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[grunehexe]

username: SIEGLINDESULLIVAN

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[grunehexe]

... then I will accept your thanks. I hope you were not injured in the aftermath. If so, I do have medicines...

[hellshaped]

[Hellboy pauses. She introduced herself as a witch, so he's not sure if she means herbs or actual magic. His tone is clearly cautious.]

What kind...?

[grunehexe]

[perhaps thankfully for him, she means more physical medications in this instance]

Potions to reduce fever and swelling, ointments to speed the healing of flesh, powders to stop bleeding...

[hellshaped]

[That's reassuring. She was asking about runes and such before, but it's possible her magic is simply physick.]

Is that what being a Green Witch means?

[grunehexe]

Part of it, yes.

[Though she doesn't... supply the rest. If she has her way, that will be most all of what the Green Witch legacy means from now on.]

[hellshaped]

[He'll take it, tbh. As long as she doesn't go around casting spells, he's down.]

Alright. In that case, if you have anything that would help, er... bone to heal? If that's in your bag of tricks.

[grunehexe]

Is it newly broken, or long healing?

[hellshaped]

I broke some ribs in prison. [He won't go into details.] I heal pretty fast, but if you have anything to help it along...

[grunehexe]

I do have an oil that may be of assistance, yes.

[hellshaped]

That'd be swell. How much will I owe you?

[grunehexe]

I do not do this work for payment- but if you feel the need I accept anything my patients feel like giving, whether it be food or goods.

[hellshaped]

Alright, got it. [Donations it is. He'll have to scrounge around and see if he has anything that'll actually be useful. If not, he'll just have to make a mental IOU.]

Where can I find you?

[grunehexe]

My workshop is above the apothecary in the western market.

[hellshaped]

[Hellboy pauses for a few seconds, trying to think of how to put this delicately.]

I really stand out in a crowd. Are there a lot of patrols nearby looking for prisoners?

[grunehexe]

[Ah... There's that.]

I have made it clear to those searching that any harassment would result in my withdrawing aid from their own- [a bluff only] but there have been inquiries.

Rather than the main thoroughfare, if you were to come through the back streets in the market... I could signal when it was safe to approach.

If need be I can make my way to you, but it will take some time.

[hellshaped]

No, no -- I'll come to you. [She's helping him without requiring payment; the least he could do was take a little detour.] Fair warning: I look a little scary, but I promise I'm not. I'll be there soon.

[grunehexe]

[that could have... A multitude of meanings. But after the face of her own greatly disfigured mother, the werewolves... Surely she could handle it.]

Then I will await your arrival.

[time to open the window and keep an eye out.]

[hellshaped]

[In Hellboy's case, the meaning is WARNING: 400 LBS, RED SKIN, AND ALSO THERE IS A TAIL. He just prefers to be vague about it.

Taking side streets and back alleys, it doesn't take him long to reach the back door. Still, he waits in the shadows.]

[grunehexe]

[from her vantage point, Sieglinde can at least tell big. Craning from her window to check, moving to the door to check the stairs, then back to the window, she finally waves a handkerchief briefly outside...

Which is probably her version of a signal.]

[hellshaped]

[Hellboy's not sure what he was expecting. A flare? A birdcall? He takes the handkerchief as a signal and quickly, but still cautiously, darts across the alley to slip inside the back door.

He's not sure if the apothecary is friendly or not, so he creeps up the stairs as best he can, careful not to scuff the wood with his hooves.]

[grunehexe]

[At the sound of footsteps (heavy ones) on the stairs, Sieglinde hobbled her way to the door. When she opened it, he'd be able to see past her to the rather cramped workroom, a note and potion covered table, two small beds and a curtained corner, a half-written magic circle on the floor...

And a rather wide-eyed young girl on crutches.

Well, he definitely looked a bit differently than she imagined. But, to her credit, (maybe because she was a witch?), it took her only a moment before she managed to get out of the way and gesture him in, peeking around him to make sure no one else was in sight.]

- do come in.

[hellshaped]

[Hellboy gives Sieglinde a bit of a wide-eyed look in response -- she sounded young, true, but he didn't think she'd be this young. But he quickly realizes that this is neither the time nor the place to question such things, and he moves ahead of her into the workroom.

It's a bit cluttered, and he is something like a bull in a china shop in close quarters like this, so he takes very special care not to knock anything over with his tail as he awkwardly looks for someplace out of the way to stand.]

Thanks for having me. Sorry about the short notice...

[grunehexe]

It is no trouble at all- it is all I can do.

[Heal, that was. With the crutches she was using, and the reason, feet barely three inches long in tight leather heels peeking beneath her gown, she definitely wasn't running errands or doing any fighting. Once she got the door closed she moved to direct him, moved to gesture,]

Take a-

[And last minute realized that the small bed or chair definitely weren't suitable, and ended up pointing to a clear spot on the floor near her workbench, and a rather large, furry lump that seemed to be breathing at least, it's back to them and curled up under said bench.]

Seat.

[hellshaped]

[Hellboy doesn't comment when she motions for him to sit on the floor. He's so large that it's only practical -- though he is very careful not to scuff the floor with his hooves or knock something over with his stone hand as he moves to sit.

He curls his tail up close to him and eyes the animal on the floor curiously.] Is that a...? [Dog? Bear? He can't tell.]

[grunehexe]

[Phew, faux pas averted.

As Hellboy moves about Sieglinde is still at first, waiting for him to settle before she begins to try to move. He was... Very large, but not just that- she was observing, taking note of the hooves he possessed in place of more human feet, the tail, the hand, the protusions she assumed were horns, the... Well. Most everything. Including for looking at how he walked, how gingerly he was needing treat those ribs.]

Oh, my familiar- ?

[Though not of her own world, she'd taken to calling the beast that, and at the sound of the word, the creature lifted its head and craned its neck a moment, revealing a face more skull than flesh and blood despite the state of the rest of its body, eyes mere pinpricks of red deepset in the sockets. Any ferocity that might have inspired was cancelled out by the way it's tongue lolled out the side of bony jaw, panting like any hound might. ... What an embarrassing familiar.]

I thought it might be a barghest, but I'm afraid I haven't been able to tell... Beyond it being canine, of course.

[Now that Hellboy was settled, though, and her skull-faced beast contentedly rolling over to sniff him, Sieglinde made her way to her work table, clambering into her seat and abandoning her crutches on the floor to begin pulling out a few vials from the mess.]

Now, may I see what damage has been done?