in the name of science

Jigsaw had made a terrible, terrible mistake. His father had taken him and Askell into the Armada territory for a visit for the day and it had been way too exciting trip for the young Klein. He'd spent the entirety of the day basking in the sun, chasing lizards over boulders and digging in the sand. The heat of the sun was in full bore and through his enjoyment he failed to realize it's effects, not until the skin upon his nose was already on fire. If Jigsaw had to guess, it was quite literally in flames at that very moment. He cried out in pain, yelping and barking and squinting against the tears but was unable to find his dad at all. He was going to be broiled alive, he knew that much, and without a single adult in the area it was up to him alone to put out the flames and save his poor melted nose.

His first idea was born out of opportunity - prior to feeling the pain of the burn he'd been digging in the sand on the beach. Two feet away was the freaking ocean, and earlier that day Jigsaw had clearly declared the water 'too cold' for swimming. Too cold for swimming, but perhaps cold enough to staunch the nose-melting pain of the summer sun? He'd soon see. With a mighty inhale he prepared himself mentally. And then exhaled, because he couldn't hold his breath that long and he'd lost his nerve. His heart pounded, and he waited for his breath to catch once more. I can do this. Jigsaw assured himself. He took one more deep inhale of air and held it, closing his eyes tight before rocketing his head into the ocean and waiting for it's cool waters to douse the flames.  

That did absolutely nothing. Jigsaw pulled his face from the water spluttering with defeat, the burn still painfully upon his face if not worse now with the water drawing the sun's heat upon his nose even stronger. His eyes still squinted against the fire he veered away from the beach and into the shade of the long grass, collecting some thick strands and snapping their tips off so that the widest part of the blades were all that was remaining. It would do to protect his nose further, but he could think of absolutely nothing to slather the grass in to actually medicate the wound, and that would be just as important as protecting it from further injury. With the blades gently in his mouth, he set off further north to find something suitable.

Thankfully the tall grass plains was full of very tall grass, and while the burn in his nose never seemed to subside he at least felt sheltered from the hot sun's rays. He wandered until he came across a big glass house in the distance, and within the building was a multitude of plants. Jackpot! Normally Jigsaw would never dare to steal from anyone - especially not a member of an allied pack - but this was different, he was in pain and any adult could see that he was doing his best to fix the problem. He wanted to disturb as few herbs as he could, and so he did a few laps sniffing around before he physically touched any of the plants. When he'd narrowed it down to a few particularly medicinal smelling ones, he very carefully bit the tip off of a few small sprouts to test.

One plant in particular that looked like an oversized blade of grass filled his mouth with a disgusting tasting ooze as soon as his teeth pierced it. It tasted so bad in fact that he was sure it would work, and he snapped the remainder of the plant off and took a seat in the greenhouse to inspect it.
The ooze was thick and slimy, but the plant was absolutely full of it. This would be the perfect paste to slather upon his grass bandage strips, and so with one claw he gingerly scooped, slathered, smoothed, and scooped again until the grasses were thick with the viscous fluid. Perfect. One by one he nudged into position with the medicine facing upwards, until the half-dozen grass blades were so close together that they might as well have been sewn.

He took a deep breath and positioned himself overtop the grass, spreading his legs wide and slowly lowering his muzzle downwards. Jigsaw had to aim carefully, for once the blades stuck to his nose he wouldn't be able to shift them. He went as slow as he physically could manage, and as soon as the grass mixture touched his nose the pup let out a relieved groan. It stung a little, but the soothing balm was near instantaneous. When he lifted his head the stickiness kept the grass firm upon his snout and for good measure he patted a paw down upon it. Damn, he was really nailing this healing thing.

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