i've got to make this life make sense

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of sickness, dying, death, violence, rage, rabid behavior

She didn't know how she got here, her head throbbed, her mouth was dry and yet when she'd neared a stream- she'd panicked. Everything hurt, and nothing made sense. Her path was swaying, weaving as she staggered about- the somewhat healed wound on her leg, festered and angry. A marking given to her from a small monkey she'd been hunting, though she no longer remembered getting it.

Though her head throbbed, and her mind was in a fog, she knew she was sick. Something was wrong, so wrong, and yet she couldn't focus long enough to do something about it- to fix it. She coughed again, the movement making her chest and body ache with the force of it. Saliva dripped from her mouth, soaking the fur under her jaws and neck.

Every muscle and join throbbed as she staggered and walked through the flowers- her mind nothing short of short-circuiting as she panicked. What was wrong with her? Why did she feel like this? Why was she so ill?

What was wrong... she tripped over a stone, rolling and falling to the earth, her breath coming in rapid gasps as she pushed back to her feet, a growl leaving her. She was frustrated, and angry because none of it made sense. None of it... what was wrong?

She knew she needed help, needed some sort of assistance, and weakly she'd rasp. "Medic." Her words a shuddering whisper. "Need medic."

@Jiera

ansella belmont

code by corvus

It were not too far from the Rainforest, yet not to close to weather the worn-ragged roads long traveled by the lions of Firnen. The gardens were a plentiful, beautiful place; far unlike the conquered and blighted lands from whence he came. The grasses underfoot were soft, the petals of different flowers caught between his toes with each step. The silhouette of distant mountains that kissed the autumn blue sky completed the blissful picture. All was serene, all was untouched, untainted.

Except for her.

Rank, illness.

Velimor’s head twisted in her direction, the sound of her fervent breaths a sinister cacophony compared to the gentle whirring of the breeze. She fell, growled, labored. Her teeth gnashed in the way of a maddened lion, her eyes wide and wild with fear and fright. Velimor stiffened. Quieted. With bated breath he watched her with silent intensity, hoping that he had not already made enough noise to be caught by her. It was difficult to tell from this distance if she were sick, or if she were enraged.

@Ansella

(1/2) +5 Collect herbs
(0/2) +10 Try to save a character's life, but fail
(0/2) +5 Test herbs for their healing properties (or lack thereof)
Jiera was on the hunt for some devil's claw. Even though Septima had already had her cubs and they were growing like weeds, that didn't mean the care of the mother stopped. No, she wanted to ensure that the new mother was fit and capable of keeping up with her bundles of joy, and one thing to help was something to help inflammation that could happen to ones body after pushing out several large babies. Green eyes would scan the gardens, nose twitching as it took in all the many scents that wafted around her, from the flowers to the creatures that kept themselves hidden. She'd move slowly and with cautious steps, not stopping until she saw a plant that looked familiar.

Brows would knit together as the medic padded closer to inspect, trying to remember if devil's claw grew in clumps like this red plant was or if it were more spread out. She would take several moments debating with herself on if this was correct, and at the end she would use a claw to cut the plant at the base of its stem, giving her something to carry so that she didn't ruin the plants themselves.

Jiera was working on cutting another clump when disruption occurred, the growls and snarls of another lion causing for her body to freeze. Grabbing what she had, the woman would move in the direction the noises were coming from, eyes soon landing upon a lioness writhing on the ground with a male close by. Did he do something to her? The calls for a medic would enter alert ears, and with that would Jiera move into action as if on instinct, clearing the distance swiftly while chuffing to announce her presence. "I'm a medic," she would say softly to the woman, eyes looking over her body as the potent smell of an illness clung to the other's body. She knew this woman was sick, but with what she was uncertain of.

"What happened?" She would ask in a louder tone, as if asking the male that was nearby along with the poor woman on the ground. The saliva soaking her maw and neck was concerning, and even more concerning was the froth foaming from the woman. Jiera would take a hesitant step back as eyes shifted between the two - she wanted to make sure she would be able to jump away if she needed.

@ansella @Velimor

ART BY CORVUS, CODE BY DEE, MODIFIED BY GUNNER

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of sickness, rabies, imminent death

@Velimor @Jiera

Her head was throbbing like a drumbeat of war, and her vision swam. Ansella did not understand this strange illness- did not understand what was wrong with her. Coughs racked through her, as she stumbled and staggered- falling over into a bed of flowers. Thirsty, she was so thirsty but one mis-step near water and she'd drown. No no, water was bad. Bad.

She does not see the male lion, does not know she is no longer alone until a voice speaks. Her legs pull her into a standing position to face the announced medic with a fixed, glazed, sort of look.

"Bad- feel bad." She said, her words nothing more than a rasp as she struggled to speak. "Head throbs." Words mixed with the saliva that ran down her chest in copious amounts, foaming at her mouth as a violent shiver shook through her body- she stumbled towards the other medic. "Help." She begged, her eyes wide and unfocused.

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

He would have been content to leave her there, to watch from afar as her madness seemed to unfold. Had he been younger, he might have immediately jumped to help her, might have assumed she was injured or weary, and ushered her hastily toward the safety of the Rainforest (a scent he could now smell wafting from her, though it is hidden underneath that of sickness). But long had instinct been instilled in him, an overly-cautiousness that saw him saved from ambush and death countless times before. It had been his caution that had ensured his escape from the Pyre, and brought him here, to Amaryllis, despite all that he had lost in the process.

However, his intentions to remain distanced were usurped all at once when an earthen lioness immediately came to the aid of the ailing one. Her call gave away Velimor's position in the grasses not far away, having been contently hidden away just enough to escape their attention until now. He opens his mouth to speak as @Jiera commands an answer from them, but as he opens his mouth to speak, the disjointed and staggering words of @Ansella rise above the whirring of winds. Velimor rises to his full height, but does not dare close the distance between them. He leans forward, half-protectively, half to hear the slurred speech that tumbles from the sick lioness' lips. He had never seen this sickness before, and was the furthest thing from a skilled medic a lion could get; but he had seen great men and women die from infections in their wounds, from battles they should never have lost. He had seen something akin to this in their final throes, when all sense had left them, and nothing but a desperate and ailing husk remained.

I found her like this, he announces, not knowing what else he could say. He truly did not know what was happening to her; he had only his gut, which begged to keep his distance. She is losing herself. Her movements were uncoordinated, had sent her rolling down the hill; her eyes were glossy and had long begun to lose their light; her words slurred, almost drunken.

(2/2) +5 Collect herbs
(1/2) +10 Try to save a character's life, but fail
(1/2) +5 Test herbs for their healing properties (or lack thereof)
As the sick lioness stumbled out her words, Jiera would continue to watch and observe her. The continued forming of thick foam falling from her mouth concerned her greatly, and it was something she had never seen before. "I'm going to help," she would begin in a forced soothing tone; she had no idea if she could even save this woman with the state she seemed to be in. Eyes would glance over toward the male as he spoke, lips pulling into a thin line; she wasn't any closer to an answer and it would definitely make it more difficult.

"I'll be right back." And with this she would slip away, frantically sniffing the air to try to find some other herbs that might help her. She comes across basil and then what she had been originally looking for, devil's claw, and Jiera does not take her time in gathering them. No, instead she merely chomps at a thick patch of each, and once her maw was full she would dart back toward the sickly woman. Placing the herbs down with the ones she had already gathered prior, Jiera would move to grab a nearby leaf that was on the ground, large enough for her to place what she needed on top of it. From there, the medic would nudge a little of each plant onto the leaf (still unaware that the castor was fatal in the amount she had placed on the leaf) and began to use a paw to try to mash it up enough without having to use her mouth to chew it all up; she didn't have the time for that now.

Once as satisfied as she was going to get she'd pull the leaf in front of the lioness, nudging it close to her own muzzle while Jiera also tried to keep a distance away. "Eat these," she would instruct, green eyes wide as she silently pleaded with the other to do what she was asking.

@ansella @Velimor

ART BY CORVUS, CODE BY DEE, MODIFIED BY GUNNER

i've got to make this life make sense

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of illness, mental instability, hallucinations, rabies, etc.

For a lioness who prided herself on her mind, prided herself on her memories- the slow loss of the grasp of them... was terrifying. She felt her mind, slipping as if it were liquid instead of a tangible thing full of thoughts.

Run Ansella Her father's voice, and she tries to scramble to her paws, to heed his warning. Father wouldn't tell her run if she was not in danger. Her paws trip as if they're stuck in mud, sucking her downward and downward, bring her down, down, down.

Figures are there, and she squints her reddened eyes- trying to focus on the words. Something fragrant and strong... an herb? They're helping?

Are they real?

Sloppily, she eats the herbs, trying to swallow them with a throat that felt as if someone was closing off her windpipe.

Ansella... Her father's voice.

"Dad?" A strangled whisper. She stands again, trying to stand as she lurches towards the herb-barer- her jaws gaping as she struggles to breath, struggles to try to talk. "Dad?" An echoed question, as she fixes her gaze on the male present- trying to make sense of it.

Daddy?

@Velimor @Jiera

ansella belmont

code by corvus

Part of him was desperate to keep his distance; another part of him wanted to surge forward, to place himself between the medic and the ailing woman. But he was anchored in place, driven to a momentary stillness if only because @Ansella had not launched forward to attack, despite every part of him believing such a thing may be possible. He were a soldier, not a skilled healer, and he had not seen enough of their troubles to accurately gauge what could possibly be going on with her. However, he had seen many things in his years, and he knew better than to ignore the dread that lingered in the pit of his stomach. Every twitch, every stumble, every move the his pridemate made set his nerves alight.

He feigned a step forward as @Jiera returned and set the herb pulp down before the lioness, a distance suddenly closed and too close for Velimor to feel comfortable. The manner with which Ansella acts becomes more and more detached. She begins to eat the herbs, struggling, words and saliva spilling forth from her mouth as if she struggled to bare it down. Velimor's raised paw suddenly pressed down into the ground, slowly bringing himself closer toward the pair when—suddenly—the ailing lioness lunged toward the earthy medic. Watch out! he cried, quickly barreling toward the pair; from his franticness, he cannot tell if the lioness is lurching to attack, or losing her balance, but he takes no changes; and as he bares down upon them, he seeks to grab Ansella by the scruff. And if he reaches her and manages to grab her, he tries to hard enough to hold her still, but not quite hurt her.

---

+20 Save another character’s life (1/2)
+20 Kill another character (0/2)
+10 Maim another character in self-defense or to protect someone (0/2)

(2/2) +5 Collect herbs
(2/2) +10 Try to save a character's life, but fail
(2/2) +5 Test herbs for their healing properties (or lack thereof)
The woman seemed to be growing more and more disoriented with each passing moment, saying odd things as well as having slurred speech. She would try to lift herself up onto her paws only to fail, and then she was inhaling the herbs Jiera had laid out before her. The healer was waiting for some sort of calm to begin, but what happened was something she did not expect. The lioness called out for her dad, looking around as if in a trance, before green eyes caught the sickly woman lunging toward her. Jiera would let out a startled gasp, ad as the man surged forward Jiera would stumble backward, almost falling onto her rump.

"I-" she would begin, voice shaky and quickly losing her train of thought. Had she done something wrong? Had she been too late in saving this woman? She would take several more steps back, body trembling and ears twisting backward to pin atop her head. Jiera would stand there in stunned silence, wide eyes watching as the lion held the lioness by her scruff; what was happening?!.

@ansella @Velimor

ART BY CORVUS, CODE BY DEE, MODIFIED BY GUNNER

i've got to make this life make sense

Losing herself, is not how she thought this would go.

Yet, her mind is frazzled and she does not know what is what and which way is up.

Ansella feels moisture on her face, and she does not realize she is weeping.

"Dad?" She whispers again, completely unaware of herself- as she lurches herself forward.

When she feels the pressure of another, the pressure of teeth, she aims to fight back, though it was horrible and rather useless because she had never been a creature of battle. She lashes out wildly, and does not realize that this will only serve to worry the strangers further. She does not realize... or understand anything that is going on. She just...

Garbled words, garbled cries as she calls out for her mother- whom she's never called for- her father... her dear father.

OOC: Feel free to PP her- Velimor is free to kill her if he'd like, as she's becoming dangerous. c: Just wanted this to hit the 10 posts for you guys to collect xp!

@Velimor @Jiera

ansella belmont

code by corvus