[closed]

[dontpokethat]

Who: Ginko and assorted people
Where: Various locations around Portland
When: Late Week 3 and early Week 4
What: After trying to kidnap a child, getting kidnapped himself, and having his face set on fire, Ginko has a lot of catching up to do.
Warnings: talk of aforementioned face-burning probably, others tba as necessary

[Prompts below!]

Comments

FOR ZECORA - after the rose burning (around October 18th-19th)

[dontpokethat]

Over a week after their last conversation, Ginko finally shows up to Zecora’s clinic. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he’s… not looking great. Besides being visibly exhausted, there’s gauze wrapped (somewhat clumsily) over his empty eye socket, and he’s actually managing to be more avoidant of eye contact than usual.

“Uh… hey.” Then, after a moment’s pause, “You did tell me so.”

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora sighed, motioning him back through the door to an exam room. "I wish I had been wrong. How much of what happened are you comfortable telling me?"

[dontpokethat]

"Um..." Ginko follows her readily, his hands shoved into his pockets as he thinks it over. It's probably best that he tells her as much as possible, but-- he'd rather not go over some of it, honestly.

"Well, it turned out the fae had, uh... planted a rose in my eye? Which was why I was... acting strange." He supposes that isn't much of a surprise. "A friend managed to track me down, and, uh... burned the rose out."

There. That's the short version.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"Burned it out in what way?" she said, holding the door to the room open and motioning her in. None of this surprises her too much; she's had a few cases involving fae magic before.

On that note, she leaned over to her desk to grab a lockbox, before she stepped in after him.

[dontpokethat]

"Uh, well... with fire." He frowns, thinking over what he remembers of what happened. "I, um... guess he used a lighter or something. Wasn't paying much attention to that at the time."

Okay, sorry Zecora, that's a lie - or at least the part about thinking Foster used a lighter is. But he can't tell her his true suspicions.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"If that is true, I'm afraid you will need further treatment, but -- may I undress it?"

She needed to redress it anyway, more properly, and examine the wound for any number of reasons, but asking was polite.

[dontpokethat]

That's not too much of a surprise, all things considered. "Yeah. Go ahead."

He sat down carefully on the exam table, and pulled off his hat so Zecora could get at the gauze and bandages more easily.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Her hands were gentle and firm all at once as she took the utmost care in unwrapping the bandages. This was, after all, not her first rodeo.

sorry this got gross 8T

[dontpokethat]

Ginko held still as well as he could, though he couldn't help wincing when she pulled the gauze away. He was just glad she was so gentle about it, it hurt enough already.

His eyelid, all the skin around the edge of his eye socket, was reddened and threatening to break into blisters. Inspection of the inside of the socket would reveal the burns to only get worse further back, the flesh slightly charred around the edges of the furrows where the rose had rooted itself.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora, being professional and competent, reacted not at all when she at last unveiled the wound, merely surveying it with very gentle pressure of her fingers on his cheek and opposite temple to turn his head this way and that in small degrees.

"This is not as bad as I expected, honestly. Have you been exposed to iron at all?"

[dontpokethat]

He relaxes as well as he can, letting her turn his head as necessary to look over the burns.

"Don't think so. Just the fire."

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"We'll need to do that then. Looking at this, I don't believe you need to have debriding done at this time, but we'll need to monitor that."

Zecora straightened up, moving over to her supply cupboard to start rummaging through it. The iron filings were right in the front, but the bandages she needed further in...

[dontpokethat]

"Well, that's... good?" It sounded good, anyway. He leaned over to watch her dig through the cupboard, equal parts nervous and curious.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

She set out on the counter, in turn, a bottle of ointment, a packaged bandage set, a little bag full of iron filings, and a roll of gauze. Letting the door bang shut on its own, she turned to the sink to wash her hands, then pulled on a pair of gloves in turn.

"This is an antibiotic," she said, gently squeezing some out as she came back over to him. "You don't show any signs of infection, but nevertheless, especially if we're unfortunate and a blister breaks, we want to take every precaution."

[dontpokethat]

"Okay." He nodded, then held carefully still. "Uh... is this going to hurt?"

Even if it would, he didn't have any intention of resisting having the antibiotic applied; he really would rather this not get infected, thanks. He would just also rather not get caught by surprise.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"It will feel strange, and tender at best. But actual serious pain? If you feel any of that, let me know. It means I will need to do some further investigating."

But the antibiotic itself was no primitive concoction, that stung to tell you it was working. And Zecora was both gentle and steady of hand as she began to apply it.

[dontpokethat]

"Alright." That was a relief.

Ginko held still as she applied the antibiotic, though he made a face at the strange feeling of it. Fortunately, though, he didn't end up feeling anything bad enough to be commented on, and stayed quiet throughout the process.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

No yelps, no flinches... good, good. "I don't think you will need any debridement at this point, but that is something we will want to monitor. I am playing this a little looser than I would like, since I suspect you don't want to go to a hospital. But you may need some imaging done. We'll see." She looked at him as she straightened back up, making sure he knew that he had best obey the doctor.

"Next, I'm putting on a particular type of bandage that is good for burns," she said, unwrapping them from the package. "They're cooling and absorbing, if there is any draining. After that, I will put this iron in a layer of gauze, then put a clean layer over that. The iron should quell any residual magic."

[dontpokethat]

"Yeah, I'd... appreciate not going to a hospital." He'd rather not suddenly have to deal with all that.

He makes a face at the mention of iron, though. Given that he effectively lived in a steel box until recently, one would think that it wouldn't bother him so much -
and yet, he finds himself not liking that idea too much. "Fine, if you're sure it's necessary."

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"If I had a nickle for every time I heard both of those comments..." Zecora chuckled, a low and rich noise as she gently applied the gel bandage. "Yes, I do think it is necessary. Fae magic is the essence of chaos. If it does not have a purpose, even small lingering amounts can cause a great deal of trouble. If it helps, think of iron as an antibiotic itself, except against magic rather than bacteria."

[dontpokethat]

Ginko almost nodded, but then remembered what Zecora was doing and held still. "Right... makes sense, I guess."

But... all the same, something about what she said struck something in him. He was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke up.

"Have you ever heard of... a kind of life that's not bacteria, or a plant or animal, or... anything like that?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"Not fungus, I'm assuming," Zecora said, gently layering on the second treated bandage. "I am not certain, but I think many creatures like demons or faeries could be that way."

[dontpokethat]

"Maybe... still not quite right." The last part was just under his breath, not that that made a lot of difference in this close of quarters. But those things were... something else. Not like demons, or fae, or anything he's seen here.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"Then I can't say I have." No, it didn't make a difference. She heard him loud and clear. "Or if I have, I don't know. But I have no doubt they exist. I've seen too much to doubt anything."

[dontpokethat]

"Guess so. Must be out there somewhere, right?"

They must be out there, he must have seen them somewhere... even if he can't remember exactly where.

"...I feel like I should know more about them than I do."

Or maybe he does know? He's not sure.