Crux came to after what he could not know had only been a matter of seconds. It was a good thing Stratum had been there though because the very first thing his conscious mind did was gasp for air, which inevitably led to a round of coughing because luckily for Crux there was air to gasp for. His mind frantically piecing together the sudden explosion of senses. The first thing he was aware of was the pain in his limbs, the second was that those limbs were empty. Where was Cryptis? He could hear his brother talking to Riya, saying he had to go. No! Crux tried to say something to stop his brother from leaving, to ask if he knew where Triss was, to plead with him not to go and risk Crux losing anyone else but all that came out were a bunch of gurgled coughs and Crux instinctively rolled over, water fighting it's way out of his system one painful cough at a time. Still he fought to get up proper, to try and make himself stand up, start looking for Cryptis. "Triss" was all he managed to rasp, he had wanted it to be a shout to be loud enough that if she could somehow hear him she would... But Riya heared him.
"Crux!" Her tone was sharp. "Calm down. I am tending to Cryptis. Take a moment you're no help to either of us like this!" By the sound of her voice she was very much looking forward to him being well enough for her to whack him across the head. He forced himself to calm down. Only until his breathing settled though. The be was forcing himself to his paws which had grown stiff from the cold.
Before this moment he would have thought it impossible for Cryptis to look any smaller but laying on the cold stone her pelt soaked through she somehow looked even tinier. Worse though he was glad to see Riya had shifted her into her side to avoid her drowning on any liquid that might come out of her it seemed that liquid was blood. "Not breathing, unresponsive." Riya told him Dutifully. "She's been given a few rescue breathes already." That was a much as Riya cold do, her claws much too dangerous to risk the next steps. Crux swallowed hard, nodded and they gently moved the girl onto her back. Crux leaned down, ear to her nose listening for even the weakest breath. He trusted Riya but since he was about to try and resucitate the girl he had to check for himself. And expectedly there was nothing. He carefully maneuvered her head back, opening her mouth and grimacing as he spotted the deep red her fangs and tongue had been dyed with blood no doubt her own body's doing. He positioned himself so that he could easily place a single paw on her chest, gods she was so small, and easily move back to her head as needed. And then it started, he'd blow a breathes into her mouth trying to force air back into her lungs, then move to doing compressions on her chest struggling to find the right force when she felt so breakable under him. He'd do this until she started breathing under how own power and not a moment sooner. In the logical part of his mind he knew there was always a limit, a point where someone had to say there was nothing more they could do... But Crux knew in his heart that he'd be unable to make that call if worst came to worse... Someone else would have to drag him off of her, he'd keep trying until the world ended.
"Triss" & "Crux"
Updated 04/30/23: Still on indefinite scarcity, please do not remind me of threads I am behind on right now.
Crux has a 6 inch long burn scar on his throat, most of his art does not reflect this.
