Meshi comes home limping and whimpering in pain, serious-looking bite marks covering his neck and legs. Neko smells fox musk and blood on him, and she can guess what happened even before he tells her he ran afoul of a fox at her den.
Long ago, when Neko was bitten by a dog, Hibiki treated her wounds with water and a sharp-smelling leaf paste, all the while murmuring magic words to take the pain away. She wrapped Neko's wounds in soft, clean cloth, and Neko was all better when she took the cloth away.
Neko can't do those things. She doesn't know how to make the leaf paste, and all the cloth in the shrine has long rotted away -- and even if she found some, her claws would not be able to wrap them.
She scolds Meshi for his recklessness and cleans his wounds with rasps of her tongue, licking away the blood and making sure there is no dirt or debris. Then she orders the other children to bring him fish and his favorite orange crabs, and when the children depart, she curls against Meshi and rumbles her deepest purr, the way she would in the nights when Hibiki started to cry. Her purr isn't as magic as Hibiki's words, but it will have to do.
Even though Meshi interferes with her naps and duties, she keeps him close over the coming days. If she doesn't, he will try to run off or scratch at his wound.
She finds his bites very worrisome. Most of the time, bites heal, but sometimes they turn black or red and start oozing a foul-smelling liquid. When this happens, children can become very sick, and there is nothing Neko can do but hope that they get better.
This generation's Meshi is a lucky child, though. His wounds heal without a problem, and soon he struts around the shrine as if he was never injured, bragging about how he beat a fox. She swats him hard on the head when she catches him at it; he shouldn't encourage other children to do dangerous things. The next time a child gets into trouble, they may not be so lucky.
Neko does not want to be impatient, but she hopes Hibiki will come home soon. Sometimes it is very hard to take care of the children on her own.
Genshin Impact, Neko (cn: cat injury, brief mention of past cat death)
Long ago, when Neko was bitten by a dog, Hibiki treated her wounds with water and a sharp-smelling leaf paste, all the while murmuring magic words to take the pain away. She wrapped Neko's wounds in soft, clean cloth, and Neko was all better when she took the cloth away.
Neko can't do those things. She doesn't know how to make the leaf paste, and all the cloth in the shrine has long rotted away -- and even if she found some, her claws would not be able to wrap them.
She scolds Meshi for his recklessness and cleans his wounds with rasps of her tongue, licking away the blood and making sure there is no dirt or debris. Then she orders the other children to bring him fish and his favorite orange crabs, and when the children depart, she curls against Meshi and rumbles her deepest purr, the way she would in the nights when Hibiki started to cry. Her purr isn't as magic as Hibiki's words, but it will have to do.
Even though Meshi interferes with her naps and duties, she keeps him close over the coming days. If she doesn't, he will try to run off or scratch at his wound.
She finds his bites very worrisome. Most of the time, bites heal, but sometimes they turn black or red and start oozing a foul-smelling liquid. When this happens, children can become very sick, and there is nothing Neko can do but hope that they get better.
This generation's Meshi is a lucky child, though. His wounds heal without a problem, and soon he struts around the shrine as if he was never injured, bragging about how he beat a fox. She swats him hard on the head when she catches him at it; he shouldn't encourage other children to do dangerous things. The next time a child gets into trouble, they may not be so lucky.
Neko does not want to be impatient, but she hopes Hibiki will come home soon. Sometimes it is very hard to take care of the children on her own.