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 Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:57 pm
 There were times when Gyllene was faced with a particularly unsavory task. Usually this involved lions with busted bones, and sometimes (if Gyllene found herself horridly unlucky) they were the type of broken bones that pierced the skin, and often meant the end of a reaver's career. Gyllene always did the best she could when faced with these life-threatening injuries, and it was always easier to handle when she had a second pair of paws to help her. A second, stronger, male pair of paws that were attached to a strong male body, preferably one capable of holding down the wounded lion while Gyllene did her best to straighten a leg or a toe or, in this instance, a tail. The tail was attached to a thrall who had gotten underfoot, and he was not pleased. The tail itself was in dire danger of needing complete amputation, but Gyllene didn't dare explore the wound until she had someone else assisting her. She'd fed the thrall a small stash of berries she kept to dull the pain, and plied him with mint, as well. Then, while waiting for both substances to kick in, she'd sent a thrall to look for Ru. There might have been other reasons she'd sought him out, but it wasn't as if she'd admit to them.
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:05 pm
 "Gyllene wants me to come to her den in the middle of a healing, and she didn't tell you why?" Ru questioned the thrall who had been sent for him.
He would go, regardless, but that didn't mean he wasn't curious. Healings were generally private affairs, in Ru's experience. Or maybe that was just because he didn't like to let anyone know he had found himself in a position to require healing and assumed other reavers felt the same. He couldn't possibly be the only reaver too proud to admit publicly that he could use some sort of medical assistance now and then.
In the mean time, the thrall gave no answer and so Ru shook his head and pushed past him. "Thank you for delivering the message. I know where I'm going, so you needn't guide me there." Not that the thrall had offered.
When he arrived at Gyllene's den he strode in with every appearance of total confidence. A person would have to be sharp-eyed to notice the way he habitually checked the corners for hidden assailants. He saw no enemies, just a woozy thrall whose tail didn't look right and Gyllene. He smiled at both of them, though maybe a little more at Gyllene.
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:13 pm
Any simpering look Gyllene might have given Ru was mercilessly squashed. Gyllene had never been one to give anyone simpering looks, let alone a Captain. She had to remind herself that the constant twittering of the younger females in the pride this time of year (it was Spring, after all) were beneath her, and she also had to remind herself that she was not interested in Captain Ruzanski.
Perhaps she had to remind herself three or four times, but by the fifth time she finally felt capable of speech that didn't sound entirely breathy and utterly flirtatious. She was a grown lioness, by the Gods, and she was far too old for harboring licentious thoughts -- oh, by the Stormlord's s**t-crusted taint.
"Captain," Gyllene slanted a gaze in his direction, all business, "I'm so glad you could make it. This thrall has a wounded tail, and I've got to either set it somehow, or remove it entirely."
She ignored the horrified look the thrall gave her. My, the Captain was looking well. Robust, really. Handsome -- no, he looked ugly and awful, and he smelled funny too, and why were her thoughts running away with her they way they were?!
"Usually when faced with pain such as this, a lion in need of treatment tends to lash out at me. I need you, Captain, to hold this thrall down so that I might provide them with the care they need."
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:30 pm
"I can remove it. Shouldn't be too difficult," Ru offered, completely misunderstanding what was being asked of him. "Except now that he's heard me say that, I expect I'll have to move a bit faster. Or you could hold him down."
He gave her a look that said he was up for either option and did his best not to look like he was wondering why he had been brought in on this. If she didn't like performing amputations, he could do it this one time, but in the future he would probably suggest she find someone else. He knew for a fact that he was among the last lions a person would want around them if they were injured. He knew enough first aid to keep them from dying, maybe, but his bedside manner left much to be desired.
"That might be a more sensible course of action," he agreed after hearing the rest of what Gyllene had to say. "I probably have about as much experience in restraining struggling bleeding lions as you do, and I weigh a good deal more."
He moved closer and looked at the wounded lion in frank appraisal. "Where do you want me?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:46 pm
The thrall seemed quite a bit more subdued by this point, though perhaps still a little worried about what was going to happen to his tail. There was a goofy smile on his face, one that spoke volumes as to how the mint and berries were affecting him, and after raising a brow, Gyllene gestured towards the prone thrall.
"Sit on him, somehow. Across his chest? Or hold his head down, perhaps. I think he's feeling little pain at this point, thanks to the mint and berries. I'm almost absolutely certain I'm going to have to remove the tail, but at least this fool won't find himself in the same predicament later."
Gyllene snorted softly and forced herself not to ogle Ru's impressive physique. Gods, but he was pretty.
"Let me know when you think you're situated enough, and I'll get to work. I appreciate your help," she added almost as an afterthought, and hoped that he wouldn't ask why she'd sent for him, specifically. Gyllene wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to believably lie, quite frankly.
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:18 pm
Ru decided to just drape himself across the thrall's shoulders. It would make it difficult for him to suddenly whip around and snap at Gyllene and keep Ru well out of her way at the same time, though it wouldn't do much about the thrall's hindquarters. Hm.
"One second."
He rearranged himself across the thrall's haunches instead, still in a position to intercept instinctive snapping, but better able to control the half of the body that oughtn't to move. Though, of course, everyone knew tails have minds of their own so holding the tail still was Gyllene's job, not his. He took no responsibility for that unless he was specifically asked to. He wasn't sure he had enough limbs, but he could try.
"Okay, we should be good. Do you have to perform this kind of procedure often?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:08 pm
Gyllene waited until Ru had gotten himself situated - and, of course, was sure to ogle him just a little while he did so. She really wasn't certain what had gotten into her. If he caught her trying to discreetly eye his impressive form, Gyllene was certain she would absolutely combust.
"Not too often," Gyllene positioned herself across from Ruzanski, placing her foot directly on the thrall's tail just above the obvious break. "But it's never pleasant when I do."
She had to actually admire herself for the way she sounded. Cool and businesslike. She didn't sound like she wanted to smash the thrall's head in so she could be alone with Ru and explore his fine body in ways that she couldn't really comprehend. It was how she felt, but it wasn't how she sounded.
She watched the tail move, though the tip of the tail remained listless and immobile. It was probably severed somewhere along its length, and Gyllene grunted softly. Delicately. A lady-like grunt, to be sure.
"Someday I'll take a thrall so that I don't need to do the more... distasteful procedures myself."
Gyllene had little doubt the tail would heal, which was good. No need for amputations. She really hadn't been looking forward to gnawing off the damaged bit of tail, which was what she would have done had she been alone.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:47 am
Had Ru been aware that he was being ogled he probably would have laughed. And been a bit confused. He had never been able to understand why Kazul found him as attractive as she had claimed to. He had always felt that he was too weird to really be appealing to anyone, even when presented with incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. So finding out that Gyllene found him attractive probably would only have made him laugh in confusion.
Oblivious to Gyllene's attention, Ru watched with some interest as Gyllene prepared herself to perform this surgery. He had been viking with female reavers and encountered warlike goddesses, so he knew full well that females were completely capable of violence at need, but he was still curious about how she was going to do this. He'd never seen anyone have a body part amputated before. Yes, he still thought he was helping with an amputation.
"Sounds like a plan. Though I'm sure your patients would feel better knowing they were under your care instead of a thrall's. Will it distract you if I talk to you, or should I be quiet?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:47 am
She wished he would never stop talking, in truth. His voice was simply divine - Gods, there she went again. Gyllene narrowed her eyes and forced herself to focus. She was acting so foolish, and she didn't really know why. It was utterly ridiculous, and Gyllene had never been the sort to be fluff-brained. "It won't distract me," Gyllene smiled in Ru's direction. Did it sound like she was purring when she talked? It certainly felt like she was purring when she talked. "I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have, if you have any, of course - it would be silly to think that you'd have any questions, though, I mean -- well, I'd better look at this wound." Gods, she was embarrassing herself. First by throwing a pawful of salve in his face the first time they'd met, and now by babbling like a tittering adolescent. Her ears felt like they were burning. The wound itself was a mess, but nothing that she couldn't handle. She used her claws to cut away mangled bits of skin, which gave way to shattered bone beneath. It wasn't a pretty sight, and in fact it was worse than she'd first thought.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:33 am
"Okay, great," Ru said. He winced when he looked at the thrall's tail. "Any idea how this guy got his tail all mangled?"
He didn't poke at the injury, but for a moment he had been tempted to. Just to see how thoroughly drugged the patient was. And because he'd never seen that part of someone's tail. He was still peering at it with a fascination that probably would have unnerved the thrall had he been aware of it.
"Also, I was thinking of challenging Njal," he remarked as casually as possible. He wasn't really sure why he said that. He just...felt like it.
Probably he shouldn't have said anything. So far he had only discussed the idea with Vol and Tuomas, and only in hypotheticals. Saying it to somebody else put him in an awkward position. Now he definitely had to act on it, or else get a reputation as a braggart.
Brilliant.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:18 pm
"I would guess he probably got in someone's way," Gyllene ignored the way the thrall giggled. It was good he was feeling no pain. What she was going to do was going to hurt no small amount. The tail was broken and the deeper that Gyllene made her way through the mangled muscle and skin, the more obvious it became exactly how broken it was. Thankfully whatever had crushed the tail had done most of the work for her, and all that was left for Gyllene to do was to separate a few pieces of tendon and muscle before severing the skin altogether.
Her sharp claws glinted in the low light of the den, and it was an instant before Gyllene meant to apply her claws to flesh that she actually heard what Ru said. His words took a moment to sink in, and when they did she lifted her eyes to meet his.
She cleared her throat without breaking eye contact, and struggled to tame her rampant thoughts. Was he hoping to become Warlord so that he could take Kazul to wife without worry? She'd heard the bards tell stories. She'd heard the rumors - and there had been many. Kazul was dead. Kazul had killed her cubs. Ru had been the father of the litter. There was even the rumor that Ruzanski preferred the company of males, not that she believed that particularly vicious lie.
"Challenging Njal. You would be Warlord."
Gyllene the healer, mistress of stating the obvious.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 1:29 pm
Ru tried to imagine a scenario where he got in someone's way in such a way that his tail ended up looking like this thrall's. Since he was a reaver, it wasn't too difficult to imagine, but trying to figure out how a thrall could have done it was more challenging. Maybe he got in someone's way and it was done deliberately. Ru disapproved of permanently damaging thralls on general principle, whether they were personal property or not. Someone had gone to the trouble of catching them, and it was inconsiderate to render all that effort pointless.
"If I won," he said, careful not to assume a victory. "I may not. I could lose, and then Njal might kill me or enthrall me, or maybe exile me."
Njal was a very good fighter, as far as Ru knew. It bothered him that he had never seen him in combat, but Njal had never seen him in combat either, so things evened out. Ru was younger though, and he had more recent combat experience. He considered the matter without any real concern. It had been in his mind for a while, so his thoughts were running down familiar channels.
"You've been here for more of his rule than I have. What do you think he would likely do?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:11 pm
"If you lost, I think he would kill you. Or maybe," she glanced back down and continued slicing through the thrall's tail, "he would enthrall you, only to have you killed in a less public display. Sometimes I don't think that Njal is the one entirely in power, here," Gyllene's voice dropped. This topic wasn't one that she felt company speaking of in front of a thrall, but she doubted that the thrall would remember much of the entire procedure.
The tail was removed and pushed aside. Gyllene snagged a piece of butter-soft hide and a small shell filled with a foul-smelling salve.
"What will you do if you win, then?"
It really was a roundabout way of uncovering his intentions. Gyllene really was dying to know. She pretended to keep busy by applying salve to the severed tip of the thrall's tail, all the while watching Ru as discreetly as she could.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 3:12 pm
"It doesn't sound like you think too much of him," Ru said, and then realized that could be interpreted as a leading sort of statement. Like someone would make if they were trying to get somebody to admit to something or say something incriminating. It was impossible to unsay it, of course, but he could at least have the decency to drop the subject. But not without adding one last thing: "Some time you'll have to tell me who it is you think is in power."
He glanced around the den as if looking for some sort of inspiration or searching for the right words, but in fact he really wasn't entirely comfortable with watching her pushing around a recently-removed bit of tail. He hadn't expected to feel that sort of squeamishness. He committed violence on a regular basis and had little difficulty with that. Huh.
"It's going to sound stupid," he muttered. A person didn't go around throwing words like justice and equality about without sounding more than a little stupid. At least, Ru had always gotten that impression. Personal honor and integrity were important and no one in the pride would question a lion's devotion to those ideals, but somehow justice and equality sounded naive.
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 3:23 pm
"Next time we're alone," Gyllene nodded as she wrapped up the tip of the amputated tail. Claws were clumsy things when it came to tying fabrics and leathers, but Gyllene had been healing for so long that such things came natural to her now. She would tell Ruzanski exactly how she felt regarding current leadership when the time was proper, but now wasn't that time - no matter how inebriated the thrall was.
Once the tail was properly bound, Gyllene took up a scrap of fur and wrapped the amputated piece up in it. She'd let the thrall dispose of it however he saw fit once he sobered enough to do so.
"You can tell me," Gyllene sounded utterly curious, and she watched Ru closely. She couldn't imagine Ru saying anything that sounded stupid. She didn't really know him that well, not just yet... but he didn't seem the sort to say foolish things.
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