melodiesoflife | Leaving a public query

Characters: Cloud and Open
Where: At the Aqures Ixen bulletin board
When: 20th October
Summary: Cloud has developed a problem he's not sure what to do about. Medicine hasn't been helping.
Warnings: Icky skin problems

With things as they are, Mako didn't want to go delivering any letters so it was up to Cloud to post his query publicly and on his own. Well Mako was there, but mostly insisting that he has to supervise such things even if he couldn't deliver them on his own. Cloud rolled his eyes at his Moogle as he put up the notice, but deep down he didn't actually want to see the little fuzzbrain hurt either.

In fact, to make sure of this Cloud had decided to change his job. Those who have been used to seeing Cloud in mage gear will now find him wearing heavy armor and a gunblade slung over his shoulder.

To All Heroes of Light,

I know some of us are having problems with our jobs and some of us have also been getting sick. Has anyone else who was turned to crystal or got one of the new jobs also wound up with a black mark on their arms or any other part of their body?

I've tried using potions on it, but it doesn't seem to help. The doctors at the hospital don't think it's contagious but they're not sure what it is either.

If you know anything, I live at house A-13.

-Cloud Strife.

Cloud hung around the board for a few minutes after putting the notice up, just to see if anyone stopped by to read it. He stood by, ignoring Mako's griping about random things while absently rubbing his bandaged arm. After about 20 minutes he decided it was long enough and returned home.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It wasn't a long wait for Cloud to open the door. "Oh, Ramza. What do you need?" Cloud was dressed down for the evening, pants and shirt instead of the armor or mage clothes that Ramza might have seen him wearing around town. The short sleeve showed off the bandages wrapped around his left arm; they looked recently changed.

Ramza glanced at the bandaged arm. "Your message on the bulletin board said you had a mysterious wound that medicines could not fix. I came to check on you." He said it as if it were the natural thing to do, to check in on someone you met on a street one time.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, gesturing at the arm in question.

Cloud tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace instead as a brief pang shot through his arm, "Ah...yeah...it comes and goes." He tugged on his sleeve to try to cover up the bandages, but too much of his arm was already infected to really hide it.

"Don't worry. I should still be fine for my patrol shift tonight."

Ramza frowned at that. "Never mind about the patrol. If you are unwell, you need to stay home and rest." Yes, they were short on volunteers, but Ramza was not willing to force the ill to serve.

He hesitated. "If you are in pain... Heroes' powers have been returning. There is a chant I know. It might help, if my ability to use it has been restored." He would not cast it if Cloud did not assent, but he wanted to offer his services to the young blond.

Cloud shrugged, trying to play it off. "I'll be fine, it's just my left arm. I'm right handed anyway." It wasn't much of an excuse, his gunblade needed both hands to use properly. "Besides, I don't want to just sit around and hope this gets better."

Opening the door, he gestured to invite Ramza inside. The roll of bandages was still out on the table inside and he took a seat, "I made a promise a long time ago to rescue a friend if she's ever in trouble. I need to be ready. If you think you can help me I'd appreciate it."

Ramza entered into the house, still not convinced that Cloud should be going out in his condition. Still, he was not the other man's mother, nor his commander, so he had little say, all in all.

He took a seat beside Cloud, wondering if the friend he had promised to protect had anything to do with the flower girl he had seen Cloud's doppleganger take on a band of thieves to rescue. For all the loyalty he felt toward the Ivalice-Cloud, Ramza knew very little about him. The self-proclaimed soldier had been reluctant to talk about himself.

But no matter. This Cloud needed aid, and Ramza would not let him down. "If you could hold out your arm..." he paused, waiting for the limb to be offered forth.

The chant he spoke over it was a simple thing his lord father had taught him. The power did not come from the words themselves, but rather, from the conviction behind them.

[This move, Wish/Chant, restores HP to the recipient by sacrificing half that amount from the chanter. So if it heals Cloud, it will hurt Ramza, but not by as much. Ramza will not tell Cloud how the spell works, so he might just think it is a regular healing spell. You can decide if the spell works on Cloud's ooze-arm or not. ;) ]

Cloud nodded and held his arm out as requested. The Chant did heal Cloud a little bit, but only superficially. He could feel the tingling in his skin and it soothed some of the pain, but it didn't seem to help the corrupted flesh enough to actually heal it. At least some of the oozing had ceased, but it was likely just a temporary fix.

Cloud frowned as he looked down at it. "I wish I knew what this was. I don't think anyone else has wound up with anything like this. Even the others who died and turned to crystal."

Ramza felt energy leave him as he finished the chant, but he schooled his face so he did not do anything revealing, like wincing. His efforts had not healed the malady, but if they had helped relieve Cloud's pain, even a little, Ramza did not think his effort was in vain.

"When you were...injured...back in the factory," Ramza inquired, not quite able to say 'killed' out loud, "did you take any hits to your arm?" The oozing mess did not look like any gangrene he had encountered, but he did not consider himself an expert on the subject.

Cloud nodded in thanks as Ramza pulled away. As far as he knew it was something as simple as a spell. The freelancer did a good job of hiding his pain from him, and Cloud was well distracted by his own condition anyway.

"Uhh, not really. I mean, that guy's robot kicked me, but it kinda got me more in the body. Maybe a little in the arm but I don't know. Same thing with his energy blast, it just hit all of me." Considering he was the only one to develop symptoms like these, it pretty much ruled out crystal stasis as well. Maybe the new job was doing this? Or maybe it was because he was from Gaia?

"So it really does not have a notable point of origin..." he mused.

Ramza sat back into his seat, wondering on it. He eyed the bandaged arm. "Did the healers try antidotes as well as potions? It could be some unknown poison." Ramza knew quite well how the symptoms of poison could be mistake for other types of illnesses.

"Yeah, they tried those too. Their guess is that it's something deeper than just poison, but I can't think of what. No one else I know from Gaia has this and I hadn't heard of anything like it before." The problem was in fact the point of origin, but that point lay in the future of not only Cloud but another man in particular.

"I can manage for now. All I can do is wait it out I guess." He dearly hoped it wasn't permanent, but he had nothing else to go on.

Leaving a public query

Re: A-13

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Re: A-13

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A-13

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A-13

Sorry for taking so long