[Whitetail Woods] The Garden (OPEN)

[knight]

Flitwink chuckled softly at the blue pelted mare, "Sorry, but I actually need you to suffer through that taste--it's gotta soak in to your throat and mix with your saliva to work properly--the tea would wash that all away." He tapped his chin, "But I suppose you could have a little bit of water, though. Nurse, could you get them all a small cup of water?"

The nurse in the room, who was just finishing packing up the four different bags of tea, nodded to the doctor, and walked quietly out of the room. Holly was having a heck of a battle with the pill in her mouth. Holly....couldn't handle anything bitter--or sour, or spicy. Her palette was reserved for the sweet taste of fruit--even hay, the blandest of foods, she sometimes had a hard time stomaching. She could not help as she continually gagged, sputtering the broken pill until her teeth were coated with the red substance.

"You need to swallow that, filly," Flitwink said sternly to Holly, "It won't do you any good trapped in your teeth."

Holly flattened her ears to her head, "Easier said than done...."

The very moment the nurse came back into the room, with four tiny plastic cups of water magicked in her grip, Holly yanked one to herself and chugged the glass into her mouth, swishing the liquid around, cleaning in her teeth and under her tongue before finally forcing the liquid down. As it slid down her throat, it seemed to make a burning-cold sensation on the sides of her throat.

She sighed whole-heartedly, "That was harder than fighting the FIRE!"

[Neoniie]

The white unicorn couldn't help but agree with Stormsong. The medicine may not have been quite as foul initially, but the aftertaste lingered and seemed to intensify the longer it remained. Though she wouldn't usually do so, she pulled a face again, almost as though trying to pull herself away from the taste altogether. She would have considered it undignified in any other situation, but the taste truly was terrible. Holly seemed to be having a rougher time with it than the other three, which made Flux's brow furrow slightly in thought. The pink unicorn had been in the most intense parts of the fire and obviously was affected much more strongly by it than the others. In fact, the scientific unicorn was probably the least scatched of the group. So, it made a fair amount of sense that she would have a more difficult time with their recovery.

On the subject of recovery, Flux hoped that hers would not take too long. Smoke inhalation wasn't exactly pleasant and even with the medicine provided by the doctor, it would make her work more difficult. A lesser point of concern was what exactly she would say if her father happened across them. He usually took night shifts, so the chances were minimal, but even so, she wasn't looking forward to the possibility. She just sat in thought as the staff worked and the others who'd battled the fire suffered through the less-than-pleasant taste of the pills. When the nurse returned, Flux trotted toward her to reduce the distance between herself and the small cup. Her magic still wasn't in the best of shape and Flux didn't want to push the last reserves she had too far. Once she was close enough, she used a very minimal magical field to bring it back with her to her bed and drink it slowly. It soothe both the ache of the smoke and the aftertase of the medicine, but in its own way, it had a sudden cold streak as well. However, it was perferrable to the other two sensations, so the unicorn couldn't complain.

She did chuckle slightly at Holly's exclamation, finding some lightheartedness at the moment to be much appreciated. After all, they had narrowly escaped serious injury or worse, the morose atmosphere had only really made the situation seem more dire. "I can't help but agree," she said, "those pills are certainly not sugarcubes."

[Doc Hoof MD]

Rain Leaf couldn't help but chuckle through his nose at the unicorns' reactions to the medicine. With all that had happened, any form of laughter was a huge relief. The ache in his throat forced him to let out a small cough. The two pills shot forward and the capsules broke against the top of his mouth as he tried to keep them in place. The powder stuck to his tongue and mouth, causing a slight irritating sensation. It was only slightly worse than what he had expected. It certainly was horrible, bitter. He could handle something bitter as long as it was helpful. "Simply awful!" he said through his teeth. He tried to use his tongue to move the powder around but that just made it worse. He quickly gulped down the cup of water hoping that it would drown out the clingy sensation in his mouth. It reminded him of when he ate a pure spoonful of caramel powder. What a nightmare that was.

"You know what, Doc? I thought my stuff was bad. This? This right here." He brought his hoof up to his mouth as a comedic gesture. "This is horrible. I don't know how you do it but it has to be an art of some kind."

The aftertaste started to die down and a newer unexpected sensation took over. It was almost like a minty feeling, only far less pleasant. The ache in his throat was still there but now it felt more like a tickle rather than a scratch. Unfortunately, one sensation was replaced by another. His wing and back muscles were still incredibly sore. There was no way that he was going to be able to collect or deliver any herbs like this. He fell back onto the bed for moment as he thought about his job even further. "Doc, you got anything for my wings? I flew a lot today and I can't stay down and out for too long. Um, can I get a refill with that as well?" He grinned.

He sat back up and laughed. "That was one crazy incident. I am just glad that we all made it out the tell the tale. What a tale!"

[Armony]

Stormsong continued letting the medicine dissolve in her mouth until it was completely gone, despite the overwhelmingly terrible taste and desire to spit it out. Once the nurse came back with their cups of water, the musician levitated one over to herself, intending to drain it all in one go. Before she could even start, she held a foreleg over her mouth and had another coughing fit, this one provoking a whimper as pain shot through her throat. This one lasted quite a bit longer than any of her previous ones, and when she felt something wet land on her hoof, she started to mentally panic.

She didn't want to open her eyes; she hid her hoof from view and took a sip from her cup of water instead, keeping her eyes firmly held shut. The other ponies in the room were talking, but Stormsong was no longer paying attention to any of them, distracted as she was by whatever she had coughed up. Had she bothered to take a look at it, she would discover that things were not as she feared; she had not coughed up blood, but merely a ball of mucus and ash. That irrational fear gripped her with a chilling touch, and she eventually fell over backward on her bed, spilling cup of water in the process of fainting.

[knight]

Flitwink merely smiled at the all around distraught reaction to his medication, but when the colt inquired about his concoction, he could not help but get a bit excited. Another herbalist, perhaps? How fascinating!

"Yes, it's made from a mixture straight out of the Everfree! It's the only location--in Equestria, that is--that these herbs will grow!" he explained excitedly to the stallion, "I grow them myself, my wife was an herbalist and magicker--she was a zebra, she learned much in her country--and...oh, I'm sorry! Here I am rambling! Yes, I have a salve you can put on your wings....I've used it myself a few times." He flexed his wings a bit to exemplify, and reached into a lower cabinet, pulling out a small lidded jar with his mouth, and set it down on the counter, "There you are, sir....So....are you interested in the art of herbs?"

Holly's attention drifted away from the distracted doctor, and caught the site of Stormsong collapsing back onto her bed. Her eyes widened and she immediately bolted to her friend's side, catching her with an extended forearm just before her back hit the bed, "Stormsong!" She looked at the blue mare with wide, worried eyes, "What's wrong? Are you okay?!

Flitwink, too, caught the commotion, and before the other pegasi had the chance to respond to his excited inquiry, he was at the blue mare's side, "Are you okay, young lady? Are you in pain somewhere?"

[Neoniie]

Flux was still amused to see that everypony seemed to share the opinion that the medicine was simply dreadful. Even she, who had grown up around medicine for most of her life, really couldn't just let go of the taste. Maybe it was the sheer triviality of it all compared to the four almost turning into very crispy ponies, but it just seemed much funnier than it probably would have been had the situation been any different. It was like how foals laughed to release nervous tension from the room, but the mare didn't view it quite as juvenile. Honestly, the unicorn wasn't sure where that train of thought had been headed and so dropped it at that point. Instead, she agreed with Rain Leaf, it really was quite the story to tell. Flux wasn't exactly the most talented teller of tales, but she could appreciate when one was as crazily dangerous as theirs had been. But, what mattered overall is that they had made it out and nopony was too badly hurt.

Though the unicorn may have spoken too soon. She had been watching the doctor and Rain Leaf discuss one form of herbalism or another and didn't notice Stormsong's situation until Holly had called out to the blue mare. When she did know about it, she quickly got down from the hospital bed once more and reached the edge of Stormsong's bed in what must have been record time for the bookish unicorn. She didn't chime in with the others in voicing their concern, but her expression was just as worried as the others' no doubt were. She hoped sincerely that whatever had happened to Stormsong wasn't something worse than what had already happened to the patients. But, she put little stock in hope alone and looked between at Flitwink and Stormsong instead, still a picture of concern.