It was long overdue but despite Regner's best effort his age was finally catching up with him. His limbs and joints just plain couldn’t keep up with the amount of strain that they used to and even simple tasks often left him out of breath if he didn’t purposely slow himself down.
More worrying was his chest. Repeatedly over the last month or so any attempt at strenuous exercise, and Regner being who he was there were plenty of attempts, often left Regner with a painful tight feeling in his chest. Nothing that Regner could remember from his training as a medic nor the experience he had gained over his life could explain the sensation - he had only encountered reports of similar pain in warriors who had taken violent chest wounds in battle - and it had him worried.
Still life, especially what remained of Regner's, was too short to spend it all worrying so he was remaining as active as possible. Today he was slowly padding his way over towards Windsor, enjoying the sun beating down upon his back as he padded through the lightly leafed forest, very pointedly avoiding puddles of water or anything reflective.
Even Regner's appearance showed his condition. His lack of energy had forced the elderly male into his oft abused Lupus form. The smallest of his forms showcased his age clearly; his limbs were thin, fur patchy and his ribs were even slightly visible. By the standards of most wolves he wasn't particularly unhealthy, especially for his age, but when compared to Regner's Secui and Optime forms he felt practically embarrassed by the form.
He was moving through the woods, looking for something to help Isa with. She was feeling a little nauseous carrying the pups, and he hoped to find something that could sooth that. Unfortunately while he knew plenty about healing injuries and infection, illness and pregnancy had been off the list of things he'd been taught. In fact, he was pretty sure if he had fallen ill at any point, instead of just suffering from infections, she would have killed him for being too weak.
The scent of an older hybrid reached him, the scarred male's actions slowing. Looking up he spotted a very worn male wandering through, patches of his fur missing. Bones showed through the skin, looking barely alive. He must have been very old. Stepping back Hadley softly shifted into his own lupine form out of respect, not wishing to tower over him in optime form. He slunk out towards the larger male, tail wagging. Hello.
An oddly familiar scent drifted past Regner's nose, causing the elderly male to stop momentarily, tilting his head as he puzzled over it. The source was a Cavalier, that much was obvious from the familiar mix of earth and must that tended to cling to anybody who lived within the fort but there was also a hint of further familiarity to the scent, as though he had met the wolf before.
Chalking it up to another sign of his old age Regner sat down, twisting his head to face what was revealed to be a male wolfdog, coloured in a mix of different shades of brown. Once again something struck out at Regner about the wolf as familiar, though he couldn’t pin his mind to it. "Good day" he said, absently returning the wolfdog's greeting while he puzzled over his apparent loss of memory.
Regner pulled himself up and padded forward close to the male, sniffing deeply to try and get a fix on the scent. As he concentrated a mix of the usual scents one would expect from a young Cavalier - food, blood, stone, salt, the scent of a female, packmates and countless other little things that detailed the hybrids past few days - despite the wealth of information available to his nose Regner still couldn't pick out where the note of familiarity came from and be gave up, ears lowering a fraction in frustration as he backed off slightly to a polite distance.
"Have we met? You smell familiar, more than a packmate, like I've smelt you before but can’t remember." Regner whined in frustration, pawing the ground. Regner's mind had been one of the slowest things to deteriorate so far and with how sharp his mind had been in his youth, Regner's memory finally taking a hit from his age was a bitter blow.
The elder wolf was seated when Hadley came out. He looked very dignified, taking in the scents around them and acknowledging it all. Hadley held himself low, tail almost brushing the ground in respect for the one before him. It wasn't necessary, such absolute submission, but he found himself granting it anyways. At least he wasn't rolling over and flashing his belly, just showing a high level of respect for him.
He held himself still as the male sniffed at his body, checking him out. Something tugged at him about the elder as familiar, but Hadley dismissed it. Surely he would have remembered meeting someone like this. Unless it was when he wasn't getting out much, keeping to himself more than anything else. Shaking his head Hadley watched the frustration. Perhaps in passing. We probably saw each other at pack meetings. That was the only explanation he held for the older gentleman.
Regner huffed happily, the younger Luperci's attempt at an explanation settling his mind; the two having simply met in passing was a much more attractive prospect to the elderly wolf than his mind slowly decaying. He sat back heavily, a loud thump sounding as his hindquarters hit the floor, "Makes sense." he agreed, tail wagging along the ground briefly.
"What brings you out here today then?" Regner asked, tilting his head to one side. It wasn't that he was on a particularly unused trail or location, just that he was curious and, as much as he hated to even admit it to himself, he could use the rest that stopping to talk for a while offered him. "I'm headed over to the old human settlement, something to do with Wind I think?""Humans named stuff weirdly, especially the ones around these parts." Regner grumped, weird names like Halifax and the settlement he was currently going to were hard for the Danish raised wolf to remember.
For someone so thin and sick looking, he still had a lot of weight to him. Hadley's eyes widened at the solid thump of the elder hitting the ground. It was impressive with just how large he was. Even with the fur missing in patches and being able to count his bones there was no denying that once this was a powerful canine. Hadley never had been powerful, and probably never would be, but seeing that sent him into awe.
Tilting his head Hadley wondered what the settlement's name was. He didn't go to the towns often, content with staying near the fort where Isa was. Isa, my mate, is suffering from some nausea. She has pups on the way. I'm not really too sure what could work to settle her stomach. Hadley hoped that he could find something quickly. It worried him, knowing that Isa was ill and he couldn't do anything about it.
Regner tilted his head to the side when the wolf mentioned that his mate, somebody called Isa, was suffering from sickness. Battle wounds had been his speciality and what little he did know of treatment for other ailments was rendered mostly irrelevant by the wildly different plants that grew here compared with where Regner grew up. Humming quietly he racked his mind, trying to remember what he had in his stores back in the fort.
“Ginger would help.” he said quietly, “Boiled down into some water and drunk. Helps relieve nausea if you don’t drink too much of it. It doesn’t grow here though and the amount I have stored back at the fort wouldn’t last long, though you’re welcome to it while it lasts. Humans probably have some ferreted away somewhere if it isn’t rotten or stolen but looking for specific items in their settlements is like hunting a mouse through hay.” Regner gave a somewhat frustrated snort as he continued to think. A thought flitted across his mind and he broke from his musings to turn and speak once more, ”I’m Regner by the way, nice to meet you.”
Regner placed his nose to the ground, sniffing deeply in the hope that the smell of the plants around him would jog his memory. He was about to give up and start trying to figure out how long his supplies of ginger could last when a faint scent brushed across his nose and his head shot up, ears rising and tail starting to wag, ”Mint! Mint helps nausea as well, works the same way; boiled into water and drunk.” Regner returned his nose to the ground, sniffing rapidly to try and pin down the earlier scent, ”Mint grows pretty much everywhere, it should be easy to find some.” he said happily, glad to suddenly have a purpose to the day beyond wandering around some human settlement without reason.
His ears pricked up as the elder proceeded to provide an answer to his question. Ginger. As soon as he heard that it would be hidden in human settlements his ears drooped. Hadley avoided such places, knowing that Amy took many of the goods for her wagon from there. He knew it was silly, but that didn't seem to stop him from making the silly mistake anyways. The greeting was given, tugging at a memory Hadley didn't quite remember. Hadley, sir. Regner was a very pleasant being to be around.
The sudden exclamation startled Hadley, ears flying back. Mint? Hadley hadn't used mint much, the injuries he fixed mainly flesh wounds and burns. Sickness was prevented like crazy. Hadley had been surprisingly healthy living with Amy, despite weighing twenty pounds lighter than he should have. That's good to know. I don't have much experience with sickness. Stitching up wounds is more my forte, and even then I can't treat broken bones or the like.
