Blacktail Deer Plateau do I cool it or do I blow

Doubt; it crept into her mind, worming it's way around her thoughts. Dawn had stepped into her role gladly, confidently, after learning and growing. And she had not stepped up alone, rather, Pema had stepped up alongside her. At first, she had thought little of it; the woman cared greatly for the pack, and while she had never thought her a leader, she seemed to accept the role. But had Pema been promoted for a different reason? Did her father not think her capable of leading alone beside him? She knew that she had her shortcomings, but perhaps they were greater than she thought; perhaps the kind of shortcomings that required another to babysit her. 

Shoulders hunched, she shook the thought from her mind, sighing bitterly. She plowed through the snow, pushing her full weigh against the powdery white that rose up to her shoulders, here, a somewhat isolated part of the territory. Her muscles burned, and before much longer, her pointless plowing had her panting and her bitter thoughts vanish into the back of her mind. Satisfied now, with her limbs burning, she gazed sidelong at the fluffy white that seemed so inviting. Relenting, she flicked her tail briefly before flopping onto her side, and immediately jerking sideways with a yelp and a sharp crack. Her haunch burned, and she cursed loudly as she bolted forward instinctively, before twisting back to see the source of the sudden hurt. Her eyes widened when they fell upon the stick, half buried in her haunch, brittle and as wide around as one of her toes. Blinking at it a few moments longer, unable to bring herself to move and quite unsure about how the stick managed to find it's way into her haunch, she gave a somewhat faltering howl for @Aditya, completely at a loss of what to do.

he had seen dawn so infrequently in past days that when her cry rang out, he mistook it for longing, rather than the urgent signal that it was. with a smile, and a wag of his tail, he bounded forward, heading toward the sound. he had so missed her. he did not think he would be able to keep from touching her.

that smile, tongue lolling in joy, faded dramatically as he took in the sight that awaited him at the end of the trail.

something wordless and frightful slipped from his mouth, a sudden whisper with what breath he could muster; it had been stolen from him. all he saw for a brief moment was blood, and dawn sprawled out before him. the panic subsided somewhat as he noted she was still breathing, and conscious. he rushed to her side, keeping an ear out for an attacker.

"mera pyaar," he murmured, pressing his muzzle briefly against her cheek before nosing gingerly around her body to find the source of the injury. there. . . it was a stick, of decent width and length, half-embedded in her thigh.

it was far from his expertise to try to give her anything but comfort now; he tipped his muzzle back and called for @Pema -- feeling both heartened and amused that she had called for him first -- and curled up next to her, offering small, soft words in order to relax her heart and slow the bleeding. pema would know the best possible course of action. he feared his actions alone could make the situation worse.

Blinking, very uncertain what the current situation would mean for her, she stretched out her muzzle with a soft whine as Aditya approached, pushing her muzzle against his cheek as he muzzled hers. She tensed a little as he approached the stick, still unwilling to move, relaxing as he moved to lay at her side. She spoke thickly after a moment, words a little strained, "there," she paused, huffing in a most unimpressed manner, "there is a stick in me."  The act of being stabbed was novel, and thus she was very unsure about how she felt about the situation. 

She poked her muzzle at his neck, the pain starting to blossom now that the initial shock faded. She hadn't seen Adi much in the past few days, slipping out of their shared den early and not returning until late, preoccupied with thoughts of winter and doubt and the arrival of a surprising new member, and the problems that existed within the pack. "take it out, please." She requested, tail lashing slightly. She did not like the stick lodged as it was, and moving seemed to risky with an object embedded in her hide.

She had been spending some time with the cubs when she heard Adi's call for her. The call sounded distressing and very ergent. She said a quick goodbye to the cubs before rushing towards the direction of his howl. Upon arrival she found Adi laying next to Dawn with blood dripping into the snow around them. When she approached she was about to ask her usual question, what happened? and what's wrong? But looking down at her thigh where the blood was coming from, it was plane to see that their was a stick enlodged in her thigh. It didn't much matter how it got there, only that it was in their now and no doubt causing her alot of pain. 

She had never seen anything like it before. Not even when she was in her birth pack with experienced healers around. And for the thing to be causing the injury to be a stick was something beyond irony. Just looking at the situation she thought that the source was obviously from the enlodged stick, and that it would be best if that were to go. Pema hadn't heard Dawn's prior request, but she was thinking the same thing. 

She skipped pleasantries, and tried to remain calm and focused. Seeing that Dawn was still breathing and concious was a relief. "Assuming this is everyone's first time with this situation I'm going to need some help." she said looking to Adi. "I'm going to need you to get me some things Adi, and Dawn, I need you to day layed down and try not to move. Alright?" she asked the two rhetorically. 

She took a deep breath, "Okay Dawn I'm going to take it out now. Are you ready?" she asked, wanting to give her time to relax and prepare for the pain she was no doubt going to feel.

one corner of his mouth twitched as she spoke. clearly, she had not lost her fire, even with this bothersome injury. "i can see that," he shot back, voice brimming with humor but still kind. he glanced at the wound. it was deep, but with the right care, it should heal. "i'm not touching it until pema gets here. i'm not risking it getting infected. sticks won't kill you, but infections will."

he knew that much, at least. one wolf adi had known several seasons back had gotten into a spat with a cougar--or was it a coyote?--and had returned to their impromptu campsite bloodied and bruised, but otherwise unscathed. unscathed, at least until one of the slashes festered and he died of a fever.

pema arrived on the scene, as always the calm voice of reason in the scenario. he stood up gently, not wanting to jostle dawn in even the slightest manner; doing so could aggravate her pain. "tell me what you need and i'll go," he assured her, nodding his head.

his face drew into a distorted scowl as he looked at the wound. blood oozed and trickled scarlet around the stick, turning her flank into a matted red mess.

She huffed a little at his reluctance to touch it, about to playfully goad him on when Pema arrived. Her brow furrowed when she ordered Aditya away, suppressing a grumble. She wanted him here, but she supposed that want was needless, and weak. Still, it didn't sit well with her, and when Pema told her that she would pull out the thing, her flank twitched painfully and her heart started pumping a little harder. "no," she said, already twisting her head back, "I've got it." Not allowing Pema to say anything, moving quickly, she grasped the stick and viciously jolted back her jaws.

Perhaps she'd been moved by the bitterness she'd felt earlier, or the pride that said if she'd been stabbed, she herself had better be the one to unstab herself. The stick ripped from her haunch with a rip of flesh and a trickle of blood that accelerated into a flow, sharp cry issuing from the girl as she dropped the sizable branch, blood-coated and gory, onto the snow. Her breath came quickly, and she squeezed her eyes shut, breathing out from between her teeth. "there." 

Pema could understand Dawn's frustration when Adi left her side. When in pain it was normal for someone to want to have thier companion there for comfort and to make them feel better. But whatever Pema asked Adi to get she was sure if would make Dawn feel better then some companionship. She was ready to pull the stick out herself, but Dawn said she would and before Pema could protest was already twisting herself to pull it out. 

Pema had offered to pull out the stick for Dawn's sake. So she could remain relaxed and still while everything was going on. But from Pema's experience with an injured Dawn before, it wasn't easy for her to sit still. But another issue same about when Dawn pulled out her stick. As it emerged from her thigh it was revealed that the stick was rather deep. Luckily it was only in her thigh and not her side or other areas close to organs. But when the stick was taken out the little trickly of blood turned into a stream. A stream that just kept on flowing. Unknown to all of them it would have been better to keep the object within Dawn's thigh for the time.

When Pema realized that the bleeding wasn't slowing down but rather speeding up she paniced slightly. But she tried to keep it in and as took her front paws and applied steady pressure to the wound. "Adi! I need moss NOW and lots of it." she urged him.

feel free to skip me for like, two or three rounds to give him time to find the moss. also, yay 200 posts! happy dance

pema knew best. aditya was no stranger to blood, but he felt a bit faint at the sight of it coming, in a steady stream, out of his lover's leg. shaking his head to clear it, to focus it, he nodded at the healer's command, giving dawn a quick touch of his muzzle to her lips before dashing off.

moss. moss. moss. he knew there was moss on the rocks in whitefish river; the water flowed too fast to freeze, and moss must surely be there. he braced himself for the touch of cold water on his mouth, the damp, spongey plant between his teeth.

there must be no hesitation. time was of the essence. he did not think that this was a life-threatening injury--but he had been shown time and again that things could change in an instant.

She hissed as Pema shoved her paws onto the wound, snapping her teeth together and seething. Stupid, stupid branch. Tensing as she willed away the pain, she turned to see the steady flow of blood matting her fur, gaze flashing to Aditya as he went to fetch moss. She decided that staying silent ought to be the best course of action at the moment, and stared at the stich before her with a burning passion while trying her utmost not to snap at Pema, who, while likely saving her from death by lack of blood, was exerting a great deal of pain on the huntress.

Dawn began to growl and snap her teeth, but she hadn't lunged for Pema yet which was good. At the moment she was the only one that could help her. Adi had gone to get moss that would hopfully soak up the blood, but when Pema was doing was crutial. Without it Dawn could die from blood loss. With the situation at hand Pema couldn't sense that there was anything else causing this anger other then the pain. She simply keep pressure on the wound as she waited and kept making sure that Dawn was concious and breathing.

as it turned out, there was not much moss growing on the rocks in whitefish river. perhaps he hadn't paid close enough attention to the water. scowling, he gave the water an irritable kick with a back paw, spraying icy droplets every which way.

what to do, what to do? he paced the riverbank, worry rising up within him. what if he didn't find moss? what if he didn't get back in time? what if what if what if--

---

a short time later, aditya returned to the scene with dry moss in his jaws. his fit had turned out to be premature. a small cleft in the rocky cliff hanging above the water had yielded the quarry he sought. ripping as much out as possible, he raced back to pema and dawn with his mouth liberally stuffed with greenery.

dropping it gingerly on the ground--it had gotten slightly wet; he hoped that wasn't too much of a hindrance--he sank back down to dawn's side, though his golden eyes remained upturned to pema in case she needed anything more.

Aditya returned after what seemed like either eons or minutes, and Dawn blinked, relieved. Quite suddenly, Pema's hold on her limb struck a nerve (or, more accurately, a rather large sliver which lodged a little deeper into her limb) and her hind leg kicked out instinctively, likely catching Pema in the wild swing. Gnashing her teeth in pain, Dawn looked towards Pema with apology written in her gaze, for while she'd like to fantasize about snapping at the healer as she pained her so, she wouldn't actually do it. 

Aditya sank down beside her, and she pushed her muzzle into his fur briefly. Her gaze moved again, however, to Pema, wanting to know just what the healer planned to do to the stick hole.

While they waited for Adi to come back Pema tried to stay as still as she could. Applying a steady amount of pressure and not moving would help slow the bleeding and make it as comfortable for Dawn as she could. Her heart began to slow as the initial panic of the situation wore off. She thought she had the situation handled pretty well, at least as best as it could be. 

When Adi returned she was happy to see him with a mouthful of moss. But that joy was kicked out the was with the feeling of panic once again when Dawn flintched and caused Pema to lose her grib and land on the ground. Dawn's wound was no longer getting pressure and continued to bleed rather profusly. But this gave Pema time to reach over and place some of the moss on the wound before applying more pressure. "This should help soak up the blood and stop it from bleeding so much." she explained incase the two were wondering. 

he watched with alarm as she began to bleed faster, whispering quiet words of endearment and comfort into her ear as pema picked up the moss and placed it atop the wound. it seemed to be working. . .in. . .some capacity. aditya had no aptitude for medicine, but even he could see the moss was helping to slow the bleeding.

"thank god," he breathed fervently as the plant did its duty. he cuddled up as close as possible to his mate without nudging her injured flank, curling his tail around her body.

perhaps in an effort to keep her calm, he asked--quite calmly himself--"what happened?" for the one thing, he was curious, but he was mostly concerned about getting her talking. once you started talking, it kept your mind off the pain.

When Pema began to place some vegetation into the wound, Dawn glanced back at Aditya, hoping that Pema knew what she was doing. Her words made sense, but the idea of stuffing some greenery into the hole seemed odd. The snow seemed welcoming; tempting again, this time the potential it held to numb the pain rather than looking like a delightful place to rest. Aditya's words had her turn to him, blinking against the hurt and deciding that ignoring the wound might make it a bit easier to handle. 

 "stupid snow covered it. went to sit, and-" She huffed, tail twitching before stilling to lay beside Aditya's. "it stabbed me." She said with a particular amount of distaste, wincing again as the twisted back to see Pema, noting that the moss seemed to be doing what the healer had said it would.

She kept even pressure on the wound and tried to keep an even head. When it looked like the first clump of moss had been soaked though she reachover to put another one on top of it before applying the same amount of pressure. This would help clot the wound and slow the bleeding. They would simply have to wait till that happened. It wasn't as though they had needle and thread to give her real life stitches, something that was beyond any wolfs knowledge. They would simply have to do this the long way. 

"It's almost rediculous to think a stick would cause this much trouble." she commented, trying to lighten the mood and distract Dawn from the pain.

he pressed his muzzle against the top of her head as she cringed, steadying his own breathing to a soothing rhythm and hoping she would match it. "that wasn't very nice of it," he quipped, referring to the stick in question. "you've never seen that stick before in your life. wouldn't know it from. . ."

aditya trailed off, watching the moss. he was fascinated by the way it took in more liquid than what seemed possible.

"that is amazing," he said sincerely, looking up at pema. "i've actually never seen moss used like this before. . .although i've heard tales." she had removed one sodden clump, replacing it with another. the scent of blood was thick and heady in the air, the soft pressure of dawn's breathing against him the only thing anchoring him to the world.

the whole scene seemed almost surreal.

She grinned at the pair, though Aditya's trailing sentence had her give him a sidelong glance, finding him staring at the moss. She watched it a moment as he spoke, noting how it seemed to fill with blood, the way it pulled the fluid from the wound. The sodden clump dropped to the snow as Pema replaced it with another, the bleeding already slowing. The scent of blood with thick, something that almost makes her hungry, seeing as she hasn't eaten in a day, but she shakes the thought aside with a furrow of her brow and turns to Aditya, who's gaze seems a little off. "Adi?" She probs, poking his cheek carefully and wondering why, exactly, he stares at the moss with such rapt fascination.

The mood was beginning to lighten after Adi's few joking comments about the stick. If they were going to simply wait it was nice that Adi could make the wait enjoyable. When he commented on the moss Pema added. "Ya. Their like land sponges. Which is a good thing. This is all we can really do. Wait for it to stop bleeding so Dawn can find a place to rest and have it scab overnight." she said explaining the game plan they would have to resort to with such limited resources and experience.

As she spoke Pema stared down at Dawn's wound only looking up when Dawn said Adi's name in such a tone. When she looked up she was Adi staring at the previous peice of moss Pema had applied. Not soaked with blood and slowly spilling into the snow around it. His expression was hard to pin point. "You alright?" she asking thinking that he might simply be staring off into space.

their inquiries shook him out of his reverie, and he looked at dawn and pema in turn, wondering why they had turned puzzled gazes upon him. "yeah. it's the moss," he explained. "like i said earlier, i haven't seen it used in this way before. just heard about it."

a sudden gust of wind hit him, and adi shivered, cuddling closer to dawn. her northern winter pelt was warm and sweet-smelling--besides the blood--and he wanted to stay wrapped in its embrace for ages and ages.

"should we get you back to the den?" he asked dawn, cradling his head against hers. "you probably need rest. and something to eat." adi looked up at pema. "if you get her back there, i'll find something from the cache for her."

He seemed alright, but why anyone would find a ball of blood-soak moss so intruiging she did not know. She made a noise of agreement, the pain still a constant but bearable if she did not focus on it. Aditya shifted closer to her, and she made a soft sound not altogether very differnet from a purr, but refraining from expressing the love that flowed through her for the summer-touched male; not in front of Pema. She settled for a quick kiss to his cheek before agreeing to his offer, pushing herself against him once before slowly rising, teetering a moment before finding her balance. 

Her gaze when it returned to Aditya was tinted with longing; unwillingly had she pulled away. She could stay pressed against him for ages, sharing in his warmth, but to do so bleeding in the middle of a snowbank invited bodily harm. She was very sure, however, that she could tempt him into staying with her a while longer at the rendezvous. "I'll meet you there, mera pyaar." She said, before turning to Pema with a slight smile, trying to push the longing thoughts away, or at least until she reached the rendezvous. She made to move towards the rendezvous with Pema by her side, teetering once or twice before finding her balance on three limbs, gait becoming somewhat smoother (yet choppy still).

She let out a small sign when Adi said it was simply facination. For a moment she thought he might faint from seeing all the blood and she would have two patients at once to care for. Luckily Dawn's wound was bleeding alot less now, a managable amount now. Pema no longer feared that moving Dawn might cause her to die from blood loss so she nodded to Adi's suggestion and offered herself as a counter balance for Dawn to lean again as they made their way towards Pema's den.

They could have stayed there longer, but it was alright. Only the occasional drop of blood made it to the snow covered floor before they reached her den. Pema didn't comment on Dawn and Adi's effectionate words and gestures. She simply stayed quited and acted as though it hadn't happened or that she didn't notice them too much. But even though their sweetheart nicknames were in a different language, it had been in a language that Adi had been teaching Pema and so she was following along rather well. 

Now what was left was for Dawn to simply eat and rest. Allowing her wound to scab over and heal in the next comming weeks.