OOC: welcome to anyone who wants to check in but this is mostly for healing so she will only be semi-concious. another thread for a post-war meeting will come after!

Morrigan had paid for her loss of control in spades. Her senses had mostly faded once @Eyvindr and @Talisa had successfully dragged and coaxed the berserker from the pit. The return up the mountain had been long and arduous, she was certain, but the journey only existed in fragments for the bleeding and battered — but victorious in the important ways at least — Summit High Queen. Her injuries were extensive but the pain had become so garbled together she could no longer tell specifically what hurt. Except her dislocated forelimb. That definitely hurt.

It was still a comfort to cross her own well-marked borders, though she hardly realized it when they first arrived. The cold had already been a soothing balm on her open wounds. @Eyvindr's den was blessedly close to the natural entrance into the stone walls of Illyria, and she collapsed with assistance into the prepared pelts, giving herself over to the healer's massive, capable paws. She fought the urge to fall immediately into a deep sleep, wishing to revel in her newly sanctified crowning with her Queen for even a few moments longer... but this was another battle she would soon be forced to lose.

INJURIES: torn & bruised right shoulder, bruised ribs, torn nape of neck, split right ear, concussion, bruised left shoulder, torn right side of neck, right side of face scratched from brow to lip, dislocated right shoulder

coding & image by flea

YOU YOUNG, YOUNG BLOOD

ooc. feel free to ignore him, he's just creepin

the scent draws him out, at first. it's sharp and tangy on the back of his tongue and he wrinkles his nose at it. familiar, in many ways, to the dinners that nero brought back for the little crew of ankle biters - but different in a way that makes his skin crawl. it takes a long moment for him to place why: it's lion blood. a familiar staccato rhythm of his heart begins and the boy creeps from where he'd been hunting lizards that had been trying to bask on the warm stones. he watches the parade of lions, bloodied and weary, traipse into the healer's den - he's seen eyvindr from afar, tending to bits of plants that smelled spicy and warm.

alastor hangs where he is, chewing on the corner of his lip, before slinking a little closer. his curly body presses close to the ground, his two-toned red gaze wide as he peers at the still, quiet mouth of the den. he's unwilling to cross the threshold, even as the scent of @Morrigan slams into him as he nears the cave, and he sucks in a sharp breath. miss morrigan had been so kind to them... and now she's.... dying? bleeding, at least, he knows.

worried, the boy leans as far as he can, dramatically peering around the edge of the cave into the shadowed space within. he squints, trying to make anything out - but can see only vague shapes, pressed close together, and labored breathing.

CODE BY SPU + ART BY NR

It was an...interesting trip back up the mountains that was spent hauling Morrigan away from the pit in a semi-unconscious state. This instance was the only downside he could give anyone for choosing to live here - transporting injured lions was not easy and a literal uphill endeavor. His generously sized healing den was not far and he was grateful to ease Morri into the main space. He could feel the presence of her blood as it clung to the wheat hues of his long pelt in the absence of her weight. It mattered not, there was plenty of work to do.

His first act was to put Morri's forelimb back where it belonged. The healer offered his Queen a decently sized short stick to bite onto with a gentle prod of it against her jaws. Whether she took it or not was her discretion. The feel of eyes makes Eyvindr turn his gaze to spot @Alastor at the entrance. Bring some water, would you? He asked of this peering cub (or of anyone else who had come to assist). There was a small stack of shells, wood, and stone that carried water by the entrance if he chose to oblige

Deep breath @Morrigan. Let it out slowly. He spoke to her as he lifted the dislocated limb and rested one paw on the shoulder plane to assist him in determining the proper location to push it back in. Eyv did what he could to be gentle, but this next part definitely wasn't going to be.

His large frame hovered on his haunches to offer him the height he needed to position the forelimb. He balanced it within his right paw while the left felt for the right spot. Here. He grunted, using sudden downward force to get that gross but satisfying pop of the arm returning to its natural space.

_{art by yumpy}

Talisa marched alongside @Eyvindr as he carried her wife up and into the Summit. Always helping where she needed to if the lioness began to slip but otherwise her eyes were attempting to stay transfixed on the path in front of them. Frustrated by @Morrigan's continued attempts to fight and slaughter; not because she didn't believe that she could do it -- because she sure as hell could -- but if Talisa had let her continue, she'd have no wife to return home with. Their children wouldn't have their Mummy and she, no doubt, would be lost. So once they settled and their colossal body guard, friend and o t h e r took their reigning queen into his healing den, Talisa stood outside and let them have a minute. If only to let herself have a minute to compose herself. The scent of blood one that was only proving to be a distraction to her as she realized how much of it had trailed. Maua, if you're listening... she murmured quietly and gazed up into the snowy canvas of their home, give me patience to not murder her myself. With a deep inhale of a breath, she swiftly let it out -- pushing into the den. Talisa only took a step or two in, just enough to look Morrigan dead in the eye. Do you WANT me to have a heart attack? she asked, mostly in frustrating tones but also in some distant way teasing/joking and playing but it was mostly concern. Concern that she did not wish to be without her wife and sure, death was not the end for them -- CERTAINLY not -- but I'm not prepared for either of us to reach into the afterlife quite yet, my love. Talisa's shoulder slumped as most of her darker emotions were let off in that one simply wave. Weaving as close as she could get to let Eyvindr do his job and for Morrigan to be still. I need more time. More time with Morrigan, more time with the family that she had chosen.

table by cush

She only very vaguely heard the garbled words of @Eyvindr speaking to... someone. Morrigan blinked against the harsh outline of light at the entrance, thinking she could make out the shape of a youth (@Alastor) before she had to fight the urge to let her head drop again. @Talisa was quick to rejoin them and Morrigan felt the sting of her tone more than she did her wounds as the words landed sharply. Her wife's reprimands were true enough. Morrigan had almost made her enemy's job very easy.

She grimaced as Talisa spoke and Eyvindr worked, thinking it was a shame that her mind was too muddled and she had upset Talisa too much to enjoy having the two of them fuss over her. Just as she was about to start making her apologies, her titanic healer gave her a stick to grasp in her jaws, which she took obediently. It was followed by instructions to take a breath before he rose and she guessed what was coming.

It didn't help the pain and she couldn't stop the snarl and instinctive snap of her jaws in the Skagos man's direction, but all it served to do was to sever the stick between her teeth and send splinters against the icy walls. Her drowsiness dissipated with the pain almost instantly, at least for the meantime, and it took her a few steadying breaths to realize that her shoulder didn't necessarily feel better but the pain of the unnatural setting was gone at least.

"Thank you," she said simply to him through still gritted teeth after she spat out the remains of the stick, but the words were meant for more than just healing her now, "For all of it. Talisa is right. That was foolish... and I will no doubt pay for it, but not today." She tried to lean back against the pelts, seeking her wife, "I'm sorry. I lost control. I promise, mein liebe, I have no wish to leave you either," wounded limb reached for the Valour woman while ignoring the pain.

Eyvindr's work was far from done, but she did not wish to have her beloved angry with her right now. She only wished for the comfort of her touch before exhaustion stole away her consciousness.

coding & image by flea

YOU YOUNG, YOUNG BLOOD

@Talisa lingers outside the den only a moment, a prayer on her lips, and the valentine boy feels as if he's spying on some secret, tender moment. feeling awkward, alastor thinks he should go - but @Eyvindr notices him first. and when the healer's gaze turns to the boy, he pauses with his ears tipping back to his skull. sheepish that he's been caught. expecting to be told to get out, he begins to step back - but then the medic bids him to help. o-oh. he chirps, clearing his throat and stepping out from where he'd been leaning dramatically to see the bloodied queen. ofcourse. it's a rapid mumble because the blood is making him nauseous and he's just seeing his mother laying there instead of @Morrigan.

hurriedly, though, as to not make a fool of himself ( and, thus, his father ) the boy scuttles to the shells and carefully plucks one from the pile. while evyindr talks softly to the wounded leader, he studiously fills the shell and begins to turn - only to be interrupted by the plop of her shoulder sliding back into place. it shocks the boy and he jerks, sending the little bowl of water splashing onto the earth. his stomach churns and he grits his jaw, ears nestling further into his curled fur. crap he thinks, face warming as he carefully gathers the bowl once more. afraid to look up at the trio. afraid to see if they're angry. i'm making a mess. but despite the way the world has gone a bit foggy at the edges, he forces himself to mechanically go back to the water and fill a bowl before coming up beside the medic. sorry. he whispers, setting it down gently and letting his gaze drift anxiously to morrigan. it's horrifying to see her here, in this condition, and he can feel his heartbeat start kicking into overdrive. lions kill lions, he reminds himself. y'okay miss morrigan? he asks her, brows knitting together and voice thick as he struggles to crush down the growing unease.

CODE BY SPU + ART BY NR