Death and Tide

[Mirach]

Death ate the honey very slowly, so it would last him longer. He only licked it occasionally, as if seeking comfort in the sweet taste, and otherwise he was hiding in the cloak with closed eyes.

[VisAnastasis]

Tide did not return yet but after some time, Death could feel a soft, lingering melody far in the distance, as if the voice of a demonic lullaby. He could also occasionally begin to hear the flowing sound, fresh and soft like a mountain stream. There was as well some lighter feeling around, and Death soon realized why, when a soft stream of water entered his room. Unlike stream of blood, this one was much more gentle and delicate, slow and attentive to details. It seemed Tide was using his powers to take water from the well and clear through the whole castle, working on many rooms at once, the soothing sound of its flow being heard spilling everywhere as if they were in Halls of Water. The streams avoided the fire itself but cleaned everything around the fireplace, all furniture, everything but Death on his tiny, safe chair - and with the power, Tide was gathering things in specific places, like making everything broken like plates and chairs and pulling it at a side to bring it down before the main hall, and gathering all food and things to keep on the other side. There was something pure and tender in the water, as it seemed Tide has put something of his presence within it, and it carried soothing, gentle fragrance of peace, before which tiny traces left of the screeching dark magic could not last any longer. All lingering scent of miasma left in the red frightful liquid was carried by the streams - and when they cleaned everything up so that it was slippery and shiny, purified.
On the ground, before Death was a pile of fruit and couple little stakes of meat - all food that was not too damaged to clean fully, spilt, or mixed with blood.

[Mirach]

Death could breathe a bit more easily then, and he took some fruit from the pile, but left the meat, as after such a blood bath, he had no taste for it.

[VisAnastasis]

It passed some ten more minutes until every corner of every room was thoroughly cleaned and sparkled like it didn't in many centuries. Everything was wet, though, but that's when another thing happened - suddenly, everything began warming up a little, and water was steaming and raising room temperatures slowly, rooms that before that knew mostly bitter cold... Tide could not light miasma on fire and had no such power to burn something to the temperature of the core of the earth - but this, gentle, kind breath of soothing air, he could bring into the previously hospitable place, breathing some more safety into it, the warmth, similar to warmth of sunlight, seeming to reinforce the protective spells around the castle too.

[Mirach]

"What's happening, Tide?" Death asked into the cloak. "Does this mean that you are both alright?"

[VisAnastasis]

" For now... " a quiet whisper came to his ears, as Tide explained briefly through that bond. " He was very upset. I... there was a room where he kept important things. I ruined all pots and such things, and... all his books. " he was quiet, before adding, rather distant for himself, maybe in guilt. " I calmed him, but he's not too good. This was a big stress for him.  He's running a high fever and is delirious... I will bring him there in a moment, the night is long for him, and us, he should be by the fire, and he feels safest in his kitchen so we are coming. "

[Mirach]

Death looked around the kitchen, considering something. Then he decided, and changed to human form again, keeping the cloak around his shoulders. That form had hands, and he started picking up the bowls and other things scattered around, and putting them to the shelves, so the kitchen wouldn't look in such a mess when they arrive.

[VisAnastasis]

It seemed Tide made little stops along the way to pick up things from other rooms, so it took a moment longer, giving Death enough time to tidy up the place as well as he could.
When the demon returned, he was using the little stream of water to float a big soft armchair with it, wanting the creature to be more comfortable, and not able to carry it himself because of its hands very full with said creature... He carried Cernunnos in his arms, cradled and leaned against his shoulder like a child. That was first time Death could see him, and it was by no means a small Being, but in Tide's strong arms it appeared all the more little and feeble, terribly thin as it was, mere flesh and bone. It looked feverish and barely aware of itself, and it was trembling and mumbling incoherently, even if being wrapped in the softest blanket Tide could find. Two things struck most strongly with the first impression - the very sad, thin and desperate way in which he was whispering, the only recognizable word being * the books*, and the second was the pitiful grimace of fever and discomfort on his face. Unlike Death's, who had one very severe injury, Cernunnos had less severe ones, but numerous, and his soul looked butchered and like cheese with holes. It must have been painful and traumatizing to it when blood pulled into him forcefully, as it also seemed to have attracted and pulled out some strong miasma that has sedimented and became stale within the flesh of his form over so many centuries - and that fever and weakness was as much a result of frightening experience as stress of loss. He was curled close to Tide, as his essence seemed to be helping soothe it, but it was a slow process and he still appeared disoriented and scared by every noise.

[Mirach]

As soon as he heard them, Death transformed into a snake again to not stress the creature further. He remained quiet, trying to not startle him, and only carefully he tested the air with his tongue to see which layers of the demon's soul are hurt and if there are some wounds that he could heal.

[VisAnastasis]

Tide smiled thankfully when he noticed place is cleaned. He put armchair beside fireplace and dried it well, before sitting down in it with creature curled in his lap, whispering soothingly to him as it trembled.

And by the sight of its soul, it had very much good reasons to do so. While by the shape of it all of those were old wounds that overgrew poorly, as well as they could, the process of cleansing ittitated it severely and it appeared like a knee when you scrap it throughout - reddened and swollen, burning. Another thing was more dangerous, though - it seemed many parts of his soul that were previously holding onto him loosely ended up even more loose now, some even barely by strings - body reflected this state of the soul, and some of the horns on his head looking brittle as if they were close to breaking, and his right leg that manifested quite badly mutilated part of his soul from that old injury now looked the worst, as if ancle was dislocated and twisted.

[Mirach]

Death slowly peeked from under the cloak, and crawled towards them. He was not able to heal injuries in the layer of soul he was missing himself, so he watched carefully to see which layers of soul were hurt.

[VisAnastasis]

Thankfully, it seemed that, however violent, the experience of being washed out with river of blood was brief, just like with Death. The wounds spread throughout couple of layers, but not throughout the layer Death lost. Only one injury, one of the badly healed leg that had too little of soul left that was manifesting poorly, was deep and spreading throughout all layers.

[Mirach]

Death crawled along Tide's leg and on his shoulder. "I can heal most of his wounds," he whispered. "When you think he's ready... first for some introduction, maybe..."

[VisAnastasis]

Tide shifted his shoulder a little so Death would have more space to lean on it. He listened carefully.
" He was really bad before. It was as if he wasn't the same. He didn't remember me at first. Even a bit before when I tried to lower his fever, he panicked and bit me. " he whispered. " I don't think he's up to his wits when the night is around... Lack of miasma seemed to have helped a lot, but injuries are not helping his mental state. I am able to calm him this much with my presence for now. If I let go of him yet, he could grow feral again. " he explained, and indeed, Death could feel Tide's tingling soft presence flew more freely right now, and that creature was leaning closely on it. " But I don't know for how long he can last like this. His fever is too high and there's too much pain, and he panics when I bid to lower it and lashes out in fear... I don't think he's much used to being treated... "

[Mirach]

"I can try to heal him very carefully and gradually, so he won't even notice it," Death suggested. 

[VisAnastasis]

" That might be better. You said to me yourself that it feels frightening to have your fever lowered directly... like being warmed up by a dragon. Even if it's a dragon you trust, it's not easy... " he whispered, remembering the words that must have left an impression on him. " But your healing isn't like that. It feels nice... maybe you could do it without making him scared... "

[Mirach]

"I don't usually heal in this form, but he likes snakes and might got scared if I look like... you know who..." Death sighed. "If I stay like this, can you stop him from hurting me?"

[VisAnastasis]

" I don't like using blood bending and I avoid it whenever I can... But this is different thing. He could really hurt you if  he snapped at you, and he would be grieved if he hurt anyone unknowingly in panic. If it comes to that, I will resort to it to protect you. He shan't lay finger on you." He promised quietly but firmly.

[Mirach]

Reassured with that, Death slowly crawled over Tide's shoulder and laid his head on Cernunnos. He started healing him very slowly, so the change was almost not noticeable, only the pain was easing gradually.

[VisAnastasis]

It seemed that the combination of Tide's soothing influence and Death's gentle healing was good for the demon, that didn't get scared because it wasn't a sudden scary change in his body that he couldn't control. With time, his trembling eased, fever began to drop, and his breath evened out a little, growing more stable.  The fever was still quite high and there was still a lot of pain as healing was slow, but he seemed to gain enough composure to become more sensitive to changes in his environment, and he felt a weight of something leaning at his side, and opened his eyes weakly, blinking to see what it is.
The look on his face when he noticed and realized it's a snake was something Death didn't see too often, as creature's dull faint eyes filled with awe and delight that seemed to have distracted him from his loss and from the deep pain.
" A s-snake... ? " he stuttered, with same wonder and love with which cat lover would when seeing a beautiful puffy kitten. He tried to reach for it shakily and slowly, but its hands were too shaky, and he couldn't raise them up to his shoulder in his weakness, and he tried a couple of times, but his attempt to caress it proved unsuccessful, and he seemed to grow sorrowful as he realized he can't reach for it, wiggling lightly still trying to, even if it hurt to move too much.

[Mirach]

Death crawled lower to Cernunnos' hand, allowing the creature to touch him, while he still continued the slow and gentle process of healing.

[VisAnastasis]

The demon seemed to favour having long nails, but most of them seemed broken and rough-edged now, as he must have tried to scratch Tide with them in his meagers attempts to defend himself. That's why, although he seemed pleasantly surprised as snake came to him, he did its best to caress it with the back of his palm, so he wouldn't hurt it... even if feverish, it seemed to be grounding to him, to see such tiny creature he loved, and he tried his best not to startle it, just like people that love cats would find it excruciating that they might accidentally hurt or chase away one. His touch was warm and earnest, and he patted it gently, turning head a little to Tide from time to time, murmuring word *snake* with delirious excitement to his companion with teary content eyes. In his fever and heavy eyelids, he must have not noticed its bigger intelligence and Being characteristics, so he just treated it like a snake, fondling it and whispering incoherent and incomprehensible but gentle words to it, as one might when calling pets by gentle nicknames even when they know pets don't understand language.

[Mirach]

Death let Cernunnos pet him, as it was apparently calming to the creature, and even to himself too, a little. He kept the healing slow and steady - it was hard to notice to the demon that he was doing it, but he was getting better over time.

[VisAnastasis]

Even if feverish, some things seemed to stay instinctive with the creature, and just like with a fennec fox Svarik brought the day they met, Cernunnos seemed to have a gift for handling animals and great love for them, and he knew to caress the tiny creature very well, and it felt rather nice and soothing. He supported the snake with both hands, and he poured a lot of love into what was an experience he must have not felt for as long as he was injured - and it did not pass long before Death realized he somehow found himself on the creature's chest, his head leaning against it, his body cosy up in blanket they shared. It was warm and nice there, and it felt safe to both of them to be cradled in Tide's arms, and as he kept caressing little thing and getting less pained over time, he seemed to be more pleased - and at one point, he closed his eyes weakly, and a sound came from his chest, the sound of purring. It was not a healthy strong purr of Xia - it was feeble, rasp and chalky sound, barely audible and irregular, but in demons an unmistakable sound of timid joy, as it seemed that he was slowly being comforted in its distress.

[Mirach]

In the hands of Cernunnos Death even started enjoying the pretense of being a simple snake, but he kept healing him as well - and that he enjoyed equally, after he was forced to hurt Tide with his own hands.