[SRP] Aftermath (Dione x Tethys)

[Epine de Rose]

She had spend most of the time engrossed in her studies and hadn't expected her brother back for another week or so... However, in the blink of an eye they had returned and it had been with a huge amount of commotion. There had been furious shouts, gasps, and a number number of agonised cries as the band had returned. Suffice it to say that the Priestess-in-training had never encountered such a dramatic return and from her vantage point near her Master's den she hadn't been able to tell what had occurred.

At one point she had intended to wait for her brother to return to her home as he always did...until news began to trickle down the grapevine to her.

Those within the township had barely been able to contain themselves, and what she had originally assumed had been something slightly more pleasant had been completely incorrect. There had been an attack, and with it had come not one, but several fatalities. Most of those who had been of younger blood had perished in an assault and the rest of the more seasoned Reavers had suffered extensive injuries.

A flurry of activity could be seen as those recognised as healers descended upon the band that had returned. At first, she hadn't been aware of which band it was and she had only made a mental note to check in on it later. However with each passing murmur she began to realise that the band that was being described was none other than that of her brother's...

"Oh no..." she murmured, discarding what she had been working on to approach the swarm of healers and otherwise concerned (or curious) Freeborn.

...She would have to apologise to Kluna later, for now she needed to ensure that her brother was alive.

Words: 299

 

[Epine de Rose]

He was not a vision of beauty.

Not a single one of them had come out of this unscathed; some had taken much more severe beatings than others and he was no exception to this. They hadn't expected the assault, there had been no real warnings... Or at least he didn't think there had been any. When they had scoured the area on first arrival nothing was amiss, and yet when night had fallen they had descended. It had been complete madness and they had suffered the consequences.

Now he stood within the center of the township with his head lowered as he regathered his thoughts against the constant thrum of activity. They had attracted a significant amount of attention, not least their Captain who was now under a stream of questions even as he had several very deep wounds tended to.

His white coat had been ruined - utterly filthy and covered in blood that wasn't entirely his own, though a large portion of it was. Chunks of fur had been torn off and several cuts were so deep that there would be no doubt that they would leave lasting scars. However scars were not the only thing he had to show for it, he'd chipped one of his teeth to ensure he would now have a permanently lopsided grin and he appeared to be missing a rather large portion of his ear.

...Oddly, he couldn't recall any of that occurring.

Granted he remembered spitting that part of his fang out, but the ear was a loss for him to recall.

Regardless, it did nothing to temper his foul mood.

Words: 270

 

[Epine de Rose]

Where was he? She couldn't see him.

She deliberately shoved her way through the crowd until she caught sight of what could only be described as something that looked like her brother, but wasn't. He certainly didn't have his usual, merry disposition, and his usually pristine white fur was almost red. The cuts and bruises she had often teased him about had now been replaced by injuries that were of significant concern.

For the first time in her life she was actually worried.

"Tethys!" she called sharply in a tone that he would recognise against the crowd as his own sibling. "Come here," she instructed and shoved another of the curious out of her way so that she was in full view. She had more than just a few questions, but all of these could wait. At this precise moment in time her immediate concern was to stem the bleeding, clean out those cuts and attempt to seal them so that he wouldn't succumb to infection while he healed.

...He was an absolute mess.

"Tethys. Now!" she snapped.

Words: 178

 

[Epine de Rose]

He knew that voice, it was familiar.

His eyes flicked up as he was drawn out of his own musings to be met by an identical gaze. Ah, the one barking orders in such a manner was exactly who his subconscious had thought it might be. His darling sibling had the most thunderous expression on her face and he did have to wonder what she was aiming to say to him now; quite frankly he wasn't in the mood and his expression said as much.

Nevertheless her instructions were ample excuse for him to separate himself from the rest of the band who were, one by one, receiving attention from the awaiting healers. He could have done with a little bit of silence, decidedly less questions, and a moment to actually work out exactly what had happened to them. It had all happened so fast that his mind was still having trouble placing everything in the correct order. For the most part, everything was coming to him in very brief flashbacks.

Thus, he pushed himself slowly towards her. He had developed a limp in their urgency to return him, it would be a safe bet to assume they all had. Whether he wanted to admit it at this precise moment in time it was highly unlikely they would be taking part in another expedition any time soon. It would take more than a week or two to recover from some of the worst of the injuries, and it would probably take his Captain a few more to mull over what had occurred.

Eventually he did reach her though, and rather than speak, he simply walked passed her and towards her den...

Words: 281
Total Words (Tethys): 590

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Oh Tethys," she sighed as he limped passed her. Her brow furrowed in concern and she stepped in behind him to follow. She kept back just a little to ensure he kept his footing, and took the opportunity to gain a full scope of his injuries. It was like he had been attacked by hyenas, not a single piece of him had been untouched. For all intents and purposes he had been completely swarmed, if they had aimed to overwhelm then they looked like they had almost managed to do so.

"What on earth happened?" she murmured gently and nudged his shoulder as she quickened her pace and made for her den. She had been confident after watching a number of his steps that he would be able to make it the distance on his own. However by the time Nanabe had caught sight of her rounding the corner, the cream and purple lioness had already leapt into her mistress's home to grab supplies.

Word really had gotten around and given her mistress hadn't been due back for the rest of the day, she had managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together rapidly.

Behind her, she heard only a gruff and quiet answer...One that made her stomach plummet.

"They're all dead."

Words: 213
Total Words (Dione): 690