!! Possible tw; mentions of mild wounds & anxiety attacks !!
The battle was so much worse than she originally thought.
While the ground had merely given little tremors at the great monsters stomps back home, here on the battlefront, she had to stop walking and pause to keep her balance. She could feel here paws ripple all the way to her tail- tip. Perks of not being fully solid she supposed. Io had wrapped her cloak around herself, obscuring the odd view that was her body so that no one would be scared by her appearance, but it sadly did not stop the wobbly feeling. She was hurrying back to a tent with a bucket of water in her jaws, some rags wrapped around the rim of it. The other sprites, weary, had accepted her offer for help without any resistance. She thought it was odd considering no one knew her, but not surprising considering the damage.
Io was welcomed back to the tent by another chowling, who help up one of the makeshift doors for her to squeeze in. They gave her more of a murmur than a real greeting, and she noted the haunted look in their eyes. As she went inside, her eyes had to adjust a little bit. While there was gorgeous lamps strung up, nothing compared to the blaze of fire that was outside. A few sprites were sitting scattered across the tent or laying down, injured either directly from the chimera monster or from it’s fires. Putting her bucket down, he sighed at the sight, pushing one of her tags out of her eyes before walking over to the closest sprite.
She tried not to frown at them. They were clutching a paw in one hand, bitching and moaning as if it were chopped off. It amazed her that while they weren’t at all fazed at going to fight a giant monster chowling, they were scared of whatever tiny wound could be hiding under there. She herself never really had much fear of hurting herself, her body just seemed to mold back together and never left so much as a single scar. It was pretty wonderful, she admitted to herself. A particularly loud curse from the sprite snapped her mind back into the real world. Io gently grabbed the chowlings paw in her own, trying to draw them away from their other so she could see what was wrong.
“OWWWWW!!”, the sprite yelped and tried to jump back. Io held on tightly though, snatching their injured paw in her other and yanking it up to view. There was a small, but definitely bad burn mark on their underside, covering maybe three- fourths of their pawpad. Maybe not a complete bitch after all? It was a very sensitive part of the body.
“You will be fine, let me wrap it in some cold water.” She muttered to herself as she let go and went back over to her bucket and gently held one of the rags in the fresh water. Pulling it out, she rested it back on the rim and turned to pull some herbs out of her bag.
The chowling made the most disgusted face at her as she pulled them out. It seemed more like they thought they were being attacking by a giant monster than helped by a little sprite with a halo above their head. “What IS that?” they stuck out a tongue and defensively held their injured paw close to them.
“It’s a poultice that will help heal you faster, please hold out your paw.” Io gave them the meanest look she could, and they reluctantly held out their paw. She shook out a glob of herbs from one of her jars directly on the wound, before going back for the rag. She expertly wrapped it around them and the immediate look of relief on their face was satisfying, although she wasn't sure if it was well- deserved. They looked almost guilty as they sat back, twisting their paw around to inspect it. They opened their mouth to speak, but by then she was already turning around, snatching her water bucket to move on to the next (and hopefully nicer) sprite.
This chowling was laying down, eyes half open and fluffy tail draping off the wood they were laying on, reaching the ground. She didn’t say anything immediately, but put her bucket down and walked around them slowly. She couldn’t see any physical wounds, but the sprite was looking very much like a limp noodle, so something was definitely wrong. She made a little chirp, seeing if it would wake them up. They stirred, mumbled something incoherent about the birds and the bees, and then continued to look half- alive. Io sighed and sat, thinking hard. She was unsure what exactly plagued them. It could be heat exhaustion, food deprivation, maybe an internal injury or concussion? She waved over another helper, and they walked over, ears and tail drooping. They looked just as beat as the fighter chows.
“Ahh that one,” they spoke in a monotone voice, the only way you could tell they cared was the slight concern showing in their eyes. The chowling cleared their throat before speaking again, “we don’t really know what happened, they just stumbled back here on their own and been passed out ever since.” They shrugged, giving the passed out sprite a little tap on the shoulder. “They had a friend they were fighting with- someone that came through here earlier said they were a green sprite with a fish tail.”
Io could feel their expectant gaze on her. “You want me to go look for them and find out what happened don’t you?” The chowling stared back, clearly unfazed by her annoyance, “Well i’m sure as hell not going, i’m exhausted! You're fresh in, you’d have a better chance of getting there and back safely.” They shrugged and hurried back to another patient. Io sighed and smacked a paw over her face, dragging her fur downwards as she let it slide back off. Fuck it right? She had been helping bandage and care for the wounded for hours now, a break and a walk might be nice.
Turning around, she shuffled back outside, the tent swishing shut behind her. Io was immediately met with the acrid tang of smoke, bright splashes of orange fire, and so, so many sprites. It was overwhelming for her to be around this many others, no matter if they were paying attention to her or not. She was such a quiet chowling, she had a hard time communicating with others or making friends. She had spent so much of her life away from others that everyone always misunderstood her, thinking her to be rude or disrespectful when she just didn’t know any better. The worst part was that she was aware of all this, but it seemed an impossible habit to break. Io forced herself out of her thoughts once again and faced the scene in front of her. If it was a battle chowlings friend that might know what happened, that must mean that she had to go to the forefront of the battle.
“Damn it..” She muttered to herself, before trudging in the direction of the fighting. Her cloak was dragging in the dirt a little, so she shifted it up, pulling it and her bag higher. She could hear her necklace jingle, and feel her tags flip around with every step she took. And a loud thumping? Oh god what was that? It seemed to get harder and faster the longer she walked, until she felt like she was choking. Io Looked around to make sure no one was watching her, before she turned and sprinted to her left, directly into the enclosed safety of the nearby forest. As she kept running, the sparse tree growth turned into a tangled mess of bark and bushes, and she sank down onto a pile of moss, her back to a nearby tree. It was her heart, pounding and making her dizzy and feel short of breath. Io was having yet another panic attack. She closed her eyes and tried counting her breaths, reassuring herself with quiet mumbles.
Io had always had anxiety and stress issues, but damn were they twenty times worse with the idea of getting even a little closer to the giant chimera that was the cause of so much fire and destruction. She took in a breath long enough to make her lungs hurt, then exhaled, opening her eyes and trying to focus on her surroundings. Although she could still hear and feel the great battle, she continued to try and reassure herself that she was safe. She was barely made out of real flesh for fucks sake! There was only a little bit of her that could even get potentially damaged. Io took in another deep breath and got to her feet, doing a little shake and sighing as she readjusted her cape. Her halo bobbed above her head as she shook her fur out, making sure it didn’t look super bad.
The sprite headed back into the open, trying not to drag her paws on the ground like a grumpy little kid. She knew that she had to get over herself and her fears- Io made the choice to come here, now she had to keep helping until the battle was over. The trees gradually grew sparser until she emerged back into the cause, trembling a little bit. Time to keep moving.
Io kept on walking, admittedly as slow as possible, taking in her surroundings with great care to be a little indifferent. After all, it was the best way to not sink back into the anxiety headspace. The fires grew more common as she headed towards the commotion, and a few chowlings were scurrying around with buckets full of water and other liquids. She swore she could have seen a few familiars chasing after or flying after their owners as well. Io secretly hoped for her own familiar one day, as it would be nice to have company that wasn't another sprite, but that would have to wait for later.
She jerked back suddenly as one of the sprites ran past her, merely a hairs length away from running straight into her snout. ‘Watch where you’re going ass!”, the bright colored chowling yelled back at her as they continued to one of the nearby walls of fire. This made her extra uncomfortable, but she kept moving forward, her soft steps turning into grumpy stops at the interaction.
Finally, Io stood near the front of the battle, where she stared wide- eyed up at the huge chimera. It looked to finally be getting tired, but it was still terrifying. Fighter chowlings were hacking at it with their weapons, while winged ones flew overhead, throwing various objects and breathing fire back at the monster with seemingly no effect. The monster chowlings outer heads were kind of blue and fogged, making it hard to register what exactly was going on. They seemed to not be doing anything though, so Io went ahead and assumed that was a good sign.
The translucent sprite looked around, squinting, trying to look for any green fighters. It was easy to distinguish them from the normal chowlings, for they had sharp claws and large glimmering weapons. However, she couldn’t see that any of them were of the correct color, nor did anyone have fish shaped tails. This little trip was already stressing her out, and now the sprite she was looking for wasn’t even here? Io groaned in annoyance, scuffling her purple paws in the dirt. She looked around, spotting a tired looking chowling limping away from the fighting.
“Hi, could you help me find someone?” she asked, in the nicest and most non- monotone voice she could muster. The sprite looked at her with annoyance in her eyes, but didn’t make any more to show her rude gestures or anything at the least. “Of course, who are you looking for?”, the answered politely, although they looked exhausted. Io shuffled nervously, “ just a green fighter chowling with a fish tail.” She knew it was a very vague description, but it might be just enough. The fighter chowling looked at her blankly, before speaking again, “I would check over by the river, maybe they are taking a break.” They then turned and walked away, leaving her even more annoyed and exasperated than before. How lovely.
Io headed back uphill, aiming for the quiet river that occupied one side of the battle. A lot of sprites were getting water buckets from there, soaking towels, or just splashing water over their faces. She wandered pas the groups of sprites, weaving in and around them and trying to keep her eyes peeled for any hint of green. Twice she spotted a green sprite, but neither of them had fish tails. Io just wanted to go nap in her cozy house at this point, but she kept going higher up the river, until finally, she sat and decided to take a break from all the walking.
The jelly chowling sighed and stared into the water, her reflection tainted by orange light and black smoke. She was so tired, and definitely wasn’t made to be around crowds like this, or near battles like this. She was in no way a fighter. The water rippled in front of her, and a green snout poked out, causing her to jump back in shock. A sprite- and what would you know, a green one with a fish tail- jumped out onto the ground next to her, their fur dripping water everywhere.
They leaned forward and looked at her, “Whatcha doing?” they asked, looking confused. “You look so.. Depressed!” Io made an annoyed sound like she was being strangled. This sprite that she walked all the way over to the battle for was just taking a nice refreshing swim?! Seriously? She took a deep breathe before speaking, trying to remain polite and professional. “i’M LOOKING FOR YOU.”, She accidentally (not really), shouted in the sprites face, not at all concealing her annoyance. The fighter looked down at her, more concerned than offended, “oh, well you found me?” They sat down, cocking their head to one side as though amused. Io sniffed, “one of your friends is passed out and we can’t figure out what is wrong. I need you to tell me what happened on the battle field so we can accurately treat them.”
The chowling scratched at their head, shooting a spray of water directly into her face. “Oh you mean bob? They have low blood sugar! I sent them back to go get some candy!”
Io, obviously was fuming at this point. She shoved the sprite as hard as she could, directly back into the stream. Whipping around, she ran back uphill, absolutely exasperated with her little adventure, but also mildly concerned for the fainted sprite, as she knew low blood sugar could be dangerous.
Back in the tent, she had one of the other healers set up a sugar IV for the sprite, before going to sit outside. She was pretty exhausted, she wasn’t going to lie. Aside from emotionally, she wasn’t used to doing so much walking around, carrying water everywhere, and treating anyone other than herself and the nearby wildlife by her home. It had been an extremely eventful day for her. The healer that had originally sent her out came and sat next to her, giving her a pat on the shoulder, “thank you for the help, I know it seems dumb but we really couldn’t have figured out what was wrong on our own.” Io sighed, but nodded her head, before the other sprite went back inside.
Io checked her bag had everything she needed, and then went back in the tent, determined to help as much more as she could.
<33
(dont be mad i also have low blood sugar)
