[b][h1][center]Shadar and Diane: Quite the Stubborn Patient[/center][/h1][/b]

"Are you done yet, Mister Shadar?"

[b]"Kid, what did I say about bothering me while I'm working. . . oh, and look out behind you. Sir Mauls doesn't like to be ignored"[/b] Shadar flinched slightly as the kid who'd been bothering him let out a scream of surprise when they found themselves being lifted up into the air by the Deathcrawlers antennae, returned to his place on Sir Mauls' back as he skittered around in a circle undulating his body so as to give the impression of a merry-go-round. The myriad of children on his back, having first been a little intimidated by the intimidating stranger and his strange pet but once they saw how harmless the both of them were, they quickly got over it. The children had come to the castle courtyard at the crown's behest(well, it was actually Shadar's poorly disguised behest to the king during one of his few moments of free time) in the spirit of the celebration.

While Sir Mauls entertained the children(something that was much to the displeasure and worry of the orphanage caretakers that had brought the children over, though understandably so) Shadar had busied himself in drawing and painting various portraits for all of the children from a local orphanage. When asked by the caretaker of the Orphanage why he was doing such a kind thing, he responded with a simple 'because I'm bored' and left it at that. Now he was about half way through the children after about half a day spent working, and he figured that he probably wouldn't be finished until well after the time the children needed to go to bed. [b][i]Ugh, damn this festival, and why did Cyril have to make it last a month. He could've had the same effect if he'd bumped it up by, like 3 days, but making this damn celebration last a month is overkill, I swear. If I wasn't damn near invalid at the time he'd announced this little tidbit, I would've gone up and told him so, King of Barcea or not.[/i][/b]

Shadar muttered curses to himself in one of the many dead languages he knew, making sure it was one of the ones with words too difficult to learn just from hearing them so that none of the children ended up repeating it. Putting the final touches on his current portrait, he took the canvas off the easel and placed it down on the ground with the rest of the completed works, having to move slowly and carefully so as not to aggravate his wounds too much. Just getting out of bed and dealing with the castles [i]many[/i] stairs had been a test of his patience as he had to move so slowly and carefully now, or else he'd be struck with pain from the shards of his exoskeleton currently lodged in his back. [b][i]Goddammit, is this what Vesta felt like when she had her leg all fucked-up? If so, I have a whole new level of respect for that woman, being able to fight as well as she did despite having such an irritating handicap. I wonder how she's doing at the school of hers, though.[/i][/b] Shadar picked up another blank canvas from a pile nearby him and soon began working on the next child, calling them over from Sir Mauls to get a good look at their face and profile before moving on to the drawing. [b][i]If it weren't for these injuries, I'd probably be over at her school right now . . . hell, who am I kidding, I'd be over there anyway, if it wasn't for Diane and her insistence that I lay in my bed like a loaf all day. By the Divines, that woman can be so pushy, I swear. And I know that she knows who's been putting those damn red ribbons in my room, but damn her for keeping it from me. If only Drosil was. . . [/i][/b]

Shadar's gentle penstrokes came to a sudden halt as he recalled the thoughts of his brother in recent days. While still trying to remain bright and cheerful amongst others, it was easy to see how bitter and depressed the summoner had become towards the world after the fight with the Advisor. Shadar liked to thing that this was something that his brother would eventually get over it, he was becoming less sure of that with every day. In the conversations they had, his brother's long flowery script had turned into short, jagged words that got right to the point, never once going off on the tangents that Drosil always used to go into on so many topics.  And while Shadar enjoyed his new found freedom to walk around, as limited as his movements were, he couldn't help but feel as if his brother's time spent locked away was doing him more harm then good. With a sigh and another ancient curse, the giant went back to his delicate work, needing to occupy his mind with something other than his brother's condition. As things currently were. . . all he could really do was hope for the best.

Unfortunately, free time with the children wouldn't be lasting much longer. After tending to the idiot (Christopher), she had been visited by one of the other reckless fools (Stark) and had to heal some small but numerous wounds for her. This had put her slightly behind, but it didn't annoy her as much as what happened next... Or, rather, what didn't happen next. There was someone else she had been expecting (more like two people), but they hadn't of shown up... So now, not only was she behind, but she was having to search for another miscreant.

The noise of Diane's heels clicking through the hallways of the castle was a well known one to the Sentinels, and those who heard it typically had a rightful desire to flee. After all, getting in front of Diane in these moments, as she stormed through the hallway with a look of pure irritation on her face, was a death sentence; being the subject of her death sentence was worse than a death sentence, and was often joked about being terrible for one's descendants as well.

Not that they ever joked about it in front of her.

She didn't find who she was looking for in the hallways, but that didn't stop her. She didn't care if they weren't in the castle at all, or if they were somewhere in the city streets, or outside of the Capitol entirely, in another country; she would find them, and they would rue the day they were born.

Thankfully, she didn't have very far to go to find her victim, as they were just outside. Apparently, Shadar was the one out once again for that day, and he had apparently surrounded himself with children. That wouldn't stop her, and she didn't care if children were nearby for what came next. No, she had red in her eyes, and was more than ready to use the staff in her hand and the ones that she carried to make an example.

[b][i]"You.[/i][/b]

Shadar heard the infamous clacking of heels long before Diane and let out a long sigh as it continued to grow louder and more pronounced, a sign of his approaching irritation. He didn't bother turning around to face the woman as she let out a single word, coated in no uncertain levels of menace, as obviously his absence from wherever she expected him to be had irritated her a great deal as well. Instead, he continued his work, trying to get the arc of this on girl's brow just right. She had a bit of a scar running across from some accident she'd had a while back and for some reason he was having a difficult time replicating it the way he wanted to.

[b]"Yes, [i]me[/i]. Do you need something or are you going to attempt to bore a hole in the back of my head. As you can see, I'm a bit busy at the moment and the last thing I need is distractions. Especially loud, bossy ones."[/b] Unlike a majority of their group, it seemed, Shadar held no fear of Diane, though he did hold some amount of respect for her as a healer, hence why he was curbing his gruffness ever so slightly for her. Well, that and the fact that their were children about, though he doubted that Diane would afford the same self-control if the emotions he could feel radiating off of her were anything to go by. [i][b]Divines be damned, Is one day of quiet too much to ask for. . . what am I saying, of course it is.[/b][/i]

While Shadar held no fear of Diane, she held no fear of him in return. In fact, she hadn't even been startled by his first appearance after all, so that fear had never been there. With one hand on her hip after she came to a stop, the other brought the staff up, using the (makeshift weapon and) healing tool to point at him threateningly. With how irritated she was, it was almost as if darkness was on her side, not Shadar's in the moment.

[b]"There will be no attempt about it, let me tell you. You're no different from any of the rest of the idiots; you pretend you're fine and do whatever you like, skipping even basic healing practices to do something else. Why do you do it? Masochism? To prove a point to your own ego? Whatever the reason is, enough stupidity is enough, so come along quietly or I'm going to drag you away in front of your little friends here."[/b]

Diane was much, much smaller than Shadar and that was an obvious fact, and yet when she said that she spoke with the utmost confidence.

A line of ink crumbled to dust as Shadar erased the line he'd just put down, still struggling with the damn scar, and still refusing to face the demanding healer as she rattled off on him. As she threatened to drag him away, Shadar merely continued struggling with his inability to draw this damnable scar. It was so close, and yet something about it was just off enough to keep him from progressing past it and onto the rest of the child's face. If Shadar had possessed eyebrows, they'd be furrowed with great focus and agitation. [b]"Well, while you're free to think whatever you want, it's not going to change the simple fact that you can't make me do anything and like I said earlier, I'm busy with something else right now. What do you need to do that can't be done right here? Just wave that tiny stick around, say a few magic words and be done with it. Give the little ones a pretty light show."[/b]

Shadar gestured to where the children were, watching the argument unfold from Sir Mauls' back, who was also watching the proceedings with rapt attention. A few chattering clicks were sent Shadar's way and quickly met with a stubborn grunt. 

Diane didn't respond, not verbally. Even before Shadar had finished speaking she was approaching him, her eyes narrowed. The staff came up, held in both hands, and then swung harshly. If Shadar had been completely fine, it would have done nothing, but he wasn't. Furthermore, she had been healing him more than enough to know where all of the broken points of his armor were, and where his own carapace stabbed more deeply into his flesh. It was along his back, where one deeper line of cracks and damaged areas were, that her staff hit with a surprising amount of accuracy. Pain would explode through his back even as the staff shattered in her hand, and she reached down to the bag she carried to already prepare the next.

[b]"Would you like me to do it again? I have plenty ready."[/b]

Shadar should have been able to easily block the strike, even as wounded as he was. From the sounds of her approach to the swirl of emotions he could feel radiating off of her, it was easy to predict what she had in mind and, using some thinking, where she'd likely strike. A quick movement of his hand and summoning his Greatsword to him, and the strike would've been blocked. But Shadar didn't do that. Not because he thought he could take but because he didn't think she would actually go through with it. He'd underestimate how much of a sadist this woman was, a mistake he'd not soon forget.

The strike didn't cause much of a visible reaction for Diane or those watching the spectacle, but it obviously had a clear effect as the special pen that Shadar used for drawing had been snapped in half by the sudden tensing of his clawed hand when the pain of the hit ripped through his body. Turning slowly to glare at the healer with a single glowing white eye, Shadar placed the broken instrument gently back into his bag, shaking ever so slightly as he held in the torrent of anger that urged him to lash out at her for what she had made him do. [b]"If you weren't one of Cyril's Sentinels, I swear to the Divnes I'd. . .*sigh* fine. If you're going to be so insistent on it."[/b] With a muttering grumble of some less then pleasant phrases sent the healer's way from under his breath, Shadar slowly rose from his chair. Each movement was met with a wince of pain a Diane's strike had aggravated all o his injuries to some degree. [b]"You know, Diane, I've never wanted to strike someone so much as I do you right now. That is including the damned Advisor."[/b]

Diane laughed; she did so just once, and it was a noise of quite a specific, measured volume; one loud enough to drown out anything nearby, and show her contempt and amusement in just one sound. Of course, being Diane, she had to follow it up with a quip as well: [b]"You couldn't hit me hard enough to make me blush, so don't give yourself credit where it isn't due. Hurry up, I've already wasted enough time chasing after you in the first place."[/b] With that she turned sharply on her heel, and began to briskly walk away. Every so often she stopped and waited for Shadar as they made their way back into the castle and through the hallways, but she always did so with her arms crossed and an impatient tap in her step. Eventually, they had made it back to the room that had, in a way, become an unofficial clinic.

[b]"You know the drill; take a seat so we can get this started already."[/b]

[b]"Do you truly want to test that theory, Diane, cause at the moment, I'm much more than willing to oblige."[/b] Shadar responded to Diane's mockery with an irritated glare, wondering what events in this woman's life lead her to be a healer and cursing each and every single one of them. Following the woman through the castle was equally infuriating, not only because of the slow and steady pace that his injured body forced him to move at, but because every time he looked ahead, that damnable woman was waiting for him, the sound of her heeled shoe tapping against the stone floors of the castle only serving to aggravate his irritation.

By his side clacked Sir Mauls, who had become something of a helper to the giant during his recovery, staying by his side at all sides, despite the attempts of some to extricate the Deathcrawler or dissuade him from doing so. The many compounded facets of Sir Mauls' eyes were also focused on Diane, and whenever they got close enough, he'd give a very clear sign of his displeasure with the woman in the form of a spitting hiss, rearing up a little as he did so, seemingly in an attempt to intimidate the foul woman with his sizable mandibles. 

When hey finally arrived in the infirmary, Shadar took the position as Diane ordered of him, the walk taking too much out of him to even think about being difficult at the moment. The spot where she had struck him earlier felt as if it was burning from how much pain was centered there, and he wouldn't be surprised if a small trail of blood had been formed on the way up from the courtyard. 

[b]"Let's just get this over with."[/b]

[b]"I agree entirely."[/b] With that, the woman stepped over, carrying just one staff with her. Now that Shadar was finally here, she wasn't anticipating on having to break another one against him like she often had to do with Christopher, so all of the extra ones were left in the corner.

She stood behind Shadar, the staff held in both hands. For a moment she was still, and then she held the staff as close to the wound that she had hit as she possibly could, where her hands and staff together began to glow. Her eyes shut, and the glow began to slowly travel from her to him, flowing along the wound. With anyone else, there would have been an immediate result, but Shadar was... difficult, to put it mildly. Rather than the wound stitching itself back together in a matter of seconds, it just began to slowly shrink, so slowly that even as the minutes began to tick by it had barely changed at all.

Despite that, she kept up at it for as long as she could, her eyes shut the entire time. It took so much effort, concentrating this healing ability into something beneficial for Shadar, that her brow was furrowed and she even eventually began to sweat. The seconds kept ticking by-

And then, suddenly, she gasped as the staff simply dissolved away in her hands. With a slight tremble to her fingertips she pulled away, beginning to walk back towards the corner she had put her extra staffs at; there was a slight wobble in her step, though it was soon correctly. However, after she bent over she slowly straightened, and only then did she say, [b]"I'm done for the day. Go."[/b]

[b]"Thanks."[/b] Shadar muttered as he got himself, enjoying the slight relief from his pain. He took a few steps towards the door, rubbing the back of his helmeted head before coming to a stop at the doorway. [b]"You know you don't have to do this, right? It'll take a shit long time, but I'll heal by myself eventually. You don't have to pushing yourself to heal me. I'm able to walk around, paint, and fight just fine, so stop bothering me about this already. I'm sure you've got plenty to worry about with the Paladin's foul-mouthed little assistant."[/b]

Letting his hand drop to his side, he dug around in his pack for a bit before taking out a few rolls of paper, somewhat messily bound with red ribbon. Shadar set them on a nearby counter-top, and started hobbling his way out, his only explanation being curt and gruff as one might expect. [b]"Don't get any ideas, I only used this damn ribbon because it's all over the place. Might as well make some better use out of it then just hanging around like useless pieces of crap.[/b] And with that, Shadar left the room with a huff, Sir Mauls clattering along not far behind the giant.

If Diane took the time to look at the bundle, she'd find three pieces of Shadar's work, one painting and two drawings. The painting was one of the Princess Ayano sitting calmly with a small smile, the soft white of her dress and hair surrounded by a room bedazzled in the color red, the many shades and hues intermingling with each other in a vibrant array to enhance the innocent beauty of the subject. The next picture was of Diane herself, a drawing of her holding one of her rods squarely in hand, postured like a regal queen greeting her subjects, though the look in her eyes made it clear that she wasn't afraid to take this rod and beat you over the head with it if you drew her ire. The backdrop to her in this was the Barcean Blue, the symbol for the Sentinels somewhat hidden within the shifting hues that made it up, but visible enough to be easily seen once one actively looked into the background in order to discern the oddity of the patterns. The final drawing was a group picture of all the Sentinels standing together, surrounding their King with smiles and friendly embraces amidst a field of greenery. Unlike the quick sketches that Shadar had done for the kids, these works were clearly ones the Shadar had taken great time and painstaking effort into creating and perfecting every detail, making them look as if they were almost real.

Within the bundles was a small scrap of paper that read thusly in a jagged, messy script [b]"I hate owing people, and since I'm crap broke, these will have to suffice. Keep 'em, burn 'em, do whatever, I don't care. From, Shadar."[/b]

Diane would indeed look at the bundle and the works within, but only after Shadar had been gone for a few minutes, and she had recovered her breath after quietly sitting for awhile. She slowly stood when the time came, making her way over to the counter to carefully open what he had left behind; when she saw what was within, her eyes briefly widened before she began to closely examine each work, one at a time. After awhile, she ended up smiling as she rolled them all together once again.

[b]"What a frustrating oaf."[/b]