Action. Thought. "Speech."

Forgraves, somewhere near where they had begun planning and building, had been fumbling around in the general area with the plants. his leg still hurt like all hell, but he gained valuable information from it, and since then had learned ways to keep it protected from the outside world and its contaminants. tying the occasional large leaf around it kept it in place and away from germs and dirt long enough for it to atleast heal up enough he didnt have to worry about it, but it still hurt, so now he was trying to figure out how to reasonably aid in easing pain that wasnt so surface level.

to say he was frustrated was a horrible understatement. he was hardly one for anger, but recently the odds had seemed unkind to him. he should've expected such from throwing himself into a medic position without knowing anything about BEING a medic. he didn't know magic, he didn't use magic, he didn't NEED magic. he just needed time. and luckily, a house takes a while, so he had that. but he was mumbling angrily to himself as he limped on the leg, still red and swollen, tempted to just cut it off. he yelled into the air in frustration, flopping his face into the grass below.

@Fairy

Ever the one to socialize, Fairy fluttered around the area that had been dubbed their little village, even if it was a half-built house and some cleared out space. There wasn't much to do with the house, at least for her, considering she couldn't pat down mud or tie things with her very-not dextrous legs and lack of hands or paws. So...flying around! And saying hello was what she would do!

She spotted the little white fox on the ground and veered her course to land by them, antennae curiously reaching to smell them. "Oh! The little fox! Hello there, how are you doing?" She'd only spoken to him once, briefly, when she'd called the little group together. But something was off. She smelled something on them, something that was sour and unpleasant. Was he in pain?

"Fox? Is everything okay?" She stepped forward, eyes roaming over their body until they looked at the leg on the opposite side of his body. "Is your leg hurt?"

@Forgraves

Action. Thought. "Speech."

He looked up at Fairy, smiling with a defeated expression. "Hello, Fairy, its nice to see you too. im-"

he paused. he wasnt fine. and after a few moments he sighed, and she seemed to notice that fairly well.

"yeah, hurt in on my way somewhere, it's been healing.. okay, but im having the most... ungodly amounts of trouble making it stop HURTING. practically ready to rip the blasted thing off already." he spat. "if im honest with you, i've been trying to find ways to heal other gembound on my own, and while its helped, i would've definitely preferred a less painful approach to my healing practice." he grumbled in frustration, tail flicking. he got to his feet, wincing.

"i've been trying to find something to help the swelling, if anything else. dont suppose you got any bright ideas?" he asked, looking back up to her.

@Fairy

She listened quietly as Forgraves explained, antennae still moving a bit, curiously. She couldn't show expression, with no proper mouth or expressive eyes, but if she could, she'd be showing sadness and pity. It looked like it really hurt and she couldn't do anything about it. She tried to think if she had anything that would help, but...no. She'd never had need of healing before.

"Oh, sweetheart," she crooned, sadly. "Don't rip your leg off! It's not worth it to lose it completely. But..." Her antennae drooped sadly. "No, I'm sorry I don't know what could help. Have you tried putting it in water? Maybe that will help? Or binding it? I don't know." She wasn't very good at this kind of thing, wings opening and closing behind her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

@Forgraves

Action. Thought. "Speech."

he thought for a moment. yes, he'd tried binding it. water? hm, also yes. he remembered putting his leg in the water to wash it off, but he also remembered falling asleep on the leg once shortly after, he was tired and needed a nap, and ended up lying weird on it, it felt numb but prickly when he woke up, awful, but also an improvement, maybe something to numb it and do that again but less prickly, did the caves have that? surely, he briefly remembered, as his thought train briefly and barely connected memories together as he racked it for any previous experience, that he had once stepped on some kind of spiky, small plant on his way to eridanus before the monarch, his leg felt numb for hours, possibly a defensive response from whatever he stepped on? maybe finding that again, or something like that, something to numb a pain temporarily rather than completely rid of it, and he needed to find something to reduce the swelling still but maybe he could use something else, the snow in polaris felt good on his leg the few times he had been there since the snowstorm, maybe that would help, he always felt better with an injury on something cold, like putting his scratched cheek to the cold of azrael's canis cave when he was a freshly born hatchling, that felt nice, maybe it was the same. lightbulbs going off in his head were endless, all because of one little brief connection in his head for memories. he smiled brightly up at fairy.

"ah, ive tried those, but dont worry! you gave me idea." he said excitedly, "you know how this place is full of plants, right? well maybe if we could find some type of plant with numbing properties, you ever been bit by something like that, like your feet or- well- wings, felt numb for a bit? that but like, not as bitey, something like that, i know plants can do stuff like that, we just need to find a plant that'll do that, and i remember stepping on one once that did that, i think it was trying to eat me, but if we can find it again we can probably extract it somehow, who knows! gah, fairy, you're brilliant!" he exclaimed, despite the fact fairy had suggested none of these things. he was getting there though, and slowly learning that, hey, fretting over every little bad moment in your life has its benefits sometimes.

@Fairy

She was downs for a moment, looking at Forgraves gloomily, sad that she couldn't do something to help, when he suddenly raised his head to smile at her. Oh, had she said something? Perhaps her very presence had inspired Forgraves to feel better! It ended up being kind of the first one, but she squealed in delight, all traces of sadness gone, when the fox went on a long ramble about his idea. "I haven't, but I'm sure we'll find the right one! Oh, I didn't do this, honey, this idea is all yours!" She lifted a leg and daintily patted Forgraves on the head.

"Now!" she leaned back, and lifted her front legs, rubbing the ends together as if she were rubbing her hands. "Plants for you! Coming right up! I don't know if they're the right ones but who knows!" So she looked at the ground and willed plants to emerge at her feet. To her delight, a few little tiny sprouts poked their way out of the earth below her. She let out a shrill sound of delight - it worked! "Look, Forgraves! Maybe they're the right ones!" She leaned down and poked at them, lifting the little leaves. "They're kind of small, though..."

@Forgraves

Action. Thought. "Speech."

He purred at the head pat, he liked those lots, reminded him of azzy. pushing aside the sudden wave of homesick, he watched Fairy do her magic.

small as the plants were, they were plants! and maybe they would be the right ones, maybe it depended on what the caster had in mind, he never knew, he didn't do magic and was sure he couldn't do plant magic, but it was fascinating nonetheless!

"this is amazing, fairy! small, but never underestimate nature, especially magical nature! and even then, we can always keep trying, or go on an adventure to find them, doesn't that sound fun?" he asked excitedly.

he took a few of the leaves off one of the small plants, chewing them up, since he doubted it'd do anything by just rubbing it, (and frankly he didnt want to), and spitting the mush onto his paws, rubbing it onto the afflicted area.

after a few seconds, it just began to sting, not horribly so, but enough to cause discomfort, the area turning even more blotched and pink beneath his white fur than it was before. so, with a sigh, he wiped it off, wincing at the oddly itchy feeling it left behind, scratching it lightly. "okay, not that one, maybe lets try again?" he asked, if she were willing.

@Fairy

Fairy looked quite pleased with herself, antennae springing up straight and her wings fluttering delicately behind her. "Ooooh I'm glad you like them! And that sounds like wonderful fun! I've never gone on an adventure with a friend!" It was so exciting, being in this village! She could make all sorts of friends with the townsfolk and they would all help each other! What a beautiful arrangement!

She watched, eyes glittering, as Forgraves applied the poltuce, watching to see if it did anything, but then let out a small gasp when he wiped it off to show that she had made it worse. "Oh," she squeaked. "Oh I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry does it hurt? Did I hurt you?!" She was on the verge of crying, legs trembling a bit as she was overcome with the sorrow of hurting a friend. How could she do that?! That was horrible! She never, EVER wanted to hurt a friend!

"I'm so sorry, Forgraves," she wailed pitifully. "I didn't mean to hurt you!"

@Forgraves

Action. Thought. "Speech."

He saw her mood immediately shift downhill, and moved to apologize himself, panicking. "no, no! you didn't hurt me, you're fine! this is the point of experimenting, it just itches! i know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose, okay? you're alright!" he quickly tried to reassure. "that was still really cool! im sure if we kept trying we could find a way treat stuff like this too! rashes and stuff! eridanus is full of plants like that, now we know to avoid this specific type of plant if we see it again in the wild! this could help people!" he said, trying to put a positive spin on it.

@Fairy

Fairy still looked quite miserable, given away by the droop of her antennae and the slight quiver of her wings. "S-still," she sniffled. "I'm so sorry. Stinging is hurting and I made the stinging happen. I'll try not to do it again." That's right, be positive! Forgraves was fine and the wound barely looked any worse! And they could just go find something else to make it better! They would figure it out.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. Thank you, I'll try again. For you!" And she willed, again, for plants to rise from the ground, in a different spot this time, and this time the ones that rose were a little different, although still equally in the same sprout stage. "They're still a bit small but I hope they work for you!" And she hoped they didn't make things way more worse.

@Forgraves