Guardian of the Forest (Vexmun)

[Vex]

He kept sprinting with everything that that Avatar body could provide, amazed at just how much distance those bodies could cover. He also knew it wasn't going to be enough. His hearing was returning enough that he could hear the sound of that beast catching up to them again with all of her fury. It was almost disconcerting when the sound stopped and he glanced back, expecting to see the thing coming down from the sky. There was nothing, however, and that made it even more unpleasant. He kept pushing the doc in front of him, to keep himself between his charge and the animal chasing after them.

He felt her push him, slamming into him. Stumbling, he saw the doc fall. Severin rolled, getting himself back to his feet smoothly, twisting around to face this creature. Had to buy the doc some time. Her too. She was getting to her feet, but slower. He grabbed her shoulder, forcibly thrusting her behind him to make her get out of his way. One of her remaining arrows had been knocked loose and had been dropped onto the ground. Scooping it up, took two steps, closing the distance between himself and the thanator. The creature was acting more sluggish now...but she still had more than enough energy to go and rip them apart.

This close...the thing looked even more lethal. There was a moment of clarity...one of those instances in life when you realize that the actions that you have chosen to take are foolhardy and most likely going to be the cause of your own demise. He had two people behind him, however, that needed to live...so this choice was the only choice. That knowledge brought with it resigned acceptance. A massive claw raked through air for his head. He ducked it, feeling the passing of it whistle overhead. Her jaws came next, snapping as she lunged, but he'd already thrown himself forward into a roll, managing to get underneath those gnashing fangs.

Black Claw reared back in order to swipe at Severin again. This close, she wasn't going to be able to miss. He stabbed that arrow up, catching the beast in the chest, right at the bottom of the throat. She roared once more as the extra dose of tranquilizer got into her system, pumping into her heart and passing through her system quickly with each beat of that monstrous heart. With that much in her system, the effects were taking hold quicker, but that swipe still finished...connecting with his shoulder and slamming into him, taking him down even as the thanator finally passed out.

The jungle was suddenly very quiet.

[Talau]

She’d stumbled slightly as he had, her tail over compensating for the motion and sending her sprawling even as the toktor did and hitting her head against one of the thick roots slightly on the way down. It made her slower, mildly dazed even as she pushed herself up and scrambled to grab hold of the last arrow she had. It, however, was gone by the time Sev had pushed her behind him and grabbed it. Pulling the scrawny dreamwalker up to his feet, she rounded on the sure to be gruesome death that would catch at least one of them. What she saw was NOT good. Sev was being a hero…a big damn hero…just like she told him not to be. Fortunately he’d at least managed to get one of her arrows into the neck of the beast even as that claw came down the first time. He’d ducked and she pulled the pliable strap from around her chest that held her dagger. Pulling the weapon out she stooped and dropped it at her feet even as that long fingered hand grabbed the nearest, decently sized, rock she could.

Dropping it into the material of the sheath, she used it like a slingshot, twirling the thing above her head before letting the rock fly to strike solidly against one of the thanator’s eyes, making those dangerous fangs miss him even as he rolled. Black Claw was too good to miss like that, even if he was moving well to avoid her attacks. Now, partially blind once more and with the extra tranquilizer beginning to take effect, Black Claw tipped slightly, wobbled, and began to fall to the side. That last blow continued, however, insistent upon doing its intended damage. Golden eyes widened, but there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop the connection at this point…she just wasn’t fast enough to hinder it in any way and the two went crashing to the ground.

SEV!...Sev!

With a string of colorful curses in Na’vi the woman darted over and pushed the large secondary paw off of Sev.

<<Eywa let him be alive…>>

Na’vi language or not, the worry in her voice was clear enough. The last thing she wanted, or needed, was to have the blood of a dreamwalker (especially a decent one like this Sev) on her hands. She should have never given them the choice! It was foolish of her! Stupid! The blood along his arm was easily visible, even as she carefully rolled him onto his back, mindful of the injury.

Sev?

[Vex]

The doctor had cowered in fear, certain that he was going to die and blaming Severin for all of their misfortune. It was a small miracle that he'd somehow managed to retain control of his bodily functions because that was the last thing that they needed to happen to cap off this most unpleasant event.

The blow had hit and he'd been blinded by the pain. Severin had crumpled from the force of the blow, coupled with the weight of the thanator collapsing down. He was roused from his dazed state by someone calling his name...coupled with the feel of that weight pressing down on him easing. That was a relief...it had been making it hard to breathe. The movement, however, jostled that wounded arm and had him baring his teeth and hissing in pain.

He'd been lucky...the hit had been solid, but the thanator hadn't been able to rake her claws because of the tranquilizer taking hold. If she had, he'd probably have lost the arm completely, instead of just getting the gashes that were currently crossing his upper arm and shoulder. The wounds weren't laughable by any sense of the imagination, but with some decent, field-expedient medical work he'd be fine and not have any permanent damage from the wounds. Just a couple of scars, but chicks dig them, right?

He felt the warmth of her hands as she rolled him onto his back. Blinking, Severin looked around, focusing for a moment on the now (thankfully) slumbering thanator. He shook his head, resting back and blinking those gold-green eyes up at her. The pain he felt could be seen stitched across his features, but he set his jaw stubbornly, trying to push himself to a seated position. He'd survived worse than this on earth.

Severin tried to grin, seeing her expression and wanting to waylay those fears. "As the Black Knight said...'it's just a flesh wound.'" He tried to shrug out of his pack, breath whispering between his teeth as he clenched them. With his good hand, he unzipped the pack and tried to rummage through what he had for medical supplies, looking for the bandages, clotting agents, and pain killers. Pulling them out, he'd begin by holding up one of the clotting agent packs, calling out to the doc. "Oi, doc! Get over here and make yourself useful for once. Open up the clotting agent and get me some bandages prepped. Come on...or next time I let your foolish decisions come back and eat you."

He looked her over then, even as the doc drug himself closer, moer than a little leery of the sleeping predator so close to them. Given the edge in Severin's voice, however, he seemed the bigger threat. Sev looked her over, seeing the surprising amount of concern in her features. Trying to put on a good show, he bumped his forehead against hers. "I am fine...just a kitten scratch....that can bleed out. You okay? Hit your head hard."

[Talau]

He was breathing still, good…and the injury hadn’t reached too deeply into his skin…also good. The hiss of pain as she moved him gently had a flicker of a smile crossing her face only to vanish once more. At least he was conscious enough to notice the pain. He was lucky…normally a blow like that would have cost him his life…or at least his arm. Those eyes opened and he glanced to Black Claw’s unconscious form then up to her. Keen golden eyes watched his irises dilate and contract as he focused on her and she nodded slightly at the fact that he was most certainly aware enough of what was happening around him that he could focus in on something. As he attempted to push himself up she muttered a few curses and got under his good arm helping him lift himself and settle back against a near by rock.

That angled face tilted slightly at his comment before she shook her head and shrugged it off. Yes, he was going to be fine. With that settled slightly, she began growling at him in Na’vi about just how much of a moron he’d been as she helped him with his pack, slipping the straps off of his shoulders carefully and holding it steady so he could open it. His call to the toktor had her ears flattening back in an attempt to keep the loud sound from overpowering her senses. Eying the scrawny little man crawling closer, she rolled her eyes and plucked at a bit of his clothes.

Off. Cannot treat…

Her voice broke off mid-sentence as his forehead bumped against hers for a moment. Long neck pulled back swiftly, bringing her head out of range of him as she hissed at him, half surprised and half angered by his action, those large golden eyes narrowing.

Do not do again.

She scolded, tapping the pads of her fingers against his forehead once and warning him against another attempt at showing his affection. That’s what it was to her, after all, a show of affection or familiarity. With that, she eyed the various strange objects he pulled from his pack dubiously.

Cannot treat you with cloth on…”kitten scratch” or not. I am fine…is just sore now. No damage.

Again she glanced at the scrawny little dreamwalker who seemed to be fumbling with what he was doing in his anxiety and the shock of the situation. Sighing, Liyani shook her head and put her hand on the little man’s shoulder.

I will do…have done this before. You help get extra cloth off so I can work.

With that she set to work. The first order of business was to get to the injury, but Sev and the toktor had that covered…or rather, uncovered. Pulling a thin strip of cloth from a pouch on her belt, Liyani stood and dipped it into the collected rainwater of a plant before coming back and carefully beginning to clean out the injury.

[Vex]

She was very capable. He knew that. It was very apparent by the way she helped him and was acting calm in this situation, unlike the good doctor. It wasn't that he expected anything else, of course. The doctor's world and theirs were different. He hadn't had to live in a world where one could die for a simple misstep. He didn't live where one had to be in touch with their surroundings. It wasn't that he blamed the man, but right now, with his blood spilling out from his arm because of the decsions that man had made, well, he wasn't exactly feeling terribly charitable at the moment. He fully planned on having an in-depth "discussion" with the man at a later date.

He'd started to comply with her request for him to clear the area around the wound when she scolded him like that and tapped his forehead. He'd just meant it as a friendly gesture between two that had managed to survive a very dire situation, but it seemed he'd misstepped. Apparently things like that were taboo or something between people that did not know each other well. He'd tried to read up one what he could, but there was still so much that they didn't know. There was a lot about their culture that had never made it back from the exodus from Pandora. Much of what had wound up colored by the RDA in an attempt to smear the Na'vi after their failed campaign. It certainly hadn't worked, but it was one of the many reasons they were here, now, so many years later. They needed to truth. Apparently he'd be learning alongside the doctors.

"Didn't mean harm, Liyani. Just...friendl-ouch!" Her dabbing at the wound, even if it was cleansing, certainly wasn't going to feel good. He hissed between his teeth as the pain lanced through him. "Careful there...don't help Black Claw remove my arm."

He pointed to what the doc was trying to get ready. "Cleans wound. No infection. Faster heal, stop bleeding. Put into wound." He was trying to speak small, simple words so that the language barrier wouldn't be such a problem. Fortunately, she at least seemed more capable of taking care of the wounds than the scientist did, even without knowing the equipment they were using.

He shifted off that shredded shirt so that she could have better access...finally reaching out and taking the antiseptic and clotting agent from the doctor. He held up the antiseptic first. "Cleans...no infection. Put in." Once she was done with that, he'd hold up the powdery clotting agent. "Put in next, stops bleeding."

He grit his teeth, glaring daggers at the doctor. All he really wanted to do was wring the man's neck. He was fortunate that Sev's job was to protect him, not beat sense into him.

[Talau]

“Didn’t mean harm, Liyani. Just…friendl-ouch!”

Those trailing patterns of lights flickered to a mild yellow as he twitched slightly and, rather loudly, let the whole forest know it hurt. She narrowed her eyes at him to see if he was about to try and pull away, but thankfully he wasn’t that big of a baby. Even some of their warriors still tried to do that. It seemed that men acted the same way no matter where you came from. A hint of an amused green lit a few of those bioluminescent stars along her skin and she shook her head.

Quiet. You want whole forest to know you hurt? Stay still...have much dirt in here.

He hissed again, thankfully more quietly, and she shook her head as those golden eyes narrowed in on her work.

“Careful there…don’t help Black Claw remove my arm.”

A huff of air and a small smirk slightly softened her features for a moment as she looked up at him and shook her head once again. Looking back down at the long claw marks, her hand went back to stroking along them with the cloth in her fingers, attempting to get as much of the dirt and grime out as she could.

Would be your fault…told you not to be brave fool, but what you do? Be brave fool.

Part of the stern na’vi woman hoped the little toktor had learned his lesson from this, though she doubted it, while yet another part wanted to teach him a better one…one about listening to those who knew what they were talking about. The rest of her felt guilty…Black Claw, while protective like all thanators, might not have attacked them had she not been there. She’d known this and still she’d yielded to that skxawng toktor’s childish whim. She should have been more forceful about it and not given them the choice, now one of them was injured. The more intelligent one at that. Oh well…what was done couldn’t be undone, she would just know better in the future than to give the skypeople the decision in matters like this. His other arm moved, motioning to the scrawny dreamwalker and what ever toys he was playing with.

The skeptical look she wore angled her features as she watched and listened, her ears flattening back against her head for a moment before resuming their previous movement, listening to the forest around them. The pupils of those large golden eyes expanded and contracted slightly as he removed his shirt, then held the antiseptic up for her to take. A short sniff was given to the air from where she was and the scent of it nearly had her gagging. Liyani furrowed her brow for a moment and gingerly took the little item and pressed the tube. A bit of the stuff inside squished out and with a crinkled nose at the medicated (and to her rather disgusting) smell, she put it first on her fingers and then into the injury. That was how you put a poultice on after all, why should this be applied any differently? The powder he handed her next earned yet another look of mild distain and uncertainty. She wasn’t going to question him right now, but she sure as hell didn’t like the look, feel, or smell of any of this stuff he wanted her to use. Putting the powder into the injuries as he instructed, she immediately stood up, tail twitching in her irritation, and pulled the plant from before downward, allowing the water to fall over her hand and wash the disgusting stuff off.

Moving to the next water filled plant, she pulled it down, holding it here with one arm as her hands rinsed out the cloth she had been using on him. Turning to face them once more, she eyed Black Claw and sighed, shaking her head. This was most certainly not going to help anything between them. Grumbling a bit to herself in her own language, she retrieved what arrows she could and picked up her bow, slinging it across her shoulders and back once more.

You have something to cover hurt, Sev? Can use this if you need, but we must go. Do not want to be here when Black Claw wake again.

She had walked back and crouched down near them once more, watching through stoic features as the two dreamwalkers interacted and finished patching up his injuries. Whatever they were putting on him seemed to be their version of wrapping the wounds to keep them clean and protected, so she stayed silent and watched. If she’d had the proper tools (and they had been farther away from the unconscious thanator) she would have suggested sewing up the injuries, but as things stood the first order of business was to get away from this place as soon as possible. The scent of blood would attract other dangerous animals, and that tranquilizer could only keep a beast that large under for so long.