Get off my lawn! [Aeyt!]

[Rhindeer]

Jayari shrugged, letting out a sigh. "I'm stuck here for a bit, so...it's a bit more entertaining than just staring at the walls, yeah?"

[Aeytrious]

        "Well I don't think you're in for much fun. I'm not really interested in conversation." As he spoke, Cha moved away and began tidying up what little was out of place. Then he went back to his dry chest and pulled out a pice of antler and moved toward the curtain.
        "I have work to do. Don't touch anything."

[Rhindeer]

"Seriously?" 

With an agitated huff, Jayari rose to her feet and trailed behind him. "So what am I supposed to do? I was just kidding about the staring at the walls thing! You don't actually expect me to—oh, hey."

She crossed the room suddenly and pulled a strange, circular blade from one of his weapons racks. "The shit is this? Do you like cut grass with this or...?"

[Aeytrious]

        "Don't TOUCH!" With his shout Cha pushed the chakram out of Jayari's hand. It crackled with electricity as it flew through the air and stuck into the far wall. "You could have been seriously hurt you fool!" He walked over and put his hand into the half-gauntlet that hung next to where the chakram had hung. "There are dangerous things in here. I did not tell you not to touch simply to be bossy." He reached his hand out toward the circular weapon and it returned to the guarded hand. It crackled with electricity again as it flew and stayed live with energy even in his hand. Only when he placed it down on the rack did the energy dissipate. Cha then returned the gauntlet to its place. "Without the paired gauntlet all that lightning would have been sent right into you." It was only once he returned his attention to the girl that he noticed her clutching her hand. She'd been cut in her palm. He visibly deflated, "I have salve and bandages," and went to a chest of drawers next to his supply crates. "My cave is not a safe place for strangers that do not know the dangers. I keep tools and weapons that are uncommon or rare." He pulled a clean bandage and a salve as well as a sewing kit from the drawers before beckoning her sit at his low table. "Have you ever had stitches?"

[Rhindeer]

Cha'Druku's shout, sudden as a thunderclap, made Jayari's heart leap into her throat. "Hey—!" she started, but she cut off with a yelp and a flinch as he knocked the chakram from her hand. It flew from her, thunking against the wall.

And it was only when she noticed it sparking and crackling ominously that she realized the danger she'd been in. 

She stared at it, wide-eyed, heart hammering away, everything she had been about to shout at him dead on her tongue as Cha'Druku scolded her. That was...lightning?

And he was saying she could have been—?

A white-hot flash of pain seared across her palm, cutting off her thoughts, and Cha'Druku's rant suddenly reduced to background noise. Grimacing, Jayari glanced down at her hand—and her breath hissed out through her teeth. Her hand was gashed open, a good, deep cut, and blood was dripping everywhere.

Which she was just certain Cha'Druku would love.

Clutching it with her other hand, she squeezed it tight in an effort to staunch the bleeding and shot the man an sheepish look when he noticed her predicament. 

"...Sorry," she muttered, shoulders hunched as she ducked her face away from him to hide the color rising in her cheeks. "I seriously just thought you were being a dick." She winced at her own words. "Er, yeah. Guess I deserved that."

With a deflated sigh of her own, she sank down onto her knees at his table, still holding her hand cradled against her chest. "Anyway, uh, no. Never had stitches. Broke my wrist if that counts?" 

Oh, she really didn't like where this was going, and she did not like the look of that sewing kit. She chewed her lip, nodding at it.

"Surely that's not necessary."

[Aeytrious]

        Cha poured some corn alcohol onto a small cloth and wiped down the table before pouring some into his hands and rubbing them together. Then he held out his hand to Jayari expectantly. "Depends on how deep it is. Lemme see."

[Rhindeer]

Reluctantly, Jayari held her hand out to him—and blood quickly pooled in her hand as the cut reopened. She winced, biting the inside of her cheek as it throbbed and burned angrily.

"I'm...sure it looks worse than it is," she said weakly.

[Aeytrious]

        Cha took Jayari's hand in his and gently pulled her fingers completely straight. He used a white cloth from inside the sewing kit to dab her hand, soaking up the blood. It was fairly deep, and would likely leave a scar if treated poorly.
        "I'm going to clean it and remove the pain," he told her. He pulled out a little green bead. He crushed it between his thumb and forefinger and sprinkled the resulting powder on the cut. "That is called a snake tear.," Cha explained. "It's made from a bunch of medicinal plants steeped in horse urine and boiled into a paste. The paste is mixed with dried ground up magical mushrooms from the Draconi Forest, and then shaped into the beads and then baked in the sun." The powder fizzed on the wound and within seconds any pain would be gone. He then set her hand on the table and pulled out a crescent shaped needle.
        "It's definitely going to need stitches," he said, as he pulled a spool of thread out and began working the thread through the eye of the needle.

[Rhindeer]

Remove the pain?

Jayari listened to Cha'Druku's explanation, but she had to look away as soon as the green powder started fizzing on the wound...and soon she looked a little green around the edges, as well. It was so stupid. She could handle blood and guts just fine; she hunted, cleaned, and dressed her kills and was quite used to having her hands covered in offal. Yet when it came to her own blood and injuries?

Yeah, she didn't wanna see it.

"Didja make it yourself?" she asked, and had to look at her hand when the pain vanished, as though to check that she was still injured. Yep. Still gross and bloody and fizzing. She looked away again, breathing slowly out her nose to keep from getting too queasy.

Then came the giant-ass needle. Jayari felt the blood drain from her face, but she swallowed hard and kept her eyes on the far wall.

"Uhh...thanks, by the way," she said, trying to mask her nerves. "For doing this. Especially after I've been such an asshole. I mean, granted, you were too but—still. Alright, I'll shut up. Don't poke the guy with the huge-ass needle, right?"

[Aeytrious]

        "You're still going to feel the pressure from the stitching but you won't feel pain." He got the catgut through the needle and tied off. He then began to use a ladder stitch, commonly used to mend garment seams, to sew Jayari's wounded palm. He did it in steady, precise motions. When he pulled it tight, the wound neatly closed, and he tied it off before cutting the excess away. He then spread a salve across the wound before wrapping it in a clean cloth.
        "You're going to have to be careful with the wound, or it will open back up."

[Rhindeer]

Jayari couldn't watch as he worked, but she could feel the pressure and his touch—and it a was weird and kind of gross sensation, mostly because she knew what he was doing even if she couldn't see it.

And gods, but he was so serious! Here she was trying to lighten the mood and he didn't crack a bit! No reaction, no nothing, not even an irritated roll of his eyes or "shut up."

Sighing, she shut up anyway as he worked, only looking over when she felt him wrapping her hand with cloth. When it was done, she gently touched her hand, lightly prodding the wound and still feeling nothing. "This is...so weird," she said. "How long does it stay numb? Do I have to do anything with the stitches as it heals?"

[Aeytrious]

        "Besides being careful not to break the suture until the wound heals," Cha said, "you don't need to do anything except keep it clean and mostly dry." He was neatly packing things away. He wiped some of the corn alcohol from the cloth on the needle to clean it before tucking them both away.
        "The stitching is made of stretched sheep intestine. It'll dissolve on its own in two lunar cycles." He finished cleaning up, walking over to put things in his storage before turning back to Jayari.
        "Well I suppose I should feed you."

[Rhindeer]

Oh boy. The way he said it. it was like he was talking about an annoying yet pitiful dog that had somehow showed up at his door begging for scraps. Jayari hunched her shoulders sheepishly, fussing with a braid.

"Uhh...I mean, I'm sure the storm'll clear up soon.  You don't have to," she said, even as her stomach reminded her with a grumble that she hadn't eaten since morning. But maybe she was feeling just a little embarrassed after wounding herself so stupidly.

[Aeytrious]

        "It's fine," Cha said, going to his cold storage. He pulled out some fresh meat, and a few fresh vegetables, which were becoming more scarce in this cold season, and fetched a few things from the nearby dry storage.
        "If you want to watch and make sure I don't poison you, there is a stool you can sit on." He then walked through the curtained partition into the back room.

[Rhindeer]

"Pffft," Jayari snorted, following after Cha'Druku—and taking a seat on the stool.

"I'm not worried. I'm too pretty to poison." She gave her braids a flip, feigning haughtiness.

Then, sobering, she added, "But really, if you wanted to end me I doubt you'd waste your resources healing me first."

[Aeytrious]

        Cha simply grunted out a short, "mmm," as he bent to stoke the embers of a fire that was only barely warm. As a little flicker began he grabbed a small log from a pile that sat on the other side of the room. He shoved it into the stove, and twisted a crank on the lower valve to allow air to enter the stove from beneath. He then turned a lever on the chimney pipe, allowing the smoke enough freedom to move up and out of his cave while holding the heat inside. While the new log broke down inside the oven, he stepped over to the hatch that went up into the hollow log above. He opened it just enough that air could flow in. The cool air from the snowing top of the hill was immediately felt coming in mixing with the warmer air in the room.
        An iron pot filled with water was sitting on the lower cook top, and Cha dropped cubes of a dried stock inside before securing its lid. On the small table beside the stove he chopped the vegetables rough and quick, pushing the scraps into one of two buckets on the ground. The water came to a boil fairly quickly and Cha threw in the chopped vegetables. He then pulled a skillet down from a rack, dropped a bit of rendered animal fat into it and set it beside the pot. Quickly cubing the meat, he then sprinkled a mix of dried seasonings and salt on it and dropped it into the now hot skillet. He moved to the other side of the stove where he had a raised basin and he scrubbed his hands, with a bar of soap, before rinsing them and then sliding his hand into a mitt. Moving back to the skillet he tossed the meat with quick dexterous motions. Within just a few minutes he opened the pot releasing a billow of steam. He used a ladle to scoop water into the skillet, swirling it around before dumping the meat into the pot. Then he put his other hand into another mitt and lifted the pot onto the upper cooking surface of the stove. Lastly he opened the upper vent more and narrowed the lower vent reducing the air intake while releasing the heat.
        "It should be ready in just a few more minutes. Just needs to stew for a bit." Cha then went about cleaning his prep table and scrubbing his skillet in the basin.

[Rhindeer]

Jayari watched him work, and as she did she slouched on the stool, arms folded on her knees. No reaction. Nothing. Just straight to work while ignoring her. She heaved a sigh. At least his cooking provided some entertainment; she had never seen a set-up quite as elaborate as his, and he was quick and efficient as he worked, and...

And no, nope, it wasn't working. Jayari was bored.

She had gotten trapped in the snow with the grumpiest, least conversational person she had ever met. 

"Nice," she said when he announced the meal was close to done. She sat up straighter and stretched her arms over her head, popping her back. "So...would you rather be stung by a hundred wasps or a thousand fire ants?"

[Aeytrious]

        "I wouldn't be foolish enough to let either of those things happen," was Cha's simple reply.

[Rhindeer]

"Oh my GODS!" Jayari groaned, hopping to her feet. "It's hypothetical!"

[Aeytrious]

        "So you're asking if I was forced to choose between these two things in a hypothetical situation, which would I prefer?" Cha looked at Jayari with a puzzled expression.
        "I assume you mean the types that are found here on the plain, so I'd choose the fire ants," he told her. "The fire ants here are small and though their stings are annoying, they do not hurt as bad or linger as long as wasp stings. Minutes versus days."