Nevin mounted the stairs behind the other two. He had remained at the base of the stairs, watching Stare until she disappeared from sight. He was, if anything, more concerned about her instability than Eteri was. He frowned as he realized the kenku woman had never actually taken the regenerative serum that would have helped her recover, despite him pressing it into her hand. He'd have to figure out what she had done with the vial and convince her to drink it later.

Red hair swayed as he shook his head and started up the stairs after the other two. He went faster than they had, climbing up them two at a time - and getting a face full of Eteri’s tail as he caught up to them. The blue haired catgirl turned to Nevin, lips pressed into an annoyed pout as he gave her a slight, sheepish grin.

Then they were at the top of the stairs, and Jon gave a loud grunt. “Sir Raevin’s room is this way.” Without waiting to see if they'd heard him, as he had spoken while facing a away from the couple, the... Butler? Manservant? - whatever term he preferred, the man strode off quickly heading down the hallway. Nevin raised an eyebrow.

“Eteri, my love, I don't think he cares much for us, do you?” The alchemist sighed and shook his head. It didn't matter whether the other man liked them - all that mattered was that he let Nevin do his job. After he reached out and squeezed Eteri’s hand, Nevin followed after the surly individual. He thankfully hadn't gone too far, and had pushed his way into another room. As Nevin entered, Jon gave him an evil glare - until a sharp clearing of the throat from the occupant of the room made him blanch.

“Thank you, Jon. That will be all.” The voice was rough, and a bit strained. Jon looked like he was building up to protest - “Jon, I meant what I said. The Alchemist is a known ally, he will not assault me. Depart.” The manservant gave an angry glare to Nevin then stormed out of the room, shoving past Eteri who was standing confused in the doorway. The catgirl turned and stuck her tongue out at the man’s back.

“Raevin. You've looked better.” Nevin had moved further into the room, and was now staring at Raevin’s semi-prone form. The captain of the guard gave him a strained smile. His left leg was missing, gone from the knee down, and bandages wrapped around his groin and the same side of his body. The elf started to try to sit, only to freeze under the stern glare of the alchemist. “Do not even think of moving, Raevin, or I will tie you up and give you a paralytic. Now then. There are - a couple of options here. But - should probably wait for Stare to return. She went to get tea - and I'll warn you now. The method we are thinking of using to help you... Will be rather drastic.”

Raevin shifted, a look of discomfort shooting over his face. But it was only a small movement, in order to place himself in a more comfortable position. “If you even try to tie me, alchemist, I will get the crow to blind you,” he paused. “Or whatever threat makes it worse.” He looked over to Eteri. “You must be Eteri. Crow - Stare - told me a little about you.”

“Eh?” Eteri blinked. “She did?” Nevin blinked and focused his dark gaze on his girlfriend.

“What exactly happened between the two of you? You mentioned a soul leech earlier but - just - what?” The alchemist sounded about as confused as the catgirl sounded surprised.

Nevin watched as Eteri’s tail flicked side to side. Her eyes shifted up to the ceiling and she was chewing her cheek, things she did when she was thinking. Cute little tells. Always wearing her emotions so clearly on her face. He folded his arms across his chest and waited - she would get the words out when she could, and rushing her usually ended up with her getting agitated.

“Ah. Looking for Barchie’s store. Stare kept following. Then Eteri follow Stare to this shop. Man had soul leech on his soul. Eteri….ah…still have.” She shoved her hand into her shoulder bag and rummaged around till she pulled out a small vial with what looked like a black, viscous sludge inside it. “Think it might be dead? Dying?” She stared at the vial then shook it. The sludge formed into a slug-like creature which began to bang against the glass.

The redhead let out a sharp hiss as crimson threads slipped from beneath his wrists as the little creature tried to escape. It felt wrong to even look at, like it was an abomination that was twisting and pervert in the world just by existing. He wanted to dissect it - and to obliterate it. “You - carry it with you?” His words came out in an almost disbelieving tone. She was looking for Barchie’s store - wait why did that name sound familiar - when the women had stumbled across this thing. Did that mean there were more somewhere in town? Was it being propagated somehow?

He desperately wanted to crush the vile little thing, to smash it out of existence. He forced his threads to retract though, the crimson receding back under his clothes as he gave a soft cough. “That… have you ever seen more of those things, dear?”

“Sometimes. This one paralyses victim. Then slowly infect soul. Eteri fix.”

“Wait,” Raevin suddenly spoke, his voice pained. “You met crow … Stare months ago from what I understand … just after her master - our employer - Sir Elssmith took her into his household. That would be about eight or nine months that you have had that.” He blinked. “My goodness, cat. But I'm sure if there was an epidemic, alchemist, then you would have noticed it.” He had managed to move himself up onto his elbows while they had been talking and was now looking between the two of them.

Nevin shook his head. “Not necessarily. Parasitic entities can take months, or years, to begin manifesting adverse effects upon the host creature. It gives them more time to propagate throughout an at risk population. It can also depend on the gestation period of the entities in question - who is to say that they didn't just catch the first one to hatch?” He frowned sharply and gestured to the thing in the glass vial.

“If it has survived thus long without a host to feed upon, imagine how long it might be able to live with such a host. After all, the number of people who would be able to properly see such beings here is a rather limited number. And - that thing does not look like a progenitor to me.” The alchemist folded his arms and began drumming the fingers of his right hand against his left bicep as he thought.

“But - that doesn't matter right now. What does matter is the task at hand. The restoration of your leg. And lay back down - I think Stare would rather be more upset with you for moving and hurting yourself, than she should be with me for preventing you from hurting yourself.” Nevin focused his eyes back on the half propped up form of the captain of the guard.

Raevin glared daggers at him, then at Eteri before he slumped back down. “The leg isn't the problem, alchemist, the burns are those that hurt. Damn demons.” The redhead hummed in thought at the response from the elf.