Not one thing, not one single thing was ever allowed to be simple. Not for him. Crux could hope all he wanted but as he'd been considering keeping themselves warm he'd heard Cryptis... Or rather didn't hear her... There was a distinctive way breath sounded when it was meant to lift up words but hadn't and Crux blinked at the smaller wolf, his brain struggling to process. Not what he wasn't hearing but because he had no god damn clue how to deal with it. If he could have known what was on her mind he'd have agreed that clean water would be a good course of action, in fact it was the first solution he'd thought of... The problem of course being the only water around was the flood waters carrying dirt and branches and who knew what other debris it had picked up and he was almost certain that would not help, if they were lucky enough for it to not make things worse of course. So what else was there? The supplies he'd been able to grab before the waters had risen too high were beyond his reach and while Riya had managed the swim twice now she wasn't looking like she was up for much more, especially as the cold had started to seep in to her still damp fur. Which he also had to deal with. He started nodding to himself, trying to just convince himself he could still handle this.
"The water probably exacerbated..." He lifted a paw to his own throat. "Once the water has calmed we'll make sure you get a good drink to sooth any swelling." But Cryptis' silent observation was correct and there was only so much they could do until someone came for them so that would have to be enough for now, there was something more pressing: The threat of hypothermia. "I'd rather not risk making it any worse by asking you to ingest any more, so do you mind if I..." He trailed off, feeling his face flushing. Which was absolutely not the response he ought to be feeling. He gestured with his muzzle towards Riya who was busy licking her chest dry. How cats managed to bend their necks like that he'd never know. She was much smaller than him, the risk of a chill taking her sooner was much higher. Once she was dry he could focus on himself. So why was he feeling so... Hesitant? He ought to have been focused on what needed to happen but he was suddenly so aware of her and didn't want to do anything that'd make her uncomfortable. Maybe it wasn't even a good idea, sure he wasn't a cat so he wasn't expecting it to work quite as well but it had to be better to get the cold dirty water out of their coats rather than letting it sink in... Right?
"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.
