pumpkin soup { william

[Saffron Ellison]

THE TRUTH COMES OUT IN THE BREAKDOWNS
( • M E M O R I E S M Y G O D T H E S E M E M O R I E S • )

The fresh scent of peppermint oil washed over the redhead, a refreshing breeze from this hot and stuffy infirmary she had spent almost five years slaving away in. She breathed in, before placing the cap on the table in front of her. Her patient let out a pitiful moan, and Saffron softly stroked the hair with a gentle hand. “I promise this will help your headache, sweetheart. Just a little longer.”

With careful accuracy, the herbalist squeezed out six drops of the oil into the bowl of ice water at her right, swishing it around gently with one finger. She then dipped the cloth clutched in her hand like a stress ball into the frosty mixture, wringing it out and folding it into a rectangle, before placing it on the sick female’s clammy forehead. She breathed in slowly. Saffron gave her an encouraging smile and patted her hand. “Alright sweetie, I have to go check on a few patients, but I’ll be back in a little bit, okay?” The girl nodded feebly in response.

Saffron leaned towards one of the nymphs standing by. “Make sure she keeps that on her head for a minimum of ten minutes, even if her headache goes away. And come get me if she starts feeling worse.” Her accomplice gave her a cheerful thumbs up and took the fifteen-year-old’s place at the sickie’s bedside.

Just as she was making her way down the aisle, another healer took her by the arm. “Oh, hey Saffron! Your chamomile tea worked great with Peter. He went to sleep just like that.” She snapped for emphasis. For a long moment the daughter of Panacea just stared at her, before nodding absently. “Yeah. Good.”

The other girl’s eyes narrowed in concern. “You feeling okay?”

Saffron stretched her arms and massaged her temple. “Fine, but I need a Red Bull.” Otherwise known as the only substance that kept her limbs moving and her mind conscious. Her own concoctions didn’t have the same ‘quick’ energy effect, plus their taste could probably be improved on. But whatever. Her herbs were for the sick and injured kids, not for herself.

“Those things will kill you, you know.”

“Whatever. I’m gonna die anyway, might as well be now.” With a nonchalant shrug, Saffron shouldered past her and made her way to the back of the infirmary. She slung open the mini-fridge and popped open her favorite energy drink, giving it a long chug before glancing around for anyone in need of assistence. She spotted a kid in the back coughing their lungs up, but an Apollo kid was tending to them. Still, they were running low on cough suppressants. Saffron rolled her shoulders and put her Red Bull down, preparing for one of her least favorite activities.

It was time to make some cough drops.

The healer headed to the back room, where in a corner, was her stove and coffee maker, which doubled for making teas and various brews. With a sigh she set her hat atop the shelves installed above the shelves, holding the herbs she didn’t have enough room to carry in her purse. She was pulling out her thyme and a vial of honey when a commotion from the front caused her to put down her herbs and crane her neck to see what all the fuss was about.

THEY DON'T MEAN ANYTHING OH THOSE MEMORIES
( • A S Y O U S P O K E Y O U R F O R K E D T O N G U E S H O W E D • )

W O R D S • 549
T A G G E D • william (sehyun)
O U T F I T • click!
L Y R I C S • memories by lion if ido
T E M P L A T E • PANIC! ITS LAUZ of CAUTION
N O T E S • i’ve learned that kate nash is good for saffron muse. –nodnod-

[williamrivers]

[/center]

Unlike any other day, William and his sparring partner for today, trained outside instead of inside the Arena. They chose a place with fewer campers as there was more space for them to practice. Metal clashed against metal, sparks flying around as they did, the two boys turned and ducked as they avoided each others attacks. His opponent dodged Will's next attack and he hit air. ''Dang, you are better than expected.'' , he told the boy as he patted of some drops of sweat with his shirt. ''Well, you should try using one of these.'', the other demigod said, holding up a shield. Will grinned in response. ''Yes. As if I would ever use those unnecessary and totally distracting things.'' He hit his sword against the kid's shield as he turned around to get into position. ''Now concentrate and do it again.'', he commanded.
After a few hours of training without any breaks that were longer than five seconds, both were exhausted. But William didn't care. He had to get this one special move right. His stubborn mind just told him to. Don't stop until you get it right. His breathing got heavier. One last time. He had at least to try it one last time.

Williams breathing got heavier. His mind fully concentrated on winning. Without any signal or warning, he dashed forward not seeing the arrow heading into his direction. It passed him by a split second. He stopped abruptly, his gaze wandered automatically to the owner of a bow. But before he could say, or yell, something, the sparring partner attacked him from behind. As he turned around, all he could see was a hilt of a sword – as it hit his forehead. ''What the Hades...'', he mumbled, as he rubbed the point on his forehead where it started hurting. ''This is cheating.'', he said, looking up to his partner. ''You tried to do the same. The only thing that is different is, that I succeeded and you didn't.'', the other demigod simply replied and left. Trying to be calm, he touched the wound as something wet dripped on his shirt. ''Great.''
It didn't really hurt, but if one of his teachers saw him like that, even with that super tiny superficial wound, they wouldn't let him continue training tomorrow.

When he reached the Infirmary, he took a peek inside. People seemed busy in there – as always. He wondered if there was a time when this place was empty. No patients, no hurt demigods. Probably not. The possibility of children and teenagers fighting each other and not getting hurt was low. William stepped inside and walked passed the Nymphs and Apollo kids that tend the wounded. Even if this was one of his least favorite places to be, he spends a great amount of time in here. You could say that he was a regular. Not one of those clumsy ones who hurt themselves by just stepping outside their cabin, but one who always hurts himself because he just can't stop fighting with others.

He wanted to walk to one of the free beds as a Nymph, who seemed stressed and tired, ran into him, pouring a bowl full of hot orange colored liquid over his shirt. Guess today was really not his best day. It wasn't the hot liquid that was poured over him that made him angry, it was the fact that it felt like today everyone planned a conspiracy against him. ''Can't you look where you're walking?'', he yelled at the Nymph who seemed rather intimidated now. His unexpected yelling caused her to drop the bowl - and it hit the ground, shattering into pieces. He tried to calm himself down, even forgetting about the reason why he came to the Infirmary, but all his anger he tried to suppress came welling up at this moment.

(( IT ONLY HURTS JUST ONCE ))
show me what its like to dream in black and white

word count - 675
notes - 5am, my brain shut down, I hope you can work with that..
muse - breaking benjamin

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[Saffron Ellison]

THE TRUTH COMES OUT IN THE BREAKDOWNS
( • M E M O R I E S M Y G O D T H E S E M E M O R I E S • )

As a sharp blue gaze raked over the room, she spotted one of the nymphs that volunteered at the infirmary drop her bowl due to some irate young man’s excessively violent scolding. Her eyebrows pulled down and she felt a wave of protectiveness wash over her. This young fae had been working her ass off every day from dawn until dusk; she didn’t need to this guy’s shit on top of that.

As she walked closer, she recognized the boy dimly. An Ares kid; they were in here often, so often, in fact, that occasionally she just wanted to throw them out and yell at them to quit getting injured so bloody much. She noticed the gash dripping crimson down his face and suppressed a roll of her eyes. Typical. Saffron sashayed up to the scene, chin pulled defiantly up as she stood beside the frightened nymph. “Leah, you’ve been here since five this morning. Go get something to eat, or take a nap, or something. You need a break, honey.” She gave her a reassuring pat on the back and the girl went scurrying away.

The herbalist glanced down at the mess, tacking yet another task on her to-do list after dealing with this guy. She lifted her gaze to the male’s, noticing that he was close to, if not precisely, a foot taller than her. No matter. His height didn’t give him permission to cause a rumpus in the infirmary, of all places! “And you, little mister…” She simpered and her tone was sweet, but her eyes burned like acid.

Daintily she stepped over the mess in front of her, so she now stood chest-to-chest with the massive guy, but she glared up at him determinedly. Her voice was a low, angry hiss. “First of all, I’d advise not to mess with a nymph. They may seem like little angels, but they can do some pretty nasty stuff if you piss them off. I speak from experience. Second of all, this place is chock full of sick kids and they need to rest, not be disturbed by a crotchety twatknuckle chewing out a volunteer who probably hasn’t slept in days. It’s considered quite rude. And third of all, you’re going to plant your posterior right here while I clean up that scrape of yours.” She pointed to the cot at her left and practically forced him to sit down.

Saffron held up a hand as a signal for the Ares boy to stay put, while she quickly grabbed a few things from the back room. The first thing she did was yank on a pair of latex gloves; cleanliness was always key. As she searched the cabinet, she realized with a curse muttered under her breath that she had run out of calendula oil the week before, and the new batch was sitting on her windowsill in her cabin, steeping. A salve would probably work. She grabbed one of the small white containers, along with a bucket of water and a washcloth and returned to the easily angered young man.

Without taking her eyes from the wound, she dipped the washcloth into the bucket of water and squeezed it. It didn’t appear extremely deep, at least not deep enough to need stitches; but head wounds bled profusely and she could still see rivulets trickling from the gash. She began cleaning his face of the crimson liquid, noticing with annoyance that some of it had dried. Why didn’t he compress it, or at least try too? Ares pride, that was it.

After she had cleaned up the blood from the unharmed skin, she reached into the pouch at her hip, taking out a glass vial of orange-ish powder labeled ‘Cayenne’ and softly dusting it over the cut, as a way to clot the blood and stop more from leaking out. Once finished, Saffron plugged it back up and stuck it into its respective spot in her purse.

“So what heroic endeavors were you participating in to acquire this little scratch, hmm?” She smirked, her voice brimming with a friendly sarcasm; darn it, she was getting soft with him. The whole Leah incident still irritated her beyond belief, but the tender touch needed while treating wounds managed to weasel its way into one’s mannerisms.

“My name’s Saffron, by the way. Yours?” The healer continued her work on the wound, glancing down at the boy’s eyes for a response.

THEY DON'T MEAN ANYTHING OH THOSE MEMORIES
( • A S Y O U S P O K E Y O U R F O R K E D T O N G U E S H O W E D • )

W O R D S • 739
T A G G E D • william (sehyun)
O U T F I T • click!
L Y R I C S • memories by lion if ido
T E M P L A T E • PANIC! ITS LAUZ of CAUTION
N O T E S • this is crap and i’m sorry

[williamrivers]

[/center]

Everyone around them was quiet. They were either to stunned to say something or didn't dare to do so. William glared at the Nymph, who avoided eye contact, before turning his gaze into a different direction. Someone else was coming. He watched as the scarlet-haired demigod sent the Nymph, whose name apparently was Leah, away. Once again he glared at her as she left the scene. Of course he knew not to mess with them. He too, has experienced some difficult situations with nature deities.

''Little mister?'', he snorted, his mood not getting any better. The annoyance in his voice was clearly noticeable. Will grinned mischievously when he saw the female camper, who was petite, taking a step closer, now standing right in front of him. His grin vanished within a split second as the girl talked to him, even commanding him to sit down. She was a brave one. Usually, people would be too intimidated or scared to say even a single word. He hasn't met someone who actually dared to talk to him that way for a long time.

He crossed his arms as he walked over to the cot where she pointed at without saying anything. Swiping away some of the blood that dropped on his face, he almost regretted coming here. Definitely not one of his best days. But he didn't have another choice. He wanted to be able to practice again. Probably the first thing he will do as soon as he's out of here.

This was quite amusing. He put his sword beside him, laid down and waited while she walked into another room. He looked at the mess which was still not cleaned up and back to the door of the back room. After she returned, he got up and sat down straight. He watched her putting down several things she must have gotten from the back room.

While she tended his wound, he calmed down. His anger being washed away as she cleaned his wound with water. Which doesn't mean he would apologize for the mess he had done. Well, actually it was just partly his fault. The nymph wasn't innocent as well. But as always, he would get scolded, even if it wasn't all his fault. Sure, he wouldn't care if it actually was all because of him, but it wasn't this time. He hated being blamed for others mistakes.

His attention went back to the girl as she started talking to him. ''Very funny.'', he said with a fake laugh. ''Anything else you want to say?'' It felt like his anger and annoyance was about to rush back again. He knew she didn't mean it that way, but he was still too irritated to think anything anyone might say to him right now would be something nice. Will took a deep breath, trying to get rid of the unwanted feelings. He sat still and stared at the wall behind her. ''I was participating in heroic endeavors so I can rescue a damsel in distress.'', he said sarcastically, after his mood settled again. ''If you need help, just call me. I go by the name Prince Charming.'', he added, grinning slightly.

After she was almost finished with the wound, he carefully moved her arm away from it. Yes, carefully. If it was a different day he would probably just yank it away, but he couldn't need more scolding right now. He pulled off his sticky, blood spattered, sweaty and soup-spilled shirt. Not caring if anyone was watching, he threw it to the side and changed into a simple black sweater he had brought with him. After he was done, he looked back at her. He couldn't suppress a small laugh when she said her name. ''Nice to meet you spice-girl.''

After the lame attempt at making a joke to get his mood up, he sighed. ''I'm William.''

''Why do you have to make this so complicated?'', he asked as he touched the wound. ''Can't you just put on a band-aid?'' He looked at her, his eyebrows raised. He has never understood why they have to do those unnecessary things to tend a wound.

(( IT ONLY HURTS JUST ONCE ))
show me what its like to dream in black and white

word count - 715
notes – sorry for the lame jokes
muse - breaking benjamin

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[Saffron Ellison]

THE TRUTH COMES OUT IN THE BREAKDOWNS
( • M E M O R I E S M Y G O D T H E S E M E M O R I E S • )

She caught the sarcasm and raised an eyebrow, a devious smile playing at her lips. Oh, so he was a snarker as well? This would be fun. Saffron didn’t often get to tease people like this; her wittiness was wasted the sick and more severely injured kids, not to mention she never got snappy with them, and her fellow healers were as tired and grumpy as she was, but they did a far better job at hiding it. And she kind of hated everyone else, so on a daily basis she simply glared at them and went on her not-so-merry way.

The red-head found her legs tiring, as they did rather quickly after standing for even short amounts of time, and knew very well what would happen if she didn’t at least try to take it a little easier than usual. Passing out on the job wouldn’t do anyone much good, especially not herself. She pulled over a stool and took a seat, wincing slightly as her muscles whined in painful protest. She’d have to get try a wintergreen tincture later on.

“You were rescuing a damsel? I should hope you’d treat the lass better than you did Leah back there.” Saffron said, a slight scolding tone to her voice but in a much softer way, like a mother admonishing her child. “I’d ask you to apologize, but the poor girl would probably have a heart attack if she had to talk to you again. She’s rather…skittish, if you know what I mean.” Absently she snatched a bit of dried blood from his hair.

A petulant pout surfaced on her features when he moved her arm away. She wasn’t done; all she had done was clean the wound and stop it from bleeding anymore. If he didn’t want a scar or infection, he’d have to wait a little longer. A waspish remark was ready on her tongue, but as the Ares boy pulled off his shirt, she silenced. Crossing her arms, Saffron waited in annoyance as he changed shirts. Once he finished that, she reached for the small container of St. John’s Wort salve, unscrewing it carefully. At his rather lackluster pun on her name, she stopped. “Spice girl. Can’t say I’ve heard it before. But I can’t say I don’t like it, either.” Her blue eyes sparked.

She didn’t have many nicknames. Her dad used to call her Saffie sometimes, and people called her Saff when Saffron seemed too long, but there wasn’t much else and never anything that wasn’t a diminutive of her name. Spice girl was catchy and she found herself growing fond of it. Hmph. Maybe he wasn’t as much as a jerk as she thought.

“Oh, silly Willy, you should know better. That’s a long and fairly deep scratch you have there, and you can’t just slap a Band-Aid on there and call it 'okay'. Head wounds bleed a lot, so you have to stifle that before you can really tend to it. And since you’re obviously an Ares kid, you’re going to be sparring quite a bit and getting your face dirty and sweaty and gross. That little scrape would get very infected very quickly, and you’d be right back in here and it would be a lot worse.” Her expression darkened considerably. “I’ve seen people refuse more extensive treatment on small wounds, and when they get infected, they’re in bed for weeks. Some even die.”

Saffron took the cap off the salve and rubbed a little between her fingers, before applying it to the cleaned gash. “This is a healing salve. It fights off infection and speeds up healing, limiting the time you spend recovering, even though no matter how much I rag on you about letting this close up a bit you’re going to be right back at it tomorrow or sooner.”


“But believe it or not, I really don’t want you to die or be scarred for the rest of your life, so I’d suggest taking it easy for at least a day.” The healer took off her gloves with an audible snap, tossing them a trash can nearby. As her head turned, she caught the eye of young Leah, quietly cleaning up the mess left from her and William’s collision. As soon as Saffron looked at her, the nymph’s gaze snapped to her work and she began scrubbing even harder against the wood floor. She rolled her eyes. The girl didn’t even take her break.

She sighed and ran her now bare hand through her thick scarlet curls, before reaching into her pouch once again. In her hand were a couple butterfly bandages. Before he could protest, they were already on the wound. “I know you’d rip off any big and bulkier dressings, but these shouldn’t bother you much. And don't try to take them off; the wound will reopen. They'll fall off by themselves.”

Though her work was finished, she found herself reluctant to leave just yet. So she crossed her legs and screwed the cap on the St. John’s Wort salve, before beaming fakely at William. “You never answered my question about how you managed to accrue that, Prince Charming.”

THEY DON'T MEAN ANYTHING OH THOSE MEMORIES
( • A S Y O U S P O K E Y O U R F O R K E D T O N G U E S H O W E D • )

W O R D S • 879
T A G G E D • william (sehyun)
O U T F I T • click!
L Y R I C S • memories by lion if ido
T E M P L A T E • PANIC! ITS LAUZ of CAUTION
N O T E S • my muse is dead ugh

[williamrivers]

[/center]

William watched the girl pull out a chair. He raised an eyebrow as she sat down. ''Look what we have here.'', he said, crossing his arms. And they talk about Ares kids not taking a break from fighting. Seems like they have something in common. The Infirmary was always busy with Apollo kids, minor gods demigods who are related to medical stuff and Nymphs running around. But still. Even with so many volunteers, it didn't seem like they are able or allowed to take a break from helping other campers.

The mood swing came back as soon as she mentioned the Nymph. What was wrong with him today? It wasn't normal for him to get as moody as he did this time. ''I don't have any intentions to apologize to her anyway.'', he said in a cold tone and shrugged.

His hand moved immediately to his weapon, which was lying on the cot, as she snatched away a bit of dried blood from his hair. He glared at her for a moment, putting back the half unsheathed sword into its sheath. ''Don't do that ever again.'', he said and scowled as he put his hand into his jeans pocket. It simply surprised him and his fighting instincts kicked in. He never really did this intentionally, but he couldn't be bothered to say sorry for it.

William ran his hand through his dark hair. He then rolled up the sleeves of his red colored sweater.

Wow. His attempt at making a joke was super lame but she still liked it. Definitely weird. Making jokes or thinking about nicknames were not really his kind of thing. He rarely makes jokes or tries to make one. And nicknames. That was something the demigod never cared about. He just uses his name if someone is interested in knowing it. William. Period. People could call him Will if they wished to do so.

''Long and deep scratch?'' The wound she considered as long and deep was just a tiny scratch to him. Nothing compared to other injuries he has obtained in his life as a half-human being. Even before, when he hasn't known anything about his godly parent, he went home with broken bones more than once or twice. During the time he spent at camp it was even worse. But then again, it's not so bad since they have ambrosia and nectar for serious injuries. On the other hand, William really disliked taking both. His pride didn't allow him to use these magical medicines. Only cowards can't stand pain.

His attention went back to the daughter of Panacea. ''Die?'', he said, suppressing a quiet laugh. Was she being serious? How could someone possibly die from a little scratch like this.

He waited patiently while she put the salve on his wound.

''I would suggest you to do the same if I would care, but I don't.'', he said and laid back on the cot. Since he couldn't leave, he should at least be more comfortable.

And there it was again. The question about how he got this tiny scratch. He wasn't really embarrassed about the mistake he made, but it was something that bothered him. ''Oh well.'', he mumbled to himself, staring at the ceiling of the Infirmary. ''I...'', he began to say but stopped, thinking about whether he really wanted to mention this or not. It still hurt his pride. And which reason did he have to tell her? Maybe these were just excuses. He simply didn't want to admit that he also makes mistakes, even if it's the truth for everyone. If it wasn't for this little kid or whoever it was who started shooting arrows around, he wouldn't have to be here. ''I wanted to see your lovely face and ran against a wall just to be able to see it.'', he explained with a smirk on his face. Of course this was just a joke. ''Actually, I got distracted and didn't pay attention to my sparring partner.'', he finally admitted.

He was still staring at the ceiling as a yawn escaped his lips. Thinking about the past days where he trained and practiced, he didn't get much sleep. Maybe exhaustion was also a factor for the mistake he made. Distraction and exhaustion. To rest, even if it's just for a day, was not a possibility for him. The Arena was kinda like his third home. He has been attracted to it as soon as it came into his view.

Another yawn. He turned his head to the side, now facing Saffron. ''Hey spice girl.'' Will pointed to the cot beside him. ''Lie down and talk to me a bit more.''

(( IT ONLY HURTS JUST ONCE ))
show me what its like to dream in black and white

word count - 775
notes – This sucks. Period. I'm sorry.
muse - breaking benjamin

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