⥼ apothecary

@✦ chisa k。 Sungchan huffs, but he gives the herbalist a nod of promise. "Don't worry, I won't. I may be a pain in the , but I'm not that reckless," he reassures, hoping it'd give her peace of mind.

All patched and wrapped up, Sungchan sighed softly, blinking at the array of vials and tins being shoved into his lap as her explanations went into one ear and out the other. He did, however, managed to catch onto the important bits and figured he'd make do. And if he couldn't—well, her doors always seemed open for him either way. All he needed to do at the very least was to make sure he was coming alone.

"Thank you, though. I really appreciate this," he murmurs, a genuine tone with none of the usual sarcasm, playfulness, or disregard for his herbalist's warnings. Sungchan wasn't the friendliest person out there but he knew when and where to be grateful for the things other people did for him—like putting up with his troubles.

"Do I owe you anything?" he asks, slipping his slightly torn shirt back on for the sake of decency. "I don't have much right now, but if you need something and it's within my means. I'll drop it off the next time I'm around."

@✦ sungchan j。 "So you're saying that normally your better prepared and don't get hurt. You can't predict everything though you know. Especially not with the hunts about to get worse." she grimaced again and shook her head. "You seem pretty useful so don't go getting sacrificed on me!" she chuckled and shook her head though her expression was not one of amusement.

Hearing him hissing, Chisa adjusted her touch, making sure not to push too hard on the wounds. It wasn't long until most of the wounds were bandaged up enough that nothing was bleeding through. It was just the scratch on his cheek that wasn't bandaged but it looked as though the blood was clotted already and on it's way towards healing properly.

Hearing him say he had to hunt again tomorrow, Chisa rolled her eyes before chuckling slightly. "A stubborn one, ey?" she mused before grabbing a few more things off the shelf. "If you're going to insist on it then at least take these. The vial is witch hazel, it'll stop any infection if any wounds reopen, then the tin is yarrow powder. It helps stop bleeding." she explained as she handed the things to Sungchan. "Then this one is for when it's all healed up, it helps to get rid of scars, or at least make them less noticeable." she looked at the yellow liquid in the vial before handing it over.

@✦ chisa k。 Sungchan laughs sheepishly, though he doesn't quite feel the embarrassment he should.

"Of course I'm worried, but only because I overlooked some things. I'm not usually like this," he argues, gesturing to his wounded self. Indeed he wasn't always like this—prone to injury, that is. Sungchan had spent years of his life dealing with prey of all kinds, it's just that the occasional fighter did have what it took to survive his claws, and in turn he'd get into a little more trouble than he'd intended.

Sungchan remains unmoving as he was patched up, save for a soft hiss here and there. His skin stung everywhere, and he couldn't tell whether it was his cuts attempting to close or the balms being applied to them. Either way, they burned in ways Sungchan was thankfully very familiar with.

"No promises, but I'll try. I still have to hunt tomorrow," he sighed, more so at the thought of having to move than the thought of hunting itself. But he had no choice, he had to keep his pack fed and fed well. Though the pups were capable, Sungchan had less remorse and wasn't dramatic about his kills, essentially giving him more yield at the end of the day.

@✦ sungchan j。 Chisa couldn't help but grimace slightly at the sight of the smaller cuts and the older scars. She shook her head slightly before crouching down again, using the now damp cloth to clean away some of the blood from one of the cuts, checking to see how deep the cut was.

"You're a strange one, you know?" Chisa mused slightly before sighing. "Most of us are just trying to avoid drawing any attention and then there's you... Don't you ever get worried about it all?" she couldn't help but let out a slightly bitter laugh, wringing out the cloth of the blood now collected onto it.

"It looks like most of your cuts are just superficial and will stop bleeding soon, but there's a couple that might take a bit more to stop any bleeding... Hold on a sec, I need to grab the gauze." she stated as she got up and moved through to a different room, quickly returning with a roll of thin, loosely woven gauze that had been coated in a yellowish powder on one side.

Carefully but firmly, she began wrapping around some of the injuries. "It has to be a little tight, sorry." she stated, the apology being more of a formality than anything genuine. "You're going to need to take it a little easier for a bit though until it's mostly healed up. You don't want to be reopening anything anytime soon."

@✦ chisa k。 Sungchan listens diligently, and he peels off his upper layers only to reveal more cuts, though smaller in size, lying among past scars.

"It's fine, a little sting won't kill me," he laughed, suspiciously unbothered by the pain coursing underneath his damaged skin. He was quite literally bleeding out, though not by much, you'd still expect a person of this amount of injury to at least be a little worried for themselves.

"Trust me, if anyone were watching me—they'd be dead," Sungchan murmurs. Truth be told, he wouldn't have hesitated to murder a man if that meant they wouldn't find out what he'd been up to. Sungchan was by no means a saint, and this wouldn't be the first time he'd end up in such conditions.

What he wasn't used to, though, was actually getting injured by prey who put up a fight.

"You know I won't let them follow me. Your safety is my safety, too. I'm making sure no one finds out. And if that means getting my hands bloody, then so be it."

@✦ sungchan j。 Chisa eyed him up and down for a moment as he groaned before shaking her head and grabbing a few small sheets of cloth and moving to crouch next to the wolf, getting a closer look at the injuries and frowning more, instinctively chewing on the inside of her cheek as she tried to see how deep everything was.

"Well, whatever nonsense you got up to, looks as though you've managed to avoid any lasting damage. Just blood loss and infection to worry about..." she hummed before looking at the scratch on his cheek, putting a hand on his chin to turn his head slightly. "Might have a few scars though... Anyway, this might all sting a little. Mind taking you shirt off so I can clean everything up properly?" she asked as she stood up to retrieve a dish of water and added a few drops of a vial into it before returning to Sungchan.

"Pretty reckless you know, getting this beat up and then coming to see me. You never know who's watching you." she stated as she dipped one of her cloths into the solution.

@✦ chisa k。 the door behind him clicks shut, lock falling into place when sungchan gives it a gentle kick. he huffs indignantly as he plopped himself onto the rickety chair, rolling his shoulders back and groaning at the soreness that followed soon after. prey that fought back were surely fun to deal with, but sometimes they put up too much of a fight.

still, sungchan knew he didn't regret a single moment, bruised and battered as he may be at the end of it.

"bastard had quite the claws on him," is all sungchan replies with, vague as always with the littlest bit of information possible. his responses had remained mysterious ever since the first time he found himself at the apothecary's door. but regardless of what he's done, he's never been turned away anyway.

"it's nothing much, i just got into a... 'small' fight... yeah," sungchan says rather unconvincingly, though he doesn't make an effort to hide the fact that there was something he wasn't telling her. he supposed she didn't need to know what atrocities he got up to at these hours of the night.

@✦ sungchan j。 The sound of the knocking at the door made her skin crawl at first and she froze in her tracks, eying the door until she heard the voice. It was a voice she hadn't heard in a while and for a few moments she debating leaving him to struggle before she groaned slightly and approached the door again.

She only opened it an inch or two, looking the wolf up and down before grimacing slightly and opening the door wide enough for him to enter the shop.

"In." she commanded, her voice harsh as she moved away from the door to check the blinds on the windows. "Make sure you lock the door behind you. Don't want any intruders..." she frowned as she spoke before finally going to grab a chair and pulling it over to one of the shelves that she thought would have the most useful stuff and gesturing for him to sit in it.

"The hell happened to you? You look like an actual mountain lion mauled you." Chisa couldn't help but smirk at him as she started checking a series of vials and tins, picking up a small handful of them.

@✦ chisa k。 sungchan approaches the dimly lit space of the apothecary's entrance, clutching at his sides, looking as if he'd just survived a scuffle with a hundred men and came out as the sole victor.

his right cheek had been scratched, his skin bloody with claw marks, his clothes ripped into where the marks had also been. he was sure a bruise was forming somewhere on his arm, and his own two hands were stained with blood that wasn't his.

sungchan knocked gently on the door, careful not to disturb the person he knew was inside at this hour, probably not expecting him at that. after all, it's been a while since sungchan had gotten himself hurt like this—sometimes toying with prey caused some damage, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

"it's me, don't panic," he calls out from the door, hoping his voice sounded familiar enough. as much as he liked the cool air outside, it was starting to sting his wounds, and he wanted nothing more than to be out of public eye given his current state.

@✦ sungchan j。 It was late and the sun had already set. Most people were already tucked away in their homes sleeping or preparing to sleep and the land was mostly quiet. It was a time that Chisa took solace in. A time that she didn't have to be as on edge about everything happening around her.
Chisa was working still, taking stock of everything in the apothecary and everything that she'd be able to buy from the marketplace and that she'd have to go foraging for. So far, most of what would be needed was in stock still, with around six herbs needing to be bought from a marketplace so she could mix them into balms or tinctures or even distill tonics from. An even smaller handful that she'd need to go and pick herself.
Sighing to herself Chisa stretched out, rereading her notes and then glancing around the apothecary, her eyes landing on the door as a sense of unease came over her. Quickly, she approached the door and tested the handle, exhaling slowly as she confirmed that it was locked before she began checking the different pots, bowls, and empty vials to see if there were any that needed replacing.