The World Turned Upside Down

[Jenn]

January 10th

... 
"-can you hear me?"
Fire, she was on fire. Or was it ice? Her body felt hot and cold at the same time. She could feel someone poking and prodding at her, and the vague feeling of laying on a bed. Were those voices? They sounded so faint and distorted, as if they were underwater.
"Check her vitals."
"Is she going to be okay?"
She let out a low mumble, maybe it was supposed to be words, but nothing coherent came from her mouth. Everything felt heavy... she just wanted to sleep this off, she wanted to rest and give her grace time to heal her body. She knew she'd be fine if she could just have time to heal, but it seemed whoever was talking didn't want to let her sleep. The voices were starting to become less muffled,
"Hey, I need you to stay awake. Can you open your eyes?"
Jenn groaned when someone tried to open one of her eyes, shining a light in her face. She tried to jerk her head away from the bright light, closing her eye,
"No... wanna sleep..." she mumbled, her own voice sounding heavy.

[Sophia]

The young unicorn frowned, as she frantically moved back and forth past the angel that was laying in the central cot of the medics’ tent. Her horn was glowing a soft white color, as she lifted antiseptic and bandages out of a rudimentary first aid kit.

Sure, these wouldn’t heal wounds with grace flowing out, but it would at least slow down the flow of it.

“Jenn? I need you to keep your eyes open, you can’t sleep right now. I know it’s what you want to do, but we need you awake.” Sophia said gently, as she began to anesthetize the angel’s wounds, followed by the bandages.

She turned to one of the other medics, blue eyes filled with worry.

“Are her vitals stabilized?” she asked.

She never knew the battle would turn out this bad. Of course, she never expected battle to be a cakewalk, but this level of injury was something she hadn’t seen before. She could only hope that her brother and the others weren’t just as injured as poor Jenn.

Venom cannot remain in the body. Any amount, even just a little bit, can cause the blood to thicken, and block the heart from pumping. You must guide it out of the body, before it has the chance to kill.

Raphael’s words echoed in her head, as she touched the tip of her horn down to Jenn’s bandaged skin, attempting to find the source of the venom that was flowing through the angel’s veins. Once she found it, she used her magic to slowly guide it out, bit by bit. She used the scalpel to widen the wound, to allow the venom to come out easier.

[Jenn]

She could hear the voice more clearly now, and pinpointed it as Sophia. The unicorn asked her to stay awake, even though all she wanted to do was rest and heal.
Nevertheless, she listened, and opened her eyes, just enough to see the hazy figure of Sophia standing over her. The medic was dabbing at her wounds with antiseptic.

"Sophia..." she mumbled, but she was cut off when Sophia turned to ask one of the other medics about her vitals.
As the angel started to come to, she became increasingly aware of everything that was going on. Sophia had bandaged her wounds, though it seemed nothing had been done about her dislocated wing yet.

When Sophia used her magic to draw out the venom from her body, her eyes shot wide open, and she had to bite down on her lip to keep herself from screaming. The venom hurt just as much leaving her body as it had going in.
"Sonofabitch!" she growled through gritted teeth.

She was breathing heavily by the time all the venom had been removed from her veins. She held back the need to glare at Sophia, she knew the unicorn was only doing her job, and trying to help.

[Deleted]

Pain echoed through Khan like a hot knife, old bones feeling ten times older and every ache and pain he had coursed with a dull thrum of discomfort. His face especially hurt, one would think with all the scar tissue it would cease any reminisce of agony but Shere-khan was so painfully wrong. He had resigned himself to one of the darkest corners of the room he could find. Mending his wounds the best way he knew how. His tongue ran across the damaged flesh as carefully as he could manage. But the sand papery like texture ripped and tore at it, which was both necessary and painful as he cleaned the wounds.

His ears hardly seemed to move until the son of a bitch was uttered by Jenn. It seemed like consciousness had finally reeled her back into the living and the tiger couldn't help but cast a glance over at her. She had taken quite a nasty hit from that damn Cobra. Hell, a lot of them were lucky to be alive as it was.

[Esmeralda]

Esmeralda wasn't a medic but she was something like a point of authority. So she was in the medic bay assisting as best as she could coordinating things. She had a few injuries herself, the worst being the fingers on her left hand had been smashed. Not broken, thankfully, but they would still need to stay splinted and cared for. Until then she could still help. While her medicinal knowledge wasn't to the level of a healer, she was still at least capable of triage, organizing people according to need. Right now, the greatest danger was to their resident angel, Jenn.

She let Sophia focus on her, the unicorn was one of their most experienced medics and would be able to give her the most help. Icarus was a capable medic, but Esmeralda felt that his disability might be too much of a hindrance to Sophia in this current state of affairs. She caught Icarus by the shoulder, drawing him away when he finished with bandaging one of the rogues.

"Icarus, could you take a look at Shere-Kahn? He's in the back corner by the rack of tinctures and poultices," she clarified to give the blind boy a mental map to his patient, "He might be difficult to treat, unaccustomed to human medicine. Be careful and don't push too hard. But I think he can only do so much cleaning his wounds."

[Icarus]

It really hadn't taken Icarus all that long to grow accustomed to life without his eyes, he'd spend countless hours pacing through mentally learning his way around, and by now he had a fairly solid idea of where everything was. He'd honestly never been very medically inclined before, but his mother had been, and he carried a lot of her teachings with him. This had been the first battle though, his first chance to really prove that he could hold his own and carry his weight...He only wished there hadn't been this much hurt inflicted on his friends...But that was war, he supposed.

When Esmeralda caught his shoulder, he turned his empty stare her way and nodded, "yes ma'am." He didn't let the nerves creep into his voice, he didn't have very much experience with the tiger, but Sher-Kahn was an imposing presence, he didn't need eyes to know that this was a cat that he needed to handle with respect, most people didn't like having their dignity stripped, but he imagined that was doubly so for him, "I'll take care to mind myself." He promised, before turning in the direction she'd directed him.

He slowed his approach a little as he sat down with his things next to the great cat, close, but not too close just yet, "I'm sure you made them regret doing that to you." He spoke carefully, "if you tell me where you're hurt, I can help? On your own time, I'm in no rush." He would wait here all night if he had to, stubborn to the last, for the old tiger to accept his help.

[Deleted]

Angel pawed listlessly at a bright red bouncy ball, one of the many toys Scamp and Danielle had brought from home. She had not been picked to go to Australia, and it was so obvious why. Why would Clopin send a toy breed to battle when he could send a wolf, a tiger or an actual angel? Sure, Angel may have been able to hold her own on the streets, but she was no mastiff or Rottweiler. Angel knew she was half Pomeranian from her mom, and her promiscuous mom did not know whether Angel had golden retriever, Samoyed or Finnish Lapphund in her. Not that it really mattered. Angel had just turned a year old, and it did not look like she was going to get any taller, golden retriever or not. 

It was not that Angel wanted to go to Australia. She knew just as well as Clopin what would most likely happen to her if she had gone. But that did not change the fact that the other shadowkeepers were out there risking their lives to defend their hive. All while she just sat there, playing with a ball.

Angel heard a cry of pain and felt a throb of fear. That could only mean one thing. The shadowkeepers were back. She got up and sped off in that direction.

Something was wrong.

In a few hurried strides, Angel was at the medics' tent. She had heard Jenn breathing before she saw her. Splayed on a cot, Jenn was panting hard, drawing in irregular lungfuls of air in such a way that suggested the angel was almost done in. She had been sliced open, and the pungent smell of blood made the Pomeranian mix feel very nauseated. Sophia and a team of medics were diligently working on her, so Angel let them be, not wanting to get in their way. Shere-Khan had also been wounded, and it looked like Icarus was tending him. He may need some help though.

It seemed Esmeralda was in charge, so Angel deferred to her. 

"Where do you need me?" 

[Sophia]

The unicorn drew out the poison successfully, earning a very loud “SONOFABITCH!” from Jenn. She winced from the sudden yelp, pinning her ears back. But her magic kept a tight hold on the poison, and she guided every last drop into a glass nearby. She then touched her horn to the point of entry on Jenn’s arm, using her magic as a painkiller. It wouldn’t ease all of her pain, but it would make it more bearable.

“Jenn. I’m sorry to put you through so much. I hope the magic eases your pain a little bit.” Sophia said, as she worked her magic through Jenn’s veins. She rested a hoof on the angel’s hand, observing Esmeralda and the other medics tending to Khan. The old tiger had suffered quite a blow to the face, and she hoped to the gods that the next soldier to come in wasn’t her brother.

As if on cue, her pink haired brother walked in through the canvas flap of the tent, a somber expression on his face. Next to him was King Clopin, with an equally serious expression. The two of them met Sophia’s gaze, and made their way over to the injured soldiers.

“Mes amis, you all put up a hell of a fight out there against those bottle ale rascals. But alas, there is no war without injury, and for that, I am truly sorry. But know this. Those Blackbloods will pay for what they have done to us, and in our next battle, we will have the upper hand. I can promise you that much.” Clopin announced. He knew that perhaps not everyone could hear him, but if enough of them heard his words, that was fine by him.

Bob meanwhile, sat by his sister’s side, quietly observing her delicate care of Jenn, in a manner that was the complete opposite of his usual, bubbly self. His dark blue eyes were filled with worry, as he hoped that the angel would pull through.

[Deleted]

The tiger king was perfectly content with being left alone while other members of the Rogues were focused on. As far as he was concerned he didn't need anyone's help but his own. Yet even though he had already mentally prepared himself for being on his own, Clopin's sibling sent someone his way. A kink in his 'brilliant' plan. He had heard the tack of the man's shoes before he saw him. One black tipped ear curled towards the sound and his gaze was met with the sight of a blind man.

Icarus, right? He believed that was the name he had heard Emse spit out.

A judgemental thought was quick to pass through his mind but it quickly subsided as he mentally realized how stupid it sounded. It wasn't like he could talk, Icarus might be blind but Khan was so dangerously close to blindness as well. He had no right to judge.

He mentally scolded himself for such idiocy while his hues closed tightly. Mentally bracing himself once more. Once he had got himself in a somewhat clearer state of mind is when he decided it was appropriate to address the other. His lips curled, showing off his yellowed fangs. As much as he didn't want the assistance he doubted Clopin would just let him slink off without the help and neither would Esme. He huffed heavily before he turned his face toward the other. "My face," He snarled bitterly towards the man. "And shoulders. The competition did quite a sufficient amount of damage." There was a pause as he listened to what Clopin said before he continued, sharing was not usually his forte but Icarus seemed trustworthy enough. "Seems I need to brush up on my fighting."

[Jenn]

Definitely full alert and awake now, Jenn let out a few ragged breaths as Sophia used her magic to ease the pain from the venom extraction. Grunting, she managed to pull herself up in a somewhat sitting position.
Looking around, she could see other medics, as well as volunteers, helping the other wounded.
She tried to shift her wings to a more comfortable position, but this only resulted in a hissed curse word in a enochian.

"I'm fine," she told Sophia as the other apologized for the pain she was going through, "I'll heal, just... go help the others, right now I just need to get. this. wing. in place."
She was reaching around, trying to pop her wing back into proper position so her grace could do it's work on healing it.

She paused in her attempts when Clopin and Bob walked in, listening quietly to what he had to say, before letting out a sharp breath that was meant to be a chuckle,
"Damn right, no way in Tatarus am I letting that snake bitch get away with this," she grumbled, going back to trying to fix her wing, all the while biting her lip at the stabbing pain her movements caused.