Down in the confines of the dungeon lit by a shrine of half burned candles, Rain was hard at work. Beside him a menagerie of weasles and rats screamed in terror as he watched his companion’s progress attempting to loop a viper’s fang around a hollow piece of park. It looked sloppily made and the sap used to connect the hooked fang to the bark dripped and soaked into the small hollow fang and clogged the small slitted opening and the end of the hooked point. “Damn it all.” Rain cursed, tossing the agglomeration of bark and resin aside while his tail twitched thoughtfully. He had wanted to find a way to inject his poisons directly into the bloodstream of his victims but what Fauld called a “syringe” had turned into a sticky mess that was all but unusable. “See if there’s any porcupines in the food stores.” He told the monkey who nodded his head and paced his way down the corridor to the stairs. Rain had been feeling restless since he brought the lion to the castle, convinced that at any moment she would catch onto his ruse and realize she was being kept – to some degree- against her will. Not that she seemed to mind terribly; the charcoal and purge he had given her seemed to have worked well to ease her of the symptoms he had inflicted on her by telling her to consume foxglove. Now she was healthy once again but seemed to be in no hurry to leave them, something Rain was eternally grateful for. He wondered where the large cat was now, she had been the closest thing to a colleague within the empire aside from Malleus who was something of a healer himself. He wondered if he should seek her out or if she would return to the dungeons of her own accord when curiosity killed the cat so to speak. Word Count: 319 Rain Cannival

Cannival was damn-near skipping as she made her way to Rain's dungeons. She was feeling better then she had in weeks, and so far no wolves had snapped at or run from her. This place was amazing, and Rain was a true friend to let her stay here. The lioness did miss Abaven terribly - especially she missed Motif - but she wasn't going to remain in Risen forever, she was only making sure she paid back the healer and Malleus for helping her and lending her herbs when she was sick. It was only fair that she lend them a paw in whatever they may need, maybe Abaven would appreciate her making new allies this far south in the world.   "Rain!" She called down to the cellar, stepping carefully down the winding staircase. The temperature dropped considerably as she made her way downwards, and her eyes squinted against the sudden low-light. Making her way to the bottom, she was pleased to find the male. He had a variety of materials scattered around, and she took a moment to glance about and admire his workshop. "What are you up to?" She asked happily, trotting up to him to look over his shoulder at the scattered mess before him. "Can I help you with anything?" The healer was very skilled, but there was always the chance that he could use some assistance. She noticed that the companion Rain kept around was absent, and could only assume that he was collecting things for the healer's craft. Whatever he was making, Cannival had no idea. She peered down at the fangs, bark, and dripping mess they were mashed into. "I hope that works better then it looks." Word Count: 605 Rain Cannival

Rain gave a last look at his creation as the lioness brought it to his attention and sighed. “Sadly I don’t think it will work at all.”He muttered despondently. There were so many creations he wished to test with no way of trying them on the small test subjects he had accumulated and with the ban on testing on the primates that frequented the castle it didn’t seem likely that would change. He glanced at the lioness, the gears in his mind turning slowly as he regarded her and his ear flicking slightly as a new thought came to him. “If I could find a suitable test subject I would be making more progress than I am.” He grumbled,, standing and beginning to pace nervously. “But all I have are weasels and rats at my disposal.” He casted a brief look at the lioness, wondering for a moment if she would connect the dots herself or would need further guidance. Fauldr returned, holding an array of porcupine needles and watching the lioness carefully with his beady black eyes. He didn’t like the large cat but had told no one but Rain of his displeasure. Largely because the golden baboon never spoke to anyone but him to begin with. Rain paced over to a small pile of glass shards obtained from one of the windows and carefully turned over a particularly long and jagged shard with his paw, snuffing as he thought of how he could use it to aid him, then glancing at the lioness again. “The Empire has made great use of various weapons.” He told the cat, “And wounds have become all the greater because of it. I can treat minor ills like headaches and sprains with herbs, but there are no herbs to heal a slash wound, or a broken bone.” He said into the darkness, his features barely illuminated by the dim light. "That reminds me, how is your leg?" Word Count: 318 Rain Cannival

“If I could find a suitable test subject I would be making more progress than I am.” Rain told her, and Cannival could hear the frustration in his voice. Her ears flattened slightly against her skull as she watched him pace. She could understand his annoyance. Weasels and rats were so much smaller then wolves, it must be difficult to translate procedures learned on such a tiny mammal to something much larger. One large paw lifted to draw circles in the dusty ground below. She did owe Rain her life, and there was always the possibility that she might learn something that she could take back to Abaven. Hell, together they might be able to change the world of medicine. That was worth a little budge of ethics, was it not? "If.. if it helps, I could be your subject." Her head dipped downwards, and she peered up at him shyly.  "I owe you that much, at least." She swallowed hard, hindquarters slowly lowering until she was sitting quietly on the floor. It wasn't easy to see in the low-light, but she felt the need to look around Rain's workshop once more. Each time her gaze landed upon a new item or material, she considered how it would be used on her. The wolf fiddled with a shard of glass, and Cannival's stomach turned. She almost missed Rain's next question entirely, and when it occurred to her that he was waiting for an answer Cannival snapped her gaze away from the sharp glass.  "Uh, my leg is okay... it only really hurts when I move it in certain ways, I'm getting used to maneuvering around differently." Her tail drummed nervously against the floor. Whatever he had to do, Cannival knew she was in no position to argue it. Her friend had already done so much for her. He healed her burns outside Abaven, offered her shelter in Risen and defended her presence against the large wolf Malleus. After all, this was all in the name of science, right? Total Word Count: 1267.... but, we're gonna have to go over the prompt's minimum anyways because we haven't touched upon the experiments yet lol. Rain Cannival

Permission to powerplay given by RK “You would do that?” He asked, momentarily stunned by the woman’s selflessness. Rain had never known true kindness, not in a way that was lasting or didn’t eventually shift against him. His father had been kind. Once. But as the demons of Ruina infected him he became more and more disinterested in his small son and was quick to replace him with a more suitable heir. The fact that this woman, who wasn’t even from his same species was willing to sacrifice herself for his sake galled him and it took him a moment to decide that he would gladly carry out his experiments on her. “Let’s not waste any time then.” He muttered and directed his companion to wrap a shard of glass in leather, making a keen scalpel. He approached the lionesses’ hip slowly, holding the blade steadily in his jaws as he muttered “Hold still” Through clenched teeth and drew the blade down, creating a deep gash on her leg that quickly pooled over with blood. “lie down.” He commanded while Fauldr tied a thong of leather around her hip to staunch the flow of blood. The cut however had been made too high on her hip and the primate was unable to tie the thong effectively around her leg. When that failed the primate took a handful of cotton balls and pressed them tightly against the wound, panic beginning to show in his walled eyes. “J-just relax.” Rain directed, hoping to slow his own racing heart with the meek assurance. Rain Cannival

Cannival looked a little more hopeful as Rain's surprise reached her. The wolf had seemed not to expect her to volunteer, and the lioness was sad for him that he'd never had a companion to properly experiment science with. She was determined to help him become the best healer he could be, and hopefully she'd learn something along the way to take back to Abaven. She couldn't help but tense as he approached her with the knife, and though every muscle within her wanted to run she forced herself to remain still as he'd asked. Her gaze did not budge from the scientist, not even when the burning hot sensation came over her hip. He told her to lie down, his voice firm and commanding. Cannival obeyed instantly, near-throwing herself onto the floor with trust. Her body shook slightly as she struggled to absorb the pain, and it didn't help to see the sheer panic in the scientist's eyes. "Ow, uhm..." She managed. "W-what are you trying to do? It will... it will help if you talk, you know?" The monkey was working hard on her wound, and giving up on his leather tool he swapped to balls of cotton to press into the wound. It stung heavily and Cannival suddenly wanted to bite him, though she had no intention to entertain the idea. Rain Cannival

With the pressure of the monkey’s hands the bloodflow slowed and Rain breathed a sigh of relief before opening a bottle of lavender oil and spilling it on the wound to disinfect it. “Nothing’s wrong just…An unexpected result. My tourniquet didn’t work because the cut was too high on your leg, the bleeding is stopped for now but we need to seal the wound.” He explained then gave a nod to Fauldr. From Rain’s bag of equipment the baboon produced a hooked needle and a fine thread while Rain found a piece of wood. “Bite down on this, it will help.” He explained, his nerves still rattled while the baboon poised over the wound to begin stitching the seeping flesh together. "Talk"  "Thought"   "You"

Cannival hissed as the concoction was poured onto her wound, it stung horribly. "Seal it with what?" The lioness looked more than a little worried as he held out a piece of wood for her to bite onto. "Seal it with what?" She repeated a little too quickly, eyes wide upon the monkey and his tool. What the hell were they planning to do with that? It was a pokey implement that she'd never seen before, and she glared at it. The lioness' throat rumbled with uncertainty, and she lashed out with her jaws to swipe the bark from Rain before she could change her mind. Her eyes shut hard, and she tried to mumble around the wood. "Mmkr mm reedy." Rain Cannival