There was a certain level of required finesse to navigating the boneyard, he was learning. It didn’t help that he was gargantuan and lacked any concept of grace, either. Wading through an ankle-deep swap of bones was tricky enough, but adding in the fact he was clumsy as all get out made things much more dangerous for the oaf. He'd already collected his fair share of cuts and scrapes moving through the sea of the dead, but it hadn't stopped him from pressing on. Somewhere nearby there was meat and Colsun was quite determined to find himself an afternoon snack.

He turned a bend, cursing loudly as some random pointy bone cut his ankle. Fuckin' rude as shit, but it was quickly forgotten as he spotted his goal: an elephant calf still somewhat ripe enough for the picking -- at least in his mind. Maybe he'd have a little bit of food poisoning from it sitting out in the summer heat, but fuck it. A guy's gotta eat.

Colsun meandered his way to the carcass and began chomping away, using his claws to tear through some of the remaining meat in order to get to the juicier innards inside. His teeth crunched through bone after gnawing on a piece of rib for a while, but instead of sucking out the marrow like he'd intended, our pal Colsun felt something small and sharp slide down his windpipe.

Uh oh.

He swallowed and swallowed again to no avail, feeling fear creep up his spine as he struggled to breathe around the bone lodged in his throat. The lion gasped for breath, panicked, and began to look around frantically for help.

@Camellia

there's a darkness and it follows me

I'm never gonna let you in

code by corvus

If this was the be the setting on their Home Cave, a lot more recon was going to be needed. Camellia was most interested in how much traffic the Boneyard got (aside from dying elephants) and what sort of characters composed that traffic. She'd been aware of the little orphan calf that had recently died here, and had briefly pondered over its appearance. How and why had it died? Where were its parents? There was no freshly dead mother elephant. Had it been sick? With no answer, she had made it a point to avoid the carcass. But there was no avoiding it as she made her way to and from the new potential Savante hide out and back to Andal, carrying her pack of herbs and supplies upon her back. She was nearing the unfortunate little calf when she caught wind of @Colsun ♔ that day.

The young but massive black lion was detectable from a long ways off. His large feet rattled bones with every step, and his voice carried on the still summer air, muttering and cursing. Camellia crept towards him, intimidated by his size but curious about his motives for being here. And so she stalked him, creeping along skillfully and using the bones to keep her hidden. Her sandy coat, broken by streaks of white, lent towards camouflaging her in this place as well.

The dark male didn't detect her over all the noise he was making, and continued on to eventually approach the calf. He wouldn't.... thought Camellia, peeking over the ridge of a pelvis bone that she was hiding behind. A frown of disgust twisted her maw and Colsun began to dig into the carcass. Camellia had to restrain herself from making any outward show of disgust at his actions. The body had been there for several days, festering in the summer heat. Even the hyenas and buzzards had avoided it. Was he crazy!?

She was just pondering this as she spied upon him, when the dark lion suddenly seemed to recoil, his body tensing in alarm. His back was to her, so she could not see his face but Camellia sensed his distress. Had he gotten a taste of the putridness of the meat?

She continued to observe for now, not realizing that the stranger had begun to choke.

---

Trade Experience:
+20 Save a character's life through healing (choking)
+10 Heal a character’s sickness or injury (food poisoning XD)
+5 Sing a song

Colsun wondered if elephants would come eat his body when all was said and done. He was pretty sure this was the end for him, and Colsun could only grieve for all the ladies he hadn't complimented. Anya would never know she was pretty ever again, and neither would Iona, and neither would.. okay, no, that was roughly the only women he knew. Uh, his sister? Would his sister want to hear she was pretty? Eh, probably not.

Anyway, how long could lions go without breathing? .. And how long had it been?

The colossal lion began to sputter and cough, a thin dribble of drool spilling from his lips as he hunched his back and clawed feebly at his throat. Maybe he could just, like, cut his neck open and dislodge it that way?

there's a darkness and it follows me

I'm never gonna let you in

code by corvus

Distrust, born from their family's encounter with the brutes from Wolfbron Bluffs, kept Camellia hidden. But as the seconds wore in, it became evident that something was gravely wrong here. After everything that had happened, she'd told herself that she would not concern herself with the welfare of those outside of her kin from here on out. But deep inside, her calling as a healer dictated that she share The Mother's gift with all of those in need. And when she saw his back hunch, and heard the sputtering, she stepped out of hiding and followed his path, creeping up behind him.

She appraised him for a moment, deciding finally that the only threat here was on his own life, not hers. And so she circled around, revealing herself to him. Ignoring the putrid stench of the dead elephant calf, she gave him an ocular pat down with her critical eye, a diagnosis becoming immediately evident. He was choking. Camellia knew what to do in this situation, however she had never performed the procedure to dislodge a foreign body from the throat of anyone so massive. Thinking quickly, Camellia moved around to his side, placing her paws on his shoulder.

"You're choking," she said simply. There was no time for formalities or introductions. "Lay on your side. I will help you." Her voice was eerily calm and confident, though there was an urgency in his tone. She'd dawdled long enough that she assumed he must be on the brink of blacking out if his trachea was completely blocked.

Hmm, would he be able to see Minxy if he died? Would Minxy even know who he was? Shit, would he even know who she was? Colsun considered all of these things as he continued to drool from the corner of his lips. The lion felt sucked in a wheezing breath that rattled the bone lodged in his throat. He finally began to feel the lack of oxygen as his head grew light and his balance began to shift until he collapsed onto his haunches. Ugh, dying was so slow.

But then a savior arrived in the distance, and Colsun named her Captain Obvious in his head. She was pretty, this Captain Obvious, and he was disappointed he wouldn’t be able to tell her that before he died. Fortunately, he assumed she already knew because.. well, her name was Captain Obvious and it was obvious she was pretty. Yeah, that made sense. At least his death wouldn’t be in vain.

When she told him to lay on his side, Colsun was already way ahead of her. He didn’t even get to yell timber before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed onto his side with a resounding thud. Hopefully he didn’t need to stay conscious because that was way too hard without breathing.

there's a darkness and it follows me

I'm never gonna let you in

code by corvus

If the situation had not been so dire, Camellia would have perhaps been able to appreciate a sort of humor in the comedic timing. At her instruction, the young male's eyes rolled back and he tipped over in a most dramatic fashion. She cringed at the thud, imagining that she could feel a shockwave from his weight hitting the ground. It was a long way down for one so big, but she supposed it wasn't the worst thing to happen to him today. She momentarily checked his airway in case the force of his fall had dislodged whatever it was he was choking on all on its own. But she quickly determined that further action would be needed.

@Colsun ♔ was far too large for her to wrap her paws around him and perhaps the motion needed to apply a sharp and sudden force to compress his ribcage. So instead she clambered up onto his side with her forepaws, placing them carefully just at the bottom of his ribcage, one paw above and the other below where she imagined his diaphragm to be. Then she reared up onto her hind legs, bending at the knee and springing upwards in an arc. She would land with all her weight in her front paws, likening to a fox pouncing upon mice in the snow. Her intention was for the sudden force to compress his chest, pushing the air out of it and hopefully with enough force to dislodge the object within his windpipe. She would repeat the motion in quick succession, determined to continue until she was sure she had succeeded...

...or failed.

Death was weird. He assumed he was dead, anyway, but he'd never died before so there was every chance he was horribly wrong (spoiler alert: he was). There was a weird sense of calm littered between the bouts of panic, those little gaps of time where he was neither alive nor dead but something in between. His lungs felt like they could explode at any moment, or maybe it felt like they were shriveling up? Shit, he didn't know. He only knew that the spaces of peace were coming more frequently and he, lazy beast that he was, found them more and more appealing as time went on.

And then he saw stars.

Or, no, just one star. A bright one. The sun?

His eyes peeled open as he felt the force of a small comet slam against him. An initial hit was inconsiderate, but then they kept coming like he was cruising through a meteor shower. Time after time he felt himself pummeled, and during one of those moments he felt the bone dislodge from his throat and spit out onto the ground in front of him. Colsun sucked in gulps of air, quickly trying to scramble to his paws because for some reason that felt like it would help him breathe better. He paid no mind to the little lady helping him, barely registering her presence as he wildly.. breathed. Because that was a thing.

there's a darkness and it follows me

I'm never gonna let you in

code by corvus

Again and again she drew back, reared up, and pounced, driving her forepaws into his ribcage. With each thrust against his ribcage she felt her hope from his redemption dimming. But then, at least, she felt the pressure in his chest give way as the object blocking his airway was forcefully dislodged, followed by a the rush of trapped air. She knew she need not continue and she backed away as the black lion drew in gasping breath, hungry for the oxygen that he had been deprived of. She stayed clear of his flailing and scrambling, not wanting to be inadvertently knocked aside. Sidestepping as he rose, she would glance down to see the shard of bone that lay upon the earth beneath them, coated in mucous and glistening in the sun. She would wrinkle her nose at the sight of it, shaking her head.

She would allow him to regain his breath for several moments, remaining passive as she appraised him with her slanted dual-toned eyes. When she was assured of the fact that he seemed, for the most part, to have avoided severe damage from his brush with death, she would speak up. Her voice was smooth and melodic, decorated with an exotic accent that made it quite obvious that she was not a native speaker. "Your mother did not teach for not to swallow large bones, no?" She would ask, the hint of a teasing smile curling the corner of her lips. "You are feeling better?" She would ask, with a tilt of her head.

As he regained his breath and the world started to spin in a different manner, Colsun finally recognized that the woman hadn't been a figment of his imagination. The bruises she inadvertently left behind would be a reminder for quite a while as well, so he wasn't worried about forgetting her anytime soon. His pointed ears tipped towards her as she spoke, joking about his mum and manners and common sense. Colsun had begun panting from the stress (and relief of being able to breathe) but paused for a beat, happy he was now finally able to tell her: "you're pretty." And now she would be forever aware that she was pretty all thanks to him.

"It broke off from the ribcage, it's not my fault," he grumbled defensively. "But yeah, I feel better. Thanks for--" and it was here he lost whatever contents remained in his stomach from his foul meal.

there's a darkness and it follows me

I'm never gonna let you in

code by corvus

His sides heaved as he panted, slowly regaining his composure as his blood recharged with oxygen with each beat of his heart. He's so big, she though, examining him as she waited for his response. He seemed destined to be even bigger than her brother once he filled out, an impressive feat indeed. His eyes were of a most unusual shade of violet, captivating in their way. And his ears... how odd. Camellia glanced up from her examination of his white mitted paws when she heard his pause, interested in his reply. Only for him to announce that she was pretty, which elicited a chuckle from the woman. "You are handsome young man, but I am old woman to you." Came her reply, her eyes glittering with amusement.

Despite the brief distraction, Camellia was still keenly aware of the entire situation. She detected the change in his voice before his words cut off, and she nimbly sidestepped herself out of the way of his fouling. Again, her nose would wrinkle at the putrid contents he had produced but she did not visibly recoil. Her countenance was quite strong when it came to matters of healing. She maintained a casual attitude, seemingly nonplussed at the stinking pile of ick that lay at their feet. Camellia clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "Is no good," she lamented. Then, with a jerk of her head she signaled for him to follow her. "Come."

She would put half a dozen paces between herself, the carcass, and the contents of Colsun's unfortunate meal before shrugging her pack off her shoulder and nosing the flap open, carefully shifting through its contents before she produced a rolled up leaf, which she took gingerly between her front teeth and held it out to Colsun. "Eat." She said, and once he took it she would explain. "This will chase bad spirits out of you belly, take away sick." More specifically, the combination of ground charcoal and stomach soothing herbs were absorb the toxins and ease the symptoms of food poisoning, hopefully before they took further hold.