Bearclaw Valley i didn't know it would end this way

@Poet, here's a very graphic reference pic for Blondine's face :(( There's a cut behind her front right shoulder area and a big gash along her ribcage.

As much as Blondine would have liked to have been known as the winner, her wounds said otherwise. The wolverine hadn't gotten away unscathed, she was sure of that much, but he'd been a lot better off when the two seperated. It would be a trip trying to explain what exactly she'd been doing getting into it with a wolverine anyway, but that was the least of her worries; she needed immediate treatment. 

Blondine made it toward the stream where she'd first found Indra and called for Poet, hoping that she wouldn't be too busy to come and help.

indra had been not so far from the stream when the gentle song came for poet -- she paused from her rumination in the snow and attended the tapering howl with a soft cry of her own, a rejoinder that she was coming whether or not she was invited.

she took hastened and limping steps along the stream until she came upon blondine -- when she did her heart sank and an angry fire started to clutch and burn at her throat. blondine was in a poor condition that was heartwrenching to witness - her fleet steps became panicked as she clawed her way towards her and brusquely shoved herself in blondine's path with worried licks aimed at whatever part of her comrade was uninjured.

breathless with anger for her friend's sorry state she stepped back and glanced her over, her eyes hardened: "who did this to you? who?" she was fearful it might have been the man that had injured her, except she detected no scent of the piebald male on blondine's pelt -- only a strange wafting smell she had never sensed before.

In that moment, it was fair to say that Indra was the last person who Blondine wanted to see. She was supposed to be protecting her, not the other way around; she didn't want to be seen like this. Awe, Indra, Blondine tisked, an appreciative whine at the back of her throat as she nuzzled the red woman, This was my fault. She tried smiling to reassure her that, Really, it'll be okay, but it was a crooked, half-cocked attempt.

Some folks just habn't got the sense God gave a goose, Blondine muttered, laughing at the end; was she referring to herself or to the wolvering who she'd just gone toe to toe with? Either way, the statement remained true — they'd both been responsible for some ridiculous choices.

Indra chuffed into Blondine's soft fur, drafting cold air and scent alike into her small lungs. Between the scent of wolf and blood she caught an unidentifiable sense of something mammalian but foreign. She pulled away with concern worrying her soft features. 

"who?" She uttered again, though this time a shade less intense -- Blondine's sensibilities were still about her which somewhat tempered Indra's panic. She fretted and frowned as she inspected the rest of Blondine's injuries. "What do I do, what do you need?" The girl asked feebly, feeling somewhat lost at the helm with their roles reversed.

Blondine sighed as she realized that she wouldn't be able to keep her rouse for much longer; so long as Indra was asking questions, she couldn't leave her without answers while keeping a clear conscience. A wolverine, she sighed, He got the best of me, sorry to say. It probably wasn't the best decision to have made the first attack on an animal as feral as the wolverine, but Blondine hadn't known he would've reacted like that!

She was taken aback by Indra's request — she wanted to help? It isn't gonna be a clean job, Blondine warned her with a raised brow over her dangling eye, I need help getting this off. But first, we've gotta find something to stop the bleeding once it's all disconnected and such. She hoped that Indra wouldn't back out now, or that if she did, she would at least offer to fetch Poet in her place. I found cobwebs somewhere around here...

Indra's gaze fell back to Blondine, her expression convoluted  by the weight of Blondine's injuries. She swallowed gravely and looked about them, almost hoping Poet would materialize then and relieve her of inflicting pain on her friend. The thought made her heart sink and her limbs wobble.

But she could do it, she steeled herself internally. Blondine would do it for her -- that thought inspired a semblance of bravery in Indra though her breath was stil shaky as she spoke again: "O-okay. Tell me what to do." Blood did not scare her but something about plucking Blondine's eye from its socket causd great emotional distress in Indra. Surely it was nothing compared to what her friend was experiencing - yet as far as Indra could tell there was no way to salvage the dangling tissue.

Oh, how Blondine wished she had been asleep (or doped up beyond recognition). Alright, well, follow me. She led Indra through a weave of oaks, searching between the crooks of branches for any cobwebs that might've been left behind by long gone visitors. It didn't take long for the two of them to happen upon an abandoned den at the base of a dead tree that'd become riddled with webs.

Blondine took a deep breath, sat on her haunches, and began to explain. Now, I won't lie, I've never done anything like this before and I've surely never had anyone do it for me, so I'm gonna pray that this goes alright. Oh, God, she whispered under her breath as she thought a silent word, Take...okay, oh my, alright, take and do it, but don't tell me when. You tell me when, I'ma flinch, so just...don't tell me. Once it's out, take the cobwebs — they're mighty sticky, mind you — and stuff as much as you can as quickly as you can into the hole.

If I pass out, Lord, have mercy, keep working, okay?

omg indra so grossed out rn BLEVHG

wordlessly the girl followed after blondine, her steps lined with caution. an apprehensive furrow cleaved her forehead as she went, her heart pattering against her rib-cage in bleating protest. she knew what had to be done but it made her stomach flip and she dreaded the moment when blondine turned to her and told her when.

she wondered where they were going -- until they came to the rim of a long-abandoned den. indra eyed the cobweb dubiously -- that was supposed to go where blondine's eye was? she was no medic, but the thought of spiders proliferating in blondine's freshly gouged eye-socket caused her empty stomach to churn and bile to rise to her tongue.

she nodded stiffly at blondine's instructions and walked over to the rotten log. she collected a small dash of cobwebs though using her muzzle caused her to sneeze on several occasions. she pushed the conglomeration towards blondine and swallowed, guilt convalescing across her muzzle as she thought of the atrocious act she was about to commit.

thinking made it worse. indra shook her head, paced twice around her friend, and then at the zenith of her third lap she sprung upon blondine inexpertly, her stomach recoiling as her teeth clasped the hanging tissue with a click and she felt that unfamiliar, wrong weight of the eye on her tongue. her teeth sheared clean through the soft tendrils of pulpy eye matter, and she spat the offensive bauble from her mouth with a heaving gag.

blondine would probably react with horrible pain and indra felt guilt sear her senses anew -- quickly she fell upon the cobwebs and fumbled to place them in her friend's wound, her breath shaky as she repeated over and over again how sorry she was to inflict such pain on her friend.

The breathing that she'd been doing leading up to the attack and immediately after helped significantly with the pain. Although Blondine was going through every curse word and foul colloquialism that she'd ever known in her mind, her body had remained startlingly still. Indra was quick with her motions, just as she had been instructed, which made the entire ordeal much less traumatic than it could have been. 

Blondine grinned but kept her remaining eye closed as Indra apologized and stuffed the cobwebs into the wound. Soft hush sounds came from Blondine's maw; she longed for silence during her moments of shock. The eye, which she might have liked to have kept, was barely recognizable. It made sense, she thought, that she wouldn't recognize her own eye, but Indra had surely done a better job at mangling it than she'd predicted. 

Thank you, she groaned in a pained whisper, Oh, boy.

indra was horrified as she looked at the segment of flesh she had ripped from blondine's skull. she could still feel the rime of blood on her tongue and the thought of it caused her to gag again -- not in disgust towards blondine, but in a genuine, true born revulsion that she had so easily extracted something that in her mind ought never be extracted.

the disfigured lump of membrane and tissue sat still in the snow, small flecks of powder and dirt sticking to its membraneous surface as it stared blankly back at them. indra shied away and turned to her friend, a look of dread still spanning across her muzzle. "i'm sorry." she whispered hoarsely again, standing worriedly alongside blondine as she fretted. there was no way in hell blondine was not in extreme pain and it worried indra to no end how composed the woman remained -- what if it was an act a charade designed to make everyone think she was okay? she didn't think the cobwebs would be all blondine needed, but knew nothing about caring for wounds. "what do i do now? how much does it hurt? oh my god, oh my god." she felt another wave of nausea overcome her and directed her muzzle away from blondine in case she lost control of her stomach and upchucked.

Blondine drew in a deep breath and tried to stand, though she was so lightheaded from the whole ordeal that she was plomped back down onto her bottom within seconds. She laughed and winced, taking note of the migraine building at the base of her neck. Indra, hun, calm down, alright? You'd think you're in more pain than I am, she whispered with a sweet laugh added at the end. Now was not the time for panic, but to expect anything less would have been ignorant on Blondine's part.

That tree, she said, nodding toward a distant alder, Take some bark, chew it. Put it in. This part wouldn't hurt as much as the last, now that the nerves had been removed, but because Blondine was a wolf and not an anatomy student, she was preparing for another world of pain. More cobwebs after that. Okay?

indra whipped around as she heard a laugh, her ears askance as she worriedly looked over blondine. had she just laughed? was she in so much pain that her faculties were now affected? concern crippled indra anew and she hovered uselessly above blondine like a stunned and gasping catfish.

once more blondine steered her -- once more blondine was the light in the dark to guide her despite the fact it was she that should have been panicking and not silly indra. indra looked to the tree mentioned and then back to blondine dully, and then with a rush flew to the tree and clawed wildly at the tree's surface until thick shavings of bark ppeared in the snow beneath her. indra nosed at the small accumulation and bit into the snow, chewing with more ferociousness than she had ever chewed before.

and then she went back to blondine, hesitantly depositing the tree-pulp in a steaming pile before her. she looked at blondine questioningly for a moment before applying the bark-plup (if she was allowed) and then would fly once more for the fallen tree to collect cobwebs. all the while she worked with a strange intensity to every movement, wholly panicked and simply operating on command.

Blondine appreciated the concentration with which Indra worked, though it did worry her quite a bit. That stress wasn't something that she needed, and Blondine couldn't help but wonder if it was a manifestation of her trauma, all of that nervousness coming to the surface. These thoughts would stay just as they had, though there was no telling if they would fade. 

She winced a bit once Indra started applying the pulp, but found herself soon relaxed in the red woman's presence. Atta girl, she whispered with a smile, proud of the teamwork that was happening. They worked together quite well, Blondine thought. Almost done.

indra's mind was reeling as she set to her task. she was concerned for blondine, concerned for her pain level, concerned for how she would heal in the days following and what happened if she had an infection? all of these thoughts clawed at each others' throats and vied for attention at the surface of her mind.

the girl swallowed as she packed in the pulp, working with a ginger delicacy she did not know she had.

blondine's wince caused her to pull back with her brow knitted in apologetic uneasiness. at this moment the girl would have done anything to make her friend feel better even if it meant her own injury in the process. blondine's whisper was cusped by the fringes of a smile and indra afforded a weak one in return. "almost? what now?"

After Indra had finished packing the foul combination into Blondine's nearly hollow eye socket, she took a deep breath and tried to close her lids around it. It was tightly packed, and though she could have shut her eye completely, she kept a small opening so that it wouldn't heal closed and they would be able to open it down the line to replace everything. 

No, that's it! she cooed, albeit quietly due to her developing migraine, You did great, Indra, just amazing, hun.

indra was not as composed as blondine and a frown fretted her featureas as she thought of the pain blondine would experience over the course of the next few days. "what will you need tomorrow?" she asked, biting the bottom of her lip in a worried expression.

she would see to it that she was there tomorrow morning early to assist blondine however she needed. indra swore silently to herself that after this she would hunt down some voles or wood-grouse for blondine for breakfast -- and would probably insist her friend do very little to stress herself in the coming days given the severity of her wounds.

Blondine blew a forceful puff of air through her maw and thought about what she might be able to say to calm Indra down. It had once been entertaining but the girl's stress over the situation was quickly morphing into something more worrisome. How was Blondine to know what she would need tomorrow? She surely hadn't known she would need this today!

Well, she began, I 'spose we'll find out when tomorrow comes. I'd like to get some rest now, if y'don't mind. The headache was slowly beginning to grow into a pulsating surge of pain down the entire run of her body — it probably wasn't smart to ignore it anymore.

indra recognized the thin patience the woman held -- she assumed it might have been because of her pain, and nodded quietly as blondine suggested in the politest manner she best beat it. "okay." she fumbled, speaking again: "i'll come tomorrow morning." with that she smiled weakly, gave one last worried look at the woman's disfigured face, and then turned and made quickly for the den she shared with laurel. in the morning she would wake early and hunt what she could and bring it to blondine -- but for now, she set to putting distance between them so blondine could get her well-deserved rest.