Waiting in [P.a.i.n]

[Kayla & Stormation]

Kayla Swift sat down, feeling the pain stab at her back. Her daemon, Stormation, who was now in the form of a silvery otter, was on his front, lying down in distress. "What just happened?" Kayla asked her daemon. Storma shook his head, morphing into a grey tabby cat, his main form. "I don't know. Why ask me? I'm only a daemon." Kayla winced in pain as a sharp bolt zipped through her spine. Storma obviously felt it too - he yowled in pain. "Whats - happening - to - me." Kayla managed to stutter out in a weak, rough voice.

"We ain't done anything wrong, Storma." Kayla whispered when the pain had died down a bit. "So what the hell is happening?" No pain came this time, much to Kayla's relief. Stormation was sprawled out next to her and Kayla relised he was asleep. All of a sudden, she felt cold - like ice - and passed out.

[.:Artemis & Skyran:. [gone]]

((Hey . . . I'd like to join this, it looks interesting, but can we have a bit more information, like, where it is? Thanks. ^^ Otherwise, my character will have to be walking around with her eyes shut.))

[Kayla & Stormation]

((Jorden College, front gates. Please reply!))

[.:Artemis & Skyran:. [gone]]

Artemis had done a rare feat, and actually gone outside where people could see her. Truthfully, there wasn't much to look at. The scrawny thirteen year old was dressed in a grey, stiff woolen coat, and grey pants, clutching her usual pile of parchment and books. However, it was clear she didn't altogether not like the sun or the wind, and she gazed benignly out from her spectacles at the lush greens that crept around the sweeping architecture of the college. Skyran too, seemed happy at being out of doors, and leaping up on short stone walls, flexing her rippling muscles along her light, almost-white pelt.

She was just telling Artemis that the two of them ought to do this more often, when she stopped suddenly in mid-sentence. Artemis, who had almost walked strait by her frozen daemon, came to a swift halt when Skyran gave a little gruff, warning growl from the depths of her throat, a staccato, "Grrff!"

"What?" asked Artemis, making a face, and grinning at Skyran. "Don't you want to go to the orchard, or something? You actually got me outside, but if you'd rather go back to the tower--"

"Forget about the stupid study, there's something around here!" said Skyran urgently, sniffing the cobblestones, having leapt down from the bricks, and putting her head to the side, clearly listening hard. "Something's not right."

"Well," said Artemis impatiently, "What is it?"

Skyran didn't reply, and without a second look back, took off down a side corridor, underneath a sprawling archway, Artemis racing behind her, the noise of her hard-soled shoes echoing off the stone as they charged through the hallowed halls of the school. Artemis was only just able to keep up with her daemon, who, being a lioness, was meant for running, and was going painfully slow by lion standards to allow for the sluggish human.

"Here!" cried Skyran, as the rounded the corner towards the front gates that flanked school. The two stopped suddenly, Artemis skidding to a halt and almost tripping over Skyran, who had surged forward, and was nosing the limp body of a tabby cat. A daemon.

The human was right beside the cat, unconscious and sprawled across the flagstone. Dropping her books without much thought, Artemis moved forward and crouched by the girl, who looked a few years younger than she was. Gingerly, she shook the shoulder of the girl.

[Kayla & Stormation]

((Thanks for replying!))
Kayla felt someone shaking her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes, and feeling unbearable pain, quickly closed them shut again, letting out a small cry of hurt. She forced herself to open her eyes again, causiously. Kayla saw a girl with brown hair shaking her shoulder. Being to weak to protest, Kayla just said the most easiest word she could think of. "Help." She painfully moved her head to the side. Stormation lay there. He wasn't moving, but Kayla could see the faint rise and fall of his grey tabby flank. "Storma." She whispered. Kayla turned her head back to the girl. "Who are you?"

Storma eased open his eyes. He felt something nudge him and heard Kayla say his name. "Kayla." He replied weakly. He shuddered slightly as he saw a white lioness looking at him with unblinking eyes. "Who--" He felt pain rush through him as he spoke and his stopped suddenly, wincing.

Both human and daemon knew that something was incredibly wrong.

[.:Artemis & Skyran:. [gone]]

Artemis brushed back her hair from her eyes, and glanced at Skyran. Both of them were deep in very fast thought, ideas rushing past their minds just as soon as they conjured them, searching for inspirations as to what to do, or what was going on.

"I'm Artemis Hawke," replied Artemis to the girl, trying to keep her voice calm despite building panic. She didn't know this girl, but felt as though she must have seen her around the college before. "I study here with the other scholars."

Skyran gave the cat daemon a gentle lion lick on the pelt, blinking her green-grey eyes sympathetically.

"I'm Skyran," she meowed, though it was clearly for Kayla to hear as well, glancing at Artemis, who nodded to her daemon.

"What happened?" asked Artemis, urgently. "Did you fall, or something?"

[Kayla & Stormation]

"I'm....Kayla." Kayla shuddered. "I didn't fall, this pain just sort of... came to me." She looked at Storma, who was blinking his blue eyes. Like her, the pain was dying away. Storma lifted his head to face Skyran. "I'm Stormation. Call me Storma." Kayla felt the urge to stand up, but she didn't want to have to slump down again because of the pain.

(Sorry about really short post)

[Kayla & Stormation]

((Sorry I have to go. I'll finish later))

[.:Artemis & Skyran:. [gone]]

Skyran nudged the cat daemon gently, looking at her with curious concern. The shadows from the ornate arches rippled off Skyran's sleek pelt, creating a shifting pattern across the lioness's almost-white pelt. Her grey-amber eyes were sympathetic as she examined Storma.

Artemis had quieted slightly, thinking hard. She knew quite a lot about medicine and anatomy--it was one of her favorite subjects, and most of what she inked had to do with biology. However, she had never practiced in humans before, and was beginning to panic slightly. Whenever information failed Artemis, that's when her recklessness started. Skyran's emotions, cool and steady, comforted Artemis's racing adrenaline, and Artemis swallowed, forcing herself to calm down.

"Did you do anything earlier that might have placed strain on your back, or neck?" Artemis asked. A blow to the neck or spine had been noted to cause delayed nervous reactions, but it was a little strange that it was effecting the daemon in the same way.

[Kayla & Stormation]

"I sort of just... got this pain." Kayla explained. "I didn't know what to do. I just sat down here and hoped the pain would go. Then... well I'm not sure what happened after that." Suddenly, pain shot up her spine. Kayla opened her mouth in extreme pain. "Whats wrong with me?" She asked Artemis. "I havn't done anything wrong."

Storma clawed the earth, digging his thorn-sharp claws into the ground, nearly exploding with fierce pain. "Help." He mewed weakly to Skyran, and his head drooped a little. His gray fur flattening slightly. "Kayla." He said, pulling himself over to his human. "Whats wrong with us, Kayla? What have we become?"

[.:Artemis & Skyran:. [gone]]

"Okay, okay," said Artemis, looking hopelessly towards Skyran. Clearly, the girl did not react too well under pressure. Skyran butted her head gently against Artemis's side, and Artemis bit her lip, trying to compose herself.

"Okay, so . . . pain like that can be caused by either an injury to the back, like a slipped disk or a sprain, or by a blow to the back of the neck. But most back problems develop in older people . . . and usually psychological factors happen when someone's hurt on their neck--that's the brain's lower cortex. It stops your body from sending messages to other parts of it. So, unless you like, fell down on your back, earlier today, or something, I really don't know what's going on," she concluded, her face downcast and frightened.

[Kayla & Stormation]

Kayla looked at the Artemis. "Something's wrong... and it ain't ordianary." The pain had died again. "It 's my spine, and my neck." Stormation seemed to be calming down too, and he went to sit next to his human, letting out an unsteady - but encouraging purr.

Kayla stroked her daemon on his head before looking up again. "Thanks, Artemis. For trying to work out what was wrong but - it not ordianary for me to be in pain at all, and I didn't hurt my neck or anything before this happened. I really don't get it." She sighed, and Storma also sighed, his tabby pelt heaved once, before looking at Skyran. And he grinned.