Wolf RPG

It had been a quiet few days, Clarence thought. He liked it, too. The peace that came with just border patrols and short hunts and nights where he'd go sleep with Santiago. It was nice, routine - he'd never had something so domestic, and he finally felt like he was home.

On one of his walks through the territory, bracelet on his wrist jingling, he was surprised to find his routine disrupted. The scent of blood hung in the air, intermingled with Valour's smell, and and Clarence immediately began to run toward it. 

"Valour?" he called anxiously, red eyes darting back and forth until he caught sight of the Warlord. "Are you okay?"

Making a stop at Serem's den he'd grabbed a few things that he knew to be for preventing infection and cleaning a wound and carried them to his den. He'd also taken something for pain at her recommendation but she'd warned him of side effects that would make it better to take at night to sleep. Valour was lapping at his wound to clean it out as Clarence appeared seeming concerned. Turning to see if Clay was still sleeping which he was to his disappointment he swallowed the blood on his tongue before looking out at Clarence.  "Yeah. Spar got a little out of hand" he said like it was nothing though with the adrenaline gone his ankle really had begun to hurt. "Could you help me out? I can't get to my ear" he lowered his head to show the black and white furred man his torn ear which was still wet with blood, holding his injured leg awkwardly off the ground.

Clarence knew far too well what an out-of-hand spar felt like, but it still caused his ears to fall back to his own skull. Ruby eyes that were so well-trained to pick out weakness singled in on the leg that was being favored, then looked back up at the torn ear. "Of course I can help," he assured quietly, but... well, he wasn't sure how. "Um, what do you need me to do? Cleaning it is probably important, right?" He didn't know much about first aid, but cleaning wounds was one of the first things the humans used to do after fights, so... that made sense, didn't it?

Though he kept himself guarded most often, he was beginning to notice that things around him were different. Nobody seemed to be as quick to fight, the wolves here were more focused on important matters opposed to slaughtering for power and rank. As Clarence spoke Valour stopped licking his ankle and looked up for a moment struggling to figure out the proper way to do this himself before recalling Serem's instructions. "Yeah, I couldn't quite reach that far up" he said with a slight smile motioning the male in "Don't say anything about him to anyone. He's my friend I'm taking care of him" he warned motioning to Clay and giving the same explanation he did to Santiago before shoving a few of the medicinal roots and herbs toward Clarence quickly, hoping that the topic would just be dropped. "When it's clean that has to get chewed and licked onto the wound too" He lowered his head ears shifting back as he felt a wave of embarrassment. Serem knew her stuff but she'd never really treated him when he was younger. All of his wounds healed themselves, he often fought off fever without medicine. That's why he'd eventually asked the woman to teach him basic care, how to clean a wound and use your tongue to stop the bleeding.

Honestly, Clarence had hardly noticed the other guy, but he was familiar. The rude one he'd met in the meadow. "I won't tell anyone," he assured, turning his attention back to the taller wolf's torn ear. The piebald wolf scooted up closer to the Warlord and leaned in, rasping his tongue over the injury. He was careful and thorough, assuring that he was being gentle enough to not damage the wound further. 

"Does it hurt?" he asked, voice hushed. Valour was considered to be a friend, and he certainly didn't want to make it worse.

He wouldn't stop licking until the bleeding slowed, then looked back at the herbs. So, he had to chew those up, right? The boy picked them up in his mouth and chewed them up, wincing at the taste.

His nose was pink.

The observation came as Clarence scooted in and leaned close to lick his wound and Valour dropped his eyes downward and found himself focusing on how close the other's neck and chest were. Clarence was actually pretty strong-

The whispered concerned question startled him out of surprisingly heated thoughts and he gasped, shaking his head "Uh..no" he answered quickly and stepped back a little as Clarence chewed the herbs. Guiltily he side eyed Clay's sleeping form certain that the Easthollian was to blame for why he was suddenly so extremely aware of how attractive people were. It was him who had first caught his eye after all. "Sorry they taste like shit" he murmured almost shyly to Clarence, entirely different than how he acted anywhere anytime else.

Clarence had been totally unaware of the gray wolf waking up, and was also blissfully unaware of Valour's plight. After all, the boy already had someone he cared for in that way - Valour was someone he was just interested in being friends with. And it wasn't even really that, right now, since he was more worried about his ear.

"It doesn't taste that bad," he assured, scooting forward again to lick the herbs into the wound on his ear. Once satisfied, he took a step back and offered the Warlord a small smile. "Is anything else hurt?"

In the moment that Clay woke up Valour was distracted by the medicine being licked on his ear. Wincing as the repeated touching at that point had made the torn ear sore he held his breath till Clarence backed away exhaling and returning the smile with a grateful wag of his tail "Nothing I can't take care of, thank you" he was genuinely glad for the help and Clarence was just as kind as ever. Silver eyes slipped to Clay and he nearly choked on his breath, catching the glare of hatred directed at them. "Um...How are you doing?" he asked, eyes remaining on Clay with a worried and questioning expression before turning quickly back to Clarence, not wanting to be rude when he'd just gone out of his way to help. "I heard you were going through stuff, flashbacks or something" he didn't want to pry too much though his concern was genuine, especially seeing as he wanted to know if Clarence was safe for everyone to be around or if he'd have to ask the man specifically not to fight anymore. Funny how he'd demanded Phillip learn it. He shifted uncomfortably, tail tucked just a little as he could almost feel Clay's eyes burning holes in his back.

Thankfully oblivious to Clay being awake, Clarence offered the agouti boy before him a small smile. Which, of course, faded at his question, his ears pressing back just a little. "I'm okay," he responded. It'd been a long time since his flashback - honestly, he thought he was getting good at managing them. "Um, if it was Memory you were talking to, I tried to get away. I didn't mean to hurt him - he was just... he kept trying to pin me down and it made things worse, but it wasn't his fault, either." Shame filled his body, heating it from the inside out. "He didn't know. I didn't know. But I'm being a lot more careful now, with everyone." His tail tucked just a bit as well, afraid that he was about to be chastised or punished or worse. Of course, it was an unfounded worry, but... he had really hurt Memory, whether he'd meant to or not.

Having caught Clay's menacing display he felt his heart quicken. There wasn't a wolf alive he feared he had even snarled at Vengeance on their first meeting but having Clay look so royally pissed off and directing it at him? There wasn't anything he could really do about it that wouldn't make it worse was there? Ears pinning back as it became increasingly hard to pretend Clay wasn't there and listening he made it a point to focus on Clarence with all he could, even moving further away from Clay just to show that the weird behavior wasn't gonna be paid attention to. Clarence's explanation was actually interesting but it wasn't hard to see that the man was messed up about it "I didn't get the full incident but neither of you are in trouble" he felt bad bringing it up seeing how the other began to deflate. "Me and Memory went at it too" he admitted though his lips curled into a smirk "I still whooped him without even needing to spill blood" he couldn't help but brag a little bit, especially since he was still in turmoil about the fact that the older soldier wanted to leave already. "He's a good guy, really. A little off maybe but...we all are a little bit at least" with that his smirk softened back to a gentler smile "I have to clean my ankle up and try to rest, maybe I can catch you tomorrow?" he asked. He'd need to speak to Serem and Santiago again too about Clay but he was tempted to do his own digging first....things to think about while falling asleep.

Oh, so he wasn't in trouble. In fact, Valour went on to talk about his own spar with Memory, and how they were all a little odd. "Yeah," he agreed with a small smile, wondering if Valour recalled their conversation a while back in the middle of the night. "You're a good leader, Valour. Things feel better, with you in charge." Warlord wasn't really a word that he preferred to use here. A soft sigh through his nose, and he continued. "If you need help, or anything, just let me know." 

Clarence got to his feet, picking up on the signal that he was no longer needed. "Yeah, anytime," he responded, waving his tail slightly. "Don't, uh, don't do too much right now. Let it heal." That was important, he thought. "See you later, Valour." 

He'd leave then, but later, just outside the den, Valour just might find a gift in the form of a yellow flower that might smell of the spotted wolfdog. Clarence's attempt at helping, extended.

"You're a good leader, Valour. Things feel better, with you in charge"

It was probably this moment that would pop into Valour's mind if he'd need to recall something he could have potentially screwed up on. It was such a reassuring thing to hear for the struggling young leader that a bright smile broke out on his maw, the likes of which he'd rarely ever made "It is starting to feel more like a home isn't it?" he agreed wagging his tail and nodding at the offer for further help, gathering up the remaining herbs and chewing them with a wince. Clarence was right, they did taste weird... not awful though. Licking them on the tears to his ankle he glanced upward as he spoke "I'm probably going to end up resting for a day at least, don't worry" he said pointing to the poppy seeds provided for him and Clay's pain. Serem said they were strong and would make him loopy and tired "Later, Clarence" he said and watched the spotted man leave, staring a few seconds longer as he wondered if this was actual friendship. Alone finally he moved to Clay and hesitantly lay down, too wary of the sudden anger to snuggle though once asleep he'd end up there anyway.