All For Love [Reth x OC x Jel]

Stitches

"Son of a- Aagh-!" Azuriela groaned to herself as she held her side, hissing in pain as the blood leaked through the ripped fabric of her shirt, and over her fingers. "Fucking- Sernuk-" she gasped, taking a deep breath as she pulled herself up off the ground and tried to stand, wobbling a bit as the pain nearly made her spine shake. She grit her teeth; reminding herself that she had been through worse than a gash to the side, as she stumbled her way to the hill, toward the waterfall in the northern cliffs of Bahari.

She'd been rammed by an elder sernuk that must have been spooked by something; hitting her square in the ribs with its head and goring her, one of its horns having left a pretty sizable hole on her side. She's had worse; she kept reminding herself of it, as she stumbled into the river and under the waterfall, starting to wash away the blood with her clothes still on. The cold helped her focus; enough to remember that there was still some silk thread she'd collected in her bag, and a needle she'd stolen from Jel.

She locked her jaw at the thought of having to stitch herself back together; but being this far out in Bahari, she knew that was the only way she was gonna make it back to town. "Fuck- Okay...Okay 'Zu, this isnt why you stole that fuckin needle-" she groaned, managing to pry her bag off of herself to dig around until she found what she was looking for; holding the needle in her teeth as she toss the bag ashore and started to remove her coat. "But it'll fuckin work-"

It took her a few minutes to work herself out of her clothes; eventually tossing her shirt onto the sunny shore as well, leaving her in just her strapless bra, pants, and her thigh high boots as she looked down at the wound. "Shit-" she cursed as she squeezed it to try and slow the blood loss, using the water rushing over her to gently clean away loose threads from her torn clothes. "Ohhkay..Okay-"

She winced as she took the needle out from between her teeth, before clenching her jaw again as she struggled to thread the silk onto it; taking a few tries before she managed to get it on and knot it enough that it'd catch on her skin. She braced herself as she reached down to start stitching herself up; using her other hand to hold her skin together as she work.

"Nngh-" She threw her head back and took a few deep breaths to push through the pain as she pierced her own skin; leading the needle through her several times before she had to stop and take a break, whimpering a little. "You can do this 'Zu. Keep going.." she hissed, forcing herself to bite her tongue and focus on that pain instead as she put in a couple more.

There were fifteen, when she was finished; a bit haphazardly along the gash hadnt been that deep, but had run along the entirety of her side, leaving a line that followed her ribcage. She eyed them for a moment as she waited for the blood to clot; breathing heavily and resting her head back against the wall of the cliff, letting water pour over her and drown out the sound of her own groaning. The stitches were a bit shaky, and not all of them were even; but they did the trick, the strength of the natural silk holding her together even as she finally moved again, forcing herself to get going before she passed out.

"Okay. Okay. Just get back to town. Find Chayne.." she hissed, having to hold the wound with one hand as she bent down to grab her things, carefully putting her shirt back on and frowning at the hole in the fabric. "...And then find Jel.." she sighed, choosing to just drag her coat and bags as she started off, forcing her heavy body to sluggishly trek back through the forest, trying to get back to town..

It took her hours. What would normally take maybe one, had taken four; dragging herself across the plains and through the mountain pass, and then through the fields in Kilima, to get to Chayne. Except, when she finally made it to his usual spot at the apothecary in town, it was already evening; and he was already on his way to the inn.

"Fuck-" She winced as she turned on her heel and started toward town; knowing damn well now that she wasnt going to be able to avoid people seeing her. Sure enough, practically everyone in town was walking around to get to somewhere when she stumbled into the square; gritting her teeth as she finally saw Chayne, just twenty feet in front of her now. "Chayne-! Help-!" she coughed as she tried to yell, wincing and needing to lean on the post of Sifuu's steps to hold herself up as her energy waned.