usual, it did not take long for Ignis to reach Helen's workplace. No matter where he was in the city, he could make it within a minute or two. He phased through the wall, finally shifting himself from an incoherent cloud of heat into his usual translucent, draconic form.  He allowed his feet to touch the floor so he could walk, not so much because he needed to, but because he felt it looked right. [color=orange]"Okay, I'm here, I'm here."[/color] He said aloud, trotting over past Helen's patient.He glanced over her to see what Helen was dealing with. In this case, it was plainly obvious, which was probably why he hadn't been called sooner. [color=orange]"Hmm, nasty cut on this one. What did you need? Oh, right, water. Where's the pot?"[/color] He asked retorically before walking to the only obvious container of water in the room. Reaching a single claw into the kettle, he started to draw in and amplify heat from the environment to rapidly raise its temperature just below the point of boiling, then slowly heated it from there. He was careful not to heat it [i]too[/i] quickly, as Helen generally did not appreciate boiling water flying through the air. 

[color=orange]"I know I'm better at it and everything, but you [i]could[/i] do this yourself, you know?"[/color] Ignis commented.

[color=f49ac2]"Yes, but that means you'd have to scrap this out, now wouldn't you?"[/color] Helen replied with her usual matter-of-fact tone in Ignis's direction. Her eyes spared a moment to look at him in the eye, noting his form was around her size, then paused before she started to clean long enough to shift a bowl and rag his way. [color=f49ac2]"Now, can you fill that bowl up? She's got a nasty infection and it's festerin'."[/color] 

[color=orange]"Fine, fine,"[/color] Ignis answered with an exaggerated sigh. In reality, he did not actually mind helping with Helen's work. To him, it was another form of experience, like traveling and adventuring. It wouldn't be his choice of how to spend [i]most[/i] of his day, but she didn't necessarily need him a lot of the time. Mostly, she just called him when his unique talents could be used. With no further protest, he took the bowl, making his hand just solid enough to grasp it. 

Her point was made clear when a white puss flowed willing out, its thick liquid glided into the rag waiting at the wound's edge. Another wave of illness washed over Helen's face as she fought the impluse to hurl from the smell, her other hand poured on more ethol. Ignis's childish attitude had made her consider letting him smell the infection's racid scent but thought better of it. Mostly cause she wouldn't wish the disgusting smell on even her worse enemy.

She had started to cut which caused the woman to jerk her hand away. It went swinging toward the hot kettle and ready to send it toppling over. She was unable to get a hold of the woman's arm before it would meet the kettle's side.

[color=f49ac2]"Ignis!"[/color] Helen cried instinctively.

Ignis was in the middle of filling the bowl when he heard the shout. In that instant, he did not know exactly what was happening. Usually when Helen shouted his name, it meant he was doing something wrong, so as quickly as he could, he began to drain the heat he had just added to the kettle back to into himself. When the woman hit the kettle, the water was hot, but not enough to cause a burn. 

Water gushed from the small spout and the metal clacked when it hit the floor, the little steam still rising. Thankfully the lid was tightly sealed with one of Adonai's experimental seals but this was likely one of the few times it had completely worked. The patient's eyes widened in shock at the mess she had caused, her teeth bitting her bottom lip, while she turned to the Helen. It was little surprise Helen's expression was first relief then melted into  disapproval. Her arm snatched the kettle quickly from the floor before her eyes narrowed on the woman, her hips cocked and hands pressed against them. She looked slightly livid. However, this time instead of Ignis receiving her ire, it was the patient. 

[color=f49ac2]"Now, you could've been serious hurt! I told you I have to scrap away the infection or else you won't be gettin' better."[/color] Her eyebrow raised when the woman looked sheepish, clutching her arm tighter to herself.

[b]"I-I'm sorry. It...it hurt."[/b] The girl stammered making Helen sigh. 

[color=f49ac2]"Give me your hand, and we'll try again."[/color] Helen said calmly though her hips were still cocked in their scolding fashion, eyeing the girl should she tried to bolt out the door and vanish. Cautiously, she once more passed her arm to the doctor who started to cut away the dead tissue.

Before she went straightback to work, she turned to her spirit and spoke. [color=f49ac2]"Also, Ignis, thank you for lowering the heat. You did well."[/color]    

[color=orange]"Me? Doing well? Now that's new."[/color] Ignis joked as he returned to his prior task, this time moving the kettle out of arm's reach of the woman. He did not bother to actually touch the water this time, as that was just to satisfy his own desire to make things look [color=f7941d]"right."[/color] He could manipulate the heat of objects in an area around him, though it wasn't too great of a range. 

Without looking at him, Helen answered in a slightly more mused tone and her tone made it clear she enjoyed his joke. [color=f49ac2]"You were bound to get something right, after all Ignis. Just a matter of time you cold vapor."[/color]

Once again, Ignis filled up the bowl, then heated it to the proper temperature. As Helen was just starting to work, Ignis placed the bowl and rag down beside her, then looked at the patient with his strange, draconic grin. [color=f7941d]"Now, careful not to hit this one, unless burns came into style when I wasn't looking."[/color]

 In the form he chose to use, Ignis could not perfectly recreate the range of expressions of a human face, though he could take more liberties with his expressions than a creature made of flesh and bone. Even so, it was not ease of communication that Ignis was concerned with, but rather satisfying whatever whims and desires he currently had. This was not the first form he had used, and it certainly would not be the last. Through the centuries, he had taken on many names and identities, of both genders. He was chaotic in most respects, but for the convenience of his summoners, he could make himself reasonably stable.

Time passed while Helen worked, once in a while requesting Ignis's help to sanitizing the tool with his heat or get more hot water for cleaning the wound. She had just started to wrap about clean bandages over the wound, the woman's skin looking much better and festering smell gone, when hollering and crying had started. Helen's lips pressed into a frown when she realized it was coming from the front. 

She didn't like that, mainly cause trouble followed whenever an aggressive patient came in. And sure enough, her figure flinched when she heard glass shatter. Her nostrils flared while her temper seemed to heat the air itself, her boots trampled into the office's wait room and glared at the only two occupants. 

Her voice rose to impressive volumes when she nearly shouted her words. [color=f49ac2]"What the hell is going on here?!"[/color]

She slightly hoped Ignis would've known to keep the last patient back there. At least until Helen could determine the woman's name, address and amount due for the treatment. This might've been a low cost clinic of sorts but it wasn't completely charitable or free. Helen knew medicine needed money and wasn't easy to give away, hence her need to charge for it. Even to those who needed it most. 

Naturally, Helen's patient was rather curious about her doctor storming out of the room. She started to stand up to go after her, but Ignis had been with Helen long enough to know the drill. It was important for Helen to get paid, and near as he could tell, that hadn't happened yet. He quickly darted in front of her, the front half of his body floating in the air with both hands out in front of him while the other half shifted into a ghost-like tail.  [color=f7941d]"Woah there, you're, uh, you're not quiiite done yet. You have a...fever. Let me take care of that."[/color] He said, calmly placing his arm over her shoulder as if he was a friend.

Helen pushed the hard truth from her mind when her eyes narrowed on the pair. Nailtooth. She knew the blunder from stitching him up last week and from his stance, she knew he was slightly drunk too. Part of her wanted to smack the fool right on his ass but held back. More because she didn't want to make her hand sore or worse, damage it. The boy he brought in it was no older then his late teens. His face bloodied, arm cradled his waist, and hung between Nailtooth and the jar rack. It was the very one he had managed to send three or four jars crashing to the floor from. That knowledge only inforced her anger, concreting her price to be slightly higher, then trotted over to the pair. 

[color=f49ac2]"For fuck's sakes! If you can't hold him upright then give him to me."[/color] She said, her smaller body slipped under the boy's limp form. Nailtooth naturally shook his face and seemed to pale at her annoyed glare. [color=f49ac2]"Don't make me get rough, now sit over there and we'll get this boy tended to. I want to know what happened and then I'll give you my bill." [/color]

With that, she turned to Ignis. [color=f49ac2]"Ignis, can you clean up this mess?" [/color]

She wasn't happy as she knew Adonai had made those jars himself. Having any gift broken was rather depression, especially when she could recall his pride in the craftsmanship perfectly. While Ignis cleaned the mess up, in whatever fashion suited him, she prepared the patient to be looked over and treated. It seemed today was going to be a busy and unusual day after all. 

Ignis had managed to get the patient's body temperature down to a more comfortable level by the time Helen shouted his name. It was only a temporary relief, but it was an extra service anyway, so he wasn't bothered by it. He peered his head through the wall to get a look at the mess Helen was talking about. [color=f7941d]"You mean I've been promoted from bowl-bearer to janitor? It's my dream come true."[/color] He chuckled, though with Helen's current mood, he wasn't expecting a response. As quickly as he could, he rummaged around the building, searching for something in which he could put the glass. Given the small size of the office, however, it wasn't even a minute before he phased through a cabinet in the back room and found a cloth sack that would serve his purpose. He grabbed it to carry it with him, but accidentally left it behind when he neglected to actually open the cabinet first. Even after hundreds of years, it occasionally slipped his mind that something wouldn't always come with him just becase he was carrying it. 

Using the doors properly this time, Ignis brought the sack to the front room and started gathering up the spread out shards of glass into a single pile. Given how glad Helen had been to recieve them, even Ignis recognized that the jars were from Adonai. He had never really understood why Humans could become attached to simple objects. After all, they were just colored, orderly assortments of heated sand. Still, the fact remained that she was attached to them. As Ignis used a burst of heated air to sweep the pile of glass into the sack, his thoughts wandered on what he might do with them.

Helen was distracted as she helped the young man to lay across a cot, his hand held over his broken nose and desperately attempting to stop the bleeding. She merely shook her head. The woman's first assumption was that the kid got into a bar fight he couldn't win, but her first glance over made her think they were deliberately made. This reminded her of the last time someone walked in with injuries and she found her fists clutched tighter in reaction, not enjoying the memory one bit. She was grateful Ignis had decided to stick around that day. 

Deciding to postpone the boy's treatment, none life threatening, she turned to the prior patient. She motioned for the woman to follow while she moved back into the front room, the building segmented into three different rooms based on their purpose with a single hall that ran through all of them. It use to be a storage house for spices and other materials, but currently its interior was remodeled into her current office. 

She reached the counter, bending down to retrieve a piece of paper and quill. While scribbling, she kept tabs on the woman to ensure she didn't move to the door as she talked. "Whelp, now that ruckus is over. Now for the treatment, bandages, and medicine-not including the first dose of course- comes to this."

The doctor slid the paper with the listed amount across the surface. The patient gingerly looked down and her eyes widen, surprised at the expense, then looked at Helen with confusion. Naturally she nodded and continued. [color=f49ac2]"Yes, that's the right amount. That's the first dose though and your bill needs to be paid before I can give you additional herbs for the follow up treatment."[/color]

[b]"I-I..."[/b] The woman began only to be hushed by Helen, her hand came up in a stop gesture. 

[color=f49ac2]"Tell me your address and name first."[/color] Helen said, writing down the information and then added one last thing, [color=f49ac2]"Get some rest, relax and I advise telling someone what the...cause of your injury really was. It will save you much pain in the future for a pretty thing like yourself." [/color]

The woman just stood there. Her eyes lowered and guilt written all over her expression before she pivot on her heel, her legs quickly moving her out the door front. Helen telepathically spoke Ignis with a small request. [i][color=f49ac2]'Ignis, tomorrow or some time, do me a favor. Pay our young guest's husband a visit and... play a few pranks on him.' [/color][/i]

With that thought Helen returned back to the last room, leaving Nailtooth waiting on a chair in the main one. 

Ignis had looked around in vain for a while to find something with which to tie up the sack before deciding to just roll it up and carry it with him. Given that the quadrupedal version of his body wasn't the best for carrying things, he remained in his half-coherent form as he carried the sack to the back and stashed it away for later. He had formed at least one idea of what he could do with the shards. 

Once Ignis heard Helen's request in his mind, he quickly popped back into the room with a genuinely perplexed expression. [color=f7941d]"Wait...really? Are you trying to pull my tail?"[/color] He asked telepathically.

Helen gave him a serious look when her spirit's head came into view, her hands tending to her new patient, [i][color=f49ac2]'No, I'm not. Remember that patient we just took care of? Those bruises on her wrists and arms came from somewhere. My money's on the husband, but I could be wrong. Either way, a few pranks might bring a smile to her face and spook her abuser into not touching her. So for once... I won't object to a few pranks. Just be sure to leave their house intact though. What do you say, Ignis?'[/color][/i] 

Ignis crossed his arms, exaggerating the movement to give a sarcastic expression. [color=f7941d]"Spare the house? Well, that limits my options, doesn't it?" [/color]He said before giving a slight, more serious nod. [color=f7941d]"I'll see what I can think of."[/color] Already, his mind was swirling with thoughts on what he could do. If Helen wanted him to do it, then this guy probably deserved something special. He floated over to the piece of paper Helen had recorded her information on and checked the address. He decided that he could watch the man for a while to give it a...personal touch. At least, he could do that later. For the moment, there were still the rest of Helen's patients. 

For the boy, Ignis was able to make use of his unique abilities to help much more directly than before. His injuries were obviously from blunt force, which left the possibility of unseen internal trauma, so in order to check, Ignis looked inside of him...quite literally. He phased into the boy's body, merging with his body heat to get a look at his insides. Luckily for the boy, the worst of the injuries was a broken nose, and a few fractures on a rib. It was nothing that wouldn't heal on its own. After Ignis reported his findings, it was up to Helen to determine what the treatment would entail. In this case, it was just rest. Ignis reasoned that she probably [i]could[/i] have given him something for the pain, but after the damage he caused to her jars, he doubted she wanted to give him anything. Ignis quickly grew bored once his job was done, but after about half an hour, it finally seemed like they were out of patients. 

Helen was finally glad when the waiting room was left with only one man, Nailtooth, still waiting on her bill for the treatment costs. Likely to deliver it to the boy's father while he snored in the recovery room. She wiped her hands clean of the blood and stepped to the older, more scarred man, then spoke. [color=f49ac2]"Well, he's resting and fine within the  back room if you want to visit him. Currently I'm heading out to breakfast at 'The Pub'. If anything happens to my clinic while I'm gone, then I know who to send Ignis after." [/color]

She tossed the redden rag into a woven basket then moved to the door. Her mess in back was clean and proper, ready for the next patient shift after the morning meal which was just how she liked it. Helen paused only a bit to check on Ignis, wondering if the spirit would follow or wonder off again. [color=f49ac2]"Coming along Ignis?" [/color]

The doctor knew she didn't have to treat her spirit as if he was alive. Few summoners ever did, but few had ever been saved by their spirits and in some part of her mind, Helen felt she owed Ignis that much automatically. She paused enough to hear the spirit's reply.  

"I...yeah, sure. I'll follow around that lady's husband later. Besides, I know you just can't _stand_ it when I leave your side." Ignis answered. He did not keep his current form to follow, but rather he dissipated into a cloud of heat, then merged himself with Helen's body heat for ease of travel, just as he had done with the boy. Outside of medical treatment, most people found that terribly invasive (which Ignis felt was hilarious). In the beginning of their pact, Helen was no different, but by this point, she was used to it. One thing that Ignis' summoners always discovered rather quickly was his complete disregard for all privacy.

Helen felt Ignis's spiritual essence merge with herself, her body's temperature risen to physically prove it. In the past she'd first freaked when he did this without warning. His mental chuckles turned to slight empathy, or possibly confusion, she never asked which, at her reaction while he explained what happened. She slowly became use to it until now she merely brushed the effects off. Nodding in understanding to Ignis's words, she bade Nailtooth goodbye and exited out of the clinic's wooden door, letting the bell ring in her wake. 

Her eyes brightened when she spotted Adonai's image waiting for her just outside. In a few seconds, her feet had cut down the distance and her arms wrapped about his perfect waist where she pulled him in close. He barely had a moment to greet her before their lips locked into a kiss accustomarily expected from most couples. It forced her on her tip toes until she finally released him, stepping only a small step back, then replied. [color=f49ac2]"Ready to eat luv?"[/color]