[PRP] The Wards (Shunqa & Asami)

[Kaelyndra]

Are you ready?

Asami's front paw paused and she slowed. The lioness' head rose and she gave the dune an apprehensive squint.

"Ready? Is something going on?"

Was Ea going to give her a surprise test? The medic's stomach squirmed with the thought. She worried the sand with her paws and glanced over at Shunqa.

Every second that past, Asami worked herself further into a panic.  

[Hopefolly]

They were nearing the wards when she stopped. Shunqa followed suit. This was his third or fourth blunder and he wasn't even sure what he'd done this time. Or, maybe, it wasn't his fault at all. Maybe it was just her being skittish, though that didn't excuse him from trying to put her at ease.

"I just meant ready to go to the wards. Some days they're busier than others." Not really. "I was only wondering if you were at full capacity with those with worse injuries." He wasn't, but that smile was convincing enough if someone preferred to be beguiled as a means of remedying the gracelessness that gripped them both. So as to not stall them further, he kept going. Talking and walking was twice the distraction.  

[Kaelyndra]

"Oh."

Asami fell for every word, or at least lacked the capacity to challenge his statements. Shunqa had walked ahead a few steps before her smaller strides began again.

"It doesn't seem bad," she offered. A short jog caught her up to Shunqa and the pair made their way, one awkward word at a time, to the medical center's entrance.

"If you sit down, I'll be with you in just a moment." At least recitation was still easy.  

[Hopefolly]

"All right..." Shunqa was slow to remember the last time he'd occupied this particular part of the pride. When he was much younger, that he knew. Not much had changed since then, including the boring wait. The memories must have come with some suppressed bad habits; like back then, he started to rock from side to side where he sat and hummed to himself. Some battle anthem he'd learned from... someone.  

[Kaelyndra]

Asami couldn't find her medicine bag.

She checked in the back in case she'd left it with the spare supplies. When she asked a fellow medic, they were unable to shed light on the problem.

It wasn't until she wandered back to Shunqa to apologize for the wait that it occurred to her.

"Uhm," she spoke out loud. "Shunqa?" Asami had moved closer, nearly hovering over the bag. At first, she'd thought to simply pull it over his neck and hope he hadn't noticed. Then, she'd lost her nerve and there she was.

"Could you?"  

[Hopefolly]

Kaelyndra

Shunqa wasn't near as much the bumbling idiot that those around him were taking him to be. He was an adult and acted as such. Where as a twitchy youth would have fumbled and stuttered, he only fumbled and stuttered a little bit. "Right, sorry, I --" Forgot. About the bag and the injury that made removing it worse than equipping it. A wince, a grumble, and three or four seconds later, he was holding the strap in his jaws until she took it from him.

How did lions even make these things?  

[Kaelyndra]

The lioness continued to stand, anxiously close, until the bag was pulled over the male's head and safely in her jaws. Taking it from him had been its own kind of awkward, not helped by the fact his eyes seemed to remain on her for uncomfortably long periods of time.

Asami ran the medical procedure over in her head instead of considering the thousands of implications.

"Tilt your your head towards me?" she suggested.

She lifted one paw and tried to smooth his mane out to either side of the wound. To be truthful, it had only grazed the flesh and produced a clean, perfect cut. Some sand in his mane clung to the edges and Asami resisted the urge to extend a claw and pick out each one--likely causing more damage than good in the process.

"How does it feel?"  

[Hopefolly]

She didn't need to ask twice. Shunqa leaned forward in an innocent, patient-like way. The constant itch of sand was something you grew accustomed to when you were a product of this wasteland. He only noticed it now when it stung his cuts from the inside. "It feels fine." Except for when it hurt. "What should I do for it?"

Eye contact alert.  

[Kaelyndra]

Shunqa's gaze held hers for an eternity too long. Asami felt every inch of her body tell her to look away, but the connection between brain and nerves had been momentarily severed.

Finally, she smiled and dropped her eyes.

"You should keep it clean."

Thud.

Pull it together, Asami.

"You should also visit again in a few days, so I can check for infection." Not that any lion with half a brain couldn't tell when something was infected. The point was he would come back.  

[Hopefolly]

He wouldn't come back, not to this place. After Shunqa was away from her and the enamored moment past its prime, he'd reason the trip had ultimately been a waste of time for everyone involved. He'd already known to keep the wound clean and he knew what infection looked like.

Besides, give it a day and she'd probably have a mate ready to breed dozens of cubs. That's how it seemed to work around here whenever a rogue arrived. And with her being a blazing red? Forget it.

"I'll do that," Shunqa said, because the present wasn't sure what the future had in store. If it had been, he'd have known their next encounter was inevitable. He stood up, bowed his head, and turned to go.