inked_eidolon: (Fire Emblem)
Inked Eidolon ([personal profile] inked_eidolon) wrote2011-11-29 03:29 pm

Ladylike Endeavors - Fire Emblem 6

Title: Ladylike Endeavors
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals
Characters: Clarine, with Roy, Rutger and Lot
Rating: PG
Summary: Clarine puts her skills to use for the first time.
Warnings: A bit of blood, but nothing really.


There was a hi-pitched zzzip and a wordless, strangled sound followed immediately by a shout of "Ellen!"

But the cleric was back there on that hill, tending to the green-haired cavalier. Clarine pushed her heels into the strange horse's flanks, fighting down the awkward feeling that came from riding astride rather than sidesaddle, and hurried to the source of the commotion. Roy stood there, or rather was hanging limp in the arms of one of the axe-fighters, thanks to the arrow protruding from his torso.

I've trained for this. Yes. Father had insisted she know battlefield healing and this situation was right out of her lessons. There had been a dummy stuffed with sand and a middle-aged woman giving businesslike instructions on how to draw an arrow without hurting the victim still more. Simple. Clarine hopped off the horse and brushed her skirt flat as she approached. "Hurry up," the fighter growled.

"Quiet!" Clarine crouched in front of the boy and thrust the staff at the fighter to hold in his free hand. "This will hurt." She didn't have a knife and the cloth of Roy's tunic was very good; it would be a waste of time trying to rip the hole wider like she was supposed to. She gripped the arrow gently. Do it with care, but quickly, otherwise you'll agonize your patient. Pull straight. Don't twist it and don't wiggle it lest you do even more damage.

One thing the training dummy had not included were pained noises or free-flowing blood. Redder than his hair... Clarine took her staff back and held it before the wound, murmuring the words to wake the magic. Blue light radiated over the boy, but there was too much blood and clothing in the way to see if he had mended. "Well? How is that?" she snapped.

He took a deep breath and then sighed. "Much better, thank you. You can let go now, Lot."

"Right. Well, I'm going to see if anyone else needs my help." She put as much self-assurance into her voice as she could and walked back to the horse, putting herself between it and them so she could give herself a moment to cringe and whimper before mounting up again.

"Are you going to keep that?"

She jumped by what felt like a foot. "How dare you sneak up on a lady like that! I could have fainted from the shock!"

The brown-haired swordsman looked unrepentent, although in truth that was only the same as he'd looked since she had encountered him in the first place. "If you're carrying a bloody arrow around, I don't think being startled is going to make you faint."

"Ah--" She looked down. Yes, she was still holding it in her left hand and goodness, yes, her hands were quite bloody. Very bloody. Her voice seemed to come from far away. "Oh dear, I think this is going to ruin my clothes."

"That's why I wear red."

His eyes flicked off somewhere else and he hurried away, off to kill another enemy. It gave Clarine a chance to fling the arrow to the ground and have her whimper, hurriedly wiping her hands on the horse's blanket. "I said I would help and a lady, a lady keeps her word, and I've been trained, and I won't throw up like some common weakling and I won't faint either!" Ending on that shrill note she swung herself back up into the saddle and glared around the battlefield. "You!" She pointed a finger at that green-haired archer. "Are you hurt?!"

"N-no! I'm just going to support Master Roy!"

"Well get on with it, and let me know when you are!"
raphiael: (Klein)

[personal profile] raphiael 2011-11-29 08:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, I really like this! It keeps Clarine seeming very, well, Clarine, while also making note of the fact that healing is probably not especially pleasant business. I like Rutger's snark, too, very appropriate.
Nice work!

[identity profile] compass-ink.livejournal.com 2011-11-29 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahh, thanks! This is my first time writing (well, finishing) Fire Emblem fic so I am glad I got her right. And it is odd, isn't it, that so many healers in FE have such obnoxious striking personalities?
amielleon: The three heroes of Tellius. (Micaiah: Sacrifice)

[personal profile] amielleon 2011-11-29 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, I like this. It was realistic and interesting and still had fun Clarine moments. (Delightful little ending there.) Lessons in pulling the arrow out was an especially interesting consideration for me -- it might not be the wisest in your usual medieval setting, but when you can heal wounds shut easily, tearing a little flesh is a small sacrifice in getting foreign objects out.

The healing itself was maybe a little unceremonious (Roy's rapid recovery in particular), but I suppose mechanics are like that, aren't they? I like that you had it stick with her in little ways afterward -- holding onto the arrow, for example.

[identity profile] compass-ink.livejournal.com 2011-11-29 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! How to deal with an arrow did make me a little uncertain, but magic healing kind of throws a wrench into normal rules of first aid.

Yeah, I do love incorporating game mechanics into the things I write but with things like healing--what's useful for a game is not always useful for a fic (SPARKLESPARKLE all better kind of kills dramatic tension, doesn't it). So that is a very good point; next time I think I'll take a little more artistic license with things like healing. Thanks very much for the feedback!