The last few days had been a pain in the ass. The warden barely liked lying around as it was and to have that now forced on her because of her injury only made her irritable. Today needed to be different, which had led to Kroc being on her feet, limping her way to the lake within the territory to get a change of scenery. Though she didn't like water, she knew she needed to be taking the best care of her body that she could and that meant making sure that she remained hydrated and that her wounds stayed clean.
Nearing the body of water finally, Kroc sat back before getting in, letting herself regain some energy. Walking around on basically three legs was a lot harder than she'd thought, but of course, that only pissed her off more. The Saurturi wanted to go back to patrolling and doing what she could for the pack. Not this bullshit of limiting her movement.
@Kroc Testing to see if PM's! Also... Crap entry here too. <3
It had been a few days since he'd left Kroc and her shoulder to her own devices. He was hoping she'd take a few days off and let that thing heal so it didn't come a problem later. Since he hadn't really seen tail or sign of her around he was optimistic that she'd been smart about it. She'd been wounded before. She knew how this worked.
He set off looking for her. He hadn't paid much attention to her den site as he kind of did his own thing with that and left everyone else to their own devices. This left him for much wandering and circling and when he'd looked under every stone and log he decided to head back towards the lake to regroup and start again.
No fucking way. He'd been running circles around her the whole time.
Trodding towards the polar bear of a wolf, Kero joined her. He lowered his head to the lake and sipped somewhat nonchalantly before glancing in her direction.
"How's that shoulder?" he asked, before dipping his tongue back into the lake. Smooth. Real smooth.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. "It's a pain in the ass." Obviously, she hadn't wounded one of her legs before and for a first time, this was a particularly hindering one. It sucked but at least she was honest about it. "Think you can tell me how long it'll be before I can stop walking around like a fucking cripple?" Irritated gold settled on him, watching as he drank his water. He was a healer and knowing timelines was their thing, especially when it came to wounds. Personally, Kroc knew jack shit about healing, all for letting wounds heal on their own despite the risk of infection. He probably wouldn't have let her get away with that, however.
Kero smirked. Yeah. Injuries sucked. Which was why he went out of his way to make sure he wasn't often put in those situations. Here and there? Fine. Unavoidable. But most times? Kero grinned, lowering his face to take another sip. Most times there were ways to slither ones way out of it.
He lifted his head, pulling a paw upwards to wipe the dribbles of water from his chin. "Yesterday." He said with a grin. Her shoulder wasn't that bad. She was being a pussy about it. "Put pressure on it." Besides? Looking at that thing. It was fine. She'd be fine. She just had to stop babying it.
Her eyes narrowed, a flash of anger quickly rising to the surface. Bad news bears, right there. Kroc was definitely not in the mood for any of that bullshit. "I have been, Shit-For-Brains. Don't you think I'd have started doing my fucking job again otherwise?" Her snarl was barely contained as she snapped at him. The truth of the matter was that the only reason she hadn't already started pushing herself was because she didn't want to actually become a cripple and even with her limited knowledge in his craft, she knew that three days wasn't enough to get her to a point where she could run around like normal.
Not to mention, it was still scabbing. And boy was that scab ugly. "I'm not an idiot. I wouldn't ask if I wasn't already able to walk on it normal." She was trying to rein in her moody, irritable nastiness but if he pushed it much farther, she couldn't guarantee that he'd walk away without wounds of his own.
Kero lifted his head and looked at her. He was pretty sure if he grinned right now, she'd smack it off of him. Oh well. He was grinning anyway. "Oh really. Here I thought you were looking for an extended vacation." He rolled his eyes at her, shaking his head as he took a few steps into the water. Turning around, he waded ankle deep and looked to her.
"Alright. Try it anyways." He'd humor her. "Try to stand on it." She was coddling the thing. If she kept that up she'd start to lose mobility and mentally convince herself she couldn't do anything with it. Meant she had to show herself she could.
Had he not been the only healer in the pack, she'd have definitely smacked him, and hard enough to knock him the fuck out. She simply growled though, standing as he'd so nicely instructed her to. At first, her weight was displaced between three paws but she put the limp leg down to stand fully on it. Her mouth twisted into a snarl of pain as the muscle twitched and seized, but the female refused to shift her weight again, giving him a look that not only invited him closer but sad hurry it the fuck up as well. Her leg was healing alright, but it was doing so fast enough that the musculature that had been scored by the Plains bitches' teeth was spasming, and painfully.
He watched her put pressure on that leg and shoulder. He also watched her dream up a thousand ways to kill him dead in a split second. Well then. Maybe it wasn't all healed up. Whoops. His bad. But he didn't flinch. Didn't let it show. Poker face. He had one. He wore it well. Helped that it was devilishly handsome and he also took some sort of sick satisfaction watching her try not to writhe.
"Okay good," he said, prolonging her pain just a little bit longer because that look on her face was priceless. "Ease up and hobble out into the water. We're gonna work on warming that muscle back up." This, he actually knew how to do. Herbs about as entertaining to use as they were to grow. But anatomy and how the body worked? Yeah. He understood that stuff.
Ugh. Water. Fine, whatever. She sucked in a breath as her considerable weight moved and shifting, giving her leg a break as she moved closer to the lake. The relief was almost enough to make her drop right there but she kept on, sliding into the water until only her head remained above the surface, though she was still standing. Turning, she watched him follow her in, one ear trained his way. "Now what, fucktard?" Oh yeah, she'd caught on to his game. Despite her brawn, Kroc was not an idiot and knew when she was being played. She just wasn't weak enough to sit there and whine at him for it. One day, she'd take this moment out of his hide. One day...
Ha. There. She was moving. Perfect. She slowly coiled up that paw and limped out into the water. Kero backed up with her, stepping in the reverse until he was up to his shoulders in the water, but still touching. Kroc managed to walk out a little ways, but stopped herself before she could feel the benefits of being buoyant.
"You're fat. Get out here and float." He jerked his head towards deeper waters and moved in that direction himself. When he was barely touching, Kero sucked in a deep breath, fully inflating his lungs with air and just let himself float on the water's surface. It was awkward, so he released the breath and paddled a bit. "Come on. Use that arm and swim." The water resistance would help. Far less pressure than gravity.
The insult rolled off of her; was fat supposed to be a bad thing? If so, perhaps he was stupider than she thought. Her version of fat was muscles and power so that could not be something that was truly meant to be an insult. Following him, Kroc took a breath to make herself less dense, slowly starting to paddle towards him. The first stroke made her twinge but after that, the pale wolf took the chance to stretch those legs, flexing that muscle fully for the first time in days. It felt good to release that tension, bringing her mood and her irritation back down a couple of notches.
Her swimming was slow but steady, swimming closer and closer until... her jaws opened, trapping his to give his muzzle a slight shake. "Why do you have to be a pain in the ass?" Her grumble wasn't as ill-tempered as before and she left his side to continue swimming.
She seemed frustrated. But who wouldn't be? Limited mobility made things rough. Looking at everything that could once be done and knowing your own body wanted to betray you? It was definitely not a place he wanted to be in for any length of time. He hated having to rely on others. Recovery sucked.
Thankfully, hers would be somewhat easier if only because it seemed he'd taught her a trick. She took the water slowly, but after a while it all appeared to come pretty naturally. She padded. It was a little shaky at first, but as she began to trust herself more she was swimming like a champ.
He grinned at her as she neared him. This was where she was supposed to lick him on the nose and praise him for being such a badass. Instead, she took the opportunity to chomp down on his muzzle and give it a firm shaking. Bad Kero. You jerk.
She released him and paddled away. "Um. Because no one else will be?" A simple reason, but good enough. Everyone in this pack was too damn up tight and he knew, simply by being here, he challenged that way of thinking. Hell, he challenged himself at times, but those were thoughts for another day.
Paddling, he moved towards the shallows so he could sit waist deep in water and watch her. "How's the shoulder feeling now?"
A snort was given, another look shot at him. "You can stop trying quite as hard, Shit-For-Brains. No one's gonna mind if you're a little less of a pain in the ass." She certainly wouldn't mind but she didn't have quite as much of a problem with it as some might. Kroc was just in a mood to not be bothered, seeing as she was feeling a little useless on top of the crippled feeling. Or because of. Or both. But still, she was maybe somewhat a tiny bit (like teeny tiny bit) glad she'd found him because this was much better than trying to walk.
"Better." Her confirmation was one word because that was all that was needed. Or was it? "A lot fuckin' better." It was about damn time.
He grinned. Pain the ass? Yup. Made a living off of it. Kept him warm at night. Yadda yadda. Probably wasn't gonna change any time soon either, but if goofy worked, he'd make it happen. If he was a pain? Eh. That worked too. Either way, her shoulder appeared to be healing up just fine and that was the name of the game here, now wasn't it?
Her shoulder was doing better. She admitted it. The water was helping. Kroc may not be able to walk around on it like normal for another day or so, but at least swimming was a good way to keep it moving without the added stress. "Good then. Whenever it starts to feel stiff, come back for a swim and keep it moving." That's all there was to it. Physical therapy at its finest, most basic form.
Kero lifted from the water and took a few steps towards shore. He shook out his pelt and turned to look at her. "Oh. And don't get more fat," he said, teasing as he turned and walked away. It wasn't like she could chase him or anything.
-Kero exits-
The water was a good idea, she begrudgingly admitted to herself. Out loud, she made some kind of noise of acknowledgement. She would do what he said and would even stick closer to the lake than she normally did. The sound of his clambering out drew her gaze, teeth bared at his final words. "At least you can fix fat, unlike retardation." A hit on his nickname before he was out of earshot and Kroc went back to swimming for a while, until her body grew tired and she too, climbed out of the lake.
Thread fade.