[G] [P] 743.05.19 | Petulant Patient

I don't need a stranger hovering around me! the brown snapped as V'lis waited out on the ledge for the healer to arrive. He thought he'd calmed Pharalth enough that this would be fine, had already sent Sky with the letter and gotten a reply back, but now the dragon was getting antsy as his appointment drew near. "It'll just be one healer, it's a bright enough day so we're staying outside on your ledge, but you need to get these sewn up. Especially that tear in your wing, and I'm not a damn seamstress." You would be a terrible seamstress. "Exactly, now let a professional handle it for me, please? I don't need you to get an infection or hurt even more."

V'lis hated that Pharalth could fill him with so much worry. The wounds probably weren't even that bad. He had a rip in his wing sail bad enough it needed stitches, and a couple gashes across his belly and side, but they were deep enough and had bled enough that V'lis just knew it was beyond him. He'd done some very basic stitching back when he was apprenticing as a beastcrafter and handling dogs, but that hardly seemed comparable to his mate. At least you think I'm better than a canine, Pharalth snapped again, though he did settle down a little at his rider's distress. He would try to stay calm and not lash out at the healer. V'lis gave the big brown's eye ridges an affectionate rub. "Don't worry, I'll be here and I'll help you look at the sky okay?"

There was only a loud hissing huff in response, but V'lis knew that the offer had helped. He looked up and saw a green pair headed their way and gave a wave assuming it was the healer inbound. He waited until they had landed before walking over to greet them. "Hey, Pharalth probably just needs some stitches is all. Had a rough flight. He... uh... doesn't like being crowded though." Hopefully that would be a good enough warning.

L’gan had heard about the rough flight, keeping himself and Semath well out of it till things had settled down again. He’d helped a bit with Edath, then left the blue pair in capable hands with a few of the other healers when he got the note from V’lis. He’d also heard about the brown’s snappy nature–in fact it was hard to avoid overhearing it when all sorts of scrapes and fights occurred with the weyrling class. Luckily none had been particularly worrisome.

He gave the pair a smile as he approached and a quick nod of thanks for the warning. “Luckily it’s a nice day out and you have one of the larger ledges. There should be plenty of room for us all out here.” Semath settled to sun, but gave the brown plenty of space while L’gan set his supplies down nearby and let the brown get used to him being closer as he started organizing them. “What seems to be the trouble, Pharalth? Looks like a wing and some scratches on your side… anything else hurt?”

After he finished laying things out, he offered the pots of salve to Pharalth for sniffing, adding, “I’m going to show V’lis here how to apply these to keep things from hurting while I work, okay? They should also help keep the cuts from getting infected. But if you’d rather, he can stay up with you while I do this.”

Pharalth gave L'gan an annoyed glare, eyes swirling with agitation. After a brief sniff at the offered pots of salve he let out a loud huff of air through his nostrils and pointedly turned his head away to ignore the healer. He would cooperate as required, move his wings, roll on his side as needed, but he didn't have to spare any words for the man. V'lis hopped in to supply the requested information. "The wing, those side scratches. He's got one on his belly that he'll need to roll for. His left shoulder is sore, but I think that will probably be fine with some rest if he takes it easy."

With another loud hissing sigh through his nostrils, Pharalth turned his attention to the green perched further away on his ledge. He'd heard of Semath, but more knew she'd been quite close to the gold that had died, and her rider. Everyone had heard about that loss, and he knew that the green had been quite rattled by it. In an almost uncharacteristically friendly gesture he reached the tip of his tail ever so slightly towards her as the humans just prattled on about his injuries while standing uncomfortably nearby. My condolences for your loss. How have you been doing? He only sent the message to Semath, and if the green didn't bother to respond, that would be fine by him.

L’gan was unfazed by the brown’s lack of cooperation. He’d had plenty of uncooperative patients–human and dragon–over the years. And at least the rider was speaking to him; that wasn’t always the case.

Semath looked over at Pharalth as he addressed her, her eyes swirling calmly, if a bit sadly. Thank you. Cirith was sweet. And Sariel too. She glanced at her rider with a small sigh. Their loss has been hard on us both. Her tail twitched over toward the brown’s when she noticed it, though she didn’t comment.

L’gan had V’lis warn Pharalth before they started to apply numbweed, and he let the rider approach first. Just because he was used to difficult patients didn’t mean he enjoyed being lashed out at. While the brownrider worked on numbing the cuts, he got the sutures ready and began to stitch quickly and neatly on the sides first. The wing sails would take more time to numb and he also hoped Semath would distract the brown first.

While the humans were busy fussing over his side Pharalth decided to continue paying attention to Semath, both as a distraction for himself and possibly as one for her too. With a casual shift and stretch his tail finished closing the distance to casually touch the tip of hers almost hesitantly before he let out a large huffing sigh and relaxed as the gesture wasn't so bad. He took the moment to shoot an irritated glare at L'gan all the same though. V'lis brushed off the loud huff with a shrug. "Don't mind him, he's always doing stuff like that to make sure people know he's ignoring them or shit like that. He's doing better than I thought he would be."

With the numbweed applied, the brownrider backed up, keeping himself between Pharalth's head and the healer just in case. The last thing he needed was for the dragon to also get a reputation for lashing out at the healers. Luckily it seemed that the brown was just fine to huff and ignore everyone for the moment, and his rider was too distracted and worried about the stitches going in to notice what or whom he really had his focus on.

Pharalth was still not happy with how close the healer was, didn't like the vague distant tugging he could feel through the numbness, so his gaze flickered between Semath and the clear sky beyond her. Hopefully it gets better with time. He paused a moment before quietly offering, You can visit and talk about it if you think it would help. Or we can just sit and be quiet company if you think that is better. He had never been an especially social dragon, and this was his first time inviting anyone to do anything. He tried not to think about how odd it was to avoid catching his rider's attention on the matter.

Semath brightened at the offer, her eyes swirling with a bit of happy blue. I would like that very much. Either way. I like to sit quietly sometimes too–there weren’t too many dragons to talk to when L’gan would go to the Hall, so I would sun and watch the clouds. The green’s gaze drifted up to the clear sky and she huffed a slight sigh. Cirith and I would play games with L’gan’s hatchlings to decide if the clouds looked like things. I was never very good at it–they just look like clouds to me. But it was fun.

She settled in more comfortably now that the brown was talking with her and less snappy. Her rider was efficient, and she trusted him to get Pharalth stitched up quickly–or to slather on more numbweed if needed.

Pharalth ignored the distant tugging he could feel as the pesky healer did things. V'lis was there at least, making sure nothing untoward was happening and he seemed to think it was all very necessary so the brown did his best to just ignore how much he was being crowded. Better to keep his focus on Semath for the moment. Clouds? I never bothered to see if they look like anything else. He shifted his weight to take a peek up at the sky to see if any clouds were of particular interest. There were only a few faint wispy strands at the moment so he huffed and grumbled in his low gravely voice, They look like clouds to me... maybe like shredded fur?

"Pharalth hold still," said V'lis as he gave the brown's neck a reassuring pet. "He's almost done with this part and then it's just your wing left." The brown let out a low rumbling sigh in acknowledgement and V'lis turned to give L'gan a thumbs up. Annoyed with the interruption, Pharalth turned back to Semath. You... I suppose you could be a little closer. I think it would be fine. And then maybe we can look at cloud shapes or something else until your rider is done.