don't read this thread if you have a needle phobia or even a squick

The naga didn't consider this place to be a home. A house, yes- but not its own, and it didn't want one.

It was, however, where it went when its body was barely held together, mauled by a beast of the swamp. It held its face as purple blood caked its claws. The blood had long since clotted, but its hand was stuck to its face, and it did not want to risk the pain of ripping away that hand just yet.

And so, it surged through the undergrowth and crushed plants and sticks under its heavy tail, hopping forward on one hand to drag itself forward even faster. It needed healing. Attikias may ask questions, but right now, he was the only thing it knew that could heal this.

It wheezed as it surged through to the camp, screaming out without words as it looked for anyone. Its carapace was covered in blood and mud, and it heaved itself forward for one last surge before laying down by the empty firepit.

It was mad at the monster, yes, but it was more furious being here again.

Attikias had been idle once more- working, somewhat, but particularly aimless after he'd completed the flashlights. Could he, perhaps, try and make something else? He huffed out, lips askew as he settled into his workbench, thumb tapping on a piece of wood. He wanted to make, but anything he could think of, he'd just reject.

That is, until Erebos came streaming in. Briefly panicked, Attikias stood up abruptly and twisted, the stool falling backwards as he made eye contact with his child. "Erebos?" He tested, watching the kid. They were-

He gasped at the purple blood pouring from scrapes, the damaged exoskeleton, and he surged forward with his hands out. "Erebos!" He made for the naga's face, aimed to twist their head towards his. He needed to clean the wounds, needed to do something.

Breathing out anxiously, Attikias turned back to gather wet moss and returned swiftly to Erebos's side. Would they even let him touch them? He hesitated for a moment, searching Erebos's expression for a moment before pulling in, aiming to press the moss into Erebos's eye.

"What happened? Can you see?" He couldn't see the extent of the damage, but it didn't look good with all that blood. Who did this to Erebos? Why? It had gotten into fights before, but never this bad...

Where had they gone?

Erebos only hissed when its name was called out, quills weakly rattling as it arched its back. Suddenly, it regretted coming- it meant it'd have to deal with him, and he could feel the anger boiling back up through it. And yet- it wheezed, cringing at the pain as it pulled away its hand, fresh blood dripping out languidly as the wound was revealed.

It bared its teeth when its face was held, though it didn't have the energy to fight back. A weak hand grabbed Attikias's wrist, but it didn't dig in, nor did it pull his closer- it simply was.

And then, he was gone. Erebos dropped down as it breathed out, free from the cloying presence of its father. He'd be back soon enough, and Erebos braced himself for it, the arm holding himself shuddering under the pressure from above.

Its head was pulled back again, and it grumbled weaker this time, staring up at Attikias with its one good eye. Here came the questions. Testing the eye, Erebos whined out when it tried to blink, pain flourishing over the skin. "No." The statement came as a growl, and it flinched back when the cool moss pressed against its face. It had to endure, though- and it curled up its tail, hissing as Attikias cleaned out its wounds.

"F-fffix." It barely managed, looking away from the elf.

No? No what, it didn't want to say what happened, or no, it couldn't see? Attikias imagined it was the answer for both, and huffed out when Erebos pulled back. "I know- I'm sorry," he cooed, his other hand pressing at the back of Erebos's head to keep him steady. "I need to know if you got anything in these. It wasn't poisonous, right?" He waited for an answer before moving on to the rest of Erebos's body, patting down the blood with the moss and wiping it away.

The wounds were deep. Attikias fretted on that, briefly- his eyes glanced over the various bruises, too, and his eyebrows furrowed. "You need to stay here," he gently instructed, patting Erebos's undamaged shoulder. He'd stood soon after, and discarded the moss into the surrounding woods- it was nothing but blood, now.

He'd turned for a different bag- sewing materials, and he knew that they'd be needed to heal the wounds properly. "I'll fix this. Don't worry." He hesitated- he needed a thin string, and he didn't have much of that- and how would Erebos's eye fare with that? He grabbed what he could, anyways, taking his thinnest needle with him. When he returned to Erebos's side, he knelt down and pressed a thumb gently next to a claw mark on their cheek.

"This is going to hurt. Please, I need you to stay still to fix this, okay?" If only he had magic at his disposal- but, for now, he knotted the string in and drew the needle close, aiming to sew back up Erebos's wounds. The needle went in, at first-

And then it went into Attikias's thumb. He hissed out and jerked his hand back, the bead of his own red blood building at the prick. Shit, that hurt, and he stuck the edge of his thumbs between his lips for a second.

Of course, now Erebos had a whole-ass needle hanging out of his face, so there was that.

Erebos hissed at the apology. "No." Its response was louder to that- at least, it didn't think it was poisonous? It just hurt like hell, and nearly mauled Erebos to death. So, there was that.

When Attikias left again, Erebos slowly lifted its hand back up to cover its face, watching with its one good eye as he rummaged around for... Something. It would stay- where else would it go?- but it would still stare, glaring as it pressed into its wounds.

It wanted to stop bleeding. It needed to be fixed. It couldn't let this happen again- its face was so vulnerable, and it tapped its skin with its pin-point nails.

It backed up when the needle came close to its face. Attikias wanted to hurt it? He winced, muscles drawing up as the needle pierced it, breathing in a deep gasp of air. It-- didn't hurt as much as it expected, but it stung, and it stared as Attikias pricked himself.

Did he know what he was doing? Erebos could just do this itself, and it grabbed the edge of the needle to pull it the rest of the way through. It cried out when it did this and doubled over- the string had gone through, but the needle now dangled as it dipped its head, hissing out. So, that was a mistake.

Attikias drew in closer when Erebos retreated. "Still. Please," he begged quietly, pulling his thumb away from his mouth. They needed to get this over with. He held back Erebos's shoulder when they reached up, but he was too late to stop them- the needle had pierced, and they'd curled up, and Attikias huffed.

"I can handle this, please--" He looked to Erebos, looked at the pierce they inflicted on themselves, and felt a shiver run up his spine. No, that was wrong- and he grumbled as he pried Erebos's head back up, his other hand pulling on the string ever so gently to take the needle back out.

"Let's try that again, okay?" He'd wait for Erebos to be ready this time, holding the bloodied needle away from their grasp. "And let me handle it. Please. I don't want you to hurt yourself more."

He should've brought the moss over, he thought, as he wiped away its blood with his uninjured thumb.

There wasn't much else Erebos could do. It hissed quietly as Attikias pulled its head back up, the bone needle hitting its cheek as it dangled from its flesh painfully. The hissing turned to growling when the needle came back out, slicking it with its blood, and its hand came back up to its cheek.

"Hurts," it whined, dipping its head again and glaring up to Attikias. Why did it hurt? He should just get this over with, and it bared its teeth in a grimace as it stared to the needle.

A ragged huff, and it pulled its hand back down. "Can't... Happen again," it growled. It needed to cover its face... The rest of its body still bled, but that would heal okay. But its face- it hurt. And what if this happened again? It needed something- wood, maybe, and it stared at Attikias as it thought this.

He would make it some. It knew this, but it would wait for the right moment to ask, sitting still for the sewing process.

"I know. I'm sorry," Attikias sighed, piercing into Erebos's flesh again to sew them back together.

It would need a lot of string for this. And what about their eye? He could sew it shut for now, but would that be good in the long run? It'd hurt to sew directly on it, but he doubted it could be saved, anyways, so maybe sewing it shut would be the best bet...

He huffed, settling in as he went to work. There were a few scrapes that didn't need sewing, but he'd slowly worked his way through the major cuts, and sewed Erebos's eyelid shut after another moment of deliberation. It needed to heal, he figured- and he'd need to get some gauze over it, maybe. An eyepatch?

In any case, once he was done, Attikias patted Erebos's smooth shoulder before getting up to place his tools away. "Don't touch the sewing," he warned after a moment, returning the needle and string where he found both of them. He'd turned back to look at Erebos, thinking. That eye was going to weep with it sewed shut.

"You need something to cover your eye- I have some leather I can make something out of, for you," he began, stepping aside to gather up a smaller scrap of pelt. Something that could have plant material placed under it, maybe? He hummed, glancing back to Erebos as he considered this.

Erebos flinched constantly throughout the process, guttural as it watched the needle go through its face. Eventually, it just closed its free eye- it just had to get through this. A small wince, and Erebos waited, feeling the needle pierce through each time.

Eventually, it came to an end. What now? It couldn't open its other eye, and its hand came back again to touch-

It froze in place at the warning, its eye flicking to Attikias. He was going away to put away his stuff, and he'd be back. He grumbled gently, planting both hands down on the ground as it turned around to face him, staring further. Leather for its eye...

"Wood. Mask," it demanded, curling its nails into the soil. The beast that attacked it had covered its eyes with wood, and that would withstand more rather than leather. It didn't care about how it looked- it just needed to be covered.

Its tail curled around itself as it pulled its body in, staring up at Attikias with its one good eye.

Attikias's head half-turned to Erebos, looking to the damaged child. Wooden mask... He huffed gently. Yeah, that would work, he supposed, grabbing the leather strap he'd been going for. It'd be easier than an eye-patch anyways, he imagined, and he measured out just how long he'd probably need for a buckle. After all, Erebos would need a way to get it on.

It didn't take long for him to gather up the items needed, and he'd soon gotten a light piece of wood with a thick leather strap to use, a small belt, too, and his wood and leather-working tools. He'd put them on the worktable, and he turned to look at Erebos, watching them. He hesitated before getting to work, watching.

Eventually, he nudged his head to the side. "C'mere, Erebos." he gestured for the naga to come closer, to watch the process. He'd need some sort of covering, then- horns? One eye slit- the other would get covered by the wood, he'd imagined. It could get painted later, maybe...

But, it was through practice movement that he brought out the mask, using his own face as reference. That felt good, yeah- and eventually, it was complete- a triangular looking thing, with ear-like horns at the top. "How do you feel about this?" He turned it to Erebos before sewing the leather to the sides of the wood. It could be tied together at the back, or slipped over, and when he was done, he showed it to Erebos again.

"There. This way, you won't be tempted to touch the sewing." He sat down to Erebos's level, watching them. "Now, do you want to tell me what happened?"