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 Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:25 am
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:33 am
At some point, there had been a rather explosive argument. Dione couldn't quite put her paw on it but the brief moment in which she had exited her den had resulted in a rather extreme change of atmosphere. When she had returned with her supplies, she had come face to face with a scene that probably would have been comical if the circumstances hadn't been so dire.
To summarise:
- Her mother was now sulking in a corner.
- Sima was cowering in one of the little alcoves within her den.
- Nanabe was working as briskly as ever, but the tight and unreadable expression on her features indicated that considerably more had happened.
As for her brother...? Well, the snarl hadn't left his lips and he was in an even worse mood than before. Apparently her mother and her brother had been in some form of bust up, loud enough and dramatic enough to unsettled the cub and place her assistant in to auto-pilot.
Credit where it was due to Nanabe, her brave face was spectacular.
"Dare I ask...?" Dione enquired as she set her supplies to the side and handed the more urgent (the antisceptic oils) to Nanabe.
******
"It would be beneficial for you not to," Tethys replied snidely as he glanced at his sister. Her return was not greeted with enthusiasm, but that was a given when one had had their ear chewed off literally and figuratively. His mother had certainly made her opinions known and he had told her why they were wrong. Granted, they weren't wrong, but at this current point in time he couldn't accept another battering to his pride.
She could have her day in the sun once he wasn't bleeding all over the floor.
Nevertheless, as Nanabe made to approach him with those oils, oils that he had had put on him before, his ear (and a half) flattened against his mane and he attempted to withdraw. His snarl grew much more prominent and he looked completely set to assault the unfortunate thrall in her ministrations.
...Well he had, until she had smacked him hard on the nose and his eyes proceeded to water. Let it never be said that Nanabe didn't know how to handle a circumstance!
"Ow!" he snapped.
"Grow up," Nanabe muttered in a tone that emphasized she had as much bedside manner as his sibling.
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:51 am
Klunas paw thumped heavily on the floor of her den, a scowl most unpleasant sat upon her face and her eyes had narrowed towards the entrance of her home. Today, at dawn, was to be the day that she should have woken to an eager apprentice awaiting the chance to work with the high priestess herself. Instead she awoke to a hidden companion - who had made it obvious he'd like nothing more than to blend into the floor and an empty den. "Stylter." Her voice boomed in demand, clearly angry. "Where is my apprentice?" Her eyes gazed about to find the maned wolf who had peeled himself from the wall and floor to approach her.
"Kluna, please, I don't know and wouldn't know. She simply hasn't come yet - though there was news." He paused, inhaling deeply as his lioness master leaned forward a snarl forming. "Ther-there was a warband that has returned. The band returned from pillaging an abandoned pride and they aren't doing likely as well as they were hoping." He finished and before he could speak again he saw the high priestess grabs bags of herbs, oils and fresh water.
"Stylter, come." Were the last words he'd heard and without question he followed.
Rumors weren't uncommon for the pride members, especially in circumstances like this. When a band returned home brutally wounded and declaring fatalities it was something to be talked about, some more than others. Finally she had nailed down where one of the members was and suddenly things began to make sense. He's with his sister, Dione. The words rang true, she had even asked twice to make sure.
Finding the den with the injured band member wasn't hard with some directions and suddenly she was upon the scene and what a scene it was. The scowls and fear were obvious as a stench - however there was something incredibly out of place - was that a hare? Priorities.
"Dione. You could have at least explained why you weren't going to be there, send a messenger."
Kluna, though ripe with anger had begun to set a bag down and fetch fresh water from a skin - she was a healer afterall and though her apprentice needed to be reminded of courtesy she understood the direness of this particular situation having caught sight of some blood littering the floor. Stylter remained off to the side - he had no intentions of entering that den, not while his master was acting in this way, courteous and yet there was an undertone of threat.
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:02 am
"Yes, because messengers are so hard to find in the heat of the moment," Dione retorted, failing to acknowledge who had walked into her den at that precise moment in time. They were a chip off the same block, Dione could be just as abrupt as Kluna and the High Priestess had now seen it. Before she said anything further she had scooped the tiny hybrid cub up from the alcove and had rested her on top of Tethys's head.
"Press this together with both your paws, Sima," she ordered as she placed the cloth scrap against what remained of her brother's ear. "Nice and tight," she instructed the cub, who despite her fear, did the best that her little paws could muster. She was barely off her mother's milk but this was of use given she fit perfectly atop the unsettled male's head.
"Last time I checked the vast majority were gossiping instead of doing something constructive with their time!" she snapped and whipped out another cloth scrap, only to catch sight of Stylter. The cogs in her head turned rapidly and she snapped her head round to stare at the one who had darkened her doorway.
Ah, well.
"High Priestess," she sounded just a touch strained as she realised her error. "You have my apologies..."
******
"I swear to the gods I will cut you," Tethys snarled at Nanabe as she continued to approach him from different angles, each time daubing him with vast amounts of oil that left his entire body on fire. As if to make matters worse another lioness was descending upon him, one that he had personally never met. He couldn't have given a rats a** who or what she was at this current moment in time but he could see the tools she was handling and he didn't need another lioness providing ministration.
Was it forgivable to murder them?
Surely this was a subtle form of torture.
"Tear out your -"
"Sit. Still." Nanabe snapped back as Sima was settled on his head. Bizarrely that seemed to do the trick. The tiny, shivering cub was enough to remind him that there were some in the room who wouldn't be able to survive a solid punch to the face.
All the while, if someone had listened closely, the might have heard the sulking hair chastise the lion for his language when he took the opportunity to swear.
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:20 am
The dark lioness pressed her lips together at the sharp retort provided by her apprentice. Stylter had snickered a small amount, but after a quick glance at his master he was cut short. "Apprentice, quit your apologizing and get back to work." Kluna had pushed aside the rest of the conversation finding little use of chattering on more - that was other lioness' jobs who couldn't seem to find a damned function within the pride hierarchy.
Blue eyes looked at the various applications and had it been in a different light she'd have given praise, but now was not the time nor did she feel like offering praise to Dione. "Stylter." The high priestess entered the den at the back of the patient - she presumed he was Diones brother, but hadn't received a name. "Get some ointment so we can shut up some of this blubbering." Her words were harsh, meeting the tones of her apprentices with harsh similarity.
"Dione, detail the injuries for me."
As first on sight she expected the lioness to have fully inspected her patient. Kluna was here to help, but she wouldn't lose out on a chance to test her apprentice - find proof in the pudding that she'd made the right decision. She was about to scold the patient for having been such an awful individual when the Thrall had spoken up - it was then that she smiled. Such a commanding presence.
"Yes, watch your- .." Kluna cut herself off to find the source of such scolding and once again found the hare. She made a mental note to question why there was a prey companion here and not skinned for dinner? But for the moment she returned to the lion.
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:36 am
"Oh look, it's you as an old hag!" Tethys announced as he was chastised by Kluna as well. It was really like looking in to a dark mirror, granted Kluna certainly wasn't old, but at this moment in time Tethys wasn't his usual charming self. In fact, he'd developed a bit of an attitude now that he was severely outnumbered by all the females in the room.
If his band had thought that they had been overwhelmed before, they should try this.
"In a few years you'll be just like that, honestly it's like looking into a - " he felt another burn across his flank and gave a snarl at Nanabe who had taken that particular moment to administer another dose of oil. Her timing was impeccable as always, she may not have said much, but she really was picking some rather superb moments to intervene before Tethys really was tortured for being a dumbass.
Death by dumbassery.
What a head stone.
*****
Her transgression was forgotten for the time being and Dione was relieved that she didn't have to act the diplomat. Now really wasn't the time for her to be placating anyone's ego, regardless of their status in the pride. Later perhaps, but absolutely not now.
"Multiple lacerations across the entire body," she responded immediately as she tossed another cloth scrap to Nanabe, Tethys continued to growl, though it was quickly becoming white noise. "All varying degrees of severity, the deepest seem to be along the back, stomach and neck," she swept round and lifted his tail, which had lost all of its fur leaving angry bruising and red rashes from the agitated hair follicles.
"Some of the flesh seems to be necrotic, so whatever attacked him didn't have very nice paws," she added. This would perhaps explain why she had ordered Nanabe to be so liberal with the oils. "Minor slashes to the face, eyesight is intact there's no sign of glazing -"
She glanced at her brother.
"Lost half of his right ear, chipped half of his left fang off," she shook her head.
"I can't confirm any internal bleeds but given his enthusiasm for speech and his ability to travel as far as he has I'm confident that his insides are fine even if someone did try to gut him."
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:32 pm
Old hag, she'd show him an old hag.
A spiteful temper twitched in the back of her mind - she'd give him something to complain about if that was what he wanted. Fortunately for the fairly injured lion he had a guardian angel in the rank of a rather helpful thrall or Kluna would have handled the situation herself. Anyone in her care would receive her utmost attention, but if they decided to be bitter old fools she'd not hesitate to be a bit more rough with their physical review.
However this wasn't her patient and she was reminded of this as Dione began to talk. Her list of injuries wasn't short and some were even rather obscure - a mental note to herself made to check on the necrosis in a few days.
"I'd concur with you in regards to the internal bleeding." Her tone was meant to be condescending towards Diones brother, she had a bad taste in her mouth of him and she was sure it was one she'd not be rid of for a while.
"Has he had any water? I've brought a fresh supply with me, along with ointments to sooth - though I'll leave that up to you whether to apply it not. Personally I'd allow him to suffer a touch." She said the last bit under her breath - whether Dione had heard it or not was undetermined, but none the less she motioned for Stylter to come forward with her things, the water skin was already with her though and she prepared herself to give some to the patient, willing or not.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 2:34 am
"I don't want anything from you, you'll just -" Tethys wasn't interrupted by oil this time so much as Nanabe placing her paw on his nose to inspect his minor scratches. He received a very pointed stare and surmised that if he were to continue along this train of thought then he might be out in the cold, bleeding to death. Suffice it to say that this would not be a good way for him to die, there was no honour and glory in it.
...Plus, when he was feeling more lucid, he'd begin to realise he was in the presence of one who far outranked him. There would be no sympathy for him in a death that had been ordained by the High Priestess, especially if anyone discovered he'd just called her an old hag... she wasn't even old enough to be an elder as it was!
"He hasn't had any water," Nanabe interjected on his behalf and gave the maned wolf a small nod to indicate it was safe to approach. Tethys certainly talked a lot, but Sima had done wonders to make him behave. The tiny cub might have been a sacrificial sheep to any other disgruntled Reaver, but she was like a bucket of water to a flame when it came to this particular one. He wasn't going to do anything that might unseat her, a softie at heart for sure.
...Plus his mother would probably kick his a** at that point and Kluna really would have questions.
******
"He hasn't been given any water yet as I wanted to be sure I didn't need to give him anything that might clash with it," she replied. She hadn't been sure if she needed to knock him out to treat some of the worst injuries, but it seemed the adrenaline was doing more than enough to keep him fighting. As such, Kluna wouldn't find that her new apprentice was going to dispute her decision to offer her brother water.
Truthfully, he probably needed it as well, she wasn't sure how far they had come without drinking. At this stage they all could have needed water and she sincerely hoped that eventually the gossipers had set about helping rather than staring or asking questions. Heal them first, query them after, no doubt they would all give the damn details when their limbs weren't falling off!
"I'm not entirely sure he's deserving of ointments though," she cast a rather direct look towards the High Priestess and raised a brow. She might not have said it, but she had indicated she was more than happy to let her brother feel everything they needed to do to him. Delirious or not, he deserved it for being an a** to begin with, it didn't matter who he had said it to (the fact he had said it to Kluna had just made it worse), he just shouldn't have said it and that was that.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 6:33 am
Dark ears twitched to listen to the Thrall and back to Dione as they both confirmed that as she had already decided the male wasn't worth listening to. "Alright."
"Stylter, do me a favor and return the ointments to my den. If you happen upon any other members of this fellas Viking please be sure to direct them our way. If you don't have those ointments away by the time I've reached my den I'll have you out for more water." A lip raised in a partial threat that was clearly a tease. As her companion gathered the rest of her goods and left Kluna moved to the mouth of Diones brother.
"Now, boy, can you stop making an a** of yourself long enough to accept a sip of water? One word and I promise I'll have you drowned instead of dying by wounds which may appear much more honorable." Her blue eyes stared directly in his green ones with a seriousness that suggested she would have no more of his whining, blubbering or simple assholeness for the duration of his care unless he wanted more to whine about - which based on Diones response wouldn't have been waved aside.
She awaited his response.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 6:49 am
"Depends, what s**t did you put in it?" Tethys challenged.
Behind him, his sister appeared to have been heaving a sigh of exasperation but it was the rabbit who reacted. Before anyone else had been given the opportunity to retort the little white prey beast had leapt forward, swung round to the front and then taken a proper jump. Midair, and directly in front of Kluna's face, Tethys was greeted with a swift upper kick to his maw.
"Language!" it howled in an indignant tone as it fell back to the floor of the den and kicked at his leg. "And manners," it added with a dramatic hiss before storming back to its own spot in the den. Clearly, whoever the hare was, it wasn't afraid of the fact it could technically be eaten. Unsurprisingly, as Tethys had cringed at the very hard smack to his face, Dione had afforded herself a rather enthusiastic smirk.
He was outnumbered and outgunned.
He deserved this.
Dione busied herself with gathered a few more scraps of cloth while Nanabe did much the same, now that most of the infection was being drained out they would be able to start dressing the wounds with herbs and pulps.
"Fine," Tethys replied as he levelled his gaze on Kluna who he had no doubt could hold her own if she was anything like the rest of the individuals in this room. Quite frankly, only Sima seemed to be on his side and she wasn't old enough to even take a damned side. "Thank you," he added in an incredibly disgruntled fashion as though if he hadn't said it, he would experience a fate far worse than death.
"His name is Tethys by the way," Dione introduced them after a few moments. "Tethys, congratulations, you just insulted the High Priestess of this pride."
"Who gives a shi -" he stopped abruptly as he spotted the hare reading her paws for fisticuffs out of the corner of his eye. "Whatever..." he growled.
"He's usually much more well behaved than this. Usually."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 8:32 am
Kluna was prepared to dig her heels in and paint the den with the blood of this disrespectful lion when the unimaginable happened and the hare, of all the individuals in the den, had leaped up to the stone. For the moment, though Kluna wouldn't admit to it, she respected the hare as a swift kick was delivered to the jaw of their patient.
She was stunned to silence to say the least.
When he finally thanked her she still didn't say anything right away, but instead narrowed her eyes at him."You'd ought to be thankful, you ungrateful b*****d." She clicked her tongue at him in a disgust that was clearly carried in her tone as well as her stare. Lion or lioness none had talked to her in the tones received from this particular individual and she'd never forget that for his face would remind her.
Kluna scoffed. "Well behaved? This mongrel? I've seen cubs with better behavior during a tantrum than I have seen today in him." She dropped her rump and continued to work, regardless of what she said. Though she did each motion much more roughly than had to be done. She opened the skin filled with fresh water snuck a paw beneath his chin to move his mouth into a better place to receive the liquid. The action was completed with no hesitation and without mercy. Soon she was pouring water, albeit slowly, into his maw with a pause shortly after to allow him to swallow.
Her mind had swapped thoughts, she'd nurse him back to help alongside his sister Dione so that she could beat the snot out of him herself when he was at full strength again.
Then the hare thing, but one issue at a time.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 8:40 am
Fortunately for Tethys, the feline had worked out that silence was his only 'ally' in this scenario. While they might be tending to his wounds, none of the females in this room appeared to be at all delicate. He was poked, prodded, pushed, tugged... and under the threat of another boot to the head, he found his best course of action for the time being was to be complicit.
If he managed to walk out of this alive, it would be a miracle.
Honestly, he was beginning to suspect that he'd look worse by the time they were done with him. He experienced some mild jealousy at the thought of his fellow brothers being tended to by much more delicate and sympathetic paws.
Ah, but at least he wouldn't die to day, even if he did feel one step closer with each rather rough movement...
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