The setting sun has once again seen a certain yearling roaming far from his usual haunts. The dry, arid expanse of the red sands and the neighboring dunes poses a strange mystery to Hubert still. He does not know the wasteland, does not particularly like it, and yet he is fascinated by it all the same. Not that he couldn't say that there weren't practical reasons to be hanging about. The desert pride is a group he's been seeing more of lately, and one that he realized he didn't know all that much about - it was only wise for him to change that, though?

Yet long before he ever gets close enough to snoop, the ominous towers of black smoke in the distance had piqued his curiosity. He's not seen anything quite like it, not since he was a child and the jungle had burned, though even that is a hazy memory at best. Surely this smoke wasn't caused by fire too, was it? What even was there to burn?

Nothing, of course.

Instead, the black clouds were pouring from ragged cracks that split apart the earth itself which...wasn't any less strange, actually. He peeks curiously into one of the dark ravines, only to stumble back with a harsh cough, throat and eyes burning when another puff of smoke rose to greet him. Really should've saw that one coming. He trots away with a harsh shake of his head to clear away the noxious smell, though a shift in the wind only sends more to follow him, dousing his ebony pelt entirely in the acrid perfume, mixing with the dying light to lower his visibility. Seemed leaving was going to be far more inconvenient than wandering about.

He feels his way towards an outcropping of sandy cliffs, brushing his shoulder against the crevices in search for a temporary shelter. But he's too careless - it'd not occured to him that the red nooks might not be occupied, and he registers the hiss and whisper of slithering scales a split-second too late. He pulls a paw back with a sharp yelp, lashing out with the other to crush the snake's skull against the rocks.

But such revenge doesn't really help him now.

@Solanum

ART + CODE By Dee

The stacks had never interested her before, the smoke in the sky more of a warning than an adventure, but something today pulled her there, something in her mind had her sneaking away, satchel full of herbs and potions, she made her way through, blinking away the smoke. She eyed the ominous cracks in the rock, smoke billowing out of them, her eyes water a little and she coughs, ready to turn around.

A sharp yelp and a scattering sound draw her attention and she sees the snake, and a lions outline, a familiar lion, she growls and pounces atop the creature, sinking fangs in behind its head and thrashing it about until it hung limp in her jaws. She pants around the creature, eyes flicking up to meet @Huberts, her sides shaking as she caught her breath, once she could inhale and exhale at a slower place, she sling the snake down beside them and worry filled her eyes.

"Hemlock..are you bitten? She flattened her ears, dropping her satchel and rushing closer, coughing a bit from the smoke, her eyes flick back to the snake, "Come with me quick, I need to get to the light to see the snake. Lean on me. She stuffs the snake in her satchel, and shoulders it before sliding next to him and brushing her shoulder against his.

There was a time when the Prince had been bitten once before, he remembers. A time when he was still a child, night-hunting in the swamp when his greatest obsession had been to catch one of the scaly, slithering creatures that shared his home. He'd barely felt that creature's teeth when they'd puncture through the thin skin of his ear. Its dying act, and it hadn't even left a permanent mark, just as his Vater had predicted. Slender fangs, useless without venom to course through them.

At first, this doesn't seem so different. He doesn't immediately register the pain at first, more startled than anything else by the lightning-quick flash of the snake's head. The sting and the heat of the bite come a moment later when he tries to stumble back, his reflexive swipe having dislodged the snake from its perch while failing to kill it. Its body is long, too long for him to escape its range before it poises to strike again, and his muscles tense, caught between lunging forward to attack or lunging away.

Yet in the end, he doesn't have to make the choice.

A dark shape whirls out from the smoke, snatching the distracted beast in her jaws and flailing it to a ragged demise. She turns fervent eyes back to him as he watches, and he blinks, surprised by the sight of a familiar, split-faced countenance. @Solanum? How ironic, to think that a girl of Vermeda should come to his aid. Not that she knows any better, but it's unexpected nonetheless. Impressive, perhaps, all things considered. Though perhaps their are not so apparent, when they are both drenched in smoke. What are you...? She's wandered far from her own home as well, but he finds that there are far more pressing matters than to question her presence here.

Namely, the fire beginning to build within the punctures marking his forelimb, pins and needles prickling beneath his skin from the source, an itch burning within his very blood. And deep in his bones, he realizes that this is no harmless snakebite.

I...It was too fast for me. How embarrassing. I'm fine., is what he wants to say. And yet the words hesitate upon his tongue. He jolts a bit when she brushes against him, his eyes having been trained upon the trickle of crimson dripping down his leg to slide between his toes. The snake... He breathes, shifting at her urging, at first attempting to stride forward without her aid, only to wobble and lean against her despite his bold efforts. I'ts...I don't think it's one I've seen before. He does not know the critters of the desert as well as those of the swamp. Has he ever regretted anything so much? What do you have with you? He could not hope to salvage together a poultice in this barren place, but Solanum...the smell of flowers still graces her chimeric pelt.

He feels a bit light-headed. Is it from the stress or the venom?

ART + CODE By Dee

In the smoky cavern, under the veil of darkness, she probably looked mad and frenzied, panting over the limp, broken body of the snake, her sides heaving with every pant. He speaks her name, bringing her out of her panicked frenzied lust, her eyes quickly flick up, looking into his, "I.. She couldn't explain why she was there, confusion had settled on her face, had she somehow been guided here? Or was it chance?

What are you?

The girl blinks, brow furrowed, her mouth open, paused before an answer, she couldn't possibly answer that right now, not in any important kind of way so she gently lets out a hazy short reply, ""A friend.." She notices the bite on his arm, her eyes sighting in on it, eve in the far.she can tell it's deep, and it's no harmless. "Cmon. I need light.

He speaks of the creature and she members suddenly, her head bending low to retrieve it's limp body, Solanum breaths in, before gently nudging his shoulder, "'mon, les go, dis way, urry. She does through the dead creature, he ear flicks when he asks what she has, "'Nough, if not, I make some. She is determined, he small frame somehow keeps him steady, she didn't know how, but she felt like she could do anything in this moment as long as it saved him.

She makes for quite a sight indeed, lithe sides heaving with the efforts of someone who'd just run a mile, the look in her golden eyes both wild and desperate. He imagines he can just barely make out the wet shine of the snake's blood painted upon her dark lips, a quick gleam amidst the haze of smoke and shadows. Hubert never would have imagined that the sweet-seeming girl could look so close to unhinged - but there she was.

But then again, maybe he should have expected no different from the girl who tended to poisonous blooms with the same care she showed to herbs that healed. The chimeric yearling is a woven patchwork of contradictions in more ways than one.

Alas, he has no time to examine the heightened feelings of intrigue that are stirred within him in answer, not now, when his heart is pounding hard enough to make him feel dizzy, the area surrounding his punctured flesh beginning to swell at an alarmingly rapid rate. He doesn't even have the extra space in his mind to snort at how @Solanum takes his half-finished question literally, nor to consider the fact that he could count the number of lions willing to call themselves his friend on one paw.

No, the most important thing is that they must slow the poison before it reaches his unhelpfully racing heart.

He follows her guidance, because he's left with little choice. With a grunt, he would lift his injured forelimb to rest it across her shoulders as he shuffled to where she led him, attempting to keep the bite elevated. If he was to lean against her anyway, he might as well go the extra step. Yes, yes, I'm coming. He hisses out through gritted teeth, his irritation fanned by his pain. There's not much out here. He responds skeptically to her determined claims, though perhaps it's not in his best interests to argue with the medic.

He too, would take advantage of the found light to peer at his wound, ears falling back in displeasure with what he sees. Gnetum? He asks, trusting Solanum would know of the herb he speaks of if she happens to be carrying it. He knows it because of his familiarity with the jungle's plants, but they are far from those stomping grounds of his now.

ART + CODE By Dee

She could feel his gaze on her, but we blamed the smoke for his lingering eye, blamed it on the venom for making his mind all confused, refusing to let the inkling of a thought even considering that his gaze might just actually be taking her in.

Smoke burned her eyes, causing tears to for under them, and stain her cheeks, but she idly blinked them away, coughing a bit as her lungs ached for fresh air. Feeling his arm sling over her shoulder, she carries him out, ignoring his irritation, she pins her ears back, yellow eyes glaring at nothing, trying not see the way out.

Once outside in the light, whatever light there is, she spits the snake out, glancing at the tail, no rattle, her eyes scanned it over, not Taipan, adder maybe. "Give me the wound. She demands gently, bringing his arm off off her shoulder, and pressing the wound to her lips, she begins the process of sucking the venom out and spitting it out, repeat until she's satisfied its enough. Then she's rummaging through her animal skin pack, pulling out herbs, and quietly names off each herb, mixing them using a bowl made of stone, " Gnetum. Garden Cress. Eat this. She pushes the mixture to him, saving some to apply as poultice mixed with Oil palm, and Frankincense on to the actual bite.

Maybe the burning tightness in his chest would be better attributed to the acrid smoke that's grown to invade every space it could reach, sticky and scorching despite having no heat of its own.

A haze building up to wring his neck just gradually enough that he nearly doesn't realize how it threatens to choke him until they emerge from where he'd wedged himself within the dusty cliffs, and the new rush of fresh(er) air draws a cough from him, the taste of ashes suffusing his tongue nearly impossible to ignore.

Nearly.

The metallic taste of iron that he swears he can taste in the back of his mouth seems more pressing. As liquid begins to pool in his mouth, he's half-convinced that he's bleeding there somehow, though the warm string that spills past his lips is clear and colorless. His throat works tirelessly to swallow the excess saliva, lest he look like a drooling idiot, stubborn despite the agitated grunt that sounds in response to @Solanum dislodging his injured limb from her shoulders. Verdant eyes flick towards the limp body of the snake she drops, gazing dully at its finely patterned scales without the focus to really study it. Actually, his eyes really are struggling to focus - he'd thought it was the haze of smoke causing the blurriness before, but...

The brush of the other yearling's lips against his still-bleeding wound makes him jolt, both from the pain and unexpected warmth - but more so the pain. What-? He doesn't know if he could turn his head to watch her even if he tried now. Muscles quiver beneath dark fur as Hubert blankly stares straight ahead, his breathing growing heavier as the act of swallowing grows more difficult, his mind gradually becoming hazier and hazier. A bolt of clarity strikes him when the girl pushes a bowl of ground herbs in front of his shivering nose (when had he sagged to the ground?), its scent not entirely unfamiliar.

At this point, he has nothing more to lose from consuming her mixture. Except maybe his dignity, as the movement of his jaws is painfully uncoordinated now, leaving a trail of slobber behind as he tries to chew. Honestly, if he had any clue as to how pathetic he looked now, he would likely prefer to just choose death. Tell his family he hated them.

Wha'...what else?" He hisses out, struggling to enunciate his words, but determined to keep up with what the healer was doing. He needs the distraction to tamp down on his urge to vomit the bitter herbs. Or black out.

ART + CODE By Dee

Panic slowly rose throughout the chimera, but she kept a steady hand, her breaths were to a rhythm, in and out, in and out, she could hear the blood pumping in her ears. She feels tears prick the corner of her eyes as his saliva pours from his mouth, "Its gonna be okay..

Is she telling him that, or herself? "Dont try to swallow your saliva, not when you're producing so much and your throat muscles aren't working quite right.. You'll choke and ill have to find something to create a breathing tube. She warns, hoping he can hear her, watching as he sags to he ground, her heart thuds, her lip trembles, fear races through her.

The sharp bitter taste of the snakes venom mixed with his blood coated her lips, she had sucked on the wound until she tasted only blood so she knew shed gotten it.

The poultice would work, it had to, but she couldn't carry him home, so she curled up next to him, fur pressed against his, aiming to ride out the worst with him. She would stay awake all night, mostly, if she did slumber, it would be light, so that she could venture and bring him water to keep him hydrated.

Hubert is dimly aware of the comforting words that accompany the girl's tears that he does not see, though they largely fall upon deaf ears. Would it all be be okay? It doesn't feel like it will from where's he standing. Or laying, actually. Despite it all, he remains an emotional creature still, sensitive to the rage and despair pushing past the numbness overtaking his mind.

He wants too much from this life of his to have it all come to an end here.

The reflexive struggles of his throat are difficult to control and even harder to fight against, even when @Solanum urges him to relax before he chokes on these last dismal attempts to preserve what scraps of dignity he has left. His body seems to agree with the medic's advice, however. As his muscles begin to break free from his control, it becomes difficult to say whether or not he could actually keep swallowing if he wished to.

Perhaps the burn in his blood lessens in the moments after her determined attempts to draw the venom from the bite. He cannot say for certain through the painful pounding finding a new rhythm within his skull, bringing with it the ominous arrival of black spots breaking apart his already unfocused vision. The abyss calls to him, though he does not welcome it. He can't avoid it, can't distract himself from it, or breathe through it all - if anything, he's breathing too fast, even as everything around him seems to slow.

He curls into himself unconsciously, dark cheek sagging against the dusty ground as his eyelids drooped. ...Stay. A simple command, desperate in its forcefulness, the only word he can manage past his clumsy tongue and dry throat. The warmth of her fur against his own is the last sensation he registers before the darkness claims him.

He can only hope that it's not eternal.

ART + CODE By Dee

Solanum swallows her fear and stays at his side, pressing her muzzle to his cheek and exhaling softly, "Its gonna be okay.. She whispers again, if she smelled the Mire on him, she said nothing to indicate anything. The chimera laid beside him, listening to his breathing, his command to stay was met with another gentle kiss pressed to his temple as she tried to soothe him, "Im not going anywhere. She Promises him, small body curled as best as she could around him, her ears perked, listening for any predators, or other lions.

She knew she would not fare well against another, she was small and wasn't a fighter, but she would try her best to protect him, her heartbeat finally slowed as she drifted off into an uneasy, restless dream.

(Exits via sleeping)

+20 Save a character's life through healing