[PRP] Keeping Beasts at Bay (Nemesis + Devi)

[Tsunake]

His vision swam violently as he cracked his eyes open, grunting as his cloven hooves dug into the soil. Nemesis rolled himself upright with a pained sort of snarl, his breathing labored. His ears twitched as he registered a soft, flippant sort of voice speaking to him, and awareness dawned on him. The mare. She was close, staring at him wearily as if she felt just as drained as he did. He was too exhausted to put effort into driving her off, his legs throbbing with the mere thought. Whatever she'd said was lost on him, but he didn't pay it much mind.

"Delightful," He rasped, his mouth tasting like blood and grit. His flanks tensed as he attempted to muster the energy to get to his feet--but pain lanced through that ruined wing and forced him to stay down with a snarled hiss. Not a bright idea, he thought dizzily. Not if he wanted to stay conscious for much longer.

In the silence punctured only by his wheezing breath, it occurred to him that she had been asking about his condition. As much as he was loathe to admit it, she deserved an honest response. "The bleeding has stopped." Nemesis said, "As you said it would."

Being out in the open like this, knowing there might be a Skinwalker nearby, waiting to prey upon him while he was down, was hardly comforting. Still, the Kalona knew he couldn't get himself to move right now. With an exhausted huff, the stallion's head drooped, not caring about the golden-mare nearly nestled against his side. "Is healing so much of a burden?" He asked, having never truly experienced it before until this moment.

This day was too bizarre for his tastes.

Lady_Ourania

 

[Lady_Ourania]

She had to budge back awkwardly to avoid having her knees pinned underneath him as he moved. Devi breathed a puff of air in his - very near - ear with half-meant recrimination. Isn't this cozy? she thought in a derisive undertone, even as her fatigued body delighted in the warmth of another nearby. It had been a while since she'd had an opportunity to lie next to someone without expectation or enthusiasm deciding the trajectory of their interaction in advance. He was immense enough to eclipse her, a fact that might have elicited a certain thrill at any other time. Only the idyllic quality to the situation was dampened by the overpowering scent of blood and the soured set to the Kalona's mouth when he finally spoke. Her ears swiveled at the remark, grated out and uncomfortable. Whether that had more to do with his existing injuries, or her careless proximity, Devi had no intention of digging deeper. If he wanted space, he could get up and earn it. Still, the response pleased her. So he could be funny. Or sarcastic, at least, which meant he might be capable of higher forms of humor despite the stormfront appearance he put forth.

Wrapped up in inner musings, it took her a second to register his next words. Then she chuckled, the sound cast low so that it caught in the limited space between them. "Turns out I'm a mare of my word. Shocking, I know. Try not to let it shake your worldview." Although, if she were honest with herself, no one was more surprised than her by the outcome. She'd offered to try and heal him because there had been no real downside. Personal culpability notwithstanding, either he lived and limped off to fight another day, or he died and left a mess on the mountainside. In both scenarios, her continued existence was a constant. Strange, then, that she found this result more desirable. Devi's dormant skill set may have manifested too late to help her family, but at least someone had benefited from her gung-ho approach for once. It helped that it was an ending Chimalsi would have appreciated.

Her jaws popped in a yawn, tail flicking until it bounced off his own spaded example. Probably a handy mutation, she acknowledged, prehensile in a way hers was not. Some muddled instinct urged her to tickle it gently with the tuft of her tail, curious to see if it might rise to the occasion. He'd used it in the fight like any another weapon in his repertoire, keen and practiced and mean with it. A shame, given the many other potentially entertaining uses it might serve. She could think of at least three off the top of her head, more if she expanded her criteria beyond casual intimacy.

Devi opened her mouth to tell him as much, mostly to fill the silence. But his question emerged first, and the suggestion evaporated on her tongue. It was the first time in their brief acquaintance that he'd attempted to initiate a conversation. Admittedly, between his wounds and her own running commentary, he hadn't had much opportunity. Honey-colored eyes ticked from his slouched posture to the red irises that matched the stains on his coat. Difficult to gauge intent with a face like his, but she didn't think he meant to insult her. Or if he did, he was going about it the wrong way. "When you're not really built for it," she answered with a slight shrug, opting for candor over the more colorful options. "I may have mentioned that I'm not a unicorn. If you need me to walk on water, or soothe your troubled soul with my presence, I'm happy to oblige. But it turns out my kind aren't equipped for healing lethal injuries. In fact," she continued, putting on her most fetching smile, "If not for my grandmother's dalliance outside her herd, you probably wouldn't have made it."

Tsunake

 

[Tsunake]

His ear twitched irritably at the sudden puff of air, as though the motion alone could banish the memory of the action in its entirety. Her cheeky reply only earned a grunt. He saw no sense in offering a verbal reply only so she could twist it about in any way she pleased. His dark hide rippled briefly as her tail swished against it, as though fending off the inevitable itch. Though his own mane dragged against his body on the daily, the sensation of another was foreign, strange, and entirely unwelcome.

Not that he had much of a choice right now, as pathetically sprawled out as he was. Still, her words sparked something in him, to the point where he sat up a bit straighter with a growl of effort. Her grin was met with a baleful side-eye, his teeth audibly grinding against one another as he thought.

"Did you even think you could really stop the bleeding?" For once, it wasn't an accusation. She'd tried and succeeded, and that was really all that mattered to him. Still, had it just been bravado born in the face of a desperate situation?

He huffed at himself before he could stop it, irritated with himself for even initiating the conversation. She was a lesser--a creature that would fade from memory once he'd regained his strength and left.

Still. He didn't bother call it off. It wasn't as though he was able to be up and walking anytime soon.

Lady_Ourania

 

[Lady_Ourania]

She felt him twitch and jitter against her, the light, constant contact she initiated grating against whatever superior instincts he boasted. Devi debated taking pity on him, shuffling back just far enough to give him the space he seemed to crave. Debated it, and decided he could deal with it. He wasn't actively bleeding anymore, though the state of his wing made her cringe internally every time she heard it scraping in the dirt. Healing the surrounding tissue must have dampened some of the agony; either that, or he'd developed the kind of pain tolerance that struck her as detrimental in the long run. Witnessing his attack on the Skinwalker, the way he'd hurled himself at it with no regard for safety, for strategy, made her suspect the latter.

Her eyes darted to him as he straightened, a little pulse of mingled surprise and interest flowing through her as she tilted her chin up to meet his aggravated stare. He really was well-toned, solid, the sort of immovable object that dared everything else to move around it. The teeth weren't as much of a turn off as Devi had imagined they might be, even as he sharpened them on each other, clearly weighing his words. "You must talk all the pretty ladies' ears off," she murmured to him in an undertone, tempering her smile into something she hoped looked encouraging.

When he deigned to speak, it wasn't what she'd expected in the slightest. A golden brow climbed weary features, and she studied him for a moment, trying to gauge his reaction in advance. The part of her that was still alert, still attuned to his nearness, the threat he presented, warned her to hedge, to lie. But the snort that followed caught her off-guard in a different manner, an almost self-effacing quality to it that set it apart from the chilly dignity he broadcast at all times. The sound loosened some of the wariness twined through her chest, softened her toward him. He obviously wasn't used to this, making an effort to keep a conversation afloat. The least she could do was ensure it didn't capsize.

Drawing in a breath, she flicked her gaze away, taking in the tracts of dried blood littering the ground with a clinical curiosity. "Honestly? My biggest contender before you was healing scrapes from overzealous blackberry bushes. I'm sure you'll agree that it doesn't generate the same sense of urgency." She paused, considering the potential for backlash before she added with a shrug, "I took a chance. No offense, handsome, but you weren't getting any better offers."

The alternative was letting him bleed to death, watching it happen inch by red inch. Far from the first time she'd witnessed someone succumb to their injuries while she sat helplessly by, murmuring useless comforts. But she'd been younger then, less certain of herself. Funny to think that some fillies grew up to save bloodthirsty Kalona from their own follies. And it had been folly, even if he'd ultimately succeeded in driving the creature off. She swiveled back to him at that, the rueful slant to her mouth diminishing by degrees, turning sharper, searching. "My turn. Did you have a plan when you charged that Skinwalker? Aside from protecting my delicate virtue, I mean."