Saying that Kite felt sick was an understatement. A massive understatement. He'd eaten that snow mashed with various garbage that he'd picked up on the way and, by the time he made it back to warmer climes, he had vomited several times. His stomach was still rolling and he heaved drily. There was nothing left in there. If he could turn green, he definitely would have.

The tiny man's head was spinning and his vision had begun to blur long ago. Once, on his way south, he'd fallen in a stream and couldn't tell which way was up. Luckily the water was only up to his knees, so he rolled and found up before he drowned. Now, soaking wet, blurry eyed and stumbling, he shambled aimlessly. The diminutive lad couldn't even smell the border. There was nothing in his nose but the taste and smell of vomit and the herbs that he'd ingested.

Gods... was he going to die? A loud groan pulled from the tailless wolf as he continued shakily on. As he walked, one paw caught on a root and he upended, falling flat on his face. Rolling onto his back, the cream and russet man began to cry. Curling up into a tiny ball, he buried his face under crossed forelegs. He was going to die. That was it. Ah, but he was so young!

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Octave was very aware of how he needed to try and refill his stash of herbs, winter seemed to finally be normalizing the weather and with the raid over the pack didn't exactly have a lot of herbs left. He left the den that day to try and add to his stash. He'd been mildly successful when going through the pack lands and he was heading out to the neighboring lands having just dropped off his meager pickings. He was approaching the border when a familiar scent reached him, familiar but wrong, Kite's scent was tinged with the acrid undertone of vomit. More than that he could tell that whatever had happened Kite was now inside Abaven's lands. Fear and panic surged through the white man and he picked up his pace. Charging through the plains as he raced to find the small man. He spotted him below a tree and could instantly tell something was wrong, he was curled up on himself and his tiny body convulsing, from breathing or something else Octave couldn't tell. Octave ran through a list of basic herbs he might need, it would be impossible to know until he could properly observe the man. "Noko go back to my den, grab the elderberry root, Meadowsweet, and Lavender." Something to help purge the man's body in the event of a Toxin, a pain killer and a sedative, in case. Noko gave a quick: "Got it!" Leaping from the wolf's back and sprint back to their den. Octave for his part slowed only once he was basically standing over Kite. Instantly he dropped to the ground, sniffing around Kite, hoping he wouldn't find the iron tang of blood under the stomach-churning scent of sickness. He lifted his head a bit, straining to meet Kite's gaze, willing him to understand the look in his eyes. He'd need to know what had happened to him, but despite the fear mounting in his throat he couldn't bring himself to talk, not yet. The silver lining was it seemed the convulsions was simply Kite's sobbing. "Octave" "Noko" & Hidden thoughts

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The approach of another was lost on the sickly wolf. It was only when Octave blocked out the warming light that Kite stopped his sobbing and sniffled. Removing his head from his crossed forelegs, he looked up and his jaw dropped. The combination of the light being behind Octave and the blurriness of his vision made the man look like some sort of angelic being. Of course a being so noble and fine wouldn't have a voice that earthly wolves could hear. "Ohh..." Kite groaned. He was dying after all. This was it. This beautiful creature was going to take him to the afterlife. "At least I get to die looking at a creature so handsome."

Pain lanced through Kite's stomach again and he doubled up, turning away to heave once more, though only a bit of smelly, green and brown bile came up. There were a few chunks of the herbs sticking in the muck. "That's the last time... I try to make...flavored snow." He spoke between breaths. His eyes hurt. His stomach hurt. His muscles hurt. Couldn't the angel just take him away already. Fighting his way shakily to his little paws, Kite threw himself at the alabaster angel, wrapping his tiny legs around one large, fluffy foreleg. "I'm ready to go. Take me to the afterlife." He'd always had a flare for the dramatic. He meant it though. If dying would take this disgusting pain away, he wanted to go.

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((Permission to pick up/drag Kite given by Resin))

Octave was not prepared for the words that came out of Kite's mouth and Octave was frozen stock still for a moment, shock and embarrassment rolling over him, but under that, was a soft fluttering in his chest. What was it about the small puff tailed man that made him feel so... wibbly? He didn't exactly have time to consider that question when Kite leaned away and heaved. Octave wrinkled his nose up against the fresh smell of bile, then slowly lowered his head to sniff at the puddle, hoping he might be able to identify if there was something the man had eaten that had caused this. He couldn't make out any one thing although whatever it was it was pungent even under the overpowering smell of acid. Kite threw himself on Octave and the man blinked down at him for a moment. Octave honestly could not tell if Kite was delirious or teasing but he also knew they couldn't stay out here. Kite was still alarmingly skinny and Octave would be able to help him better if he had all his supplies on hand so he slowly lowered his head to grab at the scruff of the smaller man. Then he'd carefully and almost painfully slowly move the man further into the parklands, towards his den. About halfway there he spotted Noko bounding back towards him, her front paws grasping the plants he'd asked for. She took one look at what was happening and began waddling back with him, her movement awkward on her hind paws even if more balanced than he could have managed. It felt like an age before they got back to the den and Octave immediately headed inside and tried to settled Kite on the pile of furs he'd built into his preferred sleeping spot. Noko dropped the herbs then headed back out of the den, followed very shortly by Octave who let lose a quick call for Theory before heading back in and settling himself so that he was encompassing Kite as much as he could. It wouldn't do him any good to freeze to death before Octave could treat him. "Octave" "Noko" & Hidden thoughts

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One moment he was begging for death and the next moment the ground was moving. It made Kite feel rather nauseous, so he squeezed his eyes shut tight. Squeezing his eyes shut made little stars dance behind his eyelids and the little man couldn't help but giggle. He felt so floaty. The bumps in the ground didn't bother him as he was tugged and pulled around because he was a feather. Feathers didn't bruise. They were light as air. He was definitely a feather right now. Did the angel know that he was a feather? It must know. It moved him so easily. Kite got so lost in his inner musings that he didn't even see Noko. He did see some weird tree skipping along beside him, little puffs of green leaves in its branch-like arms. That was a strange thing, but if an angel was dragging him away, how could he not believe that trees had legs? Kite also didn't realize where he was headed until the den blocked out the light.

Blinking, Kite groaned a bit, but ended up making little happy sounds when Octave curled up around him. Was this death? Was the angel going to smother him here? Murmuring and rolling, Kite ended up on his back, little paws drawn up to his chest. He looked up with big aqua eyes that still blurred and swam with spots. Hey, the angel looked a little like... "You look like a nice boy that I met once." Reaching up with both paws, he patted the pale wolf's cheeks twice, very lightly. "Very handsome." Then his herb addled mind took over. "Haaaaaaandsome. Haaaaaaaaaand..." And he proceeded to wiggle his paws in front of his eyes.

A loud growl startled Kite and he dropped his paws, eyes going wide momentarily. It happened again and at first he thought that it was the angel, but then he realized that it was his own stomach. "My stomach hurts," he admitted with a frown. "I shouldn't have eaten those herbs." Again, the little wolf curled into a ball, wrapping his arms across his sore stomach.

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Octave so rarely called out for her that she found herself deeply worried by the time she arrived on the scene. It had to be serious if the silent healer felt it needed her attention. She was just a little out of breath by the time she got there. Theory's eyes roved over the scene outside of his den. Noko was there as usual, but there was an air of nervousness that suffused the clearing. "Octave... could you or Noko explain what's going on?" she called softly. Beneath the tapestry of familiar scents she could pick out the smell of an interloper. There was also some fragrant herbal smells that she couldn't place. Was he treating a stranger? Abaven was known for granting shelter and clemency so it wouldn't be unusual, but it had to be urgent for him to bring the stranger all the way into the pack lands, especially for the shy healer. "theory speaks!"

Noko spotted the young alpha as she approached, bouncing closer her bushy tail raised high so she'd be visible among the tall grasses. Theory asked for an explanation and Noko nodded, raising her voice to make sure she was heard. "Octave's in the den, seeing to a young man by the name of Kite. We met him some time ago when we were out gathering herbs. He was friendly enough when we first met him, a bit underfed but otherwise didn't seem much of a threat." The lemur mentioned it only to try and assuage the girl's worry. They wouldn't have brought him into the packlands if they feared he'd be a threat. "We found him a few minutes ago, he was collapsed inside Abaven, he didn't seem to be lucid and was clearly trying to clear something from his system. It's possible he's been poisoned in some way but we don't know yet. He's awake but definitely not aware. I know Octave wants to treat him but neither of us wanted to do it without being transparent with you." The lemur looked up at the wolf, there was a sort of softness to her gaze. She knew Octave had developed a bit of a crush on the small man, even having only met him once before now and she both trusted the young alpha to allow them to offer their aid but feared they could be denied. Octave could hear his alpha approaching, even calling out for him but he had his attention on Kite. He trusted Noko to explain the scenario to Theory. Instead, he watched as Kite wiggled onto his back and Octave gently tried to push Kite's head to the side with his paw, mostly wanting to make sure if the man started throwing up again he wouldn't drown himself. That was pretty hard to do when Kite started putting his own paws in Octave's face. He felt his face flush as Kite began to mumble about the first time they'd met, he blinked rapidly but it seemed the moment would pass quickly, Kite moving his paws to wiggle them in the air, even as he drew out the word handsome. Kite wasn't exactly making it easy for Octave to focus. There was a low rumble and while Kite was confused about where it came from Octave instantly honed in on the other man's stomach. Kite curled tight and moaned. Octave's eyes widened and alarm flared in him. What had Kite eaten? Octave cast a desperate glance up at the mouth of the den, willing Noko to arrives so they could start questioning the man... But he also knew if Kite had eaten something really bad he had to purge it from the man's system and quick. Octave swallowed the lump rising in his throat. He leaned down and summoned his voice. It was a soft low rumble, just barely audible as he whispered in Kite's ear. "Kite, what herbs did you eat?" "Octave" "Noko" & Hidden thoughts

Keeping his eyes closed was worse than having them open. A rainbow of colors rolled through the dark on the inside of his eyelids. He had no control. It made him panic a bit and Kite moved to put his paws over his head instead of his stomach, pulling himself into as tight of a ball as he could manage. The tighter he curled, the more the colors altered. Sometimes he thought he could see shapes in there as well. Great beasts swimming within the sea of color. A giant fin broke through the waves and Kite made a little eeping sound of alarm and opened his eyes again. "There are sharks in my brain!"

The big, pale angel drew close and Kite's eyes were filled with unshed tears as he watched the motion. A whisper in his ear drew a soft gasp of awe from the lad. Who knew angels had such beautiful voices? The angel asked him what he'd eaten and Kite tried to remember. "Snow. Snow mixed with mushrooms and flowers." He knew nothing about healing and so he had no idea what the flowers were. The mushrooms, however, he could picture those. "Tall stems, brown and white caps. Lots of them growing together." He fought to remember what the flowers looked like. "Purple flowers in a bell shape. They smelled nice." In the future he might know that he had ingested magic mushrooms, hence the hallucinations. The purple bell flower was something that others might use to craft poison, but he had no idea of knowing. It had simply smelled nice. After this, Kite would be very loathe to try any sort of herbal concoctions.

"If you aren't here to take me away, can you help me?" Kite begged the pale angel. A halo of color began undulating around the man's body. The color sparked, erupting outward like little splashes. It wasn't as vibrant as it had been inside his eyes, but it was still quite colorful. His stomach seized again, but there was nothing left to get rid of. Just a dry heave. Kite came away panting. Why did he feel so hot?

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