a tisket, a tasket, an angel with a basket?

[tryingitall]

Who: Balthazar, Mina and open!
Where: the library and the outskirts of town
When: Day 109, around nightfall
Summary: Balthazar's promised to try and teach Mina about angelic healing powers, because that can't possibly go wrong. He can also be found inspecting various edible weeds growing around the town and forest eaves.


On the one hand, Balthazar is as content in Kore as he has been in thousands of years. No wars, no bewildering orders from on high, no siblings murdering one another, and on top of that he has both mortal friends and archangels being relatively sociable. If it weren't for the looming fear of things taking a turn for the lethal, he'd be downright ecstatic to be here.

But the food situation is worrisome, and the monster situation is worse. He finds himself racking his brain to think of ways to keep the status as quo as possible. It's not his job, of course. He never signed on to play shepherd to a motley crew of humans and others, and most of them probably wouldn't thank him for worrying about them anyway. Maybe if there was enough alcohol available to actually keep him drunk, he wouldn't bother. Maybe he's trying to keep himself from fretting over how quickly and easily the people he cares about can be taken away.

Times like this, he misses Anna.

And so, he finds himself, circling the outskirts of the town and plucking what plants he can find out of the shadows of buildings as the sun sets behind him.

When it's finally fully dark, he crosses back over to the library, leaving his basket just outside the door. If anyone helps themselves to the plants, that's fine with him. He's not going to eat them, anyway.

He doesn't bother with a light once inside, sitting on a desk to wait for Mina. He can see well enough in the blackness, and presumably so can she.

Comments

[tryingitall]

"What are you swearing for? That was a brilliant beginning." He heals his own wound over and shakes his hand to get some of the feeling back. "You'll just have to practice. Probably quite a lot of practice, but you have the ability and the time to learn to use it. How do you feel?"

[primogen_vampirate]

Now that was an interesting question. Ever the consummate learner, Mina was naturally frustrated that she hadn't aced it on her first go. But all the same, she'd accomplished more, she supposed, than she expected.

She nodded slightly. "I feel...intrigued," she finally decided.

[tryingitall]

"Mind you, I still think if Raphael doesn't object to this project, you'll get better help from him. But I'll keep at it as long as you're interested." He curls and uncurls his fingers, stretching.

"Or...actually, I wonder if it wouldn't help to talk to Fortescue. I don't believe she does much healing, but she's certainly a sorceress of some sort. Her input might be useful. Do you know her?"

[primogen_vampirate]

Her lips twisted slightly at the mention of Raphael. He had been somewhat...uncooperative. Not outright offensive or rejecting of the notion. But stubborn about it.

Her sea-storm eyes raised with interest a little at the mention of a sorceress however. "No," she said. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

[tryingitall]

"She's very charming. As long as you get along with cats, I think you'd like her. She's got one, you see." That Fortescue's cat carries around her soul is not something Balthazar thinks he's authorized to share, so he'll leave it at that.

"Would you like me to get in touch with her and introduce you?"

[primogen_vampirate]

To some, it would seem old-fashioned. But Mina was still well behind the times. As much as she was ahead of her own time. Apparently. It was all rather confusing and she had far more pressing matters to set her mind to than that.

She dipped her head courteously. "Yes, I do think so."

[tryingitall]

He nods, approving of this plan. Fortescue's got a good head on her shoulders, and since he's having trouble explaining his modus operandi, perhaps she can bridge the gap.

"Perhaps we'll call it a night, then, and I'll get to work on that. I'll be your guinea pig another time, though."

[primogen_vampirate]

"It's not every day you hear a man say that," she quipped, with the faintest ghost of a smile.

Really, it was sort of funny, how she'd gone from loathing the man passionately to almost...well...not almost...begrudgingly respecting him. But that was just a further testimony to the mercurial state of things in Kore, she supposed.

Everything was the Doctor. Wildly unpredictable.

[tryingitall]

Balthazar's on his best behavior right now, which clearly he wasn't before. He's not completely confident he won't get on her bad side again, maybe even in the near future, but he'll take whatever approval he can get in the meantime.

"I'm not an every day man." He answers with a smile in return, and rises.

"All right. I'll let you know when I've talked to Fortescue. Possibly we can just meet here again in a few days." He offers a handshake. "A pleasure, by the way. I really hope we can make this work."

[primogen_vampirate]

Mina shook his hand. A good, firm handshake.

She did so enjoy being a gentleman, after all.

"I rather hope so as well," she replied. "After all. People do seem to have a tendency to get hurt around here. I don't imagine that'll be getting any better any time soon."