ooc: thread is set several hours AFTER the challenge.

Hours later, the new Lagoon king would make his way into his home with his first recruit in toe. Vasilis limped from the battlegrounds to a location deeper in the territory. He looked back and took a breath through the pain. Shit, it hurt. He limped till he couldn't anymore and collapsed before Elijah, the man wanted to stay and so Vasilis would allow it. He looked up at the male before taking a breath. "You said you could help me?" he said looking around to be sure it was just them. It had been hours after his fight with Vermier and he wanted to see what Elijah could do to help him and his pain. He tucked his back legs to his body before watching the man before him. What was he going to do? The smell of sea salt and sand hung high in the air as the sun started to fade across the sky, it was nearing nightfall soon. Depending on how well Elijah would do, Vasilis would start to think of where he could place the man. But not until he witnessed what the man had to offer.

@Elijah

+10 - heal a character’s sickness or injury (1/4)

after leaving the battleground, elijah hadn't headed deeper into the lagoon - instead, he'd headed elsewhere. his intention was to grab the bundle of herbs he'd been collecting since he was well enough to do so. some had been collected by himself, the others were being borrowed from 'noke. it was a small collection, to be sure, but it was enough for now. with them in tow, he'd scurried back to the lagoon - his new home! - and with good timing, too. diruis seemed to finally be wrapping up all the important things that came with being a king, and was only now limping further into the lands he now owned. it was a strange turn of events, and certainly not how eli saw his day going, but he was glad he was here.

he'd just have to get ruslan and 'noke to join, too.

he would worry about them at another time. for now, it was clear that the newest sovereign needed his attention. the golden man all but crumples to the soft sound and immediately eli is sweeping forward, petite features twisted up. "aye," he murmured, not wanting vasilis to worry about much besides resting. the majority of his damaged seemed to be localized to his right side, mostly on his face and shoulders. the bruises and minor cuts would heal with time - but it was the bigger, more garish injuries he was worried about. the puncture wounds on his shoulder, the cuts along his right arm, and of course all the damage to his jaw and surrounding area. with a quiet tut eli seeks to get to work.

it'd be easier if he could get diruis to a lake to wash the wounds but he'd have to make due with the wetted leaves he'd grabbed on his way back - glad for the foresight. once vas was back on his feet, and felt up to it, a good bath would do him some good - but for now, this would be fine. the wetted leaves help to wipe away the blood and debris before he sets to work, chewing up a paste made from *insertcoolhealingplanthere* and gently applied to the deepest gashes and punctures. as he works he hums, a nonsense tune that fades out in lieu of words. "how are you feeling?" he asks, voice soft - before his chin dips, sheepish a moment. "about winning, i mean." a crown came with a lot of responsibility, and eli was eager to see how diruis fared under the weight.

""

He knew in time things would heal, but they were going to be nasty ass scars. When he laid there, he looked over his toes, shit they were really crumbled up huh? He gloated on his injury knowing now things were going to take him a bit to heal if he had kept his paw closed inside the mouth of the fool. Well, what was done was done. Shifting when he spotted Elijah coming back with something - he would quirk his head to the side, when he started to work on the worse of wounds Vasilis would hiss between his closed jaws. "Shit that stings.." he clutched the earth with his good paw.

Vasilis took a heavy breath through his nose and out his mouth as he turned his head to face the man. When he asked him how he felt he looked up with his eyes keeping his head still for Elijah to work on his body. "Honestly speaking? My ears still haven't stopped making a horrible ringing sound. And my mouth is really bothering me..." he looked to his fractured paw a moment before frowning. 'and that is killing me...' but he kept that comment to himself.

When the man hummed, Vasilis would listen in his silence - he liked the tune of whatever it was he was singing to himself, he wondered what it was from or if it was just common dillydallies of the healer before him. " Shocked honestly. I didn't think someone would Challenge me against it, let alone that I would have the chance to obtain it. I guess I feel as if I witnessed a falling star streak across the heavens and watched it before it disappeared into thin air." he wasn't sure if this was all real. Perhaps he should check himself, what if this was a vivid ass dream? Vasilis took his good paw and smacked his nose with it. "Nope this is all real..." he started wrinkling his nose as the pain subsided on his forearm. Whatever he just put on him felt good after the stings started to die down.

@Elijah

+10 - heal a character’s sickness or injury (2/4)

when his patient grumbles elijah lets out a soft hum, hoping to help soothe the king's pain. "i know, i am sorry." he murmurs, soft and melodic, gently genuine. it hurts, he knows, but it'll hurt worse if let to fester and rot. fortunately it seemed that diruis had the common sense to know this and laid still enough for elijah to continue to work, and for that he was grateful. he had lived under one fool king - he did not want to do it again.

despite the injuries to his face and mouth, vas seems content to answer his questions - though it's possible he's still thrumming with adrenaline, muting the worst of it. if that was the case, it's elijah's intent to get him mostly patched up before the inevitable crash. otherwise... maybe he was just stubborn? trying to look tough to talk through the pain? ears flick forward as vas answers, nodding his head solemnly as the newly crowned king works through the things bothering him. the ringing ears could be a concussion, or simply the aftershocks of getting his head rattled around s often. as for the other thing.... it's easy to follow vasilis' eyesight, and the way he glances to his crumpled paw almost makes elijah wince. he hadn't forgotten about it, he just wanted to make sure all the bleeding had stopped before switching gears. "yes, i'm sure your paw is hurting, too. try not to move it just yet." he murmurs, gesturing to the injured paw. might as well gather information, and add it to the list.

elijah pauses from where he's applying paste to diruis's shoulder gashes, looking up in startled shock at the sudden movement and soft thud! of him... smacking himself in the face. he laughs, a little nervously - not wanting vasilis to do more damage to himself. "please wait until i'm done to start undoing my work," he murmurs, pairing it with a smile - hoping not to sound too chiding. it was a knee-jerk reaction though: he's used to ruslan and the bear's boorish ways of self-destruction, and it pains him to see even the smallest echoes of it here. "i'm happy to say this is terribly real, though. this place is all yours." and elijah certainly sounds as gobsmacked as vasilis. it was no small feat, to fight off another lion and claim a land as yours. "let's hope this place has plenty enough prey, hmm? now, please chew on this." he grins, before offering the man a leaf to help with the pain. just one for now, and then a second once elijah's almsot done. he isn't sure if vas plans on doing anything else before the moon rises, but... that paw isn't going to make anything easy.

""

It wasn't long as the medicine he applied to his wounds kicked in. A grateful sigh left his lips as he slumped back. "ahh thank the gods.." his words were soft and a dull sound as he rolled his eyes backward. He felt relief but he wasn't going to pass out just yet. Not before Elijah at least. He was exhausted. When Elijah talked about not wrecking his work. "Ahaha" he laughed loudly and then sucked in a bruised air. "Ahhhh..damn..sorry Elijah I'll try to keep from wrecking your amazing work!" he settled his body down again.

Eyes etched forward as he closed one eye and kept the other resting on his healer. He moved his head, up and down - so that where ever the man needed to work on his wounds, Vasilis would allow him that room to work with. " That's not gonna taste bad is it?" he said side-eyeing the plant before carefully eating what he was given. Yuck, it was bitter! Vasilis chewed through the taste before rolling it about his mouth. "Swallow it or spit it out?" he asked as the leaf slowly started to become a paste in his mouth.

"Bahah, yeah I know where I had entered into the Lagoon there was a ton of smaller wildlife, but I bet if it's like the Cove to the north - there should be plenty of food from the sea." he grinned. Moments passed before looking over the man before him. He had been gracious to heal him in his dire time of need. And he felt bad for how he reacted to the brute when they first met. Clearing his throat before he knows his exhaustion would take over he spoke again. "Join me here, in the Lagoon. Become my lead medic. I won't make you regret being here @Elijah." he asked him, a smile meeting his neutral face as he grinned from ear to ear.

"I plan to hold a celebration of sorts once my body is healed a bit more. I'd like to introduce you there with your rank if you accept it?" he said nodding. Vasilis knew the man wanted to stay in the Lagoon, but Vasilis wanted to offer him a better life as someone with a rank than that of one without one. He shifted his weight and looked to his arm. It started to stop bleeding, he could feel it becoming tight and a weird sensation pinched under the skin and nerves. He placed reached for a leaf that Elijah had gathered and placed it to his arm over the paste he applied, Vasilis would press his foot into his arm given it a good bit of pressure.

+10 - heal a character’s sickness or injury (3/4)

dirius lets out a small sound of relief and the healer is glad to hear it. that meant something was working; that meant he wasn't too far gone just yet. not that elijah expected the sovereign to keel over at any second, his wounds certainly weren't that dire. it's just... nice to know he hadn't lost his touch just yet. and when the new king seems to be sufficiently chided, eli laughs - melodic, like a bell ringing. "i'll forgive you, but just this once." don't let it happen again, is what hangs unsaid - but elijah is hardly cruel about it.

he just doesn't want to see dirius suffer more than he already has.

"i'm sure it won't be the worst thing you've eaten," he hums apologetically, shooting dirius a wry smile. he'll have to make it up to him later. "swallow, please." a shame he didn't have more but then again, he hadn't expected to need a resupply so soon. a shame, too, that 'noke wasn't here. the pigeon pea leaves would work in a pinch like this, but he wouldn't be so unprepared next time, he swore it.

ears tip forward as his patient speaks of the lagoon and it's possible prey pool - realizing, with a jolt, that he must've meant the place he had met pistis at. had someone come along and claimed it, after all? interesting. the thought of seafood lingers, pulled only from his thoughts when dirius speaks. offering his home, and a title of sorts. cornflower eyes widen at the offer - he'd only been after a home, not responsibility. he stills - only for a moment - before resuming his work, albeit a little shaky. "i - thank you for the offer, it is very kind of you." he murmurs, almost offhandedly, pausing for a moment before finishing his thought. "if you are... if you are sure, i would love to join you here."

vas helps, applying a large leaf to his arm that's already been pasted - and eli murmurs a soft thank you. the paw will be the trickiest thing to deal with, so he saves it for later. slowly he seeks to apply more paste to the deepest cuts on vas's face - blowing on it softly to help it dry. "i was born next to the sea, and it will be good to be return." he hopes. oh god, he hopes. swallowing thickly, elijah straightens up before gesturing to vas's paw. "i don't have much for it, right now, but i will go collecting as soon as dawn breaks. for now, i'll do what i can." most of which is going to be pain management, but he sets to work putting together a makeshift "splint" with the hardiest, largest leaves he has.

""

I'm sure it won't be the worst thing you've eaten, swallow please' and when he did oh man no way was he doing this again. That stuff was nasty beyond just chewing it. Gagging slightly as it went down he wished he had some freshwater to cleanse his throat. " yuufo....that ...was harsh to swallow down.." his eyes felt like watering now. Shifting his body slowly so that his face could dip under his arm as he tried to muster himself to swallow the rest of what he had chewed up.


When he lifted his head up, he stuck his tongue out to show the man he did in fact swallow it all down. As much as he regretted doing that, but it was done and his tongue was coated a nasty color green and brown due to it. 'if you are... if you are sure, I would love to join you here.' he slips a smile from ear to ear, the golden sovereign was very happy that he had his first member and one that knew such an important life skill such as medical pieces of knowledge and more. "Great - YOWCH!" he spoke too soon as he felt the splintering pull of his skin on his face. He spoke too fast for that injury. Damn him. Locking his lips tight to keep himself from talking, he would turn and lean into Elijahs healing work as he continued.

When his face was done Vasilis took a breath and spoke slowly to not mess with anything "I am glad that this place can remind you of where you came from. The Lagoon welcomes you home Elijah." he tells him as he perks his eyes over to the lulling waves that lapped not far beyond them but a few miles out. "Oh? That's okay - I won't be going far, I'll make myself a tiny den to rest in - your welcome to help me even if I am unconscious with sleep." he spoke about his paw and how Elijah would need to get more plants and things for him. " It is an honor to have such a man like yourself beside me @Elijah." he nodded feeling the sleepiness take over his body.

His paw never moved from his arm as he applied pressure to it. Checking it a few times as he lifted his paw up and glancing down over the leaf that was applied to it. It felt weird when a piece of the leaf leaned off his battered arm. Grimacing at the tingle when his paw pressed the leaf back to the wounds he would recline himself backward and sigh. "damn...I am gonna sleep like a hog tonight.." he knew it so with how his body felt so torn and rigid right now.

+10 - heal a character’s sickness or injury (4/4)

"i know, i'm sorry," elijah murmurs, in a kind tone - certainly not babying him. he knows, first hand, just how bitter those leaves can be - it feels like just yesterday he was choking them down for 'noke. "they'll help, i promise." they were, after all, still relatively strange to each other. they'd met only once before, and elijah didn't want his new king to think he was poisoning him or something! that'd be an awfully bad look for the lagoon's newest lead medic.

vas manages to hurt himself via talking and elijah hums, the sound decidedly sharper than it had been previously. after all - he'd said he'd only forgive vas once! but he says nothing, instead brushing another leaf against the wound on his face that bled anew. it stopped soon enough, too, and it seemed that no real harm had been done. just a bit more pain, already heaped on - eli wondered if vas could even tell, through the rest of it.

"that's good - you'll need the rest. but if you do have trouble falling asleep, just let me know. i have something that can help." elijah himself had needed that specific herb ever since being captured; ruslan, too, rested easier after ingesting it. there was no shame or judgement to be found here; he just wanted dirius to get better - and soon. "can you still feel your paw? your toes?" if he could, then it'd certainly heal - no matter what elijah did. the leaves he had certainly weren't hardy enough to offer any support, but still he gently wrapped vas's injured paw. at the very least it would help keep any more sand from getting ground into the skin. tomorrow he'd go and find something stronger, like a branch.

with a sigh he pulls back, frowning at his work - but there's little more he can do with it for now. instead he switches gears, looking up to vas before speaking. "one last thing for you to eat, then we'll go and find a place to rest." he offers out the offending leaf - knowing that it'll go down a little easier, at least. "take your time with this one, and please spit it out." this, too, would help with the pain - something a bit stronger, since they'll be moving, and it'll help vas's body start to fight off any infections that might be brewing.

""

"Don't apologize for it silly. It comes with the territory of things like this." he shrugged his shoulders up and down. When he promised that they'd help he would laugh, he hoped so even if it was little - a little went a long way in his eyes. Breathing through his nose instead of his mouth, Vasilis would watch the man finish his task of taking care of the new Lagoon king.

Vasilis however was not going to tell his new lead healer that he had issues sleeping due to nightmares and whatever sleep he had only lasted a few hours before he woke in a cold sweat with screams echoing the chamber of his bed lair. He smiled though and nodded "I'll let you know," he parted with a flick of his ear atop his head.

When he asked about his fractured foot he wiggled the toes. Humming softly as he did try not to cause more pain " My middle toe feels like its stuck in constant cold waters...but the rest just hurt like a son-of-a-beach." he laughed lifting his leg up enough to turn over his paw. He then tried to flex it inside itself as if he was gripping something imaginary within his paw. " there's a slight pinch of pain that crawls around my wrist when I do this.." he flexed his paw again with its pads facing upright.

Vasilis would stop and let the man wrap his paw, nodding to him as he finished it to a degree. it looked funny with all that stuff on it - but he knew it would help him out in the end. Another leaf was offered and Vasilis made a pouty face, awe man he thought he was done eating the weird stuff. 'take your time with this one, and please spit it out.' he replies with a nod of his skull and well, Bottoms up! He quickly chewed on it as he could. Slow and easy just as he was told. It was thickening to a degree and it made his throat want to eject the chewed up plant into the air. But not yet. He chewed and smashed his tongue up into the roof of his mouth slowly steering it all over his gums, tongue, roof, inside of his cheeks, and all that jazz.

When he was done he leaned away from @Elijah and quickly spat it out and used his tail to push the sands over the spat out leaves. Yuck. He felt a chill run down his spine as he lapped his tongue out. " Mmm...You owe me a better plant to chew on tomorrow..that was by far the worst one yet." yet again he opened his mouth just to show it had coated the inside of the cavern of his face. Closing his lips shut and shuttering at the taste that lingered. Yuck-oh!

+10 - heal a character’s sickness or injury (5/4)

"please do," he murmurs - not wanting to press the issue, but wanting vas to know that he meant it. "i can do quite a bit for you, but the best way you'll heal up is simply by resting." there was no magic potion or plant that could perfectly replicate the benefits of a good night's sleep. hopefully the lagoon was as comfortable as it was pretty, or else they'd soon be in dire straits!

elijah glances between his work and vas's paw as he explains. the middlest toe was numb, bt the others hurt. that.. was unfortunate, but it was good sign. if they could still feel pain, then they could probably be saved. the way he flexed his paw caused pain, and elijah hummed. that wasn't too uncommon, he knew. instead of spraining it, vas might have broken it - or tore something on the inside of it. it would have to wait until tomorrow either way, but at least they both knew what they were dealing with.

dutifully vas chews up the leaf and he winces, because he knows just how bad it was. ah, but it was worth it. "i believe i owe you many things." a home for a patch job hardly seemed fair, after all. "but - i'll bring you a treat tomorrow. i promise." he says with a wink, before letting out a small burst of laughter. vas certainly deserved it! "come on then, let's get you up." he says, growing serious as he moves to vas's uninjured side, intent on helping to shoulder the larger man's weight as best he can. fortunately for him, vas didn't seem to be quite as sturdy as ruslan - so hopefully this wouldn't be impossible. "slowly, please - and careful of your paw." he says quickly, not wanting vas to undo all his hard work.

""