Umbran, Febuwhump: Hidden Injury
Gabrial dragged himself out of bed. He couldn’t rest too long and let Caretaker get suspicious. He was tired and achy but he couldn’t afford to take a break.
He had gotten hurt dealing with one of the newer pets he trained and sold, this one was brave and fought. They had bitten him and been muzzled for their trouble.
He’d train them out of it, maybe have them wear a sharp muzzle for a few days as revenge- that is, after their three days of isolation are up. Until then he would take care of himself and keep the incident quiet.
Gabrial made his way to the bathroom, pulling out the first aid kit again. No matter how he cleaned the wound or what he wrapped it with the bite mark was still swollen and painful and looked like a mess. It looked infected.
The wound on his shoulder felt hot, even as he cleaned it out once again with cool water. It wept puss and still bled occasionally, both of which being a bad sign. Gabrial put Neosporin in the wound and wrapped it up with gauze before securing it in place with bandages.
He knew he would have to tell Caretaker eventually but he didn’t know how to go about it without sounding dumb. All he could do for now was take care of the wound, clean it often and try to disinfect it.
He put a long sleeved shirt on over the bandages and a jacket over that to disguise any swollen skin.
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Caretaker was suspicious. They had been watching Gabrial for the past few days and they knew something was up. They knew he was hurt, but they also knew Gabrial wouldn’t let them help.
It was obvious Gabrial had injured his arm somehow, clear from the ever weakening state of the limb and the less frequent use. Especially over the past two days.
They knew they had to be careful about any assistance offered, otherwise Gabrial would simply reject it. They had already supplied him gauze and bandages and Neosporin as well as tweezers to get debris out of the wound. But without knowing what the injury was they couldn’t give him as much as they would like.
It was getting frustrating, watching him hide it. Watching him weaken without knowing what they could do. They wanted to avoid a fight, that was just more stress on Gabrial, but something had to change.
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Gabrial felt hot. He felt hot and dizzy and like he would pass out. He was achy and cold and sick and weak. He hated it and he knew now that his shoulder was infected. He would get caretaker, he would tell them- but later. For now he was tired and he wanted to sleep.
He finally laid down to take a break, exhausted. He curled on his side in the bed and just focused on breathing. His shoulder hurt. It hurt so bad he was breathless.
How did he let it get so bad? How did he let his pride come before his health? He had just wanted to avoid a fuss- and besides, he had taken care of it so why wasn’t it getting better?
Gabrial shifted uncomfortably. He just wanted to be healthy, was that so much to ask?
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When Caretaker could smell sickness in the air they knew something was wrong. They set down their book and quickly made their way to Gabrial’s room.
They opened the door and saw Gabrial laying on his side, hazy with fever. The poor creature trembled of cold and was trying to bury itself under the blankets, which would only cause him to overheat faster.
Caretaker rushed to his side with inhuman speed, carefully lifting him off the warm bed and examining his face. He was warm to the touch and it was clear whatever wound he had was infected.
Caretaker carried Gabrial their med room, a place that wasn’t contaminated with whatever he was sick with. Caretaker needed a clean environment to start and it wasn’t the first time they had to deal with a passed out umbran.
They carefully took Gabrial out of his jacket, and then out of his shirt. They saw the bandages and left to get more before preparing to deal with whatever was underneath. They didn’t even wince at the state of the injury, they just shook their head and sighed.
Gabrial was a mess, and Caretaker was torn between worried and fuming. The only reason Caretaker was here was to take care of and play medic for Gabrial. If they couldn’t do their job and Gabrial wouldn’t ask for help then what was the point?
They knew the wound was infected so they didn’t hesitate with taking care of it. They had all the supplies they needed, already tucked away in different drawers so it wasn’t a struggle.
Now that they could see the injury the hard part was over. They only needed to keep him alive now. That, and make him cooperate when he woke up.
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