Nevin paused in his brewing,
leaning back in his chair and wiping his forehead of sweat as he listened to the movements outside of his door. Slight, soft, hurried footsteps that hesitated near his workspace door for a moment. For a few seconds he was concerned - but then he heard the person outside continue walking, just long enough to reach the bedroom. Or, properly, to reach the alcoved area that Eteri had been setting up for herself.
He shook his head with a rueful smile. It seemed his sometime roommate had returned once again. The blue-haired soul weaver had been gone for a few days this time, after jumping up to give him a kiss on a cheek and telling him 'Is surprise no follow', she'd bustled out of the store and been gone for... The alchemist glanced at the calender he kept in the office and talked the days. Four days now. The longest she'd been gone at one time, but, she had left some rather important things here so Nevin had known she hadn't decided to just up and leave him entirely.
It was strange, having her around the store. She tried to be helpful - and often times, she was. The cat girl had a surprising ability to bear down and focus on something, but only when it suited her needs. Otherwise, she was somewhat flighty. At least he had managed to convince her to stop charging into his workshop whenever she got the slightest bit bored - the incident where her tail had smashes through the vials of a potent antidote for belladonna-based poisons had finally made him draw the line at her curiosity.
In the last couple of days, while she was gone, they had begun again. The rumors, of him having a hot little thing - as one particularly raunchy rogue had accused him two nights ago - or of a regular patron who was living with him. Aside from correcting people that while she did live with him, right now that was all, Nevin had ignored the rumors - and Eteri hadn't even been present in town that he knew of when these ones started, so he hadn't had a chance to mention them to her yet. Of course, knowing the cat girl, she wouldn't even really care, or fully understand, the rumors if she heard them.
Nevin finished the solution he was working on and carefully bottled it, storing it away from the open heat source, and then finished cleaning up and shutting down the workshop. Things were progressing smoothly now, and he was building up a sizable stockpile - a very important thing, considering his new long term goal of running the corrupt Alchemist's guild here out of business. Soon he would have enough of his typical wares in back stock to begin expanding his products offered here, and in truth he was looking forward to it. But for now - for now it was time to head out and check on Eteri. Normally she would have come and knocked on his door to at easy let him know she had returned, and her continued silence was mildly concerning.
So out of the workshop he went, bare feet padding across the floor. Not as quiet as Eteri on her literally padded cat's paws but he felt like he managed fairly well. The store had been locked back up and was empty - so it had definitely been Eteri who had come in. So with a soft smile on his face he headed towards the area she had claimed for himself.
Only to pause, eyes widening, as the smell of sick-up reached his nose. Nevin broke into a run and ripped the curtain back, revealing the area where Eteri slept when she didn't wander to his bed. The sight before him tore at his heart.
Eteri lay on her side, her chest rising and falling in quick, sharp breaths. Her eyes were glazed over and unseeing, and a thin trail of drool was pooling up under her head. Splashed in front of her - and with the smell of more coming from under a set of blankets in front of her- was vomit. A heartbeat passed, then two, and the alchemist sprang into a frenzy of motion.
His threads burst from him, tearing apart the sleeves of his shirt as they shot out, weaving together into ropes and cables that he quickly used to scoop the woman up. He brought her away from the stained bedding, and carried her out to the middle of the workshop, his eyes flicking around to see - chewed plants. Lilies from what he could see which shouldn't have been a problem, a bit strange to eat but -
Cat girl. Cat girl, and that looked like tiger lilies. Nevin cursed under his breath long and hard as he realized what had happened. The plant was poisonous - but not to humans, to animals. There was no specific antidote for this for him to work with. Carefully tilting Eteri's had to keep her airway clear with his hands, one woven group of threads shot over to the shelf where he kept the emetics. He didn't have time to go get the key from the back - not when he didn't know how long she had been suffering.
So his threads tore the guard off the front of the shelf, letting the mesh fall to the ground with a clatter. Eteri started at the sudden noise, and Nevin started stroking her hair and murmuring to her, soft reassurances as his tendril snatched up the emetic. Once he had the right vial in tendril, another snatched up the empty wooden bucket that he used to clean up spills, and brought it over to them.
He shifted, pulling Eteri up into his lap so she was leaning against him, her back against his stomach and her head against his chest. "Eteri, honey, I know you don't feel good right now. But I need you to be good and drink this, okay it's going to taste bad but it will help." Nevin gently cradled her head in one arm, using his hand to open her mouth enough to fit the mouth of the vial of emetic in. She tried to weakly struggle against the foul tasting medicine, but Nevin kept a firm hold until she finally swallowed it to get it out of her mouth.
Beat. Beat. Nevin watched as her tail thumped against his leg, grimly impassive, and then - snatched up the wooden bucket as Eteri's eyes went wide. He managed to get the pail in place just as she began fetching, and managed to keep any of it from splashing onto her as she fully emptied the contents of her stomach out. The hand that had been holding her head up now rubbed small circles on her upper back, an attempt to comfort her through what he knew had to be miserable.
