stay alive -- severely wounded

[Warringkingdoms]

  [font=trebuchet ms]/tw: blood and injuries throughout

  Her heart hammered against her broken ribs.

  She should’ve died. He had her pinned, slowly strangling, history repeating. Moments before it all ended, a flash of light- a miracle. Not a literal miracle- the gods were actively out to kill her- but close enough. She shouldn’t have survived, and yet she had.

  As she faded in and out of awareness, the throbbing pain in her chest spread throughout her entire body, the adrenaline running dry as soon as the Warrior was felled. Glimmers of gold crossed her vision intermittently as she limped along, one moment after another reminding her of someone different- each one having their own reasons to want her dead. The physical agony did nothing to distract her from the trail of blood behind her, the memories as vivid as the taste of blood on her tongue.

  Electricity crackled from his new form, a confused stare in his newly-regenerated eye. Jagged lines defined his shape, but he was the same as ever. She felt freezing cold seep into her frame, her claws grazing against the snow with every step she forced her numbing legs to take.

  Her successor stared down at her, coarse fur run ragged by recent events, a haunted look in her youthful eyes. Rain lashed against them, driving them inside. The stinging of reopened wounds, the feeling of fur and feathers pressing against her to keep her going, moving away, away, away…

  Her son- could she even call him that, after what she’d done?- stared up at her, hollow, hungry, hurt. The color of his eyes remained bright, but the emotion within was anything but. Empty promises of love and protection, all of which should have died in her throat, where they could do no more damage. She still hadn’t been there for him- one false step and she’d fallen, far past the point of returning home to him.

  Maybe he and his real mother- the one who had been there for him- had reunited on their side of the universe.

  She would never know.

  She wanted to cry. In this state, half-dead, broken, she couldn’t muster the wherewithal to pretend she didn’t- but the tears wouldn’t come, her blank, dry stare pointed towards the rapidly-shifting ground. The pain of her injuries had pushed her directly into survival mode, and survival left no energy for lowering the walls she’d constructed around her heart.

  She had to breathe. In, out, refilling her lungs after they’d spent so long deprived of oxygen. Each step brought her closer to home?- no, not home. Elysium was not her home. She had sworn allegiance and she needed to return, but it was not home. The moment she had ascertained everyone’s safety, she would leave, before anyone else got hurt because of her.

  One step at a time, though, that was solid thinking. Put one paw ahead of the other. Breathe, in and out. She would stay alive. In spite of the pain shooting through her chest at every movement, she would not stop, and she would not die.

  Over the thick scent of blood, she could smell Elysium.

  One paw slipped, and she fell forwards, hitting the snow face-first. She wheezed, inhaling and exhaling ragged breaths. If her leaden legs could not carry her any further, she would breathe. She would do something to stave off death, at least until it was time to face the Ferryman in person. Elysium was not prepared to lose a leader.

  A harsh gust of wind bit into her wounds, eliciting a pained hiss from her. Once she’d caught her breath, maybe she would ask Eirny to find the others- assuming no one else showed up before then. With her lungs as battered as they’d been, it might take some time before she could muster words.

  Whatever the means, she would live.

  /tl;dr: Rin got attacked and badly injured by one of the gods, and had to be escorted home by Eirny- now they're both at Elysium's border
  /Rin's injuries: missing her lower left canine tooth from blunt force trauma to the jaw, several broken ribs, bruises and shallow cuts along her windpipe and chest

[Cosmic]

Both of them had been severely beaten in the battle, but by far Warringkingdoms had it the worst. Every step the small arctic fox and thunderbird knew was causing agony in the small feline she was protecting and escorting to Elysium, and she just wanted to get there faster so aid could be administered to the Magna. Eirny’s wounds could be healed within a few weeks of care and taking it easy, so she was not worried about herself as much as she was Rin.

“Elysium! Your Magna needs immediate medical attention! Anyone able to assist her please do so! Her life depends on it!” The Typhooner shouted desperately, hoping that someone would show up as quickly as possible. Did they even have a designated medic?

Eirny was not bothered by her own wounds, as the pain had been numbed by adrenaline and worry for Rin. If anyone asked if she needed assistance, she would shake her head. She was not the priority- Rin was.

[candorosa]

[align=center][div style="width:70%; text-align: justify; padding: 1px; font-family: helvetica;"]Unfortunately for them, Lemy was the first one to hear the call. And if they were expecting expert medical care from him, then they were shit out of luck. Lemy's version of medical 'care' wasn't very...sophisticated and that's was putting it lightly.

So, when Lemy heard an unfamiliar voice requesting aid for Rin? Well, it didn't provoke an urgent reaction out of him. He merely paused and peered at the direction from where the voice came from. Without anyone to see him, he allowed his features to freeze over, maw forming a tight line. He wondered who the speaker was and if she was being truthful.

From his understanding of Rin's character, she was the type to...overshare wasn't the right word, no. She seemed to value transparency in regards to official Elysium matters, with her discussions and democratic rulings. And Lemy hadn't seen her leave the territory once since his arrival. So for her to be near the border, with someone unfamiliar? Well, either the speaker was lying, someone attacked and killed the Magna to use her for bait or she ate shit after wandering from the Elysium. Maybe her altruism finally bit her in the ass. Either way, none of those explanations benefited him.

His thoughts ran wild as he replaced his glacial expression with his ever-present smile, then after a beat, replaced that with a concerned frown. He ought to see for himself instead of driving himself mad with hypothetical scenarios. And if he found something unpleasant? Well, he'd make them regret wasting his time.

Musings momentarily paused, he began sprinting towards the two. He spotted the two rather quickly or rather scented them. The stench of blood was hard to miss and so was the way his stomach flipped upon its recognition. The male glanced between the two females, blank eyes lingering on the stranger's form. Lemy turned back to Rin as he approached, keeping the stranger in his peripherals. "What's wr--What happened?" He asked lightly, eyeing the wheezing Rin.

Damn, where was that herb-loving kid when they needed her? Lemy didn't care if anything happened to Rin but if something went wrong then the blame would be pinned on him. "Hey, can you breath with your face in the snow, Rinny? Want me to prop you up?" He asked her, hovering near. Fuck, what was he supposed to do when it came to this stuff?

"Hey, you," his attention flickered back to the foreigner, "how come you're here? Where'd you come from?" His words, though friendly and polite, hid a sliver of steel.

[Warringkingdoms]

  [font=trebuchet ms]Over the roaring in her ears and the fog in her brain, she could hear Eirny's voice ringing out, calling for help. Soon, someone would arrive. Their capacity to help would depend greatly on who it was, but anyone was better than nothing.

  Sure enough, Lemy was the first to answer the call, clearly confused. He... had not received his promotion for any knowledge of healing, to put it that way, but she'd rather have him here than not have him here. Where he appeared, others would be able to follow. He suggested propping her up to give her more room to breathe- probably not a bad idea, she figured in her state.

  Rin slowly lifted her head, bolts of pain shooting through every muscle in her neck as she did so. "Yes," she whispered, her face still pointed downwards, Lemy's paws at the edges of her peripheral vision. Breathing, in, out, in, out, twice slowly, to fuel her bruised lungs, she rasped, "Yes, please."

  He wanted to know why Eirny was here, where she was from. What did he think had happened? Was it not obvious that she had... well, maybe it wasn't obvious. "She saved my life," Rin wheezed, wincing slightly at the twinging in her ribcage. That had to be three or four breaks, maybe even five. But she had to keep going- they needed to know what Eirny saved her from, otherwise they might think she was imagining things. "The gods my old home worshiped, they... they keep trying to kill me."

  Swallowing the saliva and blood that had built up in her mouth, she went on, "One of 'em attacked... but she saved me." Stifling a cough from the pain in her ragged throat, and a yelp at the electric agony that coursed through her body at this one motion, she tried to straighten up slightly, allowing Lemy room to prop her up.

[Mistrim]

To Mistrim, everyone is terrifying. The only exceptions to this rule are Rin and maybe even Lemy...although that last one is a stretch. If anything ever happened to either one of them, it would be an understatement to say that Mistrim would be devastated. She had grown extremely attached to the two and since they were the only ones she had really talked to since she lost her memories, they were most definitely her lifelines.

That’s why a distressed call for help for Rin made Mistrim’s heart sink to the ground. It briefly crossed her mind that it could be a trap but Mistrim isn’t a skeptic and something about the situation seemed familiar to her in a way. It made her wonder if someone she used to be close to got hurt frequently. Either way, Mistrim was on her way to the call.

The situation only really hit her once she actually saw Rin. The injuries looked horrifically painful and Mistrim had to take a deep breath just to stop herself from sobbing. Her eyes grew watery seeing one of her only friends in such pain. Again, something told her this wasn’t the first time it’s been like this though. Mistrim tightened her scarf against the biting cold and plowed on, blinking her watery eyes away so that she could assess the damage.

”Wh-what happened here?” Mistrim’s voice wavered but her voice was louder in volume then many other times she has spoken. Immediately she was assessing the damage although it was more like an instinct to do so rather then a purposeful action. It was strange doing something you’ve done so many times before but never having any memory of it. Plans were already beginning to form on how they could help with the pain and the hard breathing was something of a concern.

Mistrim’s gaze barely even moved towards the stranger. Anyone who has seen the normal demeanor of the glacier blue fox would see the obvious change in readiness. It felt...oddly comforting that she still had some of the actions of her unknown life. The scene in front of her however, was definitely unsettling and at this point, Mistrim would do anything to help Rin recover.

Mistrim briefly registered that Lemy was also with her, it made her feel a little bit better about it but she figured that he could ask the questions while she figured out what to do. She did shuffle a little closer to Lemy and away from the stranger. It seems that Lemy would be the unlikely source of comfort for the day!

[lavi s.]

I've got a bad feeling about this...  Concerned, the young Jedi followed the call for aid.  His chocolate eyes narrowed on Rin as he arrived, studying her injuries and frowning at her words.  A really bad feeling.

"Why?" He almost immediately regrets his sharp question.  Aside from desiring answers, Lavi tried to recollect simple first aid.  His twin had been a kriffing talented medic if he ever knew one but he hadn't dedicated much time to the practice himself.  Only basic knowledge lingered in the forefront of his mind.

The fluffy feline took a moment to breathe, centering himself.  Rin would explain herself, now or later.  The Jedi knew something of being hunted.  He knew something of the paranoia Tena felt from her own past.  At least he knew and comprehended it.  Rin remained an enigma to him.

"Is there anything broken?" Her breath sounded ragged and pained.  He imagined Lessa would know how to better assess the situation, but they didn't have her.  They had no official healers at all.  Bones... Is comfrey and... Stinging needle...

[Warringkingdoms]

  [font=trebuchet ms]Rin let her gaze wander over to Mistrim as she approached. Maybe she could go get herbs... "My house," Rin murmured, "go get cobwebs, marigold..." Her voice trailed off, partially because of the harrowing experience she'd just been through, and partially because of the growing realization that not only did Mistrim not know where her shelter was, the herbs there also weren't labeled. Curses.

  Shaking her head slightly, Rin inhaled slowly- wheezing the air out at the pang in her chest. "Mist... prop me up," she said, trying once more to straighten up so that Mistrim had space to help her up. Turning her tired gaze to Lemy, she continued between labored breaths, "Go to my house... get cobwebs... yellow flowers next to them... and anything with, with purple flowers." There were multiple plants with purple flowers, at least three at last count, but if Lemy brought a sprig of each... that should be enough comfrey.

  Swallowing back more liquid and shuddering at its painful journey down her throat, Rin tried to steel her trembling limbs as she looked at Lavi. He wanted to know if anything was broken. "Ribs," she rasped. However many ribs were broken mattered less than the fact that some of them were indeed broken.

  He also wanted to know why.

  Trying to stand, managing at least to get her back legs underneath her- the resulting pose could barely be called "standing," but close enough- Rin furrowed her brows. "...they screwed us over," she wheezed, baring her teeth out of instinct, feeling more blood trickle from the left side of her mouth. "Hated me most of all... want to finish the job."

  Even beyond her shock and pain, she still found herself hoping he didn't press any further. She had no desire to elaborate what had happened to her old home... even bringing it up was already breaching several dozen of the boundaries she'd set for herself. It had probably been necessary to prove Eirny's innocence, but that didn't make it any more pleasant.

[Hope Arcanium]

When the call rang out for Rin needing assistance, Player was on her way to the scene, and when she saw and smelled what could be blood, she ran even faster. She was a trained medic- she could do something for someone she considered a close friend, right? She had treated even more harsher cases, so she should be able to handle this, if her PTSD didn’t start up on scene.

Upon arriving, she did note the strange smell wafting off of the stranger, along with blood. So much blood. She did her best to compose herself as she focused intensely on Rin, assessing damage with the other two Elysites, happy to have help. But she always had her medical supplies handy wherever she went.

“I’ve got this, don’t worry Rin...” She murmured, trying to be as soothing as possible even with the crowd around them growing louder. Hyper focus was thankfully one of the hybrid’s best qualities, and she blocked out everything that didn’t need focus. The chatter and explanation could come later- for them to drill her while in this state was honestly jarring to her.

“Hey Rin, I’m going to start treating you now. You will be okay. Just ignore them for now, they can drill you once I’m done treating you of your injuries and you’re safe and warm.”

[candorosa]

[align=center][div style="width:70%; text-align: justify; padding: 1px; font-family: helvetica;"]It felt like Lemy had just blinked and suddenly there was a crowd around the three of them. His blank gaze flickered from animal to animal, observing their actions before he turned back to Rin. (Later on, he'd find it hilarious how Mistrim had stuck close to him--he thought he'd acted out enough to prevent that sort of thing from happening.) He would have gone to grab the plants Rin had requested of him, but it seemed someone had beat him to it.

Frankly, Lemy was more concerned by the contents of Rin's words than her injuries. He was glad Lavi (who he hadn't yet met) had asked why. "Well, they sure did a number on ya, Rinny," he simply said as he got closer and attempted to prop her up, making sure not to get in Playerone's way. He stayed silent for a beat as he processed his thoughts. "But, that means they didn't finish the job, right?" He asked patiently, tilting his head to the side in curiosity.

He tapped the snow rhythmically with his paw as he fell silent once more. Again, he spoke after a few moments, tone genial and nonaccusatory. "Which means, these gods are gonna keep coming after ya, right? And you led them right here? To where you live?" Rin could follow Playerone's instructions and ignore him; that was fine by him. He was simply saying what was on his mind; curated, more polite versions of his thoughts.

"Thanks for bringin' her here, by the way!" Lemy turned back to Eirny, gratitude coating every inch of his words. "I'm sure Oney here will take good care of her," he continued as he examined the stranger. She saved Rin's life, huh. How nice. She even sustained some injuries of her own, though she was clearly in better shape than the Magna.

Gods. How fucking nice. What were they supposed to do if another one tracked her down to finish the job? His thoughts ran a mile a minute, presenting outcomes that sent bile up his throat. What was he supposed to do? There was no--Lemy squashed those questions immediately, focusing on the situation at hand. He was going to get his answers somehow, either right now or when Rin wasn't busy coughing up her ribs.

[Mistrim]

There was another healer now...Mistrim stopped and looked around, the amount of people doubled from when she first came. Without having to be her old self still, Mistrim slightly curled inwards, assuming her normal demeanor. She almost came close to bumping into Lemy but stopped herself. She didn’t really know where she got the sudden boost of knowledge from. If she knew where Rin’s place was then she would easily been able to identify the materials and Mistrim doesn’t know how.

Mistrim was still needed though, she assisted Rin in anyway she could even though her momentary confidence was shattered by the crowd around them. Propping the Magna up, Misty finally tuned into what was being said. What Lemy said was very correct though, if someone did this amount of damage to Rin and they were still hunting her then the entire group could be in trouble.

Why is this thought process so familiar? It made Mistrim’s head spin but atleast Rin was getting help now. She tried to keep herself grounded but her mind was undeniably scattered. She dare not speak or else she could break down...whether that’s because of her mental state or the fact that everything around her is in danger, Mistrim can’t tell.

This was the first time, since she had first woken up with her amnesia, that she questioned who she really was before. She understands the fact that nobody wants to be confronted about their past which is why she hadn’t really dug too deep into Rin although she has to admit that she is glad it wasn’t her being drilled into. The situation is very chaotic to Misty and she isn’t sure how she would react to being interrogated.

Why did everything have to be so complicated?