JOHNNY BROUGHT A ROCKET TO A KNIFE FIGHT, HE GOT SICK OF PEOPLE THINKING HE'S A GOOD GUY As tempting as a brawl had been, the titan knew he did not share his fellows' contempt for the marauders. Best to leave those with that burning, incomprehensible fury to draw blood. Deion merely saw a raid as entertainment, nowadays. He remembered his past, where he'd done just the same once every few weeks. Instead, he made use of his newly enstated role as a physician for the pack. Lumbered down the stairs and joined the healers in the infirmary. Granted, somewhat late, as he couldn't help sneaking a peek or two out the windows that he passed. By the time he was plodding through the doorway and into the infirmary, most of their warriors had returned and awaited care. He nearly bumped into the sapphire brute who had taken up the mantle of Aegis from Ulric, and the coppery tang of blood hung heavy enough to drown out the man's scent. Fuchsia gaze drifted over the contours of the young man's muscular form, until he found the most likely culprit. Ah, stab wounds. Those were always a treat. Around a mouthful of bandages and poultices that had been stashed about his quarters, the tusked behemoth jerked his head towards the nearest empty bed. "Come along now, young Aegis. Blood loss will kill you just as quick as any opponent might." he grunted, and trudged his way over to the bed he'd pointed out. He was quick.. when he wanted to be. Setting his packages on the cool stone floor, he rifled through them until he found what he needed. Bandages were going to be the most important, with one of his small pots of clove and periwinkle salve, alongside an incredibly small pot of powdered yarrow flower. What he would really need here was something to suture the wound back up to lessen the bleeding. With a small frown twisting his maw, the cosmic giant began to furtively search about for someone who might have what he needed. Dimly, he was aware of a petite dove grey fae asking for assistance, but he knew he needed to focus on the Aegis at the moment. He could see a tiny, skinny dame who seemed calm as a still pond amidst the chaos. She knew what she was doing. "One moment, Aegis. Try to get comfortable, I'll only be a second or two." he said curtly, ensuring he made eye contact with the larger man. If Artorias got off that bed, he would be sorry he did within mere moments. And off he went, searching for sutures and thread. They kept alpacas, so no doubt their shaggy fur could be worked into thread for binding wounds. He was certain someone else was aware of this. As he passed the immaculately organized table of supplies, he glanced at the small fae. She was leading this.. somehow. He took what he needed, and no more than that. Other warriors were in rough shape, and would probably need just as much. By the time he returned to the Aegis, he had a plan in mind. Deion set down his bowl of water and rag, alongside the delicate bone needles being used as sutures. "This will not be pleasant, but you'll live." he informed the young leader, waiting a moment to see if he had any immediate concerns, or felt inclined to argue. As Caia's son, he was more than equipped to bully a patient into sitting still and receiving treatment, it was merely a matter of whether he would need to do so today. ""

Even with all his hard conflicted feelings about his sister and her relationship he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as wolves started to trickle in and even flashed Lillith a smile in return, she'd live! But butterflies fluttered in his stomach as he waited, and waited finally feeling himself breathe when his father limped in to join the rest of the fighters. Jane rushed forwards and Emile stood, adjusted his bag and joined her, gently bumping her to calm her. Everyone was busy, but as he did a glance over his father it seemed that he wasn't in dire need of more specialized healing, they could handle him until someone else could come and help him. "Iiiiiiii'll help you J-jane." He told her softly, pushing gently into her side so to stabilize her and try to keep her from getting too worked up. He gently dropped his bag on the floor and showed his sister how to part the fur on their father's closest limb to check for wounds. "Fir...st we nnnneed to check... f...or wounds." He left her to do that while he gently went about poking and prodding the most visible wounds, looking for infection or broken bones, he kept an eye on his father. "Llllllet us k-k-know if anything h...urts too mmmuch." If they were lucky he would just need his wounds dressed and cleaned but if they had to set a bone? Well then Emile would also need someone to come and help them. "Speech"

Art by Kolokolchek

-ROUND 2-

The warriors of the raid began filing in after their victory. Some were a little worse for wear, but most just had scrapes and bruises. There was one in particular that would definitely need her help and as Artorias brought up the rear, she made a mental note to inspect his wound as well. Healers paired off with warriors and all were welcome to take from the bundles that had been prepared.

While Iolaire was finishing up one bundle, she heard the panicked squealing of someone behind her. Instantly the small, wiry woman jerked her head to the side, green and gold eyes narrowing and scanning for the culprit. A grey speckled fae was flailing and freaking out and Iolaire... was enraged. Taking up one of the packs of supplies in her dexterous paws, Io chucked it across the space at the girl before she began stalking towards her, not caring who else was with her. If it landed or not, she didn't know or care.

Coming up beside the woman, Iolaire growled low. "It's a healer's job to keep calm. The injured are upset and anxious enough. If you can't do that, get the hell out. This isn't a place for children." The older fae's piercing gaze flicked to the young man beside her. At least he seemed calm. "Clean the wounds first," she instructed the young man. From a cursory glance, they didn't look all that bad. Just a few bites here and there. They needed to be cleaned, salved, the ones on his forelegs needed to be wrapped. After a brief explanation and a promise to return to inspect their progress, Iolaire flashed another hard stare at the young fae and moved away.

Next she went to Artorias, inspecting the work that the colorful brute was doing on the wound in his foreleg. Io's eyes narrowed and she gave a nod and a few pointers before walking away to the next group. On and on she went, touching on each group of healers and warriors, inspecting the work done and making corrections as needed.

"Speech"

The win was theirs, as she expected. A prisoner had been taken. All was well. Other than Ulric being injured, anyway. Eska helped her mate get to the infirmary before rushing upstairs to drop off both her armor and his own so that he wouldn't have to do it himself. After washing the blood of her enemy from her maw, Eska made her way back down to the infirmary.

Pushing inside the infirmary, the brindled woman caught the tail end of the chastisement that Jane was receiving. It wasn't unwarranted. Eska could hear the girl panicking from down the hall. As the small, brusque woman stalked off and Eska shot Ulric amused, wide eyes before pushing her muzzle lightly against his cheek. She would stay with him while Emile tended to his wounds. After that, they could retire upstairs together for some much needed rest.

"Eska"

Artorias hadn't been standing idly watching his wolves for long before a brusque bump to his shoulder caught his attention, head snapping round to see the chromatic Deion pushing his way past him into the infirmary. He'd just been about to disregard the wolf when Deion stopped abruptly in his tracks and turned to eye him up and down, then motioned for him to follow with a tsundere yet insistent command. Artorias hadn't seen his injuries as grievous as they were, but followed the healer all the same, limping to keep weight off of his injured leg while he was ushered away to a bed in a more quiet corner of the infirmary. Artorias hoisted himself up onto the bed, trying to keep his leg off of it so as not to stain the sheets with his blood, and watched while the cosmic wolf began producing numerous medical tinctures and tools. His doctor scowled and looked around, then excused himself for a moment and bid he get comfortable. Not like Artorias was going anywhere fast in his state.

Doing as his physician bid him, Artorias remained on the bed, watching the rest of the Hallows wolves at work. He frowned to think of his pack mates as injured, but many had gotten by easy. Just some scrapes, minor cuts, and bites to slap salve on and call it a night. They'd thrashed the pirates and he was so, so proud of them all. Deion returned then, and while some would consider his gruff and curt bedside manner a turnoff, Artorias found it quite refreshing. His sister was the most talented healer he knew, but sometimes she got too in her head and worried. Deion gave it to him straight, preparing him for the worst in the best way possible. Artorias eyes the needle and sutures as well as the salves and washcloth Deion had gathered. Yeah, he could tell this wasn't going to be pleasant...

"Didn't expect it to be," he remarked. "Wish I had a drop of whiskey to help take the edge off... You do what you have to." Artorias went to present his bleeding leg to Deion—then paused as he reached over and grabbed another cloth from the side table. The azure-furred brute stuffed the cloth in his mouth and bit down, not wanting to disturb the rest of the pack or draw concerned attention their way in case what Deion did caused some uncontrolled reactions from him. Now sufficiently gagged, Artorias presented his leg to the healer once more, the clean impalement wound present just above his wrist. This was going to suck, but it sure as hell beat dying...

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Argent"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

To the Aegis' credit, he was smart enough to sit still on the cot and wait until it was time for the more helpful variety of stabbing to happen. When warned of the unpleasantness, the young brute simply resigned himself to it with a semi-sarcastic comment and a heavy sigh. Artorias mentioned a desire for whiskey to take the edge off, and the cosmic titan chuckled softly. Practiced movements of well trained paws drew the poultice closer, dunked the cloth in the clean water and set to work wiping away the worst of the congealed blood along the wound. He would need the edges clean and visible in order to stitch them shut, as well as to get his painkillers to absorb into the skin quickly. "If you sit still and don't faint on me, I'll make sure to send you off to bed with something better than whiskey." he assured the young male with a grin, garnet eyes flicking briefly up to the sapphire features of his Aegis in between slow swipes of the rag over his battered, swollen flesh. He was fairly certain there was still some of his last cannabis harvest somewhere in his room. Taking that with some whiskey would make quick work of any pain the wounded Aegis might be feeling later. He had finished applying the periwinkle and clove salve when Artorias reached over to grab a cloth with which to stifle any noises that might slip out during the stitching. "We'll give that a moment to soak into the skin, and the stitching won't feel so bad." he said, and wiped the residue from his paw pads on the bloody rag he'd been using. Don't need the toes going numb before getting into the delicate work of stitching a wound, thank you kindly. When his attention moved to the bone needles, already threaded with their suturing fibres, he quickly and quietly set them up near the Aegis' outstretched forelimb. It had been a while since he'd needed to do any suturing, but most of this was muscle memory by now. Suddenly, that scrawny little dame was at his side, inspecting the work he had already done. She remarked on his techniques, and mentioned a few that he would find useful for the next steps. He grunted wordlessly in agreement, and nodded his head in understanding. "The clove oil should have settled into the skin by now. Do your best to sit still, it shouldn't take me long to close the wound." the celestial giant told his patient, making brief eye contact with the young male to ensure his point had registered. With blood loss, it was always a good idea to be clear and concise. With that done, he took up his sutures and set them to skin. One broad forepaw settled itself higher up on the affected limb, holding it steady and able to rotate it incrementally where necessary. Puncture the skin about a knuckle's width from the edge of the wound, pull the needle through, and do the same to the other side. Pull both ends of the thread together, tie them off. Cut the thread above the knot, rinse and repeat. The wound wasn't especially large, so it only took him four or five stitches to close. Once he was done, he set the dirty needles aside on the used rags, and grabbed a fresh cloth to dunk into the water bowl. A few passes of the wet fabric over the fresh stitches to clean it up one last time. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" he joked lightly as he dipped one of his digits into the powdered yarrow flower and applied it to the wound. "This will help with the worst of the bleeding, but you'll need to see someone to get the stitches removed in a week or two." he explained, vocals no more than a low rumble as he worked. There was something cathartic to the repetitive motions of cleaning and treating a wound, it centred him in a way. "No training until the stitches are out, or they'll tear out a chunk of your leg." the words came as a quiet warning, matched with another stern upward glance. Without another dirty rag to wipe the herbs from his paws, he settled for swiping the clumped powder against the dense fur of his chest. ""

If there was one thing Artorias could do well, it was follow instructions and know when he needed to put faith in an expert. He knew nothing of healing and medicine, and Deion was his carer for the time. He put his trust in the galactic-furred brute while he prepared his poultices and tinctures, promising the young alpha something better than whiskey if he cooperated. Artorias raised a curious brow, the promise of a nice reward indeed quite tantalizing to him. A fragrant salve was applied to his injured leg, then Deion let it sit to absorb. As the seconds ticked by, Artorias felt his foreleg growing more and more numb around the application site, a tingling nothingness settling over where pain had been moments before. He could still feel the pressure when Deion moved or manipulated his leg, but there was no pain otherwise. He appreciated how Deion informed him of everything he was doing, taking the young wolf along with him so he knew what to expect and what was coming.

Then the actual stitching began. Artorias met Deion's surly gaze and nodded in understanding, taking a deep breath in through his nose to settle himself. To his surprise, the floral and spicy smelling salve on his leg had indeed numbed him to almost all sensation. All Artorias felt was the pinch of the needle going through flesh and muscle, then a gentle tug as the sutures began to bind his wound closed. It still drew small grunts of discomfort from the Aegis, but it was far more manageable than he'd been expecting. He was still thankful for the cloth gagging him though so he didn't end up growling out of reflex or drawing undue attention to themselves. The alpha being wounded the worst in combat wasn't exactly something he wanted to advertise to his pack.

The process didn't take long, and before he knew it, Artorias had been fully stitched up. Deion applied some yarrow powder as an astringent to help close the wound, Artorias spat out the rag, then offered a short chuckle in response. "No, not that bad." His attending physician gave him strict orders to belay any training lest he rip out pieces of his leg and that the stitched would need to be removed in a week or two. He gave a nod of understanding and turned his foreleg around, inspecting the fine work the healer had accomplished. "I'll be sure to avoid crippling myself for life. Thank you, Deion." Testing if he could put weight on his leg, Artorias climbed down from the bed—and almost fell face first as the numbness hadn't quite worn off yet. He caught himself before he could eat the stone floor, however, and hobbled over to snag a sling off of a nearby table to hold his leg up until he could regain the use of it. "So, did I earn your special brand of painkillers?" he asked Deion with a roguish grin. Heaven knew he could use a pick me up celebratory libation after tonight.

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Argent"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Iolaire made her way around the room, inspecting the various healers as they were at their work. She was particularly interested in the brute suturing the wound in Artorias' foreleg and made a point to inspect the work once it was finished. Green and gold eyes narrowed as she mentally picked the stitches apart. He hadn't done a bad job. She could have done better, but she also had an unfair advantage with her fancy little paws.

"Well done," the crotchety little wolf commended with a nod. Her gaze then shifted between Artorias and the colorful brute whos name she didn't know. "This is going to hurt worse tomorrow," she warned. "Keep it cool and dry. If it starts to itch or hurts unbearably, find me." Iolaire then looked to the colorful man again. "Lots of willow bark, fever few..." she named a few other things then leaned in close to the man. "Give him some of these if the pain gets too bad. He might not know where he is for a little while, but he won't feel a thing." Iolaire passed the man some little packets of herbs wrapped in soft green leaves. "Only two a day, though I doubt he'll really need them." With a wink to the man and a grin to Artorias, Iolaire continued around the room.



"Speech"

At least the young Aegis managed to hold on to his sense of humour in the moment, which was an admirable trait. Artorias assured him that he had no interest in maiming himself for the sake of getting straight back into training, to which a quiet grunt and nod of satisfaction was all the brute offered. The young man was ambitious, but he seemed smart enough to follow doctor's orders at the very least. It was just a little amusing to watch the large male take a tumble from the cot, the partially numbed leg uncooperative when he tried to make use of it. It was in the midst of the Aegis' awkward hobble towards one of the supply tables that the tiny, skinny fae in charge stopped to examine the cosmic healer's handiwork. Amaranth eyes narrowed slightly, instinctively reacting to the scrutiny of a stranger. The expression quickly flattened back into one of aloof observation, tracking the movements of the dainty she wolf and his patient as they both moved about. When the unfamiliar fae approached, she grunted out curt praise of his work before offering a few words of warning to Artorias that echoed those that the titan had only just imposed upon the young brute. It took a great deal of effort to curb the smirk that threatened to spread over his features. Here was the big bad Aegis of the Hallows, being chided by a pair of old healers as though he were merely a child. The monochrome dame leaned closer towards him, and the giant leaned down somewhat to better hear her softly spoken recommendations for further treatments. Mostly to combat swelling, potential infection.. and then she slipped a small, leaf bound package closer to his massive paw. Folding his outer toes over the edge of the bundle, he made a point to lift it up to his nose. Ah, the smell was distinctive enough to not need further inspection. Cannabis buds were perfect for managing pain without leaving the patient comatose- unless they were overprescribed, at least. This time, he met her bemused wink with a lopsided grin and replaced his paw on the ground. As she wandered off to check on the rest of the healers and their progress, the celestial male directed a knowing grin towards the Aegis. "These are exactly what I was going to give you, actually." he commented, thick tail thumping lightly against the stone floor. The sapphire male had already done the work of slipping his injured foreleg into a sling to keep the stitches from being jostled, saving Deion the effort of helping him get into it. "Once you are comfortable in your room, take a few of these. You'll still feel some of the pain, but you're going to find that you don't really care about it. If you don't have plans for tomorrow, perhaps a bit of whiskey is in order as well." he explained, all without shaking that knowing, amused smirk of his. He'd been younger than the Aegis when he'd first tried mixing drugs with alcohol, and it had been the most jarring experience of his life. That time, he'd also been celebrating a raiding victory with his comrades. Why not impart some of those old traditions on the Aegis? If it was a bad trip, then at least he would never make the mistake again. If he enjoyed it, then he would find unwinding at the end of a long day to suddenly be a much easier feat.. The titan got to his paws, plodding a few steps closer to Artorias. From there, he tucked the package into an open pocket at the top of the sling, against the side of the injured leg but away from the freshly treated wound. A quick glance about the room told him that he wasn't needed for any other patients, and so he shook out his coat and let out a small sigh. "You can send for me if you need anything, but I'll be going back to bed now." he announced, and lumbered out of the room without much further ado. The job was done, and there was still time in the night to get some more rest. ""