werewolves and lesbians and magic potions (o/o)

(sure.)

Anna filled a pot with some water, then put it onto her woodstove where a fire was crackling nicely, the coals letting off enough heat to warm the house nicely if you didn't get too close to the stove and boil your skin off. It boiled quickly, and she poured herself a nice cup of tea with it, sitting by the little window in the corner. The whole place was just one room, but it was a cozy little place and she liked living simple, either way. She hoped that she would have the few small hours of the night to herself, and then be able to sleep for long enough to ensure she wasn't walking like some zombie.

(is that a yes or a no?)

A doctor, she needed to find a doctor. The boat ride had been longer than she had expected and she hadn't had much to eat and drink, but at least no one would think to look for her here in England. Not for a while, anyway. She wasn't quite sure how to pay a doctor, if she could find one, or how she could explain how she had been stabbed. Most young ladies didn't show up in the night with stab wounds in their torso, and those that did were not generally the reputable type.

Then again, Elanor wasn't sure if she was a reputable type, so perhaps that didn't matter.

(Yes, I guess? Make up whatever you want I'm tired and confused and honestly whatever works for you works.)

There was going to be a full moon soon. Anna was prepared of course, but she was scared. Most of the time she just sat, shaking in her flat until anyone who'd come calling had left, but what if something bad happened? What if something spooked her? What if she went rampaging through the streets, and nobody could stop her? These fears shook her to her core, but Anna stayed steady. She might as well study if she was going to get this wound up, but maybe she was too wound up to study.

(alright! Sorry if I sounded grumpy or something, I just tend to need exact answers because I'm weird like that)

Elanor wasn't sure how long she had been walking when she saw the sign, she just made her way towards it, knocking on the door and fumbling a little as she tugged her cloak closer around her body to hide the sword hung at her side, and to hide the small bloodstain that was beginning to bloom on her middle, from where the bandages were finally no longer able to hold back the bleeding. She was light-headed and dizzy and stumbling, and close to collapsing.

Anna stood up quickly. A caller, at this hour? It made sense, a lot of people didn't want to go to the police for their troubles so they'd call a doctor instead. And she understood that, but it was exhausting. When she opened the door to see a woman close to fainting, bleeding out and looking like she'd collapse at any moment, Anna simply stared. "Uh, Anna Saville, what seems to be the problem?!" she squeaked, not sure what else to say. "Sorry, the problem appears to be obvious. Come in, quickly, and lie down on my bed." it was a fairly clean bed, too, which was good for business. She prepared some alcohol to disinfect the wound, and rushed to the mystery woman's side.

Elanor followed Anna's lead, mostly just grateful that the door had been opened and too close to passing out to wonder on the fact that the doctor was a woman. "Thank you." she managed, her words lightly accented, a Danish one. "Er du lægen? Pardon– you are the doctor?" the sword lay beside her, still in its scabbard as it had been for the entire journey. It was one of the few things she had kept.

"Yes." Anna said, a bit too cold and defensively for her normally very good bedside manner. "I am." she brushed her curls up into a bun she tied with quick precision, and rolled up her sleeves. "I'll need to cut aside the dress to see the wound. Is that okay?" she asked, retrieving a pair of kitchen scissors suitable enough for the task. She could afford very little professional equipment by her day job, and clients didn't typically go to see the woman doctor unless they were desperate. Meaning, little sleep for Anna.

Elanor hesitated, but then nodded. "Ja, is…is alright." she has having a bit of a time concentrating on translating from Danish to English, but she was doing her best. She was actually, in a way, peculiarly glad that the doctor was a woman. Less danger of Elanor being taken advantage of while helpless to fight back, as a lone woman with no one to look for her.

Anna cut aside a large portion of the dress and removed the corset, leaving the mystery woman mostly uncovered on the table. This sort of thing had never bothered Anna, you saw a lot of people's bodies working in her area of expertise and you learned not to care much. Besides, she was hardly that kind of doctor, the type she abhorred. She would have never dreamed of exploiting a patient, ever. "I'll need to disinfect the wound before stitching it up. I don't think any internal organs were hit, it looks shallow enough to not kill you. The alcohol will sting, dear, so grab onto my hand and pray that nothing goes wrong." she said, dampening a clean rag with some of the alcohol. She offered her hand, and began to apply it as swiftly as she could without causing even more of a mess.

Elanor's cloak was spread around her body, the folds of it still hiding the sword from Anna's gaze. She nodded faintly, taking Anna's hand and closing his eyes, gritting her teeth. A faint whine slipped from between her teeth at the application of the alcohol, but she didn't make a sound otherwise.

"Wow, you're better than most men I treat. Shouldn't be surprised, really. Women are less whiny, in my experience." she quipped, and prepared the wound for stitching. She prepared the suture, and began sewing up the wound the way she had been shown by one of her many mentors. "I'm sorry, this probably hurts. I'll give you something to help the pain when it's finished, and you'll be right as rain in just a few hours. You appear to have lost a lot of blood, I think it would be best if you stayed the night at least." she talked as she worked, it kept her patients distracted and herself too.

"Not…the most pain I through have been." she said slowly, careful not to run the words together, as she knew that her accent could be difficult for many Londoners to piece together. Her english was usually better than this, but with the pain and blood loss she wasn't really able to concentrate on it as she usually was.

When Anna finished, she bandaged the wound with some fresh cloth and left the mystery woman to rest. "Tea? I still have some in the pot, and it's good for the soul." she smiled, hoping to distract from the gruesome scene before her. Who had stabbed that woman, and why? Hopefully, she could make things at least a little easier for her. "I'll give you some of my clothes. They'll fit okay, you aren't that much shorter than me." she said, opening a drawer on the bedside table and offering a pair of moleskin trousers and a thick cotton undershirt, hoping that would suffice for now.

Elanor nodded mutely, taking the clothes and changing into them, setting the ruined dress aside. Perhaps she could salvage some of it somehow, but she doubted it. She left her cloak on, unsure how this doctor would react to the sword, and not wanting to find out just yet. She wasn't very tall, and had wavy, pale blond hair that fell to about four inches below her shoulders, and pale skin, which was even paler after the blood loss she had gone through.

Comparatively, Anna had a large mass of inky hair curled tightly, spreading out from her messy bun like a cloud of steam rolling over the edges of a pot. Her skin was a dark espresso brown that stood out against the warm light and reflected it beautifully, looking like gold had been poured out onto her brown flesh like she was a painting. Her nails were short and tidy, and her lips were large and plush, but raw from repeated biting at. She was beautiful, but in a way that didn't have to try.

"Can I get a name? Even a fake one is fine, I just think having something to call you would help." she said, knowing that maybe this woman wouldn't want her true identity spilled in the case that Anna would go running to the authorities. She wouldn't, but she understood. She had many women from many different backgrounds, from streetwalkers to even the occasional posh lady who would come for various treatments to ailments that nobody else would give. People simply didn't believe women when they were in peril, and that was something Anna aimed to change.

Elanor considered the question for a moment, then said, "You can call me El, for now." She said slowly, reaching into the bag she had kept at her side, and pulling out a scrap of navy ribbon, using it to tie her hair back into a low ponytail, just to keep it out of her face. "And yours?" The Danish woman's accent was still there, soft and lilting and hiding in the way she tended to run her words together, just a little, in the way her consonants were softened into the vowels of her words.

(i am stress so i wont be responding until later sorry)

(okay I'm back)

"Anna, miss. Anna Saville. Just rest, now. You'll feel better in the morning, the pain will have subsided quite a bit and you'll probably be able to walk about a bit. I expect bed-rest, for most of your time here. If you plan on leaving after the night is over, come back in a week to two weeks for me to remove the suture, or the skin will heal improperly." she explained. "Although I'd like to watch over you here for the time being."

(it's fine! Alright)

"I…do not have anywhere that I am needed to be, so…" She trailed off, unsure what else to say in response to Anna. "Ah…could I have that tea now?" She needed something to help settle her; plus she hadn't had adequate food or water in a few days now.

"Oh, yes! Uh, do you need anything else? Any other conditions to tend to? You look a bit too pale for just blood loss." she worried, getting El her tea and some dry crackers to get a bit more color to El's face. "If you can swallow, you can chew. I won't take a patient who refuses to eat, and the tea will flush out all the bad from your system. Pushing fluids is good when you've lost a lot of blood."

"I, uhm…the blade was poisoned, I think." Elanor said slowly. She had broken the tip from the poisoned sword and wrapped it in a handkerchief. It was in her bag now, not that she knew what to do with it. She took the tea thankfully, taking a sip of it and closing her eyes, careful not to gulp it down.

"Ah. drink the tea, if the poison's still in your stomach sometimes fluids help dilute it. If it's any further there's nothing I can do for you but wait, hopefully you'll just get very sick at most. I'll try and stay here as often as I can but I do have my practice, and I'm still learning. I… I have friends, who can help take care of you. They'll visit while I'm away. I can make arrangements for that sort of thing." she said.

She nodded to show she had heard, drinking some more tea. "Understood. Thank you, miss Saville." She said, her soft accent still tinging her words with that soft Danish tone. "It seems I am in your debt for this."

(I have found a major difference between Elanor and Alek: what Alek went through broke him, but it only made Elanor stronger)

(Aww oh no! Although, I do see it.)

"I expect nothing but bed rest and to keep yourself alive as payment. I am not cruel, you may find your own way to pay me back if you feel obligated." she said seriously, helping prop up El against some cushions she bought just for times like these, where sitting up would help the person get their blood flowing at least a little without overexerting themself. "If you were poisoned, I think I'd better get something beside you to vomit into. Here, have a bin." she offered the little can currently filled with scraps of paper with the words all scrawled out.

(yeah. Mainly bc Alek has a much harder/more traumatic backstory than El had, but it's kinda sad :( )

El nodded again, glancing down at the bin and then taking another sip of tea. "I see. Thank you again, then." she said softly, looking up at Anna. "But– how will you rest, if I have been put into your bed?" she didn't want to inconvenience this young doctor too much; after all, El was only here by chance.

"I can sleep on the floor, I have spare pillows and sheets for this reason. And, well, to change the sheets on the bed, which I forgot I should do. Can you stand up for me and go to sit at my desk while I clean off the bed? It won't be a minute." she said.

(I just realized that this Anna and other RP Anna are really different due to marriage and having a child, or lack of those things. This Anna prioritizes her ability to care for the people no matter how thin it stretches her, the other prioritizes keeping her family safe above all else. Idk the contrast is interesting. Also this Anna is a lot more flustered all the time, while the other is much more composed. I'll be excited to see what moments in this lead her to that conclusion!)

El got up, making her way to the chair and sitting down. Now that she was less stressed and the adrenaline was slowing down, her movements were growing shakier and more unsure with each step she took. She tapped one finger against the mug, the ring on her finger clicking faintly against the ceramic. She had forgotten about the signet ring that perched on her right pointer finger; in all the worry of her past few days, it had faded into the background. The noise, however, jogged her memory, and she pulled it off and slipped it into her pocket, not wanting the emblem on it to give her away.

(ooh that's neat! Honestly I love character development, so I'm Here For It)
(Also my brain keeps going "hey what if El had sex with either Laertes or Horatio at some point before the fatal duel and now she's pregnant but doesn't know it" and I have no idea if I wanna follow through with that or not?? jkhbdgjsdhfbgjh)