forum "This City smells like Smoke and Death" // OxO // Closed

Started July 27, 2020 by @ElderGod-Icefire

tune

Quinn shrugged. "It's fine. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…said what I did. I'm just…tired. It's…all this is…a lot." He rubbed his face with his hands, shaking his head a little bit. "My apologies for going off like that."

"No you're fine," Antonio quickly responded watching him. He felt awful being the prince with his life when there were people like Quinn out suffering like this. It wasn't a new sensation, but it was one he didn't enjoy, "If I was in your position I would do the same thing."

Quinn shrugged. "Yeah. Still. Just…be warned that the king isn't exactly….popular around here." He thought of the efigies that had been burned in the past, and winced slightly.

"Noted," Antonio repleid giving a slight nod once more. If the king wasn't popular, then he probably shouldn't go strutting around his crwon prince status. Which was fine since that wasn't his plan in the first place, "You, uh, checked my wrist before going off on me. Why?"

"To see if you were marked as Immune." he rolled back his left sleeve and showed Tony his inner wrist. "Those of us who are Immune have a brand." It was just a simple "I" within a circle.

"So there are peole immune to the plague? I hadn't heard that before," Antonio admitted seeing the little mark on his wrist. He looked back up at Quinn and asked a question he hoped wasn't too invasive, "How do you figure out whose immune and who isn't?"

Quinn pushed his sleeve back down. "Yes. All the Ravens are Immune. It's…not that common. And it's…not easy to figure out, either." he replied.

"Ravens, the people with the bird masks?" Antonio remembered seeing not only Quinn with the mask but a few others as well. He hadn't made much note of it at first, since he figured that was just how everyone looked in this city, but now it may not be the case.

"Yes." Quinn replied. "We're the…doctors, I suppose. If anyone's a doctor in this hellhole." he let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head a little bit.

"Yeah," Antonio let out an almost sympathetic laugh. He really was starting to feel bad about everything going on in this town, "I'm guessing most of patients have the plague?"

He snorted. "All of them do. Anyone sick with anything else…we just don't have the time to deal with it." he replied. "There are a few of us– not me –who know how to deal with childbirth, and they help with that specifically."

Children were still being born here? That, that was never in anything he read about the city, but he wasn't about to say so to Quinn. Instead Antonio let out a meek laugh, "Yeah, I probably should have figured that."

Quinn nodded a little bit, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah. Things are a fucking mess." he said, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "And they aren't going to get better anytime soon."

"That sounds awful," Antonio replied letting out a long sigh as he looked at Quinn. He looked to Quinn and hesitated to ask his next question, but he did anyway, "Mind if I ask you why you haven't left?"

He laughed faintly. "Are you kidding? It's a nightmare to even try and get out, and there are few enough of us Immunes that it's even harder for me to get out. But…to be honest, I don't really want to. I was born here. This is my city, for better or worse."

"So it may be a while before I can leave?" Antonio asked Quinn a little worringly. He had to be able to get out of the town sometime soon. He had maybe a month before his father would start to worry about his whereabout, since his father had no idea Antonio was in Ceridwen.

(i gtg soon)

"Depends. Do you have paperwork on you that proves you're from out of the city?" he asked. "It'll be easier to get you out with proof you aren't from here, and also if there's proof you've had zero close exposures. You haven't had any yet, and we need to keep it that way."

"I belive I have some on me, yes," Antonio replied looking through his bag. His papers were royal ones that he had brought along to look over while on his journey, but a few had his name and title on them. That alone should be enough proof that he was from out of city, even if he would rather not show them to people.

Quinn nodded. "Good. It shouldn't be too hard to get you out, then, provided we ensure you never have a close exposure." he looked at Tony, taking in a breath.

"Okay, that shouldn't be too difficult should it?" Antonio asked Quinn raising his eyebrow ever so slightly. So peaking at the dead corpses wasn't close exposure, probably a good thing.

Quinn laughed faintly. "Well, it just means we need to keep you well away from all infected and dead, and if you do come in contact, you have to bathe and change into entirely new clothes." he replied, looking at Tony with his mouth quirked in a sardonic, bitter smile.

Antonio made a slight face as he said that. This seemed like hell to live in, but something concerned him about what he said, "And that cart didn't count as close contact?"

"No. You didn't touch a body, and you weren't close to it for very long." he replied, taking a deep breath and looking at Tony. "That doesn't count."

"Oh, that's good," Antonio let out a sigh of relief a he looked back at Quinn. He gave the other a little smile, "Otherwise I would feel bad about maybe contaminating your home."

"I'm Immune; it wouldn't matter." Quinn replied. "You're the one at risk here, not me." he returned the smile after a moment, sighing softly.