how do i drink, dream, smile

@Tiberius @Kuhn @Hank
Continuing from this thread. She’ll return in her next post!

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Olive led the small group on their gradual parade, weaving deeper into Duskguard territory. The treacherous, difficult to navigate entryway was one reason Olive found the place a perfect refuge, but she cursed it in moments like these. When it had come to Rin, moving her entire person was a laborious endeavor; but Rin had been so weak and frail, and any time the pale sylph glanced backward to look upon the two sparring factions, it didn’t seem like either of them were in any great amount of pain, or unable to move on their own.

It was strange, to see two creatures so in control of their outward expression. They were matched by Tiberius, who had given her the slightest glimpse of his heart, but kept it closely guarded. As they walked on, Olive looked towards the swarthy brute, wondering what thoughts might be going through his head. With Duskguard so nascent, she was seeing a new, kaleidoscopic view of him — perspectives and angles they had never the chance to explore before. She had only heard about his fierce loyalty and dedication, when it came to Shiroshika, and it delighted her to see this now put towards a higher use.

A more holy use, she could not deny.
 
The distance was middling but not interminable, and eventually the foursome found themselves staring across an expansive, glacial lake. Olive strode forward and slaked her thirst first thing, the suddenness of the cold water causing an effervescence to flutter in her stomach. The woman smiled inwardly, tipping her chin towards herself; but she ensured to let the grin drip off her face to be replaced with an expression more stoic, more befitting the company she currently kept.

“Settle here,” the waif instructed them, turning back around and beckoning them forward with a ripple of her tail. Olive passed Tiberius another glance, attempting to intuit if he would be okay to stay here while she tended to a quick task. “If you can, bathe your wounds. It will sting, but you must,” she instructed drifting towards Tiberius and rubbing her cheek against the flat of his shoulder blade. “I will be right back,” she said in an undertone to him, drifting away and coalescing into the periphery.

What she lacked in deep herbal stores, she had gained in the form of a mental map of the Vale. Thankfully, she had seen wormwood and goldenseal in a dell just over and beyond, and knew their antiseptic properties would be helpful here.

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Following along without protest, the tiger sauntered with the small pack until the group reached the lake.  He was honestly surprised how little scorn he received for attacking a stranger like this.  Grimacing at the priestess' instruction; the cat was almost always down for a swim but the could air that blew itself from the water's surface was a good indication that it was very cold.  Looking up, feline eyes scanned the massive glacier that fed the lake with its spring melt, and he could feel the water soak his coat already.

He didn't feel like his was in a position to protest.  So the cat obediently prowled down to the water's edge, placing one paw in, and then the next.  It was so cold that the joints instantly felt as if they where burning.  To get it all over with at once, he sprung forward into the frigid water with a loud splash.
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The uneven terrain was a pain to navigate with a bum leg, but they eventually arrived at their destination. The lake was expansive and pristine blue, bordered by conifers in a mountainous cradle. The lake's source was a massive glacier straight ahead that'd been melting for millennia. This place couldn't be any more different from dry, dead, hot Nevada. It was a welcome change of scenery.

Olive instructed them to cleanse their wounds. A chilly breeze ruffled his thick fur. Hank was surprised at his tolerance of the cold thus far in spite of being accustomed to life in a desert, though he supposed being covered in layers of hair helped. But that water was surely ice-cold like the glacier it bled from, making him hesitant to enter it. Kuhn, on the other hand, threw caution to the wind and dove right in, causing a massive splash in his wake. Hank was pelted by freezing droplets, causing him to shiver.

“Hey!” He called in mock-offense, a wide sneer plastered on his face. There was a devious glint in his eye. Following Kuhn's lead, he leapt in, though having only three legs to spring off of and a comparatively smaller body, his splash was less impressive. The glacier water quickly seeped into his bones, chilling him to the core. It nipped at his tender wound, turning his sneer into a grimace. But the stabbing pain soon faded into a dull throb again, and he focused his attention on the tiger.

“Watch it,” He warned playfully, feeling an odd surge of childlike energy that prompted him to splash Kuhn in the face with a paw. The water urged him to keep moving in order to ward the cold off, all sense of fatigue gone for the time being. Deciding to fully embrace it, Hank dove beneath the surface and swam towards the panther, mouthing at one of his forelegs with a gentle mouth. A playful growl left him, sending bubbles from the corners of his parted lips.

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permission granted to skip & pp Tiberius

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She found what she desired without much pomp or fuss, and Olive went about her task without the biggest sense of rush. The two patients seemed to be (more or less) fine, and it might even give the three big, stoic brutes a chance to have some manly conversation without a pale spriteling to suss it all up. So the healer rifled through the summerset meadow, selecting and plucking individual blooms of comfrey and goldenseal (picking over the wormwood, as its calming effects seemed superfluous) until she had a plentiful bouquet.

Then she gingerly carried it back to the lakeside, where she observed a scenario she simply hadn’t expected.
 
She walked out of the treeline all but a devoted nursemaid; the grin upon her lips threatened to displace the herbs, and the surprise in her mind immediately shook away the idea that this Hank guy was some voiceless, wounded void. As the two cavorted in the frigid waters, Olive trotted over to Tiberius on the shore, depositing her antiseptic bundle several feet back — out of the splash zone. She danced up to the side of her Chieftain, brushing shoulder to shoulder, belly to belly. Eyes crinkling at the corner, she tossed a smile up towards his golden-rod gaze, then out over the water, feeling for a moment as if they were watching their own family play in a pool. It felt good and right, having secured this place of safety, so that others might find growth and healing within — as she had.
 
Laughing, the woman strode forward, giving her head a toss before calling out to them “You absolute beasts!” she jested, suddenly feeling the responsibilities of the one tasked with taking care of their health. Clearly these two had a sort of friendship, and absolutely zero regard for personal safety, and needed to have a voice of reason. “You must wish to bleed forever,” she clarified, but it was all she would say on the matter. The wounds hadn’t been life-threatening, and without an artery or major vein severed, they could afford to replace any blood that lost.
 
As Olive had discussed with the great Thraximundar, mental health was the keystone to warding off disease and to aid in healing, so the positives greatly outweighed the risks.
 
Olive looked back towards her lover, letting him know how she was feeling with a simpering gaze before she spoke it with her words. “Come dear,” she suggested, swishing her tail to tickle the silver-tipped fur on his chest. Then she walked on, pulling her tail-tip away from the tips of his furs. “If they can do it, then we truly have no excuse,” and she shivered at the coolness of the water, which the thinness of her summer coat did nothing to dull. She waded out farther, until she lost her foothold on the lakebed, and she began paddling.

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They had done as Olive said, they where in the water.  All thoughts of the cold seemed to vanish as a cascade of water found its way from Hank's paw to Kuhn's face. Initially, it was a look of surprise, mouth cracking open a bit.  But by the time the cat's expression could be read as: Its on now, the man had already started his next move diving under the water.  A surprised expression turned to a mild open mouth snarl as the wolf's teeth found his foreleg under the water. Mouth agape, for a moment he peered into the disturbed water, looking for his next move.  

Arching his back, the cat used his free paw to press down on the man's shoulders in an attempt to dunk him deeper down, perhaps holding him down for just a moment longer than he planned.   With a look of playful revenge, he waited again for Hank to resurface, poised to pounce right back on him. 

While waiting, a single ear was devoted to Olive, hearing her almost mothering taunts.  Though at the moment the cat was busy, there was a serious battle to be won.
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Kuhn shoved him down with his free paw, forcing Hank to resurface as soon as he was released. He gasped, bringing frigid air into his lungs. As soon as he did, the tiger was upon him. Even in the water, Kuhn was astoundingly heavy, and his weight shoved Hank under again. Olive shouted something at them, a smile in her voice, but he was too concentrated on this new tussle with the cat to process what she said.

Wriggling from Kuhn's grasp, Hank swam behind him to nip at his good flank. Light splashing near the shore gained his attention, denoting Olive was coming to retrieve them as if they were her rambunctious children. Well, at the moment, they sort of were. Hank had the unfortunate habit of recklessly exacerbating his wounds and thus tended to need... an extra stern caretaker.

However, Kuhn did not consider their playful score settled just yet, and out of habit, Hank kept an eye on him, never one to back down first if he could help it— even at the expense of his health. Anticipating Kuhn to whirl around for a counterattack, he would dive down again, resurfacing at his front. If not forcibly stopped by Olive, Kuhn, or somebody, he would then take a swing (or a bite) at the striped panther's neck.

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Her words went unheard, but there was not a second that the mistress had thought they would have heeded her half-warnings; even she herself had not meant it entirely, enjoying the display of strength that went on in front of her, and finding it quite charming how it was imbued with a boyish, childish nature. Olive thought this so often of modern men — that she pitied the masculine because it, too, was too often abused and forced into a cage of society’s understanding. It was as refreshing to watch two men be silly and cavort fort the sake of it, as it was to be in the frigid tundra waters themselves.
 
Olive had little desire to paddle out to where the others were and to involve herself in their recklessness. She was a tiny, fragile thing, though not incapable of handling herself in a spat; but she would not be the wet blanket that attempted to smother two explosive, large bodies. Especially not when she had seen what (she assumed was) their play had wrought. But — Olive turned her head to pass an over-the-shoulder glance at @Tiberius. Did it feel strange to watch his friend seemingly form an attachment to another? Did he possibly feel left out, like a lone pup on the schoolyard?
 
The woman spun around in the water, electing to stay closer to the shore, and nudged the Titan’s shoulder as she came up alongside him, indulging for a brief moment in his warm, musky scent. “You should go play with them,” She suggested, in case he needed the validation. If not, she was more than happy to stay right here with him to enjoy the choreography… and eventually proceed with her task of mending and binding their wounds.

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Poised and ready for the man to resurface, when he came up for a breath, the cat somewhat lightly bopped the man on the head.  Again, the man was back under the water, nipping at his hind leg, as the man, wriggled and weaved between his legs.  Though the waters here where cold, the tiger didn't seem to notice anymore, his mind was obviously somewhere else, eyes dilated, and mouth hanging slightly open.  

Without really swinging around, the cat quickly backed up instead, sloshing the water as he went.   From the water a set of pearly white jaws came up towards the scruff of the cat's neck.  Something about that image and trajectory of the bite, instinctually made the cat quickly snap his head back, backpedaling a step.  His movement for a brief flash was tense and serious.  To the cat, that was a place that only a few could touch without a reaction like this.  

After some time with wolves, the tiger did know that Hank didn't really mean any harm.  So, most of his playful posture remained, tail still dancing, prepared for whatever was next.
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Kuhn seemed shaken by this attack, some primal fear flashing in his eye as he backed up. Hank's teeth met only air, and though he wasn't entirely sure what that reaction was about, Kuhn's attempt at regaining his playful stance was enough confirmation to keep him going.

Slapping the water's surface with both paws, he shot a spray of water at Kuhn's face to try and blind him for just a split second. It was all he'd need to lurk just under the surface like a gator and circle around to the cat's side, teeth ready to grab at the striped skin behind his foreleg.

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The wild beasts continued to thrash around in the deep waters, and the light & dark duo remained glued to the shallow tide. Silently they watched the creatures cavort around, and Olive was struck by the sight and the spectacle of it. Such strong, heavily-built creatures — their muscles rippled and reflected the sunlight off of an aqueous second skin; paws like dinner plates flew, and fangs revealed themselves only moment before being plunged into something warm and living. Quickly, the nursemaid believed this play-fight to be getting out of hand, and she realized this might have been how the two received such severe wounding in the first place.
 
Before she could stop herself or use better judgement, the waif was striding deeper into the water until she could no longer touch the mud with her toe-tips, and from there she doggy-paddled closer, reduced to nothing but a pale head parting glacial waters.

She fully intended to bark, to grab their attention and wrangle in their dangerous behaviors, but at the moment her every intent was on swimming. It wasn't something she often did and she felt quickly clunky doing so, but she couldn't help but marvel at how the cold water enlivened her. Ever-closer she swam, preparing to somehow get involved in their underwater sparring, if only to see it brought to an end. After all, who wouldn’t heed the wanton wants and wishes of a pregnant lady, even if it made little sense to them?

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A cascade of water came up into the cat's eyes.   Instead of holding his ground where he was the cat backpedaled, sloshing through the water gaining some distance, fully expecting the man to try and close the distance in some way.   When his vision retuned to him, he could see the outline of the wolf under the surface of the water which almost made it to where his flank was.    

Rearing back onto his hind legs, the cat's flexed haunch bumped up against the woman who had just swam out protesting their fight.  Olive barked in protest, without turning to look Kuhn snarled a bit in defiance, before attempting to lightly batter the top of Hank's mostly submerged head with a a succession of clawless whacks.
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oops whoops it's my turn, sorry!

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Hank too noticed the rotund figure joining them from under the water. Oh yeah, they were here to heal. Easy to forget.

Kuhn's movement onto his hinds was unexpected, and he tried to surface only to have his head smacked again and again. Oh my God, he's doing that cat thing, he nearly squealed internally. He rose with his jaws wide open, threatening to take one of his giant toe beans for himself if he wasn't careful. It was a bluff... probably.

Sensing that their impromptu spar was simmering down, Hank relented and finally turned to give Olive his attention. Not his full attention, just in case Kuhn tried to pull anything while he was seemingly distracted. But his attention nonetheless. “Playtime's over, huh?” He rasped.

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Kuhn didn't stop in his raucous man-play, despite her insistent urgings. Somewhere, she lightly heard Hank say something, and wondered if her presence was being acknowledged; but in the interminable distance from shore to deep depth, Olive had gotten to thinking. She was soon to be a mother, was she not? So she took it upon herself to do a moment's worth of self-reflection, and asked herself how she would treat two cavorting cubs, who had no real desire than an innocence want for fun? If, upon the shore, she felt as if she were watching her own family, then let this be practice for the type of parent and steward that she wished to be.

She paddled ever-closer, making good time with the metronome of her paddling legs, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Their mock-sparring had quieted enough that she didn't feel as though she were about to an inadvertent casualty, and made her think that, possibly there was a space for her to interject —

Then, with a rush of energy and tiny might, she reared up in the choppy waters and sheared her front legs across the water's top, sending a sheet of cool water all her own into the fray. She laughed with the sudden exertion, and to hopefully add to her assault whatever she lacked in strength and manpower. In that moment, as she buoyantly sank back down, still splashing up a small storm, she thought of the dark soldier who stood upon the shore, and she wondered if he would ever loosen how tightly he was wound, enough to play and cavort with those who were just like him.

Even she, the stark contract to Kuhn and Hank in almost every way, could find equal footing when it came to play.

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For a moment it seemed that the sparring was coming to an end.  Kuhn was almost glad to have the break, feline senses becoming excessively stimulated.   Pulling his paw back from Hank, he looked to Olive; who he assumed was mandating the end.  

Though when he saw the pale woman through her own splash into the fray and into his face, the cat's expression was quick to rejuvenate after spitting out a bit of water, his face twisting into a malicious grin.  The fact that she was small, or that she was a woman mattered not.

Bounding off his back legs, the big cat came crashing down around the small woman, displacing a large amount of water.  Scooping the woman up by the chest, the tiger pulled her upper body from the water.  When the splash cleared he held the soaked woman to in the crook of his chest, a large paw wrapped around her as if to hold her hostage from behind.  

Making sure to face the woman toward @Tiberius on the shore,  "Come and save your princess Tiberius!", he half roared with faux aggression.  Likely only Olive could tell, but the cat was quite amused with himself now, his rumbling, growling, purr vibrating into her chest. Side eyeing @Hank, the cat wondered who's side he might take.

pp ok'd

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