Arkadiy; Shasta; Kaz; Stasja; Aspen Grove

While Shasta was coping with her rash pretty well, her husband was doing rather poorly. His arm was bandaged due to the infection from scratching, and his neck and shoulders were sore, red and slightly bleeding. He had to take his shirt off due to it rubbing against the itchy, flaky skin. After a quick look around, he began to scratch his shoulder, and was immediately scolded by Shasta. "Arkadiy!" She shouted. "You're only making it worse!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Arkadiy mumbled, taking off his glasses and rubbing his weary eyes. "Your herbal bullshit isn't working. How about you just let me have one drink. It makes the pain go away."
"No, and that's final. I don't want you ending up like Dimitri, Kadi." She was putting her foot down, for the sake of their children. And the rumors happened to be true: Shasta was pregnant again, though not even her husband knew it. He was in no shape to be worrying about such things.
Arkadiy sunk back into the couch and soon saw Stasja Azarova standing over him, staring down at him from behind the couch. "Need anything?" She asked in her high-pitched, lyrical voice.
"Nyet, Stasja. I'm fine." He sounded rather grumpy, but Stasja couldn't blame him.
"Stasja! Get away! He's contagious!" Kaz shouted, pulling his friend away from their sick leader.
Stasja gave Kaz a sharp look, but in the end, she decided not to struggle. Kaz was right, and she didn't want to end up like that.

"Hey! HEY!" Shasta's voice sounded urgent as she looked out the window and held up a hand to silence the group. "Is that... Papillon?" She recognized the mare from a distance, and soon noticed two injured canines on her back and a small pack escorting them. "Come on, guys! We have to help them!"

Papillon stopped in front of the house, wearily laying down to allow the others to help Kiku and Silence off of her back. "They will help us. I promise."
Mikomi looked nervous and ashamed. She knew what they had to do - they had to leave poor Kiku behind. Mikomi, after helping pull her unconscious brother from Papillon's back, broke down in tears. "I'm sorry, Kiku. I should have been a better sister." She nuzzled the black and white saluki/wolf hybrid. "I'm so sorry..."

Torek

Torek followed the group. His ears and eyes alert for any danger as he followed the horse. His tail was slightly up and stiff and his fur bristled as they came to the humans place. He kept his aggression to a minimum not wanting this possible helpers to reject them cause of it. His eyes stuck to the door of the place while his ears twitched as he came up close to the injured canines to protect them and those who helped them.

Arkadiy; Shasta; Kaz; Stasja; Aspen Grove

Arkadiy slowly raised his head when he heard his wife call for their attention. It wasn't the disease itself that was causing his tiredness and weakness; rather, it was the lack of sleep that the itching caused. "Papillon..." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes again. "I thought she was dead."
Shasta shook her head. "No, I recognize her anywhere. It's her. She's got some injured canines with her." She saw Kiku and Silence on the horse's back, with Dove, Glider, Mikomi and Torek all around them.
Arkadiy arose and walked groggily up to Shasta, placing his hand on her shoulder. Shasta patted his hand, then ran outside to aid the animals. "Kaz! Stasja! I need first aid and water!" Shasta shouted, slowing her pace and lowering herself down into a submissive pose as she approached the group of animals. She didn't want to seem like the dominant one here for fear of angering the pack. She crouched down, slowly outstretching her hand for the canines to sniff.
Papillon, with the injured hybrids off of her back, walked toward Shasta, stopping to stand next to her, and then turned to face the Aspen Grove members. "She's good to us, Torek. Don't worry, and don't show her any aggression." The horse sensed that Torek seemed a bit uncertain or anxious about the humans, so she did her best to alleviate his fears.

Kaz arrived with water and some buckets, and Stasja wasn't far behind with an emergency first aid kit.

Torek

Torek watched the two leggers approached. He saw the first one approaching slowly and carefully. So it seemed she knew how to approach them. He heard Papillon speak but he did not even know her. He moved closer and sniffed the humans hand but nothing more . He kept close to silence and Kiku the whole time.we do not know them you may but we don't and its better to be cautiousHe spoke.

Arkadiy; Shasta; Kaz; Stasja; Aspen Grove; Others

Kaz and Stasja lowered themselves as they walked forward to give Shasta the supplies she needed. Kaz left the buckets and bottles of water at her side, and Stasja passed her the emergency first aid kit. "Anything else, Shasta?" Stasja asked, still keeping herself in a submissive pose.
"Yes, Stasja," Shasta answered the former Spetsnaz soldier calmly, "I need you to help me in case we run into trouble. You and Kaz both."
Stasja nodded. "Affirmative, Dr. Wild."
Doctor... Shasta still wasn't used to being called 'Doctor,' even after getting her veterinary degree. But she did not pause; she continued to work. She was currently trying to gain the trust of these canines.

Glider slowly padded forward and sniffed Shasta's hand. "She's submitting to us," he said, "and she's got water." He was parched after his long journey here, so his eyes occasionally shifted to the buckets of water.
"You want water?" Shasta asked, though she knew the canines surely wouldn't understand her. With slow, careful, submissive movements, she moved a few buckets of water toward Glider and the others.
Glider thought about this for a moment, but he was too thirsty to resist. He ran forward and drank the water, eagerly and sloppily.
Dove, seeing her father get a drink without being harmed, also started drinking the cool, refreshing water. There were two more buckets in front of the canines: one for Torek, and one for Mikomi. Mikomi also drank.
When they had their fill, Dove, Glider and Mikomi shot each other looks, as if conversing nonverbally. Eventually, they seemed to come to a conclusion: they would let the humans take care of their injured friends. "Torek," Glider began, "I am weak from the journey, and so is Dove. Please, could you help Mikomi bring Kiku and Silence forward?"
Mikomi looked at Torek, waiting for his response.

Torek

Torek eyed the humans and nodded to Glider about the submissivness. He sniffed at the water and then lapped it up. His ears pricked at Gliders words and he nodded and moved to help with kiku and silence while still remaining on alert. But his body was calmer now and more relaxed.

Arkadiy; Shasta; Kaz; Stasja; Aspen Grove; Others

Shasta scratched the itchy spot on her neck. She still wasn't sure what caused this annoying symptom, nor how the acquired it, and most of all, she wondered if it would cause any trouble for her unborn child. It had been over a week since the onset, and it only seemed to be getting worse.
"Mom?" Reina asked, her hands and face twitching from her neurological condition. "Are the little animals going to be okay?"
Shasta took a quick look back at her daughter, but was soon facing the animals again. "Yes, Reina. Take your sister and go back inside."
Calandra, Reina's twin sister, looked genuinely afraid and distressed by the sight of the injured animals. She started to cry loudly.
Knowing that the crying could upset the animals, Arkadiy picked his young daughter up and brought her inside. He managed to distract the two children with a card game. A game they knew well, even at their young age: canasta, with tropical animals and flowers on the cards that were pleasing to the children's eyes.

"Here big guy," Shasta said to Kiku, who was, thankfully for the humans, still unconscious. She and Stasja lifted the large hybrid up and brought them toward the vet building. Kaz moved forward to lift Silence up and followed Shasta and Stasja to the vet building. Once inside, they began working on the injured canines: cleaning wounds, stitching them up, bandaging, and so on. Kiku's care was a bit harder. His left eye was far too damaged to be repaired, so Shasta and Stasja began the operation to remove the eye after further sedating the already unconscious hybrid. "You do realize that we can never release this poor fellow into the wild, right, Shasta?" Stasja questioned as she aided Shasta in the operation.
"Unfortunately, yes. He'll have to remain in captivity for his entire life. It's tragic."
Stasja looked at Shasta and empathetically looking over Kiku's facial wounds. "It looks like a large canine attacked him... should we be worried?"
"I'm not going to lie to you, Stas," Shasta started with a sigh, "I'd personally be very worried. We should keep the animals inside in case this wolfdog's attacker follows his scent here." Of course, she wasn't aware that the injury was an accident and the attacker probably had no intention of doing more damage, but Shasta was always prepared for the worst.

Outside, a small dog slowly crept towards the Aspen Grove group. Scout, the tricolor corgi belonging to Shasta, looked rather hesitant and uncomfortable. Seeing that Torek seemed to be the 'taking charge' sort of wolf, at least to his eyes, the corgi addressed him first. "Who are you? How did those dogs get hurt?" He was on the defensive, but very submissive in the presence of these strangers.

Torek

Torek watched the humans warily but they seemed rather harmless. His tail flicked and then his ear twitched as a tiny dog approached them. HE glanced at the others momentarily before looking to scout once more. I am torek and we're from the aspen grove pack. They got hurt in pack dispute He spoke but nothing more. THe little dog didn't really need to know the entire story and he wasn't entirely sure how much he should tell as is so if the others wanted to step in and fill him in more they were of course welcomed to. He knew silence had been harmed by his brother on accident whether the family saw it as that it was up to them. Normally if they did speak against his brother so cruely he would then defend his brother but not in such a strange and rather public place that dispute was better for at home if it came. As for Kiku well that was also an accident. He sighed as his tail flicked.