Phoenix Maplewood be the hammer to my nails

All welcome.  Maybe @Scarlett?

Ukko had taken a tumble earlier in the day that left him with a bloody paw and a slight limp.  The snow between his toes helps numb the pain but too much of his weight on it causes a shock to run up his leg.  He takes careful steps, leaving one bloody foot print amidst three clean ones.  

A rabbit had caught his attention when he took off after it and he’d tripped himself over a root sticking out above the snow.  Adjusting from fall to winter hadn’t exactly been the easiest, especially in a territory he is new to.

The large male comes to a stop, lowering his rump to the ground and picking his paw to try and examine it.  One of his toe nails are broken and there’s a cut on the underside of the same toe.  He huffs, whispers of smoke slipping from his muzzle, and he puts his foot carefully back down on the ground.

Scarlett sat in the clearing she was usually found. All her children were outside playing and exploring. They were more independent everyday and Scarlett felt a bit at loss what she would do now. Her daughters were each their own being and displaying so much of their own personality trades. It was nice to see. Scarlett decided that she could go for a walk. Her pale figure moved through the woods until she spotted a large black male. She was a bit reminded of Steady when she saw him.

The petite female trotted forward, deciding that she would greet the male. Maybe they would have something to talk about. She hadn't introduced herself to him yet, so that was something that needed to be done. The pale female let out a chuff in greeting, not realizing something was wrong until she smelled blood. "Oh... are you bleeding?," she asked, forgetting to introduce herself because of the smell of blood.

Ukko puts a little pressure on his paw, pushing the toe into the snow to help numb it as well.  At first it stings, the frozen ground biting at the wound that still bled, albeit slowly.  He couldn’t remember if the pack had a healer—hadn’t Reek mentioned himself when he joined?—but it escapes him.  The wound isn’t life threatening and perhaps he’d be able to get it to heal on his own.

He’s lost in his thoughts for a moment that he doesn’t notice the white wolf approaching.  He snaps his heat to attention when she speaks and then nods his head.  She doesn’t quite blend into the background yet, the snowfall is still light, but in the dead of winter he wouldn’t be able to see her without her birght eyes staring.

“I uh...  I tripped chasing a rabbit and my toe got mangled.”

The wolf lifts his right paw up.  The blood flow is slow and doesn’t drip—it collects instead at the two sites.  

“There’s a cut and,” he rotates his paw as best as he can, “and I think I broke my nail.”

Scarlett didn't meant to make the other snap his head up or be startled. The male seemed friendly enough, even while he was injured. She let out a soft wince as she felt bad for her fellow pack-mate. Then the panic started to grow because she was kind of a healer in training now but she didn't know what to do. Her mother instinct told her to at least clean it. "Sounds painful," she spoke softly. "Can you follow me to a stream close by? You will have to clean your paw."

Scarlett studied the paw for a moment to then agree to the fact that this needed to be cleaned. "Tell me if you need help with walking," she offered. Not wanting to little him but she didn't know how bad the cut was with he slight blood. "I'm Scarlett by the way," she then introduced.

He nods his head to her observation.  It isn’t the worst thing he’s felt but the nail is painful when touching something else.  She offers to help him out and Ukko gives her a smile and nods his head again.  Careful of his front foot, he lifts his rump and supports his weight on three legs until he felt steady enough to put the other one down.  Gentle, and mostly on the back of his larger paw pad, and takes a few hobbling steps forward.

“It’s not too terrible,” he assures her with a nod and wave of his tail.  He lets the female lead the way, perhaps a little more familiar with their home than he might be—he had a good grip on their geography but he still had some time to go before he knew it as much as the older members.  

“I’m Ukko.”

Scarlett decided not to mommy him any further. If he said that it wasn't hurting too much then she would just believe him and let him deal with it. She often jumped into her mother-mode while it was completely unnecessary. Scarlett smiled as he introduced himself. "I'm Scarlett," she introduced. She wanted to tell that she had three youngster too but then she would have to explain why she was without a mate and she didn't want that.

She helped the dark male towards the stream. "Okay hold it in," she instructed, since it sounded way too friendly for it to be a command. Desna didn't have her bossiness from her. That was certain. Scarlett then signaled she would be right back. She went to grab some moss, a good patch of it and held it in the stream for a moment. After that she placed it on the ground by his feet. "Put your paw on it," she offered. The moss would be like a bandage, something to absorb the blood and keep the dirt out of it. Now Ukko just needed to wait until the would was clotted.

The walk to the stream is quiet but it didn’t take too long.  Ukko’s slower than usual, hanging back every few steps to readjust how he distributes his weight to avoid pressure on the paw that’s injured.  They make it and she immediately tells him what to do.  He doesn’t mind so much, trying to keep his features soft as she directs him into the water.  Carefully, he puts his paw into the cool stream while she turns around and disappears for a moment.  Ukko remains quiet, wiggling his toes in the water.

Scarlett returns with more direction and Ukko does his best to shake off drops of water but it only makes him cringe and, probably, didn’t help the wound. “Can you explain what you’re doing?” he asks as he gently puts his paw down on the sheet of moss.  “I want to learn.” It doesn't seem like she's doing anything too intricate but if he were going to pull it off, the simpler he learned things, the better he could work in the long run.

Scarlett felt a bit flustered once he asked her that question. Because she wasn't sure if this was a good way to do this at all, she was just guessing really, or she used the watered moss before to clean wounds. The small female looked at him. "Umm. Well I grabbed the moss, and made it wet," she explained. "It is to keep the wound clean while it dries. The moss also absorbs the blood I believe," she spoke, sounding so insecure. Maybe this wasn't right. She rather wished that he didn't question her. Maybe she should ask Reek if using moss was a good way to keep a wound clean.

Scarlett eyed over him. "I am only a caretaker not really a healer. I'm sorry maybe I should call Reek to help you," she offered, thinking that she was probably not knowledgeable enough to help him well enough. This insecurity that was haunting her lately wasn't really helping Scarlett.

He sees the subtle change once he asks the questions and he withdraws a little.  She tries to explain but she sounds uncertain and his smile softens, hoping to be encouraging enough that she can get through it.  When he wants to ask more questions, he doesn’t, letting her work without much of an interruption.  

“You don’t have to call him, you’re doing fine,” he tells her with a quick swish of his tail.  “Maybe look at it as if you’re taking care of me?” he offers, wondering if that might help her sudden nerves.  “Besides, it looks to me like you’re a healer.”  

Ukko picks up his paw to show her.  The blood around the broken nail had caked, but it hadn’t touched the moss, and the bottom of his toe seemed to have coagulated enough.  The longer it is away from the moss, though, the blood starts to flow. Sheepishly, Ukko puts his paw back down on the segment of moss she’d provided for him and he offers a silent apology he’d taken it up too soon.

Scarlett smiled at Ukko trying to make her feel better. Maybe it was silly to think so negatively about herself. It seemed that the moss was helping. She looked visibly relieved. "Now you just need to wait till it stops bleeding," she added. That was the only logical thing to do. Scarlett glanced at Ukko and quirked up her lips a bit. "Thanks for being nice," she then spoke shyly. It felt like a rarity these days that wolves were nice.

She thought her mate was nice, well she had that wrong, badly. Scarlett didn't have much trust in others lately, though she did trust Saena and Reek, if the accepted this guy he was probably more than okay too.

Ukko watches the moss absorb the little bit of blood left over from his paw, turning the dull green moss to a murky stained reddish brown color.  It is cool to his paw but it stung nonetheless.  It isn’t enough to warrant any need for herbs to reduce the pain but cuts on the paw pads tend to take longer to heal. He makes note to repeat this every once in a while until it comes back together as one.  The nail, on the other hand, he doesn’t think there’s much to save as it dangles by the quick.  Just touching it to anything sends a jolt of pain up his leg and to his brain where he’d wince.  For now, he remains still to avoid that.  

“You don’t have to thank me,” he tells her, face twisting at her words.  He keeps his nose directed the other way so she doesn’t see his confusion until he can sort it out and even out his expression.  “I should thank you.  I’d still be walking around bleeding.  Maybe get it infected.  I could have lost my whole leg!” he chuckles softly with a lopsided grin pulling at the corners of his lips.  He winks and leans forward, thinking to touch his nose to her snout encouragingly but he doesn’t make contact and leans back a little to take some pressure off the injury.  

“I think the nail needs to be pulled off, it’s just dangling.”

He holds the paw up from the moss, the second digit from the same foot is barely hanging on.  He could bite it off, or use his other foot to hold it down and rip it, but he's not ready.  He never claimed to be much of a wimp, Ukko is a big boy, but, just in case, perhaps there is something that could be applied to numb it.  If not, he’d deal and do the deed but it never hurts to ask:  “Do you know how to make a salve for numbing something?”

OMG So sorry! I looked over this!

Scarlett looked at him when he said that she didn't need to thank him. It wasn't normal for her that other wolves were nice. It was quite refreshing that she had found such a nice family here. "That would be a very severe infection then," she stated with light amusement in her voice. She watched the male for a moment, inspecting the paw with the hanging nail. The little female looked a bit clueless when seeing the loose nail. She wasn't sure if she wanted to pull the nail off, but maybe it would be smarter.

The red eyed female shook her head. "Um.. no I don't. But I can find a stick for you to bite on?," she offered. Maybe that would help. Plus the nail was already loose so maybe if she just yanked it of quickly then it would hurt less? She didn't really feel like biting it off. The lithe female glanced at him. 'Up to you," she offered then.

No worries! <3

This time, Ukko reaches out and touches his nose to hers.  It’s soft and quick and he’s back to his normal position.  Encouraging. He’s glad to have gotten her to loosen up and relax, even if it were only a little. He wouldn’t likely lose his leg if the woman hadn’t come across him but he would most definitely still be bleeding and an infection isn’t a too far off assumption that could happen.  It’s small enough he wouldn’t have otherwise sought out treatment, letting it get the best of him because a cut on his paw isn’t something he has time to worry about.

She decides she doesn’t know how to do anything for numbing but offers him a stick to bite on instead. Ukko shakes his head with a faint smile before he lifts his foot from the ground once more.  The nail is barely hanging by a thread at this point but at least it’s not bleeding.  Chances are it will restart once he’s pulled the nail from his toe.  The moss hadn’t filled up with his blood so he could use that again. His orange eyes focus on it for a moment, dipping his head to nose what dangles, and winces.

“The quicker the better,” he tells her, carefully placing his teeth around the edge.  He barely gives him time to gather his breath before he yanks and a loud whine escapes his chest.  Blood pools at the quick he pulled and he instantly puts his toe back to the ground, burying it in the crevices of the moss and spitting out what he’d taken off.  Even if the pain shoots up the nerve of his front leg, he applies pressure despite.  It would take a little bit longer to stop the bleeding and he’s thankful Scarlett had brought the slab of moss for him to use.

Scarlett wanted to help but secretly she was glad that the male tugged the nail off by himself. She wasn't such a hero. Scarlett needed to train herself on getting gross if he wanted to be a healer. The female smiled at the male, he was actually really nice. They were definitely going to be friends, Scarlett was certain of that. She watched as the blood started flowing but Ukko learned quickly and pressed his paw into the moss. "See! You could be a healer too!," she offered to him. Maybe he would be better at it than her.

Scarlett sat down and pushed her muzzle closer to the male's paw to inspect it. "I think if you hold it in the stream and then press it back into the moss your paw will be fine. Do keep an eye on it though!," she stated, because you never know when an infection found a way never the less, especially a paw. They touched a lot of bad grounds at times and then it was only a matter of waiting before an infection would spread in an open wound.

"I'm glad i could help," she then smiled to the male.

Fade?  Maybe a new one soon? :)

Scarlett’s compliment makes Ukko’s chest puff out a little and his tail thumps on the ground.  “I’d like to be,” the boy says, leaning forward with a little more pressure on his paw.  He’d not have known the little trick with the moss and there’s no telling what would have happened.  Likely nothing but now he’s sure it’ll heal fine.  He knows what to do if it happens again or if he reopens the wound, which is possible on such a sensitive part of his body.

With further instruction, Ukko lifts himself and turns back to the water.  He dangles his paw in, letting the remaining dirt wash away.  It turns the surrounding areas pink before whisking away in the stream. “Me too,” he tells her with a smile, turning back to put his paw back on the moss.

Yes! Though Scarlett is injured! I will archive!

With their conversation coming to an end Scarlett decided that it was her time to go. It wasn't like she didn't want to stay around and chit chat but with her helping him she was motivated to find more about healing effects that some plants have. The small albino wished Ukko goodbye, and goodluck. "Let me know if something isn't right. Tell Reek you want to be a healer. He would love to teach you too," she smiled. With that said Scarlett moved away from him, vanishing in the undergrowth of the forest.