Wildcat (?) encounter summary
I have a scenario I want to flesh out... I know all the moving pieces, bits of dialogue, but I don't fully have the energy to write it down yet. Anyway, I'm just going to (poorly, quickly) summarize it just so it's down:
Okay, so I was imagining Sol, Kena and Jesper hanging out not far from the den---within sight is a small lake that the wild imps frequent. There's also a lot of tree coverage which is good for them with hunting and foraging. Anyway---Kena and Jesper are hanging out in the water. I'm kinda imagining Kena is fishing (ferocious bird style, dive bombing), and Jesper is more so just... vibing in the water, allowing this to happen because he by now understands that the imps need to eat, and also because I'm sure he's certainly scaring fish off in the direction opposite of Kena. He's probably having fun finding weird aquatic worms and loaches...
Anyway, Sol has to be careful with water and swimming because she's small!!! So, she is nearby, just in front of the water, sitting against a tree watching her two favorite imps in the world.
Some form of small wild cat (not exactly sure what, if we're talking real life counterparts, North American logic would have me thinking lynx, bobcat, but England/UK seems to go with the rare Scottish wildcat? But also this could probably be switched out with some other kinda creature like a badger or something, but for the sake of simplicity, I'm just going to say cat from here on out.) slowly approaches Sol, but doesn't alert Kena or Jesper.
She screams for Kena, who quickly turns, but it's Jesper to teleports instantaneous between Sol and the cat. This catches it off guard enough to distract it from continuing towards Sol, Jesper teleports again to it's side, biting down hard. Instinctively, it swats and scratches Jesper just before running to run off.
Jesper grabs, picks up Sol and holds her tight, asking repeatedly "is Sol ok?" she says yes, thanking him over and over. Jesper refuses to let go. Sol notices blood on her hands as she holds Jesper and is frenzied that he's hurt. She asks if he's okay, Jesper replies a soft yes, but continues focusing on if Sol is okay.
Kena swoops in, checks that Sol is fine, and whistles for another imp from the den to come out to them. A small group of imps fly to them, Kena tells a few to escort Jesper and Sol back to the den. Kena gathers a group of his fellow hunters and he launches a search party for this cat.
A few notable highlights:
Back at the den, Jesper refuses to let go of Sol, even though she wants to be put down, and others, including Ona tell him to let her go. He is clearly scared/defensive of her and is having troubles being talked down. Ona tells the others to give him space. Nona sits with them, and it helps pacify the situation a bit. Jesper asks about her baby. After some time and coaxing from, mostly Sol, he lets her go. The imps check her over.
- Ona thanks Jesper. Sol and Ona have a private conversation where Sol is asking for her not to judge Jesper's reaction harshly, but Ona understood the situation and let Jesper have space to relax.
- Jesper's eyes are open the entire time defending Sol, and he refuses to let anybody walk/fly behind or beside him.
- Nona looks over his injury---it's nothing serious, a surface scratch that is not too deep. She cleans it. Jesper is still very wide-eyed and weary of her touching him. She notices he looks extremely tired (despite also looking extremely wired), and tells him to rest. After some time, he calms down and falls asleep.
The moment Sol is able to have her autonomy back, she glues back to Jesper. She lays on his belly while he rests.
- Sol confides she's worried about Kena because she knows he won't be back until the cat is dead. Jesper says does not want the cat killed. She talks about the possibility that Kena goes "a bit wild" with an effigy made of the cat outside the den, explaining what that is to Jesper and how it works. ("It seems to keep others away. Looks very scary.")
- Sol talks about how the imps will most likely have to inform/get Yarrow, as it's getting late in the day and he was going to leave before dark.
- Sol apologizing to Jesper that she only called for Kena. ("I did not know Jesper could... or would!!! teleport so fast!!! I did not know if you would hurt that cat.") Explains she's always looked to Kena as her protector, so it came naturally. She seems to be trying to avoid Jesper having his feelings hurt, but that never occurred to him.
Jesper later apologizing to Ona and the others for acting defensively towards them.
Somewhere in these conversations, Sol tells Jesper about how this is going to basically put her on lockdown for awhile to Kena, and isn't looking forwards to that. She laments about how she is defenseless (mostly) and an easy target for creatures of that size and speed due to her lack of flight.
Thoughts to myself:
I'm assuming this wouldn't deter Yarrow from letting Jesper hang out with the wild imps. Living in the forest, predators come in all sizes, and I'm sure he's well aware that something could realistically happen, and letting him go comes with that risk... I'm sure they have some sort of conversation about it when Jesper gets back home?
I believe that wild imps like Nona that specialize in medicine wouldn't be quite as knowledgeable as Yarrow, I feel like their medicine is a bit crude... Since it's not a major injury, I could see Nona mostly just cleaning the cut, covering it, and leaving it for Yarrow to handle to avoid infection. Cue a really cute scene where Yarrow is putting some kinda concoction on Jesper hehe...