SEVENTEEN HAVE COME AND GONE ☆ alaric

☆ HUNG PICTURES OF PATRON SAINTS UP ON MY WALL TO REMIND ME THAT I AM A FOOL. TELL ME WHERE I CAME FROM, WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE: JUST A SPOILED LITTLE KID WHO WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL —

It was no surprise to many that there were several things Aurum excelled at, just as most people had one or two things they excelled at. Aurum had both his rather decent combat abilities, and the tenants of diplomacy that had been taught to him by his father and mother from a very young age. He prided himself on both of these abilities, although he never considered them to be all that he was made up of. After all, he wasn't constantly in battle, and he wasn't constantly involved in diplomatic missions, either. For the most part, he prided himself most on how much he had changed socially since first arriving in Tanglewood. At one point he had taken a liking to no one, believing that he wouldn't be staying very long and snapping at those who did approach him. Needless to say, things had changed a great deal since then, with Aurum now being a mostly levelheaded and kind male who tried to do what was best for everyone. All things considered, the angel was very glad for the development that he had gone through since many months ago, when he had first shown up on the border. Still, he also knew that he wasn't yet done growing and learning new things just yet, and there was one department where he was severely lacking – medicine.

It wasn't that Aurum had never taken an interest in medicine before. He had, it just... wasn't exactly his area of expertise. Most of the language was confusing and different, and it was difficult to parse out without someone to teach him. He had considered both Moth and Selby, but they were both busy with not only their own jobs, but also with their children. He had also considered Kiira, but she wasn't around nearly as often anymore. So, he had decided to turn to a rather unusual source. He had noticed that Alaric seemed to have a fair bit of knowledge about medicine, and he enjoyed Alaric's company in general well enough, so he had decided to head over to the other's home, several of his worn medical books in tow. Once he found himself outside Alaric's front door, the proxy took a deep breath and knocked a paw against the wood, calling out in his gentle but rumbling voice, "Alaric, you home? It's Aurum." He hoped that Alaric wasn't too busy, and wouldn't mind the intrusion.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM

#psychosocial.

Outside of his great interest for medicine, Alaric wasn't particularly skilled. He had little interest in learning how to fight—although if someone offered to teach him he might not be opposed—and his social skills as applied to a normal setting were sorely lacking. He simply did not have an interest in these things. He had never before seen combat that he could not worm his way out of with a few skillful dodges and a handful of honeyed words.

His time thus far in Tanglewood hadn't been marked with anything truly meaningful. He would not consider anyone in the tribe his friend, moreso acquaintances that he had interacted with more than once or twice out of either necessity or curiosity. And he was perfectly content with that—he wasn't here to make friends, after all, just live in a place that decidedly was not devoid of all life save for his depressed and distant mother. His original purpose for coming here had not been with the goal of learning medicine in mind. Coming across shelves of medical journals and tomes was simply serendipitous. It also appeared that his interest in medicine was not unknown to anyone. Even the healers had taken notice of his affinity for it. As for whether or not that was a good thing was yet to be determined.

At the moment, Alaric was poring through yet another one of the medical tomes the library boasted. The remaining supply of healthcare-related books there was beginning to run thin, so he had slowed his literary onslaught in order to savor the last few books. However, his thoughts were soon interrupted by a rapping noise on his door, followed shortly by Aurum's voice. "I am," he responded as he marked his page in the book with a torn piece of palm leaf before closing it and placing it on one of the stacks near his bed. He waited for a response, and when he did not get one he assumed that the lion was waiting to be let in. "The door is unlocked. You may come in."

♔ don't do love, don't do friends

☆ HUNG PICTURES OF PATRON SAINTS UP ON MY WALL TO REMIND ME THAT I AM A FOOL. TELL ME WHERE I CAME FROM, WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE: JUST A SPOILED LITTLE KID WHO WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL —

Despite what some may have thought, Aurum was not particularly offended by the fact that Alaric did not think of him as a friend, and instead thought of him as an acquaintance. Some thought that the lion was unable to survive without being friends with everyone, but this was simply not the case. Although the angel did enjoy being friends with many – since his childhood had been significantly starved of the social interaction he had so desperately craved – it was not necessary for him to remain happy with someone. Besides, Aurum had begun to pick up on the fact that Alaric was perhaps not the most overwhelmingly social feline of the bunch. Not that there was something wrong with that, but it was difficult not to notice with Alaric's dry and blunt tones, and his general distaste for interacting with others. He wasn't outright cruel, however, and that was enough for Aurum. The proxy actually sort of found his emotionless occasional wisecracks to be quite endearing.

When Alaric announced that the door was open, Aurum smiled the faintest bit, gently nudging the door open with a paw before he slipped inside. As he moved inside and shut the door behind him, he found his eye wandering over the room curiously, taking in all the little details. The various stacks of medical books made his faint smile grow slightly, reminding him of why exactly he had decided to turn to Alaric for help and advice. Moving over to where Alaric himself was, Aurum sat back on his haunches and waved a paw before speaking curtly, "Hey Alaric. Sorry if I'm interrupting something." He didn't really think he was, but still, he was a lion raised on common manners and courtesy. Moving on from that, he continued, "I actually came over to talk to you, and ask if perhaps you could teach me a few things about medicine. I'd ask the medics, but they're generally busy dealing with everything, so I thought you might be a slightly less stressed alternative." He could only hope that Alaric didn't consider that insulting, since it certainly wasn't meant to come off as such.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM

#psychosocial.

The tremors that had plagued Tanglewood for one long night had come and gone, and thankfully Alaric's home had been one of the few spared. He was unsure of how this had become the case, but he was grateful for it. What he wasn't grateful for was the fact that he now had to quarter families displaced by the collapse of homes, considering Alaric was more of a solitary creature. Their presence was marked by a rather large resting space in a corner of his home, decidedly quite far from Alaric's bed and piles of books and herb stash. He was able to work through the irritation that their intrusion caused by reassuring himself that it was only temporary, and that once their home was rebuilt he'd regain his privacy. This evening they happened to be gone—as to where he didn't care.

While his home had been spared from the tremors' waves of destruction, his eyesight had not been. The force of a tree branch—still attached to the tree—had been enough to knock out the vision in his left eye. Research had led him to believe that he had been afflicted with traumatic optic neuropathy, a condition with no cure. There were no visible differences between his eye with or without eyesight, and he had yet to tell anyone about his affliction. Even Isaac, his mentor, didn't know; Alaric was afraid that if he said anything he'd be barred from helping assist in the medical care of those injured by the quake.

Aurum was someone that the tabby knew to only have one eye as well. Maybe...? No, he probably wouldn't open up to the proxy about it. Probably.

"You're not interrupting anything," Alaric stated with a firm shake of his head. He watched with a sort of dull interest as the lion approached with the request of being taught some things about medicine. His logic about not wanting to go to the medics was admittedly quite sound, and that same line of reasoning had been why he made the choice to go to Isaac instead of Selby.

"What do you want to know?" the tabby asked after a moment, his tail flicking in curiosity as he spoke.

♔ don't do love, don't do friends

☆ HUNG PICTURES OF PATRON SAINTS UP ON MY WALL TO REMIND ME THAT I AM A FOOL. TELL ME WHERE I CAME FROM, WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE: JUST A SPOILED LITTLE KID WHO WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL —

Although Aurum was unaware of Alaric's lost eyesight, if he had been, it probably would've been difficult for him to make a direct comparison between the two incidents. He certainly wouldn't want to downplay one event by saying it was more painful than the other, especially since they were both so different. Aurum had lost his eye what felt like ages ago now, to the claws of none other than Beck. The ghostly feline had been having a hallucinatory breakdown, and had lashed out not only at Aurum, but also at everyone who had been treating him. His infected blood had gotten in the wound when he had lashed out at the proxy, not only damaging his vision, but also requiring the lion's eye to be taken out entirely. After that incident, Beck had constantly expected Aurum to be angry, or to seek revenge on the spirit for what had happened, but that really wasn't the case. After all, the angel couldn't blame him for what he had done while he had been panicking and hallucinating. Truth be told, Aurum wouldn't have been able to tell what was worse – having a face and a name to put to the cause of why you no longer had two eyes, or just having an incident, as Alaric had with the tremors. At the very least, Aurum got to know that it was his decisions that had led to him being close to Beck that day, but Alaric? Alaric had just been a victim of circumstance.

Still, Aurum's mind was not on this for the moment, unaware of the other male's issue as he was welcomed within the feline's home. When he was told he wasn't interrupting anything, the proxy found himself smiling, glad for that fact. He knew that certain groups and families had been forced to share homes with others while the territory was being cleaned up, and while Alaric didn't exactly seem the type to bond with his new roomies, Aurum was glad he wasn't interrupting any such event. When Alaric asked him what he wanted to know, the lion found himself pausing for a moment. It wasn't that he hadn't thought about what he wanted to know – he had, he just needed to get it into words. After a moment he found himself mumbling, swallowing thickly before he spoke, "Well... I suppose I'd like to learn how to deal with some basic injuries that you're more likely to see. Moth... Moth, she taught me a lot about the basics of herbs and how to identify them, but... we never got to the part where she showed me how to deal with some of the most frequent injuries, like gashes and bone breaks." Even just mentioning his sister's name made Aurum's chest tighten, the grief over the former medic still fresh and festering in his mind.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM

#psychosocial.

Moth's death had not had as great an effect on Alaric as it had for Selby or Aurum or any of the former medic's kids. He was saddened, yes, but he had not wept, and he had not been driven to make drastic life decisions like Atticus had in defecting to the Pitt. However, her death was a prime example of the kind of thing that he was studying medicine in order to prevent. Another family had lost a parent, just as he had when he was young. It wasn't as if he blamed himself for Moth's death, but knowing that there was nothing he could have done dragged down his mood. The Mothby family dynamic would never go back to the way it was—perhaps this would be a bold statement to say considering both the soreness and recentness of the topic, but from experience, Alaric knew this to be true.

The tom's singular functioning eye remained trained on the lion before him as the larger male spoke. He blinked slightly upon hearing the male's request, considering it for a moment as he tried to discern what would be the best way to teach him. "Gashes are fairly simple to patch up. Herbs aren't necessary unless it's particularly bad, like if it's close to an artery or something," Alaric began, pausing for a moment to allow Aurum to absorb what he had already said. He hoped that he wouldn't have to explain what an artery was. "The main things you need are your paws and some gauze or bandages. Cobwebs work just as well. Put some gauze on it, press down firmly to stop the bleeding and promote clotting, and then when blood has stopped soaking through the gauze, wrap it up with bandages. If you can't find gauze, a lot of pressure and even more cobwebs will work, too."

Broken bones were another thing. They required a bit more... precision. It'd be best if he demonstrated. Alaric rose to his paws and made for a worn dresser pushed up against the wall under a window. He did his best to drag open the bottom drawer, and from it he pulled two long pieces of wood and a sizable cloth. "You'll need these to help a broken bone heal. Mind if I demonstrate on you?"

♔ don't do love, don't do friends

Of all the choices within Tanglewood at present, Alaric probably would've been one of, if not the first name that Aurum turned to in order to take Moth's place. Although his sister had been extremely knowledgeable, and it was difficult to imagine anyone else standing in the medical space she had occupied, he knew that Alaric was capable. He had seen how the other had helped others both before the meteor and after, and it luckily didn't seem as though he was prone to panicking. At least, not in the view of Aurum or anyone that he interacted with commonly. That wasn't necessarily a trait that was identifiably high up on the qualifications of a good medic, but it was still an important one. After all, any medic that panicked at the first sign of danger or blood wasn't going to be good for the group. Luckily, Alaric was so stoic at most times that he seemed perfect for the job, in the same way that Selby was – even if the senior medic wasn't really around that much these days, or in his right mind. If the lion yearned to see anyone getting shouted out to join the medical team by Leroy, it would be Alaric, although he'd keep his mouth shut about that for now. He didn't want to give false hope, after all.

The angel began to listen intently as Alaric explained the best way to deal with gashes, his golden ears angled forward to take everything in. It wasn't an overwhelmingly complicated process, but Aurum still found himself nodding along, just to let the smaller feline know he was listening. The lion knew quite well what an artery was, having sunk his teeth into more than a few in his fighting days, but he still found himself questioning curiosity, "Thank you, I understand that... so, if a gash is close to an artery, I should make a poultice out of the herbs that Moth taught me about to deal with cuts?" That did seem like the clear response here, considering the combined info of what Moth had taught him and of what Alaric was currently teaching him. When the other moved on to broken bones, Aurum once again found himself tilting his head, his eye tracking the other's movements as he pulled out two pieces of wood and a cloth. After a moment of hesitation, the male found himself rumbling, "Yes, of course you can demonstrate on me." A demonstration would be helpful, and surely Alaric wouldn't hurt him in the process of trying to teach.

Aurum was a fast learner, it seemed, even if his medical knowledge may have been lacking. He considered the lion's question for a moment. While it was partially correct, it was not exactly the whole truth.

"Yes, but first you need to slow or stop the bleeding. If you don't, a poultice won't have any effect. Herbs do their work slowly. They are not like human medicine," the tabby spoke. He'd learned about various kinds of human medicine from the books he'd read and sorely wished that Tanglewood's selection of herbs had the same fast-acting properties that human medicine did.

Upon receiving permission to demonstrate, Alaric moved towards the proxy. "The first thing you need to do is realign the bone. If it's a nasty break, you'll know; it'll look quite... uncomfortable. You'll have to put some force into realigning it. It'll be painful as all hell." He shuddered at the thought of just how much pain realigning bones actually put one through. "Once you do that, line up two pieces of wood on either side of the affected leg. The point of this is to keep the leg straight" As he spoke, he reached towards the lion's right foreleg, placing one piece of wood on one side. As a result of his newfound loss of depth perception, the male fumbled a bit, initially placing the second piece of wood much farther away from Aurum's leg than he meant to. He could only hope that Aurum wouldn't put any thought to it. He didn't feel like being questioned.

The next step was fairly simple, he supposed. "Then take a piece of cloth and tie it around." The tabby grabbed a hold of the cloth and managed to wrap it around the lion's paw, starting from the bottom and heading upwards. Often he would mess up, and each time he would mumble out an apology. Once he finished, he tied it off in the middle. Tightly. "And that's how you make a splint. Questions?"

♔ don't do love, don't do friends

The lion being a fast learner was thankfully a trait that he had picked up over the years, in stark contrast to his attitude as a cub. In his youth, he had been stupid and somewhat standoffish, never particularly eager to pay attention to the extensive lessons that his parents sent him and Poetking to. Nowadays, he was much more receptive to information, eager to take in everything he could to help others. Thus, the proxy found himself nodding slowly upon hearing Alaric, giving a little click of his tongue before he spoke, "That makes sense... it really is a shame we haven't managed to duplicate the effects of human medicine yet. It seems as though things are much simpler for them." He then added on, wincing a bit, "Although from what I have read, they have a great deal more diseases to worry about, so I suppose there is a bit of a trade-off." Most of the medical books he had read on humans were far too complex or used too much exclusive terminology for him to really understand. However, from what he could gather, humans had rather extensive immune systems, which they needed to deal with every unexpected illness that could manifest.

With his tail flicking calmly behind him in thought, Aurum leaned his ears forward, eagerly listening to what Alaric had to teach him. He tried not to flinch too much at the mental image of a broken bone, having seen more than a few in his day and knowing the pain that they could cause. It would be good for him to know how to treat them, granted he could get through the nausea of the sight. The angel stayed still as his foreleg was taken, watching as the first piece of wood was placed against it. When Alaric ended up fumbling a bit with the second piece, however, Aurum found himself pausing. Was the feline feeling alright? Frowning a bit in worry, he let Alaric finish up the rest of the process, a soft hum leaving the back of his throat as he inspected the makeshift splint. He twisted his leg around a little, shaking his head before pausing. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, seemingly thoughtful, before he spoke, "Not related to the splint. It seems rather straightforward. However... are you doing alright? You seemed as though you were having issues..." Tilting his head curiously to one side, the golden male questioned, "Are you feeling dizzy after the tremors?"