Roleplay

Draika nodded in response to Strieder's reassurance, sincerely hoping he was telling the truth. He didn't doubt the man wanted everything to turn out okay, and he would make sure it happened. At the same time, anything could happen. More bandits could attack them out of nowhere, or another creature could try to eat them, or... maybe it would be better for the wisp to stop it with his growing paranoia.

The horse was led at a faster pace than before, and his hand was released shortly after they began making their way back to where the others were. He gave the woman with them another grateful look before letting himself relax on the horse. He glanced down at the saddle, gulping after he noticed how much blood had stained it. I'm sorry, he silently apologized.

He almost allowed himself to drift off, feeling much safer with his friend by his side... until his friend asked him to stay awake. Even through the pain, he didn't want to disappoint or worry anyone, much less someone he was attached to. He looked over at Strieder with glossy eyes.

"O... o-okay," he stammered weakly, clinging onto the horse. He made no attempt to lean over or dismount the animal. He lightly pet the side of her neck to keep himself awake, his gaze occasionally darting between Strieder and the woman accompanying him. "Thank you... for finding me..."

It wasn’t long before they reached the edge of the woods. Luckily no other dangers had appeared as they travelled. Strieder blinked at the afternoon sun as they exited. Compared to the forest it was much brighter out here. He stopped for only a moment, turning his head to spot the others just a little ways away and immediately headed towards them with his quick pace, waving at them with a free hand to grab their attention.

As soon as he was near enough, he let go of the reins and came to Draika’s side on the horse. “Careful, I’m going to carry you off now,” he warned while moving to do so. Strieder was mindful to not cause anymore pain but it was probably inevitable given Draika’s condition. He held the wisp in a cradle carry position, he wasn’t very heavy after all, then turned to take a few steps towards Luther and Aida.

“This is Draika, he was slashed by one of the bandits that ambushed us. He’s lost a lot of blood…” he spoke to them as he moved to set Draika down near Red, who was gripping onto the tree for some reason, and looked over both of his friends’ wounds, “How is Red’s condition? I might have pain killers in one of my packs for both of them.”

Luther finished off the last knot in the vines used to hold the wood in place before looking over at Streider for a second as he replied,
“Well, he’ll probably be fine with a bit of rest and all that, had some nasty burns and a broken leg. Do be careful with the pain killers as those f-ckers are incredibly addictive for the medical grade ones.”
He started to walk over to the others, gesturing for Adia to give him her hand.

Aida did so and hardly reacted when Luther licked the back of her hand, causing the small cuts to quickly close up. She then added,
“Take that advice with a grain of salt, a lot of the family is involved with healthcare… So we have ‘Take as few painkillers as possible; Always take all your antibiotics’ drilled into us.”

Luther nodded a bit before he felt himself freeze slightly at the extent of Draika’s blood loss and could smell it quite heavily. Get the f-ck out of here with that sh-t, this is a wounded child and I swore to myself a long time ago that I’d never feed on a child, let alone violate the oath I took at the same time!
Luther thought as he shook his head a bit before reaching into his bag and pulling out a package with a pre-threaded surgical needle and a needle holder as he said,
“I can put some stitches in to help stop the bleeding, though I can’t really do much about what blood has been lost as I have the misfortune of not being a universal donor. If you could take his shirt off and lay him flat on the ground that would be helpful… And I will say that it will probably hurt like a b-tch…
…
Sh-t that sounds really bad without context, it’s just to umm… Make it easier for me to put stitches in on someone laying flat and with no clothing to get in the way.”
He was more than willing to do it too, and not just because of his vampirism either. As while he didn’t get to finish his residency, it didn’t mean that he hadn’t learned anything from 4 years of it, and found the repetitive action slightly relaxing.

As soon as Cyrus heard Strieders voice, he relaxed and gently pushed himself away from the tree. One hand was still on the tree to keep himself up.
To answer Strieders question, he opened his mouth to talk. "'M goo'." He mumbled. "Kid?" That was a struggle to say. He didn't notice Draika or Strieder near him, unfortunately.

Cyrus thought their words were funny and nodded; but he had no idea how to do that and just wanted to jump into a lake at this point. The man just stared at everyone, obviously not very aware of the situation.

The weird spider was on his neck again and he shivered, trying to grab it. But there was nothing to feel. That scared him a lot. "Please, the two are dangerous, for all our sakes!" The voice was of a young scared woman standing right beside him.

He ignored it, wobbling and drinking more water. "Lesssgo." He whispered to the tree. Cyrus got himself steady and slowly hopped along the trail to town. Then stopped, realizing how impatient he was being. So he just slumped his shoulders down and almost fell asleep standing up. "Illwai..." He said quietly, but he didn't think anyone heard him.
It hurt to move with a broken leg. Not that he would admit it to anyone.

Draika wasn't sure how much longer it took to get back to the road where the others were. He was too busy focusing on trying to stay awake to keep track of time. He barely lifted his head when he heard Strieder speak to him, telling him he was going to lift him off of the horse. Once he heard that, he loosened his grip on the horse, trusting the man not to let him fall off.

A chill went down his spine as a wave of pain hit him. He whimpered, unable to help it. The pain wasn't as bad as it could've been, but it still hurt quite a bit. He leaned his head against Strieder's arm as he was carried towards a couple people he didn't recognize. He made a confused little noise in the back of his throat. He wanted to ask who they were, but the question died before it could come out.

Only some of the words exchanged between the two were heard by the kid. He perked up a little upon hearing the word 'Red'. He lacked the energy to look around for him, but hearing his name meant he was here in the boy’s mind.

"Red... Red...?" he murmured, his small voice slurred. He also happened to hear the words 'stitches' and 'laying'. He looked up at the man he didn't know the best he could, the expression on his face weak yet curious. He wasn't fortunate enough to know what stitches were; if he did, he would know having stitches in him would make it less preferable for him to assume his true form. If he did, they would probably be torn open or simply fall off.

At the same time, his skin was losing more color by the minute, and soon, his other features would follow suit. He was scared and in pain, but he needed to let Luther do what was necessary to save him.

Strieder simply nodded as he listened to Luther and Aida’s words on painkillers. As for Luther licking Aida’s hand, he just looked at that without saying anything still. Since the cuts on her hand closed up afterwords, he figured Luther’s saliva must have some sort of minor healing capabilities. He nodded once again and crouched low, placing Draika flat under the shade of the tree.

“Draika, can you hear me?” He moved to whisper near his ear, “These people are going to help with your wounds, Luther and Aida. I am going to have to take your shirt off so they can work on you, okay?”

With that, he took hold of the cloth and wriggled it up, lifting the wisp’s head briefly to pull it over, then tugged the sleeves off. He neatly folded the blood stained shirt as he looked over the slashes on Draika again. With the shirt off, he could see the worse of the injuries clearly. It was worse than he thought, to say the least.

Strieder sighed, clearly worried, and adjusted his glasses. He then lifted his head up to where his other companion was hugging the tree, which to his surprise, he wasn’t anymore. Turning his head around to the trail, sure enough, there was Red, hobbling along with a broken leg.

“God damnit…” Strieder muttered under his breath before calling to him, “Red! What are you doing?!” Strieder set the shirt down and pushed himself off the ground, albeit with a bit of struggle - It must have been the exhaustion from staying up the night before starting to kick in - and went after him. He gripped the man’s shoulders to righten him once he neared, concerned that Red about to fall over.

“You can’t just walk around with a broken leg!”

Luther glanced back and groaned as he called out,
“I’m not an orthopedic surgeon, f-ck that leg up and make it heal wrong and there’s nothing I can do! Don’t make yourself walk funny for the rest of your life!”
He then looked at the kid and resisted the urge to just rip the shirt of as he thought,
F-ck, I can’t be as aggressive as I usually am when it comes to medical treatment… As it looks really bad… Even if time is of the essence. F-CK OFF! I said no and f-cking meant it!
Anyways, gonna do my stitches in sets of five, to mix continuous and interrupted.
Luther then carefully put the needle in his mouth to sterilize it as he watched Streider remove the shirt.

Aida nodded a bit as she said,
“I m-mostly just hand things to my brother… But umm… Don’t be concerned by the fact he put the needle and possibly the thread in his mouth. Luther’s saliva is an antimicrobial and healing agent in small amounts.”

Luther nodded a bit as he said around the string in his mouth,
“Correct sis, I know it sounds weird but I’ve been able to benefit from it.”
He then said more to Drakia as he placed his left hand on the unharmed part of the kid’s chest and said gently,
“I apologize for the pain you’re about to feel… No real way of reducing the pain without significant risk. But I’ll try to work as quickly as I can to minimize the pain. Again I’m sorry.”
Luther sucked on his teeth a bit before he started quickly stitching the wound, interrupting it every five stitches to have a mix of speed and stitch integrity. He also felt kinda bad considering he’d once practiced doing stitches on himself and regretted it from the pain.

(Hope this makes sense!)

Cyrus grunted as Strieder grabbed him. He didn't understand Strieders words for a second; everything was so loud!
Luther's water had healed his burns a bit, but it still looked very bad. It hadn't helped his filmy and unfocused eyes though.

"I.. eyh..."

When did leaving take priority over the sick child? What was happening to him?! He blinked and nodded attempting to turn around. The feeling was overwhelming and he frowned up at Strieder.
Now that the woman's voice was quiet, he tried to talk.

"... Her?"

A bit of saliva sputtered out as he tried to speak, so he stopped and swallowed. Strieder wouldn't understand the whispered mumbles about a random woman's voice in his ear! So he went quiet instead.

If he couldn't get better now, they would put him on the horse! That made him shiver and shake his head; that took a lot of effort to do. His head fell over and he stared at the ground.

Who turned off the sun? Forcing himself to look up again,
he gave Strieder a weak thumbs up. He wasn't going to go on the horse, despite how much he needed to.

He saw Strieders worried face and that made him more determined to act healthy.
Luther was very loud and he closed his eyes for a moment. Aida said something he force opened his eyes again. that's Luther's water was tasty!

Stifling the urge to keep walking, he peered over Strieders shoulder to see... a jumble of colours that hurt his brain, but the kids silhouette was there. That made him relax, slumping over a little in Strieders arms.