|
  |
| Willowtree Hospital: Landing, Imperius |
| Temp Desc |
| Morning July 8th, 3013 |
Like all hospitals, there's a waiting room, and like all waiting rooms there's someone waiting in it. Michael is pacing, he looks ragged and exhausted. Anyone other than Johana wouldn't know, but Michael has been true to his word and has focused on his training and squiring with a devotion to make priests jealous. She's a tough knight to squire for when you've pissed her off as much as Michael has, and his appearance shows it. He does seem to pay his predicament any attention however, as he continues to pace back and forth, back and forth.
After a short minute a nurse comes out and speaks with Michael softly, he nods stiffly and resumes his pacing only to stop for a moment and get a drink of water from a fountain conviently placed in the waiting room. He can't sit down, not right now.
"You look like I feel." Kaedin says, having come to the hospital to see some comrades who were wounded in the fight yesterday, and whom has to be moved here to recover. He look at Michael, remebering who the man is, and having a mother on her death bed, AND Johana as a Teacher, he can't help but feel for the youth. "Are you going to be alright?" he asks, there is concern in his eyes, though most people don;t get that much from him, Michael should count himself lucky.
Michael looks up from the fountain and forces a weak smile. "Johana is working the tears right out of me… my father is with her right now. She wanted to talk to him alone." Michael then takes a look at Kaedin, remembering the man who paid for his drinks, he bows his head to him. "Thank you, by the way, for the other night at the club. I, didn't want to ruin the night's fun but I also didn't trust myself alone, you know?" his eyes roam over his wounds, "Are you going to be alright? That looks terrible, Sir Johana didn't allow me to fight this time around for reasons I'd rather not get into."
Kaedin chuckles. "Just a scratch, and I can see why she wouldent." he says as he pushes off the walk and walks calmly into the waiting room. "As far as you and Johana, I'll leave that between you two." he says as he looks the youth over, tilting his head. "if you get Johana's permission, why not join me shark hunting?" he says with a smirk, somthing to possibly take the man's mind off of thing here, that and he could hone some of that anguish, maybe not a real lession, but if the boy were to pick up on some advice, maybe it would help in the long run.
Michael nods, "It's a long story and one that doesn't paint me well… I'll ask her, but I don't think she'll be keen on letting me fight for a while. It's sort of a punishment to go along with why I'm in this predicament." he glances at the door as it opens. A man who's as tall as Michael, gaunt and haggard looking comes walking in. If it weren't for the man's near starved look and sunken eyes from too many tears, he'd almost look just like Michael.
"Your mother wants to talk to you, Michael." the mans says in a soft hoarse voice. Michael nods stiffly and glances at Kaedin, "Think she's okay with me bringing another? He's a friend." The man nods, "Should be fine son, should be fine. I have to go to work, they comm'd and orders are backing up… without your mother aroun.." he chokes off and fresh tears begin to roll down his face. Michael puts his arms around the man, "Dad, don't do this… you need be as strong as mom is being, as strong as she's always been. You cannot take care of her, if you can't take care of yourself. Go home, eat something, and then work on some of those orders alright?"
Michael's father hugs his son and then leaves the room, hopefully doing as Michael instructed. Michael then turns to Kaedin and beckons him to follow, "Come meet the woman who taught me the meaning of the word strong." he offers as he makes his way through the door.
Kaedin pats the older man on the shoulder as he walks past, it's not much, but Kaedin is used to helping people with their problems, even if it is a friendly gesture, in a way, it helps him with the problems he himself has. "She sounds alot like my mother." Kaedin says, which is a huge compliment as he walks with the squire, placing an arm on his shoulder, more morale support then anything else.
This private room is small, but there are two chairs next to the bed. The woman in the bed is beautiful, though she's bald. Stella Athyros looks up, he bright gray-blue eyes smiling as she spies her son walking in, and another smile for the man with his arm around him. She puts a fist to her chest and gives a soldier's salute to Kaedin. Then she beckons Michael forward, and when he moves to her side they hug.
"Dad said you wanted to see me? What did the doctors say this time?" Michael asks, then he remembers and motions between Kaedin and Stella. "This is my mother, Stella Athyros. She's a Second Lieutenant in a company of soldiers at the Citadel here in Landing. Mom, this is Sir Kaedin… he's… someone my knight knows and the man who paid for my drinks the other night." Michael, suddenly forgetting, looks at Kaedin for help in filling in the blanks.
"Lord Sir Kaedin Orelle, Pleasure to meet you Lieutenant, your son does you proud, and speaks very highly of you." He says, giving her a professional salute. His mother might have heard of him, or his Byname. He stays back abit though, here for morale support for Michael.
Stella smiles at Kaedin, "Yes, I've heard your name before. It's interesting that now is the time Michael brings his friends to meet me." she gives Michael a playful punch to the arm. "He's never brought home a girl, only a few childhood friends and none of them to stay for more than just dropping him off… " she shakes her head, and grins at Kaedin "Please excuse my appearance, I forgot to wash my hair this morning, and with all the sitting I've been having to do I've forgotten to dress for visitors." her demeanor says a lot about where Michael get's his distaste for hospitals.
Michael sighs at his mother, "I never brought over a girl, because you'd immediately ask her when the wedding would be… you'd frighten off anyone I'd have interest in." he states flatly, clearly his relationship with his mother is different than the one with his father. Michael moves to a chair and sits down, he chuckles as his mother apologizes for her hair, which she has none, and then smirks. He looks over at Kaedin, "I can't stand hospitals either, part of why I'm in such trouble with Sir Johana." he pauses, then looks back at his mother. "Well, the test results came back, what did the doctors say?"
Kaedin chuckles at the banter between Michael and his mother ,and he makes a mental note to send flowers to both her, and his own mother. "You look fine Lieutenant." he says, and does a stage whisper to Michael. "Lucky, My mother brings the women with a bethrothal contract, I say your Mum is alot nicer in that reguard." he says with a smile. On hearing about the test results, Kaedin doesnt look interested, although he actualy is.
"It's just as they thought Michael," Stella begins in an - I don't really care - tone, "Three, maybe four months left. I'm not fit for active duty anymore but I should be allowed out of here end of the week or just after." she glances up at Kaedin, "I've been fighting cancer for years, however there is no real treatment for the one in your brain, even with all the technology we have they can't just cut a tumor the size of an apricot out of your head." she shrugs, seemingly not worried about it, another indication of where Michael gets his nonchalance about wounds from.
Michael chuckles at Kaedin's remark about his own mother, "Lucky, I've tried the dating thing and so far I've gotten rejection or friendzone." he shrugs with a smile, then to his mother "Mom that's terrible, you shouldn't speak so like me when it comes to something like this! Sure, I've had a bolt nearly kill me if the two hammers to the stomach didn't. Had a sword through me… ribbon of steel in my leg… and so on. But of all the things we've both recovered from… this isn't one of them for you. Dad is going to waste away before you do, and I have a feeling it's because of how little respect you're giving this." his tone is strained, like he's said all this to her before, many many many times in fact. He's hoping with someone else here, she'll finally give and admit this isn't just a field wound.
Kaedin looks at her, and then to michael, then back to Stella. "Has she gotten a look from one of The Ring's doctors? My mother is a medical researcher as well as a good doctor." he says, offering SOMTHING. "I can't promise anything, but I can offer that much." he says as he looks to Michael. "I't up to you both if you want me to get in touch with her." he says, feeling that everyone should have the best possible chance.
Michael blinks, and looks up at Kaedin. There is a look, fear solid unimaginable fear, in his eyes and at its center is hope burning dangerously like a candle at wicks end. "We… they wouldn't allow me to help with the medical costs. I'm saving for my armor and horse. Sir Johana still says it's soon that I'll be knighted… how soon I'm not sure now." he shrugs slightly, and sighs. He looks to his mother now, silent communication between them for a moment.
"I would be very appreciative if your mother would like to poke and prod my brain. I haven't worried about this for about four years now, so if she can do something great but if not… there's no worry." Stella puts a hand to Michael's arm and smiles at Kaedin.
Kaedin nods and moves to the side, pressing the earpeice. "Call Mother." He says as a vid screen appears infront of his eye of a woman in a lab coat. "Mother, theres a person in Landing I think you should look at, she kinda can;t affford to be checked out on the ring." he says as he listens. "We can talk about that later, if you'll look at her… you will?" he says and nods. "Okay, just send the transfer papers here." He says as he ends the call and turns to look at the two. "All of it's taken care of." he says nothing about the payment.
"Thank you, Lord Sir Kaedin." Stella says with a nod to him, she looks at Michael "Michael, you'll need to tell your father. Also, I want you to spend some time with him… help him work on computers like you used to. He's worried about you, you know. He knew Roan, had known her for years before she was knighted… they even dated during Academ, for a year." she pauses and pats Michael's arm, "Achaeus hasn't met Sir Johana, and he's worried about your training. Your letters home aren't as frequent as they were, and you've been so tired and beat up recently… your father has never understood our reasons for being on the field. He loves us enough to support us, but he doesn't understand and that causes him stress he doesn't need." she finishes and looks at Kaedin, "Pardon a mother for mothering… Michael's a good kid, always has been. You know, he's never broken a rule before? He's never done a lot of stuff most kids do… Roan didn't force him not too either, she offered it to him but he never indulged." she pats Michael's arm again. For Michael's part during all this, he just sits there and listens, saying "Thank you Lord Kaedin." just before his mother had started.
Kaedin nods and smiles to the both of them. "It's all alright, allow me to go and speak wit hthe head nurse in getting you ready for transfer." he says as he gives Stella a bow, an actual bow, before he moves to head out and find the people he needs to talk too.
Michael bows his head to Kaedin, "Thank you again." he looks at his mother and smirks, "Dad dated Roan? Like father like son I suppose huh?" he chuckles softly, but there's a sadness to it too. He stands up and hugs his mother again, "I should get back, Sir Johana might decide I don't get sleep tonight and have me run laps around the falls again, or something to that effect." he shrugs slightly.
Stella smiles at Kaedin and bows her head to him, "Thank you as well, just wait… your mother and I will be having tea and discussion what sort of child you were, then we'll compare boyhood changes you and Michael shared." she grins in that way only a mother who's teasingly threatening, yet sort of not, can.