Blacktail Deer Plateau glass rain falls on sundays

[ time: dusk // weather: mild, cool]

The girl snaked through the trees, already starting to feel at home beneath the boughs. Her mind wandered, aimlessly, gaze flitting from tree to tree, landmark to landmark, intent merely on exploring and coming to know this place as well as she had known Morningside. The day was dreamy, clouds above looking as someone had set them low on the horizon, perfectly. The air was warm, the air silent and broken by distant bird calls. The day had an odd surrealness to it, something that made the girl feel as if she were drifting through a dream.

The perfect stillness was interupted, surrealism fracturing as an absolutely huge hare darted across her path, startled quite suddenly by her passing. Her mind shifted into the now and the hunt in an instant, and she was in pursuit, limbs falling in perfect staccato on the dry earth. The thing was a perfect meal on legs, and the caches were low; she flattened against the earth as she followed, gaining, gaining.

Suddenly, and incline, and the rabbit, surefooted, charged downwards. The earth grew steeper beneath her paws, and the rabbit moved ahead. Desperate, and unwilling to let a perfect meal go to waste, she launched herself from the earth. fortunate that her take-off did not go astray. fangs fastened on a rump, a shrill scream pierced the air, and then the rest of her body crashed down.

Suddenly she clung to the rabbit as the rest of her body, all long limbs and flailing tails and paws, crashed down the incline. Her mind suddenly knew only panic, interrupted by a sudden ringing when a tree rudely halted her progress. The air was torn from her lungs, and her ribs screamed with pain, limbs smarting. The still held a death grip on the rabbit, who, at some point during the tumble, had died of fear, of injury, or both. Her gaze was wide and unseeing, as, totally disoriented, she lay shock still.  

Later that night, Grayday would lie awake, agonizing over what might have happened if he'd not been wandering through the area that day. He was not even looking for his daughter when he crested the hill and caught her scent in the breeze. When his eyes fell on her prone form, all his joints seemed to lock in place. For a moment, he couldn't move - could scarcely breathe - though he wanted nothing more than to be immediately by his daughter's side. The world began to grey out, and the sounds of the forest fell on silent ears. Everything began to go dark and quiet - but only for a moment.

And then movement returned to him, and then color and sound, and he was halfway to his still little girl by the time her named erupted - panicked and strong - from his aching lungs. "Dawn!" he cried, his legs trembling as he reached her. "Baby - what happened? Can you move?" 

He sniffed over her in a panicked haze, unable to comprehend what he was seeing in those first, frenzied moments. "I'm here, I've gotchya," he was saying, but in this state, there was nothing could do. The male closed his eyes and took a deep breath, begging for his mind to return to him so he could be of some kind of use.

Fyi, Dawn's injuries are bruised/cracked ribs, multiple cuts and bruises, a couple broken toes on her left forelimb, and a couple sprained tendons. Just thought I'd let you know in case anything isn't included in my post :D

It hurt to breathe, but that didn't strike her as being wrong immediately. Her fangs still lay embedded in the rabbit, which had likely prevented a chipped tooth or two. She blinked, still unsure of how she had ended up here, but the heavy blanket that was shock did not allow her to feel or think much of anything. She was aware of her father, quite suddenly, calling her and then being beside her, but it was a few moments until her mind caught up to her from wherever she had left it on the tumble down. 

She dropped the mangled hare from her maw, now decidedly less appetizing, and turned her gaze to her father. "Da. I was hunting. I-" She dropped off, quick suddenly lurching forward with a small gasp, swaying on her limbs yet stubbornly refusing to sit. She swayed, body feeling sluggish, and paused a moment before continuing. "Stupid. I fell."  Words hurt, too, and she stopped talking, but continued swaying, mind still fumbling.

Grayday was still reeling, but managed to clear his head enough to throw back his head and call for @Pema. When he looked back down at his daughter, his heart lurched once more, but the frantic rhythm seemed to be slowing. After a few more deep breathes, he as able to force himself to her side, where he acted as a buttress against his daughter's swaying form.

"Don't move too fast," he advised, feeling as though he should tell her to lie back down, but too relieved at her ability to stand to say it out loud. "Take slow, even breaths, and start flexing your limbs one-at-a-time. Once we know what's hurt, we can see about getting your somewhere more comfortable."

He was terrified that something would be broken - something they wouldn't be able to fix. A cousin of his had died in the prime of his life due to a broken rib. He just couldn't get the air in, and after a couple days, he began to bloat and weaken and cough up blood, and once that started, no one had even bothered trying to save him. Ma said that, if someone's coughing blood, you ought to either kill them right off or make them as comfortable as possible - and if it wasn't caused by injury, you'd better stay well away from them.

Sorry guys, lost the tag message.

Pema started to get the impression that the only time she was really being called for was when someone was injured or hurt. It bothered her somewhat that it was the only thing some people wanted, but she tried to assure herself that the reason for this was because of how active she was in the pack. Being up and about all parts of the territory meant bumping into many of the members several times through out the day and week. She was also glad that even if they were calling for her because someone was hurt, it meant that she could be there to help. When without her they might be in even worse problems. 

So when she heard the call from Grayday she immediatly assumed that someone was hurt. Running threw the trees to where she thought she heard the call come from she came across Grayday and Dawn who was leaning against him for support. There wer visable cuts on various places on her body, any other injuries would need further inspecting to diagnose. She walked up the incline to where they were and faced them face them. There was also blood around Dawn's muzzle making Pema's heart pound thinking of how this could be rather internal, like it had been with Heartha. "What's going on? Dawn are you alright? Is that your blo..." she paused whens she saw the bloodied rabbit resting on the ground alittle ways away. 

She signed in relief knowing that the blood wasn't hers, though she was still concerned see the cuts and other superficial injuries. Regaining herself though still very conserned she asked again. "What happened?"

She obeyed her father's instruction not because she saw the logic behind them, but in this bewildering and sudden situation instruction was desired. She lifted and lowered her limbs slowly, collecting her thoughts, the sharp bolt of pain when she set down her forelimb jolting her to words. "My paw. I think- " she didn't quite know what caused the pain in her forelimb, and the arrival of Pema and her own words having her lift her muzzle to survey the girl vacantly. 

She slipped towards the ground gracelessly, forelimbs spread out and rear limbs bunched up beneath her. "It hurts -my chest. Breathing hurts, too." she said, blinking her eyes closed for a moment before settling her gaze on her father. It shifted to Pema, next, and she was silent, too tired to use up painful words explaining what had happened.

His own chest tightened when she mentioned that it was hard to breath, but she could talk, and that was enough to give him hope, for the time being. "Just try to keep taking in even breaths," he encouraged, not quite sure what to do for her paw. It was broken, in all likelihood, and the best thing to do was take the weight off it and hope she didn't screw it up anymore than it already was.

He began cleaning a scrape above one of her eyes, his heartbeat slowing back down to a more normal pace, though his stomach still gave the occassional (and uncomfortable) lurch. Pema arrived before too long, about as flustered as he was feeling, at that point.

"I think she fell," said Grayday, easing down alongside his daughter when she did not seem to have the strength to respond. "She's a bit shell-shocked," he added in a lower voice, casting a worried look in her direction. Hopefully, she would not object to being described as such. It was obvious that this was the case, but Dawn was a proud creature, not given to showing weakness. "She said her chest was hurting - that it hurt to breathe."

Her paw. The breathing in her chest. A fall. All these things were comming at Pema at once, but she knew that she needed to keep herself together. After all she was getting all the information, but Dawn had experienced it. Pema shut her eyes for a few seconds, taking a few deep breaths herself, thinking of what they could do. Moving her wasn't going to be the best idea, but it would have to happen eventually for Pema to treat all of her injuries. Better to move her now and then treat all of her pain at once.

"That's good Dawn. Just try to take nice, slow, deep breaths. I know it hurts." she took a few breaths herself so that Dawn could have someone to match. Her attention then went to Grayday. "I need you to help me move her. I dug out a section in my den for the pups to play in, but it's going to have to be a resting spot for the time being." attention back on Dawn. "Ok Dawn, were going to have to move you now. It's going to hurt, but not for too much longer. Then I can treat you, ok? Just keep breathing."

She waited for both of them to be in agreement and waited at Dawn's side, opposite of Grayday so they could be counter balances and or crutches for Dawn while they moved towards Pema's den.

She squinted her gaze against the disorientation, though it hardly helped, as it was her thoughts that muddled, not the outside world. Still, she was ever-stubborn, and she muttered "I'm fine. It'll pass - I just -" But words did not come any easier than they had before, and she leaned readily on her father, accepting her state even if her words told another story. The rabbit sprung to mind, and she wanted to tell her father to cache it, for it ought to be a good meal (and she had certainly done a lot to nab it), but at the mere thought of the effort required to speak those words had them slip from her tongue. In a stupor she moved, placing paw in front of paw, until at some point in time - she could not say how long the walk had taken - she collapsed, exhausted, in Pema's den. Shock and adrenaline had passed, slowly, and drained her, and her injuries lacked any sort of barrier, now. The pain was greater than she would admit, and she slipped into a kind of exhausted haze, deaf to the world.

A little bit of PP - tell me if anything needs changing! Feel free to skip

Thankfully, Grayday did remember to grab the rabbit, and thus, was silent as he and Pema guided Dawn to the den. Although he didn't like the idea of his poor, sick girl being under the earth and without the stars to look up at, he didn't feel right questioning Pema on this, and possibly shaking her resolve. He'd begun to see her as a bit delicate since Heartha's death, though this would surely pass as he got to know her a better.

When they got Dawn settled, Grayday darted away to cache the rabbit, not wanting to have to worry about it later on. He was back in less than a minute, but still felt anxious until he laid eyes on his hurt daughter once more. "How're your ribs feeling, baby?" he asked, hoping his voice sounded calmer to her than it did to himself. "Are you having trouble breathing?"

They had made it to Pema's den and Dawn was now laying down in the side chamber. She would need to rest after for some time and thought that for the time being without her having a den that this could be an ok place for her to start. She waited for Grayday to return and as she did examined Dawn's injuries. Sifting through her fur to find where the deeper cuts were and then applying pressure to parts of her legs and chest. 

The toes on her left front leg were off, in the wrong position. Something she could live with, but would likely mean that she wouldn't run or hunt the same if left untreated. They would need to be popped back into place. Which would hurt, but not as bad as the broken ribs that Pema had identified she had. The toes would come first.

So when Grayday returned she was ready with intructions. "She had some deep cuts, but nothing she'll bleed out from. She has a few broken or fractured toes and a few broken ribs. There's not much we can do about her ribs other then have her rest and lay with her chest open rather then curled up. But we need to adress these toes first before they become a possibly perminant issue. You may need to hold her down so that she doesn't flail too much." she said giving her diagnosis and readying herself to pop her toes back into place. 

Once she thought that Grayday was in a good spot to comfort as well as hold her steady, Pema lightly grabbed one of Dawn's toes within her jaws, not yet applying any pressure. She looked up at Grayday with a face saying Are you ready? Once she got comfirmation she applied pressued and pulled to have the toes pop into the correct possition. Letting go right when she heard the pop, to make sure it was as quick and painless as it could be for Dawn, which wouldn't be that painless.

Sharp, sudden pain had her yep and flail suddenly against the force that held her, and she was jolted out of her stupor. When it came again, however, she was ready, and reacted only with a hiss and a tremble. Her teeth clamped, and when the third tow jumped back into place, she stiffened her shoulders and hissed again, muttering under her breath, still not completely with the situation, "Not cool."  Her gaze blinked up at her father and at Pema, questioning, her haze cleared by the sharp awakening. 

Voice a little hoarse, she asked Pema, still reeling, "Is that it? Is there more?" her gaze travelled carefully to her swollen paw, uncertainty in her voice and hoping the answer would be a no, at least for now. She could bear the pain, but in her current state, that was easier said than done. Her gaze flickered to her father, and she stiffened her spine in the slightest, her stubborn aversion to weakness already setting in as her senses returned.

Grayday nodded once and laid his neck over Dawn's, so that he would be the first thing she encountered, should her instincts force her to lash out with her teeth. He knew that it would be painful for her, but he had great faith in her toughness, and did not expect her to do more than wriggle and shout. Even so, her struggle swept all the breath out of his lungs, and he let out a distressed growl of his own, wishing Pema would be more careful.

The flash of anger faded very quickly, however. The healer was only doing what she could to allow his daughter to heal, and he knew he had to be grateful to her.

"You're alright," he said when it was over, peppering a few kisses over Dawn's cheeks.

Noises of ditress came from both Dawn and Grayday. Dawn's was expected, but not from Grayday. But Pema tried to not make it personal. He was simply being protective. He didn't want to see his daughter in pain and in some way Pema was causing that pain, but only so the thing causing her real pain would begin to fade. She imagined that he knew that as his gaze lightened soon after it had initially hardened.

The worst of it was over, now it was mearly waiting and treating things with herbs. But Dawn had gone through alot today and waiting one day to give her some herbs wouldn't hurt while she rested. She signed, "That's good for now. She should rest, we can get her some food and herbs tomorrow when the brunt of the pain subsided."

She looked at Dawn, smiling, wanting to silently let her know that she was both in good hands and praise her for doing so well when Pema was setting her toes back into place.