Ouroboros Spine and decides to be a villain

holding his breath, he watches for a reply, worried he's offended the other man or that his question is still too difficult. when finally the man responds, a complicated gesture okeanos takes to mean not sure, his shoulders ease down, relaxing. his question is vague enough that he could mean 'i don't know if the throat wounds are responsible for why i can't talk' or 'i don't know if i won't talk because of the throat wounds', but okeanos elects to assume the former. well. whatever happened, it seems bad and not worth trying to dredge out one yes/no question at a time.

instead, thinking suddenly of his mothers, he says, "does it hurt?" pauses, and then adds, "would you like me to bring you some herbs to help?" given that he doesn't know the symptoms, help is maybe unhelpful, but there's herbs for pain and herbs for swelling and if the inside of his throat is as raw as the outside looks, he can probably make something to ease it. just in case, while he waits for a reply he begins to mentally compile what might work in the area, remembering the few things he'd picked up from his mothers in elysium.