[Hoofington] Lost and Found[PM TO JOIN]

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Snow walked through the streets of Hoofington, her hooves aching and her good eyelid drooping. Her fur was strewn with mud, sticking up in tufts and red in places where there was dry blood. Her sides heaved as she struggled to breath, exhaustion threatening to win over her body.

She stumbled, tripping over her own hooves and falling to her knees. They scraped along the ground, but she didn't have the strength to cry out. She pushed herself back to her feet, blood slowly leaking down her legs. But she was too tired to care. She didn't even care that the taste of blood had seeped into her mouth. She must have bitten her tongue as well when she fell.

She swiveled her head back and fourth, looking around. Where was she? The motion of her head caused her feet to sway, and she leaned against a wall. Huffing, she pushed a shoulder against the wall to help herself get to her feet again, and she continued on.

Snow didn't have the strength to even hold her head up, letting it droop low to the ground. She swayed again, her vision growing dark and hazy. She was vaguely aware of a jolt that went through her body; she must have hit the ground. Her eye remained open for a moment, her head pounding inside her skull. Darkness surrounded her sight and mind, pulling her in as she fainted.

[Tempest Rime]

Lola had taken a day off from her research in Canterlot to visit the port town of Hoofington, hoping to find exotic goods from far-off lands that might help her in her search for a magic-generating material, and just maybe some fish to supplement the bland vegetarian diet she was forced to endure in Canterlot. As she flew, the scent of blood jarred her from her daydreaming about science, and she swung towards it, wondering what could possibly smell like that in a pony town.

She spotted the injured peryton just as the poor creature collapsed. She landed near it, sizing up its wounds for a moment. It had been walking, so it likely didn't have any spinal injuries, so the griffiness decided it would be safe enough to move her. She delicately lifted it up and managed to push it onto her back, wincing at the mess the blood was going to leave on her wings, but doing a good deed would hopefully serve to better relations between griffins and perytons, making it worth a little extra preening later on.

"Excuse me," she asked of a nearby pony, "where is the town doctor?" The shocked pony simply pointed down the street, which was good enough for the griffiness. She lugged the small creature into the hospital, depositing her in the care of the nurses and then excusing herself to clean off the blood. She wanted to make a good impression on the peryton when it awoke, after all.

((OOC: You might want to throw a dark highlight on your white text, so we can read it without having to select it. ))

[MyLittlePonyTales]

((Ah, thank you!))

Snow first felt the softness of a pillow under her head and the warmth of a blanket. She thought she was deadâ€â€Âuntil the throbbing in her head told her otherwise. She opened her eye, surveying the white room. Everything hurt and ached...but that wasn't necessarily new.

She tried to think back to how she'd gotten hereâ€â€Âand where she might be. She'd made it to a town, but... that was all she remembered up until she'd woken up. Snow kept her head down, hoping that her headache would go away. Where was she now? Maybe another airship... No, there was no hum of a motor, no swaying as it flew through the air. It was far too nice to be in Griffin territory.

Glancing around, Snow noticed that she was seemingly unguarded. Moving each stiff leg, she also determined that there were no chains... Escape was entirely possible, if only she didn't feel so nauseous. She could run out the door, past whatever guard was there. But she had no idea where the exit was. Anyway, this felt nice, for the time being. Snow lay, soaking in the feeling of softness and warmth for the first time in a long time.

[Dio]

Argent Rook wasn't going to complain. Work was work and having bits to put food on the table and pay for rent, however temporary, was plenty good for him. The clinic in Hoofington was nothing compared to the general hospital in Talonopolis or even Brandis Razorclaw's personal infirmary, but it held the simple rustic charm that most pony settlements were known for. As comparatively primitive as the clinic was, they had accepted him with open hooves. Trauma specialists like him were apparently difficult to come by in the Pony-occupied areas in Equestria.

Rook set his mug of tea back down on the coffee table and laid his head down on his front hooves. Aetheric medicine was exhausting work. After the last patient he probably could have fallen asleep on the break room couch for a few hours. It had been a long time since he had treated anyone with such substantial injuries and an even longer time since he had treated a peryton, if ever.

Of course, the nature of her injuries was most troubling. Far from an accident or a beast attack, the wounds looked intentional, deliberate. When the nurse first showed him the young deer-like creature, Rook had thought he'd be performing an autopsy rather than triage. The peryton had been lucky. If she hadn't been brought in when she had, the infection probably would have done her in.

'Doctor?' Rook turned his head to meet the voice of the purple unicorn nurse. 'The patient is awake.'

Rook nodded and rose from the couch, taking one last sip of his tea before floating the mug over to the sink and walking out the door. As he neared the bed, he could see the peryton tossing and turning before finally settling down.

'You've got a funny definition for awake, nurse,' Rook said flatly as he trotted over to the peryton's bedside. 'But it will do. Go ahead and make your rounds. I'll need to speak with her alone.'

The purple unicorn mare nodded and quietly left, drawing the curtain behind her. Rook sighed as he looked at the snow white peryton on the bed, her body marred with myriad scars and coat in complete disarray. Someone had done this to her deliberately. The scars would be more than merely physical. It was going to be a long road to recovery. He tapped her gently on the shoulder.

'Rise and shine, snowy," he said, unwittingly referencing her real name. "How are we feeling?'

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Snow's eye tried to focus on the dark form approaching. He spoke something, but her mind was fuzzy and pounding and she couldn't register the words. She blinked several times, finally bringing the pony into focus. A pony? So almost surely wasn't in Griffin territory. Hopefully that was a good thing. Snow hadn't met a whole lot of creatures outside of the forest that bothered to show her any kindness.

She flinched at his touch, edging closer to the other side of the bed. But her ears perked when she heard her name. It meant that this pony must know one of her captors and be planning to turn her in, probably for a reward. It must be the airship. It was probably easy to track her to this town and start asking around. After all, if this place was full of ponies, a Peryton would stick our like a sore hoof. But she decided she should confirm before she bolted. In her condition, she wouldn't get far anyway.

'Howâ€â€ÂHow do you know my name?' she croaked. Her tongue and mouth and throat were extremely dry; she'd had no water in days. She still felt rather exhausted, but the pounding of her head wouldn't let her sleep just yet. The sick feeling inside also wasn't going away. Her condition wouldn't make for a very fast pace, but if she had to, she'd try to escape again.

[Tempest Rime]

Lola returned from washing up and sat outside the hospital room, awaiting any news of the peryton's condition. She pulled a hand mirror from her purse, checking to be sure the blood had all washed out. Griffin feathers actually cleaned up fairly easily from blood, as they were a race of hunters by nature.

The thought caused Lola to ponder just what could have caused the peryton's injuries. She would not have been surprised to see something like that closer to the Everfree, or from any common brawl back home, but they were deep in pony territories, where there were very few predators.

She resolved to ask the peryton, building her already piqued curiosity into an insatiable force. She could easily have simply left if not for her curiousity, as while the creature's injuries had been severe, she was quite confident that it would live. She'd seen worse injuries treated without magic, and the nurse had informed her that there was a specialist in healing magic there.

She checked her appearance one more time, ensuring there weren't any feathers out of place, before pulling out a notebook and scribbling some notes on a device she had been working on.

((OOC: Lola's on standby, she'll jump back in when the doctor tells her Snow is ready, but go ahead and skip me freely until then.))

[Dio]

(( I'll do my best not to drag the conversation out unnecessarily. ))

'How—How do you know my name?' the peryton rasped, recoiling visibly at his touch.

The response both verbal and physical was fearful, even a little hostile. It was enough to give Rook pause. He didn't know her name; or even if perytons gave themselves names. Their culture was poorly documented at best and very ill-understood at worst. With no real anthropological basis for communication, he'd have to take it much slower. Since his only spoken dialogue with her had mentioned the descriptor 'snowy,' he concluded that it must be her name.

'Call it a lucky guess,' Rook chuckled. 'It's a mnemonic trick I use. I give ponies—or perytons in this case—nicknames based on traits I see so I can better remember them if I see them again. I'm assuming by your reaction that I happened upon your actual name.'

Rook paused again. He was rambling. This wouldn't do at all.

'Let me start over. I am Argent Rook, a doctor working here at the Hoofington Clinic. Please don't be alarmed by all this equipment and the strange appointments of this room. It's standard issue for most medical facilities in Equestria,' he said, motioning with a hoof to Snow's IV line, the curtains, and the infirmary bed in sequence. 'So long as you are here, you are safe. It is the staff's responsibility to ensure that.'

'So that brings us back to my original question. How are you feeling, Snowy?'

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Snow glanced down at one of her front hooves as he spoke. She was surprised to find something attached, with a line of something leading somewhere else. She hadn't felt it before the ponyâ€â€this, Argentrook, as he saidâ€â€had pointed it out.

He also said a lot of words she didn't understand. And though he reassured her not to be alarmed, that's exactly what his words did. Where was she? Why was she here? Perhaps she was a test subject, brought here for experimentation. They'd probably shave off fur samples, cut her horns again, maybe even take one of her hooves. She'd be slowly taken apart until she died.

She wasn't tied or chained because they must have known she was too weak to attempt escape. Her bony figure and bloody body were a dead giveaway. And any last hope that Snow had faded when Argentrook said she'd be safe. She'd heard that before. “Safe†meant “secured.†It meant no escape.

Argentrook repeated the question, seeming to prompt Snow to answer it. “Fine.†Snow lied.

[Dio]

“Fine,” the Peryton said curtly.

Rook was nonplussed. He could tell she was lying. The nervous tick she developed in her right ear, the inability to keep eye contact, the subtle increase in breathing rhythm—all pointed to someone who was trying to hide something from him. Why would an injured patient withhold information that could potentially save her life?

Rook frowned on the inside, though his face remained expressionless on the outside. He’d seen cases like this before in the Griffon lands shortly before he left. Two causes immediately surfaced in his mind—war trauma and abuse. Seeing as the peryton was hardly old enough to be fighting in any border conflict in any nearby land, Rook leaned towards the latter. Children would retreat into themselves when hurt—anything else he asked her would likely be counterproductive.

The unicorn sighed. His specialty was traumatic physical injury. Everything else was just snippets of general knowledge. He was hardly a psychologist or an expert pediatrician. But he was the only one at the clinic who seemed willing or able to treat the young peryton.

Rook was contemplative for a moment before dusting off the bedside chair and pulling up a small rolling table with magic. As he lay down on the little couch, he lit his horn again, pulling the curtains aside to show that there were no secrets, no austere rooms with monsters.

Sunshine flooded the infirmary chambers, illuminating everything in warm hues and comforting rays. The beach was visible from the nearest window and in the distance, the cape with the Hoofington Lighthouse standing upon it. Rook hoped that seeing actual sunlight and the outdoors would help relax his charge.

“Nurse, be a dear and please get me some tea.” He said to the purple unicorn who had just finished replacing some medical supplies. The mare nodded and scurried off. The doctor turned back to Snow, smiling warmly, doing his best to put his grim countenance and his knowledge of her injuries behind him. “It appears I’m off my game today, as it were. It might be easier if you asked me the questions. Ask away. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Hopefully, being open and friendly would do better for winning her confidence…

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Snow saw his horn glimmer as a couple of objects in the room began to move seemingly on their own. So, his horn held power just like her parents had, and like hers would someday. Perhaps somewhere along the family line ponies and Peryton's had been related. Not that that mattered now.

The room was suddenly flooded with light, and Snow flinched at the brightness for a moment. Then she slowly turned onto her back, tilting her head so that she could see out of the now uncovered window. She hadn't noticed it before. Her ears perked as she took in the beautiful sight. It was much different from the landscape she was used toâ€â€she'd never seen anything like it, not even at home.

As she looked over the rolling waves, her tongue subconsciously made smacking sounds against the top of her mouth as she took in the vast expanse of water. What a tease.

She turned back to Argentrook as he spoke, taking in his words and listening for a clue as to her fate. Surprisingly, he opened the door, as it were, for her to directly ask for herself. That is, if she really wanted to know. But playing a waiting game wasn't going to make things any better when the time came forâ€â€well, whatever he was going to do with her.

“Why am I here?†The question came out quieter than she had planned.

[Dio]

(( OOC: Tales I suggest selecting a different text color. It's impossible to read with this current setup. ))

The purple unicorn returned, bringing with her a steaming mug, which she gingerly set on the table between Rook and the infirmary bed. Bringing the mug to his lips with a faint, luminescent tendril of soft violet, the doctor unicorn sipped lightly at his green tea. The doctor nodded to her, dismissing her to attend to other administrative duties around the clinic.

“You’re here because you were gravely injured,” Rook replied with candor, gently blowing a wisp of steam from the mug. “A concerned citizen brought you into the clinic.”

As an afterthought, he was quick to add, "I treated your injuries and you have been recovering for the majority of the day. However, I was able to accelerate the healing process with a bit of magic, so you should actually be good to go by dinnertime..."

Rook trailed off as he observed. The Peryton was much more focused and interested in her surroundings now. Her ears perked up, the color returned to her cheeks, and her eyes darted around the room, finally fixing themselves on the view of the beach outside. There was a certain child-like wonder on her face, a wide-eyed fascination that transcended species and ages. As she looked over the rolling waves, her tongue subconsciously made smacking sounds against the top of her mouth as she took in the vast expanse of water.

Rook paused for a moment. Now that he had time to check, Snowy was looking a bit dry. She had sacks under her eyes and her lips were uncharacteristically dry. “Nurse!”

“Yes doctor?” The purple unicorn sighed with exasperation, visibly drooping at being summoned yet again.

Rook stifled a sheepish laugh. “Sorry, sorry! I just noticed that our patient looks to be a bit parched. Could you please bring her a cup of water?”

“Yes, doctor,” she said as she sulked off again.

“She’s such a dear,” Rook said, taking a sip of his tea. “I’m not really used to having assistants. Being on the road teaches you a lot of things about being self-sufficient, after all…”

[MyLittlePonyTales]

”Clinic?” Snow thought to herself. That must be where she was, but... what was that, exactly? Still, she didn't dare ask. The less she spoke, the better things usually were. No noise, no blubbering, no speaking. Just do as you were told.

“...you should actually be good to go by dinnertime...” Go? Go where, exactly? And so soon? She'd have to attempt her escape sooner than she liked... but, the sooner the better, she supposed. It didn't really matter how long she stayed—she was being prepared for something, though what she couldn't quite figure out.

So, she'd been healed and cared for, that much she knew. Of course, she had to be healthy enough to work, or be used, whatever the case was, she supposed. Hrm, now Argentrook was... having water brought for her? Although, she'd always been given water before, in small amounts, just to ensure that she didn't perish. After all, a dead creature couldn't work. Not unusual.

Snow stood on the bed, stretching her aching and stiff limbs, glancing at Argentrook frequently in case he made a move toward her.