The Undecided

[Dannflower Reguba]

       "Oh it's absolutely putrid by itself, but assuming you haven't scarfed down all of the candied chestnuts, the sweeter flavor should be more prominent than that of mushroom water with drowsy drops." She finished working with the liquid just as Quincy and Cestra appeared at the doorway, "Just in time you two! Quince, would you be so kind as to start the furnace? You can leave the flat edge and a couple of needles near it, but don't let them melt. Cestra, you're going to be monitoring the patient, the opening, and pinning down the.... yeah." Raleigh handed Twisty the foul concoction, leaving the candied chestnut up to the rat, "Go ahead and lie down on this bed right here once you've finished the drink, but make it fast, you won't be awake very long once you gulp it down." All of the infirmary hands washed up one last time, "If there are no objections, let us begin."

[Ashleg]

Twisty wallowed in his paranoia for a few minutes before getting up and padding over to the bed, shooting Raleigh a sheepish glance as he got on.
"Makes more sense t' sit down and then drink this, doesn't it?" The rat tapped the brim of the cup with his claws. Okay. Calm down. It's Raleigh. He held his breath as he downed the drink, but even that did not spare him the foul taste of the thing. His eyes shot open.
"Yer tryin' t' poison me!" he spluttered, gasping for breath before he shoved the candied chestnut in his mouth.
"That's foul! I still taste it. Never again, Raleigh, ne-ne'er 'g'in......."
The cup clattered to the floor. Twisty was out.

[Dannflower Reguba]

       Raleigh watched as Quincy laid Twisty the rest of the way down, and positioned him with his arm out for the operation. She slowly raised her arms and paws straight in front of her body, watching them intently, fingers splayed. A single twitch from her left ring finger instantly snapped her eyes to the source of the motion, seemingly forcing it into still submission with her stare. She finished with her fingers and scooted over to her operating spot. With a deep breath, and a brief closing of the eyes, the surgery was officially underway.

       A paw lay on the table, but that's not what Raleigh saw as her eyes opened. What she saw before herself was a mesh of bone and sinew. Muscles, fats, veins, she saw them all in her head. Mental images created, and re-created until she could hardly tell the fur was there. Without shifting her gaze, or blinking for that matter, she held out a paw, "You both know the drill." Said paw was immediately met with the handle of a scalpel, and the incisions were made just as the brother finished washing and clipping hairs away from the area just below the wrist. The arm now lay open before the workers, skin quickly hooked and pinned by the assisting sister. Raleigh could now physically see everything she'd already know, radius overgrown like a bony toad wart. With the various tools assembled previously, the squirrel isolated the deformity until she had space for what was essentially a glorified carving knife. For well over an hour, the sound of metal scraping bone could be heard reverberating throughout the room and the hall outside. The work was tedious and extraordinarily risky, even the simplest mistake at this point would irreparably damage the arm. Finally, the radius was properly shaped, and the withdrawal of foreign objects began. After the contents of Twisty's arm were readjusted, the pinned down flesh was slowly folded back over and placed carefully. The objects that had lied in wait by the fire were brought forward to cauterize the incision lines, skin squeaking quietly in protest to the burning sensation. Raleigh had one final thing to do, and with a decisive shove, the now formerly deformed paw was clicked into it's proper location for the first time in roughly thirty years.

       Raleigh inhaled deeply, and let out a breath of finality. The lucky rat had just undergone a highly successful surgery, and would soon have his hopes of usage confirmed. The squirrel rinsed her hands out with what little water was left as Cestra collected the smaller tools in a similarly sized tin while Quincy re-positioned the patients body for some much needed bed rest. Raleigh started moving towards a small section at the back that was curtained off with wood and paper panels, "Cool the cauterized section for three minutes, then treat it for the burn. I want that entire forearm splinted, and each finger must be separately restricted to minimal movement. He's lucky, but that paw will still feel unbearably sore when he wakes up, and will continue to be so for the next two days. I'm sure you both understand how badly those muscles and nerves need to be developed and encouraged. I'm off to log our work, I leave him in your care now." The moment she was around the corner, she sat down, squished her eyes closed tight, and gripped each forearm in the opposing hand with a vice like grip. Her heart started to thump in her chest as her arms shook despite the grip. Her breathing was strained sporadically through her nose as her heartbeat skipped and then raced. Hundreds, nay, thousands of potential mistakes and their consequences rushed through the sister's mind, causing a cold sweat to dampen her brows.

       Raleigh waited patiently for the clattering and pattering of the cleanup and post treatment process to die down. Her bent over form began straightening out nearly half an hour later, tension considerably eased at this point. She took this opportunity to fill out the information she had told the others she had gone to put down, signing the parchment with her signature and a lone mistake. She always did this when writing, like some sort sort of rule, hoping that by letting her errors out on paper, she could avoid them on the operating table. With a final, deep exhalation, she stood up and began a trek to and down the stairs. One of the other sisters had come in silently mere moments before to take over observation of Twisty. Raleigh gave her a tired half smile on her way out the door, with a quiet thanks and blessing which was reciprocated back to her. The door clinked gently as it closed behind the exhausted surgeon.

OOC: Aaaaand now I'm deadbeat tired as well, this thing took almost as much IRL time to write as RP time passed. Blargh.

[The Skarzs]

OOC: Dang, Dan.

BIC: Rallowan sat on a low limb in a tall maple, watching the top of the abbey walls. He rubbed his yew bow with a claw impatiently, almost dreaming about the fights he could have. How far away a shot could he make? What warriors were within the legendary building?
  The fox knew Hacklaw would be figuring out a way to get Darrin, and he would, eventually. But it didn't matter to him how long it took if he had the chance to fight.

[The Skarzs]

OOC: Okay, time skip.


BIC: Darrin flicked a pebble into the abbey pond and looked up at the walls, which were sparsely guarded by several Redwallers. Hacklaw was well settled in, though he had made no move except to surround the abbey with his vermin, who could be seen through the trees as they walked around the building.
  The ferret was getting more and more uneasy. His band knew they weren't in a good position, and many were angry at him.
  They weren't the only ones, either. If the Redwallers didn't wish he had ever come then he would eat his tail.
  With a heavy sigh he tossed one more rock out into the water before getting up and heading towards the abbey.

OOC: Hopefully that works for you, Corn.

[Ashleg]

Life slowly seeped into Twisty's groggy eyes, replenishing him as he became alert and awake once again.
At first, the rat felt nothing, continuing to stare up at the ceiling with a slitted gray gaze.
And then it hit him--a jarring pain, wild and like a ravenous fire, cascading through his arm!
His left arm.
...The one that had had the surgery.

Twisty shot up, howling and gritting his teeth.

[Cornflower MM]

Rowan had sulked up in the attics with her tray for a while, then had gone back to the Infirmary. She'd heard the sounds of surgery, and walked to the kitchens, feeling more sulky and useless than ever. So she'd washed dishes and done other kitchen tasks for a while, then, when she started getting under paws, gave in to herself and took another tray up the dormitory and went to bed way too early, claiming an upset stomach when asked.
The next day, after helping the kitchens some more, she decided to wander around the grounds. Is that one of the other vermin? She thought, peering closer at a figure walking away from the pond. She decided to wander over, thinking that maybe they weren't that bad. "Hey. What are you doing?"

[The Skarzs]

OOC: Sorry, looks like I didn't say how long of a time skip it was. It is the next morning.

BIC: Darrin looked up suddenly as Rowan approached him. "Um. . . Nothing."
  He regarded the squirrel skeptically, wondering what she wanted from him. "I'm not tryin' to steal anything, if that's what you're thinking."

[Cornflower MM]

OOC: Whoooooops. Sorry. I'll fix that in a sec.

BIC: Rowan shrugged, "Not really. Just wanted a conversation." She paused, having second thoughts. Okay, maybe they're not all as mostly harmless as Twisty is. She kept her features straight even as her stomach started to twist. Darrin gave her a decidedly different vibe than Twisty, and Rowan wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

[The Skarzs]

  Darrin sighed. "I'm surprised. I'm the one what brought Hacklaw t'yore home." He looked at Rowan a little closer. ". . . Weren't you the squirrel who walked off with Twisty yesterday? Where is that rat? I ain't seen him since."

[The Skarzs]

@Cornflower MM

[The Skarzs]

  An infirmary sister hopped to Twisty's side, dropping her book she was reading. "Stay still, I'll get something to help with the pain."

[Ashleg]

"Stay still?!" gasped Twisty in disbelief.
"You go through that an' when I tell ye t' stay still, you do it! Gahh..."

[The Skarzs]

  "Please, calm down!" the sister said urgently, desperately trying to pull Twisty back into laying position. "If you hit your paw, it might. . . Oh! Raleigh!" she cried frantically as Twisty lashed out. She ran to the door. "Somebeast get Raleigh, I need help!"
  With that she closed the door and stood in front of it. "Raleigh's coming, just. . . just, lay down."

OOC: @danflorreguba

[Ashleg]

"It might what, fall off?" Twisty sneered, tenderly holding his wrist.
"Shut yer mouth...I don't eat mice."
He feared that the Sister's cries would garner the attention of the Abbot or Elijah, as well as Raleigh.
"Raleigh's gonna think I'm doin' somethin' awful, what with th' way of your voice," the rat muttered to himself, clenching his teeth in a crooked grin as he tried to hide from the pain.