|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 6:30 am
Last night had been spectacular. Kazul had appropriated some of her sister's herbal priestess supplies and together they had tested a rumour Ru had heard that combining them in a certain way and then adding them to a fire would make the fire do something interesting. Of course, "something interesting" was a pretty vague description, but it had mostly been an excuse for Ru and Kazul to spend some time together. He'd been viking a lot lately, which really cut into that sort of time.
Well, the flames had done something interesting all right. They had burned the herbs to produce a truly noxious gas and changed from orange and yellow to green and purple, and then there'd been an explosion. Fortune had placed Ru more or less between the Warlord's daughter and the flame, which had prevented her from being injured by any flaming, flying debris.
Ru had not been quite so fortunate, and so much of his left side was speckled with minor burns which didn't show up much against his dark coat. Those weren't really an issue for him, other than being uncomfortable at unexpected moments. Of greater concern to him was the something which seemed to have lodged itself in his flesh on that side of his chest, where he couldn't see it or easily reach it with any kind of delicacy.
Ordinarily he wouldn't have worried about it except that he could feel it shift whenever he took a step with his left foreleg and the entry wound hadn't yet begun to scab over, and instead continued to weep somewhat. He was supposed to be on sentry duty that night and he preferred not to have objects stuck inside him if he could help it, so he made his way to one of the healers he'd been told was pretty good at her job.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:10 pm
Aino was busy cleaning up the mess that was left in her cave. Blood stained the ground, and it was impossible to completely cover it up. She had finished healing another, enough to at least stop the bleeding. Really, she thought, perhaps the Reavers could be a little more careful about their injuries. Except....if there were no injuries, she would be out of work. And chased away, she was certain of.
Quickly covering the stain with a mix of fresh dirt and leaves, Aino turned to straighten up her mix of healing herbs. She had a sufficient supply today, but who know what the rest of the day would bring to her. It was difficult to be a skilled healer when she couldn't quite grip onto things as she wished, and wondered if she could gain some help with a small assistant. It would be worth the shot, once she had to go out and gather supplies again.
Turning to emerge slightly from her cave, she noticed a form that appeared to be slowly approaching her. She would try to assume nothing, as at times those that approached turned away before entering her cave. Perhaps something about pride and not wanting to seem weak. Aino would never think that - it was impossible to ignore their strength when tending to the wounds of the body. A hurt lion was more unpredictable than a healthy one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 12:05 pm
Although he had never been to see Aino before, it was not difficult to guess which den was hers. At least, Ru didn't expect it to be. Hers would be the one that smelled more of herbs and blood than the others. Following his nose he found himself walking toward a lioness with a darkly tawny coat and very pale eyes. Absently he wondered if she could see at all. Many lions with such eyes were blind.
"Aino?" he asked.
He was reluctant to spend too long outside this healer's den where his presence might be seen and noted by another reaver. He wasn't the sort to see healers, and he wouldn't be seeking this one's aid but for his upcoming viking. He fervently hoped that this was the lioness he sought, and that he wouldn't be publicising his search for a healer by inquiring of the wrong person.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:47 pm
Hopefully the scent of blood would be covered by some of her herbs. Or perhaps Reavers would think nothing of it. They did seem to bleed a lot, almost as if they were proud of it. As long as they were still strong, however. Aino never understood it, and she wasn't willing to let herself understand it. Blood meant death in her eyes, and she was ready to do whatever was necessary to keep these Reavers alive. It kept her safe, and so she would carry out her duty.
"Come in," she answered, her breath calm as she tried to still her heart. She felt terrified for some reason, but she always did when she had to heal someone she was not familiar with. Which....sad to admit, was many of them.
"Ah," she said, her eyes darting around as she gathered up her supplies, assuming her patient would enter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 5:40 am
Ru followed the lioness with the lace-marked paws and strange pale eyes into her den. He didn't know why all the healers of the pride seemed to look so unusual, and he supposed it didn't make a difference as long as they were good at their craft, but it was something to think about.
He didn't spare a thought for the scent of blood which underlay the scent of herbs. This was the den of a healer, and so it seemed only natural that there would be a certain amount of blood scent. Perhaps the scent indicated that Aino was not careful about hygiene as she might be, but he was not honestly concerned about hygiene all that much. Not when it came to injuries or infection. If his body was strong enough to fight it off, then it would, or else it wouldn't.
"Something blew up in my face last night," he said. "Literally. I could use some aid in getting some of the debris out before it takes up permanent residence under my hide."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 6:39 pm
Aino would like to think that she was clean about her work, but it was hard to prove that when one was always working with illness or injuries. She turned around to see him just standing there. That wasn't going to do well. "Sit," she commanded, feeling more comfortable and confident now that he was in her territory.
She came up quite close to the male, her eyes peering at his injuries. It was just starting to show signs of infection, but so slight that Aino had to assume that Ru's body was fighting off the infection before it could really grab hold of his wound. So, her main interest would be in pulling the object out of him and patching up the wound that would reopen.
So simple, or so she wished it to be. Not knowing what she was pulling out was going to make this unpredictable.
"A trap, you think?" she asked him, wondering if he had any clues as to what had happened.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:09 am
Ru was outlander-born, but he did not obey orders instinctively like a thrall would do. Just the same, he sat without protest when he was told to do so. He would never rival an adult male Stormborn for size, but he was not a small lion and he could understand how Aino would prefer not to have to make an effort to look at his injuries.
"No, nothing like that. I was..."
He hesitated. He didn't like to lie, but the fact was that the herbs and powders he and Kazul had been experimenting with the night before weren't supposed to be used by anyone other than priestesses, and so explaining exactly what they'd been doing when things exploded would probably not be the best idea.
"I was working with a fire and one of the elements must have been imperfectly dried, or unevenly heated, and so it exploded. Mostly there's just some minor singeing, which I can live with. But on the left side of my chest..." He shifted in an attempt to indicate what he meant. "I can feel something under my skin that I can't get to. It was part of the explosion's debris."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 10:03 am
Aino fretted a bit as she listened to him explain his injury. His hesitation made her pay closer attention, and it was then that she admitted something she shouldn't be hearing. Though he was not explicit on what he was doing, it was strange to hear of a male playing with herbs. Aino closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath.
"Healing brings things to my cave entrance that I don't want to know. That I shouldn't know. But who am I to say what is wrong, and what is not? Some injured lions would rather suffer infection or death before admitting the origin of their injuries. If there is no trust between a healer and her patients, then who would the healer have to heal at the end of the day?"
After that, she kept herself quiet as she drew close to the male, closer than she would have dared if he had not been a patient. Her silver eyes narrowed as she drew extremely close to the male's chest, a raised paw pushing away at his mane.
"I warn you, more pain will be the only way to get the shrapnel out of your chest. I can try to dull the pain before I work, but it won't be comfortable."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 10:25 am
Ru wasn't sure if he was expected to respond to Aino's brief monologue or if it was sufficient merely to nod. He guessed what she was saying was that she didn't intend to tell anyone how he had acquired his burns and other sundry injuries the night before. That was reassuring, he supposed.
"I'm not that stupid," he said, and his tone made it very clear how he felt about reavers who were. "I have plans for this life that kind of depend on me being alive and whole, you know?"
It was hardly comfortable to have her poking at his chest, but he suspected that would be the least of the discomfort to follow, and so he tried to steel himself against it. The dull, throbbing pain that he'd been feeling until she poked his wounds had done nothing for his special urges, but the sudden pain of her touch was both sharp and sweet enough that he wanted to gasp. It was that gasp and others like it that Ru strove to steel himself against.
It would be helpful if she would dull the pain somewhat. It would also dull the masochistic pleasure he took in being hurt, and he would welcome that. It was not, he believed, typical even among the Stormborn to be aroused by one's own physical suffering. And yet asking for something to diminish the pain would surely be a sign of weakness, and he allowed himself only so many of those in a day.
"I'll manage," he said at last. "Whenever you're ready."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 12:47 pm
The healer shrugged. She would never understand reavers and their need to prove their strength. Perhaps it was more for themselves than for herself, but she wouldn't comment further. Part of her still worried that he would snap at her in a blind rage from the pain, and she would be injured herself. Risks were part of the job, and it was a job that not too many willingly picked up. It secured her location within the pride, and she would never give this up for anything.
"Steady those legs," she said as her claws began to poke at the wound. "Last thing I need is for you to knock me out cold."
She picked at his shoulder, trying to avoid worsening his half-healed injury. In reality, she was a bit glad that she could do this without having to explain it to him. She would let what blood flowed loosen up the wound and hopefully make it easier to pick out the shrapnel within his shoulder. With what he had said, it must have been quite a splinter that sunk completely under the skin.
Grinding her own teeth in frustration, she motioned for him to wait before darting off to find something to help her. Some scrap of fabric that she had swiped from an ignorant freeborn, it had become more valuable than anything else in her face. It was impossible to create this, and almost impossible to find more.
It hung awkwardly around her paw, but it helped to steady her work as she finally found what it was lodged in the reaver's shoulder.
"Wood," she said cryptically.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 2:01 pm
"Ma'am," he said in a clipped tone, acknowledging her instructions and bracing his paws as she had told him to do.
It did hurt when she worked, but Ru had less difficulty than he had expected in holding back the flickering of desire that usually accompanied that sort of pain. He was concentrating so hard on it, though, that he was still only minimally aware of the discomfort she was putting him through.
"Hsst!"
When she went to work with her cloth he couldn't suppress that hissed intake of breath, but he continued to hold still. Moving, no matter how much he wanted to, would do more harm than good, and so he made himself hold still. But his tail quivered and his claws flexed in and out.
"Wood?" he repeated on a half-growled gasp. "It's wood?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 2:51 pm
"Yes, and it managed to slip under your skin and worm its way into your chest." She was surprised that...he was so surprised, but perhaps he was unaware of how dangerous would could be. She normally just had to pull splinters out of cub paws now and then, and was not used to having to dig to find it.
"It isn't allowing your injury to heal properly," she stated as she wandered to her messy corner of salves, stinky things, and questionable objects. She sifted through the different objects, tossing a few things away as she tried to find what she was looking for. One day she was going to get herself an assistant to help her, or she'd never get this organized.
"Ah, here." It was a gooey mess, but she knew what she'd use it for. A mix of beeswax, honey, herbs, and other unidentifiable objects were cupped within a large leef.
Bringing it back (since it wasn't like he would die when she stepped away from him for a moment), she went back to work, pinching her claws together to try and pull out the piece of wood. It was tricky, and the stupid thing didn't want to let go of the muscle it was straddling. Aino did her best to not curse under her breath, her mind a bit too aware of how easy it would be for him to headbutt her and knock her out. She worried more than was necessary about things that were unnecessary, but she still kept enough focus to do her work.
Finally, it released. It didn't come out in one piece, so she had to fish out the other piece as well, but she thought that she got it all.
"The big pieces are gone. If there is anything left, they should be small enough to be of no bother to a reaver like you," she said, pushing the bloody bits of wood towards the edge wall of the cave. She'd pick it up later.
Next would be to patch up the damage that she had done in getting the stupid stuff out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 3:21 pm
"That doesn't sound good," Ru said. "You can get it out, right?"
He didn't think the scenario was going to be all that pleasant if she couldn't. Not that he would pitch a fit or anything like that. He just didn't fancy dying of some stupid infection because he'd decided to have a bit of fun with a few herbs that turned out to be explosive incendiaries.
It wasn't instantly reassuring when she walked away from him, but Ru told himself that it would be worse if she hadn't. Her walking away indicated that she knew of something in her stores that would deal with the problem, and she was merely going to fetch it. That was perfectly fine. He was not going to die an ignominious death by wood poisoning, if there even was such a thing.
Moments later, after casting a dubious glance at the gooey blob she'd returned with, Ru found that they had crossed his line between pain that was fun and pain that was painful. People digging around in his chest was going a bit too far, it seemed, and now his claws were out and digging into the ground. To his dismay, he was also panting in response to how much it hurt.
"Nngh!" he grunted, tossing his head to one side but trying to hold still otherwise. His tail, of course, was lashing furiously. But that was just what tails did. At least that was all of it.
"Thank you. Is that everything?" A little shakily he shifted and tried experimentally to walk. It could be done, and it was significantly less painful than it had been.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 5:28 pm
Aino mostly brushed off all the concerns, grunting, strain, whatever the male was doing. It was easier to quiet a whiny patient down with growls, and he was young enough that she didn't feel too worried about it. For the most part, he was a superb patient. Part of her almost wished that he would come back again because of that. She would take a 'tough' patient over one that merely thought he (or she!) was tough and whined to hell and back.
"Yes," she said as she tried to clean up after herself a bit. It was fairly common to have blood on her, though it was never her own. Unsettling to others, perhaps, but it was less dangerous than gallivanting off on a viking.
"Keep it clean. You'll probably have a scar to impress those around you, but otherwise you should be alright. If it ever gets worse again, return."
She turned to put a few things away, making a mental note to gather more supplies soon. Someday she would hope a personal thrall may come her way, but for now she was grateful to just be needed.
"You're welcome, Reaver."
(ugh ugh ugh I am so sorry for the lateness, not sure if you want to tag again but ilu let me know XD; <3)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:01 pm
Ru would have felt so proud that Aino thought he was tough. He worked hard to come across as such, but it was difficult to say whether others bought what he was selling. He couldn't ask Kazul. She would tease him and refuse to give him a straight answer. Besides, if a person had to ask, that didn't make them seem very tough, now did it?
"I'll do my best," he said sincerely. Ru certainly didn't mind scars, providing they didn't hinder his movement later on, which he wouldn't allow them to do. "I don't think I'll be back. Not for this, anyway."
He grinned and glanced down. He flexed experimentally and decided that it was definitely going to burn later, he could tell, but for the time being the discomfort was manageable. He should get back to his den before the pain became too intense for him to take any sort of enjoyment from it and was merely pain.
"Thank you again," he said. He couldn't help the thanks. His mother had raised him to be a certain way and he saw nothing wrong with showing gratitude when it was warranted. "I will be sure to tell people that you are a fine healer."
He nodded respectfully and departed.Safaia Of course I want to tag! <3 you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|