CAUGHT THE AIR IN YOUR WOVEN MOUTH

There was fire pulsing through her veins as the adrenaline began to wear off from her clash with the red woman. Her skin burned and each step - especially on her right side - was agony. The highly mobile spots of her breast bone and shoulder wept, her fur sticky with blood. Rivia left the scene in the rainforest to lick her wounds in privacy, but she didn't foresee making it all the way over to the other side of the forest to her den to reach her supplies.

She broke the line of trees into the snowy field, following the edge of the great lake until she found her place near a secluded pond. It was empty and placid this time of year. It was almost peaceful. She paused to take it in before picking a spot to lay. Sparse droplets of red would lead travelers to her, but in her lightheaded state she didn't care much. Her way to her place of choosing was slow, a heavy limp staggering her gait.

Rivia clenched her jaw, grimacing and growling in frustration. Eventually the bruised lioness sloppily collapsed to the ground so she could simply stop moving. A chance to give the large gashes a chance to clot and stop bleeding. The smaller punctures on her legs were nothing and her chest would be fine. Her shoulder would set her back for a little while, at least hinder her activity for a little bit.

She had been in her fair share of fights in her years, but her larger opponent truly fought her best. Everything hit her all at once when she hit the ground; the ringing in her ears, thrumming in her chest and fiery aching all over her body. Her energy was spent and her vision blurred until everything went black.

@Sabine

Wind and the waves

will carry me, will set me free

• • •

    Sabine lifted her head, nose to the breeze. Her nostrils flared, eyes narrowing. "Hmm," she breathed, dropping her attention back to the terrain. She was tracking a potential meal; though, the trail was faint and she figured it was likely gone. That, or someone else had come along and snatched it already. The lynx woman began moving forward, nose to the ground like a hound. There were many aromas, so it was hard to keep track of the specific one she hunted for. This was why Sabine enjoyed fishing more; though, she had keen navigation skills, so improvement in tracking would come with practice.

    As she trotted smoothly through the territory, Sabine slowed, admiring the flora that still clung to life despite winter's grip on Amaryllis. She breathed in deeply, remembering their scent, their look. Carefully, she pulled a few from the earth and rolled it around within her jaws before spitting it to the ground. "Basil," she said out loud, nodding with confidence. A chilled breezed rolled over her, drifting scents from all over the area right to her. Sabine closed her eyes, embracing the wind, feeling it ruffle through her fur. She still had a lock on the original smell she tracked, but there was a new scent in the air. It was familiar.

Rivia

    Dropping all focus from the previous hunt, Sabine shifted gears, leaning into a delicate jog. @Rivia was easier to track. Her aroma was known to Sabine, well at this point, so she found ease in following it. In fact, confidence led her to quicken her pace, galloping now. A smile crept across her face at the thought of her destination, at the thought of seeing Rivia, but that smile dropped quickly as a harsh, also familiar stench crashed into her like a violent wave against the shoreline rocks. Blood.

    It wasn't long before she was dead on Rivia's tracks, now following the sporadic evidence of blood across the terrain. Sabine felt her heart pounding within her chest, sprinting now. She ran so fast, for a moment, it felt like she wasn't touching the ground at all. Finally, she spotted her. A clump of darkened fur in the distance. Sabine darted toward her, unsure of the woman's status. "Rivia," she shouted, skidding to a halt in view of the familiar cat's face. Sabine's multicolored eyes scanned the woman quickly, trying to assess her wounds. Placing a paw gently upon Rivia's shoulder, Sabine shook her lightly, attempting to wake her. "Rivia," she said softly, her brows knitted.

+5 Correctly track something through a territory (1/2) - Pathfinder
+5 Collect herbs (1/2) - Medic

CAUGHT THE AIR IN YOUR WOVEN MOUTH

There was a haunting echo that called to her.

Faint. Far away.

A siren's song that beckoned her to wake and rise. It was familiar, but lost to the fog. Her breathing was shallow and she took comfort in the heavy feeling she was slipping into. All she wanted to do was sleep it all away until she heard that echo again.

"Rivia,"
A low groan creaked and gurgled from her. She tightened her brows in resistance to waking, but her lids flickered open. Her head tilted up a fraction for lilac and violet eyes to flash for only a moment before she blinked rapidly and fell flush to the snow once again. She did not have the energy to rise now. She wanted to sleep. Stray further into the fog for just a little while longer.

She caught a pointed-eared silhouette, but the face wasn't clear to her. What brought her more familiarity was the wisp of eucalyptus and salt that tethered her to a point outside the shroud.

Wind and the waves

will carry me, will set me free

• • •

    Herbs. She needed herbs. Water too? Food? Despite having been taught some healing in her youth, Sabine had only ever used it on herself. She never had an actual patient before. She could feel a waft of panic rushing over her, but she shook her head, trying to focus. She gazed down at Rivia, pointed ears pinning against her head. She would need to leave her. "Stay with me," she breathed, leaning down near Rivia's face, "I will be back. Please wake if you can."

    Although she had not particularly been paying attention to the direction she had come from once she started following Rivia's scent, Sabine could track her own, making her way back in the direction she had come from, back to where she had spotted the herbs. She studied them again quickly, scanning over the brush before her. Sabine growled, this isn't really what she needed. It was all basil, but there was a chance it could help, at least a little, so she grabbed, yanking them out so the roots were still attached. She had herbs in her den, herbs from all over Amaryllis she had collected, surely she had what she needed there.

    Extending her claws, she sank them into the ground, using them to propel her forward into a sprint. Her den did not need to be tracked for she knew the way and it wasn't too far. Sabine made her way toward the jungle, disappearing into the trees and tangled roots. The lynx scrambled inside, digging through her stashed items and throwing the useless things messily throughout the den. She began to pull out the practical herbs and aids she could potentially use from her inventory.

- - -
       — A stick coated in frankincense sap, along with some leaves and a
       few twigs from a wormwood plant, both collected from Grimoire's
       Labyrinth.

       — The leaves from cape aloe she snagged recently from the shore.

       — Akuamma seeds from just outside her den, earlier that day.

       — The basil she collected moments before.

- - -
    This should be enough. It would have to be. With the items secured, Sabine took off again, leaving her den a scattered mess of various items she would have to clean later. Arriving back at @Rivia, she gasped for breaths, her sides heaving in and out as her lungs worked overtime. Her chest burned and her limbs shook with fatigue, but still, she carefully set down her supplies, glancing to Rivia.

+5 Correctly track something through a territory (2/2) - Pathfinder
+5 Collect herbs (2/2) - Medic

CAUGHT THE AIR IN YOUR WOVEN MOUTH

"Stay with me,"

The voice was louder, clearer. Her lids fluttered once more, forcing them to stay open longer than before so she could find @Sabine. She grit her teeth as she fought against the desire to stay unconscious.

"I will be back. Please wake if you can."

"W-wai.." She attempted, her voice no more than a hoarse whisper. Her eyes squeezed shut as she watched her form disappear. The heaviness of her head and eyelids was more than she wished to bare. And the cold of the snow felt warm to her, mostly melted and ruby stained at this point.

Rivia didn't want to be in this position. Weak and helpless. She should have pushed through to make it to her den so she could lay in her bed and sleep it off. To have Sabine helping her made her feel strange. Unsure where to quite pin the heavy pit in her stomach. Embarrassed? She didn't want it to be her. How many times would Rivia be saved by her? First the desert, now this. There would be a debt the dark cat felt as though she would need to repay. Has felt like she needed to repay since then.

Perhaps agreeing to stop trying to kill each other would've counted. But even still, to be in this position again made her itch. And maybe it was the frustration in herself that pulled her further over the threshold, biting into the determination to pull out of it.

Stop being weak. Weak gets you killed.

When Sabine came back, Rivia's breathing quickened and an excitement phase began. She wanted out, she didn't want to be seen like this. Her eyes were wide, ears pinned back as she tried to push herself to stand up. Her attempts were feeble, her body quivering as she stumbled back down and tried to get up again.

Wind and the waves

will carry me, will set me free

• • •

    Eyes locking with Rivia's, Sabine was surprised by how awake she was, but when the wounded woman attempted to rise, Sabine had to act quickly. "Whoa!" she shrieked, lurching toward Rivia, "No, no, lie still." She eased her to the cold snow, wincing almost as her attention shifted to the deep, crimson snow beneath her. "I brought you herbs, but you must be still," Sabine said again, her tone calm, almost motherly. Whirling back around, the lynx snatched from the pile of seemingly useless plant garbage. "Here," she said, her words muffled with a mouthful of herbs. She offered the roots of the basil plant to Rivia after she separated them from the leaves and stem. "This will help with the dizziness," Sabine explained, lowering her muzzle down a hair length's away from Rivia's.

    She felt a small shiver worm up her spine at their closeness. The warmth of Rivia's skin, her breath her on face, caused Sabine's claws to sink into the snow for a moment. Once the herbs were no longer in her grasp, she turned around again, grabbing more from her pile, then back to @Rivia. Sabine began addressing wounds; though, she hadn't properly looked her over yet to even know what she was dealing with. Leaning back onto her haunches, she looked to Rivia's face, head tilting slightly. "What the hell happened?" she asked, confusion littered across her expression. Her attention shifted back to her wounded figure before Rivia could even answer, eyes scanning her form with a faint twitch of her upper lip. Suddenly, she was filled with rage. It was like a lightning strike in a dry forest and everything went up in flames. She felt hot, relentless fury coursing through her. Sabine couldn't even fully explain the feeling, but more importantly, why she was feeling it.

+10 Heal a character’s sickness or injury (1/2) - Medic

CAUGHT THE AIR IN YOUR WOVEN MOUTH

Rivia grunted and grumbled in protest of her efforts to rise being thwarted. "No, pleas-" She pushed into her in one last feeble effort to get up, but Sabine wasn't taking no for an answer. Eventually she subsided her attempts and let out a defeated, begrudging sigh. While her lids still hung heavy, she watched the leonine manipulate the herbs she had left to collect. She looked at the offering with a raised lip, reluctant to put roots in her mouth. Thinking back to when Aries healed her after one of their run ins and how bitter the things where that he fed her. She knew it was a necessary evil, though, and gave in.

She lifted her muzzle to take the herbs, her whiskers grazing hers. Leaning back she tilted her head back and took the roots in. She chewed - pausing to shudder at the bitterness - until they were gone. Rivia flicked her tongue to dismiss the lingering taste.

An annoyed sigh slipped passed her lips in response to @Sabine's question. "Got in a fight with another member," She said shortly, lifting the paw of her good arm to rub her face. Rivia shifted carefully and positioned herself to be a little more than a crumpled heap in the bloodied snow. "She just pisses me off." She added, thinking back to how she acts all the time around the pride. It was so unnecessary and off-putting to the pirate lass.

"She called to challenge for a rank and I didn't want her to have it," Rivia glanced up to Sabine as she worked before laying her head down. "Didn't go over well with the leaders." Way to go, lawbreaker.

Wind and the waves

will carry me, will set me free

• • •

    Sabine ignored Rivia's fussing, moving forward with her attempts to mend what had been seemingly destroyed. She carefully rooted through her patient's fur and began using the sap and aloe leaves to dress the wounds, quietly listening as @Rivia explained how she came to be in this state. Sabine was confused though, not understanding the situation fully. Perhaps she had been out of a pride too long and forgot how things went, but something didn't add up.

    Her head tilted slightly, curious. "Wait so... Did you win?" she questioned. If she had, she would be interested in seeing Rivia's opponent. "Why did this not go over well with the leaders? It doesn't sound like you started it, just accepted the challenge," Sabine stated, trying to work through the details out loud, "Am I understanding this so far?"

+10 Heal a character’s sickness or injury (2/2) - Medic

CAUGHT THE AIR IN YOUR WOVEN MOUTH

While Sabine's touch was careful, the wounds were still fresh and Rivia hissed through clenched teeth a couple times at some particularly tender places. She was fighting a lot of short fuse patience to be a good sport for her.

"I did. She's receiving medical care back there," she answered on an exhale, haphazardly gesturing back the way she came. The woman was considerably larger than she was and it became more about brute strength and endurance than agility and offensive attacks when they became locked in a stalemate. "It was against pride law to challenge for a rank. So, even though I didn't start it...- I don't know," She cut herself off with a scoff, tossing her head instead of shrugging. "I'm not even sure what drove me to give in to her call. Cupid told us all about the laws when we joined and it completely slipped my mind."

"My ego got the better of me and that damn cat pisses me off. I'm on patrol duty for a while now." Rivia flicked her eyebrows upwards at her punishment. In all retrospect it wasn't a big deal. Her pride was a little hurt, but supposed she still managed to keep the noble rank from the tactless woman. Her tail patted the ground in her rising irritation. Rivia sucked a breath into her nostrils to bring her blood pressure down and stop being such a whiny bitch in front of @Sabine.

"Ow! Hey." She whispered and winced, shifting uncomfortably. "You should visit at the borders and keep me company," she jested knowing she was about to spend a lot of walking in really big circles.

Wind and the waves

will carry me, will set me free

• • •

    This was a slow process, slower even with Sabine being as delicate as she was, but she was anxious for some reason. Her heart still pounded loudly within her chest as she worked; though, her concentration did shift between the task at hand and @Rivia's explanation. "Of course you won," she said softly, almost too herself. As the tale unraveled further though, Sabine snorted, shaking her head in disagreement. "That isn't fair..." the lynx muttered, a little more child-like than she meant it to be.

    She was curious about this other cat. Clearly, she really ruffled Rivia's feathers and for some reason, that alone caused Sabine to feel a distain for her too, despite never having even seen the other woman. Shifting her weight, she positioned the last bit of dressing, putting pressure down to secure it in place. Maybe a little too much pressure, as Rivia squawked in pain. "Oops, sorry," Sabine exclaimed quietly, unwavering her focus from the job. "There, all done." she said, leaning back to give the wounded cat some space.

    A light smirk enveloped her expression at Rivia's invitation. "Maybe I will," she teased, still eyeing her work. "I used what I had, so it's not the best job..." Sabine admitted, second guessing the placement of leaves and wishing she had collected more inventory before winter hit, "I can go off and search for more herbs. Ones to help with the pain, but with the snow, it could take some time."