Blood trailed down from his right shoulder. His paw held gently off the ground as he limped back to the isle's main building. Wincing every time he took a step, the Raid King hopped up the steps and brushed his large frame through the doorway. Glancing around the large foyer with the crackling fire, he wondered if anyone was around. Sakana? Rivin? Modesty? One of the pups, maybe? Not that he should be trusting the new litter to be patching him up yet, he would take what he could get. Moving slowly over the slick tile, Gil stretched out on his right side so that the wound on his left shoulder was seen clearly. Tilting his muzzle to the sky, he lets out a howl to request the aid of a healer.

"speech"

The trip to Auster had been a productive one. She’d managed to gather a few different things, and some holly from the north, though she hadn’t expected to have to give up some of her herbs to a stranger. It was odd, starting to care about others outside her kin. But Rivin kind of liked that feeling. It kept her anger at a low murmur, and she was able to feel at least somewhat stabilized. She had even managed to keep herself together during the raid, winning not one, but both of her fights despite the disadvantage she had in the first. Rivin felt proud of herself, and that pride only led her to keep busy with sorting and storing the herbs she had brought back from Auster. Scald had been some nice company. Kind of brotherly, more like Aresenn than Diablo, but still. She worked with a small smile on her lips. Was this what it felt like to find your place?

…and then there was a call. Rivin’s ears perked at Gil’s voice requesting a healer. Oh jeez, what had the Raid King gotten himself into? Immediately the yearling grabbed her bag moving toward her herbs to grab some of the horsetail she had gathered previously, as well as some moss and some dandelion leaves. Then she grabbed a skin with some clean water to help clean wounds. There, stuff to help with whatever bleeding he likely had and something to help dull the pain. With the bag slung over her head she left her room to head in the direction of the main building. Her steps were with purpose, not wanting to leave the man bleeding for any longer than she had to.

She’d find Gil stretched out on his right side, his injured shoulder clear to see. As she approached, gaze locked on the injury, she spoke. “Who, or what, did you end up pissing off?” The yearling asked, setting her equipment down. She’d drag the herbs out first, moving the dandelion leaves close to Gil’s head so that he’d be able to reach them, and then set to adding water to the moss. She’d need to clean the wound and stop the bleeding before she could start adding medicine.

"Speech," 'Thought.'

Surprisingly, it wouldn't take long for someone to answer his request. To his delight, Rivin came in with a bundle of supplies. Unlike the times when it was her mother answering him, he was actually happy to see her. At times, Gil was an asshole, but he also was fatherly and prideful and enjoyed seeing the youngsters of the pack blossom. Even if Rivin also wanted to fight, he wanted to help her learn to be a healer too. They needed more of that in the pack anyway.

He lets out a soft chuckle as she demands to know what happened to his injury. Glancing at the open wound that still bled gently, his smile turned into a sheepish smirk. "I was cleaning up some debris around the isle's beach," Gil started as he shifted some more to get comfortable. "I didn't notice a sharp piece of metal sticking up through a bush. Tripped trying to move a large piece of rock and stumbled into it," he would have shrugged but it was more painful to do that. Instead, he turns to eye the dandelion warily. "I really have to eat that?" The Raid King asks with a scrunch of his nose.

"speech"

CODE BY SHELBY

His explanation is surprising, but Rivin can understand how it could have happened. There was still more clean-up and organization to be done on the island, and she gave a small nod. "That explains it. Maybe you should check the bushes first next time." She is about to grab the moss when his next comment about the dandelion has her arch a brow. "It'll help the pain and healing process, but it's not mandatory to take it right now. If you think the pain is manageable, you can leave it." She wouldn't force him to take it, but it would help. She instead gingerly grabs the moss and lifts it to the still bleeding wound. She starts to wipe at the blood first and then presses the moss against it to apply pressure. She would need to stop the bleeding before she could add the poultice.

Gil's lips tense as he eyes the girl. Her suggestion for checking the bushes next time has him wanting to roll his eyes. Instead, he remains stoic and chooses a different route.

"Perhaps the bushes should watch for me instead," his expression relaxes at his attempt at a joke. When Rivin moves on anyway, he arches his brow back at her. "But it's a flower," he muses as he reaches a paw out to paw at the plant. Yuck. Letting out a sigh, he watches Rivin work as she grabs the moss and dabs his injury. In truth, it was stinging quite a bit and the ache was making his muscles tense in an uncomfortable way.

Without another word, he lowers his muzzle and quickly takes the dandelion into his mouth. Chewing as fast as he can, he swallows with a wince. Disgusting. It forces a snort from his chest and out through his nose as he looks back to see what she is doing. As much as he wants to retort, he holds back - he wasn't that sort of guy. "Think I'll get to keep my leg?" Another attempt at a joke as he smirks lazily at the young girl.

"speech"

The comment about having the bushes watch out for him earns a soft snort and chuckle from her. "Maybe. Clearly… they don't know you're the Raid King. Plants have much respect, do they? Or metal for that matter." While her original suggestion had been serious, she played along with his joke. For too much of her young life, she was tense and serious. It was nice to be able to let her walls down around someone other than Jack. Hearing his protest, Rivin shrugs. "All medicine is. And if medicine tasted great no one would complain about injury or sickness." She lifted the moss. The bleeding had stopped so she cleaned up the rest of the blood trail as Gil ate the dandelion.

At his next joke Rivin lets out a true laugh. "I guess I can save it… or we can amputate it and have you bash people with it at the next raid." The visual of Gil running in on three legs and clobbering wolves with the lost limb was amusing. "So long as you keep it clean, and let me know immediately if it starts getting red, swollen, or pus filled you should be fine. Avoiding infection is important. Letting infection run rampant can risk the limb." Some important information.

"Gonna chew up and apply the poultice now and keep it on by binding your limb with horse tail. Keep it on for the way, and starting tomorrow remove it and keep the wound clean. If you have trouble sleeping due to the pain I can give you poppy seeds. They taste better than the dandelion but they'll knock you out so they're better used at the end of the day." She grabbed the other herbs, minus the horse tail, and worked to chew them in her mouth. A mix of bitter flavors caused her to wrinkle her nose. The taste wasn't great but this was necessary.

Once thoroughly chewed she spat the mixture out onto the wound and began to spread it on the surface of wound, expecting the medicine to cause a temporary increase of pain and sensitivity for the man.

Gil chuckles at the appropriate moments and nods thoughtfully to show that he understands her instructions. As far as patients went, he was an easy one and would rather it be done quickly so he can get on with his life. He enjoyed his rest, but being the Raid King, he had too much on his plate to take care of. And pups to be keeping an eye on.

His mind started to spiral until he heard her spit out whatever she had been chewing and before he could ask what it was, he was grunting in pain. Whatever she had pressed against his wound stung like a bitch. His face wrinkles and his teeth clench together but he refuses to cry out. He wasn't a wimp.

"Are you done yet?" Gil grumbles as his ears begin to lay flat. He hadn't thought his wound that terrible. Or maybe he had just never had a proper healer help him out before.

"speech"

From the corner of Rivin's eye she sees Gil grit his teeth but the man doesn't cry out. At this point she stops talking, focused on spreading the medicine across the injury. It is a task that is necessary, and he asks if she is finished as she picks up the horse tail. Rivin doesn't respond, working it around the limb and over the wound and medicine before knotting it in place. There. The horsetail wasn't as pretty or as comfortable as a bandage but it would keep the poultice from being rubbed off. She stepped back after that and looked at him with a grin. "I guess so. Unless we want to take the limb off anyway." He'd be fine. He just had to keep the wound clean.

Gil assesses Rivin's work and nods confidently. Yes, he wouldn't lose the limb yet. Ah, that gives him an idea. Looking up at the girl, he tilts his head gently for a moment. "If it had been necessary to remove my limb, would you be able to do it?" He poses the question curiously as he shifts to a sitting position. "Do you know how to expertly remove limbs to aid in healing?" Gil is unsure if she does know, but he hopes he can help her in figuring it out. Because there could be a day that it came to that. Knowing their history, it was more than likely to happen. Hell, he already had a fucked up ankle and missing a toe, what was a leg?

Well, at least the wound was tended to for now. Tried and practiced, she was getting better at this treatment thing. But almost as if calling her bluff on actually taking the limb, Gilgamesh proposed a question and Rivin furrowed her brow. “At present, no, I don’t think I could.” Rivin admits honestly. “A lot of my healing knowledge has been gained by kind of… spying on other healers. Loners mostly.” She tells him. She hadn’t really had anyone else to practice the stuff on. But she paid attention when there were herbs to focus on, and healing techniques that could be useful for the raiders. An ear flicks back thoughtfully.

“I’ve never seen it done before, so I would not be comfortable doing it yet. But… I do have an idea of some important factors when it comes to it.” Her look becomes thoughtful as she taps into the knowledge she has. “Most importantly, you want to cut off circulation of the blood. Doing a removal would cause a massive wound, so much so that mere clotting is going to be damn near impossible with applying pressure and such. Likely going to need rope or something. Something strong, that won’t risk breaking.” Her tail flicks.

“A lot of water, to help keep the area clear as you work. The more blood in the way, the higher chance you can fuck their body up worse I’d think.” Do more harm than good if it was done improperly. “...hmm… Do you happen to know if Sakana has ever needed to amputate anyone? Would he have the knowledge? Or is this something I should get practice on?” She was serious. She was not above removing the limb of some other creature to make sure she didn’t fuck up if she needed to do it on a raider. Practice makes perfect, right?

"Speech," 'Thought.'

He listens to her talk and nods at the appropriate moments. So she had some sort of idea on how to go about it, but not the complete method. Gil lets out a hum and shrugs his shoulder. "Sakana has aided in some births, but I'm not sure about limb removal," Gil thinks some more and pauses a moment before speaking again. "Don't forget though. With such a large wound, you would need to cauterize it some how. Utilizing rope to cut off the blood supply would not be enough. You would need fire or something really hot to stop the wound from bleeding or they would surely die," he lifts a brow as he assesses Rivin. Was she meaning a prey creature or another wolf? Surely prey... right? He chuckles and nods. "I'm sure someone can bring you some squirrels and raccoons to try it out on first," he smiles and waits to see what she thinks.

"speech"

Hmm… So Sakana was more experienced as a midwife, which would be useful knowledge, but Gil wasn’t sure if he had any experience with limb removal. Well, that would prevent her from having a teacher… not the end of the world, but certainly more frustrating than she would have liked. And the Raid King pointed out something she hadn’t considered… in part to her lack of knowledge, but she arched a brow curiously at the mention of cauterizing the wound. Fire? “I’ve never heard of doing that.” She admitted. “It would be appreciated to try it on prey first for sure. Fire is a tricky beast, and I’m not trying to kill my patients or make their wounds even worse.”

Rivin gave a bit of a cocky grin. “...Maybe because I actually like the Raider’s whole, yeah? Or at least most of them.” There is a playfulness to her voice now, lighthearted. It is clear that while she is still learning the ins and outs of healing it is something she enjoys being able to do. To support those she liked, and was forming bonds with. Maybe this was what Sparrow had intended the pirates to be. But as she got older, and found herself as a Raider, Rivin noticed it more. This was the right path, she was sure of it.

"Speech," 'Thought.'

He notes her playfulness and responds with a smirk. "Ah, well, some might not deserve to be whole," Gil responds with his own tone of cheekiness showing through now that he wasn't feeling as much pain as he had been in previous. "It's not often you have to remove limbs, but with how things have been going lately, I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen," his shoulders shrug before he is rising to his paws. Giving his coat a shake, he turned to Rivin and looks at her for a moment. "You're more capable than you believe," Gil adds on, his tone a shade softer, more fatherly in nature as he continues to regard her.

"Is there anything else you wish to speak on?" He asks after a few beats of silence. Turning toward the door, he moves to exit unless she needs to talk mor.

"speech"

Rivin hadn’t really considered Gilgamesh to be the joking type, but the cheekiness of his response brings a “pfft” passing her lips. The Raiders were a rowdy bunch, not a group that would balk from fights, and she knew firsthand that there could be consequences to those fights. The scars across her face, as well as her father’s scars, docked ears, and docked tail, were proof of what the Raiders could be faced with. Hell, her father’s back had been peeled back and left raw. Knowing how to treat such wounds, and anything more that could happen, was important to ensure they survived.

She needed to get experience with closing up larger wounds from maims too. But that is a subject for another time, should the need arise. Gil’s comment on how things have been going is met with a nod. “I wouldn't either… but Raiders are not exactly here to make friends and have a casual chat. Fights come naturally to us.” Even as someone who wanted to help mend the wounds of her comrades, Rivin wouldn't turn down the chance to get down and dirty herself. Fighting was still her favorite way to communicate.

His softer comment is appreciated, and Rivin feels a bit of heat come to her cheeks. “Yeah… and thanks to you I'm on the path to keep working on bettering myself.” Rivin is grateful for what he has helped her with this far, and she is determined to continue to strive to get better. For the Raiders, and for herself. She moves to follow him, if only to leave, and shakes her head as he asks if there is anything more she wanted to speak on. “Not right now, though I've thought about something to get some instruction on by Sakana.” She grinned. “I’ll be seeing you around, Gil.”

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