Waking in the Lion's Den [Lia, Friendlies]

The waking came with a shift in breathing. He’d been breathing relatively steadily, if not deeply. An ear flickered at distant pack sounds, a sign of a greater awareness. It was a long thirty minutes of a slow, muddy slog toward the surface.

It was tempting to slide back to the black nest he’d been tossed into at the bottom of the mountain. It was comfortable there. But Cairo Adravendi could be a dogged creature, and so he stayed awake, though his eyes remained squinched shut. Instead he listened, and began automatically cataloging his body for hurts that should have rightly been there.

His rib cage felt like he'd been bound up in something. Both right legs felt oddly stiff, and tiny movements to test them sent bolts of agony through his whole body, bruises complaining as his abused muscles tensed from the pain. A grunt hissed through his nose. But the pain faded very quickly, probably dampened by medication. As long as he stayed still, nothing would break through. But the memory of the real pain before his crack on the head persisted. It was hard to convince his body and mind that there was no actual pain right now.

His head was bound up, judging from a tightness around his skull. His legs must be splinted as well, then.

The surroundings sounded wrong. Unfamiliar. The smells were only familiar because he had recently met Sirius, and—One ear perked, the other too well ensconced in furs or some sort of padding to follow suit. He remembered quite clearly the tumble down the mountain side, and every impact on the way down. Broken legs, broken ribs… He was going to be so far delayed in his rise to Sentinel… And he wasn’t even home. He almost groaned at the thought.

Why could he smell traces of Paladin? There were a lot of questions whirling around his head, but for the time being, he contented himself with just… Keeping his eyes closed and listening, smelling and feeling. He was alive. There was that. He didn’t feel like he’d lost any blood, either, since he didn't necessarily feel weak, per say. Just tired. Chrystal… Where was Chrystal?

For all that he was worried, he could only hope that his trusted companion was nearby, keeping watch over him. He hadn't realized just how much he'd come to rely on the barn owl.


Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think