His bindings were beginning to grow itchy, which meant they were needing a change. The gilded prince grunted softly to himself as he hobbled to the spot in his den where he kept the fresh linens and splints. Peabody trailed after him, clawed hands shifting nervously against one another. The perks of being a heavily built optional-biped, he could carry a few things if needed. So when Stratum handed him a few thick, twigless branches he accepted them readily.

"You should get that brother of yours to check on the healing progress." The pangolin commented, voice incredibly soft and quiet. He didn't have a big mouth, he wasn't meant for shouting. The hulking male grunted, mouth full of linen wrappings and thus not suited to conversation. When he finally flopped down on his well-worn bedding, he let loose a short howl as the wrap tumbled onto his forelegs. If Crux was around he could show up, but Stratum wasn't in much of a mood to hear that he'd never fight again.

Fun fact, pangolins can claw through solid stone. Which means those sharp, hooked claws could easily shred the old, soiled splint. The atrophied muscle beneath showed a wretched mess of a leg. The skin was inflamed from friction, Stratum never stopped moving and so his fur had been worn away where the splint made contact. He prodded the portion of his lower leg where he knew the break to be, wincing at the contact with his raw skin and tender, healing bone. He growled under his breath, a low and terrible sound that would keep away even the bravest souls.

Stratum. Now there was a challenge all on his own. Not in a bad way just in a "You're my brother and I love you but for the love of god please stop walking on this leg if you want it to heal correctly before I break your other legs to stop you" sort of way. Crux sighed, glanced at Riya and the leopard rolled her eyes before she set about doing something important in his den, much too important, couldn't possibly go with Crux. Which was for Stratum and not Crux who would still usually rather have his companion on hand for help.

Crux grabbed a few herbs just in case and made his way to his brother's den. The Armada was finally starting to come back from the flood, and a few other traumatic events by the sounds of it. Crux had certainty been through his own, the still very visible scar on his throat was proof of that. But Stratum was stuck it seemed, not just physically but emotionally. Crux tried his best to be sympathetic and he did feel for his brother but sometimes you just didn't want to hear again how miserable someone was when they're dealing with a temporary version of your disability. At least it should be temporary, if Stratum could just actually sit still for a week!

As Crux entered his brother's den he sighed again, dropping his herbs before moving further in. "Don't poke it."" He chided gently. Stratum's verbal displeasure might have chased most other wolves off but Crux wasn't about to let his brother's moodiness be the reason the bone didn't heal right. Looking at his brother's leg he suppressed yet another sigh. "You've been up and about most days haven't you?" How many times had he told his brother he needed to rest? No use pretending though the raw flesh told him all he needed to know. Almost dutifully he started gently pressing along the length of his brother's leg, feeling for anything misaligned and watching his brother's face. No pain management yet, his brother's responses would tell him more about what was going on inside than his brother could verbally.

"Speech"

He had barely started organizing his supplies before he heard his brother from the doorway admonishing his technique. The gilded prince's lips peeled back from his teeth in what would have been a menacing snarl- to anyone who wasn't related to him. As soon as those massive fangs were put on bold and terrible display, he stuck his tongue out through them and blew a raspberry at Crux. "My leg, I can do whatever I want." he sniped back in a mocking tone, turning his pale gaze away from the door to examine the raw skin around the wound where the bindings had worn the cream-striped fur away. He knew well and good that his brother was right about leaving it alone, and resting for a while to let it heal. And yet..

As soon as the words were out of Crux's mouth he found himself completely ignoring his earlier belief that the dark furred male knew what he was talking about. Honestly, who was he to boss him around?

(A trained healer, his brother, and someone with both eyeballs and a modicum of sense, in that order)

"Yeah, but not for that long." he grumbled, unable to keep himself from scowling as he did. The pangolin named Peabody, thoroughly unimpressed with his companion's attitude, took the opportunity to wander away in search of something else to do. "You didn't say anything about going to other places so I could rest, so I've been walking to the baths and the overlook and uh, the common areas to rest for the day." the behemoth muttered, aiming to sound casual and falling flat as his littermate began carefully prodding at the length of bone to assess the damage. He hissed under his breath- much to his own chagrin. Admittedly, Stratum was hardly thrilled that he wasn't able to keep the exact amount of pain he was in under wraps.

"So it's all healed up, right? No more splints or bandages, I'm good to go?" his voice was decidedly high in pitch, fighting to fake a chipper attitude as though that was all Crux would need to sign off on him being fully healed. Never mind the intense pain that had persisted for months, or the atrophied muscle that had been trapped beneath the splints for all this time. It wasn't lost on him that he was whining about the very condition that had plagued his brother since birth, that which Stratum had spent much of their lives trying to protect him from truly suffering from. He understood it a bit better now. Wouldn't stop him from bitching about being kept from his work, though.

"Speech"

Crux rolled his eyes as his brother stuck his tongue out at him, it was on the surface a teasing gesture but his words belied his irritation. "My patient my rules." He quipped back but in truth Crux was more focused on the task at hand. "Unless you'd rather I fetch Halo." Crux didn't know at this point if that would have been preferable for Stratum. Sure it wasn't like he couldn't understand feeling that being tended to by your family was almost more humiliating but Crux also frankly wasn't sure that even the generally kind and timid Halo wouldn't have knocked Stratum out at this point instead of deal with his bullshit. Crux didn't have that luxury, not when his patient was his own brother.

Crux kept his expression neutral as Stratum rattled off the locations he'd gone to "rest", instead keeping his gaze swapping between his brother's leg as he gently applied pressure and his brother's face, searching for the clear signs of pain. Still he couldn't help the irritation he felt rising in him. Was Stratum this stupid? Did he not see what he was doing to himself? Did he not realize what he was risking? And somewhere deep under his concern for his brother was irritation at Stratum for throwing away something Crux would have killed for... Mobility.

His assessment completed, luckily it seemed nothing had shifted to badly out of alignment and certainly nothing a splint couldn't nudge back into place, Crux sighed. If a wolf could pinch the bridge of their nose, he'd be doing it. "Stratum I know you don't like being told to stop walking on your leg but-" But you're an idiot who doesn't even realize how lucky you are that there's still time to fix it! "There will be a point of no return. If your leg sets wrong the only fix is to break it again." As he spoke Crux finally pushed some lady's slipper towards Stratum to help with the pain as he set about preparing to splint his brother's leg again. "Worse the longer you delay a proper recovery, the more your muscles atrophy, the higher the chance not even physical therapy will see you back to your full strength." Crux was no stranger to having to work his own leg, stretches were a daily routine and he on occasion would do other more active exercises to ensure the health of the parts of his leg he did have some say over. But if Stratum just couldn't fucking stay still for a week there was every chance that not even his own collection of exercises would help. "I can only encourage your leg to heal ultimately you're the one who's gotta choose if it will or not. I'd consider if you really understand what's at stake here."

With all his supplies together Crux finally looked back up at his brother. "It's much harder than I make it look." Yeah, because he'd been doing it since he was born, he didn't know any other way of being, including modeling himself so that those who didn't have his disability would find him palatable. Stratum had no idea just how much Crux kept hidden, the bad days, the frustration, the pain. He had no doubt his brother was strong but the strength Stratum possessed wasn't the strength needed to function in Crux's lived reality.

"Speech"