[PRP] Not a Social Call [Ea/Vlam/Azar]

[Kimaria]

He had been reduced to limping before the end and how he hated it. Looking weak and pathetic was not on the top of Azar'bijan's 'to-do' list and it wasn't as if he'd even gained the injuries in some epic battle against the enemy. He'd gotten them by sheer chance and to make it worse his 'good deed' had been painted as an act of malicious intent. Boy did these Firekin have him all wrong. He wasn't as heartless as they all had him down as but nooooo, Azar'bijan was always up to no good.

Apparently.

He didn't know why he bothered sometimes. He'd tried to save one of the regent's crazed children and all he'd gotten was a whole lot of verbal abuse and some nice new injuries to go along with it. The corporal just hoped they weren't as bad as they felt. Wounds out in the desert always hurt - what with the biting sand and the heat - but ones that hindered his step might prove to be a little more tricky to fix. If that stupid fool of a historian had cost him a place on the front lines of this war there was going to be hell to pay - she could be sure of that. He didn't train every day and go out on extended patrols just to sit back and let everyone else do the fighting for him. He'd never be able to live down the shame and how could he continue fighting his way up the ranks if his experience started lacking compared to others? His dreams would be shattered and--

--and yes, he was getting himself worked up. Probably over nothing.

The wounds he had suffered had bled, true, but the one on his nose that had split into one of his nostrils would leave aesthetic damage only. The scratches on his stomach might have been a little worse in terms of hindering movement but he would certainly live to fight another day. 'Fight' being the key word there.

The entrance to the medic dens brought some relief and he faltered a little to throw a glance around, looking for either his brother or his crazy mate. It was funny, really, that Fia's sister would be the one to fix the damage she had done.

Azar would just have to remind himself to laugh about it later. Much later.
 

[Mimsey]

It was gearing up to be a long day.

Not that Ea would say that any day was easy. Even when the wards were blessed with a quiet afternoon, the agitated doctor often filled the hours with noise: bullying apprentices and barking out orders to her longsuffering companion. Ea seemed to appreciate living in a constant state of drama and crisis.

But even so, it was one of those days. She'd already seen two patients this morning: one, heatstroke, and the other probably faking a cold to get out of patrols for the afternoon. She ate cases like that up for breakfast. Once she'd sent the errant lioness packing, Ea was considering lunch when Azar limped into the wards.

Her seething was almost audible. Before she could get her claws in him, Vlam went to his bother with a sort of stoic assessment of injury. It was often hard to tell Vlam's emotions, but it was clear he was respectfully concerned. Ea deflated somewhat, but wasn't about to let her brother in law off so easily.

"What happened to you?" she snorted, her wild eyes focusing directly upon the injured male. "If there's been another attack, I will kill someone."

It was always hard to tell when she was joking.  

[Kimaria]

Mimsey

Vlam's swift intervention from Ea's initial 'wrath' could not have been more welcome, though he tried not to show how much the crazy feline scared him. Perhaps it would have been better to just go and lick his wounds and keep them to himself. But doing that might mean a longer healing process and that, currently, scared him a little more than facing the 'lunatic' medic. At the moment, anyway. There was no telling how much scarier Ea might get in the next few minutes.

Azar gave his brother a look that loosely translated into: I don't know how you put up with her.

Then, with a low growl he shifted to take the weight off of the leg closest to the worst of the wounds and said: "Not Nergui. Would have been better if it had been." At least he'd have been able to kill the Nergui. "Inside attack this time. If you want to kill someone then go and kill your sister. I swear, she has totally lost it." His brow furrowed. "Oh, and you can take out her new best friend whilst you're at it. They're as bad as one another." He just wished he'd known that male's name. The only plus side was that he was clearly a joined rogue, what with those bizarre markings slapped all over his face. He'd pay for the insult. Azar'bijan did not give up grudges as easily as some. Sooner or later he'd dish out the payback and he'd be the one having the last laugh.
 

[Mimsey]

Kimaria

For a moment, Ea seemed shocked at Azar's explanation. Ea had known that Fia was agitated and distraught- but who wouldn't be? The recent deaths in the pride still hung heavy on her heart too. It was enough to drive anyone mad. But...it felt strange to suddenly be considered the more 'reasonable' of the two sisters. Ever since they had been cubs, Fia had always been the more clever, reasonable one. Ea wasn't sure what to make of this sharp change in personality.

Not that Ea was going to give Azar the benefit of her concerns. She snorted and crinkled her nose, pushing past the red lion to look over her current stock of herbs. "Hah! Well, it looks like my sister got the better of you, since I don't see her limping in here. I can only imagine what you did."

As she started to push around various roots and other oddities, Vlam shook his head to try and disuade Azar from retaliating, and directed him over to one of the 'beds'. It wasn't much- a small pile of desert grass and old furs, but in a harsh land a little comfort could go a long way to recovery. When Ea returned, her mouth full of something, he gave her a skeptical look.

The medic snorted, spitting out the root. It seemed that over the years, they'd learned to communicate without words. "You mentioned she had a friend? Who?"

If someone was encouraging this behavior in Fia...  

[Kimaria]

Mimsey

Azar snorted. "Of course she got off better. What do you take me for?" His ears pinned back, grumbling under his breath as he followed his brother's direction. He flopped down onto the dry grass with an irritable huff and glared at the medic from beneath the straggly bangs of his mane. He clearly missed the look shared between the couple, his thoughts still gathering from the threads of his last response. "I'm hardly going to risk future promotion by hurting one of the regent's kids now, am I?" Although she had deserved a good smack around the head. Perhaps that might have knocked some sense into her.

"I don't know his name. Some newbie trying to win favour, no doubt. He was mostly white with this strange...circular mark here." And he tapped his forehead with a paw. "Whoever he was, he hasn't learned who I am or else he wouldn't have been so disrespectful. These rogues need to be properly inducted." His complaining became inaudible mumbling again, until he finally seemed to snap himself out of his rant.

"Anyway what's done is done. Her little trek out for vengeance was cut short because I took the hasty action to stop her. Not that you'll see me getting any reward for it." Though his tone suggested that he clearly should have. These lions didn't know how lucky they were to have him in his ranks willing to be so skilful and honourable. A lesser lion might have tried to knock her unconscious and drag her back to the dens - not that he wasn't tempted by that option. "Sometimes I don't know why I bother."

Still, he really wished that he had known the lion's name. It would have been especially fun to watch him getting knocked down a peg or two by Ea.

"Anyway, enough about your sister. What about me? How long is this going to take? I've got work to do." Including teaching his new grandkids about the pride and honour they would have if they followed their grandfather into guarding when they were older...  

[Mimsey]

Kimaria

Ea rolled her eyes as Azar tried to excuse his defeat. Somehow, Ea doubted even the fear of demotion could keep a hothead like Azar from trying to win. Perhaps she underestimated him, but...Ea doubted it. Ea very rarely changed her mind on anyone.

But it was a delicate balance, playing snotty and still also being very interested in what her brother-in-law had to say. Everyone knew Azar had a temper, and so did Fia. This stranger though...she didn't like new additions to the equation. The fact that Azar didn't know his name meant he was either non military, or extremely new indeed. "And Fia has been...hanging out with him?"

Vlam seemed curious, but obviously couldn't influence the conversation one war or another. Since Ea was taken to interrogating his brother, Vlam started to tend to the scratches on his stomach. Luckily for Azar, they were rather well stocked thanks to some trading that had gone on at the outpost earlier in the month. These particular leaves were known to smell, but they had a soothing effect on angry welts.

Ea seemed content enough to let Vlam handle it. "You'll be fine, don't baby about it. What do you mean she was on a trek for vengeance?"  

[Kimaria]

Mimsey

He gave another dismissive shrug. "I guess so. He seemed to be able to get through to her, anyway. What I said didn't seem to make a blind bit of difference." Which really shouldn't have been surprising, but the way he said it made it sound as if it was. "But I'm not an expert on 'Fia's crazed exploits.'" In fact, he'd rather have steered way clear of her - and Ea, too, though unfortunately the latter twin had picked up on a profession that he found hard to avoid when facing possible injury. Ah well, avoiding one out of two wasn't too bad. He was never going to need an historian, was he? Unless, of course, he was filled with the sudden urge to have his portrait drawn up on a stupid slab of rock. Well...maybe he would after his fame was sealed with an epic battle against the Nergui...

...But if that was the case he just wouldn't ask Fia to do it. She'd probably just draw him with a big nose or something, anyway.

The red lion sucked a hiss of breath in between clenched teeth as Vlam started tending to his wounds. The stuff smelt disgusting, too, and he snorted loudly as if to clear his nostrils - which only aggravated the scratch on his nose.

His eyes narrowed in Ea's direction, clearly unhappy with being referred to as a 'baby'. But no. No. He was going to be a grown up about this. Don't acknowledge it and answer the question. Besides, it looked as if he was about to get someone into trouble. The idea was pretty gleeful.

"It was hard to make out much of her mad yelling but I think she was off to find herself a nice Nergui patrol to kill. It's ridiculous. Risking her life for an old, dead female who was probably going to die before the drought was done anyway - with or without the Nergui's help." A harsh comment, perhaps, but that was the way of it in Azar's mind. The weak died and the strong survived. That was how the world worked. "Next time she gets something like that into her head I might not be there to stop it."

And he glanced at his brother. "See, Vlam? And they say I don't care." He huffed, moody.  

[Mimsey]

Kimaria

Vlam's eyes widened, gathering what he could from Azar's words. Often times his silence seemed to beget a kind of sense that he were unawares of the current pridal situation. In that sense, nothing could be further from the truth. He was a father now, three times over. And while he might not have personally cared much for Fia, Fia was very important to his mate. He didn't like the idea of his sister-in-law running out into the desert, looking for vengeance.

Ea, on the other hand, was a bit more articulate. "SHE'S WHAT?" Ea snapped, stopping her care. She tossed one of the roots aside, letting it bounce against the far wall. "Is she still out there? With this male?"

She began to pace, her tail twitching. Whoever this male was, he was clearly responsible. Fia would not do anything so hasty on her own. "And you LOST to her? How could you let her go?"  

[Kimaria]

Woah. Okay. He was treading on dangerous ground now. Ea was getting riled and he was injured and everyone was getting their whiskers crossed! He pulled himself up a little as if readying himself to shoot out of the wards if things got too scary.

"No. No." He waved a paw in some pathetic attempt at placating her (he could be a real coward at times). "Once that other lion came along she stopped attacking and ran back to the dens." Although in all honesty she could have just ran a circle around them and headed back out. From the state she had been in, though, he was pretty certain she would have chosen to go back to her own den and hide there until things had blown over. She'd seemed more distressed than angry once she'd realised what she had done. "And what did you expect me to do? Beat her unconscious? You should be thanking me that I didn't lay a paw on her because I was damn well tempted." He growled at that, feeling his impatience rising again.

No thanks. No thanks at all. Life really just wasn't fair, was it?  

[Mimsey]

Ea stopped midstep, and held still. She held frozen so long that Vlam made a move towards her, and she swatted him away with her paw. Her brow furrowed into itself, and somewhere, Ea sprouted a grey hair. "

This other lion..." she finally said, her voice low. Even dangerous. Despite the fact that Azar had assured her that his arrival had stopped Fia from her crusade, he was still an unknown entity into their existence. Even if he had broken her off, she did not doubt that he was at least in part responsible. Fia did not do things irrationally. She certainly did not do things that Ea would not understand. This 'other'...was he instigating rage in her? Trying to use her grief to his advantage?

She bristled, and then stomped her paws on the den floor. This would not stand. "I clearly need to become more informed on this situation! Vlam!" She barked, ordering him like a drill sergeant.

Vlam leaned his head to the side, politely listening.

"Take care of your brother, I am sure between the apprentices and you you should have little problem," she quipped, already shoving various things around. "I am going to go see what is going on here."

And without another word, she charged out of the den. Flattening his ears, Vlam turned towards his brother and shook his head in silent camaraderie.