Dragoncrest Cliffs eyes heavy but it's time to grind

present-day, post-war

He had stumbled upon one of @Rose's caches of herbs, fragrant and slightly depleted. He'd help her, but god knew he had no clue when it came to plants. Like, what was he gonna do besides rip up some dead grass and leaves and stuff them in there? Watch something he brought to her turn out to be poisonous.

Can you hear the howl? Cheka kills all of Drageda through Tragic Hemlock Mishap. Funerals at dawn.

No, but perhaps it was good that he found the cache, for one of his wounds was beginning to break open again. Restless as he was, he hadn't taken proper care to lay low, and the gash along his left shoulder was oozing again, a mix of fresh and crusted blood. Vercingetorix sat, the iron-rich smell heavy in his nostrils, and waited for the opkepa to come around again. If she didn't with any particular haste, he'd send up a call.

The aftermath of war brought a flurry of injuries to the opkepa's attention, all of which took both her time and resources to care for. She was confident enough that her stores were able to provide what she needed seeing as she'd spent the vast majority of her time this past month taking extra care to build up her supply. But to her surprise the herbs she had stashed away were dwindling more quickly than she could have imagined and winter wouldn't make it easy to replenish the stock she had lost.

She was making her rounds to note how low each cache had gotten when she caught a whiff of the metallic stench of blood, a smell that had been all too heavy in the air as of late. It took her a few moments but when she reached the odor's source her eyes immediately fell to the cheka's injured shoulder and then to an area on the ground. She motioned to the spot with a quick swish of her muzzle before moving to retrieving the few herbs she needed from the nearby cache.

He flashed a smile at the russet woman as she arrived, cheerful despite the blood leaking from his shoulder. Hei, the brute said casually, watching as she collected herbs from her cache. He moved to the spot she indicated, settling back down with a small frown of pain.

Even after the fighting's over, I'm finding ways to hurt myself, Verx joked. He wasn't sure how much Trigedasleng she knew, so he kept it to a minimum. The cheka let himself zone out for a moment, fixating on the various sounds and smells in the air, while he waited for Rose to return. Wouldn't do any good to annoy her so soon into the encounter with small talk, right?

She moved swiftly, grabbing what herbs were needed before moving back to his side to take a closer look at the injury. "You should take it easy the next couple of days, I don't want this to reopen again." Her tone was similar to that of a mother scolding her child - straight to the point with no room for opposition. She doubted her words would be heeded seeing as how they likely went in one ear and out the next, but at least it was worth a try.

She finished looking over the wound a few moments later before moving to carefully begin cleaning the crusted blood from the edges, taking care to not put too much pressure on the open gash. "Let me know if the pain worsens."

Eyes widening, his face pulled tight in a grimace as she spoke harshly with him. Vercingetorix could pretend that she was just a bitch, but really, deep down, he knew he was being a shit. You got it, he responded, knowing that arguing with a medic was both a waste of time and poor judgment. The warriors had left it all out on the field, and she was here to pick up the bloody pieces.

Sorry, he said genuinely, forgetting about her remark on the pain. He was too taken aback to think of it, honestly. I've been trying to keep still--this one's just a nasty fucking wound. Won't go away. Verx watched as much as he could, fascinated by the way she cleaned the cut.

The apology caught her off guard and she stopped for a moment to peer up at him with a mix of forgiveness and sympathy in her gaze. "You should call me next time you're injured..." she let out as she pulled away to grab a mouthful of echinacea, turning back just a few moments later to begin chewing them into a thick paste.

"...I wouldn't want your shoulder to fall of because of an infection" she teased as a playful smirk danced across her lips, a hopeful distraction from the slight pain he was surely going to feel as she aimed to place the newly chewed herbs directly on his wound.

Verx laughed at her joke, though quickly wincing at the sting of the herbs. Girl, if my shoulder just. . .falls off, I'm coming after you, he shot back, his face caught between a grin and a grimace. Because whatever herbs you gave me have me trippin'. Just a slab of meat--thud. On the ground. Some fucked up shit, right there.

You're Rose, right? the guardian asked, blinking at her, a little distracted from the pain. I'm, uh, Vercingetorix. I dunno if we've met yet. You can just. . .call me Verx. Or whatever. Anything you want, really. Something nice, hopefully. Up to her, though.

She gave a nod when he questioned about her name and went on to listen as he gave his own overly complicated name. Rose couldn't help but wonder what made his parents look at him and go 'yup that's a Vercingetorix all right.' "Verx" she said aloud, testing his name on her lips. "Pleasure to meet you."

She pulled away briefly to inspect the wound and make sure she had covered it all in paste. Satisfied with her work, she turned to grab some turmeric roots and moved to place them in front of him. "Chew and they'll help with the pain."

He gave the roots a cautious sniff, and was glad to find that he'd smelled this before; at least he knew it wasn't poison she was putting in front of him. (Yeah, dumbass, the pack medic is going to poison you. Right.) Verx took one in his mouth and began to chew, grimacing at the taste. Certainly not the best snack he'd ever had. Probably in the Top 5 worst.

But whatever. Whatever helped keep the pain away. Poppies might have been nice, though. Those were kinda cool to take.

'Ow lng 'av 'oo ben 'ere? Vercingetorix asked through a mouthful of turmeric. 'Ow 'id 'oo mee' 'Eda? He found it fascinating, the variety of places and ways Antumbra had come across her flock. She certainly had quite the magnetism about her.