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Post by briala on Apr 10, 2008 19:52:49 GMT -5
Briala tsked in a no-nonsense kind of tone. "Don't worry about it," she replied briskly, as Dengoro seemed completely mortified about having passed out. "When the going gets tough, the mind gets going," she chuckled slightly at that, then explained quickly. "I mean, I've fainted a fair few times myself, usually for stuff less then this."
She finished bandaging the other foot and sat back, absently wiping her blood-stained hands on the grass beside her. "Well, I'm done now. Thank me or hate me, you chose." She closed her eyes and leaned back on her arms, feeling the sun caress her exhausted body.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 10, 2008 20:00:18 GMT -5
"I feel like I'm gonna faint before I c-... Thank you for the very, um, your, it..." Dengoro's lucidity crumbled with the progression of his sentence. He felt his footpaws' agony being masked by a feeling of something covering his wounds yet again. It was such an overbearing feeling to stop exhausting himself and start feeling the repercussions that he'd brought on, he couldn't believe he was still conscious.
He made to speak again, but his tongue physically caught in his throat. Even though he'd taken a sip of water already, the skunk's mouth was still so parched that now that the first bit of water had been absorbed, it was nearly as bad as before and he'd been left with a sticky inside surface. It made speak hard. "Th- W..."
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Post by briala on Apr 10, 2008 20:17:21 GMT -5
Briala sighed once again, lifting herself from her comfortable position to see what the problem was with Dengoro now. His words, or what he could get out, were chocked and dry. She offered him the canteen of water again. "You need to take better care of yourself," she scolded as he took the canteen.
Briala began to feel uncomfortably warm. The fur on her paws was still thick with blood, and her nose was full of the cloying scent. She stood up, shrugging off her pack and weapons. "I'm going to go swimming for about 30 seconds. Think you'll live till then?" she asked wryly as she took a few steps back, towards the river.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 10, 2008 21:22:31 GMT -5
Too dried out to even speak at this point, Dengoro accepted the canteen almost before it was offered to him and started drinking. He didn't even notice Briala's voice again until he'd had his fill, which was surprisingly soon, and set down the canteen. "But I don't know how to... Take better... Care..." He'd just never learned.
The skunk set it down and neglected to put the cap back on because he'd drained it so thoroughly that the remaining water wouldn't leak out if he set it on its side. It was then that he realized she'd said something about swimming. "Wh... Swimming? What? What are you... I don't know what you're... What are you talking about?"
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Post by briala on Apr 11, 2008 20:43:50 GMT -5
Briala's frown softened as Denogoro muttered that he didn't know how, and she mused to herself as she absently picked up the canteen and screwed on the lid. What happened to him then that he never learned limits? She sighed; she hadn't had anyone teach her these things, but still...it seemed a beast should know better than to run themself to death!
She chuckled lightly as Dengoro seemed rather confused about her swimming. She slowed it down. "I," she said clearly, pointing to herself. "am going swimming," she pointed behind her to the river. "But I don't want to just leave you, so I'm making sure you understand before I go," she chuckled again, taking yet another step back towards the achingly cool river.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 11, 2008 20:54:20 GMT -5
"Well, you..." A bit taken aback by this, particularly at the thought of having to be alone now, Dengoro wasn't sure how to respond. It wasn't as if he could tell her not to. He could, of course; it was simply that it would do absolutely nothing except perhaps annoy the otter and get him even further down in her book. "Are you gonna come back soon? Like right now?"
This may have sounded a little irrational but being left completely alone when in a situation such as this– no longer training, just laying there and doing nothing– was mortifying to Dengoro. He'd grown to associate being tossed aside and abandoned for the night with plain old suffering. This factored heavily into his reaction now, which looked like that of a torture victim thrown into a cell to await his next session. He actually recoiled at this point, despite there being nothing to move away from. "Don't go away..."
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Post by briala on Apr 11, 2008 21:05:04 GMT -5
Briala sighed again, resisting the urge to cover her eyes with her blood-stained paws. The last thing she wanted to do was upset him now; he was already so weak. Plus, the pleading tone he used was making her heart break.
"How about..." she said slowly, trying to think. "I could help you get down to the riverbank? It's not that far, and then you could still see me, and talk to me. And I won't be swimming that long, I just need to wash off this," she held up her paws again. She looked behind her; the river really didn't seem that far away; only a few yards really. She turned back to Dengoro. "What do you say? Think you can make it?"
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 11, 2008 21:12:45 GMT -5
"Well, I..." Dengoro rolled onto his side and then up onto all fours, slowly, awkwardly. His muscles felt stiff and painful, and even just on his elbows and knees, his limbs screamed at him to get back down on the ground and stop exerting them so hard. He was so busy trying to deal with this that he didn't even notice how profusely his body, and notably his arms and upper legs, were trembling from the effort.
He let out a quiet but disconcertingly strained grunt as he attempted to get up onto his knees and paws. As he pushed up on them, the skunk's triceps muscles suddenly took on the load and couldn't handle it. Needless to say, Dengoro collapsed onto his chest rather promptly. "My arms... I can't... Feel... My arms!"
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Post by briala on Apr 16, 2008 18:10:43 GMT -5
Briala immediately leaped forward and turned Dengoro on his back, so he wouldn't hurt himself. She wiped a paw across her forehead, then put her paws on her hips. "And what exactly am I supposed to do with you?" she said in an amused tone. She had never seen anyone practically run themselves to death, let alone try to help them deal with it.
"Do you think I could drag you down to the river bank?" she asked, not exactly sure if she was serious or kidding. It could work, if she was careful. And by now, she really wanted to go swimming; the sun was beating down on her head in palpable waves, and she immensely disliked such heat. "You know, if I was really careful, and didn't drop you..."
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 16, 2008 18:16:43 GMT -5
"I don't even..." Dengoro worked himself onto his side with quite the difficulty. Everything felt overwhelmingly heavy, particularly his limbs, and it was nearly impossible for him to make any significant movement at this point. "I don't even care what you do right now... I feel like passing out would be good... I feel like passing out. I'm gonna pass out." Things started getting dark again, far more rapidly than before.
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Post by briala on Apr 16, 2008 21:53:41 GMT -5
Briala clicked her tongue impatiently as Dengoro once again lost consciousness. "Well at least he has the consideration to tell me," she muttered wryly. Considering his answer, she decided to move him down to the riverbank. After all, what could be better then lying on the nice cool grass in the shade of a willow tree? Maybe she could go fishing...Briala already began to plan as she grabbed Dengoro under the arms and began to half-carry, half-drag him. He was surprisingly light, and only his foot paws dragged on the ground. Briala made sure to avoid any large rocks, wincing slightly whenever his feet hit a bump on the ground.
Finally, to Briala's relief, they reached the riverbank. She carefully laid him down on his back facing the river, putting her pack behind his head as a pillow. She dropped her weapons, which she had snagged before moving, on the ground next to him. Without another word, she took a running leap and dived into the river, causing only the faintest ripple of water on the surface.
Far sooner than she normally would have, Briala surfaced, not wanting to be underwater too long in case Dengoro woke up. She flipped over onto her back and began to propel herself back and forth with her tail, examining a rock she had picked up from the bottom of the river.
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 16, 2008 22:10:24 GMT -5
Dengoro came to when he realized that something had broken through one of his bandaged footpaws' protecting cloth and even skin, and it felt like it was bleeding profusely. He promptly wished he were still unconscious, feeling increasingly dizzy, disoriented and all-out inert. Attempting feverishly to muster sufficient coordination to speak, the skunk felt the depths of hunger, thirst, fatigue, shock and, notably, blood loss, all calling out to him far more lethally than ever before.
Coughing violently as he tried to clear out his unbearably sticky throat, he felt a hint of the taste of blood at the back of his tongue. Afraid to investigate, he did his best to restrain any further coughs and called out desperately with a voice obviously impeded by returning thirst. "Briala!..." Water. Right there. River.
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Post by briala on Apr 19, 2008 18:22:00 GMT -5
Briala heard a weak voice calling her name and immediately dropped her rock and swam over to the bank where Dengoro was. His voice was thick, and one of his banages was soaked in blood. She tsked lightly, saying, "Shame on me! I broke one of the bandages!" She hauled herself up on the bank and, quickly refilling her canteen, passed that to Dengoro.
"There, you sounded thirsty. How about you sit in the very shallows of the river? It will help with your feet; I'm out of bandages," Briala said conversationally, also taking out the dry bread she had in her bag and handing that to Dengoro. "Remember, don't scarf any of that down. Small bites and smaller sips."
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Post by Linx Exotic on Apr 19, 2008 18:30:49 GMT -5
Too weak to actually move over to the river, Dengoro didn't try to move closer to it but did immediately accept the canteen. Ignoring the bread for the moment, he forced himself to not tip the canteen to near-vertical to guzzle it, but rather let a tantalizingly low amount into his mouth. It was nearly impossible to do, with his mind screaming at him to just drink all of the water, but he seemed to be managing. Speech wasn't possible with a canteen neck between his teeth, but he gave Briala as grateful a stare as he could muster.
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