It had been a few says after Clover had snuck away and beheld the wedding and all its splendor and its festivities. Helping decorate, watching the beautiful ceremony, eat the wonderful food and strange drink, and generally just have a splendid time. She had come back to Orion and awaited Vazi and their potential harsh words, but she saw hide nor tail of them. It was...eerie. Neither did she see poor Beast anywhere. She had paced back and forth, wandering Orion like a ghost searching for any trace of them.
She was upset to part with Bartos, but she didn't want Vazi anywhere near her beloved feline, so she said her goodbyes with a full heart. She enjoyed their time together, even if she did get a little silly after the wedding. Her thoughts strayed to their bright smile, their glittering blue eyes full of affection. She smiled happily, tilting her head just so as she half-heartedly searched for Vazi.
And after a little while of searching, to her surprise, she met someone new. A strange creature that called themselves a cat but was very different from any felines she'd met. This one had too small a face, ragged ears, and...hands? But she paid no mind, and enjoyed the company of the one who called themselves Cayenne. They helped pass the time, exploring Orion with her, hopping down to eat strange plants they saw and scrambling back up to her back. They told her that a cat-sister had told her about Orion, and she had come to explore it, beckoned by the desire to see the ceiling. Clover rather liked this Cayenne, who was very straight forward, no-nonsense, analytical, with a softly rasping voice, strange on a child, yet fitting for this odd little cat. They spoke of many of the herbs they had tried out and discovered uses for in their short life, creating a mental standardized list to follow, and she was rather amazed. She hardly even knew the plants she avoided in favor of the tastier ones even held a use! The two of them pleasantly passed the time chatting about this and that and what plants tasted better than others and yet soothed or helped along digestion.
He was curled up alone after that fight. His head was a throbbing mass of pain. It still felt like that blasted bear's fire was on his face and all over his body. It was terrible... His body felt like it should have burned alive, he felt like he should have died. However, he lay in a realm half awake and half asleep. Part of him wanted nothing more than to die... Living was hell without Wynry but he could not stop his mission. He needed to liberate the herbivores and teach them of the menace that was the carnivores. His mission was not complete. He could not die...
But damn it hurt to live.
Once or twice in his fevered dreams he could have sworn that he saw Wynry as clear as day, calling to him. For some reason the sheep seemed upset... Why? It troubled him. Was the lamb upset that he wanted to die without avenging his death? Perhaps... Even more reason to live.
Anguished from the pain and the vision of Wynry he let out a moan... His eyes remained closed however. His face, half of it burned away with one side of his face twisted into an ugly grin that exposed his teeth, was framed into a mask of pain. Would this never end? Was he doomed to just continue along a path of violence and death? It was troubling, stressful... tiring... Oh, was he so tired.
words: ---
tagged: @Clover
ooc: ---
muse: 5/10
"Talking looks like this." Thinking looks like this...
Cayenne liked this tall white giant, and she was pleased that one so like her friend Amalthea would have the same wonderful and polite demeanor. Surely all such tall giants were just as polite and kind, since if two were alike, then a third wouldn't be so strange, and neither would a fourth. She liked being on their back and talking the time away about plants and their uses and tastes, and she liked teaching this other gembound who was clearly much much older than her. Though why the older gem, who belatedly and embarrassingly introduced themselves as Clover, showed no previous interest in finding out what plants did felt like a concept beyond her. Everyone should want to know!
But something interrupted their talk, a terrible sound just on the edge of her hearing. She tugged at the pale one's neck fur and murmured for her to go towards the sound. Was it a sound of someone hurt? Cayenne frowned. What in the caves could cause such a wretched sound?
They came across the body of a giant stretched across the ground as they turned a corner of a crumbling building, and Clover cried out in absolute horror for them, crying out 'Vazi, Vazi, what happened,' half-sobbing, and Cayenne had to hold onto the giant's fur for dear life at they suddenly burst out running and ended up almost throwing themselves at the moaning giant.
Cayenne, who was already just barely hanging on, grabbed ahold of her own shocked mind and climbed down from Clover's neck to better look at the dying one.
It was bad. There were burn marks all over their face, the ear she could see was pretty much falling off, and there were no end to the smaller cuts and burns and ripped fur all over their body. It was a horrible, horrible mess of life, and she found herself frowning. Here was another similar giant, one much like Amalthea and Clover. They must be just as kind! Who would've done this to them!
Quietly, she looked up at Clover, who was openly crying up above them both. "Don't worry, Clover. I'll try to help Vazi."
Clover just stared, open-eyed, at little Cayenne. "Y-you will?" She sniffled, feeling pathetic and useless. "You know how to help Vazi? I-it looks like someone with fire magic fought them, and fought pretty hard."
She saw Cayenne raise a brow, making her big eyes even bigger, then they turned away to dig into this tiny satchel at their side, pulling out small leaves and this small acorn and pebble. They put in a multitude of small torn up leaves with some spit mixed in and crushed it into a small pulp, murmuring that this was a mild painkiller they could slather on the worst of the burns.
"Are you sure that's enough?" Clover hiccuped, looking over Vazi and their harsh breathing and all the horrible burns. And the snarling lip that showed their teeth.....she looked away. Who could've done this?
Cayenne sighed. "I-I don't know. I only have this on me because Amalthea had a bunch of scratches....and I don't know if I can go and get more."
"Can't you just use your magic?" Clover said, surprised. "Surely you have an earthen affinity, with how you go on and on about your plants."
Cayenne just stared at her, then said, matter-of-factly, "I've never used magic, and I barely know what it is."
In his fevered half-dreams he could swear that he heard the sound of his Pure One. Sobbing, the gentle touches... Was this a dream too? Had he died and crossed over? Was she some apparition in the world of the dead? He didn't know... He just felt so terrible...
Something touched his body, some strange mix, he winced and grunted in pain but then he eased when he felt some relief on the burns. The relief pulled him back from his half daze and a sliver of gray-blue showed as his eyes opened a tiny bit. Everything was out of focus but he could clearly see the beautiful white coat of Clover... "Beautiful one... You should... not have to see me like this..." He winced, his voice was dry and cracked causing him to cough painfully.
Cayenne was already finished with the salve she made, and she could see that it made a difference on the giant's face, but she just didn't have enough in her pack for- for this. She'd never seen something like this in her short life, and she didn't know she could even help.
The giant spoke, waking up as she touched the burns on their face, and she felt a confusing mix of emotions when they flinched, then relaxed. Proud, happy, reluctant to hurt, guilty - why was she feeling guilty? She didn't cause any of this.
Clover had mentioned magic, but she just didn't know enough about it - Khloros mentioned that many others had magic, that the big horse had many 'friends', and everyone she'd met thus far thought nothing of the notion - so surely she had some, didn't she? How did it work? She wrung her little hands as Clover and the giant spoke, thinking furiously. Did she just wish for it to appear, like an apparition out of nowhere? What did it require?
She closed her eyes and wished for the specific plants she needed to appear, confusion and desperation sitting in her stomach, one hand in her bag, the other holding onto her tail.
Something flared, and she didn't see that, as her eyes were closed, her golden finger glowed with an inner light, the same hand that was inside of her satchel. She hissed as the palm of her hand suddenly pricked and itched, and she yanked it out, her eyes coming open.
What she saw stopped her dead. A tiny little shoot was coming and growing out of the palm of her hand, the same little plant that she needed for more salve. It was a small little plant with dark blue leaves, and it helped the red soreness around painful scratches go away, an anti-inflammatory. She knew, because she used it often on her own cuts. Mixed with the one with red leaves, the one that was hard to find, she could help bring down and numb all of these burns for a while.
"I..." She was at a complete loss for words. So even she had magic, it seemed. The plant was incredibly small and delicate though, only an infant. It wouldn't produce much. She could see the roots under the skin of her hand, and felt a very strange turn of nausea that felt separate from her, outside of her.
A stupid thought entered her head. This would make plant gathering a lot easier.
She could feel her eyes filling up with tears, and she bit her lip to stop from sobbing when Vazi opened their eyes and spoke. "N-no, it's-I-," She stammered, bending over them as Cayenne focused on their work. "I need to be here, Vazi, I-" She took in a shuddering breath. "Who did this to you? Why did-why did they do this?"
She could barely bear it when Aleera had bitten her neck, and that was just one mark, one laceration, and she managed to heal it completely with her magic. This- this must be completely unbearable, and she wished she could do something to help, anything.
She heard Cayenne hiss, and with wide, watery eyes, she saw the small creature freeze and gaze at the plant growing out of their hand. Clover gave a wavering, weak laugh and said, "See, an earthen affinity. I knew you could do it."
Cayenne gave a startled smile, then dove the other hand into her satchel and watched more plants sprout from their arm with a wincing expression, but ignored it and started plucking leaves and mixing more salve. Clover watched silently, and heard them tsk and mutter that they needed better light.
Clover took this and immediately took a deep breath to bring out her magic, making it gentle so as to not hurt Vazi's eyes. It put the once beautiful stag in a harsh light, bringing every horrible mark to the eye, and a fresh wave of sorrow came over her. "Oh, Vazi," She said softly, tears falling.
He could hear her, keeping him grounded. How could he leave when he had her to protect? She was trying to be so strong, even through his hazy vision and watery hearing he could tell that she was crying. He didn't want her to cry. Not over him... The Pure One was too beautiful to be so upset. "I... wish... I am glad you are here... Just wish it was different..." He listened to her next question. Rage... So much rage boiled in his gut. The bear was still at large. He hadn't done his job. He had failed again just like that hyena had said. "The bear... Leon... He tried to steal my servant... Tried to stop him... Wanted to protect..." Who? Beast? He didn't. He only wanted to stop the bear from stealing him and corrupting his training. Fat lot of good that did.
He coughed again. Throat tightening as his eyes closed from the light that had suddenly been produced. There were more words spoken but he couldn't make them out. They were faraway. He simply muttered one more thing,
Cayenne listened with a slight frown to this as she concentrated on growing more plants from the small seeds left in the bottom of her satchel. The words spitting out of the hurt giant were cause for concern, toxic spittle and hatred rising when they mentioned a bear doing this to them. Cayenne didn't know what a bear was, but it had to be big and awful in order to wreck this much havoc.
She poured more of whatever this feeling was, this determination, into creating more seedlings that sprouted all over her hands and up her arms, but they were so small. It helped, but it wasn't enough. She tore leaves till there were none left, wincing as she did so, and made batch after batch of salve, slathering it over every single burn she could find with the help of the white giant's light.
She thought that the hurt giant had fallen asleep, since it had closed its eyes and fallen silent, so she frowned and looked over the cuts and scrapes and that ear that was almost off entirely. Could...could her plant magic help with this? She bit her lip, gnawing at it with her sharp teeth. Could she risk it, hardly knowing what her magic even did? She knew that she could coax seeds to life by using...her skin....as nutrients, but could she manipulate their growth?
She looked at Clover. "I think I can heal those wounds...but it might be dangerous. Do you want me to try?"
Clover stared at Vazi with tear-stung eyes. "Wh-what?"
Leon did this?
No.
No, that wasn't possible. She was just there, at the wedding, and it was beautiful and Leon was so happy with their new wife, she was there when she helped decorate, she - she may not know Leon very well, but they wouldn't just - Leon wouldn't have tried to burn Vazi alive - would they?
Vazi closed their eyes when she brought up her light, and murmured one last bit before they fell quiet. Tears fell from her face, and she felt shock still.
Pounce....Leon....Ji'Bassa....Aleera.....Baratheon, even what she had heard of the great dragon Raheerah...
...were they herbivores?
...no. And they had all hurt others.
She was silent, staring emptily, feeling toxic inside, and only Cayenne's soft raspy question snapped her out of it. "A-ah," She startled, glancing between her and Vazi. "Yes, please, Cayenne. Vazi is hurt, and he needs as much of your help as you can spare." She shook. "Please."