The Abbey

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly pulled her finger back, scowling at the amulet as though it were an angry cat that retaliated at her after she'd attempted to stroke it. She held it close to her, letting out a hot breath through her nose, her eyes switching from staring at the dastardly amulet in question and at its wearer.

Florence stopped her pestling, her beak jutting to the ceiling in a moment of exasperation.
"She does not have sugar-sickness. I told you this." The mask jerked an angle towards them as she eyed Tilly, though her hands independently and worked to find a small, tin canister, "She is simply... parous. It is confirmed."

Beginning to set into a sweat and flush, Tilly huffed and looked to Lekalis,
"A phy... lac..." She attempted the word, and then promptly gave up. "Wouldn't it kill us, then? If it's... anchoring us and the like."

"No." Answered Florence presumptively.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

"You said she did not show the symptoms of sugar-sickness." He retorted sharply, leering at Florence before sighing, pinching his brow as he flaffed a hand at her and his words dismissively,
"Nevermind."

Lekalis moved on to cross his arms loosely around his waist as he watched Tilly try to pronounce the word with a small smile, before considering her words with a nod, and glance to Florence; he shrugged,
"At anyrate, I imagine that answer will be up to the Mystic : Find out why it hasn't killed us or otherwise proven to be... malicious 'sides some potentially coincidental and odd face-bleeding." He quirked his lips into a sassy smirk.

Then his features curled up into genuine consideration. Granted, a tasteful cut of drama played on the intensity of his features all;
"Why haven't we put the Amulet under an occhiolino, Florence? See if perhaps there's some sort of bacteria or illness on its surface? Maybe a poison..?"

//

[Vanitypirate]

Tilly's brows came together in a frown as she made some hazy attempt to follow their conversation, though her eyes felt sore. Her breaths came deeply and rapidly, as though she'd set into a run, and the air she exhaled was hot.
She rubbed her aching eyes with jittering hands...

"I do not own an occhiolino, but... if it were a poison or the cause of an illness, it would intensify your symptoms in proximity; you only worsen when you are away from the Amulet." Florence explained, uncapping the tin and shifting just a small bit of paste onto the powdery mixture in the bowl.

"I've been away from... the Amulet this whole time, and I... feel just fantastic." Tilly huffed, holding her head in her hands, elbows propped up on her knees.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

"What if it were... some sort of poison that makes you reliant on it? Like... Like a drug?" He tried to explain it as best he could though he himself found the thought quickly drifting away, and he lost himself before he began.

With a frustrated sigh, he shrugged and looked to Tilly with a sympathetic, though amused, look;
"Oh yes, you look just peachy love." He remarked with apathetic joviality, as he slouched a touch and reared his head back in nigh boredom, though in truth, it was strain and stress rising like the tide to the moon.

His eye looked to Florence, though he was neglectful to shift his moderate comfort to look at her properly;
"You're dismissing this possibility rather quickly..." He pointed out a bit critically, skeptically; indeed, he was brewing some doubts in the woman he'd just praised.

//

[Vanitypirate]

Florence's movements slowed and stalled.
"Addictions are not contagious. Moreover, were it a poison or an illness, it would be easily replicable and it would not be coveted. You would not be specifically hunted by the Gunsches, or studied by Cross, and the symptoms present in you would be equivalent to the symptoms present in myself and Tilly."

Tilly's eyes narrowed in attempted thought, but her mind was muddled with fever and her stomach churned. Instead, she quietly stowed away the names to ask later on, with a clearer head.

"If this were purely biological, I could cure it myself, without the aid of a mystic." Finished the Crowgazer, mortar in hand; she pivoted to face Tilly and instructed with a small, stilted, pointing gesture,
"You must disrobe from the waist upwards."

Tilly squeezed her eyes shut, supposing that she had surpassed the Point of No Return in regards to this examination-- and the prospect of cold air on her skin was all too enticing.
"And... do a little dance, too..." She found the breath to mock the good doctor, at the very least. Her face was flushed and damp with sweat and her fingers were clumsy in their efforts to first unbutton the leather jerkin she wore.
Sucking in another breath, Tilly added, "Can we please... lock the door?"

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

Defeated, but not satisfied; the Ex-Lord nodded as he bit his lower lip and looked away, to the door as he took some steps away from the pair. His hands went to his sides and idly fidgeted with the hem of his cloak, before taking mind to Tilly's request and Florence's unrelenting march to the deed.

He shouldn't have been surprised, yet here he was. And he was spiteful of it. It lingered just long enough, as he glanced back to Tilly and Florence with a quick nod, as he let his features alleive themselves to a terse smile and nod.

His boots clacked against the cobblestones poignantly as he ensured the door was shut, and locked its mechanism quickly; he made his way back, though he kept his distance, with the illusion of keeping an eye on the operation and the door.

Lekalis raised a hand to confirm the deed's done,
"Door's locked." He reported stiffly...

//

[Vanitypirate]

Florence stood aside, waiting for signal from Tilly before further intervention, as she had learned a valuable lesson on the important of personal space from Fenrik.
There was no haste, now; her condition had been confirmed as plain as day. The test spoke volumes, enough so that it seemed almost redundant to formally record Tilly's body temperature.
Of course, Florence would still record it. She was just aware of how redundant it was.

Tilly's fingers were weak and ineffectual, requiring colossal effort just to move. The intricacies of buttons and the toughened leather of her jerkin posed too great of an obstacle for her hands to manage. And, even still, she felt fit enough to cook in her own skin, and her gut knotted painfully into an all-too-familiar feeling.
Her eyes found Lekalis, at the other end of the room. Her shoulders rose and fell with each rapid breath,

"Leks'?" And she kept her tone slow, even, between each breath, to preserve her own dignity, as if she weren't about to display her own self to Roderick's killer.
Shutting her eyes again. "Could you... these buttons, please."

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

Stewed in his own dilemmas, and now roused by Tilly's voice, he looked to her attentively; his ears almost pricking up in semblence to his realization. He humm'd quickly, then seemed to realize her request, finally snapping out of his thoughts, he moved lightly over the cobblestones to Tilly's side where he nodded, raising a brow at her; looking into her closed lids, though he spoke to Florence,

"How much longer will this take..?", he asked as he offered a more genuine smile, waiting for Tilly's eyes, as he attended to deliciously familiar buttons. Even with the moment at play, he couldn't help but be reminded of yesterday's dalliances, and he couldn't fathom avoiding small grazes against her alabaster skin as he undid the binds of her jerkin and blouse.

"... A-and what's that your making?" He hazarded to inquire; having worked up from the bottom button to the top in a rather inverted manner, he finally finished undoing those requested buttons. Lekalis' hands moved on, though, to lightly hold Tilly's jaw between his thumb and curled forefinger; making her to look up at him as he tilted his head to one side in means of his own examination.

//

[Vanitypirate]

"Hmm... this examination may not take much longer. I wish to record Tilly's temperature-- this mixture I am preparing shall do exactly that when it is in contact with the skin-- and inform her of much of what I have told you. I will explain what you both should expect in the coming months, as well..." Plotted Florence aloud, already drifting closer to the pair to inspect her newest patient...
"...and then we shall eat breakfast."

Tilly's skin was hot to the touch and dampened with sweat. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled when she saw him, though her hands instinctively made to hold closed the front of the coat.
But she decided against it, favoring the relief of the cold air instead.

For all her fever, her smile grew playful at his dangerous proximity. With a held breath, she made to, rather clumsily despite the great care she had taken, to kiss Lekalis on the cheek, both to shock him with the heat of it and out of some instinct to show him affection in general.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

He nodded with some frustrated understanding, as Florence elaborated on her plans; reassured by some... small measure of planning.
"What... exactly is in that mixture?" He asked a bit hesitantly, as he eyed the vial that Tilly had drank.
"And how's it supposed to record Tilly's temperature..?"

Though, as he'd glanced away, there was a sudden sweaty, feverish touch on his cheek that, for a moment, shocked him. He stood rigid, then relaxed as his eye glanced to Tilly and realized the rather dizzy looking girl had pecked him on the cheek. With an awkwards mile, he tried to relax a little more... If Tilly was taking this so well, why wasn't he?

With a huff, he closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe. He should trust Florence in this but the immediate lack of transparency was rather new and unknown to him; he supposed it was expected with these less... apparent practices. Perhaps she presumed he wouldn't understand..?
The more he tried to explain the situation to himself, the more frustrated he became.

His hands pulled away from Tilly now, after the kiss, falling to his belt as he took some steps away for Florence to work...

//

[Vanitypirate]

"The mixture that... Tilly drank was a combination of dried livers of... eh, pesce spada and... oil of lavender, brought to a boil and then crystalized, then dissolved into vinegar. It is preserved for great periods when left in a dark, cool, space, such as a backpack..."

Tilly scarcely listened as Florence spoke; she didn't care for the words. All she knew was that her soul was meant to be entrusted with this doctor; her best intentions were to keep herself and Lekalis breathing.
Or, at least, she assumed so.

Florence's words droned on.

"This leaf is crushed leaf of cytisus arborea with mint sap. I have used it to record body temperature, as it changes color and hardens in higher temperatures... as so."

Tilly winced as a cool chunk of paste was globbed onto the center of her sternum.

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

"... It's not gonna get stuck, is it?" He asked, with some worry at first though amusement crept into his tone and into the corners of his lips, tweasing up at the thought of a bulbous chest-barnacle that changed color.

Though... the prospect wasn't as sexy as Blood desired of Tilly's breast, so his amusement swiftly returned to the telltale worry that plagued him with this pressing moment.

"How do... What does lavender oil do in that concauction?" He asked, his brow screwing up as inquiries started to arise, helping somewhat to alleviate the tension knotting in his gut...

//

[Vanitypirate]

Sat there atop the desk, Tilly found that this liver-potion effect she was under was getting quite old fast; with the novelty gone, she was left sweating, gasping for air, and dizzy.
To throw salt on the wound, she had her own self bared for this Crowgazer to see and throw as much goop onto Tilly as she pleased.
Though, she still complied in spite of everything, silently wishing for the entire scenario to just end.



"No." Florence eyed the blob with particular scrutiny, near poking the woman it was attached to in the belly.
"...No, that would be terrible." She answered accurately, curling a gloved finger beneath the dried mixture as she peeled it off; it had taken on a darker hue, and resembled cartilage in texture and elasticity.

Florence presented it to Lekalis. "Behold. She is with child."

Tilly rubbed her brow, exasperated, "I coulda... told you that."

Florence silently noted and proceeded to systematically disregard the statement. She shifted through her papers beside Tilly, and haphazardly in one of the corners, she recorded a number '5'.

"Lavender oil is a binding agent to allow ease of application of the reagents. Furthermore, it decreases stress and tension in the patient... and it has a pleasant fragrance."

[Bloodtrailkiller]

/Lekalis/

"Your gauge is ever impeccable..." He mused under his mouth, as he looked to the bulbous, discoloured ball set at Tilly's breast, then to Tilly, brow raised... Then back to the bulb, with his brow managing to raise even higher as he crossed his arms over his chest and covered his mouth with his hand.

With the deed done, its lack of fanfare was laughable; though, Blood only managed a scoff as he shrugged, and looked away, his hand falling away from his mouth as he leveled a skeptical gaze at Florence.
"... How? Because that blob changed hue?" He asked, quirking his mouth to the side and squinting at the predescribed dark orb.

//

[Vanitypirate]

"Indeed. It is used to determine if a patient has a fever, as it can gauge their temperature. And her sharply elevated temperature under the effects of l'accelerante indicate that she is... carrying." Florence nodded her beaky head; her fingers itched to gather up notes, papers, out of some compulsion to record what she'd known.
Instead, she set about tidying up her supplies and returning them to their respective places in her bag.
"Must energy has been spent during this trial. She must replenish this, as well as seek a cooler temperature to ease her discomfort."

Tilly threw Florence a sharp look, holding her jacket closed. "...Right here, y'know..."

Florence glanced to her and accepted this information. "Hello."